MEN OF VERMONT:
AN [LLUSTRATED
BIOGRAPHICAL
History of Vermonters
SONS OF VERMONT.
Compiled bv
JACOB G. ULLERY, ^
•I
Under the Editorial Supervision of HiRAM A. HUSE.
Brattleboro. Vt. :
TRANSCRIPT PUBLISHING COMPANY.
1894. ,
F 4^
Copyright 1894 by JACOB G. ULLERY-
Printed by the Transcript Publishing Cosifanv,
HoLYOKE, Mass.
Engravings by the Process Etching and Engraving Co.mi
New York.
ALL BORN UNDER THE SHADOW OF THE
GREEN MOUNTAINS,
THIS BOOK
IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED.
'^
PREFACE
My first idea as to this work was tliat it should he made up of hiographical sketches
and portraits of living Vermonters and Sons of Vermont who had attained prominence
in the political, professional and industrial affairs of their communities ; and thus, through
her most striking personalities, bring out the record of that sturdy and aggressive Vermont
character (for, be it remembered, the Green Hills of Vermont have developed a distinct
character) which has made the state famous as the birthplace and home of a nation's
great men. No native of any other state has reason to be prouder of his state than a
Vermonter.
Such a work had never been attempted; the only previous effort in these lines con-
fined itself to a few only of the leaders, thus leaving, practically, an unexplored field, and
one rich in material and valuable historically.
As the work progressed and possibilities unfolded, the suggestion was adopted that it
should not be limited to men now living, but that it might be made of historic value and
interest, in certain lines, by including those who were leaders in the founding of the state,
and those who had been its Governors, its Senators and its Representatives in Congress,
and its Judges, since its first struggles for admission to the Union, when it was a " little
independent republic." In the preparation of this portion of the work I have endeavored
to secure the assistance of the men best adapted to treat the subjects under consideration,
and how well this judgment was founded my readers shall decide.
That it could not have been made to include all who have, in past generations, made a
record honorable to themselves and the state, is to me a matter of regret, but also of
necessity, as to cover the whole field would require a life's work.
As illustration is a demand of the times and contributes so much to the understanding
of biography, it has been made a prominent feature in all departments of this work, and
wherever possible I have embellished each sketch with an engraving of the subject.
In Parts II and III of the work I have carried out the original intention, excejit that
there have been added to the Sons of \'ermont sketches of all Vermonters who have re])re-
sented other states in the National Congress.
I have labored faithfully and earnestly to have the work include all who properly
come within its scope. That the work contains mistakes of commission and omission
within the lines of its intended performance, goes without saying ; but I trust that as it
stands it will be of interest to the readers of this day, and that it will preserve something
of historic value for the future.
J. G. U.
Bratileboro, April lo, 1894.
CONTENTS.
PART I.
Introduction, by Redfield Proctor, . . • • ■ .11
Introduction to Historical Biographies, by C. H. Davenport, . • '7
The Fathers, .....••■ 20
The Governors, . . . . • • • ■ 7'
Senators in Congress, . . . • • • .104
Representatives in Congress, . . . . • • '27
Introduction to Judges of -ihe Supreme Court, by Hiram A. Huse, . .160
Biographies of Judges of the Supreme Court, . . . • i6y
Vermont Inventors, by Levi K. Fuller, . . . • • • '9'
Queer Characters, by Hiram A. Huse, . . . • ■ 'O^
PART 11.
Biographies of Vermonters, A. I). i892-'94,
PART 111.
B10GR.APHIES OF Sons of Vermont, . . ■ • • • '-'75
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PART I
HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHIES.
BY CHARLES H. DAVENPORT.
INTRODUCTION.
Vermont has always been a nursery of remarkable men. Henry Cabot Lodge had an
article in the Century Magazine of September, 1891, giving analytic tables of the birth-
places and race descent of men whose names appear in the biographical dictionaries, that
might at first view seem to discredit this statement, for it shows no more— hardly as many
— from Vermont, than her proportion according to population. But this calculation neces-
sarily credited to other states, chiefly Connecticut, where they were born, the fathers of
Vermont ; the men who made one of the most romantic and inspiring chapters of modern
history, and whose pioneer achievements, along some most important lines in humanity's
upward progress, were made as Vermonters and in connection with Vermont — a natural
evolution out of Vermont conditions. It is also to be remembered that ^'ermont is one of
the young states. It is but little over a century since her career began. As we measure
generations, there have been only three, native born to her soil, from which men of distinc-
tion could come in season to be counted in Mr. Lodge's computation. Making due
allowance for these facts, and for the smallness of her population, the Vermont crop of big
men, doing their work at home or contributed to other states, other countries and fields, is
proportionately larger than that of any other state in the LTnion.
The physiologist and the psychologist alike have in this field an interesting line of
thought. There are, in the rich soil and verdure, that wrung the words " Veni Monf from
Champlain, as he first viewed it, in the pure water and bracing air, elements and influences
that have given a superiority to Vermont products as recognized in all the markets, and have
made her an exceptional breeding ground for fine horses and catde and sheep, of qualities
of genuine and stable usefulness rather than fancy value. These elements and influences
have had a hke effect in the rearing of the human animal. On the moral and intellectual
side, the effect of environment, especially of a mountainous scenery, is seen even greater
than with the people of Switzerland, because of a more variegated picturesqueness ; produc-
ing a race of sturdy, robust, original, clear- thinking and right-reasoning about man's relation
to man, all along up the rugged heights that reach towards the eternal problems.
THE FATHERS.
It was said by Dr. Dwight, during the early contests, that the \ermont settlers were
made up of L' niversalists and infidels. This was an extreme and intolerant way of stating
the fact that it was men of independent mould and bold thought, that were attracted to
Vermont, and that the surroundings here were such as developed these characteristics. But
it also included a statement that is full of meaning and that could hardly be made of any
other pioneer settlements or of any immigration not purely religious in its motives, that the
I 8 HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHIES.
men who came to \'ermont were men interested in the subjects that engage the highest
thought of man. We find their philosophy compressed into a sentence in the instructions
of the committee of twenty towns at Westminster in June, 1775 : "All civil power under
God is in the people." While their ideas stood to a certain extent for emancipation from
the narrowness and dogmatism of that time, no people ever made a more generous and
cheerful provision for religion than they, as the events of the next few years showed. There
was in the good doctor's bigoted exaggeration, after all, the key to much of the \'ermont
character and development.
Human motives, of course, played their part in the story of Vermont, as they do every-
where. There was land speculation mixed with patriotism. There was lawlessness growing
out of some of the reasoning about a "state of nature," in which Ethan Allen and his com-
peers were fond of finding the roots of our institutions. There was overreaching in some
of the contests with "Yorkers." There was some manipulation of men on their baser side
to strengthen the cause of the new state. There was perhaps a little too much of the
Napoleonic ideal of statesmanship in the Haldimand negotiations.* But in the aggregate,
in the large survey that gives the little hillocks of imperfection only their right proportion,
the early history of Vermont is one the student can leave only with admiration that
approaches reverence, for the courage that braved the most tremendous odds, the shrewd-
ness that mastered the most complicated difficulties, the large comprehension of basic prin-
ciples that made the work of the fathers of the state broadest and most enduring, as well as
of the most progressive character.
Consider the situation. With a population of only about three hundred families in the
beginning, and not over one-tenth of that of New York at the end, the Vermonters were
defying the whole power of that state, fighting for their very homes, on what their greatest
jurist, Nathaniel Chipman, always feared would never stand the legal test as titles, but
which were indisputable morally. Then as the Revolution approached, they took the lead in
braving the powers of the Crown. They shed the first blood for America at Westminster,
for the issues back of that massacre were substantially those of the Revolution They won
the first decisive victory and achieved the first lowering of the British flag at Ticonderoga.
They entered enthusiastically and probably with a greater unanimity than any other people
in the country, into the cause of the colonies, and they wrung from Burgoyne the tribute
that described them as the "most active and rebellious race on the continent, that hangs like
a gathering storm upon my left." They, or their leaders, did some important and never
fully appreciated work in negotiation with Indians and in securing alliances, or at least
neutrality, from tribes at the north and the west. They took the lead of all the states in
strengthening the resources of the Revolution — Ira Allen's bold conception — by confiscating
the estates of the Tories. They organized and largely fought the turning point battle of the
war at Bennington. While Burgoyne's army was marching down upon their borders they
adopted at \Yindsor the constitution of the state, the purest conception of democracy, the
best formulation of man's rights, that the world had seen up to that time. The Pennsylvania
constitution was the model to a considerable extent ; but this document, the work of an
assemblage of unlettered farmers, with probably not a lawyer nor a college graduate among
them, of men who had thought out the principles of government while at work in their fields
or in felling forests, went far beyond the Pennsylvania constitution in its reach for great
truth, engrafted upon the model a large number of what seemed to be the most radical
ideas at that time, caught from across the waters the light of the mighty philosophic thought
that was beginning to stir Europe, and produced a constitution that for its practical sagacity
as well as its enlightened scope must command the admiration of the ages — a constitution
that was the first in modern times to put the ban on slavery — a constitution that advanced
beyond the thought of Penn and of the great Franklin in securing compensation for
private property taken for public uses, in guarding the right of hunting and fishing against
*Bonaparte said about one of his ablest antagonists : "Metternich approaches being a
Though a caustic reference, there was a Napoleonic conception back of it.
HISTORICAI. HIIIGRAI'HIES. I9
■exclusive privilege, in placing the right of governing internal [jolice as inherent in the peo-
ple, and in provision against hasty enactment of laws — a constitution under which the little
state grew and prospered as an independent little republic for fourteen years.
And it was all done under constantly multiplying difficulties. Not only were the Ver-
monters at war with New York and the mother country, but they soon found New Hamp-
shire and Massachusetts laying claim to their territory, and not only that, but plans forming
while Congress refused to recognize them as a state, to divide them up on the line of the
mountains between New York and New Hampshire, and secession schemes fomenting for
the formation of a new state out of parts of Vermont and New Hampshire, while at the
same time a large section of the people of the southeastern part of the state were in revolt
against their authority. All the conditions of disintegration into anarchy seemed to be
present, and it was while these were at their height that Congress, very likely with the idea
of forcing the plucky mountaineers to submission — even while they had a regiment fighting
for the common cause in the Continental army and were advancing the money to pay the
troops because Congress could not, vide resolve of June 9, 1780 — withdrew all protection,
even to the last piece of ordnance and the last camp kettle from the Vermont borders, and
left the state defenceless before the invasion organizing in Canada. The shrewd and mas-
terful tactics of the .-Xllens, Chittenden and the rest were equal to the emergency on every
side. They paralyzed the schemes of New York and New Hampshire by coolly incorporating
into Vermont portions of those states, under the names of the East and West unions. They
kept an army of 10,000 men idle and useless in Canada through three campaigns by ]ire-
tending to negotiate for a return to allegiance to England — about the most skillfully
prolonged deception that history records, and they used the fact of this negotiation as a
•club to deter Congress from taking action to crush them. They steadily fortified them-
selves against such an attempt by judicious land grants to officers of the Continental army,
until, when an invasion of the state under authority of Congress was discussed, Washington
had to confess that he couldn't depend on his army for such work. From a beginning
with the famous "beech seal" discipline of intruders on their land under color of New-
York titles, they organized well and permanently the machinery of justice : even in their
outlawry, while defying all outside authority, they respected and observed the principles of
law and of the jury system, as in the Redding case. They gave an administration whose
taxes were so low as to make the people of adjoining territories anxious to join them ; this
was the secret of the East and West unions. They developed from their healthful sense of
right, many ideas in legislation that are well worth the attention of history. The "quieting
act" to finally settle land titles, which Governor Chittenden finally pushed to enactment
over the opposition of nearly all the lawyers, led the state by the path of equity out of diffi-
culties and confusion that were simply inextricable and insoluble through the precedents and
procedure of law, and did it all by applying the simple rule of justice. Much attention is
being given by publicists of late years to the Swiss system of "Referendum," as a guard
against some of the worst evils and dangers of representative government. Early Vermont
history contains some striking examples of the benefits of it. The most notable was that
which disposed of the paper money question. The delusion was having a great run ; people
everywhere were harassed with debt ; executions were thick and multiplying ; cheap money
seemed to be an easy way out of the trouble ; legislators, taking it for granted, as they always
do, that what appealed to the selfish interests of their constituents would be popular, were
eager to pass a paper money bill. Nathaniel Chipman, simply because he saw it could not
be defeated in the Legislature, proposed a submission to popular vote. The result was that
the cheap money scheme, supposed to be so popular because people were about all debtors,
was overwhelmingly defeated. Vermont escaped the evil which wrought such disaster in
nearly all the other states, and in this action largely lay the secret of her marvelous develop-
ment of prosperity in the next two or three decades. It was a fine demonstration of the
great principle that the truth lies more safely with majorities than anywhere else in human
affairs.
ALLEN, Ethan.— Typical of the times,
the people, and the conditions, were the
character and career of the man whose statue,
by common consent, stands with that of
Collamer in Statuary Hall at Washington as
the representative Vermonter — Ethan Allen,
"The Robin Hood of Vermont," Mr. Henry
Hall calls him, and the figure, because of its
own proportions and of its historic settings,
is necessarily a romantic one — Ethan Allen,
a born leader of men, with power to inspire
and enthuse, to sway and guide, such as the
great leaders of history have had. A\'here-
ever he was placed he impressed with his
potent personality. Washington wrote of him,
after their first interview : " There is an orig-
inal something in him that commands admi-
ration." It was a something whose presence
that great commander felt, besides the "for-
titude and firmness and patriotic zeal " and
the other qualities that he could see and an-
alyze— a something that left deep and indeli-
ble lines on our institutions, though Ethan
Allen had so little part in the formal framing
of them. Gov. Hiland Hall truly said ; "It
is impossible to tell what the result of the
dispute with New York would have been with-
out Allen's aid." Bold, enterprising, ready
and resourceful, fertile in daring exploits, full
of confidence in his own powers of mind and
body, ready of wit, with a singular faculty of
forceful epigrammatic expression, chivalric in
bearing and itnpulse, handsome of face and
form, remarkable for his physical strength
and endurance, a good judge of men, a
natural orator who could address a court or
a multitude with equal skill and effect, pa-
triotic always in purpose and thoroughly
grounded in democratic faith, Ethan Allen
was remarkably well fitted for the part he
played in life.
Ethan Allen was born in Litchfield, Conn.,
Jan. lo, 1737, though three other towns,
Woodbury, Cornwall and Salisbury, have
been claimed as his birthplace. The blood
was Anglo-Saxon, blending with a strain of
the Norse, and Samuel Allen, one of two
brothers who came to Chelmsford in 1632,
was the .American progenitor. Ethan .Allen's
father was Joseph Allen, a farmer in moder-
ate circumstances but of good character, and
his mother, Mary Baker, and his three
brothers, Heman, Hebar and Ira, filled
leading parts in the formation of Vermont,
as did also another for a time, Levi, who
finally turned Tory. Remember Baker was
their cousin, and also a cousin by marriage
of Seth Warner.
Ethan married for his first wife, Mary
Brovvnson, so that there was quite an exten-
sive relationship among the leaders of our
early settlement. It is said that Ethan
started to fit for college under the tutorship
of Rev. Mr. Lee, of Salisbury, but the death
of his father left the family so poor that
he had to give it up. It is evident from his
earlier writings in the Vermont controversy
that his education had been very defective,
but his productions show the effects of con-
stant effort at self-improvement all through
his maturer years. But these very lacks
probably contributed to his peculiar great-
ness ; for they compelled a concentration
of reading and thought, so that his naturally
vigorous mind thoroughly assimilated what
it got hold of; especially his knowledge of
the scripture embellished and strengthened
his rude eloquence. His career could never
have been a commonplace one.
He was early a man of enterprise in Con-
necticut. In 1762, when he was only twen-
ty-five, he entered with three others into the
iron business at Salisbury. He afterwards
lived at Sheffield, the southwest corner town
of Massachusetts. In 1764 he bought a part
of a tract of land on Mine Hill, in Roxbury,
which contained a remarkable deposit of
spathic iron ore, and large sums were spent
in trying to develop it as a silver mine. Ex-
cepit for these glimpses of his business under-
takings, in farming, mining and casting iron-
ware, little is known of him until he came
to the New Hampshire grants about 1769.
He had, in the three or four years previous,
spent much time in exploring the grants for
the purpose of locating lands. He first set-
tled at Bennington, but afterwards lived at
four other places, Arlington, Sunderland, and
Tinmouth until he settled at Burlington, where
he died. He immediately became a leader
among the settlers in their land controversy
with New York. The grounds of that contro-
versy in their historical and legal bearings
need not here be discussed. Suffice it to say
that the practical moralities were with the
settlers under the New Hampshire grants.
They had taken the lands and improved
them under what they had a fair right to re-
gard as good titles and grants, under the au-
thority of the Crown. When the jurisdiction
was decided to belong to New York it ought
not to have carried with it any change in the
titles of bona fide settlers and purchasers,
and if it had not, as was at first supposed
would be the case, there would have been no
trouble. Such a sense of equity as that of
Chittenden and Chipman a few years later,
in the "quieting act" to settle titles under
Vermont authority, would have ended the
controversy in a twinkling. But the fact
of their settlement and improvement of these
lands had increased values to tempt cupidity
and the hea\y tees which each ,a:rant yieldcti
to the colonial officials of New \'ork,madeit
an object to feed this cupidity. The New
York grants were chiefly in large tracts, and
it was in fact, as the \'ernionters claimed,
mainly a struggle between land jobbers and
genuine husbandmen. Allen reached the
marrow of the controversey when he wrote in
one of his pamphlets ; "The transferring and
alienation of property is a sacred prerogative
of the owner — Kings and Governors can-
not inter-meddle therewith ; common sense
teaches common law." He studied the sub-
ject exhaustively, knew it in all its relations,
collected a great mass of historical and docu-
mentary evidence and before the end was
reached he had written a series of pamphlets
whose vigorous sledge hammer arguments
had convinced the world of the justice of the
Vermont cause, and in this way gave it the
vitality that enabled it to prevail through
difficulties almost unexampled. He was not
alone in defending the claim of the settlers
with the pen, but there will be no disagree-
ment in according to him the chief distinc-
tion among them all. Most of his articles
were published in the Hartford Courant, then
the ofificial organ of the state, as Vermont at
that time had no printing press ; but some
appeared in the New Hampshire Gazette,
and a few in handbills.
At the very inception of the controversy,
when he had been upon the grants but a few
months, he was selected for an agent to
defend the New York suits against the set-
tlers, and went to New Hampshire and got
copies of Governor Wentworth's commis-
sions and instructions from the King. Then
he engaged Jared Ingersoll of Connecticut
as counsel, and in June, 1770, appeared at
Albany to answer in a suit of ejectment by a
New York claimant against a settler. The
judge, Livingston, was a patentee under New
York grants, interested directly or indirectly
in 30,000 acres. So were the attorneys and
court ofificers, nearly all, and a fair consider-
ation of the case was the last thing they pro-
posed to permit. All of .^lien's documents
and deeds under New Hampshire authority
were simply excluded as evidence, and the
verdict was against him as arranged. After-
wards some gentlemen called on him at his
hotel, and representing how desperate the
case was, urged him to go home and ad\ise
his friends to make the best terms they could.
He coolly replied, " The gods of the valleys
are not the gods of the hills." .\sked his
meaning, he told them that if they would
come to Bennington it should be made clear.
There is a New York yarn that he promised
to do as advised ; but the facts of history all
go to contradict it, and the evidence is that
he was offered land grants for himself and
appointments to office imder New \"ork au-
thority if he would use his influence, which
was already recognized to be considerable, to
support the New \'ork side. He spurned
the offer, as he always did all through his life,
every attempt to induce him to betray a
cause in which he was engaged.
Then began the long struggle between the
two jurisdictions, not to be finally settled for
eighteen years, during the first few of which,
after New Hampshire had abandoned them,
the settlers were practically without govern-
ment, except such as they improvised for
their towns, acknowledging no other author-
ity and no other allegiance except such as
they agreed to among themselves, for mutual
protection. The sheriff of Albany county
repeatedly came with posses of from 300 to
700 men to dispossess the farmers, but always
without success, doubtless because the bor-
dering people of New York, from whom the
posses had to be recruited, had no heart in
the work and no sympathy except for their
fellow-farmers whom greedy aristocrats in
the cities were using the law to dri\e out of
their homes. The story has often been told
of the raid on the farm of James Breaken-
ridge, at Bennington, and its successful re-
pulse without the firing of a gun. Here,
Mr. Hall says, was really born the future
state of Vermont. Allen was the leader of
this resistance before and after it took organ-
ized form. When the military organization
was formed, towards the close of 1771, and
Allen was elected colonel, with Seth W'arner,
Remember Baker, Robert Cochrane and Gid-
eon Olin captains, this regiment took the
name of "Green Mountain Boys," in derision
and defiance of Governor Tryon of New York,
aftersvards the Tory leader, who had threat-
ened to "drive the settlers from their farms
into the Green Mountains." They repeat-
edly drove off the New York authorities.
They protected one another from arrest.
They took in hand and disciplined anybody
that ventured to survey or occupy lands un-
der New York titles. Their method was
generally that of the "beech seal," or, as
Allen humorously described it, a "chastise-
ment with the twigs of the wilderness, the
growth of the land they coveted."
The New York government, met and
beaten at every point, in the winter of
i77i-'72 offered a reward of ^150 for the
capture of Allen and ^^50 for Baker and the
others. .Allen, Baker and Cochrane ])romptly
met this with a counter proclamation, dated
at Poultney, Feb. 5, 1772, reciting that
" whereas James Duane and John Kempe of
New York (prominent lawyers and advocates
of New York's claims) have by their men-
aces and threats greatly disturbed the public
])eace and rejiose of the honest peasants of
Bennington and the settlements to the north-
ward, * * * any person that will apprehend
these common disturbers shall have /[i^
reward for Duane and ^lo for Kempe."
Allen's personal comment on the act of
outlawry was this ; " They may sentence us
to be hung for refusing to voluntarily place
our necks in the halter, but how will the
fools manage to hang a Green Mountain
Boy before they catch him?" An anecdote
is told in this connection that illustrates his
extraordinary daring and his power to awe
' men. Fears were expressed for his safety
after this act of outlawry. He offered a bet
that he would go to .Albany and to the most
prominent hotel, drink a bowl of punch and
come back unharmed. .And he did it. When
he reached the city and the hotel, he alighted
deliberately from his horse, called for his
punch and drank it, while the word flew
round, " Ethan .Allen is in the city," bring-
ing a large concourse of people, among them
the sheriff of .Albany county himself. It was
worth S750, in those days of scarcity of
money, to anybody that would take him, but
they all stood gaping and wondering, while
.Allen leisurely enjoyed his punch, walked
out, mounted his horse, and giving a " huzza
for the (Ireen Mountains," rode off. On
another occasion, which Thompson describes
interestingly in his tale of the " Creen Moun-
tain Boys," .Allen, while hunting on the shores
of Lake Champlain, stopped over night at
the house of Mr. Richards. .A party of six
soldiers from Crown Point opposite, fully
armed, determined to arrest him for the
sake of the reward. .Allen drank with them
boisterously and got them well soaked, while
he simulated worse intoxication himself, and
he and his companions, having been warned
by Mrs. Richards, silentlv raised a window
and escaped.
These years were full of adventures like
these, the expeditions against Clarendon, to
breakup its " hornets nest " of Yorkers, the
raid on Colonel Reed's Scotchmen along the
Otter Creek, the trials of Benjamin Spencer,
Benjamin Hough, and Jacob Marsh for ac-
cepting commissions as judge and justices
in disregard of the order in council that no
citizen should do any official act under New
York authority, the offering of the Bennington
county Yorkers' house as " a burnt sacrifice
to the gods of the woods in burning the logs
of his house," as ."^llen quaintly told him —
these are only a few of the incidents that
have come down to us. I'he size and the
intensity of the struggle are illustrated by
Allen's declaration, perhaps e.xaggerated, in
a letter to Governor Tryon in 1772, that
over 1,500 families had been ejected from
their homes and the "writs come thicker and
faster." " Nobody," he adds, with a recur-
rence to first principles, " can be supposed
under law if law does not protect."
Out of all this struggle was evolved, in i 774,
an interesting scheme of which .Allen was a
leading advocate, for the formation of a new
colony to include the grants and stretch west
and north of the Mohawk river to Lake
Ontario. The capitol was to be Skeenes-
borough, now \\'hitehall, and Col. Phillip
Skeene was to be the Governor. He had
gone to England to urge the project upon the
ministry when the outbreak of the Revolution
upset all plans.
.After the Westminster massacre a meeting
of committees was held at that place which
passed resolutions to renounce and resist
the authority of New York "until such times
as life and property might be secured by it,
or until the matter could be laid before the
Crown and the people taken out of so oppres-
sive a jurisdiction and annexed to some other
government or erected into a new one." .Al-
len and Col. John Hazeltine of TowMishend
and Charles Phelps of Marlboro were ap-
pointed a committee to prepare a remon-
strance and petition to King George in ac-
cordance with these resolutions, but the rapid
march of events left no taste or opportunity
for such work. The petition was never pre-
pared, and the resolutions were the last pub-
lic expression of loyalty to the Crown that
ever came from Vermont.
The Westminster massacre occurred March
i3> i/TSi the battles of Lexington and Con-
cord April 19, and Ticonderoga was cap-
tured May 10. In these opening days of
the Revolutionary struggle .Allen was among
the most active of the patriots. Ever the
unyielding advocate of the rights of man and
a foe of oppression of all kinds, the issues of
the Re\olution were in close line with those
upon which he had been thinking and writ-
ing for the past five years, and they were a
kind to enlist all the sympathy and arouse
all the ambition of a nature like his, while
the Westminster affair had given the subject
a practical personal interest to him and to
all ^■ermonters. He plunged into the patri-
otic work with a promptness, a resolution
and farsightedness of plans that ought to
have made him one of the foremost men of
the struggle and probably would but for the
misadventure at Montreal. He early dis-
patched messengers with characteristic let-
ters, to win over the Indians to the side of
the colonies, or at least to neutrality, and
thereby he did an important service to the
cause which did not cease entirely to be felt
until the end of the w-ar. Many of the red
men were induced to come to Newbury,,
some to settle and some to enter the service
as scouts and spies. Some were sent to
Washington's camp and some went to Can-
ada, where they procured information that
was highly valued by Washington and Schuy-
ler. But while he was doing this work, and
even before he had fairly gotten into it,.
Allen had entered with all his zest into the
project for the capture of Ticonderoga.
Even before the spring o])ened, perhaps be-
fore the \\'estniinster massacre, the plan had
been formed. In the middle of February he
wrote a letter, which is still extant in Massa-
chusetts, to Oliver Wolcott of Connecticut
that "the regiment of (Ireen Mountain
Boys would assist their American brethren,"
in case of war. John Brown, a Massachu-
setts lawyer who had been through the grants
to Canada in the interest of the Massachu-
setts committee of safety, wrote on March
29, from Montreal to Boston : "The people
on the New Hampshire grants have en-
gaged to seize the fort at Ticonderoga as
soon as possible, should hostilities be com-
mitted by the King's troops."
There were simultaneously in the latter
days of April and early in May movements
started for the capture from both Connecti-
cut and Massachusetts. That from the
former state was in charge of Edward Mott,
afterwards a major in Colonel Gray's regi-
ment, and it started out April 28 and 29,
enlisting sixteen men before it arrived at
Pittsfield, Mass., where John Brown was met
on his way back from Canada and joined
them. Thirty-nine more men were enlisted
at Jericho and Williamstown, and the partv
proceeded to Bennington, where a party of
future ^'ermonters were gathered. No one
dreamed of any one but Allen for com-
mander, and he, full of energy and resolu-
tion, goes ahead of the party to raise more
men and make sure, by throwing trusted
scouts still farther ahead, that no tidings of
the approach reach the fort. But when the
expedition reaches Castleton, May 8, it is
overtaken by Benedict .Arnold, on horseback
and with one attendant, to arrogantly claim
the command, and show a commission from
the committee of safety at Cambridge, Mass.
The dispute for a time threatened to wreck
the project. .Arnold persisted until the men
declared that they would serve under no offi-
cers other than those with whom they had
engaged. Finally, when .Allen was overtaken,
he good-naturedly averted the difficulty by
agreeing that, while he should command,
Arnold might accompany him at the head of
the attacking party.
There was great difficulty, and partial
miscarriage of plans to procure boats to cross
the lake, and as morning began to dawn.
May 10, only eighty-three men had been
got across, while Seth Warner, with the re-
mainder of the two hundred and thirty men
of the expedition was impatienty waiting on
the Vermont side. .Mien saw that no time
was to be lost, so he drew his men up in line,
told them it was a desperate attempt that was
about to be made and gave all who wished
the pri\ilege of backing out, but asked those
23
who were willing to follow him into the fort
to poise their fire-locks. Instantly e\ ery fire-
lock was poised. " Face to the right," he
cried, and he marched the men in three files,
himself at the head of the center file, to the
gate. A sentry at the wicker gate snapped
his fuse at Allen, who pursued him with up-
raised sword into the parade ground of the
garrison. .Allen then formed his men so as
to face the two barracks, and ordered three
huzzas. .Another sentry, who had slightly
wounded an officer with a bayonet thrust,
and been struck in the head by .Allen's
sword, begged for quarter, which was granted
on condition that he show the way to the
quarters of the commanding officer. Captain
De La Place, which were in the second story
of a barrack. .Allen strode up the stairway
and summoned Captain De La Place to
come out instantly or the whole garrison
would be sacrificed. De La Place appeared
at the door, trousers in hand, and asked by
what authority the demand was made, elicit-
ing the reply, which has gone thundering
down the generations : "In the name of the
i;reat JehovaJi and /he Continental Congress."
The dazed commandant wanted more infor-
mation and began further parley, but .Allen,
with drawn sword, and voice and manner
that admitted no trifling, repeated his de-
mand for an immediate surrender. De La
Place had to comply and ordered his men to
parade without arms. .AH were treated by
.Allen with characteristic generosity but as
prisoners of war. .After the capture, .Arnold
again demanded the command, greatly to the
wrath of officers and men, and to end the
assumption the committee of war gave .Allen
a certificate signed by Lldward Mott, chair-
man, requiring him to keep command until
further orders from Connecticut or Congress.
The capture was made on the very day of
the first assembling of the Revolutionary
Congress. It was the first surrender of the
British flag, and had a great effect on the
spirits of the country. Lieutenant-( lovernor
Colden, in reporting it with other misfor-
tunes to Governor Dartmouth, found his
consolation in the fact that "the only peo]jle
of any prominence that had any hand in
this expedition were that lawless people
whom your lordship has heard so much of
under the name of the Bennington mob."
The capture was followed by a rapid suc-
cession of brilliant strokes. Capt. Sam Her-
rick and his detachment had simultaneously
captured Skeenesboro and Major Skeene, and
seized a schooner and several bateaux there.
Warner with a detachment of one hundred
men was dispatched to Crown Point, which
he captured the same day, with thirteen men
and sixty-one pieces of cannon. .Allen and
.Arnold with their sloop and a lot of bateaux
proceeded to St. Johns on the i8th, where
they or rather Arnold who went ahead of the
bateaux, captured the King's armed sloop
that was cruising the lake, and Allen attempt-
ed a land attack though unsuccessful, being
attacked by a superior force, and compelled
to retire with a loss of three men.
The whole of Lake Champlain within a
little over a week had fallen into the hands
of the Revolutionists. With Ticonderoga
were taken without a blow, not only a fortress
that had cost Britain years of struggle and
vast expenditures of blood and treasure, but
stores of incalculable benefit to the army
near Boston, including one hundred and
twenty iron cannon, fifty swivels, ten tons of
musket balls, three cart-loads of flints, a ware-
house full of material for boat building and a
large quantity of other supplies and material.
Allen's conceptions were Napoleonic. He
proposed at once to follow up his success
with the capture of Canada, which was almost
depleted of British forces, there only being
about seven hundred regulars in the province,
and where a large part if not an actual major-
ity of the people were ready to rise in sympa-
thy. It was a great opportunity lost. If
there had been in Congress energy and fore-
sight equal to Allen's the whole course of the
war would have been changed and the geog-
raphy of America made a century ago what it
may take a century yet to make it. And Ethan
Allen would in all likelihood have ranked
next to Washington among the Revolutionary
commanders. Allen wrote to Congress May
29 : "The Canadians (all except the noblesse)
and also the Indians appear at present to be
very friendly to us ; and it is my humble
opinion that the more vigorous the colonies
push the war against the King's troops in
Canada, the more friends we shall find in
that country."
He offered to "lay his life on it" that "with
fifteen hundred men and a proper train of
artillery," he would take Montreal. Then
"there would be no insuperable difficulty to
take Quebec, and set up the standard of
liberty in the extensive province whose limit
was enlarged purely to subvert the liberties
of America." He pointed out that the only
possible defense for the British against such
a diversion would be to draw troops from
General Gage in front of Washington at
Boston, and the result would surely be to
"weaken General Gage or insure us of Can-
ada." Lake Champlain, he shrewdly argued,
was "the key of either Canada or our country,
according as which party holds the same in
possession and makes a proper improvement
of it. The key is ours as yet, and provided
the colonies would suddenly push an army of
two or three thousand men into Canada, they
might make a conquest of all that would op-
pose them. * * Our friends in Canada
can never help us until we help them."
The imagination cannot help but draw
pictures of the results of such a master-
stroke. The enthusiasm following the cap-
ture of Ticonderoga, and the successful
dashes about the Lake, gave the .-Americans
every advantage in pushing their victory.
The success of Allen's "political preaching"
a few months later showed how receptive
the Canadians were. (Even in September
James Livingston reported "them all friends,
and a spirit of freedom seems to reign among
them.") And the dissatisfaction with British
rule that has continued ever since, with the
repeated though ill-fated uprisings to win
the independence the people of the .States
had secured, indicate something of the tre-
mendous advantage it would have been to
have these people as allies rather than ene-
mies— a part of the new republic instead of a
base for British operations all through the war.
Burgoyne's expedition would never have
been thought of. The Indian alliances with
all their bloody work, which the officers of
the Crown negotiated, would have been be-
yond their reach, and all the fighting that
was done by Indians would have been, under
the plans launched by .Allen, on the side of
the colonists. How much this one fact
alone would have meant for American his-
tory in the last one hundred years ! Allen's
project, with proper support, could hardly
have failed of success, because it would have
been undertaken with advantages that were
largely gone when the expeditions of the
fall were undertaken. If it had failed, its
defeat would have been accomplished by so
weakening Gage as to make it more than
probable that he would have been crushed
by Washington. On the other hand, it is to
be remembered that success would have
meant the incorporation of Canada, with
problems of church and state, of race and
education, with which, as we can now see,
our American system could not safely have
loaded itself, besides all the other problems
it has had to solve. .And it would probably
have made impossible the independence of
Vermont with its valuable additions to the
democratic thought of the age. So we can
see how the most disappointing things of
history do their part in working out mighty
results of righteousness.
xAUen flooded the Continental Congress
and the provincial congresses of New York
and Massachusetts with letters and petitions
and arguments in favor of his project and in
remonstrance against a plan advanced in the
Continental Congress to remove the stores
and cannon of Ticonderoga to the south end
of Lake George, which he declared truly,
" meant ruin to the frontier settlements which
are extended at least 100 miles to the north-
ward of that place." Backed by the pro-
tests of Massachusetts, Connecticut and New
-5
York, he secured the abandonment of that
plan. In the meantime he went ahead with
letters, proclamations and embassies to the
Indians and Canadians to prepare the way
for an invasion, exhibiting a vigor and adroit-
ness that evidenced his high quality of lead-
ership. May iS he wrote the merchants of
Montreal, calling for provisions, ammuni-
tion and liquors, assuring them that it should
all be paid for and that his orders were not
to "contend with or in any way injure or
molest" them, "but, on the other hand, to
treat them with the greatest friendship and
kindness." May 24 he addressed a letter to
the Indians, calling them "brothers and
friends," telling them how King George's
troops had killed some of their "good friends
and brothers at Boston,' how Ticonderoga
and Crown Point had been taken with all
their artillery and two great armies raised,
one of which was commg to fight the King's
troops in Canada, and how he hoped the In-
dians, as "good and honest men, would not
fight for King Ceorge against your friends
in America, as they have done you no wrong,
and desire to live with you as brothers ;"
how he had always been a friend to Indians
and hunted with them many times ; how his
warriors fought like the Indians in ambush,
while the British regulars stood all along
close together, rank and file ; how he would
give them blankets, tomahawks, knives, paint
and anything, and "my men and your men
will sleep together and eat and drink to-
gether and fight regulars because they first
killed our brothers." The letter was most
shrewdly calculated to impress the Indian
mind, and its arguments were reinforced by
sending "our trusty and well-beloved friend
and brother," Capt. Ninham of Stockbridge
and Winthrop Hoit of Bennington, who had
long lived among the Indians and was an
adopted son of one of the tribes, as embas-
sadors to them to further explain the good
intentions of the Americans.
There is no doubt that if Allen's policy
had been promptly and systematically fol-
lowed the trouble from the Indians in the
later years of the war might have been
greatly avoided. June 4 he issued a procla-
mation to the French people of Canada,
appeahng to their sense of "justice and
equitableness " not to "take part with the
King's troops in the present civil war against
the colonies," for they were fighting in a
common cause to "maintain natural and
constitutional rights," and assuring the peo-
ple that his special orders were "to befriend
and protect you if need be ; so that if you
desire our friendship you are in\ited to
embrace it, for nothing can be more unde-
sirable to your friends in the colonies than a
war with their fellow-subjects the Canadians,
or with the Indians " "Prav," he added,
"is it necessary that the C'anadians and the
inhabitants of the English colonies should
battle with one another? God forbid '. 'I'here
is no controversy subsisting between you and
them. Pray, let Old England and the colon-
ies fight it out, and you, Canadians, stand by
and see what an arm of flesh can do." ISut
his vigorous scheme of invasion was too much
for the nerveless control of that time. There
was indeed at first some disposition to apolo-
gize for the seizure of Ticonderoga and Crown
Point, and it was not until autumn that an
invading army was put in motion. Allen
wrote, August 3, " I fear the colonies have
been too slow in their resolution and prepa-
tion."
Allen and U'arner went to Philadelphia
and Albany to urge the scheme on the con-
tinental and provincial congresses. They
were received with considerable honor at
both places, though they were still placarded
as outlaws by the New York government.
The result, after long urging, was that the
New York Congress, on the recommendation
of the continental body, authorized the rais-
ing of a regiment of Green Mountain Boys,
to be commanded by officers chosen by
themselves. .Another mortification followed
for .Allen, for when a committee of towns
met at Dorset, July 27, to choose a lieutenant-
colonel to command the regiment, Seth \Var-
ner was elected by a vote of 41 to 5. Not-
withstanding the high merit as an officer
always displayed by Warner, it is difficult to
account for this action, in view of Allen's
recent achievements, the large capacity he
had shown and the unanimitv with which he
had been regarded as the leader only a few
weeks before. .Allen himself, in a letter to
Governor Trumbull of Connecticut, attri-
buted it to " the old farmers who do not in-
cline to go to war," saying he was in the fa-
vor of the officers of the army and the young
Green Mountain Boys. He hoped, however,
to get a commission from the Continental
Congress, and when, in the fall, General
Schuyler invited him to accompany the ex-
pedition to Canada, with the understanding
that he should be regarded as an officer, and
have command of detachments as occasion
required, he accepted. But this service had
continued only about three weeks when it
was ended by his capture before Montreal.
.Schuyler sent him on several expeditions
" preaching politics " and extending the work
he had so hopefully began to arouse and or-
ganize the people of Canada into support of
the Revolution. He met with sweeping suc-
cess ; the Canadians guided and guarded
him through the woods ; enthusiastic crowds
greeted him in the villages ; the Caughna-
waga Indians, some of whom had been among
the British skirmishers, sent him assurances
that they would not take up arms on either
side. September 20 he wrote to General
Montgomery that he had 250 Canadians
under arms, and that he could raise one or
two thousand in a week's time, but would
first visit the army with a less number and if
necessary go again recruiting, and he added :
" I swear by the Lord I can raise three times
the number of our army in Canada, provided
you continue the siege."
All these hopes were dissipated by the
misadventure at Montreal, Sept. 24. While
returning to camp, as he had written to Mont-
gomery, Allen met Maj. John Brown, the
Pittsfield lawyer, who had in the spring made
the reconnoitering expedition into Canada,
and had now entered the service, and who
was at the head of a force of about two hun-
dred Americans and Canadians, and a plan
was concocted .between them and their offi-
cers to surprise and capture Montreal. Brown
was that night to cross the St. Lawrence
above the city and Allen below, and at a sig-
nal of three huzzas, they were to attack si-
multaneously. Brown, for some reason never
explained, failed to fulfill his part. Doubtless
some unforeseen obstacle prevented, for he
was a brave and capable officer ; but he was
killed at Stone Arabia, in the Mohawk valley,
in a battle with the Tories and Indians, Ocf.
19, 1780, and his story about the Montreal
attack was never told. Allen crossed over
his force of no men, according to agree-
ment, taking nearly the whole night for the
task, as he had but few canoes. When he
failed to get the signal from Brown, he saw
he was in a scrape, but concluded to stand
his ground as he could not get off over a
third of his force at a time, and the enemy
would surely discover the attempt. So he
dispatched a messenger to Brown and to
L'Assumption, a French settlement where
lived a Mr. Walker, who was on the side of
the patriots, to hurry on assistance. Allen's
hope was to hold his ground until aid could
arrive, and Walker had raised a considerable
force to march to him, when he learned of his
surrender. Allen placed guards between his
position and the town, with orders to let
nobody pass or repass. A good many pris-
oners were detained in this way early in the
day, but one of them managed to escape and
went to Ceneral Carlton in the city, who had
made every preparation to take refuge in his
ships, exposed the weakness of Allen's force,
and so brought on an attack in the middle of
the afternoon, before assistance could arrive.
Carlton marched out with a force of about
five hundred men, chiefly Canadians and
residents of the city, and including only
forty regulars. Allen's force was made up
of only thirty Americans and eighty Cana-
dians, but he was in a well-selected position,
and he defended it bravely and skillfully for
an hour and three-quarters, until nearly all
his Canadians had deserted him, when he
finally surrendered with a force of thirty-one
effective men and seven wounded, on being
assured good quarters for himself and men.
Schuyler and Montgomery both com-
mented severely in letters and reports on
Allen's rashness in making the attack single-
handed, and this \ievv was excusable with
the information they had at the time. They
knew nothing apparently of the plan of con-
cert with Brown, or how surely it would have
succeeded if Allen had had the co-operation
he had a right to depend on. They only
knew the consequences of defeat, which were
so disastrous, putting "the French people
into great consternation," as Warner wrote,
and "changing the face of things," as a Tory
wrote to Covernor Franklin of New Jersey
(the son of the great Benjamin Franklin).
"The Canadians," he added, "were before,
nine-tenths for the Bostonians ; they are now
returned to their duty."
But no such excuse can be urged for the
historian, Bancroft, who, writing with all the
knowledge of later years, charges that Allen's
officers opposed the project, but that he
"with boundless rashness indulged himself a
vision of surprising Montreal as he had sur-
prised Ticonderoga." Even Go\'. Hiland
Hall was not fair and full when he said the
attempt was due to Allen's "ambition to dis-
tinguish himself, and add to the laurels won
at Ticonderoga." The truth is that the at-
tack instead of being a reckless exhibition of
Allen's vanity was planned after a full con-
sultation, on the united judgment of all the
officers in both commands, and it only failed
bv one of those military accidents which can
never be provided against, in Brown's fail-
ure to co-operate. Carlton practically ad-
mits this in his report when he shows how
poorly prepared Montreal was for attack,
and how he was on the point of abandoning
the city when he learned from the escajsed
prisoner of Allen's weakness. The effect of
the failure on the Canadians only shows
correspondingly how beneficial the effect of
success would have been. The people were
wavering, chiefly to be on the winning side,
inclined to the American side, perhaps, but
fearful of the consequences if the British
prevailed. What was needed above all else
was to impress them with confidence of
American success. Delay had dimmed the
eclat of Allen's victories on Lake Champlain,
but another brilliant stroke, like the capture
of Montreal, would revive it, powerfully im-
press an imaginative people, and draw them
in great masses to the American standard.
Allen and Brown had, in their intercourse
with the people, learned the importance of
such a stroke, and hence the enterprise.
Allen's "narrative" of his captivity gives
us all the information we have of it and it
27
was full of exciting and characteristic inci-
dents. He had just handed over his sword
when an Indian rushed u]> and attempted to
shoot him. .\llen instantly twitched the
ofificer to whom he had handed his sword
between him and the savage. Then another
"imp of hell," as .Allen described him, at-
tacked and Allen only saved himself from
being murdered by twitching the otificer
around him with such swiftness that neither
of the Indians could reach him or get
aim at him without endangering the officer.
He keep this up several seconds until
another ofificer and an Irishman interfered
and drove the Indians away. .Allen then
walked with the officers to Montreal, meet-
ing in the barrack yard (ieneral Prescott,
who, when he learned that it was the Colonel
-Allen of Ticonderoga fame, broke into a tor-
rent of abuse, shook his cane over .Allen's
head until the latter shook his fist and as-
sured the general that it would be " the
beetle of mortality" for him if he struck. It
would have been interesting to see this af-
fair to its conclusion, but other officers
stayed its progress by reminding the enraged
general that it would be inconsistent with
his honor to strike a prisoner. Then Pres-
cott, according to .Allen's narrative, ordered
forw-ard a sergeant's command to kill the
thirteen Canadians who were included in
the surrender. Allen's magnetic boldness,
as so often in his career, here served a use-
ful purpose. He stepped between the e.x-
ecutioner and the prisoners, opened his
clothes and told Prescott to thrust the bayo-
nets into his breast, for he was the sole cause
of the Canadians taking up arms. Prescott
was of course thrown into a quandary ; he
dared not execute a man of .Allen's promi-
nence, in violation of the capitulation, and
dared not carry out his brutal purpose
against the prisoners in the face of such a
man's protest. Allen had evidendy calcu-
lated on all this; his "recklessness" usually
had calculation behind it. .As he says : "My
design was not to die, but to save the Cana-
dians by a finesse." Prescott, after a little
hesitation, replied with an oath : "I will
not execute you now, but you shall grace a
halter at Tyburn."
Then began Allen's two years and eight
months of captivity, most of it filled with the
most brutal abuse, but relieved with a few
gleams of soldierly magnanimity. He was
first put on board the ship of war Gaspee in
the harbor and kept in irons six weeks. The
leg irons he describes as weighing thirty or
forty pounds with a bar eight leet long,
and so heavy that he could only lie on his
back. He wrote to Prescott and Carleton
protesting against such usage and contrast-
ing it with that he had accorded to the
prisoners he took at Ticonderoga ; but with-
out eliciting a reply, though he was finally
transferred to another shij) where he was \ery
generously treated. The imjjression that he
always made on manly men was illustrated by
the conduct of Captain Littlejohn, the com-
mander of the latter ship. The captain swore
that a brave man should not be treated like a
rascal on board his ship ; he refused to keep
.Allen in irons, and gave him cabin fare with
the officers. So far did this friendship go
that when Littlejohn was challenged to a
duel he accepted Allen's offer to act as his
second, going to the field in disguise, on
.Allen's pledge of honor that whatever the re-
sult of the duel he would return to the ship.
But this mark of confidence was prevented
by the interference of other British officers
who at the last moment settled the contro-
versy without fighting. But this ])olite treat-
ment lasted less than a fortnight when, on
the appearance of Arnold before Quebec,
.Allen and the other prisoners were placed on
board a merchantman, the .Adamant, and
shipped to England.- Their treatment under
the inspiration of a junto of Tories aboard
was most villainous. Thirty-four of them
were confined, hand-cuffed, in a little room
20x22, so dark that they could not see one
another, filled with vermin and an intoler-
able stench, denied an adequate supply of
water, where suffering from diarrhcea and
fever they were compelled to eat, sleep and
perform all the offices of life. .Allen had a
fight before he would go into the filthy in-
closure. He first protested against it as a
disgrace to honor and humanity, but was
told that it was good enough for a rebel, that
anything short of a halter was too good for
him, and that a halter would be his portion
as soon as he reached England. In the
course of the dispute a lieutenant among the
Tories spit in his face. .Allen, hand-cuffed
as he was, sprang upon him, knocked him
partly down, pursued him in fury to the
cabin where the lieutenant, thoroughly
frightened, got under the protection of a file
of men with fixed bayonets. .Allen chal-
lenged the man out to meet him in hand-
cuffs as he was, which the cowering fellow
would not do. But the soldiers finally forced
.Allen at the point of the bayonet into the
hole.
.Arriving at Falmouth, in England, he and
his men were shut up tor a few weeks while
the ministry decided what to do with him.
He was a subject of general interest. Bets
were laid in London that he w-ould be
hanged. Parliament debated the question.
Crowds of people came to see what, up to
that time, was the most romantic, and, be-
cause of what he had done, the most feared,
figure of the Revolution. He often, while
walking in the spacious parade of the castle,
would stop and harangue the crowds assem-
28
bled to see him, telling of the impractica-
bility of Britain's conquering the colonies,
expatiating on American freedom, and im-
pressing all with his boldness in such talk
while the question of his execution was still
under consideration. It was a part of a
shrewd game of bluff, .\nother part he
humorously details in telling how he " came
Yankee " over the prison authorities. He
asked for the privilege of writing a letter to
Congress, which the commander of the
castle granted after consultation with a su-
perior officer. Allen wrote in this letter of
his ill-treatment, how he and his companions
were kept in irons by General Carleton's
order, but urged Congress to desist from
retaliation until the results of the treatment
of himself and companions were known, and
then that the retaliation should be, " not
according to the smallness of my character
in .America, but in proportion to the impor-
tance of the cause for which I suffered."
The letter, of course, went, as expected,
straight to Lord North instead of Congress,
and its design, as .Allen says, was " to intimi-
date the haughty English government and
screen my neck from the halter." Another
thing that helped him is that there was an
attempt to win him back to the British
cause. This fact has been found by B F.
Stevens in official correspondence in the
British archives at London. An "officer of
high rank," whose name does not appear,
was sent to him to represent that the injuries
he had suffered from New York arose from
an abuse of an order in council, and if he
would return to allegiance to the King he
should have a full pardon, his lands be re-
stored to him, he and his men sent back to
Boston, and he placed in command of a
company of rangers ; but if he refused, they
must all be disposed of as the law directs—
a delicate way of intimating that he would
grace a gallows, .\llen onlv makes a brief
allusion to this incident.
But the event shows that he spurned the
bribe and dared the government to do its
worst. His bold demeanor won the sympathy
of liberal-minded people. He learned after-
wards, he says, that there was a move for a writ
of luil'eas corpus to obtain for him his liberty.
In consequence of all this, it was determined
in cabinet meeting, Dec. 2 7, to get rid of the
problem by ordering Allen and his associates
to be returned to America as prisoners of
war, and he was, Jan. 8, i 776, placed in irons
on board the man-of-war Solebay, Captain
Symonds, where he again had to undergo
harsh and brutal treatment. When the fleet
rendezvoused at Cork some benevolent gen-
tlemen in that city undertook to supply the
prisoners with the necessaries which the
ship's officers denied, and sent aboard com-
plete outfits of clothing, with sea stores.
meats, wines and liquors, most of which
Captain Symonds promptly appropriated,
swearing that the "damned American rebels"
should not be feasted by the "damned rebels
of Ireland." A few guineas of money from
his generous friends, however, did remain
with .Allen, and his conclusion from this af-
fair and his other experience was that as a
people the Irish "excel in liberality and gen-
erosity." He tells of a characteristic encoun-
ter he had with the captain sometime after
they left Cork. The purser was ordered not
to sell to Allen some medical supplies of which
he was in need, and when .Allen remonstrated,
saying he was sick, the captain replied that it
did not matter how soon he was dead ; he
was not anxious to preserve the lives of
rebels. Allen again contrasted, as he was
fond of doing, the treatment of their pris-
oners by the Americans, and argued that as
the English government had not proceeded
against him as a capital offender, English
officers had no right to, but as he had been
acquitted by being sent back as a prisoner
of war he was entitled to be treated as such.
Furthermore, it was not policy for them
by harsh usage to destroy his life, for if
li\ ing he might redeem one of their officers.
The captain retorted in a rage that the Brit-
ish would surely conquer the rebels, hang
Congress and the leaders, Allen in par-
ticular, and retake their own prisoners, so
that his life was of no consequence in their
policy ; besides it was not owing to the hu-
manity of the Yankees, but their timidity,
that they treated prisoners so well. This
was really the prevalent idea up to Burgoyne's
surrender. Allen's reply was that if they
waited until they conquered .America before
they hung him he should die of old age, and
in the meantime he would like to purchase
of the purser with his own money such arti-
cles as he really needed. .Allen came off
first best in the argument as he usually did ;
but he did not get the permission. The
fleet proceeded by way of Madiera to Cape
Fear in North Carolina, where the prisoners
were all collected and put on board the frig-
ate Mercury, Capt. James Montague, who
was even more bigotedly brutal in his treat-
ment. He e\ en forbade his surgeon to ad-
minister help to any sick prisoner, many of
whom were suffering with scurvy, and cut
their food down to barely a third of the usual
allowance. Allen shared equally with the
rest, though the men offered him more.
From Cape Fear they went to Halifax, ar-
riving about the middle of June, where Allen
managed to secure some alteration of their
treatment by sending a letter of complaint
through a sympathetic guard to Governor
.Arbuthnot, who ordered them transferred to
the Halifax jail. Allen, however, there suf-
fered severely from jail distemper, for which
29
he found a remedy in raw onions, which the
other prisoners used to advantage. In Octo-
ber they were sent on board the Lark frigate,
bound for New York, Captain Smith, who
drew the first tears of his captivity from Allen
by his kindly and cordial treatment, inviting
him to dinner and assuring him that he
should be treated with respect by the whole
crew. Smith, it appears, had before got him-
self into trouble with some of his superiors
by his vigorous protests against their inhu-
man conduct towards the prisoners. Allen
expressed, as best he could, his gratitude at
this unexpected kindness, and his fear that
it would never be in his ])ower to return the
favor.
Smith replied, like the hearty tar, the true
soldier he was, that he had no reward in
view ; he only aimed to treat his prisoner as
a gentleman should be treated ; but this, he
said, is a mutable world, and one gentleman
never knows how soon it may be in his power
to help another. This came true sooner
than he ever knew, for while the ship was
skirting along the coast, one of the prisoners,
Captain Burk, formed a conspiracy with an
under officer and some of the crew of the
ship to kill the captain and the principal
officers and take the ship with ^35,000
sterling in the hold, into one of the Ameri-
can ports. They laid the plan before .Allen
and urged him to enlist the other prisoners
in the design. Allen refused absolutely and
showed what a sorry return it was for the
chivalric kindness they had received. Asked
to remain neutral, he gave emphatic notice
that he would fight by Captain Smith's side
if the attempt was made, but he assured them
that if they would give up the project he
would respect their confidence and keep the
secret, guarding their lives with the same
honor as he would Captain Smith's, and such
was his power over men and their faith in
him that the matter rested right there.
In November the prisoners vvere landed
in New York, where he was placed on parole
and remained for eighteen months in com-
parati\e comfort himself, though he tells a
harrowing story of the way the private sol-
diers were treated. He exerted himself a
good deal to alleviate their condition, but
with little success. He held Sir William
Howe personally responsible for these cruel-
ties and in his "narrative" in his extravagant
style denounces him and James I>oring, a
Tory, and the commissary of prisoners,
especially, as "the most mean-spirited, cow-
ardly, deceitful and detestable animals in
God's creation below, and legions of infer-
nal devils, with all their tremendous horrors,
are impatiently ready to receive Howe and
him with all their detestable accomplices
into the most exquisite agonies of the hottest
regions of hell fire."
( )f the thirty-one men captured with him
two died in imprisonment, three were ex-
changed and all the rest made their escape
at one time or another. It was while at New
York that the second attempt was made to
seduce his allegiance, by an officer who came
to his lodgings, told him that his fidelity,
though in a wrong cause, had recommended
him to General Howe, who wished to make
him colonel of a regiment of Tories ; pro-
posed to send him back to England to be
introduced to Lord George Germaine, and
probably to the King, and return with Hur-
goyne ; he should be paid richly in gold, in-
stead of rag money, and receive for his ser-
vices in reducing the country a large tract of
land in Connecticut or Vermont, as he pre-
ferred. .Allen replied that if by fidelity he
had recommended himself to General Howe,
he "should be loth by unfaithfulness to lose
the general's good opinion : besides, I view
his offer of land to be similar to that which
the devil offered our Saviour, to give him all
the kingdoms of the world to fall down and
worship him, when the poor devil had not
one foot of land on earth."
Allen was e.xchanged May 3, 1778, for
Colonel .Alexander Campbell, and after two
days of courteous entertainment at General
Campbell's headquarters he crossed New
Jersey to Valley Forge, where he was enter-
tained by Washington for several days and
received marked honors from Putnam, (lates,
Lafayette, Steuben and all the officers and
men who were heroically maintaining the
country's cause in its very darkest hour. He
wrote a letter to Congress offering his ser-
vices to the cause in any capacity where he
could be useful, and then proceeded to l^en-
nington, going most of the way in company
with Gates, who treated him royally, and
everywhere being received with acclamations
by the people, and reaching home Sunday
evening. May 31, where the expressions of
love and enthusiasm could not be restrained,
even in that orthodox populace, and cannon
boomed welcome from the people, who had
long supposed him dead. Fourteen guns
were fired, one for each state and one for
Vermont. His brother Heman had just died
at Salisbury, Conn., while he was on his
journey home. His only son had died dur-
ing his captivity. His wife, in feeble health,
and four daughters were in Sunderland.
He at once asserted his old powers of
leadership. .Another characteristic incident
introduced him to it. David Redding had
been convicted of treason and sentenced to
be hanged. .\ rehearing was petitioned for
on the ground that his conviction was a vio-
lation of the common law, being by a jury
of six instead of twelve. Governor Chitten-
den had granted a reprieve to June 11. The
populace, very bitter against Redding, was
30
disappointed, angry, and threatening to take
the law into its own hands, when Allen ap-
peared and cried : "Attention, the whole 1 "
and he proceeded to explain the illegality of
the trial, and told the people to go home and
return in a week, and they should " see a
man hung ; if not Redding, I will be." The
crowd obeyed. Allen was appointed attor-
ney for the state at the next trial, and he
secured Redding's conviction.
He was selected to write a reply to a pro-
clamation of clemency issued by Governor
Clinton the February previous, in which the
New York (Governor charged Vermont's
wrongs to the British government while
New York was a colony, and offered to recall
the outlawry act, to revoke all unjust prefer-
ence in grants, reduce the quit rents to the
New Hampshire basis, make the fees of
patents reasonable, and confirm all grants
made by New Hampshire. Allen's reply, in
a pamphlet, was skillful, and made clear the
impracticability of what seemed and doubt-
less was intended to be a fair proposition.
He showed that as a matter of fact most of
the New Hampshire and Massachusetts
grants had been covered by New York pat-
ents and that as a matter of law it was impos-
sible for New York to cancel her former grants,
and cited the opinion of the lords of trade
to that effect. Many people had been eager
to accede to Governor Clinton's terms, but
Allen's argument was so strong, the rights of
self-government so well stated, that the tide
of public opinion was completely turned.
Probably it prevented a dissolution of the
state government. Here again, as well as
in the initial stages of the controversy, was
it true, as his best biographer, Henry Hall,
says : " But for him the state of Vermont
would probably never have existed."
He was three times sent on embassies to
Congress, first in August, 1 7 yS, with reference
to the trouble with New Hampshire over
the "Eastern union." He performed the
delicate duties with great tact and reported
strongly advising the dissolution of that
union and saying that unless it was done "the
nation will annihilate Vermont." He was
again sent in i 779 with Jonas Fay, to defend
the new state's action, and to show Congress,
as they wrote July i, 1779, that they were
"willing that every part of the conduct of the
people we represent should at any convenient
time be fully laid before the Grand Council
of America" but considering all the embar-
rassments of the country "would be far from
urging a decision * * until you can have
leisure to take it up deliberately." The third
mission was with Fay, Stephen R. Bradley,
Moses Robinson and PaulSpooner in 1 780 to
defend Vermont's case against the claims of
all three of the adjoining states, and the
duties were performed with skill and address.
He was also, ( )ct. 19, 1799, appointed
agent to wait on the Council and General
Court of Massachusetts to negotiate for an
abandonment of the pretensions which the
latter state had raised to jurisdiction o\-er
Vermont, and to secure her acknowledgment
of Vermont's independence. He was, in
October, 1779, though not a member of the
Assembly, appointed chairman of a commit-
tee, ■ consisting of himself, Reuben Jones,
Nathan Clark, and John Fassett, "to form
the outlines of a plan to be pursued for de-
fense before Congress against the neighbor-
ing states in consequence of a late act of that
body." He was repeatedly appointed on
legislative committees when not a member.
He was elected to the Legislature from
Arlington, though his "usual home" was in
Bennington and his family lived in Sunder-
land, and he was allowed to act, though he
refused to take the oath expressing belief in
the divine inspiration of the Bible and pro-
fession of the Protestant religion.
His military service after his release from
captivity was confined entirely to his own
state. Congress gave him the commission of
brevet brigadier-general, but did not call him
into the field. Perhaps the reason was the
suspicion of his loyalty that soon became
rife. The third effort to seduce him was pub-
licly known before he knew it. The l.egisla-
ture made him major-general and comman-
der-in-chief of the Vermont militia, and he
held the position for two years, but no active
service was required except to guard the
frontiers. In February, 1 780, Col. Beverly
Robinson, a Virginia Tory, wrote him a letter
alluding to the Vermont feeling over its treat-
ment by Congress and inviting a negotiation
with the British. The letter was delivered to
him on the streets of Arlington in July. Allen
showed it to Governor Chittenden and the
leading men of the state, and it was decided
to pay no attention to it. The next March,
however, while the Haldimand negotiation
was in full progress, Allen sent the letter, with
a duplicate which Robinson had impatiently
forwarded, to Congress, with a long screed of
his own, well calculated to impress Congress
with the idea that it was running a great risk
of driving Vermont to the other side by its
unjust treatment. He said he was confident
Congress would not dispute his sincere attach-
ment to the cause of his country, though he
did not hesitate to declare that he was fully
" grounded in the opinion that Vermont had
an indubitable right to agree on terms of ces-
sation of hostilities with Great Britain, pro-
vided the United States persisted in rejecting
her application for a union with them ; for
Vermont of all people would be the most
miserable were she obliged to defend the in-
dependence of the United States and they at
the same time claiming full liberty to over-
turn and ruin the independence of Vermont."
He closed with the characteristic words :
" I am as resoUitely determined to defend
the independence of \'ermont as Congress
is that of the United States, and rather than
fail, will retire with my hardy (Ireen Moun-
tain Boys into the desolate caverns of the
mountains and wage war with human nature
at large."
The Haldimand negotiations are more
fully discussed in the sketch of Ira Allen,
whose consummate shrewdness conducted
them to success. Ethan Allen was in the
secret of them all, and at the time had to bear
more of the suspicion and odium than any
other man, but his part was chiefly that of
counsellor, with very little of the active
work, 'i'here is reason for believing that he
told Washington all about them in the begin-
ning, and that the policy of protecting Ver-
mont by fooling the British had the tacit
approval of the country's chieftain. There
is no chance for reasonable belief that .Allen
ever tor a moment contemplated treason to
the -American cause ; he had twice spurned
offers when far more alluring. He was con-
stantly and carefully looking after the arms
and equipments of the state, to keep her in
the best condition for defense. In Decem-
ber, 1780, even while the charges of treason
were getting loudest against him, he was ne-
gotiating with Governor Trumbull of Con-
necticut for two tons of powder, to resist an
invasion from Canada. He offered, .April
14, 1 781, when there seemed to be a chance
that the British could no longer be kept off
by diplomacy, in a letter to Governor Clin-
ton, his own services and those of two other
Vermont ofificers to defend New Vork against
their cruel invaders.
The only question is whether in his deceit
of the British he went beyond the lines of
honor. The worst piece of evidence is a
letter written to Haldimand, June 16, 1782,
and closing with these words : "I shall do
everything in my power to render this a
British province." The letter was unsigned,
but it read very Allenish, and has generally
been believed to have been written by him.
Allen, as commander of the Vermont army
in 1 78 1, concluded a truce with the British
forces while the negotiations were in prog-
ress, and he got the northern parts and
frontier of New Vork included in it. He
reported these doings to Colonel Webster
and General Schuyler, and warned the latter
of a project to capture his person, assuring
him that the "surmises of my corresponding
with the enemy to the prejudice of the
United States are wholly without founda-
tion." Captain Sherwood, who came to
Allen's headquarters at Castleton as an en-
voy from Haldimand, reported .Allen as bar-
gaining hypothetically for himself and for
the state, but the rejjort of his terms con-
cludes with this significant condition: "If,
however, Congress should grant \'ermont a
seat in that assembly as a separate state,
then these negotiations to be at an end and
be kept secret on both sides."
P>ut the wildest reports of his treachery
flew about the country. Some of them e\en
represented him at the head of British troops
in Canada. The feeling grew at home and
finally focussed in an arraignment before the
Legislature in No\ember, 1782, for miscon
duct in the armistice. This is what appears
in the "(iovernor and Council" minutes as
the "Captain Hotchkiss Resolutions." The
record is very meagre. Fay and Bradley,
who were on his staff at Castleton, testified,
and apparently con\inced all that nothing
improper had been done. .Allen resigned
his commission, evidently deeply hurt that
after all he had done for the people he
should be subject to such suspicion : that, as
he said, "such false and ignominious asper-
sions" were entertained against him for a
moment, and he indignantly left the house,
declaring that he would "hear no more of
it." The Legislature appointed a committee
of two to express the state's thanks for .Al-
len's services, and then accepted the resigna-
tion which .Allen had offered "because there
was uneasiness among some of the people on
account of his command," but he patriot-
ically said he would ever be ready "to serve
the state according to his abilities," if ever
necessary.
The next spring he was chosen general of
the brigade of militia, but refused to accept,
though with a repetition of his promise to
serve the state in an unofficial capacity in
case of need. In December, 1781, when
New York attempted force to get control of
the state, .Allen was present with the force of
\ermont militia that defeated the project,
not nominally in command, but evidently at
the request of Governor Chittenden, as his
account against the state for that service was
allowed.
The rest of his days were passed in j^ri-
vate life, but with recognition on every side
as the leader of the state. In i 782 he was
called to the field, as he had been two years
previously, to quiet the rebellious "Yorkers"
in Windham county, and when his party was
fired on by ambushed men in (kiilford he
walked into the town on foot and gave his
famous warning that unless the inhabitants
of the town peacefully submitted to the au-
thority of the state of Vermont he would
"lay it as desolate as Sodom and Gomorrah."
When Shay's rebellion was started in
Massachusetts, messengers were sent to him
offering him the chief command, but heccm-
temptuously refused it, orilered the messen-
gers out of the state, notified the Massachu-
ALLEX.
setts authorities, and also exerted himself
vigorously to prevent the insurgents from
making Vermont a place of refuge. Though
so long posted as an outlaw, though a leader
of revolutionists and a discourser on human
rights through all his active career, and
though seemingly so recklessly extravagant
in his talk, he was always the friend of law
and order. His revolutionism was only
against what was so plainly wrong as to be
in ethics and morals illegal.
In 1787 he moved to Burlington, where he
devoted himself to farming. He died, Feb.
12, 1789, at the age of only fifty-one, while
on his way home from South Hero, where he
had been for a load of hay, and had spent
the afternoon and evening previous, at the
invitation of Col. Ebenezer Allen, with a
party of old friends. On the journey his
negro attendant spoke to him several times
and received no reply, and on reaching home
he was found to be unconscious with apo-
plexy. He died a few hours later. He was
buried with military honors, and his remains
rest in a beautiful valley near the Winooski.
The Legislature in 1885 ordered a monu-
ment to be erected over his grave, a Tuscan
column of granite 42 feet high, and 4 1-2 feet
in diameter. A commanding statue of him
designed by Mead, of Vermont marble,
stands in the portico of the Capitol at
Montpelier. Another by the same great
sculptor, of Italian marble, is in the Capitol
at Washington. The earliest statue of him
was modeled by B. H. Kinney, a native of
Sunderland, back in the early fifties. It was
pronounced by aged people who had seen
him, an excellent likeness, but it is still pri-
vate property. A fourth statue of heroic
size, designed by Peter Stevenson, was un-
veiled at Burlington, July 4, 1873, ^.nd sur-
mounts the Allen monument.
Allen's first wife was Mary, daughter of
Cornelius and Abigail (Jackson) Brownson,
of Woodbury, Conn. The earlier historians
used to say that she died in Connecticut
during the war, but on the authority of a
remembered statement of Dr. Ebenezer
Hitchcock it is now believed that she died
in Sunderland about 1783 from consumption,
and was buried in Arlington. Some verses
in her memory, the only attempt at poetry
Allen ever made, were published in the Ver-
mont Gazette of July 10, 1783, and are well
worth preservation, for his recognition, how-
ever skeptical he may have been himself, of
the sublime power of the Christian faith in
his wife :
Farewell, my friends; the fleeting world, adieu,
My residence no longer is with you;
My children I commend to Heaven's care,
And humbly raise my hopes above despair;
And conscious of a virtuous, transient strife,
Anticipate the joys of the next life;
Yet such celestial and ecstatic bliss
Is but a part conferred on us in this.
Confiding in the power of God most high.
His wisdom, goodness, and infinity
Displayed, securely I resign my breath
To the cold, unrelenting stroke of death.
Trusting that God, who gave me life before,
Will still preserve me in a state much more
Exalted, mentally beyond decay.
In the blest regions of eternai day.
No Stone was ever erected to her memory.
She bore Allen one son and four daughter's.
The son died at the age of eleven. Two of
the daughters died unmarried and one mar-
ried Eleazer W. Keyes of Burlington and the
other Samuel Hitchcock of Burlington, and
was the mother of Gen. E. A. Hitchcock.
Allen was married a second time, Feb. 9,
1784, to Mrs. Frances Buchanan, the widowed
daughter of Crean Brush, the Tory, the man
who had led in the New York Legislature in
passing the act of outlawry against him and
procured the reward to be offered for his
head. The story of this marriage is romantic
and again illustrative of Allen's rough-and-
ready audacity. Mrs. Buchanan, who was
twenty-two years his junior, and a woman of
grace, culture and fascination, was living with
her mother in the house of Stephen R.Brad-
ley at Westminster, where she frequently met
Allen with other leading men of the state,
and a sort of friendship, that was still half of
antagonism, grew up between these two
strong and original natures. Its character
may be judged from a remark to John Nor-
tin, the ex-Tory tavern keeper at Westmin-
ster, who one day said to her : " Fanny, if
you marry General Allen you will be queen
of a new state." "Yes," she retorted scorn-
fully, "if I should marry the devil I would
be queen of hell."
But early that February morning Allen
drove up with a span of dashing black horses
and a colored driver. It was during a
session of the Supreme Court, and the
judges were at breakfast. He declined an
invitation to partake, saying he had break-
fasted, and passed without ceremony into
Mrs. Buchanan's part of the house, where
he found her in a morning gown, standing
on a chair, arranging some glass and china
on the upper shelf of a closet. After a few
moments' playful chat, Allen said : "Well,
Fanny, if we are to be married, now is the
time, for I am on my way to Arlington."
"Very well," she replied, descending from
the chair, "but give me time to put on my
Joseph." Allen led her into the room where
the judges, having finished their breakfast,
were smoking their long pipes, and accost-
ing his old friend, Chief-Justice Robinson,
asked him to tie the knot. "U'hen?" said
the judge in surprise. "Now," replied
Allen. "For myself I have no great opinion
of such formality, and from what I can dis-
cover she thinks as little of it as I do, but
as a decent respect for the opinions of man-
kind seems to require it, you will proceed."
The ceremony reached the point where
the judge asked Ethan if he promised to live
with Frances, " agreeable to the law of
God." "Stop ! stop !" cried Allen, and paus-
ing and looking out of the window he added :
"The law of (lod as written in the great
book of nature? Yes! Goon!" Without
further interruption the service was com-
pleted, the bride's trunk and guitar case were
placed in the sleigh and the pair driven
across the mountain to the general's home.
By this second wife there was one daughter
and two sons. After his death the daughter
entered a nunnery in Canada and died there.
The sons were Hannibal and Ethan A., and
became officers of the United States Navy.
The latter had a son, since well known, C'ol.
Ethan Allen of New York.
Little that Allen wrote has been preserved
to the present day. Among his works, besides
those mentioned on pre\ious pages, was
his " Vindication of \'ermont and Her Right
to Form an Independent State," a forceful
argument of one hundred and seventy-two
pages, written in 1779 and published under
authority of the Governor and Council. In
1779 also appeared his "Narrative" from
which his biographers have all got most of
their material. In 177S appeared his "An-
imadversary .Address" in answer to Governor
Clinton ; in i 780, "Concise Reputation of the
Claims of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and
New York to the Territory of Vermont," which
he and Jonas Fay had prepared with much
care ; and in i 782 a " Defense of the Eastern
and Western Unions." In 1774 his most am-
bitious pamphlet on the New York contro-
versy appeared, a document of over two hun-
dred pages and an exhaustive discussion of
the historical aspect of the case, showing that
prior to the royal order of 1764 New York
had no claim to extend easterly to the Con-
necticut river. In 1784 he brought out the
work on which he expected his fame to rest,
his "Oracles of Reason," printed at Benning-
ton, which he called a " Compendious Sys-
tem of Natural Religion " and consisting as
he described it in a letter to St. Johnde Cre-
vecoeur of "the untutored logic and salHes
of a mind nursed principally in the moun-
tain wilds of America." It was a volume of
four hundred and seventy-seven pages, an
infidel work, denying the inspiration of the
scriptures, but energetic in its expressions of
veneration for the being and perfection of
the Deity and its firm belief in the immortal-
ity of the soul. It was laid a good deal on
the same lines as Paine's "Age of Reason,"
without Paine's caustic style of debate but
with a larger and healthier view of things eter-
nal. There was a presumptuous tone to it that
greatly marred it, and yet much of high ideals,
of humanitarian sentiment and of insight
beyond things material to things spiritual. He
had all his life been in the habit of jotting down
his thoughts on these subjects, and indeed
the work was planned in his youth, and there
is reason to believe that some of it was the
contribution of Dr. Thomas Young, one of the
ablest men of his times, an influential friend
of N'ermont in later years and the intimate
of Allen in his Connecticut days. Both de-
lighted in batding against New I-^ngland
orthodoxy, then wrote in conjunction, and it
was agreed that the one that outlived the
other should publish their stuff. Allen left
his manuscript with \'oung, on going to Ver-
mont, and on his release from captivity after
Young's death obtained it from the latter's
family, and elaborating the material as he had
leisure, finally published it. But it was a
failure, and a great disappointment to him.
The sale was limited, and a large portion of
the fifteen hundred volumes burned in the
printing office, and it brought on him an op-
probrium much like that suffered by Paine.
There have been two theories about Allen,
one that he was a hero, the other a humbug,
and about them has centered a vast deal of
discussion, but all of it fragmentary, without
a view in its wholeness of his work or char-
acter. That there was a big streak of hum-
bug in him is indubitable, and the anecdotes
of himself that he tells with most relish are
those where he made the humbug work. He
was overfull of faith in himself, to the point
of vanity and bombast at times. He was
often a heavy drinker, and that fact may ex-
plain many of the things that showed worst
in him. He was also, as Disraeli said of
Gladstone, in the habit of getting "intoxicated
with the exuberance of his own rhetoric"
— and blasphemy. But after making
every allowance, there is no denying his
greatness — the greatness of his influence on
liis times, of the work wrought out by the
force of his personality, of the results of
what he achieved, as well as attempted, but
missed, by the fault of others, and of the
greatness that was the foundation of it all,
the ideals above and beyond self that guided
him. He was too big-minded to ever be
mean.
Once when sued on a note he employed
a lawyer to have execution stayed a short
time. The lawyer, as the easiest way to do
this, denied the signature. .Allen arose in
court in a rage and shouted : "Sir, I did not
employ you to come here and lie. The
note is a good one, the signature is mine.
All I want is for the court to grant me suffi-
cient time to pay it."
Another court anecdote, not so creditable
and perhaps to be accounted for on the in-
toxication theory, Cdadstonian or alcoholic,
was at the trial at Westminster, in May,
1779, of the thirty-six Yorkers who had
rescued two cows from an officer who had
seized them because their owners had re-
fused to do militarv dutv on the frontier or
34
to pay for substitutes. Three had been
discharged for want of evidence, and three
more because minors. .Mien, who was there
by order of (jovernor Chittenden, with one
hundred soldiers to support the court, heard
of it and strode into court to warn it not to
let the offenders slip through its hands.
With hat on and sword swinging by his side
he began to attack the lawyers. Chief-Jus-
tice Robinson said reprovingly that the court
would gladly listen to him as a citizen, but
not as a military man in military attire.
Allen threw his hat on the table and un-
buckled his sword, exclaiming, " For forms
of government let fools contest ; whate'er is
best administered is best." Then, as the
judges began whispering together, he added,
" I said that fools might contest, not your
honors, not your honors." Then he told
how he had come fifty miles to support the
prosecution of the " enemies of our noble
state," and some of them are escaping " by
the quirks of this artful lawyer, Bradley ;"
and " this little Noah Smith," the state's
attorney, " is far from understanding his
business, since he at one moment moves for
a prosecution and in the ne.\t wishes to
withdraw it. Let me warn your honors,"
and turning to Smith he said, " I would have
the young gentleman know that with my
logic and reasoning, from the eternal fitness
of things, I can upset his Blackstones, his
Whitestones, his gravestones and his brim-
stones."
The military quality of his theological
views in the heat of dispute was shown in his
retort to John Norton, the Westminster tav-
ern keeper, who said regarding the then new
theories of Universalism : "That religion
will suit you, will it not, (General?"
Allen, who knew Norton to be a Tory, re-
plied scornfully ; "No 1 No I for there must
be a hell in the other world for the punish-
ment of Tories."
In 1778 he complained of his own brother
Levi as a Tory, charging that he had ])assed
counterfeit continental money and under the
pretense of helping him while a prisoner on
Long Island, had been detected in supplying
the British with provisions. He stated that
Levi had real estate in ^'ermont and peti-
tioned that it might be confiscated to the
public treasury. For this Levi challenged
him to a duel, but Ethan retorted that it
would be disgraceful to fight a Tory.
The eccentricity of his vanity was illus-
trated while he was on his way to New York
after the capture of Ticonderoga. He stop-
ped at Bennington and went into the church
where Rev. Mr. Dewey was fer\ently thank-
ing the Lord in his prayer for that victory
for our arms. Allen got impatient as these
thanks to the Giver of all good were pouring
up, and shouted : "Parson Dewey !" No at-
tention was paid to him, but the thanksgiv-
ing still went on. "Parson Dewey !" again,
and again no stop. "Parson Dewey "' Allen
thundered the third time, springing to his
feet as the minister opened his eves in as-
tonishment. "Parson Dewey, please make
mention of my being there !"
Another anecdote, out of the many that
have come down, gives a glimpse of his
make-up on several of its sides. While he
was on his way to England as a prisoner,
and in irons, he discovered that the pin or
wire that fastened one of the handcuffs was
broken, and he extracted the pieces with his
teeth, unloosed the bolt, and then freeing
that hand soon had the other and his feet at
liberty. He replaced the irons before his
keeper came in, but was able afterwards to
liberate himself at pleasure. One day the
captain ordered him to be brought on deck
in order to make sport of him, and as
though to frighten a land lubber, said there
was a probability of the ship's soon founder-
ing, and asked ; "If so, what will become of
us, especially you, Mr. Allen, a rebel against
the King?" "My !" replied Allen, "that would
be very much like our dinner hour." "How
so?" "I'd be on my way up just as you
were going down." The joke was theologi-
cal, but founded on the fact that .Allen was
allowed to come on deck only when the
captain went down to his cabin to dine.
But the captain was mad, began a regular
tirade of abuse, and promised that "all the
rebels will soon be in the same situation as
yourself." Ethan's choler also arose, and in
a twinkling, raising his hands to his teeth,
he had the pins and bolts unlocked and the
irons thrown o\erboard, and while the crowd
stood paralyzed with astonishment, actually
seized the captain and threw him headlong
on the deck ; then turning to the affrighted
crew he declared in a voice of thunder : "If I
am insulted again during the voyage I'll sink
the ship and swim ashore."
He had the fondness of a superior mind
for the companionship of able men. His
early intimacy with Dr. Young was only the
forerunner of many hke it, and one of the
pleasantest was that with the cultured St.
John de Crevecoeur, French consul at New
York, and after whom he procured St. Johns-
bury to be named, as well as Danville and
Vergennes after other eminent Frenchmen ;
and great men, both of his and latter times,
have always admired him, even if they
didn't like. John Jay, found his writings to
be characterized by "wit, quaintness, and
impertinence."
The Englishman, Col. John A. Graham,
who wrote a series of letters from \'ermont
in the last century, found Allen to be an
"extraordinary character," possessing "great
talents, but is deficient in education ; in all
his dealings he possesses the strictest sense
of honor, integrity, and uprightness."
"A character strangely marked by both
excellences and delects," is the verdict of
Jared Sparks, whose biogra])hy finds him
"bra\e, generous, consistent, true to his
friends, true to his country, seeking at all
times to ])roniote the best interests of man-
kind."
Governor Hall, in his study of him, was
impressed with the extent and accuracy of
his political information, and with his style
of wTiting, as one to "attract and fix atten-
tion, and inspire confidence in his sincerity
and justice."
Judge D. F. Thompson's summary at-
tributes to him, "wisdom, aptitude to com-
mand, abihty to inspire respect and confi-
dence, a high sense of honor, generosity,
and kindness."
Z odack Thompson finds in him "un-
wavering patriotism, love of freedom, wisdom,
boldness, courage, energy, perseverance,"
but too much "self-sufficiency and personal
vanity."
WARNER, Seth,— The ablest soldier
of Vermont's youth, was, like nearly all the
leaders of the state's formative period, a
native of Connecticut, being born at that
part of Woodbury then Roxbury Parish,
and now Roxbury, Conn, May 17, 1743,
and he returned there to die, forty-one years
later. He early joined the movement to the
New Hampshire grants, which were begin-
ning to be settled after the close of the
French and Indian war, and were soon to
become the Eldorado of New Kngland agri-
culture. He came to Bennington in 1765,
and being a skilled botanist, though he had
had only a common school education, and
an ardent huntsman, the life was just of the
kind to delight him ; judging by his circum-
stances, these pursuits absorbed more of his
energies than the more prosaic work of
farming. He was once or twice a member
of the conventions of settlers, though he
had little ambition to play a political part.
But his quasi-military operations were always
useful and in demand in the controversy
with New York. His residence in Benning-
ton was less than a mile from the New York
line, and outside of the settlement, and yet
despite the indictments and heavy rewards
offered, the Yorkers never succeeded in cap-
turing him. Once a New York ofificer,
armed to the teeth, found and attemjated
to arrest him. Warner attacked and wounded
and disarmed the man, but with the spirit of
a soldier spared his life. Warner was, in
I 77 1, elected by a convention a captain of
one of the companies in the regiment of
(Ireen Mountain Boys organized to resist
New York authority, and the story of its
WARNEK. 35
wild, rollicking and romantic work is very
much the same as to Warner's part as any
of the other leaders. He was prompt and
eager to go with his comrades into the revo-
lution, and to join the expedition to Ticon-
deroga. He was left with the rear guard,
the bulk of the party, on the east shore of
the lake unable to get across, at the time
of the capture of that fortress, but he was
sent the next day with a detachment of men
to take Crown Point, which he accomplished
successfully, the fortress surrendering at the
first summons, with two men and sixty-one
good cannon, besides a lot unfit for service.
He earnestly seconded .-Vllen's eftbrts for an
invasion of Canada, going with him to
Philadelphia and Albany, to urge it on the
Continental and provincial congresses. It
looked for a lime as if the controversy be-
tween New York and the people on the
grants was to disappear in the enthusiasm
over the capture of Ticonderoga, for not
only were Allen and \Varner cordially re-
ceived when they appeared before the Pro-
vincial Congress, but they were both willing
and eager to lead troojjs raised under New
York authority, and the Congress passed a
resolution authorizing the raising of a regi-
ment among the lately rebellious people to
be commanded by officers chosen by them-
selves. .Allen in his impulsive generosity
wrote to the Provincial Congress : "When
I reflect on the unhappy controversy which
has many years subsisted between the gov-
ernment of New York, and the settlements
of New Hampshire grants, and also con-
template on the friendship and union that
hath lately taken place between the govern-
ment and these its former discontented sub-
jects, in making a united resistance against
ministerial vengeance and slavery, I cannot
but indulge fond hopes of reconciliation.
To promote this salutatory end, I shall con-
tribute my influence, assuring your honors,
that your respectful treatment, not only to
Mr. Warner (Seth Warner) and myself, but
to the Green Mountain Boys in general, in
forming them into a battalion, are by them
duly regarded, and I will be responsible that
they will retaliate this favor by wholly haz-
ardizing their lives, if need be, in the com-
mon cause of .America. I hope no gentle-
man in Congress will retain any precon-
ceived prejudice against me, as on my part
I shall not against any of them ; but as soon
as opportunity may permit, and the public
cause not suffer thereby, shall hold myself
in readiness to settle all former ilisputes and
grievances on honorable terms." But the
land jobbers evidently got in their work
soon to check this flood of good feeling.
For when the regiment had been raised and
Warner elected its colonel — much to the
mortification of .\llen — the New N'ork gov-
36
ernment neglected to give him his commis-
sion, for it appears by General Montgom-
ery's note book that after the regiment had
reached Canada and joined in the operations
the General appointed him colonel, and re-
quested him to be obeyed as such. The
New York Congress had not only withheld
commissions from the regiment, but had
asked the Continental Congress to do the
same, and the demand was several times
afterward repeated. January 20, 1777, the
New York Congress adopted a report declar-
ing that "The said Seth Warner hath been
principally concerned in riots, outrages and
cruelties against the former government of
this state, and is otherwise utterly unfit to
command a regiment in the Continental ser-
vice," and insisting that it is absolutely neces-
.sary to disband the regiment and "recall the
commissions given to Colonel \Varner and
the officers under him ; as nothing else will
do justice to us and convince these deluded
people that Congress have not been prevailed
on to assist in dismembering a state." But
no attention was paid to the demand, although
New York was profuse in promises to raise
extra troops enough beyond her quota to
make up for the disbandment of this regi-
ment, and yet it was but little more than
a year after this that New York was relying
on Warner and this regiment mainly for the
protection of her own frontiers — an arduous
and exhausting service which Warner cheer-
fully rendered, and in which really he lost his
life.
When the invasion of Canada was finally
begun in the fall of 1775, Warner and his
Green Mountain Boys joined it within three
days. Montgomery promptly sent him with
a part of his men to the St. Lawrence and
vicinity of Montreal to watch the motions of
the enemy. With three hundred men he
repulsed Carlton when the latter attempted
with eight hundred men to join McLean and
raise the siege. Warner watched the British
as they embarked from Montreal, permitted
them to approach very near the south shore
and then poured a hot fire into them, throw-
ing them into disorder and compelling a
retreat. It was well and gallantly done.
After repulsing Carlton and maneuvering
McLean back to Quebec, he erected a
battery at the mouth of the Sorel to com-
mand the passage of the St. Lawrence and
block up Carlton in Montreal. Carlton
managed to escape down the river to Que-
bec, and Montgomery took possession of
Montreal Nov. 13. But General Prescott
attempting to escape with a number of
armed vessels loaded with provisions and
military stores, was captured at the mouth
of the Sorel with one hundred and twenty
men. Warner also commanded at an action
at Longueil in which Z^Iontgomery com-
mended his bravery and prudence.
November 20, as the regiment had served
only as volunteers and was too miserably
clad to endure a winter's campaign, Mont-
gomery discharged it with peculiar marks of
respect. But the gallant boys had hardly
got home when General Wooster wrote
Warner, telling of the desperate straits the
invading army was in after the repulse at
Quebec, and the sickness and desertions
from which it was suffering and urging him
to raise a body of men and hasten to their
support until relief could come from the
colonies. " Let them come," (ieneral Woos-
ter wrote, " by tens, twenties, thirties, forties
or fifties, as fast as they can be prepared to
march." Eleven days afterward the valiant
and energetic Warner was again marching a
regiment northward. The men had become
habituated to turn out at his call, they had
unbounded confidence in his vigilance, pru-
dence and courage, and they loved him as
few officers are loved by their soldiers. He
was affable and familiar with the humblest
private without sacrificing any of the dignity
necessary to command.
The campaign was an extremely distress-
ing one. The troops, even the freshly-armed
Green Mountain Boys, lacked comfortable
clothing, barracks and provisions. ^Vhen
the retreat was made, A\'arner was placed in
command of the rear guard and did good
and skillful service in covering the retreat,
picking up the wounded and distressed, and
keeping generally only a few miles ahead of
the British advance, who pursued closely
from post to post. He brought ofl^ most of
the invalids, and with this corps of diseased
and infirm, arrived at Ticonderoga a few
days after the main column.
July 5, 1776, shortly after the final aban-
donment of Canada, Congress resolved, on
a report of the board of war, to organize a
regiment of regular troops for permanent
service, to be under command of officers
who had served in Canada. Warner was
appointed colonel of this regiment, which
was raised chiefly in Yermont, and Samuel
Safford lieutenant-colonel. Warner was at
Ticonderoga with his regiment through the
whole of the remainder of the campaign of
1776, and did some efficient service in pro-
tecting that post.
In the 1777 campaign, with its invasion
by Burgoyne, \\'arner went to work with his
accustomed activity to meet it. He issued
a stirring appeal to all Vermonters and wrote,
July 2, from Rutland to the convention at
Windsor, that an attack was expected at Ti-
conderoga, and urging that all men who
could possibly be raised be forwarded at
once. "I should be glad," he said, "if a
few hills of corn unhoed should not be a mo-
37
live sufficient to detain men at iiome." He
reached Ticonderoga with 900 men, mainly
Vermont militia, July 5, in season to assist
in its defense, but St. Clair and his council
of war resolved to abandon the post that
night, before ?!urgoyne's investment was com-
pleted. Warner was again placed in com-
mand of the rear guard. He was overtaken
by Fraser, in command of the 15ritish ad-
vance, on the morning of July 7, and the re-
sult was the well-planned and splendidly
fought, but most unlucky, battle of Hubbards-
ton. Warner had about t,ooo men, consist-
ing of his own and Colonel Francis, and
Colonel Hale's New Hampshire and Massa-
chusetts regiments. The British for cenum-
bered rather more, besides Riedesel's in-
fantry and reserve corps following three
miles behind. Hale got detached and was
captured, and Francis fell while charging for
the third time at the head of his regiment.
Still Warner fought on with the utmost gal-
lantry and with skillful dispositions and had
the battle nearly won when Reidesel's rein-
forcements arrived. Warner himself was
surrounded with a small party at one time,
but fought his way out. Only when defeat
v\'as evidently overwhelming did he give up.
There is a story, not supported by incontes-
table proof, however, that he then gave an
order not found in any tactics, for every man
to take to the woods and meet him at Man-
chester. He himself safely conducted a re-
treat with a small remnant to Fort Kdward.
The historian, Bancroft, is even more
imjust than in his strictures on Allen at
Montreal, when he says that Warner had en-
camped at Hubbardston contrary to St. Clair's
instructions, and calls the fight a rash one.
St. Clair had ordered him to keep the British
in check while the main army made its
escape. Besides, it was a good opportunity
for St. Clair, who was only six miles distant,
at Castleton, to turn upon the pursuing
column and crush it. Burgoyne, with the
rest of his army, was on the ships in the
lake and beyond supporting distance. War-
ner would have made the day victorious but
for the arrival of Riedesel's reinforcements,
and successfully resisted them for a time.
.And yet Riedesel had three miles to march
while St. Clair would have had only six.
When Riedesel arrived with his three C.er-
man batallions, Fraser took him by the
hand and thanked him for the timely rescue.
If Warner had run for Fort Edward without
fighting, as Bancroft seems to think he
ought, it would have reversed the conditions
and given the British a chance to beat the
Americans in detail, and very possibly St.
Clair would have been unable to reach
Schuyler with a single soldier.
Warner arri\ed at Manchester a few days
after with about one hundred and fifty effect-
ives, where he maintained a bold front until
the New Hamjishire men had time to rally,
and it very likely saved the stores at Ben-
nington from a descent by Riedesel from
Castleton. He adopted, in agreement with
Stark, the plan of arresting Burgoyne's ad-
vance, harassing his Hanks. Schuyler con-
sented to it most reluctantly and only after
he found that Stark would not obey his
orders to join him in Burgoyne's front.
Washington approved these tactics which
Warner had inaugurated, and it was ob-
viously the only thing to do in the pres-
ent junction, because it would compel
Burgoyne to weaken his column to guard
points in the rear, while time was the one
thing necessary to gather and organize a
sufficient force to arrest his progress in the
front. Schuyler, after he had assented to the
plan, did his best to make it effective, send-
ing Warner $4,000 and an order for whatever
clothing he could procure at .Albany. The
result was not only a gain of over a month
of precious time, but to make the Benning-
ton expedition for supplies a necessity for
Burgoyne.
Warner was with Stark two days before
the battle of Bennington, .August 16, 1777,
aided in planning the attack on Raum's in-
trenchments, and rode about the field with
the General early in the fight. The battle
was planned and fought with a degree of
military talent that would have done no dis-
credit to any service in Europe, and Stark
in his official report expressed his particular
obligations to \\'arner, "whose superior skill
was of great service." Warner himself had
hurried on at the first tidings brought by his
admirable scouting service of the approach
of the British to capture the stores which had
been accumulated at Bennington to be for-
warded to Ticonderoga. But his regiment had .
so large a number off scouting that it couldn't
start on the r4th. but had to wait for the
parties to come in. The next liay they
started under command of Major Stafford,
but owing to a heavy rain it was midnight
before they arrived within a mile of Benning-
ton. Their ammunition was wet, and a
considerable part of the next day was e.x-
hausted before they could get to the scene
of the battle. They arrived, however, most
opportunely, just as Breyman had come with
reinforcements for the British, after the day
had once been won by the .\mericans, who
were now scattered about gathering up
plunder. It was by Warner's earnest advice,
and against Stark's first impression, that the
fresh troops were at once thrown against
Brevman, instead of retreating to rally the
38
whole army on a new line. Warner jnit him-
self at the head of his regiment and pushed
the fight with a fire and dash that made the
Americans irresistible as soon as the other
troops coidd be formed in line and brought
into action, and swept Breyman and his bat-
talion off the field in complete rout. War-
ner's brother, Jesse, was killed in the battle.
Warner was with Gates throughout the
rest of the campaign, and after the surrender
of Burgoyne he was in constant service along
the Hudson and elsewhere. He commanded
an expedition to Lake George I^anding, by
which the vessels in which Burgoyne might
have escaped, were captured. In. April, 177S,
he was ordered to .Albany, leaving the state
without protection. Schuyler sent him on a
particular command into Vessop's Patent,
which he executed with skill and address.
It was not a field for brilliant achievements,
but for vigilance, energy and cool judgment
in guarding against Indian incursions, watch-
ing the Tories, gathering information, and
protecting communications. His bravery
and military capacity came to be highly re-
garded by the officers of the Continental
army. He was wounded from an ambush of
Indians in September, i 7S0, when the only
two officers with him fell dead by his side,
and with his constitution undermined by his
constant exertions and exposures, he returned
to Bennington toward the close of the war a
dying man, with poverty to crown his mis-
fortunes. Never a business man or thought-
ful for money matters, he had taken no in-
terest or part in the land speculations that
made most of the Vermont leaders wealthy.
The proprietors of several towns had voted
him land as a reward for his services, but
most of it was sold for taxes and he never
got any benefit. The neglect of his affairs
and other tax sales while he was fighting for
his country had nearly used up what little
possessions he had, so that before his death
his wife was forced to appeal for charity to
the helpless Congress. In 1777 the Legisla-
ture had granted him 2,000 acres in the
northwest part of Essex county, supposing it
would be valuable, but he never realized
much from it.
Colonel Warner was not at any time in the
secret of the Haldimand negotiation, but
like most people belie\ed that something
wrong was going on between the British and
the Vermont authorities and was very indig-
nant about it, becoming estranged from his
old associates on account of it. He went
with a Bennington committee to .Arlington,
in 1782, to protest to (iovernor Chittenden
against the sending of prisoners that had been
taken in war to Canada and threatening to
raise a regiment to overtake and bring them
back. There was quite an altercation, and a
reply from the Governor, substantially telling
him to mind his own business, that Colonel
Allen's regiment which had taken the prison-
ers was able to protect them, and that there
would soon be seen a generous return of
prisoners from Canada — which proved to be
the fact.
Colonel Warner returned to Roxbury, Ct.,
in the summer of 1784 and died there Dec.
26, of that year, at the age of forty-one. He
w-as long sick abed : mortification began at
his feet and continued by slow progress up
his body. His last few months were clouded
by fits of insanity. The burial was with
all the honors of war. There was in the old
days a pleasant story that Washington re
lieved the homestead of a mortgage for the
widow ; but it was a fiction.
The record is insufficient in the words of
the inscription on his tombstone, to
'* 'I'ell future .iges wh.^t a hero's done."
For Seth Warner's career was one of deeds
done, not words written, and his modesty
made his reports few and short and free
from any recounting of his own achieve-
ments. He always appeared to be satisfied
with being useful and manifested little solici-
tude that his services should be known or
appreciated. So it came about, as he was
never much of a pen and ink man, anyway,,
that in the latter part of his service, while he
was on detailed commands, we have very
few particulars about him ; but he was about:
the ideal soldier, with cool courage and
perfect self-possession, at all times resolute,,
energetic and sound of judgment, inspiring
his associates and his command with entire
confidence, courteous and frank in bearing
and with a character that was given a strong
and steady fibre by the high and patriotic
purposes that animated him.
Hon. S. D. Boardman of Connecticut, who-
as a youth often saw him, describes Warner
as of "noble personal appearance, very tall,
not less than six feet two ; large-boned, but
rather thin in flesh, and apparently of great:
bodily strength ; features regular, strongly
marked, and indicative of mental strength,
fixedness of purpose, and yet of much
benevolent good nature, and in all respects
both commanding and pleasing. His man-
ners were simple, natural and free from any
kind of affectation, at once both pleasing
and dignified." .Additional descriptions tell
of his sparkling and beaming blue eyes, his
beautifully arched eyebrows below nut-
brown hair, and a forehead broad and intel-
lectual, indicative of a sound and reflecting
mind and a strong and well-balanced man-
hood. He bestrode a horse with rare grace
and dignity.
The state of Connecticut has caused a
neat and substantial monument, a granite
obelisk, about twenty-one feet high, to be.
erected over his grave.
CHITTENDEN.
C: H 1 T T H N U H N , THOMAS.— I'he
"Washington of
Vermont," her
firstgovernor,for
nineteen years,
shaping her ad-
mi nistrat ion,
shares with the
Aliens the honor
of the successful
birth of the new-
state, and in him
was the intlis-
pensable com-
p 1 e t e m e n t of
their talents to
carry it through
the niulti]5Hed
perils of its youth. John I.. Heaton in his
"Story of Vermont," does not exaggerate
when he says that Chittenden should "rank
with Adams, Hancock, and Morris among the
great men of the Re\ olutionary period : for
he was one of the wisest and purest," and it
cannot now be seen that he made or sanc-
tioned more than one serious blunder,
though his task was one of the most difficult
that e\er confronted a leader of the people.
This plain, hard-working farmer, equipped
by Crod as a statesman, came to \'ermont and
assumed his work at the age of over forty
and in the full maturity of his mind and
powers. He was born at East Guilford,
Conn., Jan. 6, 1730, the son of Ebenezer
Chittenden, and descended from a family that
came from Cranbrook, England, in 1639, and
of whom one, Moses, was an officer in
Cromwell's own regiment. The Chittendens
were of Welsh origin and the name comes
from the words Chy-tune-den or din, signify-
ing a castle in a valley between mountains.
Crittenden is another form of the name and
the great Senator John J. Crittenden, of Ken-
tucky, was closely related to the Connecticut
and Vermont family. A brother of the (Gov-
ernor, Bethuel Chittenden, was the first Epis-
copal minister of Vermont. His mother was
a Johnson, and cousin of President Johnson
of Columbia College.
Thomas Chittenden's father was a farmer
of only moderate circumstances, and there-
fore the boy had only the meagre common
school education of those days. He worked
on the farm until he was eighteen, becoming
quite noted as an athlete, and then shipped
as a sailor on a voyage to the West Indies.
England and France then being at war, the
ship was cajitured by a cruiser; he landed on
one of the islands moneyless and friendless,
and he reached home only after much suf-
fering and fully satiated with sea life.
At the age of twenty he married Elizabeth
Meigs and removed to Salisbury, where by
his industry and frugality he soon acquired a
cHrrrENDEN.
39
com])etence and became a leading man of
the place, rejiresenting it in the colonial .Vs-
sembly six years, and being colonel of a
regiment of militia. His large business
judgment saw the opportunities of the virgin
land in Vermont, to which the spirit of emi-
gration and adventure was then directed, and
in 1774 he came to Williston, on the (hiion
river, where he purchased a considerable
tract of land, settling with his family and a
few others when there was scarcely a family
or road in that part of the land. He was
pushing improvements on the ])lace when
the retreat of the American army from Can-
ada forced him, in the spring of 1776, to
abandon it, first taking his family to .Slassa-
chusetts. But he soon bought a farm in
Arlington, to which he removed, and re-
mained there, with short stays at Pownal
and Danby, until after the war, when he
returned to Williston, which was his home
until his death. One of his reasons for
locating in .Arlington was to cpiell the Tory
power which had then become seriously
troublesome there, and this, in conjunction
with the .'\llens and Matthew Lyon, he did
vigorously, but, as Hon. David Read says,
with "sagacity, humanity, and sound discre-
tion," until nearly every royalist was dri\en
out of town or persuaded to remain in sub-
mission. From the beginning he had entered
zealously into the struggle of the settlers with
New York and the mother country. He was
appointed first president of the committee
of safety at Bennington, was a member of
the first convention of delegates that met at
Uorset, Sept. 25, 1776, to consider the inde-
pendence of the state, and at the Westmin-
ster session was one of the committee that
drafted the declaration, and assisted at the
Windsor convention in framing the constitu-
tion. He went to Philadelphia with .-Mien, at
the opening of the Revolution, to learn the
disposition and intentions of Congress, and
generally to procure intelligence and advice.
He was chosen one of the council of safety
by the Constitutional Convention, and at
once became president of that body, and
was unremitting in his attention to its duties,
which combined the legislati\e, judicial, and
executive powers of government, throughout
that summer.
Perhaps he cannot be said to ha\e been
the first to see the o])|)ortunity to end the
New York controversy by erecting a new
state ; but he was one of the foremost in ad-
vocacy of the idea, and indeed, by this time,
this sagacious, cool-headed, thoroughly i)rac-
tical and dignified gentleman had come to be
universally recognized as the representative
man of the settlers : the one to mould and
weld into practical shape the results of the
tremendous power, as a popular leader of
agitation, of Ethan .Alien : thebrilliant fertil-
40
CHl'ITENDEN.
CHITTENDEN.
ity and financial resourcefulness of Ira Al-
len, and the shrewd and patriotic endeavors
of Carpenter and Warner, the Fays and Rob-
insons and the rest. So, naturally, he was
elected the first (".overnor, taking the ofifice
March i, 1778, and being regularly re-elected
until March, 1797, except in the one year of
'89, when, owing to issues which will be later
explained, Moses Robinson defeated him for
a single term. He was undoubtedly best fit-
ted of any man in the state for the position
and its duties.
He steadily pursued the policy of inde-
pendence, and he made the Haldimand
negotiations (more fully treated in the sketch
of Ira .Allen) a chief club with which to
maintain it. He wrote a spirited protest
against the proposal, on which New York
and New Hampshire were figuring in 1 780,
to divide the state upon the mountain line
between them. He likened it to the iniquit-
ous division of Poland, told about the new
state's maintenance of posts in the northern
frontier, and that she was at liberty " if
necessitated to it," to offer or accept terms
of cessation of hostilities with Clreat Britain ;
and " if neither Congress nor the other states
will support her in independence, but devote
her to the usurped government of any other
power, she has not the most distant moti\e
to continue hostilities and maintain an im-
portant frontier for the benefit of the United
States, and for no other reward than the un-
grateful one of being enslaved by them." He
acted in December of the next year with
General Enos, Ira Allen and William Page,
as commissioners to New Hampshire, to ac-
commodate matters with that state and save
the effusion of blood in a conflict of author-
ity in the East Union.
When called upon by Stark for an explan-
ation of St. Leger's letter, expressing regret at
the killing of an American citizen, he made it
direct to Washington. This is another of the
many pieces of circumstantial evidence that
Washington was in the secret of the Vermont
intrigue with Haldimand. On transmitting
the resolution of Congress of August 7, 1778,
preceding, requiring as an indispensable pre-
liminary to her admission as a state, that Ver-
mont give up the territory of New York and
New Hampshire, which she had incorporated
into her own lines under the name of the
East and the West unions, Washington had
inquired by verbal message if the people
would be "satisfied with the basis of inde-
pendence suggested, or whether the people
seriously contemplated a British dependen-
cy." Washington was certainly inclined to
take the Vermont side. He wrote guardedly in
transmitting the above message that he would
not discuss the rights of Vermont's claim to
independence but take it for granted that it
was good "because Congress by their resolve
of .-Vugust 7, imply it."
In one of his letters he asks : " Would it
not be more prudent to refer this dispute to
New York and Vermont than to embroil the
whole confederacy of the United States
therewith? "
Even if Chittenden had in good faith at-
tempted a British connection he would have
been morally justified. For after the new state
had been cheated by Congress — as all Xer-
monters believed and as A\'ashington prac-
tically admitted in advance, in his letter
about the resolve — into abandoning the
unions on the broken promise, in effect, that
it should then be admitted to the confeder-
acy, and had ignored the offer of union and
aid in the "protest" of 1780, the Governor
did the utmost, as the "protest" suggested,
to get the neighboring states to act in con-
junction with \'ermont against the British.
He sent circulars to New Hampshire, Massa-
chusetts, Connecticut and New York, pro-
posing a union with the first three for pur-
poses of defense against the invasion which
would surelv be made from Canada the next
spring, demanding as the only condition that
any claim of territory in Vermont should be
relinquished. Massachusetts assented to this.
Connecticut made no response, though
understood to be favorable. New Hampshire
paid no attention to it. The New York
Legislature w-anted to agree to it, recog-
nizing the benefit the state had had from the
military activity of the Green Mountain Boys
and the likelihood that the plan would make
Vermont instead of New York soil the scene of
the next campaign, but Governor Clinton
only prevented the passage of a resolution
of assent by threatening to prorogue the
Legislature. In such a situation, abandoned
by both Congress and the other states to her
own resources, believing, as there was every
reason to do, that the purpose of it all was
to crush her, what was there for Vermont to
do? Absolutely nothing but to throw her-
self into the arms of the British, or adopt
the policy of tergiversation that was adopted.
The fact that the latter was the course
taken is of itself sufficient proof of the pa-
triotic Americanism of the ^'ermonters.
One of Chittenden's letters, Nov. 14, 1781,
after the British had returned to Canada,
shows his purpose : "The enemy were man-
oeuvred out of their expectations and then re-
turned into winter quarters with great safety,
that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by
the prophet : 'I will put my hook in their
nose to turn them by the way whence they
came, and they shall not come into this city
(alias Vermont) saith the Lord.' "
Another evidence of it was afforded by a
circumstance in October of that year. I'he
New York government, comparatively imbe-
CHIITENDKN.
CiU'riENDEN'.
cile in a military sense, because of its large
element of Toryism and its aristocratic con-
stitution, ne\er hesitated when in danger to
call for help on the Green Mountain Hoys,
whom it persisted at all other times in regard-
ing as "rebels" against its authority. So
when Carlton made his raid from Canada
and captured Forts Ann and George, Gov-
ernor Clinton again appealed to Chittenden
for aid. The latter replied that the state's
militia was up north, but he would immedi-
ately forward some he expected from Berk-
shire. The fact is that at this time and on
repeated other occasions, as Clinton officially
acknowledged, the Vermont troops rendered
prompt and valuable service to New York
when she needed it, and New York's return
was to procure ^'ermont's being left entirely
xindefended, when invasion was organized
against her.
Governor Chittenden wrote to Washington,
Nov. 14, 1782, that they would join the Brit-
ish in Canada rather than submit to New
York, though there were no people more at-
tached to the cause of America.
With Chipman and Lewis R. Morris, he
was a commissioner in 1791 to negotiate the
admission of the state into the Union.
He died, August 25, 1797, at the age of
si.xty-eight. For several months previous he
had been unable to perform the cluties of his
office, and in July he had issued an address
to the freemen announcing that he would not
be a candidate for re-election, and invoking
Heaven's blessings on the state and people
to whom he had devoted so many years of
service and whom he had seen increase from
a band of a few hundred to a population of
over 100,000 people. Many descendants
have borne his honored name, and it is said
that they all bear the stamp of his physiog-
nomy, so strong has been the personality to
show through generations. One son, Mar-
tin, was congressman and Governor ; another,
Truman, was councilor and repeatedly Dem-
ocratic candidate for Lieutenant-Go\ernor,
and he and still another son, Noah, were
judges of probate. One daughter was the
wife of Gov. Jonas Galusha, another of Mat-
thew Lyon, and another of Col. Isaac Clark :
" Old Rifle " in the war of 1812.
The character of Governor Chittenden is
best expressed by a statement of the work
done by him. He was a genuine Yankee in
his mental make-up, with its strength and
activity, its practical rather than theoretic
knowledge, its keen and quick perceptions,
its great tact, its penetration of the designs
and character of men, its " almost unerring
foresight, unhesitating firmness and sound
judgment," as Governor Hall says. But he
was more. He had that quality and poise of
mind that constituted so much of Washing-
ton's greatness, that habit of hearing all the
e\idence and considerations before reaching
a conclusion, of seeking a full view of all sub-
jects however complex, of divesting himself
of ail influences except that of duty, which in-
spired confidence even to the point of vener-
ation, which inevitably evolved a dignified
demeanor, and which made tiiis plain, unlet-
tered farmer who could hardly write a letter
in straight Fnglish, one of the great men of
his time. He grew in statesmanlike stature
as his opportunities widened.
While so keen a judge of human nature
that bad men could rarely deceive him, he
did not fail to bestow his trust where it was
worthy ; he did not make the mistake of
smaller minds, because he saw so much of
evil and littleness in the world, of losing faith
in humanity in the aggregate. The crown-
ing element of his success was that he knew
and utilized the good in men.
He was plain and simple and kindly in
manners and ways of living, his dignity be-
ing that of moral and intellectual rectitude
entirely, not of affectation, fitting him with
his long residence and his close acquaintance
with the work of the people, for the long
pojiularity he enjoyed. There is a story told
of a visit of some high-born dames from
.\lbany to the chief executive's home at Ar-
lington that gives a glimpse of the genuine
democracy of those days in Vermont. When
the hour for dinner arrived the Governor's
wife went out to the piazza and blew the
horn for the men at work in the fields. " Do
you have your servants eat at the same table
with you?" inquired the visitors, doubtless
with some elevation of noses. " Yes," re-
plied Mrs. Chittenden, " but I have been
telling the Governor that we ought not to,
that they have 10 work to much harder that
they ought to eat first."
He was always of remarkably equable
temper, and it is related of him that when a
neighbor. Colonel Spofford, had induced the
Legislature to appoint a man justice of the
peace whom the Governor thought unfit and
had opposed, and came to him to triumph
over the success, the Governor replied plac-
idly, " Well, well, Spofford, I am glad of it
on the whole ; Smith will make a better
justice than I supposed, and / always hoped
he would." The sure way to rouse his wrath
to the depths was to abuse Ira Allen. It
was his appreciation of and faith in .\llen
that brought him his only political defeat, in
1789. The Legislature in 1783 authorized
the disposal at a specific price, of the " flying
grant" of Woodbridge (apparently High-
gate), w^hich had been forfeited for non-pay-
ment, and thirty-five rights in Carthage
(Jay), to raise funds and provide supplies
for the survey of town lines and cutting
roads in the northern part of the state. No
sales were effected under this resolution, but
42
CHITTENDEN.
CHirrENDEN.
Allen, as surveyor-general, went ahead with
the work, advancing some §4,000 for it, as
it ultimately appeared, from his own funds.
Governor Chittenden, at the meeting of the
Governor and Council at Arlington, July
12, 1785, when unfortunately only half the
Council were present, gave Allen a paper,
signed by himself and seven members of the
Council, stating it as their opinion that if
Allen advanced the money he should have
the lands " at the price mentioned." Allen
was defeated for state treasurer the next
year, and called on Governor Chittenden to
deliver to him the charter of Woodbridge in
pursuance of this paper, and it was done.
The next year, in 17S7, Jonathan Hunt, of
^'ernon, procured from the Legislature, by a
vote of 36 to 13, against the protests of
Allen, a grant of the same lands, and organ-
ized a fight in the Legislature and secured
an investigation. A committee, headed by
Stephen R. Bradley, reported that the Gover-
nor had converted the state seal to " private
sinister views," and that the charter was
fraudulent and ought to be declared void.
.■\ bill to this effect, modified somewhat,
passed and went into effect, and such a
storm was raised that C'hittenden failed of a
majority at the next election, and as a ma-
jority of the Legislature was against him,
Moses Robinson was chosen in his place.
Allen got out a statement " To the Impartial
Public " about the case, but it was published
too late to save the election. But the report
of the commission in 1790, to adjust the
state's accounts with Allen, showed that he
had actually advanced the money for the
state, and the people were satisfied that
though there had been technical irregularity
there was no fraud or wrongful intent in the
matter, and the (xovernor's old popularity
returned to him with renewed strength.
Chittenden's bearing when the storm was
at its height was one of admirable dignity.
When the count was completed it was his
duty to declare Robinson elected and after
assurances that he had sought to discharge his
duty " with simplicity and unremitted atten-
tion " he said :
"Since I find that the election has not gone
in my favor by the freemen, and that you,
gentlemen, would prefer some other person
to fill the chair, I can cheerfully resign to him
the honors of the office I have long since
sustained, and sincerely wish him a happy
administration, for the advancement of which
my utmost influence shall be exerted."
And the Legislature could not help re-
sponding that the people "felt a grateful
sense of the many and good services he had
rendered them "^"and wished for him on his re-
tirement from arduous labors "all the blessings
of domestic ease."
His wise and foresighted benevolence
twice had a chance to show itself in provid-
ing food for the people, first at .Arlington,
where the disorders of the times and the leav-
ing of their unharvested fields, had brought
danger of a famine, and afterwards, after the
war at W'illiston where early frosts had done
great harm. The Governor's granaries were
full, and they were freely emptied for the bene-
fit of his suffering neighbors. .At .Arlington
he visited every family periodically, took an
account of the provisions on hand, and by
impartial and disinterested distribution saw
to it that no one perished for want that hard
winter. At \Villiston, so one historian says,
men came from scores of miles away through
the snow to draw food on hand-sleds for their
suffering families. When they offered pav or
security his reply was that he had no corn to
sell to those who were hungry. The only re-
striction was that they should leave enough
for seed. And the tale has been handed
down in many a familv how thev would ha\e
starved that "cold winter," but for the corn
of " Old Governor Tom."
The high quality of his statesmanship was
shown in the "betterment" and "quieting"
acts of 1781-86, legislation that was perfectly
novel in character yet so clearly founded on
the principles of natural justice that several
other states have since imitated it. The
idea was his in origin, and it cut the way
with equity through difficulties that were
simply inextricable in law procedure. And
it was done after a long fight against the op-
position of nearly all the lawyers of the state,
who were unable to see beyond technicalities.
When the state go\ernment was formed, land
titles were in woeful shape, owing to the long
time since the grants by New Hampshire the
unsettlement and insecurity that had come
from the controversy with New York, the
lack of any office or place of record, and the
general custom of not passing title deeds to
purchasers. There was pretty nearly noth-
ing by which to determine ownership. Lands
could be sold without the preliminary of pur-
chase as well as with it, and there were
manv men who had practiced swindling
of this kind extensivelv. The possessor,
though he had cleared and improved his
land and erected the best of buildings on it,
was in law simply a trespasser if some one
else could trace a title to it. Of course the
greater the improvements the greater the ob-
ject to dispossess, the thicker the speculators,
like those of former times in New York, who
sought farms that others had converted from
forests for them. Litigation was multiplying
on every side. Governor Chittenden's solu-
tion, which he had the help of Nathaniel
Chipman to put in its final shape, was first
to gi\e the settler, if a trespasser technically,
the full value of his improvements and leave
■Hiri KNIlEX.
43
the courts to make further e(iuital)le (H\ision,
then by the act of '84 to gi\e him half the
rise in the value of the land besides the im-
provements, and finally to allow the legal
owner only the original value before the im-
provements and six per cent besides.
Governor Chittenden's readiness of re-
source in an emergency was shown in Octo-
ber, 1 78 1, when the Legislature was in session
at Charlestown in the East union, and an
accident came near uncovering the whole
Haldimand business. For the sake of ap-
pearances the Vermonters had an army
under Enos at Castleton to confront the
British under St. Leger, who had come up
the lake from Canada.
The commanders and leading officers only
were in the secret of the negotiation, and
when an affair between scouting parties re-
sulted in the death of a Vermont sergeant
(Tupper by name), General St. Leger sent
back the man's clothes with a letter of
apology and regret to General E^nos, which
when delivered, caused a good deal of dis-
turbance among the Vermont troops. A
messenger, who was sent soon afterward
with dispatches to the Governor, made loud
proclamations all along the route, of the ex-
traordinary occurrence, fanning into flame
the suspicion with which the air was sur-
charged, and creating great excitement in
the Legislature when Charleston was reached.
The Go\ernor saw what must come, so he
called a meeting of the board of war, sum-
moning to their aid Chipman, then a young
lawyer and leader of the party opposed to
Chittenden, and in a few moments while Ira
Allen was bluffing in the Legislattire by
getting up a row with an inquisitive mem-
ber. Major Rounds, the Governor and his
assistants concocted some new letters from
(leneral Enos and Colonels Walbridge and
Fletcher, who were at the front with him,
including all they reported about military
matters that did not bear on the negotiation.
After Allen had kept up his disputation long
enough, he appealed to the dispatches as
evidence that there was nothing wrong, the
new ones were brought in and read for the
originals. Chipman followed with a speech
reminding the people that they were doubt-
ing the good faith of Thomas Chittenden, a
man whom he though of the opposing party,
knew to be honest and true, and would
trust against a whole army of St. Legers.
And before long the crowd that started in so
ugly was dispersing with cheers for Chitten-
den and Chipman.
His remarkable qualities of character were
well summarized by Ethan .Allen, who wrote
of him : " He was the only man I ever knew
who was sure to be right in all, even the most
difficult and complex cases, and yet could
not tell or seem to know whv it was so."
Thompson says : "He had a rare combi-
nation of moral and intellectual qualities —
good sense, great discretion, honesty of pur-
pose and an >ni\arying equanimity of tem-
per, united with a modest and pleasing
address."
I'^. P. Walton says : " He did not tower
like an ornate and graceful Corinthian col-
umn, but was rather like the solid Roman
arch that no convulsion could overturn and
no weight could crush." .And another bi-
ographer concludes : " Mosses and lichens
have co\ered the . stone which marks his
grave, but that stone will crumble into dust
long before \'ermonters will cease to respect
the memory of Thomas Chittenden."
ALLEN, iRA, the " Metternich of Ver-
mont," as he has
sometimes been
called ; its first
secreta r y and
its first treasur-
erer ; the one
great diplomat-
ist of the little
republic, and its
guide through
its greatest diffi-
culties, has had
meagre justice
done him b y
history. While
we properly re-
gard Chittenden
as the "Wash-
ington of Vermont," Ira Allen mav be well
called its Hamilton. Indeed, the likeness is
striking between these two men in their dif-
ferent fields. The wonderful intellectual
precocity of Hamilton, a mind versatile,
clear, and penetrating, with its intense, prac-
tical and logical cast, its perceptions quick
as light, its fertility of original ideas, its bold
and foresighted conceptions, and its master-
ful handling of the problems of administra-
tion, had its counterpart in Allen. Like
Hamilton, Ira Allen was a statesman before
he was twenty-five. Like Hamilton, he was
one of the handsomest men of his time,
with his intellectual countenance, his flashing
black eyes, his imposing presence, and pleas-
ing address. .As with Hamilton, there was at
times a dash of unscrupulousness in his pub-
lic or political work, coupled with the utmost
personal honor — a sort of misdirection of an
o\er-generous nature in sacrifice for others.
It has been truly said of Ira .Allen that he
was secretly or openly the originator of more
important political measures for Vermont
and the Revolution than any other man in
the state, and it might truly be added than
hardly any other in the country. Still other
projects of \ast utility from his teeming
44
brain were pre\ente(l from fruition only by
the misfortunes of his later years.
He it was, who after the fall of Ticon-
deroga, when the settlements seemed help-
less before the on-coming army of Burgoyne,
conceived the scheme of confiscating the
estates of the Tories to raise money to
equip and support troops, and as a result
within a week a regiment of men was in the
field. It was the first act of the kind in the
country, but it was one which all the other
states, on the urging of Congress, had to
adopt later. It was the measure that put
the new state on its feet as a self-reliant,
self-supporting entity. He was a leader in
the formation of the constitution. He did
inestimable service as secretary of the com-
mittee of safety, which was given the work
of defending the state, because the members
of the Constitutional Convention at Windsor
when Ticonderoga fell had to leave for their
homes and families and had no time to com-
plete the organization of a state government.
He sent expresses at his own expense in
every direction with news of the disaster,
and appeals for prompt forwarding of troops.
In the terror of the time no one else, even
among the military commanders, attended
to this, and it may not be too much to sav
that the victory at Bennington was due to
the energy and the wise provision of Ira
.'\llen. He organized scouting parties that
gathered full information of the enemy's
movements and forwarded it by express in
all directions, with such encouragements as it
warranted that the enemy could be met and
repulsed. He sent timely warnings of the
expedition to Bennington, so that it was by
no accident that Stark and the New Hamp-
shire troops and the Berkshire militia ar-
rived in season to repulse and crush it. He
helped to concert the measures for the cap-
ture of Ticonderoga, Crown Point and the
strong posts in his rear that helped so much
towards the ruin of Burgoyne. He did all
this when the new state was without funds or
credit, as well as without organization, when
near three-fourths of the people of the west
side of the mountain had fled from their
homes, and a large part of those of the east
side were disposed to favor New York's
claims, when weak nerved and weak prin-
cipled men were flocking to Burgoyne and
taking the oath of allegiance to the Crown,
and when, besides the danger of invasion
from the British and the savages, the late
proceedings of Congress had shown par-
tiality towards New York and the embryonic
state had every reason to expect hostile
action. He staked not only large amounts
of his money, but his life on the chance of
winning victory out of this seemingly des-
perate situation. He was nearly always the
agent of the state, either alone or with others
in dealing with Congress and with New
Hampshire and New York. He was the
principal manager of the Haldimand nego-
tiations and Metternich never handled his
difficult tasks with more skill or with a tech-
nical frankness that was more profoundly
deceptive.
He was the author of many publications
in pamphlet and newspaper form in defense
of the state in the New York controversy.
One in 1 777, reviewing the constitution of
New York, with all its features of aristocracy,
was especially strong. He was a clear and
forcible writer always, and most of the offi-
cial correspondence of the state in its early
years, particularly Governor Chittenden's
orders, was done through him.
He was the father of the University of
Yermont. October 14, 1789, he presented a
memorial to the Legislature for the estab-
lishment of the college with subscriptions
amounting to ^'5643, of which he contribu-
ted ,£"4000, and the charter was granted
Nov. 3, 1791.
Ira was the youngest of the Allen brothers
and was born at Cornwall, Conn., April 21,
I 75 1, so that he was barely twenty-two when
he was acting as secretary of the \'ermont
committee of safety, only twenty-six when
he was taking the lead in our Constitutional
Convention, a little over thirty when the state
had been piloted, so largely by his efforts, as
an independent litde republic into a safety
and prosperity that were the envy of the
states surrounding, and still in the early
thirties when, by his remarkable judgment
and nerve in business operations, he had
come to be recognized as one of the wealth-
iest men of the country. He received a good
English education, and was a practical sur-
\eyor very young. He came to Vermont
before he was twenty, and he was scarcely
twenty-one when he became an extensive
proprietor of land in Burlington and Col-
chester. He had the eye to see the future
of this location, but at the time had to en-
dure much ridicule for his selection. He
entered with zeal into various land specula-
tions, first as a member of the "Onion River
Land Company," which consisted besides
himself, of his brothers, Ethan, Heman, and
Z irmi, with Remember Baker, and which
became the most extensive proprietor of
land in the state, with a corresponding in-
tensification of zeal, of course, against the
New York claims.
He was appointed secretary of the com-
mittee of safety as soon as it was formed and
served until its labors closed. He was a
lieutenant in Warner's regiment in the Can-
ada campaign in the fall of 1775, and was
selected by Montgomery as one of the two
officers for the confidential trust of attacking
Cape Diamond and throwing rockets as a
45
signal for three other detachinents to attack
(Quebec on the night of Montgomery's at-
tempt on the city. For the next two years
he was a member from Colchester of all the
conventions.
On the organization of the new state gov-
ernment, in I 778, he was chosen a member of
the coimcil and was its secretary. Me was
also elected state treasurer at the beginning
and held that office for nine years, and was
surveyor-general about the same time, until
the jealousies and antagonisms that accumu-
lated against him, the complaints that he
was holding "so inany ofifices," resulted in
his defeat in 1786, with widely-believed
I harges of corruption soon following, and
though they were afterwards cleared away
and it was shown that he had been constant-
Iv aiding the state with his money instead of
making money out of it, enough of the cloud
clung to the old suspicion about the Haldi-
mand negotiation to somewhat shadow his
subseijuent career. In the elections of 17S4
and 1785 he failed as candidate for state
treasurer before the people, and was only
elected by the joint assembly. He was
dropped from the Governor's Council after a
year of service in 1785, and the Assembly
on the last day of the session of the latter
year, aimed a bill at him to annul his surveys
and discontinue his work as surveyor gen-
eral, which the council succeeded in postpon-
ing to the next session.
His military service in the Revolution,
ended with the retreat from Canada in 1 7 76,
but he soon became captain, then colonel,
and finally major-general of the state militia.
He was also a member of the board of war
during nearly the w^hole of the Revolution.
The Haldimand negotiations, over which
so much controversy has been waged, must
form a chief feature of .Allen's biography.
Though magazine and newspaper writers
keep bobbing up with startling "discoveries"
of the treason of the Vermontese, as editor
H. B. Dawson of the New York Historical
Magazine calls them, the facts are fully
known. There are, as J. L. Payne says, hun-
dreds of manuscripts in the archives of Can-
ada bearing on the subject, and indicating
to a one-sided view as he expresses it, "how
near Vermont came to being a British prov-
ince." They leave no doubt of the fact of
these negotiations or of their pretended
purpose. The fact was, that beginning with
a cartel for the exchange of prisoners which
was concluded with the Vermont authorities
when it was refused to Washington, these
negotiations brought about a truce between
Venuont and the British forces, which was ex-
tended through the last three campaigns of
the war, while emissaries and spies passed
back and forth in great profusion, and the
hope was kept dangling before the British
that the slate would desert the cause of the
Revolution and return to allegiance to the
Crown. Several times the negotiations went
so far as to discuss the terms of settlement
and to fix dates for it ; but Ira Allen as the
principal negotiator was sure to turn up with
some plausible reason for postponing de
cisive action.*
But all that has been published and argued
has shown no more than was known more
or less definitely at the time or soon after.
The dispute is whether the Vermonters were
sincere, or were merely fooling the British,
or were playing for a position that would
leave them free to take advantage of the
issue whichever way it went. The conduct
of Congress towards the new state, with all
its people had at stake in the controversy
with New York, would make it seem natural
that the Vermonters should seek safety
under the British wing. But the event and
the skillful way the negotiation was pro-
tracted shows that they did not. It is certain
that the masses of the people would not tol-
erate the idea, and did not when they found
out what was or seemed to be doing ; and
the leaders never once lifted a finger to
reconcile them to it. It is notable also that
in all the correspondence and negotiations,
including the conversations as reported by
the English representatives, there was never
once a single profession of loyalty to the
King on the part of the \'ermont leaders.
But there is one decisive fact in this busi-
ness to which the disputants have never given
due attention. The participants on the
Vermont side took particular pains to pro-
tect themselves in history. Early in the
negotiations they put on paper a record of
their purpose in the form of a certificate for
.Allen, prepared in June, 1781, and signed by
all the eight men in the secret, Jonas and
Joseph Fay, Samuel Safford, Samuel and
JSIoses Robinson, Governor Chittenden,
Timothy Brownson and Jona Fassett. This
certificate stated explicitly that the scheme
was adopted "to make them (the British au-
thorities) believe Vermont had a desire to
negotiate a treaty of peace," and because it
was beyond the power of the state to defend
itself by arms, the negotiation was opened
and "we think it to be a necessary political
manoeuvre to save the frontier of this state."
Such a document as this, considering the
times and circumstances of its writing and
the confirmation of the event, ought not to
leave an intelligent doubt of the design.
ite possible thai Allen was more inclined to
these negotiations than the other leaders, i
o be looking a far way ahead for contingencies,
be consistent with his character and a recently discos
from him written to Samuel Hitchcock, Oct. ii.
situation was gained by the negotiation where "i
; of the war h.ad terminated in favor of Great Bri
int would have been a favorite colony under the Cro
46
It is fortunate that this paper has been
prevented, for reasoning upon ordinary
human motives, we should expect the Ver-
monters to be seeking British help. They
had in no way obligated themselves to the
cause of the colonies. They were in their
own view, in the nature of politics, and prob-
ably in a legal view, an independent republic.
They had sought union with the confederacy
and it had been refused. They had made
great sacrifices for the Revolutionary cause,
and the return had been to abandon them to
British invasion, and even while a regiment of
their own troops — and paid by them, because
Congress could not pay — was serving in the
Continental army, to withdraw all means and
ammunition of defense from the state. Con-
gress, which had been temporizing with the
Vermont question for fear of alienating New
York or New Hampshire, had at this time
apparently reached a point where it calcu-
lated in this way to dri\e the new state into
submission to New York. Remembering
how this involved the property interests of
the Yermonters — their all for most of them —
it would not ha\e been surprising if it had
set them against the country that treated them
so, and it accounts for such disposition as
there was to reach a position where they
would be favorably regarded above New
York in case of final British victory. And
yet it is the truth, attested in a variety of
ways, that from the beginning to the end
there was a smaller Tory sentiment in Ver-
mont than anywhere else in the country,
and there was not a moment when everv
reservation would not have been abandoned
if the state could have been admitted to the
Union. The Vermonters had been too well
educated in the first principles, too thoroughly
innoculated with the spirit of independence
to allow their sympathies to be swerved bv
mean considerations.
Whether in the ethics of war such decep-
tion as was practiced on the British wa.s justi-
fiable, is another question. But at least it
can be said that it was a necessity, the only
thing the Vermonters could do, unless to ab-
solutely desert to the British side, or suffer
ruinous invasion, or commit political suicide
by surrendering to New York, and then with-
out any certainty of protection against the
British. And it was the most useful thing for
the American cause that could possibly have
been done ; for it kept an army of ten thous-
and men idle on the border in Canada. It
was really a help in this way to the Yorktown
moxement, which would have been well-
nigh impracticable with such an army besides
Clinton's left in Washington's rear. Wash-
ington knew all about the negotiation at
least a month before the surrender of
Cornwallis (so says James Davie Butler on
the strength of a recently discovered letter)
and he understood its purpose. Allen in
after years with the knowledge he had gained
in Europe and in extensive travels about this
country wrote : " I know that the capture of
Ticonderoga, etc., and the fame of the Green
Mountain boys are more thought of in Europe
than in the United States. That in the
southern states, the battle of Bennington is
considered to have caused the change of the
commander-in-chief of the Northern army,
and a stepping-stone to the capture of Gen-
eral Burgoyne and army. That the truce
between the British in Canada and ^'ermont,
in causing the inactivity of ten thousand
British troops, enabled General Washington
to capture Lord Cornwallis and army."
While the negotiations were in progress
early in 1781, a dispatch from Lord George
Germaine to Sir Henry Clinton, disclosing
their existence and the hope that the people
of Vermont would "return to their allegi-
ance," fell into American hands, and was
laid before Congress with the effect of alarm-
ing that body into a more just policy.
Referring to this dispatch, .Allen says it "had
greater influence on the wisdom and virtue
of Congress than all the exertions of Ver-
mont in taking Ticonderoga, Crown Point,
and the two divisions from General Bur-
goyne's army, or their petition to be admit-
ted as a state in the general confederation,
and offers to pay their proportion of the
expenses of the war." Out of the discovery
of these negotiations and the fear that the
state with the control of Lake Champlain
would be thrown into British hands, came
the pledge of the resolutions of August 7 and
20, 178:, on which finally, after much back-
ing and filling, came the acknowledgment
of the independence of the state.
.After the war ended, the Clovernor of Can-
ada still pursued the negotiation and it has
been plausibly supposed that one of the en-
voys he sent to Burlington was the prince
who was afterwards George IV.
.Allen played with consummate address
through these negotiations not only a double
but a triple, and even a quadruple game.
While he was fanning the British hopes to
their highest, he was with Stephen R. Brad-
ley in 1780, and with Jonas Fay and Bez'l
Woodward in 1781, an agent before Con-
gress to urge the admission of the state and
resist the claims to jurisdiction of New York
and New Hampshire, he was manipulating
with the Legislature and authorities of New
Hampshire and the commander of the New
York troops, to avert bloodshed, pending a
decision by Congress over the conflicting
claims of the East and West unions, and in
the meanwhile he converted to the support
of the new state Luke Knowlton, who had
been sent to Philadelphia especially to fight
it by the adherents of New York in Cumber-
47
land (now Windham and Windsor nearly)
county, and in Allen's words, "a ]5lan was
laid between them to tmite all parties in \'er-
mont in a way that would be honorable to
those who had been in favor of New \'ork."
The nerve, the resourcefulness and the com-
prehension of human motives by which he
kept all these schemes floating, and the peo-
ple of his own state passably well satisfied at
the same time, were little short of marvelous.
They had a good illustration in the hearing
before the \'ermont Legislature in June,
1781, on a resolution for an inquiry into the
grounds for the report of a treaty with Can-
ada. Allen knew that there were several
spies from Canada among the spectators.
How could he answer the inquiry so as to
satisfy the suspicious ^'ermont patriots with-
out undeceiving the British authorities as
soon as his words were reported to them?
But he did it with a frankness that was
praised by both sides. (Governor Chittenden
led off, stating how he had at the retjuest of
several persons who had friends prisoners in
Canada, appointed Colonel Allen to meet a
British commissioner to arrange for an ex-
change, and how the latter had succeeded
after considerable difficulty in accomplishing
it, though no such exchanges had taken
place with the United States or any other in
the northern department. For further par-
ticulars he would refer them to Colonel Allen.
The latter told how, having made his re-
port to the Governor and Council, not ex-
pecting to be called on, he had left his com-
mission and papers at home, but he was
ready to make a verbal statement, or if
desired he would go home and produce
the writings for the inspection of the Leg-
islature. They called for the papers and
the next day he appeared with them, read
them seemingly without skip or hesitation,
and made a short verbal explanation which
seemed to show that the British had exhib-
ited great generosity in the business, and
narrated sundry occurrences that indicated
that there was a fervent wish for peace among
the British officers, and that the English
government was as tired of the war as the
United States, and he concluded by inviting
any member of the Legislature or any au-
ditor in the gallery who wished to ask any
further questions to do so and he was ready
to answer them. But "all seemed," to use
his words, "satisfied that nothing had been
done inconsistent to the interests of the
states," and many of those who had before
been most suspicious complimented him for
his "open and candid conduct." That even-
ing he had a conference with the spies from
Canada and they also had nothing but praise
for the devotion he had shown to the cause
of union with Britain !
His and Bradley's mission to Congress in
1780 was to prepare for the second Tuesday
of September, which time had been set for
the determination of the case of Vermont.
15esides the claims of New \'ork and New
Hampshire, the former supported by Knowl-
ton as agent from the southeast jiart of the
state, the advocates of still another state to
be carved out of portions of X'ermont and
New Hampshire were represented by Peter
Olcott. Allen and Bradley did what they
could in the way of private interviews with
members of Congress, and then requested
that they might be present at any de-
bates affecting the sovereignty or independ-
ence of Vermont. They listened for parts of
two days to the presentment of New Vork's
claims and took minutes of it, but when it
came time to put in New Hampshire's claim
they refused to attend because \'ermont was
not put on an equal footing with the others.
They submitted a remonstrance to Congress
against the mode of trial adopted, which
meant that they should "lose their political
life in order to find it." They refused to
submit to "Congress acting as a court of
judicature by virtue of authority given only
by the states that made but one party." But
they offered in behalf of Vermont to leave
the question in abeyance until after the war,
in the meantime agreeing that the state
should do its full share in furnishing troops
and supplies, and then to leave the decision
to one or more of the Legislatures of disin-
terested states as mediators.
They accomplished their purpose by this
course and prevented any decision at all by
Congress. The next year's mission was more
delicate, because of the suspicion of the
Haldimand business, but Allen and the
others parried the inquiries skillfully while
they continued to impress upon Congress
the danger that the support of the \'er-
monters would be drawn off from the patriot
cause, and the result was the resolutions of
August 7 and 20 favorable to Vermont pro-
vided they would relinquish their east and
west unions.
Allen had early the previous year visited
the Legislatures of New Jersey, Delaware,
Pennsylvania and Maryland to distribute
phamphlets and work up sentiment in favor
of \'ermont, and succeeded in gaining con-
siderable favor by supporting their views of
the Western land question and -pledging Ver-
mont if admitted to the L'nion, to assist in
compelling unappropriated lands and the
property of loyalists to be disposed of to de-
fray the expenses of the war, and not for the
emolument of any one state. The combina-
tions which he formed had considerable effect
in later driving New York and afterwards
Virginia to cede their western claims to the
general government.
48
The British were not without suspicion
while he was negotiating with Congress and
on these missions to other states, especially
Connecticut and Massachusetts. In June,
1 78 1, an agent reported his belief that Allen
was " gone to solicit forces to ensnare Gen-
eral Haldimand's troops." But Allen always
managed when he got round to allay these
suspicions just enough to prevent the break-
ing off of the negotiations, and to leave
enough of them to deter Haldimand from
any overt act against the Vermonters for
fear that he would drive them to active sup-
port again to the .American cause. Allen
accomplished this by steadily representing
the people to be naturally strongly inclmed
that way, and only being gradually alienated
by the ill treatment of Congress.
The "east union" of a number of New
Hampshire towns with Vermont was based
on the argument that New Hampshire was
granted as a province to John Mason, ex-
tending only sixty miles from the sea, and
that the lands to the west were annexed only
by royal authority, which ceased with the
power of the Crown, and the towns had a
right to join any government they chose.
The real reasons were : first, the attraction
which the low taxes and vigorous govern-
ment of Vermont held out to neighboring
peoples, and second, the scheme of influen-
tial men near the Connecticut river to se-
cure the center and seat of the new govern-
ment for that section. The Legislature was
reluctant to take in the new towns and re-
ferred the subject back to the freemen, who
returned a strong majority in favor of the
union, and an act was passed at the next
session to incorporate sixteen petitioning
towns from New Hampshire, with a later
provision to accept others where a majority
of their people desired it. But on Ethan
Allen's report of the feeling of Congress,
the Legislature hastened in 1779 to get rid
of the connection, with the result of stimu-
lating a project for the formation of a new
state from the seceding New Hampshire
towns joined by some from the other side
of the river in Vermont, followed still later
by overtures from the dissatisfied Vermont
towns to be annexed to New Hampshire.
Ira Allen was sent on a mission to New
Hampshire to explain the matter and re-
store amicable relations. He penetrated the
designs of the Connecticut River schemers,
and also found that New Hampshire was
planning to revive before Congress her
jurisdictional claim to the whole of Vermont
under the pretense of friendship for Vermont
and to defeat the New York claims. She wanted
Vermont's support in this. Allen was satisfied
that the scheme was deeper than this, argued
his best against it without success, insisted
that he had no authority to negotiate on
such a basis, and finally managed to get the
inatter postponed till the next session, so
that the opinion of the Vermont Legislature
might be obtained in the meantime. He
was playing simply for time to unite the
people on the Vermont side of the river
against all these projects, which was success-
fully done. And upon his disclosure of the
intrigue the Legislature of Vermont at the next
session and under his advice boldly advanced
a claim to the whole of New Hampshire west
of the Mason line. His skill in handling such
negotiations came well into play in i7Si-'82,
when there was eminent danger of civil war
with both New York and and New Hamp-
shire over these unions which Vermont had
accepted, or revived and enlarged as a
buffer to the claims of both states to her.
Both were organizing military invasions.
Allen interviewed General (iansevort, the
New York commander, took his measure, and
found that he was reluctant to engage in civil
war but felt that he must obey orders by going
ahead. Allen then advised Governor Chit-
tenden that all that was neccessary was to
take the offensive and march out a regiment
against him and Gansevort would retreat, and
so it proved. Then Allen proceeded to New
Hampshire, sending out orders from Cov-
ernor Chittenden to call out the militia to
meet the "menacing insults of New Hamp-
shire and repel force by force." One of
these he contrived to have fall into the hands
of a New Hampshire partisan and sent post
haste ahead of him to Exeter. The New
Hampshire authorities were thus easily fright-
ened out of their project and decided to
take the advice of Congress before proceed-
ing to hostilities — all of which he managed
to learn through a lady friend, while they sup-
posed they were scaring him with their
threatenings. xAllen always regarded these
unions as trump cards in the game with the
opposing states and he regarded it as a great
miss when Vermont surrendered them in
compliance with the August resolutions of
1 781 and before she had actually got in hand
her <p/!i/ pro qun in the recognition of her
independence. He was on the way from
Philadelphia with Jonas Fay and Abel Carter
in high spirits o\er the success they had had
with Congress which satisfied them that no
measures would be taken against Vermont,
when they learned of the dissolution of these
unions by the Legislature. They hurried
their journey to secure a reconsideration of
this action but the Legislature had adjourned
the day before they arrived.
After the return of peace in 1786 Allen
was, with his brother Levi, a Tory who had
returned to the state, and it was supposed
would be useful for this purpose, commis-
sioned to negotiate a treaty of commerce
with Canada, and he was greatly interested
49
in the idea. He tried to secrure a substan-
tial free trade arrangement and pictured
eloquently the benefits that would come from
such a use of Champlain's waters, especially
if supplemented by a canal to connect the
lake with the St. l.awrence river. He de-
signed this connection several years ahead
of the scheme of Watson and Schuyler for
the present Champlain canal and he offered
to cut it at his own expense if the British
government would allow him to collect such
a tonnage as would secure the interest on
the investment, and the ships of Vermonters
could be allowed to pass out into the open
sea with only a reasonable tonnage at Que-
bec, and the products of both countries to
pass both ways without import or export
duties. This was one of the enterprises in
whose interest a few years later he took the
trip to Europe that resulted in his business
ruin. He was also an enthusiastic promoter
of the canal scheme between the Hudson
and the southern waters of Lake Champlain.
His official services to the state closed in
1790 when he was member of the commis-
sion on the part of \'ermont that finally
settled the protracted controversy with New
York and cleared the way for the admission
of the state into the Union.
In 1 795 .Allen went to Europe for his
canal enterprise and on a commission from
Governor Chittenden to purchase arms for
the state. He got nothing but fair words
from the British cabinet in return for his ex-
ertions for the canal, but he secured twenty-
four cannon and twenty thousand muskets
in France, and with them took ship for
home. But the ship was captured by an
English cruiser, and seized with the whole
cargo on a charge that it was designed to
aid the rebellion in Ireland. Allen showed
conclusively by evidence secured from Ver-
mont that the charge was untrue and the
arms purchased for the jjurpose he repre-
sented. But it took eight years of litigation
to do it, and the enormous expense of it,
with the neglect of his affairs at home, ruin-
ed him. He at one time estimated his real
estate in Vermont to be worth on proper
appraisal from Sr, 000,000 to §1,500,000.
He may have included in this estimate the
shares of his four brothers and of Remem-
ber Baker, of whose estate he was adminis-
trator, but there is no doubt that he was enor-
mously wealthy, or that while he was in Europe
he was robbed right and left with claims of
fraudulent title, executions and tax sales. He
had accumulated considerable unpopularity
at home, having had a long controversy over
his accounts as state treasurer as well as
surveyor-general, and had once gone so far,
in 1792, as to begin a suit against the state
in the United States Circuit Court, and these
things were of material assistance to the
people who were plundering him. I'lnally,
wearied with lawsuits, broken in health and
fortune, and even jailed at Burlington by
exacting creditors, he made his escape and
fled from the state for which he had done
so much. He lived in Philadelphia the last
few years of his life, where he died in pov-
erty, Jan. 7, 18 14, and was buried in a
stranger's grave with no stone to mark the
spot.
He married Jerusha, daughter of General
Roger Enos, and three children were the
fruit of the union : Two, a son and daugh-
ter, died in early life, and one son, Ira H.
Allen, lived to become prominent in Ver-
mont affairs, showing good sense and good
character but nothing like his father's bril-
liant abilities, and dying at Irasburgh, .April
29, 1866, at the age of sixty-five.
It was while in England watching his lit-
igation that he wrote his History of Vermont,
which contains much valuable matter, though
it is marred by some striking errors, due to
the fact that he wrote almost entirely from
memory.
Our state seal is among the things credited
to Allen, and quite a story is told of it by
Henry Stevens, who got it from an aged
member of Governor Chittenden's guard.
The design was engraved on one of the Gov-
ernor's horn drinking-cups, made from the
horn of an ox, bottomed with wood, and done
by a British lieutenant who used to come
secretly to the Governor's house in xArlington,
bringing him letters from Canada during the
progress of the Haldimand intrigue, and who
also improved the opportunity to " spark "
a hired girl in the Governor's family. While
once staying there several days, he happened
to look out of the west window of the resi-
dence on a wheat field of some two acres, in
the distance, beyond which was a knoll with
a solitary pine on the top, and he drew the
scene on the cup. This cup attracted Allen's
attention and he adopted it for a state seal,
except that he brought a cow from over the
fence into the wheat.
Ira Allen loved Vermont and in that fact
is the secret alike of his achievements and
his offences, if such they were, and the
message that he sends down to us is in the
words he penned after he had experienced
much of the wrong and ingratitude that
shadowed his later years :
" I have travelled through some of the
finest countries in Europe and paused with
rapture on some of the most picturesque
views, and I do not hesitate to say that Ver-
mont vies with any of them."
HERRICK, Col. Samuel.— One of the
romantic figures of the Revolution and the
few years before, and that is all we know of
him. He came to Bennington about 1768,
EREAKENRIDGE.
and soon after the Revolution moved to
Springfield, N. Y., but prior to and after that
time his career is a blank to written history.
He was a captain in the Ticonderoga ex-
pedition and was detailed by Allen with a
party of thirty men to capture Skeenesbor-
ough (now Whitehall) and take into custody
Major Skeene and his party. He succeeded
completely, secured the young man and a
schooner and several bateaux with which
they hastened to Ticonderoga and which
gave Arnold the material for his victory at
St. Johns. In the summer of 1777 he was
made colonel of a regiment of rangers which
the council of safety ordered raised to help
meet Burgoyne's invasion. He and his ran-
gers bothered Piurgoyne a great deal, ob-
structed his advance by felling trees over the
roads and rolling stones in his path so that
Burgoyne was compelled to cross Fort Ann
Mountain with his heavy train of artillery by
a road that was almost impassable. They
harassed his rear, cut off his supplies, and in
a thousand ways did the work of genuine
" rangers " to increase the difficulties of the
British descent. It was a work which contri-
buted materially to the final ruin of the in-
vasion, and for it the credit is due the
council of safety which ordered him to keep
it up, while Schuyler was continually order-
ing him to abandon it and join the defen-
sive army in the front of Burgoyne. He was
at the battle of Bennington with such of this
regiment as had then been enlisted and a
body of local militia as a separate detach-
ment, making a body of 300 men with which
he led the attack on the rear of Raum's
right simultaneously with the assaults of
Colonels Nichols, Hubbard and Stickney on
other parts of the line, and he did his part
of that glorious day's work skillfully and gal-
lantly.
In September of the same year he and
the Rangers with Colonel Brown's regiment
gained the command of Lake George, drove
the liritish from Mounts Independence,
Defiance and Hope, and forced their evacu-
ation of Ticonderoga. He was afterwards
in command of the southwestern regiment
of the state militia and did active service on
several occasions. The council in February,
I 778, ordered a batallion of six companies to
be raised under command of Herrick to aid
a proposed attack of Lafayette on St. Johns,
but the enterprise was given up.
Herrick had a special letter of thanks
from ( lates and from the Vermont council
for his part in the Lake Ceorge expedition.
BREAKENRIDGE, James, whose
house was the scene of the opening struggle
with the Yorkers, and who was sent to Eng-
land with Capt. Jehial Hawley of Arlington,
as agent for the settlers in 1772, was a
native of Massachusetts, and of Scotch-Irish
descent. He came to Bennington, and as
his farm was right on the border of the
Grants up against the twenty-mile line from
the Hudson river, it was naturally the first
point of attack. His name appears in the
New York riot act of 1774, but he was a
quiet and inoffensive man who never en-
gaged in riots, was in fact a man of the most
exemplary habits in every way. He was a
lieutenant of the militia company formed in
Bennington in 1764. He died there, April
16, 1783, at the age of sixty-two.
FAY, Dr. Jonas. — One of the mostact-
i\e, level-headed, and industrious of the men
who laid the foundations of Vermont, the
draftsman of the Declaration of Independ-
ence, and the man from whom we get nearly
all of the early records. His service covers
a wider field than that of any of the other
fathers. He was prominent among the early
settlers, coming to Bennington in 1766 and
practicing medicine there, except for his
calls to public duty, for thirty-five years.
Being a man of education and pen and ink
training, he was secretary for most of the
meetings of the committee of safety and
conventions until after the formation of the
state government, keeping his records in
account books or on slips of paper, some of
which have been lost. He and his father,
Stephen Fay, the landlord of the famous
Catamount Tavern, were appointed delegates
from Bennington and neighboring towns to
appear before Crovernor Tryon in 1772 in
response to his invitation for a statement of
grievances, and to urge him to discontinue
violent proceedings. He was clerk of the
convention of settlers in March, 1774, which
resolved to defend their cause and leaders
by force, when Allen, Warner, and the others
were threatened by New York with outlawry
and death. In January, 1776, he was clerk
of the Dorset convention, that petitioned
Congress to be allowed to serve the common
cause independent of New York. He, and
Chittenden, Reuben Jones, Jacob Bayley,
and Heman Allen were appointed delegates
to prepare and present to Congress the
declaration and petition of independence,
and he was its draftsman. He was secretary
of the convention of July, 1777, that framed
the constitution, and he was one of the coun-
cil of safety to administer the affairs of the
state during that summer of storm and dififi-
culty. He was four times, between 1777 and
1782, an agent of the state to the Continental
Congress. As soon as the state government
was launched he was elected a member of
the Governor's council, and held the position
for seven years to 1785. In the necessity
because of the scarcity of lawyers, as well as
the disposition of the times to make judges
•of men who had not been "learned in the
law," he was elected judge of the Supreme
Court in 1782. He was also judge of pro-
bate for the five years following, until 1787.
Dr. Fay was a native of Hardwick, Mass.,
where he was born, Jan. 17, 1737. .\t the
age of nineteen he served in the French war,
in 1756 at F'ort Edward and Lake (ieorge as
■clerk in Capt. Sam Robinson's company of
Massachusetts troops. He accompanied
Allen's expedition to Ticonderoga as surgeon
-and continued in that capacity until the
Green Mountain Boys were relie\ed by the
arrival of Colonel Elmore's regiment from
Connecticut. He was then appointed by the
Massachusetts committee of safety to muster
in troops as they arrived for the defense of
that post. He was also for a time surgeon of
Warner's regiment organized later in the
season for the invasion of Canada.
After he had helped launch the new state
on her career of independence and pros-
perity he returned to the practice of his pro-
fession at Bennington, >mtil 1800, when he
moved to Charlotte, then a few years later to
Pavvlet, and then back again to Bennington,
where he died March 6, 181 8, at the age of
eighty-two, after one of the most useful careers
to his fellow-kind that it is given anv man to
fill.
Professionally, history says little of him, for
a physician's labors, though most beneficent
to the generations that follow, are little known
about even by the next generation. But he
was a man of extensive information, well di-
gested for mental strengthening, and bold and
determined in opinion and action. Evidently
he was also a most likeable man personally,
for he was on intimate terms with all the \'er-
mont leaders and nowhere do we find any
expression of jealousy of him or any feeling
but one of confidence in his fidelity and
capacity.
Dr. Fay was twice married and left numer-
ous descendants.
FAY, Col. JOSEPH, brother of Dr.
Jonas, and son of the tavern keeper Stephen
Fay, was born at Hardwick, Mass., in 1752,
and came to Bennington in 1766. He was
secretary of the council of safety from
September, 1777, to March, 17 78, and of the
Governor's council from March, 1778, to
1 794. He was also secretary of state for
three years after the resignation of Thomas
Chandler, Jr., in the latter part of 1778,
until 1 781. He was Ira .'\llen's assistant in
most of the Haldimand negotiations and
did some skillful work in fooling the British.
It took him over two weeks, on his trip of
July, 1 78 1, to overcome their suspicions, but
he finally did it, and he and Allen managed
to shift the risk and responsibility of the
first public proposal of a treaty on to Haldi-
H.AKKR. 5 I
mand, and then got him to jnit it off. 'i'he
latter reluctantly consented to proceed bv
jiroclamation to the recovery of \'ermont.
He had the form of the proclamation all
pre])ared when the news of the surrender of
Cornwallis saved .Mien and Fay the necessity
of concocting further excuses for delay,
which seemed to be about exhausted.
Colonel F"ay moved to New York City in
1794 and died there of yellow fever in 1803.
BAKER, Remember.— .\ cousin of the
.-Miens, and, by marriage, of Seth Warner, one
of the men for whose head New \'ork offered
a reward, was among the most influential and
useful of the early leaders and was fast grow-
ing towards a larger fame when his life was
cut off at the age of thirty-five.
He was a native of Woodbury, Conn., born
about 1 740. In early youth he lost his father,
who was shot by a neighbor while out hunt-
ing, and he was a])prenticed to a joiner, where
he learned to read and write and accpiired the
habits of prudence, energy and self-reliance
that served him so well in after years.
At the age of eighteen he served in the ex-
pedition against Canada in the French war
and saw much service about Lakes George
and Champlain, and in this way acquired
much knowledge of Vermont lands and their
attractiveness. He was present at Ticon-
deroga when Abercrombie fell. He rose to
be an officer before the war closed, and
gained much distinction by his bravery and
discretion. He came to Vermont with the
fir.st wave of immigration to the west side, in
1763, at the age of twenty-three, and spent
much time exploring lands and hunting, and
a year later he settled in Arlington, where he
built the first grist mill on the grants north
of Bennington, which attracted many settlers
to that \icinitv, and identified himself unre-
serxedly with the cause of the settlers when
the trouble with New York arose. He is de-
scribed as cool and temperate in council, but
resolute and determined in action. He usu-
ally wished to inflict severer penalties on the
Yorkers than his companions. Perhaps his
own tough experience afforded some reason,
for, stimulated by the reward offered, an at-
tempt was made in March, 1772, to capture
him, by a dozen partisans of New York under
the lead of one John Monroe. They broke
into his house in the dawn of a Monday
morning, pounded and maltreated his chil-
dren, attempted to slash his wife with a
sword, and even to fire the building after
plundering it. Baker at first attempted to
defend himself in his chamber, but to draw
the attention of his assailants from his family
burst a board from the end of the house, es-
caped and ran. Then, according to the story
written by Ethan Allen for the Hartford
Courant, they set a large dog upon him,
52
WALBRIDGE.
overtook him, pinioned him, refused to allow
him to dress — for he was just as he arose
from the bed — threw him into a carriage
where they ckibbed and cut and slashed him
unmercifully until blood streamed from va-
rious parts of the body, and then dro\ e rapidly
towards Albanv. Three men who pursued
were fired upon by Monroe's party, and
robbed of all their effects to the amount of
S40. But another rescuing party was formed
at Arlington as soon as the news of the kid-
napping spread, and pursued with such vigor
that it came up with Monroe's gang at Hud-
son's Ferry, just opposite Albany, drove the
captors off, and took Baker back in triumph
to Arlington.
Baker was with Allen as a captain at Ticon-
deroga, and also with the regiment of Green
Mountain Boys when the invasion of Canada
was begun in the fall following. When
Schuvler took command of the northern de-
partment he sent Baker ahead to reconnoiter
the enemy's position and obtain information
of the military situation in Canada, and it
was while out on this duty that he was shot
by the Indians in the vicinity of St. Johns.
He was not only a brave and capable offi-
cer and a progressive business man, but he
was a kind neighbor and he reheved the dis-
tress of many a family.
He left fi\e children, one of whom, also
named Remember, became a lawyer of some
note in New York state.
WALBRIDGE, EbeNEZER.— Prominent
as both a military man and civilian, and one
of the few, after the original eight, admitted
to the secret of the Haldimand corres-
pondence, was born at Norwich, Conn., Jan.
I, 1738, came to Bennington about '65, and
died there October, 18 19.
The family was a brave and brainy one,
tracing back to Sir William de Walbridge of
Suffolk county, Eng., who distinguished him-
self in the Fourth Crusade, under Richard
Coeur de Lion. One of General Wal-
bridge's grandsons, Hiram Walbridge, was a
member of Congress from New York in
i853-'55, a granddaughter was the wife of
Gov. Washington Hunt of New York, and
David S. Walbridge, congressman from
Michigan, i854-'59, born in Bennington in
1802, was probably a relative.
Ebenezer Walbridge was a lieutenant in
the regiment of Green Mountain Boys before
Quebec in 1775, and was adjutant of the
regiment, and he fought at Bennington where
his brother Henry was killed.
He was in this campaign sent by General
Lincoln with five hundred troops to Skeens-
borough. Fort Ann and Fort Edward to
alarm and divide the British forces, and this
diversion had an important bearing on the
campaign and was another important factor
in the ruin of Burgoyne. He was lieuten-
ant-colonel in 1778, and in 1780 succeeded
Herrick in command of the Bennington
regiment, and he also commanded a regi-
ment of militia in that vicinity in 1781, and
in October of that year was at Castleton to
meet a threatened invasion by St. Leger.
In December of that year when New York
was threatening to make war on the state,
he was in command of the troops before
which the New York militia fled. He was
subsequently elected brigadier-general. He
twice represented his town and was a mem-
ber of the Governor's council i78o-'88. He
was an enterprising business man, and in
1784 built and operated at Bennington the
first paper mill in Yermont. Personally he
is described as a man of most kindly and
winning qualities.
COCHRAN, Robert.— \\'ho was
honored as one of the eight outlawed by
New York in 1774, and who was one of the
recognized leaders in the "beech seal" days,
came from Coleraine, Mass., to Bennington
about 1768, but soon moved to Rupert. He
was a captain among the Green Mountain
Boys before the Revolution, and after the
\\'estminster massacre, appeared within
forty-eight hours at the head of forty men to
fight the cause of the people against the
"Court party." With a file of twenty-five he
assisted in conveying the prisoners taken
the next day to the jail at Northampton.
He was a captain in the Ticonderoga ex-
pedition in the May following, and assisted
^^'arner in the capture of Crown Point. He
afterwards joined Colonel Elmore's regi-
ment, where he held a commision as cap-
tain until July 29, '76, when he was pro-
moted to be major by resolution of Con-
gress. The next October we find him on
the frontier in Tryon County, N. Y., com-
manding at Fort Dayton. He served with
reputation in the '77 campaign, probably on
Gates' staff. He certainlv bore dispatches
from the general to the committee of safety
on the Grants. The next year he had an
adventurous trip to Canada, where he was
sent to obtain information of the military
situation, and narrowly escaped arrest and
execution as a spy. .\ large reward was
offered for his capture, and he was taken ill
w'hile hiding in a brush-heap from his pur-
suers. Hunger and disease at length com-
pelled him to venture to approach a log
cabin, where he heard three men conversing
about the reward and planning his capture.
When the men left he crawled into the pres-
ence of the woman of the house, frankly
told her his name and plight, and threw
himself on her mercy. She gave him food
and a bed, and kept him hid in the house
until the men had returned and left again.
and then directed him to a place of conceal-
ment a little oft, and she stealthil)' fed and
nursed him there until he was able to travel,
knowing all the time how much money it
would be worth to her to betray him.
Years afterward he met her and rewarded
her generously for her womanly ministration.
In September, 1778, Cochran was in com-
mand of Fort Schuyler and did active and
efficient work on the frontier. In 1780 he
was promoted to a lieutenant-colonelcy. He
came out of the war like most of the heroes
who had fought through it, deeply in debt, and
Sparks, in his life of Baron Steuben, gives a
pathetic account of Cochran's distress, as he
viewed the circuiiistances in which his ser-
vices to his country had left him and the
empty-handedness with which he must go to
the wife and children who were awaiting him
in the garret of a wretched tavern. It is a
scene to which, for the credit of human nature,
attention cannot be too often directed, show-
ing what man with all his littleness and im-
perfections is capable of doing and sacrific-
ing for an idea.
Later years, howe\er, brought deserved
prosperity to Cochran. He lived after the
war at Ticonderoga and Sandy Hook, N. V.,
dying at the latter place July 3, 1812, at the
age of seventy-three, and being buried near
Fort Edward.
ALLEN, HEMAN. — The eldest of the
Allen brothers, and a most capable man of
affairs, as he proved himself before his early
death, at the age of thirty-eight, was born at
Cornwall, Conn., Oct. 15, 1740. He was
only fifteen years old when his father died
and he soon had to take the care of his
widowed mother and the younger children.
He was a merchant at Salisbury at the out-
break of the Revolution, and probably his
legal residence was there though he was
prominent in Vermont affairs, a delegate
from Rutland to the convention in January,
1777, that declared independence, and from
Colchester to the Windsor convention that
framed the constitution, an agent of the
Dorset convention in January, 1776, to pre-
sent their petition to Congress to he allowed
to serve in the common cause under officers
to be named by Congress, and the minutes
of the council of safety showed that he re-
ported on the mission July 24, 1776. His
name in fact appears on the record of all
the conventions, except two, from July, 1 775,
to July, 1777, and in two he was delegate at
large or adviser and counselor, once with
Seth Warner. He served on the most im-
portant committees, as of that to fix the basis
of representation of the towns in January,
1776, and that to treat with the inhabitants
of the eastern part of the state in July of
that year. He represented Middlebury once.
53
His service in the mission to Congress in
1776 was very tactful and probably ])re-
vented an adverse decision which would
have been ruinous to the new state at that
time. His brother Ira regarded Heman
.\llen with even more admiration than I'^than.
Heman was in the Canadian champaign as
a captain in the regiment of Creen Mountain
Boys. He was at the battle of Bennington
as a member of the council of safety, and he
caught a cold there and died of decline in
the May following. He was a considerable
owner of \'ermont lands. Henry Hall says :
"Of all our early heroes few glide before us
with statelier step or more beneficent mien
than Heman .-\llen. His life of thirty-seven
and one-half years was like that of Chevalier
Bayard, without fear and without reproach.
.A merchant and a soldier, a politician and a
land owner, a diplomat and a statesman, he
was capable, honest, earnest and true."
ALLEN, EBENEZER, one of the framers
of the constitution, a brave and successful
partisan leader, and the pioneer abolitionist,
was not of the Connecticut family of the
other famous Yermonters, and only distantly
related to them. He was born in North-
ampton, Mass., Oct. 17, 1743. His parents
moved, while he was a child, to New Marl-
boro, Mass., where his father soon died, and
he, as one of the oldest children, had to bear
much of the burden of the support of the
family, with only meagre opportunities for
education. He was for a while, at least, an
apprentice to a blacksmith. In 1762 he
married a Miss Richards, who survived him
for many years, and in 1768 he came to Ben-
nington, living there for three years, and
thence proceeding to Poultney, where he
helped in the first settlement of the town. He
was with Ethan Allen at Ticonderoga, and was
a lieutenant in \Varner's regiment of Green
Mountain Boys in Canada in 1775, and he
moved to Tinmouth soon after. He was a
delegate from there to the several conven-
tions of 1776, and to the historic ones of the
next year that declared the state's independ-
ence and framed the constitution. In July,
1777, he was captain of a company of min-
ute men in Herrick's regiment of Rangers,
and he greatly distinguished himself at l^ien-
nington. .\t one time during this fight, with
only thirty men, under cover of a natural
breastwork of rocks, he stood against the
main body of Raum's army, and a hot and
well directed fire threw the assailants into
confusion and temporary retreat. He saw
considerable service later in the war, was
promoted to be major in the Rangers, and
afterward several times a colonel in command
of a regiment in the state's servic:e. He
participated with Brown, Herrick and John-
son in the movement in the middle of Sep-
54
tember, 1777, to cut off Burgoyne's com-
munications by attacking the posts in his
rear, and with only forty men he made a
brilhant night attack on Mt. Defiance, occu-
pied by two hundred men, captured it and had
turned its guns on Ticonderoga when Brown
decided to give up the attempt to take the
fort. Two months later, when the British
abandoned Ticonderoga, Allen cut off their
rear guard and with a force of men took
forty-nine red-coat prisoners. He used to
explain in after years how he did this. It was
by a ruse, and by the employment of most all
his men scattered about to yell and make the
English think the woods were full of Mer-
rick's Rangers, or "white Indians," as the
English called them, and of whom the in-
vaders had learned to have a mortal terror.
In this capture w-as the negro slave of a
British oiificer, Dinah Morris, with her infant
child. "Conscientious that it is not right in
the sight of God to keep slaves," he gave her a
written certificate of emancipation and caused
it to be recorded in the clerk's ofifice at Ben-
nington, where it stands with the clause for-
bidding sla\ery in the constitution, and Judge
Harrington's blasphemous, yet reverent de-
cision that he would require a "bill of sale
from God Almighty" as proof of ownership
before he would remand a runaway negro
back to slavery, as one of the brightest jew-
els in ^'ermont's imperishable diadem of
honor.
He was in command of the fort at Ver-
gennes in 1778 or 1779. He was also in
1779 on the board of war.
In iNIay 1780, Sir John Johnson, made a
raid from Canada into the Mohawk Valley
and Governor Clinton hastened to the south
end of Lake George to intercept his return.
The Governor dispatched a request to the
commander of the \'ermont troops at Castle-
ton to send aid. The next day Colonel
Allen wrote that he had reached Mt. Inde-
pendence with two hundred men one hun-
dred more would follow at once, and he
would lead the three hundred to the scene
if the Governor would send boats to trans-
port them. Johnson escaped by way of
Crown Point, but Clinton in writing to Con-
gress was constrained to say that this punct-
uality did great honor to the men of the
Grants. There is but little record evidence
left of the military events of the four years
after 1779, as it was all "play war" so far as
Vermont was concerned, with almost no
fighting. But it is certain that Allen per-
formed much service about Lake Champlain,
and mainly on the western side.
He moved to South Hero, about 1783,
where he engaged in farming, blacksmithing,
tavern-keeping, and finally shipping oak lum-
ber to Quebec. In 1792 he made a tour of
the then unsettled territories of Ohio and
Michigan, in company with a party of
friendly Indians, and was absent nearly a
year on the trip. He represented the town
from 1788 to '92, was a justice of peace, and
its leading citizen. He was a member of the
convention in 1791 that voted for admission
to the L^nion. He moved to Burlington in
1800, where he opened a tavern near the
south wharf, which he conducted until his
death, March 26, 1806, at the age of sixty-
three.
He is described in personal appearance by
D. W. Dixon, his best biographer, as : " Of
medium height, with a large head, in which
the perceptive faculties were \ery prominent ;.
black-eyed, dark-featured, deep-chested, and
endowed with more than ordinary physical
strength and activity." In religion he was a
Calvinist, in politics a Hamilton Federalist.
He was in many respects a remarkable man.
Nature had infused into him a vigor and vi-
vacity of mind which in a measure supplied
the deficiencies of his education. Courage,,
enterprise, and perseverance were the first
characteristics of his mind. His disposition
was frank and generous, though he possessed
a combati\ e temperament.
THE ROBINSON FAMILY.
ROBINSON, Samuel.— The acknowl-
edged leader of the band of pioneers who
settled Bennington, and almost a controlling
authority among them, was the progenitor of
the most remarkable among a number of
Vermont families prolific of public useful-
ness— a family that has in the past century
furnished two Governors, two L'nited States
senators, six judges of one degree and an-
other, the acknowledged leaders of the Demo-
cratic party in the state in three different
generations, and United States marshals,
generals, colonels, state's attorneys, town
clerks, etc., almost without computation.
The family had a heritage of brains and
power, tracing its descent from Rev. John
Robinson, the father of the Puritans in Eng-
land in 1620, and pastor of the Pilgrims be-
fore they sailed from Holland in the ^Lay-
flower, and being allied by marriage with
the ancestry of Governor Jonathan Trumbull
of Connecticut.
Samuel Robinson, born at Cambridge,.
Mass., in 1 705, came to Vermont from Hard-
wick, Mass.
He had been a captain of Massachusetts
troops through several campaigns in the
vicinity of Lake George and Champlain in
the French and Indian war.
He was the first justice of the peace com-
missioned by (Jovernor Wentworth in the
Grants and the first clash between New
York and New Hampshire authority was be-
fore him. It arose over the case of two
claimants in I'ownal. He took the New-
Hampshire side and he and Samuel Ashlev, a
New Hampshire deputy siieriff, were arrested
and taken to Albany jail in consetjuence and
occasioning acrimonious correspondence
between the two Governors ; but the affair
ended in a compromise and though Robin-
son and Ashley were indicted for resisting
New York officers, they were never brought
to trial. He was deputed by the settlers in
1765 to go to New York and try to save their
lands from the city speculators to whom
Lieutenant-Governor Golden was making
Grants with lavish hand, but his efforts were
unavailing. He was, in 1766, sent as an
agent for the settlers to England to present
their case to the ministry, and the mission
was making very favorable progress towards
success when he was taken with smallpox
and suddenly died in London, Oct. 27, 1767.
His eldest son. Col. Samuel Robinson,
born at Hardwick, .August 15, 1738, was
active in the controversy over the grants, was
elected one of the town committee to succeed
his father, commanded one of the Benning-
ton companies in the battle of Bennington,
and during the war rose to the rank of colonel.
He was, in 1777 and 1778, "overseer of the
Tory prisoners" and in 1779 and 1780 rep-
resented the town in the General Assembly
and was a member of the board of war. He
was the first justice appointed in town under
Vermont authority, in 177S, and was one of
the judges of the special court for the south
shire of the county, and, as such, presided at
the trial of Redding. He was a generous ■
and large-minded man, upright, enterprising,
kindly in manner and of decided natural
ability and ready courage. .Another son. Gen.
David Robinson, born at Hardwick, Nov.
22, 1754, was a major-general of the state
militia, an active and energetic man of his
time and United States marshal for eight
years up to 18 iS. He fought as a private in
the battle of Bennington, rising by regular
promotion to the place of major-general,
which he resigned in 181 7. He was sheriff
of the county for twenty-two years ending
with 1811. He died Dec. 12, 1843, at the
age of eighty-nine. His wife was Sarah,
daughter of Stephen Fay, who bore him three
sons. One of these, Stephen, was a member
of the Cleneral .Assembly several years, a
judge of the county court, and a member of
the council of censors in 1834. He died in
1852, at the age of seventy-one.
ROBINSON, Gov. MOSES.— The first
chief justice of the state. Governor and one
of her first senators, the close friend of
Jefferson and Madison, and one of the
leaders of the Democracy of that day, was the
second son of Samuel Robinson, Sr., born at
HariUvick, Mass., March 20, 1741. Lanmann
says he was educated at Dartmouth. He
was elected IJennington's clerk at the first
meeting of the town in March, 1762, and
kept its records for nineteen years. In the
early part of 1777 he was a colonel of militia,
and was at the head of his regiment on
Mount Independence when 'i'iconderoga
was evacuated by St. Clair. Then he be-
came a member of the council of safety
which held continuous sessions for several
months. He was also on the Governor's
council for eight years, to October, 1785.
He was in the secret of the Haldimand
negotiation from the beginning, was one of
the signers of the certificate which was
drawn up to protect the fame of Chittenden,
and .Mien and Fay, in 1781, and all through
the infant troubles of the new state, had the
confidence of the leaders and fathers, and
was one of the shrewd advisers of this criti-
cal period, though his position was such that
he could not take an active part. For, on
the first organization of the state, he was ap-
pointed chief justice, a position which he
held, except one year, until 1789, when in a
temporary breeze of dissatisfaction he was
elected (lovernor for a single term. But as
the issues were purely local and personal,
and bore no relation to national politics,
with which, of course, Vermont had no in-
terest while outside the I'nion, he cannot
be said to have been the first Democratic
Governor — an honor which belongs to Israel
Smith as a matter of fact, though in point
of power of leadership Jonas (ialusha must
be called the first of his time. The causes
of the overturn of this year are explained in
the sketch of Governor Chittenden. The vote
of the freemen stood 1,263 ^or Chittenden,
746 for Robinson, 478 for Samuel Safford,
and 378 for all others. The choice, in the
failure of any one to get a majority, therefore
went to the Legislature, and the opposition
to Chittenden concentrated on Robinson, and
elected him.
In 1782 Judge Robinson was sent to the
Continental Congress as one of the agents of
the state, and he was one of the commissioners
that finally adjusted the controversy with New
York. In 1791 he was chosen by the Legis-
lature with Stephen Bradley Senator to Con-
gress. He was very active with the then
young Republicans in opposition to the rati-
fication of the Jay treaty, not only in Con-
gress but in procuring puVilic meetings in his
town and county to condemn it, as a part of
the campaign of popular agitation organized
all over the country against the measures of
the Federalists that finally dro\e that party
from power. The Senator had the vigorous
support of his town and county for his politi-
cal views, but when satisfied that he was in a
fixed and definite minoritv in the state, in
56
obedience to his democratic views of duty,
he resigned his position as Senator in Octo-
ber, 1796, a few months before the expiration
of his term, and was succeeded by Isaac
Tichenor, who had then become tlie Fed-
eralist leader.
U'his closed his public career, with the ex-
ception of one term in the General Assembly
in 1802. He died May 26, 1813, at the age
of seventy-two.
Senator Robinson was a man of profound
piety and Democracy, and he had no difiti-
culty in making these convictions mix,
though it was the general belief of New En-
gland that they were antipodal. He was an
ardent sympathizer with the French Revolu-
tion, because he believed in the rights of
man, and even if French republicans were
infidels and went to the most extravagant
length in blasphemy, it was, to his view, no
argument for the rights of kings. Many news-
paper squibs were fired at him in after years
because of an occurence in 1791, when Jeffer-
son and Madison, making a horseback trip
through New England, stopped with him at
Bennington over one Sunday. The senator
who never failed to attend divine worship
when possible, took them to church, and
proud, as country people were apt to be in
those days of the church choir, insisted on
getting their opinion of it, and how it com-
pared with church music in other churches
and places, whereupon, it was said, both had
to admit that they were no judges, as neither
of them had attended any church for several
years. The yarn of course was designed to
injure him politically with the intolerant
people with whom he mixed and to discredit
him as deacon of the church, as he was from
1789 to the time of his death. But though
Moses Robinson might and doubtless did
regret Jefferson's tendency to free religious
views, it did not abate one jot his admira-
tion of that man's great work for humanity's
progress, or friendly association with him in
working towards high ideals of government.
This union of piety and Democracy is
finely expressed in his address on retiring
from the Governor's chair in 1790, so free
from the slightest accent of jealousy, so cor-
dial towards his successful rival, so unaffect-
edly obedient to the popular wish, that it de-
serves to be preserved as a gem in our
political literature. After alluding to his own
election the year previous, and his conscious-
ness that he had faithfully discharged his
duty and executed his trust, he added : " It
appears from the present election that the
freemen have given their suffrages in favor
of His Excellency Governor Chittenden. I
heartily acquiesce in the choice, and shall,
with the greatest satisfaction, retire to private
life, where I expect to enjoy that peace
which naturally results from a consciousness
of having done my duty.
"The freemen have an undoubted right
when they see it for the benefit of the com-
munity to call forth their citizens from be-
hind the curtain of private life and make
them their rulers, and for the same reason to
dismiss them at pleasure and elect others in
their place. This privilege is essential to
all free and to republican governments. As
a citizen I trust I shall ever feel for the in-
terest of the state ; the confidence the free-
men have repeatedlly placed in me ever
since the first formation of government, lays
me under additional obligations to promote
their true interest.
" Fellow-citizens of the Legislature, I wish
you the benediction of Heaven in the prose-
cution of the important business of the pres-
ent session : that all your consultations may
terminate for the glory of God and the inter-
est of the citizens of this state, and that both
those in pubhc and private life may so con-
duct in the several spheres in which God in
his providence shall call them to act, so that,
when death shall close the scene of life, we
may each of us ha^•e the satisfaction of a
good conscience and the approbation of our
Judge."
Governor Robinson became very wealthy
with the progress of the state and was cor-
respondingly generous in his gifts for the
cause of religion.
He was really the father of the Congrega-
tional church at Bennington, and it is related
of him that when people came to Benning-
tan to purchase land, he would invite them
to his house over night, contri\e to learn
their religious \iews and if they were not
good Congregationalists persuade them to
settle in Shaftsbury or Pownal, in both of
which he was also a proprietor. So strong a
bent did he and his associates gi\e to the
religious opinion of the community that up
to 1830 there was only one house of public
worship in the town.
His sunset days were of almost ecstatic hope
and beauty. One of those present at his death,
the wife of Gen. David Robinson, said of
the scene : " If I could feel as he did, it
would be worth ten thousand worlds."
Governor Robinson married for his first
wife Mary, daughter of Stephen Fay, and
after her death, Susannah Howe. He left six
sons by his first wife, to show the effects of
blending the patriotic blood of Robinson
and Fay. Moses, the eldest, was a member
of the council in 1814, and was rejieatedly,
in i8i9-'2o-'23 representative in the General
Assembly. He was, in opposition to nearly
all the rest of the family, a Federalist in poli-
tics, and repeatedly that party's candidate
for councilor, being defeated once only by the
omission of " Ir." from his name. Aaron, the
57
second, was town clerk seven years, justice of
the peace twenty-three years, representative
in the Legislature in i8i6-'i7, and judge of
probate in i835-'36. Samuel, the third, was
clerk of the Supreme Court for the county
from 1794 to i8i5,and Nathan, another son,
a lawyer, who died at the age of forty, repre-
sented the town in 1803.
ROBINSON, JONATHAN,— The yoimg-
est son of Samuel, Sr., brother of the pre-
ceding, and, like him, chief justice of the
Supreme Court and United States Senator,
was born at Hardwick, August 11, 1756,
came to Bennington with his father in 1761,
and was admitted to the bar in 1796. He
vt'as town clerk for six years beginning with
1795, town representative thirteen times be-
fore 1802, and chief justice of the Supreme
Court from 1801 to 1807. In the latter year
the triumph of the Jeffersonians in at last
defeating Tichenor and electing Israel Smith
Governor, seven vears after they had got
control of the rest of the government, neces-
sitated the latter's resignation of his seat in
the Senate, and Judge Robinson was chosen
to succeed him, and in 1809 he was also
elected for another term closing in 1815. He
was in Federal relations the political master
of the state during this time, had a controll-
ing influence in the distribution of the army
and other patronage of the administration,
which was very great during the war of 181 2,
and he handled it with much shrewdness as
well as care for the public interest. He had
not the remarkable power of his great com-
peer, Jonas Galusha, to make a permanent
impress on the thought of his time, but he
was an astute and far-seeing leader. He
more closely resembled his great competitor
in county politics, and his successor in the
Senate, Isaac Tichenor, in his popular man-
ners and facility of leadership ; and, as with
Tichenor, there was a strong leaven of faith-
fulness to duty and an underlying strength of
character and solidity of ability, that made
the ultimate basis of success. He had the
ear and confidence of President Madison to
an extent that few men had.
After his retirement from the Senate, like
many other great Vermonters, he found it
not beneath his dignity to serve the people
in other stations to which they called him.
He was elected judge of probate in October,
1815, and held the position for four years,
and again represented the town in 181 8, be-
ing prominent in the discussion over the
proposed constitutional amendment for the
real democratic plan for the choice of presi-
dential electors by districts. He died Nov.
3, 1819, at the age of sixty-three.
He married into another noted ^'ermont
family, his wife being Mary, daughter of
John Fassett. One of their sons, Jonathan
I'!., a lawyer, was town clerk nine years and
judge of county court in 1S28 and died in
1831. .\nother, Henry, was paymaster in
the army, clerk in the pension office, briga-
dier-general of militia, and for ten years clerk
of the county and supreme court. He died
in 1856.
ROBINSON, JOHN S.— Son of Nathan,
and grandson of Gov. Moses Robinson, a
Democratic leader in the last generation and
the only Democratic Governor of the state
for more than half a century, was born at
Bennington No\-. 10, 1804. He graduated
at Williams in 1S24, and was admitted to the
bar in 1827. A man of brilliant parts, he
rapidly rose to the front rank of his profes-
sion and was well adapted for a political
career like that of the other great men of the
name but for the fact that the movement of
the times had left his party in a hopeless
minority in the state. He twice represented
the town in the lower House of the Legisla-
ture and was twice a state senator. He was
repeatedly the Democratic candidate for
Congress in his district. There was a serious
split in the organization growing out of the
Free Soil movement of 1848, and continuing
for several years until it merged into the
Liberty or later the Republican party. In
1 85 I he was the candidate of the minority
element, receiving 6,686 votes to 14,950 for
Timothy P. Redfield, the regular Demo-
cratic candidate, and 22,676 for Charles K.
Williams, Whig. The next year the Demo-
crats made him their regular candidate, and
with a temporary increase of strength for the
Liberty party which cast9,446 votes for Law-
rence Brainerd, there was a failure to elect by
the people, Robinson having 14,938 \otes
and Erastus Fairbanks, Whig, 23,795, and the
choice was by the Legislature, which elected
Fairbanks.
The next year the enactment of prohibi-
tion had stirred things up a good deal, and
given the Democrats renewed hope, they
made Robinson their candidate again, and
the result of the election was 20,849 for Fair-
banks, 18,142 tor Robinson, and 8,291 for
Brainerd, again throwing the choice to the
Legislature where Robinson was elected. But
it was only a year's triumph. It was the period
of political breakup over the slavery issue,
and of the foundation of the new Repub-
lican party. In July of the next summer,
Brainerd presided over the first Republican
state convention, and that fall was sent to
the United States Senate. The polls in Sep-
tember showed the dropping out of the
Liberty party, and except some 1,600 scat-
tering votes among various candidates, the
issue was between the two leading jjarties,
and Stephen Royce was elected Governor by
^8
a vote of 27,926 to 15,084 for the Demo-
crats.
Governor Robinson, however, remained an
active Democrat, and in i860 was chairman
of the Vermont delegation to the National
Democratic convention at Charleston, S. C,
but was stricken with apoplexy while in
that city, and died there the 24th of that
month.
Governor Hall, so long his rival, profes-
sionally and politically, pays tribute to his
"legal attainments and high order of talent,"
and adds : "Generous of heart, amiable in
disposition, and with integrity undoubted,
he, by his uniform courtesy and kindness,
endeared himself to all with whom he had
business or intercourse."
Governor Robinson wedded, in October,
1847, Juliette Staniford, widow of A\'illiam
Robinson. He left no children.
ROWLEY, Thomas.— The first poet of
the Green Mountains, a public favorite,
trusty patriot, and something of a statesman,
a soldier, legislator and judge, was born in
Hebron, Conn., and cajne to Danby in 1769,
was its first town clerk serving for nine
years until in 1778, and then, on the organi-
zation of the state government was its first
representative in the General Assembly and
also for the next two years. Through the
troublous times of the Green Mountain Boys'
resistance to New York and the Revolution
he was generally chairman of Danby's com-
mittee of safety and while in the Legislature
he served on the most important commit-
tees, and was the draftsman of their bills.
He was in the convention of 1777 that de-
clared independence and framed the con-
stitution.
I3ut it was as a poet that he rendered his
memorable service to Vermont. His verses
were everywhere sung through the state as
an inspiration to the settlers and the Green
Afpuntain Boys And they were just fitted,
with their homely vigor of phrase, their
sympathy with the wild romance of nature
about them, their heat of intense conviction
of right and their scoring of the speculators
after their homes, to stir the people on the
Grants deeply. They were indeed the fit
complement of Ethan Allen's vehement elo-
quence in prose. They were mostly given
out impromptu, many of them never com-
mitted to paper at all, and only a few and
imperfect fragments have been brought
down to the present ; but with all their
roughnesses of meter and expression, even
after the struggle that made the soul of them
had passed, it is easy to see that there was
wit and genius in them. He was always
versifying, and some specimens on religious,
moral and family topics have been preserved,
but though they contain some diamonds of
poetic thought, they lack the fire that even
now can be felt in his effusions.
He lived at Rutland for a while and was
first judge of the special court for that
county. After the Re\-olutionary war he
mo^ed to Shoreham, where he had before
lived for a year, and was also the first town
clerk and first justice of the peace of that
town. About the year iSoo he went to Ben-
son to live with his son Nathan and died
there in 1803.
He was regarded as a man of sound judg-
ment and ability, as well as a wit and poet.
He was intensely religious, a Wesleyan in
his views. In appearance he is described as
"of medium height, rather thick set, rapid
in his movements, with light eyes, sprightly
and piercing, indicating rapidity of percep-
tion, and sometimes the facetious poetic
faculty ; yet he was generally a sedate and
thoughtful man."
DEWEY, Rev. Jedediah,— Sonof Jede-
diah and Rebecca Dewey, was born in AN'est-
field, Mass., April 11, 17 14, married Mindwell
Hayden of Windsor, Conn., August 4, 1736,
and removed to Bennington from ^^'estfield,
Mass. Died December 21, 1778.
"The Records and Memorials of a Cen-
tury," edited by Rev. Isaac Jennings, show
that Mr. Dewey was the first minister and
also the first school teacher in the state. He
was a patriot with a profound interest in the
future prosperity of the infant settlement
where he had cast his lot, and took a promi-
nent part in the controversy originating from
the disputes concerning the land titles of the
New Hampshire Grants. His correspondence
with Governor Tryon, of New York, demon-
strated that his influence was weighty in put-
ting an end to the struggle by peaceful
negotiation. Rev. Mr. Dewey preached the
war sermon pre\'ious to the battle of Ben-
nington, charging his congregation to go
forth and fight for their native land. On the
following Saturday the battle of Bennington
was fought and won. His son, Capt. Elijah
Dewey, was on the field in command of the
infantry company from Bennington, and
every history of \'ermunt relates how well he
discharged his duty on that occasion.
It is related in "Jennings' History of ^"er-
mont," that at the public divine service of
thanksgiving for the capture of 'Liconderoga,
many officers being present, among whom was
Ethan Allen, Mr. Dewey preached and made
the prayer, in which he gave to God all the
glory and praise of the capture of that strong-
hold. Ethan Allen, in the midst of the
prayer called out, "Parson Dewey," "Parson
Dewey," "Parson Dewey." At the third
pronunciation of his name Mr. Dewey paused
and opened his eyes, when Allen raised both
hands and exclaimed, "Please mention to
KNOWI.TON.
59
the Lord about my being there," to which
the parson repUed, "Sit down thou bold
blasphemer, and listen to the word of Cod,"
and it is a matter of record in the Walloomsac
Valley that the hero of Ticonderoga quietly
resumed his seat.
FASSETT, Captain John.— One of the
most useful and constantly employed of the
public men of the state's formative jieriod,
was born in Hardwick, Mass., June 3, 1 743 :
the son of Captain Fassett, who came to
Bennington in 1761, became an innholder
and captain of the first military company
formed in town, and was the town's repre-
rentative in the first Vermont Legislature.
John Fassett came to Bennington with his
father. He was lieutenant in Warner's first
regiment in 1775, ^"d captain in ^^'arner's
second in 1776. In 1777 he was one of the
commissioners of sequestration, and with
Governor Chittenden and Matthew ].yon
successful in subduing the Tories of Arling-
ton. He was elected Representative of
Arlington in the General .Assembly for 1778
and 1779, and for Cambridge in 1787 and
1788, 1790 and 1791 ; though in 1779, 1787
and 17S8 and 1790 and 1791 he was also
elected councilor. He served in each office
portions of the time. He was a member of
the Council in 1779 and until 1795, with the
exception of 1786, fifteen years. He was
judge of the Superior Court from its organ-
ization in 1778 until 1786, eight years;
and chief judge of Chittenden county court
from 1787 until 1794, seven years.
Highland Hall states that Judge Fassett
died in Cambridge, but the historian of that
place tells of "Dr. John Fassett who came
from Bennington in 1784 moving west after
he had lived in town about forty years, and
when he must have been an octogenarian."
KNOWLTON, LUKE, (or Knoulton, as
he wrote the name), councilor, judge, early
settler and most influential citizen of New-
fane, and holding some anomalous positions
in the early controversies, was born at
Shrewsbury, Mass., November, 1738. He
w-as a soldier in the French and Indian war,
was stationed at Crown Point for a while,
and came close to starvation in the march
from that point to Charleston, Nov. 4, where
his company was obliged to kill its last pack
horse for food. He came to New'fane in
1773, the fifteenth family to settle in town,
and came under a New Vork title which he
and another man had purchased from a lot
of speculators in New York City. Naturally,
therefore, he took the New Vork side in the
controversy with the Green Mountain boys,
and adhered to it until i 780, when he and
Ira .Allen came to terms while they were at
Philadelphia as agents for the two sides
before Congress. But it is certain, in spite
of the accusations of later years, that he was
on the patriot side at the opening of the
Revolution, and there is no sufficient reason
for impugning his patriotism afterwards, for
at the time it was done he was acting
in concert with the \'ermont leaders when
his social and personal connections were
such as to make him a convenient medium
of communication with the British. From
June, 1776, to June, 1777, he was a member
of the Cumberland county committee of
Safety.
^Lay 17, 1774, on the organization of the
town of Newfane, he was elected town clerk
and held that position sixteen years. In
1772 he had been appointed by New Vork
one of the justices of peace for the county.
In September, 1780, the Yorkers of Cum-
berland county sent him to ("ongress as their
agent to oppose the pretensions of the new-
state, and for this service he had a letter of
recommendation from Governor Clinton, of
New York. It was while on this mission
that the arrangement was made with Ira
Allen, on a basis, as the latter wrote, that
should " be honorable to those who had
been in favor of New York." The arrange-
ment was to call a convention of delegates
of all parties interested, including the New
Hampshire towns that wanted to unite with
Vermont.
The next month we find Knowlton active
as chairman of a Cumberland county com-
mittee of thirteen to brim; about this con-
6o
KXOWLTON.
KNOWLTOX.
vention, which first met at \\'alpole, and then
called another convention at Charlestown,
Jan. i6, I 781. He was present at the latter
convention, acting in concert with Allen, who
was manipulating it from the outside. The
result was the "East union" of thirty-five
New Hampshire towns with Vermont, and
following that the "West union" of that part
of New York to the banks of Hudson river,
north of Massachusetts line to latitude 45".
Knowlton was evidenth' satisfied with this,
as were most of the New York adherents in
^Vindham county, for he soon appeared
among the leaders in Vermont politics.
He was town representative in the General
Assembly of the state of Vermont during the
years 1784, 1788, 1789, 1792, 1803, and
1806, and a member of the old council from
1790 to 1800; judge of the Supreme Court
in 1 786, and judge of the \\'indham county
court from 1787 to 1793.
In 1782 while the Haldimand intrigue was
at its height and emissaries were passing
thick back and forth through Vermont, a dis-
patch was intercepted which showed that the
British commander in Canada was communi-
cating with British agents in New York City
by means of letters, exchanged through Mr.
Knowlton and Col. Samuel Wells, of Brattle-
boro. The thing was of course suspicious,
and there is no doubt that Wells was thor-
oughly Tory in sympathy ; but it was neces-
sary for the Vermont policy at this time that
Haldimand should frequently consult the
British commander in New York about it,
and it had to be done through men in whom
both parties had confidence. The discovery
was laid before Congress by Washington and
the result was an order for the arrest of
Wells and Knowlton. Their escape to
Canada was aided by the Aliens. Knowlton,
however, returned within a year, and was at
his house in Newfane, November 16, 1783,
when a lot of Yorkers but American sympa-
thizers broke in and arrested him, and forcibly
deported him to Massachusetts. General
Fletcher and Colonel Bradley organized a
rescuing party, but Mr. Knowlton returned
before it became necessary for them to act.
It was this case of abduction for which the
leader of the rioters, Francis Prouty, was in-
dicted for burglary at Westminister, and
which resulted in this curious verdict : "The
jury find in this case that the prisoner did
break and enter the house of Luke Knowlton,
Esq., in the night season, and did take and
carry away the said Luke Knowlton, and if
that breaking a house and taking and carry-
ing away a person as aforesaid amounts to
burglary, we say he is guilty ; if not, we say
he is not guilty." The judgment of the
court on the verdict was not guilty.
John A. Graham, in a series of rambling let-
ters descriptive of \'ermont scenery, written
and ])ublished at the close of the last century,
thus speaks of judge Knowlton : "Newfane
owes its consequence in a great measure to
Mr. Luke Knowlton, a leading character and
a man of great ambition and enterprise, of
few words, but possessed of great quickness
and perception and an almost intuitive
knowledge of human nature, of which he is a
perfect judge." "Saint Luke" was the ap-
pelation given Mr. Knowlton by his contem-
poraries because of his grave and suave man-
ners and his decorous deportment even to
the point of humility. He was liberal and
generous to the poor, entered heartily and
zealously into all the public enterprises of
the day, gave to the county of Windham the
land for a common on Newfane hill at the
time of the removal of the shire from West-
minster to Newfane, and contributed largely
towards the erection of the first court house
and jail in Newfane. Judge Knowlton died at
Newfane Nov. 12, 1810, aged seventv-three.
His wife, Sarah, daughter of Ephraim Hol-
land of Shrewsbury, whom he married Jan.
5, 1760, had died Sept. i, 1797. Three sons
and four daughters were the fruit of the
union, nearly all of whom had distinguished
careers or connections. Calvin, the eldest,
graduated at Dartmouth and was a promis-
ing lawyer at Newfane at the time of his
death at the age of thirty-nine. Patty, born
in 1762, dying in Ohio in 1S14, married
Daniel Warner and was the grandmother
of Hon. Willard Warner, late United States
senator from Alabama, and during the civil
war a member of General Sherman's staff in
his celebrated "march to the sea." Silas,
born in 1764, married Lucinda Holbrook at
Newfane, Nov. 30, 1786, and died in Canada
aged eighty. Sarah, born I\Iay 2, 1767,
married John Holbrook at Newfane, Nov.
30, 1786. She died March 22, 1851, aged
eighty-four. Alice, married Nathan Stone,
April 24, 1788. She died Nov. 14, 1865,
aged ninety-six. Lucinda, born August 8,
1 77 I, married Samuel Willard. They lived
awhile in Sheldon, from thence they moved
to Canada, where she died May 4, 1800.
Luke Knowlton, Jr., was born in Newfane,
March 24, 1775, died at Broome township,
Canada East, Sept. 17, 1855, aged eighty.
Among Judge Knowlton's grandsons, be-
sides General \\'arner, are Paul Holland
Knowlton, Broome township. Lower Canada,
son of Silas Knowlton, who has occupied
distinguished positions in the Province, and
was for many years a member of the Canada
Parliament ; Rev. John C. Holbrook of
Syracuse, N. Y., an eloquent divine, highly
esteemed for his piety and learning ; Hon.
Geo. \y. Knowlton of ^^'atertown, N. Y., and
Frederick Holbrook, the war Governor of
Vermont.
CLARK, Nathan, of ISenninnton, was
speaker of the first General Assembly after
the organuation of the state government in
1778. He was also a native of Connecticut,
though the place and date of his birth are
not known, and came to Bennington as early
as 1762 and died there April 8, 1799, at the
age of about seventy-four. He was frequently
chairman of the several committees and con-
ventions of the settlers. He was chairman of
the Bennington committee of safety in 1776,
and received the thanks of General Gates for
his promptness in supplying Ticonderoga
with fiour. He was also a member of the
state council of safety. He represented Ben-
nington in 1 778. In manners he is described
as mild and gentlemanly, and he was e\i-
dently very facile as a manager of men and
measures. His son, Col. Isaac Clark, known
as "Old Rifle," was distinguished as a parti-
san leader in the war of 181 2.
BOWKER, JOSEPH.— An early settler in
Rutland, president of every general conven-
tion, except two, in the state's embryonic
period, and the first speaker of the General
Assembly ; " in a modified sense, the John
Hancock of Vermont," as Henry Hall calls
him, was born in Sudbury, Mass., or vicinity.
The tradition as dug up by Mr. Hall is that
he was early left an orphan, brought up in
the family of a Mr. Taintor, privately be-
throthed to his daughter, Sarah, drafted into
the army during the French and Indian war,
in the garrison at Ticonderoga one or two
years, and then returned with so good a rep-
utation that he soon became the son-in law
of his quasi guardian. He appeared in Rut-
land about 1773, and participated in the
opposition to the New York grant of Social-
borough which covered that township.
Yet, although he was the recognized leader
of the opponents and much trusted in the
town and state throughout the struggle, he
was not named in any act of outlawry. He
soon became a very general office-holder,
member of the committee of safety, town
treasurer, selectman, representative, magis-
trate, conveyancer, and adviser of citizens.
He was one of the four men that built the
first saw-mill in town, and all his life "farmed
it," though apparently rather shiftlessly. At
the first election under the constitution he
was elected representative for Rutland, and
at the same time received the highest vote
cast for any man as councilor. Before the
votes for councilor had been canvassed, he
was elected speaker of the House, which
office and that of representative he of course
relinquished on taking his seat in the coun-
cil. To that body he was elected seven
times, and until his death. He was the first
judge of Rutland county court, which office
he held till December, 1783 ; also the first
judge of probate, and held that office until
his death in 1 784.
He was a superior jiresiding officer, famil-
iar with parliamentary usages, impartial,
courteous and quick of apprehension, and
must have been a man of marked native
ability though of limited education.
.\ neighbor speaking in after years, says of
him : "that Joseph Bowker was greatly looked
up to for counsel, much esteemed for his
great and excellent qualities, for many years
the most considerable man in town, and
during the negotiations with Canada he was
always resorted to solely for counsel and
advice." He seems to have combined with
his qualities of leadership, moderation,
and generosity, so that he encountered less
antagonism than most of his associates in
the work of state building.
He died July 11, 1784, just as the little
republic he had helped to launch was well
upon her remarkable career, and was buried
somewhere in the public acre of the ceme-
tery at Rutland Center, but the exact spot
nobody knows. The date of his marriage
is also unknown. He left only two children,
daughters, who early left the state and set-
tled somewhere in the West. Few indeed
are the men who do so useful a work as that
of Joseph Bowker and yet of whom the rec-
ord is so meagre and unsatisfactory.
BAYLEY, Gen. Jacob.— Washington's
most trusted officer in Vermont, who had
charge of the protection of the frontier for
several years, and who was at different times
an advocate of the claims of New York, of
the new state, and of New Hampshire to the
territory of Vermont, was born at Newbury,
Mass., July 2, 1728. He was a captain in
the French war in i 736, present at the Fort
William Henry massacre in 1757, from which
he escaped, and was a colonel under .Am-
herst in the taking of Crown Point and
Ticonderoga in 1759. He came to New-
bury, Vt., in October, 1764, was in 1775
elected to the New York Provincial Con-
gress, though he did not take his seat, and
was one of the most influential men of that
part of the state. He was commissioner to
administer oaths of office, judge of inferior
court of common pleas, and justice of the
peace; August i, 1776, he was appointed
brigadier-general of the militia of Cumber-
land and Gloucester counties, and in 1776
he began work on the celebrated Hazen
road, afterward completed by General
Hazen, which was designed as a military road
from the Connecticut river to St. Johns,
Canada.
He was, in the early years of the struggle
between the settlers and New York, one of
the most trusted representatives of the
authoritv of the latter, but suddenlv changed
his position in 1777, writing to the New
York council under dale of June 14, acknowl-
edging the receipt of ordinance for the
election of Governor, Senators and Repre-
sentatives and saying ; "I am apt to think our
people will not choose any member to sit in
the state of New York. The people before
they saw the constitution were not willing to
trouble themselves about a separation from
the state of New York, but now almost to a
man they are violent for it."' He had
earlier been chosen by the convention one
of the delegates to present Vermont's re-
monstrance and petition to the Continental
Congress, and he was one of the two repre-
sentatives from Newbury in the Windsor
convention of July 17, 1777, that framed the
constitution. Less than a year and a half
afterwards, he was a leader in the scheme of
the Connecticut River towns on both sides of
the river to join together and form a new
state, and was chairman of the committee
that issued, Dec. i, 1778, a long " public
defense " of their right to do so. In less
than two years from that time he was an
emphatic and headlong advocate of New
Hampshire's jurisdiction over the whole of
Vermont, and Nov. 22, 1780, wrote to Presi-
dent Weare of New Hampshire : " For my
part I am determined to fight for New
Hampshire and the United States as long as
I am alive and have one copper in my
hand."
But, notwithstanding his erratic state poli-
tics, he was unflinchingly faithful to the con-
tinental cause, and his later state flops were
largely due to his suspicions of the Aliens.
He warned Washington repeatedly that there
was treason afoot. "We have half a dozen
rascals here," he said, and in 1781 he fully
believed that ^'ermont had been sold out to
Canada. British emissaries in the state wrote
to Haldimand in that year, that he had been
employed by Congress at great expense to
"counteract underhand whatever is doing
for government." He was in 1780 intensely
anxious to lead an invasion into Canada —
"the harbor for spoils, thieves, and robbers,"
as he wrote President ^Veare. He thought
then that the patriot cause was "sinking so
fast" as to make the attempt a vital necessity
whatever the risk. He did important service
throughout the war in guarding the ex-
tensive frontier of two hundred miles, keep-
ing friendship with the Indians, and keeping
them employed for the American cause so
far as he could. He was in this way con-
stantly in confidential communication with
^^'ashington to the end of the war. He was
repeatedly waylaid while in the performance
of his arduous duties, his house rifled and
his papers stolen by the bands of both scouts
and lawless men that roamed the forests be-
tween the hostile countries. He was a com-
missary-general during a part of the war.
He was a member of the famous Council
of Safety in 1777, and the next spring was
elected to the Covernor's Council. He was
at Castleton in military service in 1777, but
appears to have been acting under his New
York commission. For the next few years
the Vermonters had no use for him, but in
1793 he was again elected councilor by a
close margin over John \Miite. He repeat-
edly represented his town in the Legislature,
and was a judge of Orange county court
after that county was organized.
He died at Newbury, March i, 1S16. He
was married, Oct. 16, 1745, to Prudence
Noyes. They had ten children, and their
descendants have been numerous and re-
spectable.
MARSH, JOSEPH, the first Lieutenant-
Governor of the
state, and an-
cestor of sever-
al of the ablest
men that have
graced Ver-
mont history,
was born at Le-
banon, Conn.,
Jan. 12, 1726,
the son of Jos-
eph Marsh and
descended from
John Marsh, an
early Puritan,
and from Dep-
uty Governor
He is, however, said to
a single month's school-
ing himself. He came to Hartford in 1772
and soon became active and influential
in public affairs. He took the New York
side in the early part of the controversy
over the grants, as did a vast majority of the
people on the east side of the mountains in
the beginning, because they had their grants
from New York, or where they were from
New Hampshire, New York had taken pains
to secure their friendship against the "Pen-
nington mob" by confirming them.
In August, 1775, he was by New Vork
authority appointed lieutenant-colonel of the
upper regiment of Cumberland county, and in
the January following he was promoted to a
full colonelcy. He was also in 1776 ap-
pointed by the Cumberland county commit-
tee of safety a delegate to the New York
Provincial Congress for the sessions begin-
ning in February, May, and July ; but he
appears to have been present only at the
May and a part of the July session, and
within a year of that time he was among the
leaders of the "new state" men, participat-
John Webster,
have had but
CARPENTER.
63
ing in the conventions of June, lulv, and
December of that year, and being their vice-
president. The July convention made him
chairman of the committee to procure arms
for the state. As military commander he
did some efficient service that year, (jeneral
Schuyler ordered him, in February, to enlist
every fifth man in his regiment to reinforce
the Continental army at Ticonderoga, and he
executed the order with remarkable prompt-
itude. The Vermont council of safety, in
August, ordered him to march half of the
regiment to liennington, and he did so, but
apparently not in season to participate in
that battle, though the regiment was after-
ward in service under his command on the
Hudson.
When the new state government was or-
ganized in March, 1778, he was, by a narrow
margin, elected Lieutenant-Governor, and was
re-elected for another term and then was
succeeded by Benjamin Carpenter. In 17S7,
however, he was again elected and successive-
ly reelected until 1 790. He was almost simul-
taneously with his first election as Lieutenant-
Governor, made chairman of the court of
confiscation for Eastern Vermont and was
also during the "East union" chairman of
the committee of safety for a section of Ver-
mont, including also the annexed territory
from New Hampshire and had his head-
quarters at Dresden. He represented Hart-
ford in the (General Assemblies of 1781 and
'82, was one of the first council of censors
and was from 1787 to 1795 chief judge of
the Windsor county court. He died Feb. 9,
1811.
Colonel Marsh married, Jan. 10, 1750,
Dorothy, a descendant of Gen. John Mason,
the famous commander of the English
forces in the Pequot Indian war, and an
aunt of the distinguished jurist Jeremiah
Mason of Boston. Among their descend-
ants have been Professor and President
James Marsh of the University of Vermont,
Dr. Leonard Marsh of Burlington, Charles
Marsh, congressman and famous lawyer, and
greatest of all, George P. Marsh, congress-
man, minister to Turkey and Italy, Scandi-
na\ian scholar and a profoundly able author
in many lines.
Governor Marsh is described by his grand-
son, Hon. Roswell Marsh of Steubenville,
Ohio, who was brought up in the former's
family, thus : " He excelled in acquiring
knowledge from conversations, and his own
was exceedingly interesting. His knowl-
edge, however acquired, was utilized by a
close logical mind. His temper was equable,
and children loved him. In politics nothing
save remarks disrespectful to President
Washington, ever disturbed him, for he was
of the pure \\'ashingtonian school, and
trained his children in it. He was an
earnest Christian, but free from bigotry. In
person he was of large stature and well pro-
jjortioned — broad shouldered, large boned,
lean and of great muscular power ; in
weight over two hun,dred."
CARPHNTHR, BENJAMIN.— Colonel in
the Revolutionary service, Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor, I 779-'8i, among the foremost of the
early patriots of the state, and a character
whose steady strength of principle makes
one of the most interesting figures of Thomp-
son's romance, was born in Swanzey, Mass.,
May I 7, 1725, the son of Edward and Eliza-
beth (Wilson) Carpenter. He had only a
common school education, yet he was evi-
dently a man of prominence before he came
to \'ermont, for the famous inscription on
his tombstone at Guilford states that he was
a magistrate in Rhode Island in 1764. He
appeared on the Grants and settled in Guil-
ford in 1770, and he was the first delegate
from Guilford to a \'ermont convention and
one of the very few on the east side of the
state that had any part in the early struggles
against New York. He was in the ^Vest-
minister convention of April 11, 1775, which
condemned the New York government for
the Westminster massacre, in the Dorset and
Westminster conventions of 1776, and in
the Windsor convention that framed the con-
stitution of the state. An incident in this
connection, given on the authority of the
late Rev. Mark Carpenter, shows a creditable
freedom on his part from the greed for land
speculation which was so mixed up with the
\'ermont patriotism of those days. 'I'he Leg-
islature, which consisted largely of the men
who had framed the constitution, voted to
themselves several townships of land as
" compensation for their long and self-sacri-
ficing services." Colonel Carpenter voted
against the measure, denounced it as detract-
ing from the dignity of the work, and to his
dying day persisted in never touching what
the town \oted to him, (Barre), or in taking
any compensation for his public services.
In the heated politics of Guilford, going
far beyond what was ever known elsewhere
in the state, the New York adherents got
atop in 1778 and ruled the town for the
next thirteen years ; but Colonel Carpenter
fought them uncompromisingly and at much
risk and sacrifice, as it is recorded that in
December, 1783, he was taken prisoner by
the \'orkers and carried away " to his great
damage."
He was a leader among the patriots as
soon as the Revolution broke out, being
chairman of the Cumberland county com-
mittee of safety Feb. i, 1776, and by that
body was nominated lieutenant-colonel of
militia and the appointment confirmed by
New York authoritv. He was a member of
64
HASWELL.
the Council of Safety which managed the
1777 campaign so efificiently, building out
of disaster and disorganization the victory
at Bennington and the eventual capture of
Burgoyne. With pack and cane he went
afoot from his Guilford home, thirty miles
through the woods by his line of marked
trees, to attend the meeting of the Council
that took the decisive measures of confiscat-
ing Tory estates to raise money, and stimu-
lating enlistments by the promise of a
township of land for each company. So
important were his services recognized to
be, that at the second election of the new
state in 1779, he was chosen Lieutenant-
Governor and re-elected in 1780. In the
later politics of the state he was a staunch
Jeftersonian ; in the words on the tombstone :
" A public leader of righteousness, an able
advocate to his last for Democracy and the
equal rights of man." His last office was
that in the Council of Censors in 17S3.
He was a deacon in the Baptist church, of
which he was for fifty years a member, influ-
ential throughout the denomination in New
England, and occasionally preaching himself.
He died March 29, 1804, at the age of
nearly seventy-nine, and leaving one hun-
dred and forty-six persons of lineal posterity.
His wife was a fourth cousin, Annie, daugh-
ter of Abial and Prudence Carpenter, whom
he married at Providence, R. I., Oct. 3,
1745-
Colonel Carpenter was a man of impres-
sive presence, being over six feet tall and
weighing two hundred. Thompson's His-
tory of Vermont truly says that he " deserv-
edly holds a conspicuous place in the early
history of the state."
HASWELL, ANTHONY.— Editor, pub-
lisher, and author, the postmaster-general of
the state when it was an independent re-
public, and in after years one of the victims
of the alien and sedition laws, was born at
Portsmouth, Eng., April 6, 1756, came to
Boston when he was thirteen years old,
learned the printer's trade with Isaiah
Thomas, afterwards drifted to Vermont and
started the Vermont Gazette at Bennington,
June 5, 1783. He was for many years one
of the public printers of the state, the work
being divided between his and the press
established at Windsor about the same time.
The Legislature in 1784 passed an act
establishing postoffices at Bennington, Brat-
tleboro, Rutland, Windsor, and Newbury,
and made him postmaster-general, and this
position he held with extensive powers and
increasing business until the state was ad-
mitted to the LTnion' in 1791. In national
politics he then became an ardent Repub-
lican, and when Mathew Lyon was prose-
cuted under the sedition law, he criticised the
proceeding severely in his paper, and also
published another article severely condemn-
ing President Adams' appointment to office.
The articles, though they showed consid-
erable warmth of feeling, were not anywhere
near as bad as have been published thou-
sands of times since in political controversy
without exciting more than passing attention,
and they did not begin to compare for bit-
terness and personal invective with the utter-
ances which the Federalists were constantly
pouring forth from both press and pulpit
against Jefferson and the Democratic lead-
ers. Nevertheless, he was indicted before
the United States Circuit court, at Windsor,
and sentenced by Judge Patterson to S200
fine and two months' imprisonment. He
was allowed to serve out the imprisonment in
the jail at Bennington, but the fine he had to
pay, and it was refunded to his descendants
over fifty years afterward. The prosecution
made him a good deal of a popular hero, as
it did Lyon, and the celebration of the
Fourth of July in 1800 was postponed at
Bennington till July 9, when his term ex-
pired, and he was liberated amidst the roar
of cannon and a great demonstration of the
people.
The publication of the old Bennington
Gazette which Mr. Haswell established was
continued with occasional interruption both
before and after his death, until 1849, when
it expired in the hands of his son, John C.
Haswell. The elder Haswell also started a
paper in Rutland, in 1792, called the " Her-
ald of Freedom," the progenitor of the pres-
ent Rutland Herald, but his office was burned
after he had issued the fourteenth number,
and it was to recoup this misfortune that the
Legislature authorized him to raise $200 by
lottery. Mr. Haswell ventured twice into the
magazine field, starting in March, 1794, "The
Monthly Miscellany, or Vermont Magazine,"
and on Jan. 8, 180S, another monthly called
the "Mental Repast." Both had a short life,
though the latter carried considerable original
and interesting matter. He published a
good many books and pamphlets from his
office, among them the " Memoirs of Capt.
Matthew Phelps " of which he was the author,
and he wrote or rather composed much on
moral, religious and political subjects, in
both prose and verse, for most of his thoughts
took shape as he put them into type at his
case.
He was a man of decided ability, warm
and impulsive temperament and thorough
conscientiousness. He was twice married,
and dying. May 26, 18 16, left numerous de-
scendants.
PAYNE, ELISHA. — Lieutenant-Governor
in 1 781, simultaneously chief judge of the
Supreme Court, and in 1782 one of the dele-
CHANDLER.
gates to Congress, appears only brielly in
\'ermont history, during tiie continuance of
the " Kast union " of New Hampshire towns
with Vermont. He was born at Canterbury,
Conn., in 1731, became quite prominent in
New Hampshire in colonial days, doing
good service in the French war, rising to be
colonel and deputy surveyor-general of the
King's woods, to preserve the pine trees re-
served in all grants for the royal navy. In
the short-lived union of the sixteen New
Hampshire towns with X'ermont in 1778,
Colonel Payne appeared as representative of
Cardigan, N. H., and was elected councilor,
though he refused the position because he
thought he could be more useful in the House
in resisting the effort he knew would be
pressed to dissohe the union. He was a
leader in the Charleston convention of i7iSi
which, with the aid of Ira Allen's manipula-
tion, resolved to ask annexation to \'ermont
of all of New Hampshire west of a line
seventy miles from the sea-coast, instead of
attempting to form still another new state of
this part of New Hampshire and the eastern
half of \'ermont, as had been originally
planned.
He urged the union energetically and
eloquently before the Vermont Legislature
until it was consummated in the .April fol-
lowing, when he enjoyed a liberal share of
the honors of the new state as above stated.
His election as Lieutenant-Governor was by
the Legislature, as there had been no choice
by the people. In the winter following,
when New Hampshire started to regain the
seceded territory by force, Mr. Payne's ad-
dress and firm stand undoubtedly went far
to avert bloodshed. When Governor Chit-
tenden ordered him to call out the militia
" to repel force by force," he at once wrote
President Weare of New Hampshire stating
his instructions, but in a tone so conciliatory
and yet firm that peace was restored. When
this last " union " was dissolved, Gov-
ernor Payne adhered to New Hampshire,
though he had now such a hold on the
respect and affections of the people of Ver-
mont that he could have commanded high
honors from them which were impossible
from the former state. He died at Lebanon,
July 20, 1807, aged seventy-six. One of his
descendants was Col. E. P. Jewett, of Mont-
pelier.
CHANDLER, ThO.MAS.— Among the
earliest and most influential settlers on the
east side of the mountain, but dying finally
in poverty and disgrace, was a native of
Woodstock, Conn. He was born July 22,
1709, and came to Vermont in 1763, being
one of the proprietors under New Hampshire
of the present town of Chester, luider the
name of New Flamstead. He procured its
rechartering with the name of Chester by
New Vork, after jurisdiction had been given
that colony by the Crown, and in the course
of 1766 was appointed justice of the peace,
surrogate of the county, colonel of militia,
and judge of the inferior court of common
pleas under New Vork authority, and held
all these appointments when the (-ounty was
reorganized by direct act of the Crown.
His conduct at the attempted session of
the court that led to the Westminster massa-
cre is difficult to understand. 'I'he picture
which D. P. Thompson paints in such dark
colors of the sycophancy, the cowardice and
tergivisation of his conduct corresponds to
the idea that was generally held at the time
and covered his reputation with an obloquy
from which it never recovered. There is no
doubt that he wavered in his ideas of duty.
He had presided at meetings of settlers that
resolved to resist the British encroachments.
He had publicly said a few days before that he
thought it would not be best to hold the court,
"as things then were," but yielded to the more
resolute loyalty of Judge Sabin and perhaps
to the pressure of the land grabbers by whom
he was surrounded, and convened the court,
though he evidently exerted himself to a\ert
the violence that followed, and conducted
himself with prudence and dignity through
the difficulty. He was im])risoned for tw'o or
three days by the popular party and though
released on bonds was never brought to trial.
He appears to have been zealously on the
patriot side in the next few years, though so
distrusted that he had no public position.
He was deeply embarrassed financially in
his later years, the result, as Thompson
charges, "of a long course of secret fraud in
selling wild land to which he had no title,"
and in 1784 petitioned the Legislature for
an act of insolvency in his favor. It was
finally granted, June 16, 1785, but on June
20 of the same year he died in jail at West-
minster, where he had laid for several
months, and was buried privately and with-
out funeral, owing to the superstition that
then prevailed about the inhumation of the
body of an imprisoned debtor.
Similarly wretched was the fate of his
two sons, who came with him to Chester
after a residence of a year or two at Walpole,
N. H. John, the eldest, was assistant judge
for six years, 1766 to 1772, and county clerk
for nearlv the same period : but he was re-
moved for misconduct, and the rest of his
career is buried in obscurity, except once in
I 781, when a case appears before the Legis-
lamre to recover a tract of 9,000 acres of
land in Tomlinson (Grafton) which he had
unlawfully deeded as attorney for a Tory,
after the latter had joined the enemy, and
showing that he had his father's business
habits.
66
HAZELTINE.
Thomas Chandler, Jr., the second son,
first secretary of state for a few months,
then for nearly three years speaker of the
General Assembly, was born Sept. 23, 1740,
and died towards the close of the century in
poverty and embarrassment, like that of his
father. He was also for nine years, 17 76-' 75,
an assistant judge of the inferior court of
common pleas, a court which New York
seems to have made a family snap for the
Chandlers. But he was soon after active
among the Vermont men, was a delegate in
the Westminster convention of October,
1776, and January, 1777, was elected to the
first General Assembly in March, 1778, and
chosen its clerk, but abandoned the post to
take the secretaryship of state, was re-elected
in 1778 and 1781, was a member of the
council in 1779 and 1780, a commissioner
of sequestration on the estates of Tories,
and was judge of the first Supreme Court,
elected in October, 1778. He resigned the
speakership of the Assembly in the middle of
the session of 1 780, because of charges
brought by Azariah '\\'right of Westminster,
alleging that he had acted as an attorney
for a negro while speaker, and that he also
invited the massacre at Westminster in 1775
by misleading the sons of liberty by writing
to them that he knew his father's mind in
their favor. Chandler brought a libel suit
against Wright because of these charges,
and finally recovered some $50 and costs,
but they nevertheless brought him into
"great discredit" and he sank into a rapid
decline politically. He was once elected a
judge of the Windsor county court in 1786,
and in 1787 again represented Chester in
the Assembly, but the prejudice against him
was too great to permit his successful ad-
vancement. He was, however, an undoubted
patriot during the war, and exerted himself
much for the patriot cause in Chester town
meetings. The records of the Governor
and council in October, 1792, show that
like his father he was a petitioner for an act
of insolvency in his favor, having been re-
duced to poverty "by a long series of sick-
ness in his family."
SAFFORD, Gen. Samuel, — Revolu-
tionary soldier, judge and councilor, was born
at Norwich, Conn., April 14, 1737, and came
to Bennington among its earliest settlers. He
took an active part in the land controversy
with New York, represented Bennington in
several of the conventions of settlers, and
was an ardent advocate of the new state idea.
When the regiment of Green Mountain Boys
was organized under the recommendation of
Congress to support the Revolutionary cause,
he was chosen major and second officer to
Warner, who was lieutenant colonel, and
he served under ^^'arner in Canada, and
when Warner's continental regiment was
raised Safford was appointed lieutenant col-
onel, and as such fought at Hubbardton and
Bennington and throughout the war. The
Legislature in 1781 elected him general of
militia. He represented Bennington in
1 781 and '82 and the next year was elected
state councilor and regularly re-elected for
nineteen years. In 1781 he was elected
chief judge of Bennington county court and
held the office for twenty-six successive
years. Governor Hall well describes him as
"an upright, intelligent man of sound judg-
ment and universally respected." "He was
one of the few who were cognizant of the
Haldimand negotiations, but his patriotism
was never questioned," says Walton. He
died March 3, 1813, and tliere are some of
his descendants still at EJennington.
HAZELTINE, JOHN, of Townshend, was
one of the early and most trusted patriots on
the east side of the mountain. He came to
Townshend from Upton, Mass., soon after
the first settlement in 1761. He was chair-
man of the convention at Westminster, Oct.
19, 1774, which resolved to "assist the peo-
ple of Boston in defense of their liberties to
the utmost of our abilities," and also chair-
man of the convention of Feb. 7, following,
which formed a standing committee of cor-
respondence with the friends of independence
in other colonies, and he was made, by order
of the convention, custodian of all its papers.
He was one of the committee appointed by
the convention after the Westminster massa-
cre to draw up resolutions of indignation
and resistance to the authority of New York.
He procured the signature of every man in
Townshend to a pledge to maintain and dis-
seminate the principles of American liberty.
In May, 1775, he was appointed with Dr.
Spooner and Major Williams a delegate from
Cumberland county to the Provincial Con-
gress and Convention of New York and
attended, but remained only three days. He
was the person to whom bonds with security
were given by sundry of the persons who
were arrested for participation in the West-
minster massacre. This is only one of the
evidences of the confidence in which the
whigs held him. Another is the epithet
"King Hazeltine" which John Grout, the
pestilent Tory, bestowed on him. He died
in the early part of 1777, owning about one-
fourth of the land of Townshend. He was
quite a land speculator, and his enemies used
to tell amusing tales of the sharp methods by
which he got his titles.
FLETCHER, GEN. SAMUEL.— Judge,
councilor and Revolutionary soldier, was
born at Grafton, Mass., in 1745, served a
year in the French and Indian war, married
TOWNSHEND.
JONES.
67
a daughter of Col. John Hazeltine, and gave
up the blacksmith trade to which he had
been trained, and moved to Townshend.
He was one of the few men on the east side
of the mountain active in the formation of
the new state and was a member of the con-
ventions of October, 1776, and January,
1777. He was at the Bunker Hill fight as
orderly sergeant, then was made captain of
militia, was at the siege of Ticonderoga and
the Bennington fight in 1777 and on the
way to the former at the head of a party of
thirteen, he attacked a British detachment
of forty, killed one and took seven prisoners
without the loss of a man himself. He was
promoted to be major and continued in the
service until after the surrender of Burgoyne.
He was afterwards a brigadier and major
general in the Vermont Militia, represented
Townshend at the first session under the
new government in 1778 and also in 1779.
He was councilor from 1779 to 1790 and in
1808, sheriff of Windham county from i 78S
to 1S06, and judge of the county court in
1778, 1783, 1784 and 1786. He was ap-
pointed a judge of the superior court in
1782 but refused to serve. He died Sept.
15, 1 814. Physically he was a man of fine
proportions and manly beauty, elegant in
manners and bland and refined in deport-
ment, while his intellectual equipment was
strong and his courage, integrity and busi-
ness capacity conceded. He was a fine
writer and through much of his active life
kept a journal, recording daily events of
public importance, but it was unfortunately
lost in the burning of the house of his son-
in-law and executor. One of his daughters
married Epaphroditus Ransom, afterwards
Governor of Michigan.
TOWNSHEND, MiCAH, for twenty-four
years a lawyer at Brattleboro, Secretary of
State i78i-'88, and the ablest and most
trusted of the "Yorkers" in the early years
of the controversy, was born at Cedar
Swamp, Oyster Bay, L. I., May 13, 1749,
graduated from Princeton in 1767, studied
law in New York City, and first settled in
practice at White Plains, N. Y. He was
active among the young patriots there at the
opening of the Revolution, clerk of the
county committee of safety, and ca])tain of a
company of militia to operate against the
Tories. The destruction of the village of
White Plains by fire caused him to start
anew in life and to locate at Brattleboro,
where, in August, 1778, he married Mary,
daughter of Col. Samuel Wells. He was
here in confidential correspondence with
Governor Clinton, making a series of able
and cool-headed reports on the condition of
affairs and frequently being entrusted with
important negotiations with the Vermont
men. He was a delegate from Cumberland
county to the New York .Assembly, and ex-
erted a great influence there. He earnestly
opposed the ])ro]iosal to divide the state on
the mountain line with New Hampshire after
the extraordinary exertion.s and sacrifices the
people of his county had made to remain in
New York, and his arguments were effective
in dissuading New York from going into the
scheme.
Finally he became satisfied that New York
could not maintain her claims, and gave in
his adherence to the new state, which was
quick to avail itself of his talents in public
employment. Besides the secretaryship of
state, he was judge and register of probate
for Windham county from 1781 to '87. He
resigned the former office in '88, and the
Legislature, by resolution, " expressed the
warmest sentiment of gratitude for the fidel-
ity and skill " with which he had peformed
its duties. Nathaniel Chipman regarded him
as one of the ablest and most useful men the
state had at this period. He served with Chip-
man on the committee to frame the " quieting
act." He was secretary of the council of
censors for the first revision of the constitu-
tion, and his promptness and skill with rec-
ords, and his facility in phrasing legislative
propositions made him almost indispensable
to the times. He had a large and success-
ful practice as a lawyer, was not renowned
for oratory, but for the clear, cogent way he
had of making his statements. He, how-
ever, quitted the state and country in 1801,
selling his Brattleboro property to Judge
Tyler, and settling in Farnham, Que., on
lands which the British government had
granted his father-in-law for his Toryism,
where he died, April 23, 1832.
JONES, Dr. Reuben, of Rockingham
and afterwards of Chester, was the earliest
and perhaps the most active of the new state
men on the east side of the mountains. He
was active in stirring up the people to arrest
the loyal court after the Westminster massa-
cre, riding express and hatless to Dummer-
ston on this errand. He gave history the
answer to the misrepresentation of the offi-
cial reports, with his "relation" of the affair.
He was an efficient member of each of the
Vermont conventions, beginning with that of
Sept. 25, 1776, and being secretary of several
of them. He represented Rockingham in
the first four Legislatures and also Chester
for one year. He was one of the most ar-
dent and uncompromising whigs in the state.
His later years were spent in deep po\erty
and in dodging back and forth between New
Hampshire and \'ermont to avoid imprison-
ment for debt. Once when under arrest pop-
ular sympathy forced his release, for which he
and two friends were indicted in the W'intlsor
county court.
68
SPAULDING.
SPAULDING, Lieut. Leonard, of
L)ummerston, shared with Dr. Jones the
honor of being among the earliest leaders in
this county of the new state men. He was
born, probably in Rhode Island, (Jet. 28,
1728, served in the French and Indian war
and soon after its close settled in Putney and
later for a few months in \\estmoreland, N.
H. He was a member of all the conven-
tions beginning with September, 1776, but
for years before that he had been a headlong
agitator against both royal and New York
authority, and had built up a strong popular
following. It was early when he shocked
pious people by denouncing the King as
"Pope of Canada" because of the Quebec
bill. In 1 77 1 while he was a resident of
Putney some of his property had been seized
under a judgment of a York court, and a
large party crossed the river from New
Hampshire and rescued it by force. In 1774,
after he had come to Dummerston, he was
arrested and imprisoned at \\'estminster for
high treason in speaking disrespectfully of
the King, and it is related that it required
three or four Yorkers to arrest him. .\ meet-
ing of indignation was held at Dummerston
the next day to denounce " the ravages of
the British tyrant and his New York and other
emissaries." A large body of men formed
from that town, Putney, Halifax and Draper
and proceeded to \\'estminster a few days
later and forcibly released him. He was once
arraigned before the county committee for the
arrest and imprisonment of Col. Sam Wells,
which in the excess of his patriotic zeal he
had effected at the head of a body of fol-
lowers. But his penalty w-as only a require-
ment of apology to the Tory leader, which he
made. He was the first man in Dummers-
ton to shoulder his gun and start for West-
minster for the fight of March 13, 1775. He
joined the Re\olutionary army as soon as hos-
tilites broke out, served through most of the
war, gained a captain's commission, was in
the battle of Bennington and was wounded
in the batde of White Plains, Oct. 28, 1776.
He represented Dummerston in the General
Assembly in 1778, 'Si, '84, '86, and '87. He
died July 17, 1788, aged fifty-nine.
PHELPS, Charles.— The first lawyer
to settle upon the grants, in 1764, one of
the leaders in the organization of Cumber-
land county, and the most unbending of all
the "Yorkers," though a supporter of the
Revolution, was born at Northampton, Mass.,
.'\ugust 15, 1717, of a family which had con-
tained John Phelps, private secretary of
Oliver Cromwell. He was one of the orig-
inal grantees of Marlboro under New Hamp-
shire authority, and he petitioned unsuc-
cessfully for a confirmation of the charter
by New York, but nevertheless supported
New York authority with a courage and
devotion that were pathetic in the sacrifices
and suffering it caused him, but with an ec-
centricity that indicated the twist of mind
that after events made only too evident.
"Vile ^'ermonters" was his regular epithet
for the great men of the new state. For a
time after the \\'estminster massacre, when
New York and royal authoritv appeared to
be identical, he was in revolt against both,
and was on the committee that framed reso-
lutions of denunciation. At one time also
he intrigued industriously for the annexa-
tion of the state to Massachusetts, declaring
that he regarded the authority of New York
as composed of "as corrupt a set of men as
were out of hell," and that he would as "soon
put manure in his pocket as a commission
from New York" — though he held such com-
missions for a good share of his life. But
this aberration was short-lived, and he was
soon engaged again in fighting New York
fights.
Twice, in 1779 and 17S2, he appeared
before Congress, first as a delegate from the
Yorkers of Cumberland county, and last on
his own responsibility, to oppose the recog-
nition of the new state, and he stuck to the
latter mission, penniless, hungry, and almost
freezing at one time, an actual object of
charity from the New York delegates, until,
by his " persistence, zeal, craftiness, and
finesse," as Jay describes it, he thought, as
was the general idea, that he had won in the
resolution from Congress, ordering " full and
ample restitution " to be made to the New
York adherents who had been arrested or
imprisoned, or had their property confis-
cated, and declaring the purpose of Congress
to enforce a compliance with this demand ;
but he found when he reached Vermont that
these resolves were treated with as much in-
difference as the edicts of New York. It
was while on this mission that he wrote
his trenchant pamphlet, " Vermonters Lln-
masked."
He was jailed in January, 1784, his prop-
erty ordered to be sold for the benefit of the
state, and even his law books given to Nath.
Chipman and Micah Townshend to pay for
their services in revising the laws of the
state. But his petition for pardon and re-
mission of sentence, on taking the oath of
allegiance, brought a resolution of the Legis-
lature in October, 1 784, restoring such prop-
erty as had not been sold for the benefit of
the state. One of the reasons given for this
clemency was his fidelity to the whig cause.
But his allegiance was only nominal. He
remained to the end intensely opposed in
feeling to the new state, and he dated his
last will at " New Marlborough, in the county
of Cumberland and state of New York."
He died in April, 1 789, at the age of seventy-
A GROUP OK TORIES.
69
three. Among his descendants have been
some exceptionally able men, but all, in the
early generations at least, showing often to
the point of insanity, the mental eccentrici-
ties that became so marked in his later years.
His oldest son, Solomon, a graduate of Har-
vard and a lawyer and preacher of fine
powers, committed suicide at the age of
forty-eight, 'limothy, his third son, a man
of great energy of character and steadfast-
ness of opinion, and sheriff of Cumberland
county under New York authority, ])assed
his later years with darkened mind.
John I'helps, son of Timothy and grandson
of Charles, was register of probate, state sena-
tor and councilor in 1831 and 1832. Other
descendants have been : John Phelps, of
Guilford, son of Timothy, who was state
councilor in 1831 and 1S32, his son Charles
E. Phelps, congressman from Maryland and
brigadier-general of the Union army ; Judge
Charles I'helps, of Townshend, who was
councilor in i820,-'2i,-'22, and his son, the
late Judge James H. Phelps, of Townshend ;
Gen. John W. Phelps, the author, scholar and
accomplished soldier, who entered the war
with such brilliant prospects which were
blasted by his quarrel with Butler and his in-
sistance on emancipation of negroes in
Louisiana before the administration was
ready for that measure, and who was the
anti-Masonic candidate for President in i 780.
Except for a young son of General Phelps,
the male line of the family is now extinct.
ENOS, Gen. Roger.— One of the few
men in the secret of the Haldimand corres-
pondence, and Vermont's military com-
mander through that trying period, was born
at Simsbury, Conn., in 1729. He was in
the colonial service, and in the French and
Indian war, being promoted to be an en-
sign in 1760, an adjutant in 1761, and a
captain in Col. Israel Putnam's regiment in
1764. He also took part in the Havana
campaign of 1762. He was afterwards a
member of the commission to survey lands
in the Mississippi valley. He promjjtly
took the side of the patriots at the outbreak
of the Revolution and had command of the
rear guard of .Arnold's expedition against
Quebec. He left it, however, with a siz-
able detachment, in order to avoid starva-
tion, as he claimed. He was afterwards
courtmartialed under a charge of cowardice
in this action but was honorably acquitted.
He was lieutenant-colonel of the 16th Con-
necticut regiment in 1776, and colonel of
another regiment in 177 r' '9- In 17S1 he
came to ^'ermont, settling at Enosburg,
which was named after him, and his inti-
macy with the Vermont leaders, so many of
whom had come from Connecticut, at once
gave him a prominent position. He was
that year appointed brigadier-general in com-
mand of all the \'ermont troops and was at
the head of the army that was pretending to
resist the invasion from Canada. In 1787
he was appointed major-general of the First
Division of the militia but resigned in 1791,
after thirty-two years of nearly continuous
military service. He was a member of the
Vermont board of war from 1781 to 1792,
served several terms in the General .As-
sembly, was a trustee of the Vermont Uni-
versity, a member of the commission to
adjust the trouble with New Hampshire, and
of the committee to consider to resolutions
of Congress for the admission of the state to
the Union. His daughter married Ira .Allen
and his son, Pascal Paoli, was one of the
four proprietors of the original site of
Springfield, 111.
A GROUP OF TORIES.— .As before
stated, notwithstanding the peculiar situation
of the state, outside of the Union, or recog-
nition with the other colonies, an independ-
ent republic, having to maintain herself by
her own efforts, Vermont contained fewer
Tories and British sympathizers than any
other part of .America.
Perhaps the most distinguished of these
was the one who played only a brief part
either in Vermont or on earth after the Rev-
olution began.
Crean Brush came to this country about
1762, from Ireland, where he had evidently
had quite a career, being educated as a
lawyer and having held a commission in the
military service. He first settled in New
York City, was for several years assistant
under the deputy secretary of the province
and having by his connection obtained large
grants of land in this section, came to West-
minster in 1 77 1, was appointed clerk of
Cumberland county, obtained a large law
practice, and cut a big figure among the
high-toned and arrogant loyalists. He and
Col. Samuel \Yells were elected, in 1773, as
representatives from the county to the (Gen-
eral .Assembly of New York, where Brush
became a leader in the advocacy of all min-
isterial measures, fighting against the meas-
ures of Schuyler, ^Voodhall, and the leading
patriots, and made the report offering a re-
ward for the head of Ethan .Allen— whom his
step-daughter afterwards wedded — and the
other Vermont patriots.
When hostilities broke out Brush offered
his services to General Gage at P.oston, and
was employed in removing goods from the
buildings where Gage wished to take winter
quarters. He improved the opportunity for
pillage and plunder of the merchants and
people by the wholesale, packed a ship with
goods he had seized under his commission,
and calculated to make himself wealthy.
70
A GROUP OF TORIES.
J ROUP OF TORIES.
But the ship fell into the hands of an Ameri-
can cruiser, and Brush and some of his fellow
plunderers were thrown into jail at Boston,
but he finally escaped by the time-honored
device of donning his wife's apparel, when
she came to visit him. He made his way to
the British quarters at New York, but met
little but contempt from Lord Howe, and
living in poverty and neglect for several
months, finally blew his brains out in an
apartment house. His large estate in Ver-
mont was confiscated to the use of the state,
his name being included in the 12S specified
by a legislative act as Tories.
Samuel Adams formed a company of
Tories from Arlington, Sandgate and Man-
chester, to co-operate with Pkirgoyne.
Capt. Jehial Hawley, the founder of ."Xrl-
ington, connected by marriage with the
Warners, a leader among the settlers against
New York, though peaceful and a non-com-
batant, was strongly royalist in sympathy,
and took refuge with Burgoyne, and died
on Lake Champlain while on his way to
Canada. He had several sons who took the
same side, and one of them, Eli, helped con-
vey the correspondence between Canada
and the Vermont authorities, and believed
to the day of his death that the Vermont
leaders really wanted to form a British
colony. He often pointed out the "Raven
Rock," where he had a midnight interview
with Governor Chittenden on one of these
trips.
Camp James Hard from Arlington, held
a commission in the British army. Zodack,
his brother, was a loyalist in principle but
took no active part in the war, though he is
said to have secreted and fed the loyalists
who came to him for shelter, and he was
always generous and hospitable. He was
several times arrested and hea\ily fined by
the patriot authorities.
Noah Sabin, of Putney, a native of Reho-
both, Mass., was the judge whose insistence on
holding the court when Chief Justice Chand-
ler was inclined to temporize, led to the West-
minister massacre. His thorough-going con-
scientiousness, his conception of his duty to
the Crown, from which he held his commis-
sion, led him to this course. He was impris-
oned for some time after the affair. He was,
in the first years of the Revolution, strongly
attached to the Crown, and so strong was
the whig feeling against him that he was
confined to his farm in 1776 by order of the
committee of safety, with permission gi\en
to anybody to shoot him if seen beyond its
limits, and he was refused communion at
church. Finally, after a period of indecision,
he took the side of the colonies and de-
veloped into quite an earnest patriot. He
was elected judge of probate for Windham
county, 1 781, and though suspended for a
few months because of the suspicions of his
loyalty, was soon reinstated and continued
to serve until 1801. He died March 10,
181 1, aged ninety-six. He was a man of
large mental power, superior education for
his times, and of indisputable integrity.
Col. James Rogers of Kent ( now London-
derry), who had been a prominent man of
that section, was offered the office of briga-
dier-general of militia by New York, but
refused it " upon political principles." He
afterwards became an avowed Tory and left
the country, and his property was confis-
cated, though the Legislature in i 797 restored
to his son, James Rogers, Jr., all the lands
that had not been sold.
THE GOVERNORS.
'I'he following is a complete list of the ( lovernors of Vermont, with the dates of service.
Biographical sketches of the entire list are given on the following pages, with exceptions noted .
*Thomas Chittenden,
1789-90
SilasH.Jennison(3),
1835-36
Paul Dillingham,
1865-67
*"Moscs Robinson,
bilas H. Jennison,
Charles Paine,
.836-41
John B. Page,
1867-69
*Thomas Chittenden,
1790-97
■8i.-43
Peter T. Washburn,
1869-70
Paul Brigham (s).
John Mattocks,
1843-44
fOcorge W. Hendee (5),
.870
•,- .. ■''"^- =5 '"
Oct. 16, 1797
William Sladc,
1844-46
tjohn W. Stewart,
1870-72
Isaac lichcnor.
1797-1807
Horace Eaton,
1846-48
Julius Converse,
1872-74
Israel Smith,
1807-08
Carlos Coolidge,
1S48-50
Asahel Peck.
1874-76
Isaac Tichenor,
1808-09
Charles K. Williams,
1850-52
Horace Fairbanks,
1876-78
Jonas C^ilusha,
1809-13
Erastus Fairbanks,
.852-53
tRedfield Proctor,
T878-80
Martin Chittenden,
1813-15
*John S. Robinson,
i853-i4
tRoswell Farnham,
1880 82
lonas Galusha,
Richard Skinner,
1815-20
Stephen Royce,
1854-56
tJohn L. Barstow,
1882-84
1820-23
Rylaiul Fletcher,
1856-58
tSamuel E. Pingrce,
1S84-86
Cornelius P. Van Xess,
1823-26
Hiland Hall,
1858-60
tEbenczer J. Ormsbce.
1886-88
Ezra Butler,
1826-28
Erastus Fairbanks,
1860-61
tW.lli.tm P. Dillingham,
1888-90
Samuel C. Crafts,
1828-31
tFredcrick Holbrook,
1861-63
tCarrol S. Page,
1890-92
William A. Palmer,
1811-35
J. Gregory Smith,
1863-65
tLevi K. Fuller,
1892-94
* Biographical sketch will be found among " The Fathers." f Biographical sketch
(2) Lieutenant Governor, acting Governor on the death of Governor Chittenden.
(3) Lieutenant-Ciovernor, Governor by reason of no election of Governor by the people.
(5) Lieutenant-Governor, Governor bv reason of the death of Governor Washburn.
'ill be found in Part II.
BRIGHAM, Paul.— For twenty-one
years Lieuten-
ant-Governor of
the state and a
few months, in
jt, • 797) the acting
ff' Ct o V e r n o r , a
M^ — ^ -■ Revolutionary
^0^. ^T^ soldier, state
councilor for five
years, and ma-
jor-general of
the state militia,
was born at Cov-
entry, Conn.,
Jan. 17, 1746.
He early devel-
oped military
capacity, and rose in the militia of his native
state, through every intermediate position,
from the ranks to a captaincy, at the age of
twenty-eight. When the Revolution broke
out he had been captain long enough to be
exempt from military duty, but he went
promptly into active service with his com-
pany, in Colonel Chandler's regiment of
McDougall's brigade in the Continental ser-
vice, fought at Cermantown, Monmouth and
Mud Island, and was in the service three
years.
In I 781 he joined the tide of adventurous
spirits from Connecticut to Vermont, and
settled with his family at Norwich. Here
again he became active in militia services,
passing through every grade until he became
a major-general. He and Samuel Fletcher,
Isaac Tichenor and Ira .Alien commanded
the four divisions of the state in 1794, at the
time President Washington ordered detach-
ments of minute men to be formed, accord-
ing to the act of Congress of that year. He
rapidly rose to prominence in Windsor
county, being successively elected high sher-
iff, judge of probate, assistant judge and
chief judge of Windsor county court. He
represented Norwich in the Ceneral Assem-
bly in 1783, 1786 and 1791, and was a dele-
gate to the Constitutional Conventions of
1793, 1814 and 1822. In 1792 he was
elected councilor and five times re-elected,
until in 1796 he was elevated to the lieuten-
ant-governorship. During his service on
the council he was prominent in the state
bank and state prison controversies, and with
John White and Nathaniel Niles was a mem-
ber of the committee that reported the com-
promise bill for the banks in 1806. In 1792
he was a Washington presidential elector.
The quality of his service as Lieutenant-
Governor is illustrated by the remarkable
way he held on through all the ups and
downs of party politics in the state. He was
re-elected regularly with Governor Tichenor
years after the Jeffersonians had got a major-
ity in the state, and when in 1807 Tichenor
was defeated by the Democratic Israel .Smith
for Governor, Brigham was still elected
Lieutenant-Governor. So it was when
Tichenor was returned in 180S, and still
again when Tichenor was overthrown by
Galusha in 1809. Brigham started out a
Federalist, but gradually drifted in his sym-
pathies towards the Jeffersonians, and when
the Federalists got atop again for a short
72
TICHENOR.
TICHENOR.
time in 1 8 13-'! 4 they defeated Brigham as
well as Galusha for re-election. But the
fight was a close as well as a hot one, and
in neither year was there a choice by the
people, and the election went to the Legis-
lature and the Federalists only won, in 1S13,
by tactics that bore more than a suspicion of
dishonesty. But with the return of the
Jeffersonians in 1815, Brigham was again
elected Lieutenant-Governor, and success-
ively re-elected until 1820, when at the age
of seventy-four, together with his great party
chieftain, Governor Galusha, he declined re-
election.
He died, June 15, 1824, after a few years
of happy and easeful retirement, deepened
in its enjoyment by the consciousness of
duty long and well done, and by the consola-
tion of a religious faith which had gaited
and ennobled his whole career.
TICHENOR, ISAAC— rhe third Gover-
nor of the state ;
for six years a
judge of the Su-
p r e m e Court,
,;_ twice a LTnited
States senator
and the Federal-
ist leader for a
number of years,
was a resident of
the state all
through her ex-
istence as an in-
dependent re-
public, but
came on the
stage of political
activity only towards the close of that inter-
esting period. He was born at Newark, N.
J., Feb. S, 1754, and graduated from Prince-
ton College in 1775 under the presidency of
Dr. \\'itherspoon and for whom he always had
the utmost consideration. He studied law
at Schenectady, N. Y., where he was in 1777
appointed an assistant to Commissary Gen-
eral Cuyler in buying supplies for the north-
ern department. It was on this duty that he
came to Bennington in the summer of that
year and remained there and in that vicinity
collecting the supplies whose accumulation
tempted the fatal expedition of Burgoyne.
Tichenor had just left, August 13, with a
drove of cattle for Albany when the tidings
of that expedition were received. He re-
turned by way of Williamstown, reaching the
field at dusk on the evening of the i 7th after
the fighting had ceased.
He then decided to settle in Bennington,
and this was his home when not in actual
service in the commissary department. In
the line of his duty he incurred heavy pecuni-
ary responsibilities, which embarrassed him
through a large part of his life. About the
close of the war he began the practice of
law there. He was town representative in
i78i-'82-'83-'84, speaker of the House in
17S3, and an agent to Congress in 1782.
In that year he was also sent by the Legis-
lature to Windham county to urge the claims
of the new state on the people, and quell the
disturbances there, and the mission had con-
siderable effect, though severer measures had
to be taken later. He was a commissioner
under the act of 1789 to determine the terms
of settlement with New York.
He had been steadily growing in reputa-
tion among the \'ermont leaders, and the
peculiar value of his services with his plausi-
ble, persuasive ways added much to his
prominence. He was a judge of the Supreme
Court from 1791 to 1796, and chief justice
the last two years, when, on the resignation
of Senator Moses Robinson, he was chosen
to fill out the latter's term. He was re-
elected the next year for a full term of six
years, but he was also elected Governor
that fall, and resigned the senatorship to
accept. He had then become the recog-
nized Federalist leader of the state, and
the canvass for the governorship was a
sharp one. The retirement of Governor
Chittenden had loosed the restraint partisan-
ship had felt. The result was no choice by
the people for Governor, but Tichenor was
elected by the Legislature by a large ma-
jority. He served eleven years in all as
Governor, being steadily re-elected every
year until 1809, except 1807, when he was
defeated by the Democrats under the leader-
ship of Israel Sinith ; so strong had he be-
come that he was re-elected several years
after his party had got into a minority.
He was in 1814 again elected Senator to
Congress, serving six years, until March 3,
182 I, when with the complete obliteration of
his party from American politics he retired
to private life, after a public service filling
thirty-eight out of the forty-four years be-
tween 1777 and 1821. He died Dec. 11,
1S38, at the age of eighty-fotir and leaving
no descendants.
Governor Hall measures him compactly
as a man of " good private character, of
highly respectable talents and acquirements,
of remarkably fine personal appearance, of
accomplished manners and insinuating ad-
dress." So marked was his make-up in the
latter particular as to earn for him the
sobriquet of " Jersey Slick," which stuck to
him all through his career. But though he
had these qualities, perhaps to the point of
fault, it would be a great mistake to suppose
that he had not solid merit beneath his
smooth exterior, even beyond what Governor
Hall credits as "respectable talents." It
was a clear head and a strong will that he
73
carried on his shoulders. With all his poli-
tician arts he was a real statesman. It was
on the state's prison issue largely, that he
defeated Governor Smith for re-election in
1808, but he had strongly recommended
such an institution in 1803, got a bill through
the Legislature for it, and had the prepara-
tory steps taken under his administration,
and in his message after his return to power
did not hesitate to commend it as a " hu-
mane and benevolent " idea, and urge
measures to carry it into "complete effect."
His messages were often strongly tinctured
with Federalist doctrine, but so skillfully
phrased that the able young Republicans in
the Legislature found it hard to find any
effective point on which to join issue. A
strong proof of his popularity was alTorded
in 1799, when the Legislature by a unani-
mous vote adopted a resolution of thanks,
whose author, L'dney Hay, was the leader
of the opposition in the House, for the
" happy and speedy " settlement he had
effected with Canada of the difficulty over
the arrest by American officers on British
soil, and the subsequent accidental death,
but alleged murder, of John Griggs. The
event has " increased, if possible," so the
resolution read, " the very high esteem we
have ever entertained of your patriotism,
your candour, your abilities, your integrity."
His high courtesy and genuine kindliness of
character were shown by the letter of con-
gratulation he wrote after his defeat in
1809, to his successful competitor. Governor
Galusha, tendering "in great sincerity, my
best services in any matter that shall relate
to the duties of your office or shall have a
tendency to promote the interests of our
country."
Governor Hall tells a couple of anecdotes
that are illuminating. He had an art, some-
times too obvious, of ingratiating himself
into favor. While traveling in a distant part
of the state he contrived to pass the resi-
dence of a farmer of great influence in his
town, who had formerly supported him for
Governor, but who was now supposed to be
wavering. On his approach to the place he
discovered the farmer at some distance
building stone wall by the road side. Leav-
ing his carriage the Governor began to
examine the wall with great care and earnest-
ness, looking over and along both sides of it
and exhibiting signs of excessive admiration.
On coming within speaking distance the
Governor exclaimed, with much ap]iarent
emotion : " Bless me, friend, what a beauti-
ful and noble wall you are building — I don't
believe there is another equal to it in the
state." "Yes, Governor," was the reply of
the farmer, " it's a very good wall to be sure,
but I can't vote for you this year."
He was quite a s|)ortsman and delighted
to range the mountains hunting and fishing
until the feebleness of age prevented. Once
he laid a wager with a companion with
whom he was out fishing, as to which would
catch the most trout. (Jn weighing the fish
at Landlord Dewey's the Governor was
found to have lost the bet, which he readily
paid, though considerably disappointed. " I
don't see," said he to his friend M., " how
your trout should weigh the most, mine cer-
tainly looks the largest, and besides I filled
it full of gravel stones." " .Ah, Governor,"
said his friend, " I was too much for you
this time, I stuffed mine with shot.'
SMITH, Israel, the fourth Governor,
judge, congressman and senator, the first
popular favorite of the young 1 )emocrats of
the state, and a fine specimen of the politi-
cian of the early days, was also a native of
Connecticut, born at Sheffield, April 4, 1759.
He graduated from Vale in 1781, and two
years later settled at Rupert, where he was
admitted to the bar. He represented that town
in the General Assembly in 1785, '88, '89 and
'90, and became prominent in the affairs of the
state during the latter part of its period of
independence. He was one of the com-
mission in '89 to close the controversy with
New York, and a member of the convention
in '91 that ratified the federal constitution
preparatory to the admission of the state
into the Linion. In this year he moved to
Rutland. He was immediately elected one
of the first representatives in Congress from
the western district of the state, and was re-
elected several times, when in 1797 he was
at last defeated by Matthew Lyon, who had
twice before contested the election with him.
He and Lyon were both identified with the
leffersonian party, though Lyon was far the
more rabid, and the Federalist element of
the district supported a third candidate. But
he was that fall elected to the Legislature
from Rutland, and the Republicans being in
a majority he was elected chief justice of the
Supreme Court. But he held the ]3osition
only one term ; for the next year came a re-
turn of Federalist control, and the " Yer-
gennes slaughter-house," when every position
in the state within reach was made party spoils.
In 1 80 1, he was again elected to the chief
justiceship but declined it. He was that fall
the Republican candidate for tJovernor
against 'I'ichenor but was defeated. He was,
however, again elected representative to
Congress and at the end of the term elected
Senator over Chipman.
In 1S07 the Democratsor Republicans were
finally able to overcome for a short time the
great popularity of Governor Tichenor and
elected Mr. Smith Governor. He resigned
his seat in the Senate to accept the place.
74
His inaugural address, tliough most courteous
to Inis defeated opponent, for his "urbanity
and unassuming administration," was breezy
witii liealtliful new ideas. He laid down the
good Democratic truth, that "the end of all
government is to teach each individual of
the community the necessity of self-govern-
ment." He urged a measure whose import-
ance is only just beginning to be realized to-
day, for state supervision of highways, like that
of schools. He argued that the two subjects
were equally of "^•ery general concern," and
that the state was entitled to be "officially
informed how far and in what manner" laws
about them were carried into effect. He
ably discussed ptmitive problems, urged the
abolition of all cor])oral punishment and
the substitution of confinement at hard labor,
"to initiate the culprit into a habit of useful
industry, and as a method peculiarly suited
to an advanced state of society where the
arts abound." His discussion would be a
good text for prison reformers today. His
influence was exerted strongly to secure the
construction of the state's prison. But these
good ideas were the cause of his political
undoing. The farmers of the state were too
accustomed to government of the utmost fru-
gality to welcome such plans, and though the
Democrats had now secured an easy ascend-
ing in the state and cast its electoral vote for
Madison that fall. Smith was defeated for re-
election by Tichenor, after a hard fought
campaign, by a jjlurality of 859 and majority
of 432.
Soon after his health began to fail, and he
died at Rutland, Dec. 2, 1810, aged fifty-one.
His son, William Donaglas Smith, a graduate
of iNIiddlebury, and a lawyer, was clerk of
the House of Representatives from 1809
until his death, Feb. 22, 1822, at the age of
thirty-six. (;o\ernor Smith was a brother of
Noah Smith, who also came to Vermont soon
after his graduation, became state's attorney
for Cumberland, then for Bennington county,
judge of county and Supreme Courts, U. S.
collector of internal revenue, and coun-
cilor.
Little that Governor Smith wrote besides
his one inaugural address has come down to
present times. But he was conceded to be
a man of fine talents and high ideas, of
"amiable candor," one cotemporary says,
and of "inflexible integrity" as another de-
scribes him. "He was a noble-looking man,
and got the name of the handsome judge."
He was a great admirer of the principles on
which the French Revolution was based in
its earlier and nobler days, and was at that
time one of the Republicans who gloried in
the charge of being French sympathizers.
GALUSHA, Jonas, Revolutionary sol-
dier, sheriff,
judge, Governor,
for forty years in
continuous pub-
lic service, the
Democratic
leader who led
his party into as-
cendency that
lasted for nearly
a generation, and
one of the most
interesting per-
sonalities of our
whole history,
was born at Nor-
wich, Conn., Feb.
II, 1753, and came to Shaftsbury in 1775.
He was captain of one of the town's two
militia companies, commanded them both in
the battle of Bennington, and saw much ac-
tive service from 1777 to '80. He was by
occupation a farmer and inn-keeper, and his
first political office was that of sheriff of
Bennington county from 17S1 to '87, and as
such he did prompt and efficient work in
preventing Shay's men during their rebellion
in Massachusetts from making Vermont soil
a base of operations. He was elected state
councilor in 1793, '94, '95, '96, '97, '98, and
again in 1801, '02, '03, '04 and '05, and
judge of the county court in 1795, '96, and
'97, and again in 1800, '01, '02, '03, '04, '05
and '06. He had, as soon as the national
jiarties developed in politics, become an
ardent Democrat, and the recognized leader
of the party in state politics. After the de-
feat of Governor Smith by Tichenor in 1808,
Galusha was made the next Republican can-
didate and elected, by a vote of 14,583 to
13,467 for Tichenor, and 498 scattering, and
re-elected in 1810, 'i i and '12, and again in
1815, '16, 'i 7, '18 and '19, a service of nine
years.
His party was rapidly increasing in strength
and aggressiveness until the New England
feeling against the embargo and the war of
181 2 produced a reaction, and he failed of a
majority in the election in 18 13, getting 16,-
S2S votes, to 16,532 for Martin Chittenden
and 625 scattering. This sent the election
to the Legislature where the vote was a tie,
and where after a long struggle Chittenden
was elected, and the Democrats claimed that
the state "was stolen." The result turned
on the vote of Colchester, which if counted
would elect the three 1 )emocratic councilors
and if rejected would elect the three F'eder-
alists. The House was Federalist and the
Council Democratic. The House appointed a
canvassing committee which rejected the Col-
chester returns, on the ground that other Uni-
ted States troops had voted there in company
with those from this state in the national ser-
vice who were allowed under the act of 1812
to vote in any town in the state where they
might hapi^en to be. There was violent dis-
pute over the facts and also over the consti-
tutional power to canvass the votes. The
constitution made the House the judge of the
election and qualifications of its members ;
but it had no such power over the members
of the Coimcil nor was the latter body given
any ])ower to determine the election of its
members. In other words the power rested
expressly nowhere and the House assumed
it. But for this returning board action the
Democrats would ha\e controlled the joint
Assembly and re-elected (lovernor (Jalusha
and Lieutenant-Governor Brigham ; as it was,
that body was just a tie. The council pro-
tested and insisted that the Colchester votes
should be counted, that the Asseml)ly refused
a reading to the report. Finally the ballot-
ing in the Legislature, greatly to the astonish-
ment of the Democrats, showed 1 12 votes for
("hittenden and iii for Calusha.and the lat-
ter was declared elected. Two days later the
Democrats offered to show by the oaths
of one hundred and twelve members that
they had voted for (lalusha, so that there
was an error or fraud in the result as de-
clared, and therefore they asked that the
first vote be counted as naught, and another
one taken. A long debate ensued, but
before a conclusion was reached Chittenden
and ("hamberlain appeared in the House
and council, took the oaths of office and
Chittenden delivered his speech. The truth
probably was as developed later, that one of
the Democratic assemblymen was bribed to
withhold his vote.
Notwithstanding this scaly \ictory, the
feeling over the war ran so high that the
Federalists won again in 18 14 by a narrow
margin. The popular vote was : C'hittenden,
17,466; Galusha, 17,411; scattering, 451.
But the Federalists had a stiff majority in
the Legislature and elected Chittenden again
by a vote of 123 to 94, and ('hamlierlain by
a still larger majority. But the next year
witnessed a merited revolution on both state
and national lines, (lalusha defeated Chit-
tenden handsomely at the ])olls, 18,055 to
16,632. 'Ihe next year the Federalists made
Samuel Strong their candidate and were
worse whipped, 17,262 to 13,888. In 181 7
the Federalists tried Tichenor again for a
candidate and were beaten almost two to
one, 13,756 to 7,430. By 1819 there was
no organized opposition to ( ialusha left, less
than 3,000 votes being cast for v'arious can-
didates against him, and the bulk of these
for other Democrats, W. C. Bradley and
Dudley Chase.
GAI.USIIA. 75
Governor Galusha was well qualified to
bring about such a state of affairs. A plain
farmer without jjretending to scholastic at-
tainments, but with commanding native
abilities, his thoroughly democratic man-
ners and habits of thought ap])ealed strongly
to a constituency of yeomen. .\ resolute
fighter and skillful campaigner, he had too
generous a nature to be mean or vindictive
and too jihilo.sophic a bent of mind to fail
to see beyond personal interests and feelings
to the larger forces involved in jjolitics.
l'"ervently jiatriotic, his voice and thought
naturally headed the sweep of sentiment
that followed the peace after the last war
with (Ireat Britain, while his c:omprehen-
sive understanding and his humble, nay,
even religious devotion of the best there was
in him to the service of his fellowmen made
him a most useful legislator and adminis-
trator, though never very original or sug-
gestful of new ideas.
It is impossible to read his inaugiiral
addresses, elo(iuent with the intensity of
sincerity, without comprehending in some
measure the sources of his ])ower. For in-
stance, on his accession to power in i8og,
after one of the most heated struggles, there
was not a word of bitterness toward his ad-
versaries, no epithet worse than "misguided"
for the "spirit of discord and disunion"
that had been so ramjiant in New Kngland,
no expression but of " gratitude to Heaven "
that the " efforts of foreign emissaries and
domestic traitors" had "failed to distract
and divide us," and no hope worse than
that " the talents, the wisdom and the ener-
gies of the states " might now be united,
and citizens soon " lay aside all party feel-
ings and become united like a band of
brothers." The address was Jeffersonian,
alike in the shrewdness with which it was
[jhrased and the warmth of its faith in human
good. He had a kindly word to say of the
new state's prison as "an humane and bene-
ficent institution," but he wanted a strict
in(|uiry made into the exjaenditures for its
erection. His message of 1S12 urged the
laying aside of all party prejudices and unit-
ing of the whole people in the common
cause. In 1815, after all the heated struggles
of the past two years, the only lesson he had
to draw was that "during the calm," since
the return of peace to the country, "we
ought, by an indissoluble union, to be pre-
l)ared for any storm that may arise." He
pictured the triumph of ruthless despotism
in every part of the Old World, and besought
the ]ieople solemnly to remember that " of
all the nations of the earth " they " alone
were left to support a government whose
basis is e(|ual liberty and whose sovereignty
is the will of the people."
76
CHITTENDEN.
CHITTENDEN.
His message of 1817 alluded with satisfac-
tion to the "wide and recent spiritual har-
vest" in the state, in the shape of the great
religious revival of that year, probably the
only allusion of the kind ever made in any
governor's message. He hailed with joy the
revolutionary movements in South .America,
and they stimulated for him beatific visions
of the future of humanity. He urged, in
1819, legislation to free the bodies of debtors
from arrest and imprisonment on debts of
small amount, being "of opinion that more
money is spent in the collection of such
debts than is saved by the collection," and
arguing that it would be a benefit to "dis-
courage credit." He advised the chartering
of agricultural societies throughout the state,
by "experiments, proper researches, and cor-
respondence," to improve agriculture. He
was always an earnest supporter and presi-
dent of both societies. He died Sept. 24,
1834, his last years, full of honor and con-
tentment, having been passed in rural enjoy-
ment at his Shafcsbury home. He was
always profoundly religious in his methods
of life, of thought and expression, but never
joined any church, though he announced
his intention of doing so at the age of sev-
enty-nine, when he attended a protracted
meeting at Manchester and took an active
])art in the exercises.
His first wife was Mary, daughter of Gov.
Thomas Chittenden, and so sister of his
strongest opponent in political life, and by
her he had nine children — five sons and four
daughters ; one of the former, Elon, became
an eminent Baptist clergyman.
He rarely failed in his messages to urge
the encouragement of manufactures, and in
that of 18 10 said : "I trust the time is not
far distant when the citizens of these United
States, instead of relying on foreign coun-
tries for their clothing, will be able not only
to supply their own wants, but to export
every kind of cotton, if not woolen goods,
and restore to the Union that portion of
specie which has been drawn from us by the
exclusive use of foreign manufactured goods."
(iovernor Galusha retired from office with
expressions of affection from the Legis-
lature and the people, second only to those
which had been bestowed on Thomas Chit-
tenden. He was a presidential elector in
1808, 1820 and 1824, and a member of the
constitutional conventions of 18 14 and 1822.
CHITTENDEN, MARTIN.— Second son
of Gov. Thomas Chittenden, sixth (jovernor,
and thirty years in the public service as
judge, congressman and legislator, was born
at Salisbury, Conn., March 12, 1769, and was
liberally educated, graduating from Dart-
mouth in 1 789. He inherited much of
his father's aptitude for public affairs and
many of his popular qualities, so that the
very next year after his graduation in 1790,
he was elected Jericho's representative and
subsequently for eight years, and W'illiston's
two years after
he moved to that
town. He was
clerk of the Chit-
tenden county
court four years,
judge ten years,
judge of probate
two years, and. a
<lelegate to the
' o n s t itutional
ronventions of
1791 and 1793.
I le was elected a
r e p r esentative
in Congress in
1 803 and four
times re-elected, until his elevation to
the governorship in 1813. The circum-
stances of that election and suspicions
surrounding it have been fully explained
in the sketch of Governor Galusha. Ver-
mont was the one New P^ngland state that
had sustained the declaration of war in 1812,
had cast her electoral vote for Madison, and
the revolution of 181 3, though not accom-
plished by the vote of the people, produced
a deep sensation at the time, all the more
aggravating because of the obvious unfair-
ness and dishonesty that brought it about,
unfairness in excluding the votes cast at Col-
chester of the citizens who were defending
the state — even though there were irregular-
ities about it — and dishonesty somewhere,
somehow in the final vote of the Legislature.
His re-election in 18 14 bore no such stigma,
though it had to be reached through the
Legislature, there being no choice by the
people but a plurality for Governor Galusha
and the patriotic side.
(>o\ernor Chittenden's administration was
in the main in full sympathy with the anti-
war element, though on the whole it may
fairly be said to have been better in this
respect than most of the New Kngland ad-
ministrations, and the Vermont sentiment
was generally better than that of the sea-
board states. His address, in 18 13, argued
that the "conquest of Canada of which so
much has been said, if desirable at all,"
would be "poor compensation for the sacri-
fices" that must be made, and in 1814 he
reiterated his opinion that the war was "un-
necessary, unwise and hopeless, in all its
offensive operations." The minority of the
House, 89 in the former year and 82 in the
latter, under the lead of William .\. Griswold,
solemnly entered their protest on the journal
CHITTENDEN.
77
against such sentiments, and against the
replies which the House had by a ]jartisan
vote given to the (Governor in echo of his
words. Governor Chittenden took the
ground in both messages, the contempti-
ble one that was then general with New
England executives, that the militia could
not be ordered out of the state for the com-
mon defense, or to "repel invasion" of any
e.xcept the state's territory.
In November of that year, while a part of
the 3d brigade of the 3d division of the
state militia was about Plattsburg, " under the
command and at the disposal of an officer
of the United States, out of the jurisdiction
or control of the executive of this state,"
Governor Chittenden issued a proclamation
reciting this lugubrious situation, and the
danger to "our own frontier," and com-
manding the militia "forthwith to return " to
their homes.
The order was received with hot indigna-
tion by the troops, the messenger who brought
it was marched by force out of camp, and the
officers united in a reply to the Governor
declaring that " an invitation or order to
desert the standard of our country will never
be obeyed by us, although it proceeds from
the Governor and captain-general of ^'er-
mont." They told him flatly that the proc-
lamation was, in their opinion, " a renewed
instance of that spirit of disorganization and
anarchy which is carried on by a faction, to
overwhelm our country with ruin and dis-
grace," and they told him that even the sol-
diers of the line regarded it "with mingled
emotions of pity and contempt for its author
and as a striking monument of his folly." Prob-
ably it was the most extraordinary military
communication of its kind ever framed, and
it was not altogether undeserved or without
good effect ; for the next year when General
Macomb wrote of the advance of the enemy
again towards Plattsburg, and calling for "all
the assistance in his power," Governor Chit-
tenden promptly replied, that he would take
"the most effectual measure to furnish such
number of volunteers as may be induced to
turn out." He insisted that he was not
"authorized by the constitution or laws to
order the militia out of the state," but could
request them logo, and he " recommended"
the officers to volunteer to go. The call was
grandly responded to by the people, fathers,
sons, and veterans of the Re^■olution, from
all parts of the state, and the result was the
glorious victory at Plattsburg.
Chittenden could not help feeling the in-
spiration, and as the British army, notwith-
standing the failure of Provost's campaign,
was hovering on our frontier, the Governor
issued a proclamation, Sept. 14, exhorting
the people to defense. "The conflict has
become a common, and not a party concern,"
he said, "and the time has now arrived
when all party distinctions and animosities
* * ought to be laid aside : that every heart
may be stimulated, and every arm nerved for
the protection of our common country, our
liberty, our altars, and our firesides." .And
he "enjoined" upon all military officers to
be in "a complete state of readiness to
march at a moment's warning," and upon
all selectmen and civil authorities to render
all aid possible.
It was good talk at last, after victory had
been seemingly won in the war, but it did
not save Chittenden and his party from
defeat and emphatic rebuke at the polls the
next September. The party went to speedy
ruin in the state and nation, and the Gov-
ernor into a political eclipse from which he
never emerged until his death, Sept. 5, 1840,
at the age of seventy-one.
Still it is but just to the Governor to say
that these positions into which the party
passion of the time swept him, were not
natural to him. His blood and breeding
were patriotic, and his real feeling, that
which finally burst partisan bonds, found
expression in the last quoted proclamation.
He was constitutionally moderate and tem-
perate, and broadly intelligent in his views,
but lacked in assertive strength, and was too
apt to yield to the counsels of party leaders.
In his personal relations he was kindly and
winning, and leaving an impress of large
capacity on all with whom he came into
intercourse.
SKINNER, Richard.— The seventh
Governor, con-
gressman, judge,
and speaker of
t h e Assembly,
was born at
l,itchfield,Conn.,
May 30, 1778,
the son of Gen.
Timothy Skin-
ner ; received his
legal education
at the famous law
school in that
place, and came
Id Vermont in
"- e p t e m b e r ,
1 799, settling at
Manchester. The next year he was ap-
pointed state's attorney for Bennington
county and held the position until i<8i2, and
was judge of probate for the last six years of
this time. The next year, in 18 13, he was
elected to Congress, ser\ing a single term,
and then representing his town in the state
Legislature, serving for two years and being
the speaker in the last, 1818. He was also
assistant judge of the Supreme Court in 1815
78
VAN NESS.
and 1816, and in 18 17 was elected chief
justice but declined to accept. He was
again state's attorney for his county in 1819.
In 1820 in the era of "good feeling" he was
elected Governor by nearly a unanimous
vote, 13,152 to 934 scattering. He was re-
elected in 1 82 1 with still greater unanimity,
12,434 to 163, and again in 1822, though
the record of the vole cannot be found. He
declined further re-election, but was the
next fall chosen chief justice of the Supreme
Court and served until 1829, when he
retired from public life for good, and died
May 23, 1853, from injuries received by
being thrown from his carriage while crossing
the Cireen Mountains.
'J"he period of Governor Skinner's admin-
istration was in the years of cessation from
the great controversies of early politics, so
that there was no chance for the exhibition
of great qualities of leadership. His state
papers had the clearness and force which are
said to have characterized his arguments as
a lawyer, and were always severely practical
in their scope. His inaugural address of
1820 advanced some suggestions for the im-
provement of our judicial system, especially
on the chancery side and with regard to the
probate courts, which afterward bore good
fruit. He pointed out that the difficulties
which had become so serious in the settle-
ment of estates was due to a lack of clear
apprehension, that our whole system of pro-
bate law must be essentially different from
that of England, whence we derived our
common law. He expressed disapproval in
this address in emphatic terms of the Mis-
souri compromise, and of the failure of the
last Legislature to instruct the state's delega-
tion to vote against it. He also expressed
the opinion, in his address in 182 1, that there
could "be no doubt of the wisdom and jus-
tice" of a protective tariff policy.
He was president of the northeastern
branch of the American Educational Society,
and a member of the board of trustees of
Middlebury College, which institution confer-
red on him the degree of LL. D.
In personal appearance he is described as
of ordinary form and stature, eyes and com-
plexion dark, and hair of the deepest black.
"Intellectually," says Henry R. Minor, Man-
chester's historian, "his qualities were of a
kind which gain the respect and confidence
of mankind rather than immediate admi-
ration."
VAN NESS, Cornelius P.— The eighth
Governor, was born at Kinderhook, N. Y.,
Jan. 26, 1782, son of Peter Van Ness, and of
a wealthy and prominent Dutch family. Two
of his brothers were distinguished in
public life. Gen. John P. ^'an Ness, congress-
man, and for years mayor of Washington,
and William P. Van Ness, United States dis-
trict judge for New York. Judge W. W. Van
Ness, the distinguished jurist and scholar, was
a cousin.
The subject of this sketch did not receive
a college education, though designed and
prepared for it by his father, because he pre-
ferred a c o m -
mercial to a pro-
fessional life. He
soon changed his
mind, however,
and studied law
in the office ot
his brother,
w here Martin
^"an liuren was a
fellow - s t u dent.
Ileing admitted
t o t h e bar, h e
]iracticed at
Kinderhook for
two vears a n d
then came to
N'ermont, first settling at St. .Albans in 1806
and then at Burlington in 1809. He was
appointed United States district attorney for
this state in 1810 and this was the begin-
ning of a public career in the state and
Federal field that lasted for more than thirty
years.
He rapidly rose in the confidence of the
Madison administration and in 181 3 was
appointed collector of customs at Burling-
ton, at that time the most important position-
of the kind in the county, especially so be-
cause of the necessity the administration had
found of getting around its restriction policy,
by admitting importations of goods from
Montreal under the legal fiction that they
were goods from neutrals. Mr. Van Ness
handled this delicate duty, both as district
attorney and collector, with tact and skill.
He held the latter position until the close of
the war and then was appointed one of the
commissioners under the treaty of Crhent to
settle the boundary line between the United
States and the British possessions, a task to
which he gave a large part of his time for
several years, but without coming to an agree-
ment with the British commissioners.
He was Burlington's representative in the
Legislature from 1S18 to 1820, chief justice
of the Supreme Court in i82i-'22, and in
1823 was elected Governor, being twice re-
elected, in 1824 and 1825, until he declined
further service.
He was at this time at the height of his
popularity and influence. Nearly twenty
years of practice had brotight him to rank
with the half-dozen leading lawyers of the
state, in an era that has not been surpassed
for brilliant ability at the bar. He had for
a decade been supreme in wielding the
VAN NESS.
79
federal patronage of the state as well as that
of state affairs while (iovernor. His ad-
ministration in the latter office had been
most acceptable ; first elected with only
1,431 votes cast against him, his re-election
in 1824 was almost as unanimous' — with only
1,962 votes cast for the opposing candidate,
Joel Doolittle, besides 346 scattering— and in
1825 it was so strongly so that no record is
preserved of the vote. He had done the
honors for the state during Lafayette's visit
in a manner of which everybody was proud.
The favors he had had to distribute with
the genuine good-fellowship and kindliness
as well as shrewd discernment and knowledge
of men which he had shown, had attracted
to him a strong following of devoted friends.
He was in thorough sympathy with the
Democratic development upon which our
institutions had entered, and he had to some
extent led and directed it. And his wealth,
with the generous hospitality he dispensed,
and the social leadership he and his ac-
complished wife had wielded in the most
cultivated circles, seemed to make him strong
in the only remaining direction where
strength was needed.
But all this prestige was shattered at a
single blow, which sent him in mortification
into political exile. He desired to crown
his career with a term in the Senate, and
even before he left the executive chair, laid
his plans to succeed Horatio Seymour whose
term was to expire, and who, it was generally
understood, would not seek a re-election ;
but the latter was finally persuaded to do so.
It was at the time of a reformation of party
lines, and when the feeling was most ran-
corous between the adherents of Adams and
Jackson ; antagonisms that for years had
been smouldering against Van Ness burst
forth ; men whom he had disappointed in
giving out offices entered the field actively
against him, while the disposition of Ver-
monters, which has exhibited itself from the
beginning, to retain senators in long service,
was a large factor, adding much to the
strength which his talents and conciliating
manners gave Mr. Seymour. It was the
most exciting personal fight the state ever
had, and few in the country have e\er
equalled it. Where it was supposed at first
Governor Van Ness would be irresistible, the
result was left doubtful at the ]3olls and the
fight was taken to the Legislature where at
length Seymour won by a small majority.
Governor Van Ness attributed his defeat
to the influence of the Adams administration,
and issued a manifesto to the peo])le declar-
ing hostility to Adams, and himself went to
work actively to pay off scores by organizing
Jackson support in the state. He was in-
volved, as a consequence of the manifesto,
in a number of contro\ersies with men who
had long been in his confidence and friend-
shi]), and before the election of 1828 his old
])ovver had been pretty generally broken and
the state cast its vote for .Adams by a strong
majority.
Shortly after Jackson's inauguration, how-
ever, he was appointed minister to Spain and
continued to occupy this position for about
ten years. He returned to the country and
state in 1840 and made a determined effort
to carry Vermont for his old friend Van Huren,
but of course with even less results than in the
campaign of 1828, and the next spring he
shook the dust of Vermont from his feet,
and took up his home in New York City.
He was after this for a year and a half, in
i844-'45, collector of the port of New York
by appointment of President Tyler. This
was his last political position. The death of
his brother, General Van Ness, at Washing-
ton, in 1846, devolved the care of the latter's
estate on him and he spent much of his time
in Washington until his death, Dec. 15, 1852,
which occurred at Philadelphia while he was
journeying between New York and the Cap-
itol.
G. B. Sawyer in an obituary sketch of
Governor Van Ness in the New York liven-
ing Post just after his death, thus summed up
his character : "Governor Van Ness neither
felt nor affected love for literature ; troubled
himself little with theoretical speculations or
with abstract principles, except as connected
with the kindred sciences of law and politics,
which few men more thoroughly studied and
understood ; this concentration of mind and
effort was the secret and the source of his
success. Without imagination, using lan-
guage plain, but expressing always the pre-
cise idea he wished to convey, disregarding
decoration, his reasoning, compacted link
within link, glowed with the fire of earnest-
ness and conviction — or rather his speech
was a torrent of impassioned argument, as
clear as it was rapid, capable of sweeping
away juries and assemblies, and of moving
from their moorings the anchored caution and
gravity of the bench."
The most considerable monument to Go\-
ernor Van Ness in our statutes is the act of
Oct. 25, 1824, for the present system of
choosing presidential electors, which was
passed in pursuance of his recommendation
in place of the old method of election by the
Legislature. He made many valuable sug-
gestions for legislation regarding the militia
and imprisonment for debt, and was par-
ticularly clamorous that the last should be
abolished, at least as regards females. Each
of his messages argued for a protective tariff
as was the habit of all the old 1 )emocratic
Governors, and he took what afterwards be-
came solid Whig ground as to internal im-
provements. A large part of his address of
1825 was given to adiscussionof the projects
for improvement of the navigation of the Con-
necticut and the junction of its waters by
canal with those of Lakes Memphremagog
and Champlain, a work in which he thought
the general go\ernment ought to assist under
the "general welfare" clause of the constitu-
tion.
Ciovernor Van Xess was twice married,
first, March 5, 1804, to Rhoda, daughter of
James Savage of Chatham, X. V., who died
at Madrid, Spain, July 18, 1834, and second
to a Spanish lady. Three sons and two
daughters were the fruit of the first union.
The second son, Cornelius, went to Texas,
where he was secretary of state at the time
of his death by accident, July 18, 1842. The
third son, George, also died in Texas in
1855, being then a collector of customs.
Of the daughters, the eldest married Lord
Onseley of the British legation at Washing-
ton, and the second, Cornelia, a famous
belle of her time, married Judge J. J. Roose-
velt of the New York Supreme Court.
BUTLER, Ezra. — Legislator, councilor,
judge, representative in Congress and Gov-
ernor, was another Baptist preacher and
Democrat. He was a native of Lancaster,
Mass., the fifth of seven children of .Asaph
and Jane (McAllister) Butler, and born Sept.
24, 1763. During his early youth his father
came to A\'est Windsor in this state, but the
death of his mother necessitated the boy's
spending of most of his time in the family of
an older brother, and his taking care of him-
self after he was fourteen, with only six
months of schooling. He went to work on
the farm of Dr. Stearns at Claremont, N. H.,
soon having the entire management of it. At
the age of seventeen he was a soldier in the
Revokitionary army and early in 17S5, when
twentv vears old, having spent a few months
in Weathersfield, he and his brother came to
Waterbury, where they built a log house, to
which Mr. Butler, in June of that year,
brought his bride. Miss Tryphena Diggins,
they making the journey into the wilderness
on horseback by way of a bridle path. They
were the second family to settle in Water-
bury and suffered all the privations and hard-
ships of pioneer life. He afterward built the
first frame house in town.
The town of Waterbury was organized at
a meeting in 1790, and Mr. Butler was chos-
en the first town clerk, and for the next forty
years he was constantly in the public service,
frequently holding two or more important
positions at a time, so that if we count the
years of his terms of office they make over
sixty-five. He was town representative for
eleven years, from 1794 to 1805, excepting
I 79S, and again in 1807, when he was chos-
en both representative and member of the
council, and acted a part of the time in one
body and a part in the other. He served in
the council sixteen years, 1807 to 1826, ex-
cepting 1813 and '14, when he was in Con-
gress. In 1803, '04 and '05, he was assist-
ant judge of the county court of Chittenden,
to which Waterbury then belonged, and in
1S06 to '11 he was its chief judge. In 1812,
when Jefferson (now Washington) county
was organized, he was elected its chief jus-
tice and held the position uninterruptedly
except for the two years of his congressional
service, until 1825, when the present judi-
ciary system was formed, and he was elected
first assistant judge. In 1806 he was a
member of the Council of Censors, and in
1822 of the Constitutional Convention of
that year.
He was a vigorous supporter of Jonas
Galusha, in state politics, and in his long
and active ser\ice in the Council steadily rose
to a recognized position of leadership. But
he fought for his beliefs of right rather
than for personal advancement and he was
so earnestly conscientious that party rewards
came slowly to him. He was well started in
that way when in 181 2 he was elected to
Congress on a general ticket with James
Fisk, William Strong, W. C. Bradley, Richard
Skinner and Charles Rich, a galaxy of talent
that has ne\'er been surpassed in the state's
representation. He was with the rest an
earnest supporter of the Madison adminis-
tration. But the New England revulsion
against the war gave the state to the Fed-
eralists in 1 8 14, and the delegation to Con-
gress was entirely changed. But Mr. But-
ler's constituents were prompt to return him
to the council and to the bench, and he was
regularly re-elected until in 1826 he was
made the Democratic candidate for (lover-
nor and was elected and re-elected without
any party putting up a candidate to oppose
him, though some 2,000 votes were cast for
Joel Doolittle at each election. His most
notable work as Governor was his strenuous
opposition to lotteries as expressed in both
his messages, and his arguments for legislation
to abolish or minimize imprisonment for
debt.
He declined in 182S to be a candidate
for another term and retired to private life
after a continuous political service since
1790. But he went into the anti-Masonic
movement, which after the disappearance of
the old political issues now swept the state,
and held control of its affairs for the next
few years, with only a remnant of the Dem-
ocratic organization to stand up against it.
Mr. Butler was one of the electors to cast the
electoral vote of the state in 1832 for Wirt
and EUmaker. He had before been a Jef-
ferson elector in 1S04 and a Monroe elector
in 1820. He was a member of the commit-
tee that fixed the site of the first state house
in Montpeher and of the commissioners that
located the state's prison and state arsenal
and made the plans for them. He was a
trustee of the University of Vermont from
1810 to 1816. With the other party leaders
in the Legislature of 1804 he aided in the
defeat of the Massachusetts proposal of a
constitutional amendment to exclude slaves
in the apportionment for representatives in
Congress, arguing that this was one of the
sacred compromises of the constitution and
thus the consideration for it in the pro\ision
which Massachusetts also proposed to abolish
for the apportionment of direct taxes by
population might be important in case of war.
For above forty years he was an elder of
the Baptist church, its pastor at W'aterbury,
its preacher whenever at home and a con-
stant and unremitting teacher of religion
wherever he was. According to his own
account he was an irreligious and profane
youth, presumptuous in his skepticism. His
conversion was brought about one Sunday
by the reading with his wife of a pamphlet,
whose beginning and end were gone and
whose author he never knew, on hereditary
sin. Its perusal threw him into deep and
anxious thought, bordering on despair,
which lasted for several days until he was
brought "into the clear light and liberty of
the gospel." In a few months he was bap-
tized into the Baptist church and when a
church of that denomination was organized
in Waterbury he was ordained its pastor and
continued in the discharge of its duties until
within a few years of his death, July 12,
1838, at the age of seventy-four, adding this
service to all his other multifarious cares
as legislator and judge, and political leader,
for love of his Maker and his fellowmen,
without salary or remuneration to the end.
Rarely indeed does any man hold public
confidence as Ezra Butler did. He had not
the winning presence of Fisk or Tichenor,
or the learning of the Bradleys, or the tre-
mendous popular strength of Galusha, but
his judgment was sound and penetrating, his
ideals high, his purposes pure, his methods
always painstaking, and his appearance al-
ways that of intensest sincerity. This is
illustrated by the tradition that after one of
his executive speeches a man in the gallery
invited the audience to sing "Hear." He
always had the air of meekness and dignity
characteristic of the ministry, and one that
could not fail to command respect.
No portrait of him was ever painted — "He
was not that sort of a man," replied a mem-
ber of the family to an inquiry of Governor
Walton. But he is described by Rev. C. C.
Parker as in form "slightly stooping, his
complexion sallow and dark, and his whole
appearance quite unprepossessing ; but his
.JVf^i
penetrating black eye and the calm tones of
his voice quickly told of an intellect and will
of no common order."
CRAFTS, Samuel C- Governor, sen-
ator, and rep-
resentative in
Congress, filled
nearly e\ery
office within
the gift of the
people of Ver-
mont, being in
continuous
]j u b 1 i c service
for fifty years
or more. He
was born in
\V oodstock,
Conn., Oct. 6,
1768, the son
of Col. Eben-
ezer Cralts, a tirst and leading settler of
Craftsbury, and in honor of whom the town
was named. The son was liberally educated
and graduated from Harvard in 1790, then
accompanied his father into the wilderness,
and two years later, on the organization of
the town of Craftsbury, was elected its first
town clerk, and held the position for thirty-
seven consecutive years, even while his pub-
lic duties called him away from home a
large part of the time. He was in the con-
vention to revise the state constitution in
I 793, being its youngest member, and even
then showed the marked aptitude for pubhc
affairs that achieved his distinguished career.
In 1796 he was Craftsbury's rei^resentative in
the General Assembly, in 1798 and 1799 he
was clerk of the House, and the next year was
again on the floor, being re-elected in 1801,
1803, and 1805. He was register of pro-
bate for the Orleans district from 1796 to
18 1 5, judge of the Orleans county court from
1800 to 1810, and chief judge for the next
six years, and twenty years later, from 1836
to 1838, after he had filled the highest posi-
tions in the state, he was clerk of the court.
In 1809 he was elected a member of the ex-
ecutive council, serving for three years, and
again from 1825 to 1827. At this time also,
from 1825 to 1S28, he was again chief judge
of his county court.
In 1816 he was elected representative in
Congress and served eight years, until 1S25,
usefully and industriously, but without any
great distinction or prominence in the na-
tional battles of those times. Indeed, he
was seldom heard in debate in either state
or national halls, for he had little faith in the
good of speech-making. Afterward he was
senator for a few months, from December, '42,
to March, '43, being appointed by Governor
Faine, and then also chosen by the I.egisla-
ture, to fill out the unexpired term of Judge
Prentiss, who had resigned to accept the of-
fice of United States district judge.
In 1828, after his last term in the council,
he was elected Governor and re-elected in
1829 and '30. His first election, which was
substantially without opposition, as Van
Ness' and Butler's had been, closed the "era
of good feeling" in state politics. The vote
in 1828 was 16,285 for him and 916 for Joel
Doolittle. The two parties had already
taken lines under the names of "National
Republican" and the "Jackson Party" or
"Democrats," with the Anti-Masons soon
to appear, and in 1829 the vote was 14,325
for Crafts, 3,973 for Joel Doolitde, and
7,347 for Heman .\)\en, of Highgate, then of
Burlington, whom the ,\nti-Masons sup-
ported, though he had refused to identify
himself with them. But in 1S30 the Anti-
Masons had become so strong as to prevent
an election by the people. The vote was
13,476 for Crafts, 10,923 for William A.
Palmer, Anti-Mason, and 6,285 for Ezra
Meech, Democrat, with 37 scattering. This
threw the election into the Legislature, where
the Democrats substituted William C. Brad-
ley for Meech as their candidate, and thirty-
two ballots were required to reach a result.
Crafts was finally elected by eight of the
Anti- Masons and some of the scattering
votes going to his support. The next year
the Anti-Masons had a strong plurality lead
in the popular vote, and won in the Legisla-
ture, though a portion of the National Re-
publicans supported Governor Crafts in the
balloting, endeavoring to compromise on him
when it was evident that their candidate,
Heman Allen, could not be elected.
Clovernor Crafts' address in 1829 was the
first to treat of the evils of intemperance, and
he urged higher licenses and more stringent
regulation of public houses to check the
"free indulgence in the use of spirituous
liquors." He advanced in his message of
1828 what may be called the germ idea of
our present town system of schools, and he
urged the system of highway taxes that has
since been adopted. He was able to see
into the future even beyond today, when
he said in his message of 1830 : "The state
of Vermont, possessing a salubrious climate,
a productive soil, much mineral wealth, an
immense amount of water power, and an in-
dustrious, enterprising and intelligent popu-
lation, seems destined to become, when the
natural resources shall be fully developed, a
very important member of our great family of
states. If some safe, cheap and expeditious
means of communication with the market
towns be constructed, no part of the Union
would offer more eligible situation for some
branches of manufacture than Vermont."
Governor Crafts, after his retirement, was
president of the constitutional convention of
1829 and was an elector on the Harrison
ticket in 1S40.
Personally he was modest and unassum-
ing— not " magnetic " in leadership, but with
a profound power of inspiring confidence ;
scholarly in habit, especially in dealing with
practical affairs, he became in the course of
his long life an almost exhaustless storehouse
of information which he gathered from every
side. In June, 1802, when there were but
few log huts on the site of the present city of
Cincinnati, he commenced a tour of obser-
vation to the lower Mississippi, and in com-
pany with Michaux, the younger, made a
botanical reconnoissance of the valley of the
Great \\'est in canoes and arks. All the
sciences, including natural history, geology,
mineralogy, astronomy, as well as the higher
mathematics, were the objects of study and
extensive reading and some writing by him
all his life. While in college he calculated a
transit of Venus, the first achievement of
the kind that had ever been made by an
undergraduate at Harvard. He was also an
accomplished student of architecture, ser\'-
ing on the committee of public buildings in
Congress, and the noble structure of a state
house was a monument of his learning until
it was burned in 1857. Above all was he a
student of the Bible, and the most honorable
station he ever filled, in his view, was that of
.Sunday school teacher, whose duties he faith-
fully performed whenever at home, giving
freely of his vast and varied knowledge to
illuminate the text. He was active in every
good work, serving on the official boards of
the various state benevolent societies. He
died, Nov. 19, 1853, at the age of eighty-five.
Governor Crafts married, in i 798, Eunice
Todd, a sister of the famous alienist, Dr. Eli
Todd, of Hartford, Conn., and by whom he
had two children, one son and one daughter.
The former died while at college at Burling-
ton, and the latter married N. S. Hill, treas-
urer of the L'niversity of Vermont.
PALMHR, William A.— The eleventh
(lovernor of the
state, judge, leg-
islator and Fed-
eral senator, was
another leader of
Connecticut ori-
gin, born at He-
bron, Conn.,
Sept. 12, 1 781,
the son of Joshua
and Susanna Pal-
mer, of a family
that had emi-
grated from Eng-
land before the
Revolution, and
was full of intel-
lectual and physical vigor. Of the Gover-
83
mor's seven brothers and sisters, all ii\eil to
the age of eighty or upward. He had only a
common school education, but an accident
by a fall on the ice with an axe lost him the
•use of a part of one of his hands and unfitted
him for manual labor, so that he studied law
with Judge Peters, and, after coming to \'er-
mont, with Daniel Buck at Chelsea, ])rac-
ticed a few years at St. Johnsbury and then
moved to Danville, where in after years he
devoted most of the time that he was free
•from public cares to agriculture. He was
for eight years county clerk and judge of
probate of Caledonia county and served one
year as judge of the Supreme Court in 1816,
refusing a further election. He was si.x times
elected representative from Danville.
In politics he was a Jeffersonian Demo-
crat, and during the ascendency of that party
in the state, until the .\nti-Masonic break-up,
was one of its most potent leaders. In 18 17
he was elected United States senator to suc-
ceed James Fisk, resigned, and then for a
full term of six years, closing in 1825. He
had for several years been under something
of a cloud of unpopularity, because of his
vote for the Missouri compromise, and be-
fore that in favor of admitting the state with
the constitution which she had herself
adopted, though it allowed slavery. He was
practically the only senator from the state
who ever cast a vote on slavery's side. But
he always maintained to his dying day that
the vote was right, not because he approved
of slavery, but because he stood, even at that
early day, on what afterwards became the
Douglas idea of squatter sovereignty as the
only doctrine consistent with the com-
promises of our constitution. Returning to
his home in Danville he was the next year
elected again to the Legislature, and re-
elected in 1827.
He was elected Governor in 1S31, and
re-elected till 1835. He had in 1S.50 been
the candidate of the new and rapidly rising
element that called itself the Anti-Masonic
party, and obtained so strong a vote as to
throw the election into the Legislature as
detailed in the sketch of Governor Crafts.
At the 1 83 1 election. Palmer and the .Anti-
Masons were in a strong lea:d in the popular
vote, it standing 15,258 for Palmer, 12,990
for Heman Allen, National Republican, and
6,158 for Ezra Meech, Democrat. No
party had a majority in the Legislature, and
it took nine ballots and a heated contest to
elect Palmer, and this was only accomplished
by one majority, due to a break among the
National Republicans in trying to transfer
their support from .Allen to Governor Crafts.
In 1832 again there was no election by the
people. The National Republicans returned
again to Governor Crafts, whom they had
found to be their strongest candidate, and
gave him 15,499 votes, while Palmer had
17,318, and Meech 8,210. It took forty-
three l)allots in the Legislature to re-elect
(Governor Palmer, with barely two majority,
and this result was finally due to the aid of a
few friends of Crafts. In 1833 the National
Republicans had gone out entirely or been
absorbed by the .Anti-Masons, owing to a
combination of both national and state
causes, and the Democrats were the only
party to stand up with any show against
the new party. The \ote was 20,565 for
Palmer, 15,683 for Meech (Dem.), 1765 for
Horatio Seymour, 772 for John Roberts, and
120 scattering. This was the only election
Governor Palmer received by a majority vote
of the people. By 1834 the Whigs had got
well organized under the lead of Horatio
Seymour, and the vote was 17,131 for
Palmer, 10,365 for William C. Bradley
(Dem.), and 10,159 for Seymour; but Pal-
mer was elected on the first ballot in the
Legislature, getting 126 out of the 168 votes
cast. This was due to the fact that both par-
ties, anticipating the early collapse of the
Anti-Masons as a political organization, were
playing to catch the pieces. Seymour had
published a letter announcing that he would
not be a candidate in the General Assembly
against Governor Palmer, and the vote indi-
cates that Bradley or the Democratic leaders
had been conveying the same assurances
privately.
In 1835 Governor Palmer still led in the
popular vote, 16,210 for him to 13,254 for
Bradley, and 5,435 for Paine, Whig, but
could not win in the Legislature, and after
sixty-three ballots without any choice, the
highest vote for Palmer being 112, Bradley
73, and Paine 45, the effort was given up,
and Jennison, who had been chosen Lieuten-
ant-Cio\ernor, had to take the executive
chair. .AH the rest of the .Anti- .Masonic ticket
except Governor Palmer had been indorsed
by the Whigs, and the combination to defeat
the Ciovernor was due to the recollection of
his Democratic proclivities and the belief
that he purposed to support Van Buren for
the presidency the next year.
Governor Palmer had been the .Anti-Ma-
sonic leader because he profoundly believed
in the evil of all secret societies. He was
never a member of any of them or of any
similar social organization. But he did not
take any such radical grounds in his mes-
sages as might have been expected. In his
first address in 1831 he declared his purpose
to appoint to ofifice only men who were "un-
shackled by any earthly allegiance except to
the constitution and laws," and he suggested
legislation to prohibit the administration of
oaths except "when necessary to secure the
faithful discharge of public trusts and to
elicit truth in the administration of justice,"
JENNISON.
and to "diminish the frequency" of even
these, because of the "influence which they
exercise over the human mind." He reiter-
ated these recommendations in subsequent
messages.
He followed up the denunciations of the
previous Governors of the system of im-
prisonment for debt, which he pronounced
"a relic of a dark age, and a barbarous
code," and declared to be inconsistent with
the constitution of the state as it was, "ex-
cept where a strong presumption of fraud"
could be shown. He took occasion in his
1834 message to disapprove President Jack-
son's severe measures against the national
bank as "pernicious in their consequences,
and altogether unwarrantable," though he
admitted the misconduct of the bank and the
dangerous features of its charter, to whose
renewal he was opposed " in its present
form." The latter declaration was the reason
of the Whig bitterness towards him.
In 1837 Governor Palmer was again re-
turned to the Legislature, being elected
county senator, and with this service he
closed his public career, retiring to his farm
in Danville, where he lived in honored ease
until his death, Dec. 3, i860, at the age of
se\enty-nine. He had in his later years
been so subject to epileptic fits as to become
a great source of trouble and anxiety to his
friends and family.
The Governor was a very popular man
personally, and also a good manager in po-
litical contests, and hard to beat when up as
a candidate. He was charitable to a fault,
as is sometimes said, frequently giving to his
own hurt financially, and at his death he was
comparatively poor. He was often consulted
as an adviser by his townsmen and others,
and his opinion was always considered valu-
able— and quite usually acted upon. He
was certainly a man of " strong natural abil-
ity, possessing a decided and penetrating
mind," and with such an " unpretending
simplicity of manners," as inevitably made
him a popular favorite.
He married in September, 1813, at Dan-
ville, Miss Sarah, third daughter of Capt.
Peter and Sarah Blanchard of Danville, who
had removed to Vermont from Concord, N.
H., in I 790 or before. The Governor and
wife had seven children in all, two daughters
dying in infancy ; five boys lived to man-
hood : William B., Abial O., Henry Wirt,
Edward Carter, and Franklin Rolfe, all ex-
cept Edward, who died in 1SS8, residing in
Danville.
JENNISON, Silas H.— Governor of the
state in iS36and for the six years following,
was the last of the Clovernors to secure such
repeated re-elections, and the first who was
native born. He was born in Shoreham,
May 17, 1 791, the son of Levi and Ruth
Hemenway Jennison. His father died when
he was only a year old, but his mother was a
woman of uncommon strength of character,
and to her very
largely was due
his success in
after life, as is
the case with
most great men.
He had to work
hard in his
youth, attend-
ing school only
a few weeks
each year, but
with the en-
couragement of
his energetic, in-
dustrious and
ambitious moth-
er, he secured an education by omniverous
reading, devoting his nights to study and
reciting to Mr. Sisson, a neighbor. .And he
kept up this habit of study all through his
life, storing his mind with information, so
that though he was never a speaker and
never engaged in public debate, the weight
and solidity of his attainments, with his
faculty of facile and accurate transaction of
public business, won him prominence. He
early became an expert in mathematics and
surveying.
He represented his town 1826 to 1831,
was assistant justice of the county court six
years, i82g-'35, councilor, Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor in 1835, acting also as Governor, as
there was no choice by the people or in the
Legislature, as explained in the sketch of
Governor Palmer. He was then elected
Governor in 1836 as a whig, by a vote of
20,471 over \\illiam C. Bradley, who had
16,1 24. He issued a proclamation this year,
during the rebellion in Canada, warning
against any violation of the neutrality laws,
as there was much sympathv among our
people with the rebels.
The proclamation affected his popularity
for the time being, but in the end only in-
creased it, as his firmness and good judg-
ment came to be appreciated. The Demo-
crats, however, took advantage of the feeling
to make a sharp canvass against him in
1837, but he was re-elected with an increase
of 187 in his majority. In 1838 it was in-
creased 1,024 more, though so able and
strong a man had been his competitor each
year. The next year the Democratic fight
was made under the cry of "Simlie and Bank
Reform," with Nathan Simlie as the candi-
date, and Jennison's majority was cut to
2,354. But in the Harrison log-cabin year,
1840, he got a majority of 10,798, after the
most exciting canvass he ever had. In the
MA'nncKs.
85
Legislature, and as Governor, he interested
himself largely in the subject of the grand
list and problems of taxation. At the close
of his term in 1841 he declined re-election.
But he served for six years after this as
judge of probate, 1 841 -'4 7, and was a dele-
gate to the Constitutional Convention of
1S43, and he died in September, 1849, after
a protracted illness.
Governor Jennison, who was of tall, stately
build, and unaffected, cordial manners, was
a man of cultivated tastes, clear-viewed on
public (piestions, and prudent and correct in
administration. .As a political leader he was
a man of uncommon shrewdness and percep-
tion, of winning lines of argument, and he
was one of the half-dozen leaders to whom it
was due that out of the .Anti-Masonic shake-
up the U'higs brought such growingly secure
control of the state, to hand down to the
Republicans after them.
PAINE, Charles. — (;overnorof the state
in i84i-'43, the youngest man who had ever
held the office, one of the leading projectors
of the Vermont Central R. R., and its first
president, was the son of Judge F^lijah Paine,
and was born .April 15, 1799. He inherited
his father's executive ability and bold con-
ceptions of mind and enterprise of spirit,
with even more than his benevolence, be-
cause of the easier lines on which his life
was cast. His last work, where he lost his
life, fitly supplementing what he had done in
Vermont, was exploring a route in Texas for
a Pacific railroad.
He was well educated, graduated from
Harvard, and was intended for a profession,
but instead took hold of his father's business
matters, showing such an efficiency and grasp
of affairs as pointed out the proper career
for him. The great ambition of his young
manhood was the building of the \'ermont
Central R. R. He interested foreign capital
in it, and Oct. 11, 1848, he rode on the first
train into Northfield, where he had settled.
He l)uilt and conducted for years the large
hotel at Depot Village, and was all his days
engaged in important enterprises. Like his
father, he was interested in agriculture, and
imported a full-blooded Durham into town
to improve the breeding of the cattle there.
He was elected Governor in 1841 as a whig,
being re-elected the next year. He had for
several years been prominent in his party, and
had been its candidate as far back as 1835,
when its resurrection began from the ruins of
Anti-Masonry, as explained in the sketch of
(jovernor Palmer. There were no great feat-
ures to his administration, though it was busi-
ness-like in its conduct, and his messages
gave considerable prominence to topics of
■education.
lie donated the land on which the Xorth-
field .Academy was built, giving, besides, an
excellent apparatus and S500 in cash. He
built entirely with his own funds the Con-
gregational church at I )epot Village. He
bequeathed to the Catholic church the land
for its church and cemetery, and he also
gave the land for the beautiful Elmwood
cemetery at that place. He was a man of
too broad mind to be sectarian in his gen-
erous impulses, and his charities always ex-
tended to the most diver.se objects. His
views were epitomized in his will, which,
leaving all details to the trustees, required
them, after "assisting such persons as they
may think have any claim arising from con-
sanguinity, friendship or obligation" in-
curred by him, "to use and appropriate what-
e\er property I may die possessed of for the
best good and welfare of my fellowmen, to
assist in the improvement of mankind, re-
commending that they do it without sec-
tarianism or bigotry according to the inten-
tion of that God whose will is found in the
law of the Christian religion in which I be-
lie\e and trust."
This will is not lawyer-like, could not
stand under the law of trusts as expounded
by the courts nowadays, and notably in the
Tilden case, but it is noteworthy as showing
the character of the man.
His career was cut short by his death in
Texas, as above stated, after only twenty-six
days' illness, July 6, 1853, when he had
reached the age of only fifty-four.
In personal appearance he is described by
a friend, Rev. E. Gannett, D. D., as of
"erect form, open face, and princely de-
meanor, always with words of cordial greet-
ing."
MATTOCKS, JOHN.— A distinguished
lawyer, briefly a judge of the Supreme Court
in 1832, ( Governor in iS43,and three times a
representative in Congress, was born at Hart-
ford, Conn., March 4, 1777, the son of Samuel
Mattocks, a captain in the Revolutionary
army who afterwards came to Vermont, be-
came prominent in the early days, represent-
ing Tinmouth in the Legislature for four years,
being judge and chief justice of the l^utland
county court for five years, serving in the
ninth council, succeeding Ira Allen as state
treasurer, and holding the position fourteen
years, from 1786 to 1800.
John Mattocks was only a year old when
his father moved from Connecticut to Tin-
mouth, and at the age of fifteen went to live
with his sister, Rebecca Miller, at Middle-
l)ury for two or three years, where he began
the study of law in the office of Samuel
Miller, completing it, however, at Fairfield,
under Judge Bates Turner, and being ad-
mitted to the bar in February, 1797. He
commenced practice at Danville, but soon
after moved to Peacham, where he carved
out his successful career. He was Peacham's
representative in the General Assembly in
i8o7-'i5-'i6-'23-'24, was a delegate to the
Constitutional Convention of 1836, and was
first elected to Congress in 1820, then in
1824, and again in 1840. He joined the
Whig party as soon as it was formed, and
was an unyielding adherent of that organiza-
tion to the day of his death. He was chosen
judge of the Supreme Court in 1832, but
declined a re-election the following year. ■
He devoted himself to his professional prac-
tice for the next four years, until in 1S43
the Whigs nominated him for Governor and
elected him by a vote of 24,465 to 21,982
for Judge Daniel Kellogg, Democrat, and
3,766 for Charles K.Williams.
He was in 1806 one of the thirteen direc-
tors of the Vermont State Bank, and a brig-
adier-general of the state militia in 1812.
As a lawyer Governor Mattocks was often
likened to the great Jeremiah Mason of New
Hampshire. He was especially strong before
a jury, with a concentration of mind, a power
of analysis and illustration, a capacious mem-
ory that was a storehouse of argument, and a
clear and convincing way of statement that
were apt to make him irresistible. He was
keen and searching on cross-examination,
and his knowledge of practical life and his
quickness of judgment of human nature,
made him a very shrewd and adroit mana-
ger of cases. In Congress his most notable
speech accompanied the presentation of ai
petition for the abolition of slavery in the
District of Columbia. His personal de-
meanor was always that of the utmost cour-
tesy, and his kindliness to young lawyers has
been the subject of anecdote for generations.
He was deeply religious, Calvinistic in belief,,
and in his later years a member of the Con-
gregational church at Peacham. .A severe
domestic affliction in the death of a son
caused him to refuse re-election as (Gov-
ernor and to retire to private life.
Governor Mattocks wedded, Sept. 4, 1810^
Esther Newell, of Peacham, who died on her
fifty-second birthday, July 21, 1844, leaving
a daughter and three sons living. Two
daughters died ■ in infancy. Governor Mat-
tocks died August 14, 1S47. Of the three
sons who survived, one filled an honorable
position as a clergyman, another as a lawyer,,
and the other as a physician.
SLADE, William. — Congressman, Gov-
ernor, secretary of state, secretary of the
National Board of Education, political edi-
tor, compiler of "Slade's State Papers," and
who probably held a greater \ariety of civil
trusts than any other citizen of the state,,
was born at Cornwall in 1786. His father
was Col. \\'illiam Slade, a Revolutionarv vet-
eran, who came from Washington, Conn., in.
1786, was sheriff of Addison county for sev-
eral years, an active Republican politician,
and a staunch supporter of Madison and the
war of 181 2. Young Slade graduated from
Middlebury College in 1807, studied law,,
and was admitted to the bar in 1810. But
his attention was soon absorbed in journal-
ism and politics, and in historical and liter-
ary studies. In i8i4-'i5-'i6 he edited the
Columbian Patriot, a political papier at Mid-
dlebury, where he also kept a book store. In.
1 81 6 he was made secretary of state, and
held the position for eight years. He was a
Madison presidential elector in 181 2. From
1817 to 1823 he was also judge of the Addi-
son county court, and was afterwards state's,
attorney. Before the close of the Monroe
administration he was appointed clerk in the
state department in Washington, and served
until 1829, when he had to "go" under Jack-
son. But he had improved the opportunity in
the meantime to equip himself intellectually
for the larger usefulness of later years, and
was one of the few men who ever rose from.
de]5artmental service to anything higher.
In 1830 he was elected representative to-
Congress and served contiruiously for twelve
years. On his retirement, such was the
versatility he had shown, that he was ap-
pointed reporter of the decisions of the
Supreme Court of Vermont. But he held
this position only one year, because in 1844
he was chosen Governor, and re-elected the
8?
next year. Subse(|iiently he was for nearly
fifteen years secretary of the national board
of popular education, having for its object
the furnishing of the West with teachers
from the Kast, and gave himself to the duties
of the position with the thoroughness and
the zest that always characterized him, and
with an effect for good that it is not easy to
measure. These labors ceased only with his
death, Jan. i8, 1859.
His best title to historical rank will rest on
his speech, Dec. 20, 1S37, on a petition for
the abolition of the slave trade in the Dis-
trict of Columbia, and though the speech
was suppressed by vote of the House, the
pluck with which he presented the case and
the skill and coolness with which he prodded
the slavocracy to desperation, were well
worthy of admiration. In arguing for the
removal of the disgrace of this traffic from
the National Capital, he naturally branched
off into a discussion of the wicked and
brutalizing character of the traffic every-
where. Quoted Franklin, Jefferson and
Madison in reprobation of it, and when points
of order were fired at him to the effect that
"slavery in the United States" could not be
discussed, he was ready with (juotations
from these great southern statesmen them-
selves to show that they were ready to dis-
cuss and consider, but never to throttle
debate on the subject. He finally got the
southerners into a corner where they ob-
jected to quotations from the Declaration of
Independence itself, and driving them re-
morselessly in their dilemma, extorted a call
from the leaders for the southern delegations
to leave the hall in a body. When they
attempted the gag rule to suppress him he
said : " Vou may indeed silence the voice of
truth in this hall, but it will be only to give it
louder and deeper tones elsewhere" — words
that were prophetic. His speech on the
tariff bill of 1842 was also regarded as a
strong one for the protectionist side of the
argument, especially for its wool schedule,
and it was widely published and circulated
by the \\'higs.
One of the interesting episodes of Ver-
mont politics in those days was the "war of
pamphlets" between him and Senator Phelps
in 1845 an J 1846, growing out of the charges
made against the senator before his re-election
in 1844, that he had been inclined to kick
out of the party traces and to refuse to vote
for the tariff bill of 1842 and against the land
distribution bill, and that he had impaired
his usefulness by excessive intemperance,
violence of temper, and coarseness of lan-
guage. Slade was at the time (lovernor and
claimed that Phelps had got him nominated
to silence these accusations. He had been
an aspirant for the senator's seat, as also had
Hiland Hall, and these two with Ezra Meech
and Charles .\dams fathered the reports, as
Phelps claimed. The thing was fought out
in the Whig convention and in the Legisla-
ture, which apijointed a committee of inves-
tigation. Phelps wtm at both (joints, and
then in the following winter published an
".\])pear' to the peo])le of \'ermont in his
vindication, reviewing the charges, produc-
ing letters from a large number of his col-
leagues and associates to show the baseless-
ne.ss of the charges. Slade followed with a
"reply," then Phelps with a "rejoinder" and
Slade with another address "'I'o the People
of Vermont," in which they handled each
other severely and with a personal bitterness
that would be irreparably damaging to the
author in these days.
EATON, Horace, (lovernorof the state
in 1846-8, Lieutenant-Covernor for the three
years preceding, physician, college professor
and writer, was a man of modest but wide
merit. The accessible biographical facts
about him, however, are meagre. He was a
son of Dr. Eliphoz and Polly ( liarnes ) P^aton,
born at Barnard, June 22, 1804, but remov-
ing with his parents to Enosburg two years
later. He attended the district schools until
he was fifteen, when he was sent to St. .Albans
Academy to fit for college, entered Middle-
bury in 1821, and graduated in 1825, having
taught school every winter to help pay his
expenses, but keeping up with his class with-
out difficulty. He taught the academy
school in Ivliddlebury for two years after
graduation, and then returned to Enosburg
and studied medicine with his father, and
also attended medical lectures at Castleton,
where he received his diploma. He contin-
ued at Enosburg in the practice of his pro-
fession in company with his father, until the
latter's retirement, then alone, and still later
in company with his brother, Dr. Rollin
Eaton. He was town clerk for a number of
years, representative in the Legislature six
different times, and once in the Constitu-
tional Council. In 1837 he was elected state
senator, and again in 1839, being re-elected
three times. Though unpretentious, he was
so diligent and useful a legislator that he
made a reputation which resulted in his
nomination by the Whigs for Lieutenant-
Covernor, in 1843, on the ticket w-ith Cov-
ernor Mattocks, and he was re-elected on the
ticket with Covernor Slade for his two
terms. In 1846 he was the party nominee
for Ciovernor, and was elected by a plurality
of 5,763, the largest the \\higs had up to
this time obtained, except in presidential
years, and he was re-elected the next year.
On his retirement from the Go\ernor's chair
he was called to Middlebury College to take
the post of professor of natural history and
chemistry, which he held for about six years
88
until his death, July 4, 1855, in his sixty-first
year. He had for several years been in
feeble health, the victim of wasting and ex-
hausting disease contracted in the care of a
professional brother. Doctor Bard, of Troy.
He was a man of clear and well-balanced
mind, Madison-like in the simple, convincing
fairness of his arguments, and the comprehen-
siveness of his understanding of the subjects
he handled, just and kindly towards others, of
great delicacy of feeling, and always exceed-
ingly careful not to wound, always a gentleman
in his deportment. It was a combination of
qualities that when bottomed on real intellec-
tual strength and extensive learning, as was the
case with him, make a strong man, a con-
trolling one in deliberative assemblies and an
authoritative on executive duties. He wrote
much in the way of public addresses and
lectures, reports and newspaper articles, not
much of which, however, was of an enduring
character. His last address delivered but a
few weeks before his death was before the
" Enosburg Young Men's Temperance So-
ciety." He was much interested in temper-
ance work all through his later years, taking
an active part in the agitation that finally led
to the enactment of our prohibitory law.
Besides all his other services to the state he
was for five years the state superintendent of
common schools.
(jovernor Eaton was twice married, first,
August 14, 1821, to Cordelia L. Fuller, who
died Feb. 7, 1841 ; and second, December,
1 84 1, to Miss Edna Palmer. There were
two children, but only one, Mrs. R. D. Ross
of Missouri, lived to reach maturitv.
COOLIDGE, Carlos.— Speaker, sen-
ator, and Governor, son of Xathan and
Elizabeth (Curtis) Coolidge, was born in
Windsor, June 25, 1792. He fitted for col-
lege with Rev. James Converse of Weathers-
field, and entered Dartmouth in the fall of
1807, but transferred to Middlebury in the
spring of 1809, and was graduated in 181 1.
After graduation he commenced the study
of law with Peter Starr, Esq., of Middlebury,
with whom he rvpnained about two years,
and then returnii^i•^,' to Windsor completed
his legal studies with Hon. Jonathan H.
Hubbard, and was admitted to the Windsor
county bar at the September term, 1814, and
established himself in practice in his native
town. In 1 83 1 he was elected state's at-
torney for the county of Windsor, and was
successively re-elected for five terms. He
was a member of the first, board of bank
commissioners, appointed under a statute
enacted in 1831. In 1834 he" was elected
to represent Windsor in the Legislature, and
re-elected during the two succeeding years,
being speaker in 1836, and was also repre-
sentative for another term of three years,
i839-'4o-'4 1, and speaker during the whole
term, and distinguished himself by the dig-
nity and im])artiality with which he dis-
charged the duties of that station.
In 1845 he was presidential elector and
assisted in giving the vote of ^'ermont to
Henry Clay. He was the candidate of the
Whig party for Governor in 1848, and, no
election being made by the people, was
chosen by the Legislature. In the same way
he was re-elected in 1849. He was a sena-
tor from Windsor county in i853-'S4-'55,
and was frequently called upon to act as
president pro tempore of the Senate and
Joint .Assembly.
He married Harriet Bingham of Clare-
mont, X. H., by whom he had one son, who
died in early childhood, and one daughter :
Mary, who married Rev. Franklin Butler.
He received the honorary degree of A.
M. from the L'niversity of Vermont in 1835,
and that of LL. D. from his alma mater in
1849. He died at Windsor, August 14, 1866,
aged sixty-nine.
WILLIAMS, Charles Kilborn.—
( J o V e r n o r , an
eminent jurist
and one of the
most wideh' use-
ful of our states-
; men, was born
at C am bridge,
Mass., Jan. 24,
1782. Youngest
son of that emi-
nent philosopher
and historian.
Rev. Samuel Wil-
liams, LL. D., by
lane, daughter of
Klphialet Kil-
born. He came
to ^'ermont with his father in 1790, gradua-
ted at Williams in 1800, and locating at
Rutland, continued to reside there until his
death. He studied law with Cephas Smith,
Esq., of Rutland, then clerk of the L'. S.
courts for the district of Vermont ; was ad-
mitted to the bar in March, 1803; was
appointed a tutor in Williams College in 1802,
and about the same time received a similar
appointment from Middlebury College, both
of which he declined. He served one cam-
paign on the north frontier in the war of 1 8 1 2.
Represented Rutland 1809-'! i-'i4-'i5-'2o-
'21 and '49. After his retirement from the
bench, by the general concurrence of all po-
litical parties in town, he was state's attorney
of Rutland county in 1815 ; was elected judge
of the Supreme Court of Vermont, in 1822-
'23-'24, declining the last election ; was ap-
pointed collector of customs for Vermont in
1825 and held the position until October, 1829,
I'AIRHANKS.
89
when he resigned, being again elected one of
the judges of the Vermont Supreme Court : to
this office he received seventeen successive
annual elections. He retired from the bench
in 1849, declining a re-election. In i85o-'5i
he was elected Governor by a majority of
the popular vote. In 1827 he was ajjpointed
one of the state commissioners for common
schools, a board to select and recommend
suitable text books and to have general super-
vision over educational affairs of the state ;
was a member of the corporation of Middle-
bury College from 1827 to 1843, and, at the
time of his death, was ]3resident of the society
of the Alumni of Williams College. He re-
ceived the degree of Master of Arts from
Middlebury and Williams Colleges in 1803,
and that of Doctor of Laws from the former
in 1834.
Governor Williams died very suddenly at
his residence in Rutland, March 9, 1853.
FAIRBANKS, ERASTUS.— Twice (;over-
nor of the state, the signer of its prohibitory
law, which defeated him for re-election, but
eight years later elected the first of our
three war Governors, the founder, with his
brother 'I'haddeus, of the great firm of scale
• manufacturers at St. Johnsbury, one of the
fathers of the Passurapsic R. R., and its
first president, was born in Brimfield, Mass.,
Oct. 28, 1792.
The early American ancestors of the Fair-
banks family, Jonathan and Grace Fair-
banks, came from Yorkshire, England, in
1633 and settled in Dedham, Mass., where
the family mansion there erected still stands.
In Erastus Fairbanks, the sixth generation
in the line of descent, was seen the junc-
tion of the qualities of character in the early
New England settlers, energy, public spirit,
and clear religious convictions. Joseph Fair-
banks, a farmer, carpenter, and mill owner,
was the father of the subject of this sketch,
and he came to Vermont and St. Johnsbury
in 18 15, the son having preceded him by a few
years. Erastus Fairbanks' early means of edu-
cation were very limited and confined wholly
to the common school of which he made un-
common use. In referring to this period
of his early history he himself said of the
school where he studied : "I went thor-
oughly through all the stages of the fresh-
man, sophomore, junior, and senior classes
of this institution, and graduated at the age
of seventeen with a knowledge of the
branches there taught as a foundation. I
ever considered myself a student at large,
capable of acquiring, and bound to acquire,
a knowledge of other sciences more or less
thoroughly, and an acquaintance with what-
ever is requisite to qualify myself for any
calling or station whicn in the providence of
God I may be called upon to occupy." For
a little while after leaving school he con-
tmued his education by teaching for two
terms. Soon after, in 181 2, he accepted an
invitation from his uncle, Judge l-^ihriam
I'addock of St. Johnsbury to enter his office
as a student of law. A serious affection of
the eyes soon compelled him to abandon his
legal studies and 'engage in other pursuits.
He entered mercantile life as represented in
a country store, and continued in this for
eleven years in Wheelock, East St. Johns-
bury, and Barnet. In these years he estab-
lished a reputation for absolute integrity and
for interest in everything that concerned the
public welfare.
On the settlement of his affairs in Barnet,
he returned to St. Johnsbury and entered
into business with his next younger brother,
Thaddeus Fairbanks, as manufacturers of
stoves, plows, etc. In 1829 the brothers
added to their business the purchase and
preparation of hemp for market. The rude
antl inaccurate mode of weighing their pur-
chases led to the invention of the platform
scale by them. This invention, like most of
the discoveries that have revolutionized
methods of industry, was simple and easily
understood. The demand for the new scale
compelled the brothers to relinquish other
business interests. The two men were fitted
for partnership in the work and growth of a
great manufacturing establishment. Thad-
deus gave the strength of his inventive
genius to the improvement and manufacture
of the scale, while Erastus with his genius
for business, by original and far seeing
methods, secured a wide and solid financial
success, though they had their full share of
struggles and misfortunes. A fire and a
freshet in 1828 compelled them to ask for a
two years extension from their creditors,
which was cordially granted.
In 1836 Erastus Fairbanks was elected to
represent the town in the state Legislature,
and was re-elected for the two succeeding
years. In 1844, and again in 1S48, he was
chosen a presidential elector for the state.
In 1848 he was appointed with Charles K.
Williams and Lucius B. Peck to prepare a
general railroad law, and also one relating to
manufacturing corporations, and their report
still remains embodied in the statutes of the
state. In 1852 he was elected Governor by
the Legislature, having fallen a few hundred
short of a majority in the popular vote, be-
cause of the candidacy of Brainerd and the
Liberty party. In the closing days of the Leg-
islature of that year the law for the prohibition
of the sale of intoxicating liquors was passed ;
Governor Fairbanks signed it, and in conse-
quence was defeated for re-election the next
year. The figures and particulars of that
interesting contest are given in the sketch of
Governor Robinson, his successful competi-
amim
FAIRBANKS.
9>
tor. 'I'he Whigs desired to fight out the issue
in 1854 with Governor Fairbanks again as a
candidate, but he declined a nomination
because of his business engagements.
In i860, however, the Republican con-
vention unanimously made him its candi-
date, and he was easily elected over John (1.
Saxe, the poet, Democratic candidate. His
administration in 1861 secured for him a
reputation as a "man with a brain and con-
science." By his energy and patriotism ;
he being "as lavish of his own time and
money as by was sparing of the people's ;
and as regardless of his private interests as
he was devoted to the public good," he
earned the name of the war Governor. War
meant loss of property and credits which the
firm had in the South, but he never wavered
for a moment in the conviction that the
Union must be sustained. He called an
extra session of the Legislature eight days
after the assault on Sumter, and it placed
$1,000,000 at his disposal without check on
his discretion, for the arming and forwarding
of troops, but at his earnest request a com-
mittee was appointed at the October session
to audit his accounts, and on its report the
Legislature adopted a series of resolutions
highly complimentary to the ability and
patriotic devotion with which he had ex-
ecuted the trust. The first six regiments of
the state, of the famous "Vermont Brigade,"
and the first company of sharp-shooters were
organized and mustered into the service
under his administration. The Clovernor's
services all through this trying period were
purely a patriotic offering. He declined even
to draw his salary, such was his sentiment
on the subject, and it still remains in the
treasury a monument of his self-sacrifice.
As a man of business, he had the power
that easily assumes and carries on great op-
erations. In 1850 he was active in the con-
struction of the Passumpsic R. R., and
was for years president of the company. He
was also a leading and efficient member of
the company that constructed the Sault Ste.
Marie canal. He was always a man of deeds
rather than words. " .\ staid and stable cit-
izen, a successful man of business, a dignified
and courteous Christian gentleman," is Colo-
nel Benedict's description of him in " Ver-
mont in the Civil War." A man of wide
reading, to which he devoted an hour every
day, of wide and practical information, in-
tensely earnest in his convictions, and reso-
lute in carrying them out, he was well
equipped in every way for success in both
private and public life.
He made work of public good, especially
the interests of the town, an integral and a
necessary part of his business. Anything
that touched the community touched his in-
terests. Probably his most enduring reputa-
tion is that of a business philanthropist.
Prominent among his home charities rejire-
sented in an active way may be mentioned
the founding of the .Academy, with his broth-
ers ; and his endowments assist in maintain-
ing the Athenreum, the .Museum of Natural
Science, and the North Church. From 1849
until his death, he was president of the Ver-
mont 1 )omestic Missionary Society, and for
many years was a corporate member of the
American Board of Foreign Missions.
He was married. May 30, 181 5, to Lois
Grossman, of Peacham. His married life
continued to within a few months of half a
century. They had nine children, of whom
four now survive : Charles, Franklin, Sarah
(Mrs. C. M. Stone), and Emily (Mrs. C. L.
Goodell).
Governor Fairbanks died Nov. 20, 1864.
ROYCE, Stephen.— Governor in 1S54
and 1855, for twenty-five years a member of
the Supreme Court of the state, and for six
years the chief justice, had some of the
brainiest and most patriotic blood of the
state in his veins, and belonged to a family
that for four generations has been distin-
guished in Vermont affairs. He was the
grandson of Maj. Stephen Royce, a Revolu-
tionary soldier and a member of the Dorset
convention that declared Vermont's inde-
pendence, and son of that Stephen Royce,
also a Revolutionary soldier, who was Berk-
shire's first representative in the Legislature.
On his mother's side he was a grandson of
ludge and Doctor Ebenezer Marvin, like-
wise a Revolutionary officer, who was with
F^than .Allen at Ticonderoga, a surgeon in the
Continental army, judge of the county courts
in Rutland, Chittenden, and F'ranklin for six-
teen years, and member of the Governor's
Council for eleven years. His nephew, Homer
K. Royce, was a member of Congress for
four years, and a judge of the Supreme
Court for nearly a generation, and for eight
years chief justice.
Governor Royce was born in Tinmouth,
August 12, 1787, but removed with his
parents to Huntsburgh (now Franklin), in
I 79 1, and two years later to the still newer
town of Berkshire where there were at the
time only two other families. His oppor-
tunities for schooling in his early youth were
very meagre, but besides an able father he
had in his mother, Minerva Marvin Royce,
the best of teachers and character de-
velopers, and at the age of thirteen he was
sent to Tinmouth to attend the common
school, and a year later began an academ-
ical course at Middlebury under Charles
Wright, afterwards a famous clergyman, and
in 1803 entered Middlebury College, where
he graduated with the class of 1S07 which
contained such a remarkable number of
eminent men. Twice was he interrupted in
his academical and collegiate course by the
necessity of returning to the farm to work.
But he persevered, made his journey back to
college on foot, with packages of furs secured
in the wilderness, from which he obtained
the money for the purchase of necessary
books.
After graduating at the age of twenty, he
taught district school for one term and
studied law with his uncle, Ebenezer Mar-
vin, Jr., with whom he was afterwards in
partnership for a few years. He commen-
ced practice at Berkshire, where he remained
two years, then for six years was at Sheldon,
representing the town in 1815 and i Si 6, and
in 1 81 7 went to St. Albans, where he re-
mained the rest of his life, pursuing his pro-
fession with ever-increasing success until he
was called to the bench. St. Albans sent
him to the Legislature in 1822, 1S23, and
1824 and as a delegate to the state constitu-
tional convention in 1823. He was a mem-
ber of the legislative committee in 1816 that
made a strong report in favor of adopting
the constitutional amendment proposed by
North Carolina for choosing both presi-
dential electors and congressmen by the dis-
'trict system, the same principle substantially
as has recently been tried in Michigan. He
was state's attorney for Franklin county from
1816 to 1 818 and held the office of judge
during 1825 and 1826, when he declined a
re-election and resumed his professional
practice until 1829, when he was again
elected to the bench and continuously re-
elected for twenty-three years until 1S52,
rising to be chief justice in 1847, and hold-
ing that position until he positively refused
a re-election. In 1854 the whigs nomi-
nated him as their candidate for Governor
and he was easily elected.
In 1855 he was re-elected, and at the end
of his term retired to private life, passing
the remaining twelve years until his death,
Nov. II, 1868, in a serenity and well-earned
contentment that made a beautiful picture,
with its easy hospitality, its enjoyment of
literature and social amenities, and its care
from kindred ; for, though he was never
married, his declining years were attended
by nephews and nieces. His local attach-
ments were deep, and among his later works
was a carefully written historv of Berkshire,
though he did not li\e to complete it.
His personal appearance is described by
B. H. Smalley as "tall, erect, with a vigorous
and well-proportioned frame, of a command-
ing presence and a serene majesty of man-
ners. His face was mobile, expressive, and
strongly marked. The gleam of his mild gray
eye illuminated his countenance and revealed
every emotion whether grave or gay that was
passing within, moving the looker-on by a
sort of magnetic influence to sympathize
with him." Professionally his ideal of honor
was high.
He made it a rule ne\ er to accept a fee in
a case in whose justice he did not believe,
and if afterwards he was convinced it was
wrong, to compel the client to settle or
abandon the case. .\s a judge, he resem-
bled Marshall and Chipman in his way
of stating a case, laying down the legal
principles and seldom referring to the books
for authority ; in other words, regarding the
law in its high relation as the science of
reason and right, which authorities can only
illuminate, not slavishly bind. He followed
this method e\en while confining himself to
the case before him and carefully avoiding
any essays upon law at large. He refused to
report cases where there were no new prin-
ciples involved, and it is said that he also
refused to report some when he was satis-
fied, upon reviewing the case, that his de-
cision had been wrong, holding that it was
bad enough to have done injustice to an
individual without sending it out as a prece-
dent for future wrongs. He had considera-
ble trouble because of these omissions to
report, and the Legislature withheld a part of
his salary for a time, but without moving
him. Politically his career cannot be said to
have been a notable one. The times of his
prominence were not of a kind to call forth
great powers, and it is doubtful if his tem-
perament was of a kind to strive in political
turmoil. He made a good and painstaking
(Governor.
FLETCHER, RylAND.— Ihe first dis-
tinctively Republican Governor of the state,
was born in Cavendish, Feb. i8, 1799, the
son of Dr. .\saph and Sally (Clreen) Fletcher.
His father who came from Westford, Mass.,
in 1787, had been a member of the conven-
tion that framed the constitution of that state
and was a man of considerable prominence
both professionally and politically in ^'er-
mont, being a judge, legislator, councilor
and presidential elector. CJne of the sons,
Richard, who studied law with Daniel Web-
ster, and after whom one of the latter's sons
was named, represented Massachusetts in
Congress and was a judge of her Supreme
Court, .\nother. Rev. Horace Fletcher of
Townshend, was quite a distinguished Bap-
tist clergyman. The family was of English
and Welsh origin and probably farther back
of French, and Rev. John Fletcher, the early
Methodist ]3hilologist and philosopher rank-
ing next to Wesley himself for his influence
on religious thought, belonged to one branch
of it.
Ryland was the youngest of Dr. Fletcher's
children, had only a common school educa-
tion, worked on his father's farm through his
FLETCHER.
young manhood, teacliing district school
winters, but by his soHd merits of mind and
character grew to be a man of local inlluence.
He w-as seized with the "western fever" in
1836, but after a few months' vain quest of
fortune in the several parts of the country,
was glad to return to okl \ermont. Me was
early identified with the militia of the state,
joining the company at Cavendish at the age
of eighteen, being made a lieutenant the next
year, captain two years later, major in six
years more, then successively lieutenant-
colonel and colonel, until in 1S35 he was ap-
pointed brigadier-general, resigning when he
went west. He became active as an anti-
slavery man as early as 1837, and was the
intimate associate of Garrison, Giddings,
Wilson, Tappan, Gerrit Smith, and John P.
Hale, in their work for the cause. He attend-
ed the great meeting of the anti-slavery lead-
ers in 1845, at Fanueil Hall, Boston, and was
with Henry Wilson present at the Philadel-
phia meeting of the Native American or
Know-nothing leaders to launch a new party,
and he and \Mlson were the only decided
anti-slavery men present, and after their elo-
quent appeals to commit the proposed party
to this cause, the convention finally adjourned
in great excitement w'ithout accomplishing
the purpose for which it had been convened.
In 1854 the practical fusion through the
action of the state committees of the Whigs
with the Free Soilers and Liberty party men
resulted in the selection of Mr. Fletcher as
candidate for Lieutenant-Governor after the
nomination had been refused by Oscar L.
Shaffer, and he was elected this year and in
185s on the ticket with Governor Royce.
He distinguished himself as the presiding
officer of the Senate, and in 1856 was nomi-
nated by the Republicans for the chief
magistracy, and was elected by a majority of
23,121 over Henry Keyes, Democrat, and
re-elected the next year with a majority of
23,688, also over Keyes. In his messages he
took strong ground for prohibition, and
recommended the appointment of a board of
education, which was done. He began the
agitation for the establishment of a reform
school with the first gubernational recom-
mendation to that effect. It was during his
adminstration that the state house was de-
stroyed, and the location and construction
of the new one determined.
He retired from office after trying respon-
sibilities, with general agreement that his
record had been a clean and creditable one.
He was again summoned to the public ser-
vice in 1861 and '62, when his town sent
him to the Legislature to give the weight of
his reputation and influence, as well as his
ability and experience, to the war measures
of the state. He of course exerted a large
power for good in this emergency. He was
HALL. 93
also a member of the Constitutional Con-
vention of 1870, and strongly favored the
policy of biennial elections. He was several
times a presidential elector and a delegate
to Republican national conventions. He
was identified with temperance work from a
very early period, gave many lectures on the
subject, and was for several years president
of the State Temperance Society. While
colonel in the militia he induced the officers
of his regiment to pass a vote to abolish the
custom of " treating " on parade days. He
was prominent in the denominational work
of the Baptist church, and always active in
Sunday-school duties.
Governor Fletcher's distinction was won,
not as a man of brilliant abilities, but as one
of well-balanced and well-poised character,
pure of purpose, high of aims, and sound of
judgment. .\s a public speaker he was most
logical and convincing, without oratorical
display, but with a power of pointed illustra-
tion and simplicity and clearness of state-
ment that went straight to the understanding
of the ordinary audience.
Governor Fletcher wedded, June 11, 1829,
Mary, daughter of Fleazer May of West-
minster. Of the three children of this union
only one, Col. Henry A. Fletcher, Lieuten-
ant-Governor of the state in 1890, survives.
Governor Fletcher himself died Dec. 19,
1885, at ProctorsA'ille.
HALL, HILAND.— Governor in iS58-'59,
for ten years a
congressman.
Comptroller of
the I' n i t e d
States Treasury
for about a year
more, and per-
haps the most
indefatigable of
the state's his-
torians, certain-
ly the most fruit-
f u 1 in results,
was born in Pien-
nington July 20,
1795, the eldest
of seven c h i 1 -
Nathaniel and .Abigail
He was descended on
both sides from good English stock, from
ancestors who were among the first settlers
of Middletown, Conn., going there from
Boston in 1650.
Hiland was brought up on a farm, receiv-
ing only a common school education with
one finishing term at the Granville, N. Y.,
.Academy. But he had besides the best of
all education, in an experience of several
terms, with all its power of development and
discipline, as a district schoolteacher. .And
dren of Deacon
(Hubbard) Hall.
94
he was from early youth an omniverous
reader, especially along historical and bio-
graphical lines, absorbing the contents of
every book he could get in the neighbor-
hood, often by the light of coals on the
hearth of an old-fashioned fireplace, even
candles at that time being a luxury. He
was a born patriot, and at the age of eigh-
teen was interested in the formation of the
" Sons of Liberty," a society of young men
in Bennington to uphold the rigorous prose-
cution of the war of 1812, and in protest
against the pro-English sympathy that was
then so rampant in New England.
Studying law, he was admitted to the bar
in 1 819, and continued its practice through
his active life at Bennington, except when
called away by official duties. He repre-
sented the town in the Legislature in 1827,
was clerk of the Supreme and county court
for Bennington county in 1828, and was
state's attorney in i828-'3i. On the forma-
tion of party lines afresh, after the "era of
good feeling" under Monroe, he espoused
the cause of the National Republicans dur-
ing the brief existence of that party under
John Quincy Adams, then became a whig,
and finally a Republican. In 1833, on the
death of Hon. Jonathan Hunt, he was
elected to succeed him in Congress and rep-
resented the old south district of the Senate
for ten years, when he declined a renomina-
tion, and attempted to return to private life.
His service in Congress was a laborious
rather than a speechmaking one, his com-
mittee places being on that of postoffice and
post roads, and Revolutionary claims.
His chief speeches were in May, 1834,
joining the attack on President Jackson's
removal of the government deposits from the
national bank, and in May, 1836, favoring
the distribution of the surplus among the
states, from which Vermont received nearly
Si 00,000 as her portion to be added to the
school fund of the towns. Both these speech-
es were printed and extenivesly circulated by
the Whigs as campaign documents. In one
of the premonitory struggles over the slavery
question, he presented a strong minority re-
port on "incendiary publications" in oppo-
sition to the message of the President and
the advice of the Postmaster-General and in
answer to a report made in the Senate by
Mr. Calhoun, of South Carolina. So thor-
oughly and convincingly did it answer the
position of the slave party that the majority
of the committee did their best to suppress it
by failing to make a majority report. But
it found its way into the newspapers and was
widely published and commented on.
Mr. Hall did an important and permanent
service in connection with the act of July 22,
1836, in procuring the passage of which he
took an active and leading part and by which
in the reorganization of the postoffice depart-
ment a system for which the settlement of
accounts was established, which inaugurated
an economical administration.
He made a big and single-handed and tri- ■
umphant fight against the fraudulent claims
which had for years been put in by \'irgin-
ians under the name of commutation half
pay and bounty land claims, founded on al-
leged promises of the state of Virginia or of
the Continental Congress to officers of the
Re\olutionary army. It was an organized
raid led by influential Virginians, Governors
and congressmen, and had been pushed
through Congress with little opposition, so
that over $3,000,000 had been collected in
the names of deceased officers, and the de-
mands were fast multiplying. Mr. Hall's
habit of thorough and exhaustive investiga-
tion stood him in good stead in this fight.
He went through the Re\olutionary archives
at Washington and the public records at
Richmond, he found authentic evidence that
every one of these claims was unfounded,
and he made a report as chairman of the
committee on Revolutionary claims to this
effect. The whole Virginia delegation, led
by ex-( Governor Gilmer, who was getting i
per cent on all he could collect of these
claims, aided by their sectional sympathizers
in the South and political in the North, at-
tacked him bitterly and attempted a re-
opening of the case by means of a select
committee. Hall in response gave a list of
sixteen of the last claims that had been paid,
and on which over S2oo,ooo had been drawn,
challenged the Virginians to show that a
single one was well or honestly founded and
offered to withdraw his opposition if they
could. The fight lasted through several days.
Mr. Hall sustained every position he had
taken in the debate, and so thoroughly dis-
comfited his assailants as to win the plaudits
of ex-President Adams and of the whole
country. The result was a select committee
and a report from it prepared by Mr. Hall
which definitely suppressed the rascality.
He was president of the large "Whig"
convention held in Burlington in 1S40, and
made the opening speech, and introduced to
and presented Hon. Daniel Webster at the
famous " Stratton \\'hig convention," held on
the top of the Green Mountain on the i6th
of August of the same year.
He was bank commissioner of \'ermont
for four years, from 1843, judge of the Su-
preme Court for a like period until 1850,
when he was appointed second controller of
the United States Treasury. He had an
opportunity while in the latter position to do
the country a permanent serxice, and to lay
down lines which have since been followed
in departmental practice. He took the
ground that he should, if satisfied of the
95
illegality of an expenditure, reject it, no
matter who ordered it, even if the head of a
department, or if sanctioned V)y the Presi-
dent himself. He held this ground against
the published opinion of three former attor-
ney generals. He showed conclusively that
judicial authority had been designedly con-
ferred on the accounting officers as a check
upon la\ish expenditures in the sexeral de-
partments, and a second edition of his pub-
lished opinion, which has since been followed
in the department, has recently been printed
for government use.
In 1 85 1 he was appointed by President
Fillmore, with Gen. James Wilson of New
Hampshire, and Judge H. I. Thornton of
.\labama, a land commissioner for Cali-
fornia, resigned his position as controller,
recommending for his successor, Edward |.
Phelps of Burlington. He was chairman of
the commission and wrote the opinion in
the famous Mariposa claim of (len. J. ('.
Freemont, which included almost without
exception, all the points that would be liable
to arise in the adjusting of land claims
under the treaty with Mexico. After the
election of President Pierce, he remained
for a time in San Francisco with the law
firm of Halleck, Peachy, Billings & Park as
general adviser, and to assist in the prepara-
tion of important papers.
He returned to Vermont in the spring of
1854, and resumed the practice of his pro-
fession at Bennington, was a delegate to the
first Republican national convention at Phila-
delphia in 1856, and in 185 8 was elected
Governor by a majority of 16,322 over
Henry Keyes, Democrat, and re-elected in
1 85 9 by a still larger majority, 16,717, over
John G. Saxe, Democrat. He spoke severely
in his message of the attempt, by a decision
of the Supreme Court, to legalize slavery in
the Territories, he pronounced the decision
in the " Dred Scott " case as " extra judicial,
and as contrary to the plain language of the
constitution, to the facts of history and to
the distastes of common humanity." He,
however, acted as chairman of the delega-
tion from Vermont to the fruitless " Peace
Congress," at Washington in February, 1861,
on the eve of the rebellion.
Mr. Hall always took a deep interest in
the history connected with the territory and
state of N'ermont. He delivered the first
annual address that was made before the
\"ermont Historical Society : and for six years,
from 1859, was its president and was after-
wards active in the preparation of the mate-
rials for a number of the \olumes of its col-
lections, and otherwise promoting its success.
He read se\eral papers at the meetings of
the society, some of which were published ;
among them, one in 1869, in vindication of
Ethan .\llen as the hero of Ticonderoga, in
refutation of an attempt made in the " ( lalaxy
.Magazine " to rob him of that honor. He
contributed papers to the " New ^■ork His-
torical .Magazine," to the " N'ermont Histori-
cal Gazetteer," to the " Philadelj)hia Histori-
cal Record," and also to the " New England
Historic Genealogical Register." In i860,
he read before the .New York Historical
Society a paper showing why the early inhabi-
tants of \"ermont disclaimed the jurisdiction
of New York, and established a separate
government.
In 186S, his " Karly History of Vermont,"
a work of over five hundred pages, was pub-
lished, in which is unanswerably shown the
necessity of the separation of the inhabitants
from the government of .\ew York ; their
justification in the struggle they maintained
in the establishment of their state independ-
ence, and their valuable services in the cause
of .American liberty during the Revolutionary
war. In it the loyalty of all the important
acts of the leaders is so firmly established by
documentary evidence, that he was confi-
dent no aspersion could be maintained
reflecting upon the patriotism of any of
the early heroes. Naturally he has also
taken a leading part in the rearing of the
Bennington battle monument.
The honorary degree of LL. D. was con-
ferred upon him by the University of Ver-
mont in 1859. He was a life member and
vice-president for Vermont of the New Eng-
land Historic Genealogical Society, a mem-
ber of the Long Island Historical Society, an
honorary member of the Buffalo and corres-
ponding member of the New York Histori-
cal Societies.
Mr. Hall was possessed of the qualities
which go to make up a statesman ; a strong
mind stored with good common sense, a re-
tenti\e memory, and a practical mode of
thinking. His flow of language as an ex-
temporaneous speaker was deficient, but at
the desk he excelled, as formulated thoughts
and moulded ideas flowed as freely as could
be readily written, and in whatever position
he was placed he was found equal to any
exigency which arose, as his fund of informa-
tion extended to all branches of national,
constitutional or international research.
He married in 1818, Dolly Tuttle Davis,
daughter of Henry Davis of Rockingham.
She died Jan. 8, 1879. Henry Davis was at
the battle of Bunker Hill under Colonel
Stark at the line of rail fence, and also served
at West Point at the time of .Arnold's trea-
sonable attempt to surrender it to the enemy,
being in the Revolutionary service over
three years. .\t a family reunion in .North
Bennington, July 20, 1S85, in honor of Mr.
Hall, at the residence of his granddaughter,
on which day he was ninety years of age, there
were present fifty-one of his descendants.
96
DILLINGH.\iI.
there being five others who were detained
from this interesting gathering.
Governor Hall died in Sjiringfield, Mass.,
at the house of his son, with whom he was
spending the winter, Dec. i8, 18S5.
SMITH, John Gregory.— The third of
the war Ciovernors of the state, the organizer
and the head for years of the great Central
Vermont railroad system, and one of the pro-
jectors of the Northern Pacific, was for
nearly thirty years the most potent person-
ality in Vermont affairs. He was born at St.
Albans, July 22, 1S18, and was the son of
John Smith, a pioneer railroad builder in
Vermont, and a leading lawyer and public
man of his generation, representing St. Al-
bans nine successi\e years in the Legislature
and serving one term in Congress. The
family came from Barre, Mass. John Greg-
ory graduated from the University of Ver-
mont in 1 84 1, and subsequently from the
Yale law school. He at once associated with
his father in the practice of law and inci-
dentally in railroad management.
At the death of his father in 1858 John
Gregory succeeded to the position of trustee
under the lease of the ^'ermont & Canada
R. R. Simultaneously he entered politics,
and for many years the career in each line
was involved with the other. The roads ran
down so that in 1865 trust bonds began to
be issued to provide for repairs, and from
this Governor Smith advanced to a large
policy of " development " forming by leases
and purchases a great " through system of
roads, all under the authority " of the court
of chancery, and as an extension of the
policy of repairs. The emissions of "trust"
bonds continued till 1872, when 54,356,600
were out. When the financial panic struck
the country, these structures tumbled, the
rent payment to the Vermont & Canada
was defaulted, notes went to protest, a legis-
lative investigation was held, and a long and
complicated litigation ensued. Governor
Smith and his management, generally speak-
ing, came out of the courts successful, but
before the end was reached a compromise
was effected by which new securities were
issued to the different interests and the
" Consolidated Railway of Vermont " formed,
still under Smith's management. He was
one of the originators of the Northern Pacific
railroad enterprise and was the president of
the cor])oration from 1S66 to 1872, when he
retired amid the troubles that were thicken-
ing about both companies. Under his lead
five hundred and fifty-five miles of the road
were built.
He entered the Legislature as St. Albans'
representative in i860, and in '61 and '62
was speaker of the House, winning such
popularity that he was unanimously nom-
inated for Governor in 1863 and re-elected
in '64. And none are there to deny the high
quality of his ser\ice to the state and nation,
in those days. He was the friend and con-
fidant of Lincoln and Stanton. He was par-
ticularly solicitous in caring for the Vermont
boys at the front, and his many deeds of
kindness won him many enthusiastic and
life-long admirers. He was chairman of
the state delegation to the national Re-
publican conventions in 1872, 1880, and
1884. After his retirement from the Gover-
nor's chair he held no public office, though
for about twenty years he was the master of
Vermont politics.
He was frequently afterward talked of for
a seat in the United States Senate, particu-
larly in 1886, when quite a breezy little fight
was made for him, and again in 1891 after
Edmunds' resignation. But in both cases
he withdrew his name.
He was a very remarkable man — shrewd,
far-seeing, persuasive, and yet iron-handed
in his determination to carry his purposes.
He had a wonderful faculty, with his wide
knowledge of human nature and his singu-
lar affability of manner, of winning other
men to his support, and his marked execu-
tive ability made successful the schemes he
was so facile in organizing and inaugurating.
He was prominently interested in several
local business enterprises, and was president
of \Velden National Bank, the People's Trust
Co., and the Franklin County Creamery
Association. He was a life-long member of
the Congregational church, and a liberal
giver for church purposes, a late contribution
being a gift of some $7,000 for remodeling
the church edifice. In 1888 he gave the
village of St. Albans an elegant bronze foun-
tain costing §5,000, which now adorns the
public park. His palatial residence in St.
Albans has been the scene of many gather-
ings, at which Governor and Mrs. Smith
have dispensed a courteous hospitalitv. He
married in 1842, Ann Eliza, daughter of Hon.
Lawrence Branerd, who has written several
novels and other charming books and who
survives him with five children : George G.,
in business at Minneapolis, Minn., Edward
C, president of the Central Vermont R. R.,
Mrs. C. O. Steven of Boston, and Mrs. Rev.
D. S. Mackay of St. .Albans.
Governor Smith died at St. Albans, after a
month's illness, Nov. 6, i8gi.
DILLINGHAM, Paul.— Congressman,
Governor, and a lawyer of singular power
and eloquence, was born at Shutesbury^
Mass., August 10, 1799, the son of Paul
and Hannah (Smith) Dillingham, and of a
family that traces back to the \Vinthrop
colony in American history, that had brave
officers, the direct ancestors of the Gover-
DII.I.INGHA-M.
UILLISC;1IAM.
97
nor, in both the French and the Revolution-
ary wars, and that has always been marked
by that fervent patriotism and usually by the
religious earnestness so characteristic of him.
Paul's father, a farmer, moved from
Shutesbury to Waterbury when the boy was
only six years old. The latter was educated
in the \\'ashington county grammar school,
studied law at Middlebury in the office of
Dan Carpenter, was admitted to the bar in
March, 1823, and formed a partnership with
his preceptor, which lasted until the latter's
elevation to the bench. For fifty-two vears.
until his retirement in 1875, '''^ ^^'^^ '^^ the
constant practice of his profession, except
for the interruptions by his public service,
and as a jury advocate he was at the head of
a bar that for a full generation was among
the ablest the state ever contained, and
ranked perhaps as the first in the state.
As a Supreme Court lawyer he was not so
great, though strong. A fine presence, six
feet tall and weighing over two hundred
pounds, with a kindly bearing, manly frank-
ness and dignified simplicity, an eye beam-
ing with magnetic quality, a voice " musical
and sweet as a flute in its lower cadences,
but in passion or excitement resounding like
the music of a bugle," were only the exter-
nals of his power. The real secret was a
nature rich with human sympathy. A knowl-
edge of men and of affairs gathered in a long
and observant contact, was illuminated by a
mind fertile in poetic conceptions, apt illus-
trations and happy anecdotes, and deepened
and strengthened by a profound study of the
Scriptures to enforce his thought. .As H. F.
Fifieid says in a sketch of him : " When in
his best mood, he played upon the strings of
men's hearts with the facility that a skilled
musician plays upon the strings of a guitar,
and made them respond to emotions of
laughter, anger, sympathy or sorrow, when-
ever he pleased and as best suited the pur-
poses of his case."
He was town clerk of Waterbury from
1829 to '44; representative to the Legisla-
ture in 1833, '34, '37, '38 and '39 ; state's
attorney for Washington county in 1835, '36
and '37 : a member of the Constitutional
Conventions of 1836, '57 and '70 ; state sen-
ator of Washington county in 1841, '42 and
'61 ; and in 1843 was elected member of
Congress, where he served two terms, and
was on the committee on the judiciary. In
1862, '63 and '64 he was Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor, and in 1865 and '66 Governor of the
state.
He was one of the leaders of the state
Democracy, in what may be called its golden
era intellectually, though it was a hopeless
minority ; and when a state convention met
with Saxe, Eastman, Dillingham, Smalley,
Kellogg, Stoughton, Thomas, Field, Chit-
tenden, Poland, Redfield, Davenport and
others, to flash their wit and eloquence
across it, and with Hawthorne frequently
coming up from Massachusetts to partake of
the communion, there was apt to be a "feast
of reason and flow of soul," such as no other
political organization in the state before or
since has witnessed. \\'hile in Congress Mr.
Dillingham was the only Democrat on the
delegation. He strongly favored the admis-
sion of Texas, and the policy that led to the
Mexican war, not that he had any sympathy
with slavery, but because he was a believer
in the manifest-destiny doctrine, and one of
his speeches predicted the territorial growth
and expanding greatness of his country in
words that were almost prophetic.
Mr. Dillingham's personal jwwer was a
large factor in making that section of the
state so strongly Democratic. Pmt the firing
on Sumter shattered in a moment the
political affiliations of a life-time. With a
nature like his it was impossible for patriot-
ism to take any other course. He would go
to the utmost verge in concessions under
the constitution to keep the South content
in the L^nion and this same intense love of
the Union would lead him to like sacrifice
when once the blow of rebellion was struck.
He couldn't see why any Democrat should
fail to take that view. He wanted party
lines obliterated entirely and the whole
North to stand solid in support of the national
administration. He, of course, received a
warm welcome into the Republican ranks.
He was a leader in the state Senate in the
war measures of 1861, and the next year his
services were recognized with the nomina-
tion for Lieutenant-Governor, and after
three years' service in this position with that
for chief executive in '65 and '66. The can-
didate against him both years was his old
political friend, Charles N. Davenport.
Governor Dillingham's majority in '65 was
16,714 and in '66 22,822. The great mon-
ument of his administration is the establish-
ment of the reform school, which he recom-
mended in his first message. He was a
member of the Constitutional Convention
of 1870 and with this his public service
closed. He retired from law practice in
1875 and lived for fifteen years more, in se-
rene and well earned leisure, dying at
Waterbury July 26, 1891.
He was for many years an influential lay-
man of the Methodist church, and was the
first lay delegate from the Vermont confer-
ence to the quadrennial general conference
in Brooklyn, N. V., in May, 1872, where he
took a high position.
(lovernor Dillingham was twice married,
first to Sarah P., eldest daughter of his friend,
preceptor, and partner, Dan Carpenter. She
died Sept. 20, 1831, and Sept. 5, 1832, he
married her younger sister, Julia. Seven
children, three daughters and four sons, lived
to reach maturity. One daughter, who died
in 1875, married J. F. Lamson of Boston,
and another the great senator, Matthew H.
Carpenter of \\'isconsin, while the other is
unmarried. 'JVo of the sons entered the
army : Col. Charles, president of the Hous-
ton & Texas Central R. R., and Major Edwin,
who was killed at Winchester. Frank is a
citizen of San Francisco, Cal., while William
P., Governor of the state in '88 and '90, is
still practicing law at Waterburv and Mont-
pelier.
PAGE, John B. — Governor, state treas-
urer, and for a generation prominent in
Vermont railroading, was born in Rutland,
Feb. 25, 1826, the son of William and Cyn-
thia (Hickok) Page. Educated in the pub-
lic schools, and at Burr and Burton Semi-
nary at Manchester, he was called at the age
of sixteen to assist his father, then cashier
of the old bank at Rutland, to which office
the son of John B. succeeded later, and so
became a banker, and was many years presi-
dent of the National Bank of Rutland, the
reorganized form of the old state bank. He
became interested in the Rutland & Bur-
lington R. R., by being appointed one of
the trustees of the second mortgage bond-
holders, and upon the reorganization of the
property as the Rutland Railroad Co., was
made president. He was for a time co-
trustee with Hon. T. U'. I'ark of the Ben-
nington & Rutland R. R., and later was
associated with Hon. J. Gregory Smith as
vice-president of the Central Vermont. He
was a director of the Chamjilain Transporta-
tion Co., and various other railroad enter-
prises, and also in the Caughnawauga Ship
Canal project for connecting Lake Cham-
plain and the St. I,awrence, etc.
He was instrumental in the transfer of
the shops of the Howe Scale Co., from
Brandon to Rutland, of which company he
was the treasurer. He was in 1852 elected
a representative to the General .Assembly of
Vermont at the age of twenty-six, and re-
elected for the sessions of 1853 and 1854.
In 1860 he was elected state treasurer and re-
ceived successive re-elections annually till
1 866, and was during this time allotment com-
missioner by appointment of President
Lincoln. He originated the plan for the
payment of the extra state pay voted by
Vermont to her soldiers, $7 per month, and
disbursed during his term as treasurer a
total of §4,635,150.80 for military expenses.
In 1867 he was elected Governor and re-
elected in 1868, serving with judgment and
ability through the critical period after the
war.
He was again elected representative from
Rutland in 1880 and took the place for the
purpose of furthering some important meas-
ures that he had become interested in.
Chief among these was a comprehensive
scheme of tax reform, which is the founda-
tion of our present corporation law, and with
which he wished also to include a plan for
the taxation of personal property like that
WASIlliURN.
WASIIHIKN.
99
of Connecticut. He made a strong fight for
these ideas with the influential vested in-
terests of the state mustered against him,
and he lived to see them afterwards incor-
porated into its laws.
He was a member of the Congregational
church, for many years a deacon and super-
intendent of the Sunday school, a corporate
member of the American Board of Com-
missioners for Foreign Missions and was in-
strumental in having the meeting of that
society, the only one ever convened in the
state, held at Rutland in 1874. During this
meeting he led in the movement which
resulted m the establishment of a Christian
College in Japan which the late Jose])h
Neesima projected. His strong personality
was illustrated by his advocacy and accom-
plishment, at a meeting of this society at
Providence, of an effort to pay off a debt of
over $70,000.
He was one of the most public-spirited of
men and had always in mind the welfare of
his town and state. In his young manhood
he was foreman of the Nickwackett Fngine
Co., one of the oldest organizations of fire-
men in the state. He pushed the erection
of the commodious Congregational church
in i860, building for future generations, and
largely aided in the construction of the
chapel addition, the two united forming,
perhaps, the most complete church property
in the state. He died Oct. 24, 1885, and is
buried near Rutland in Evergreen cemetery,
a "city "which he helped to purchase and
adorn.
WASHBURN, PETER T.— Governor, ad-
jutant and inspector-general during the war,
and one of that brilliant group of lawyers
that made Woodstock famous through so
many years, was born at Lynn, Mass., Sept.
7, 1 8 14, the eldest son of Reuben and Han-
nah B. (Thacher) Washburn. There was
distinguished ancestry on both sides. John
Washburn, the sixth generation back, was
secretary of the Massachusetts Bay Co.,
while in England. Joseph Washburn, his
grandson, married a granddaughter of Mary
Chilton, the first female member of the Pil-
grim band that stepped upon Plymouth
Rock. The Thachers were for several gen-
erations dstinguished preachers in Massa-
chusetts.
In 18 1 7 the father of Peter T. Wash-
burn moved to Vermont, first setding at
Chester, then at Cavendish, and finally at
Ludlow. Voung Peter graduated at Dart-
mouth in 1835, studied law first under the
direction of his father, then for a time in the
office of Senator L'pham at Montpelier, was
admitted to the bar in 1838, and began prac-
tice at Ludlow, moving in 1844 to Wood-
stock where he formed a partnership with
Charles P. Marsh which continued until the
death of the latter in 1870. Mr. Washburn
was in 1844 elected reporter of the decisions
of the Supreme Court of N'ermont, holding
the position for eight years with high credit.
He rejiresented Woodstock in the Legisla-
tures of 1853 and '54. But his c:hief ener-
gies had been devoted to his professional
work, with ever growing reputation, until the
breaking out of the war in 1861. He had
been chairman of the \"ermont delegation
to the Republican national convention that
in i860 nominated Lincoln and Hamlin.
He was then in command of the Woodstock
Light Infantry, a company of citizen soldiers
who at once proffered their services to their
country, and on the ist of May marched to
Rutland where it was incorporated with the
First Vermont Regiment. Washburn was
commissioned lieutenant-colonel, but acted
as colonel during its entire period of service.
In October, 1861, he was elected adjutant
and inspector-general of \"ermont and until
the war closed devoted himself to its arduous
duties, foreseeing their importance to the
future, bringing order and system out of
chaos and making it the model adjutant's
office of the country. He was often likened
by his admirers to Stanton for the energy,
force and intellectual grasp with which he
performed the duties of his office.
He was in 1869 elected Co\ernor by a
majority of 22,822 over Homer W. Heaton,
the Democratic candidate, arid died in
office February 7, 1870. He had simply
worn himself into the grave by overwork in
the e.\cess of his faithfulness to duty. No
trace of disease, organic or functional, could
be found by the physicians after his death.
The decision was that there had been a
complete breaking down of the nervous sys-
tem. He was at the time preparing a digest
of all of the decisions of the Supreme Court
from the beginning, and had worked his
wav through thirty-eight of the forty-one
volumes of the Vermont reports when his
labors were interrupted.
The able, painstaking and widely varied
service he had done the state were ap-
preciated at his taking off, and have been
more so since. "He was our Carnot, in or-
ganizing and administrati\e talents, our
Louvois in energy and e.xecutive force," said
the Rutland Herald, in speaking of his ser-
vice as war adjutant Thorough, studious,
accurate, absolutely incorruptible, inflexibly
just, judicious and kindly, he was a man the
people could not fail to admire.
Ciovernor Washburn was twice married,
first to .\lmira E. Ferris of Swanton, and
second to .\lmira P. Hopkins of ( Hens Falls,
N. v. Two children by the first wife died
young, but two daughters and a son by the
second marriage survived his decease, as
did the widow.
CONVERSE, Julius.— Governor and
another Woodstock lawyer, was born at
Stafford, Conn., Dec. 17, 1798, the fourth
son of Joseph and Mary (Johnson) Con-
verse. The family was of French origin, the
primary orthography being De Coigners, but
emigrated to England centuries ago, and the
American ancestor, l)ea. Edward Converse,
came with Winthrop's colony in 1630. The
Governor's grandfather and great-grand-
father, Lieutenant Josiah and Major James
Converse, were renowned in the Indian wars
of Massachusetts.
Joseph Converse, father of the subject of
this sketch and a farmer, came to Vermont
and settled at Randolph in 1801. Julius
was educated in the common schools and at
Randolph Academy, studied law in the
office of William Nutting at Randolph, was
admitted to the Orange county bar in 1826,
and settled first at Bethel, whence he re
moved in 1840 to Woodstock. At Bethel
he was for several years in partnership with
A. P. Hunton, afterwards speaker of the
lower house of the Legislature in i8oo-'62.
At Woodstock he formed a connection with
Andrew Tracy and later with James Barrett,
the firms of Tracy &: Converse, Tracy, Con-
verse & Barrett, and after Mr. Tracy's elec-
tion to Congress, Tracy & Barrett, being
among the strongest in the state. After Mr.
Barrett's elevation to the Supreme Court
Mr. Converse formed a partnership with W.
C. French which continued until 1S65, and
after that Mr. Converse's practice was alone
and within comparatively narrow limits. As
a lawyer he was particularly strong in the
careful preparation of his cases and as a
cross-examiner of witnesses. He also ex-
celled in chancery practice.
He several times represented Bethel in the
Legislature and was a member from Wind-
sor county of the first Senate in 1836, and
three times re-elected to that body. He also
represented Woodstock several times, and
was state's attorney for Windsor county from
1844 to '47. In 1850 and '51 he was elected
Lieutenant-Governor on the ticket with
Crov. Charles K. Williams. For the next
twenty years he was out of public life until
in 1872, when nearly seventy-four years old,
he was suddenly and unexpectedly nomi-
nated for Governor, being taken up to defeat
Frederick Billings, a purpose that was ac-
complished by a narrow majority of one after
a hard fight in the Republican state conven-
tion. Mr. Con\-erse was traveling outside of
the state at the time, and the first he knew
of his candidacy was when he read about the
nomination in the morning papers. He was
elected by a majority of 25,319 over A. B.
Gardner, ex-Lieutenant Governor, who had
joined the Liberal Republican movement of
that year, and whom the Greeleyites and
Democrats had nominated in high hopes of
cutting the Republican majority down to
10,000. His administration was without
notable incident.
(Governor Converse was twice married,
first in 1827 to Melissa, daughter of Henry
Arnold of Randolph, who died two months
after his inauguration as Governor, Dec. 14,
1872. June 12, 1873, he wedded Jane E.,
daughter of Joseph Martin, and a daughter
was the issue of this second union.
Governor Converse died, .August 16, 1885,
at Dixville Notch, N. H.
PECK, ASAHEL.— Judge of the Su-
pre me Court
and Gover nor,
was born at Roy-
alsto n, M a s s.,
September, 1 803,
the son of Squire
j^ ■^ and F'.liza b e t h
t| ^. (Goddard) Peck
of Puritan ances-
try on both sides.
The family rec-
ord can be
traced back from
Joseph Peck, the
first Americ a n
anc estor, for
twenty-one gen-
erations to John Peck, Esq., of Belton,
Yorkshire, England, probably farther than
that of any other Vermont family. His
father came to Vermont and settled at Mont-
pelier when Asahel was only three years old.
Asahel's youth was passed on the farm,
where he developed the sturdy vigor, men-
tal, moral and physical, that was so marked
throughout his career. He was educated in
the common schools and fitted at the Wash-
ington county grammar school to enter the
sophomore class of the L^niversity of Ver-
mont in 1824 ; but he did not graduate,
leaving in his senior year at the invitation of
the president of a French college in Canada,
for a course of study in the French language
in the family of the latter. He studied law
in the office of his oldest brother, Nathan
Peck, at Hinesburgh, and one of the leading
lawyers of that section, and afterward for a
year or two in the office of Bailey &: Marsh
at Burlington. He was admitted to the bar
in March, 1832, practiced alone for a while
and afterward in partnership with Archibald
Hyde and later with D. A. Smalley.
He was a man of solid rather than brilliant
parts, but he made his way steadily. E. P.
Walton says that it was "characteristic of him
that he was slow in everything, but in the
end he was almost always sure to be right
and that he regarded as the only point worth
gaining. He was a thorough and patient
FAIRl'.ANKS.
student. * * Possessing a tenacious mem-
ory, he held firmly all that he had secured in
years of study, and could instantly bring his
great store of learning to bear upon any legal
question presented to him." (Jne critic has
said that no man in New England since Judge
Story has equalled him in knowledge of the
common law of England and the law of
equity. He and Rufus Choate were once
pitted against each other in a case, and that
wonderful genius of the profession professed
astonishment to find such a lawyer in Ver-
mont, and besought him to move to Boston,
where he would surely win both fame and
fortune. But there were higher things in life
for Peck and he persisted in staying in \'er-
mont, whose practice he beheved was the
best in the Union to develop a lawyer of
really great attainments.
He was judge of the circuit court from
185 I till it ceased in 1857. In i860 he was
elected a judge of the Supreme Court under
the present .system and heki the position con-
tinuously, though desiring toward the end to
retire, until his election as (jo\ernor in 1874.
He was nominated then in response to a
strong demand from the people and against
the calculations of the old line of managing
politicians. He did not, however, make
such radical recommendations on the ques-
tions of the day, especially with regard to the
regulation of railroads, as some of his sup-
porters had expected. But generally speak-
ing, his administration was able, sound and
deeper in its impress on the opinion of the
people than that of almost any (lovernor of
recent years. He strongly urged in his mes-
sage the establishment of the house of cor-
rection to supply a serious lack "in the
means of the suppression of crime and the
punishment and reform of criminals," and
he may justly be called the father of that in-
stitution.
On his retirement from the gubernatorial
chair Judge Peck retired to his farm in Jer-
icho, where he lived in the enjoyment of
rural life, of which he was passionately fond,
until his death May 18, 1879.
In politics Judge Peck was by nature and
early affiliations a Democrat. But the ag-
gressions of the slaveocracy early disgusted
him, and he became a Free Soiler in 1848,
being a member of the famous Buffalo con-
vention that nominated Van Buren and
.^dams ; and after the formation of the Free
Democracy or Liberty party he identified
himself with it, was its candidate for Con-
gress in the Burlington district, and naturally
was one of the pioneers in the formation of
the Republican party. His patriotism was
of the uncompromising kind, and during the
war he had little patience with the assailants
of the administration. A western lawyer of
■copperheadish proclivities who had been a
student in his office in former years, and
knew his reverence for law and all legal
safeguards of the individual, met him one
day in Burlington, and speaking of the Val-
landingham or some similiar case, asked,
"How long are such outrages to be endured?"
"What outrages?" demanded the Judge.
"The arrest and imprisonment of .'Vmerican
citizens without process of law." The Judge
replied, "I don't know what this case is, but
I do know one thing, that a good many more
men are out of jail who ought to be in, than
in who ought to be out." The reply was
evidently aimed at the coUoquist individ-
ually and he subsided. Judge Peck was too
great a lawyer, too large-minded a man to
allow the forms of law to outweigh the es-
sentials of right and justice.
Personally he was a most lovable man,
tender and chivalric almost to the point of
fault, as it sometimes seemed, when as a
judge he was accused of "riding" cases in
favor of the weaker party, especially if a
woman — modest, kindly, and unostentatious
— with a side of poetic beauty to his rugged
nature, with its positive integrity. He was
profoundly religious, and Gov. W. P. Dill-
ingham, who was his secretary of civil and
military affairs, says that he was one of the
best biblical students he ever met, that he
would sit up until nearly midnight talking of
religious matters, of the lofty purity of Isaiah
and of the mission of Christ, whose divinity,
in his opinion, was better attested by His
character and by the fact that through Him
the (iospel is preached to the poor, than by
His miracles.
Governor Peck was never married.
FAIRBANKS, HORACE. — Governor and
son of a Governor, was born at Barnet,
March 21, 1820, coming with the family to
St. Johnsbury five years later. The general
facts about the family are given in the
sketch of Gov. Erastus Fairbanks on page
89. Horace was the second son of Erastus
and Lois (Grossman) Fairbanks, was edu-
cated in the common schools and at the ac-
ademies in Peacham and Lyndon, Meriden,
.\. H., and Andover, Mass. .-^t the age of
eighteen he took a clerkship in the firm of
E. & T. Fairbanks & Co., became active
]3artner in 1843, and finally the financial
manager of its e.xtensive business, whose
annual product he saw grow from §50,000 to
53,000,000, and force of workmen from forty
to six hundred. He was from the beginning
identified with the construction of the Port-
land & Odgensburg R. R., almost the father
of the idea, the piloter of the charter through
the New Hampshire Legislature, and the
backer of the enterprise with the utmost of
his means and credit. The I'"airbanks
characteristic of benefaction towards St.
HORACE FAIRBANKS.
FAIRHANKS.
FAIR HANKS.
I "3
lohnsbury and of desire to devote a share of
their prosperity to public good, was very
strong with Horace Fairbanks and took
shape to correspond with the great success
which his adminstration of the business
achieved. The result is the great free pub-
lic library and art gallery under the name of
the St. Johnsbury .Athenffium, for which the
foundation was laid in 1868 and which was
finished and dedicated in 187 1. The library
now contains some 15,000 volumes and in
the gallery is a splendid collection of paint-
ings including liierstadt's masterpiece the
" Domes of the Voseniite." The cost of this
donation was never made public by Gover-
nor Fairbanks, but the spirit in which he
gave it and the keynote of his whole life,
were well expressed in the words of the dedi-
cation in which he said : " It gives me pro-
found satisfaction and sincere pleasure to
present to you and your children and to all
who may come after you, the free use of this
building and its contents. My highest
ambition will be satisfied and my fullest ex-
pectations realized, if now and in the com-
ing years the people make the rooms of the
Athenffium a favorite place of resort for
patient research, reading and study."
Governor Fairbanks' active life was spent
as a business man rather than a politician,
and in moral, educational and religious work
rather than office-holding. He was a dele-
gate to the Republican national conventions
of 1864 and 1872, and was a presidential
elector in 1868. The only other political
position to which he was chosen, before the
governorship, was that of state senator from
Caledonia county, to which he was elected
in 1869, but was unable by reason of illness
to take his seat. His nomination for (Gov-
ernor was a compromise after a bitter pre-
convention fight in the party over the candi-
dacy of Deacon Jacob Estey of Brattleboro.
A number of names were placed in the
field, arraying different elements against
Estey, and finally that of Fairbanks was
brought forwarti and he was nominated on
the third ballot, though he had before de-
clined o\ertures. He was out of the state
at the time. The result at the polls was his
election by a vote of 44,723 to 20,988 for
W. H. H. Bingham, the Democratic can-
didate.
The chief criticism of his administration
was that concerning his use of the pardoning
power. His humanitarianism and his kind-
ness of heart made it difficult for him to re-
sist appeals that appeared to have any basis
of merit to them. It was during this term
that the celebrated case of John P. Phair
came up, and the Governor granted the con-
demned man a reprieve on the very day
fixed for his execution, on a telegram from
Boston that seemed to indicate his inno-
cence. Phair finally went to the gallows
after the Supreme Court had passed on his
case, but Governor Fairbanks' conduct,
though bitterly assailed at the time, was
amply justified by the circumstances. His
inaugural message was to quite an extent
devoted to the different systems of prison
discipline, the condition of our county jails
especially receiving his critical notice, and
he earnestly urged more attention to the
work of reforming criminals, and a revision
of our whole prison system with this in view.
His recommendations bore fruit of good
in this line, and his administration for what
it did and what it proposed, deserved and
commanded the respect of thoughtful peo-
ple. He was held in high esteem abroad,
being a member of the Century Club at New
York, and the St. Botolph, Boston.
Governor Fairbanks was married, .'\ugust
9, 1849, to Mary E., daughter of James and
Persis (Hemphill) Taylor of Derry, N. H.
Of their three children, Helen Taylor, the
oldest daughter, died in March, 1864 ; Agnes,
the wife of Ashton R. Willard of Boston, is
now living ; and Isabel, wife of Albert L.
Farwell, died July 2, 1891. Governor Fair-
banks died in New York, March 17, 1888.
SENATORS IN CONGRESS.
The following is a complete list of the Senators in Congress for \'ermont. Biographical
sketches of the entire list are gi\en on the following pages, with the exceiitions noted.
FIRST CLASS.
Solomon Foot,
1851-66
*Moses Robinson,
1791-96 1
JGeorge F. Edmunds,
1866-91
flsaac Tichenor,
Nathaniel Chipman,
1797-1803 i
tisrael Smitli,
1803-07 '
Stephen R. Bradley,
1791-95
*Jonatlian Robinson,
1807-15
Elijah Paine,
1795-1801
tisaac Tichenor,
181S-21
Stephen R. Bradley,
i8oi-iii
Horatio Seymour,
1821-33
Dudley Chase,
1813-17
Benjamin Swift,
1833-39
James Fisk,
i8i7-t8
Samuel S. Phelps,
1839-51
tWilliam A. Palmer,
181S-25
Dudley Chase,
Samuel Prentiss,
tSamuel C. Crafts.
William Upham,
Samuel S. Phelps,
Lawrence Brainerd,
Jacob Collamer,
Luke P. Poland,
t Justin S. Morrill.
defined in the :
cle in the Constituti
aphical sketch will be found in Part 11.
BRADLEY, STEPHEN R., and Moses
Robinson were the first senators after the
admission of the state into the Union. Mr.
Bradley was five times elected the president
pro tern of the Senate, the third highest of-
fice in the government, was the friend and
close adviser of Jefferson and iMadison, and
all through that era up to the war of 1812
was regarded as the ablest and most potent
Democrat in New England. He was on
terms of intimacy also with Ethan Allen, and
filled a brilliant career during the state's
e.xistence as an independent republic, being
one of the brainiest of her statesmen, and
acquiring great wealth in the land operations
in which most of the fathers were engaged.
Stephen R. Bradley was born at Walling-
ford (now Cheshire), Conn., Eeb. 20, 1754,
the son of Moses and Mary (Row) Bradley
and grandson of Stephen Bradley, one of a
family of six brothers who came to this
country in 1637, after service in Cromwell's
Ironsides, in which one of them was an offi-
cer. Young Eiradley graduated from Yale in
1775, having while a student there prepared
an almanac for that year, of which an edi-
tion of two thousand copies was published
by Ebenezer AVatson in November, 1774, and
having in his course shown frequent promise
of the unusual abilities he afterward devel-
oped. Soon after graduation he entered the
Revolutionary service, being captain of a
company of " Cheshire \'olunteers," as early
as January and February, i 776, being in the
fighting about New York, and afterward
serving as quartermaster and as aid on the
staff of General Wooster, until that patriot
fell at Danbury in April, 1777.
The next year Bradley was employed as
commissary and in the summer of '79 as
major at New Haven. About this time,
probably in the fall or winter previous, he
had appeared in Vermont, certainly being
present at the May term of court in West-
minster in '79, when he was licensed to prac-
tice law in the new state. He had in the in-
termissions of his military service both
taught school and pursued his law studies
under the direction of Thomas Reeve, after-
ward the founder of the famous Litchfield
Law School. He had, before 1780, located
definitely in A'ermont, for he was in June of
that year appointed state's attorney for Cum-
berland county, and still earlier, Dec. 10,
1779, had prepared, at the request of the
Go\-ernor and council, a statement of Ver-
mont's case against the claims of New York,
New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, en-
titled "\'ermont's .Appeal to a Candid and
Impartial World." It was a pamphlet of re-
markable power, considering that, coming to
the state a stranger to the controversy, he
had had actually less than two months to
studv it up. He reviewed trenchantly the
claims of each of the states, laid bare with
great skill the inconsistencies and weak
points of all, and concluded with the declara-
tion that "Vermont has a natural right of in-
dependence ; honor, justice and humanity
forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom
which our innocent posterity have a right to
demand and receive from their ancestors.
Full well mav thev hereafter rise up in judg-
ment against us, if, like ])rofane Esau, we
mortgage away their birthright, and leave
them at the expense of their lives to obtain
freedom. We have now existed as a free
and independent state almost four years ;
have fought Britains, Canadians, Hessians,
Tories and all, and have waded in blood to
I05
^^fi/t^^ ^ Qs >^<S4
maintain and support our independence.
^^'e beg lea\e to appeal to your own mem-
ories with what resolution we have fought by
your sides, and what wounds we have re-
ceived fighting in the grand American cause,
and let your own recollection tell what Ver-
mont has done and suffered in the cause of
civil liberty and the rights of mankind, and
must we now tamely gi\e up all worth fight-
ing for? No, sirs ; while we wear the names
of Americans we never will surrender those
glorious pri\"ileges for which so many have
fought, bled, and died ; we appeal to your
own feelings, as men of like sufferings,
whether you would submit your freedom
and independence to the arbitrament of any
court or referees under heaven? If you
would, after wasting so much blood and
treasure, you are unworthy the name of
Americans : if you would not, condemn not
others in what you allow yourselves."
He and Jonas Fay and Moses Robinson
were appointed agents to Congress to
urge the recognition of the independence of
the state. They arri\ed there February i,
1780, presented the appeal and declared
their readiness to unite in placing Ver-
mont on a footing with other states, but had
no authority to close with the resolutions of
Sept. 24. They said, if given time, they
thought they could show that Great Britain
had made a distinct government of Vermont,
appointed (iovernor Skeene to preside over
it, and hence Vermont had equal right with
any of the other states to assume an inde-
pendent goverment.
The fruitlessness of this mission has been
explained in previous sketches, but the abil-
ity and resourcefulness with which Bradley
sustained the argument added greatly to
his re])utation, and though only twenty-six
years old, he at once took a position at the
forefront among the Vermont leaders. B. H.
Hall says : " .\n examination of his papers
affords conclusive evidence that at this pe-
riod, and for many years after, he was, in many
respects, the ablest man in the state." In
September he again went to Congress in
io6
company with Ira Allen, as an agent for the
state to meet and defeat Luke Knowlton,
the representative of the Cumberland Coun
ty \'orkers, and Peter Olcott who was there in
advocacy of the scheme to form still another
state by slicing off strips on each side of
Connecticut. How safety was brought out
of this complication and an agreement of all
the factions reached, is told in the sketch of
Ira Allen. Bradley was that year and again
in 1 781, '84, '85, '88, '90 Westminster's repre-
sentative and in i 785 speaker of the House,
of which he had been clerk in 1779. He
was selectman of Westminster in 17S2, and
town clerk in i787-'88. He continued to
be state's attorney till 1775, and was for sev-
eral years a general prosecuting officer for
the state. He was register of probate from
December, 1781, to March, '91, when he en-
tered the United States Senate. In 1783 he
was judge of the county court and from
October, 1788, to October,: 789, was judge of
the Supreme Court. In addition to all this
he was active in the military service, being
first appointed a lieutenant and then a
colonel in the first regiment of the Vermont
militia, serving on the staff of Gen. Ethan
Allen, and finally in 1791 being made
a brigadier-general. He was repeatedly
called out with his troops to restore order
during the troubles in the southern part of
the county and with his skillful management
seldom failed of success.
He was a member of the commission that
settled the controversy with New York and
of that which afterwards established the bound-
ary. He was a powerful ad\ocate in the conven-
tion of 1791, of the ratification of the Federal
constitution and of the vote to join the Union,
and next to Chipman, is entitled to the chief
credit for the sweeping victory which the
Union party won there.
By lot it fell to him when elected in 1791
to be a senator of the second class whose
term expired in four vears, and then as politi-
cal lines began to form and the Federalists
were a majority, he was defeated for re-elec-
tion in 1794, but six years later, after serving
one term in the council, in 1798, and one in
the General Assembly, in 1800, on Paine's
declination to serve another term, Bradley
was again elected, and re-elected in 1.S06,
serving with great distinction.
He was president of the convention of
Republican members of Congress, and, as
such, Jan. 19, 1808, he summoned the con-
vention of members which met and nomina-
ted Mr. Madison as President, and though
there was vigorous kicking by the minority
faction of the party when he called the caucus,
the nomination that resulted was confirmed
by the country. He was placed on commit-
tees to which the most important and delicate
questions were referred, for example— on the
special message of Jefferson, Jan. 13, 1806,
transmitting the claim of Hamet Caramelli,
ex-Bashaw of 'I'riiioli, which involved the
then late war with the ruling Bashaw, and Mr.
Bradley made the report, including a bill for
Hamet's relief, and a resolution of thanks to
General William Eaton and his American
associates, for their eminently brave and suc-
cessful services in Hamet's behalf: on the
confidential message of President Jefferson,
Dec. 18, 1807, proposing an embargo; and
on the confidential message of President
Madison, Jan. 3, 181 1, suggesting that the
United States take possession, for the time
being, of East Florida, and publish a declara-
tion that the United States could not see,
without services inquietude, any part of a
neighboring territory, in which they have,
in different respects, so deep and so just a
concern pass from the hands of Spain into
those of any other foreign power. This was
aimed against Great Britain, and this, in fact,
contained the germ of the famous " Monroe
doctrine," of 1823.
A still more important service was that
for the constitutional amendment of 1S03,
requiring the \'ice- President, like the Presi-
dent, to be elected by a majority of the
electoral votes, of which he was the author,
and which he reported from the appropriate
committee.
But Mr. Bradley partook of the New
England feeling about the war of 1812. He
earnestly counselled Madison against it, and
at the close of his term in 18 13, he had
become greatly dissatisfied with his party's
policy and he retired finally from public
life. ■
In 181S he removed from Westminster to
the neighboring village of Walpole, N. H.,
where, after a happy and contented evening
of life, he went to rest Dec. 9, 1S30.
I )artmouth and Middlebury both conferred
the degrees of LL. D. on him. Some of his
contemporaries called him " eccentric " or
" erratic," but all united in testimony to his
great ability, his power as an orator, and his
high qualities of leadership. Graham's let-
ters from Vermont in 1 79 1 say of him : " Few-
men have more companionable talents, a
greater share of social cheerfulness, a more
inexhaustible unaffected urbanity."
S. C. Goodrich, or " Peter Parley " who
married a daughter of Mr. Bradley, says in
his "Recollections of a Lifetime :" "He was
distinguished for political sagacity, a ready
wit, boundless stores of anecdotes, a large
acquaintance with mankind and an exten-
sive range of historical knowledge. His
conversation was exceedingly attractive
being always illustrated by pertinent anec-
dotes and apt historical references. His
developments of the interior machinery of
parties, during the times of Washington, Jef-
I07
ferson and Madison : his portraitures of the
political leaders of these interesting eras in
our history — all freely communicated at a
period when he had retired from the active
arena of politics, and now looked back upon
them with the feelings of a philosopher —
were in the highest degree interesting and
instructive."
PAINE, Elijah. — Senator at the close
of the last century, state judge, United
States judge for forty years, and a pioneer
manufacturer, road maker and scientific far-
mer, was born at Brooklyn, N. V., Jan. 2,
1757, the son of Seth Paine, a respectable
farmer of Brooklyn, and grandson of Seth
Paine of Pomfret, Conn. He entered Har-
vard in 1774, but abandoned his studies for
a few months to fight for his country in the
Revolutionary army, and graduated in 1781.
Then after studying law he came to Ver-
mont in 17S4, locating first at Windsor
where he cultivated a farm, and then pushed
into the wilderness and opened a settlement
in Williamstown near the North field line,
and soon established a large manufactory of
fine broadcloths, which finally employed
one hundred and seventy-five to two hun-
dred workmen, erected the first saw and grist-
mills in that section, and constructed, at a
cost of Si 0,000, a turnpike road twenty
miles through the forest from Brookfield
to Montpelier and which he finally presen-
ted to the state. Full of energy and enter-
prise, with a capacity for large affairs and of
extensive scientific attainments, he intro-
duced progressive ideas in every direction.
He was a pioneer in the rearing of Merino
sheep of which he had at one time a flock
of 1,500. He also gave much attention to
improvement in the breeding of horses, cattle
and swine. And in addition to all this busi-
ness and to his professional engagements,
his farming was done on a vast scale and it
is said to have been no uncommon thing for
him to have thirty or forty men at work in the
field, and himself superintending them. But
with all these multifarious activities he grew
to be a very able lawyer and a great judge,
even while he devoted some of his best
years to politics and statesmanlike useful-
ness and to educational projects. His re-
markable executive ability seemed to win
success from everything he undertook, and
he died very wealthy for those times.
His public serxice extended almost con-
tinuously through sixty years. In 17S6 he
was a member of the convention to revise
the constitution of the state, and was its
secretary. From 1787 to 1791 he was \\'ill-
iamstown's representative in the (leneral
Assembly. Then he was appointed judge of
the superior court, and held that office until
in 1794 he was elected I'nited States Sen-
ator to succeed Ste])hen R. Bradley. He
was offered a re-election for another term in
1800, but declined it because in the late
days of the .-Vdams administration he was
appointed United States di.strict judge for
the district of Vermont. The appointment
was one of 'those of partisan grab in the last
days of P>deralist power, which so marred
the record of patriotic upbuilding the party
had made, but it proved to be a most ad-
mirable appointment, for Judge Paine's long
career on the bench extending over a period
of o\er forty vears, until within a few weeks
of his death, April 28, 1S42, at the age of
eighty-six, was one of strength and honor
throughout, bearing with it at notable points
the enlightenment he brought to his business
o])erations.
Though he came to the state after her
formative period was well advanced, he be-
came prominent in her affairs before the
period of independent statehood had passed,
and he was with Tichenor, Bradley, Chip-
man and Ira Allen one of the commission-
ers to settle and close the controversy be-
tween Vermont and New York. He was on
terms of personal friendship with Washing-
ton and on the visit of Lafayette to .America
was selected as the fittest man in the state,
because of these associations, to deliver the
address of welcome. He was interested in
many movements for the intellectual and
moral betterment of his time, and in close
relations with the best minds of his day.
He was president of the Vermont Coloniza-
tion Society, the first president of the Phi
Beta Kappa Society at Harvard, pronounc-
ing its first oration, a trustee of Dartmouth
College, a pecuniary benefactor of the Uni-
versity of ^'ermont, elected a fellow of the
American .Academy of Arts and Sciences and
an honorary member of several other literary
institutions. Both Harvard and the Univer-
sity of Vermont conferred the degree of
I.L. D. on him.
All around he ranked with his great po-
litical antagonist, Nathaniel Niles, as intel-
lectually the most versatile man Vermont
has contained. He was an exemplary Chris-
tian of the orthodox faith, and a constant
attendant at church. One secret of his
varied attainments was his close economy of
time. It is said that he was never seen idle
in his waking moments. \Vhenever there
was an intermission of labor, it was improved
with book and pencil. His thought powers
were brought into training so that he could
deal thoroughly and systematically with one
subject after another as they came before
him — now a problem of constitutional law,
then one about the construction of the hog-
pen, and anon one about the machinery in
the woolen mill — and come out superior to
difficulty in every one. He was ])unctual to
the uttermost in business matters. Two
anecdotes illustrate this ; One night he
happened to remember that he had not
paid a note due to a townsman that day,
and he routed out his hostler, hitched up
and drove to the townsman's house with the
money before the hour of midnight had
arrived. " Vou need not have bothered,"
remarked the creditor, " to-morrow would
have answered just as well." " Did I not
promise to pay it to-day?" was Judge Paine's
response in his quick, nervous style. The
late Hon. Daniel Baldwin tells another :
Once Judge Paine called on him for a loan
of Si,ooo for a few days, until he could get
a remittance from Washington for his salary,
which he had been expecting for some time.
Baldwin, who was a merchant, said he could
spare it until a certain day, when he would
have to take it to Boston to buy goods with.
On the appointed day Judge Paine came
hurrying to Baldwin just before time for the
stage to leave and explained that he had
waited for his ^^■ashington remittance until
the day before, but not receiving it he had
gone to Woodstock, forty miles distant, rid-
ing all night, and making a journey of eighty
miles to procure it and return to fulfill his
promise.
Judge Paine married, June 7, 1790, Sarah,
daughter of John Porter, a lawyer of Ply-
mouth, N. H. She was a woman of culti-
vated mind, engaging manners and lofty
character, and the result was a brainy fam-
ily of children. There were four sons, three
of whom graduated at Harvard, and one at
Dartmouth. Martin, the eldest, was a dis-
tinguished physician at Montreal and New
York, one of the founders of the Medical
Department of the University of New York,
where he for years held a professor's chair,
and the author of various medical works, es-
pecially some aimed at materialistic ideas,
which attracted much attention in both Eu-
rope and .America. The second son, Elijah,
was a judge of the Supreme Court of New
York, rendering the notable decision sus-
taining the constitutionality of the statute
that freed slaves when brought by the owner
into the state, and a law writer of reputa-
tion, associated in the making of Wheaton's
reports and the United States Circuit reports
that bear his name. Gov. Charles Paine was
the third son, and the fourth, George, also a
lawyer, died in his twenty-ninth year at Mar-
sellon, Ohio. (Jne of the judge's descend-
ants married into the Fionaparte family in
Baltimore.
\\'alton describes Judge Paine as a "tall,
well-proportioned gentleman, dressed in the
style of President \\'ashington, of a grave
countenance and dignified bearing, scornful
to none but affable to all." His daughter,
Mrs. John Paine, says he "had a command-
ing personal appearance, a well proportioned
frame of six feet in height,with a physiognomy
of the Roman cast and a corresponding
vigor of mind. Though sternly dignified he
was as gentle as a woman and was loved
and venerated by his children."
CH1PM.4N, Nathaniel.— One of the
most eminent jurists and statesmen of his
time. United States senator for one term, a
Federal judge and a judge of the Supreme
Court of the state for many years. He
was also of Salisbury, Conn., origin, being
born there, Nov. 15, 1752, the son of Samuel
and Hannah Chipman and one of a family of
six sons, of whom two were physicians, and
four lawyers, and nearly all men of eminence.
He graduated from Yale, in 1777, served for
a time as lieutenant in the Revolution, fought
at Monmouth and was at\'alley Forge through
a part of that winter of destitution and suffer-
ing, but resigned because of poverty, and
completed his study of the law. Admitted
to the bar in March, 1779, he came to \'er-
mont, setded in Tinmouth, where his father
had preceded him, and where in addition to
his professional duties he took the manage-
ment of the farm and built a forge for the
manufacture of bar iron. There was a most
promising field for lawyers in those days and
he and young Bradley, espousing the side of
the new state with ardor, rapidly and almost
simultaneously came to the front as leaders.
Chipman, however, became a member of the
"young party," opposing Governor Chitten-
den and his administration and seeking to
clear the way of the fathers for a generation
of younger men. The " fathers "were indeed
at that time only men of middle life and
many of them of less, but the contingent of
younger and ambitious men, as is almost in-
variably the case, viewed their ascendency
with impatience.
But Chipman was loo candid and just-
minded a man to carry this party feeling to
unreasonable lengths, and several times at
critical junctures he rendered the Governor
and his associates important service. One
of these was at Windsor when knowledge of
the intrigue with Canada was exploded be-
fore the Legislature and he helped the Gover-
nor and Ira Allen to concoct the hasty de-
ception which bridged the affair over. He
was frequently in confidential relations with
the CrO\ernor and wrote out many of the lat-
ter's letters and state papers. He was a
man of great and resourceful shrewdness in
legislative and political management. It
was his idea that stayed the paper money
flood when the Legislature was overwhelm-
ing in favor of such an issue. Coming to
Rutland, where the Legislature was in ses-
sion in 1 786, he found such a bill, with
another making specified articles a legal
I09
tender for debt, on the point of i)assage, and
seeing after looking the ground over and
consulting with various members, that there
was no hope of defeating the bill on a
straight issue, he prepared the amendment,
which made the enactment conditional on
the approval of the voters of the state and to
go into effect only after it had been stibmitted
to a vote of the electors. Then the ques-
tioij was fought out at the next election and
the result was the rejecting of the bill by a
vote of more than four to one.
.And it is not too much to say that Ver-
mont's exceptional prosperity above any
part of the Union in the next thirty years,
and its freedom from troubles like Shay's
rebellion in Massachusetts that afflicted so
many parts of the country, and came so near
reducing things to a state of anarchy, was
the result of this referendum scheme. It
was, considering the times, a measure of ex-
traordinary wisdom, and even yet its lesson
has not been fully learned, that where dema-
gogues and agitators with their plausible
fallacies are bringing on disaster the safest
defense is a reference to the original source
.of power, the people. It cannot be said, of
course, that the people will always be right,
especially on new problems before they have
been fully discussed and sifted. But they
are more apt to be right than any other
source of authority. This is the bottom princi-
pal of democracy as against monarchy or
oligarchy. Especially is it true, in a repre-
sentative government where leaders con-
stantly figure that the way of popularity and
power lies in pandering to the selfishness
and meaner passions of mankind, that an
occasional direct application of the ozone of
genuine popular thought is necessary. The
politicians of Vermont then believed as did
the politicians of other states, while the
times were hard and debt burdens were op-
pressive, that the people would be pleased
with a measure of inflation. The error was
shown by an appeal to the people in Vermont ;
if it had been in the other states they would
have escaped some severe experiences. .An-
other notable case like it in political history
was in Ohio in 1 875, when the wave of Green-
backism was at its highest, men of all parties
were bending before it, the Democrats had
made it their chief issue, with the idea that
success lay that way, and the Republicans
feared to face the issue. Gen. Rutherford B.
Hayes, the Republican candidate for Go\ern-
or, insisted that there should be no faltering,
but the canvass should be fought out on that
question before the people, and the result
was a signal victory for sound money against
all the calculations of the time servers. It
was this act of clear-viewed courage that
made General Hayes his party's candidate for
President the next year. It is always the
safest course.
Mr. Chipman was also Governor Chitten-
den's coadjutor in the pressing to passage of
that extraordinary measure of good sense in
law, the quieting act, which is explained in
the sketch of Governor Chittenden. Chip-
man represented Tinmouth in the General
.Assembly in t784-'85. In 1786 he was
elected assistant judge of the superior court
being the first lawyer to be placed on the
bench in Vermont. In 1789 he was elected
chief justice and held the office for two
years. He also had the decisive part in the
negotiations which finally closed the contro-
versy with New York and brought about
Vermont's admission to the Union. He was
a friend of Alexander Hamilton and in 178S
opened a correspondence with that great
leader, which finally ended in Hamilton's
espousing the cause of Vermont or throwing
all his power and influence into an argu-
ment for an adjustment. Daniel Chipman
says that the two men had an interview at
.Albany that winter, in which they agreed on
the mode of settlement that was afterward
adopted by the two states. When finally
the consent of the New York Legislature
was secured Chipman was appointed one of
the commissioners for Vermont to determine
the terms of settlement. He had always
been fearful that the Vermont claims, and so
land titles under ^'ermont authority, would
fail to stand the test of law if they should
ever be brought to adjudication, and so was
not only solicitous for agreement with New
York but that all these questions be disposed
of in the agreement, as was done. He was
a member of the commission that deter-
mined the boundary between the two states.
In the convention at Bennington to pass
on the act of union and adopt the Federal
Constitution, Chipman was the " Colossus of
the debate," as Jefferson said of .Adams in
the Congress that adopted the Declaration
of Independence. There was then a strong
feeling for the continued independence of
Vermont ; her prosperity had for several
years been the envy of her neighbors ; her
own taxes were very light, and she had no
share to bear of the burdens which the Rev-
olution had left upon the rest of the country ;
her population was fast increasing and her
values steadily mounting upward ; she had
gone safely through difficulties which seemed
impossible of parallel, had shown her ability
to take care of herself, was in a situation
where it was an obiect for all sides to culti-
vate her friendship, had established a stable
and smooth-working system of her own —
and many were the men who argued that
there was nothing to be gained by hitching
the state to the federal system. Probably
consent would have been positively refused
in the latter years of the old confederation,
but the vigor and hopefulness which the new-
government under the constitution showed
was very attractive to men of Chipman's
views. Still the result seemed very doubtful
when the convention at Bennington assem-
bled, and under the leadership of Daniel
Buck the arguments against union were
speciously presented. Chipman made a
speech of magnificent logic and eloquence,
portraying the possibilities of political devel-
opment in art, literature, science, industry
and commerce, that were contained in the
proposed connection, discussing and analyz-
ing the new constitution in comparison with
the best the world had seen. It was master-
ful as an argument and with the support of
Bradley and Niles and others, it carried
such conviction that the ratification was
agreed to by a vote of 105 to 4. January 18,
1 79 1, he was appointed with Lewis R. Mor-
ris commissioner to attend Congress and
negotiate for the admission of the state into
the Union.
Immediately after the admission Presi-
dent Washington appointed Chipman United
.States judge for the district of Ver-
mont, a position which he resigned in
1793. But three years later, in 1796, he was
again elected chief justice and in 1797
elected senator to succeed Tichenor, serving
from 1797 to 1803. .\t the expiration of his
term he returned to Vermont and resumed
the practice of law with ever increasing
fame. But he was not above serving the
public in the humbler capacity and for the
meagre pay of a legislator because he had
been a United States judge and senator and
he again represented Tinmouth, in the Leg-
islature in i8o6,-'7-'8-'9-'i I.
In March, 18 13, he was elected one of the
council of censors, a body chosen once in
seven years to review the constitution and
recommend admendments. The ideas for
which he stood then have some of them
had to be adopted since and others must be
to overcome evils that remain in our system.
He always advocated amending the constitu-
tion to create a Senate as a co-ordinate
branch of the Legislature, to take the power
of election of judges from the Legislature and
provide for appointment during good behav-
ior and also to constitute a court of chan-
cery distinct from the courts of law. He
made and published a great argument then
for the independence of the judiciary, re-
viewing the constitutions and practice of all
the states, and applying most cogently the
lessons of history and of the methods of other
countries. But in spite of this luminous
showing the old method of election at
each session still survives, a relic of distorted
and misapplied democracy, a method that
combines the vices of both the appointive
and elective systems without the merits of
either. It is simply wonderful that the re-
sults of it have not been more evil.
Chipman was chosen chief justice of the
state in 1813, receiving a majority of seven-
teen, where his party, the Federalists, had
the lead by only one or two on joint ballot.
He was however displaced in 18 15 when
the Democrats, or Republicans as they then
generally called themselves, returned to
power.
This was his last public position. He had
for many years been an associate justice on
the supreme bench, and had four times left
the practice of law to take a seat on the
bench. In 18 16 he was appointed profes-
sor of law in Middlebury College, and gave
a course of lectures that attracted much at-
tention, and held the chair until 1843.
During the nullification times he wrote
and published a very strong pamphlet
against the Calhoun doctrine, more than
matching in its vise-like logic the argument
of the able South Carolinian.
Judge Chipman died Feb. 13, 1843, from
congestion and inflammation of the lungs,
aged ninety-one years. The last twenty-five
years of his life were the golden period, where
in well earned retirement, except for such law
business as he chose to undertake, he enjoy-
ed in rural pursuits his books, his friendship
and correspondence with some of the most
cultivated men of his time, and he was re-
garded by his neighbors and brethren of the
profession almost as a patriarch.
His measurement as a lawyer and a judge
will best be given by Mr. Huse in his de-
partment of this work. We will only allude
to one of his methods as a judge, his habit of
giving in his charges a summary of the testi-
mony of each witness, instructing the jury
as to the points on which it bore, clearing
away immaterial matter and laying before
the jury a compact and lucid statement of
the whole case in all its bearings, while in-
structing them upon the law of it. He had
a clear and discriminating mind, compre-
hensive in its grasp, and steadily analytic in
its processes. He was cautious in forming
his opinions, proceeding entirely without
prejudice or bias, conscious that he had
done so, and therefore positive and em-
phatic when he had reached a conclusion.
In 1 793 he published a small work entitled
" Sketches of the Principles of Government "
and also a volume of " Reports and Disserta-
tion" containing reports of cases decided
while he was chief justice, with dissertation
on the statute adopting the common law of
England, the statute of offsets, on negotiable
notes and on the statute of conveyances. In
1796, he was appointed one of a committee
to revise the statutes of Vermont and the re-
vised laws of 1797 were written by him. In
iSj;3 he published "Principles of Govern-
ment, a treatise on free institutions including
the Constitution of the United States,"
which contained parts of his 1796 work.
CHASE, Dudley.— Speaker of the state
Assembly for five years, twice United States
senator, and four years chief justice of the
state Supreme Court, was of a brainy family,
being a brother of Bishop Philander Chase
of Ohio, founder of Kenyon and Jobilee
colleges, and the uncle of Salmon P. Chase,
the great Republican statesman and chief
justice.
Dudley Chase was born at Cornish, N.
H., Dec. 30, 1 77 1, the son of Deacon Dudley
Chase, and one of a numerous family of
eight .sons and six daughters. His youth
was passed in pioneer privations at Cornish
and Sutton, Mass., but he succeeded in ob-
taining a college education, graduating at
Dartmouth in 1791. He studied law with
Hon. Pot Hall at \\'estminster, and in the
early nineties settled at Randolph. He was
state's attorney for Orange county for eight
years from 1S03 to 181 1 inclusive. He was
a member of the constitutional conventions of
1814 and 1822. He represented Randol])h
in the Legislature from 1805 to 1812 in-
clusive, and for the last five years he was
speaker of the House, closing the service with
such popularity that he was immediately
elected United States senator to succeed
Stephen R. Bradley.
He was elected for a full term of six years,
but he resigned his seat in 181 7 to accept
an election as chief justice of the Supreme
Court of the state. He was re-elected to
that post each year until 182 1 when he re-
tired to return to the practice of law, but
was sent to the Legislature in i823-'24 and
again won such popularity that he was
in 1825 again elected to the United States
Senate. At the close of his term in 1831 he
retired finally to private life, devoting his
attention to farming and gardening, of
which he was exceedingly fond. A little of
the scattering and disorganized opposition
to Governor Galusha in iSig centered about
him, giving him 618 of the 2,618 votes
cast against Galusha for Governor.
He was of attractive and winning address,
portly in person, commanding in presence,
well balanced mentally, with a poise of mind
that fitted him admirably for judicial posi-
tion, and a real kindness of heart that could
not help to make him a favorite among men.
He was perhaps somewhat lacking in the
aggressive quality, like that of Galusha or
Bradley or Niles, that makes the political
leader of enduring power or that leaves per-
manent impress in statesmanlike work.
Still there are events and good ideas in Ver-
mont historv with which Dudlev Chase's
name is identified. He was always earnest
in advocacy of the support of district
schools by a tax on the grand list so as to
give poor children an equal opportunity with
the rich to obtain an education. He helped
in the framing in the act of 1805 regulating
marriage and divorce. He was a member
of the committee that fixed upon Montpe-
lier for the location of the state capital.
Phe state bank was established in i8o6 on
lines largely laid down by him. He was
that year also a member of the legislative
committee that drafted the famous "address
of the Vermont Legislature" to President
Jefferson entreating him to be a candidate
for a third term. He was a member of the
committee that provided for the location of
the state prison at Windsor. He supported
Bradley's resolution in 1807 for a consti-
tutional amendment empowering the Presi-
dent to remove Supreme Court judges on
address by a majority of the House and
two-thirds of the Senate.
He died P"eb. 23, 1846, at the age of se\en-
ty-four, after several years of declining health
with fits of epilepsy. A fall in his room para-
lyzed his right leg which swelled badly, be-
came erysipelas, and terminated in mortifica-
tion and death. His wife, whose maiden
name was Olivia Brown and whom he married
in 1796 when she was seventeen years old,
survived him but twenty-three days. They
had no children of their own, but brought
up many nephews and nieces and indentur-
ed boys, and of these gave a college educa-
tion to not less than twelve or fifteen.
FISK, James. — Judge of the Supreme
Court, representative and senator in Con-
gress, Universalist preacher, and a leader of
the Democratic or Republican party in the
state during its era of power and prosperity,
was a nati\e of Greenwich, Mass., born Oct.
4, I 763, and came to Vermont from Green-
wich. Little is known of his ancestry or
early youth, but his circumstances were
humble and he was self-educated. His
father died when he was only two years old,
and he was early left to shift for himself. In
1779, at the age of sixteen he enlisted in the
Revolutionary army, served for three years,
then returned to (Jreenwich and went to
work as a farm hand. He was only twenty-
two years old when he was elected repre-
sentative to the General Assembly of Massa-
chusetts, and about this time he began to
preach as a Universalist minister. He came
to Barre in 1 798, continued preaching
occasionally, cleared a farm, and in his
leisure hours studied law, opened practice
and rapidly rose to eminence and influence.
His alert mind, ready wit and power of prac-
tical and winning argument, his poise of
character and justice and kindliness of views.
combined with liis singularly genial, attract-
ive demeanor, qualified him to an unusual
extent for leadership. The late E. P. Wal-
ton says of him that " in his form, the vigor
of his intellect and the brilliancy of his mind,
he much resembled Aaron P3urr." He was
small of stature, keen-eyed, a brilliant conver-
sationalist, and, as Thompson says, "really
talented."
He had been in Barre only three years
when he was elected one of its selectmen,
and the next year was sent to the Legisla-
ture, representing the town nine years, from
1800 to 1S05, 1809 and 18 10, and in 1815.
He was a useful and prolific legislator, taking
an active part in the legislation for the ob-
servance of the Sabbath, the taxing of liquor
selling, the overhauling of the statutes for
the support of the gospel, the collection of
debts, proceedings in case of absconding
debtors, land taxes, the forfeiture of charters,
the reorganization of the judiciary system,
and the regulation of marriage and divorce.
He was prominent in the fight of 1804 over
the law of libel, when it was proposed to do
away with the old principle of privilege,
"the greater the truth the greater the libel,"
and in criminal prosecutions to allow the
respondent to plead in defence the truth of
his words. He moved, as early as 1803, for
the establishing of a permanent seat for the
Legislature, and when the Assembly had
passed the bill, before the Governor and
Council had got the subject postponed, he
was selected for Orange county's member of
the special committee to locate the capital.
He was also, in 1S04, chairman of the com-
mittee that endeavored to get a settlement
of our northern boundary with Canada.
He was an ardent friend of the University
of Vermont in its younger days, and served
on its board of trustees for several years, re-
signing in 181 2. He naturally, with his
adroitness and resourcefulness, became the
leader of the Jeffersonians, being placed in
the front in most of the contests with the
Federahsts, and especially where they wanted
to match Governor Tichenor, who was in-
dubitably one of the shrewdest politicians of
his time. He was chairman of the com-
mittee in 1805 to draft an address in reply
to the Governor's speech, and framed the
answer to the proposal of the Massachusetts
Legislature for constitutional amendments to
exclude slaves from representation in any
measure in Congress. He regretted the ex-
istence of slavery, and its influence in the
making of laws to bind the freemen of our
free state, but could see no remedy that
"would not subvert the first and most opera-
tive principles of our federal compact." The
skill with which these replies managed to
take issue with the Governor, while couched
in the most commendatory phrase, were too
much for even "Jersey Slick" himself, and
they may be instructively studied as models
of this sort of sheathed stabbing in politicaL
warfare.
Mr. Fisk was also the chairman of the
same committee when the Democracy came
into power in 1809 and it was the address of
Governor Galusha, with whom he was in full
political sympathy, that was to be answered.
He was a judge of the Orange county court
in 1802 and 1809, and in 1816 the I^egisla-
ture chose him one of the three judges of the
Supreme Court of the state. The next year
hewas re-elected, becoming the first assistant,
and with his undoubted talent as a lawyer
was on his way to the chief justiceship when
he resigned to accept an election to the
Senate.
He was elected a representative in Con-
gress in 1804, serving two terms, and again
two terms from 181 1 to 1815, and then after
his two years service on the Supreme Court,
was chosen by the Legislature L^nited States
senator in 181 7 to succeed Dudley Chase,
but resigned after less than two years service
and William A. Palmer was elected to suc-
ceed him.
He was a close friend and confidential ad-
viser of President Madison and the adminis-
tration through the war of 181 2 ; he voted for
the declaration of that war and his cotmsel
was constantly sought, with reference to war
measures.
He took a vigorous part in the "John
Henry" debate of 1812, over the papers
secured from that reprobate, who after five
years life as a farmer, lawyer and editor in
Vermont, was in 1809 employed by the
Governor of Canada to get into communica-
tion with the most violent Federalists in
New England and ascertain how far they
could be brought to turn against their own
country and in favor of England in case the
embargo and other resistance to British
aggressions should result in war. These
papers opened the lid only a bit upon one
of the most shameful chapters of our history,
a chapter over which, fragmentary and un-
satisfactory as is our knowledge of it, the
blood of right feeling men cannot fail to boil
to-day, a chapter that tells of sordid men
and money making interests in New England
that conspired in treason against the govern-
ment that was fighting their battle and seek-
ing to protect them from British spoliation,
because they believed that the government
ought to crawl at Britain's feet and do
Britain's bidding against France, in order to
help them to continue their money making.
Mr. Fisk treated the subject vigorously in
this view, and collected and presented a
large mass of evidence showing how plottings
for the dissolution of the L'nion had been^
going on. He quoted letters from Mr.,
Krskine, the British minister, in su|>port of
this view. His arraignment was one that
must have done an iniijortant part in cover-
ing the once glorious Federalist party with
the disgrace that brought it into speedy
decay and ruin.
But Mr. risk's moderation at another time
served the state a good turn. The country's
indignation at the selfish and base deeds of
Federalists, focussed in the introduction, Jan.
6, 1814, of resolutions in the House in-
structing the attorney-general to institute a
prosecution against (lov. Martin Chittenden
for his proclamation of the year before
ordering the Vermont militia home from
New York, where they had been assigned to
military duty at a critical time and point un-
der the orders of federal commanders. The
Governors of Massachusetts, Connecticut and
Rhode Island had pursued a similar policy,
refusing or threatening to refuse, on state
rights grounds, requisitions on their militia
for the common defense. Unscrupulous parti-
sanship had reached about its worst abase-
ment when Federalist executives could take
this ground, and so far as they were concerned
personally, prosecution might have been
healthy. But Fisk deprecated the resolu-
tions. He admitted , that the proclamation
was unjustifiable, thought few people in Ver-
mont approved of it, knew the delegation in
Congress did not, but he did not think it
advisable to thus force the issue between
state and nation. If the Governor had com-
mitted an offense against the laws let him be
prosecuted, but let not Congress turn in-
former, which was all the resolutions meant ;
their effect would be only to give undue
weight to successful prosecution and make
Congress ridiculous if unsuccessful ; they
neither made nor strengthened law, and so
were of no use. The argument was so well
made that the resolutions were put to final
sleep on the table.
Air. Fisk was nominated and confirmed
judge of the territory of Indiana in 181 2,
but declined the office after the Federalist
presses in Vermont had wasted considerable
energy in ridiculing the appointment. He
did not cut much of a figure in his senatorial
service because it was too brief to permit
him, even under the rules then, to get to the
front. He resigned in 1819 to accept the
post of collector of customs for the district
of Vermont, which he held for eight years,
and during that time moved to Swanton,
where he made his home until his death,
which occurred Dec. i, 1844.
In his later years he was a Whig as ardent
as he had formerly been a Democrat. He
was by temperament and logic a follower of
Henry Clay, and the development of issues
after the death of the Federalist party, that
made the great Kentuckian the leader of the
SEVMOUR. 113
new party, naturally brought Fisk with them.
Mr. Fisk, soon after he came out of the
Revolution, wedded Miss Priscilla West, of
(ireenwich, who died .August 19, 1840, at
the age of seventy-seven. They had six
children — three sons and three daughters.
SEYMOUR, Horatio.— Judge, coun-
cilor and senator, was born in Litchfield,
Conn., May 31, 1778, the son of Major Moses
and Mary ( Marsh) Seymour. His father was
a man of importance in Connecticut, a Rev-
olutionary otiicer, state legislator for seventeen
years and town clerk forty years, and among
his descendants was Horatio Seymour, the
New York statesman. Democratic candidate
for the presidency in 1S68, and a nephew of
the Horatio Seymour who became the Ver-
mont senator and for a number of years the
acknowledged leader of the Whigs in this
state.
The subject of this sketch fitted for college
under the tuition of his brother-in-law-. Rev.
Truman Marsh, graduated from Yale in 1797,
taught an academy for a year at Cheshire,
Conn., then attended Judge Reeve's famous
law school at Litchfield for a year, and in
October, 1799, came to Middlebury to con-
tinue his studies in the office of Daniel Chip-
man, and in 1800 was admitted to the bar.
He was soon after appointed postmaster at
Middlebury, and continued in the office nine
years, until the growth of his law practice pre-
vented his longer holding it. His reputa-
tion professionally was confined mainlv to
his own county, but he was probably engaged
in more cases than any lawyer before or after
him. His great defect was over modesty
and lack of confidence in himself, so that he
never pushed himself in law practice or poli-
tics as he might.
He had to get absorbed in the cause of
his client, and the feelings and interests in-
volved, before he could do himself justice.
But he was very shrewd and tactful in the
management of cases, and as a speaker,
while making no pretensions to oratory,
clear, logical and persuasive. In manners
he was not only unassuming, but most ur-
bane and courteous, and careful not to
offend. His make up, in fine, was such as
was sure in the course of years to command
a great popularity, and he held it almost
against his will, while shrinking from lead-
ership, as few Vermonters have done. He
was state's attorney for .\ddison county iSio
to 1813 and again 1815 to 18 19, and coun-
cilor 1809 to 1814. When the Vermont
state bank was established in 1806 he was
chosen one of the first directors, and re-
mained such until the branch at Middlebury
was closed. In 1S20 he was elected United
States senator, and re-elected in 1S26 after
a vigorous contest with (lovernor ^'an Ness.
114
He was in early life a supporter of the ad-
ministration and measures of Jefferson and
Madison, but after the breakup following
the Monroe administration he went with the
Adams, on National Republican or what
was afterwards the Whig element, and was
influential in the party councils until his
term in the Senate closed. He was also on
terms of intimate personal friendship with
Adams, Clay, Webster, King and Marcy, and
men of such caliber, w-ho all relied much on
his judgment in matters of legislation,
though it was rarely they could ever get
him to speak in the Senate. He was chair-
man of the committee on agriculture.
.\t the close of his second term he re-
turned to his law practice, and to party
leadership in the state. It was due to his
shrewd management very largely, that after
the Anti-Masonic wave had swept over the
state and controlled it for several years, the
whigs were able to get the chief advantage
of its breakup. Mr. Seymour was their can-
didate for Governor in 1833 and 1S34, in the
former of which years the whig vote fell to
less than two thousand. In 1834, when the
election was thrown into the Legislature,
Seymour wrote a letter before the assemb-
hng, announcing that he would not be a
candidate. This was to allow Governor
Palmer an ^unobstructed re-election, which
it was calculated would count when the
collapse of Anti-Masonry came. Bradley,
the Democratic candidate, who had about
the same vote as Seymour, each a little over
ten thousand, pursued the same wary course,
but by individual instruction rather than a
public letter, and with much less effect on
the rank and file of the voters.
Mr. Seymour's later years were passed in
the practice of his profession and in the
duties of judge of probate, which he per-
formed from 1847 to 1856. Middlebury
conferred the degree of LL. D. on him in
1847.
He died Nov. 21, 1S57, after se\eral
years of infirmity, at the age of eighty. He
married in 1800 Lucy, daughter of Jonah
Case, of Addison. She died in October,
1838, leaving three sons and one daughter.
One of the sons, Moses Seymour, settled at
Gene\a, Wis. ; another, Horatio, was a law-
yer at Buffalo, X. V., and another, Ozias, an
attorney at Middlebury.
PRENTISS, Samuel, twice United
States Senator, one of the great Whig leaders
of his day, ranking with thesi.x of highest fame
whom Vermont has had among " the Elders
of the land," the peer of the intellectual giants
with whom he sat, Webster, Clay, Calhoun,
and Benton, and perhaps even greater yet
on the bench of the state Supreme Court
and the LTnited States district court, was a
native of Stonington, Conn., where he was
born March 31, 1782, the son of Dr. Samuel
Prentiss. The family had been one of note
for centuries, tracing back to 13 18 in Eng-
lish official records, and including Capt.
Thomas Prentiss, the noted cavalry officer
in the King Phillip war, and Col. Samuel
Prentiss, of the Revolutionary army, the
great - grandfather of Judge and Senator
Samuel.
Young Pren-
tiss' boyhood was
chiefly passed at
dfMr^ Xorthfield, Mass.,
g^ ^ii where Dr. Pren-
w) JH tiss moved after
,^ ^^ fff a short stay at
Worcester, when
the future states-
m a n was only
four years old.
^\'ith only a com-
mon school edu-
cation, supple-
mented by a
study of the
classics under
Rev, S. C. .Allen, the minister of the town,
young Prentiss studied law, first with Samuel
Vose, of Northfield, then with John W.PJlake,
at Brattleboro, was admitted to the Windham
county bar in December, 1802, and located
at Montpelier a few months later. He de-
voted himself for full twenty years to his
profession, and to extensive study and read-
ing in cognate lines until his equipment was
such as few men have.
The Legislature offered him almost unani-
mously in 1822, a position as associate jus-
tice of the Supreme Court, but he declined
it. But in 1824 he did accept an election
as Montpelier's representative in the Gen-
eral Assembly and from this time his rise in
politics was rapid. It was at a time when
the era of great Democratic leadership, the
era of Galusha, Niles, Butler, Fisk, Bradley,
and Van Ness, was drawing to a close, and a
man of Prentiss' intellectual sweep found but
little to obstruct his progress. He was re-
elected to the General Assembly in 1825,
and during the session was chosen to the
Supreme Court, where four years' service
won him an election by common consent to
the chief justiceship, and one year more
brought a summons to go to Washington as
senator to succeed Dudley Chase. He was
re-elected for a second term in 1836, but
before it e.xpired he resigned to accept an
appointment as judge of the LTnited States
district court for the district of ^"ermont to
succeed Elijah Paine, deceased. The nom-
ination was confirmed by unanimous con-
sent without the usual reference to a com-
mittee. He continued in this position for
fourteen years until his death, Jan. 15, 1857,
completing an otficial career of thirty-four
years which was not begun until he was forty-
two. There is reason for beliexing that he
could have had a seat on the Federal su-
preme bench, but preferred this because the
duties were so near home.
As a lawyer he was profoundly learned
with a learning that reached to the sources
of the Roman as well as the common law,
with a comprehension that embraced it as a
great system of i3rinci]jles rather than tech-
nicalities and with a thorough belief that no
less could be said of the law, in the words of
Bishop Hooker, "than that its seat is the
bosom of God." As a judge no less an
authority than Chancellor Kent said: "I
cannot help regarding Judge Prentiss as the
best jurist in New England." His penetrat-
ing judgment, his power of analysis, like that
of chernical forces in the certainty with
which it could resolve every problem into its
elements, his habit of sifting and of classifi-
cation, together with his faculty of luminous
.statement, and his resolute uprightness, com-
bined to render him well nigh a model for a
judge.
It is said that not one of his decisions while
on the Supreme Court was afterwards over-
ruled. In the Senate his rank was easily
among the first. John C. Calhoun said of him
and his speech against the bankruptcy law of
1840, that it was the clearest and most un-
answerable argument on a debatable ques-
tion which he had heard for years. Mr. Pren-
tiss' independence in following where his con-
victions led was illustrated by his stand on
his questions, for he was the only Whig, with
one exception, that fought the bill. But he
was generally in close and confidential rela-
tions with Clay and ^Vebster, sharing with
them as third in command, the party leader-
ship in the Senate. They both regarded
him as the best lawyer in the Senate.
He was the originator and successful ad-
vocate of the law to suppress dueling in the
District of Columbia. He was in at the
opening of the great and protracted battle
with the slavocracy, presenting in 1S3S, the
resolutions of the state Legislature for the
abolition of slavery in the District of Colum-
bia and also against the annexation of Texas.
Several of his speeches on different subjects
have gone into the reading books as among
the .\merican classics, and they are fine
examples of the eloquence of straightfor-
ward logic. In his younger days he wrote
considerable on literary and moral topics,
which was published in the newspapers, and
all through his life he constantly sought re-
freshment and invigoration of the mind by
communion with the great masters of Eng-
lish literature. In his personal habits and
his domestic life, he was a severe economist, a
habit to which early necessity trained him ;
but he was still a liberal giver where the object
commanded his approval. It is related of
him that when the minister lost his own
cow, the judge sent his man to the parson-
age stable with one of his own two cows,
and when as luck would have it that cow
died the first night, he forwarded to the
minister the money required to buy still
another.
He married, in 1804, Lucretia, daughter
of Edward Houghton of Northfield, a woman
of unusual powers of mind and strength of
character, who bore most of the family cares
during Judge Prentiss' busy life. She died
at Montpelier, June 15, 1855, aged sixty-
nine. She had twelve children of whom ten
were boys, and all of them who lived to
reach manhood became lawyers.
SWIFT, Benjamin. — Representative in
Congress in 1827,-1831, and senator from
1833 to 1839, came of a family of distinction
in Connecticut, where his uncle, a Revolu-
tionary colonel, was a judge and member of
the council for twelve years. His father. Rev.
Job Swift, was a well-known divine at Ben-
nington and Addison. .\ brother, the sev-
enth son of Rev. Job, was Samuel Swift,
lawyer, editor, historian of Addison county, a
judge of probate and assistant judge there,
and secretary of the Governor and council in
1813 and 1814.
Benjamin Swift, the sixth child of Rev.
Job, was born at .\menia, N. Y., .A-pril 8,
1780, before his father's coming to Vermont.
He was well educated for tho.se days, took a
course in the law school of Reeves & Gould
at Litchfield, Conn., and first put out his
shingle for practice in Bennington county,
but moved to St. Albans in 1809. Like
most young lawyers'Tie soon plunged into
politics, taking the side of the then declining
Federalists, so as to be effectually estopped
from office-holding for a while and leaving a
good share of his time and energy for im-
provement in his profession. He thus at-
tained a leading place at the bar, though his
etiuipment was not by nature that of a lawyer.
He was repeatedly a candidate on local and
county tickets and was two or three times
elected representative from St. Albans, but it
was eighteen years after his settlement in St.
Albans before he reached any other office.
He had come out of the war of 1812 a good
deal better than most Federalists, for he did
not allow his feeling against the Madison ad-
ministration and his criticism of the war to
carry him to any such foolish or traitorous
lengths as it did many of his party. In fact,
when the report came of a probable engage-
ment with the British at Plattsburgh he was
one of the first to shoulder his musket and
proceed to the scene, and though he arri\ed
^
too late for the battle he showed a (lisi)Osi-
tion which rountcd in his iavor in after
years.
As party lines were reformed after the
"era of good feeling" under the Monroe
administration, he naturally took the side of
the national Republicans, and afterwards the
Whigs, and as such was elected representa-
tive to Congress in 1827. He was re-elected
in 1S29, but before his term had expired the
opposition party had become so strong, that
though he was earnestly supported by his
followers for a third election, he withdrew in
favor of Henian Allen of Milton, who was
elected. The next year, however, while the
politics of the state were shaken all to pieces
as regards the old parties, by the Anti-
Masonic mo\ement, he was brought forward
as a candidate for the United States Senate,
as a man whose moderation of views could
command votes from all factions. He was
elected and served a full term till 1S39, re-
tiring with a fair degree of credit. On one
point especially he took an emphatic posi-
tion in line with Vermont's views from the
beginning. He refused to vote for the ad-
mission of Arkansas in TCS36, because the
new constitution of the state sanctioned per-
petual slavery. He w'as a warm admirer
and follower of Clay, and an enthusiastic
advocate of his policies.
.After his retirement from the Senate he
de\oted himself mainly to agricultural pur-
suits and scholarly leisure, except when he
buckled on the armor for the management of
cam])aign work for the Whig party, and it
was while he was at work in the fields with
his laborers that death overtook him. \Miile
in Congress he engaged earnestly in temper-
ance work and was among the pioneer movers
in the great Washingtonian temperance re-
form.
\\hile in the Legislature he obtained the
charter for the Bank of St. .Albans, and was
its first president.
He was a man of simple tastes and haliits
of life, of clear and penetrating judgment,
severe in his notions, even while of a natur-
ally impulsive temperament, anil inclined to
pursue with an absorbing energy any object
for which he had started. In theology he was
a Cahinist of the most rigid type in the regu-
lation of his own conduct, but inclined to
gentleness in abstract views. There was a
rugged kindly courtesy about him, a freedom
from malice or personal bitterness in contro-
versy, political or religious, which in spite of
his uncompromising argument, could not fail
to command respect and even attachment.
" Physically, mentally and morally," says E.
P. Walton, "he was a large man."
PHELPS, Samuel S.— Senator for thir-
teen years, councilor, Supreme Court judge.
and one of the ablest and most accomplish-
ed men the state has ever had in public life,
was born at Litchfield, Conn., in May, 1793,
and of a family that had for generations
been one of intelligent well-to-do farmers.
Litchfield was in those days a breeding
ground for able and influential men, and
has probably turned out more than any
town of its size in the country. It then
contained the very best law school in the
country. The intellectual friction of such
associations was of incalculable benefit for
such a bright youth as Phelps, and here
may be found the foundation of his great-
ness and that of his son. He entered Vale
at the age of fourteen, graduating in 181 1,
in the class with John .M. Clayton of Dela-
ware and Roger S. Baldwin of Connecticut.
He pursued his legal studies for a few
months in the law school until in 181 2 he
came to Middlebury and entered the office
of Horatio Seymour who had himself coiiie
from Litchfield. He served in the war of
18 1 2, in the ranks at Burlington and Platts-
burg and afterwards as paymaster. In those
days he was an enthusiatic young Democrat
and supporter of the administration and
the war ; but when the ^\'hig party was
formed he went with that, though all through
his political life he exhibited an indepen-
dence of judgment and action that was un-
usual in those times, and several times he
stood up for his views against the majority
of his party when it cost something of peril
and sacrifice to do so.
He was admitted to the .\ddison county
bar in 1815, and made rapid progress to
professional eminence, even with such lawyers
as Seymour, Dan Chipman and Robert B.
Bates as competitors. He was a member of
the council of censors of 1827, and wrote
the address of that body to the people of the
state, chiefly notable for its argument for
the abolition of the Governor's council, and
the establishment of a Senate as a co-ordinate
branch of the Legislature — an argument
which bore fruit seven years later, though it
then failed. In 1831 he was elected a mem-
ber of the Governor's council, and at that
fall's se.ssion was chosen a judge of the
Supreme Court, and was annually re-elected
seven times until 1838, when he was chosen
a senator in Congress to succeed Benjamin
Swift. He was again elected in 1844,
though he had one of the most disagreeable
fights that the state has ever seen ; an ac-
count of it is gi\en in the sketch of Gov-
ernor Slade.
In January, 1853, on the death of Senator
Upham he was appointed to the vacancy on
the recommendation of the Vermont delega-
tion in Congress, though he lived on the
west side of the state, because he was in
Washington at the time ; the nomination of a
'17
judge of the Supreme Court was pending in
the Senate and it was doubtful if any one else
if appointed, could reach the Capital from
Vermont, in season to help the \\'higs on the
vote. JikIrc Phelps remained in the dis-
charge of his duties through that session, and
returned to Washington the next winter to
claim his seat, but as the Legislature had met
in the meantime and failed to elect him or
anybody else, the Senate refused to admit him
on the ground that an executive ap])ointee
could not continue after the Legislature had
had an opportunity to fill the vacancy.
Judge I'helps then retired to private life
and the delights of his farm, though he still
practiced in the courts in important cases,
especially before the Supreme Court at
\Vashington, where he had a high reputa-
tion. ( )ne argument especially, on the
Woodworth planing machine patent, was
regarded as among the strongest ever de-
livered before the court. He was not a
fre(pient speaker in the Senate, reserving
himself for great occasions. He was a
member of the committee of thirteen that
reported the Clay compromise measure be-
tween the North and South, the (")mnibus
bill of 1S50, and the action greatly weakened
him at home. He had been fully committed
to the principle of the \Vilmot proviso ; he
had, in a powerful speech the year before,
reminded the .Southerners that the whole
agitation over the slavery question of which
they complained, and because of which they
were threatening the dissolution of the
Union, was " only the logical sequence of
the Mexican war, * * * which carried in its
train elements that might end in despoiling
the Republic ;" but when the real danger of
dissolution confronted him, his love of the
L^nion led him, like Webster, to temporize,
where with larger and cooler prevision he
had recognized that temporizing was useless.
There was no stronger argument made
against slavery in the whole course of the
debates than that of Phelps in answer to
Calhoun and Berrien in 1848 on the bill for
the exclusion of slavery from Oregon, with
the lessons and warning he drew from the
action of the new l'"rench republic in abol-
ishing it. Henry Wilson in his "Rise and
Fall of the Slave I'ower" describes it as a
speech of "remarkable eloquence and pow-
er." Wilson says, in a general estimate of
Phelps, that he was "a man of rare ability
and equalled by few as a lawyer and forensic
debater, but his unfortunate habits impaired
public confidence." His position in the
Senate gradually grew to be a conservati\e
one, out of sympathy with the current of
thought and events, soon to be guided by
men like Seward and Chase, and he thus
became less of a leader than his admirers
thought he ought to be. He served labor-
iously on the committees of claims and In-
dian affairs, and it is said that the recom-
mendations of his reports, fortified as they
were by a definite statement of the case,
were seldom rejected. He was, both as
senator, judge and advocate, a cogent, pow-
erful reasoner, with a clear, simple, vigorous
way of stating his argument, and a habit of
viewing questions that was at once compre-
hensive and discriminating, large in its
grasp and quick in its mastery of the sub-
ject, and this with his dignified bearing and
his air of resolute honesty, made him a
weighty man in what was perhaps the great-
est era of the greatest deliberative body of
the world, a peer among such senators as Clay,
Webster, Calhoun, Cass, Benton, Macy, Clay-
ton, Wright, Forsyth, Corwin and Douglas.
'I'he senator died at his home in Middle-
bury, March 25, 1855. He was twice mar-
ried, and brought up a large family of chil-
dren of whom the eldest is Edward J. Phelps,
the late minister to England. [For a sketch
of E. J. Phelps see page 309, part H.]
UPHAM, William— For ten years Ignited
States Senator, and though not ranking u]i
with the great historii:al names from Ver-
mont— ISradley, Phelps, Prentiss, Collamer,
and Foote — yet a strong and able man of
his time in national councils. He was born
at Leicester, Mass., .'Vugust 5, 1792, the son
of t'apt. Samuel L'pham, who moved to \'er-
mont in 1802, settling on a farm in Mont-
pelier. Voung William worked on the farm
until he was fifteen, attending school only
winters, when an accident in a cider mill,
crushing his right hand so that it had to be
amputated, and unfitting him for manual
labor, procured paternal consent to his being
"educated." A few terms at the old acad-
emy at .Montpelier, then some tutoring in
Latin and Greek by R.ev. James Hobart at
Berlin, and a short time at the LIniversity of
\"ermont were, however, all that his means
would jjermit in this line. Then he studied
law with Samuel Prentiss at Montpelier: was
admitted to the bar in i8ri, and for a few
years practiced in partnership with Nicholas
Itaylies and afterwards alone or in temporary
partnership for about thirty years, with hardly
an interruption from politics to mar his
professional achievements.
It was a bar of great lawyers with whom
he had to match wits, including besides
Senator Prentiss, such giants as Dillingham,
Collamer and Lucius B. Peck. But he was
a foeman worthy of the best of them, and
became, in fact, one of the strongest jury
advocates the state has ever had. He was
Choate-like in the fiery impetuousness of his
eloquence, though without the rich poetic
fancy with which Choate embellished his
argument, masterful in his methods of state-
ment, biting in sarcasm, full of nervous
energy. Senator Seward in the obituary
speeches in Congress described him as a
"man of strong and vigorous judgment,
which acted always by a process of inductive
reasoning," and these were qualities that
gave him peculiar powers in the rough and
tumble of the law combats of those days.
He kept carefully out of politics until his
reputation was made at the bar, refused all
proffers of nomination to office, including
one for a seat on the bench of the Supreme
Court, and held firmly to the theory that
the "law is a jealous mistress." In 1S27
he did accept an election as town represen-
tative, because success seemed very dubious
when he consented to run, and he was re-
elected the next year and again in 1830.
He took high rank as a debater, of course,
but at the close of his third term he re-
mained for ten years more a simple lawyer
though he was state's attorney for Washing-
ton county in 1S29. But he was ardently in
sympathy with the Canadian rebellion of
1838, presided over a great meeting at Mont-
pelier that year to send greetings to the
insurgents and condemn the Van Buren
administration for its efforts to stop filibust-
ering aid, and the 1840 campaign aroused
him and for the first time in his life, when
nearly fifty years old, he plunged actively
into jiolitics, and stumped nearly the whole
state for Harrison.
The fruit was an enthusiastic personal fol-
lowing for himself, which, in 1842, showed
itself in his election as United States senator
to succeed Samuel C. Crafts : at the end of
his term he was re-elected for another term
but died before completing it, Jan. 14, 1853.
He was an ardent Whig and all the more so
because of the power of partisan advocacy
which his training as a lawyer had given him.
Ill-health in the later years of his service
interfered much with his activity, but he
made a number of notable speeches and
took positions on some occasions that were
historic. He and Crittenden of Kentucky
were the two men who voted "aye, except
the preamble" on the bill in 1S45, declaring
that "war existed by the act of Mexico " and
authorizing the President to call out 50,000
men. He moved the Wilmot proviso, for-
ever forbidding slavery in the territory to be
acquired, as an amendment to the bill in
1846 appropriating $3,000,000 to authorize
the President to negotiate peace with Mexico,
and he made a speech on the subject, treating
trenchantly as it deserved the whole iniquity
back of the Mexican war, which was widely
circulated and published in pamphlets and
newspapers. He made a number of strong
speeches on different questions connected
with the war, the greatest of them being that
of Jan. 28, 1848, on the bill to establish ter-
ritorial governments in Oregon, California,
and New Mexico. But perhaps the greatest
one and the one most independent of party
lines of all his career was that of July i and
2, 1850, against the "compromise bill" of
that year on the slavery question.
On the tariff question he was a Whig of
Whigs, believing that increase of industry
and growth of national wealth would surely
flow from a protective policy, and being one
of the most strenuous advocates of the idea
that wool growing was to be promoted by high
duties. He fought hard against the Walker
tariff-reducing bill of 1846, and his speech
on that occasion was highly complimented
by Daniel Webster, who wrote asking for
memoranda of some of his " statements re-
specting the market abroad for our wool,"
and adding, " following in your track, my
work is to compare the value of the foreign
and home market."
The senator had a habit of exhaustively
studying his subject before speaking and then
an effective way of marshaling his facts and
arguments. As Senator Foot said in his
eulogy, his speeches had " the peculiar im-
press of his earnestness, his research, his
ability, and his patriotic demotion." Mr.
Upham was for several years chairman of the
committee on Revolutionary claims and post
office and post roads, so that a vast deal of
detail work was thrown on his shoulders.
The senator's domestic life was a singu-
larly happy one. His wife was Sarah Keyes
of Ashford, Conn., whom he met while she
was on a visit in Montpelier with her sister,
Mrs. Thomas Brooks, grandmother of Gen.
W. T. Brooks, commander of the Vermont
Brigade. She w-as a beautiful, accomplished
woman, who made her home at Montpelier
and at Washington a center of social charm
as well as a delight to its inmates. She died
May 8, 1856. One of their sons, William K.
L'pham, went to Ohio, where he rose to the
front in law, ranking with such men as Chase,
Corwin, and Bingham. Another, Major
Charles C. Upham, was paymaster in the
United States Navy.
FOOT, Solomon.— Senator, repre-
sentative' in Congress for nineteen years,
like Bradley and Edmunds long president
pro tern of the Senate, and among the great-
est of the siiccession of remarkable men
Vermont has kept in the Senate, with hardly
an exception, from the beginning, was a
native of the state, born in Cornwall, Nov.
15, 1802, the son of Dr. Solomon and Betsey
(Crossett) Foot. The family w-as of Con-
necticut origin, where one of the ancestors
was prosecuted in 1 702 "for having his negro
servant sit" in his church pew, "contrary to
religion and profanation of the Sabbath."
Dr. Foot died when young Solomon was
"9
only nine years old, and the boy was left to the
training of an intelligent and prayerful
mother. W ith intermissions of farm work and
teaching of district schools to earn money,
he fitted for college and graduated from
Middlebury in 1826. For the next five
years, excejit for one year while he was a
tutor at Middlebury, he was preceptor of
Castleton Ac-ademy, and professor of natural
philosophy at the Vermont Medical School
at that place. He re-established the academy
on a broader basis, erected a handsome and
spacious edifice, and indeed achieved a
large success as a pedagogue, as he did with
everything he took hold of in life.
But while teaching he had pursued the
study of law ; was admitted to the bar in
1831, and established himself in practice at
Rutland. He at once plunged into politics,
attracted attention the next year with an ad-
dress which he issued in favor of Clay for
President and against the re-election of Jack-
son, and from this time until his death he
was almost constantly before the public.
Rutland sent him to the Legislature in 1833,
again in i836-'37-'38, he being speakerin the
last two sessions, and freshly enhancing his
reputation by the ease and ability with which
he discharged the duties. From 1836 to
1842 he was state's attorney for Rutland
county, and in the latter year was elected
representative in Congress as an ardent ^\'hig,
a follower of Clay, and a repudiator of Tyler.
His first appearance on the floor was to pre-
sent a petition for the "protection of .Ameri-
can producers against the unfriendly and
ruinous competition of foreign nations."
His first speech, June 4, 1844, was in the
same line, and this was his position as long
as he was in Congress. He was one of the
few Republicans to vote against the low
tariff bill of 1857. He, of course, fought the
Walker tariff bill of 1846 strenuously. He
earnestly opposed the admission of Texas
and the .Mexican war, whose purpose he de-
clared to be simply to obtain more territory
for slavery, and denounced the measures of
the Polk administration almost uniformly,
and especially its construction of the ( )regon
boundary question. He made a hot speech
Feb. 10, 1847, full of" scornful defiance " of
the President for his intimation that those
who censured the conduct of the executive
in carrying on the war were guilty of con-
structive treason. He was one of the three
intrepid men who came to the rescue of
Giddings of Ohio, when Dawson of Louis-
iana, supported by four other Southerners,
pistol in hand, threatened to shoot him for
his denunciation of the "brutal coarseness"
and " moral putridity " of slavery, and when
it looked for a time as if the floor of Con-
gress was to be a general shooting-ground.
He served in the House two terms and
refused a re-election in i84i,to return to
the practice of law. Hut he was the next
fall sent to the Legislature by Rutland and
re-elected in 1848, and again was speaker of
that body, and in 1850 he was elected to the
Senate to succeed. Judge Phelps, and this
was the arena where he won his largest
tame. He was prominent in the debates
over the Kansas question against the ad-
mission of the state under the Lecompton
constitution. He opposed the scheme for
the acquisition of Cuba, justified the action
of Commodore Paulding in the arrest of
William Walker whose filibustering expedi-
tion to South .\merica he recognized as a
scheme of the slavery extensionists. He
was a participant in the discussion of all
Central .\merican matters, and strenuous in
insisting that Klngland should give up her
protectorate over the Mosquito territory.
He served with Jeff Davis as a commissioner
to reorganize the course of study and disci-
pline at West Point. He was a strong
advocate of governmental construction of a
railroad to the Pacific coast. He carried
through bills for the erection of a custom
house at Burlington and court houses at
Windsor and Rutland and for the improve-
ment of the breakwater at Burlington. He
served industriously on the committees on
pensions, post-offices and post roads, revo-
lutionary claims, public lands, pensions con-
tingent claims and foreign relations, rising
steadily by the care and thoroughness of his
work to a position of leadership. He super-
vised the enlargement of the capitol and the
erection of other government structures.
He was chairman of the committee of ar-
rangements for the inauguration of President
Lincoln.
When the extra session of Congress was
convened on account of the war, July 4, 1861,
Mr. Foot was unanimously elected president
pro tempore and through the whole of this,
the whole of the Thirty-seventh and a part
of the Thirty-eighth Congress he continued in
this position. During the trying days of the war
he did not appear on the floor so much as he
had before done, evidently regarding speech-
making as a needless waste of energy when
there was so much work to be done, and the
party in power had things all their own way,
anyhow. On several important occasions,
however, he kicked out of party traces. He
voted against the legal tender act because he
regarded it as clearly unconstitutional, and
against Sumner's bill in i86i to wipe out of
slavery in the proposed new state of \\'est
Virginia as a prerequisite to its admission.
He was a delegate to the Republican national
convention of 1864. One of his last speeches
in the Senate was that of Jan. 12, 1S65, in
favor of terminating the Canadian reciproc-
HRAINERD.
ity treaty. He was with the leaders of his
party in sharp antagonism to President
Johnson and his pohcy, but died March 28,
i<S66, before the crisis in that struggle came,
though he clearly foresaw it.
In him the country plainly saw it had lost
one of its best equipped statesmen. He
may not have had, as Senator Edmunds says,
" that aggressive intellectual combativeness
and analytical subtlety of mind, which, for-
tified by learning, has produced the greatest
lawyers," but he had a sound and practical
mind, an active and vigilant industry, a
habit of thoroughness of preparation for his
duties, together with an intellectual and
moral courage, and a hatred of meanness
and duplicity, that, while it sometimes car-
ried him too far in partisanship, made him
faithful, reliable and useful.
Senator Foot was twice married, first in
1S39, to Emily, daughter of William Fay of
Rutland, who soon after died ; and second,
to Mrs. Anna Dora, daughter of Henry
Hodges of Clarendon, who survived him.
BRAINERD, LAWRENCE.— Briefly sen-
ator, to fill out
Mr. U p h a m ' s
term, for years
the recognized
leader of the Jjib-
erty party in the
state and under
whose auspices
the old Whig
partv was ab-
solved into it,
under the n e w
name " Republi-
can," was a na-
tive of Connecti-
cut, born at East
Hartford, March
16, 1794. He was from a family that has
been called one of " the two great families of
divines" — the Beechers being the other — be-
cause of its great number of clergymen, Con-
gregational, Presbyterian and Methodist,
Among them have been several missionaries,
including David Brainerd, the evangelist of
the aborigines, whose biography was written
by lonathan Edwards.
Lawrence was the fifth of the thirteen chil-
dren of Dea. Ezra and Mabel (Porter) Brain-
erd, but when nine years old went to Troy,
N. v., to live with an uncle, Joseph Brainerd.
Five years later he started out to shift for
himself, went to St. Albans on the proceeds
of walnuts he had gathered and sold, and
with a capital of just twenty-five cents began
the struggle of life. That same year, though
only fourteen, he was sent to Massachusetts,
a distance of three hundred miles, to fetch a
pair of oxen. He made the journey on foot
but executed the trust faithfully. Though
his education had been limited, he fitted him-
self to teach district school and that pursuit
he followed for several winters. Then he
became a clerk in a store, and, in 181 6, em-
barked in business for himself, and with his
foresight, courage and large judgment rapidly
enlarged his operations, acquiring additional
wealth at every step.
He conducted a large mercantile estab-
lishment, doing an extensive barter with the
farmers. He also engaged in farming and
sheep raising, and as "railroad times" ap-
proached took hold of these enterprises with
all his energy. \\'ith John Smith and Joseph
Clark he effected the construction of the
Vermont & Canada R. R., borrowing S500,-
000 on their personal credit before any stock
subscriptions had become available. He was
connected with the Vermont Central either
as director or trustee until his death, and was
among the original projectors and promoters
of the Stanstead, Sheffield & Chambly, and
of the Missisquoi roads. He was also largely
interested before this time in Lake Cham-
plain navigation, built the first upper cabin
steamer that plied its waters, and was a
director of the St. Albans Steamboat Co. for
many years.
His political life began with service as
deputy sheriff in his young manhood, to
which he was recommended by his reputa-
tion for bravery. In 1834 he was elected
representative from St. Albans, but this was
his last office until he became Federal sena-
tor, because in 1840 he abandoned the
\\'hig party, with which he had been aiifili-
ated, on the slaverv issue. He was one of
the three hundred and nineteen in Vermont
to cast their votes for Birney for President
in 1840. He stood as the Liberty party's
candidate for Governor in 1846 and 1S47,
yielding the post to Oscar L. Shafter and
the "Free Soil" movement of 1848, but re-
turning to it in T852 and 1853, holding the
balance of power so as to throw- the election
into the Legislature in 1852, and defeat
the \Vhigs and prevent Ciovernor Fairbanks'
re-election in 1853. The result was the
break- down of the Whigs, the coaHtion of
1854 and the formation of the new Repub-
lican party, over whose first convention in
July of that year Mr. Brainerd presided. He
was a candidate for the state Senate from
his county, but was beaten by the old Whig
animosity. But the new movement had be-
come so strong before the close of the year,
that when a vacancy in the United States
Senate occurred by the death of Senator
Upham, Brainerd was elected to it by a
practically unanimous vote, the first man
who had been sent there on purely abolition-
ist principles.
He was a delegate to the Republican
national conventions of 1856 and i860, and
chairman of the \ermont delegation in the
latter that threw the vote of the state for
Abraham Lincoln. He called the conven-
tion of 1856 to order, was chosen one of its
vice-presidents, and served during the cam-
paign on the national executive committee.
He was, of course, a cordial supporter of the
Union cause through the war, and a less
impatient one than most of the old anti-
slavery leaders, because he foresaw that the
end, in the inevitable logic of events, must
be emancipation. He had, before the war,
kept the last station of the " underground
railroad " on the route to Canada, and many
a poor runaway black had been aided by
him to liberty.
Aher the war he was deeply interested in
the work of the American Missionary Associ-
ation in educating and uplifting the freemen,
and was president of the association and
always a generous contributor to its funds.
He in fact came to be known as among the
most princely of Vermont philanthropists,
and his donations were in many lines of edu-
cational and religious work. He was a bus-
iness man of remarkable ability always, and
his training and habits of thought followed
him in his benefactions. He had to be con-
vinced that the object of charity was a
worthy one, that the money would be judi-
ciously expended, and then his purse strings
were open. Disbursements increased in
magnitude as his means increased, and he
recognized in the possession of wealth a trust
to be executed for good.
He was married Jan. 16, 1819, to Fidelia
Barnet, daughter of William Ciadcomb, and
she died Oct. iS, 1852, having borne him
twehe children, of whom four sons and two
daughters reached maturity. One daughter
married J- Gregory Smith, afterwards Gover-
nor ; and the other, F. S. Stranahan, the
present Lieutenant-Governor. The sons
were : Lawrence, Aldis, Frastus P., and
Herbert, who have all been men of promi-
nence.
COLLAMHR, JACOB.— Judge, both
representative and senator in Congress, post-
master-general under Taylor, the only Yer-
monter before Proctor to serve in the
cabinet, is the man whose statue, as the rep-
resentative \'ermonter, stands with that of
Ethan Allen in legislative hall at Washing-
ton. He was born at Troy, N. Y., Jan. 8,
1 79 1, the son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Yan
Ormun) Collamer, the third of eight chil-
dren. His father was a soldier of the Revo-
lution and of a family that had for genera-
tions been prominent in Massachusetts,
" Collamores Ledge " being named after one
member, Capt. Anthony Collamer, who was
shipwrecked there. Samuel Collamer came
to Vermont when Jacob was about four
vears old. Early in youth, ambition and
thirst for knowledge possessed the boy, and
by his own energy and industry he procured
the means to prosecute preparatory collegi-
ate and professional study and yet was
fitted for admission to the University of
\'ermont at the age of fifteen. He gradu-
ated in 1 8 10, and then studied law with Mr.
Langworthy and later with Benjamin Swift
at St. Albans, being admitted to the bar in
18 13. There was an interruption in 1812
when he was drafted into the detailed militia
service and served in the frontier campaign
as lieutenant of artillery.
In 1816 he moved to Royalton, where he
practiced his profession with growing repu-
tation for twenty years, until in 1S36 he
went to Woodstock. He was for several
years register of probate in the Royalton
district. He represented that town in the
Legislatures of 182 1, '22, '27 and '28. He
was state's attorney for Windsor county
in 1822, '23 and '24. He was a member
of the constitutional convention of 1836,
that did away with the old Governor's
council and established the state Senate,
and took a leading part in effecting the
change.
In 1833, unexpectedly to himself, Mr.
Collamer was elected one of the assistant
judges of the Supreme Court, and regularly
re-elected until 1842, when he declined
further service. If his career had ended
here it would have been distinguished ; as a
nisi prius judge he was extraordinarily well
equipped by habit and training of mind.
.As Judge James Barertt, long his partner,
says of him : "Without any of the qualities
designated fancy, imagination, brilliancy,
or genius, his mind was made up of a clear
and ready perception, acuteness of discrimi-
nation, a facile faculty of analysis, an apt-
ness and ease in rigid and simple logic,
excellent common sense, and withal, a most
tenacious memory of facts. These qualities
of mind enabled him to serve and master all
the substantial purposes of professional and
judicial avocation without his becoming em-
phatically a judicial scholar. What his law-
books contained he knew not, as mere mat-
ter of recollection, their substance became
incorporated as matter of consciousness
into the very substance of his mind, which
thus became thoroughly indoctrinated and
imbued with the foundation principles upon
which the superstructure of his professional
greatness arose."
Says Judge Poland : "His published
opinions while a judge of the Supreme Court,
are models of judicial compositions. For
accuracy of learning, terseness of statement,
clearness and com])rehensiveness of style, I
COLLAMER.
COLLAMER.
do not know where they are excelled. Had
Judge Collamer remained upon the bench to
the end of his life, like Chief Justice Shaw of
Massachusetts, or Chief Justice Gibson of
Pennsylvania, I have no doubt his judicial
fame would have equalled that of those emi-
nent jurists."
But the next year, after a close and hotly-
contested campaign that required two trials
at the polls, and with Ransom and Titus
Hutchinson the candidates against him, he
was elected to Congress and entered upon
the national career that continued, with only
brief interruptions and with steadily enlarg-
ing fame and usefulness, until his death. His
colleagues when he took his seat were George
P. Marsh, Solomon Foot and Paul Dilling-
ham. His first speech was in February,
1844, in opposition to the apportionment
resolution, and it attracted a good deal of
attention. But the argument which fixed his
place in the front rank of the Whig leaders
was delivered in the .April following, on the
tariff, and under the title of " ^^"ool and
Woolens," to which a large part of it was
given. It is, perhaps, the strongest and
most exhaustive argument ever made in favor
of protection to wool growing, and as a his-
torical, constitutional and economic argu-
ment was one of the best Congress has ever
heard on the protective side of the question.
He served on the public lands committee
and was its chairman in the Thirtieth Con-
gress. He originated the system now in
force of mapping the public domain and
thus exhibiting the real location and market
status of every section of land. He was
prominent in the debates on the annexation
of Texas and the Mexican war, taking the
Whig view, of course, but with the modera-
tion and independence of judgment that so
often marked his conduct.
He declined a re-election to Congress in
1S48, but a legislative caucus that fall for-
mally recommended him for a cabinet posi-
tion, and President Taylor on his inauguration
named him for Postmaster-General. Here
again his clear-headed and progressive
thought brought some good ideas to the
administration, and though the service was
brief, it is the testimony of his associate in
the cabinet, Reverdy Johnson, that the "vast
and complicated business of the department
was never more ably conducted." Henry
Wilson says in his history, the "Rise and
Fall of the Slave Power," that Mr. Collamer
"was a statesman of recognized ability and
firmness, and was unquestionably the most
decided of any member of the cabinet in his
opposition to the increasing encroachments
of the slave power."
On the death of President Taylor, in July,
1850, Mr. Collamer resigned with the rest of
the cabinet, and again returned to his law
practice in \'ermont. and was that fall
elected circuit judge by the Legislature.
The choice between the Supreme Court and
circuit judiciary was offered him, but he pre-
ferred the latter and continued to preside in
the county courts, until in 1854 the young
Republican party elected him United States
Senator as an anti-slavery A\'hig, in conjunc-
tion with Lawrence Brainerd of Free Soil
antecedents. He at once entered the arena
over the Kansas troubles, presented a min-
ority report, signed only by himself, upon the
condition of affairs in that territory, and he
was fully a match for Douglass in the great
debate that followed, ushering in the years
of controversy that ended with the admis-
sion of Kansas as a free state in 1861, a
result that was largely developed out of his
efforts. He was not and never professed to
be an abolitionist, but he understood fully
the spirit and purpose and inevitable pro-
cedure of the slave power. He long be-
lieved that it could be met and defeated by
standing on the constitution, but never by
yielding to its encroachments. He and
Grimes of Iowa, and Fessenden of ^Iaine
were most intimate associates through this
era, forming in their conservatism along cer-
tain lines, and their agreement in economic
views a triumvirate not less useful, though less
conspicuous than that of Seward, Chase and
Sumner which finally aroused and brought
to fruition the tremendous moral sentiment
of the North on the slavery question. .\s
has been well said of him, he "united the
best traits of the radical and the conserva-
tive." He was one of the three senators
from New England who voted against the
tariff bill of 1S57.
When his term expired in i860 he was
re-elected for a second term, and filled even
a larger place in national councils. Indeed,
A'ermont ]iresented his name to the Chicago
convention that year for the Republican
nomination for the presidency, and he re-
ceived ten votes on the first ballot of the
convention, the only Vermonter, except Ed-
munds, who has been so honored in the
national conventions of either party. But
his name was withdrawn after the first ballot,
and though there was some talk of him for
the vice-presidential nomination, he was left
to do an important work and one for which
he was best adapted in the Senate, to meet
the storm which was gathering upon the
country.
At first, as Sunset (^"ox says in his "Three
Decades," Senator Collamer was " regarded
as not indifferent to a compromise which
would at least retain the border states, if it
did not stop the moyement of the Gulf states"
toward secession. He and Fessenden were
among the few Republicans who declined
to vote against the " Crittenden compro-
Cdl.I.AMER.
123
mise " of the winter of 1861, proposing by
constitutional amendment to fore\er forbid
any revocation of the guarantees of slavery
within existing limits, its three-fifths repre-
sentation and its perpetual right to recover
fugiti\es, in other words, to intrench the
institution securely in the organic law of
the land. They did not vote for this amend-
ment, but by abstaining from voting at
all, signified their willingness to concede so
much if it would satisfy the South ; and
indeed it would only have been putting
into constitutional phrase the doctrine upon
which all parties had professed to stand up
to that time. He voted and spoke power-
fully in the panic following Hull Run, for the
Crittenden resolution, declaring that the war
was waged only to preserve the Union, the su-
premacy of the constitution, and the dig-
nity, equality and rights of all the states, and
as soon as these objects were accomplished
the "war ought to cease."
But while he was of the conservative ele-
ment of the party, repressing the extreme
measures to which the times naturally tended,
he was resolute and uncompromising in his
stand for the Union. The great act of July
13, 1 86 1, which invested the President with
new powers and gave the war its first con-
gressional sanction, was drawn by him, and
in the words of Charles Sumner, who was so
often in conflict with him, it was "a land-
mark in our history, and might properly be
known by the name of its author as Col-
lamer's Statute." He offered the resolution
in the amended form it finally took regard-
ing the reclaiming and surrender of fugitive
slaves, forbidding any army or naval officer
under severe penalties from assuming to take
any action whatever on the subject.
He opposed in 1862 Sumner's amendment
to an appropriation bill prohibiting the do-
mestic sla\e trade, on the ground that any
law which should undertake in anv wav
to recognize negroes as merchandise in-
stead of "persons," as described in the
constitution, was " totally unauthorized and
unconstitutional." He offered the bill of
1S64, to treat all negroes who had enlisted
on the same footing as other troops. But
he opposed, as did several of the most radi-
cal anti-slavery men, the prohibition of
slavery in West Virginia when it was cre-
ated into a state and admitted to the Union.
He stood out against the bulk of his party
in denying the right of Congress to tax the
state banks out of existence. He opposed
also the Legal Tender Act, making an ex-
haustive argument against it as unconstitu-
tional. He would not admit the " necessity "
or the morality of the greenback issue. He
was not willing that the government should
be like the man who says, " Here is my note,
if I do not pay it you must steal the amount
from the first man you come to and give
him this note in payment."
As the war closed and the era of recon-
struction came on, Mr. Collamer found him-
self more nearly in line with the more
radical section of his party. He denied the
right of the insurgent states to participate in
any presidential election until Congress had
declared that the insurrection was ended.
He demanded of the South in the last
speech he made, " some security for future
peace." His argument for the requirement
of the " ironclad oath " is declared by Henry
Wilson to have been " among the most
lucid and logical presentation, of the reasons
for extra-judicial and extra-constitutional
legislation." He took the ground fully that
Congress could and should control in the
matter of reconstruction. But disease and
death cut short his service before the
struggle over this subject had reached its
great historic intensity. He died at his
home in Woodstock, Nov. 9, 1865.
The judgment of his cotemporaries was
one of profound admiration for his character
and abilities. Senator Morrill, in presenting
to Congress the statue in behalf of the state,
declared him to be its "foremost citizen in
ability, moral excellence, and national dis-
tinction." Mr. Blaine in "Twenty Years of
Congress" sums Collamer up as "an able,
wise, just and firm man, stern in principle,
conservative in action," and again, "to de-
scribe him in a single word, he w-as a w'ise
man." "Conservative in his nature, he was
sure to advise against rashness. Sturdy in
his principles, he always counseled firmness.
In the periods of excitement through which
the party was about to pass, his judgment
was sure to prove of highest value — influ-
enced, as it always was, by patriotism, and
guided by conscience. Without power as
an orator, he was listened to in the Senate
with profound attention, as one who never
offered counsel that was not needed. He
carried into the Senate the gravity, the dig-
nity, the weight of character, which enabled
him to control more ardent natures, and he
brought to a later generation the wisdom
and experience acquired in a long life de-
voted to the service of his state and of his
country."
Of his personality the best picture was
that drawn at a single touch by Representa-
tive \\'oodbridge, in presenting resolutions
upon his death. " Vou all recollect the
sweetness of his face. He seemed, as Sidney
Smith said of Horner, to have the ten com-
mandments w-ritten there." He was a man
who was loved by children, by neighbors, by
all who knew^ him. He was a member of
the Congregational church for the last twenty
years of his life, and he delivered a course of
lectures, as reverent as thev were learned, on
124
^**- »•{•
" The Authenticity of the Scriptures." He
was for some time professor of medical juris-
prudence in the \'ermont Medical College,
at Woodstock, where he ga\e short but
instructive courses of lectures. The Uni-
versity of Vermont conferred the degree of
LL. D. on him in 1S49, and Dartmouth in
i860.
Mr. Collamer wedded, July 15, 1S17,
Mary N., daughter of Abijah Stone, and
seven children were the fruit of this union :
Harriet (Mrs. P^liakim Johnson), Mary (Mrs.
Horace Hunt, of New York City), Edward,
now in Ohio ; Kllen (Mrs. Thomas G. Rice,
of Cambridge, Mass.), and Frances, who
resides at the old family mansion at Wood-
stock. William Collamer died in iSy,-?, being
a man of unusually brilliant i^arts.
POLAND, Luke P.— Chief Justice of the
state Supreme
r - Court, both sen-
I ■ ator and repre-
s e n t a t i V e in
Congress, and a
man of extraor-
(linarily large
brain power,
though without
the qualities of
popular success
in politics, was
born at West-
ford, Nov. I ,
1S15, the son
of Luther and
Nancy ( Potter)
Poland. The father and grandfather were
carpenters and joiners by trade and farmers
as well, and the father was Waterville's first
representative in the Legislature after it was
organized as a town. But the family was in
comparatively humble circumstances and
Luke's educational advantages were limited
to a few weeks each year in the public
school, until he was twelve years old, and a
bare five months in the academy at Jericho,
when he was seventeen. The balance of
his youth was passed as clerk in a country
store at Waterville, and in work upon the
paternal farm and in the saw-mill. But he
was an eager student and gathered such
knowledge from reading and contact with
life that his father approved of his desire to
study law, and he set out on foot with a
capital consisting of just one change of
underclothing, for the neighboring village of
Morristown, and teaching school that win-
ter, began the study the following spring in
the office of Samuel A. Willard.
He was admitted to the bar in 1836 and
by the force of his native ability rose so
rapidly in the ranks of his profession that
twelve years later, in 1848, he was elected
one of the judges of the Supreme Court over
a Whig competitor and by a Whig Legisla-
ture, though he had himself always been a
Democrat until that year when he was can-
didate for Lieutenant-Governor on the Free
Soil ticket. He had before been register of
probate for I>amoille county in i839-'4o;a
member of the state constitional conven-
tion in 1843; states attorney for Lamoille
county in 1844 and '45. His judicial
duties kept him out of active politics for
the next twenty years, though he was still
a Democrat of Free Soil sympathies until
after the formation of the Republican
party when he joined that. In i860 he was
chosen chief justice of the Supreme Court
and held the position until his election as
senator. .Some important questions went
into the crucible of his thought and decision
during these years, among them the power
of eminent domain or the right to take pri-
vate property for public uses and the proper
extent and limitation of that power ; the
adoption of the common law of Kngland by
the United States : the subject of easements ;
the constitutionality of retroactive statutes ;
the acquirement of title by adverse posses-
sion : to what extent promises to pay the
debt of another are governed by the statute
of frauds. His opinion upon the extent of
the constitutional power of the state to au-
thorize its soldiers in camp to vote was re-
garded as a settlement of that \exed ques-
tion, and was followed by several states.
Judge James Barrett says of him : "In
thirty years conversancy with the bench and
bar of Vermont, it has not been my fortune
to know any other instance in which the
presiding judge in his nisi prius circuit has
been so uniformly, and by the spontaneous
acquiesence of the bar, so emphatically 'the
end of the law' in all things appertaining to
the business of these courts. As judge of
the Supreme Court sitting in banc his adapt-
edness to the place was equally 'manifest.
His mastery of the principles of the law, his
discriminating apprehension of the principles
involved in the specific case in hand, his
facility in developing, by logical processes
and practical illustrations, the proper ap-
plications and results of these principles are
^ery strikingly evinced in the judicial opin-
ions drawn up by him, contained in the Ver-
mont reports. His memory of cases in
which particular points ha^•e been decided
was extraordinary, and this memory was ac-
companied by a very full and accurate appre-
hension of the very points and grounds and
reasons of the judgment. Some of the
cases in which he drew the opinion of the
court stand forth as leading cases, and his
treatment of the subjects involved ranks with
the best specimens of judicial disquisition."
I'pon the death of Senator Collamer,
having some years before moved to the east
side of the mountain and made St. Johns-
bury his home, he was chosen by the Legis-
lature to fill out the unexpired term of a
little over a year, and in 1866 was elected
representative to the lower house of Con-
gress and Morrill transferred to the Senate.
While in the Senate he was placed on the
judiciary committee and piloted the bank-
ruptcy bill, of which he was given charge,
to enactment. While in the Senate also he
inaugurated the greatest work of his con-
gressional career, the revision and consoli-
dation of the statutes of the United States.
The plan, a singularly clear and comprehen-
sive one, was his, and passed substantially in
the shape he reported it, the direction of all
subsequent proceedings in the following
seven years was by him, as chairman of the
house committee ; the ultimate decision of
what was and was not law, the sifting out of
statutes that over-lapped one another, or
were repealed because of incompatibility or
inconsistency ; the construing of difficult or
conflicting phrases, the rearrangement of the
statutes by subject and in all the detail and
diversity of chapters and sections, were all
guided ultimately by him. This codification
was a work largely judicial in character, and
as Hon. Lorin Blodgett said in an address
before the Social Science .Association at
Philadelphia, in 1S75, entitled to " a rank
quite distinct from if not higher than any
previous work of the kind known to history."
Both the House and Senate accepted the
work as it came from his hands and it be-
came law June 3, 1874.
judge Poland filled several other important
posts during his House service. He was
chairman of the committee to investigate the
Ku Klu.x outrages, which took e\idence fill-
ing thirteen large volumes, and whose report
had much to do with breaking up that organ-
ization. He took a prominent part in the
discussion of the vexed question of the
Geneva award, advocating the right of the
insurance companies to receive the money
awarded for vessels and cargoes destroyed
by the rebel cruisers where the owners had
received their insurance. He was chairman
of the Credit Mobilier investigating com-
mittee, and drew the report which, though
unanimous on the part of the committee, and
relegating several prominent men to pri\ate
life, was regarded as somewhat of a com-
promise on the merits of the case. In the
winter of i874-'75, after he had been de-
feated for re-election, he was chairman of
the special committee appointed to in\esti-
gate the troubles in .Arkansas, and his report
was in direct antagonism to the views of
President Grant and the party leaders, and
strong in its condemnation of the policy of
military interference with state elections and
state governments. It was a \igorous dis-
play of independence, such as he had not
often been accustomed to in the heat of the
politics of the previous few years, but natural
ot his judicial mind. There had been a
marked incident of a similar kind while he
was in the Senate when he \oted in oi)])osi-
tion to the bulk of his party in favor of
Senator Stockton in the contested election
case from New Jersey.
It was in the Congress of i8-3-'75, while
leading in the Credit Mobilier investigation,
and as his great work in the revision of the
laws was Hearing its end, that Judge Poland
seemed to be on the crest of the wa\e of
advancement. There were even suggestions
of him for the Presidential nomination in
the next campaign. But the prospects were
all dashed at one blow, by the passage of the
"salary grab" bill, so called, increasing the
salaries of members to 87,500 a year and
dating it back to the beginning of that Con-
gress. Judge Poland voted against the bill,
but he would not yield to the storm of pop-
ular fury which arose. U'hile other members
hastened to convert their extra salary back
into the treasury, or give it to their states or
benevolent objects, he felt only contempt for
their terror. "Here," he said, slapping his
trousers pocket, when asked as to the dispo-
sition of his extra pay, "here it is and here
it is going to stay." He had had a sharp
fight against the brilliant Judge B. H. Steele
to secure his renomination in 1872, and
antagonisms and claims of broken trades
arose on every side to confront him.
There had always been weaknesses in him
as a politician. His brainy quality could not
be denied, and personally there was a spark-
ling wit and genial humor that won some
men to him, while it seemed to repel others ;
there were accusations of greed in money
matters, of too much grasping of honors for
himself and of too great fondness for whiskey,
all of which had some basis of truth, though
greatly exaggerated and entitled to weigh but
little in the balance against his extraordinary
intellectual equipment. But in the peculiar
conditions of that year, the political revulsion
that extended through the land, they were
sufficient to defeat him for re-election in one
of the strongest Republican districts of the
country.
He was, however, chairman of the state's
delegation to the Republican national con-
vention of 1876, and was still suggested in
some quarters as a vice-presidential candi-
date : but he himself presented Wheeler's
name to the convention and was largely in-
strumental in securing the nomination for that
gendeman. In 1878 St. Johnsbury sent
him to the state Legislature, where, of
course, he took a leading position. In
126
i882, he made something of a contest against
Senator Morrill for the latter's seat in the
Senate, but unsuccessfully of course. But
a "surprise party" in the convention of the
new second district of that year secured him
the nomination for the House away from
General Grout. But he ser\ed only one term
and despite his great and recognized ability,
and long experience, without especial dis-
tinction ; he seemed to be out of the current,
all the more because it was evident that he
would not secure a re-election.
He was married on the 12th of Janua-
ry, 1838, to Martha Smith, daughter of Dr.
■William Page of Waterville. By this mar-
riage he had three children. ' Of these
Martin L., the eldest, was educated at West
Point Military Academy, and afterward
served as captain of the ordnance corps;
he died at Fort Yuma in August, 1878;
Mary died in August, 1865 ; and Isabel is
now the wife of A. E. Rankin of St. Johns-
bury. Mrs. Poland died in .^pril, 1853.
In 1S54 Judge Poland married .Adelia H.
Page, sister of his deceased wife.
He received the degree of LL. D. from the
University of Vermont in 1S61, was a trus-
tee of the institution, 1878, and founded
the Westford scholarship there in honor of
his native town.
Judge Poland died July 2, 18S7.
REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS.
The following is a complete list of the Representatives in Congress for Vermont. Hio-
graphical sketches of the entire list are given on the following pages, with exceptions noted.
Nathaniel Niles,
1791-95
Orsamus C. Merrill,
1817-19
^Solomon Foot.
1843-47
•Israel Smith,
179J-97
Charles Rich,
i8i7-=s
tPaul Dillingham,
1843-47
Daniel Buck,
"795-99
Henry Olin,
1824-25
§Jacob Collamer.
1843-49
Matthew Lyon,
1797-1801
Mark Richards,
1817-21
William Henry,
1847-5-
1 cwi» !!. Moms,
1797-1803
William Strong,
1819-21
Lucius B. Peck,
1847-51
•l-,%u-l >„nlh.
1801-03
Ezra Meech,
1819-21
William Hebard,
1849-53
Willi. ,m Chamberlain.
1803-05
Rollin C. Mallory,
1819-31
James Meacham,
1849-56
' M.irtm i-'hitlenden,
1803-13
Elias Kcyes,
1821-23
Ahiinan L. Miner,
1851-53
lame, Elliot,
1803-09
tjohn Mattocks,
1821-23
Thomas Bartleti, Jnn..
1851-53
C.kk.m Olin,
1803-07
Phineas White,
1821-23
Andrew Tracey.
1853-55
vMamcsFisk,
1805-og
William C. Bradley,
1823-27
Alvah Sabin,
1853-57
'"lanie. Witherell.
1807-08
D. Azro A. Buck,
1823-29
JJustin S. Morrill,
1855-67
Samuel Shaw,
1808-13
Ezra Meech,
1825-27
George 1. Hodges,
1856-57
William Chamberlain.
1809-11
tJohn Mattocks,
1825-27
Eliaklm P. Walton,
1857-63
Jonathan H. Hubbard,
180^-11
George E. Wales,
1825-29
Homer E. Royce,
1857-61
SJ.an.es Fisk,
1811-IS
Heman Allen of Milt
Dn,
1827-29
Portus Ba.vter,
1861-67
\\ illi nil Strong,
1811-15
§ Benjamin Swift.
1827-31
Frederick E. Woodbridge,
1863-69
W illi nil C. Bradley,
1813-15
Jonathan Hunt,
1827-32
Worthington C. Smith,
1867-73
•1 1,1 Iniilcr,
1813-15
William Cahoon,
1827-33
§Liike P. Poland,
1867-75
■Ki. h ir.l Skinner,
1813-15
Horace Everett,
1K29-43
Charles W. Willard,
1869-75
Charles Rich,
1813-15
tWilliam Slade,
i8)i-43
JGcorge W. Hendee,
■873-79
Daniel Chipman,
1815-17
Heman Allen of Milton,
1832-39
Dudley C. Denison,
1875-79
Luther Jewett,
1815-.7
tHil.and Hall.
1833-43
tCharles H. Joyce,
.875-83
Chauncey Langdon,
1815-17
Benjamin F. Deming
1833-35 ■
Bradley Barlow,
1879-81
Asa Lyon,
1815-17
Henry F. Janes,
1835-37
tjames U. Tyler,
1879-S3
Charles Marsh,
1815-17
Isaac Fletcher,
1837-41
tWilliam W'. Grout,
1881-83
John Noyes,
1815-17
John Smith.
1839-41
IjLuke P. Poland,
1885-85
Heman .nllen of Colchester, 1817-18
Augustus Young,
1841-43
ijohn W. Stewart,
1883-92
tSamuel C. Crafts,
1817-25
tJohn Mattocks,
1841-43
nVilliam W. Grout,
1885-
William Hunter,
1817-19
George P. Marsh,
1843-49
JH. Henry Powers,
1892-
* Biographical sketch v
fill be found amo
ng " The Fathers."
§ Biographical sketch will be found among " The Se
nators."
t Biographical sketch v
fill ht found amo
ng *' The Governors."
X Biographical sketch will be found in Part IL
NILHS, Nathanie L.— Legi-slator,
speaker, councilor, congressman, lawyer,
judge, physician, preacher, inventor, and with-
al something of a poet, was, perhaps, the man
of the most varied attainments of any of the
fathers. He was one of the first settlers of
Fairlee, and having been a legislative leader
during the state's career as an independent
republic, was, with Israel Smith, its first
representative in the Federal Congress.
He was born at South Kingston, R. I.,
.April 3, 1 74 1, the grandson of Samuel Xiles,
the famous author and minister at Braintree,
Mass. He commenced his collegiate course
at Harvard, and, ill-health compelling him to
suspend his studies for a time, graduated at
Princeton. He studied theology under Rev.
Dr. Bellamy, early exhibiting his tendency
toward independent thought and inquiry
along unusual lines. He was also in these
young days a student of law and medicine,
taught school awhile in New York City,
preached for a time at Norwich and Torring-
ton, Conn., and showed his versatility of
mind with mechanical experiments. He was
the inventor of the process of making wire
from bar iron by water power, and he erected
at Norwich, Conn., where he early took up
his residence, a woolen card manufactory.
He was an ardent patriot in the Revolution
and, though there is no record preser\ed of
military service on his part, he was the au-
thor of an ode entitled " The American
Hero," written just after the battle of Bunker
Hill and published in the Connecticut Ga-
zette in February, 1776, which was immedi-
ately set to music by Rev. Dr. Sylvanus Rip-
ley, father of Gen. E. W. Ripley, and was
almost universally sung in the churches of
the eastern states, and is said to have be-
come the war song of the New England
soldiers. Its concluding stanza read :
Life for my country and the cause of freedom
Isbul a trifle for a man to part with:
.\nd if preserved in so great a contest.
Life is redoubled.
He came to West Fairlee with a number
of Connecticut associates just after the Rev-
olution, settled near the center of the town
and purchased a large tract of land. Here
he preached every Sunday in his own house
for twelve years, and became a strong relig-
ious and moral force in the community. He
w-as elected to the Legislature in 1784 and
was immediately chosen speaker. .\s a pre-
siding officer he won the same success as
everyw-here in life, being masterful in parlia-
mentary law, fair in rulings, and efticient and
expeditious in the transaction of business.
In 17S4 he was also elected with Moses Rob-
inson and Ira Allen an agent to Congress to
"transact and negotiate the business of this
state with that body." In the break-up of
128 NILES.
I ySQjwhen Governor Chittenden failed for one
year of re-election, Mr. Niles got a few of the
scattering votes for Governor. The same year
also he was elected one of the judges of the
Supreme Court, and held the position until
1 788. In 1785 and 1787 he was also a mem-
ber of the council, and served in the Consti-
tutional Convention of i79i,and took the
lead with Chipman in securing the ratifica-
tion of the Federal Constitution.
Upon the admission of the state to the
Union he was elected to Congress, serving
two terms from 1791 to 1795. But the close
of his service in Congress did not mean his
retirement from public life. He again rep-
resented Fairlee in the Legislatures of iSoo-
'oi-'o2, and in iSi2-''i3-'i4, was again a
member of the council of censors in 1799,
and was again returned to the Governor's
Council in 1803, and served five years until
1808, while he also took a prominent part in
the Constitutional Convention of 1814.
In politics Mr. Niles, like that other great
Baptist preacher-politician of the state, Ezra
Butler, was a thorough-going Jeffersonian
Republican, all the more influential because
their views were in such marked contrast to
the generality of ministers in New England.
For a period of nearly twenty years Mr.
Niles was perhaps the most steadfast and
most popular champion of Democratic views
in Vermont. His first election to Congress
was before party lines had been definitely
formed in either the state or nation, and his
retirement became inevitable as the Federal-
ists got control of the state, and party pas-
sion was running to a high degree of virulence.
It is worthy of note that all four of the state's
first congressmen, Senators Robinson and
Bradley, and Representatives Niles and
Israel Smith, afterwards took the Jeffersonian
side of pohtics. Naturally, coming from the
healthy mountain atmosphere of freedom,
they were shocked even as Jefferson was, at
the growth of aristocratic ideas and mon-
archical leanings which increasingly charac-
terized the career of the Federalist party, and
ruined its usefulness so quickly after it had
achieved its great work of consolidating the
Union. His political feeling once led him
to what approached rather near sharp prac-
tice for a man of the cloth. It was in 1813,
when the people of Vermont had failed to
elect a Governor by popular vote and when
the issue in the Legislature hung so long
doubtful. Three of the Federalist councilors
had failed to arrive at the opening of the
Legislature, and Niles and Henry Olin on
October 16, moved to proceed at once to
the election and fought hard to bring it
about in joint committee. Probably if they
had succeeded Governor Galusha would have
been re-elected, but they were beaten by a
vote of 108 to 102.
Niles was consistent with the spirit and
hope of his party in those days, in being a
resolute antagonist of slavery. He led in
formulating the demand of the state in 1S05
for a constitutional amendment to forever
prohibit the importation of slaves, or people
of color into the country.
His name appears all through the records
of the "Ciovernor and Council" alike during
his service on the floor of the .\ssembly and
in the Council, as among the busiest of legis-
lators, alike with topics of mere local inter-
est and those of large importance. He was
prominent in 1801 in advocacy of the
amendment to the Federal constitution for
the election by districts of presidential elec-
tors and representatives in Congress, which
passed the Vermont legistature by a vote of
nearly three to one, but failed of assent by
the requisite number of states. He and
Olin made sharp issue with Gov. Martin
Chittenden's address of 1S14, expressing
the extreme Federalist antipathy to the war
of 181 2, and declaring it "unnecessary, un-
wise and hopeless in all its offensive oper-
ations." After fighting the answer of the
legislative committee echoing this sentiment,
they with eighty other 1 )emocratic members
entered their solemn protest against it on
the records of the House. It was a time
that stirred men deeply.
That Niles was not ordinarily indisposed
to the amenities of official intercourse was
shown in 1800, when he was chairman of
the committee to draft a response to Gover-
nor Tichenor's address, and though they
were on opposite sides in politics and it was
the year of a presidential campaign, the re-
port responding to the sentiments of the
Governor was such as was agreed to by the
Assembly without a division. He was also
chairman of a committee to respond to
Governor Galusha's patriotic address in
1 81 2, and being in full sympathy with the
Governor did it in a style that was called
" eminently partisan." He is on record
with -Asaph Fletcher and Samuel Shepardson
in 1804, as "entering a solemn protest"
against some of the lottery legislation of that
year, not so much against the principle of
the thing itself as the extraordinary immuni-
ties granted the sellers of the tickets. He
was chairman of the committee in 1814, that
reported against the constitutional amend-
ment proposed by Tennessee and Pennsyl-
vania to reduce the term of senators from
six years to four, and he was chairman on
the part of the House of the joint committee
to consider the invitation of Massachusetts
to send delegates to the Hartford conven-
tion, and which to the lasting credit of Ver-
mont, by a unanimous vote of the six Fed-
eralists and three Republicans, reported
I
at;ainst having anything to do with this
traitorous scheme.
He was a strenuous opponent of the bank
bill schemes proposed so thickly in the early
years of the century, though he did, finally,
in 1806, assent to the compromise for the
establishment of the Vermont State Bank.
Some of the arguments of his reports read
interestingly now. "Banking operations," he
wrote, are "a vicious substitute for that in-
dustry and economy, which constitute the
best portion of our means of livelihood."
" Credit is not less lial)le than money to be
misimproved, and while the misimprovement
of money merely diminishes property, that of
credit creates debt and when it is employed
to discharge one debt by incurring another,
nothing can commonly be gained. Sudden
changes in the quantity of circulating me-
dium are not less fatal to prosperity than all
such changes in the atmosphere to the com-
fort and health of mankind. They operate
powerfully, to shift property from hand to
hand without at all augmenting the general
wealth of a country ; banking establishments,
to say the least,'possess in a very high degree,
the very dangerous power of producing such
changes, in the circulation of the pecuniary
medium of commerce." The " tendency " of
bank bills would be to " palsy the vigor of in-
dustry and to stupefy the vigilance of econ-
omy." Among the many other measures of
permanent interest with which he was iden-
tified was that of 1803 defining the power of
justices of the peace.
With his work in the Legislature, and the
constitutional convention of 18 14, Judge
Niles, at the age of nearly seventy-four, re-
tired from his thirty years of almost con-
tinuous public service, and passed the rest
of his days until his death, in November,
1828, at the age of eighty-eight, at his com-
fortable home in West Fairlee, and being
until the end among the most revered of
our ])ublic characters. A massive granite
monument, typical of his character, stands
over his grave in the center of the town.
Judge Niles was twice married, first to
a daughter of Rev. Dr. Joseph Lathrop of
West Springfield, Mass., and second to
Elizabeth, daughter of William Watson of
Plymouth, Mass., a lady of the highest ac-
complishments and the intimate friend and
correspondent of the most eminent philoso-
phers and theologians of the period. He
left two sons of considerable intellectual at-
tainments ; one of them, also named Nath-
aniel, became United States consul at
Sardinia, acting plenipotentiary to Austria,
and secretary of legation at the court of St.
James under General Cass.
Judge Niles was quite a voluminous writer
and a large number of his sermons, addresses
HUCK. 1 29
on one occasion or another, essays and
poems were published.
BUCK, Daniel.— One of the state's re-
presentatives to Congress and speaker of the
Assembly just after the admission to the
Union, was one of the earliest settlers of the
state, a lawyer by profession. He repre-
sented Norwich for several years, was active
and prominent in legislation always, and held
the speaker's chair in 1795-6. He was also
in the Legislature again in 1806. He was
in 1792 counsel for Ira Allen in the long
and bitter fight in the Legislature over the
latter's accounts, one phase of which re-
sulted in a political revolution, and ousted
( 'rovernor Chittenden from office for one
term. He was a member of the convention
at Bennington that adopted the act of union,
but took the lead in opposing that action
and urging Vermont to continue an inde-
pendent little republic by herself. He made
the motion in 1 794, though then speaker,
by which it was decided after long debate
not to make provision to pay the debts of
those Tories whose property had been con-
fiscated by the state. He took a leading
part in the passage of the act of 1806, em-
powering judges of the Supreme Court of
judicature to grant divorces. He was one
of the committee in 1805 that drafted the
resolution to concur in the proposal of Ken-
tucky to amend the constitution so as to
limit the jurisdiction of United States
courts by excluding caiises between citizens
of different states. He was also active in
the Legislature of 1806 for the establish-
ment of a state bank. He appears to have
served the state as attorney-general in 1794,
as the records of the (lovernor and council
show an act in October, '95, directing pay-
ment for the last year.
His service in Congress from 1795 to '99
was in no way noteworthy, except that as
parties formed he became an ardent Feder-
alist, while his colleague Matthew Lyon was
a red-hot Democrat.
Soon after his last term in the Legislature
expired he was committed to jail at Chelsea
for debt, and obtaining the liberties of the
prison took up his residence there and kept
up the practice of his profession until his
death in 181 7.
BrcK, D. .^ZRO A., son of the former, also
speaker and representative in Congress, was
born at Norwich in 1789, and was a young
man when his father moved to Chelsea. He
graduated from Middlebury in 1807, and also
from West Point in 1808, when he entered
the army, being appointed second lieutenant
of engineers ; but he resigned his commis-
sion in 1811. The state offered him a com-
mission as major in a volunteer corps ordered
by the Legislature. The next year, Aynil 13,
I30
he became a captain in the 21st Regt. in the
U. S. Army, which was made up of Ver-
monters, and served creditably through the
war, but finally abandoned the military pro-
fession in 18 1 5, and at the age of twenty-
six established himself as a lawyer at Chel-
sea, and though not profoundly learned
reached a reasonable success. His easy and
courteous address, with the demeanor of the
real old-fashioned gentleman, made him quite
effective as an ad\ocate and won rapid polit-
ical promotion. He was for six years state's
attorney for Washington county, and was
Chelsea's representative in the Legislature
fourteen years, and was speaker in i820-'23,
i825-'2 7, and i829-'3o, a length of service
equaled only by (lideon Olin and James L.
Martin in the w-hole history of the state.
He was with William Strong and Stephen
Royce a member of the committee in 1S16
that drafted the report in favor of electing
congressmen and presidential electors by
districts, as proposed by the constitutional
amendment that had been sent up by the
Kentucky I^egislature. He was one of the
presidential electors in 1820 that cast the
vote of the state for Monroe. He was twice
elected to Congress, in 1822 and 1826. In
1836 he moved to Washington, where he
was connected with the Indian Bureau of the
War Department, and he died there Dec. 24,
1841.
LYON, Matthew.— Elected to Congress
from three states, the peppery, red-headed
little Irishman, whose ups and downs in life
with his big ideas and his untiring enterprise,
made a career that can but kindle the admira-
tion of the reader even as it did of some of
his cotemporaries, while it stirred the pro-
found animosity of others. He came to this
country a poor boy, indentured for his pas-
sage money, and touched, before he got
through, most of the extremes of human
experience. His apprenticeship indenture
was transferred a few months after he reached
here for a yoke of steers and his favorite oath
in after years was " By the bulls that bought
me."
He was born in Wicklow, Ireland, about
1 746 ; his parents were poor and his father
died when he was a boy. He attended
school at Dublin where he got an English
education and a respectable smattering of
Latin. He was then apprenticed to a printer
and bookbinder, where he got a taste for
the " art preser\ative " that followed him
through life ; but at the age of thirteen a sea
captain, with glowing tales of .America, in-
duced him to run away and come here, even
though it meant several years slavery to pay
his passage. Lyon in after years would be-
come sentimental instead of combative for a
few moments whenever he recurred to this
experience and his last visit to his mother's
chamber to kiss her good-bye while she
slept. On the sea voyage he was very sick
and tenderly ministered to by some aban-
doned women on board who also suppHed
his necessities for new clothing, most of his
old having been rendered unfit for use by
his illness. This was one of the extremes of
life which he touched, and perhaps it helped
to give him the broad human sympathy that
always accompanied his resolute aggressive-
ness. He ne\er told, or if he did it is not
remembered, of his first fifteen years in this
country, the working out of his indenture
and his struggles for a livelihood.
But he was in Vermont in 1776, for he
then held a lieutenant's commission under
Captain Fassett and was stationed at Jericho
w'ith a squad of men to hold a post of obser-
vation there. The men refused to serve be-
cause of the unsupported position, and
cleared out, leaving Lieutenant Lyon to
report the facts. It was strongly surmised
that the officers were as willing as the men
to get away from the post and Lyon and the
others were court martialed and cashiered
for cowardice. The story, which his political
enemies were careful to keep alive all
through his career was that he was presented
with a wooden sword, and made to ride
about the camp, and he was called in derision
the " Knight of the wooden sword." But
Ceneral Schuyler reinstated him, and in July,
1777, appointed him paymaster of the North-
ern army.
Before the end of that year and after the
battle of Bennington, we find him in .Arling-
ton and a laborer on the farm of Governor
Chittenden, with whom he had apparently
come to take possession of the confiscated
estates of the Tories and who made him also
deputy secretary for the Governor, and clerk
of the court of confiscation until 1780. He
got himself into one of his scrapes in later
years and suffered some opprobrium, because
he refused to give up the records of this
court.
He married the widow lieulah Galusha,
daughter of the (Governor, an intelligent,
warm-hearted and benevolent, though rather
coarse woman, and was soon a rising man.
He had before wedded a woman by the name
of Hosford, who died after bearing him four
children.
He became a captain and colonel of the
militia and served the state in its contests
with New York.
He represented .Arlington in the Legisla-
ture in i779-'82, serving on important com-
mittees. He was one of the original gran-
tees of Fair Haven under the new state's
authority and "moved there in 1783, having
already established a saw and grist mill there.
He erected an iron mill in 1785 and a
paper mill soon after. He manufactured
paper from bass wood, and with some suc-
'cess, long years before it was thought of any-
where else, and in his iron mill he turned
out hoes, axes and various agricultural im-
plements, but the business was mainly the
making of iron, from the ore imported from
abroad, into nail rods which were then man-
ufactured into nails by hand. During the
time of his prosperity he employed a large
number of hands. He drew distinctions of
honor between his business and his public
relations that could well be emulated in these
days of subsidy and special privileges. Once
he endeavored to get a legislative act giving
him the exclusive right of slitting iron in the
state and he counted every member from
Bennington county as a supporter of the
bill because a political friend. But after
hearing the arguments on both sides he
refused to support the measure himself and
when his name was reached in the roll call
he asked to be excused, because his con-
science would not permit him to so use the
trust of the people for his private benefit.
He was for years the king-bee of Fair Haven,
was selectman in 1788, 1790, and 1791, the
town's representative in the General Assembly
ten years continuously from 1783 to 1796,
except 1785, 1786 and 1789, and he gave
most of his time to town affairs till the ad-
mission of the state to the Union. He was
•a man of multifarious activities. Besides all
his other business enterprises he started in
1 793 a newspaper called " The Farmers
Library " and later through his son James,
a political sheet, the " Fair Haven Gazette."
In I 786 he was assistant judge of the county
court. He plunged into politics as soon as
the state was admitted to the Union,
became a red-hot Democratic leader, and
immediately a candidate for Congress. He
contested the election with Israel Smith and
Isaac I'ichenor in 1791, '93, '95. Party
lines had not been very clearly formed then,
but 'I'ichenor stood for the Federalist ten-
dencies, and between Smith and Lyon who
were in political sympathy, it was a matter
of personal choice. Lyon announced his
candidacy as that of the "commercial,
agricultural and manufacturing interests in
preference to any of the law characters."
At the first election, in August, 1791, he had
a plurality — 597 votes to 513 for Smith and
473 for Tichenor ; but at the second trial
Tichenor withdrew and Smith was elected by
a majority of 391 over Lyon. The next
election, in January, 1793, also required two
trials, but Smith was elected. Lyon's re-
markable strength among his neighbors was
shown by the fact that in 1793 he got 355 of
the 376 votes cast in Fair Haven.
In 1795 he was elected in a close contest
in which he and Smith were the onlv candi-
dates, the vote being 1,804 to 1,783, and he
took his seat in 1797, having grown steadily
in the \iolence of his hatred of the Federal-
ists. His first appearance in debate was in
a long speech replying to the President's
message. He and Andrew Jackson in the
Senate had the distinction of being the two
most rabid anti-Washington men in Con-
gress. In January, i 798, he had a personal
fray with Roger Griswold of Connecticutt
that ruined his position in that body. In
the course of a debate Griswold twitted him
with the "wooden sword" story. Lyon spit
in his face. Griswold started to give him a
thrashing, but was prevented by his col-
leagues. A motion of expulsion against both
was lost by a less than two-thirds vote, though
it had a majority. In an address to his con-
stituents the February following justifying his
conduct, Lyon said that if he had borne the
insult he should have been "bandied about
in all the newspapers on the continent, which
are supported by British money and federal
patronage, as a mean poltroon. The district
which sent me would ha\e been scandalized."
But perhaps the thing with which Lyon's
name is most strikingly linked in history is
his martyrdom to the alien and sedition law.
At the October term of the United States
court at Rutland in 1798 he was indicted
for " scurrilous, scandalous, malicious, and
defamatory language " about President
Adams, written in June, fourteen days be-
fore the passage of the law, but published in
the \\'indsor Journal the last of July. The
language, though Lyonesque decidedly, was
no worse than has been used thousands of
times in every political campaign without
other effect than an amused pity that men
will so lose their heads, and the prosecu-
tion was an illustration of the dangerous
and vicious tendency which Federalist
ideas had taken after their great service
in consolidating the Union. The article was
about appointments and removals and the
use of religion to make men hate each other
— all legitimate though exaggerated argu-
ment— and the offensive words about Presi-
dent Adams were these : " Every considera-
tion of public welfare swallowed up in a con-
tinual grasp for power, unbounded thirst for
ridiculous pomp, foolish adulation or selfish
avarice."
He was also accused of having " malic-
iously" procured the publication of a letter
from France which reflected somewhat
severely on the government. Lyon pleaded his
own case at the trial, but was convicted and
sentenced to four months imprisonment and
a S 1,000 fine. He was committed to jail at
\'ergennes and treated with inexcusable hard-
ship. But the prosecution only increased
his ])opularity. While in the jail, he was
re-elected to Congress bv fi\e hundred ma-
jority. The sentence expired in February,
1799, and he only saved himself from re-
arrest by proclaiming that he was on the way
to Philadelphia, as a member of Congress.
His journey was one of triumph in a coach
and four under the American flag and with a
succession of fetes along the way, especially
at Bennington. He was for the time being
a party and popular hero. Another effort
was made to expel him, but without success.
In the prolonged contest over the presiden-
tial election of iSoo, he became prominent
by finally casting the vote of the state, which
had been divided in the House, for Jefferson,
and in after years when out of temper with
that great leader, he said, " I made him, and
can unmake him." This was of course an
exaggeration, as Bayard, of Delaware, also
cast the vote of that state for Jefferson,
while Maryland voted blank, and Jefferson
had nine of the sixteen states, without ^'er-
mont.
But his neglect of his extensive business
while in jail and so immersed in politics, with
the bitter antagonisms engendered by the
prosecution, had ruined him financially and he
determined to quit Vermont and start anew
in life. So putting his affairs into liquida-
tion, and settling his debts as best he could,
on the expiration of his term in Congress he
moved to Kentucky, established the first
printing office in the state at what is now
Eddyville, and again engaged in extensive
business operations and was again elected to
Congress in 1804, serving until 18 10. He
again fell into business disaster, owing to his
failure during the war of 1812, to deliver to
the government in season some ships he had
contracted to construct, and he again struck
out to new fields, going to Arkansas, whence
he was, in 1820, chosen the first delegate to
Congress, but died at Little Rock, August i,
before taking his seat. One of his sons,
Chittenden Lyon, was also afterward a mem-
ber of Congress. Another, Matthew, was a
man of considerable business prominence in
Kentucky, and a Jackson elector. General
H. B. Lyon of Kentucky was also the latter's
son.
That this "ardent, combative, rough and
ready Irishman" as Pliney H. White charac-
terizes him, this "rough and wilful man" as
A. N. Adams, the historian of Fair Haven,
styles him, was a man of extraordinary
qualities as his career sufficiently attests.
Among the men with whom he came into
friendly contact he was wonderfully popular.
He was a forceful writer, an independent
thinker, full of moral courage, and physical
also, notwithstanding the episode of 1776.
He dispensed a generous hospitality always.
He was a business genius, and unsuccessful
mainly because instead of looking out for
himself alone he was always ambitious to
build up prosperity around him. Perhaps
the personal ugliness that so often appeared
in him was due to the fact that like Ethan
-Allen he was often a deep drinker. One of
the traditions still preserved at .Arlington,
where perhaps much of the old Tory feeling
is handed down, is that of often seeing
.Allen, Lyon and most of the old Vermont
heroes staggering drunk through the streets
in squads after their meetings of state.
In 1S40, Congress refunded to Colonel
Lyon's heirs the fine that he paid under the
sedition law.
MORRIS, LEWIS R.— Six years congress-
man, prominent in the last days of Ver-
mont's independence, and in the negotia-
tions which resulted in her admission to the
L'nion ; was a native of New York, where he
was born, Nov. 2, 1760, of one of the most
illustrious families of the colonial period.
The family influence secured a grant of land
for him in Springfield, which was settled
under a charter from New York, and he
came to the new state about 1786, and at
once became prominent in business and
political affairs of both the town and county.
Though his land tides originated in New
York authority, he came to the state after
the controversy had practically ceased, and
no distinction w^as made against him on this
account. He was a member of the Benning-
ton convention that voted to ratify the
Federal constitution ; was influential in carry-
ing the \ote, and was one of the com-
missioners to Congress that completed the
negotiation for admission to the Union in
1791.
He represented Springfield in the General
.Assembly in i795-'96, i8o3-'o5-"o6-'o8. He
was secretary of the Constitutional Conven-
tion held in Windsor in 1793. From 1797
to 1803 he was a member of the National
House of Representatives, and though an
ardent Federalist in politics, he assisted in
ending the long contest over the presi-
dential election of 1800, and to defeat the
Federalist intrigue to supplant Jefferson with
Burr, by absenting himself on the thirty-
sixth ballot and allowing Lyon to cast the
vote of the state for (efferson. He was
subjected to much bitter criticism at the
time, for this action ; but history has amply
justified it with the revelations of after years
about Burr's character.
Many are the anecdotes told of General
Morris, all going to show that he was kind
and considerate to those in humble circum-
stances with whom he had to deal. He was
a complete gentleman ; the ease and grace
of his manner under all circumstances made
him a general favorite. Soon after settling
in Springfield he married the daughter of
Re^•. Buckley Olcott of Charleston, N. H. A
CHAMBKRLAIN.
iiS
few years later his wife died, and he later
married Ellen, daughter of (len. Arad Hunt
of Vernon. He had children by both wives,
but the descendants of the family have all
left the state.
The last years of (General Morris's life
were devoted to rural pursuits on his farm
on the banks of the Conncticut, where he
died, Dec. 29, 1S25, surrounded by mem-
bers of his family.
CHAMBERL.AIN, WILLIAM.— A Revo-
lutionary soldier, general of militia, councilor,
judge, congressman and Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor, was born at Hopkinton, Mass., in
1753, and, when twenty years old, moved
with his father to London, N. H. He en-
listed promptly when the war for independ-
ence opened, was in the Canada expedition
as an orderly sergeant, and one of nine
officers and privates out of a companv of
seventy that survived to take part in the
battle of Trenton, N. ). He soon after re-
turned to his New Hampshire home, but
volunteered again upon Burgoyne's invasion,
and was in the battle of Bennington where
he distinguished himself by his bravery, and
brought away some trophies of personal com-
bat with the enemy. He settled in Peacham
about 1780, being clerk of the proprietors of
the town, and was town clerk for twelve
years ; justice of the peace twenty-four years ;
town representative twelve years, 1785 and
'87 to 1796, and in 1805 and 1808; chief
judge of the Caledonia county court seven-
teen years, 1787 to 1803, and in 1814, and
councilor seven years, from 1796 to 1803.
He was twice elected to Congress, first in
1802 and again in 1808, serving only one
term in each case. The Federalist victory
of 1 81 3 elected him Lieutenant-Governor
with Martin Chittenden, and they were re-
elected in 1 8 14. He was an Adams presi-
dential elector in 1800. He was for nearlv
two decades one of the party leaders — facile
and resourceful in tactics, and very strong
before the people. But he came to the front
in the period of his party's decline, which
was particularly rapid in Vermont after the
war of 18 1 2, and this fact prevented his at-
taining further distinction. The close and
hard-fought election of 1815 retired him to
private life finally, though he ran a little bet-
ter than Chittenden. He was for fifteen
years president of the Caledonia County
Bible Society, and of the board of trustees
of Peacham Academv. He died Sept. 27,
1828.
Personally he was a man of clean and up-
right life, sincere in all his relations, both
public and pri\ate, interested in the forward
movements of humanity, and of a simple
and earnest religious faith. He had two sons
of some distinction : Mellin, a I\Iaine law-
yer, who was drowned in Europe in 1840,
and William A., jirofessor of languages at
Dartmouth, who died in 1830. Judge Mel-
lin Chamberlain of Boston was a grandson.
ELLIOT, James. — in Congress three
terms, 1803-9, ^ "i^n ^^'ho had to shift for
himself from the time he was seven years old,
and yet, without educational or professional
advantages, was in Congress before he was
thirty, and was for some years the foremost
Democrat of his part of the state. He was
born at Gloucester, Mass., Au.^ust 18, 1775.
His fatherwas a seafaring man and lost his life
while the boy was yet an infant. The widow
moved to New Salem five years later, and ill-
health rendering it ditificult for her to sup-
port the family, young James was placed in
the family of Colonel Sanderson of Peters-
ham, as the youngest and most menial
farm servant. He was, however, taught the
rudiments of grammar by his employer. His
mother had before taught him to read, and
the few books within his reach, the Bible,
Pilgrim's Progress, Josephus' Wars of the
Jews, Rollins' Ancient History, Dilworth's
spelling book, and the catechism, were pe-
rused and reperused until he was the thorough
master of their contents. This he was able
to supplement in later years with other
books of travel and history, and it may be
said to have constituted his education.
He came to Guilford at the age of about
fifteen, and got a position as clerk in a
retail store, where he had the advantage of
an acquanitance and conversations with a
remarkable circle of literary people, includ-
ing Royall Tyler, John Phelps, J. H. Palmer,
John Shepardson, Henry Denison, and Miss
Elizabeth Peck. According to his own ac-
count, young Elliot had come to be pretty
lawless about this time and spent a good
share of his leisure in gambling. It was
only a brief aberration, however ; he had too
much mind to find lasting enjoyment in
such things. His youthful readings had
filled him with military ardor, and at the age
of eighteen he enlisted at Springfield, Mass.,
as the first non-commissioned officer in the
Second L'. S. Sub-legion, commanded by
Capt. Cornelius Lyman, and was in the ser-
vice for three years against the insurgents in
Pennsylvania, and the Indians in Ohio. Re-
turning to Guilford, he published in 1798 a
volume of two hundred and seventy pages,
called "The Poetical and Miscellaneous
Works of James Elliot," including a diary of
his military service, twenty-five short essays
called "The Rural Moralists," a number of
fiigitive political pieces, and some twenty
poetical effusions, chiefly versifications of the
Odes of Horace, but including several original
pieces, lines of glorification on the adoption
of the Federal constitution, an Ode to
Equality, another to General Lafayette,
etc. The diary part of the work is notable
for the views it expresses on the Indian
question, uncommon for the time, and such
as would make him a leader in these times
in the Indian Rights Association. The es-
says, poems and fugitive pieces had been
published in the Greenfield Gazette, and the
New England Galaxy.
Mr. Elliot had from his youth enthusiastic-
ally taken the Democratic or Republican side
in the political division, though he was of too
candid a cast of mind to ever be so bigoted
a partisan as was usual in those days. He
was also a warm admirer and follower of
Nathaniel Niles and took the lead in politi-
cal discussions in this part of the state, and
in 1S03, ha\ing in his leisure moments read
law, was admitted to the bar and settled in
practice at Brattleboro. He was elected to
Congress to succeed Lewis R. Morris. On his
retirement from congressional ser\ice, in
1809, he published a paper for a w-hile in
Philadelphia, then entered the army in the
warofi8i2asa captain, but after a brief
service returned to Vermont and resumed
the practice of law at Brattleboro, being
sent to the Legislature by that town in 1818-
'19 ; afterwards removed to Nevvfane, rejjre-
sented that town in i837-'_38; became
county clerk, register of probate, and in the
last two years before his death state's attor-
ney.
He died at Newfane, Nov. 10, 1839,
aged sixty-four. His wife, a daughter
of General Dow, survived him for thirty
years, and both are buried in the Prospect
Hill cemetery at Brattleboro. One daugh-
ter, Mrs. D. Pomroy, of New York, was at a
recent date the only survivor of that family.
Mr. Elliot was a man of fine intellectual
equipment, thoroughly honest and sincere,
and with the force of character to make his
mark. The mistake of his life was that his
energies were so scattered. Samuel Elliot,
so long a distinguished citizen of Brattle-
boro, was his brother.
OLIN, Gideon. — Congressman, and one
of the founders of the state, was born in
Rhode Island, in 1 743, and came to Vermont
and settled in Shaftsbury in 1776. His ability
and force of character were such as to at
once bring him to the front in Vermont af-
fairs, and he was a delegate to the '\^'indsor
convention of June 4, 1777, and a represen-
tative in the first Legislature under the new-
state government in 1778. He was also ap-
pointed a commissioner of sequestration that
year. He was major of the second regiment
under Colonel Herrick, in 1778, and after-
wards under Lieutenant-Colonel Walbridge,
and was often in service on the frontier dur-
ing the Revolutionary war. During the
WITHERELL.
state's independence he was one of its most
trusted leaders : being in the General Assem-
bly fourteen years, from 1780 to 1793, and
speaker six years, from 1788 to 1793 ; judge
of the Bennington county court from 1781
to 1798. After the admission to the Union
he was equally prominent, serving in the coun-
cil from 1793 to 1798, being again judge of
the county court from 1800 to 1S02, and
chief judge from 1807 to 181 1 — a total judi-
cial service of twenty- three years. He was.
a delegate to the Constitutional Convention
of 1 791 and 1793, and was in Congress two
terms, from 1803 to 1807.
He died in January, 1823. Martin Matti-
son says in his sketch of Shaftsbury. "Gideon
Olin was one of the firmest supporters of the
state, and in the hours of political darkness,
not a star of lesser magnitude ; possessed
great natural talents, an intuiti\e knowledge
of mankind, was nobly free in his opinions^
and decided in his conduct."
Congressman .Abraham B. Olin of New
York was his son. Congressman Henry Olin,.
of this state his nephew, and the descend-
ants of distinction from him and his brother^
of Shaftsbury, have been numerous.
WITHERELL, JAMES.— Patriot of the-
Revolution and the war of 181 2, doctor,,
councilor, congressman and United States
territorial judge, had a stirring career.
Born at Mansfield, Mass., June 16, 1759, of
an old English family, he enlisted at the age
of sixteen in the Revolutionary service, and
continued in it from early in the siege of
Boston, and being severely wounded at
White Plains, until peace was won and the
army disbanded at Newburgh in 1783, when
he came out an officer in the Continental
line, with just S70 in continental currency
as pay for his eight years of fighting, bleed-
ing and suffering for his country. With this,
it is said, he "treated a brother officer to a
bowl of punch, and set out penniless to fight
the battle of life." He studied medicine
with Dr. Billings of Mansfield, and in 1789
settled in practice at Fair Haven, where the
next year he wedded Amy, daughter of
Charles Hawkins, a lineal descendant of
Roger Williams. He was the hearty associate
and coadjutor of Matthew Lyon in politics,
a red-hot uncompromising Democrat. He
represented Fair Haven from 1798 to 1802;
was assistant judge of the Rutland county
court 1801-3, and chief justice 1803-6;
councilor 1802 till 1807, when he was elected
to Congress, where he had the pleasure of
voting for the act abolishing the slave trade,
which was passed in 1808.
But before his term was completed Presi-
dent Jefferson appointed him one of the
judges of the territory of Michigan, with
executive and legislative duties to perform
1
iiiiii;ARn.
as well as judicial, antl with a jurisdiction
extending over a vast wilderness from the
Great Lakes to the Pacific Ocean and con-
taining a population of only about three
thousand in all. Here he helped to lay out
the new city of Detroit. Here also he had
an opportunity to again serve his country
bravely in the war of 1812, and he embraced
it. He commanded a corps at Detroit and
when the post fell before the British, he
refused to surrender his command but
allowed his men to disperse and escape
while he and his son and son-in-law re-
mained to be taken prisoners. He again
lived in Fair Haven a few years while paroled,
but when exchanged returned to Detroit to
resume his mixed judicial and political duties
which he continued with increasing use-
fulness and honor until, in i<S26, President
John (^uincy .Adams appointed him secretary
of the territory. He died at Detroit Jan. 9,
1838, aged seventy-nine. One of his sons,
Benjamin F. H. A\'itherell of Detroit, was
a judge of the circuit court of Michigan and
a man of much influence.
SHAW, Samuel. — Physician, councilor,
congressman, and Democrat of the Matthew
Lyon school, was born at Dighton, Mass., in
December, 176S; came to Putney with his
parents in 1778, and nine years later, when
he was only nineteen years old, though he
had had but a limited education, settled him-
self at Castleton and began, after two years
of study, the practice of medicine. He soon
became a leading politician of that locality,
and Lanman says in his "Dictionary of Con-
gress" that he was "one of the victims of the
sedition law. For his deunciation of the
administration of John .Adams he was im-
prisoned, and liberated by the people with-
out the forms of the law." Walton says he
is unable to verify this statement, but there
was probably a demonstration of some kind
to furnish a foundation for it. \)t. Shaw was
Castleton's representative from 1800 to 1807,
when he was elected to both Houses, but
accepted the office of councilor. He was,
however, defeated for re-election the next
year, when the Federalists elected ten of the
twelve councilors. But he was immediately
elected a re]3resentati\e to Congress, ser\ing
from 1808 to 18 13, being high in the confi-
dence of Jefferson and Madison, and vigor-
ously supporting the war measures of the
latter.
He had, while in private practice, won
quite an extended reputation as a surgeon,
and on his retirement from Congress was ap-
pointed a surgeon in the LTnited States army,
being stationed at different times at New
York, Greenbush, St. Louis, and Norfolk,
and attaining an eminence that was remark-
able, considering his earlv ilisadvantages. He
was indis]:iutably a man of decided native
ability and with physical powers to corre-
spond. He once rode on horseback from
St. Louis to .Albany, N. V., in twenty-nine
days. He continued in his duties as sur-
geon throughout the war and until 1816. He
died at Clarendon, Oct. 22, 1827.
HUBBARU, Jonathan Hatch.—
Jurist, born in Windsor, in 1768; died
there Sept. 20, 1849. After receiving a lib-
eral education he studied law and was ad-
mitted in 1790, and practiced his profession
with success until his election to Congress in
1808. He served until 181 1, and in 1813
became judge of the Supreme Court of Ver-
mont, continuing in office until 1845.
STRONG, William.— At two different
times in Congress, was born at Lebanon,
Conn., in 1763, the son of Benajahand Polly
(Bacon) Strong, descended in the sixth gen-
eration from Elder John Strong of North-
ampton, the .American ancestor. Benajah
Strong was also one of the first settlers of
Hartford in this state, coming there in 1764
when William was a baby. The latter was
necessarily self-educated, denied even the
advantages of a common school in youth,
and gaining from contact with men and life,
and from the reading of such books as he
could borrow, the knowledge that made him
a man of power and usefulness in his later
years. He was in early manhood, for several
years extensively engaged in making land
surveys in Grand Isle county, a ])rofessional
work for which he had fitted himself by his
own exertions. Returning to Hartford and
engaging in farming he quickly liecame a
man of inlluence in the town and county ;
represented Hartford in the Legislature in
1798-99, 1801, '02, '15, '16, '17, and '18,
and taking a leading position among that re-
markable coterie of Democrats or Republi-
cans, including (Salusha, Leland, Butler,
Skinner, Richards, and Meech, who so long
ruled the state. He w-as also sheriff of \Vind-
sor county for eight years, from 1802 to
iSio, judge of the Supreme Court of Wind-
sor county in 181 7, and a member of the
council of censors in 1834. He was first
elected to Congress in 181 r, and served two
terms with James Fisk, Samuel Sha\v, Will-
iam C. PJradley, Butler, Skinner, and Charles
Rich for his colleagues a part or all of the
time. In 1819 he was again returned. ser\-
ing one term.
He died Jan. 28, 1840, at the age of
seventy-seven. He was a man of sterling
integrity, hearty and cordial in manner,
thoroughly democratic in his instincts and
bearing, broadly generous in views and ac-
tion, and of ample mental cajiacity. He
was throughout his public career connected
136
n^^^<-(rJifmC^u
with events of large importance, and always
acquitted himself creditably in them.
He married, June 17, 1793, Abigail
Hutchinson of Norwich, who bore him nine
children. Of these, Jasper, a man of
superior abilities, was an extensive govern-
ment contractor before the war, and two
others, John P. and Charles, were woolen
manufacturers at Quechee, and the latter,
the in\entor of valuable improvements in
vertical and horizontal motion. One daugh-
ter, Emily, was the wife of Hon. A. G.
Dewey.
BRADLE\', William C— Twice a con-
gressman, long the leader of the Jacksonian
Democracy of the state, and its perennial
candidate for tlovernor, in the opinion of
Pliney White, " all things considered the
greatest man \'ermont has produced," and
whom \Vebster declared to have one of the
greatest minds in the country, was born at
Westminster, March 23, 1782, the son of
Senator Stephen R. and Merab (Atwater)
Bradley.
His youth contained abundant promise of
his brilliant future. He began to write
poetry when only six years old and at twelve
his first prose work was published under the
title of : "The Rights of Youth, composed
revised and submitted to the candid reader
by William C. Bradley, Esq., author of the
poem on Allen's and Tichenor's Duel." At
nine he had read the Bible through seven
times and thoroughly saturated his young
mind with the noble imagery, the right
thought and sublime eloquence better im-
bibed from the Scriptures than any other
source on earth. At eleven he w-as fitted for
college : at twelve he was studying Hebrew
and at thirteen he entered Vale, but was ex-
pelled before his freshman year was ended.
At seventeen he delivered the Fourth of
July oration at the U'estminster celebration,
followed by an ode which he had composed.
Both exhibited a remarkable maturity of
137
thought. At eighteen he was secretary of
the Commissioners of bankruptcy, ser\ing
for three years, and before he was of age he
was state's attorney for Windham county,
being specially appointed by the Legislature,
though he had been refused permission to
practice before the Supreme Court because
of his youth. He held this position for
seven years. .\t twenty-four he rei)resented
his town in the Legislature. At thirty he
was a member of the Governor's Council
and at thirty-two was sent to Congress.
His expulsion from college (for some
prank, of w^iich he always claimed that he
was not guilty, though he admitted that he
deserved it on general principles) greatly
enraged and mortified his father, who for
discipline ga\e him a dung fork and set him to
work on a manure heap and finally expelled
him from home. He went to .Amherst, Mass.,
and entered upon the study of law with
Judge Simeon Strong, and soon showed the
manly, sturdy stuff in him, sufiiciently to win
back the stern parent's forgi\eness, so that
on Mr. Strong's appointment to the Supreme
Court young Bradley returned to his home at
Westminster and continued the study of the
law, being admitted to the bar in 1S02. He
was for a number of years town clerk of
Westminster, and it was in i8o6-'o7 that he
represented the town, and in 181 2 that he
was in the council. Besides all his other
accomplishments he had, through his father's
intimacy with the great men and events of the
time and by constant and instructive corres-
pondence with that great statesman while at
Washington, acquired an understanding of
politics on their practical and personal, as
well as their philosophic side, that was an
education of itself. Few men ever entered
public life so thoroughly and admirably
equipped or so certain of winning the largest
fame ; but he soon developed a strong dis-
taste for office holding, while his love of
home life was unceasing. Besides, after the
formation anew of party lines after the ad-
ministration of John Quincy Adams, he was
in the minority party, and pleased to be so,
though he enjoyed leading the Democracy in
its up-hill fight, and did so with \ery great
skill at times and with a relish that was in
inverse proportion to his chance of being
elected. He was the Democratic nominee
for Governor in 1S30, i834-'35-',36, twice
in i837-'38 driving the choice to the Legisla-
ture, holding the organization together against
the .Anti-Masonic wave, playing warily but
unsuccessfully against Seymour to get the
remnants of that mo\ement when it should
collapse, and still heading the ticket after the
Whigs had gained a secure ascendency in the
state. But when the extension of slavery
became the issue of our politics he was
prompt to join the Free Soil jjarty of 184S,
and afterward the young Republican party,
in company with many others of his old
associates, and he headed the Fremont elec-
toral ticket in 1856.
He was first elected to Congress as a Jef-
fersonian Democrat in 181 2, and was an
ardent supporter of the war policy of the
Madison administration. He was the friend
and intimate associate of Clay, .\dams, Web-
ster, Calhoun, Graudy, Forsyth, Pickering
and men of that stamp, who were all won and
charmed by his wonderful versatility. It may
be that he shone too much in the drawing room
and social circle for the best achievements
in committee and on the floor. At the ex-
piration of his term he was appointed agent
of the United States, under the treaty of
(;hent, for fixing the northeastern boundary,
a work that required five years, and which
he regarded as the greatest service of his
public life. He went in person to the wild
region in dispute and laid down the line
which, rejected by (^reat Britain and dis-
puted over almost to the point of war, he
had the satisfaction of finally seeing adopted
by the .Ashburton treaty. He was again
elected to Congress in 1822, and re-elected
in 1824, and this substantially closed his
office-holding, though he again represented
Westminster in the Legislature of 1850 and
was a member of the constitutional conven-
tion of 1857. During his last term in Con-
gress he had a rupture with President .Adams
over what he considered a breach of faith
on the latter's part. This was the immediate
occasion of his retirement, and naturally also
of his allegiance to the Jacksonians, as
party lines were reformed, though his sym-
pathies and antecedents were such as would
have made him a Democrat anyway. He
had some part in the tariff debates of that
time, though always moderate in his views,
which he well summarized in after years in
his eulogy of Webster, when he said, "Tariffs
are, of necessity, alway matters of expedi-
ency, and an unchanging one would in time
defeat itself."
In 1858, he took formal leave of the bar,
after fifty-six years of constant practice, ex-
cept when called away by public duties,
with the most brilliant success, and always
as the acknowledged head. The banquet
and toasts on this occasion at Newfane
formed one of the most interesting annals
of the Windham county bar. The sunset
years that followed were indeed beautiful.
He had been called a free thinker, because
he was willing to read and to discuss can-
didly all that was written on the great prob-
lems of life, the works of the German infidels
as well as the Scriptures whose thought and
feeling had been interwoven with every fiber
of his mind in childhood. He was a truth
seeker always, but never a scoffer. "Theol-
138
ogy'' he once said "is the noblest profession,
law is second to it." "My boy," he said to
a pert fellow once, "never make sport of the
religious worship of any sect, no true gentle-
man will do it." Shortly before his death
he remarked to a minister "As I grow older,
my faith grows simpler ; I come nearer and
nearer to the simple truth of salvation by
Christ." A correspondent of a New York
paper, who visited him about this time,
wrote, "He was portly and florid, as if fed on
roast beef and port; but redeemed from the
sensual by a massive, noble-formed head.
He had a keen bright eye, which gave me
at once a glance into that capacious brain,
as I have sometimes peeped through the
window of a conservatory and caught a vis-
ion of rich masses of foliage and rare flowers.
* * * It is delightful to see this man in the
green November of life, hale and hearty,
ripened and mellowed, with all the juices of
a kindly nature flowing in a full, strong cur-
rent in his veins. Such a spectacle does
one good ; we understand better the capac-
ity and power of the human soul to enjoy
and impart enjoyment."
He died at Westminster in March, 1867,
at the old homestead where he had remained
after bringing the remains of his fondly
loved wife from Brattleboro, for interment
in the family tomb in the .August preceding.
She was a daughter of Hon. Mark Richards,
a woman of rare beauty of person, and had
mingled in the politest society of the time,
to whom he plighted troth when they were
school boy and girl together and between
whom love and devotion grew till at the age
of eighty-four death separated them. There
were four children of whom only two, Jona-
than Dorr and Merah Ann, who afterwards
married Judge Daniel Kellogg, survived
until maturity.
Mr. Bradley with his rich imagination and
vast stores of learning from English, French,
German, Latin, Greek, Arabic and Hebrew
literatures, his keen wit and wholesome
nature, was a good deal of a poet and some
of the scraps which he dashed off, notably ".-\
Ballad of Judgment and Mercy," may fairly
be counted among the gems of our litera-
ture.
Rev. Pliney H. \\'hite in the estimate above
quoted of him, says: "Williams may have
equalled him as a lawyer, Collamer as a
reasoner, Phelps as an orator and Marsh may
be a peer in multifarious learning ; but
neither of them, nor any other Vermonter,
living or dead, who has come to my knowl-
edge, has been at once lawyer, logician,
orator and scholar to so eminent a degree.
His personal presence was that of a remark-
ble man."
And E. P. Walton says, " Rich in the
wisdom that comes from learning, reflection
and intercourse with the ablest men of the
country, he had also a ready wit and a large
fund of anecdotes, so that in public ad-
dresses or social converse he was charming."
Rev. J. F. Fairbanks, says "He possessed
a wonderful memory, accompanied with rare
conversational powers. His capacious mind
seemed an inexhaustible reser\'oir of learn-
ing, wit and wisdom, which poured forth in
a full torrent from his powerful, yet melodi-
ous voice, that would hold the delighted
hearers entranced for hours."
J. Dorr Br.adlf.v, was of the third gen-
eration of this remarkable family, and by
many good judges rated as the most brilliant
intellectually of all, with the large practical
i»«i^
J. DORR BRADLEY,
talent of his grandfather, and the rich origin-
ality of his father developed into positive
genius. He held no public office higher than
that of representative in the Legislature from
Brattleboro, though he was several times the
Democratic candidate for Congress from his
district. Indeed, he had very little ambi-
tion for official place which he could have
readily commanded after the formation of
the Republican party, of which he early be-
came a member. He was also utterly without
care for money. His tastes and desires were
all intellectual ; the only acquisitions for
which he cared were those of law, literature
and science, with liberal enrichment from the
humorous and the knowledge of contact with
life.
lonathan Dorr Bradley was born at West-
minster in 1803, the son of William C.
139
llradley. He graduated from \'ale, studied
law in his father's office, began practice at
lieliows Falls, but mo\ed to Brattleboro
about 1S32. It was in 1856 that he repre-
sented that town in the Legislature, and
greatly distinguished himself in the debate
over the new state house question. He was
prominent in the \'erniont and Massachu-
setts R. R. enterprise, and was on the first
board of directors of the company. Pro-
fessionally, he stood for years admittedly at
the head in this portion of the state, and one
of the two or three leaders of the brilliant
bar of ^'ermont. As a pure lawyer, a rea-
soner from foundation principles, he was
great and masterful, and added to that, in the
words of the tribute of a committee at the
session of the U. S. circuit court after his
death, "his varied and elegant acquire-
ments as a scholar, his general and attractive
qualities as a man * * professional labors en-
riched by learning so complete, by wit so
rare, and sense so full, and inspired always
by so thorough an appreciation of what be-
longed to the lawyer and the gentleman," it
is not to be wondered that he won so large a
fame. E. P. Walton says of him : "His
reading was extensive and recherche, his
memory was retentive, his style of conversa-
tion was playful and captivating, and always
appropriate to his theme, his perceptions
were quick and vivid, his illustrations apt
and beautiful, and his whole air and manner
reminded us of the school of elder time.s in
which he had his training." He was always
fond of mechanical and scientific investiga-
tions, and especially strong, of course, in
those lines of law that were allied to these
studies. He was facile in adapting himself
to all grades of intellect, a keen judge of
human nature, and so a jury advocate of
tremendous power. Thousands are the
anecdotes that still linger in local annals
of his wit and readiness at repartee. Withal
he was something of a poet and dashed off
at different times soine good specimens of
verse, especially of a satirical kind.
He married at Bellows Falls, in icSii;,
Susan Crossman, who bore him four children :
William C, a Harvard graduate in 1851, now
librarian at Brattleboro : Richards, of EJoston
and Brattleboro : Stephen Rowe of New York,
and of the firm of Hall, Bradley & Co., exten-
sive manufacturers of white lead ; and .Arthur
C, an .Amherst graduate in 1876, and now of
Newport, N. H., and who has won fortune
by the genius of mechanics and scientific
experiments which he inherited from his
father.
Mr. Bradley died after three weeks of ill-
ness from fe\er, in September, 1862.
RICH, Charles. — Congressman for ten
years, was a thoroughly representati\e Ver-
monter in the first ijuarter of this century
with its \igorous 1 )emocratic growth, healthy
hard-working pros]jerity and beautiful home
life. He was born in Warwick, Mass., Sept.
13, 1 77 1, and came to Vermont with his
father, Thomas, in 1787, going all the way
to Shoreham on foot. Charles at the age
of twenty-nine vvas elected representative
from Shoreham to the Legislature and was re-
elected eleven times. He served as county
judge six years. He was first elected to
Congress in 18 12, and constantly re-elected,
except for the term of i8i5-'i7, till 1825.
He was there a member of practical useful-
ness, a ready debater, well and (juite widely
informed, with a habit of thoroughly study-
ing every subject that came before him, so
constantly growing more active and promi-
nent in service. He had only a limited
education, attending school only three
months when he was fifteen years old, his
aid being required by his father in erecting
mills, clearing land, etc., but he was always
a great reader, especially of .Addison's Spec-
tators, had a retentive memory and a faculty
of analysing and assimilating his informa-
tion, and he early began to discipline his
mind by committing his thoughts to writing.
.As a youth he was often called upon for ora-
tions on public occasions. His mind was
well balanced and considering his opportun-
ities, a well trained one, his knowledge of
human nature was penetrating, and his fine
personal ajjpearance and his open bland
manners fitted him for the great popularity
he so long enjoyed. He continued, along
with his ]Hiblic duties, the mill business
which his father established, and he took a
cold from working in the water for several
days on some repairs, and died from the con-
sequences Oct. 15, 1824, aged fifty-three.
He wedded at the age of twenty a daugh-
ter of Nicholas Wells, to whom he had been
attached since childhood and toward whom
he was a lover to his last day, and the affec-
tion evidenced by his correspondence with
her and with the children is inspiring for
the depth and richness of life's possibilities
which it shows. He commenced life with
one cow, a pair of steers, six sheep and a few
articles of furniture, on about forty-five
acres of land which Mrs. Rich's father had
given them, but by industry and prudence
from this small beginning he became a \ery
wealthy man.
OLIN, Henry. — Both Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor and congressman and a leader of the
Jeffersonian Democrats to their long con-
trol of the state, vvas born in Shaftsbury, May
6, I 768, the son of Justice and Sarah (l)win-
ell) Olin, and a nephew of the distinguished
patriot, Gideon Olin. The family was a
Rhode Island one. Henrv settled in Leices-
140
ter in 1788 and it was there that he passed
his active life and won his distinction.
He was chosen to the Legislature in 1 799
and steadily re-elected, except four years,
until 1825 and was elected to the council in
1820 and '21. This twenty-three years of
legislative service was matched by a similar
period on the bench. He was elected assist-
ant judge of the county court in 1801, when
only twenty-three years old, and held the
place eight years, then being chosen chief
judge and serving for fifteen years more. In
1824 he was elected to Congress to fill the
unexpired term of Charles Rich. He was
chosen Lieutenant-C.overnor in 1827, and for
the three years subsequently. His popularity
was so great that he had the nearly unani-
mous vote of his town for Governor in 1827.
He was a member of the constitutional con-
ventions of i8i4,'22,and '28. He became
a \\'hig after that party was formed and
about that time retired from public life after
nearly forty years of almost uninterrupted
service.
He was undeniably a strong man — one of
the "self-made," so-called — winning his way
upward, in spite of his limited early educa-
tion, by his native wit, shrewdness and
vigorous common sense. He was almost
Lincolnlike in his exhaustless fund of stories
and apt illustrative humor. He had a great
unwieldy frame, but such was the sense of
power that went with it that it is said, wher-
ever he went, men, women and children
would abandon any task to look at him. He
mixed his Jeffersonian Democracy with zeal-
ous Methodism, and of his nine children
one, .Stephen Olin, I). D., became a famous
Methodist divine in the South, professor of
belles lettres in Franklin College, Ga., presi-
dent of Randolph, Macon and Wesleyan
Colleges, and author of "Travels in Holy
Land " and other books.
Henry Olin died at Salisbury in August,
1837, having moved there the spring before.
CHIPM.^N, Daniel.— Brother of Na-
thaniel, the youngest of seven sons who were
all distinguished men, congressman for one
session, legislator, speaker, biographer of
his brother. Gov. Thomas Chittenden, and
Seth Warner, and a law writer of some note.
He was born at Salisbury, Conn., Oct. 22,
1763, fitted for college with his brother,
Nathaniel, at Tinmouth, graduated from
Dartmouth in 1788, studied law with his
brother, opened an office in Poultney in '90
but moved to Middlebury in '94. He rep-
resented Middlebury in the Legislature
several times between 1798 and 1808, and
also in 1812-13-14-18 and 21, was speaker
of the House in '13 and '14, and was a
meiiiber of the Governor's council in 1808.
In 1814 he was elected to Congress, but
had to resign because of ill-health after one
session. In 1828 he moved to Ripton,
where he had large property interests and
where he did most of his literary work.
His biographies cannot be praised as either
very interesting or instructive, though of
course they have preserved a few facts from
loss, especially in the history of the state
under Chittenden.
In 1822 he published a treatise on law
contracts for the sale of specific articles
which is highly esteemed by the profession
and was commended by Kent, Story and
other jurists. In 1823 the Legislature ap-
pointed him reporter of the decisions of the
Supreme Court, the necessity of which work
he had strenuously urged, and he had pub-
lished one volume of reports when ill-health
compelled him to resign. His law pactice
was extensive and in his younger years took
him regularly to all the courts in Rutland,
Bennington, .Addison and Chittenden coun-
ties. He was state's attorney for Addison
county for twenty years, from 1797 to 181 7.
He was a member of five different Consti-
tutional Conventions in 1793, 1814, 1836,
1843 and 1850. In attending the latter at
the age of eighty-four he incurred the
disease that ended in his death. In the
convention of 1843 he was conspicuous in
the debate over the amendment for the
establishment of the state Senate which was
adopted by a small majority. E. P. Walton,
who saw him there, says he strongly re-
sembled John Quincy Adams in personal
and intellectual qualities, and " with equal
advantages in culture and experience in lofty
statesmanship, Mr. Chipman would certainly
have won high repute in the nation." His
ideas were considerably different from his
brother's, or rather ran to an extreme from
the same premises, for his writings are not-
able for the distrust they express of democ-
racy, while some of his brother's grandest
achievements had their roots in that trust.
In state politics Daniel Chipman will proba-
bly be longest remembered for his part as
speaker of the Assembly in carrying through
the seating of Gov. Martin Chittenden. The
details of the affair are given in the sketch
of Governor Galusha. Chipman's part was
to refuse to yield his chair to the Governor
for a joint assembly the second day, holding
that the report of the canvassing committee
the first day, that there was no choice, was
conclusive, and that the two Houses had no
power to canvass the votes or to act on the
subject otherwise than by concurrent resolu-
tions to meet and elect a Governor. In
other words he held that the Legislature
had no power to act on the report of its own
committee ; if there had been a deliberate
and palpable falsification of the figures there
would have been no escape. In this case it
jEWErr.
amounted to nearly the same thing, for the
action prevented any consideration of ques-
tions of law and- fact, whether (certain votes
should be counted or not, on which the
result turned. To the lay mind it looks like
a curious doctrine for so great a lawyer as
Mr. Chipman. .-Xt any rate it was unexpected
for the joint assembly had adjourned to the
next morning for just that consideration and
Speaker Chipman's action assumed to dis-
solve it. 15ut he said he had satisfied him-
self by an examination of the constitution
during the night that this was the proper
action, and Governor Calusha and his sup-
porters were unable to help themselves with-
out violence. Afterwards, while the dispute
over the election was in progress, Chipman
ended it by escorting Chittenden to the
chair and having him sworn in as Governor.
He was a liberal supporter of Middlebury
College and a member of the corporation
from the beginning. He received the degree
of I.L. D. from it in 1849.
He married, in 1796, Elatheria, sister of
Rev. Lemuel Hedge, of Warwick, Mass., sister
of Prof, Levi Hedge, of Harvard.
J E W E T T, Luther. — Congressman,
physician, preacher, and editor of St. Johns-
bury's first paper, was born at Canterbury,
Conn., in 1772, graduated at Dartmouth in
1792, and came to St. Johnsbury in 1800.
He began his career there with the practice
of medicine and kept it up more or less all
his active life. He was later licensed to
preach by the Coos .Association, and supplied
the pulpits of Newbury and other towns for
ten years. In 1827 he started the first paper
in St. Johnsbury, which he styled the Friend,
and issued chiefly to combat .iXnti-Masonry,
to which he was strenuously opposed, though
he gave considerable attention to slavery and
intemperance. The next year, July 3, 1828,
he issued the first copy of the Farmers' Her-
ald, Whig in politics, but ably edited, and
which he continued for four years, when de-
clining health compelled him to abandon it.
In 1815 he was elected to Congress from the
northeastern district of the state, but served
only one term. He was a man of varied ac-
quirements, scrupulously just, and all through
his later years was one of St. Johnsbury's
most honored citizens. He died in i860 at
the age of eighty-seven.
LANGDON, HON. ChaunCY.— Rep-
resentative in Congress, i8i5-'i7, state leg-
islator and councilor, was a man of very
considerable power, who was kept from the
public employment his talents merited, by
the fact that he was a Federalist in a strongly
Democratic locality.
Among the families that came early from
Connecticut to the New Hampshire Grants,
I.ANGDON. 141
when it was probable that they would soon
be admitted into the .Vmerican Union as a
new state, were the Langdons. Chauncv
was the second son of F^benezer I.angdon of
Farmington, Conn., where he was born Nov.
8, 1763. Having by his own efforts, secured
for himself a collegiate education, graduating
at Vale in 17S7, and studied law at Litch-
field, he determined to seek his fortune in the
new state, and removing to "the Grants" in
1788, he pursuaded his parents and his five
brothers and sisters to go with him, Thev
went first to Windsor, where his parents and
older brother, Ira, remained. The young
lawyer, however, with the younger members
of the family settled in the new \illage of
Casdeton, between Rutland and Skeensboro.
Here Mr. Langdon became an influential
member of the community, in consequence
not only of his superior education and abili-
ties, his force of character and his unflagging
industry and energy, but even more on ac-
count of his capacity for public affairs and
his proud integrity and thorough uprightness.
He was register of probate, i792-'97, and
judge of probate in 1798 and 1799. He
represented Castleton in the General .Assem-
bly in 1813 and '14, '17, '19, and '20, and
'22. He was elected to Congress with the
full Federalist delegation in 1814, during the
last war with England. But it was nearly the
last effort of Federalism in Vermont. The
delegation went out at the end of its first
term and the party thereafter went rapidly to
pieces. But Mr. Langdon who had been a
councilor for one term in 1808, was again
elected to this body in 1823 and continued
until his death in 1830, While in Congress,
and indeed so long as the party lasted, he was
a Federalist of the most pronounced type,
strong and sturdy in temper and character,
a representative Vermonter of the day. He
was a trustee of Middlebury College for nine-
teen years, from 181 1 until his death; and
for many years president of the State Bible
Society.
"Squire Langdon" brought with him from
Connecticut a young wife, Lucy Nona
Lathrop, daughter of the Rev. Elijah Lath-
rop of Hebron, who, as "Lady Langdon,"
is remembered by some yet living. Besides
children who died in early life, they left one
daughter and two sons : Lucy, who married
Charles K. Williams of Rutland, afterwards
chief justice and Governor of the state :
Benjamin Franklin, who succeeded his
father as lawyer and judge at Castleton ; and
John Jay, who removed from Vermont to
Washington, D. C, and afterwards to the
South.
The Hon. Chauncy I^angdon died July
23, 1830. and with his wife, who survived
him four years, is buried at Castleton.
L YON , ASA. — Representative in Congress
1815-'! 7, member of the Governor's Council
one year in 1808, for eight years a member
of the lower house of the Legislature, for
four years chief judge of the Grand Isle
county court, a preacher who preached a
life-time without pay, and yet died the
wealthiest man in his county, was one of the
unique characters of our history. He be-
longed to that remarkable generation of
clergymen, including Nathaniel Niles, Ezra
Butler and .Aaron Leland, that had so de-
cided an influence in the state's adolescent
period. He was always a hard fighter in
theology and politics and in money getting,
a man as cordially hated and roundly de-
nounced by his enemies as ALatthew Lyon
(to whom he was in no way related), and
yet within his range exercised the completest
influence and commanded the most devoted
following, which was very likely only strength-
ened by his eccentricities.
Rev. Asa Lyon was born at Pomfret, Conn ,
Dec. 31, 1763, graduated from Dartmouth
in I 790, and for nearly a year, from Octo-
ber, 1792, to September, 1793, was pastor of
the Congregational church at Sunderland,
Mass., where he got into some controversy
that resulted in his leaving. Soon after he
appeared at Grand Isle, which was origin-
ally united with North and South Hero in
one town under the name of the Two Heroes,
then divided into two and finally into three
towns. Here he organized the Congrega-
tional church, and was its first minister and
continued to serve it for over forty yeais,
though he was never installed as pastor, but
was elected by the members. \Vhen after
a few years a difficulty arose about its sup-
port he declared that his pastoral services
should be gratuitous and so they ever con-
tinued to be. One of his motives in this
action was to match the Methodists, who
were in those days declaiming against sala-
ries. But while he proclaimed a free gospel
he had an eye for the dollar in other direc-
tions, and was all his days a shrewd and ex-
acting, though strictly just, business man,
frugal to the point of penuriousness and
never giving money to any charitable object,
regarding his contribution of services as
sufficient for him.
He secured a fine tract of the most valua-
ble land in North Hero, richly timbered, and
built a house of cedar logs containing just
two rooms and a lobby, in which he lived
and wrote, reared his family, and transacted
his business until in later years, after he had
got wealthy, he built a brick house. He
never made pastoral calls, except in sickness,
but required people to come to him on
church matters as well as other business,
summoning each one by letter, for which he
used about a tenth of a sheet of foolscap.
His economy of time was as severe as of other
things, and enabled him to do thorough work
in each of his multifarious employments.
With all the rest he had, because his wife (a
Miss Newell from Charlotte) was crazy for
many years, to carry the cares of the family
and the rearing of five children. He was
not too stingy to own a copy of the Edin-
burgh Encyclopedia, and he studied it and
made himself master of vast masses of its
information. With his assimilative powers
of mind, his vigor and positiveness of logic,
he was regarded, as he was in fact, a very
learned man. Theologically, he belonged to
the Jonathan Edwards school, and he was
the moulder of the religious thought not
only of his congregation, but of the minis-
terial associations of that part of the state.
He was also for a long period its foremost
public man and its political leader. He
represented South Hero in the (General As-
sembh' 1799 until 1S03, 1804 until 1807, and
in 1S08 for a short time until he entered the
council. He was Grand Isle's representa-
tive from 181 2 until 18 15, when he was
elected to Congress, being the third of the
council of 1808 who succeeded in the same
Congress. He was chief judge of the county
court in i8o5,-'6,-'8 and '13, being in
nearly continuous public service for eighteen
years.
In politics he was a thorough-going Fed-
eralist, and W'ith Chipman and .\rad Hunt
was in constant tilts in the Legislature with
143
such leffersonian champions as WilUain C
I'.radlev, James Fisk, Fzra IJutler, Aaron l.e-
land, Henry ( )lin, Charles Rich, Mark Rich-
ards, Titus Hutchinson, and Samuel Shaw,
who all but two afterward became congress-
men.
He leil the opposition to Governor
Cialusha in the Legislature of iSii, and
moved a substitute to the address of the
committee in reply to the Governor's ad-
dress. When he was elected to Congress,
so the story goes, he decided that he must
have a new suit of clothes. So he sheared
the wool from one of his sheep, did the card-
ing, spinning and weaving in his own family,
]irocured butternut-tree bark for the dyeing,
and had the suit made up by a woman who
was owing him. Thus he fitted himself out
for service in the halls of national legisla-
tion without the expenditure of a penny in
cash. Though his service in Congress ex-
tended only through two years, it was
enough to impress his colleagues with his
powers. -Another anecdote illustrates this :
( )ne of the committees on which he served
had a bill to frame of more than ordinary
importance, and a member remarked ;
"Lyon will draft it so strong nothing can
break it. Let us go down to him to-night ;
but we must buy the candles."
The late Charles Adams of Burlington
said : "There have been two men in the
state whose intellect towered above all
others ; one, 'Nat' Chipman of Tinmouth,
the other .Asa Lyon of Grand Isle." Said
one of his old parishioners : "People would
talk about Father Lyon and his peculiarities
but when he arose in his pulpit every one
forgot the man, or the peculiarities in the
man ; with such a dignity he looked down
upon his assembly, with such a commanding
power of eye, voice, thought, he drew every
one up to him and carried them with him.
All, whether pulpit audience, political op])o-
nent or theological controversialist to be
brought over, were not more irresistibly
than agreeably drawn to his conclusions."
Rev. Simeon Parmalee in his sketch of him
for the Gazetteer, describing his personal
appearance, said : "He was a great man in
stature and in powers of mind. He had a
dark complexion, coarse features, powerful
build, more than six feet in height, large
boned, giant-framed and a little stooping."
He died April 4. 1841, in his seventy-
eighth year.
MARSH, Charles.— Congressman one
term, but greatest as a lawyer, standing undis-
jnitedly at the head of the bar of the state
tor many years, was a member of one of the
remarkable families of the state, being the
son of Lieut. Gov. Joseph Marsh. "He was
born at Lebanon, (^onn., July 10, 1765, but
came to Hartford, in this state, with the
lamily in 177,5. lie was graduated from
Dartmouth, in 1786, took a course in the
famous law school of Judge Reeves at Litch-
field, Conn., and established himself in
])ractice at Woodstock. His honors were
nearly all in the line of his profession up to the
time of his election to Congress. He was ap-
jiointed in 1797 by President Washington to
the then comparatively unimportant position
of district attorney for the district of Vermont,
ser\ing until 1801. In 1814 he was electecl
to Congress but served only one term. While
in Washington he became identified with the
.American Colonization Society as one of its
founders. He acquired great popularity as
a patron of benevolent societies generally, and
was a highly influential and useful citizen.
He made three notable speeches while in the
House, on the tariff, the war with Mexico,
and the Smithsonian Institution, the latter a
particularly thoughtful one. He was chosen
one of the board of trustees of Dartmouth
College in 1809, and continued as such until
his death. 'Lhe degree of LL. D. was con-
ferred on him by this institution.
He was twice married — first, June 18,
I 793, to Xancy Collins of Litchfield, Conn.,
and second, after her decease, to Susan,
widow of Josiah Arnold of St. Johnsbury,
and daughter of Dr. Elisha Perkins of Plain-
field, Conn. There were two children by
the first wife, and five by the second. One
son, Lyndon Arnold, was a lawyer at Wood-
stock for thirty-three years, and register of
probate for that district. Another son,
Charles, a lawyer at Lansingburg, X. \'.,
died at the age of twenty-seven. Joseph,
the third son of the second marriage, was
professor of theory and practice in the Uni-
versity of Vermont. The youngest son,
Charles, spent his life on the paternal estate.
The daughter by the first marriage married
Dr. John Barnell of Woodstock, and the
daughter by the second marriage, who died
when only thirty-four, was the wife of Wyllys
Lyman, a Hartford lawyer.
Mr. Marsh died at Woodstock, Jan. 11,
1849, in the eighty-third year of his age.
NOYES, John.— Representative in Con-
gress 1815-'! 7, and for years one of the
leading business men of the southeast part
of the state. He was born at Atkinson, X.
H., a descendant of one of the earlv settlers
of Massachusetts, and of an unusually learned
and scholarly family. He was graduated at
Dartmouth in 1795, and became a tutor
there, and had among his pupils Daniel
Webster, who in after life admitted his debt
intellectually to the tutor. Mr. Xoyes en-
gaged in theological study and fitted himself
for the ministry, but gave it up because of
ill-health and returned to teaching, had
144
charge of the Chesterfield, N. H., Academy
for a time, and in 1800 moved to Brattleboro
to engage in mercantile trade with (leneral
Mann, the grandfather of the wife of Gen.
George B. McClellan. There were several
famous connections through the firm of
Noyes & Mann. A partner of one of its
branches, at Wilmington, was Rutherford,
father of President Rutherford B. Hayes.
Mr. Noyes' oldest son was John H. Noyes,
founder of the (.)neida, N. Y., Perfectionist
community, which had its first start at Put-
ney. His eldest daughter was Mrs. L. G.
Mead, mother of the famous sculptor of that
name.
The firm did a heavy business, with stores
at Brattleboro, Wilmington, \\'hitingham and
Putney, and rapidly amassed wealth.
Mr. Noyes represented Brattleboro in the
General Assembly of 1 80S-' 10 and 181 2,
and in 1815 was elected to Congress, serv-
ing one term as contemporary with Clay,
Randolph and other celebrities. On his
return from Washington he moved to Dum-
merston, where he lived for four years, and
then retired from active life to a farm in
Putney, where he died Oct. 26, 1841, at the
age of seventy-eight. He wedded, in 1804,
Polly, the oldest daughter of Rutherford
Hayes, the grandfather of the President.
ALLEN, HEMAN.— "Chili" Allen, as he
was called to distinguish him from his distant
relative and long political opponent, but per-
sonal friend and for many years close neigh-
bor, Heman Allen of Milton, who was also
in Congress, was a son of Heber Allen and
nephew of Ethan and Ira, born at Poultney
in 1779. After the death of his father he
was at an early age adopted into the family
of his uncle Ira at Colchester and given a
good education, graduating from Dartmouth
in 1795. He adopted the profession of law,
but did not practice very extensively as he
was in public life nearly all his days.
He was sheriff of Chittenden county in
1808 and 1809; from 1811 to 1814 he was
chief justice of the Chittenden county court ;
from 181 2 to 181 7 he w^as an active mem-
ber of the state Legislature : was appointed
quartermaster of militia, with the title of
brigadier, and was a trustee of the Univer-
sity of Vermont. He was first elected a
representative in Congress from Vermont in
1S17, but resigned in 181S to accept from
President Monroe the appointment of United
States marshal for the district of Vermont.
In 1823 he received from the same President
the appointment of minister to Chili, which
he resigned in 1828 ; in 1S30 he was ap-
pointed president of the L'nited States
Branch Bank at Burlington, which he held
until the expiration of its charter, after
which he setded in the town of Highgate,
where he died of heart disease April 9, 1852.
His remains were brought to Burlington and
interred in the Allen cemetery there. He
had much of the .Allen ability.
HUNTER, Willi A.M.- -Was born in Ver-
mont ; was a member of the Legislature in
1807, 1809 : was a state councilor in 1809,
1 8 14 and 1815 ; was elected a representative
from Vermont in the Fifteenth Congress,
serving from Dec. i, 1817 to March 3, 1819.
MERRILL, ORSAMUS C— Printer, law-
yer, judge, congressman and councilor, was
born at Farniington, Conn., June 18, 1775,
came to Bennington in April, 1791, and was
apprenticed to .Anthony Haswell. On com-
pleting his apprenticeship he engaged in
the printing business for himself, and his
first printed book was a U'ebster's spelling
book. He then studied law and was admit-
ted to the bar in June, 1804.
He entered the military service in the
war of i8i2-'i5, and was made major in the
eleventh Ignited States infantry, March 3,
1813; lieutenant-colonel of the twenty-sixth
infantry as riflemen, Sept. 4, 18 14, and
transferred back to the eleventh infantry as
lieutenant-colonel, .Sept. 26, 1814. He was
register of probate 1815 ; clerk of the courts
1816 ; member of Congress i8r7-'i9 ; repre-
sentative of Bennington in the Constitu-
tional Convention and General Assembly in
1822 ; judge of probate court in 1822, 1841,
1842 and 1846: state's attorney 1823 and
'24; councilor 1824 and 1S26, and member
of the first state Senate. Governor Hall
states that he was also postmaster for sever-
al years. He was a candidate for re-elec-
tion to Congress in 18 18, and the joint
assembly declared him elected, but R. C.
Mallory, the opposing candidate, contested
his claim, showed that the result was de-
clared for Merrill before the returns from
several towns had been received, and the
result was that Mallory was given the seat.
Mr. Merrill lived in the honor and respect
of his fellow-citizens, until he reached the
age of eighty-nine, dying April 12, 1865.
The late Timothy Merrill, of Montpelier,
who held many responsible positions in the
public service, was his brother.
RICHARDS, Mark —Councilor, Lieu-
tenant-Go^■ernor, congressman, and one of
the brilliant coterie of Jeffersonian leaders
that so long ruled the state in the first quar-
ter of the territory, was born in Waterbury,
Conn., July 15, 1760, the grandson on his
mother's side of Rev. Dr. Hopkins, the dis-
tinguished theologian and divine. He was
a soldier of the Revolution, enlisting at the
age of sixteen, and seeing hard service at
Stony Point, Monmouth, Red Bank and
145
X'alley Forge. He afterwards settled in
lioston, and accumulated property in mer-
cantile and mechanical pursuits, until in
1796, he moved to Westminster, where he
also continued in trade. Five years later, in
1 80 1, he was elected to represent the town,
and was re-elected in i8o2-'o4-'o5. From
1806 to 1810 he was sheriff of U'indham
county, in 18 13-'! 5 was in the Governor's
council, and in 1816 was elected to Con-
gress, serving two terms until 1820. He
again represented his town in 1 824-' 26, and
1828, and in i830-'3i was I.ieutenant-Ciov-
ernor of the state, being associated on the
ticket with (lovernor Crafts. He was again
in the Legislature in 1832 and 1834.
His son-in-law, William C. Bradley, de-
scribes him as in person " lean and tall, of
pleasant but somewhat formal manners and
in spite of lameness a remarkably active man.
His liberality though great for his means was
discriminating and well timed ;" his "industry
and perseverance whenever occasion called
for it were untiring ; his love of order was
so precise and descended to such minuteness
of detail that it appeared almost incompatible
with much expansion of thought, and yet few
men can be named who united more knowl-
edge of human nature, more sagacity and
promptness in business."
His wife was the widow Dorr, and their
(laughter, Sarah, married Mr. Bradley. He
died at W'estminster, August 10, 1844, at the
age of eighty-four.
MEECH, Ezra. — Twice in Congress,
Democratic candidate for Governor in
1 830,-3 1 '-32, and afterwards prominent as a
Whig, and one of the most enterprising and
far-seeing business operators the state had
in the early part of the century, was born at
New London, Conn., July 26, 1773 and
came with his father to Hinesburgh in 1785.
He was in his young manhood a hunter and
trapper, then branched out into the fur
trade, became associated with John Jacob
Astor in it, and in 1806, and for a few years
after, was the agent of the Northwest Fur
Co. He frequently went into Canada on
his purchasing trips, bringing large packs
through the wilderness, and in 1809 was
agent for supplying the British government
with spars and timber. In 1795 ^^ opened
a store at Charlotte Four Corners, still
keeping up his fur trade. In 1806 he pur-
chased a farm along the lake shore in Shel-
burne, moved there, opened a retail store,
also continuing the purchase of furs ; en-
gaged in the manufacture of potash and in
1810 in lumbering, especially with oak,
which he shipped to the Quebec market.
At the declaration of the war of 181 2 he
was caught in Canada with a large quanity
of timber, and obtained a permit to remain
and close his business. During the war he
was an extensive contractor in sup])lying the
government and army with ])ro\isions. At
its close he again went into the lumber trade
with success, and all through his later years
was also an extensive agriculturist and stock
breeder, his farm containing three thousand
acres in a high state of cultivation, on which
could be seen a flock of three thousand sheep
and eight hundred oxen. He was probably
the largest land holder in the state, and at
his death his real estate was appraised at
8125,000.
He was in 1S05 and 1807 elected to the
state Legislature. In 1S22 and 1823 he was
chief justice of the Chittenden county court
and he was a member of the Constitutional
Conventions of 1820 and 1826. His first
election to Congress was in 1818 : he served
only one term but was again elected for
another term in 1824. His candidacies for
Governor were during the period that the
state was swept by anti-.Masonry and it was
largely under his leadership that the skeleton
of a Democratic organization was preserved.
But before 1840 he had become a Whig,
being then a Harrison presidential elector.
He was emphatically what is called a " self
made man" ; with but a limited education he
won fame and fortune by the aid alone of a
strong mind, an accurate judgment and
resolute perseverance. He was a large man,
physically as well as intellectually, being six
feet five inches in height and weighing
three hundred and seventy pounds, and yet
he was one of the most expert trout fishers in
the country, following the sport with delight
to his last years, even as he had the chase
with his rifle in his youthful days. He was
always noted for his generous hospitality.
He died at Shelburne, Sept. 23, 1856,
aged eighty-three. He was twice married,
first in 1800 to Mary McNeil, who died
while he was in Congress, and subsequently
to Mrs. L. C. Clark who survived him. He
was the father of ten children, only two of
whom survived him, sons who lived in Shel-
burne.
He joined the Methodist f^piscopal church
in 1S33, and for the rest of his life was a
very influential man in his conference.
MALLORY, ROLLIN CaRLOS.— Rep-
resentative in Congress from 1819 to 1831,
and like Morrill in later years the chief
framer and foremost advocate of the high
tariff bill of his time, was born in Cheshire,
Conn., May 27, 1784. He was graduated
from Middlebury in 1S05, studied law with
Horatio Seymour at Middlebury, and Robert
Temple at Rutland, and settled at Castleton
in 1806, where he was preceptor of the acad-
emy for a year, then was admitted to the bar
146
in 1807 and practiced at Castleton till 1818,
when he moved to Poultney.
He was secretary of the Governor and
Council in 1807, 1809 to 1812, and 1815 to
1819 — ten years in all — was state's attorney
for Rutland county, i8ii-'i3 and in 1816;
was elected to Congress in 1818, serving for
six terms until 1S31, and becoming a leader
among the protectionists. He was chair-
man of the committee on manufactures that
reported the tariff of 1828, the "tariff of ab-
ominations" as the Democrats called it, that
led to South Carolina's act of nullification, and
Jackson's energetic measures for the Union,
though it was largely the reaction of the
country against this tariff bill, which had been
calculated to strengthen Adams' cause, that
had made General Jackson President. ]\Ir.
Mallory therefore was one of the issue-mak-
ing men of one of the most exciting epochs
in our national history. He was a thorough
believer in the principles of protection, like
Governor McKinley of our day, and it was a
subject that grew on his hands. This tariff
was projected at first in the interest of the
woolen manufacturers but ended by includ-
ing all the manufacturing interests. He was
the leader of the House debate on it and ex-
erted himself greatly to secure its passage.
He was also prominent in the fight over
the Missouri compromise which took place
soon after his entrance into Congress and
he opposed the admission of the state with
its slave constitution.
But sudden death, at Baltimore, Md.,
April 15, 1 83 1, cut short a career which
promised to become one of continent-wide
fame, and hardly second to that of his great
compeers. Clay, Webster and Hayne, in the
great economic struggle ushered in bv the
1828 tariff.
Lanman says of him that " he was held in
the highest estimation both for his public
acts and his private virtues." He was a
brother of Rev. Charles D. Mallory, D. D.,
the Baptist divine and founder of Mercer
(Ga.) University.
That branch of the family has produced a
number of distinguished men of the South.
KEY'ES, ELIAS. — Representative in Con-
gress for one term, and a judge, and a coun-
cilor in state affairs, a native of Ashford,
Conn., was one of the first settlers of Stock-
bridge, whither he came in 17S4 or' 85. He
represented the town sixteen years, i 793 to
'97, 1798 to 1803, 1818, 1820 and i823-'26,
and was in the Governor's council fourteen
years, from 1803 to 18 18, except the one
term of 1814 ; was assistant judge of the
Windsor county court eight years, 1806-14,
and chief judge two years more, 1813-17.
He also ser\'ed in the constitutional conven-
tion of T814. He was in Congress from
1S21 10 1823.
WHITE, PhineaS. — Representative in
Congress 182 1-3, was a native of South Had-
ley, Mass., where he was born Oct. 30, 1770.
Graduating at Dartmouth in 1797, he studied
law with Charles ^Nlarsh at ^^'oodstock and
Judge Samuel Porter at Dummerston and in
1800 began practice at Putney where he
made his home the rest of his life. He
represented the town in the Legislature in
i8i5-'2o; was postmaster 1802-9 ; wasstate's
attorney for the county in 1813 ; register of
probate 1800 to 1809 ; judge of probate for
several years afterward and chief judge of
the county court from 1S18 to 1820, or until
his election to Congress. On his return from
the latter service he abandoned his law prac-
tice and devoted himself to farming on quite
an extensive scale, but was frequently called
to public duty, nevertheless. He was a mem-
ber of the constitutional convention of 1836,
and was a state senator in 1838-40. He
was for several years president of the Ver-
mont Bible and Vermont Colonization So-
cieties, and was prominent in Masonry,
being grand master of the Grand Lodge of
the state. He was also one of the trustees
of Middlebury College. He was a man of
solid rather than brilliant abilities, always
fulfilling faithfully and creditably the many
positions of trust to which he was called.
He died at Putney, July 6, 1847, at the age
of seventy-six. His wife, who survived hmi
for nine years, was Esther, daughter of Xehe-
miah and Hepziba Stevens of Plainfield,
Conn., and he married her July 5, 1801.
WALES, George E.— judge, speaker
of the lower house of the Legislature and
four years in Congress, was born in West-
minster May 13, 1792, studied law in the
offices of Gen. Stephen R. Bradley at \\'est-
minster and Titus Hutchinson at \\'oodstock,
was admitted to the Windsor county bar in
181 2, and settled at Hartford that year. .-V
man of brilliant parts, he rapidly rose to
success and prominence. He was Hartford's
representative in the Legislature in 1822,
1823 and 1824. He was in his first term
elected speaker on the resignation of D.
.Azro .-X. Buck, and he was re-elected in 1823
and 1824, holding the position as long as
he was in the House. .\ nomination to
Congress followed these triumphs, and he
was elected in 1825, and re-elected in 1829.
But here he formed habits of dissipation
that brought much criticism upon him and
really wrecked his political career, though
doubtless his prominence in Masonry, being
grand master in iS25-'27, just as the wave
of -Anti-Masonry was beginning its sweep of
the state, had more to do with it. At least
■it brought attack for things that would other-
wise have passed without mention. Doubt-
less also the attack and defeat aggravated
the evil. After leaving Congress he located
in different places in Windsor county, prac-
ticing his profession, but finally returning to
Hartford, where he was elected town clerk
in 1840, and held the position until his
death. He was elected judge of probate
for the Hartford district in 1S47, but held
the office only three years. He was active
in Masonry, beginning in 181 2, he being
one of the charter members of the lodge at
Hartford.
Personally he was one of the most attrac-
tive men we have had in public life ; accom-
I)lished, eloquent, quick-witted, genial and
large-hearted, ever drawing about him a
coterie of friends and admirers.
He married in January, 1813, Miss
.\manda Lathrop of Sharon, by whom he
had seven children. He died at Hartford,
Jan. 8, i860.
ALLEN, Heman, of Milton — twice a
representative, serving in all eight years, and
one of the \Miig leaders of his time, was
-born in Ashfield, Mass., within limits of what
was anciently 1 )eerfield, June 14, 1777,
the son of Enoch Allen. His grandfather
and several of his other ancestors were \ic-
tims of the different Indian raids upon that
historic ground. On his mother's side he
was descended from Elijah Belding, the
first town clerk of Deerfield. His father
died when he was only twelve years old, and
a few years later the family, a widow and
younger children came up to (Irand Isle
where two of their uncles had preceded
them. Heman remained behind for a time
and took a course of two years at the old
■academy of Chesterfield, N. H., then he
followed to Grand Isle, pursuing his classi-
cal studies under Rev. Asa Lyon, and read-
ing law with EInathan Keyes at Burlington,
and Judge Turner at Fairfield, until in 1S03
he was admitted to the bar and opened
practice at Milton. Though a modest and
unassuming man, very diffident about ap-
pearing in court, he within a few years
secured a clientage that extended through
Chittenden, Franklin and (irand Isle coun-
ties, won a high reputation for the thorough-
ness with which he prepared his cases, and
as the best real estate lawyer in the circuit.
He represented Milton in the Legislature
in 1 8 to, and eleven years afterward between
that time and 1S26, whenever in fact he
would be a candidate. He was Milton's
earliest lawyer and a man whom the people
there almost universally admired. He was
several times a colleague of his namesake of
Colchester in the Legislature, and he being
a Federalist and the other just as warm a
ALLEN. 147
Democrat, they helped to keep things inter-
esting. He was first nominated in 1826 for
Congress and elected only after a close con-
test, because his candidacy was entangled
with that of Governor Van Ness for the
Senate, so that he was susjjected of being a
" Jackson man " and jjartly because of a lack
of understanding with the supporters of
IJenjamin Swift. He served only one term
at this time because of these complications,
but was again elected after a protracted con-
test in 1832, and three times re-elected. He
served on the Revolutionary claims commit-
tee where he stood bravely and efficiently
with Hiland Hall against the swindlers from
X'irginia. His lawyer-like habits of pains-
taking care and thoroughness made his con-
gressional service efficient. He was defeated
for re-election in 1S38 because of his vote
for the neutrality bill proposed by President
Van Buren against the insurrection which had
broken out in Canada. Mr. Allen's district
was a hot-bed of sympathy with the insur-
rection and he understood fully the risk he
took with this vote, but it was clearly right
and even the entreaties of his friends to
at least absent himself from the roll call
could not shake his resolution to do his
duty. The September election failed to give
a majority for anybody and he peremptorily
refused to stand for the second contest. It
had been his idea from the first that the un-
popularity he had incurred made it injudi-
cious for his party to nominate him, but he
yielded to the persuasions of his enthusiastic
supporters in accepting. There was a move-
ment afterward to make him the Whig can-
didate for senator, but it failed. He was also
offered the Whig nomination for Governor
but declined it.
For the next four years he devoted him-
self with all his energy to his professional
practice, but died Dec. 11, 1844, after a lin-
gering illness brought on by a cold contract-
ed in the service of a client.
Mr. .\llen wedded, Dec. 4, 1804, Sarah,
daughter of Dr. John Prentiss of St .-Vlbans.
There were nine children, of whom five lived
to maturity. Of these George became pro-
fessor of Latin and Greek in the University
of Pensylvania, Joseph W. became a lawyer
of some prominence, and Sarah was the
wife of Rev. J. R. Converse.
His son George describes his personal
appearance as " of lofty stature, over six feet
high, and of commanding presence. His
strongly marked countenance indicated that
combination of massive strength of intellect
with inflexible adherence to principle in
private and public life, which formed the
salient points of his character. His feat-
ures, in repose, wore a slight expression of
severity, which belied the real kindness of
his disposition. The dignified simplicity of
his manners was perfectly expressive of his
habitual absence of all personal pretension."
HUNT, JONATHAN.— Congressman,
i827-'32, and dying in the service, a man
of remarkable popular strength in his day,
came from a notable \'ermont family. His
father was Jonathan Hunt, Sr., who was
Lieutenant-Governor of the state in 1794-
'96, a native of Northfield, Mass., a leader
in the early troubles of the settlers, first a
"Yorker" and afterward appointed a sheriff
under New York authority, then an advocate
of the division of the " Grants " between
New York and New Hampshire, and one of
the committee of thirteen, with Luke Knowl-
ton, Charles Phelps and Micah Townshend,
to prepare a plan to establish still another
new government out of parts of \'ermont
and New Hampshire, and only joining the
"new state" men, as did Knowlton and
Townshend, when they saw that these
schemes were hopeless. He was one of
four brothers, who were all men of superior
abilities and large influence in the affairs of
this part of the country. Among them was
Gen. Arad Hunt, of Yernon, who got his
title in the command of Yermont militia,
who was a member of the Wesminster con-
vention of June, 1776, and who donated
5,000 acres of land in the town of Albany,
Vt., to Middlebury College. One of his
daughters married Governeur Morris of New
York. The distinguished Hunt family of
New York is also a branch of this, which
was also connected by marriage with the
Seymours of Connecticut.
Gov. Jonathan Hunt, the father of the
congressman, married Lavinia Swan of Bos-
ton, a woman of superior intellectual en-
dowments, a former pupil of President John
Adams, and their home in Vernon, with its
wealth and generous hospitality, was long a
social center for the best and brainiest peo-
ple in New England. With such an ances-
try and such surroundings, Jonathan Hunt,
Jr., who was born August 12, 17S0, natur-
ally came up a man of unusual talent and
promise, uniting as he did uniform industry
and perseverance to his other advantages.
He was graduated at Dartmouth in 1807,
studied law at Brattleboro, and was admitted
to the Windham county bar in November,
1792.
He settled in a practice, which grew to be
extensive, at Brattleboro, and was promi-
nently identified with the town's commercial
and social life. He was chosen the first
president of the old Brattleboro Bank, after
its incorporation in 1821, and held the posi-
tion until his death. He represented the
town in the Legislature in i8i6-'i7-'24.
He succeeded ^^'illiam C. Bradley as repre-
sentative in Congress in 1827 and was twice
re-elected, holding the office until his death
in Washington, May 15, 1832, aged only
forty-two. The news of his death was re-
ceived almost as a personal bereavement by
the people of the district, so deep was the
hold he had obtained on their affections and
regard.
Mr. Hunt married Jane Maria Leavitt.
Among the five children were William Mor-
ris Hunt, the artist of world-wide renown,
and Richard M. Hunt, the architect, of New
York.
CAHOON, Gen. William.— in Con-
gress from 1827 to 1833, and Lieutenant-
Governor 1820-22, was born at Providence,
R. I., in I 774, the son of Laniel Cahoon and
brother of Daniel Cahoon, Jr., the first settler
of Lyndon. The misfortunes of Revolution-
ary times brought to comparative poverty
and to Vermont the father, who had been an
importing merchant and was one of the
charter grantees of Lyndon, where the family
has ever been one of prominence. The
elder Cahoon was town representative eight
years, selectman eleven, and town clerk fif-
teen in succession. Ihe son, \\'illiam, suc-
ceeded to the latter position in 1808 and
held it uninterruptedly until he went to Con-
gress. He was elected town representative
in 1802 and re-elected eight times. He was
a delegate to the constitutional con\ entions
of 1814 and 1828, a Madison presidential
elector in 1808, judge of the Caledonia
county court i8ii-'i9, and councilor 18 15-
'20. He was for many years one of the most
influential Democratic leaders of the state,
and was one of the candidates for councilor
counted out in the close contest of 181 3.
He obtained his title of general in the miL
itia and was the commander of the fourth
division at the time of the war of 1812, with
the rank of major-general.
EVERETT, HORACE.— Congressman
for years, one of the strong A\'hig leaders,
was born in Vermont in 1780. He gradu-
ated at Brown L'niversity in 1797, studied
law, and practiced in Windsor. He was
state's attorney for Windsor county 1813-'! 7
and became famous as one of the most suc-
cessful jury advocates in the state. He repre-
sented ^^'indsor in the Legislature in 18 19,
1820, 1822, 1824, and 1834, and was a prom-
inent member of the state Constitutional
Convention of 1828, and in that year also
was elected to Congress as a Whig, defeating
George K. \\'ales. He was re-elected to the
Twenty-third Congress on the second trial,
receiving 304 majority; was re-elected again
to the Twenty-fourth, defeating Anderson
(Dem.) and Arnold (Whig), and again to
the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Con-
gresses, receiving 5,183 votes in the latter
149
year against 3,841 votes for Partridge (Dem.),
and was re-elected to tlie Twenty-seventh —
2,222 majority — serving from Dec. 7, 1829,
to Marcli 3, 1843.
His chief fame in Congress was made by
his advocacy of the rights of the Indians.
Among his notable speeches was that of June
3, 1836, against the Indian bounty bill and
the removal of the Creeks, Seminoles, Cher-
okees, Choctaws, and Chickasaws to Indian
'I'erritory, a very exhaustive one, and he pre-
dicted that the removal only changed the
scene of war. He died at Windsor [an. 30,
1851.
DEMING, Benjamin F.— Who was
.sent to the House for one term, i833-'35,
being elected from the Fifth congressional
district on the .Anti-Masonic ticket by a
large majority, was a native of Danville,
where he was born in 1790. He received
only a common school education, began life
as a clerk in a store and then was for a num-
ber of years a merchant at Danville until he
gave up his time to his public duties. He
was for sixteen years, i8i7-'32, the Cale-
donia county clerk, and eleven years,
i82i-'32, judge of probate, and councilor
for six years, 1827 to 1833, winning in these
positions the reputation which secured his
nomination to Congress. He served, how-
ever, only one session, and contracting a
disease of the bowels at Washington, died
while on his way home, at Saratoga Springs,
X. v., July II, 1834, aged only forty-four.
He left a wife and young family.
He was a man of " more than ordinary
talent, of a calm and deliberative mind,
quick of perception, prompt, apt and up-
right in business transactions, gentle and
winning socially, and benevolent in ideas."
JANES, Henry F.— Congressman 1835-
'37, councilor from 1830 to 1834, and state
treasurer from 1830 to 1841, was of a family
that was among the pioneers in Vermont,
and prominent in the early history of several
towns. He was himself born in October,
1792, at Brimfield, Mass., the third of eight
children of Solomon and Beulah (Fisk)
Janes. The family came in his early boy-
hood to Calais, and he studied law at Mont-
pelier, enlisted from there in a company
that was in the battle of Plattsburg in the
war of 181 2, and settled in Waterbury for
the practice of his profession in 18 17, being
reasonably successful with his cases as well
as in amassing a competence and in winning
popular favor. He was postmaster for ten
years, i82o-'29. Then he was immediately
elected a councilor, serving four years, till
I S34, and then promoted to Congress where
he represented the district for one term, and
then was elected state treasurer, serving
three years, 1838 to 1S41. This closed his
political life in a large field, though he was
a member of the council of censors in 1848,
and represented Waterbury several terms in
the Legislature, his last election being in
1S55. He died June 6, 1879, i" his eighty-
eighth year. He wedded, in 1826, Fanny,
daughter of Cov. Ezra Butler ; and Dr. Henry
Janes, a distinguished physician and war
surgeon, was their son.
Mr. Janes is described as a most just man
in every relation of life, with clear, strong
judgment, and conscientious devotion to
duty.
FLETCHER, GEN. Isaac— Representa-
tive in Congress for two terms, i837-'4i, was
native of Massachusetts, born in 1784, and a
graduate of Dartmouth. After teaching the
academy awhile at Chesterfield, N. H., he
studied law with Mr. Vose in that state and
Judge White at Putney, and established him-
self in practice at Lyndon. He rose rapidly
to the front rank of the profession, participa-
ting for a time in the trial of nearly every
case in Caledonia, Orleans and Kssex coun-
ties, and literally wearing himself out with
overwork. He represented Lyndon in the
(General .Assembly four years, was state's
attorney of Caledonia county eight years and
was adjutant-general on the staff of Gover-
nor Van Ness, getting his title from that
source. His health had failed before he got
far in his congressional service and though
he was still faithful to his duties, his weak-
ness prevented his attaining any distinction.
He died in October, 1842, just after the
close of his second term.
He married Miss .Abagail Stone of Chester-
field who survived him. His only son, C.
B. Fletcher, a lawyer of Boston, was a man of
brilliant parts, but died of consumption at
the age of thirty-four.
SMITH, John.— Representative in Con-
gress, i839-'4i, and one of the chief projec-
tors of the Vermont & Canada R. R., was
a native of Barre, Mass., born August 12,
1789, and the son of Deacon Samuel Smith.
The family moved to St. .Albans in 1800,
where young John had only the advantage
of the slender educational facilities of the
town, studied law first with his brother-in-
law, Roswell Hutchins, and then with Ben-
jamin Swift, was admitted to the bar in 1810,
and formed a partnership with Mr. Swift,
which continued with high success for seven-
teen years, until Mr. Swift went to Congress.
He represented the town in the General
Assembly ten years, from 1827 to 1S38, with
the exception of 1834, and was speaker of
the House in '32 and '33. He was state's
attorney for Franklin county seven years,
i827-'33. In 1838 the Democrats of that
'SO
district nominated him for Congress, and,
thougli the district was strongly U'hig, Mr.
Smith was elected, after a vigorous canvass
to which his large personal popularity added
much strength. But it was only for one
term. The great political storm of 1840
left him high and dry at home. His con-
gressional service was of course too short to
permit any great reputation in it to be won,
but he made one speech, a defense of the
independent treasury idea, which was wide-
ly published and counted one of the ablest
and most thorough ever made on the sub-
ject. His defeat for re-election to Congress
closed his public life and he returned to the
practice of his profession, until 1845, after
which he gave his time and energies chiefly
to railroad enterprises, and it was to him in
conjunction with Lawrence Brainerd and
Joseph Clark and to their boldness of action
through the most critical emergencies, risk-
ing their entire fortunes in the project by
borrowing $350,000 on their personal credit,
that the Vermont & Canada road was made
a reality and the last link forged that was to
connect New England with the great lakes.
The conception was a great one and by
energy and sagacity was it reahzed, but the
triumph was followed by perplexing and ex-
hausting labor to make a business success of
the enterprise, and the strain and the
anxiety undermined Mr. Smith's health and
led to his sudden death, Nov. 20, 1858.
Mr. Smith was a man of large mold, liberal
and public-spirited, of clean and worthy ])ri-
vate life, and in the words of a local biogra-
pher : " An earnest Christian man, full of
charity and good works, without partiality
and without hypocrisy."
He married, Sept. 18, 1814, Miss Maria
W. Curtis, of Troy, N. Y., and Gov. John
Gregory and Congressman W'orthington C.
Smith were their sons.
YOUNG, AUGUSTUS.— Representative
in Congress tS4i-'43, and a scientific author
of reputation, was born in Arlington, March
20, 1785, studied law and was admitted to
the bar at St. Albans in 18 10, began practice
at Stowe, but in about eighteen months
moved to Craftsbury, where his active life
was spent. He represented the town eight
years, was state's attorney for Orleans county
four years, and judge of probate in 1 830.
He was elected state senator in 1836, and
was twice re-elected. His election to Con-
gress was in 1840, but he declined a re-elec-
tion. In 1847 he moved back to St. .Albans,
and for several years was judge of probate,
but devoted most of his time until his death.
Tune 17, 1857, to literary and scientific pur-
suits, and was appointed state naturalist in
1856. He was one of the most learned men
the state ever contained in geologv and
mineralogy, was a great mathematician and
a profound reasoner. His intellectual charm
was such, with his easy and kindly manners,
as to give him great popularity, and though
his energies were perhaps too scattered to
win the greatest success, none knew him but
to admit that he was a man of great talents.
MARSH, George Perkins.— Son of
Congressman Charles Mansh and grandson of
the Lieutenant-Governor, a lawyer, congress-
man, diplomat, philologist and of world-wide
fame as an author and scholar, was perhaps
the most broadly accomplished man the state
ever produced. He was born March 15,
1 80 1, graduated at Dartmouth in 1820, stud-
ied law in his father's office, was admitted to
the bar in 1825, and settled at Burlington,
speedily acquiring an extensive practice. But
he divided his time between law, literature
and politics, and, in 1835, he was a member
of the (Governor's council. In 1842 he was
elected representative to Congress and three
times re-elected, until, in 1849, President
Taylor appointed him minister to Turkev.
The time and the situation were such as to
give him opportunity, which he improved to
the utmost, to render important service to the
cause of ci\il and religious toleration in the
Turkish empire. The marked improvement
of the system of the Porte in this respect in
the past forty years may truly be said to be
due to Mr. Marsh more than any other one
man. He was also charged in 1852 with a
s])ecial mission to Greece, which he filled with
added reputation. On the change of admin-
istration, however, in 1853, he was relieved,
and returning to Vermont, he was appointed
one of the commissioners to rebuild the pres-
ent state house in Montpelier, and, in 1857,
he was appointed railroad commissioner,
serving two years. In 1857, also by the ap-
pointment of Governor Fletcher, he made a
\aluable and exhaustive report on the artifi-
cial propagation of fish, laying the foundation
for much of the work that has been done
since. In 1 861 President Lincoln appointed
him minister to Italy, and he held the position,
being the patriarch of American diplomacy,
twenty-one years, until his death, in Valom-
brosa, not far from Florence, July 23, 1882.
During his residence abroad he travelled
extensively in the East and in Europe, pass-
ing some time in Denmark, Sweden and Nor-
way, where he has long been recognized as a
leading Scand)na\ian scholar. His published
works include a " Compendious Grammar of
the Old Northern or Icelandic Language,"
compiled and translated from the Grammar
Rask (Burlington, 1838) ; "The Camel, His
Organization, Habits and L'ses, considered
with reference to his introduction into the
United States" (Boston, 1856) ; and "Lec-
tures on the English Language" (New York,
i86o) ; originally delivered in 1S59 in tlie
post-graduate course of Columbia College,
New York, in which he "aimed to excite a
more general interest among educated men
and women in the history and essential char-
acter of their native tongue, and to recom-
mend the study of the Faiglish language in its
earlier literary monuments rather than
through the medium of grammars and lin-
guistic treatises.
He never tired in dehing in the languages
and literature of the North of Europe, and
his sympathies appear to be with the Goths,
whose presence he traces in whatever is
great and peculiar in the character of the
founders of New England. In a work en-
titled "The Goths in New England," he has
contrasted the Gothic and Roman charac-
ters, which he appears to regard as the great
antagonistic principles of society at the
present day. He was also the author of va-
rious essays, literary and historical, relating
to the Goths and their connection with
.\merica.
Still another of his works, and one of great
merit, was "Man and Nature," first pub-
lished in 1864, and largely re- written and re-
published in 1874 under the title: "The
Earth as Modified by Human .Action." He
was collaborator in the preparation of the
dictionary of the English language, issued
under the auspices of the London Philologi-
cal Society. And his miscellaneous pub-
lished addresses and speeches are quite
numerous. Henry Swan Dana says he
"was a truly learned man, in the variety and
thoroughness of his acquisitions, in all de-
partments of human knowledge being almost
without a peer in the world." His library,
one of the finest in the country, rich beyond
compare in Scandinavian literature, he pre-
sented to the University of Vermont, of
whose corporation he was chosen a member,
in 1844.
Mr. Marsh was twice married. His first
wife, who lived but a few years after the mar-
riage, was Harriet, daughter of Ozias Buell,
of Burlington. The second, whom he
wedded Dec. i, 181 6, was Carohne Crane,
of Berkeley, Mass., a woman of literary
power and an author of some reputa-
tion. Her published productions are :
"The Hallig ; or, the Sheepfold in the
Waters," translated from the German of
Biernatzki, with a biographical sketch of the
author (Boston, 1S57) ; and "Wolfe of the
Knoll, and Other Poems" (New ^'ork,
i860).
There were two children by the first wife :
Charles, who died in childhood, and George
Ozias, a promising New York lawyer, who
died when only thirty-three.
HENRY, William. — Congressman for
two terms, close friend of Lincoln, and one
of the fatliersof the now large village of ISel-
lows Falls, was born in New Hampshire in
1788. He received only a common school
education, moved to Bellows Falls, where he
was cashier of the Bank of Bellows Falls for
fifteen years, and held various stations in
l«iblic life. It was on his motion in 1834
that the act incorporating the village was
accepted at a meeting of the corporation,
after it had once been rejected. From that
time up to and including 1843, Mr. Henry
was a member of the board of fire wardens.
He was a member of the Harrisburg conven-
tion in 1839 which nominated (leneral Har-
rison and a presidential elector in 1S40. In
1846 he was elected a member of the House
of Representatives and was re-elected and
served two terms. In i860 he was again
elected a presidential elector and during the
campaign visited Mr. Lincoln at his home
in Illinois, with whom he was personally
acquainted, they having served together in
Congress where their seats were near to-
gether and they had been in close sympathy
asU'higs. The Democratic candidate against
him at both his elections was William C.
Bradley.
Mr. Henry died at Bellows Falls .\pril 17,
1 86 1, at the age of seventy-three, just as the
great civil war was breaking upon the
country. Vp to his last moment almost, he
followed the progress of events with intensest
interest.
PECK, Lucius B. — Representative in
Congress from 1847 to 185 1, was born at
Waterbury in October, 1802, the son of Gen.
lohn Peck. He was admitted as a cadet at
West Point in 1822, but had to resign be-
cause of ill-health after a year's study, en-
tered upon the study of law first with Judge
Prentiss at Montpelier, and then with Denni-
son Smith at Barre, and was aidmitted to the
bar in September, 1825. He formed a part-
nership with Mr. Smith, who had an exten-
si\e practice, but was growing old so that
the burden soon fell upon young Peck's
shouklers. But he rapidly rose in his pro-
fession and became one of the leading
lawyers of Washington and Orange counties,
and the worthy antagonist in the forensic
forum of such men as Paul Dillingham,
William i'pham, and Jacob Collamer. He
represented Barre in 1831, but soon after
moved to Montpelier, where he devoted
himself to his profession with all the ardor of
his nature, keeping out of politics steadily for
fifteen years. In 1846 the Democrats of the
district nominated him for Congress and
elected him, and re-elected him for a second
term in 184S. While in Washington he was
on intimate and familiar terms with such
great ]5arty leaders as William L. Marcyand
Daniel S. Dickinson. He was also twice
the Democratic candidate for Governor, and
152
from 1853 to 1857 was United States dis-
trict attorney by appointment of President
Pierce. But these were all the political
honors he ever held, and indeed he had but
little taste for politics, and little ambition for
its contests or distinctions. B. F. Fifield, the
able lawyer with whom he was in partner-
ship in his later years, says that i\Ir. Peck
often told him that the greate.st mistake of
his life was in going to Washington at all.
He resumed his professional practice after
his congressional career closed and to the
end held a rank close to the front at the bar
of the state and being especially potent in
railroad litigation. He was president of the
Vermont & Canada road from 1859 until his
death. His power as a lawyer and poli-
tician, too, was in his candor and fairness of
statement, his fine and unruffled courtesy,
his masterful analysis, separating the true
from the false, the essential from the non-
essential, and the clearness with which he
piled up proposition upon proposition un-
answerable. It was true of him, as his
admiring colleague said of John G. Carlisle,
that he "never had a clouded thought."
He was slow and deliberate, cautious in con-
clusions, but most apt to be convincing
when he reached them, and a safe and dis-
criminating adviser. He had little of the
art of oratory or the embellishments of
fancy ; he spoke to convince, not to please.
He married in 1S30 the daughter of Ira
Day of Barre, an accomplished lady with
whom his home life was a most beautiful one
for the fifteen years until her death in 1845.
He was stricken with paralysis while on a
professional visit to Lowell, Mass., and died
there Dec. 28, 1S66.
HEBARD, William.— Was a self-made
and self-educated man, and read law with
William Nutting of Randolph. He was ad-
mitted to the Orange county bar in 1827, and
commenced to practice at East Randolph,
but in 1845 removed to Chelsea, and re-
mained there practicing his profession until
the time of his death. He was one of the
ablest and most popular men of his time,
represented Randolph four years, and Chel-
sea five years in the General Assembly ; was
state senator in i836-'38, and state's attor-
ney in i832-'34-'36 ; judge of probate in
1838, 1840, and 1 84 1, and judge of the
Supreme Court of Vermont from 1842 to
1844 inclusive. In 1848 he was elected to
Congress, and again in 1850. In i860 he
was a delegate to the national Republican
convention that nominated Abraham Lin-
coln. Judge Barrett of the Supreme Court
pays him this tribute ; "I think his promi-
nent characteristics were candor, consider-
ateness, integrity and faithfulness. He was
plain and practical, with substantial common
sense that gave itself with faithful effort to
such office as he was called to do, and the
estimate in which he was held is amply and
best attested by the fact of his large and long
continued professional practice with all classes
of the community, by his early and oft re-
peated calls to offices of important respon-
sibility, in which his integrity and assiduity
were always conspicuous ; by the universal
respect in which he was held as a citizen, as
a member of society, as a neighbor, and as a
friend."
As an advocate, in the putting of his facts
and ideas, his propositions and his argument
into written expression he had unusual facility
and merit.
Judge Hebard married Elizabeth Stockwell
(Brown), Sept. 12, 1830. He died at Chel-
sea at the age of seventy-five, Oct. 20, 1875.
MEACHAM, James.— College professor
and Congregational preacher as well as poli-
tician, was born in Rutland, August 10, 1810,
and being left an orphan in early childhood
was apprenticed to a cabinet maker. But a
benevolent neighbor, impressed with his tal-
ents and ambition, assisted him to an educa-
tion, and he graduated from Middlebury in
1832, took a course of theology at Andover,
and was settled as pastor of the Congrega-
tional church at New Haven in 1838. He
had been employed before completing his
education as a teacher in the academies at
Castleton and St., Albans, and for two years,
from 1836, had been a tutor at Middlebury.
In 1846, he was called back to the college to
take the professorship of elocution and Eng-
lish literature. His reputation as an orator,
writer and man of high culture rapidly ex-
tended and in 1848 he was elected to Con
gress, served four terms and had been
unanimously nominated for a fifth at the
time of his death, August 23, 1856, at the
age of only forty-six. He resigned his
chair in the college in 1850 and devoted him-
self entirely to his public and political
duties. In Congress he was chairman of
the committee on the District of Columbia,
and the severe labors of the position are
what undermined his health. He was
prominent in the opposition to the abroga-
tion of the Missouri compromise, which he
regarded as a contract which both sides
were bound to obey in good faith, and he
warned the Southerners that if they persis-
ted it was the last compromise that would
be made between the clashing interests of
the sections. .\ number of his speeches
while in Congress have been published.
MINER, AHLMAN L.— Representative in
Congress, i85i-'53, was a native of Middle-
town, the son of Deacon Gideon and
Rachel (Davison) Miner, and was born
Sept. 23, 1804.
I
'53
Heworkeilon his father's farm until he
was of age and then fitted for the sophomore
class in college, hut instead of entering studied
law in the offices of Malloney &: Warner at
Poultney and Royce & Hodges at Rutland ;
was admitted to the bar in 1832 ; practiced for
three years at W'allingford and then moved
to Manchester. He represented the latter
town four years in the Legislature, 1838, '39,
'46 and '54 and was also in 1840 county
senator. He was clerk of the House of
Representatives, i836-'38 ; state's attorney
for Hennington county in i843-'44 ; register
of probate seven years and judge of probate
three years, i846-'49. His nomination for
Congress, by the Whigs from the southern
district of the state, in 185 1, was secured
after one of the hardest fought pre-conven-
tion campaigns the state has ever seen.
Col. Calvin Townsley opposing him. He
was a man of popular power, social and en-
gaging personally. He was twice married
and had eight children. He died July 19,
1886.
BARTLETT, THOMAS Jr.— Was a na-
tive of Burke, the son of Thomas liartlett, a
man of ability and local prominence in his
time. \'oung Bardett studied law and set-
tled in Lyndon in 1839 ; in '41 and '42 he was
the state's attorney for the county, in 1840
and '41 was in the state Senate and in 1850
was elected to Congress for a single term. In
the former year he was also chosen the town's
representative and again filled that position
in '54 and '55. He was also a member of
the constitutional conventions of 1850 and
'57 and presided over the former body. At
that time he was one of the most influential
men of his district and of the state.
TRACY, ANDREW. — In Congress for
one term and speaker of the state House of
Representatives for three years, was born in
Hartford, Dec. 15, 1797, the son of James
and Mercy (Richmond) Tracy. The family
was one of worthy and prosperous farmers,
but it was decided to give young .Andrew an
education, because he was not robust physic-
ally. He was fitted for college at the Royal-
ton and Randolph Academies, and entered
Dartmouth, but remained there only two
years, because his friend and classmate,
Leonard Marsh, had to leave on account of
trouble with his eyes. The two young men
then struck out into New York state, and
Tracy taught school at Troy for two years.
Returning home he studied law in the office
of George E. Wales, being a portion of the
time postmaster at White River village, was
admitted to the bar in 1S26, and began
]iractice in Quechee village, enlarging his
clientage and reputation steadily until it be-
came of state extent. In 1838 he moved to
Woodstock, where he formed a partnership
with Norman Williams that lasted until the
spring of 1839, when Mr. Williams became
t ounty clerk. The next year he formed one
with Julius Converse, and in 1849 with Con-
verse and James Barrett, which lasted until
he went to Congress.
For more than a generation Woodstock
was famous as a place of big lawyers, and
this firm, and Mr. Tracy at its head, more
than kept alive the tradition and held its
rank among some of the ablest competitors
ever gathered at any bar. Of him W. H.
Tucker, Hartford's historian, says : " Mr.
Tracy's power and strength as a lawyer and
advocate consisted in his wonderful quickness
of perception, the rapidity with which he
could adapt facts to legal principles, his
quick comprehension of the full merits or
demerits of a case, his keen discriminating
analysis of facts, the nervous power and
eloquence with which he presented facts to
a jury, and in his masterly power of sarcasm
and invective. Mr. Tracy was not what we
called a learned lawyer, he rarely read text-
books or reports, but consulted them in
connection with his cases. He was well
grounded in the principles of common law,
and in his arguments of legal points, rea-
soned from first principles, and rarely cited
or referred to decisions."
H. S. Swan, the Woodstock historian, tells
of his swift and ready way of speaking, the
force and compactness of his statements, and
the keenness of his sarcasm.
His political career would have been one
of equal brilliance if his tastes had permitted
him to persist in it. He was at first a National
or Adams Republican and then after the Whig
partv was formed an ardent follower of it.
He represented Hartford in the Legislature
for four years, i833-'37, and after his removal
to Woodstock, he was, in 1839, elected a
state senator. In 1840 he was a candidate
against Horace Everett for the Whig nomina-
tion for Congress, but was defeated after
a hard fight, much to his chagrin. In 1842,
however, Woodstock sent him to the Legisla-
ture, and he was immediately made speaker,
being re-elected in 1843 and 1844, as long as
he was in the House and coming out with
great eclat. In 1852, he was nominated and
elected to Congress as a Whig, but declined
re-election after serving one term, being
thoroughly satiated with political honors and
a good deal disgusted with what he saw at
Washington. He returned to the practice of
his profession with renewed zest and con-
tinued at it without further distraction through
his active life.
Personally, he is described as a tall, slim,
cadaverous man, who to a stranger would
seem to be in the last stages of consum])tion.
But his step was ever quick and elastic, and
154
he had a great amount of energy and an in-
domitable will, though never a well man.
He died at Woodstock, Oct. 28, 186S.
SABIN, ALVAH.— Another preacher-pol-
itician of a power approaching that of Niles,
Lyon, Leland and the giants of the earlier
days, was born in Georgia, Oct. 23, 1793.
the son of Benjamin and Polly ( McMaster )
Sabin. He was graduated at Columbian Col-
lege in the District of Columbia, educated
for the Baptist ministry, and preached at
Cambridge, Westfield and Underhill until he
was settled in Georgia in 1825. Here he re-
mained, a fine specimen of the old-time
power of the country minister in the com-
munity, for forty- two years, removing in 1867
to Sycamore, 111., where he continued his
ministerial duties as long as life and strength
lasted. His only brother, Daniel Sabin, was
also a Baptist clergyman, and after preach-
ing at Swanton, North Fairfax, and other
places for several years, went to Wisconsin.
Parson Sabin was ten times his town's
representative in the Legislature, in 1826,
'35. '38. '40, 47, '48, '49. 5'' '61, and '62,
and in the latter sessions, though nearly
seventy years old, was prominent in the war
legislation. He was three times county
senator, in i84i,'43 and '45 and was secre-
tary of state in 1841. He was also county
commissioner for Franklin county under the
prohibitory law in 1861 and '62.
He was first elected to Congress in 1852
and re-elected in 1854.
HODGES, George T.— Was born in
Clarendon, July 4, 17S9, the son of Dr.
.Silas Hodges, a surgeon in the Revolutionary
army and for some time in the military
family of General Washington, and for twenty
years the leading physician of his section.
George was the third son of a family of
eleven children, and took a partial course in
college, but abandoned it for a business
career and went to Rutland where he was a
prosperous merchant for many years and
until his death. He served repeatedly in
both houses of the Legislature. On the
death of Hon. James Meacham, representa-
tive to Congress, in 1856, he was chosen to
fill the vacancy. He was a director of the
old Bank of Rutland from its organization
in 1825, until his death, and its president
from 1834. He was also a director and the
vice-president of the Rutland & Burlington
R. R., from its commencement.
He was also a warm supporter of the Ver-
mont Agricultural Society. He was a man
of dignified and courteous demeanor and
with a good deal of ability in both business
and political affairs. He died at Rutland
Sept. 9, t86o.
WALTON, ELIAKIM p.— Representa-
tive in Congress
from 1857 to
1863, one of the
great editors of
the state, and a
valuable c o n -
tributor to its
history,wasborn
a t ^Iontpelier,
Feb. 17, t8i2,
the son of Gen.
E. P. and Prus-
s i a ( Parsons )
Walton. The
family was of
Quaker origin,
and the father,
who rose to be major-general of the state
militia, was also for years one of the chief
editorial powers of the state, who probably
did more than any other one man towards
building up the old Whig party and its suc-
cessor to secure ascendency, and who was
nominated for ( Governor by the first Repub-
lican convention in 1S54, but withdrew in
favor of Judge Royce for the purpose of con-
solidating the various elements into one
organization.
Eliakim, the eldest of his children, was
educated in the common schools and at the
Washington county grammar school, but,
better than all, had a double advantage in in-
struction by a cultured and discriminating
mother and of training at the printer's case
in his father's office. He studied law in the
ofifice of Samuel & S. B. Prentiss, where he
also obtained an instructive insight into
national politics, as the former was then
United States senator. But instead of giv-
ing his life to law he was, when twenty-one,,
in 1833, taken into partnership with his
father in the publication of the Vermont
Watchman and State Journal and in the
general printing and publishing, book-bind-
ing and paper-making business. Soon the
main editorial duties fell upon him, while
General \Valton's attention was chiefly ab-
sorbed in the other departments of the busi-
ness, and for thirty-five years, except while in
Congress and engaged in other public duties,
he was constantly in the editorial harness. He
established the first exclusively legislative
newspaper, which soon expanded into a
daily. Early in the war he started a daily,
maintained a li\e correspondent in e\ery
Vermont regiment at the front and gathered
and preserved in this way an immense
quantity of historical data that is of price-
less value.
Like his father he was not a seeker for
office for himself, but in 1853 represented
Montpelier in the Legislature, and three
vears later, at the solicitation of ludge Col-
1
lamer and other party leaders, reluctantly
consented to stand for Congress in order to
solve a political situation that was full of
com[)lications. He was easily elected by a
majority of over three to one, and twice re-
elected, in 1858 and i860. His most notable
speeches during this service were on the
admission of Kansas to the Union in March,
1858; on the tariff question, in February,
1859 ; on the state of the Union, in Febru-
ary, 1 86 1, and on the confiscation of rebel
property, in May, 1862. He demonstrated
by an exhaustive table of figures the injustice
to Vermont and seven other states of the
apportionment act of 1862, based on the
census of i860, and calling Senator Coila-
mer's attention to it, the latter procured the
passage of a supplementary act by whii h
Vermont's representation in the House wa>
sa\ed from being cut down from three U>
two. He performed a similar service for the
state under the act after the census of 1870,
and Edmunds and Thurman, producing his
facts and figures, carried an amendment
which again sa\ed the threatened states
from a cut-down.
Mr. Walton, returning to private life, con-
tinued in charge of the Watchman until
1868, when he sold it to J. and J. M. Poland,
but continued to write much as long as he
lived. He was a member of the constitu-
tional con\ention of 1870 and a senator
from U'ashington county for two terms, 1874
to '78. He was three times a delegate to
national conventions, in 1840 to the young
men's convention at Baltimore, in 1864 to the
Republican convention at Philadelphia, and
in 1866 the Philadelphia convention to meet
and consult with southern men. He was
])resident of the Vermont Historical Society
from the retirement of Rev. Dr. Lord in
1876 until his death, and of the Vermont
Fxiitors' and Publishers' Association from its
organization until 1881. He edited Vol. II
of the collections of the Vermont Historical
Society, including the Haldimand Papers
and the eight volumes of the " Records of
the (;o\ernor and Council," and his notes —
biographical, historical and explanatory —
exhibit a painstaking and exhaustive re-
search, while the ilhnnination of the Haldi-
mand business, under his careful analysis,
was a service to the state and to the truth of
history which cannot be too highly appreci-
ated, 'j'he "\"erraont Capitol," 1857, consisted
mainly of his reports, and Walton's Vermont
Register, up to within ten or a dozen years,
was under his editorial charge. Printed ad-
dresses of his include those on Gov. Charles
Paine, on the Battle of Hubbardton, and on
Nathaniel Chipman.
Mr. Walton was twice marrieil, first to
Sarah Sophia, daughter of Joseph Howes, of
Montjielier. She" died Sept. 3, 1880, and
«W 0«%'.
Oct. 19, 1882, he wedded Mrs. Clara P.
Field, >ief Snell, of Columbus, Ohio.
Mr. Walton died Dec. 19, 1890.
ROYCE, Homer H.— Congressman,
and chief jus-
tice of the state
Supreme Court,
was born at
Berkshire, June
14, 1820, the
son of Elihu
Mar V i n , and
Sophronia (Par-
k er ) Roy ce .
His ancestry in
his father's side
traces back on
Z' both directions
to the fathers of
the state, Maj.
Stephen Royce
and I'2benezer Marvin, and he was a nephew
of Gov. Stephen Royce. His maternal
grandfather was Rev. James Parker, the first
settled minister of Underbill and long
known as an able preacher of the Congre-
gational denomination.
Young Royce was educated in the district
schools and at the academies in St. Albans
and Enosburgh, studied law with Thomas
Childs, was admitted to the bar in 1844,
was in partnership for two or three years at
F^ast Berkshire with Mr. Childs, and after-
wards for about the same time with his rela-
tive, Heman S. Royce. He was state's
attorney for Franklin county in 1846 and
'47. In the same year also he represented
Pierkshire in the Legislature, was chairman
of the railroad and a member of the judic-
iary committees, which had some difficult
work in a hitherto unexplored field in
guiding legislation upon the relations of the
railroads to the state. In 1849, '50 and '51
and again in 1861 and '68 he was elected
to the state Senate from Franklin county,
doing his most notable work on the judic-
iary committee.
Professionally and politically he had come
to be recognized as a man of brilliant parts
and comprehensive reach of mind, and in
1856 he was elected a representative in
Congress, being the youngest member of
that body, but taking quite an active part
for a new member, serving on the foreign
affairs committee, and attracting attention
by his speech on the Cuban ciuestion, which
was at that time deeply agitating the country.
Retiring from Congress he resumed his
professional practice with increasing renown,
until in 1S70 he was elected justice of the
Supreme Court, and regularly re-elected
until in 1882, on the death of Judge Pier-
point, Governor Farnham appointed hinv
'56
WOODBRIDGE.
chief justice, a position tliat he held by
regular re-election, though once or twice
with a spirited contest, until his death. It
was under him as chancellor that the long
and involved litigation of the Central Ver-
mont R. R. arose. Many of his opinions,
notably as to the disqualification of jurors,
as to what constitutes an expert, and as to
the rights of riparian owners, are often
quoted.
Judge Royce was prominent among the
promoters of the Mississquoi R. R. In
1882 he received the degree of I.L. 1). from
the University of Vermont.
He married, Jan. 23, 185 1, Mary, daugh-
ter of Charles Edmunds of Boston, who bore
him three children : Stephen E., Homer C,
and Mary Louise.
Mr. Royce died April 34, 1891.
BAXTER, PORTUS.— Representative in
Congress 1861-
'65, the "sol-
dier's friend," as
^ he w a s t h e n
fondly and de-
ser^•edly called,
and, for a full
decade before,
the Thurlovv
Weed of Ver-
mont politics,
the greatest per-
sonal political
force on the east
side of the
mountains, was
born from one of
iiulies of the state, at
Brownington, 1806. He was liberally educated
at Norwich University, but engaged at Derbv
in 1828 in mercantile and agricultural pur-
suits, and, with his keen activity, energy, and
farsightedness, most successfully. His posi-
tive character, his fine judgment of men, and
his facile handling of them rapidly won him
an influential position in politics, first in his
town and county, then throughout the dis-
trict and the state, and finally in national
affairs. But he was never a self-seeker, more
enjoying power behind the throne, in con-
ventions and appointments, and in using his
electric power to lift other men rather than
himself.
He repeatedly refused election as town
representative and once or twice at least
could have had his party's nomination
for Congress but preferred it to go to others.
He was an ardent Henry Clay Whig while
the party lasted, and was the only delegate
from New P^ngland in the convention of
1848 to advocate the nomination of Gen-
eral Taylor from the beginning. In 1852
he headed the Scott electoral ticket in Ver-
the ol.k
mont, and in 1856 that of the young Repub-
lican party for Fremont.
Finally, in i860, he accepted a nomina-
tion for Congress, beginning services with the
opening of the rebellion and continuing
through the momentous events of that pe-
riod, until in 1866, with the Union secure, he
declined a re-election, which he had before
had almost unanimously. He served indus-
triously on the committees of elections, agri-
cultural, and expenditures of the navy de-
partment. He was a close friend of Secretary
Stanton, and the latter as he said, found it
about impossible to refuse him anything.
Mr. Baxter improved the opportunity to min-
ister with extraordinary zeal to the wants
of the soldiers in the field. He operated
by personal efforts, by the charm of his man-
ners and the magnetism of his conversation
and social intercourse, rather than by speech-
making. He never but twice attempted
any formal speech-making or any real
argument on his feet. What he had to say
he said in a few words, so surcharged with the
intense conviction and the thorough earnest-
ness of his nature as to well take the
place of logic and rhetoric. He was in
every fibre of his being a patriot ; he was a
man of generous and warm svmpathies.
These two facts, with his frank and engaging
manners, explain his remarkable power of
party leadership. "We never knew a more
earnest or energetic politician," said one
eulogist after his death. During the ghastly
days of the Wilderness campaign and fight
he was at the front at Fredericksburg to
minister to the wounded and suffering, and
all that sunmier both he and his wife
remained at their post of tender duty until they
were themselves prostrated, and sickness only
made an interval in their labors. It was no
wonder that he obtained such a large place in
the soldiers' affections. Two of his sons,
physicians, also rendered invaluable ser-
vice on the field and in the hospitals, and
a third, the youngest, entered the service as a
private, in the i ith Vermont and came out a
brevet major, with successive promotions, all
won by gallantry.
His wife, was Ellen Jannette, daughter of
Judge Harris of Strafford, whom he wedded
in 1832.
Mr. Baxter died at Washington, March 4,
1868, from pneumonia, after only a few days'
illness, though he had for years suffered from
asthma.
WOODBRIDGE, FREDERICK E.— For
four years in Congress, was born at Ver-
gennes, .August 29, 1818, graduated at the
University of Vermont, 1840, studied law
with his father, Hon. E. D. Woodbridge and
was admitted and practiced at Vergennes.
He was a member of the state House of
«57
Representatives, 1849, 1857, 1858, repeatedly
mayor of \'ergennes, state auditor, i85o-'5i-
52, prosecuting attorney, i854-'58, engaged
in railroad management, and was several
years vice-president and active manager of the
Rutland & Washington R. R. ; a state senator,
i86o-'6i, and president pro tonpoie of that
body in 1861. He was elected a represent-
ative from Vermont in the Thirty-eighth
Congress as a Republican, receiving 8,565
votes, against 3,486 for White, Democrat ;
was re-elected to Thirty-ninth Congress, re-
ceiving 9,447 votes, against 3,671 for \\'ells,
Democrat, was re-elected to Fortieth Con-
gress, 10,568 votes, against 3,036 for Wells,
Democrat.
Mr. Woodbridge died April 25, 18SS.
SMITH, WORTHINGTON C— Congress-
man from 1867 to 1873, son of Congressman
John and Maria (Curtis) Smith, and brother
of Gov. John Gregory Smith, was born at
Barre, Mass., August 12, 1789. He gradu-
ated from the University of Vermont, near
the head of his class, in 1843, and studied
law for a while in his father's office, but
abandoned it before admission to the bar to
enter business life. He embarked in the
iron trade in 1845, and carried it along suc-
cessfully, either alone or in partnership, until
i860, when he leased the works known as
the St. Albans Foundry until 1878, then re-
suming the active management again. The
business consisted chiefly in the manufacture
of articles needed by railroad companies.
He was himself largely identified with the
railroading of the state, being a director for
several years and afterwards president of the
Vermont & Canada, a trustee and manager
of the Vermont Central and the leased lines
from 1870 to the crash of 1S73, then vice-
president for three years of the Central Ver-
mont, and one of the trustees for six years
after 1872, and then president and manager
of the Missisquoi road. He was also presi-
dent of the \'ermont National Bank, at St.
.Albans, from 1864 to 1870.
Up to the war he was a Democrat in poli-
tics, but promptly identified himself with
what he regarded as the party of the Union
after the firing on Fort Sumter. As presi-
dent of the corporation of St. .'Albans he con-
vened the first "war meeting" at the place,
and he helped to raise and equip the Ransom
Guards, a company in the first volunteer reg-
iment dispatched from Vermont. In 1863
he represented St. .'\lbans in the Legislature,
and in i864-'65 was state senator, being
complimented by a unanimous election to
the presidency pro tem of that body in the
latter year. He had ser\ed so usefully in both
branches of the Legislature that in 1S66 he
was sent to Congress, and was re-elected in
1868 and 1S70. In the two latter terms he
served on the committee on banking and cur-
rency, of which Garfield was chairman. His
position was not a prominent one in Con-
gress, though its duties were well filled. His
first speech, on the question of the impeach-
ment of President Johnson, was a very good
one in its discussion of constitutional princi-
ples. Another one which attracted some
attention was delivered Jan. 26, 1869, and
took the ground that the way to reach specie
payments was to retire the greenbacks.
Mr. Smith was possessed of a good deal of
executive ability, was keen and farsighted as
a business man, and personally was a most
interesting conversationalist, and he had the
powers of mind that would have adorned
almost any of the professional walks.
He married, Jan. 12, 1850, Catherine M.,
daughter of Maj. John \\'alworth of Platts-
burg, N. v., and seven children, of whom
five sursived childhood, were the issue of
the union.
He died Jan. 2, 1894.
W 1 L L A R D , Charles W.— Lawyer,
editor and congressman, was born at Lyndon,
June 18, 1827, and son of Josiah and Abigail
(Carpenter) Willard. He graduated from
Dartmouth in 1851, and came to Montpelier
where he studied law in the office of Peck &
Colby, was admitted to the bar in 1853, and
for a time was in partnership with F. F.
Merrill. He was a man of refined scholarly
habit, of a breadth and candor of mind that
were almost Madisonian, and of high ideals
and earnest purposes in every relation of life.
These qualities combined with practical good
sense and ready courage in contests for what-
ever he believed to be right, made him a
power for good in state thought and opinion,
and though he was lacking utterly in the arts
of politics secured him steady advancement.
In 1855 and '56 he was secretary of state,
until he declined a further re-election. In
i860 and '61 he was a state senator from
Washington county, and in the latter year
became editor and proprietor of the Mont-
pelier Freeman, which he built up to be one
of the most influential papers of the state,
and a fine exponent of the more temperate
thought of his party. He retained the con-
trol of its conduct and most of the time did
its editorial work until 1873, though in 1865
he was for a time in Milwaukee in the editor-
torial chair of the Sentinel, and as long as
life lasted he wrote much and inspiringly on
current events.
He was elected to Congress in 1868, and
re-elected in 1870 and 1872. His service
was both conscientious and laborious, so
much so as to undermine his health. In the
latter part of his service amid the revulsions
of wholesale corruption, the credit Mobilier,
salary grab and other scandals, the use of
iS8
force to sustain state governments in the
South, and the progress of the third term
movement for President Grant, hs got out of
sympathy with his party, and voted inde-
pendently on a number of questions, while
he wrote vigorously in criticism of e\ents.
The result was that he was defeated for re-
nomination.
For some time afterwards his energies
were given largely, with visits to Colorado
and other places, in efforts to regain his
health, but with only partial success. His
intellectual activity, however, did not cease,
and in 1879 he accepted an appointment as
one of the commissioners to revise the
statutes of the state, and his colleague, Col.
W. G. Veazey, having gone upon the bench,
the burden of the work fell on Mr. Willard,
and he did it, had the copy all prepared and
about three-fourths of it put to press, before
death overtook him, June 7, 1880.
In the state election of 1878 he received
quite a complimentary vote, without any
action or approval on his part, from an inde-
pendent movement in the southeast part of
the state, consisting mainly of I )emocrats.
He was a life-long member of the Congre-
gational church, and a genuine Christian in
his daily walk.
He married, in 1855, Emily Doane, daugh-
ter of H. H. Reed, and she bore him four
children: Mary, Ashton R. (a lawyer and
literateur of growing reputation), KlizaMay,
and Charles Wesley.
DENISON, Dudley C. -Congressman,
born in Royalton, Sept. 13, i8ig, was the
son of Joseph A. and Rachael (Chase) Den-
ison. The Denison family is of English
origin, represented now in that country by
the Earl of Londesborough. The Chase
family and its distinction in .American life is
traced in the sketch of Senator Dudley Chase,
after whom our subject was named.
Dudley C. Denison was graduated from
the University of Vermont in 1840, studied
law in the office of John S. Marcy, was ad-
mitted to the bar in 1845, and has practiced
continually at Royalton, having his oldest son,
J. D. Denison, for a partner after 1870. He
was coimty senator in t853-'54, state's attor-
ney 1858 '60, and represented Royalton in the
House in i86i-'62-'63, serving on the com-
mittee of ways and means, and doing efficient
work in securing the first appropriation for
defraying the expenses of the war for the
Union. In 1864 President Lincoln ap-
pointed him United States District .Attorney
for the District of Vermont, and he held the
position until 1869, having a good many dif-
ficulties growing out of the war to handle,
as also those connected with the Fenian
raid on Canada.
The political reaction of 1874, so strong
throughout the country, was intensified in the
old Second District of Vermont by the an-
tagonism left by the animated contest for the
nomination to Congress in 1872 between
Judge Poland and Judge B. H. Steele.
Poland won, but he had another hard fight,
though against a more scattered and more
poorly led opposition to get the nomination
in 1874. The result was a bolt after the con-
tention, the opposition concentrating on
Denison. The result was no election in
September and at the second trial in Novem-
ber the Democrats generally united with the
dissatisfied Republicans, and Denison was
elected by a handsome majority, getting
8,295 ^'otes to 4,079 for Poland, and 1,524
for Alex. McLane, the Democrat. Mr. Deni-
son was elected for a second term in 1876,
by a vote of 14,430 to 5,739 for A. M.
Dickey, Democrat. His congressional career,
however, was without notable incident, e.x-
cept that he was one of the twelve in the
House to vote against a resolution declaring
that no man should be eligible to a third
term for the presidency.
At the expiration of his term he returned
to the practice of his profession with renewed
\igor and success. He was regarded as an
especially strong jury advocate, full, clear and
explicit in his statement of the case, and with
a rare faculty of inspiring confidence.
He was married Dec. 22, 1846, to Eunice,
daughter of Joseph Dunbar, of Hartland, and
seven children, of whom five survive, were the
issue of this union. Besides Joseph D., his
father's partner, John H., is a lawyer at Den-
ver, Col., and three are daughters.
B A R L OW, Bradley. — Congressman,
banker, railroad
operator, over-
land stage pro-
prietor and for
forty years one
. of the most ac-
tive and influen-
tial men of his
section, was born
in Fairfield, May
12, 1814, the son
of Col. Bradley
and De b o r a h
(Sherman) Bar-
low. His father
was one of the
leading citizens
and business men of Franklin county.
The son, receiving a common school edu-
cation, commenced life as a clerk in a store
at Philadelphia, then succeeded his father in
business at Fairfield, until he moved to St.
.Albans, in 1857, to become cashier of the
bank there. The bank management was his
..;*i 1«5l
159
primary business, first as cashier, then, after
1S74, as president, until the collapse of all
his interests in 1883.
In 1S60 he was drawn through a loan he
had made into the overland stage and ex-
press business in the West. He readily saw
the opportunities and future of the business,
and for the next twenty years as the chief
member of the firm of Barlow & Sanderson,
and in other connections, he was deeply en-
gaged in it, building htmdreds of miles of
road, employing hundreds of men, and thou-
sands of horses and mules, and at one time
covering an aggregate distance of seven
thousand miles a day. The enterprise was
very successful, and when Mr. Barlow re-
tired it was with a fortune. Hut he was
also a thorough believer in Vermont and her
resources, as are all who know the West best,
and he was full of projects for Vermont
development, in the water power at Ver-
gennes, the statuary marble quarries and
mills at Brandon, in all of which he had in-
terests, but misfortune prevented the fulfil-
ment of his plans. He was liberal to every
project of enterprise, benevolence, or public
spirit at St. Albans, and especially he put
some 540,000 into the Welden House at
that place.
He became interested in the Southeastern
Railway of Canada and Northern Vermont
in 1879, after the death of Col. A. B. Foster,
whose sons, one of whom had married a
daughter of William Barlow, found his es-
tate badly involved. Barlow stepped into
the breach, purchased one interest after
another until he became substantial owner of
the whole property, entered upon an exten-
sive scheme of equipment, improvement and
development, acquiring, by lease and pur-
chase of securities, control of a line 300
miles in length and connecting the Atlantic
seaboard with Montreal and the Canadian
Northwest. He had a contract with the syn-
dicate controlling the Canadian Pacific and
went ahead with his improvements in full
confidence that the contract would be ful-
filled, because it was a needed property for
the syndicate.
But the latter preferred to get control
cheaper, so at a critical time it refused to
ad\'ance the expected money, and Barlow
was compelled to fail, drawing his bank down
with him and making the beginning of a
series of crashes that wiped out every bank
in St. Albans. He turned over everything
for the benefit of creditors, who almost uni-
versally felt only sympathy for him, regarding
the failure, disastrous as it was, as a misfor-
tune rather than fault. He never recovered
from the blow, and his remaining years were
passed in comparative retirement until his
death.
Mr. Jjarlovv represented Fairfield in the
Legislature of 1845, 1850. 1851 and 1852,
and St. Albans in 1864 and 1865, while he
was a member of the state Senate from
Franklin county in 1866 and 1868. He
was a member of the Constitutional Conven-
tions of 1843, 1850 and 1857 and assistant
secretary of the former. In each of these
bodies and wherever he was placed, his
ready and resourceful mind, his faculty of
making winning combinations, and his clear
and businesslike way of statement whenever
he spoke, made him a leader in influence.
Up to the war he was a Democrat in politics
but afterwards a Republican. He was the
county treasurer from i860 to 1867, and
among the other positions of responsibility
and trust he held were that of director and
president of the ^'ermont &: Canada R. R.,
and director of the Central \'ermont and
other companies.
In 1878 he was ambitious to go to Con-
gress, but was defeated for the nomination
by Gen. W. W. Grout. A bolt was soon
organized, and an independent convention
held to endorse the nomination which had
been given him by the Greenbackers, who
were quite strong in the district, and the
bulk of the Democrats turned in to his sup-
port. The result was to prevent Grout's
election at the first trial and Barlow's easy
victory at the second. Barlow had the
unanimous vote of his native town of Fair-
field and the largest one that was ever cast
for any candidate of any party in St. .Ailbans.
But he served only one term. Before that
was out he got involved in his Southeastern
enterprise and before the next campaign
opened withdrew his name in favor of his
former competitor. Gen. \\'. W. Grout.
Mr. Barlow married, Jan. 17, 1837, Caro-
line, daughter of Gen. James Farnsworth of
Fairfax, and the issue of the union were
five children, only two of whom survive.
JUDGES OF THE SUPREME COURT.
By HIRAM A. HUSE.
The following is a complete list of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Vermont, with
dates of service, from 1778 to 1894.
•Moses Robinson, Ch. J.,
tjonas Galusha,
1807-09 1 Milo L. Bennett,
1838-50,
1852-59
177S-S4. 1785-80
David Fay,
1809-1:5 1 William Hebard,
1842-43,
1844-45
John Shepardson, 1778-80
Daniel Farrand.
1813-ii 1 Daniel Kellogg,
1843-44.
1845-5'
John Fassett, 1778-86
ITJonathan H. Hubbard,
1813-15
tHiland Hall.
1846-50
Thomas Chandler, 1778-79
Asa.41dis, Ch. J.,
1S15-16
Charles Davis,
1846-48
John Throop, 1778-82
tRichard Skinner. Ch. J.,
§LukeP.Poland.Ch.J.,
1848-50,
1857-65
Paul Spooner, Ch. J., 1779-89
18.5-17.
1823-29
Pierpoint Isham.
.851-57
Increase Mosley, 1780-81
§James Fisk,
1815-17
Asa 0. Aldis.
1857-05
•ElishaPayne, Ch. J., 1781-82
tWilliam A. Palmer,
1816-17
John Pierpoint, Ch. |.,
1S57-82
Simeon Olcott, 1781-82
§Dudley Chase, Ch. I.,
1817-21
James Barrett.
1857-80
•Jonas Fay, 1781-83
Joel DooHttle,
1817-23
Loyal C Kellogg,
1859-67
Peter Olcott, 1782-85
William Brayton.
1817-22
tAsahel Peck,
1860-74
Thomas Porter. 1783-86
tCornelius P. Van Ness, Ch. J
William C. Wilson,
1863-70
Nathaniel Niles, 1784-88
1821-23
Benjamin H, Steele,
1865-70
§Nathaniel Chipman, Ch, J.,
tCharles K. Williams, Ch. J.,
JohnProut
1867-69
1786-87, 1789-91, 1796-97, 1813-15
1822-24,
1829-46
tHoyt H. Wheeler,
1869-77
•Luke Knowlton, 1786-87
Asa Aikens,
1823-25
jHomer E. Rnyce. Ch.
.,
1870-Qo
§Stephen R. Bradley, 1788-89
§Samuel Prentiss, Ch. J.,
1S25-30
Timothy P Redfield.
.870-84
Noah Smith, 1789-91, 1798-1801
Titus Hutchinson, Ch. J.,
1825-34
tJonathan Ross, Ch. J.,
1870-
Samuel Knight, Ch. J., 1789-94
tStephen Royce, Ch. J..
tH. Henry Powers.
.874-9°
§Elijah Paine, 1791-94
1825-27,
1829 52
Walter C. Dunton,
1877-79
tisaac Tichenor, Ch. J., 1791-96
Bates Turner,
1827-29
Wheelock G. Veazey,
1879-89
Lott Hall, 1794-1801
Ephraim Paddock.
1828-31
Russell S. Taft,
1880-
Enoch Woodbridge, Ch. J., 1794-1801
John C. Thompson.
1830-31
John W. Rowell.
1882-
tisrael Smith, Ch. J., 1707 98
Nicholas Baylies,
1831-34
William H Walker,
1884-87
•Jonathan Robinson, Ch. J., 1801-07
«Samuel S. Phelps.
1S3.-38
James M. Tyler,
"!?'"
RoyalTyler, Ch. J,, 1801-13
Ijacob Coilamer.
1834-42
Loveland Munson.
i88q-
Stephen Jacob, 1801-03
tjohn Mattocks,
i8j4-35
Henry R. Start,
1890-
Theophilus Harrington, 1803-13
Is.iac F. Redfield, Ch. J..
1835-60
Laforrest H. Thompsor
1890-
* Biographical sketch will be found among " The Fathers." t Biographical sketch will be found a
t Biographical sketch will be found in Part H. § Biographical sketch will be found ;
V, Biographical sketch will be found among " The Representatives."
ng"TheGo
THEIR FIELD OF LABOR.
There are (since Dec. i, 1893) three terms (October, January and May terms) of the
Supreme Court, all held in Montpelier. The seven judges of the Supreme Court (one chief
judge and six assistant judges) all attend these terms, giving them from fifteen to twenty
weeks' work in a year hearing cases that go up from the county courts on appeal or excep-
tion. Besides this each judge presides in four terms of county court (our trial court) each
year. For some years the judges have gone in rotation to their county court work, and, as
there are fourteen counties in the state, it takes each judge three and one-half years to make
the entire circuit of the state as presiding judge of the county court. Until about ten years
ago this county court work was done in a different way, each judge having two or three
counties where he regularly presided, and till Dec. i, 1893, a term of the Supreme Court was
held in each county attended by four judges, there being only one general term held in
Montpelier.
So that the Supreme Court, as to its own terms, has ceased to be " on wheels," but its
members still have to wheel about, or slide about the whole state to do their nisi prius
work. ,
The aboriginal jurisdiction of the Indians was not much interfered with till about the
middle of the eighteenth century, and till that time they ran things and themselves pretty
much as they liked, and indeed, for many years after that, now and then ran the whites off
in a way the latter did not like.
Governor Benning (hence Bennington, and John and Molly, whose real name was
Elizabeth Stark, and the battle and the monument) Wentworth of New Hampshire began
JUDGES OF THE SUPREME COURT. l6l
granting towns in 1749, and to 1764 had granted one hundred and thirty-eight towns, on
what is now Vermont territory. .At the close of the French and Indian war immigration
set in, and in 1 764 an order of the King in council made the west bank of the Connecticut
River the boundary between New Hampshire and New York, and New York began granting
not only lands not before granted by New Hampshire, but also regranting such granted
lands on which settlements had been made. The King, in 1767, ordered New York to
cease making these grants, but the New York authorities construed the order to apply only
to lands already granted by New Hampshire.
We get to 1764 no counties, for New Hampshire itself was not divided into counties
till 1769 or 1771, and as her courts between 1749 and 1764 seem to have been held at
Portsmouth, the luxury of a lawsuit was rather a long-distance blessing for Vermont. From
I 764, for some years, the privilege of " 'tendin' court " could only be indulged in in Albany,
for the whole state was then in .Albany county. This " privilege " continued for the west
])art of the state longer than for the east, and was not highly valued by the settlers of the
" grants," as is set forth in Judge Taft's excellent sketches of the Supreme Court now publish-
ing in the "Green Bag." He says: "So many of the recalcitrant settlers were sum-
moned to the City Hall in .Albany, in which the blind goddess purported to hold sway, that
a meeting of the settlers was held at Bennington to devise means to get rid of the building.
Several methods of blowing it up were suggested, when Ethan .Allen, to divert their minds
from that manner of destruction, proposed that Sim Sears, a famous land speculator, noted
tor selling property that did not belong to him, 'be employed to sell the d — d thing.' "
By the way, how Ethan keeps himself to the fore ! Evidently not as much loved by his
fellows as were Seth \Varner and Remember Baker, his "please mention that I was there"
gets obeyed by later generations, though it only drew from the parson to whom it was
directly addressed, the rebuke, "Sit down, thou bold blashemer." He 7iias bold, and strong ;
not modest : loved to do things deserving praise, and loved praise. Only the other day,
going down through the State House yard, I met by the gate a man and woman with their
little girl between them. It would have warmed the cockles of Ethan's heart to have heard,
as I did when I passed them, the mother say to the girl, "I'll show him to you just as soon
as we get there." The Bennington cannon and Mead's statue of .Allen flank the State House
door, and within and above are the battle-flags borne against the rebellion — all symbols of
the sword that won and preserved the peace in which our courts give justice to those who
seek it within their precincts.
.Allen, \Varner, Baker, and their fellow settlers didn't have county seats and court-
houses on the " Hampshire Grants " for some time, but in the Documentary History of
New York may be found some " mighty interesting reading," as to how they judged and
punished those who trespassed on their lands. In fact, these plaints of those who suffered
from the beech seal, and from the twigs of the wilderness, and from the free and untram-
meled language of the woodland judges, are excellent specimens of reporting, and would
make at least as large a volume as N. Chipman.
New York took measures for the administration of her laws in the territory declared to
be hers in the order of 1764, beginning in 1766 to establish the county of Cumberland and
effecting it finally by a charter of March 17 or 19, 1768 — the boundaries were the west
bank of the Connecticut, thence twenty-six miles to the southwest corner of Stamford, thence
north fifty-six miles to the northeast corner of Socialborough (Clarendon), thence north
fifty-three degrees, east thirty miles to the south corner of Tunbridge, thence by the south line
of Tunbridge, Strafford and Thetford to the Connecticut. The county seat was first Ches-
ter, then (1772) Westminster. .A Court of Common Pleas and General Sessions of the
Peace was authorized to be held twice a year. Thomas Chandler of Chester, Joseph Lord
of Putney and Samuel Wells of Brattleboro were first commissioned judges of the Inferior
Court of Common Pleas July 16, 1766, and their commissions were renewed in April, 1768
and 1772, and in the last named year Noah Sabin was added to their number. So the first
court ever held in Vermont w-as at Chester, in the county of Cumberland of the state of
l62 JUDGES OF THE SUPREIIE COURT.
New York, and the first judges were the above named. I think Charles Phelps of Marlboro,
the great-grandfather of Gen. John W. Phelps, was the first Vermont lawyer, at any rate he
had the first law library of any member of the profession in the state and by being a Yorker
in sympathy and action, got it confiscated. Mr. Phelps got most of his books back after a
time, but the revisers of the laws in 1782 made use of them in their work and they may be
said to have constituted the first appearance of a Vermont State Library.
Solomon Phelps, Crean Brush, Charles Phelps and Samuel Knight were commissioned
as attorneys. John Grout, of Chester, was also admitted an attorney. They were the first
"block of five" of lawyers here, and in their lives pretty well exemplified the varying for-
tunes of the profession. Grout had an especially rocky time in attempting to practice ;
Brush was a tory, and committed suicide in 1777; Knight was an estimable man and highly
esteemed after the unpopular stand he took with the Yorkers had grown to be an old story ;
the Phelpses were men of brains but Charles was always in troubled waters, and Solomon,
his son, at last killed himself.
By a New York ordinance of March 16, 1770, Gloucester county was established out of
that part of Albany county lying north of Cumberland county and east of the Green Moun-
tains, and May 29 of that year, at Kingsland (or Kingsborough), now Washington, the first
court for Gloucester county was held. There was not an inhabitant or a house within the
hmits of Kingsland when the county was estabHshed, but a log courthouse and jail were
there when court was held in May, and' the stream that flows near by is still called "Jail
Branch." Governor Farnham's article on the Orange County Bar in Child's Gazetter of
Orange County sets forth the records of this Gloucester county " courts of quarter sessions
and court of common pleas." John Taplin, Samuel Sleeper and Thomas Sumner were the
"judges being appointed by the government of New York." There were also present
James Pennoc, Abner Fowler and John Peters, "Justices of the Quor'm," as well as John
Taplin, Jr., High Sheriff. The business recorded is : "The court adjourned to the last
Tuesday of August next." The last Tuesday of August it met and "adjourned to the last
Tuesday in November next." In November it had eight cases before it, called them and
put them over, and adjourned to the last Tuesday in February, 1771.
The record of the next term shows that when our Supreme Court wheeled and slid
about the state it was not in the lowest condition attainable, for here was its humble fore-
runner fairly traveling "on its uppers." This is the record (now at Chelsea), and in read-
ing it one must remember that Mooretown (Moretown) is now Bradford and not the town
which now has that name, and that Kingsland is now Washington.
" Feb. 25th, Sat out from Mooretown for Kings Land travieled untill
1771. Knight there being no road and the Snow very Depe we
travieled on Snow Shoes or Racatts on the 26th we travieled some ways and
Held a Council when it was concluded it was Best to open the Court as we saw
No Line it was not whether in Kingsland or Not But we concluded we were
farr in the woods we did not expect to see any house unless we marched tliree
miles into Kingsland and no one lived there when the Court was ordered to be
opened on the spot.
Present John Tapun Jniige
John Peters of the Qitor^m.
John Taplin, Jun'r, Sheriff.
All cases continued or adjourned over untill next term. The Court, if
unc, adjourned over untill the last Tuesday in May next."
" If one " is careful and good.
In 1772 it was ordered that the February and August terms be held in Newbury, and
the court ran a year or more longer.
In July, 1774, there first appeared in Vermont a Supreme Court judge doing official
business. This was at Westminster, and the judge was Robert R. Livingston, one of the
judges of the Supreme Court of the Province of New York, presiding in a court of Oyer and
Terminer and general gaol delivery. Judge Livingston was born in New York in August,
1 718, and died in Clermont, N. Y., Dec. 9, 1775. He was a man of abihty and many
accomphshments, and the richest landholder in New York — his country home at Clermont
JUDGES OF THE SUPREME COURT. 163
and his city residence in New York being of the best in their day. He married Margaret)
daughter of Col. Henry Beekman, and his daughter Janet married Gen. Richard Montgomery.
Judge Livingston was also a landholder in Vermont, as one of the grantees of Camden,
(part of Jamaica and vicinity).
The Revolution was coming on apace and the next March saw the close of courts held
under authority of a Province of a King, and of New York judicial rule in \"ermont. This
close was more than dramatic ; it was tragic ; and, while there has been much dispute as to
whether the uprising was against New York or Britain, and some doubt as to William
French's right to the title that has been given him, it should be remembered that Benjamin
H. Hall, than whom no more painstaking, accurate and truthful historian ever wrote, claims
for him in the History of Eastern Vermont, "the title of the proto-martyr to the cause of
American liberty and of the Revolution." The Westminster massacre marked the last attempt
to hold court in Vermont under royal authority ; and William French's epitaph on the old
gravestone that first marked his resting place, is the testimony of his own day and genera-
tion as to the cause in which this young man from Brattleboro died. It ran thus :
" In Memory of William French,
Son to Mr. Nathaniel French. Who
Was Shot at Westminster March ye i3lh,
1775, by the hands of Cruel Ministereal tools,
of Georg ye s^ in the Corthouse at a 11 a Clock
at Night in the 22^1 year of his Age.
Here William French his Body lies.
For Murder his Blood for Vengance cries.
King Georg the third his Tory crew
tha with a bawl his head Shot threw.
For Liberty and his Country's Good,
he lost his Life his Dearest Blood."
Charlotte county had been established by New York March 12, 1772, its territory being
the northern part of what had been Albany county, and lying partly in Vermont and partly
in New York. The southern part of what is now Bennington county remained in Albany
■county. So much of Charlotte county was hostile to New York that, in 1774, the courts of
Albany county were given jurisdiction of crimes committed in Charlotte county — that was
the year that one hundred pounds reward was ofTered by New York for Ethan .^Uen, the
same for Remember Baker, and fifty pounds each for six others. Those named in the act
of outlawry issued an address threatening immediate death to any one trying to arrest them.
Charlotte county, whose county seat was Fort Edward, really did no business this side the
present New York line. After the Westminster tragedy no courts were in operation till the
organization of the state government. The people took care of public matters by commit-
tees and by the Council of Safety. The division into counties was recognized, however, as
may be seen, as well as elsewhere, on the title page of Rev. Aaron Hutchinson's Sermon,
" preached at Windsor, July 2, 1777, before the representatives of the towns in the counties
of Charlotte, Cumberland and Gloucester, for the forming of the State of Vermont."
When Vermont's first Legislature convened the new state was organized into two
counties, Bennington and Unity. This act was passed March 17, 1778. March 21 the
name of Lhiity was changed to Cumberland. Cumberland included the territory east of
the Green Mountains and was divided into two shires by the " ancient county line" — the
Newbury shire and the Westminster shire. Bennington county had also two shires, Ben-
nington and Rutland. At the February session, 17S1, Bennington county was divided, keep-
ing under its own name substantially what is now its territory, and its northern part becom-
ing Rutland county. The same session Cumberland was divided into three counties —
Windham and Windsor, substantially as now existing ; and Orange county, comprising every-
thing to the Canada line north of Windsor and east of Rutland. October 18, 1785, Addi-
son county was established and Oct. 22, 1787, Chittenden county. November 5, 1792,
Franklin, Caledonia, Orleans and Essex counties were established, but the Orange county
territory in the above counties was to "continue to be annexed" to Orange county till Oct.
164 JUDCES OF THE SUPREME COURT.
I, 1796. Cirand Isle county was formed Nov. 9, 1802, getting North and South Hero from
Chittenden and its other three towns from Franklin. November i, 1810, Jefferson county
was incorporated and it was organized in 18 11, beginning its working existence Dec. i
iSii. It got its territory from Orange, Caledonia, Chittenden and Addison counties. The
name of Jefferson was changed to Washington Nov. 8, 1814. Lamoille county was estab-
lished in 1836.
Vermont's first Legislature met March 12, 1778, and had a session of two weeks, and
another session in June. It established a special court, with five judges to each court, for
each shire, thus electing twenty judges, none of whom, it may be noted, were lawyers. In
June they re-elected twelve of these, and elected eight new ones, and among the eight not
re-elected was Maj. Jeremiah Clark, the first judge of the Bennington shire. His court had
done business, however, before he went out of office, for David Redding was tried for and
convicted of " enemical conduct." Redding was a spy, and had been detected in his secret
work, and in carrying off some muskets to the enemy. But June 4, John Burnham, who
appears never to have been admitted to the bar, appeared before the (Governor and Council
with a copy of Blackstone, and convinced them that it was all wrong to hang Redding, as
the jury that convicted him consisted of only six men. They gave the prisoner a new trial.
Ethan Allen had returned the week before from his captivity in England, and had completed
the celebration of his return, at which, he records, they " passed around the flowing bowl."
The Governor and/Council on that 4th of June reprieved Redding, who was to have
been hung that very day, for one week, and appointed .Allen as prosecutor to conduct
the case at the new trial. A multitude had gathered to see Redding hung, and on learning
of the reprieve seemed inclined to appeal to Judge Lynch. Allen mounted a stump, waved
his hat, and, without speaking through it, called ".Attention, the whole ! " advised the people to
go quietly home, and to return the i ith, adding : "You shall see somebody hung, for if Red-
ding is not then hung I will be hung myself." The crowd left ; Redding was tried the gth by
a jury of twelve men. Major Clark being presiding judge again, and Allen conducting the
prosecution. The twelve found Redding guilty, as the six had done before, and on the i ith
he was duly hung, having had the same benefit he would from exceptions, if there had been
any provision for exceptions, which benefit figured up just seven days more of life.
June 17, 1778, the General Assembly constituted a Superior Court for the banishment
of Tories and appointed as its judges Col. Peter Olcott of Norwich (afterwards a judge of
the Supreme Court), Bezaleel Woodward of Dresden (now Hanover, N. H., and then with
Piermont and many other New Hampshire towns, represented in the Vermont Legislature),
Major Griswdld, Patterson Piermont, Esq., and Major Tyler. I think it was this court that
passed judgment of banishment on James Breakenridge, Ebenezer Cole and John McNeill,
and which the council, July 17, 1778, recommended to " dissist from any further prosecu-
tions " till the " rising of the Sessions of Assembly in October next." These men sentenced
to banishment were reprieved till such rising of the Assembly : S^f Xo]. I, Governor and
Council, pp. 273, 274.
The Major Tyler of this court was evidently Major Joseph Tyler of Townsend. Major
Griswold was doubtless Major John Griswold of Lebanon. Patterson Piermont, Esq., I am
now unable to place. It is a fact that a Capt. Isaac Patterson was then or soon after a resi-
dent of Piermont. The ridiculous mistake once made by the .Austrian police, warns me
however from indulging the notion that Patterson of Piermont was the fourth judge.
The relation — by consanguinity, affinity, or otherwise — of the Austrian police to the
Supreme Court of Vermont may be rather distant but this paragraph goes in all the same. In
Watertown, Wis., Feb. 6, 1857, I heard the brilliant if eccentric Rev. James Cook Richmond
lecture on Hungary, the body of whose patriot Kossuth is at this writing on its way to burial
in the land he loved. No better word-painting was ever done at the bar or on the lecture plat-
form than Mr. Richmond's of the bewilderment of the Austrian police when they had muddled
their brains by some alleged mental process peculiar to themselves and superinduced by
James Cook Richmond's peculiar name, and became thereby convinced that there was within
.H'I)i;ks of the suprkme court. 165
the bounds of the iMnpire a James Cook (or \'awmess Ko-ok as they pronoiun-ed it) of
Richmond, who had mysteriously disappeared from their ken. This dupUcation business
brought on by their own stupidity or carelessness was a horror to the police and an amuse-
ment to Richmond as it was to his audience as he told of the police inquiries continually
made of him in the hope that he might give aid by having and imparting knowledge of the
whereabouts of his interesting countryman, Yawmess Ko-ok. The tragic close of Mr. Rich-
mond's life brought an incident of peculiar interest to Vermonters. In July, 1866, Rich-
mond was brutally murdered by two of his servants. Frank A. Flower in his life of Matt
Carpenter, says : " With perhaps a single exception. Carpenter entertained a deeper regard
for Rev. James Cook Richmond than for any other man of God he ever knew." The
December after Richmond's murder Carpenter went from Milwaukee to Dutchess county, N.
Y., and offered to aid in the prosecution, which offer was accepted. The prisoner's counsel
tried to prejudice the jury by alleging that Carpenter, by his long journey and free services,
showed he was seeking revenge and not justice. Carpenter made the closing argument and
the jury brought in a verdict of murder in the first degree after being out only twenty minutes.
Judge Gilbert who presided at the trial, after it closed, said to him : " I presume, Mr. Car-
ter, you were a member of Father Richmond's church." " No," says Flower, was the instant
reply, " I take my religion by the curtesy."
And now getting near the beginning of the Supreme Court and mentioning Carpenter
there comes to mind the picture of the professional beginning of those supreme lawyers,
Edmunds and Carpenter, in their night struggle with each other in the justice's court in
Bolton nigh unto Camel's Hump ; a scene on which Edmunds threw a flash light when
speaking in the Senate on the death of Carpenter.
There were no lawyers in the territory that is now Yermont before the State of Yer-
mont was established, except those in Cumberland county. These, in their order of com-
ing, were : Charles Phelps, who came from Massachusetts to Marlboro in 1764 and was
then a lawyer before there was any court for the place of his new residence, unless one went
to Portsmouth or .-Xlbany to find it — according as one stood for the Hampshire or York
jurisdiction; John (irout, about 1 768, who came to Windsor first and rapidly changed to
Chester; Crean Brush who was licensed to practice law Jan. 27, 1764, in New York by
Governor Colden, and who came to Westminster in 1771 ; Solomon Phelps, son of Charles
whose name perhaps should come before Grout's, as Solomon came to Marlboro with his
father and was commissioned by Gov. Henry Moore of New York, as an attorney-at-law,
March 31, 176S, though the (record of his admission to the bar by the court in Cumberland
county is as of Sept. 8, 1772 ; Samuel Knight (afterwards a judge of the Supreme Court),
who was admitted as an attorney by the court the same day as Solomon Phelps, Sept. 8,
1772, though he was "commissioned " as an attorney, June 23, 1772 ; Elijah Williams who
was admitted at March term, 1773, though it does not appear where he lived— an Elijah
Williams was one of the first settlers of Guilford in 1754 — and the most that can be hoped
is that when Patterson Piermont makes his local habitation known Williams will come with
him; Simeon Olcott, who was admitted, Sept. 15, 1774, but as he was doubtless resident
in Charlestown, N. H., he can hardly count as a Cumberland county lawyer— he was after-
wards elected a judge of the Supreme Court but did nothing as such except to resign, and
still later he was chief justice of and a senator from New Hampshire ; and last but not least
Micah Townsend of Brattleboro, who was admitted in New York in April, 1770, and came
to Yermont about 1777. Two of the above killed themselves — Crean Brush shot his brains
out in New York in May, 1778, and Solomon Phelps after preaching, went crazy and tried
to beat out his brains with the head of an axe but only broke his skull, whereupon trepan-
ning saved his life till 1 790, when he cut his throat with a razor. Knight became chief
judge of Yermont and Olcott chief justice of New Hampshire and senator as above stated.
Micah Townsend lived long and had the happiness so clerkly, and able, and pious a man
deser%-ed, and as to Charles Phelps and John (irout, of each the old epitaph is true, " af-
flictions sore long time he bore."
100 JUnOES OF THE SUPREME COURT.
At one of the many sessions in which Lyman G. Hinckley, of happy memory, repre-
sented Chelsea, somebody who had the notion that the state was being impoverished by the
emoluments pertaining to the office of justice of the peace, had introduced a new fee bill
for justices and speech after speech was made, all aimed at abuses real or imaginary that
needed to be corrected in our fifteen hundred or more "courts of record" that don't have a
seal, .^t last "Lyme" — it was years after he had been Lieutenant-Governor — who had
nearly all his life been a justice without being made aware of the disgraceful character of the
occupation as set forth by his fellow-representatives, came to the rescue of the rank and file
of the judiciary force and announced that he had heard enough of invective against a re-
spectable body of men, invective having its moving cause, he said, in nine cases out of ten
in the knowledge of those who assailed our worthy magistrates, that they never could hope
to arrive at and be clothed with the dignity of a justice of the peace. The House laughed,
killed the bill, and, figuratively speaking, took off its hat to the representative from Chelsea
and his army of justices.
Well it might, for in early times as well as later, the pathway of the local magistrate was
not strewn with roses. And in September, 1778, when the Superior Court had not been
established and the Supreme Court was yet farther off in the future, and the Special Courts
were not in session and the Superior Court for the banishment of tories had been recom-
mended to "dissist from any further prosecution," the judicial power of the state was in ex-
ercise only by the despised justices. The following complaint shows some of the emolu-
ments and pleasures of the office of justice in early days :
''State of Vermont ( u u-r c . u ^ o
Cumberland County f Hallifax, September y 20, 1778.
To^ His Exellencv the Governoh, to His Honour the Lielt. -Governor, to the Honourable Counsil and House of
Representatives:
Greeting— The Complaint of William Hill Most Humbly sheweth that your complainant Did on the 24'li Day of Instant
September receive a warrant from Hubbel Wells Esqr to arrest the Bodys of John Kirkley and Hannah his wife, of the Town
and County afore Said for asault and Battery parpetrated in the Highway on the body of David Williams in Hallifax afore
S-j I therefore took the said John and Hannah persuant to the orders and Brought them Before said athority without any
abuse the warrant was returned the partys called and the Cort opened— then there came Thomas Clark Thomas Baker Isaac
Orr Henrey Henderson Alexander Stewart Jonathan Saflord Elijah Edwards Peletiah Fitch With about Sixteen Others of Said
Town armed With Clubs to attempt to Resque the prisoners or to set the Court aside and in a Tumultuors manner Rushed
into the House Drew their Clubs and Shok them over the Justices Head and Swore he Should not try the case Called him a
Scoundral and that he to Shew himself such was forgery Which he Should answer for and Bid Defience to the State and all its
authority with Many more Insults and abuses which Stagnated the free Course of Justice, in that way overpowered the author-
ity and Stopt the Court— all which is against the peace of the Community Subversive of the athority of the State against the
peace and Dignity of the Same Your Complainant prays for your advice and assistance in this Matter that Some Method may
be taken Whereby the above Said Offenders may be Brought to Justice for such acts of Contempt of athority and for such
atrotious acts of out rage.
this Granted and Your Complainant as in Duty Bound Shall Ever pray.
William Hill, Criisl.iile."
One gathers from the above that the men with clubs were adherents of New York, for
they maintained that for ^Vells (who was a justice under appointment of the new State of
Vermont) " to shew himself such " — that is, to claim to be or shew himself as a justice — was
" forgery," a rather unique but forcible use of the word.
THE JUDGES.
At the October session, 1778, at Windsor, Oct. 23, the General Assembly "Resolved,
that there be a Superior Court appointed in this State, consisting of five judges ;" also,
" Resolved, that the Hon. Moses Robinson, Esq., be, and is hereby appointed chief judge
of the Superior Court, and Maj. John Shepardson, second ; John Fassett, Jun., third ; Major
Thomas Chandler, Jr., fourth ; and John Throop, Esq., fifth, judges of said court." The
court was to sit four times a year — at Bennington, \\'estminster, Rutland and Newbury, and
was not to "sit longer at one sitting than one week." This court existed four years.
The first session was held at Bennington and began Dec. 10, 177S. The record be-
gins :
JUDGES OF THE SUPREME COURT. 1 67
"State of Vermont, Bennington, lo"' December, 1778.
This day met the Superior Court for said State in the Council-Chamber .at Bennington half shire in the house of Mr. Stephen
Fay's in said town agreeable to an act of the Geneial Assembly of the state made and provided lor that purpose.
Prescnt-Thc Hon. Moses Robinson, Esi/uire, Chief Judge,
John Fassett, Jiin'r, and
Thomas Chandler, Jutz^r, Esquit-es.
Havins each ..f them taken the necessary oaths of office proceeded to the choice of a clerk for said court," i^c.
They chose Joseph Fay, F^sii., clerk. The following account, which was allowed,
shows what judges attended. It seems that Major Shepardson did not attend, but Jonas
Fay who was a member of the council, did attend, this coming from a provision of law that
in the absence of a judge a member of the council might sit as a judge. The account given
below bears on its back the " aproval " of Thomas Chittenden and the receipt of John Fas-
sett, Jun., to Ira .Allen, the treasurer, in January, 1779, when it is plain Fassett got his pay
for the money ad\anced to pay the judges and officers. This is the account :
Bennington, 14th December, 1778.
State of Vermont. To the Superior Court, Dr.
To Moses Robinson, Esq., Chief Judge, 4 days' Service, ^600
Thomas Chandler, Esq., I2 days' Service, 60 miles Travel, 21 o o
John Fassett, Jur., Esq., 7 days' Service, 18 miles Travel, 11 8 o
John Throop, Esq., 11 days' Service, 100 miles Do., ^1 10 o
Jonas Fay, Esq., 2 days' Do., 300
John Burnum, Esq., State's Attorney, 2 days' service, 300
Benjamin Fay, Esq., Sheriflf, 4 days' Service, .\ttend Court, Summoning
24 Jurymen, 36 miles Travel, 9180
David Robinson, Constable, Attending i day, o 18 o
Grand Jury's Bill, 10 16 o
Joseph Fay, Clk., 3 days' Service, 3 12 o
^i ' o
Samuel Robinson, Esq., 2 Days, 280
i<ii to O
December 14th, 1778.
We whose names are heretotore prefi.xed do hereby acknowledge to have Reed, of
John Fassett, Jur., Esq., the several sums anne.xed to each of our Names in the above
Acct. in full of all demands on said Acct. Moses Robinson.
Thos. Chandler, Jr. John Fassett, Jur.
This may certify that the Grand Joseph Fay. Jonas Fay.
Jury Reed, the money mentioned in David Robinson. John Throop.
the above act. Saml. Robinson. Benj. Fay.
Attest: Jos. Fay, Clk. John Burnam, Junr.
Ira Allen, Esq., Treasurer.
.\t this session it seems nothing was done the loth, the day court met, except to appoint
a clerk and adjourn to the nth. On the nth the court was mainly occupied with the case
of William Griffin vs. Jacob Galusha for fraudulently taking and detaining a certain white
horse belonging to Griffin ; the parties appeared and joined issue and the defendant Galusha
"]3leading" for a continuance for the want of material evidence, it was granted him to the
third Thursday of February, and to that time the court adjourned on the nth. On the
14th of December, at a Special Superior Court, "called on special occasion," a prisoner
pleaded guilty of " enemical conduct against this and the United States and going over and
joining the enemies thereof," and was sentenced, having prayed the mercy of the court, and
presumably getting benefit from the prayer, to be banished and transported within the
"enemies lines at Canada, and to depart this state, on or before the loth day of February
next ; and to proceed within the enemies lines, without delay ; never more to return within
this, or the United States of America, on penalty of being, on conviction thereof, before
any court or authority proper to try him, whipped on the naked back, thirty and nine
lashes ; and the same number of lashes to be repeated once every week, during his stay ;
paying cost." The bill for service printed above evidently covers the sitting of the court at
its regular session on the loth and nth, and at its special session of the 14th.
It is rather interesting to follow out Griffin vs. Galusha. At the February term, 1779,
C'Talusha was defaulted, and the court judged " that a certain white horse, now in the custody
of the sheriff, the property of William Griffin, be delivered up to the said Griffin and that
the defendant pay cost," which order was discharged by the defendant, who turned up after
IDS JUDGES OF THE SUPREME COURT.
he was defaulted and asked the court to grant a review ; this it did and on the next day
tried the cause. Galusha got beaten on the trial and had an additional bill of cost to pay.
At this February term Timothy Brownson of the Council sat with Robinson and Fassett,
judges, to make a quorum.
At the May term, 1779, at Westminster, Stephen R. Bradley and Noah Smith were
" appointed attornies at law, sworn and licensed to plead at the bar within this state " —
being the first lawyers admitted by a Vermont court. At the June term, 1779, at Rutland,
Nathaniel Chipman was appointed attorney at law, sworn and licensed to plead at the bar
within this state. These three young men were very much in evidence in the state later
on, and Chipman was the first lawyer to become one of the judges of the Supreme Court,
Bradley the second, and Smith the third.
Noah Smith was appointed state's attorney pro tempore for the county of Cumberland
the day he was admitted, and on the same day exhibited a complaint against Nathan
Stone, of Windsor, for uttering reproachful and scandalous words of the authority. It
appears that Stone, on the 15th of March, at Windsor, had said to the sheriff, "
you, and your Governor and your Council," or, as set forth by Smith in his complaint, " you
(meaning the high sheriff of said county, John Benjamin, Esq.), and your Governor (mean-
ing his Excellency the Governor of this state), and your Council (meaning the Honorable
Council of this state), which opprobrious language was a violation of the law of the land."
Stone was fined twenty pounds and cost. Lucky for Stone he didn't damn the Court as
well. At that term all five of the judges were present, so no member of the Honorable
Council sat in judgment on his reviler. Smith and Chipman were the first lawyers to be
admitted who resided west of the Green Mountains. Smith had lived in Bennington nearly
a year and Chipman had come that spring from Connecticut, where he had been admitted
an attorney in March.
It is not intended to give here any detailed account of the acts constituting the courts
of Vermont. It is enough to say that county courts were established by acts of the Feb-
ruary and April sessions, 1781, and the first county court was held at Westminster June 26,
1 78 1. In 1779 the Governor, council and assembly were invested with equity powers as a
court in cases involving more than four thousand pounds and with appellate powers in equity
cases involving more than twenty and less than four thousand pounds, but the 1785 Council
of Censors pointed out the inconvenience of that arrangement and in i 786 it was repealed.
The Superior Court was given equity jurisdiction in cases above twenty and less than four
thousand pounds. The Governor, council and assembly had one chancery case before them
in 1785 but gave up the consideration of it. There was no chancery court between 1786
and 1797. In 1797 the court of chancery was constituted by legislative enactment, and
till 1839 consisted of the judges of the Supreme Court, and in 1814 each of the Supreme
Court judges was authorized to make as a chancellor interlocutory orders in vacation in
chancery cases preparatory to final hearing. The Supreme Court continued to 1839 to be
the Court of Chancery and of course there were no appeals, but since then (except from
1850 to 1857, when the circuit judges were chancellors), there has been a court of chancery,
consisting of one judge as chancellor ( each Supreme Court judge being a chancellor) , sitting
contemporaneously with the county courts in each county, appeal from all decrees lying to
the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court was constituted in 1782 and five judges elected.
The Supreme Court judges concluded the work of the Superior Court, and except to have
this business finished, the latter court ceased to exist after four years from its creation, the
county and Supreme courts taking its place. Ihe first session of the Supreme Court was
held at Marlboro, Windham County, F"eb. 6, 1783, after its judges had finished business
pending in the Superior Court.
In name no judges elected before October, 1782, belong in the list of Supreme Court
judges, but the judges of the Superior Court have been treated as though they properly be-
longed in that list and the Supreme Court took the place of the Superior Court, and four of
the Superior Court judges of 1782 became Supreme Court judges that same year. The
SHEPARIISON.
169
Superior Court judges will be here treated as though their court had been legally called
Supreme.
It was not till i 786, four _vears after the Supreme Court was established, that it had a
lawyer on its bench, and the Superior Court never had one. Lawyers were scarce for one
thing, and were either very young or in sympathy with the claims of New York. Out in
Illinois long ago a sensible business man was nominated for judge, and, thinking there was
no possibility of election did not take the trouble to decline. To his surprise he was elected
and thereupon went to a good friend who was a lawyer for advice. The lawyer said, "ac-
cept," and when the judge-elect protested that he would not know what to do, told him :
"Hear each case and decide it as seems to you right, and in nine cases out of ten your de-
cision will be right, but never give a reason for your decision for in nine cases out of ten
your reason will be wrong." It was not till 1793 that any book of reports of decisions of
our Supreme Court was published, and "N. Chipman" is a very unpretentious volume.
Before giving account of the judges who sat in the highest court of the state from the
October session of 1778, a final word may be said of that first superior court created June
17, 1778, for the banishment of Tories, etc. A quarter of a century ago Charles Reed when
working with Gov. Hiland Hall in preparing for publication matter going into the collections
of the Vermont Historical Society, got on track of a man, real or mythical, of the name of
Evan Paul, but never found him. And Patterson Piermont, Esq., judge of the brief court of
banishment, yet stands the shadow of a name.
The judges of the Superior Court elected in ( )ctober, 1 7 78, were five ; Moses Robinson,
John Shepardson, John Fasset, Jr., Thomas Chandler, Jr., and lohn Throop.
ROBINSON, Moses.— Chief judge of
the Superior Court, 1778 to 1781, and from
June, 1782, to October, 1782 ; chief judge of
the Supreme Court, 1782 to 1784, and from
1785 to 1789. [See Mr. Daxenport's sketch
in "The Fathers," ante page 55.]
SHHPARDSON, JOHN. — Major John
Shepardson, of Cuilford, was born in Attle-
boro, Mass., Feb. 16, i 729, and died Jan. 3,
1802. He came to Cuilford soon after its first
settlement in September, 1761, by iMicah
Rice and family, and was there when the only
road, that up Broad Brook, was impassable
with teams, so that the settlers had " to boil
or pound their corn, or go fifteen miles to
mill with a grist upon their backs." The
first recorded town meeting of Cuilford was
held May ig, 1772, and John Shepardson
was chosen town clerk. When the new state
was organized he and Col. Benjamin Carpen-
ter were the two leaders of the cause of Ver-
mont against the New Yorkers. He was
twice, in 1778 and 1779, elected "second
judge " of the Superior Court — his name
standing next to that of the chief judge. He
attended the court at Westminster, May
26, 1779, when S. R. Bradley and Noah
Smith were admitted to the bar, but does
not seem to have attended other sessions of
the court.
This session of May, 1779, which Shep-
ardson attended was, taken altogether, an
interesting one. Vermont and New \'ork
were each claiming jurisdiction over Vermont
territory. In February, a militia law had
been passed by Vermont giving the com-
mander of a militia company the right to
draft men to serve. In April, U'illiam Mc-
Wain, a sergeant in Capt. Daniel Jewet's
company, was drafting men. The Yorkers
refused to serve, especially Capt. James Clay
and Lieutenant Benjamin Wilson of Putney.
McW'ain told them they would be fined, and
then that they were fined ; they would not
pay and April 2 1 he levied on two cows, one
Clay's and the other Wilson's, and advertised
to sell them the 2Sth. On the 28th the cows
were forcibly taken from Mc^Vain by a num-
ber of men of Col. Eleazer Patterson's New
York regiment. May 18, McWain entered
complaint against those who took the cows
from him and, on papers issued by Ira Allen,
thirty-six Yorkers were arrested and confined
in \Vestminster jail. Governor Chittenden,
to protect the \'ermont sheriff, ordered Ethan
Allen to collect a hundred able bodied \olun-
teers in the county of Bennington and march
them mto the county of Cumberland to re-
main during the sitting of the court. The
county committee of the New York adherents
met at Brattleboro, May 25, and sent an ex-
press to Governor Clinton saying that if aid
were not rendered, " our persons and prop-
erty must be at the disposal of Ethan .Allen,
which is more to be dreaded than death with
all its terrors." Court met the 26th. Noah
Smith was appointed state's attorney, f<ro
lyo
SHEPARDSON.
SHEPARDSOX.
tempore, and complained of the prisoners for
assembling at Putney, April 28, in a riotous
and unlawful manner and assaulting McWain,
a lawful officer in the execution of a lawful
command, and taking the cows which Mc-
Wain had taken by legal measures — charging
that this "wicked conduct" was a violation
of the common law and contrary to the stat-
ute [passed in February but not printed and
published until June], to prevent riots, dis-
orders and contempts of authority. The
preliminary proceedings used up the day and
the prisoners were sent back to jail. Micah
Townsend w-as one of the thirty-six prisoners ;
at his suggestion, twenty-eight of them peti-
tioned the court for a month's delay but the
only effect of this was to procure the new
lawyer, S. R. Bradley, as counsel for the res-
pondents. On the 27th, Smith entered a
nolle pivsei/iii in the complaints against three
of the thirty-six, and Mr. Bradley moved to
quash three other complaints on account of
the nonage of the parties respondent. Brad-
ley worked this racket on Smith successfully.
Benjamin H. Hall, who was far from being
an admirer of Allen, says :
" The motion was granted, and the court
was about to proceed with the trial of the
remaining prisoners, when an unexpected
interruption took place. Ethan Allen, who,
with his men, had been engaged at West-
minster in assisting the sheriff and guarding
the prisoners, had watched with interest and
satisfaction the transactions of the preced-
ing day, and had expressed great pleasure
at the manner in which the goddess of jus-
tice seemed to be preparing to punish the
rebellious Yorkers. He was not present at
the commencement of the second day's
session, but having heard that some of the
prisoners were obtaining their discharge, he
resolved to stop such flagitious conduct, and
teach the court their duty. Accoutred in
his military dress, with a large cocked hat
on his head profusely ornamented with gold
lace, and a sword of fabulous dimensions
swinging at his side, he entered the court
room breathless with haste, and pressing
through the crowd which filled the room,
advanced towards the bench whereon the
judges were seated. Bowing to Moses Rob-
inson who occupied the chief seat, and who
was his intimate friend, he commenced a
furious harangue, aimed particularly at the
state's attorney, and the attorney for the
defendants.
" The judge, as soon as he could recover
from his astonishment, informed the speaker
that the court would gladly listen to his
remarks as a private citizen, but could not
allow him to address them either in military
attire or as a military man. To this infor-
mation Allen replied by a nod, and taking
off his chapeau threw it on the table. He
then proceeded to unbuckle his sword, and
as he laid it aside with a flourish, turned to
the judge, and in a voice like that of a
Stentor exclaimed.
He then turned to the audience and having
surveyed them for a moment, again addressed
the judge, as follows : ' Fifty miles I have
come through the woods with my brave men,
to support the civil with the military arm ;
to quell any disturbances should they arise ;
and to aid the sheriff and the court in pros-
ecuting these Yorkers — the enemies of our
noble state. I see, however, that some of
them, by the quirks of this artful lawyer,
Bradley, are escaping from the punishment
they so richly deserve, and I find also, that
that this little Noah Smith is far from under-
standing his business, since he at one moment
moves for a prosecution and in the next
wishes to withdraw it. Let me warn your
honor to be on your guard, lest these delin-
quents should slip through your fingers, and
thus escape the reward so justly due their
crimes.' Having delivered himself in these
words, he with great dignity replaced his hat,
and, having buckled on his sword, left the
court room with the air of one who seemed
to feel the weight of kingdoms on his
shoulders. After a short interval of silence,
business was again resumed."
Thirty respondents were before the court.
Bradley came to the rescue of them as he
had of the three "infants," and the thirty
pleaded in bar that though by common law
they might be held to answer part of the in-
formation (Hall calls the allegations against
them at one time complaint, at another in-
dictment, and again information), yet they
could not be held to answer that part founded
on the statute since it was not in their
power to know the statute when the crimes
were alleged to have been committed as it
had not then been promulgated, and this
they were ready to verify. This invention
of Bradley's (if Micah Townsend was not the
originator) succeeded as well as could have
been expected and the court ordered that
part of the information brought on the
statute to be dismissed. To be " boiled in
oil" was not a part of the statutory penalty,
but whipping on the naked back and divers
and sundry other unpleasant things were, so
Bradley's point was worth making. The
prisoners then pleaded not guilty and gave
evidence that they were subjects of New
York and did the acts alleged against them
by virtue of authority given them by that
state. What Smith was doing when Bradley
put in that evidence does not appear, and
one can but think of Allen's characterization
of the two men. The state then put in some
e\itlence and the court considered the mat-
SHEPARIlSclN.
SHEPARliSON.
171
ter and adjudged the defendants guilty antl
fined them from two pounds to forty pounds
lawful money each. Townsend's fine was
twenty pounds. The court also sentenced
the delinquents to pay in equal shares the
costs, amounting to 1,477 pounds and 18
shillings. These large figures, it must be
remembered, were those of a miserably de-
preciated currency and Mr. Hewitt even
would regard a coined vacuum with much
more favor than the paper money of that
time.
All these doings Shepardson saw and
helped Robinson preside at. He went out
of judicial office in i 780. One more glimpse
of Allen in the neighborhood of Shepard-
son's home may be had. In 1782 renewed
trouble with the Yorkers, who had their main
strength in Cluilford, induced "one-eyed
Tom," as the irreverent dubbed His p]xce)-
lency Thomas Chittenden, to again call out
Allen and the troops. Chittenden, by the
way, was not the only Covernor who had a
nick-name, for, appalling to relate, the, to us,
venerable Isaac Tichenor, who was elected
Governor in i 797, the year Chittenden died,
was called " the Jersey Slick." In Septem-
ber, 1782, Allen went into Windham county
and put himself at the head of the Vermont
militia, and when in Marlboro was boldly
faced by Timothy Phelps, who, as Allen ap-
proached, " announced himself as the high
sheriff of Cumberland county, bade Allen go
about his business, denounced his conduct
and that of his men as riotous, and ordered
the military to disperse. ^Vith his usual
roughness, Allen knocked the hat from the
head of the doughty sheriff, ordered his at-
tendants to 'take the d — d rascal off,' and
galloped away to superintend the operations
of other portions of his forces." It was
probably the same day that .Allen dispersed
the Cruilfordites by his famous proclamation.
They had fired on his troops, and he, on
reaching Guilford, made proclamation to the
people in these words : " I, F.than .Allen, do
declare that I will give no quarter to the man,
woman, or child who shall oppose me, and
unless the inhabitants of Cluilford peacefully
submit to the authority of Vermont, I swear
that I will lay it as desolate as Sodom and
Gomorrah, by C; — ." The terrified Yorkers
of (kiilford thereupon fled. Tradition has it
that .Allen's answer to De La Place at Ticon-
deroga, when asked by what authority he
demanded the surrender, had the same two
words ending as his Guilford proclamation,
though not so quoted in the books. .A Bos-
ton newspaper the other day, commenting
on the assertion that somebody in Brattle-
boro says "Begad," remarks that is not the
way Vermonters pronounce it when excited.
However this may be, the power to hit the
mark with words, and hit it hard, is a great
gift, and that gift Allen had in his day, as the
creator of Mulvaney, Grtheris, and I .earoyd,
in an altogether different field, has it in this
day.
In December, 1783, the Yorkers attempted
to capture Shepardson and Col. Benjamin
Carpenter, but did not succeed. These two
men seem to have hunted in couples some-
what in their work for the new state. Per-
haps Shepardson has a monument with par-
ticulars about him that would go well here,
for the judge don't seem to cut quite as
much of a figure in this sketch of him as he
ought to, but without monumental inscrip-
tion at hand to give light on him, a few lines
from Carpenter's monument will have to do
to show the kind of man his next friend was.
The tribute to Carpenter on his monument
after stating among other things that he was
a field officer in the Revolutionary war and
a founder of the first constitution and gov-
ernment of Vermont, concludes with these
words, "lined" by the monument-maker
thus :
" A firm professor of Christianity in tile
Baptist Church 50 years. Left this worid
and 146 persons of lineal posterity,
March 29, 1804.
.^ged 78 years, 10 months and 12 days,
with a strong
Mind and full faith of a more
Glorious state hereafter.
Stature about six feet — weight 200.
Death had no terror."
In the sth volume of Hemenway's Ver-
mont Historical Gazetteer are given the
records of the town of Guilford for many
years of Judge Shepardson's time. The pro-
ceedings of the meeting of Feb. 20, 1777, of
which Major Shepardson (he wasn't elected
judge till the next year and query whether
the military title even then gave way to the
judicial) was moderator, are, like many of
the other records, well worth reading. The
meeting appointed a committee of nine " to
state the Price of Labor, Provisions, Mer-
cantable Goods, etc., and to make [report]
to the town for their approbation." Alarch
6, 1777, at an adjourned meeting the com-
mittee reported among other things that
" good merchantable wheat shall not exceed
60 cts. per bu. * * Good yallow potaters
shall not in the spring exceed 20 cts. per
bushel. * * Good West India Rum
and New England Rum and Molasses and
Muscovado Sugar shall be sold on the same
as they are stated in the New England
states ; Farming laborers in the summer
season shall not exceed 30 cts. per day and
so in usual proportion at other seasons of
the year and the labor of mechanics and
tradesmen and other labor to be computed
according to the wages and customs that
hath been practiced among us computed
with farm labor." .Among other articles on
which a price was fixed were Rye, Indian
Corn, Oats, Peas, and Beans, Flax Seed, Salt
172
Pork, Good Grass Beef, Raw Hides, Sole
Leather, Neat Leather Shoes, Wool, Tow
Cloth, Coarse Linen, Striped Flannel, Hay,
Butter, Tallow, Hog's Fat and Pine Boards.
It was voted if anybody in town should sell
any named article to any person in the
neighboring towns at a higher price than
stated in the re])ort he should forfeit the
value of the article to the town, and if any
person directly or indirectly took a greater
price than stated in the report he should
forfeit the value of the article sold, one-
half to the town and one-half to the
complainant. It was then voted that the
committee of nine hear and determine all
cases and complaints in these matters and
impose costs of suit if they should find
those charged guilty ; " By a unanimous
vote of this town and chose Maj. John Shep-
ardson one of the Committee of Inspection."
All this was in the "Republic of Guilford"
and there was no Coxey with his army of
the Commonweal to march to its capital.
Political economists can figure the matter
out to suit themselves. But this wasn't the
Guilford which \'ermont had on her hands
to contend with — that Guilford was the
"other crowd," the York adherents.
In bidding Judge Shepardson good-bye,
we bid good-bye to comment on the form
and pressure of his time
" When the Hampshire Grants were tracts of land
Somewhat in disputation,
Traclced by the most untractable
Otall the Yankee nation:
When Ethan Allen ruled the State
With steel and stolen ' scriptur,'
Declared his ' beech seal ' war against
New York, and look and whipt her."
Vermont's poet, Eastman (born in Maine
though) makes "My Uncle Jerry" sum it up
with a free swing of words that matches
Allen's own :
" There's much, he says, about Vermont
For history and song;
Much to be written yet, and much
That has been written wrong.
The old Thirteen united, fought
The Revolution through ;
While, single handed old Vermont
Fought them, and England, too.
She'd Massachnsei
tts ar
id New
■ York,
And-so thp r.-,-,
ird o
t;tnds —
New Ham,,v ,
!■ li'jl
HI.', r,
uilford, :
TheU.H.M, .M
Yet still he, .:,J
Her hilLs liiuj..p
li alt.
^hiine
And when the smu
.keo
i battle
passed,
.She'd whipt ther
n all,
, alone
So Modesty survives the flight of time
and like Charity, vaunteth not itself, is not
puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly.
FASSETT, J(3HN, JR.— Judge of the
Superior Court, 1778 to 1782 ; judge of the
Supreme Court, 1782 to 1786. [See sketch
in "The Fathers," an^e page 58.]
CHANDLER, THOMAS, JR.— Judge
of the Superior Court, 1778 to 1779. [See
sketch in "The Fathers," an/c page 66.]
THROOP, John, of Pomfret, was born
in Lebanon, Conn., Sept. 11, 1733, and
died Jan. 25, 1802. He was a judge of the
Superior Court, 1778 to 1781, and February
to October, 1 782, and had lived in Pomfret at
least as far back as 1773, when the town was
organized. He was a delegate to the con-
vention at A\'indsor June 4, 1777, and was
also a delegate to the convention forming
the constitution in July and December of
that year. Judge Throop was chosen repre-
sentative from Pomfret in the fall of 1778
and was a member of the council from 1779
to 1786. In i787-'S8 he again represented
Pomfret, and was judge of probate, 1783 to
1792.
SPOONER, Paul.— Dr. Paul Spooner
of Hartland (which was called Hertford till
1772) was born in Dartmouth, Mass., March
20 (one authority says March 30), 1746, and
died at Hartland while a judge of the Supreme
Court Sept. 4, 17S9. He was the youngest
of the ten children of Daniel and Elizabeth
(Ruggles) Spooner and his father moved
to Petersham, Mass., when Paul was about
two years old. There Paul grew up, studied
medicine and from there came to Hertford
in 176S. His father Hved to the great age
of one hundred and three years, dying in
1797-
Dr. Spooner married m 1769 Asenath,
daughter* of Amasa Wright, and by her had
three children, one of whom, Paul, moved to
Hardwick and was the first town clerk of
that town in 1795 ^"^1 ''^ first representative.
His second wife was Mrs. x\nn (Cogswell)
Post.
Dr. Spooner was first elected a judge of
the Superior Court in October, 1779, at which
session that court was constituted a court of
equity in matters above twenty and under
four thousand pounds— the Governor and
council and House of Representatives being
given original etpiity jurisdiction in cases in-
volving over four thousand pounds, and an
appeal lying to them from the Superior
Court in cases where the latter had original
jurisdiction. This provision as to the equity
powers of the Governor, Council and House
was, as has been before stated, repealed in
1786.
Dr. Spooner was a delegate from Hertford
to the Westminster convention of Oct. 19,
1 774, called to condemn the tea act, the Bos-
ton Port bill and like measures of the mother
country. He was a delegate to a convention
of Whigs at Westminster Feb. 7, 17 75' and
to the " Cumberland County Congress" of
June 6, 1775, and was chosen a delegate to
represent that county in the New York Prov-
incial Congress at its sessions beginning in
May and November of that year. May 5,
1777, he was chosen sheriff of Cumberland
173
county under New York, but declined the
otitice in a letter dated July 15, 1777, having
the week before been appointed one of the
\'ermont Council of Safety. He was a mem-
ber of the council from 1778 to 1782 and
l.ieutenant-Clovernor from 1782 to 1787.
In 1781 and 1782 he was judge of probate
for Windsor county, and was agent of Ver-
mont to Congress in 1780 and 1782.
ludge Spooner served as a judge of the
Superior Court from 1779 to 1782, though
in 1 781 he was left off at the election, when
Chief Judge Robinson was displaced by
Elisha Payne and being angry declined to
serve as assistant. When Robinson declined
S]3ooner was elected in his place. In 17S2
ludge Spooner was elected a judge of the
Supreme Court and served as such till his
death. From 1784 to 1785 he was chief
judge.
.•\ communication, dated Hartland, Sept.
8, 1789, appeared in Spooner's Vermont
lournal of Sept. 16, 17S9, from which the
following is an extract :
" Frid.iy last, departed this life and on Sunday was decently
interred, the Honorable Paul Si-oonek, Esq., in the 44th year
of his age. His character as a skilful and careful practitioner
in the Medicinal Art, was established here soon after his ar-
rival from Petersham ; even without the advantages of a liberal
education. The sprightliness of his genius, his candid and
generous temper, his discreet and diligent application to busi-
ness, soon attracted the eyes of his fellow citizens. He was a
steady friend and steady assistant to his country, through all
the late unhappy war with Greatbritain: and from the first
rise to the present advancement of the State of Vermont.
• * * He died while the other Judges were on the circuit
for the administration of justice. * * * The honor and
benefit accruing to the town by his dwelling among them has
been largely e.xperienced; the loss whereof may be long felt
and regretted. He was a zealous promoter of learning — a
great benefactor to the rising generation, * * * As a judge
he ever aimed to administer judgment in uprightness. * * *
He left a sorrowful widow (his second wife) and three chil.
dren (by his first wife) to bemoan their loss The concourse
to the funeral fwith only two days for the tidings to spread)
was so great, that one could scarce see so many sad counte-
nances, without crying out in the heart. Behold hoiv they
loved hint. The conjectures of people varied as to the num.
ber, as from five to ten hundred A pertinent and affecting
sermon (as it is said) was delivered by the Reverend Aaron
Hutchinson of Pomfret, well adapted to the occasion, from
Psalm cvlvi 3 4.—- Put not your trust in frii/ees, nor in the
Son 0/ wan, in lohom there is no help. His breath goeth
forth, he retnrneth to the earth; in that very day his
thoughts perish: After sermon the Fimeral Thought was
sung, which added not a little to the solemnity "
MOSELEY, 'Increase.— Dr. increase
Moseley was born in Norwich, Conn., May
18, 1 7 12, married Deborah Tracy of Wind-
ham, Conn., May 7, 1735 ; moved to An-
cient Woodbury, Conn., about 1740 and to
Clarendon about 1779. Dr. Moseley was
one of the leaders in .\ncient Woodbury and
served as representative in the Connecticut
Legislature from 1 75 1 almost continuously
till his removal to Vermont. He was mod-
erator of Woodbury's meeting for the relief
of Boston, Sept. 20, 1774, and a member of
her Revolutionary committees.
He was elected a judge of the Superior
Court in 1780, but served only one year,
going off in the election of 1781, when
everything was mixed up by giving the New
Hampshire towns representation on the
bench. In 1782 he was representative from
Clarendon and was elected speaker of the
House.
I )r. Moseley was chief jtidge of Rutland
county from 1781 to 1787 and was presi-
dent of the first council of censors — that of
1785 — a body of which Benjamin Carpen-
ter, Joseph Marsh, and Micah Townsend
were members, and whose work was well
done and . whose "proceedings" — really an
address to the people — constitute a state
paper of remarkable merit, the authorship of
which probably lay largely with Townsend, the
secretary. Judge Moseley died May 2, 1795.
PAYNE, ELISHA.— Col. Elisha Payne of
Lebanon, was elected chief judge of the su-
perior court in October, 1781, and held that
place till he ceased to be a citizen of Ver-
mont, on the dissolution of the union with
the New Hampshire towns in February,
I 782. He presided at a session of the court
held for the county of Washington (an ephe-
meral county, inade up of New Hampshire
towns while the Union existed and that went
out of existence with the Union) at Charles-
town, N. H., December, 1781. No business
was done, only Judges Payne and Spooner
being present. [See sketch in "The Fathers,"
an/e page 64.]
OLCOTT, Simeon.— At the October
session, 1781, Bezaleel Woodward, represen-
tative from Dresden, and a professor in
Dartmouth College, was chosen a judge of
the Superior Court. Prof. Woodward de-
clined the office and Simeon Olcott of
Charlestovvn (a New Hampshire town then
in Union with Vermont and situate in the
short-lived county above referred to) was
elected in his place. Judge Olcott was the
first lawyer to be elected to the bench by the
Vermont Legislature, but he never held
court, so that Nathaniel Chipman stands as
the first Vermont lawyer elected judge who
took judicial service upon himself. Mr.
Roberts puts Olcott in the list of judges ;
while Judge Taft leaves him out because he
didn't 'tend court. Whether it was a mere
freak that kept Olcott away from sitting with
Payne and Spooner when they were at
Charlestown in December, or whether he
had some constitutional scruple about main.-
taining that court of justice in Washington
county, is not known. .At any rate Olcott
resigned Jan. 28, 1782, and Feb. 13, 1782,
the .Assembly elected Gen. Samuel Fletcher
of Townsend, who declined, and, F"eb. 16,
|ohn Throop, who had been judge till left ofif
the October before, was elected, and served.
Simeon Olcott was born in Bolton, Conn.,
Oct. 1, 1735, graduated at Vale in 1761,
studied law, moved to Charlestown, N. H.,
in 1764, was admitted as an attorney in
Cumberland county, Sej)!. 15, 1774, and was
in 1 784 appointed chief justice of the court
of common pleas in New Hampshire. In
1790 he was appointed a judge of the New
Hampshire Superior Court of which he was
made chief justice in 1795. On the resig-
nation of Samuel Livermore he was made a
United States Senator from New Hampshire
and served as such from Dec. 7, 1801, to
March 3, 1805. He died in Charlestown,
N. H., Feb. 22, 1815. He married, Octo-
ber, 1783, Tryphena Terry and has descend-
ants now living in Charlestown. He is said
to have been the first lawyer to settle in
Western New Hampshire.
FAY, Jonas. — Dr. Jonas Fay, of Ben-
nington, was a judge of the Superior Court
the last year of its existence and of the
Supreme Court its first year. His two years
of service were from 1781 to 1783. [See
sketch in the " P'athers," ante page 50.]
OLCOTT, PETER.— Col. Peter Olcott
of Norwich was the first person elected a
judge of the Supreme Court who had not
already served as a judge of the Superior
Court. The Supreme Court was established
the session of his election thereto, October,
1782. The Superior Court consisted of five
judges during the four years it existed ; the
Supreme Court had five to begin with, the
number was decreased to three in 1787, in-
creased to four in 1S24, to five in 1828 and
to six in 1846. In 1850 the number was
decreased to three and so continued (during
the existence of the Circuit Court of four
judges) till 1857 when the number was
restored to six at which it remained till in-
creased to seven, its present number, in
1870.
Colonel Olcott served three years as a
judge of the Supreme Court, his service
ending in 1785. He is said to have been
a graduate of Harvard College ; he married
Sarah Mills and moved from Bolton, Conn.,
(where judge Simeon Olcott was born) to
Norwich about 176S. He was a member of
the Windsor convention, June, 1777, and
also of the convention of July and 1 )ecem-
ber, 1777, which adopted the constitution.
In 1777 he commanded a regiment in Glou-
,cester county and was summoned to march
to Bennington too late to reach it before the
battle, but was employed in other military
service. He was elected to the council in
1779, and elected again in 1781 ; he served
till 1790 as a councilor. He was Lieuten-
ant-Governor four years — 1790 to 1794 — and
in the latter year declined to be longer a
candidate for that office. His son Roswell
graduated at Dartmouth in 1789 and his
son Mills in 1790. Rufus Choate married
Helen, a daughter of Mills Olcott. Judge
Olcott died at Hanover, where his son
Mills resided, in September, iSoS.
PORTER, THOMAS.— Thomas Porter
was born in Farmington, Conn., in 1734,
served in the British army at Lake George
in 1755, held local offices in Farmington,
married Abigail Howe, moved to Cornwall,
Conn., where he was prominent in town af-
fairs and from that town he went into the
Revolutionary army. He was many years a
member of the Connecticut Legislature. In
1 7 79 he moved to Tinniouth from which town
he was elected as representative to the Assem-
bly in 1780, 1 781 and 1782, in each of which
years he was elected speaker of the House.
In 1782 he was also elected to the council
and resigned as speaker to take the new po-
sition. He served till 1795 as a councilor.
Judge Porter was a farmer.
He was elected a judge of the Sujireme
Court in 1783 and served till 1786. Judge
Porter died in Granville, N. Y., in 1833. His
son, Ebenezer Porter (Dartmouth, 1792), was
a famous Doctor of Divinity and was presi-
dent of Andover Theological Seminary.
NILES, Nathaniel.— Nathaniel Niles,of
Fairlee (that part which is now West Fairlee),
teacher, student of law and medicine, preach-
er, inventor and poet, was judge of the Su-
preme Court from 1 784 to 1 7S8. [See sketch
in "Representatives," ante page 127.]
CHIPMAN, Nathaniel.— Nathaniel
Chipman of Tinmouth, the first lawyer to
serve as a Vermont judge, was elected an
assistant judge of the Supreme Court in
1786, and served one year; in 1789 he was
elected chief judge, and served till he was
appointed U. S. District Judge for Vermont
in 1 79 1. In 1796 he was again elected chief
judge, and served one year, and in 1S13 and
1 8 14 was for the last times elected chief
judge, serving two years in this, his third
period of service as chief judge. Judge
Chipman was the first to report decisions of
the Supreme Court. Judge Samuel Prentiss
said that the various traits of his mind and
constitutional temperament, combined with
his deep and extensive learning, entitled him
to rank among the first judges of this or any
other country. Judge Prentiss further said :
"I witnessed, during the short period he was
last on the bench, exhibitions of the great
strength, vigor, comprehension, and clear-
ness of his mind, of his profound and accur-
ate knowledge of Lgal principles, and of his
remarkably discriminating and well-balanced
judgment." Judge Chipman was a student
of the law, and eminently just-minded. He
was a Federalist, and thought our system of
electing judges a bad one — ad\ocating an
appointive system with long tenure. The
KNI.)\VLTl )N.
175
proof of the pudding is in tiie eating, and
if in any state as small as ours there can be
found a court that has maintained a higher
standing for a hundred years than that which
we have had under our system then we had
better give it up — and not till then. [See
Mr. Davenport's sketch of Judge Chi]jman
in the "Senators," ante page loS.]
KNOWLTON, LUKE.— Luke Knowlton
of Newfane was elected a judge of the Su-
preme Court in 1786 and served one year,
Ijeing dropped with Nathaniel Chipman in
1787 when the court was reduced from fixe
to three members. [See sketch in the
"Fathers," ante page 59.]
BRADLEY, STEPHEN R.— Stephen Row
Bradley of Westminster was elected a judge
in 1 788 and served one year. [See Mr. Dav-
enport's sketch of him in the "Senators"
and of his still more brilliant son, William
C. Bradley in the "Representatives."] judge
Bradley was three times married, by the first
and second of which marriages he had chil-
dren. His first wife was Merab .Atwater ;
his second. Thankful Taylor : and his third,
Belinda Willard. Spooner's Vermont Jour-
nal of Jan. 19, 1802, has the following
notice :
"Died at ^^■estminster, in this state, on
Sunday the loth instant, of a lingering ill-
ness, Mrs. Thankfull Bradley, consort of the
Hon. Stephen R. Bradley, in the thirty-fourth
year of her age. To those who have ex-
perienced her tenderness and affection
as a daughter, sister, wife and mother, her
loss is irreparable. To the society which
she adorned as a friend and neighbor, her
virtues will long be remembered, and the
loss regretted with tears.
"Her funeral was attended by a very large
and respectable assembly on the Wednesday
following, when a very pathetic discourse
was delivered by the Rev. Mr. Barber from
the words of the Apostle : 'For we know,
that if our earthly house of this tabernacle
were dissolved, we have a building of God,
an house not made with hands, eternal in
the hea\ens.' "
This excellent step-mother is as worthy of
remembrance as any just judge on the face
of God's earth, for her love wrought a per-
fect work and that is all justice can hope to
do. Judge Wheeler in his paper on Will-
iam (i'. Bradley, read before the Vermont
Bar Association in 1883, said :
" .\t an early age he encountered what is
perhaps the greatest earthly loss of a boy,
the death of a worthy mother. Her place
was not long after taken by a step-mother,
who soon became his fast friend and whose
kindness and care he dutifully and affection-
ately repaid. Full of both physical and in-
tellectual life and vigor, he needed at times
to break forth in somewhat wayward [iranks.
His father was stern and imperious with him.
She with kindness and good judgment miti-
gated the severity of the law. At one time
when he was going from home alone under
his father's displeasure, she followed him a
little way and gave him a little case of
needles and thread, called a housewife,
which she had made for him, in the pocket
of which was a guinea, and spoke some kind
words of encouragement to him. His father
soon relented and got him back. He re-
membered the kindness and forgot the
strictness. He always cherished this keep-
sake and would never ha\e the guinea taken
out. In his last sickness he had it brought
to him and held so he could see that the
guinea was still there, and it was handed
down under his will to a favorite grand-
daughter." [See sketches, ante pages 104
and 136.]
SMITH, NOAH.— Noah Smith of Benning-
ton was a judge of the Supreme Court from
1789 to 1791, and again from 1798 to 1801.
He was born in Suffield, Conn., in 1755,
graduated at Vale in 1778, and at once came
to Bennington, where he that summer deliv-
ered the address at the first anniversary of
the battle of Bennington. He was admitted
to the bar May 26, 1779, and went right to
work as may be seen ante in sketch of John
Shepardson. He was for some years state's
attorney and county clerk of Bennington
county, and was appointed L". S. Collector
of Internal Revenue in 1791. In 1798 he
was elected a councilor, but resigned to
accept the judgeship. He moved from Ben-
nington to Milton soon after 1800. He
married Chloe Burrall ; she died in Burling-
ton in 1 8 10, where he was then confined in
jail for debt. In 181 1 the Legislature passed
an act for his relief which freed him from
jail. He died in Milton, Dec. 23, 18 12.
His son Albert became a doctor of divin-
ity, as did his son Henry, who married Abby,
daughter of President Joshua Bates of Mid-
dlebury College. Henry became president
of Marietta College, Ohio, and died while a
professor and the head of Lane Theological
Seminary, Cincinnati. Prof. Henry Preserved
Smith of that seminary and the present day,
who is with Dr. Briggs in ecclesiastical con-
troversy with certain strict constructionists
in theology, by name and locality ought to
be a grandson of the judge, but there is an-
other family of Smiths and I do not know
the professor's pedigree.
Judge Smith came near being elected sen-
ator instead of Mr. Bradley in January, i 791,
and resigned Jan. 24 of that year, perhaps
with the intent to contest the senatorial
election but he did not do it.
1 76 KNIGHT.
KNIGHT, Samuel.— Samuel Knight of
Hrattleboro was elected a judge of the Supreme
Court in 1789 and chief judge in 1791 and
served until 1794, making five years service
in all. He was born about 1730 and died
at his home on his farm between Brattleboro
and West Brattleboro in 1804. He was ad-
mitted to the bar in 1772 and was on the
York side in the Westminster trouble of
March, 1775. He fled across the river and
did not return to Brattleboro for a year. He
finally made up his mind that the York cause
was hopeless and overcame by his character
the prejudice that existed against him be-
cause of his early adherence to the authority
of New York. He represented Brattleboro
in 1 781, 1783, 1784 and 1785, and was chief
judge of \\indham county court in 1 786,
1794, 1795 ^n*^! 1801.
■ PAINE, Elijah. — Elijah Paine of Will-
iamstown was judge of the Supreme Court
from Jan. 27, 1791, ( in place of Noah
Smith, resigned), till he was elected United
States Senator in 1794. [See sketch in the
"Senators," ante page 107.]
TICHENOR, ISAAC— Isaac Tichenor
was judge from 1791 to 1794 and chief
judge from 1794 to 1796. [See sketch in
the " Governors," ante page 72.]
HALL, LOT. — Lot Hall, of Westminster,
was judge from 1794 to 1801. He was born
on Cape Cod, and was in the early years of
the Revolution a sailor. Engaged in a naval
expedition to protect South Carolina, he was
taken prisoner while acting as lieutenant in
charge of a prize and carried to Glasgow,
Scotland, where he was released. On his
way home he was again captured, but Patrick
Henry procured hi's release. His marriage
to Mary Homer, of Boston, in 1786, was as
romantic as his experiences in war ; she was
but fifteen. Mary was not, however, the
woman to whom the Chicago Tribune refers
when it says that in Boston Sunday schools
each class recites in concert, when asked
what became of Lot's wife, " She was trans-
muted into chloride of sodium."
He began the study of law at Barnstable
in 1 782, came that year to Bennington, and
the next year settled in Westminster, which
he represented in 1788, 1791, 179- and
1808. He was a presidential elector in
1792, and a member of the Council of Cen-
sors in 1799.
judge Hall was taken sick while attending
the Legislature in 1808, and died May 17,
1S09.
WOO DB RIDGE, ENOCH.— Enoch
\Voodbridge of Vergennes was a judge of the
Supreme Court 1794 to 1798, and chief judge
I 798 to 1 80 1. He was born in Stockbridge,
Mass., December, 1 750, and graduated at
Yale in 1774. In the Revolution he was in
the Continental service as commissary of
issues, and was at Hubbardton, Bennington,
and Burgoyne's surrender. He studied law,
and on first coming to Vermont began prac-
tice in Manchester, from which place he went
to Vergennes, of which city he was in i 794
elected the first mayor. He represented Ver-
gennes from 1 79 1 to his elevation to the
bench, and again in 1802. In 1793 Mr.
Woodbridge was a member of the Consti-
tutional Convention. He died in May, 1805.
Judge Woodbridge was descended from Gov.
Thomas Dudley, and was a great-grandson
of Rev. John Eliot, the apostle to the In-
dians. He married, in 1774, Nancy Win-
chell, and they had eight children ; one of
whom, Enoch D., married Cora Strong, a
daughter of Gen. Samuel Strong, and was
the father of Frederick E. Woodbridge.
SMITH, Israel.— Israel Smith of Rut-
land was elected chief judge in 1897, and
served one year. In 1801 he was again
elected, but declined to serve. [See sketch
in "Governors," ante page 73.]
ROBINSON, Jonathan.— Jonathan
Robinson of Bennington was chief judge
from 1 80 1 to I So 7. [See sketch in the
"Fathers," ante page 57, and also the follow-
ing notes on Judge Tyler.]
TYLER, ROYALL.— Royall Tyler, was
born in Boston, Mass., July 18, i757- His
father, Royall Tyler, was a man of distinction
and died in i 7 7 1 . B. H. Hall says that the son
was named William Clark Tyler and that on
the death of his father this was by legislative
enactment changed to Royall. He gradua-
ted at Harvard in 1776, went into the army
and served on the staff of General Lincoln ;
studied law with Francis Dana at Cambridge,
was admitted to the bar in 1779, went to
Falmouth (now Portland), Me., and practiced
there two years, returned to Boston, and set-
ded in Braintree, Mass., intending to make it
his home. When Shay's Rebellion came he
again served under General Lincoln, and was
sent by Governor Bowdoin to negotiate with
New York and Vermont concerning the sur-
render of the rebels who had fled.
.About this time he wrote the "Contrast,"
the first .American play ever staged. This
comedy was played at the old John Street
Theatre in New York, .\pril 16, 1786. Wig-
nell, the actor for whom it was written, pub-
lished it and Dr. Conland of l!rattleboro can
tell what year, for he has a copy. The state-
ment here about the play differs from what
is stated in Hemenway's Gazetteer, Vol. 5,
from the pen of Thomas Pickman Tyler, son
1/7
of Royall, who gi\es the place of production
as the old Park Theatre and the spring of
I 7S9 as the time. The editor of the Gazet-
teer gave only extracts from T. P. Tyler's
memoirs of Judge Tyler and they are just
enough to make one hungry for the rest.
Judge Tyler wrote many other plays and
books.
Judge Tyler moved to Guilford, Vt., in
January, 1791, and soon had a good law
practice. He married Mary Palmer and
they had eleven children. In 1801 he was
elected a judge of the Supreme Court and
in 1807 was promoted to chief judge. He
left the bench in 1S12 after eleven years
continuous service. Tyler's reports are from
his pen. From 1S15 to 182 1 he was register
of probate for Windham county and con-
tinued the practice of law to about 1820.
He was afflicted with cancer in his later
years and died August 16, 1826.
In the memoirs above referred to are
many letters to and from Judge Tyler that
light up the past. Jonathan Robinson, long
on the bench with him and then a Senator,
writes to him from Washington, Feb. 4,
1810: "When we come to be judged for
our judgments, my friend, the question will
not be whether we pursued legal forms or
technical niceties, but have you heard the
cry of the poor and relieved them from their
oppression. But I hope that the philan-
thropy of Bro. Fay and yourself will prevent
all unpleasant results because he does not
carry the Hopkinsian doctrine to that lofty
pinnacle of revelation and philosopliy to
which you so ardently and rationally aspire.
In one thing I fear, he will ne\er be able to
arrive to equal resignation, w^hich you once
expressed, even willingness to see Bro. Rob-
inson damned. However, good men of all
faiths will, I hope, be accepted if their
hearts are but right." Senator Robinson's
reference may be better understood if it be
stated { Robinson being of the Calvinistic
and Hopkinsian school) that he and Tyler
had debated the alleged need, as evidence of
regeneration, that one should be willing to
be lost eternally if it were for the glory of
God, and Tyler on being detained from
court on one occasion wrote Judge Jacob
and requested him to inform the chief judge
(then Judge Robinson) "that he really be-
gan to hope that he had made some little
spiritual progress, for, although he could not
honestly say that he was willing to be damned
himself, even if it were needful for the glory
of the Almighty, yet he believed that by
great effort he had nearly or quite attained
to a sincere willingness that in such an exi-
gency Bro. Robinson should be damned."
Robinson writes Tyler from Washington,
June 17, 1812: "All is anxiety. It is four
o'clock and the Senate has not yet taken the
question [on a war measure]. I want a
pipe, and I want my dinner, but I cannot
start, tack or sheet, until I see, as Bro. Her-
rington says, ' the last dog hung.' Recollect
me to Mrs. Tyler, the boys and girls and to
Miss Sophia. Keep this letter to yourself.
I cannot continue while Gorman is murder-
ing language in an endless speech, which
sounds more discordant to my ears than the
thundering cannon did thirty-seven years
ago this day, when I heard more than two
hundred of them in my cornfield in Benning-
ton." The thundering cannon w-ere those of
Bunker Hill.
In another letter from ^\■ashington Robin-
son expresses his impatience at delays in
Congress, and on the outside of the letter
describes his idea of the scene of its recep-
tion by their Honors, the Judges of the
Supreme Court of Vermont, in these words :
" Bro. Tyler filled his pipe and said, ' Come,
Brethren, let us see what Bro. Robinson has
to say.' Reads. Bro. Fay spits and says,
' Bro. Robinson is as cross as the devil.'
' Well,' says Bro. Herrington, ' I feel easy
about it, it is a pack for their backs, not
mine.' Bro. Tyler smiled, and filled his
second pipe."
Judge Tyler was honored and loved by all.
Judge Royall Tyler of Brattleboro, now in his
eighty-second year, is his son. That fact,
though neither the relationship nor the name
is pat, somehow calls to mind this :
"Jerry!
I s.iy, my boy. you'll go it yet
You're like your uncle, very."
178
JACOB.
JACOB, Stephen.— Stephen Jacob of
Windsor was born in Sheffield, Mass., grad-
uated at Yale in 1778, came to Bennington,
Vt., that year, and read a poem at the first
celebration of the Battle of Bennington,
August 16, 1778; married Pamela Farrand
in 1779, and came to Windsor in 1780. He
had, before admission to the bar, studied
law with Theodore Sedgwick of Massachu-
setts. In I 781 he was a representative from
^Vindsor, and again in 1788 and 1794, and
was clerk of the House in 17S8 and 1780.
He was a member of the able council of
censors of 1785, delegate in the constitu-
tional convention of 179,3, chief judge of
\\'indsor county court 1797 to 1801, and a
councillor from 1796 to 1802. Mr. Jacob
was brave and energetic in quelling the
Windsor county insurrection in 1786, and in
1789 was a commissioner in settling the
controversy with New York.
He was elected a judge of the Supreme
Court in 1801 and served two years. Judge
Jacob was a high-strung Federalist, aristo-
cratic in bearing and mode of life and
bought several slaves and brought them into
Vermont, where, of course, they could serve
him or not as they chose. He bought one
Dinah, a negro woman of thirty, July 26,
1783, for forty pounds, but Dinah emanci-
pated herself, fell into want, and the select-
men of Windsor sued Judge Jacob for her
support. His views on the slavery question
were very different from those of his suc-
cessor next noticed herein. Judge Jacob
died Jan. 27, 18 17.
HERRINTON, THEOPHILUS. — Theo-
philus Herrinton of Clarendon, called by
others in his own day Harrington, Herring-
ton, or Herrinton, but who himself wrote his
name as here given, was born in Rhode
Island, married Betsey Buck, came to Ver-
mont in 1785 and became a farmer in Clar-
endon. Betsey and he were not out, and
in 1 797 there were living eleven of their
twelve children. In their school district
that year were eight families to whom had
been born 113 children, 99 of whom were
then living, and none of the husbands in
these families had a second wife.
Judge Harrington, to use the name by
which he is known in history, represented
Clarendon in 179S, and from 1798 to 1803
inclusive, being speaker the last-named year.
He was chief judge of Rutland county court,
1800 to 1803, and in 1803 was elected a
judge of the Supreme Court, where he served
ten years.
He was no observer of conventionalities,
if he knew them, and it has been said that
he sometimes went into court barefooted.
His business was that of a farmer, and he
was not admitted to the bar till after his
election as a Supreme Court judge. Many
stories are told of him — how that he said he
didn't know as the court knows what a
demurrer is, but it knows what justice is,
and the plaintiff shall have judgment ; how,
while the other judges doubted whether the
horse thief who stole in Canada and was
guilty of asportation in this state, could be
here convicted, Harrington insisted that
he not only stole it in Canada, but every
step of the way he took with it, and so stole
it all the way through \'ermont ; and how he
cut the knot about the seal by his " hand
me a wafer."
His strong good sense and just mind gave
him the respect of the people and of his as-
sociates on the bench, and one of his judg-
ments ( remember he succeeded Judge Jacob,
who bought slaves) deservedly made him
famous. It was upon application for a war-
rant to be given the claimant, which would
give him power to remove his escaped slave.
The claimant's lawyer had a bill of sale of the
slave and back of that a bill of sale of the
slave's mother. " Is that all? " said the judge.
The claimant's lawyer thought going back to
the two bills of sale was enough, but Har-
rington said, " you do not go back to the orig-
inal proprietor." The attorney wanted to
know what would be sufficient and was in-
formed that nothing in that court would give
title to a human being but "a bill of sale
from .Almighty God."^
Judge Harrington died Nov. 27, 1813.
GALUSHA, Jonas.— Jonas Galusha of
Shaftsbury was a judge of the Supreme Court
two years, 1S07 to 1809. [See sketch in
"Governors," ante page 74.]
FAY, David.— David Fay of Benning-
ton, youngest son of Stephen and brother of
Judge Jonas Fay, was born in Hardwick,
Mass., Dec. 13, 1761. When sixteen he
was a filer in Capt. Samuel Robinson's com-
pany at the Battle of Bennington. He was
admitted to the bar in 1794, member of the
council of censors in 1799, state's attorney
of Bennington county, 1797 to 1801, and
United States attorney throughout Jeffer-
son's administration.
He was elected a judge of the Supreme
Court in 1809 and ser\ed till 1813 when the
" Vergennes Slaughter House" proceedings
of 1798 were repeated and the Federalists
again turned the Republicans or Democrats
out of the Supreme Court — as in 1801, so in
18 1 5 the other side had its innings. He was
judge of probate in 1819 and 1820, and a
councilor from 1S17 to 1S21.
Judge Fay died June 5, 1S27, leaving no
descendants.
FARRAND, DANIEL.— Daniel Farrand,
son of Rev. Daniel Farrand, was born in
Canaan, Conn., about 1760.
179
He graduated at \ale, came to Windsor
•where his brother-in-law, Stephen Jacob,
ii\ed, began the practice of law but soon
moved to Newburv which town he made his
residence till 1800, and represented in 1792,
1793, 1796, 1797, and I 798, being speaker
the last named year. He was twice state's
attorney of Orange county. May i, 1794, he
married Mary Porter, of Haverhill, N. H.,
daughter of Asa Porter, and sister of Mrs.
Mills Olcott, of Hanover, N. H. Mr. Far-
rand went from Newbury to Bellows Falls,
represented Rockingham in 1802, and was
state's attorney of \Vindham county in 1801,
1S02 and 1803, and in the latter year was de-
feated for Congress by James Fliot. In 181 3
he was a member of the council of censors and
the same year was elected a judge of the Su-
preme Court and served two years. \\'hen
the Republicans or Democrats got the upper
hand in 181 5, he was bounced, as he was a
strong Federalist, and, in 1S14, had presided
at a con\ention in Williston that roundly de-
nounced the administration. He was chair-
man of the committee of arrangements at
Burlington, when President Monroe was re-
cei\ed there on his tour, July 24, 1817, and
did some very good speaking. He was a man
of vigorous intellect, a good lawyer and of
extensive learning. He died Oct. 13, 1825,
and left nine daughters surviving him, all
brilliant and accomplished women says Judge
Taft.
HUBBARD, JONATHAN Hatch.— J. H.
Hubbard, of Windsor, was a judge of the Su-
preme Court from 18 13 to 1815. [See
sketch in " Representatives," ante page 135,
where 1845 is a misprint for 18 15 — he was a
judge but two years.]
ALOIS, Asa. — -Asa Aldis, was born in
Franklin, Mass., about 1 770. His father was
a loyalist and moved to Boston, where he
died in 1775. Asa's mother had died two
years before and he was brought up by an
aunt. He graduated at Brown University in
1796, studied law with Judge Howell in
Providence and began practice in Che-
pachet. He married Mrs. Oadcomb, daugh-
ter of Lieut.-Gov. Owen. In 1802 he moved
to St. Albar," and there practiced his pro-
fession. In 1S04 he formed a partnership
with Bates Turner, but it did not last long.
When the Republicans drove the Federalists
off the supreme bench in 18 15 he was
elected chief judge of the Supreme Court,
much against his wish, and served one year.
Judge Aldis was strongly urged to accept
a re-election, but he absolutely refused. His
ability was equal to the requirements of the
ofifice, but he did not like ofificial position.
He practiced many years after leaving the
bench, but poor health kept him out of court
for a long time before his death. He died
at St. Albans, Oct. 16, 1847, in his seventy-
eighth year. Daniel Kellogg was his son-in-
law, and Asa Owen .\ldis was his son.
SKINNER, Richard.— Richard Skinner
of Manchester was judge of the Supreme
Court from 181 5 to 181 7, and the latter year
was elected chief judge, but declined the
position. Kiltx his service as Governor, he
was in 1823 elected chief judge, and pre-
sided as such till 1S29. [See sketch in
"Go\ernors" ante page 77.]
FISK, James. — James Fisk of Barre was
judge of the Supreme Court from 181 5 to
181 7. [See sketch in "Senators," ante
page III.]
PALMER, William Adams.— William
A. Palmer of Danville, was elected judge of
the Supreme Court in 18 16, and served one
year. [See sketch in "Go\ernors," ante
page 82.]
CHASE, DUDLEY.- Dudley Chase of
Randolph was chief judge of the Supreme
Court from i8i7toiS2i. He presided at
the trial of Stephen and Jesse Bourne for the
murder of Russell Colvin — a case that has
become famous and which gave Wilkie Col-
lins the theme for "The Dead Secret." [See
sketch of Judge Chase in "Senators," ante
page III.]
DOOLITTLE, JOEL.— loel Doolittle
was born about i 773 in Massachusetts, grad-
uated at Yale in 1799, came to Middlebury
in the fall of 1800 as the first tutor in Mid-
dlebury College. He was admitted to the
bar in 1801 and was a successful lawyer till
181 7 when he was elected a judge of the
Supreme Court. He served six years con-
tinuously on the bench, and after a year of
practice at the bar was again elected a judge
in 1824 and served the following year.
judge Doolittle was a councillor from
18 15 to 1818, represented Middlebury in
1S24 and was a member and president of
the council of censors in 1834.
He died, March 9, 1S41, at the age of
sixty-eight. Mrs. Doolittle survived him
and after his death went to^ Painesville,
Ohio, where she lived with her children.
BRAYTON, William.— William Bray-
ton of Swanton was born in Lansingburgh, N.
Y., and when thirteen was a student in Will-
iams College, but never graduated. He
was admitted to the bar in Franklin county
in February, 1807, and began jsractice in
Swanton. He married Hortentia Penniman,
daughter of Jabez and Frances Penniman.
Frances was the widow of Ethan Allen. He
i8o
was made chief judge of Franklin county
court in 1815, represented Swanton in 181 7,
and that year was elected a judge of the
Supreme Court, and served as such five
years. While on the Supreme bench he
moved to St. Albans, and after living there
several years, and after ceasing to be a judge,
he removed to Burlington, where he died in
1828. His son, William, died young, but a
daughter, if not now, was very lately living
in Missouri. He published the reports
known as Brayton's Reports.
VAN NESS, Cornelius Peter.— Cor-
nelius p. Van Ness, of Burlington, was chief
judge of the Supreme Court from 182 1 to
1823. [See sketch in " Governors ," aw/f
page 78.]
WILLIAMS, Charles Kilborn.—
Charles K. Williams, of Rutland, was a judge
of the Supreme Court, 1822 to 1S24, again
from 1826 to 1833, and from 1833 to 1846
was chief judge. [See sketch in "Gover-
nors," ante page 88.]
AlKENS, Asa.— Asa Aikens, of Wind-
sor, was born in Barnard ; entered Mid-
dlebury College in 1804; studied three
years there ; then was a year as a cadet at
\\'est Point. In 1808 he returned to Mid-
dlebury and studied law with Joel Doolittle.
In 1812 he settled in Windsor, which town
he represented two years and he was state's
attorney for Windsor county two years. In
18 1 2 he was elected a judge of the Supreme
Court and served on the bench two years.
He was a careful, painstaking lawyer and
judge, and the two volumes of reports pub-
lished under his name form the first product
of skilled labor in this state in that line.
"Aikens' Forms" is thumbed in many a law
office in the state. Later in life he pub-
lished "Aikens' Tables."
In 1843 he moved to Westport, N. ¥., and
made that his home afterwards. On a visit
to his son-in-law at Hackensack, N. J., he
died of nervous prostration, July 12, 1863.
He was buried in Trinity cemetery. New
York City.
PRENTISS, Samuel. — Samuel Prentiss,
of Montpelier, was judge of the Supreme
Court from 1825 to 1829, and in 1829 was
elected chief judge, and held that position
till elected senator in 1830. [See sketch in
" Senators," ante page 114.]
HUTCHINSON, TiTUS.— Titus Hutch-
inson of Woodstock, son of Rev. Aaron and
Margery (Carter) Hutchinson, was born in
Grafton, Mass., April 29, 1771. July 4,
1776, the family left Hebron, Conn., and
moved to what is still called the Hutchinson
Farm, in Pomfret, two miles from Wood-
stock. Titus graduated at Princeton College,
studied law with his brother Aaron in Leb-
anon, N. H., and was admitted to the Orange
county bar June, i 79S. He settled in Wood-
stock, where there was already one lawyer.
In 1S13 he was appointed L'. S. attorney for
the district of Vermont, and held the office
ten years.
In 1826 he was elected a judge of the Su-
preme Court, served as such till 1S30, when
he was elected chief judge, which position he
occupied three years, being defeated by
Judge Williams in the election of 1833 by a
vote of 118 to 1 13.
Judge Hutchinson married Clarissa Sage
Feb. 16, 1800. She died Jan. 18, 1844.
Their children were : Edwin, Oramel, Hen-
ry, Titus, Clarissa S., and Alexander. The
judge lived in comparative retirement the
last twenty years of his life. He died Aug-
ust 24, 1857. A full sketch of him may be
found in Henry Swan Dana's History of
Woodstock, as good a town history as was
ever written in this world — perhaps they write
town history better on the planets of the
Pleiades or those of the golden belt of Orion,
but not here.
ROYCE, Stephen.— Stephen Royce of
Berkshire was judge of the Supreme Court
from 1825 to 1827, again from 1829 to
1846, and was chief judge from 1846 to
1852. [See sketch in "Governors," ante
page 9 I.J
TURNER, BATES.--Bates Turner of St.
Albans entered the Revolutionary army at
sixteen, studied law under Judges Reeve
and Gould and was admitted to the bar in
Connecticut. He settled in Fairfield in i 796,
but moved to St. Albans and in 1804 there
formed a partnership with Asa Aldis. It
lasted but a short time and he returned to
Fairfield and set up a law school. He had
in his life about 175 law students. In 181 2
he removed to Middlebury thinking his
school would do better there, but soon re-
turned to Fairfield and before long to St.
Albans again.
He was elected a judge of the Supreme
Court in 1827 and continued in service two
years. He was quite old when elected judge
but on leaving the bench returned to prac-
tice. Judge Turner, carrying his bag of law
papers, called on a lady who playfully re-
minded him that Judas carried a bag.
"Yes," said the judge, "and kept better
company than I do."
Judge Turner died at an advanced age,
April 30, 1847.
PADDOCK, EPHRAIM. — Ephraim Pad-
dock of St. Johnsbury came when a young
man from Massachusetts to Vermont. His
opportunities for education were limited to
the common school, but he made such
good use of them that he was for two or three
years employed as an instructor in Peacham
Academy. He began the practice of law in
St. Johnsbury and by diligence became
a learned lawyer. He represented St.
lohnsbury from 1S21 to 1826, inclusive;
was a member of the constitutional conven-
tion of 182S, and of the council of censors in
1.S41. He was elected a judge of the Supreme
Court in 1828, but preferred the vi^ork of his
profession and retired from the bench in
1 83 1.
Judge Paddock continued in acti\e prac-
tice till 1848, when he gave up professional
duties and lived in peace and quiet the re-
mainder of his days. He died July 27, 1859,
at the age of seventy-nine.
THOMPSON, JOHN C— John C.
Thompson, of Burhngton, was born in
Rhode Island, studied law in Hartford,
Conn., and was there admitted to the bar
about 181 3. He came at once to Windsor,
where he staid till 1818, in which year he re-
moved to Hartland. In 1822 he left Hart-
land and settled in Burlington. He was a
good lawyer and rose rapidly in public favor.
In 1827 he was elected a councillor and held
that ofifice till elected a judge of the Supreme
Court in 1830. Before his first year of serv-
ice was ended he was taken sick on his way
to Montpelier in a stage-coach and in a few
days died. He had won approval as a judge
although so short a time on the bench.
Judge Thompson married Nancy Patrick
in December, 18 16. His death occurred
June 27, 1 83 1. He left surviving him a son
who was drowned in Lake Champlain, Sep-
tember, 1846.
BAYLIES, Nicholas.— Nicholas Bay-
lies of Montpelier, son of Deacon Nicholas
Baylies, of Uxbridge, Mass., was born in
I'xbridge, graduated at Dartmouth College
in 1 794, read law with Charles Marsh of
^^'oodstock, was admitted to the bar, and
practiced in Woodstock a number of years.
He moved from Woodstock to Montpelier in
1809 and was "warned out" of Mont-
pelier the 15th of November following — a
fine old custom for booming a new settle-
ment ! He was a scholarly man and was
the author of a three volume " 1 )igested
Index to the Modern Reports," published at
Montpelier in 1814, which received the ap-
proval of James Kent and Judge Parker.
The " proprietors " of this book were Nicho-
las Baylies, Samuel Prentiss, Jr., and James
H. Langdon. Mr. Baylies also published a
theological work on free agency. He was
elected state's attorney in 181 3, 1814 and
1825, and a judge of the Supreme Court in
1S31, 1832 and 1833. y^
He removed to Lyndon about iS35yAvnere
he lived with his son-in-law, George C.
Cahoon, and practiced law till his death,
.August 17, 1847. He was buried in Mont-
pelier, August 22, 1847. Mr. Baylies was
probably seventy-nine years of age at his
death, though some authorities make him
eighty-two and others onl\' seventy-five. He
argued a case in the Supreme Court in Mont-
pelier but a few months before his death.
He married Mary Ripley, daughter of Prof.
Sylvanus Ripley, and granddaughter of Pres-
ident Eleazer Wheelock. She was a sister of
Cen. Eleazer Wheelock Ripley, who com-
manded at Lundy's Lane after Scott was
wounded. Mr. Baylies' only daughter, Mary
Ripley Baylies, married George C. Cahoon
of Lyndon, Oct. 27, 1825. His son, Hor-
atio N. Baylies, was long a merchant in
Montpelier, and died in Louisiana. An-
other son, Nicholas Baylies, Jr., was a lawyer.
PHELPS, Samuel Sheather.— s. s.
Phelps of Middlebury, was a judge of the
Supreme Court from 1831 to 1838. [See
sketch under " Senators," ante page 1 16.]
COLLAMER, JACOB.— Jacob CoUamer
of Woodstock, was a judge of the Supreme
Court from 1834 to 1842. [See sketch under
"Senators," t?;//^ page 121.]
MATTOCKS, JOHN.— John Mattocks,
of Peacham, one of the brightest men that
ever lived, was elected a judge of the Supreme
Court in 1834, but served only one year, ab-
solutely declining a re-election. The opinions
he gave are not only good law but so put that,
as Horace (Ireeley would have said, they "are
mighty interestin' reading." [.See sketch in
"Governors," ante page 85.]
REDFIELD, ISAAC FLETCHER.— Isaac
F. Redfield, son
ofDr.Peleg Red-
field and Han-
nah ( Parker )
Redfield, was
born at Weath-
ersfield, April 10,
I S04 ; went to
Coventry when
his father moved
there in 1S05 ;
graduated at
Dar t m o u t h in
1825, and was in
I S 2 7 admitted
•■ to the bar in Or-
leans county. He
began practice at Derby, and so good a law-
yer was he that he was continuously state's
l82
attorney from 1832, till elected a judge of
the Supreme Court in 1835. He moved to
Montpelier, and about 1846 to the Judge
Chase house at Randolph Center, where he
lived three or four years, and then moved to
Windsor, where he lived till he went to Bos-
ton in 1861. He was elected a judge of the
Supreme Court in 1835, and so served till
1S52, when he was elected chief judge,
which office he held till 1800.
He conferred honor on the court, and it
was quoted in other states as the " Redfield
Court. " After he declined further service
on the bench he went to Boston. He wrote
many valuable legal works, notably treatises
on the law of wills and railway law. Judge
Redfield died in Charlestown, Mass., March
23, 1876, of pneumonia, and was buried at
Windsor. He married Mary Ward Smith
of Stanstead, Sept. 28, 1836, and Catha-
rine Blanchard Clark of St. Johnsbury, May
4, 1842. No children survive.
BENNETT, MlLO L. — Milo L. Bennett, of
Burlington, was born in Connecticut, studied
at Williams and Vale and graduated at Vale
in 181 1. He studied law at the Litchfield
Law School ; came to .Bennington and soon
went to Manchester, where he remained till
1836, when he went to Maine and spent two
years in the business of lumbering and losing
his property.
In 1838 he moved to Burlington; was in
the fall of that year elected a judge of the
Supreme Court and served till the court was
reduced to three judges in 1850. He was in
1850 elected one of the four judges of the
newly established circuit court and going off
the circuit bench practiced law one year,
i85i-'52, in company with E. E. Kellogg.
In 1852 he was elected again to the Supreme
Court and served this time till 1859, se\en
years.
After his judicial service closed he was
commissioner to revise the statutes and this
revision, when enacted, became the "Gener-
al Statutes," published in 1863. "Bennett's
Justice" was also a work on which he spent
a good deal of time.
Judge Bennett did good work both at the
bar and as a judge and good legal work is
kept up by his descendants in the Boston
Law School. He died July 7, 1868.
HEBARD, William.— William Hebard
of Randolph was elected a judge of the Su-
preme Court in 1842, served one year, was
again elected in 1844 and served another
year. [See sketch in "Representatives,"
ante page 152.]
KELLOGG, Daniel.— Daniel Kellogg
of Rockingham was born at Amherst, Mass.,
Feb. 10, 1 791, graduated at ^\'illiams Col-
lege in iSio, studied law with Gen. Martin
Field of Newfane, and began practice at
Rockingham in 1814. In iSigand 1820 he
was judge of ])robate, secretary of the Gov-
ernor and council 1823 to 1828, state's at-
torney 1 82 7, and member of the council of
censors the same year, L'nited States attor-
ney for District of Vermont 1829 to 1841,
member and president of the constitutional
convention of 1843 and presidential elector
in 1864.
He was elected a judge of the Supreme
Court in 1843, but did not accept; in
1845 he was again elected and served six
years. He was a scholarly, orderly man of
excellent legal learning and took great pains
in writing his opinions. He had the confi-
dence of both the bar and the people. His
professional, social, political and business
life were characterized by the most perfect
integrity. Judge Barrett said of him, " His
lawyership was broad, accurate, practical
and sensible, the result of faithful study,
faithful and extensive practice, of a large con-
versancy with current business and aflairs in
all departments, and a most excellent social
culture and bearing." He was president of
the first savings bank of the state.
Judge Kellogg married, first, Jane McAffee
of Rockingham : second, Merab Ann Brad-
ley, daughter of William C. Bradley ; third,
Miranda M. Aldis, daughter of Asa Aldis.
His children were : Henry, George B., Sarah
B., and Daniel.
Judge Kellogg moved to Brattleboro in
1854 and died there May 10, 1875.
HALL, HILAND.— Hiland Hall of Ben-
nington was a judge of the Supreme Court
from 1846 to 1850. [See sketch in "Gov-
ernors," ante page 93.]
DAVIS, Charles.— Charles Davis of
Danville was born in Connecticut, and when
he was a boy his father moved to Rocking-
ham and in 1806 to Middlebury. Charles
graduated at Middlebury, studied law with
Daniel Chipman and was admitted to the
bar in 1814. He edited a newspaper at one
time. He stayed two years in Middlebury,
then went to Barton and afterwards to
Waterford, but in 1828 settled in Danville.
He was that year elected state's attorney
and held that office seven years and again
served a year by an election in 1838. From
1840 to 1845 he was L'nited States attorney
for the district of Vermont and was probate
judge for a time. In 1846 he was elected a
judge of the Supreme Court and served two
years. He represented Danville after he
was on the bench, though it was a strongly
Democratic town and he was a firm Whig ;
in his legislative service he was chairman of
the judiciary committee. He spent the last
1 83
of his life with a son in Illinois and died
Nov. 2 1, 1863.
POLAND, LUKE Potter.— Luke P.
Poland, of St. Johnsbury, was a judge of the
Supreme Court, 1S48 to 1850: of the Cir-
cuit Court, 1850 to 1857; of the Supreme
Court, 1857 to i860, and its chief judge,
i860 to 1865. [See sketch in "Senators,"
ante page 124.]
CIRCUIT JUDGES.— Three judges sat
on the bench of the Circuit Court, which
existed from 1S50 to 1857, who never re-
ceived an election to the Supreme bench.
They were Robert Pierpoint, \\'illiam C.
Kittredge and Abel Underwood.
Robert Pierpoint, of Rutland, a brother
of John Pierpoint, was born in Litchfield,
Conn., ^Lay 4, 1791 ; came when a child to
Manchester, studied law with Covernor
Skinner, and settled in Rutland. He was
circuit judge from 1850 to 1856, and died
May 6, 186^5.
William C. Kittredge, of Fair Haven,
was born in Dalton, Mass., Feb. 23, 1800;
graduated at Williams College in 181 2 ;
studied law in Northampton, Mass. ; went
to Kentucky, and w'as there admitted to the
bar ; was six months in Ravenna, Ohio ;
caine to Vermont, was admitted in Rutland
December, 1824, and settled in Fair Haven.
He married three times, and had eleven
children. For eight years he represented his
town ; was county senator two years ; was
speaker two years ; was state's attorney five
years, and six years a judge of the county
court. He was Lieutenant-Clovernor in 1852,
and in 1856 was elected a circuit judge, and
served one year. He died at Rutland, June
II, 1869, while on his way to Bennington in
discharge of his duties as V . S. Assessor of
Internal Revenue.
Abel LLnderwood, of Wells River, was
born in Bradford, April 8, 1799, and was an
uncle of Levi L'nderwood. He fitted for col-
lege at Rovalton, and graduated at Dartmouth
in 1824, teaching to pay his way. He stud-
ied law with Isaac Fletcher, of Lyndon, and
was admitted to the bar in Caledonia county
in 1827. July 12, 1827, he married P'.mily
Rix, of Royalton, and in 182S began jiractire
in Wells Ri\er, being about one thousand
dollars in debt for his education. He ])ros-
pered in life, was U. S. attorney for this dis-
trict, from 1849 to 1853, and was a circuit
judge from 1854 to 1857. Judge L'nderwood
died .\pril 22, 1879. His daughter and grand-
daughter live in Montpelier.
ISHAM, Pierpoint.— Pierpoint Isham,
of Bennington, was born at Manchester.
He was a son of Dr. Kzra Isham and his
mother was a cousin of Judge Phelps and of
J\idge Pierpoint. After attendance at the
acaiiemy he studied law with Covernor Skin-
ner ; was admitted to the bar and first set-
tled in Pownal but soon moved to Benning-
ton. In 1 85 1 he was elected a Supreme
Court judge and served six years. .-Xt the
end of that time, when the circuit judge sys-
tem was broken up and the Supreme Court
judges again made to undertake the task of
presiding at trials in county court. Judge
Isham absolutely declined a re-election, for
his impulsive temperament made him averse
to sitting at the conduct of jury trials. He
made an excellent judge in the work of the
Supreme Court, which was all that a Supreme
Court judge had to do during the term of his
service. Judge Isham died May 8, 1872.
ALDIS, ASA Owen.— .\sa O. Aldis, of
St. Albans, was born in that town ; graduated
in 1829 at the L'niversity of Vermont, studied
law and became law-partner of his father.
Judge Asa Aldis. His practice was large,
and in 1857 he was elected a judge of the
Supreme Court, and served as such till the
summer of 1865, when he resigned, moved
to this step by the loss of several children
and the impaired health of other members
of his family. He was L'nited States consul
at Nice till 1870, and in 187 1 was appointed
president of the Southern Claims Commis-
sion, the duties of which important position
occupied his time till 1880, when the com-
mission ended. He thereupon served till
1884 on the French and .Alabama Claims
Commission, and from 1871 made Washing-
ton City his home. He had the grippe in
[890, and was thenceforward in poor health
till his death, which occurred in Washington,
D. C. Owen Aldis, his son, is a Chicago
lawyer.
PIERPOINT, John.— John Pierpoint,
of \' e rgennes,
was born at
Litchfield, Ct.,
Sept. TO, 1805,
and was the sev-
enth and young-
est son of Dan-
■»' ^ iel and' Sarah
^. _ ( Phelps ) Pier-
▼ ,, — ' point. In 18 15
he came to Rut-
land to live in
the family of his
brother Robert,
who had mar-
ried and settled
there, and years
after at the Hates House he told Judge Ross
that he had felt old when there for he had
hunted that ground all over time and again
and shot his first game near where the Gen-
eral Baxter residence stands. llis first
day's hunting was so successful that his
1 84
IIEARDSLFA'.
brother Robert told him next time he might
take his new gun. John was as good a
hunter all his days as he was judge and
there can be no higher praise of skill than
that. Tudge Peck once went with him when
he was hunting and told of his shooting a
bird on the wing, "firing as much as a min-
ute after it had gone out of sight behind
some cedar trees." At his brother's he did
the chores and went to school ; at eighteen
began studying law, probably in Manchester,
and to continue his study he soon went to
the law school at litchfield and boarded in
his father's family two miles away. Judge
Ross thinks that there he got the habit of
thinking law as he walked and all through
his life he kept the habit of walking in study.
He was admitted to the bar in Rutland
county in 1827 and began practice in Pitts-
ford, where he wore through the boards of
his office floor by walking back and forth, it
is said.
He mo\ed to Vergennes in May, 1832.
Here his health broke down and he spent
the winter of i835-'36 in Fayette, Miss.
A\'ith bettered health he returned to Ver-
mont, but was always a man of frail health.
He represented Vergennes in 1841 and was
Register of Probate from 1836 to 1857. In
185s, 1856 and 1857 he was in the state
Senate and chairman of its judiciary com-
mittee two years.
In 1857 he was elected a judge of the
Supreme Court and his service on the bench
was thence continuous till his death ; he was
chief judge from November, 1865 to 1882.
In 1838 he married Sarah M. Lawrence of
Vergennes and they had seven children. He
died Jan. 7, 1882, and Mrs. Pierpoint died
Jan. 20, 1884. The bar of Vermont erected
a monument over his gra\e.
No more lovable man ever was a judge, no
man more pure, no man more just, no man
whose work was better done. And of all
things in him that made him beloved did
Charity most abound.
BEARDSLEY, HERMAN R.~H. R.
Beardsley of St. Albans, son of Ephraim
Beardsley, was born in Kent, Conn., July
21, 1800. His father moved to Grand Isle
while Herman was a boy and sent his son to
school to Rev. Asa Lyon. Herman entered
the University of Vermont in 18 ig, but be-
cause of failing health left college in his
junior year and soon after began the study
of law with Bates Turner and afterwards read
with Asa Aldis. He took high rank at the
bar and on the resignation of Asa Owen Al-
dis in the summer of 1865 was appointed by
Governor Smith a judge of the Supreme
Court. His service was short, as the Legis-
lature of that year instead of electing Mr.
Beardsley chose William C. Wilson.
Judge Beardsley married .Abigail S. Webb,
stepdaughter of Bates Turner, and by her
had three daughters and one son. He died
in St. Albans, March 9, 1S78.
BARRETT, J AMES.— James Barrett of
\\'oodstock, and
now of Rutland,
son of IMartin
and Dorcas
(Patterson) Bar-
rett, was born
in Strafford,
May 31, 1814.
He graduated at
1 )artmouth Col-
lege in 1838;
read law with
Charles Crocker
of Buffalo, N. v.,
in 1838 and
1S39, and with
Charles Marsh
in Woodstock in 1839 and 1840; was ad-
mitted and began practice in Woodstock in
1840; moved to Boston in 1848, and re-
turned to Woodstock in 1849. He was a
state senator two years, and state's attorney
two years.
In 1857 he was elected a judge of the Su-
preme Court, and served as such twenty-
three years, his last service on the bench
being in 1880. No man of more profound
knowledge of the law than Judge Barrett was
ever on the Supreme Court bench unless
Asahel Peck was that man. It is said of
Judge Peck that, having taken his position
in consultation on cases in which he differed
from his brethren, he was known to confess
himself wrong and his brethren right in but
one instance in all his service. Judge Poland
told me that, in consultation, when he and
Judge Peck disagreed, he once said to Judge
Peck : "You are a great deal the better law-
yer, but I am a great deal the better judge."
There can be no doubt that the Supreme
Court, when I. F. Redfield, Poland and Bar-
rett were on its bench together and after-
wards when Poland, Barrett and Peck were
members, was a court that was supreme —
one that united stood and divided didn't fall
a great ways. How many times Judge Bar-
rett gave up that he was wrong is not of
record. When those men differed, who
would novi^ dare to say which was right and
which wrong — unless he could find out
what John Pierpoint thought, was, taking
everything into consideration, the right way
to dispose of the Case.
Judge Barrett's many opinions, reported
in the near a quarter of a century that he
served, exhibit a strength and living force
that will always in legal circles give good
repute to Vermont courts and to the state.
'8s
The degree of Doctor of Laws conferred on
him is in his case a truthful as well as
honorable title — given in accordance with
the fact.
After his retirement from the bench he
moved to Rutland where he practiced his
profession and where he suffered, Feb. 15,
1887, the great loss of the death by accident
of his son James C. Barrett who had though
yet young in years attained position in the
very front rank of lawyers.
Judge Barrett married, Sept. 24, 1S44,
Maria Lord, daughter of Dr. Simeon Wood-
worth of Coventry, Conn., and they had
nine children. He lives in Rutland, adding
days of good old age to the years of honor
that lie behind him, and still dignifying the
profession of which he became a member
more than half a century ago, by doing good
work in it.
KELLOGG, LOYAL CASE. —L. C.
Kellogg of Ben-
son, son of John
and Harriot
(Nash) Kellogg,
was born in Ben-
son Feb. 13,
1816. He grad-
uated at Amherst
College in 183O,
read law with
Phineas Smith
at Rutland, and
with his father in
Benson, and was
admitted in Rut-
land county,
September term,
1S39. He settled in Benson, which town he
represented in 1847, 1850, 185 1, 1859 and
1 8 70. He was a member of the constitu-
tional conventions of 1857 and 1870, and
president of that of 1857.
In 1859 he was elected a judge of the
Supreme Court and served eight years ; he
was elected for a further term, but declined
to continue in office. He moved to Rutland
while judge, but returned to Benson on re-
tiring from the bench. Judge Kellogg was
a most honorable and learned judge. His
love of order was great, and I well remember
how, years ago, after he had returned to
practice, he got me to copy one live-long
night papers that were to be presented to
the court the next day. They were done to
his satisfaction — and that was cause of won-
der when I learned how particular he was —
except that he had well-defined and positive
ideas about the place for putting the filing
which were new- to me, but for which he
gave reasons at large. His mode I after-
wards followed till Judge Rowell, who is as
orderly minded as was Judge Kellogg, insti-
tuted the present method, for which he has
reasons as cogent as Judge Kellogg had for
his way i and now that Judge Rowell's
method has been embodied in a rule, I try
to follow that, but always with a mental
apology to the memory of Judge Kellogg.
Both ways are good ways — mine wasn't —
and it is entirely probable that the departed
judge's respect for a rule of court as a sacred
thing would lead him to comply with it
should he return to practice, and if he didn't
so comply, revisiting the glimpses of the
court room would be unpleasant for him.
Judge Kellogg never married. He died
at Benson, Nov. 26, 1872.
PECK, ASAHEL.— Asahel Peck of Jeri-
cho was a judge of the circuit court from
185 1 to 1857 and of the Supreme Court
from 1S60 to 1874. [See sketch in " Gov-
ernors," ante page 100.]
WILSON, WILLIAM C— W. C.Wilson,
of Bakersfield,
was born inCam-
bridge, July 2,
181 2. Hisfather,
John, was a farm-
er, and till eight-
e e n William
worked on the
farm and attend-
ed districtschool.
The boy then
went to school
m Jericho and by
leaching got
money enough
^o he could study
i.iw, which he did
first in Cam-
bridge, then fur two years in Fairfax and
then in St. Albans. Mr. Wilson was admitted
to the Franklin county bar September term,
1834, settled in Bakersfield, and obtained
a large practice. He maintained a school
for law students for some time after 1850 and
drilled them carefully in their studies. He
was state's attorney in 1844 and 1845, assist-
ant judge of the county court in 1849, 1850,
and 185 I, member of the Constitutional Con-
ventions of 1843 s-nd 1850, state senator in
1848 and 1849, and representative in the
Legislatures of 1863, 1864, and 1865. In
1865 he was elected a judge of the Supreme
Court and served five years, till 1870.
He married Clarissa A. Pratt of Bakers-
field and by her had three children, three of
whom survived him : \\'. D. Wilson, Esq.,
of St. Albans ; Mrs. M. R. Tyler of St.
l^aul, Minn., and Mrs. C. M. Start of Roches-
ter, Minn. Mrs. Wilson -died in 1869. Soon
after leaving the bench in 1870 Judge Wil-
son removed to Rochester, Minn., where his
i86
daughter, Mrs. Start, was then H\ing. In
1873 he married a second time. 'I'he Min-
nesota climate benefited his health and he
began writing upon a law work for publica-
tion, but the sickness and death of his wife
and then his own failing health compelled
him to abandon the undertaking.
Judge Wilson died April 16, 1882, and
in accordance with his expressed wish was
buried in the cemetery at Bakersfield.
STEELE, Benjamin Hinman.— b. h.
Steele of Derby, son of Sanford and Mary
(Hinman) Steele, was born in Stanstead, P.
n., Feb. 6, 1837. Fond of books his progress
in study was so rapid that when but fourteen
he taught an advanced school in his native
town, the next winter he taught in Troy,
then two winters in Concord, Mass., then
again in Derby. Governor Dale said of
him : " He had early selected the road he
was to take, and was preparing earnestly for
his journey, teaching, studying, reading ;
now the most ardent devotee at the Derby
and Stanstead academies, again reciting
Latin and French to the kind Catholic
priest ; then busily learning French five
months at the College of St. Pierre ; rush-
ing into a course at Norwich University,
quickly hurrying from there to Dartmouth
College for want of time to complete a course
at both institutions ; prostrated by sickness,
burdened with the care of a family which
sickness and death threw upon his capable
and willing mind, he ran towards the citv of
his destiny with wonderful courage. Thus
with a long arm and a strong will, he hewed
his way through college, over the threshold
of which he was stepping out into the world
as the acknowledged leader of his class,
when I first saw him."
Graduating at Dartmouth with honor in
1857 he continued studying law, first in Bar-
ton (teaching as principal of Barton Acad-
emy at the same time) ; typhoid fever com-
pelled him to stop, on recovery he went to
Cambridge, Mass., intending to pursue his
studies at the law school. He went into the
Supreme Court as a spectator and was ad-
vised by his friends to apply for admission
to the bar and at the age of twenty-one he
did so, was examined by Benjamin F. Butler,
commended by Choate, who heard part of
the examination, and was admitted. He pre-
pared to go west, but his old friends were
loath to let him go and persuaded him to
begin at Derby Line. This he did and at
once by untiring application, zeal and elo-
quence went to the forefront as a lawyer.
When Judge Poland, in the fall of 1865,
was appointed to the Senate the other judges
each went up a peg and the place thus made
vacant was filled by Governor Dillingham's
appointing Steele a judge of the Supreme
Court. Only twenty-eight when he went on
the bench he was one of the strongest judges
of his day during his five years' service. In
1870 he declined a re-election to the bench,
was appointed a member of the board of edu-
cation, and in 1S72 was a formidable candi-
date for the nomination to Congress against
Judge Poland. The canvass was an active
one and Judge Poland was barely successful
in convention. Judge Steele was a member
of the Republican national convention in
1872, and the civil service and tariff planks
of the platform were from his draft.
Judge Steele had an enthusiastic following
among the younger members of his party
and his genius justified their admiration.
Had he lived he would have taken his
proper place in the work of national legisla-
tion and would have stood second in national
fame to no other of Vermont's representative
men. He was not only a thorough student
and profound thinker but an orator by na-
ture and cultivation. His early death was
not only a grievous loss to his family and
friends, but to the state in good service and
in the honor a worthy and brilliant son
gives her when he becomes on a broader
field a statesman and leader of men.
Judge Steele married, Feb. 6, i86t,
Martha, only daughter of David and \\ealthy
(Thomas) Sumner. Two children were the
issue of this marriage : Mary Hinman, and
David Sumner. The last years of Judge
Steele were spent at Hartland, where his
widow yet resides, and not mnnv miles from
i87
the home of his sister, Mrs. Samuel K. I'in-
gree in Hartford.
His health had always been delicate, and
in 1873 he went to Minnesota, hoping its
climate would arrest the disease that has
been fatal to so many of New England's
sons and daughters. He died in Faribault,
Minn., July 13, 1873. No man who knew
him can write of him, even after the lapse
of more than a score of years, without quick-
ening blood as he remembers the man of
whom at the commenorative meeting of old
neighbors and friends at Derby Line, 1 lale
long ago said : "A pleasant, happy father,
husband, brother, man. From his couch in
that far off Western town he looked back
upon no wild irregularity of his youthful or
riper years. He looked back with conscious
rectitude, through the fact that he had done
all he could, and with regret that he could
no longer comfort his friends ; and forward,
across the river lit by the faith of that
church, the forms and creed of which had
long been pleasant to his mind ; then quietly
passed beyond our view."
PROUT, JOHN.— John Prout, of Rut-
land, was born in Salisbury, Nov. 21, 1815.
His training was of the old-fashioned kind,
and his education was in the common
schools and academy. He followed the
trade of a printer several years and then
studied law in the office of E. N. Briggs and
was admitted to the bar in Addison county
in 1837 and began practice with Mr. Piriggs.
He represented Salisbury in 1847, 1S48 and
1 85 1 and was state's attorney of .Addison
county from 184S to 185 1.
In 1S54 he moved to Rutland and there
pursued his profession most successfully till
he retired in 1886. He had at various times
as partners, Caleb B. Harrington, Charles
Linsley, W. C. Dunton, N. P. Simons and
Col. .Mdace F. Walker. He represented
Rutland in 1865 and 1866 and was a sena-
tor for Rutland county in 1867. In 1867
he was elected a judge of the Supreme Court
and served two years. The work was not as
congenial to him as that of his profession
and he declined further service. He was
honest, learned and wise ; and was a sort of
counselor-general not only to his clients but
to the community and his brethren of the
bar. It has been said of him that " to one
who knew Judge Prout principally in his
later life, its most striking characteristic
was the degree in which his name and his
opinions were deferred to in the community
wherein he lived."
Judge Prout died in Rutland, .August 28,
1890.
WHEHLER, HOYT H.— H. H. Wheeler
of Jamaica, now of Brattleboro, and United
States district judge for the district of Ver-
mont, was a judge of the Supreme Court
from 1869 to his resignation, March 31,
1877. [See sketch in Part ll,/>os/ page 427.]
ROYCE, HOMER ELIHU.— H. E. Royce
of St. Albans was a judge of the Supreme
Court from 1870 to 1890, serving as chief
j\idge after the death of Chief Judge Pier-
jioint in January, 1882. [See sketch in
"Representatives," atiU page 155.]
REDFIELD, TIMOTHY PARKER.— T. P.
R e d fi e 1 d of
Montpelier was
one of the twelve
children of Dr.
Peleg and Han-
^ nah (Parker)
t'^ 'fSf^td Redfield. He
% \"^ was born at
, '2i^n Coventry, Nov.
, I ' 3, 1812, andwas
educated at
Dartmouth i n
the class of 1836.
He read law
with his brother,
Isaac F., was ad-
mitted to the
Orleans county bar in the year 1838, and be-
gan practice at Irasburgh, where he remain-
ed ten years. In 1848 he was elected sen-
ator from Orleans county. He moved to
Montpelier after the session of 1848, prac-
ticed there till his election as a judge of the
Supreme Court in 1870, and continued on
the bench till the fall of 1884, when he de-
clined a re-election. He married Helen W.
Crannis of Stanstead, Feb. 6, 1840, and she
survives him. They had four children, one
of whom, Alice, the wife of Andrew J. Phil-
lips, is living in Chicago. .Alice has one
child living, a son Timothy. The judge,
after many years, lies with his three other
children in Green Mount cemetery, that
pleasant place of rest of which Eastman
wrote :
" This fairest spot of hill .ind gL^ile,
Where blooms the flower and waves the tree.
."^nd silver streams delight the shade,
We consecrate, O Death, to thee."
Judge Redfield was a wise and genial man,
as well as a profound lawyer and great judge.
No man at the bar had quite so much the
flavor of the olden time. Some way he re-
membered the wise and witty things that
seemed to be the common stock of the
ancients of the law, and it was an education
to hear him discourse of the old lawyers and
the old practice. .And w-ithal he knew more
things that were "going on" about him than
nine-tenths of their actors ; how he became
possessed of his information was aniystery —
he must have absorbed knowledge from the
air as he went along. He was a powerful
advocate while at the bar ; logical, adroit,with
play of wit and humor, he was a dangerous
antagonist. And after he was on the bench
his power and mastery of the art of putting
things used to make the lawyer who was
getting the worst of the charge wince, and
make the one whose law and facts the judge
thought were right ashamed of himself to
see how a real artist could do his work.
When he had his mind made up he took
care that his position should be understood.
When he made decisions as a chancellor he
would often file reasons with or as a part of
the decretal order that, when the case went
up, were a tower of strength in defense of
the order he had made.
It is, I find, the general sense of those
who knew the two Judges Redfield that Isaac
F. was the more studious in habit, and Tim-
othy P. the stronger by nature. The elder
brother cultivated more assiduously, but the
younger plowed the deeper, and he seemed
to know intuitively legal fields and what
grains and fruits they bore. I have been
surprised, after examining a doubtful point,
and going over all the authorities attainable,
to hear him, the moment the question was
sprung in the court room, start from a prin-
ciple and go on till he had talked all the law
there was about the thing — give a better
summary of the law off-hand than one could
find in the books of those who had taken
their time for thought and statement. He
was solidly grounded in the principles of the
law, and he remembered a vast deal about
practice. He was to the younger members
of the bar a spring of pure and ever flowing
law, and I believe that his brethren on the
bench would say that they looked to him as
to the master of a stronghold of the law,
with all its weapons available to his hand.
Judge Redfield died in Chicago, May 27,
1888, and was buried in Green Mount cem-
etery, Montpelier.
ROSS, Jonathan.— Jonathan Ross, of
St. Johnsbury, now chief judge of the Su-
preme Court, was elected a judge of that
court in 1870, and has been chief judge
since 1890. [See sketch in Parti I, post
page 342.]
POWERS, HORACE HENRY. — H. H.
Powers, of Morrisville, was a judge of the
Supreme Court from 1874 to 1890, when he
was elected to Congress. [See sketch in
"Representatives," /cijV page 324.]
DUNTON, Walter C — Walter C.
Dunton, of Rutland, was born in Bristol,
Nov. 29, 1830. He was educated at Malone
Academy, N. Y., and Middlebury College,
graduating at the latter institution in 1857.
He read law with Dillingham and Durant at
Waterbury and with Linsley & Prout at Rut-
land and was admitted to the bar of Rutland
county in 1858.
He resided in Kansas some years and was
a member of its last territorial Legislature in
1 861. That same year he located in Rut-
land. In 1862 he went into the army and
served as Captain of Co. H, 14th Vt. Vols.
He was Rutland's member of the constitu-
tional convention of 1870. In 1865 he was
elected judge of probate for the district of
Rutland and served till April 14, 1877, when
he was appointed a judge of the Supreme
Court by Governor Fairbanks to fill the
vacancy caused by promotions consequent
on the resignation of Judge Wheeler. Judge
Dunton served on the Supreme Court bench
terminated in the fall of 1879 by his resig-
nation of the office.
He resumed practice and died in Rutland
April 23, 1890.
VEAZEY, Wheelock Graves.— w.
G. Veazey of Rutland, now a member of the
Interstate Commerce Commission, was ap-
pointed a judge of the Supreme Court Nov.
I, 1S79, upon the resignation of Judge Dun-
ton, and served till August, 1889, when he
resigned. [See sketch in Part \\, post page
408.]
TAFT, Russell F.— R. S. Taft of Bur-
lington has been a judge of the Supreme Court
since 18S0, and since 1890 has been first
assistant judge. [See sketch in Part \\, post
page 391.]
ROWELL, JOHN W.— John ^V. Rowell,
of West Randolph, has been a judge of the
Supreme Court since Jan. 11, 1882, when he
was appointed by Governor Farnham sixth
assistant after the death of Chief Judge Pier-
point. He has been, since 1890, second
assistant judge. [See sketch in Part II, post
page 343-]
WALKER, William H.— W. H. Walker,
of Ludlow, was elected a judge of the Supreme
Court in 1884, and served till September,
1887, when he resigned. [See sketch in Part
II, post page 41 7.]
TYLER, James M.— James M. Tyler, of
Brattleboro, has been a judge of the Supreme
Court since September, 1887, when he was
appointed by (iovernor Ormsbee to fill the
vacancy caused by promotions after resigna-
tion of Judge \\'alker. He is now third as-
sistant judge. [See sketch in Part \\, post
page 405.]
MUNSON, LOVELAND.— Loveland Mun-
son, of Manchester, has been a judge of the
Su])reme Court since his appointment by
THOMPSON.
Governor Dillingham in September, 1889, to
fill the vacancy caused by promotions fol-
lowing Judge Veazey's resignation. He is
now fourth assistant judge. [See sketch in
Part U,/>os^ page 283.]
START, HENRY R.— Henry R. Start of
Bakersfield has been fifth assistant judge of
the Supreme Court since his election in
i8go. [See sketch in Part \\, post page 373.]
THOMPSON, LafOREST H.— L. H.
Thompson of Irasburg has been sixth assis-
tant judge of the Supreme Court since his
election in 1890. [See sketch in Part H,
posip&ge: 397.]
VERMONT INVENTORS.
B^ Lt£\ 1 K. FULLER.
In a search for rare and curious inventions, there has been revealed, among the citizens
of this state, a wealth of inventive talent, great ingenuity and remarkable achievements, little
known and long forgotten. It is a pleasing task to rescue from obscurity and to bring into
more prominent light the efforts of our citizens in this direction. Many inventors are
found to have been too early, as well as some too late, in the race ; so that they have performed
their tasks upon a line so slender, in its relation to the then known wants or needs of the
community, that recognition of their discoveries and the importance of their inventions, by
the multitude, was not possible until future years and an advanced civilization should disclose
their true value in industrial affairs.
In many respects the state of Vermont has been as fruitful in the development of great
inventions as it has been unique in other interesting phases of .\merican history. A few
of the wonderful deeds of Vermonters are here recorded and their rightful place in the pro-
gress of a century pointed out.
During the century there were 600,000 inventions patented in the United States, of
which nearly 4,000 have been granted to Vermonters, upwards of 1,000 of these being the
first of their class. Many of them have indeed been important and controlling, even revo-
lutionizing, departments of industry ; but in many instances important inventions were
never patented.
How came the inventions and improvements of the century to be made? They were
not conceived or born in the patent office at Washington, or in any government bureau,
much less brought forward by the order of any public official. They were of an impelling
force, far different in its nature, strength and magnitude ; a force that had its source in that
spirit born of freedom of thought, unfettered hands and unbounded opportunities : a force
that has carved a nation out of the forest, and made the prairie and the desert to blossom
as the rose ; that has preserved to us freedom, and given to the nation prosperity — indi-
vidual responsibility and opportunity — with governmental care only so far as is necessary to
secure this in its largest and noblest sense.
It has not been my object to speak of inventions merely to show the number or kind,
but to point out some of those in which citizens of Vermont were the earliest in the field.
Thus we see, up among the fertile valleys of our little state, and among the green hills,
where live a hardy, thrifty and self-reliant people, left to carve out their own fame and
fortune, the ordinary citizen has grappled with the most important inventions of the age,
has solved successfully the mechanical and industrial problems of the century, reaping, in
many instances, a fair reward with unusual distinction, many with gratifying honors.
Patents issued to Vermonters in the last century :
Richard Rhobotham, Floor Composition, two patents, April 12, 1794.
William Hodgson, Threshing Machine, April 2S, 1794.
Toshua Hathaway, Hydraulic Machine, Oct. 29, 1794.
Samuel Kellogg, Wool and Cloth Shearing Machine, Jan. 31, 1795.
Lester Fling, Machine for Manufacturing Nails, Dec. 19, 1797.
Charles Holden, Windmill, Jan. 24, 1798.
Eliakim Spooner, Cultivator, Jan. 25, 1799.
DAVENPORl.
191
AUAMS, RUFUS, Randolph, invented a
steel spring pitchfork, about 1827. He
kejU the secret to himself, until some of the
men whom he employed discovered it and
started factories in Brookfield and Hart-
ford, whence it spread throughout the
United States. Before his invention was
used, the sticks were cut in the woods and
heavy forks were made from iron by the
blacksmith.
BRADLEY, J. DORR, of Brattleboro,
invented in 1852, a rotary pump, consisting
of a piece of rubber tubing secured to the
inside of a circular form, through which the
water was pressed by a revolving wheel
driving the water before it, as it was made
to turn either by hand or power. Large
numbers of these were made and found at
the time a ready market. [.A biographical
sketch and portrait of J. Dorr Bradley will
be found in Part L page 138.]
DAVENPORT, THOMAS, Brandon.—
.\mong the most important inventions with
which mankind has to do at the present
time, is the use of electricity in its various
phases. To Vermont belongs the credit of
having given to the world the earliest suc-
cessful harnessing of magnetism, or electro-
magnetism as it was then called, or elec-
tricity, as we now term it, through the inven-
tions of one Thomas Davenport, a native of
W'illiamstown. This ingenious man was by
trade a blacksmith, and worked at his trade
in Pirandon until 1832, when he became in-
tensely interested in magnetism, and many
years lived, dreamed and worked, surrounded
by his successful demonstration of his skill
in the development of various electrical ap-
paratus.
In 1B34 he made an electric motor, set-
ting it upon the top of an earthen drinking
cuj), which contained a battery which oper-
ated the motor at the top. It had a horizon-
tal revolving shaft, with the balance wheel at
one end. He exhibited this model in New
York to a syndicate of gentlemen who pro-
posed to buy it. Among those whom they
brought to examine it for the purpose of get-
ting an opinion was Prof. S. F. B. Morse,
who carefully examined it and then declined
to give an opinion other than this : "It is
certainly worthy of careful consideration,
and the subject is one in which I feel a
lively interest."
Davenport also invented a tvventy-four-
wire telegraph for the sending of communi-
cations over long distances. This he had
on exhibition in the city of New \'ork, and
it was also examined by Professor Morse. It
consisted of an apparatus for the sending of
an electric current over each wire and an-
other set of apparatus for receiving and re-
cording the same at the other end. This
twenty-four-wire telegraph of 1 )a\enport's,
which had a wire for each letter of the
alphabet and which was examined by Pro-
fessor Morse furnished the basis of the latter's
invention.
Morse did not begin to think of a single
wire until 1835. He had gone no farther
than the thought of the use of magnetism
with the wire, but when he saw the twenty-
four-wire invention of Davenport, with the
mechanism at one end for sending the
electric current and the apparatus at the
other for registering the signal, the problem
was solved. 'What Morse did was to invent
an alphabet enabling him to dispense with
twenty-three of Davenport's wires and use
the remaining one.
Mr. Da\enport also exhibited his invention
in 1S35 at Middlebury College, then at the
institution at Troy, presided over by Miss
W'illard, then at Princeton (,'ollege, and also
in New ^'ork, Springfield and Boston. Prof.
Joseph Henry gave him a certificate attest-
ing the originality of his invention." His
first patent was dated Feb. 25, 1837, and
was for the broad use of magnetism as a pro-
pelling force for motive power. Mr. Ells-
worth, then at the head of the patent office,
on the 4th of July, 1838, wrote him that his
was the first patent issued to anyone for such
an invention.
In 1840 he began the publication of a
newspaper in the city of New \ork, the print-
ing press of which was driven by one of his
electric motors, and in one of the editions he
prints an editorial giving an estimate com-
parison between the cost of steam when gen-
erated by the use of wood, and power pro-
duced from electricity, and showing by his
logic a large balance in favor of electricity ;
and then he adds, "The power of electricity
is far superior to steam, and must and will
triumphantly succeed," a prophecy which
fifty years later is being fulfilled.
Among his inventions is that of a circular
railway, a model two and one-half feet in
diameter having been made in 1837, and
sold to the Troy Seminary, presided over by
Miss Willard, and it remained in Troy until
two years ago, when it was procured by
Professor Pope and presented by him to the
Society of Electrical Engineers of New York.
In that model, there is a stand for the bat-
tery, a circular track, a magnetic field, re-
volving armature, a divided commutator,
the connection of the armature by means of
a bevel gear with the track, embodying every
essential element of the modern electric
road. In fact, the divided commutator is
the only successful means that has been de-
vised of controlling the electric current.
The number of electrical inventions of
this wonderful man was quite large, he ex-
192
FAIRBANKS.
perimented in the making of motors for
driving different kinds of machines, and ex-
perimented with an electric piano, since
then successfully developed.
Professor Pope, who has studied the work
of this great mind, says that, at the average
progress which attended his labors, six more
months of work, logically, would have led to
the production of the phonograph.
Mr. Davenport gave ten years of his life
to this subject, but when Professor Page re-
ported to the Congress of the United States
that the cost of operating by electricity was
vastly greater than that of steam, Davenport
became discouraged, the want of public ap-
preciation disheartened him, and he returned
to Brandon in 1S42, and resumed his toil at
the forge and anvil. He was simply a few
years in advance of his time.
FAIRBANKS, THADDEUS, of St. Johns-
bury. The invention of a cast-iron plough
in 1825 was the beginning of an inventive
career that was singularly fertile, for the
number and variety of inventions as well as
their utility and influence upon trade and
commerce. The trade in domestic hemp
suggested greater convenience for weighing,
a simple platform scale was constructed
which proved so useful and accurate that its
development into a commercial article soon
followed. His first patent for this invention
was taken out in 1831. The "knife edge"
bearings which supported the platform and
working parts, were so admirably disposed
and the entire scale so carefully worked out,
that the increasing trade caused the little
mill to be speedily turned into a scale
factory, and it in turn giving way to larger
and more pretentious buildings, until the
present establishment with its army of men,
supporting a large and thriving village, is
known wherever civilization has developed
the need of accurate weighing machines.
More than thirty-three patents were taken
out upon the scale and the means of its pro-
duction, for in the early days of this inven-
tion exact duplication of parts was unknown
and special machines for their rapid and
accurate production must also be invented.
His fertile mind led him to improve the
cooking stove and the ice refrigerator for the
housewife. For more than sixty years he
led this life of enquiry, and developed along
many lines new and useful improvements,
and at the ripe age of ninety, having com-
pleted an improvement in hot water heaters,
receiving with unusual delight his last patent,
his light went quietly out. [A biographical
sketch and portrait of Sir Thaddeus Fair-
banks will be found in Part H, page 129.]
FIELD, ARTHUR, Springfield.— About
1830 invented an improvement in hoes.
The blade of his hoe was made of two layers
of metal. On the inside, or top, was a thin
layer of tempered steel, while the bottom
consisted of a thin soft iron. The two were
welded together. The soft iron, while it pro-
tected the steel from breaking, was more ex-
posed to wear, and as it wore away on the
bottom edge, left the cutting edge thin and
so acted as a self-sharpener. The hoes
made by Mr. Field were lighter and had an
improved socket for the handle. They were
made by him as long as he lived, and were
held in high esteem by farmers wherever
they were used.
FULLUM, A. J., Springfield.- Invented
and patented about 1852, an improved pro-
cess of manufacturing dies, for stamping
stencil plates and similar work, by grinding
and cutting them into shape with burrs in-
stead of filing them out by hand, by which
the process of manufacture was greatly
cheapened, and the form and utility of the
implements improved, eliminating the wedge
shape which the hand file always gave. He
invented in i860 a new method of stencil
making, and in 1864 a sheep shearing
device.
FISK, James, Brattleboro.— About 1878
invented a contrivance by which a horse
could be released from the wagon and a
brake applied to the hub of the wheel for the
stopping of a carriage.
GORE, John, Brattleboro.— Was the
inventor of a steam wagon or carriage, which
he constructed and operated about the coun-
try. It was driven by an engine of several
horse power, and was an object of especial
interest. It was seen during a period of
several years running about the country, but
finally was dismantled and put to other uses.
GOULD, William, Brattleboro.— Was a
man of peculiar fertility of mind in matters
connected with waterworks and appliances.
In 1856 he invented improvements in fire
engines, but probably his greatest invention
was in a machine for making lead pipe, and
lead pipe with tin lining. This occurred be-
tween 1840 and 1850. The machine was
finally sold for old iron about 1880, although
some of the minor parts of it are now at the
old shop. .As both of these inventions in-
volved large interests and immense sums of
money, it is singular that they never came
into notoriety, but Dr. Rockwell says that
J. Dorr Bradley took two strangers there to see
the machine, who were in the interests of one
of the parties of the lead or tin pipe litigation.
HARRIS, Silas, Shaftsbury.— Was the
first inventor and manufacturer of the modern
193
carpenters' square. He began by cutting
the plates out of old saws. In i8i 7 he came
to Shaftsbury and engaged Stephen Whipple
to forge them from bar stock, as he had a
trip hammer. This business had been con-
tinued by one and another, developing until
there were four such manufacturing estab-
lishments in Shaftsbury, which were consoli-
dated some time since under the name of
the Eagle .Square Manufacturing Co., located
at South Shaftsbury.
FULLHR, LEVI K., Hrattleboro.— .At the
age of sixteen Levi K. Fuller, then a tele-
graph operator at Bellows Falls, constructed
a steam engine, having a vahe of new and
novel design. It was exhibited at the U'ind-
ham county fair and received a premium.
This invention attracted much attention and
introduced young Fuller to the world of in-
ventors and mechanics.
Many of the most \aluable inventions re-
lating to, and improvements in the con-
struction and operating of reed organs, are
the result of his skill and thought, and for a
third of a century he has de\oted his efforts
to this line of work in the interests of the
Estey Organ Co. Not alone in this depart-
ment have his eflbrts been crowned with suc-
cess, but in telegraphy, steam engineering,
car construction, and artificial ventilation,
as well, he has originated in many other
branches of mechanics and science, improve-
ments and methods of value.
The manner of drying lumber and numer-
ous other articles by means of the system
widely known as the "Common-sense" Dry-
ing -Apparatus, is one of his inventions.
It has been said that the road to the
patent office has been more frequently trod
by this inventor than almost any other in
Vermont, and but few men in the country
have a larger list of patented inventions.
Upwards of one hundred dififerent patents
attest the frequency with which the road to
the patent otifice has been trodden by him.
HEDGE, L., Windsor, was an inventor
with rare traits of mental activity ; his mind
grasped the delicate details of machines of
precision with startling accuracy. His first
inventions are dated as early as 181 5, for a
spring pen ruler ; in 181 7, a revolving ruler ;
in 1825, a machine for ruling paper; in
1835, a carpenter's rule joint; followed by
the wonderful machines for the marking of
rules, so long employed by E. A. Stearns &:
Co., at Brattleboro, and later consolidated
with the Stanley Rule and Level Co., New
Britain, Conn. The machines made sixty
years ago have not been surpassed in accu-
racy in the marking of carpenters' measuring
rules.
J.ACKMAN, ALONZO, Northfield.—
Very soon after the successful inauguration
of the electric telegraph, scientists every-
where attempted to grapple with the prob-
lem of using this means to connect conti-
nents separated by water and thus bring the
world into closer communication. Proba-
bly the honor belongs to General Jackman
of offering the first successful solution of this
question.
His life was spent in the quiet retreat of
Norwich L'niversity ; he was a mathema-
tician of rare mental endowments and with-
out a superior ; whatever he did in this
matter was the legitimate result of his learn-
ing, opportunity and scientific investigation.
In 1842 he devised the scheme and dem-
onstrated its practicability by successful ex-
periments ; in 1843, while lecturing at the
Windsor .Academy, he was asked the ques-
tion : "How is telegraphic communication
carried on across large bodies of water?"
He immediately answered that it was done
by encasing the wires in India rubber. In
1846 Amos Kendall published an article
calling upon scientists to investigate the
problem, whereupon Professor Jackman im-
mediately wrote him revealing his plan a-nd
offered the same for publication to prominent
newspapers, who declined the same with
thanks as being visionary and foolish. The
Vermont Mercury, printed at Woodstock,
however, published his article on the 14th of
August, 1846 ; in this he proposed the use
of a wire or wires coated with rubber and
enclosed within a lead pipe ; in order to give
the necessary strength he proposed to wind
his cable with iron rings suitably connected
with wires passing through holes in the
bands and then he proposed to wind the
whole with yarn to keep the strengthening
material in place. It must be remembered
that at this time the use of gutta percha was
not known to the arts.
The manner of laying the cable was as
follows : " Now let two steamers sufficiently
large, each having seven hundred and fifty
tons of said pipe judiciously coiled in the
hold, accompany each other to a point half
way between Boston and Liverpool, then let
an artist splice the two halves of the appar-
atus together, wire to wire, rubber to rubber,
and pipe to pipe. Next let one ship head
toward Liverpool and the other toward Bos-
ton, and each put on steam and pay out pipe
according to the circumstances of the case."
The wide circulation of this article through-
out the world could not have failed to at-
tract the attention of many readers, for it is
precisely this plan that was adopted in 1857,
when the British and .American men-of-war
proceeded to mid-ocean, and, splicing the
cable, the Agamemnon started for the Irish
coast and the Niagara for Newfoundland, and
194
the dream of Jackman had been successfully
accomplished by the commercial enterprise
of Cyrus \\'. Field.
HOLTON, S., Middlebury.— Invented a
large number of intricate and interesting
things entering into the whole question of
the manufacture of cottons and woolens.
He was also a jeweler and made an ivory
watch, which is running to-day, and which
is a great curiosity and an invention of re-
markable ingenuity. He also invented a
watch with the chronometer escapement.
He also invented new devices in regard to
clocks, and made the Garfield clock that
was taken about the country for exhibition.
KEYES, Asa, Brattleboro.— Invented in
1850 the steam cutting machine for cutting
slate used at the slate quarry at Guilford, an
invention which at first bid fair to produce
important results, but with the closing of the
quarry, nothing further was done with it, al-
though lately it is being revised and intro-
duced in Pennsylvania.
MOREY, Samuel, Fairlee.— in the Life
of Robert Fulton, by Knox, it is related that
Samuel Morey, between 1790 and 1794,
made experiments on the Connecticut river
by propelling boats by steam. The facts
appear to be these : Gen. Israel Morey, of
Hebron, Conn., moved to Orford, N. H., in
1765, and to Fairlee, Vt., in 1772. He soon
after obtained a charter for a ferry between
the towns of F'airlee, Vt., and Orford, N. H.,
across the Connecticut river. He had five
sons and two daughters. The second son,
Capt. Samuel Morey, is without doubt en-
titled to the credit of having invented, built
and operated a steamboat at his father's
ferry, between Orford and Fairlee, in 1 790
to I 794, or more than fifteen years before
Fulton constructed the "Clermont" on the
Hudson river, and is the person alluded to
in the biography of Robert Fulton.
Rev. Cyrus Mann, of Orford, N. H., states
that he saw a steamboat made by Morey in
successful operation on the Connecticut river
at Fairlee, before 1793. He also states that
he built a larger boat that ran from Hartford
to the city of New York in i 794, where it was
seen by Chancellor Edward and Judge Li\-
ingston, and many others. He also affirms
that Morey exhibited the same to Fulton and
that there was correspondence between him
and Fulton. Morey built a model of his
steamboat and took it to New York and there
exhibited it, as he claimed to Fulton, Liv-
ingston and others, the model of which is now
in existence and in the possession of his
heirs.
The original engine in the boat which
Morey first operated across the ferry at Fair-
lee, he afterwards placed in a larger boat
which he constructed, called the "Aunt Sally,"
and took to Fairlee Pond (now Lake Morey),
and plied it there ; but being unsuccessful in
introducing it into commercial life, he be-
came discouraged and sunk the boat in Fair-
lee Pond.
Morey died in 1842 and down to the day
of his death he claimed that he gave the idea
to Fulton : that at one time there was a bar-
gain between them, and that, because of its
non-fulfillment, he felt that he was greatly
wronged, as well as having his invention
misappropriated. In regard to this charge
of ^Iorey's, Prof. R. H. Thurston, in his
Life of Fulton gives full credence to the
claims of Morey as to the invention of 1 790
and 1 793 at Fairlee, accepting the story of
\Villiam .\. Morey, as published in the Provi-
dence Journal in 1874.
Much of the correspondence between
Professor Silliman of New Haven and Morey,
and also of others, successfully established
the claims. Some of this correspondence is
in existence today. Knox, in his life of Ful-
ton, accepts the statement of Morey's bi-
ographer that he probably had a boat on the
Connecticut river at Fairlee between 1790
and I 793, but in regard to the charge that
he had exhibited the same to Fulton, it is
claimed that Fulton was in France at the
time the plans of the Clermont were made,
and could not have known of what was tran-
spiring in the New World with this Ver-
monter.
Howe, in his "Eminent Mechanics," also
accepts the statement that Morey did mature
and operate a stern-wheel steamboat at Fair-
lee, in 1793. This last author assigns to
Fulton the position, not of having been the
original inventor nor the perfecter, but as a
successful person, who so satisfied the law
of the state of New York as to receive its
prize ; and as the first to establish a regular
line of steamboats ; and by his genius and
perseverance so improved them as to lay a
solid foundation for those who came after
him.
This places the success of Fulton entirely
upon the commercial side of the enterprise,
and takes him out of the category of an in-
ventor, leaving the honor to others, which so
far as i790-'93 is concerned, the problem
had been completely solved and was in prac-
tical operation upon the waters of the Con-
necticut.
Samuel Morey, who invented the steam-
boat at Fairlee and Orford, was visited by
Chancellor Livingston. The patent for this
invention was issued to Morey and signed
by the President, George Washington. It is
singular in its phraseology ; it is a patent
for the securing of power by means of steam.
Morey, thinking if he could propel a wheel
by steam he might do so whenever and to
whatever it could be apjjHed.
NICHOLS, George W., Randolph.
— In 182-, while driving a team to Boston,
passing through Andover, N. H., had the
misfortune to break one of the runners of
his sled. The next day was stormy and he
conceived the idea of cutting off the other
runner to the same length as the broken
one, went into the woods and cut a short
sled-crook, which he put in place of the
broken runner, converted his sled into a
traverse, and continued his journey with the
other teams to Boston. He found on the
way that with the wooden shoes he could
get over the ground better than any other
team, could turn shorter by this means, and
could start his load when others failed, turn-
ing out and getting back into the road with
greater ease, and the next winter the teams
on that route changed their sleds to the
traverse system, setting their wagon bodies
on them.
This is one of the most interesting inven-
tions affecting the farming industry, truck-
ing interests, and a multitude of vehicles.
It is a good illustration of the native inge-
nuity, readiness of resource so characteristic
of a large class of our people who possess
the ability to overcome difficulties in an un-
usual degree.
PALMER, Frank M., Brattleboro.—
Among the remarkable things that have con-
duced to the economical conduct of busi-
ness and furtherance of social intercourse,
and have greatly promoted the convenience
of mankind, is the inxention of the postage-
stamp, emanating in Brattleboro about 1S45,
by the postmaster at Brattleboro, Mr. Pal-
mer, who invented and caused to be made
the first stamp for the prepayment of post-
age in the general conduct of postal affairs.
Thomas Chubbuck, then of this place, a
most skillful engraver, was the artist em-
ployed to make the design, and engraved the
same upon a block of wood. So valuable
have these become that at the time of writ-
ing this, one thousand dollars has been
known to have been paid for a single stamp.
PIKE, Samuel, Brattleboro.— During the
summer of 1861, when the war of the rebell-
ion was making such heavy demands upon
our army, inxented a portable cannon, to be
transported about the field by hand, which
could also be used upon a light gun carriage,
or upon the deck of a ship. In its best
form it has since been worked out in the
tripod class of small cannon, and in the
rapid-fire form of construction now being
introduced in the navv.
•95
Mr. I'ike was a gunsmith of rare talent.
He was consulted by Samuel Colt in regard
to the making for him of his revolver, and
offered, for the sum of four hundred dollars,
to construct the first revoher, agreeing to
make it in good style, perfect in operation,
and first-class in workmanship, one that
should serve as a model to be copied in sub-
sequent manufacture. Mr. Colt thought he
could get it done cheaper, but afterwards told
Mr. I'ike of his error in judgment.
PORTER, Frederick, Springfield.—
In 1820 Mr. Porter, while engaged in card-
covering by hand, invented a machine that
would make the holes in the leather, bend
the wire into proper shape, cut it off and in-
sert it into the leather, suitable for cards.
Work upon this in\'ention was carried on
under lock and key for many years, with the
help sworn to secrecy.
SMITH, D. M., Springfield, was one of
the brightest inventors that this state has
ever had. He was the inventor of the spring
clothespin in common use wherever w-ashing
is done.
The manufacture of hooks and eyes was
carried on at Springfield for many years by
the D. M. Smith Co., who used the machine
of Mr. Smith, which was a marvel of ingen-
uity, taking the wire from the reel, bending
it into both a hook and an eye, and some of
the machines went so far as to make the
swanbill hook and eye, which contained a
fastener, so that it could not be unhooked
excepting by a dexterous hand. The same
machine counted them, put them upon
cards, and boxed them ready for market,
although that part which related to the
putting of the hooks and eyes upon the
cards was done by one of the workmen,
named .^Ivin Mason. A single machine to
do this cost §20,000.
It is believed that Mr. Smith was the first
inventor of the typewriter. Parts of the
original machine are now preserved at
Springfield.
STEWART, P. P., Pawlet.-The inven-
tion of the modern cooking stove by P. P.
Stewart is an illustration of the fertility of re-
sources of men bred amid our hills and hav-
ing to contend with early difficulties. In
1832, while visiting a friend, he obser\ed
the needs of a stove in the room ; he imme-
diately made one, and it served so well that
an addition of an oven was suggested ; this
he made of sheet iron, which served the
family well for many years. He had been a
sort of industrial missionary to the Choctaw
tribe of Indians, and performed this work
after he left Pawlet and prior to his founding
of Oberlin College. He returned to Pawlet
196
WHEELER.
in 1S36. Having adopted a vegetable diet,
on account of ill-health, the cooking did not
suit him, being burned on one side and half
done on the other.
This is the way he soliloquized in regard to
it — twenty-eight years ago I had this story
from his own lips, it has been confirmed in
courts of law, and reproduced by his biogra-
pher, and shows the operations of a logical
mind while working out a problem. He was
then struggling for a new start in life. He
said his stove must be adapted to the wants
of a poor man, in order to cook his food well
and thoroughly and bake his bread on all
sides ; a single stick of wood as large as a
man's arm was to furnish the fire. He split
it into three small sticks, laid them side by
side, but spread out they would not burn ; he
held in his hand a paper and philosophized
thus : " If I turn up the sides of the sheet
bringing the wood so near together that they
touch, then they will burn, and the sides will
throw off heat enough to heat the oven, back
and front," so he cried Eureka and told his
wife of his invention. He made a sheet iron
box for an oven, and into this he suspended
his firebox. No such thing had ever before
been heard of and with the three sticks of
wood he performed the work necessary for
himself and wife, and upon the bed of coals
already made, a single stick sufficed for
ironing.
Thus simply, yet under great distress was
the modern cooking stove e\olved.
STRONG, Frank M., Vergennes. — a
workman in the Sampson scale works of that
city, made a special study of weighing ma-
chines with a view of overcoming the wear
upon the pivots and bearings. It has been
stated that while engaged in this study,
holding a grapeshot in his hand, it slipped
and rolled upon the floor, striking the wall and
rebounding ; this suggested the novel idea
which he afterward incorporated in the scale.
He said, " If I could put the platform of a
scale upon balls like that, whenever any
weight struck it rudely, I could arrange the
platform so as to have the surrounding frame
receive the shock, and thereby increase the
life of the scale." By allowing the platform
to move readily and quickly, all the \ital
parts of the scale are thoroughly protected.
WARDWELL, GEORGE J., Rutland.—
The marble quarries of Vermont were orig-
inally worked entirely by hand, the blocks
being cut much as they now are, except that
they were of less thickness, a large force of
men being employed for that purpose at
West Rutland, where the main quarries were
developed.
To Mr. William ¥. Barnes of West Rut-
land is attributed the discovery and working
of these quarries, which was done for many
years in a small way, even before the intro-
duction of railroads, the marble being then
hauled by teams to Lake Champlain to be
shipped to more distant markets by water.
The great expense of cutting by hand, with
other troubles which frequently occurred,
induced the owners of the quarries, and
more especially Mr. George J. \\'ardwell, to
invent a machine to do the work of channel-
ling, which machine is still extant and in use,
and which has proved very valuable in in-
creasing the output of marble as well as in
reducing the cost of its production, one ma-
chine doing the work of many men.
In these machines the drills are combined
in gangs consisting of several drills operated
by machinery, cutting channels to a greater
depth and much faster than was possible by
the old process. The same power that op-
erates the drills also propels the machine
along the channels as they are cut.
These machines have, since their introduc-
tion and use at West Rutland in the quarries
there, been extensively used in other marble
quarries of the state, and are now in use in
many sections of the country in quarrying
other varieties of stone. [A biographical
sketch and portrait of Mr. Wardwell will be
found in Part II, page 419.]
WHEELER, Franklin, Brattleboro.—
Mr. ^Vheeler came to Brattleboro about
1820 to work for Hezekiah Salisbury, mak-
ing window springs. One Sunday while
wandering in the woods of West Brattleboro
he stumbled and fell, hurting his crippled
leg so that he thought best to rest before get-
ting up. \N'hile lying on the ground, he
noticed some of the stones under him
covered with moss ; by his stumbling and
fall he had knocked off some of this moss,
and he noticed shining yellow spots upon
the stones ; he dug out a quantity of the
shining metal with his knife, resolving to try
it in a crucible to see what it was. He shut
himself up in the shop, melted the ore in a
crucible, and it came out pure, shining, yel-
low metal. ^Vith some of it he plated the
heads of the window springs and showed
them to his uncle Salisbury, who said it was
gold ; it was sent to Boston and there pro-
nounced gold. It is not known of any
earlier gold plating having been done in
Vermont.
While Wheeler was making window springs
at Brattleboro he invented a breech-loading,
six-shooting, revolving pistol, in 1S21, which
was perfect in all its parts and for many
years was in constant use. This antedates
Colt by about fourteen years.
QUEER CHARACTERS.
BV HIRAM A. HUSE.
There is hardly a town in N'ermont that has not its tradition of one or more queer
specimens of hmnanity who left a name of curious fame among those who dwelt near his
local habitation. These people — odd in different ways and in all degrees — whose name is
legion cannot be individually described unless one should take up the writing of many
books of which there is no end.
Moreover, they run all the way from the class whose eccentricities are tacked to strong
and forceful natures and form but little part of the real man, to the one that includes those
whose oddities are about all there is to them.
Within these wide limits we find many nationalities represented and more than one
race. Joe and Molly — the Indians w-hose memory is perpetuated by the ponds that bear
their name — perhaps would rightly head the list — not in degree of strange conduct but in
order of time ; and many a man whose name rightfully appears in far other kinds of record
would in certain phases belong in the long list.
The strong man it is said sooner or later always finds a stronger man than he, and the
one who has killed his sixty-eight bears can if he seeks find another who has killed one hun-
dred and twenty-three. And no doubt a large contingent of the noble army of native odd
men could be recruited from the hunters and fishermen who ha\e lived as well as from those
who now live in the state.
Each profession has its contribution ; business, the trades, the farms — all give numbers
to the ranks of those who are called "odd."
One who is interested in this phase of human life will find his taste gratified by many
true "brief mentions" in Hemenway's Gazetteer, and, as Blackstone has it, not to speak
ridiculously, even in the proceedings of the Vermont Bar Association, where are recorded
divers and sundry doings and sayings of odd sticks in the profession, as well as those of the
wise and learned.
But, after all, the best written history in this line is not dressed up as history at all, but
comes to us in the guise of fiction. The " Yankee " is pretty much alike in the six states of
his nativity and with more or less degree of fidelity has been painted in many a novel and
story. Of the authors who have done this work, D. P. Thompson was a pioneer, and his
Yankee was the Vermont Yankee. Thompson did not go into analysis of mode of thought
or attempt photographic accuracy in giving the dialect, but his Vermont Yankees will never
be turned out of doors by one who knows the genuine article. At this day Rowland Rob-
inson is introducing to a wide reading public types of the queer folks in Vermont — up to
date. Nothing better — closer to the fact — has e\er been done in book-making than his
Vermont Yankee and French Canadian in " Uncle ' Lisha's ' Shop," and in " Sam Lovell's
Camps" — from the opening chorus of the former, the deestric' school meetin' to the end of
the books. ^Vhen Thomas W. Wood paints a Yankee, the real Yankee looks at you from the
canvas — you have seen him, you know him ; when Robinson paints in words what \\'ood
does in colors, you see and hear Uncle 'Lisha and Sam and all the others who have lived
and moved and had their being under other names right here in Vermont. So that one
who wants to know Vermont types can do no better than read Thompson for the old and
Robinson for the later — if a man has read them once he will read them again and if any
Vermonter hasn't read both of them it is high time that he did. The odd characters have
their fair representation in these books — their types there given are well worth study and
life is too short for writer or reader to deal with the host of oddities who have made \er-
niont their home.
If one were to begin, say with Heman W. \\". Miller, where would he end? Miller, who
was a quondam t/i/asi lawyer, school teacher, orator, what not, with a big voice and flow of
words to keep it going — early abolitionist, with genuine belief in the cause and zeal, he it
was who, after the killing of Lovejoy by the pro-slavery mob in Alton, said in an anti-
slavery speech up in Orleans county : "Fellow-citizens, future ages will erect to him a
monument which shall have for its base eternal space, and from whose top you can behold
the throne of Almighty God."
There is, however, a quartette of natives of this slate that ought to be mentioned bv
name and have some brief account of them here given. Had they spent their lives in \'er-
mont those of us who remain within her borders would be modestly reticent about them,
but it would be hardly just to the Sons of Vermont not to lift the bushel for a moment and
give a glimpse of these four shining lights.
JOSEPH Smith.— When Dr. Denison of
Royalton was called one winter night near
ninety years ago to attend Mrs. Joseph
Smith, it never entered his head that he
was to aid in the advent of a prophet, and
it is not at all probable that the good doctor
would have admitted, had he lived to this
day, the prophetic character of the child
born that night of his patient. But thous-
ands in other lands as well as this have done
so, and the Mormon Church and communi-
ties bear witness to the power exerted by the
strange man, who came to be known as the
Mormon Prophet. And however much this
man Smith's "revelation" as to spiritual
wives may have paved the way, it should be
remembered that polygamy was established
under the domination of Brigham Young,
whose authority and doctrine were disputed
by the surviving members of Smith's family.
Joseph Smith, son of Joseph and Lucy
(Mack) Smith was born in Sharon, Dec. 23,
1805. The family was poor, but it is said
that the mother, Lucy, was a woman of
some peculiarities, and had herself a sort of
"prophetic soul" as to some great things her
sons were to do in the world. When Joseph
was ten his parents moved to Palmyra, N.
v., and four years later to Manchester, N.
v., near Palmyra. In 1820, a year when
four of his father's family joined the Presby-
terian church, Joseph took to the woods to
pray and claimed to have there had a vision,
the telling of which excited only ridicule.
Smith obtained the plates soon after at-
taining his majority, and told his later
visions, which were treated with the same
ridicule that greeted the story of his vision
in the woods. He thereupon went to where
the family of his wife lived in Pennsylvania,
and began copying the characters that were
on the plates. These characters, bv the
way, are said to have been a " composite "
made from several alphabetical forms. Smith
claimed that he was enabled to understand
them by the aid of a pair of magic spec-
tacles, to which he gave the name of " L'rim
and Thummim." He dictated his transla-
tion from behind a curtain, the first of it to
one Martin Harris, and the rest to one Mar-
tin Cowdery. May 15, 1829, Smith again
went into the woods, this time taking Cow-
dery with him, and there they professed to
have been in receipt of an address from
John the Baptist, and that he conferred the
priesthood of Aaron and the spirit of pro-
phecy upon Smith.
He claimed to have had another \ision
Sept. 23, 1S23, and that at this time the
angel Maroni or Moroni (the orthography
of the family name of this angel is a little
uncertain) visited him and told him of a
book written on golden plates that contained
the history of former inhabitants and "the
fulness of the everlasting gospel." The an-
gel also told him where these plates were de-
posited, and Joseph went to the place de-
scribed and saw the plates, but was not able
to take them away, afterward learning from
the angel that his inability to remo\e them
arose from the fact that he prized the plates
more than what was inscribed thereon, and
that he could not hope to get into possession
of them until he was willing to devote him-
self to their translation.
In 1S30 the Book of Mormon (the trans-
lation, by aid of the magic spectacles, of the
matter on the plates of gold) was published
at Palmyra by Egbert B. Grandin. It is
said that its basis was a story written by one
Solomon Spaulding, entitled "The Manu-
script Found." On the 6th of .^pril, 1830,
the Mormon Church was organized by
"saints "at the house of Peter Whitmer in
Fayette, N. Y., and on the next Sunday at
U'hitmer's house Oliver Cowdery preached
199
the first sermon and several were baptized.
In June, t<S3o, the church held its first con-
ference, and had a membership of about
thirty persons. Smith at this gathering
claimed supernatural power, and his first
" miracle " was casting the devil out of
Newell Knight of Colesville, N. V. The
" Prophet " at this time, with his Book of
Mormon promulgated, and, church started,
was only twenty-four years old and soon did
a good business, for a young fellow with his
opportunities, in drawing people to his new
doctrines.
The " Holy Rollers," who infested Hard-
wick and vicinity more than half a century
ago, and were preached against by Rev.
Chester Wright, were not more zealous in
season and out of season than Smith and his
lieutenants, and had none of the executive
ability and constructive skill of the latter.
His following increased, and he announced
that Kirkland, Ohio, was the promised land,
and early in 1831 the new "church" settled
there and at once sent out missionaries.
That summer Missouri also was announced
as promised land, and Smith located a Z ion,
as lie called it, out there, afterwards return-
ing to Kirkland, and getting tarred and
feathered at Hiram, Ohio. His partner in
this affliction was Sidney Rigdon, a Pennsyl-
vanian a dozen or more years older than
Smith, who tried to succeed Smith after the
Litter's death, but was outgeneraled by Brig-
ham Young, and who, notwithstanding, ad-
hered to the Mormon faith till his death in
Friendship, N. Y., in 1876.
The Mormons adopted May 3, 1834, the
name of "The Church of Jesus Christ of Lat-
ter Day Saints," in February, 1835, organ-
ized their twelve Apostles, and dedicated
the first Mormon temple March 27, 1836, at
Kirkland. A couple of years later there
were disagreements and the prophet was
accused of having stirred up some of his fol-
lowers to take the life of Grandison Newell,
who opposed him ; on this charge he was ar-
rested but was discharged. In 1838 he got
away from Kirkland and went to F"ar West,
Mo., where for a year conflicts raged between
his followers and hostile missionaries. The
militia were called out. Smith lodged in jail
and indicted for all manner of crimes. He
escaped from jail and in .April, 1839, with
most of his fleeing brethren, settled in Illi-
nois and founded the city of Nauvoo. In
1840 he obtained a charter for this city of
Saints — soon organized the Nauvoo Legion,
a military body of 1,500 men, erected and
dedicated a new temple and extended his
missionary work by sending preachers across
the ocean.
In 1842, he was at the height of his power,
but the next year his "revelation" to take
spiritual wives made a break in the church.
and was the cause of his death. All through
his career his enemies had made life mis-
erable for him, if being arrested forty or
fifty times was enough to do it ; and now
two Mormons, Foster and Law, angered by
his new revelation and its effect on their
domestic affairs, founded a newspaper to at-
tack him. 'I'he first number of their paper
had the affidavits of a number of women
who charged Smith and Rigdon with im-
moral conduct. The prophet appears to
have been a prohibitionist in his way, for he
had the council adjudge the pajier a nui-
sance and order it abated, and his friends
attacked the office, smashed the press and
burned the paper and furniture.
Foster and Law escaped to Carthage, made
complaint on which warrants were issued
for the arrest of Smith and a score of his
followers ; the officer who went to serve the
warrants was driven out of Nauvoo by the
city marshal. The militia were called out
and the Mormons ga\'e up the arms they
held belonging to the state.
Joseph and his brother Hyrum were ar-
rested for treason and taken to Carthage
where the Governor of Illinois visited them
in jail and promised to protect them from
the mob. He did place a guard at the jail,
but June 27, 1844, a mob consisting of more
than a hundred disguised men attacked it,
rushed in, and at their first volley killed
Hyrum. Joseph next fell dead, pierced by
four bullets. So closed, at the age of thirty-
eight, the life of this remarkable specimen of
human kind. Whether he was an enthusiast
partially self-deceived or whether he was
a conscious fraud each can determine for
himself.
His wife refused to acknowledge the lead-
ership of Brigham Young as her husband's
successor and remained at Nauvoo when the
exodus of the Mormons under Young took
them to Utah. His son, Joseph, who was
born at Kirkland Nov. 6, 1832, remained
with his mother and after attaining manhood
formed the "re-organized" Mormon Church,
which professedly in accordance with the
teaching of "the prophet" and the Book of
Mormon is antagonistic to polygamy.
Brigham Young.— The man who suc-
ceeded Smith as prophet and leader was also
a native of Yermont. Brigham Young was
born in Whitingham, June 1, 1801, and when
he was three years old his folks mo\ed to
Sherburne, N. Y., and there Brigham re-
mained till sixteen, his educational advan-
tages consisting in attendance on school to
average one day a year. He then went to
work in Mendon, N. Y., and was there a
carpenter and joiner, painter and glazier.
Young came to know of the Book of Mor-
mon the year of its publication, and in 183 1
he was converted to its doctrines under the
preaching of Samuel H. Smith, one of the
modern Joseph's brethren. April 14, 1832,
he was baptized, and in the fall of that year
went to Kirkland, where he became a fast
friend of Smith, was soon ordained an elder,
and, Feb. 14, 1835, was chosen one of the
twelve Mormon Apostles. Till the dedica-
tion of the Kirkland temple in 1836 Young
occupied himself in its building, for which
his trade fitted him, and in the study of
Hebrew. The year after the dedication,
when David Whitmer tried to supplant Smith,
Young was very active and successful in
keeping the Mormons faithful to Smith.
He went to Far West, Mo., in 1837, but
got into trouble with Governor Boggs of that
state, who ordered him to leave, upon which
Young went into Illinois. In 1839 Young
and Kimball went to England to spread the
new faith and remained there two years. On
his return he was- one of the founders of
Nauvoo.
When Joseph and Hyrum Smith were shot
in 1844 Young was in New Hampshire, but
at once set out for Nauvoo, and in .\ugust
defeated Rigdon for the leadership of the
church. The body of believers in the fall
were eager to leave Nauvoo, and Illinois
soon took its charter away and the Mormons
were assailed with great enmity. Many were
plundered and had their houses burned ;
some were whipped and some killed.
Young proclaimed his intention to have
them find a home in the wilderness and to
start to seek it in 1846. In February and
March, 1846, they started, and their proces-
sion of several hundred wagons went west-
ward. In June they were called on to fur-
nish 500 men for the Mexican war, and
Young had the Mormon battalion filled in
three days. From July to April, 1847, they
remained with the Pottawattamie Indians
who gave them kind treatment. April 7,
Young and 142 followers went as an advance
guard to select a suitable place for the new
city of the Saints, and July 24, 1847, he en-
tered Salt Lake valley, choosing this as the
place for their future home ; he returned in
the fall to the main body. He had been
chosen to succeed Smith as prophet, and
was now, selected as president by the twelve
apostles.
May 26, 1848, Young with his family and
two thousand Mormons started across the
plains and reached Salt Lake City, Sept. 20,
1848. A provisional government for the new
state of Deseret was organized and Young
elected its Governor in 1849. The territory
of LJtah was established by the national gov-
ernment. Young was appointed by the
President its Governor and took the oath of
office Feb. 3, 185 1. Thus these strange
people found a place to grow undisturbed,
and the government machinery was in the
hands of their ablest man. .
August 29, 1852, Young openly announced t
polygamy as to be a part of the doctrine and '
practice of the church. Isolated as his peo-
ple were and powerful as they were be-
coming, he threw away all disguise in this
matter, and claimed that his action was based
on a revelation to Smith before his tragic
death. But in Smith's behalf it may be urged
that the Book of Mormon forbids polygamy
and Smith's wife and his four children stren-
uously denied ever having heard of any such
revelation.
The extraordinary character of these events
has not escaped the notice of writers of
drama and fiction, as well as moralists and
legislators. Bayard Taylor felt moved to
dramatize some of their features, and A.
Conan Doyle has Young as one of his charac-
ters in "A Study in Scarlet." Doyle puts a
sentence into the mouth of one of his Mor-
mons that shows well the blind faith in
which they obeyed this unique and powerful
personality : " Brigham Young has said it,
and he has spoken with the voice of Joseph
Smith, which is the voice of God."
The doings of the Danites, or Avengers of
Blood, the troubles that led to the military
expedition of thirty odd years ago, the efforts
of Young to strengthen and of moralists to
weaken his pet twin relic — all these belong
to history rather than to a brief biographical
notice. At any rate, Vermonters have the
satisfaction of knowing that it is " the Ed-
munds law " that of late has done much to
do away with the evils of polygamy.
Brigham Young died at Salt Lake City,
August 29, 1877. He had seventeen wives
and left forty-four children living.
Heber Chase Kimball.— This man was
in 1847, when Young was elected president
by the twelve apostles, chosen as one of the
two counsellors to act with Young. Kimball
was born in Sheldon, June 14, 1801. Some
ha\e said that Kimball was from the vicinity
of Strafford as well as that Smith's people at
one time lived in Tunbridge, but the ac-
cepted authorities relieve Orange county
from responsibility for these two men.
Heber had a common school education and
as he grew up worked in his father's black-
smith shop in West Bloomfield, N. Y. He
then learned the potter's trade and worked
ten years in Mendon, N. Y. April 15, 1832,
he was baptized and thenceforward was a
zealous Mormon, becoming one of the twelve
apostles in 1835.
He was in 1838 taken prisoner by the
militia and released. The next year he went
with Young on a missionary tour to Eng-
land, where they spent two years. Kimball
was of those who left Nauvoo in February,
1846, and one of the pioneers wlio first en- establishment of tlie widely celebrated
camped at Salt Lake City in July, 1847. He Oneida Community. For some years the
died tiiere, June 22, iSOS. community was apparently successful with
its "Unity House" and farming and manu-
JOHN Humphrey NOYES.— Altogether facturing enterprises that represented half a
a different type of man from any of the trio million dollars in value,
noteil above, |ohn H. Noyes established a 'J'he public would not have concerned
community thai was for a time a close second itself about his affairs as long as they exem-
to the Mormons in notoriety. He was born plified a community of property only, but
in Hrattleboro, Sept. 6, 181 1, graduated at the complex marriage system savored too
Dartmouth College in 1830, studied law for '""'^h of a community of person and the
a time, then pursued a theological course at Oneida concern had to abandon its complex
.\ndo\er and Vale seminaries and was marriage business, and thereupon it soon
licensed to preached in 1833. The next '^^"^ out of business generally and taded
year he experienced a new conversion and fom the knowledge of men. It had in ,874
; , , r -ii, II u J two hundred and thirty-nve members and a
began to ijreach a new laith. He had some 1 • 1 1 1 ^ , ,,. ,i- <• , ^. , ,
, " ' , , , , , , kindred plant at VVallinsford, Conn., hafl
theory ot a dual body and complex mar- f^^^^, members
riage, and ran a small community for some ^oyes died' at Niagara Falls, Canada,
years before making what was his most April 13, i860. The public condemned his
famous \ enture. The thing by which he be- institution and its results, but allowed him
came known all over the country was the credit for good motives.
Since the foregoing was written a new theory as to the origin of Mormonism has been
told me. It will be remembered that Gen. John W. Phelps was not only a radical anti-
slavery man, but a zealous anti-Mason. Years before he got into trouble with Secretary
Stanton, because of his haste to kill slavery during the rebellion, he had been stationed at
Salt Lake City. A Brattleboro neighbor, talking about his experience there, asked him what
he thought of Mormonism, and the general replied : "The whole miseraijle thing had its
rise in Masonry." They used to lay many things to Van Buren — in respect of which Parson
Tilton Eastman once said, when asked whether he was going to plant his potatoes in the
new, full, or old moon, " I think FU plant 'em when I get ready, and if I don't get a good
crop I'll lay it to Van Buren."
Van Buren is gone, and " The Total Depravity of Inanimate Things" cannot explain
everything, and a table of errata is an abomination. I acknowledge the irrepressible tend-
ency of the comma to insert itself where it never was written, and contemplate with
ecjuanimity its unexpected appearance in all sorts of places, as where, on page 197, already
printed and beyond recall, it implies that Blackstone said something about the Vermont Bar
Association or some of its proceedings, or wherever it does a/ta enormia. But when in the
account of Joseph Smith, on page 198, the fourth paragraph is made to precede the third,
I do wish the reader, kind or otherwise, may discover the transposition or lay the present
arrangement of the plates to Van Buren or some other deceased person — or even to the
Masons, which will let me out of all but a proportionate share of blame.
L'ntil "hostile missionaries" appeared suddenly, as from ambush, on page 199, the
interconvertibility of Missourians and missionaries was wholly unsuspected.
It would take more than all this to worry any of the queer characters, but what may be
permitted in a lively theme may not in one severe. So any one whose eye this may catch
is asked to note that the sketch of Judge Beardsley on page 184 should follow that of Judge
Peck on page 185, and that the names of the first and sixth assistant judges on pages 188
and 189 should be Russell S. Taft and Laforrest H. Thompson.
Judge Beardsley's name is left out of the list of Judges at the head of the article on
them, as is that of Senator Proctor from the list of Senators heading sketches of them.
'I'hat is all well enough, as far as it goes, for it would have been ridiculous to attempt to put
up the Senator in nonpariel — and in fact nonpareil and the users of it ought to be abated as
nuisances anyway.
Outside of matters that go to the form only and not to the substance there must be in
any book purporting to give facts about many persons, errors of substance unless there be
revision upon revision and verification upon verification. Take, to illustrate, the case of
I'^than Allen — there are, considering time and place, four differing statements as to his
birth. i\Ir. Da\en])ort gives the date as Jan. 10, 1737. Were I giving it I would follow
Allen's statement in his own hand-wTiting in a presentation copy to his second wife of his
Oracles of Reason, which is that he was born Jan. 21, 1739. The difference as to the day
of the month is because of the use in one case of old style and in the other of new style.
But style cannot explain the two years' difference ; and I am not sure Mr. I )avenport's
statement is wrong or that mine would be right.
PART II.
I
BIOGRAPHIES OF VERMONTERS.
A. D. 1892-93.
ADAMS, Bailey F., of Randolph, son
of Luther and Lydia (Reed) Adams, was born
in Brookfield, April 11, 1825.
He received his education in the common
schools of Brookfield and W'illiamstovvn and
at Newbury Academy.
His grandfather, Samuel Adams, was a rela-
ti\e and namesake of the famous Massachu-
setts patriot and served seven years in the
Continental army. His maternal grandfather,
Jonathan Reed, was also a Revolutionary sol-
dier and carried on his breast a scar from a
British bayonet.
jttM^^
BAILEY F. ADAMS.
Mr. .-Vdams remained on his father's farm
at Brookfield and Williamstown until 1851,
when he moved to the farm where he now
resides, devoting his attention to dairy pro-
ducts and horse breeding, and owning a fine
herd of Jerseys.
Mr. Adams is a Republican in politics ;
was selectman for five consecutive years from
1862, and with his associates during that
period paid out of the town treasury over
S6o,ooo to the soldiers, together with the
money compensation offered by the govern-
ment to selectmen for recruiting services.
Mr. Adams has been town auditor for seven-
teen consecutive years ; lister, fourteen years ;
has represented his town repeatedly at county
and state conventions ; was member for Ran-
dolph in the Legislature of 1874; elected
assistant judge of Orange county court
i888-'90 ; has been one of the trustees of the
Normal School at Randolph since its estab-
lishment and also the trustee of' its endow-
ment fund.
He was married May i, 1855, to Lucinda
S., daughter of Rev. Andes T. and Lydia
( Lincoln) Bullard. Of this union four chil-
dren were born : Jairus B., Clinton A., Al-
bert C. (deceased), and Julius L. (deceased).
ADAMS, Edward Payson, of Swan-
ton, son of Lemuel and Sally (Smalley). Adams,
was born in Sheldon, March 16, 1843.
His early education was obtained at the
district school and a course of study at Barre
.Academy.
Till he arri\ed at the age of thirty-nine,
Mr. .Adams remained upon the farm in Shel-
don which had been in the possession of both
his father and grandfather. In 1881 he
changed his place of residence and removed
to Swanton, where he became a heavy dealer
in butter. For the last twenty-five years he
has been engaged in this occupation.
\\'hen the Swanton Suspender Co. was or-
ganized in 1885, he was chosen its president,
discharging the duties of that office with gen-
eral acceptability. During his business ca-
reer he has traveled extensively in the United
States.
Mr. .Adams espoused, Sept. 7, 1868, Helen
.A., daughter of Noah and Abigail (Yale)
Best of Highgate. Four children are the
issue of this marriage : Mary A., Helen B.,
Lemuel P., and John.
While residing in Sheldon, Mr. .Adams
took a leading part in the affairs of the
town, and was the incumbent of many local
offices.
He was elected county commissioner four
successi\e terms and was appointed railroad
commissioner during the administration of
Governor Peck. Upon the incorporation of
Swanton Milage in 1882 he was elected its
president, continuing in ofifice two vears.
He has been vice-president of the Swanton
he worked with his father on the farm and at
the trade of boot and shoe-making during
his minority, enjoying only such opportuni-
ties for an education as were supplied by the
imperfect public school of that time and
place.
Soon after attaining his majority he mar-
ried and setded in Fair Haven, where he
established and carried on for nearly twenty
years a large manufactory of ladies' shoes for
the wholesale trade. His goods had a wide
reputation, and were much sought for over a
large extent of the countrv.
He sold out in 1843 'in^l remoxed to Ra-
cine, ^^'is., but returning to Fair Haven, he
began, in the spring of 1845, in conjunction
with Alonson Allen and William C. Kittredge,
the building of a mill and the sawing of Rut-
land marble, in Fair Haven. For a number
of years he had the principal charge and
management of the business and continued
his connection with it more or less acti\ ely
during the rest of his life. He is jiroperly
considered one of the pioneers of the great
marble industry of the state.
He was always public-spirited and enter-
prising, leading in works of public impro\e-
National Bank, and in 1890 was honored by
an election to the upper branch of the Legis-
lature in which he served with great efficiency.
He united with the Congregational church
in 1864, and for sixteen years performed the
duties of Sunday-school superintendent. He
has long been a Free Mason and w^hen Mis-
sisquoi Lodge Xo. 38, L O. O. F. was organ-
ized he was unanimously elected its first
Noble Grand. In this organization he at
present holds the position of grand treas-
urer of the Grand Lodge of Vermont.
Mr. .Adams, from his genial disposition
and unaffected manner, is very popular in his
section of the state, while his wide experience
of men and affairs renders him both an enter-
taining companion and sage counselor.
AD.-\MS, Joseph, late of Fair Haven,
the youngest of the seven children of John
and Mary Ann (Morrison) Adams, was born
in Londonderry (now Derry), N. H., Feb. i,
1802. Of pure Scotch parentage, he re-
tained in a marked degree the characteristics
of his nationality.
Having removed with his parents in the
autumn of i8c6 to East Whitehall, N. Y.,
ment and pnilanthropy. He was^ a trial
justice of the peace for many years ; was
president of the Washingtonian Temperance
Society organized in Fair Haven in 1841 :
was chairman of the Park Association in 1 855-
'56, and contributed largely to the establish-
nient of the park. He was one of the huilding
committee of the original school and town
house. He assisted in raising the bounties
for soldiers during the war. He frequently
advocated the introduction of public water
works. He was the original mover in the
establishment of the First National IJank ;
was one of the first and largest stockholders,
one of the first board of directors, and be-
came its presitlent in 1873, holding the office
until his death.
He represented the town in the Legisla-
tures of i854-'5S, and was an active member.
He was fearless and indejsendent in poli-
tics and religion. He early espoused the
cause of the slave, and was one of the first
subscribers and readers of the National Kra,
an anti-sla\ery journal edited by John G.
^Vhittier at Washington in i846-'48, when
slaves were bought and sold at public auc-
tion in the capital of the nation. Though
lacking early educational advantages, he was
not an uneducated man. With an active
mind, and a genius for philosophy and me-
chanics, he made himself acquainted with
letters and knew what was in many of the
best books ; was well informed in history, in
constitutional and international law, in poli-
tics, theology, mechanics and science. Of
his own thought he reached conclusions sus-
tained by later scholarship and criticism.
He was a lover and judge of music and no
unapt performer on the violin.
Writing at the time of his death, Feb. 26,
1878, a friend said of him : "For more than
half a century he has been closely identified
with the business interests of Fair Haven
and has been one of its most respected citi-
zens. In all the relations of life he was re-
garded as a strictly honest man. In business
he was remarkable for his energy and tenac-
itv of puri-wse, working out success where
most men would have given up in despair.
In religion he was liberal, in politics a
Republican, and he was always a warm
friend of temperance in all things. Although
economical in his style of living, he was ever
a friend of the poor — generous and kind-
hearted. The people of Fair Haven will
long have occasion to cherish the memory
of Mr. Adams as a citizen thoroughly identi-
fied with the interests of the town and vil-
lage, warmly favoring all practical public
improvements, advocating good schools and
all moral reforms."
Mr. Adams was married Nov. 6, 1823, to
Stella Miller, daughter of Capt. William Mil-
ler of Hampton, N. Y., and sister of Rev.
William Miller. Of this union were eight
children, only two of whom lived to mature
age : Andrew N. (see below), and Helen M.,
who married Dadd B. Colton in 1852.
AUAMS, ANDRKW N., of Fair Haven,
son of Josejih and Stella (Miller) .\dams, was
born in I'"air Haven, Jan. 6, 1830.
His great-great-grandfather, James .\dams,
came from Ulster, north of Ireland, to .Amer-
ica in 1 72 1, and settled in Londonderry, N.H.
Mr. Adams • prepared for college at the
Oreen Mountain Institute, South Woodstock,
in iS47-'48; spent two years in the Mead-
\ ille Theological School, Meadville, Pa. ; en-
tered the divinity school department of Har-
\ard Uni\ersity, Cambridge, Mass., in 1852,
and graduating in 1S55 was ordained to the
ministry and settled as pastor of the First
Parish Church, Needham, Mass. ; resigned
and removed to Franklin, Mass., in the fall of
1857, serving as pastor of the newly organ-
ANOREW N.
ized First L'niversalist Church in that place
till the summer of i860, when he resigned
and returned to Vermont.
Retiring from the ministry he engaged in
mercantile business in Fair Haven in the
spring of 1861, and has retained his connec-
tion with the same, in association with others
since 1S69, till the present time.
In company with his father Mr. .Adams
engaged in manufacturing marble for the
wholesale trade in 1869, and, with some
changes, continues to hold connection with
the business at Belden Falls.
He has a large farm near the village to
which he gives personal supervision ; is a di-
rector in the First National Bank of Fair Ha-
ven ; has been justice of the jseace ; treasurer
ALEXANDER.
of the town and \ illage ; was instrumental in
establisliing and organizing the graded school
of Fair Haven in 1874 ; has been many years
a member of the school board ; principal di-
rector and manager in the organization and
conduct of the Fair Ha^•en Public Library ; a
contributing member and officer of the Rut-
land County Historical Society from the be-
ginning ; trustee of the State Normal School
at Castleton since 1869, and president of the
board since 1882 ; was chairman of the Rut-
land County Board of Education during its
existence in i889-'9o, arranging the contracts
for the purchase and sale of text books
through the county. Mr. Adams prepared
and published the history of the town of Fair
Haven in 1870, is the author of numerous
essays and addresses which have been pub-
lished, and has now in course of preparation
an extensive genealogy of the Adams family.
He has been active in politics as Aboli-
tionist, Free Soiler and Republican, repre-
senting F'air Haven in the Legislature of 1S84,
and his county as senator in 1888.
Mr. .'\dams married in Orwell, Aug. i,
1855, Angle, daughter of Erastusand Marga-
ret(Hibbard) Phelps, of Orwell, and has four
daughters: Alice A. (Mrs. Horace B. Ellis
of Castleton), Ada M. (Mrs. John T. Powell
of Fair Haven, died ^Lay 21, 1893 ), Annie E.
(Mrs. George B. Jermyn of Scranton, Pa.),
and Stella Miller.
ALBEE, JOHN Mead, of (Jallups Mills,
son of John 0. and Sarah S. (Blake) Albee,
was born Jan. 14, 1S54, in Derby.
He was eilucated in the public schools of
Holland and Island Pond, and engaged in
business as a lumber manufacturer at the
latter place and at Whitefield, N. H., tmtil
1882, when he moved to Granby, and was
employed by the firm of Buck & ^^"ilcox.
His business capacity soon brought him pro-
motion, and for several years past he has
filled the position of foreman of the exten-
sive works of C. H. Stevens and the North-
ern Lumber Co.
Mr. .Mbee is a member of the Independ-
ent Order of Odd Fellows. Politically he
has been a worker in the ranks of the Re-
publican party. He has been selectman and
represented the town of Granby in the Leg-
islature of 1888.
Mr. Albee was married Oct. 31, 1876, to
Alivia, daughter of John and Nancy Web-
ster. Their children are ; .\ustin G., Bertha
M., and Myra G.
ALEXANDER, JOHN P., of Saxtons
River, son of Willard H. and Eunice (Scott)
Alexander, was born Feb. 21, 1838, in Ches-
terfield, N. H.
W.
JOHN MEAD ALBEE.
JOHN F. ALEXANDER.
After jiassing the common schools of his
nati\e town, he entered the high school at
Brattleboro.
In 1853, as an apprentice, he entered the
employ of Gates & White, cabinet makers,
Brattleboro, and remained with the firm three
years. Removing to Bellows Falls in 1856
he served in the dry goods store of Gray &
Perrv. l-"iiuling the business congenial lie
bought Mr. I'erry's interest in it, conducted
suicessfiilly his department, and at the end of
two years sold his share in the store to engage
with S. I'erry & Co. in the manufacture of
woolen goods at Cambridgeport, residing at
.Saxtons River. In 1866 Mr. Alexander sold
iiis interest in the firm of S. Perry & Co.,
buving out that of Theophilus Hoit in the
Farnsworth & Hoit woolen mills at Saxtons
Ri\er. Mr. Farnsworth lately selling his in-
terest, the firm is now known as Alexander,
.Smith & Co.
I'olitically Mr. Alexander is a Reiniblican,
and in 1886 he represented the town of Rock-
ingham in the Legislature.
Mr. Alexander is a prominent and widely
known member in the order of F. & A. M.,
a member of King Solomon Lodge and
Abenaqui Royal Arch Chapter, Bellows Falls,
and of the council and encampment at
\\'indsor.
Mr. Alexander was married Oct. 31, i860,
to Mary S., daughter of George and Hannah
(Chandler) Perry, of Saxtons River. Of this
union were four children : John F., Jr.,
Charlotte M.,(wife of Dr. H. G. Anderson,
of New York), Anna E., and George P.
ALLEN, Charles Edwin, of Burling-
ton, son of Joseph Dana and Eliza R. (John-
CHARLES EDWIN ALLEN.
son) Allen, was born in Burlington, Nov. 28,
JS38.
He was educated in the Burlington pub-
lic and high schools, and was graduated
from the University of Vermont, August,
1859. During the year 1861 he studied law
with Hon. Isaac F. Redfield at Windsor,
and in i862-'63 with Hon. Milo L. Bennett
in Burlington. He entered the Albany Law
School (Lfnion College) in September, 1S63,
and was graduated in June, 1864. After
practicing his profession in the New York
courts for three years, Mr. .Allen returned
to Burlington in the spring of 1867, and
there opened an office, making a specialty
of patent law.
Mr. Allen was elected assistant secretary
of the Senate in i862-'63. He is a Republi-
can. In I S 78 he was elected alderrnan from
ward I for two years, and re-elected for a
like term in 1880. In 1882 he was elected
city assessor ; in 1883 school commissioner,
re-elected in 1884, and successively chosen
for terms of two years. During this period,
with the exception of one vear, he has
served as clerk of the school board, and his
annual reports of the census and condition
of the city schools are highly esteemed for
their accuracy and completeness. In Sep-
tember, 1886, he was elected city clerk, and
has been unanimously re-elected each year
since. In 1870 he was chosen secretary of
the Alumni Association of the LIniversity of
Vermont, and has held the office since that
time. During the years i867-'68 Mr. Allen
was local editor of the EJurlington Free
Press, and reported for New York pa|)ers.
Mr. Allen is a member of the Protestant
Episcopal church, of which he is now, and
has been for several years, a vestryman and
its Sunday-school superintendent, and a fre-
quent delegate to its diocesan conventions.
He is a member of the Algonquin Club
of the Vermont Press Association, and has
published, in pamphlet form, statistics of the
town and city of Burlington from 1763, in-
cluding complete meteorological observa-
tions since 1840, besides several historical
papers connected with his native town.
Mr. .\llen was married Oct. 31, 1S67, to
l'',llen C, daughter of Elias and Cornelia
(Hall) Lyman. Of this union are three
children : Joseph Dana, Lyman, and Flor-
ence L.
ALLEN, Ira R., of Fair Haven, son of
Ira C. and Mary E. (Richardson) .\llen, was
born in Fair Haven, March 29, 1859.
Ira C. Allen was a man of ability and
was well known in the state, ser\ing five
terms in the state Legislature.
Ira R. Allen obtained his early education
in the schools of Fair Haven and in 1877
studieil at Colgate .-Xcademv. He graduated
from ISroun Lniversity in 1882. His busi-
ness experience has been varied and exten-
si\e and he has traveled in the States and
upon the other side of the AUantic. From
1882 to 1884 he resided in the city of New
Vork and was engaged in the produce com-
mission business. In 1886 he became inter-
ested in mining operations in Virginia, and
in 1887 returned to Fair Haven where he
has been interested in banking, slate indus-
tries and railroads. His family has the prac-
tical control of the Rutland I'v: Whitehall R. R.
and he is vice-president of the Allen National
Bank. Mr. .^Uen is the fortunate possessor
of one of the best private mineralogical cab-
inets in the state. While in Virginia he was
enabled to obtain many fine specimens of
garnets, some of which were loaned by him
for the purpose of exhibition at the World's
Fair in Chicago.
Mr. Allen is a Republican and one of the
most public spirited men of his town. He
has served as selectman and was considered
as an available candidate to place in the field
for town representative in a community where
Democratic opinions had hitherto prevailed.
This position he easily won and served in
the Legislature at the session of 1892. An
ardent anil enthusiastic member of the Ma-
sonic fraternity, he has attained the 32d
degree and represented Mt. Sinai Temple at
Cincinnati in 1893. In religious views a
Baptist, and though not a member of the
church has always been a liberal supporter
of all Christian enterprises.
AMSDEN, Charles, of Amsden, son
of .America and Nancy (Child) .\msden, was
born in ^\■est Windsor, ^lay 6, 1S32.
His grandfather, Abel Amsden, was a pio-
neer of the town of Reading, a soldier during
the Revolution, and a prominent man of his
lime. His mother, Nancy Child, was born
£P9
CHARLES AMSDEN.
in Westminster, Mass., July 20, 1790, and
li\ ed one and one-half years after the cele-
bration of her centennial, retaining her men-
tal vigor to the last.
Charles Amsden was educated at the com-
mon schools and passed his early boyhood
on his father's farm. At the age of seven-
teen, with a capital of Sioo, he went to what
is now called .Amsden and engaged in trade,
opening the following year a lime kiln, which
he still works, producing about 10,000 bar-
rels annually, and carries on an extensive
business in general merchandise.
Mr. -Amsden is a Republican in politics.
He represented the town of AVethersfield in
the Legislatures of 1870 and 1890, and was
elected a senator for Windsor county in
1892. He has been town treasurer since
1876, and postmaster since 1875, except
when holding state office. Beyond his own
town his business ability has been and is still
appreciated. During the years i886-'87 he
was a director of the Rutland R. R. and he
is at the present time a director of the Na-
tional Black River Bank of Proctorsville, and
of the Howe Scale Co.
January 20, 1S50, Mr. .Amsden married
-Abbie E., daughter of Joseph and Mary Ann
ANDROSS.
(C'arev) Craigue. Of this union is one
child : Mary Alelvina (Mrs. Charles 1',. Wootl-
ruff, of \\oodslock.) His second marriage
was with Miss ]^Iary L. Stockin.
ANDREWS, John ATWOOD, of John-
son, son of Asa'and Jane ( Hogg) Andrews, was
born at New Boston, X. H.
When John was three years of age, his
father, who was a farmer, hoping to better
his condition moved to Johnson. The son
received such education as could be obtained
in the common schools of that period, and
afterward pursued his studies at the Lamoille
county grammar school.
.\t the age of twenty-one he purchased a
farm situated about half a mile west of the
town, where he has ever since resided, and
here his father and mother found a home
until their death. His estate of one hun-
dred and fifty-four acres is one of the best
adapted for cultivation in the neighborhood,
and is pleasantly located on the Lamoille
river, commanding a broad view of moun-
tains, hills and stream.
He is a member of the Republican party.
In 1882 he was sent to the Legislature,
where he served on the educational com-
mittee, and he has just completed his fourth
year as assistant judge of Lamoille c^ounty
court. Judge Andrews was a member of the
L O. G.T.
He was united in marriage March 28,
1844, to Angeline, daughter of Daniel and
Lydia Scott (Eaton) Davinson of Craftsbury.
Four children have been born to them : Sum-
ner .\., Lydia (Mrs. Lyndley Fullington ,
Abner (died in infancy), and Wallace Gale
of Montpelier.
ANDREWS, Sumner A., of \'ergennes,
son of J. Atwood and Angeline (Davinson)
Andrews, was born in Johnson, Dec. 28, 1844.
Mr. Andrews received his education at the
public schools of his native town and at the
Lamoille county grammar school.
He remained with his father on the home
farm until he enlisted in the army at the age
of seventeen. He was a member of Co.
E. 13th \'t. Vols, and was at the battle of
Gettysburg.
.■\fter the war he worked six years in a store ;
and in 1875 went to the State Primary School,
Monson, Mass., as supervisor, remaining
there eight years. In 1883 he became a
member of the firm of Andrews Brothers,
dealers in general merchandise, in his native
town where he remained until 1889 when he
was appointed superintendent of the Ver-
mont Reform School.
Mr. Andrews is a Republican in politics,
and represented Johnson in the Legislature
of 1884, serving on the committee of educa-
tion. In 1888 he was elected assistant judge
of Lamoille county court.
His church connection is with the Bap-
tists, and for several years he served his
denomination as deacon in Johnson.
^^^ -•
SUMNER A. ANDREWS.
Mr. .Andrews was married Sejit. 28, 1868,
to Mary \., daughter of Ozias and Charlotte
Story. '
AN DROSS, Dudley Kimball, of
Bradford, son of Broadstreet Spafford and
Mary ( Kimball) Andross, was born in Brad-
ford, Sept. 12, 1823. He comes of old
\'ermont stock, one of his grandfathers. Dr.
Bildad Andross, having been an early settler
in the town of Bradford, and a member of
the first convention which met to organize
the Commonwealth of Vermont ; and another,
Capt. Broadstreet Spafford, having been the
first settler in Fairfa.x in 1783. His great-
uncle, Obadiah Kimball, was killed in the
battle of Bennington.
In early life Mr. .-Xndross worked as a lum-
berman, then as a railroad builder, and as
such he helped to lay the first rail of the
Rutland & Burlington R. R ; later he was a
successful gold-miner in California. During
his whole life his love of sport has led him to
make hunting something more than a pas-
time.
When the ci\ il war broke out he was in
business as a miller and was lieutenant of the
Bradford company of militia. In its reor-
ganization for service, uj)on the first call for
ARCH HULL).
troojjs in April, 1861, Lieutenant Andross
was elected captain and served as such with
the I St \'t. Regt. throughout its term. At
the battle of Big Bethel, when the three com-
panies of the 1st regiment attacked the
rebel earthworks, Captain Andross was the
first man upon the embankment. .At the
close of the three months' service he returned
to the army as lieutenant-colonel of the 9th
Vt. Regt., his commission dating May 26,
1862. .\t Harper's Ferry he was taken pris-
oner, the 9th regiment having been sur-
rendered under Cleneral Miles. The pri.soner
was speedily released and at once promoted
to the rank of colonel, which position he held
until ill health compelled him to tender his
Dudley k andross.
resignation June 23, 1S63. Since the war
Colonel -Andross has led a quiet life, farming
and hunting.
Colonel .Andross was married March 17,
1878, to Mrs. Marcella Wasson, daughter of
Rev. Horatio Harris. Their three children
are : Mary Kimball, Walter Carpenter, and
Alice Caroline.
Colonel .Andross is believed to be (ex-
cept Stephen Thomas, always known as (Gen-
eral ) , the senior surviving colonel of Vermont
troo] IS.
ARCHIBALD, S. HENRY, of Walling-
ford, son of the Rev. Dr. T. H. and Susan
(Tuck) .Archibald, was born in Dubuque,
Iowa, Nov. 10, 1848.
He received his preparatory education at
the New Hampton Institution, Fairfax, and
later graduated from Colgate University, in
the class of 1873.
Having completed his college course and
after further study he ministered to a con-
gregation at West Pawlet, and during this
pastorate he was ordained to the ministry of
the Baptist church. Being settled by the
church at Wallingford in 1876, he has since
that time remained in that parish, and is at
])resent the senior clergyman of his denomi-
nation in the state, with regard to the num-
ber of years of service in one church.
His father was a clergyman of high repu-
tation, and was formerly settled over parishes
in .Addison, Bennington and Rutland coun-
ties, but has now retired to private life,
making his residence at Middlebury. .Mr.
.Archibald occupies a prominent position
in the Baptist church, and is well known
and popular throughout the state, and has
for twelve years served as the secretary of
the board of managers of the state conven-
tion of that denomination.
He was united in marriage at West Paw-
let, Feb. 13, 1877, to Esther .A., daughter of
Daniel D. and Mary E. (Townsend) Nel-
son. Four children have blessed their
union: Nelson Henry, Eva E. (deceased),
Walter, and Mary Townsend.
In his political creed Mr. .Archibald is a
loyal Republican, but his energies and time
have been mainly devoted to his profes-
sional studies and duties, yet he has sers-ed
as superintendent of schools in ^\'allingford
for seven different years, and is now chair-
man of the board of directors.
ARNOLD, FeNELON, of Westminster,
son of .Ambrose T. and Priscilla ( Farnum )
.Arnold, was born in Westminster, Jan. 25,
1817.
He obtained his education in the public
schools of his native town, and began farm-
ing at an earlv age, first with an uncle until
the latter's death in 1840, and then at the
age of se\enteen, with a brother, he took a
farm, wiped out a debt contracted in the pur-
chase and acquired an unincumbered home.
In 1855 he began the business of silver
and brass plating, continuing it until i860
under the firm name of Arnold & Cook.
Mr. .Arnold's political preferences are Re-
publican. He has served as selectman thir-
teen years, several as chairman of the board.
\Mth the exception of clerk and treasurer he
has filled every office in the gift of the town,
serving in the Legislatures of 18S0 and 1884,
and was a member of the committee on elec-
tions, banks and banking. .As custodian for
ten years of the Campbell Trust Funds he
showed excellent ability, making safe and
profitable investments in the interest of the
peojjle. Finding himself physically disquali-
fied for service in the field durins: the war
Mr. Arnold took an active part in raising
troops for the nation's defence.
He was married Nov. 4, 1840, to Amanda,
daughter of Luther and Mary Richards. Of
this union were two children : Charles F.,
ICast, filling the master's chair of ^\'hite
River Lodge, Xo. 90.
He was wedded Oct. 17, 1882, to Martha
I'., daughter of Amos and Nancv White of
FENELON ARNOLD.
and George R. Mrs. Arnold dying Dec. 24,
1867, he married, March 13, 1872, Emily A.,
daughter of Edmund A. and Isabella (Hos-
mer) Marsh. Of this union is one child :
Seth F.
ARNOLD, Fred, of Bethel, son of
Thomas and Jane ^L (Wellington) Arnold,
was born in Randolph, Dec. 7, 1856.
.After receiving his education in the com-
mon schools and the Randolph State Normal
School, he adopted the profession of the
law, and since 1S80 has pursued that voca-
tion in Bethel, combining his practice with
the occupation of an insurance agent. In
both of these pursuits he has met with grati-
fying success. His business ability and un-
doubted integrity have called him to many
positions of honor and usefulness in the
town, which he represented in the General
Assembly in 1892. In this body he was an
able and earnest advocate of the town sys-
tem of schools, and was largely instrumental
in the establishment of that important
measure throughout the state.
Mr. .Arnold has knelt at the altars of Free
Masonry, having received the degrees of the
blue lodge at Bethel, the chapter in West
Randolph and commandery in Mont]ielier.
In the first named he has i)resi<le(l in the
FRED ARNOLD
Providence, R. I. Six children have been
the issue of the union ; five boys and one
girl.
ATKINS, Hiram, late of Montpelier, son
of John S. and Margaret (Smith) Atkins,
was born Dec. 22, 1831, in Esopus, N. Y.,
and died at Montpelier, Oct. i, 1892.
When he was about three years of age his
father moved to Poughkeepsie, N. Y., where
for the next ten years Hiram lived the usual
life of a farmer's bov. -At the age 01 four-
teen he entered the office of the Poughkeep-
sie I^agle as an apprentice, and at the age
of eighteen was employed on the Journal,
Kingston, N. Y., having charge of the paper
during the editor's absence. In 1853 he
came to \'ermont and started a small paper
called the Battle Ground, at North Ben-
nington. He had one dollar in cash when
he arrived in Bellows Falls a few weeks later
to take charge of a local ])a])er, the .\rgus.
In February, 1S63, Mr. .Atkins went to
Montpelier, bought the Patriot, and estab-
lished the .Argus and Patriot, of which from
that time until his death he was publisher
and editor.
During his residence in Bellows Falls Mr.
.Vtkins was for a time deputy postmaster in
President Pierce's and postmaster in Presi-
(lent BiK'hanan's administration, and during
I'resident Cleveland's first term he was super-
intendent of construction of the government
building at Montpelier. He was at his de-
cease one of the four World's Fair commis-
sioners from N'ermont, and also by an act of
the Legislature one of the Columbian com-
missioners of Vermont. He attended every
Democratic national convention but one
after attaining his majority, and in i8S8 was
the member from Aermont of the Demo-
cratic national convention. From 1863 he
was a member of the Democratic state com-
mittee, and its chairman since the early
seventies.
Mr. .Atlcins was a communicant in the
Protestant Episcopal Church : tor many years
a vestryman of Christ Church at Montpelier,
and often a delegate to the diocesan con-
vention.
In 1854 he married ISIaria .Abeel, daughter
of John'L. DeWitt, of Windham, N. Y." She
died Dec. 5, 1S59, leaving three children,
two of whom, Catherine Abeel, and Eliza-
beth DeV\'itt, wife of Major Osman D. Clark
of Montpelier, survive their father ; the
third, Margaret Smith, died about six months
after her mother's decease. Mr. Atkins,
June 27, 1864, married Julia M., daughter
of Ezra F. Kimball, Bellows Falls.
Mr. .\tkins was a man of strong individ-
uality ; honest, rugged, and at times out-
wardly harsh and rough, made to contend
in stormy times for principle, but kind at
heart, and winning the respect and friend-
ship of men who opposed him, and whom
he opposed in many things.
ATWOOD, Frank C, of Salisbury,
son of Hiram and Phcebe (Frank) Atwood,
was born in Starksboro, Dec. 14, 1828.
He was educated at the common schools
and at the Bristol Academy. In 1851 he
settled on a farm in Salisbury, where he is
widely known as a catde buyer and stock-
man, ha^■ing had a large exjierience in the
industries he represents.
Mr. .Atwood is prominent in Masonic cir-
cles and has been a member of Union Lodge
F. & A. M., Middlebury, for nearly forty
years.
I." His political affiliations are with the Re-
publican party. He represented the town
of Salisbury in the Legislature of 18S2, serv-
ing on agricultural and other committees.
Over the county and district conventions of
his party he has presided for many years past.
Mr. Atwood was married April 2, 1851, to
Sarah i\L, daughter of Solomon and Sarah
Thomas of Salisbury. They have two sons,:
Henry S. (now deputy county treasurer of
LaBette County, Kan.), and Julius W., who
has been rector of St. James Church at Prov-
idence, R. I., since 1887.
AUSTIN, ORLO Henry, late of Bar-
ton Landing, son of Asa and Nancy (Gregg)
Austin, was born in Eden, August 13, 1838,
and died at Barton Landing, Sept. 15, 1893.
Mr. Austin acquired his education first in
the jjublic schools of Eden. On removing
to Craftsbury in 1848, he attended the L^lssex
Classical Institute. He was admitted to the
class of '63 in the L'niversity of Vermont and
was a teacher until the breaking out of the
civil war, when, in the spring of 1862, he en-
listed in Co. F, nth Regt. Vt. Vols., was
chosen 2d lieutenant and successively pro-
moted to I St lieutenant and captain of Co.
.A., Sept. 2, 1864, while in active service
under Sheridan in the Shenandoah Vallev.
He was in e\ery action engaging his regi-
ment except the assault at Petersburg. Cap-
tain .Austin came of patriot stock, his father
having joined the Vermont Volunteers in
1 814, was in the batde of Plattsburg.
.At the close of the war, Captain Austin
built a store in Barton Landing and became
a dealer in general merchandise. He entered
into partnership November, 1869, with C. E.
Joslyn and together they built up a large trade.
J. C. Parker and I. D. R. Collins joined the
firm in the fall of 1873, adding to its business
an extensive lumber trade. Decline in prices,
losses by fire, increased through defective
insurance, caused a suspension of the firm in
the spring of 1877. Captain Austin suffered
a second time by fire, and then built the
present large business l)lork, which is an
ornament to the village, entered into ])art-
nership with A. C. Parker, studied law^ and
was admitted to the bar in iSPo. In Novem-
ber of the following year he was appointed
judge of probate to fill the vacancy caused by
the death of Hon. I. N. Cushman and hel<l
that office till his death.
In ]iolitics he was a Republican and held
imi>ortant town otifices.
He was an active member and su|)porter
of the Congregational church and served it
many years as Sunday-school superintend-
ent.
Captain Austin was married Oct. 15, 1S68,
to Sophia M., daughter of Captain Timothy
J. and Melona (Wilder) Joslyn of Hrowning-
ton. The children of this union are : Fred
(). (deceased), Clara M., Kmma S., Helen A.,
.Arthur O., and (irace F.
BAILEY, ALDEN Lee, of St. Johnsbury,
was born in Compton, P. ()., May 31, 1845,
the only child of Lewis and Nancy Bailey.
He was early bereft of both parents, his
father dying iiefore he reached his fourth
England. Two well equipped warerooms,
one in St. Johnsbury, the other in Burling-
ton, with twenty traveling salesmen, attest
the fact. He has been a director in Citi-
zens Bank from its organization, his business
tact and good judgment doing much toward
giving it its present good reputation.
These qualities have also done much
toward removing the debt and placing on a
good financial basis the Young Men's Chris-
tian .Association, of which for several years
he has been a director. In early life he
connected himself with the Methodist Epis-
copal church, of which he has always been
a generous supporter, and to it he has given
his best service as one of its stewards, and
also for many years as its successful Sunday-
school superintendent. He is possessed in
an eminent degree of the quality rudely
termed "push," giving an enthusiasm to what-
ever he undertakes, which insures success.
He is a sunny man with a cheerful word
for all, and ever ready to dispense sub-
stantial aid as well as wise counsel when-
ever and wherever needed.
ALDEN LEE BAILEY.
year, and his mother when he was only ten
years of age. Alone in the world, he was
"bound out" during the remaining years of
his minority to his uncle, a farmer, whom he
faithfully served until he reached his major-
ity. Greater opportunities, with less of hope
and resolution might have disheartened
him. He had nothing to lose, but every-
thing to win, and he was determined to suc-
ceed. This spirit found him ready employ-
ment, and also opened the way for him to
enter into the business in which his success
has proved his fitness. From very small
beginnings he has built up the largest trade
in musical merchandise in Northern New
BAILEY, Horace Ward, of New-
bury, son of ^Villiam and .Abigail (Eaton)
Bailey, was born in Newbury, Jan. t6, 1852.
His father's family was of English descent,
coming to Newbury in 1780. His mother
came of Scotch parentage and was the daugh-
ter of the late Jesse F^aton of Wentworth,
N. H.
Educated in the common schools of his
town and at Newbury Seminary, Mr. liailey
first entered the employment of John Lind-
sey at the Fabyan Hou.se in the White
Mountains, at C)kl Orchard Beach and in
p:astman. In 1882 he opened a grocery
store in Newbury Village, where he built up
a large and profitable business, but finally
sold out in 1890. Since retiring from the
mercantile profession he has been chiefly en-
gaged in the settlement of estates in North-
ern Vermont and New Hampshire. In 1886
he was elected town clerk, which office he
still holds. He was superintendent of schools
in iS85-'86-'87 ; for two years chairman of
board of listers ; member of county board of
education in 1889, and chairman of board of
school directors in 1893; also several years
a trustee of the Bradford Savings Bank.
His political creed is Republican and in
religion he is a liberal. -Mr. Bailey is a man
of strong literary tastes, possessing an excel-
olutionary war, while his son, John Bailey,
Sr., was a hardy pioneer and farmer.
Descended from such stock, John early
showed his lineage, and from earliest youth
lent a helping hand upon the farm, on which
he resided for nearly fifty years. Though
his educational advantages were limited,
being restricted mostly to the district school,
he has borne a very prominent part in the
public affairs of the town and state. Though
he has filled many imiMrtant town offices,
he is perhaps best known as sheriff and dep-
uty sheriff of Orange county, and is consid-
ered as one of the best executive officers that
has ever served the county and the state.
Among his best known exploits the pursuit
and capture of the notorious Barre bank rob-
bers may be regarded as singularly proving
his shrewdness, intelligence and daring, show-
ing that he fully inherited the courage of his
ancestors. Mr. Bailey was appointed post-
master in 1889 and still holds that ])Osition.
He was representative in 1 869-' 70, '84, and
elected senator in 1886.
He married, Oct. 21, 1847, Isabel, daugh-
ter of George and Margaret (CJardner) Nel-
son. They have six children : Ellen M.(Mrs.
Newton N. Field), Albert H., Margaret J.
( Mrs. Eugene D. Carpenter), Lizzie (Mrs.
Oscar Warden of Mclndoes Falls), Nelson
H., and Clara (Mrs. Simeon Clark).
HORACE WARD BAILEY.
lent miscellaneous library, selected with great
care and which is not surpassed in his sec-
tion of the state.
A man of most benevolent impulses, he is
always a staunch su])porter of all good works
and charitable enterjirises in his neighbor-
hood.
BAILEY, John, of Wells River, born at
Newbury, Jan. 30, 1822, was the son of John
and Martha, granddaughter of Rev. Peter
Powers, the first settled minister in New-
bury. The latter lived with John until he
died in his eighty-ninth year.
(ien. Jacob Bailey, the great-grandfather
of the subject of this sketch, was an officer
in the old French and Indian war and was
captured at Fort \\ illiam Henrv, where his
courage and promptness of action alone saved
him from destruction in the treacherous and
bloodv massacre which followed the surren-
der of this important post. He lived to be-
come ijrominent among the Cireen Mountain
boys, who took such an active part in the
dispute concerning the New Hampshire
grants, and was a member of the Council
of Safety. Col. Joshua Bailey, son of Gen.
Jacob Bailey, was a daring scout in the Rev-
BAILEY, Myron W., of St. Albans,
son of Richard and Sally (Barrows) Bailey,
was l)orn at Waterville, Feb. 9, 1837.
Commencing his education at the common
schools, and at the Bakersfield .Academy he
afterwards attended the People's .\cademy
at Morrisville, where he prepared for college,
but ill health obliged him to resign his hope
of a liberal education. In the spring of 1S57
he commenced the study of law in the office of
Hon. Homer E. Royce, and continued the
same under ^Valdo Brigham until the summer
of 1858, when he entered the law de])artment
of the L'niversity of .-Mbany, where he
graduated in May, 1859, and was admitted
as an attorney and counselor at law in the
supreme court at .Albany, N. Y., and at the
.■\pril term was admitted to the bar of Frank-
lin county. He then commenced the prac-
tice of his ])rofession at Bridport and con-
tinued until June, 1861.
When the war began he determined to
serve his country, and enlisted in Co. H,
3d Regt. Vt. Vols., and was mustered into
service July 16, 1861, and soon after went
to the front with his regiment, which was
stationed near the Chain Bridge. He was
present at the battle of Lewinsville, Va.,
Sept. II, 1 86 1, but in the last of the month
while on picket duty he was severely wounded
in the lower part of the back, the result of
13
which was a jjaralysis of the lower Hmbs,
and he was discharged Feb. 5, 1862.
He has held many town offices and has
been judge of probate for Franklin county
and district from Dec. i, 1867, \\p to the
present time, and was railroad commissioner
from 1872 to 1878.
MYRON W. BAILEY.
He is a member of the Masonic order,
and is a past olificer of Missis(|uoi Lodge,
No. 9.
Judge Bailey married ISIary L., daughter
of Sherman W. and Catharine Sears. Their
children are : Carrie M. (wife of E. W.
Thompson), and Katharine S. (wife of Kben
E. McLeod).
BAKER, Austin S., of Danby, son of
Stephen and Susanna (Matthewson) Baker,
was born in Mount Holly, March 16, 1824.
Receiving a thorough and practical educa-
tion in the public and private schools of
Danby, he entered the battle of life fully
equipped for an energetic struggle. Pos-
sessing a strong and well developed phys-
ique and highly trained reasoning powers, he
adopted the profession of teaching for some
years. Setding on the homestead in Danby
he has devoted himself to farming for twenty-
eight years, giving much attention to dairy-
ing and horse breeding.
As an ardent Republican, Mr. Baker has
been honored by his fellow-townsmen with
an election to nearly every office in their
power to bestow. He has performed the
duties of selectman, superintendent of schools
and justice of the ])eace, serving with equal
credit in each capacity. He has been assist-
ant judge of Rutland county court for six
years and has already established an enviable
reputation in the ministration of this office.
During the war Judge Baker was greatlv in-
strumental in raising men.
He is a member of the Masonic frater-
nity, taking an active share in the work of
Marble Lodge, No. 76, of Danby.
Judge Baker was united in wedlock |an.
27, i<'^48, to Betsy M., daughter of Rev.
Orange and Maria (Jones) Green. Two
children have been born to them : Helen M.
(Mrs. L. P. Howe of Mount Tabor), and
Charles S. Baker of Trov, N. Y.
AUSTIN S. L
BAktfR, Joel Clarke, of Rutland, son
of Edia and Seleucia A. (Davenport) Baker,
was born in Danby, .April 16, 1838.
Mr. Baker seems to have inherited a goodly
share of the sterling character and sturdy in-
dependence of his Scotch progenitors.
Educated at the public schools of Danby,
\\'allingford, and at Poultney Academy, in
1858 he began the study of Latin and Creek
with Philip H. Emerson. In 1859 he com-'
menced the study of law in the office of
Spencer Green of Danby, then changed to the
office of David E. Nicholson of \\allingford,
where he remained until 1862, when he was
admitted to the bar of Rutland county court.
In 1862 he enlisted as private in Co. B,
9th Regt., Vt. Vols., was mustered into the
service as sergeant, and before his discharge
■was successively promoted to the grades of
ist sergeant, 2d and ist lieutenant, and finally
captain. At the surrender of Harper's Ferry
he was sent as a paroled prisoner to Camp
Douglas at Chicago, where he remained until
his exchange, Jan. 9, 1863, afterwards serving
as guard over five or six thousand rebel pris-
oners. He then returned to the front, par-
ticipating in many battles and skirmishes,
and with the Army of the James, was present
at the engagements of Chapin's Farm, Fair
Oaks and the capture of Richmond. He
was among the first to enter the city, reach-
ing the residence of Jeff Davis where the
Confederate flag was still flying, which he
pulled down and took away with his own
hands. While he was in North Carolina,
Congress organized provost courts in which
Captain Baker had a good deal of practice.
After his return from the army he pursued
his profession in Wallingford, but in t868
removed to Rutland, where he still resides.
He has attained a very high reputation as a
lawyer, in both civil and criminal practice,
and has conducted several cases of notable
importance in Rutland and Bennington
■counties as well as in the 4th district in
New York, and also before the United States
circuit and supreme courts.
Mr. Baker has important real estate in-
terests in Rutland ; is director in the Clem-
ent National Bank, Howe Scale Co., the P.
E. Chase Manufacturing Corporation, the
Rutland Herald and Globe Association,
having been the editor of that paper from
i86g to 1873.
He has discharged the duties of superin-
tendent of schools and grand juror in the
towns of Wallingford and Rutland, and has
been register of probate and deputy county
clerk. He is a Republican and was elected
state senator in 1886, serving on the com-
mittees on the judiciary, railways, and the
insane. He was for two years county audi-
tor, and is now city attorney.
Mr. Baker has also joined the ranks of
Masonry, affiliating with Chipman Lodge,
No. 52, of which he has been junior and
senior warden, and is now a member of Cen-
ter Lodge, No. 34. He also belongs to the
Rutland Royal Arcanum, and is interested
in the V. M. C. A. of that city. He is a
companion of the M. (). of L. L., and a
■comrade of the C. A. R. In his religious
preference he is an Ei)iscopalian.
He married, Oct. 8, 1866, Ada O., daugh-
ter of Luther P. and Mary .\. (Rounds),
Howe of Mount Tabor. One daughter,
Mabel, is the issue of the marriage.
BALCH, William EVERARD, of Lun-
enburg, son of Sherman and Eliza (Clines)
Balch, was born in Lunenburg, Feb. 3, 1854.
.■\fter pursuing the usual educational
Lourse in the public schools and at St.
WILLIAM EVERARD BALCH.
Johnsbury Academy, he entered his father's
carriage shop to learn that trade, and
after a two years' sojourn in the West, in
1S76, he returned to his native place and
again entered the employ of his father.
From his early boyhood, Mr. Balch had de-
voted all of his spare time to the study of
natural history and the collection of speci-
mens illustrating that science. On his re-
turn to Vermont he learned taxidermy, and
employed his leisure in forming a collection
of the birds and mammals of the state, with
such success that in eight years he had gath-
ered specimens of all the representative
birds and mammals of Vermont. This col-
lection was sent to the World's Fair at New
Orleans as the state collection, and about
this time he was offered the position of state
taxidermist, which he still holds. The high
scientific standard of his work is amply at-
tested by the specimens of his skill exhibited
at the Fairbanks Museum at St. Johnsbury.
Mr. Balch represented the town in the
Legislature of 1892.
He wedded, Sept. 27, 1876, Ella, daughter
of Jordan and Lois A. Mutt. They have
two children : Florence May, and \Valter.
BALDWIN, Charles, of Dorset, son
of Thomas and Polly (Lanfear) Baldwin, was
born in Dorset, Oct. 30, 181 6.
JoUj €*. fb CLJt^j.^\
i6
His education was obtained in the ])u\)\\f
and select schools of Dorset. In 18.55 he
went to work for his brother and learned the
trade of a cooper and after four years of this
employment he removed to Rutland, where
he entered the em])loy of (iersham Cheney.
He then returned to his brother, and finally
purchased the business in if-'4i, and till ii^'gi
continued to follow his vocation in that
locality.
Mr. Baldwin was married Feb. 4, 1848, to
Susan, daughter of Rev. William and Susanna
(Cram) Jackson of Dorset, who died in
November, 1878. His second wife was Mary
E. Willard of Castleton, whom he married
June 4, 1879. She died in July, 1889. He
"married, Dec. 30, 1 889, a third wife, Sarah,
daughter of Charles and .-Vdah (Eells) Bangs
of Lenox, Mass.
He has been a strong Republican since
the formation of the party and has held most
of the town offices, serving as county com-
missioner since i8fc2. Mr. Baldwin is a
stockholder in the Factory Point National
Bank and the Battenkill Industrial Society
as well as a large owner of real estate.
William J. Fuller, while living with Mr.
Baldwin, enlisted in Co. G, ist Vt. Cavalry
and died in Andersonville in August, 1864,
and in honor of his memory W. J. Fuller
Post, No. 52, C. A. R., in Dorset is named.
In his religious views Mr. Baldwin is a
Congregationalist and has always taken a
deep interest in the welfare of the Sunday-
school and all other means for the advance-
ment of religion in the church and society.
BALDWIN, A. T., of Wells River, son
of E^rastus and Lucinda (Richardson) Bald-
win, was born at Topsham, Aug. 31, 1841.
Erastus Baldwin, his father, located at
Wells River early in the present century,
settled upon a farm in that town and later
engaged extensively in the trade of a har-
ness manufacturer, which vocation he pur-
sued until the time of his death, which oc-
curred July 16, 1889.
Mr. A. T. Baldwin received his education
at the common schools of the town and at
St. Johnsbury Academy and at the age of
twenty-four he formed a partnership with his
brother, Mr. E. Baldwin. The firm engaged
in the wholesale boot and shoe business and
for twenty years did a larger business than
any other concern in the state. In 1879
Mr. A. T. Baldwin was a partner in the firm
of Henry, Jay & Baldwin," which operated at
Fabyan's, and continued for three years.
Then, in connection with Erastus, Jr., he
purchased a mill and timber lands at Groton
Pond, where the brothers conducted an ex-
tensive and profitable lumber business till
shortly before the death of Mr. A. T. Bald-
win. Soon after his brother's death Mr. E.
P.aldwin entered into copartnership with
Mr. L. D. Hazen of St. Johnsbury, which
continued for three years.
Mr. A. T. Baldwin was one of the bright-
est business men ever reared in the village
of Wells River, and left one son, who died
three weeks after his father, making his
uncle sole heir to the bulk of his property,
and the latter, desirous to keep the family
name in honorable remembrance, has erected
a structure for the village library association
as a memorial, which is styled the Baldwin
Library Building.
Mr. Erastus Baldwin takes a lively inter-
est in agricultural pursuits and is perhaps
best known as the proprietor of the Baldwin
Valley Farm, which covers a large area and
is one of the leading stock farms in New
England. This he has now sold to his son,
H. T. Baldwin.
Mr. Erastus Baldwin is president of the
Wells River Savings Bank which position
itself confirms his character for unstained
integrity and business sagacity.
He acts with the Republican party, but,
though interested and well informed in
national and state affairs, he has chosen to
remain a private citizen in spite of many
urgent calls to accept important and re-
sponsible positions of trust.
He was united in marriage Jan. 6, 1S63,
to Ellen, daughter of William B. and Mary
A. (Chamberlain) Abbott. One son has
been born to them : Hammon T.
BALDWIN, Frederick W., of I'.anon,
was born at Lowell, Sejit. 29, 1848, the son
of Asa and Rosalinda (Shedd) Baldwin. He
is of English descent, this branch of the Bald-
win family being derived from John Baldwin
who appears in Billerica, Mass., as early as
1655 and who came from Hertfordshire, Eng-
land, about 1640.
Frederick was brought up on his father's
farm and enjoyed only such advantages for
education as the average ^'ermont farmer
gives his children. He attended the district
school in his native town until he was seven-
teen years of age and afterward the ^Vestfield
grammar school, the normal school at John-
son and the Vermont Conference Seminary
at Montpelier.
FREDERICK W. BALDWIN.
fT'At the age of twenty-two he entered the
law office of Powers & deed at Morrisville
and was admitted to the bar of Lamoille
county at the December term, 1872, and
soon afterward formed a copartnership with
Gen. William \\'. Clrout which continued till
1875. Since then Mr. Baldwin has been in
the successful practice of his profession in
Barton.
In politics he has always been an ardent
Republican. In 1872 he was elected assist-
ant secretary of the state Senate and secre-
tary of the same in i874,-'76,-'7S and state's
attorney of Orleans county in 1880. He has
been successively elected the Orleans county
member of the Republican state committee
since 1884. His ability as a member of that
committee has been fullv demonstrated bv
his having been elected the secretary and
treasurer of the committee in 1886 and in
1888 its chairman, which position he still
holds. ']"his year, as a recognition of his
zealous work for the party he was elected a
l)residential elector at large for Vermont, and
was the messenger to carry the vote of Ver-
mont to Washington. Mr. Baldwin has
always been deeply interested in biography
and history, especially that of Vermont, and
his library of Vermont books is one of the
choicest in the state. In 1886 he published
the " Biography of the Bar " of Orleans
county, containing a sketch of every lawyer
admitted or who had practiced in that county
since its organization. Mr. Baldwin has
given liberally of his time and money for the
development of business in Barton Village, at
present being a stockholder and secretary of
two corporations for that purpose, the Bar-
ton Manufacturing Co. and Barton Hotel Co.
Mr. Baldwin belongs to the Congrega-
tional church and has labored earnestly in
its behalL
He married Miss Susan M. Grout, Sept.
24, 1873, by whom he had one child, Edward
(Irout Baldwin. Mrs. Baldwin died in 1876.
Mr. Baldwin was united in a second marriage
Oct. 28, 1878, to Miss Susan M. Hibbard of
I!rooklyn, N. V.
BALL, Franklin P., of Rockingham, son
of Abraham and Hannah (Edwards) Ball, was
born in Athens, May 2, 1828.
His education was derived from the cus-
tomary course at the common schools of the
times.
His early life being spent at the home of
his parents, he removed at the age of twenty-
three to Springfield where he resided and
was engaged in manufacturing for thirty
years, during this time occupying many
responsible positions and representing that
town in the General Assembly of i867-'68.
In 1883 Mr. Ball removed his manufacturing
business to Bellows Falls in the town of
Rockingham, and since that time he has
successfully conducted his business from this
point.
Politically Mr. Ball has always afifiliated
with the Republican party and at its hands
he has been honored with positions of trust,
representing the town in the Legislature of
i88S-'90, serving on the committee on rail-
roads, and also as a senator from Windham
county in 1892.
Mr. Ball offered his sen-ices to his country
when the call was made, but owing to his
constitution was not accepted.
Mr. Ball first married Margaret Wilson in
May, 1852. She died in January, 1855, with-
out issue. He contracted a second alliance
with Elizabeth, daughter of Asa and Margaret
^[eacham, in July, 1857. This union has been
1 8
blessed with four children : Margaret E.,
C.eorge F., Everett M., and Winifred E.
Mr. Rail's religious preference is that of
the Methodist Episcopal faith, and he has
admitted to practice in the I'nited States
district and circuit courts.
Mr. Ballard has obtained a well-earned
distinction in the practice of his profession,
and while he has the reputation of being one
of the best criminal lawyers in the state, he
has also been equally successful in the trial
of civil cases. He is emphatically a trial
lawver and as a jury advocate he stands
among the best. His practice has not been
confined to his own locality but has extended
into many counties in the state. .Among the
notable cases in which he has been engaged
are the celebrated crim. co?!. case of Shackett
against Hammond in Addison county; the
National Bank of Brandon against John A.
Conant et als, a suit to recover §125,000 lost
by reason of alleged forgeries ; the Rutland
Railroad Co. against e.\-Governor John B.
Page, noted as the longest jury trial ever had
in New England, lasting nine weeks ; the
cases that arose out of the Hartford bridge
accident against the Central \'ermont Rail-
road Co. ; the slander case of Lizzie J. Cur-
rier against J. B, Richardson in Windsor
county ; State against Edwin C. Hayden for
the murder of his wife at Derby Line ; and
State against Smith for the murder of his
wife by poison at Vergennes. He is an
FRANKLIN P. BALL.
been closely connected with the societies of
both Springfield and Bellows Falls, always
contributing liberally to their support.
BALLARD, HENRY, son of Jeffrey B.
and Amelia (Thompson) Ballard, was born
in Tinmouth, April 20, 1839.
;: His early education was obtained in Tin-
mouth and at Castleton Seminary, and im-
mediately after his preparatory studies he
entered the LTniversity of Vermont, from
which he graduated with high honors in the
class of 1861, having been selected to de-
liver the master's oration at the college com-
mencement three years later.
In September, 1S62, he became a student
in the Albany (N. Y.) Law School and he
graduated from that institution in May, 1863,
and at the time of his graduation the Hon.
Amos Dean, the founder and dean of the
school, said of him that he was one of the
best students that ever was graduated from
that institution. He at that time gave prom-
ise of what he has since been noted for — a
popular and successful advocate.
After his graduation, in 1S63, he at once
entered the office of Daniel Roberts, Esq.,
of Burlington, and there remained until he
was admitted to the bar in September, 1863,
when he opened an office in that city, where
he has resided ever since. In 1864 he was
4
HENRY BALLARD.
effective speaker on political subjects, and
since 1868 his services on the stump have
always been in demand during political cam-
paigns, not only in Vermont, but in New
York, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
He has sometimes made as many as one
liundred speeches in a single campaign.
He is a ready sjjeaker upon all occasions
and he has frequently appeared upon the
lecture platform.
Soon after the commencement of the civil
war in the summer of 1861, and immediately
after his graduation from college, Mr. ISal-
lard enlisted as a private and was mustered
into service as 2d lieutenant of Co. I, 5th
Vt. Vols., and served with this regiment
through the Peninsula campaign, being pres-
ent at the battles of Lee's Mills, \\"illiams-
burg and the seven days' fight before Rich-
mond, but he was obliged to resign in July,
1862, on account of ill health.
Mr. Ballard belongs to the Republican
party, and was elected to the state Senate
from Chittenden county in i878-'79, serv-
ing on the committees of judiciary, state
prison, and federal relations. In i888-'89,
he represented the city of Burlington in the
lower branch of the Legislature and did
•effective service on the judiciary and general
committees, of which last body he was the
chairman. He has been city attorney of
Burlington for two years. In 1884 he was a
delegate to the Republican national conven-
tion at Chicago, where he was chairman of
the important committee on credentials.
There were forty-five cases of contested del-
egates' seats before the committee and much
•credit was given to him for the manner in
which he acquitted himself in that responsi-
ble and difficult position. He was one of
the reading clerks at the Republican national
convention in 18S8.
He is a member of the Stannard Post, G.
A. R., and was a delegate from that body to
the national encampment in San Francisco,
in 1 886, and has been judge advocate for
that order in Vermont. For many years he
has been a member of the Webster Histori-
cal Society of Boston, and of the Home
Market Club of Boston, also of the American
Institute of Civics, New York City. He was
a charter member of the A'ermont Command-
ery of the Loyal Legion. He is a member
of the .\lgonquin Club, Burlington, and of
the Lake Champlain Yacht Club, and of
the Vermont Fish and Game League.
In religious belief he is an Episcopalian,
and he takes an active interest in the Young
Men's Christian Association.
He was united in marriage, Dec. 15, 1863,
to Annie J., daughter of Robert and Huldah
(Bailey) Scott of Burlington, and he has
four children: Kate (Mrs. James B. Hen-
derson of Burlington), Frank Scott, Mary E.,
and Maude.
BALLOU, HOSEA BeRTHIER, of Whit-
ingham, son of Hosea Faxon and Mary
(Ballou) Ballou, was born Jan. 8, 1826, in
Monroe, Mass. His father was a L'^nixer-
salist minister, and he is a grandson of the
Rev. Hosea Ballou, father and founder of
Universalism in .America.
Mr. Ballou's education was obtained in
the district schools and at the old Whiting-
ham Academy. Early in life he served an
apprenticeship and became a carpenter and
joiner, which occupation has employed him
more or less during his life.
Mr. Ballou has held every town office of
importance, has been town clerk continuously
since 1857, and was assistant clerk for fourteen
years previous to that time ; this is a record
of service unsurpassed by any in the state.
He was deputy sheriff for some fifteen years,
and has been a justice of the peace for a long
period. In 1876 he was made an assistant
judge of the county court, and held that
office six years.
In his political views Judge Ballou is a
Republican. In the time of the war he was
enrolling officer for his district, and was
active in filling the required quotas, and
urging men to enlist. He has never belonged
to any secret societies, and is a ilniversalist
in his religious preferences.
Perhaps no man in his vicinity has oltener
been called upon as an arbitrator ; and for
forty-five years he has been conspicuously
engaged in probate matters.
Judge Ballou was married June 22, 1856,
to Adelia A., daughter of Samuel and Mercy
(Bowen) Murdock. Of this union there is
one daughter : Flora A. (Mrs. F. D. Stafford
of North .Adams, Mass.)
BARNEY, Herbert R., of Chester, son
of Allen and Mary L. (Willet) Barney, was
born in Shrewsbury, .August 27, 1S56.
He received his early education in the
public and private schools of Shrewsbury.
Leaving home at the age of fifteen he went
to Plattsburg, N. Y., remaining there one
year as clerk and telegraph operator. Re-
turning to Shrewsbury at the age of nine-
teen, he assumed the responsible position of
train dispatcher, the duties of which he dis-
charged for two years. In 1877 he settled
at Chester, and has acted in the capacity of
station agent there till the present time.
He was elected as a Republican to the
Legislature of 1888, and was an efficient
member of the committee on corporations.
He has been a prominent member of the
Masonic order, holding several eminent po-
sitions, as well as Past Grand of Chelsea
Lodge, No. 39, of I. O. O. F.
He married, June 7,1880, F.mma F., daugh-
ter of Alden and Mary (Stuart) Howe of Lud-
low. They have one child : Florence M.
BARRETT, BYRON SIMEON, of Bur-
lington, son of Solomon and .Apphia (Mil-
ler) liarrett, was born in Madrid, N. V., Dec
II, 1 83 1.
His father, Solomon Barrett, was well
known as the anthor of a series of gram-
mars of the English, Latin, Greek, German
and French languages, and the subject of
this sketch was also the author of a work on
English grammar, having been educated at
the Utica (N. Y.) Academy and the Roches-
ter Collegiate Institute.
He married, June 6, 1855, Ellen P., daugh-
ter of Jacob and Rispah (Burlingame) Jones
of Madrid, X. V. Four children have been
born to them, all now living : William Wal-
lace, Nellie (Mrs. E C. Browne), John Fran-
cis, and Franklin Clark.
BYRON SIMEON BARRETT.
From i860 to 1869 Mr. Barrett was asso
ciated in business with the firm of John F.
Henry & Co., druggists, and had the man-
agement of the Montreal branch of their
business. He then removed to New York
where he was associated with Mr. Henry in
the New York house. He then engaged in
printing and literary work and contributed
for several years to Puck and other metro-
politan journals.
He visited Pairope and spent two years
in traveling through the states and territo-
ries west of the Missouri ,and from the mate-
rial gathered during the course of his trav-
els there he has prepared a lecture entitled
"Out West," which he is now delivering.
In 1889 he located at Burlington and es-
tablished the newspaper The Earth, and in
1893 his firm, Barrett cS; Johnsons, bought
the Vermont Farmers' Advocate and since
then he has had editorial' charge of both
papers.
Mr. Barrett has never been an office-
seeker, but did some campaign work for
.Abraham Lincoln in 1859, and during his
residence of nearly twenty years in Brook-
lyn, N. Y., he was active in Republican pol-
itics and was for several years connected
with the Sons of Temperance and Good
Templars, and was at one time an officer in
the Grand Lodge of the S. of T. in the
Province of (Quebec. He is also an ama-
teur musician of some note, having com-
posed over sixty vocal and instrumental
pieces that have been published by 1 )itson
and other publishers.
Mr. Barrett is not a native Vermonter, but
has cast his lines with us and takes a deep
interest in the welfare of the people of this
state, whose interests he conserves in both his
papers with all the ability he can command.
BARSTOW, JOHN L., of Shelburne,
son of Heman and Lorain (Lyon) Barstow,
was born in Shelburne, Feb. 21, 1832. His
parents were of English descent, and several
of his ancestors served in the colonial and
Revolutionary wars.
He received his education in the schools
of his native town, and began to teach in the
district school at the age of fifteen. He
went West at an early age and was engaged
in active business in Detroit, but in 1857
returned to Shelburne and began farming,
assuming the charge of his aged parents. In
the fall of 1 86 1, while serving as assistant
clerk in the House of Representatives at
Montpelier, he was appointed on the non-
commissioned staff of the 8th Regt. Vt. Vols.,
and was afterwards successively promoted
to the rank of adjutant, captain, and major,
and was honorably discharged at the e.xpira-
tion of his term of service June 22, 1864.
He entered the service with robust health
and vigorous constitution, but nearly three
years of arduous service in the swamps and
miasmatic climate of Louisiana shattered
both, and for many years malarial diseases
deterred him from entering upon any active
business pursuit. W'hen he was made major,
the rank and file of his old company pre-
sented him with a beautiful sword, and when
he left the regiment, the men who were mus-
tered out with him presented him with
another still more elegant. These two
memorial gifts are justly preserved with great
pride as evincing the regard of the enlisted
men after thev had served with him in the
field.
The historian of his regiment says : "When,
after the bloody fight of June 14, 1863, in
'^^^^^^,
'^^i/?/
front of I'ort Hudson, (ieneral Banks called
for volunteers to head a storming column
for a final attack, Captain Barstovv was one
of the brave men who stepped forward to
form the forlorn hope." He was acting
adjutant general under Generals Thomas
and W'eitzel ; participated in all the engage-
ments in which his regiment took part; was
complimented for eminent service in the
field, for gallantry in the assault on Port
Hudson, and honorably mentioned for his
personal services. He had hardly reached
home after leaving the army before he was
called into state service by the offer of a
responsible position in the recruiting service
by Adjutant General Washburn, which office
he was obliged to decline on account of
shattered health. In September, 1864, he
was elected a member of the Legislature,
and it was during this session that the St.
Albans raid occurred. At the request of
General Washburn, Major Barstow immedi-
ately repaired to the scene of action and was
sent into Canada on a special mission, sub-
sequently was made commander of one of
the brigades of militia raised by the state in
consequence of that daring raid. He was
jjlaced in command of the forces on the
northwestern frontier of the state, and re-
mained on duty until relieved by General
Stannard in January, 1865. In September
of that same year he was again elected to the
Legislature by the unanimous vote of his
town, and in the years 1866 and 1867 he
was elected senator from Chittenden county.
In 1870 he was appointed by President
Grant to the office of U. S. pension agent at
Burlington which he held for nearly eight
years. He at once set about reforms that
were of great benefit to the needy pensioner,
and so discharged the duties of the office as
to call from Hon. Carl Schurz, then secre-
tary of the interior, an autograph letter of
thanks. In 1879 Governor Proctor appointed
him state commissioner for the centennial
celebration of the surrender of Cornwallis at
Vorktown, and he rendered effective service
in securing government aid for the under-
taking, and for the monument, and in the
arrangements for the celebration.
In 1880 he was elected Lieutenant-Ciov-
ernor for the biennial term, and in 18S2 was
elected (lovernor, the nominations to each
office having been made by the unanimous
vote of the respective conventions. He was
the first Governor of Vermont to call the
attention of the law-making power to the
alleged discriminating and excessive rates
of freight by transportation companies, and
urged the creation of an effective railroad
commission.
Colonel Carpenter, in his history of the
8th regiment, says : "The Ely riots occurred
during Governor Barstow's term of ofifice.
and his course in requiring that justice
should precede force, and that the riotous
miners be paid their honest dues, attracted
much favorable comment throughout the
country."
The resolution of the Legislature of 1884,
requesting the Vermont delegation in Con-
gress to use their best efforts to secure the
passage of the interstate commerce law, was
passed in pursuance of Governor Barstow's
recommendation. At the close of his ad-
ministration the Rutland Herald gave utter-
ance to the general opinion of his constit-
uents when it declared that "he had been as
careful, independent, able and efficient a
ruler as Vermont had enjoyed for twenty
years."
The above sketch might be largely ex-
tended, as he has held many other appoint-
ments of trust and honor, such as president
of the Officers' Reunion Society ; trustee of
the University of Vermont and State Agri-
cultural College : trustee of the Burlington
Savings Bank ; commissioner to fix and pur-
chase a site for the Bennington battle monu-
ment, etc., etc. In 1891 he was appointed
by President Harrison to serve on a com-
mission with Gen. A. McD. McCook, U. S.
A., to treat with the Navajoe Indians, and
the work was brought to a successful and sat-
isfactory conclusion. He was also disbursing
officer of the commission, and to the aston-
ishment of the treasury officers, returned
nearly one-half of the appropriation for
expenses. In 1893 at the request of Gov-
ernor Fuller he has acted with the executive
committee of the national anti-trust society.
In regard to these elective offices it can l)e
stated, as was said by Ashael Peck when he
was elected Governor, "Neither solicitation
nor hint of ambition for this dignity ever
emanated from him." Governor Barstow
never directly nor indirectly solicited the vote
or influence of any man for any elective office.
He is, in religious preference, an Episco-
palian, and has been a Mason since 1853 ; he
is also a member of the Grand Army and
Loyal Legion.
He was married Oct. 28, 1S5S, to Laura
Maeck, granddaughter of Dr. Frederick
Maeck, the first physician settled in Shel-
burne. Mrs. Barstow died March 11, 1885,
leaving two sons : Frederick M., born March
3, i860, who was graduated from the Uni-
versity of Vermont in 1880, and is now a
civil engineer; and Charles L., born May 23,.
1867, who was graduated from Union Col-
lege in 1889, and is now in New York City.
BARRON, Lyman P., of Washington,
was born in Washington, Nov. 27, 1820.
His grandfather, Isaac Barron of Brook-
field, Mass., held the commission of lieuten-
ant in the Revolutionary army signed by John
Hancock, president of the Continental Con-
gress, was captured by the British and held
a prisoner in an E nglish man-o'-\var for
several years. His family supposed him
dead. Recaptured after a daring attempt
to escape, during which he suffered incredi-
ble peril and hardship, he was at length
exchanged, and, with a bullet in his thigh, the
unfortunate result of his effort to free himself
from prison, he was restored to his family
and was soon afterward drowned in the Con-
necticut river. His son Eleziah, when a boy
often, in the company of Thaddeus White,
went from Hanover to \Vashington, then a
wilderness, over a route marked by blazed
trees a distance of forty miles, whence the
boy returned alone. Soon the family re-
moved to W'ashington. In due time Eleziah
married and the subject of this sketch was
the youngest of ten children. His mother's
maiden name was Albea Dickenson.
Mr. Eyman Barron has lived upon his
farm for fifty-two years, an active and influ-
ential man in business and public affairs,
represented Washington for six years in the
Legislature, has served as sheriff or deputy
sheriff a nearly continuous term since 1S50,
a position for which he is well adapted from
his shrewd perception and fearless action.
He married, March 22, 1852, Emily A.,
daughter of Henry and Betsey (Little) (God-
frey. They have one daughter : Ada Louise
(Barron) Dwinell of Taunton, Mass.
BATES, Edward L., of Bennington, son
of William and Melissa (Scribner) Bates, was
born in Bennington, June 24, 1869.
He received his education in the graded
schools of Bennington, supplemented by a
course of instruction at the Kimball Union
Academy, Meriden, N. H. Choosing the
legal profession as a business of life, in 1875
he entered the office of Gardner & Harman,
of Bennington, where he remained until
1S82, when he formed a partnership with
James K. Batchelder, Esq., which continues
to the present time.
Mr. Bates was admitted to practice at the
bar of the Bennington county court June
12, T882, and more recently to that of the
United States district and circuit courts.
He has also been appointed United States
commissioner for Vermont.
Though a general practitioner he gives
especial attention to criminal and office
practice. Outside of his profession he deals
largely in real estate in Bennington, Peters-
burg and Cambridge, N. Y.
He is a firm adherent of the Republican
party, and through their votes has been ap-
pointed to many positions of trust and honor.
For several years he discharged the duties
of auditor and village clerk in Bennington,
was state's attorney, and was commissioned
by Governors Page and l'"uller as special
prosecutor of criminal offences. He has
acted as corporation counsel for the village
of Bennington, and was secretary of the
citizens' committee of fifty at the dedication
of the Bennington battle monument. In
1892 he was made a member of the staff of
Governor Fuller, with the rank of colonel.
He is very active in town and ])olitical affairs
and is an eloquent and powerful orator in
political campaigns.
Colonel Bates was united in wedlock in
May, 1882, to Jennie M., daughter of Buel
and Mary (Fames) Rockwood, who died in
1884. He contracted a second alliance May
17, 1887, with Estella, daughter of Perry W.
and Lucy (Green) FJbred, of Hoosick, N. Y.
Of this latter marriage there are issue Beulah
Bell and William Leroy Bates.
Colonel Bates is a member of the Baptist
church and of the Masonic order, having
held several offices in the local lodge as well
as that of Grand Orator of the Lodge of Per-
fection. He belongs to the Bennington
Council and the Oriental Temple of Nobles
of the .Mystic Shrine, and he has also affili-
ated with Tucker Lodge, I. O. O. F.
BAXTER, Edward K., of Sharon, was
born in Barton, Feb. 3, 1840, the youngest
EDWARD K. BAXTER.
in a family of seven children of Harry and
Deborah (Steele) Baxter.
.\fter the death of his father he removed
to Sharon and lived with an uncle, and this
town has since been his home.
24
His education was received at the com-
mon schools and Kimball Union Academy,
Meriden, N. H. He studied medicine with
Drs. Dixi and A. B. C'rosby of Hanover, X.
H., attended three courses of lectures at
Dartmouth Medical College, and one course
at the College of Physicians and Surgeons,
New York, and graduated at Dartmouth Med-
ical College in 1S64. Has been assistant
phvsician at the Hartford, Conn., Insane
Retreat, and at Sanford Hall, a private asylum
at Flushing, L. I., and is a member of the
State Medical Society and of the American
Medical Association.
Dr. Baxter is a Republican, and has always
been active and prominent in the politics of
the town, having for several years served as
chairman of the town committee, superin-
tendent of schools and represented the town
in the General .Assembly of 1886.
Not being dependent on the practice of
his profession he has had time and oppor-
tunity to indulge a natural fondness for agri-
cultural pursuits and the study of the natural
sciences, especially botany, mineralogy, orni-
thology and microscopy.
He was one of the principal organizers and
promoters of the Sharon Co-operative Cream-
ery Association, and has served as its presi-
dent and treasurer.
Owing to impaired health and the pressure
of business cares. Dr. Baxter has recently
withdrawn from the practice of his profes-
sion, and will henceforth devote himself to
the care of his own business and the execu-
tion of certain large and important trusts
now devolving upon him.
Religiously Dr. Baxter is a Congregation-
alist, and for many years has been clerk and
treasurer of the church and society in
Sharon, and its most liberal friend and sup-
porter. Humane, philanthropic and educa-
tional work have claimed his interest and
support to a considerable degree, as a recent
gift of five thousand dollars to Kimball Union
Academy in her hour of need can testify.
Dr. Baxter was married, Sept. 5, 1880, to
Sarah S., daughter of Col. Gardner and Susan
(Steele; Burbank.
BEAN, Cromwell Phelps, of West
Glover, was born in the town of Glover,
.April 4, 1846, was the son of .Amos Phelps
and Phila E. (Sartwell) Bean.
Since his education at the public schools
and Orleans Liberal Institute he has devoted
himself to the cultivation of the old home-
stead. He has also extensively dealt in farm
products and is an extensive breeder of
Morgan and George Wilkes horses.
.A strong Democrat in politics he has held
about every town office that could be con-
ferred upon him, and in 18S2. by the help
of the Republicans, was elected to the Leg-
islature, being the first Democrat who had
been sent there since his father in 1859.
He is a member of Orleans Lodge, F. &
.A. iM., and his religious preferences are those
of Universalism.
CROMWELL PHELPS BEAN.
He married, Dec. 22, 1S67, .Alpa M.,
daughter of Ira and Lavina (Camp) Emery
of Burke, by whom he has had two chil-
dren : Carl W., and Ida L.
BECKETT, George, of Williamstown,
son of William S. and Polly (Pool) Beckett,
was born in Williamstown, May 14, 1833.
The father was a prominent and highly re-
spected citizen of that town, filling several
offices of trust and usefulness : thirty years
justice of the peace, town clerk thirty-five
years, and captain of the local militia com-
pany, besides being four times representative
from the town. The son received a common
school education only, which he has sup])le-
mented by extensive reading and intelligent
self-culture. He has been successful in bus-
iness, amassing a modest competence, a part
of which he has invested in real estate in his
native town. He has been influential in found-
ing several stock companies, especially the
Williamstow-n Granite Co., giving a great im-
petus to the business of that place. As
librarian he has been an untiring worker for
the \^'illiamstown Social Library, which was
started in 1801 with only thirty-five volumes.
Mr. Beckett is a Democrat, is town clerk
and treasurer, having held these positions for
more than ten years. He was an incorpora-
tor of the Barre Savings Bank & 'I'rust Co.,
and now holds the position of treasurer, anil
is a deacon in the Congregational church.
He married, June 21, i<S55, Belle R., daugh-
ter of Calvin and Dolly ( Delano) Flint. I'hey
have one son, Charles Henry, who graduated
with distinguished honors at Dartmouth and
afterwards at Columbia Law School. He is
the author of "Who Is John Noman?" and is
now a member of the eminent law firm of
Booraem, Hamilton, lieckett tv Ransom, of
New York City.
BEDELL, Henry EdSON, of Newport,
son of James G. and Amanda (Smith)
Bedell, was born in Troy, July 26, 1836.
He was educated in the district schools of
AVestfield and before the war was a farmer,
while his present occupation is that of an
HENRY EDSON BEDELL.
auctioneer. In August, 1862, he enlisted in
Co. D, nth Regt. In this organization he
was successively promoted from private
through the grades of corporal and ser-
geant to that of 2d lieutenant. The regi-
ment was first stationed in the defenses of
Washington, but was afterwards engaged in
the battles of Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor,
and on the \\elden R. R. ; returned to
\Vashington, and driving back the rebels
at Berryville, then up the Shenandoah Val-
ley, again returned to Washington and was
afterwards detached to Harper's Ferry and
after many forced marches and skirmishes
around that place finally met the enemy at
UKNEDICT. 25
( )pe(iuan, where Lieutenant Bedell, acting
as captain of the second company was
struck by a shell which carried off his left
leg and injured him severely in the right
hand. He was conveyed to the temporary
hospital on the field and suffered the ampu-
tation of his leg. A few days later the sick
and wounded were ordered to be transferred
to Harper's Ferry .As Lieutenant iiedell
was so much exhausted it was impossible to
move him and he was left in the hands of
the rebels, and would have perished had it
not been for the kindness of a rebel lady in
the neighborhood of the battlefield, who
removed him to her own house and though
her means could but barely furnish the
necessities of life she nursed him with such
care and attention that he was finally able
to be transported within the Union lines.
Lieutenant Bedell married, March 3, 1856,
Kmeline, daughter of .Aaron and JAicinda
(Hitchcock) Burba of Westfield. Si.K chil-
dren have been born to them : De Etta L
(died March 9, 1879), Lucena A. (Mrs. Nol-
ton McClaflin of Montgomery), Alden N.
(died Nov. 3, 1892), Herman A., Betty
Nanny, and James .A.
Mr. Bedell is a Republican and while in
Westfield acted as the constable of the town
.■\fter the close of the war he was for twenty
years an employe of the LTnited States as
custom house officer. For five years of this
period he was stationed at Richford and
Berkshire and for fifteen years discharged
the duties of inspector and deputy collector
at Newport.
He is a Methodist in his religious creed ;
was one of the charter members and found-
ers of Baxter Post, No. 5 i, (i. -A. R., and has
been its junior commander.
BENEDICT, George Granville, son
of Ceorge Wyllys and F,liza( 1 )ewey) Bene-
dict, was born in Burlington, Dec. 26, 1826.
Mr. G. G. Benedict prepared for matricu-
lation at college in the academy at Burling-
ton, entered the L'niversity of Vermont and
graduated with honors in 1847, receiving
the degree of Master of Arts in 1S50. In
1865 he was elected member of the corpo-
ration of the university and was also ap-
pointed its secretary.
Subsequent to his graduation Mr. Bene-
dict taught in the city of New York for about
twelve months, and for the three following
years was employed in building the lines of
the Vermont & Boston Telegraph Co. In
1853 he acquired a proprietary interest in
the daily and weekly Burlington Free Press,
became associate editor, and is now editor-
in-chief of the same paper. He was also
postmaster of Burlington and president of
the Vermont & Boston Telegraph Co. from
i860 to 1864.
26
In August, 1862, he enlisted as a private
in Co. C, 1 2th Regiment, Vermont Vohmteer
Militia. In January, 1S63, he was promoted
to a lieutenant, and later was appointed aid-
de-camp on the staff of Gen. George J. Stan-
nard, commanding the 2d brigade of ^■t
Vols. At the expiration of Lieutenant Hen-
edict's term of service he was honorably dis-
charged on the 14th of July, 1863. In 1865
he held the office of assistant inspector gen-
eral with the rank of major.
In 1866 he was appointed aid-de-camp
on the staff of CJov. Paul Dillingham, with the
rank of colonel. In 1869 he was elected to
the state Senate from Chittenden county,
and served in the committees on education
and military affairs. Re-elected to the same
body in the following year, he served therein
as chairman of the committee on education
and in the committee on military affairs.
In civil life Colonel Benedict also served
as director of the old Farmers' and Me-
chanics' Bank. Very appropriately, too, in
view of his antecedents, he has been cor-
responding secretary of the \'ermont His-
torical Society for a long series of years. In
1879 Colonel Benedict was appointed by
Governor Proctor state military historian to
prepare a history of the part taken by Ver-
mont in the war for the Union, which work
he did with painstaking care and great liter-
ary ability.
He was married on the 27th of October,
1853, to Mary Anne, daughter of Edward
and Abigail Frances (Warner) Kellogg of
Canaan, N. Y. One daughter was the issue
of this union. Mrs. Benedict died on the
9th of November, 1857. Mr. Benedict mar-
ried as his second wife on the 2 2d of Decem-
ber, 1864, Catherine Almira, daughter of
the Rev. Alvin Pease, D. D., and Martha
(Howes) Pease of Rochester, N. Y. A daugh-
ter, who died in infancy, and one son were
the fruits of his second marriage.
BENTON, JOSIAH H., of Maidstone son
of Samuel S. Benton, was born in Waterford,
Aug. 8, 1816.
He received his education in the common
schools of Waterford and St. Johnsbury and
at Lyndon .\cademy, concluding his studies
at Burr Seminary, Manchester. He left his
paternal home at the age of seventeen to
pursue his education, relying on his own
unaided efforts to effect this praiseworthy
endeavor. After teaching several successive
terms at Belchertown, Mass., and Montpelier,
and in the meanwhile pursuing his theolog-
ical studies, he was ordained as minister of
the Congregational church and settled in
West .\ddison, but soon went to Northfield,
and afterwards to Michigan as a conventional
delegate and settled at Clinton, Mich. Then
he received a call to Port Huron, but in a
year returned to Clinton. Malaria compelled
him to return East. He now resides upon
his farm of eight hundred and fifty acres
on the Connecticut river. " * ^
An outspoken advocate of the Republican
party, Mr. Benton has filled several impor-
tant town offices and was a member of the
constitutional convention in 1870.
He married at Putney, August 12, 1841,
Martha E., daughter of David and Hulda
Danforth. From this marriage there were
four children : Josiah H., Jr., Martha E.,
Mary, and Robert. At Newbury, Oct. 9,
1856, he married for his second wife Harriet
B., daughter of Nathaniel and Silence Niles.
From this union there were eight children :
Samuel S., Harriet Maria, Ben Butler, Joseph,
Caroline E., Hugh Henry, John Edwin, and
Mary Edith.
BENNETT, Edward Dewey, of Ben-
nington, son of Daniel J. and Martha
(Dewey) Bennett, was born in Middlebury,
Dec 6, 1843. Descended from Daniel Ben-
nett, a soldier of the war of 18 12.
His early education was derived from an
attendance in the schools of Middlebury,
where he fitted for college, and taught school
EDWARD DEVv-Er BENNETT.
in Upton and Middlebury. In 1863 he was
employed as foreman of a construction gang
by the Western Union Telegraph Co. (Gain-
ing a knowledge of the art from this expe-
rience, he removed to Lansingburg, N. Y.,
where he was placed in charge of the office,
and was also employed by the Bennington
27
& Rutland R. R. in a similar capacity at the
former city. Here he remained until 1885,
when he was made superintendent of that
railway, a position which he still retains.
In addition he has acted in the capacity of
train dispatcher and auditor of passenger
and freight accounts of the Harlem exten-
sion and superintendent of the Lebanon
Springs and Bennington & Glastonbury R. R.
Mr. Bennett is affiliated with the Repub-
lican party, but his business has left him no
time to hold or seek office ; nevertheless he
is now serving his third term as member of
the Bennington graded school board, and
in 1892 was made president of that bod\'.
He has joined the Bennington Historical
Society, and was one of the committee of
fifty who served at the dedication of the
Bennington monument. In 1888 he re-
ceived an appointment on the staff of Gov-
ernor Dillingham, with the rank of colonel.
Colonel Bennett was wedded Sept. 15,
1870, to lillizabeth, daughter of John and
Sophronia (Hurd) Cushman. Their union
has been blessed with three children; Edward
Cushman, Charles Henry, and Bessie Dewe\
Bennett.
Colonel Bennett is a Congregationalist
in his religious belief, and has occupied the
positions of deacon and superintendent of
the Sabbath school. He is much interested
in the Y. M. C. A., and has been a member
for three years of their state executive board
as well as charter member of the local or-
ganization. He is allied to the Masonic fra-
ternity, and has presided in the East in Mt.
Anthony Lodge, No. 1 3.
BILLINGS, Frederick, son of ()ei and
Sophia (Wetherbe) Billings, was born in Roy-
alton, Sept. 27, 1823.
He received his preparatory education at
Kimball L'nion Academy and graduated at
the L'niversity of Vermont in 1844. He
then studied law in the office of Oliver P.
Chandler of \\'oodstock and was admitted to
the bar in 1848. In the spring of 1849 Mr.
Billings began the practice of law in San
Francisco, Cal., and for thirteen years con-
tinued it as a member of the firm of Halleck,
Peachy & Billings. Three years later he
made a trip to Oregon and Washington to
restore his health, after which he returned
to the East and settled in Woodstock, pur-
chasing, about 1870, the property known as
the Marsh estate. There he made the most
beautiful home in Vermont.
Mr. Billings not only took first rank as a
lawyer but was equally prominent among the
men of great business ability who spanned
the continent with railways. His energies
were specially devoted to the Northern Pa-
cific R. R. in which he was long a director,
tor many years the manager of its land de-
partment and for two years its president.
He did signal service in saving California
to the LTnion during the rebellion, and when
President Lincoln was considering the recon-
struction of his cabinet for his second term
he assured the California delegation of his
intention to appoint Mr. Billings a member
to represent that state. After the death of
Mr. Lincoln the Legislature of California
passed a resolution requesting his successor
to give Mr. Billings a cabinet position as the
representative of the Pacific coast.
FREDERICK BILLINGS.
He was married in New York, March 31,
1862, to Julia Parmly, daughter of Dr. Elea-
zer and "Annie M. (Smith) Parmly. Their
children were seven: Parmly (died, 1888),
Laura, Frederick, Mary Montagu, Elizabeth,
Ehrick(died, 1889), and Richard.
Mr. Billings died in Woodstock, Sept. 30,
1S90.
His was a manhood not absorbed in great
professional and business successes ; it went
out to his fellow-men in benefactions large
and innumerable.
Rev. L. G. Ware, himself since deceased,
wrote of him in November, 1890, the follow-
ing words of one Christian gentleman of an-
other : " The trustees of the Vermont State
Library desire to place on their record, and
to express in their report to the General
Assembly, their regret in the lamented death
of their' fellow-trustee, the Hon. Frederick
28
Billings. CJccurring within the first of his
membership of the board, it leaves them to
miss the friendly presence and genial com-
panionship which they promised themselves,
and deprived of the sympathy and aid they
were looking forward to from the wise inter-
est he was known to have in library affairs :
an interest in the collection of valuable
books and their proper bestowal, which he
specially manifested in the gift he made to
the University of the State of the scholarly
library of the late Hon. George P. Marsh,
and in the erection of the beautiful library
building which bears his name and has be-
come his fit and noble monument. But
regret in Mr. Billings' decease, the trustees
are well aware, is to be had on larger grounds
than those personal to themselves in the in-
timacy and conduct of their board. They
have to lament in his departure the loss of a
true lover of Vermont, who had a quick eye
for the beauty of its hills and a heart quick
for the tradition of patriotism and integrity
among its people. He was the large-minded
citizen, to whom all the interests of his native
state were dear, but dearest its highest con-
cerns of education and all intellectual advan-
tage of moral worth and religious conviction."
BISBEE, Edward W., of Barre, son
of Elijah W. and Lydia (Brown) Bisbee,
was born in Waitsfield, Feb. 27, 1856.
He received his early education in the
public schools of his native town and later
at Barre .Academy, from which he was grad-
uated in 1875. He studied law in Mont-
pelier and was admitted to practice at the
Washington county bar at the September
term of court, 1879. He located at Barre
in the following Xovemlier and has since
practiced his profession there
Mr. Bisbee has been an enterprising and
successful young man, a public-spirited citi-
zen, and has assisted in supplying the needs
of the town, being popular with all classes
of the community as a gentleman of good
judgment and sterling integrity In 1886 he
was one of the incorporators and organizers
of the liarre Water Co., which furnishes the
village and its inhabitants with an abundant
supply of water for public and domestic
uses, and since its organization he has been
a director and its secretary. He is also a
stockholder in the electric light company,
which furnishes lights for the towns of Mont-
pelier and Barre. In 1892 he was one of
the incorporators and commissioners to ef-
fect the organization of the Barre Savings
Bank & Trust Co., and is one of its stock-
holders.
He was state's attorney for Washington
county four years, i886-'90. He is a Mason
and an Odd Fellow. In politics he is a Re-
publican ; religious preference Universalist.
Mr. Bisbee was married in Montpelier,
Jan. 20, 1886, to Julia B., daughter of John
and Maria (Wilson) Snow.
Bingham, William Henry Harrison,
of .Stowe, was the son of Elias and Martha
(Robinson) Bingham. His birthplace was
Fletcher, and he was born .\pril 15, 1813.
His father, Elias Bingham, in early life
came from Connecticut and settled in
Fletcher, which he represented in the Legis-
lature, dying in 1839.
William H. H. Bingham received his edu-
cation in the schools of his native place and
at the St. .\lbans Academy. When of age
he began the study of law in the office of
O.W. Butler, Esq., of Stowe and was admit-
ted to the bar of Washington county in 1836.
He first opened an office in Stowe, entering
at once upon an active professional practice
and continued there until 1874. He has
deservedly obtained a very high local repu-
tation as a business lawyer and collector,
which specialty has brought him into inti-
mate relations with nearly all the merchants
and business men of his vicinity. These
circumstances combined with his great per-
sonal popularity gave him a most extensive
practice for a rural community. Relying on
his good judgment and jirofessional skill
very many cases were referred to him by
the county and supreme court in his capac-
ity of auditor, referee, commissioner and
master in chancery. He has served four
terms as state's attorney for Lamoille county.
r /:^^^=^"52^-^^-/^
30 I'.ixiJV.
Mr. Bingham has always been and blill is
identified "with the national Democratic
party. In 1S53 he represented Stowe in the
Legislature, the same year was elected county
commissioner and in 1S62 a member of the
Council of Censors and was its clerk. From
1853 to 1857 he was pension agent for the
eastern department of Vermont. A member
of the last constitutional convention in 1870,
he was appointed in 1878 one of the direc-
tors of the state's prison and house of correc-
tion and for fourteen years served in that
capacity. On three occasions Mr. Bingham
-was Democratic candidate for the chief
magistracy of Vermont and has received the
largest number of votes ever cast for a mem-
ber of that party. Twice he has been selected
as congressional candidate from his district.
He was for many years director of the
Vermont Mutual Fire Insurance Co., of Mont-
pelier, and for ten years its president. He
has also been a director of many banks, in-
surance and railroad companies and is now
a director of the Central Vermont R. R.,
and director of the National Life Insurance
Co., and Waterbury National Bank. He
also organized a company, of which he be-
came a president, to erect a magnificent ho-
tel in the village of Stowe near the base of
Mt. Mansfield, and under his careful super-
vision this enterprise was successfully accom-
plished, as well as the building of a smaller
house upon the summit with a carriage road
leading from the valley to its door, thus
attracting multitudes of strangers and tour-
ists. He is always known as Ciovernor Bing-
ham, and now that he counts more than four-
score years is yet young in mind and is always
gladly greeted by the younger men of his
profession for that, like all who know him,
they respect and love him.
Mr. Bingham married, July 31, 1S38, Or-
pha R., daughter of Riverius Camp, Esq., a
prominent citizen of Stowe. She died with-
out issue in November, 1891, mourned by
all who knew her.
BLXBY, ARMENTUS BOYDEN, of Poult-
ney, son of William Armentus and Hannah
(Stoddard) Bixby, was born in Mount Holly,
June 26, 1834.
He is of English descent on both sides
and is of the seventh generation from Joseph
Bixby, who emigrated from the mother
country in 1637 and settled in Massachu-
setts. The English branch of the Bixby
family are of Danish origin. On the Stod-
dard side he is of the sixth generation from
Anthony Stoddard who came from London
to Boston in 1639. Anthony Stoddard was
a descendant of William Stoddard, a knight
who came from Normandy to England,
A. D. 1066, with William the Conqueror, who
was his cousin.
While he was still an infant his parents
moved to Shellersville, ()., where both of
them died, leaving him an orphan at the
age of seven years. He returned to Ver-
mont and obtained his support by labor
upon the farm during the summer, while de-
voting his winters to attendance at the district
schools. At the age of nineteen he decided to
educate himself as a physician. Commencing
his preparatory studies at Black River .\cad-
emy, Ludlow, and Kimball L^nion Academy,
of Meriden, N. H., he entered Castleton
Medical College from which he graduated in
1858, completing his course at the College
of Physicians and Surgeons in New York.
He began his professional labors at London-
derry in i860, and built up a large and ex-
tensive practice in that and the adjoining
towns. Obeying the call of duty, he offered
his services to the government and was made
assistant surgeon of the 4th Regt. Vt. Vols.,
continuing in the army from Oct. 6, 1S62, to
Sept. 30, 1864, when he returned to his
former labors. In 1882 he was compelled
to abandon his practice on account of ill
health and removed to Poultney, where he
now resides.
In his religious belief Dr. Bixby is a liberal
Baptist. He has always been an active
worker in the church, but his labors have
never been characterized by narrow secta-
rianism. For some years he was a licensed
preacher in the IMethodist church and
labored as a revivalist with marked success.
During the agitation of the slavery ques-
tion he was a strong opponent of that insti-
tution and has ever acted with the Republican
party till 18S4, when he withdrew and became
an active Prohibitionist. He was a member
of their state committee for a number of
years and chairman of the state convention
of 1888. He was sent as a delegate to the
national convention which nominated Clin-
ton B. Fisk for the presidential chair. His
eminent qualifications for official position
were demonstrated by the fact that he was
the choice of his constituents for the posi-
tion of state treasurer in 1888 and his popu-
larity was evinced by his running ahead of
his ticket. He also received the nomination
for the position of judge of probate for
Rutland county in 1892. In the presidential
campaign in 188S he took the platform and
advocated the principles of his party in
nearly all parts of the state, speaking elo-
quently and effectively.
Dr. Bixby was united in marriage March
17, 1857, to Annie, daughter of Luther and
Polly (Hemmenway) French of Mt. Holly,
who died June 10, i860, leaving one daugh-
ter, Lola Ann. He married for his second
wife, Oct. 9, 1862, Elnora E., daughter of
Lewis and Mary (.\iken) Howard of London-
32 BISHOP.
derry. One daughter has blessed the union :
Salome Eliza.
Dr. Bixby is pre-eminently a self-made
man, who, left an orphan in early childhood,
yet struggled successfully to educate himself
and by unaided efforts attained an honored
position in the community. Independent in
idea and action he is respected by all who
know him for the probity of his life and
character and has always proved himself a
firm friend to those in adversity and a kind
and considerate neighbor ; of him it can be
truly said in the words of Sir Henry Walton,
" his armor is his honest thought, and simple
truth his highest skill."
BISHOP, William H., of island Pond,
son of John R. and Harriet (Kemp) Bishop
was born at Margate, Kent county, Eng-
land, .August 24, 185 I.
He obtained his education in the English
schools of Margate, came to this country in
June, 1868, and ten years after settled at
Island Pond. Soon after his arrival, he pur-
chased the Essex County Herald and has
conducted this paper ever since. Mr. Bishop
has established a lively local correspondence
in every quarter of the county and made
his paper in fact as well as name the Herald
of Essex County.
Mr. Piishop is a Republican from convic-
tion and though born a foreigner is instinct-
ively American. He has been a delegate
to state and county conventions, a member
of the Republican county committee for
several years and has acted more than once
as its chairman.
He has been for ten years one of the
wardens of the Protestant Episcopal church,
secretary of Island Pond Lodge No. 44, F.
& A. M., and he is prominent in the lodge
and encampment of the I. (). O. F.
He was married Sept. 22, 1875, to Clara
M., daughter ofjames and Matilda( Hay ward)
Wyatt. They have had five children : .'Al-
fred Ernest, William Henry, Roy A., Hubert
Stanley, and Arthur William (deceased).
BISSELL, Edgar N., of East Shore-
ham, son of Solomon L. and Martha M.
(Atwood) Bissell, was born Sept. 4, 1840, at
Shoreham.
He obtained his early education at home
and later on at Newton .•\cademy. Engaged
in the occupation of farming and cultivating
a large portion of the land upon which his
grandfather settled in 1777, Mr Bissell has
been principally known as a breeder and ex-
porter of Merino sheep and is considered as
one of the best authorities of the state in
this matter. He is a frequent and valued
contributor to various agricultural journals.
He represented the town in the Legislature
of 1882 ; was state cattle commissioner
under Governor Ormsbee : president of the-
Vermont Merino Sheep Breeders' Associa-
tion, i88o-'8i ; also president of the Ver-
mont Sheep Shearers' Association from 1S86
to 1 89 1 and occupied the chief executive
office of .\ddison County Agricultural Soci-
ety from 1886 to 1892. He is now serving
on the committee of the Natural \Vool
Growers' .Association, and for three years
has been chairman of that committee. .Ap-
pointed a member of the State PSoard of
.Agriculture by Governor Dillingham he re-
signed the office to give his attention to
other matters.
Mr. Bissell has received the Masonic de-
gree, conferred in the lodge, chapter and
commandery.
He married, first, Sophia N., daughter of
Daniel and Nancy Needham of Whiting, on
March 4, 1863, at Shoreham. From this
union five children were born : Henry E.,
Edward S., Helen N., .Annie J , and Maude
S. His first wife died in .August, 1888. On
Dec. 28, 1889, he was married to Franc F.,
daughter of Jerry and Susan Parker of Shore-
ham.
Having a large acquaintance, not only in
but beyond his native town, he is universally
esteemed and no one is considered to have
acquired a greater skill in his specialties than
himself.
BISSELL, William Henry Augustus,
late of Burlington, son of Dr. Ezekiel and
Elizabeth (Washburn) Bissell, was born in
Randolph, Nov. 10, 18 14.
He received his preliminary education in
the Randolph public schools and academy,
and was graduated from the classical course
of the V. V. M. in 1838. In the following
year he was employed as a teacher in Bishop
Hopkins' School for Boys, at the same time
studying for the ministry. Later, in part-
nership with G. B. Eastman, he established
a private school in Detroit. In 1838 he was
a candidate for Holy Orders in the diocese
of New York, in which state, for a brief
space, he was instructor in the institution at
Troy. In 1839 he was ordained deacon by
Bishop Onderdonk of Cavalry Church, New
York City. Soon after his ordination he
was established as rector at West Troy, and
was afterwards called to Lyons, where he
remained till 1848, then changed his pas-
torate to Genesee, N. Y. In 1868 he was
elected bishop of the diocese of Vermont,
with his residence at Burlington.
Bishop Bissell was an Independent in his
political views, always voting for the man
fitted for office, irrespective of party. He
was much interested in missionary work,
being connected with all societies working
under the authority of the Episcopal church.
33
He was united in marriage August 29, 1838,
to Martha, daugliter of Phineas and Maria
(Cotton) Moulton of West Randolph. Five
children blessed this union ; Martha E.(Mrs.
Willard S. Pope of Detroit), Laura A.
(widow of Surgeon Charles S. Oray, U. S.
Navy), Mary A. (Mrs. G. Shaw of Burling-
ton), John H., and William A.
BIXBY, HIRA L., of Chelsea, son of Icha-
bod and Susanna (Lewis) Bixby, was born
in Chelsea, Sept. 13, 1833.
Educated in the common schools and at
the academy at Chelsea, he remained upon
his father's farm until he was thirty-one years
of age, when after studying the art of pho-
tography he pursued that occupation in
Burlington for eight years and then returned
to his native place, occupying himself chiefly
with farming and photography.
In 188 1 he originated a plan for signaling
the weather forecasts by means of steam
whistles, which was received with favor by
the weather bureau, and after the latter was
transferred from the war to the agricultural
department, it was adopted and is now in
successful operation.
In politics a Republican. Mr. Bixby has
held most of the town offices and is esteemed
a prudent and public-spirited citizen by his
fellow-townsmen. He represented Chelsea in
the Legislature of 1886, where he introduced
a proposal for the first secret ballot system
ever brought before that body, and though
it failed at the time its principles were to a
great extent embodied in the law of 1890.
BLAISDELL,EDS0N G., of Bridport,son
of Josiah and Cleora (Munsill) Blaisdell, was
born in Richford, Dec. 13, 1846. His
grandfather was one of the original settlers
of the place and his father, for several years,
represented the town in the state Legislature.
He received his early training in the pub-
lic schools of Richford and at the high school
of Fairfax. Graduating from the Commer-
cial College at Burlington in 1S64, he pur-
sued his studies at the Dartmouth Medical
School, and finally graduated, in 1871, from
the medical department of the University
of Vermont, as the valedictorian of his class.
Clerk at quartermaster's department at City
Point during the civil war, he afterward
went to Texas, but in 187 1 established him-
self as a physician at Bridport, where he has
built up a lucrative practice.
A Republican in politics he has held sev-
eral town offices, notably that of superin-
tendent of schools ; is a member of the Ad-
dison County Medical Society and of the
Masonic order. For the past twelve years
he has been the clerk of the Congregational
Society of Bridport. Somewhat reserved
and an opponent of all display in his man-
ner of living he jiossesses the affection of all
who come into intimate relation with him.
He was married in Uridport, June 1 7,
1874, to Mary L., daughter of Oliver and
Sarah Eldredge. From this union two chil-
dren are living : Cleora G., and Harry K.
BLISS, JOSHUA ISHAM, of Burlington,
son of Moses and Sophia (Isham) Bliss, was
born in Burlington, Nov. 19, 1830.
His ancestors originally came from the
county of Devonshire, in England, emi-
grating to Boston in 1635. ^^^- Kliss, after
a preparatory course in the academies at
Shelburne and Burlington, entered the L'ni-
versity of Vermont, from which he grad-
uated with high honors in 1852. He then
took a position in a private school in North
*5I^ <^
-^fe^ ^
JOSHUA ISHAM BLISS.
Carolina, but on account of his delicate
health was obliged to resign, and in order
to recuperate he spent some time in travel-
ing in Europe and the East. In 1857 he
again resumed the profession of teaching in
Parkersburg, Xa. Soon after he was ordered
deacon in the Protestant Episcopal church
at Burlington, and two years later was or-
dained priest at Jericho.
In 1863 he was called as assistant rector
to St. Luke's parish in St. .Albans, and after-
wards assumed the sole rectorship, till 1S69,
when he again visited Europe. On his re-
turn, after a year of missionary service, he
assumed the rectorship of St. Peter's Church
Bennington. In 1877 he was complimented
34
by an apijointment to the chair of professor
of rhetoric and English literature in the U.
V. M., where he remained for eight years,
when he was invited to assume the charge
of St. Paul's Church in Burlington, which
arduous position he has ably filled to the
present time. In 1885 his alma mater con-
ferred upon him the degree of D. D., having
previously bestowed those of A. M. and A.
B. He is president of the standing com-
mittee of the diocese of Vermont, and has
been elected several times deputy from that
diocese to the general convention.
He was married Sept. 10, i860, to Anne
E., daughter of Carlos and Caroline (Dem-
ing) Baxter, of Burlington.
BLACK, Henry Fayette, of East Cov-
entry, son of Timothy and Almira (Baldwin)
Black, was born in Co\entry, June 28, 1842.
Educated at the common schools and
academy of Coventry. He has from early
age been a large and successful farmer, mak-
ing dairying a specialty. He has been prom-
inent in town affairs, and held different town
offices almost continually. He was town
representative in i88o-'82, serving on the
committee on the Grand List, which origi-
nated the present system of sworn inventories
which makes personal property bear nearer
its share of taxation. Has also been almost
continually acting under the authority of the
probate court, in the settlement of estates
and the management of trust funds.
In his political preferences he has always
been a Republican, and though a Baptist in
his religious belief, he attends and supports
the Congregational church.
He married, Oct. 19, 1 865, Melvina, daugh-
ter of Childs and Ann (Chesney) Brooks.
Their children are: iVIyra (Mrs. John H.
Howard, Albion, N. Y.), Orrin H., Mabel,
Carrie, Freddie, and Harry A.
BOGUE, Homer A., of Bristol, son of
Virgil P. and Florentine (Larkin) Bogue,
was born in Enosburgh, June 4, 1861.
His grandfather was the first settler of
Enosburgh, and on his mother's side he
traces his lineage to the Winslow family of
the Mayflower.
He attended school both in Enosburgh
and Irasburg and then continued his studies
at the academy at Newport. Since he came
of a family noted for its physicians, he re-
solved to study medicine, and at the age of
fourteen commenced under the tuition of
Dr. Templeton, of Irasburg, and later vifas
instructed by Dr. C. B Bogue, of Chicago.
He then entered the medical department of
the LIniversity of Vermont and later that of
the LIniversity of New York. Visiting Chicago
for private instruction and hospital practice,
he finally graduated at the U. V. M. in 1886.
He first pursued his profession at Monkton,
but soon removed to Bristol, where he has
met with much success.
In politics he is a Republican, is justice
of the peace and health officer. He is a
Mason, belonging to both lodge and chapter.
Dr. Bogue was married in Irasburg Dec.
6, 1882, to Ida M., daughter of .Abner and
Clorinda (Stock) Miles. Their three children
are : Ruth S., George H., and Helen M.
BOND, George Herbert, of Brattie-
boro, son of Luke T. and Elsie (Stoddard)
Bond, was born in Dummerston, Ian. 31,
1846.
Educated in the common schools, at the
age of sixteen he enlisted in Co. I, i6th
GEORGE HERBERT BOND.
Regt. Vt. Vols. He served for a period of
nine months when he received his discharge.
Returning, he lived five years at home, after-
wards in Orange, Lowell and Boston.
In 1864, at the time of the St. Albans
raid, he enlisted in the National Guard as a
private, and since then has passed through
all grades until he has reached that of
lieutenant-colonel, which position he now
holds.
In January, 1870, he married iVIiss .Addie,
daughter of George and Elishaba ( Maynard)
Carpenter, of Orange, Mass. Two daughters
have been born to them : Lizzie C, and Nel-
lie G.,the latter Mrs. W. F. Root of Brattle-
boro.
In 1872 he took up his residence in Brat-
tleboro, where for fourteen years he was in
the employ of the Kstey Organ Co., but
since 1887 has been engaged in the coal
business.
He is a prominent Odd Fellow and Mason,
being a member of Wantastiquet Lodge, No.
5, I. O. O. F. ; Brattleboro Lodge, No. 102,
F. cS; A. M. ; Fort Dummer Royal Arch Chap-
ter, No. 12, and IJeauseant Commandery,
Knights Templar, No. 71.
BOLTON, PlYNN, of Peacham, son of
Luther C. and Julia (Hooker) Bolton, was
born in Barnet, Sept. 16, 1S24.
Obtaining such educational advantages as
lay in his power in the public schools of
Danville and Newbury, in the intervals of
labor upon a farm, when he had attained
his majority he went to Boston, where he
found employment. Returning to Danville
in the spring of 1859, he purchased a farm
and cultivated it for five years. He then
again went to Boston where he continued a
year and then removed to Peacham, follow-
ing the life of a farmer till 1869. He then
commenced the business of a dealer in pro-
duce, and purchased horses for parties in
Massachusetts. In 1873 he changed the
scenes of his labors to Peacham Corner,
w-here he operates a small farm, making a
specialty of the products of the dairy.
His religious preferences are Congrega-
tional, and he has always voted the Repub-
lican ticket. For four years he was called
upon to discharge the duties of trustee,
lister and selectman, and has held many
minor offices. He was elected to the state
Legislature as representative for Peacham in
1882, and served on the general and dis-
tributing committees.
He was united in marriage April 8, 1858,
to Phebe B., daughter of Moses and Phebe
(Brock) Wesson, who died Sept. 13, 1862,
leaving one son, George Bolton, ^L D., of
West Burke. Mr. Plynn Bolton contracted
a second alliance May 1 1, 1S65, with Martha
J., daughter of Ira and Recta (Wheelock)
McLoud. By his second wife he had issue :
Helen Phebe (deceased). May Evelyn, and
Recta Gertrude (deceased).
BOOTH, ISAAC Phillips, of North-
field, son of Isaac Billings and Lydia Olney
(Phillips) Booth, was born in Union, Conn.,
Sept. 10, 1843.
He early evinced a love for books, and the
height of his youthful ambition was to obtain
an education ; but the circumstances of his
parents were such as to give him but little
encouragement, yet he availed himself of his
slender opportunities to the utmost, and by
private reading and study, succeeded in ob-
taining a fair preparation for college. Feel-
ing himself too poor to pursue a collegiate
course, he concluded to settle down to a
l',(lnlH. 35
business life, but his first venture proving
unsuccessful, he resolved to return to the
vocation of a teacher, some experience of
which he had had in his earlier days. He
first opened a private school in White's Cor-
ners, N. Y., but was soon called to take
charge of a new graded and high school in
that place ; and after remaining there two
years was elected principal of the Kent, O.,
grammar school. Having spent his vaca-
tions and other leisure in reading law, in
1870 he was admitted to the Portage county
bar, and shortly after entered the office of
M. S. Castle, of Cleveland ; but this profes-
sion he also found uncongenial to him, and
he turned his attention to the church. Ac-
cordingly, he entered St. Lawrence Univer-
sity, from which he graduated with honor in
1874, taking both the theological and uni-
versity course, and immediately entered upon
his pastoral duties at Huntington, L. I.,
where he remained two years, and then
changed the scene of his labors to Morris-
ville, and subsequently to Northfield, in
which place he soon was elected to the pro-
fessorship of Latin and Greek in Norwich
University, receiving from this institution in
due course, the degrees of A. M. and D. D.
In 1S85 Dr. Booth resigned his position
in the university and became principal of
the graded and high school in Northfield,
where he remained till his appointment to
the office of county supervisor of schools.
In iSSo he represented Morrisville, and
36 P.OO'IH.
sened as chaplain in the House of Repre-
sentatives, and six years after was elected a
member of that body from Northfield, serv-
ing on the committee on education, and
earnestly advocating the present school law.
In 1891' he again took charge of the graded
and high school, but has now accepted a call
from his old parish at Morrisville.
Dr. Booth has always taken a deep inter-
est in educational matters and has discharged
the duties of town superintendent in nearly
every place of his residence.
He was married. May 1, 1S66, to Julia E.,
daughter of Laurens Crawford, t^sq., of Staf-
ford, Conn. Fourteen children have been
born to them : Lydia J. (deceased), Earnest
V. (deceased), Laurens C. (deceased), Al-
fred P., Clarence H., Louis P., Edwin, Frank
L., Maud G., .i^nnie M. (deceased), Ralph
A., Mabel E., Julia B. (deceased), and Paul C.
Mr. Booth is past master of the local Ma-
sonic lodge, a member of the L O. O. P.,
and chief templar of the lodge of that order
in that town, and a trustee of Norwich
University.
BOOTH, William W., of Waltham,
son of Ezra and Sophia (Whalley) Booth,
was born in Ferrisburg, May 26, 1841.
Educated at the district school and at
Vergennes Academy, at the wish of his par-
ents he remained with them on the old
homestead till he became of age. In 1875
he sold his estate in Ferrisburg and removed
to Waltham. He represented that tow-n in
the Legislature of 18S0, and has served as
selectman, as well as in other town offices.
He was married March 26, 1872, toThirza,
daughter of Aaron and Lottie Field, of Fer-
risburg. They have two children : Agnes
P., born Tune 26, 1874, and .Arthur E., born
April 28," 1878.
BOSWORTH, David, of Bristol, son
of Hezekiah and Myra (Miller) Bosworth,
was born in Hampton, N. V., June 9, 1814.
His ancestors were among the earliest set-
tlers of Boston.
Commencing his education at the com-
mon schools of Hampton, he entered the
Castleton .Academy and afterwards the Troy
Conference Academy. Leaving school at
the age of eighteen he returned to assist his
father in the management of his farm, and
while here taught school for several seasons.
Buying an estate adjoining that of his father
he carried on both for about fifteen years.
During this time he first felt the inclination
to preach, and this he did with much success
at the .\d\ ent church in Hampton. Subse-
quenilv he removed to Bristol where he
labored for five years. The next four years
he was in Waterbury, engaging in business
in conjunction with his labors for a strug-
BOSWORTH.
gling church. Later, Mr. Bosworth lived in
Fair Haven and Cuttingsville, giving all the
aid in his power to the .Advent churches near
those places. In 186S he returned to Bris-
tol and became permanently identified with
the Bristol Manufacturing Co., of which he
became one of the largest stockholders as
well as its secretary and treasurer, which
position he has held since. A large share of
its success is owing to his business ability
and enterprise.
Never taking any especial interest in poli-
tics, Mr. Bosworth was first a Democrat and
later on a member of the Free Soil party.
Since that time he has been a consistent
Republican. He has been prominently con-
nected with the schools wherever he has
resided.
DAVID BOSWORTH
One of the best-known members of the
Evangelical .Advent church in the state he is
at present president of the Society of .Advent-
ists of Vermont and the Province of Quebec.
Rev. Mr. Bosworth was married, Nov. 15,
1842, to Melina, daughter of William Hotch-
kiss, of Hampton ; her death occurred Feb.
13, 1864. Of this union were born five
children : Alice E , Amanda M., Evangeline
A., Ida M , and William H. His second
marriage was contracted with Carrie M.,
daughter of Harvey and Samantha (Bump)
Boardman, March 14, 1865. By her he has
had five children : B. Boardman, M. Helen,
Myra M., Grace M., and David R.
BOYCE, OSMC^RE Baker, son of Rich-
ard 'r. and Joanna (Banfield) I'.oyce, was
born in Newbtiry, Nov. 24, 1841.
Born and brought up on a farm he received
only such education as was afforded by the
district schools. .After becoming of age he
turned his attention to accjuiring an educa
tion, following anv employment which offered
the best inducements, spending as much of
his time at liarre .Academy as his means
37
organization : also serving as grand director,
anil represented that body in the supreme
lodge for four annual sessions. He is also a
member of the local lodge I. ().(). F.
He was married in June, 1871, to .\melia
.\. French, of Northumberland, N. H., who
died September, 1S77, leaving one child:
F.dith .A. In January, 1S81, he married
Louisa I,., daughter of Oraneel B. Dodge, of
liarre.
JSMORE BAKER BOYCE.
would permit, and following teaching suc-
cessfully. .Acquiring a taste for professional
life, he decided on the law and read for a
time in the office of his brother, W. .A. Boyce,
and then took a course at the .Albany (N. Y.)
1 .aw School, from which he graduated in 1871.
Mr. Boyce first began the practice of his
profession at (luildhall where he also edited
for a year the Kssex County Herald. In 1S74
he removed to Barre and formed a law ]5art-
nership with his brother, W. .A. Boyce, which
has successfully continued to the present
time, the firm enjoying a large practice in
Orange and Washington counties.
Politically Mr. Boyce is an adherent of the
Republican i>arty, and has been honored
with many positions of trust, viz. : superin-
tendent of schools, justice of the peace, vil-
lage trustee, and state's attorney for F^sse.x
county in 1872, and a senator from \Vash-
ington county in 1S92, serving on the
judiciary committee.
Mr. Boyce is a member of the Knights of
Honor, and has held various offices in that
BOYCE, William A., of Barre, son of
Richard T. and J. (Banfield) Boyce, was
born in Newbury, Dec. 3, 1839.
He was brought up on a farm, educated
in the common schools and at Barre .Acade-
my, taught several years in the public schools
of the state with marked success, two of
these as principal of the Cabot high school.
Having decided to enter the profession
of the law for his life work, he studied three
years in the office of the late 1.. C. Wheelock
and of the late E. E. French, and was ad-
mitted to the Washington county bar at the
March term in i86g, and soon after opened
an office in Barre and engaged in the active
jiractice of his profession. In 1875 he took
WILLIAM A.
into partnership his brother, (). B. Boyce,
and since that time the firm have enjoyed a
large and successful general practice. He
has also been extensively and successfully
engaged in real estate transactions. .At the
organization of the Barre Savings Bank &
Trust Co. he was elected one of its directors
38 BOVDEN.
Mr. Boyce has repeatedly held the office of
town treasurer, superintendent of schools,
and lister, and he has also represented Barre
in the Legislatures of i872-'73. He is a
member of Hiawatha Lodge, Xo. 20, L O.
O. I".
BOYDEN, Nelson L., of Randolph
Center, son of Luther and Hannah (Gofif)
Boyden, was born in Barnard, July 19, 1836.
His educational advantages were derived
from the district schools, the Royalton
Academy and Orange county grammar
school. Left an urphan in his earliest boy-
hood, he was brought up on a farm, after-
wards read law with Hon. Philander Perrin,
being admitted to the Orange county bar
NELSON L. BOYDEN
in 1S65. He commenced the practice of his
profession at Randolph Center where he has
always remained and enjoyed a large and
fairly successful business. In addition he is
the owner of a large farm and one of the
finest herds of Jerseys in the state, and pays
much attention to the breeding of fine horses.
Mr. Boyden is a Republican and has filled
many offices of trust. He has been super-
intendent of schools in Barnard and Ran-
dol]jh, and town clerk in the latter place for
twenty-five years. He was chosen senator
from Orange county in 18S2, and was chair-
man of the committee on education and re-
form school, besides serving on the judiciary
committee. In i8S8-'8g he represented the
town of Randolph in the Legislature, being
chairman of the committees on railroads and
Grand Isle bridge and also a member of the
judiciary committee. He was state's attor-
ney for Orange county in i87o-'72-'74-'76,
and has been both member and president of
the board of trustees of Randolph State Nor-
mal School. For the interest of this institu-
tion Mr. Boyden has labored assiduously,
and when their building was burned in the
summer of 1893 he was unanimously chosen
chairman of the committee to erect a new
edifice, and to this end he has given his clos-
est attention with flattering prospects of
success.
He is a member of the Masonic fraternity
and the I. O. O. F,, has filled the chairs in
the four local bodies of the former society
at West Randolph, and is a member of Mt.
Zion Commandery Knights Templar at
Montpelier.
Mr. Boyden was united in marriage to E.
Angene, daughter of Oeorge and Arminda
(Miner) Carpenter. They have had five
children, two of whom survive : Charles I.,
and Florence L.
BOYNTON, THOMAS JEFFERSON, of
Montpelier, the son of David F. and Lydia
(Roberts) Boynton, was born in \Vestfield>
Dec. 30, 1856.
Educated in the common schools of \Vest-
fieldand the State Normal School at Johnson,
where he graduated, he taught several terms
in common and graded schools. In 1878 he
began to read law, but ill health compelled
a cessation of study. In 1S79 he resumed
his legal studies and was admitted to the bar
at the April term of Lamoille county court
and afterward received the same privilege
in Suffolk county, Mass., on Nov. 16, 1889.
He practiced law m Johnson till July 15,
1875, when he was appointed P. O. Inspec-
tor in charge of the New England division,
which position he resigned June 25, 1889,
when he resumed the practice of his profes-
sion and located in Montpelier, continuing
until November, 1S93, when he again re-
ceived the appointment of P. O. Inspector
with headquarters in Boston, where he now
resides.
A Democrat in his political faith, Mr.
Boynton has filled the usual town offices,
and he represented Montpelier in the Gen-
eral Assembly of 1892, being the leader of
his party during that session and intluential
in the work of the House. He was a mem-
ber of the 1 )emocratic state committee from
1882 to 1886 and is now its chairman.
He also belongs to the Masonic fraternity,
being on the roll of Waterman Lodge, No.
83, F. & A. M.
Mr. Boynton married, Dec. 27, 1879, Miss
Hattie L., daughter of Elizah O. and Judith
Story, of Johnson. They have one child i
Marion J.
39
BOYNTON, William Seward, of St.
Johnsbury, son of David and Harriet (Cham-
berlain) Boynton,vvas born in St. Johnsliviry,
.\pril 2, 1853.
His earlv education was received at the
public schools of that town. He afterwards
attended the St. Johnsbury Academy, where
he was graduated in 1873. He entered Cornell
University with the class of 1S77, where he
pursued a scientific and literary course of
studies. In 1877 he became treasurer and
a trustee of the Passumpsic Savings Bank,
which position he has since held. He has
also served as treasurer of the village, county
and union school district.
In politics he is a Republican, and an hon-
orary member of the National Cuard of
Vermont, having served as ist lieutenant of
Co. n, ist regiment.
.A member of Passumpsic Lodge, F. & A.
M., he also for fifteen years has been junior
warden of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church
of St. Johnsbury.
September 8, 18S1, Mr. Boynton was
married to Ida P. Bancroft, formerly of
Chelsea, Mass., daughter of \\'illiam and
Statira (Haskell) Bancroft. Their three
children are : Helen Agnes, Alice Harriet,
and William Henry.
BRADY, Charles N., of Newport, son
of Patrick and Hannah (O'Connor) Brady,
was born in Haverhill, N. H., Feb. 9, 1855.
His education was obtained at the public
schools and the Methodist Seminary at
Newbury.
He began business life at the age of thir-
teen by mastering the art of telegraphy,
which he practiced in summer until 1877,
when he entered the general offices of the
Passumpsic R. R. at Lyndonville, filling
various minor positions until he was made
night train dispatcher in 1879, which occu-
pation he relinquished after one year's
service on account of ill health. Two years
afterwards he entered the train service in the
passenger department. In 1886 he took up
his abode in Newport, and until the early
part of t8S8 devoted his time entirely to the
real estate business. In February of that
year, he became a partner in the firm of
Sherman & Brady, successors to Sherman &
West, wholesale and retail dealers in flour,
feed, etc., taking charge of the affairs of the
concern and doubling its general business
and storage capacity the first two years, also
adding to its facilities a steam grist mill
with elevator, etc. ; and at the present time,
is conducting one of the most important in-
dustries in Northern Vermont.
Mr. lirady was one of the incorporators,
and at present is a director of the Newport
Board of Trade, and vice-president and treas-
urer of the Memphremagog Driving Park
.\ssociation. Mr. l!ra<ly is one of the prime
movers and ablest supporters of all the im-
provements that Newport at present enjoys ;
to him is due in a great measure the estab-
lishment of both the water and sewer system
in the town, also the electric lights and con-
crete sidewalks. He is vice-president of the
Moir Granite Co., which has recently located
the United States branch of their works at
Newport, largely through the efforts of Mr.
Brady. He is also a director in the New-
port Loan and Building Club, and an ener-
CHARLES N. BRADY.
getic citizen who never allows any opportu-
nity to escape him to promote the welfare
of the community in which he resides.
He was united in wedlock Dec. 20, 18S6,
to May, daughter of Solomon M. and Louisa
(Sias) Field.
Mr. Brady is an ardent Democrat who has
never sought jiolitical preferment.
BRADFORD, PHILANDER D., late of
Northfield, was born in Randolph, .April 9,
iSii,and was the son of John and Lucy
(Brooks) Bradford. His father was a lineal
descendant in the sixth generation from
Governor William Bradford, who came over
in the Mayflower. An orphan at the age
of seven years, he found a home with the
relatives of his mother at Alstead, N. H.,
but returned to Randolph at the age of
fifteen, and entered the Orange county
grammar school. Five years later he com-
menced the study of medicine with his
40
brother, Dr. Austin Bradford, and at the age
of twenty-three graduated from the Wood-
stock Medical School, then a branch of Mid-
dlebury College. He practiced medicine in
Braintree, Randolph and Bethel In 1850
he received the degree of A. M. from the
University of \'ermont. In 1S54 he perma-
nently settled in the town of Northfield. In
1857 he became professor of physiology in
the medical college of Castleton, and held
that position until December, iS62,when he
resigned. An antiquarian by nature, he
made a large collection of objects of inter-
est and historical value, as well as a fine col-
lection of minerals, which he donated to
Norwich L'niversity, where they are known
as the Bradford collection.
Dr. Bradford belonged to the Republican
party. He was elected to the Legislature
from Randolph in iS53-'54. In the latter
year he was made commissioner of the in-
sane and served the state in this capacity
for two years. In 1862 -'63 he was elected
senator from Washington county, and in the
last year president of the ^'ermont Medical
Society. .\ strenuous advocate of the cause
of human rights, of temperance and all
moral reforms he was elected a trustee of
Norwich University. In December, 1S62,
he was commissioned surgeon of the 5 th
Regt. \'t. \'ols., but from ill health was com-
pelled to resign the ensuing April.
In i860 he was made G. M. of the Grand
Lodge of I. O. O. F., and was also placed
at the head of the grand division of the Sons
of Temperance. In 1875 he was a member
of the Right Worthy (Irand Lodge U. S. I. ( ).
O. F., and in 1879 of Right Worthy Grand
Lodge I. O. G. T.
He was a liberal supporter of, and a con-
stant attendant at the services of the Pro-
testant P^piscopal church, and was senior
warden of the same at the time of his
death.
Dr. Bradford married first Susan H. Edson
of Randolph in 1835, who died in October,
1865, leaving one child, Mrs. George W.
Soper, who died in 1889. In May, 1867,
Dr. Bradford married Mrs. Olive Moore,
widow of Hiram Moore, Esq. The second
Mrs. Bradford died .August 5, 1890. Dr.
Bradford died at Northfield, July 16, 1892.
BRAGG, AZRO D., of Fayston, born
in Warren, Nov. 25, 1834, was the son of
William and Chloe (Buck) Bragg.
His father being crippled from rheuma-
tism when .Azro was a young lad, he took
charge of the farm, manifesting even at that
age the energy, self-reliance and persever-
ance that has made him a successful man.
He has passed most of his life in the town of
Fayston. Here he occupies himself with
dairying and stock raising. From a fine
sugar orchard of two thousand trees he sends
to the West large quantities of maple syrup
each season.
Mr. Bragg is an active Republican and
has attended as delegate every county con-
vention but two for the last thirty years ;
represented Fayston in the Legislature in
i870-'7i, besides holding many town offices.
He was four years Master of Waitsfield
Grange, P. of H., is a member of I. (). G.
T., and was for six years superintendent of
the M. E. Sabbath school of Waitsfield and
Favston.
AZRO D. BRAGG.
He was married, Jan. 9, 1855, to Anna
B., daughter of John C. and Lydia (Bixby)
(iriggs. Thev have had five children :
Francis A., Emily L. (died, 1881), Hattie
E. (Mrs. Ci. F. .Ainsworth of Minneapolis),
William ( '., and an infant son, who died in
1862.
BRANCH, Charles Franklin, of
Newport, son of (Jrson and Rodilla (Felton)
Branch, was born in Orwell, Dec. 9, 1845.
His preliminary education was received
in the village schools, and he was fitting for
college when the civil war destroyed all
taste for study. Eager to participate in the
stirring events of the times, he enlisted in
Co. C, 9th Vt. Vols., and was successively
promoted from pri\ate, through the grades
of corporal, sergeant, lieutenant and cap-
tain, which last position was assigned him
for gallant and meritorious conduct in the
field before Richmond ; later he was breveted
41
major for conspicuous conduct at the cap-
ture of Richmond, Ai)ril, 1S65. He was an
active participant in all the varied experi-
ences of his regiment, including their unfor-
tunate capture at Harper's Ferry, and was
among the first to enter the rebel capital.
He was twice wounded . in battle, and was
honorably discharged from the service in
December. i.S6^.
centennial. He is medical examiner for
nine prominent life insurance companies,
and surgeon for the southern division of the
C. P. r" R.
He has taken a deep interest in educa-
tional matters, and for many years was su-
perintendent of schools in Coventry. He is
esteemed one of the best speakers on the
subject of the war in the state, and is in de-
mand as a Memorial Day orator. He has
no disposition to seek office ; is a Congrega-
tionalist in his religious belief, earnest and
conscientious in his every-day life, and ever
ready to strive for the public weal.
Dr. Branch was united in marriage at
Orwell, March, 1S6S, to Emma, daughter of
James and Lucretia (Calkins) Cook by
whom he had issue : James ()., May E., and
Alliene E. Mrs. Branch deceased, Septem-
ber, I S76. In Coventry he was again united in
marriage to Ida H., daughter of Hon. Sam-
uel Burbank. From this union was born
one daughter, Helen L. His second wife
died in February, 1888, and he contracted a
third alliance, at Derby, with Martha J.,
daughter of Hon. Emera and Julia (Dag-
gett) Stewart, in October, 1.S91.
BREWSTER, GEORGE BENJAMIN, of
Irasburgh, son of Phineas and l.ydia (Isham)
ESrewster, was born in St. (leorge, August
4, 1823.
He was educated at the common schools
of St. deorge, Shelburne, and at Hinesburgh
Academv. In 18^1 he rtmo\ed to Iras-
CHARLES FRANKLIN BRANCH.
At the close of the war, returning home,
he was anxious to continue his studies, but
his parents desired that he should remain on
the farm, which he did until 1875, when he
decided to adopt the profession of his choice.
Graduating with honors, and pursuing fur-
ther instruction in hospital work, he settled
in Coventry, and in 1887 moved to Kewpoit,
and has become one of the leading physi-
cians of his section. He has been United
States pension examiner for several years,
also professor of state medicine and hy-
giene in the State University. He is an
active member in the Orleans County Medi-
cal Society, the Vermont State Medical
Society, and the American Medical Associa-
tion. For several years was surgeon to the
ist Regt., V. N. G., and was surgeon-gen-
eral of Vermont in i886-'88. He is an
ardent G. A. R. man and member of the
Military Order of the Loyal Legion. He is
a member of Central Lodge F. & A. M.,
Cleveland Chapter and Malta Commandery
K. T. ; of this last body he was chief mar-
shal at the celebration of the ]!eunin<;ton
3eORGe BENjAMIf
42
burgh, where he now owns n farm of four
hundred and forty acres. In addition to his
farming interests, he has for more than
twenty years been an extensive dealer in
butter and agricultural implements. He has
always been ambitious to advance the inter-
ests of the farmer and was the first to organ-
ize a farmers' league in the state.
Always a Republican, he served in the
state Legislature in 1 869-' 70. He is in
religious belief a Universalist, and for many
years was instrumental in maintaining Uni-
versalist preaching in his town.
He married, first, June 16, 1852, Emily
Holbrook, daughter of Peletiah Holbrook,
and second, Sept. 26, 1855, Mary A. Leon-
ard, daughter of \\illard and Amy (Lary)
Leonard of Glover. He has two sons and a
daughter: ^\'. F.Brewster (living in Iras-
burgh), Leonard K. Brewster (of Boston),
and Emily F. Brewster (wife of Dr. E. M.
Shaw of Spokane, Wash.)
His high moral principles and progressive
nature demonstrated in his every-day busi-
ness life, together with his cheerful, indus-
trious comiianion, has given to him a
beautiful countrv home, where he now lives
a comfortable retired life, and a respected
citizen.
BRIDGMAN, DORMAN, JR., of Hard-
wick, son of Dorman and Achsah (Mitchell)
Bridgman, was born in Hardwick, Feb. 7,
1837. His grandfather, Capt. John Bridg-
man, was the first settler (1795) in the
southern part of the town, where he cleared
the farm on which his son was born, and
which has always remained in the family.
The son was the first postmaster of Hard-
wick and the first and most prominent mer-
chant of the place. Both Capt. John and
Dorman, Sr., were prominently identified
with the business interests of the town. The
former was a volunteer at Plattsburg in the
war of 18 1 2, and in addition to his agricul-
tural pursuits was an inn-keeper, furnishing
good entertainment for man and beast at the
homestead farm under the sign of the "Half
Moon and Dove," A. ]). 1800.
Dorman Bridgman, Jr., received the cus-
tomary education at the public schools, then
attended the Hardwick and afterwards the
Peo])le's .-\cademy at Morrisville. After
teaching several terms in various towns,
the California gold fever seized him in 1858,
and he started for Pike's Peak. In i860 he
returned to Hardwick and employed himself
as proprietor of the hotel in that place till
1862, when his father took the house, the son
retiring to the paternal farm, where he re-
mained for five years, then purchased an
estate in \\'oodbury. In 1879 he engaged
with M. V,. Tucker in the lumber business
and erected a mill in Mack\ille, where he
remained till 1886, when he returned to
Hardwick village. Since his return he has
occupied himself principally in the advance-
ment of the material interests and prosperity
of the village, the rapid growth of which is
largely attributed to him. During this time
he has been chosen to different town and
village offices, and is at the present time
(1893) chairman of the board of selectmen
and justice of the peace of the town. He
was largely interested in securing the incor-
poration of the village in 1890, and was
elected its first president : and again in 1892-
■'^*^
/-^
DORMAN BRIDGI.Al., jr.
'93. He has been at various times Demo-
cratic candidate for town representative,
polling very much more than the party vote.
Mr. Bridgman early interested himself in the
establishment of the Hardwick Savings Bank
& Trust Co., organized in July, 1893, and is
at present a director and one of its largest
stockholders.
He was united in marriage, November,
i860, to lennie R., daughter of (ieorge and
Eliza (Renfrew) W'hitcher of Albanv.
BRIGHAM, Charles Orson, of Rut-
land, son of Leander D. and Eliza ( Bates)
Brigham, was born in Ogdensburg. N. V.,
Dec. 23, 1847.
His early childhood was passed in Oshawa,
Ont., until the death of his parents, when
with his brothers and sisters he came to re-
side with his grandmother at Westford. As
she was a woman who held fast to the Puri-
tanical faith of her ancestors and was well
versed in nil business operations, her iiitlu-
ence strongly impressed the boy who devoted
his attention to study during his evenings,
after the steady daily toil upon a rocky hill-
farm, the care of which he manfully took
upon his young shoulders. Ha\ing availed
himself of the best possible advantages
afforded him by the district and "select
school " of the village, Mr. Brigham com-
menced a course of study at the age of
twenty, in the Essex Academy, which was
unhajiiiilv interrupted before it^ coiniiletion
r.KIUHAM. 43
his town, and was e\er liberal in helping
other societies besides his own.
He was married, on April 25, 1876, to
Sarah A., daughter of Samuel G. and Phebe
{Dimicki Bishop, who has liorne him one
son : Lynn B.
In 1880, while making improvements on
the farm of his father-in-law in Westford,
urgent calls for nursing in that vicinity
seemed to develoj) a special aptitude and
interest in this occupation, and eyesight and
health appearing established now on a firm
basis, he commenced a study of medical
works, which resulted in his entering the
medical department of the University of
\'ermont in the spring of 1883. Dr. Brigham
received his diploma in 1886, after having
taken a full course of surgery and medicine,
and has practiced with marked success ever
since in Pittsford and the adjoining towns.
He is thoroughly in earnest in his work, and
his reputation has made him an acti\e mem-
ber of the Rutland County Medical and
Surgical Society, which has a\ailed itself of
his services as secretary and treasurer. He
is also a member of the State Medical Soci-
ety. In 1893 he removed from Pittsford to
Rutland, where he now resides.
BRIGHAM, Frederick Lucian, of
Pittsfield, son of Charles W. and Mary L.
Brigham, was born in Pittsfield, July 7,
1862.
CHARLES ORSON BRIGHAM.
by the destruction of the school buildings by
fire, and the bursting of a blood vessel in one
of his eyes. Overwork and hard study had
been a double draft on wearv nature, and
partial blindness seemed about to blot out
his prospect of a professional career, doing
with one of his fellow-students to his home
at Pittsford, he labored as he was able for a
short period, little thinking that in the future
he would return here in a professional capac-
ity, after an interval of fifteen years of weary
waiting and uncongenial occupations. I'his
time he spent mostly in Westford as clerk in
the store of a general merchant, or teaching
school in the long winters and employing the
summer season in agricultural pursuits and
in fire-insurance agencies, when his health
and eyesight would permit.
He was e\er an active worker in church,
Sunday-school and choir. Uniting with the
Congregationalists in early manhood, he was
always prompt to engage in any enterprise
which would promote the public welfare in
FREDERICK LUCIAN BRIGHAM.
His
early education was obtained in the
State Normal School at Randolph, and the
44
Vermont Methodist Seminary in Montpe-
lier, and he graduated from the medical col-
lege at Dartmouth in 1887, receiving the
diploma of M. D. He immediately settled
in his native town where he has remained,
enjoying a very successful practice as a
regular physician. In 1892 he was appoint-
ed health officer of Pittsfield, and in the
same year was elected town representative.
I )r. Brigham is a member of the Masonic
fraternity in which he took the Blue Lodge
degrees at Rochester in 1885.
He was united, Feb. 9, 1887, to Keta L.,
daughter of George W. and Eldora A. Davis.
Ills discharge May i-j, 1865. He then re-
ceived an appointment as clerk in the
Treasury Department at Washington, which
position he resigned in September, 1866.
Returning to Vermont he gave his atten-
tion to farming, and has pursued this voca-
tion with success.
Captain Brookins was elected by the Re-
publicans of the town to the Legislature of
1 8 76-' 78, and has creditably served on
several committees. He also served his
town as constalile from i872-'8o, when he
resigned, and has held other town offices.
BROCK, WiLLIA.M Wallace, of New-
bury, son of William and .\nna (Wallace)
Brock, n-as born in Newbury, June 7, 1819.
His father, a prominent citizen of New-
bury, had him educated at the public schools
and seminary of that place. He lived on
the farm on which he was born until 1858,
when he removed to the old Brock home-
stead, where he now resides. .\ daughter,
making the fourth generation of Brocks, still
resides with her parents. This farm, from
the neatness of its surroundings, its appear-
ance of thrift and comfort, presents the
picture of a typical New England home.
Mr. Brock has also the care of several
estates in the town, whose owners are resi-
dents, showing how much he enjoys the con-
fidence of those who know him. A Repub-
lican in his political belief, he has been
justice of the peace for forty years, was a
member of the Legislature in i865-'66, and
has held numerous other offices of trust con-
ferred upon him by his fellow-citizens.
He married Sophia Lovewell TapHn. Five
children have been born to them : Benjamin
F., Kugene, Clarence T., ^\■illiam \\'allace,
Jr., and Clara Belle, the first three prosper-
ing in the state of Washington, and the last
two still residing in Newbury.
BROOKINS, Harvey S., of Shoreham,
was born Jan. 25, 1835, in Shoreham. He
was the son of Philip C. and Lucina (Forbes)
Brookins.
Receiving his early education at the com-
mon schools of his native town, he after-
wards graduated at Bakersfield .Academy.
In 1856 he went to Minnesota where he
found employment as a surveyor, and was
there elected sheriff of Wright county.
He enlisted in the Sth Minnesota Regt.
in August, 1862, and was promoted to the
rank of captain May i, 1863. As the trouble
with the Sioux Indians came about this time,
he served as a scout in Minnesota till 1S64.
He then marched across the plains, and on
returning the regiment was sent to Mur-
freesboro, Tenn., where Captain Brookins
received a severe wound, which necessitated
HARVEY S. BROOKINS.
He belongs to Simonds Lodge of the
Masonic order, and is its Senior Warden,
and to John .\. Logan Post, No. 88, G. -A. R.
He married in Shoreham Sept. 3, 1S66,
Emma L., daughter of Myron W. C. and
Tryphosia Wright. Three children are born
from this marriage : Lura E., F^dna E., and
Arthur H. Captain Brookins is looked upon
as a man of marked ability in his town and
section of the county.
BROWN, ADNA, of Springfield, son of
Isaac and .Sarah (Flagg) Brown, was born in
Antrim, N. H., Dec. ii, 1828.
.A pupil of the common schools of his
birthplace, he' left home at the age of sixteen
to battle with the world. First entering a
woolen mill to learn the trade, he gave this
up and served his apprenticeship as a
machinist. Rising rapidly, he successively
became foreman, then superintendent, and
finally master in the Parks \- Woolson
Machine Co., of which he is now the
president and general manager. In this
position Mr. Brown has furnished many
improvements in cloth-finishing machinery,
and is the holder of many valuable jjatents
covering the same. He is also president and
managing director of the Jones & Lam-
son Machine Co., especially prominent as
the builder of the Hartness flat-turret lathe.
He organized the Springfield Klectric Light
-^^ ^'
ADNA BROWN.
Co., and is president of the Brown Hotel
Co., chartered under the laws of the state
in 1892, which has erected a handsome brick
hotel, named in his honor, " The Adna-
brown." He is the presiding officer of the
local board of trade and of the Black River
Railroad Co.
Mr. Brown is a staunch and active Repub-
lican, and though never seeking office, has
filled many positions of trust both in town
and county. In 1882 he was sent to the
Legislature, and in 1890 was a state senator.
Mr. Brown was one of \'ermont's delegates
to the national Republican convention in
Minneapolis in 1892, and was a member of
the committee which drafted the platform for
the party in the campaign of that year. In
1893 he received the appointment of state
World's Fair commissioner from Coxernor
Fuller.
A Congregationalist in belief, he does not
confine his religion to the church, but carries
UKUWN. ^c
his Christianity beyond its doors and is well
known for his active benevolence and inter-
est in all worthy enterprises.
BROWN, ALBERT L., of Lunenburg,
born in Lunenburg, |an. 12, 1828, was the
son of Isaac and Lucretia (Wood) Brown,
and was educated in the schools of Lunen-
burg. Remaining with his father till the
age of eighteen, he went to Boston and
worked as a cabinet maker, then took u[)
his abode in Portland, Me , where for eight
years he kept a hotel. At the close of the
war he sought his fortune in the West, and
for a long period was employed as an agent
by the Chicago Scale Co., after which he
engaged in the grocery business. Satis-
fied with the competence, which was the
result of his industry and business ability,
Mr. Brown returned to his native town and
purchased the beautiful and picturesque
estate, which was the early home of his first
wife.
A lifelong and stalwart Republican, he has
been elected to almost all the offices in' the
gift of his fellow-townsmen, including a seat
in the Legislature in i888. In creed he is a
Congregationalist.
September 17, 1849, he married Lucretia
S., daughter of Stephen and Almira Powers.
To them a son was born, George Albert, who
died Aug. 18, 1864. He married at Chicago,
June 13, 1878, Julia F., daughter of James
and Susan Trow. From this latter union
there is one daughter : Mabel E.
46
RROWNELL.
BROWN, Curtis, of Behidere, son of
I.ylieout and ISetsey W. (Ward) Brown, was
born in Co\entry, Oct. i6, 1825.
His father was the first Republican repre-
sentative in the Legislature of the state, to
which both his son and grandson have been
elected.
Mr. Brown was educated in the common
schools of Coventry and afterwards at Wa-
terbury, N. Y., residing with his parents till
the age of twenty-one. .4t that time he pur-
chased a farm in Behidere, and in order to
]3ay for it went to Massachusetts, where he
worked industriously in a mill for several
years until he had accomplished his object.
For a time he engaged in the manufacture of
butter tubs and lumbering, but has given this
up and now resides upon his farm.
Mr. Brown is said to be the champion bear
hunter of the state, having shot or captured
sixty-eight of these animals, once performing
the feat attributed to General Putnam of
Revolutionary times by entering a cave and
crawling a distance of forty feet on his hands
and knees, when with unerring aim by the
light of a torch he brought down the object
of his pursuit.
He is one of the best representatives of
the old class of sturdy woodsmen, who have
given such lasting fame to the hunters of the
Cireen Mountains, so few of whom remain to
narrate the deeds of their early days.
He married, March 13, 1852, Helen M.,
daughter of Edmund L. and I,ucy (Hodg-
kins) Crozier of Calais, by whom he has had
five children : Reuben J., Edmund L., Alex-
ander (deceased), Francis B., and Nora.
BROWN, William A., of Jacksonville,
son of Amos A. and Mary (Temple) Brown,
was born in Whitingham, April 15, 1856.
He received his education at the common
schools of his natixe town, and after its com-
pletion devoted his time to teaching, dealing
in real estate and lumbering, continuing until
1884. He then opened a store for general
merchandise in Jacksonville, and meeting
with success, formed a partnership with H.
A. Wheeler, purchasing the stock of goods
owned by N. L. Stetson. After a year he
bought out his partner and continued the
business alone, selling out to C. H. Shepard-
son, and formed a stock company which
bought out the Cooking Mill, Stetson Bros.,
and the E. E. Putnam estate, for the purpose
of manufacturing butter tubs and boxes. At
present he is president and manager of the
com])any.
Brought up a Republican, on reaching his
majority he concluded that Vermont was run
by a ring for their personal interests and not
in the interest of the people, he cast his first
Yole for a Democrat. At that time he, with
several other young men who had formerly
been Republicans, began a fight against the
ring. He was elected to the Legislature in
1890 and re-elected in 1892, serving on the
committee on insane and on the Grand List.
He thoroughly advocated the Australian sys-
tem of ballot, weekly payments, and the town
system of schools.
He was married Oct. 3, 1S89, to Ada M.,
daughter of Mervin M. and Almeda (Fowler)
pjrown, of Whitingham. Two children have
been the fruit of this union : Greely A., and
William Russell.
BROWNELL, ChaUNCEY WELLS, born
in \Villiston, Sept. 13, 181 1, was the son of
Samuel and Zeruah ( Forbes) Brownell. His
paternal and maternal grandfathers were
both Revolutionary soldiers ; the latter, John
Forbes, distinguished for his ready wit and
quick power of repartee, came to Williston
in very early times. Samuel A.., the father
of the subject of the present sketch, came
with his parents from Connecticut to \\'illis-
ton and purchased land in the northeast
corner of the original town of Burlington,
now Williston, embracing a large portion of
the grant to Governor Benning Wentworth
of New Hampshire in this township.
In this new country which his hands
helped to clear, C. W. Brownell grew to
manhood, his early days being devoted to
hard labor, and his evenings to study by the
light of the huge logs burning in the old-
fashioned fire-place, or the occasional aid of
the glimmer of a pine knot. Here, with a
board and piece of i-harcoal, he solved
many a problem in mathematics that after-
ward served him in good stead when he
taught the district school.
In 1840 he purchased a large farm in the
southwestern corner of Williston, on which
he continued to reside during life. It was
his ambition to build up and improve and
leave to those who should come after him
CHAUNCEY WELLS BROWNEL
more comforts and sources of income than
he had been wont to enjoy. He set out
large orchards and grew all varieties of fruit
that the climate would permit. He sought
to beautify the roadways, and planted large
numbers of maple, elm, butternut, walnut
and other domestic trees, which today ex-
tend along the street for more than a mile,
making a shady and attractive drive. He
added to his real estate from time to time,
seldom parting with any he had bought, and
it was owing to this peculiar phase of char-
acter that at his death, notwithstanding con-
veyances to his children, he was the pos-
sessor of more than one thousand acres. He
gave much time and thought to the improve-
ment of stock, and bred and owned some
of the best horses, cattle and sheep in the
state.
Strongly attached to the principles of the
Republican party, Mr. Brownell was a useful
public-spirited citizen, and was called to
nearly all the duties entrusted to town
ofificials. An uncompromising believer in
protection for American industries, he was
(]uiikly out of patience with those who ad-
vocated a free trade |)oiicy. He repre-
sented Williston in the Legislature of 1860-
'61, and was chosen a member of the state
Senate from Chittenden county for the first
biennial term in 1870. In his business rela-
tions, upright, of genial temperament and of
untiring energy as his last words strongly
indicate, "My work is but half accom-
plished" he has rarely been surpassed as a
good citizen and useful friend.
On March 4, 1841, he married Miss
I. aura C, daughter of Isaac and Laura
(Chapin) Higbee, from whom the following
children were born : Samuel A., of Essex ;
/eruah F., wife of William F. Whitney, of
Williston ; Chauncey W., lawyer, of Burling-
ton ; Laura H., wife of John A. Collier of
Brooklyn. One, Eliza, died in 1S62. Mrs.
Brownell dying in November, 1852, in May,
1S54, he married for his second wife Miss
Martha M., daughter of Hon. John Van
Sicklen of South Burlington. Hi's children
by the second marriage are Sarah V., Mary
A., Mrs. E. H. Thorp of Middlebury, and
Crove L., of Essex ; one, John Lester, died
in 1885. Mrs. Brownell's death occurred
Jan. 5, 1891. Mr. Brownell died Tune 4,
1892.
BROWNELL, Chauncey Wells, son
of C. ^V. and Laura (Higbee) Brownell, was
born in WiUiston, Oct. 7, 1847.
Receiving a preparatory education in the
common schools and at the academies at
Williston and Alburgh Springs, he was grad-
uated from the University of Vermont in the
class of 1870, and afterwards pursued his
studies at the Albany (N. V.) Law School.
After graduation he established himself at
Burlington and commenced to practice his
profession. He was four years city grand
juror and prosecuting attorney. Belonging
to the Republican party, Mr. Brownelf has
been called to many public offices. For two
years he was state's attorney for Chittenden
county and assistant secretary of the Senate
from 1874 to 1880, when he was elected to
the office of secretary, a position he held
from that time until 1890 by successive re-
elections. He was elected Secretary of State
in 1890 and in 1892 was re-elected. He was
secretary for a number of years and is now
president of the Champlain \'alley .Associa-
tion for the Promotion of .Agriculture and
the Mechanic Arts, and is a director of the
electric street railway company.
He has the management and personal su-
pervision of the large estate of his late father,
C. W. Brownell.
In 1873 Mr. Brownell received the degree
of A. M. from his alma mater. He is a Con-
gregationalist in his religious preferences.
48 liRUCE.
Mr. Brownell married, Oct. 12, 1875, Elva
M., daughter of the late Baxter and Laura
(Chase) Brighani of W'estford. Four chil-
dren have been born to them : Carl Brig-
ham, Elva Mabel, Chauncey .Sherman, and
Henry Chase.
BRUCE, George Asa, of South shafts-
hury, son of Charles M. and Phebe (Smith)
Bruce, was born in Danby, June 17, 1857.
He received his early education at the
district schools and at the hands of a private
tutor, followed by a course at Burr and Bur-
ton Seminary, and graduated from Williams
College with the class of '79.
Following his graduation Mr. Bruce for
a time was a bookkeeper, and in 1881 he
located at Sioux City, la., where he became
a member of the firm of Cottrell, Bruce &
Co., wholesale and retail dealers in farm
implements, when he returned East and con-
nected himself with the Waterbury Clock
Co., of Waterbury, Conn., in the capacity of
bookkeeper and cashier, remaining with
of North Bennington, and Temple Chapter
and Taft Conimandery No. 8, of Bennington.
Mr. Bruce married at South ShaftslDury,
May 27, 1880, May V., daughter of William
P. and Sarah C. Mattison. Of this union is
one son : Kenneth Mattison. -^j
BUGBEE, Herman, of North Pomfret,
was born Nov. 21, 1S34, in Pomfret, the son
of Rufus and Elizabeth (Hunter) Bugbee.
His father was a captain of militia, justice
^ '9f**%,
GEORGE ASA BRUCE.
them until 1S87, since which time he has
been engaged in the mercantile business as
a member of the firm of W. P. Mattison &
Son, of South Shaftsbury.
Mr. Bruce has affiliated with the RepubU-
can party, and by that body has been
honored with many positions of trust, being
at the present postmaster and chairman of
the Republican town committee.
He is a member of the Phi Betta Kappa,
and also of the Blue Lodge, Tucker No. 48,
of the peace, and a highly respected citizen
of the town. Mr. Bugbee was educated in
the common schools of Pomfret, and has
spent the greater portion of his life upon the
old homestead farm settled by his grand-
father, Abial Bugbee, in 1788, except from
March, 1862, till June, 1874, he was in Bos-
ton with Sampson, Davenport & Co. In this
occupation he traveled extensively in New
York and New England.
Mr. Bugbee possesses fine musical ability,
and is a well known instructor in the art in
the neighborhood of Pomfret ; this in addi-
tion to his labor as a progressive farmer and
dairyman.
Republican in politics, he has filled many
positions of trust. In i8go elected to the
Legislature, he served on the Grand List
committee.
In 1867 he married Eunice E., daughter
of Stephen S. and Deborah Stinson, of Tops-
ham, Me. His wife died July 26, 1887, and
their only child, Earle Rufus, in infancy.
I!ULI.oc;k.
49
BUCKHAM, Mathew Henry, of Bur-
lington, son of Rev. James Buckham, was
born July 4, 1832, at Hinckley, Leicester-
shire, England.
He pursued his preparatory studies in the
academy at Ellington, Conn., and also at a
private school in Canada. Entering the
University of Vermont in September, 1847,
he graduated from it in August, 1851.
He was principal of the Lenox Academy
at Lenox, Mass., from 1851 to 1853. In
Se|)tember of the latter year he became tutor
of languages in the L'niversity of Vermont.
In August, 1854, he sailed for Europe, spent
there two years in travel and stud}', and
returned in 1856 to enter upon a professor-
ship in the L'niversity of Vermont. He
occupied the chair of Greek in that institu-
tion from 1856 to 187 1, and also performed
the duties of professor of English literature
from 1865 to 187 1. In August of the latter
year he was elected to the presidency of the
University, and was duly inaugurated as the
successor of Dr. James B. Angell. President
Buckham received the degree of D. D. from
Dartmouth College in 1877, and also in the
same year from Hamilton College, N. Y.
With all the educational interests of \'ermont
he was intimately identified as a member of
the State Board of Education from 1867 to
1874. His published writings have princi-
pally taken the form of articles in reviews
and educational pubUcations ; of addresses,
sermons, etc.
He married on the 3d of December, 1857,
Elizabeth Wright of Shoreham.
BULKLEY, George, of Moretown,
son of Roger G. and Sally (Taylor) Bulkley,
was born in Berlin, Sept. 11, 181 5.
Roger G. Bulkley was a native of Colches-
ter, Conn. He graduated from Vale College
and afterward studied law at Montpelier. He
was admitted to the Orleans county bar in
1809 and practiced law in \Mlliamstown until
the war of 181 2, when he enlisted and served
throughout the struggle. He purchased a
farm in 1818 but still continued in the
practice of law.
The early education of George Bulkley
was limited to the common schools of Dux-
bury. He commenced the manufacture of
sashes and blinds, and afterward, in connec-
tion with his brother-in-law, purchased the
old cloth dressing mill at Aloretown and
put in a plant for a saw mill and also for
making doors, sashes, and blinds. He pur-
chased the entire interest of the business in
1861, but sold it in 1879. During much of
this period he had owned and carried on a
small farm, and since 1883 has resided with
his daughter, Mrs. Haylett of Moretown.
Mr. Bulkley cast his first electoral vote for
Martin Van Buren and was an adherent of
the Democratic ]iarty until 1864, when he
was elected to the Legislature as a war Dem-
ocrat, since which time he has been a
Re])ublican. He has passed through the
usual routine of town and (■onnt\- offices.
'.P^'
GEORGE BULKLEY.
In 1848 he was united to Sarah, daughter
of Hubbard and Lucy (Redway) Guernsey
of Montpelier, and of this marriage three
children ha\e been born : Clara (wife of Dr.
James Haylett, died in 1877), George W.,
and Lilla (second wife of Dr. James Haylett).
An extensive reader, he still manifests a
lively interest in local and public affairs,
enjoying the esteem and confidence of the
community.
BULLOCK, Elmer J., of Readsboro,
son of James and Cynthia (Baker) Bullock,
was born in Whitingham, July 21, 1S49.
He was educated in the common schools
of Readsboro. After leaving school he
served as clerk in several stores in \'ermont
and Massachusetts. In 1870 he entered
into partnership with his father in a general
store in Readsboro. In 18S2 he sold out
and engaged in the real estate and insurance
business in North Adams, Mass. In 1885
he returned to Readsboro, and in 1886
formed a partnership with his mother, under
the name of E. J. Bullock & Co. It was
through the influence of Mr. Bullock that the
telephone line from North Adams to Jack-
sonville was built, and he was president of
the company until the line was sold to the
New England Svstem. He had also much
5°
BUNKER.
to do with the organization of the Readsboro
Chair Manufacturing Co., and has been
its secretary and treasurer ever since. Mr.
liullock worked ^unceasingly until Reads-
boro had a good water system and ample
protection against fire. In 1891 the firm
built the Bullock block at a cost of Si 0,000,
in whi( h they at present do business.
fession. He was a member of the I'si Upsi-
lon and Phi Beta Kappa societies. In 1867
he received from his alma mater the degree
of A. M. In 1869 he was elected town
superintendent of Peacham, which office he
held sixteen years, and was always a strong
advocate of the town system of schools. In
1883 he was elected president of the ^'er-
mont State Teachers' Association.
.\n adherent of the Republican party, he
has held the minor town offices, and in 1886
was chosen state senator from Caledonia
county, and served as chairman of the com-
mittee on education, and was a member of
that on federal relations. Re-elected in
1888, he again acted as chairman of the
educational committee, also served on the
special committee on temperance legislation.
The ne.\t year he was made a member of the
Caledonia County Board of Education.
Mr. Bunker was married May 20, 1869, to
Nellie, only daughter of Dr. Jeremiah and
.\deline( Carroll) Blake.
He is a member of the Congregational
church, and all his life has labored in the
Sabbath school. He exerted great influence
r~>
ELMER J. BULLOCK
<R; tsfe.
I
Mr. Bullock has never cared to enter into
political life, though frequently urged to do
.so.
BUNKER, Charles Albert, of
Peacham, son of Alfred and Mary Emerson
(Hodgdon) Bunker, was born at Barnstead,
N. H.^ July 21, 1840.
He attended the public schools of Barn-
stead, and then was a pupil of the Pittsfield
Academy for three years, afterwards pursuing
his studies at Phillips and Pembroke Acade-
mies. He entered Dartmouth College in
the fall of 1S60, teaching during the winters
throughout his college course in the home
district in Barnstead, and Pennacook, N. H.,
Waitsfield, Vt., and Barnstable, Mass. Soon
after his graduation in 1864, he was made
the principal of Mclndoes Falls .Academy,
Barnet, and two years after was called to
Peacham as principal of Caledonia county
grammar school, an institution which was
chartered in 1795, opened in 1797, and is
now styled the Peacham Academy.
While at Dartmouth Mr. Bunker ranked
high as a student, as he has since in his pro-
CHARLES ALBERT BU
in the Senate, availed himself of every op-
portunity to benefit the cause of education,
and was specially interested in passing the
law requiring scientific temperance instruc-
tion in the public schools. He has written
much which has been printed in different
periodicals and lectured upon various educa-
tional, social and political topics.
BURIjHTT, Jesse, of Rutland, son of
Jacob and Rebecca (Talbot) lUirdett, was
born in ISrookline, Jan. 19, 1826.
\\hen quite young his family removed to
Newfane, where having received his educa-
tion in the public schools, he was appren-
ticed to learn the trade of a blacksmith, and
followed this employment for eleven years.
After a short interval, during which he
worked at his vocation in Bratdeboro, he
removed to Arlington, where he has since
resided and where he was appointed station
agent. In 1852 he became conductor on
the passenger train running from Rutland to
Troy on the Western Vt. R. R., now the
Bennington & Rutland. In i860 he was
employed in a similar position on the Hud-
son River road, between Albany and New
York, and afterwards acted as trainmaster in
the employ of the same corporation. In
187 1 he was appointed superintendent ol
the Rutland division of the Central \'t. R.
R., which position he now holds, making his
headquarters at Rutland.
Mr. Burdett is a Democrat in his political
creed, and though he has never occupied
himself in office-seeking, he has held manv
minor offices in Arlington and represented
that town in the Legislature in 1857, but of
late years he has been obliged by his profes-
sional duties to be so frequently away from
his home, that he has not been eligible for
the discharge of the responsibilities of any
position of public trust.
He is a member of St. James' Episcopal
Church in Arlington, of which he has been a
vestryman for more than twenty years.
Mr. Burdett married, Oct. 21, 1851,
Cornelia C, daughter of John C. and
Amanda (Hill) Lathrop, by whom he has
one son : John L.
BURNHLL, MlLO S., of Wolcott, son
of Chester A. and Amanda A. (Skeels) Bur-
nell, was born in Swanton, Aug. 18, 1846.
From the age of thirteen he supported
himself, working whenever he found an
opportunity to gain his livelihood, and in
1868 he began to read law in the office of
the Hon. Richard F. Parker of Wolcott. In
1 87 1, at the advent of the P. & O. R. R., he
was appointed depot master at Wolcott, and
has continued in this employment ever since,
though to some extent occupying himself
with the bark and lumber trade.
He has served both as deputy sheriff and,
sheriff of his county and has been elected to
both branches of the Legislature, where he
has been chairman and member of several
important committees, as well as filling the
principal town offices.
As a Mason, Mr. Burnell has been Wor-
shipful Master of Mineral Lodge, No. 93 F.
BUTI.F.R. 51
I.V A. y\., district deputy of 13th district, and
member of Tucker Chapter of Morrisville.
He married, July 4, 1871, Abbie A.,
daughter of Hon. Richard F. and Sophronia
(Andrews) Parker. One child was born to
them : Harry Parker.
BUTLER, Fred Mason, of Rutland,
son of Aaron and F-meline (Muzzey) Butler,
was born in Jamaica, May 28, 1854. His
great-grandfather, Aaron Butler, settled in
Jamaica about the time of the close of the
Revolutionary war. His grandfather, Aaron,
with the assistance of his brothers (their
father having died while he was an infant),
made a clearing in the forest and erected a
RED MASON BUTLEN
frame house in place of the log cabin.
.■\aron Mason Butler, the father of the sub-
ject of the present sketch, was a prosperous
farmer, and held at different times nearly all
of the most important town offices.
Fred Mason Butler was educated in the
public schools of Jamaica and at Leland and
Gray Seminary. Before leaving school he
had resolved upon a professional career, and
began the study of law with Jonathan G
Kddy, Esq., of Jamaica, and afterward spent
a year and a half in the office of Hon. E. L.
Waterman and Hon. H. H. Wheeler.
He was admitted to the Windham county
bar at the March term of court, 1877, and
iluring the same summer entered into a co-
]iartnership with Hon. Joel C. Baker of Rut-
land, which was discontinued at the end of a
52 BUITERFIELD.
year. He then practiced alone for a time,
but early in 1879 he formed a copartner-
ship with Hon. 1,. ^^■. Redington, which
arrangement continued si.\ years. In 1884
he formed a partnership with Hon. Thomas
\\. Moloney, which copartnership continues
at the present time.
Mr. Buder was attorney for the defence in
State vs. O'Neil ; was counsel for respondent
in the notes cases entitled in re Bridget
Kennedy, James Kennedy and Patrick
Ready, 'reported in Vol. 55, p. i, of the
Vermont Reports ; was the leading attorney
in the cases endtied Vaughan vs. Congdon
and Riley \s. Mclnlear, Est. ; coimsel for
munici])a'lity in Bates vs. Village of Rutland,
Bates vs. Horner et al, also fully reported,
and in many other important cases which an
examination of the Vermont Report will dis-
close.
He is a Republican, has been town grand
juror and city attorney. He held the posi-
tion of city attorney until he was appointed
judge of the municipal court ; and was suc-
cessively re-a])pointed to that office by Gov-
ernors i)illingham. Page and Fuller. Upon
the organization of the city go\ernment, he
was appointed judge of city court, which
office he now holds.
He has been a director of the New
England Fire Insurance Co. since its
organization, and obtained the charter of
the corporation from the Legislature. He
became a member of the Rutland Bar Asso-
ciation when he established himself in Rut-
land ; and is also a member of the \'ermont
Bar Association, having served on sexeral of
its important committees.
On Nov. 25, 1875, he married IJUian,
daughter of Josiah and Octavia (Knight)
Holton of r)ummerston, and has three chil-
dren : .Anza, Helen, and Florence.
BUTTERFIELD, ALFRED HARVEY, of
North Troy, son of Nathan S. and Mary
(Hatch) Butterfield, was born in Lowell,
Sept. 5, 1857.
Mr. Butterfield is of the eighth in lineal
descent from Benjamin Butterfield of Eng-
land, who was the first one of the name to
settle in .\merica. His grandfather, Joseph
Butterfield, was the ninth settler who estab-
lished his household in the town of Lowell,
Vt., removing thence from Dunstable, Mass.,
in iSio. He comes of Revolutionary ances-
try on both sides ; his great-grandfather,
John Hatch, was a commissioned officer in
the war of 18 12.
Mr. Butterfield received a common school
education, which he afterwards supple-
mented at the village academy at Water-
bury. He was a resident of Burlington for
several years till 1878, when he took up his
abode in North Troy, where he made him-
BU'lTERFIELD.
self master of the printer's trade. Three
years sufficed to give him a practical expe-
rience of that vocation, and he purchased
from his uncle the North Troy Palladium in
conjunction with C. R. Jamason. This con-
nection lasted for six months, when Mr. But-
terfield bought out the interest of his partner
and since that time has been sole proprietor
of the paper.
He espoused, Tune 22, 1880, Gertrude E.,
daughter of Mitchell and Henrietta (Porter)
Hunt. Their union has been blessed with
four children : Alfred Mitchell, Hugh Har-
vey, Ross Hunt, and Mary Ruth.
ALFRED HARVEY BUTTERFIELD.
Mr. Butterfield is affiliated with the Pro-
testant Episcopal church, and for three years
he has been secretary and treasurer of the
local society, the Church of St. Augustine.
He is a staunch supporter of the princi-
ples of the Republican party, has served as
town clerk and as chairman of the Republi-
can town committee, chairman of that on
text books, and several minor positions.
Since 1890 he has been clerk of the North
Troy Corporation, and the previous year
was appointed a deputy collector of customs
at Newport, where he remained till 1890,
when he returned to North Troy as deputy
in charge. This position he voluntarily re-
linquished, Nov. I, 1S93, and resumed the
active management of the Palladium.
BUTTERFIELD, EZRA TURNER, late
of Jacksonville, son of Deacon Zenas and
Sally (Turner) Butterfield, was born in Dum-
BUTl'ERKIELD.
DiriTK.RFIEI.I).
53
merston, April 14, 1815, and died ^[ay i,
1887. His education was obtained at the
little red schoolhouse on the hill, "the glory
of Puritan New England," and at the age of
twenty he removed to Wilmington, where he
became one of the most progressive farmers.
For a short time he was engaged in trade,
but agriculture was the chief occu])ation of
his life. For forty years justice of the ]>eace,
he was also assistant judge of the county
court several years. In 1886 he recei\ed an
EZRA TURNER BUTTERFIELD.
appointment from the Department of Agri-
culture at Washington, which failing health
compelled him to decline ; was representa-
tive from Wilmington in the Legislature in
iS57-
In the old "June Training" days Judge
Butterfield was captain of the first company
27th Regt. Vt. Militia. In his early youth he
became a member of the Free Will IJajJtist
church in Dummerston and was church clerk
at the age of nineteen, and later in Whit-
ingham, and was the last clerk of the \\'hit-
ingham society, but after this denomination
had quitted their field of labor in the \icin-
ity he attended the M. E. Church, lilierally
contributing to its support and laboring for
many years in the Bible class. He was a
man of pleasant address and much given to
anecdote.
Judge Butterfield was wedded, Jan. i,
1835, to Mary, daughter of Rev. Abner and
Chloe (Bucklin) Leonard and by her had:
Mary Angelia, Sarah Amelia, Oscar K., A.
Augustine, and Lucius Alonzo.
BUTTERFIELD, A. AUGUSTINE, of
Jacksonville, son of Kzra Turner and Mary
( Leonard) Butterfield, was born in Wilming-
ton, June 25, 1844.
Educated in the common and high school
of \\'ilmington and by private tutors, he read
law with the late Charles N. Davenport and
Hon. Abisha Stoddard, and was admitted to
the bar .April 30, 1867. In 1868 he removed
to the village of Jacksonville, where he has
since resided and practiced law, excepting
one year in Massachusetts. Mr. Butterfield
has always taken a dee]) interest in educa-
tional matters and has held all the district,
town and county ofiices connected with this
department. He has also devoted much
attention to insurance and for some years
has been a director in the Union Mutual Fire
Insurance Co. of Montpelier, has been a
master in chancery twenty-two years, and
twenty years justice of the peace.
As a Republican, he represented the town
in i88o-'82 and was the originator of the bill
taxing telephone and telegraph companies,
which was the father of the ])resent corpora-
tion tax law of Vermont. He was also state's
attorney i882-'84 and senator iSSS-'go.
A. AUGUSTINE BUTTERFIELD
Made a Mason at the age of twenty-two,
he has been several times Master of his lodge,
was twice district deputv (i. M., and is now
chairman of an important committee in the
( Irand Lodge of \'ermont. He is deeply
interested in genealogy and is preparing a
historv of the Butterfield familv.
54
BUITERFIELD.
BUTTERFIELD.
He is a member of the Bajnist church,
and one of the board of managers of the
Vermont Baptist State Convention.
October 2, 1869, he married ]\Iarcia
Sojjhia, daughter of Rufus and Elizabeth
(Winn) Kdvvards Brown, by whom he has
had two sons and six daughters, two of whom
are deceased.
BUTTERFIELD, FREDERICK DAVID,
of Derby Line, son of David and Elmira
Ward (Randall) Butterfield, was born in
Rockingham, May 14, 1838.
He was educated at the common schools
and the Saxlnti's l\i\er Arndemv. Choosing
FREDERICK DAVID BUTTERFIELD.
a practical business edtication rather than a
college course, he, at the early age of sixteen
entered the hardware house of A. & [. H.
AN'entworth of Bellows Falls. In 1859 he re-
moved to Derby Line and became con-
nected with the house of Foster & Cobb.
At the breaking out of the rebellion he
gave up his business prospects and entered
the LTnion army, enlisting as a private in
Co. B, 8th \'t. X'ols., and was successivelv
promoted to 2d lieutenant, ist lieutenant
and captain. 'Lhe original term of service
for the regiment expired June r, 1864 ; Col.
Butterfield however remained in service some
time thereafter, but after his campaigns in
Louisiana and Texas, he became so utterly
broken in health that an immediate return to
the North was the only means of saving his
life. He accordingly resigned his commis-
sion August 6, 1864. Flarly in 1862 he was
detached from his regiment and appointed to-
a position in the signal corps, where he re-
mained during the balance of his military
service. In the capacity of a signal officer
he was attached to the personal staff of Gen-
eral Godfrey Weitzel, General Butler, Gen-
era! Franklin and General Dana. At the
battle of Labadieville, La., while carrying an
order under a terrific fire he had his horse
shot from under him by a shell from the
enemy, narrowly escaping instant death.
For his gallantry on this occasion he was
complimented in general orders. His ser-
vices were highly appreciated in the signal
corps.
In 1888 he was appointed an aid-de-camp
with the rank of colonel on the staff of Gov.
William P. Dillingham. On his return from
the army he engaged in business at Derby
Line until 1866, when he was appointed
deputy collector of customs for that port,
which office he retained until 1872, when he
resigned to engage in the manufacture of
the Reece sewing machine. On account of
the panic of 1 873-' 75 this business failed of
success, and in 1879 he commenced the
manufacture of taps and dies. Beginning
with a small force of men, by careful and
painstaking efforts, he gradually built up a
large and important industry. The works-
are located at Derby Line, with a second
complete plant at Rock Island, P. Q. The
firm is known as Butterfield &: Co., and they
man\ifacture taps and dies and tools for en-
gineers' and steam fitters' use. In 1888 his
younger brother. Gen. F. (1. Butterfield,
became associated with him in business.
Colonel Butterfield is a member of (lolden
Rule Lodge, F. & A. M., of Stanstead,
Canada, a member of Golden Rule R. A. C.
at Sherbrooke, a member of Sussex Precep-
tory Knights Templar of Stanstead, of which
he has been Eminent Commander. Is a
member of Baxter Post, G. A. R., at New-
port, a charter member of the Vermont
Commandery of the Military Order of the
Loyal Legion, V. S. ; a member of the Ver-
mont Society of the Sons of the American
Revolution and numerous other military and
social organizations.
At Sta'nstead, P. Q., Oct. S, 1868, he
married Ellen Jeannette Morrill, daughter of
Ozro and Charlotte Juliette (\Vay) Morrill,
who died July 5, 1874, leaving two daugh-
ters : Charlotte, and Ellen.
BUTTERFIELD, FRANKLIN GEORGE,
of Derby Line, son of Da\id and Elmira
\\'ard (Randall) Butterfield, was born in
Rockingham, May 11, 1842.
He attended the common schools and
Saxtons River Academy, and entered Mid-
dlebury College in 1859. Entering the army
in the fall of his junior year he did not grad-
S6
BUITERFIF.LD.
uate with his class. After the war of the
rebelhon, however, Middlebury College con-
ferred on him the degree of Master of Arts.
October 4, 1861, he enlisted at Middlebury
as a private in Co. A, 6th Vt. Vols. He was
promoted successively to 2d lieutenant, ist
lieutenant, captain, and, on October 21,
1864, to lieutenant-colonel, commanding the
regiment, at the age of twenty-two years.
Having been seriously wounded, he was
obliged to relinquish his command and
tendered his resignation. He served with
his regiment, which was a part of the " Old
Vermont Brigade," in the 6th Army Corps
through its campaigns in Virginia with the
army of the Potomac, participating in all its
battles up to 1865. He was first in batde
at Lees Mills, April 16, 1862, where he dis-
tinguished himself by carrying off the field
Capt. E. F. Reynolds of Rudand, who had
been mortally wounded. Later in the
Peninsular campaign, he was mentioned in
general orders for conspicuous gallantry at
the battle of (iolding's Farm and also two
days later at White Oak Swamp, both engage-
ments being a part of the seven days' fight.
During the year 1863, including the Chan-
cellorsville, Gettysburg and Mine Run cam-
paigns, he served as an aid-de-camp on the
staff of Maj.-Gen. Lewis A. Grant, command-
ing the Vermont Brigade. In May of that
year at Banks Ford he again attracted notice
by his bearing under fire. 'I'he following
year, at the battle of the Wilderness, though
his command was literally cut to pieces, he
l)rought off his surviving troops in good
order, and was promptly engaged with the
enemy in the advance at daylight in the fol-
lowing morning. Throughout his service
his conduct was such as to win the com-
mendation of his superiors, and he was
awarded a medal of honor from Congress
"for gallantry at Salem Heights." The gen-
eral commanding the army, in making the
recommendation, said : " The record of
Lieutenant-Colonel Butterfield is an exceed-
ingly brilliant one, his conduct on several
separate occasions well merited a medal of
honor, but the affair of May 4, 1863, is prob-
ably the one most worthy of such special
recognition, since Colonel Butterfield not
only displayed there his accustomed bravery,
but also soldierly qualities of a high order."
After the close of the war, the Legislature
of Vermont in joint assembly unanimously
elected him judge advocate general of the
state, with the rank of brigaclier-general, as
a recognition of his faithful service with his
command and his gallant conduct in the
field.
From 1865 to 1877 he was engaged in
mercantile pursuits at Saxtons River. In
August, 1877, he commanded a brigade of
veterans at the celebration of the looth
BUTTERFIF.LD.
anniversary of the batde of Bennington. In
that year he returned to his original inten-
tion, broken up by his army service, the
study of law. In 1880 he was appointed by
President Hayes supervisor of census, and
had charge of the state of ^'ermont in the
taking of the tenth census. On completion
of this work he was selected by the Presi-
dent, the Secretary of the Interior, and Gen.
Francis A. Walker, superintendent of the
tenth census, to take charge of the investiga-
tion of the alleged census frauds in the state
of South Carolina. Leaving Vermont early
in November he remained in South Caro-
lina till Feb. I, 1 88 1, when he returned to
Washington and made his report. A pre\i-
ous investigation had been made which
had proved unsatisfactory. General Butter-
field's report settled this vexed question to
the entire satisfaction of all parties. He was
urged by tieneral \\'alker to remain in \\'ash-
ington to assist in completing the work of
the tenth census, and consented. In 1882
he was transferred to the Bureau of Pensions,
where he served through all the various
grades and became a principal examiner in
July, 18S4. In 1890 he was made chief of
the special examination division and during
that year had three hundred and fifty special
agents in the field and an office force of
upwards of one hundred. Finding the work
much in arrears, he brought it up to date
and in a period of three years had reduced
the expenditure of that division in the hand-
some sum of $426,000. In 1888 he formed
business connections in Vermont and in July,
1 89 2, after great reluctance on the part of
the Secretary of the Interior and Commis-
sioner of Pensions, his resignation was ac-
cepted, and he returned to Vermont to devote
his entire time to private business. He is
associated with his brother. Col. F. D. But-
terfield, under the firm name of Butterfield
& Co., in the manufacture of taps and dies
and other thread cutting tools at Derby Line.
General Butterfield is a charter member of
Lodge of Temple, No. 94, F. & A. M., of Bel-
lows Falls ; a charter member of Abenaqui R.
A. Chapter No. 19 of same place, of which
he has been High Priest ; member of Hugh
de Payn's Commandery Knights Templar of
Keene, N. }l. ; member of E. H. Stoughton
Post G. .'\. R. of Bellows Falls ; has been a
member of the Department and National
staff ; is a charter member of the Vermont
Commandery of the Military Order of the
Loyal Legion of the United States, having
previously been one of the officers of the
District of Columbia Commandery of U'ash-
ington, D. C. ; member of the District of
Columbia Society of the Sons of the Amer-
ican Revolution, having served as vice-
president of the same, and for several years
one of the board of managers and was a
57
member of the National Congress of the
order : was vice-president of the Society of
the Army of the Potomac in 1893, and is
also connected with various other social and
military societies.
On June i, 1S66, he married Maria Smith
Frost, only daughter of Benjamin and Phebe
Ann (Smith) Frost. They have two chil-
dren: P,enjamin Frost (U. S. Consular
Agent at Stanstead, P. Q., born ."Xpril 25,
1867), and Esther I'^lmira (born August 4,
1871).
CAMP, ERASTUS C, of Orange, was
born in Orange, March 8, 1823. He was
the son of Ceorge and Lydia (Paine) Camjj.
Erastus was the oldest of a family of four
sons and one daughter.
ERASTUS C. CAMP.
Educated in the common schools of Or-
ange, and Newbury Academy, he remained
with his father until he was twenty-three
years old, when he married and mo\ed to
one of the finest upland farms in Orange
county, where he, still active and energetic,
now resides, and carries his years lightly.
.A stalwart Republican, he has held most
of the town otfices during the past twenty
years. He represented Orange in i864-'65
and again in 1888, and was senator from
Orange county in 1890. A plain, practical
man of sterling common sense, he was
elected by the town of Orange during the
war as a special agent for the enlistment of
recruits.
He married, April 14, 1846, Caroline E.,
daughter of David and Eleanor ( Fuller)
Piatt. Three children were born to them :
Homer D., Clayton F., and Oscar F.
(deceased).
CAMP, LVMAN L., of Elmore, son of
Abel and Charlotte ('I'ajjlin) Camp, was born
in Elmore, June 10, 1838. Of English
descent, his grandfather served under Israel
Putnam. His father, Abel Camp, a life-long
citizen of Elmore, three times represented
his native town in the Legislature.
He was educated in the public schools of
Elmore and at Barre Academy and then
worked for a time on farms in Wolcott and
Barre. After his return from the war he
bought a farm near that of his father, and
in 1S89 came into possession of the old
homestead.
A Republican in politics, he has repeat-
edly held many important town ofTfices, and
represented Elmore in the Legislature. He
was also a member of the advisory council
on farm culture and cereal industry at the
World's Exposition at Chicago.
In June, 1861, Mr. Camp enlisted as a
private in Co. E, 3d Regt. Vt. Vols. He
was with his company in the skirmish at
Warwick Creek near the old historic field at
\'orktown. He afterwards jjarticipated in
the battles at \\'illiamsburg, the seven days'
fight, battle of Savage Station, second and
third battles of Fredericksburg Heights,
Salem Church, Funkestown, Brandy Station,
Antietam, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North
and South Anna, Cold Harbor, and Peters-
burg. He was twice hit, but not wounded,
luckily escaping unharmed in all these con-
tests. He was discharged July 27, 1864. Mr.
Camp is a member of the J. M. Warren
Post, No. 4, G. A. R. of Morrisville.
He married, March 19, 1868, Hattie E.,
daughter of Thaddeus and Miranda White
of Wolcott. Four children were born to
them: Elmer, Mary (Gertrude (Mrs. Henry
Puffer of Richford), Abel Newton, and Lucy
( deceased ) .
CAMPBELL, ALFRED H., of Johnson,
son of Smith and Sophia (Hills) Cami)bell,
was born in Litchfield, N. H., Sept. 2<S,
1850.
Bred on a farm, Mr. Campbell received
his earlv education in the Nashua high
58
CAMPBELL.
school, New London Academy, State Nor-
mal School at Bridgevvater, Mass., and Ait.
\'ernon Academy. He graduated from
Dartmouth College with the degree of A. B.
in 1877, recei\ing the degree of A. M. in
1880, and, having completed the post
graduate course, that of Ph. D., from the
University of Vermont in 1888.
After teaching in the public schools and
serving as principal of Kingston, N. H.,
Academy three years, and associate princi-
pal of Gushing Academy, Ashburnham,
Mass., five years, he was elected and has
been for ten years principal of the State
Normal School at Johnson. An extensi\e
traveler in this country, he has twice visited
Europe and devoted much time to the study
of the school systems of different nations.
He has been \ery successful in his adminis-
tration of the State Normal School at Johnson.
A member of the Republican party, he
has never devoted much time to politics,
confining his energies to the educational
field. An officer of the American Institute
of Instruction, and a member of the Na-
tional Educational Association, he is now
(1893) president of the New England Nor-
mal Council, and also president of the Ver-
mont State Teachers' Association. He was
appointed by Go\ernor Page county exam-
iner of Lamoille county in 1 891, and was for
years secretary, and now holds the office of
president of the Lamoille County Sunday
School Association and chairman of its
executive committee.
Dr. Campbell is a member of Waterman
Lodge, No. 83, F. & A. M., and serves the
lodge as chaplain. He is a member of the
Congregational church in Johnson and one
of its deacons. He has been licensed as a
minister, and occasionally supplies the pulpit
in the vicinity of his home.
He married, Nov. 29, 1877, Hattie E.,
daughter of N. W. Winchester, who died
Feb. II, 1888. Of this marriage were born
four children ; Arthur W., Hattie Louise,
Carrol .Alfred, and Alice Gary. In a second
union. Dr. Campbell was married to Carrie
L. Kingsley of Rutland, March 27, 1890.
(She died. May 16, 1891.) On July 20,
1S93, he married Marian E., daughter of A.
P. Blake of Boston.
CAMPBELL, Wallace H., of Roches-
ter, son of George M. and Philette ( Pear-
sons) Campbell, was born July 18, 1S54, in
Brockton, Mass.
George M. Campbell was a nati\e of \er-
mont, to which state he returned before his
son was a year old. The latter was educated
at the common schools of Rochester and at
Springfield Academy. Bereft of paternal
guidance by the death of his father, he car-
ried on the old homestead at the age of
eighteen. He then emigrated to California
and remained there three years as foreman in
an establishment for reducing gold ore. In
1879 he returned to Rochester, where he
engaged in the hardware business for ten
years with great success.
Mr. Campbell married, Sept. 10, 1882, Eva,
daughter of Orlando and Helen (Sterling)
Kenedy of Clranville. The fruits of this
marriage are : Leon, Adolph (died in in-
fancy), Helen Catherine, and Jessie.
A member of the Republican party, Mr.
Campbell has been six years member of the
town committee and justice of the peace,
and was the town representative in i892-'93,
a school director, and sugar inspector of
Rochester. He is a member of the Masonic
order, belonging to Rural Lodge of Roches-
ter, to Whitney Chapter R. A. M., and the
Montpelier Commandery of K. T.
CANFIELD, Thomas Hawley, son of
Samuel and Mary A. (Hawley) Canfield, was
born in Arlington, March 29, 1822. He de-
scended on the father's side from Thomas
Canfield, descendant of James de Philo, a
French Huguenot, who came from Yorkshire,
Eng., to Milford, Conn., in 1646, while his
maternal ancestor was Joseph Hawley, who
was born in Derbyshire, Eng., in the earliest
years of the seventeenth century and emi-
grated to Stratford, Conn., where he died in
i6go. Nathan Canfield, the great-grandson
of Thomas Canfield, removed to .\rlington
in 1768, and was the grandfather of the
subject of this sketch.
6o
During the early trouble arising from the
disputes concerning the New Hampshire
grants, the Canfields, Hawleys, Hards,
Aliens and Bakers were the most prominent
leaders in the struggle.
Thomas Havvley Canfield was brought up
on a farm and his early education was re-
ceived in the common schools of the place
of his nativity. Evincing a strong desire for
a more extended course of study than these
institutions could afford he was placed by
his father at Burr Seminary in Manchester,
where he remained until he was fitted for
college at the age of fourteen. Not desiring
to commence his undergraduate course at
this early age, he returned home and for two
years worked on the farm, then was trans-
ferred to the Troy Episcopal Institute, with
reference to a scientific course of study, but
while there was persuaded by Bishop Alonzo
Potter, then acting president of Union Col-
lege, Schenectady, to abandon his idea of
becoming an engineer, and he entered the
junior class in the last named institution in
the fall of 1839.
Before the completion of his collegiate
course, however, he was summoned to Xer-
mont by the sudden death of his father, and
as he considered the duty he owed to his
mother and only sister ])aramount to his own
wishes, he again took up the burden of farm
life, l)ut finding agricultural labor too severe
for his slender constitution, he removed in
1844 to Williston, where he became a mer-
chant.
Mr. Canfield was married in 1S44 to Eliz-
abeth A., only daughter of Eli Chittenden, a
grandson of the first Governor of \"ermont.
She died in 1848, and he was subsequently
united to Caroline A., daughter of the Right
Reverend John Henry Hopkins, D. D.,"L-
L. D., first Bishop of \'ermont, by whom he
had two sons and three daughters : Emilv,
John Henry Hopkins, Marian, Flora, and
Thomas H., Jr.
In 1S47 Mr- Canfield remo\ed to Burling-
ton, where he still resides, and here becanie
a member of the firm of Bradley & Canfield,
who carried on large wholesale stores and
warehouses on the wharf at Burlington : also
ran lines of boats to New York and Mont-
real. About this time, Professor Morse hav-
ing brought his telegraph into operation,
Mr. Canfield visited Vergennes, Orwell, Mid-
dlebury, Rutland, and many other towns
along the line, securing stock and organizing
the company connecting these places with
Troy, N. Y., and Montreal in February,
1848. The following year the firm of
Bradley & Canfield, with two or three
other parties, were concerned in building
a railroad from Bellows Falls to Burling-
ton by way of Rutland, which was com-
pleted Dec. 19 of that year. He also,
in conjunction with others, was engaged
in con.structing the Rutland & Washington,
the Ogdensburg, as well as many other rail-
ways in New York and Pennsylvania. From
the great knowledge he had already acquired
of trans])ortation, the services of Mr. Can-
field were eagerly sought as superintendent
and afterwards president of the Rutland &
Washington R. R., of which he subsequently
took a lease, operating it on his own account.
This, it is believed, was the first railroad in
the United States leased to an individual.
He took a prominent part in the struggle of
connecting Boston and Burlington by rail-
wav, when two routes were proposed, one
\ia Montpelier and Concord, and the other
by Rutland and Fitchburg, he being strongly
in favor of the latter, the result of which
controversey was that both lines were con-
structed. In the final disposition of affairs,
the Rutland & Burlington R. R. was left at
lUirlington without any through direct con-
nection by rail with Ogdensburg or Montreal,
and to meet this defect, as the Rutland road
had not the right by its charter to build and
operate boats, Bradley & Canfield, within
ninety days, constructed a steamer and four
barges with a capacity of three thousand
barrels of flour each and towed them be-
tween Burlington and Rouse's Point, thus
enabling the Rutland line to compete suc-
cessfully with the Vermont Central. His
next enterprise was the establishment of a
line of propellers from the upper lakes to
Ogdensburg to connect with the railroad to
Boston and New England, which opened up
for the first time a route for the products of
the West by the lakes and St. Lawrence
ri\er which had heretofore found their out-
let only by the Erie Canal and roads from
Albany. While thus engaged he formed the
acquaintance of Mr. Edwin F. Johnson,
one of the most experienced engineers in
America, and from information received
from him relative to the belt of country
between the great lakes and the Pacific
ocean, he became thoroughly impressed with
the importance of a railroad to the Pacific
I'oast by the Northern route, and he deter-
mined to devote his life to the accomplish-
ment of that object. As the first active step
toward the enterprise, in 1852, before even
there was any railroad into Chicago from
the East, he contracted with others to build
what is now known as the Chicago &
Northwestern R. R., from Chicago to St.
Paul, Minn., and Fond du Lac, ^^'is. Mr.
Edwin F. Johnson was made chief engineer
of this railroad. The Hon. Robert J.
^^'alker, Secretary of the Treasury of the
V. S., and other prominent men were direc-
tors. While engaged in the construction of
this railroad Mr. Canfield and Mr. Johnson
discussed very fully the subject of an over-
CANFIEI.D.
6i
land railroad, and Mr. Johnson i5re]:>ared an
exhaustive treatise embracing their views
upon Pacific railroads, coming to the con-
clusion that one by the Northern route was
not only the most feasible, but important in
a military and commercial point of view,
being so near to the British line.
Mr. Walker learning of this, desired a loan
of the manuscript to lay before his associ-
ate in the cabinet of President Pierce, the
Hon. Jefferson Davis, Secretary of War, who
was at that time very desirous to extend the
territory of the South and its "peculiar insti-
tution." Mr. Davis, knowing Mr. Johnson
to be an engineer of extensive knowledge and
whatever he had written was important and
reliable, saw upon examining the pa])er that
it came in conflict with his cherished |jlans,
and he came on to New York and hatl a per-
sonal interview with Mr. Johnson and en-
deavored to convince him that he was in
error and did not realize the difficulties of
the Northern route nor appreciate the great
advantages of a Southern one. Mr. John-
son listened attentively to what Mr. Davis
had to say and replied "that he had given
the subject much thought and patient inves-
tigation, but his conclusions were strictly
logical from the facts and that he had no
doubt of the full verification of his estimates
by actual measurements hereafter to be
made," which have been confirmed since
by the actual surveys of the Northern Pacific
R. R.
Mr. Davis finding that he could not
change the conclusions of Mr. Johnson and
Mr. Canfield, and that the manuscript could
not be suppressed, but would be published
by them, he, on March 3, 1S53, procured
the passage of a resolution by Congress
authorizing him, the Secretary of \\'ar, to
make such explorations as he might deem
advisable to ascertain the most practical
route for a railroad to the Pacific coast, hop-
ing thereby to discredit the arguments in
favor of the Northern route, which resulted
in sending out the three great Pacific rail-
road expeditions and in later years the con-
struction of a railroad over each of the three
routes, the Southern being the last to be
built.
During the civil struggle, when Colonel
Thomas A. Scott of the Pennsylvania R. R.
was made Assistant Secretary of War and
general manager of trans])ortation of the
armies of the United States he sent for Mr.
Canfield and entrusted to him the charge of
the railroads about Washington as assistant
manager. This was a very trying position,
since every avenue of communication by
land and water with the District of Colum-
bia was in the hands of the rebels, except
the single iron track between Baltimore and
Washington, over which the three hundred
thousand soldiers for the .Army of the Poto-
mac were to be transported for the defense
of the Capital, as well as all proxisions for
man and beast about the city. Never before
or since has so much business been done on
a single track and that, too, without any ac-
cident or the loss of a single life. How
promptly, ably and successfully this duty was
discharged by Mr. Canfield the page of his-
tory tells. In connection with these labors
in behalf of his country, Mr. Canfield, with
the assistance of Hon. Solomon P'oote, re-
ceived permission from the go\ernment to
raise a cavalry regiment in \'erniont and
the result of their efforts was that Col. L. B.
Piatt, with the ist Regt. Vt. Cav., mounted,
armed, and equipped, reported for duty
within sixty days at \Vashington, rendering
service during the war second to no other
regiment in the army.
After the close of the struggle, for several
years Mr. Canfield was superintendent of the
steamers on Lake Champlain, but his mind
and thoughts were still absorbed more or
less with his favorite project until he con-
ceived and organized the syndicate to con-
struct the Northern Pacific R. R., in
connection with which magnificent enter-
prise he has gained his chief renown. The
space of this article will hardly pennit a
bare mention, much less a detailed account
of his indefatigable labors for many years in
its behalf. One incident, howe\er, out of
very many, may be mentioned, which will
give a slight idea of the persistence and
energy required to carry this enterprise for-
ward. Ailer several years of preliminary
work and advances made by the syndicate,
as the contract with Messrs. Jay Cooke &
Co. was under consideration for negotiating
the bonds of the company, Mr. Cooke re-
quired that his own engineers and men
should first examine the country through
which the road was to be built before he
would sign the contract, and if their report
was favorable he would execute it. Mr. Can-
field was selected by the directors of the
Northern Pacific Railroad Co. to conduct
Mr. Cooke's party from the Pacific coast
east and to show them a practicable route
for a railroad. He met them at Salt Lake
City June 9, 1869, took them to Sacramento
by rail, thence by stage nine hundred miles
to Olympia, Washington Ter. .After ex-
ploring the bays and harbors of Puget Sound
he returned to Portland, ascended the Col-
umbia river to \\'alla Walla, then the end of
settlements. Here he fitted out a pack train
of fourteen horses for a trip across the
mountains to Helena, Mont., fixe hundred
miles on horseback, haxing to carry on the
backs of the horses all the provisions for the
whole trip from Walla Walla through the In-
dian Territorv, where there were no roads or
62
settlers, his party lying on the ground at
night without a tent or other covering except
a blanket. From Helena he came on to the
Yellowstone river, where Livingstone now is,
one thousand miles east from Puget Sound,
which was about as far as Sitting Bull, then
in command of that country, would allow
him to come.
In this trip he had to cross the two main
ranges of the Rocky Mountains several times
back and forth to examine different passes
in order to satisfy Mr. Cooke's engineers
that a line across them was feasible. Once
he encountered an Indian outbreak, having
nearly all his horses stolen by the Indians,
and had this occurred at an earlier stage of
the journey the party might all have per-
ished for want of food and transportation.
After being gone four months and traveling
about eight thousand miles, Mr. Canfield
was able to show to the entire satisfaction
of the engineers a practicable route, and,
their report to Mr. Cooke being favorable,
he executed the contract for negotiating
§100,000,000 of the bonds of the company,
and the work of construction at last
commenced.
It is not a little remarkable that the route
shown by Mr. Canfield was after subsequent
instrumental surveys adopted by the com-
pany, and from the cars now on their course
from Livingstone to the coast can be seen
more or less of the way the identical trail of
Mr. Canfield and his party, and it is difificult
now to believe that such a trip could have
been made by him under such circum-
stances, most of the way on horseback,
requiring about sixty days, which is now
made in luxurious sleeping and dining cars
in less than sixty hours.
Notwithstanding the apparently insur-
mountable obstacles which presented them-
selves in the course of the long and bitter
struggle to effect this object, the fact that it
twice almost lost its charter, which was
mainly saved by the active vigilance of Mr.
Canfield, the discouraging opposition of the
rival lines, and the physical obstructions of
the country through which the railroad was
built, triumphant success finally crowned his
efforts and those of his fellow- workers and
the road was completed.
How much this enterprise has accom-
plished for the rapid and extensive develop-
ment of the whole country through which it
passes, an empire in itself, and which is to
become an important factor in the govern-
ment, is a matter of history, and the personal
adventures of Mr. Canfield on the frontier,
through Indian Territory with its savage in-
habitants, and the exciting scenes of which
he was a witness during the construction of
the line would alone fill a large and \ery
interesting volume.
Notwithstanding all the discouragements
of the early days of the Northern Pacific
and the hostility of Congress to its applica-
tions for aid, amid all the financial panics
and storms, Mr. Canfield has always main-
tained the same abiding faith in this mag-
nificent undertaking, and he still believes
that being the only company which has a
charter from Congress for a continuous line
from water to water it will become the great
transcontinental route across the continent
to Europe, not only for the products of
farm, forest, and mines along its border, but
for the trade of Japan, China and the Indies.
In fact, it will become the world's highway,
over which will pass the travel and business
of the most enlightened and civilized por-
tions of the globe.
In view of the great diversity of produc-
tions of this country and those of the Cen-
tral American states and the Dominion of
Canada, the commercial relations between
them and the United States must be con-
stantly growing stronger and stronger until
their interests shall be separated by no
transatlantic influence. Mr. Canfield be-
lieves that within a half century there will
be but one English-speaking nation in North
America, and that under a republican form
of government, extending from the .Atlantic
to the Pacific and from the (lulf of Mexico
to the Arctic ocean : a nation over which
will float but one flag, that of the stars and
stripes of the United States ; one republic,
whose free and enlightened institutions will
confer upon hundreds of millions of people
all the benefits of the highest and most
enlightened civilization and be the control-
ling power among the nations of the earth.
Since his retirement from the company he
has devoted more or less time to the super-
vision of his large farm at Lake Park, Minn.
He has now been engaged in active business
for fifty-three years, during which period he
has never taken a day specially for recrea-
tion or pleasure, but has found his enjoyment
in the work in which he has been engaged,
believing thereby he has been the source of
some good to his fellow-men and to his
country.
.Although of a slender frame and fragile
constitution, he is yet apparently as active
and moves with the same elastic step as
twenty years ago. He is a good judge of
human nature, enabling him to be an excel-
lent organizer and manager of men, quick
in observation, clear in judgment, and rapid
in execution. Modest in his pretensions, he
is ever ready to give to others the credit of
any good work, although he may have been
mainly instrumental in bringing it about.
Having been engaged most of his life in
work of a public character and connected
with many great enterprises, he has an ex-
tendeil knowledge of the whole conntiv,
broad and comprehensive ideas as to its
capacity and resources, and entertains the
most sanguine views as to its future great-
ness and power. When once enlisted in any
scheme which commands his approbation
he is very persistent and persevering until it
is accomplished, no matter how difficult it
may be or how serious the obstacles to be
overcome. The idea of defeat never enters
into his calculations. He is generous almost
to a fault, a true and firm friend to those
who gain his confidence, and many are the
men in prominent positions in different parts
of the country who are indebted for them to
his early aid and assistance.
At different times he has been actively
engaged in political matters, but always
refusing to accept office of any kind. .Ar-
riving at his majority when the old Whig
party was prominent, his first vote was cast
for its nominees, and he continued identi-
fied with it until it was succeeded by the
Republican party, to which he has since
belonged. He understands thoroughly all
the great political issues, as well as the great
commercial, which involve the business and
prosperity of these United States. Few men
have had a more extensive acquaintance and
knowledge in the last two generations of the
prominent men of the nation, whether in
politics or business.
Mr. Canfield is an active member of the
Protestant Episcopal church, having been
born in the house occupied by his grand-
father, Nathan Canfield, in Arlington, and
who was the first lay delegate to the first
convention of the diocese of Vermont,
organized at Arlington, i ygo. His great-
grandfather on his mother's side, Capt.
Jehiel Hawley, officiated as lay reader and
maintained the service of the church from
1764, which was the first service of the
Episcopal church in Vermont, being before
there was any clergyman there. These two
men built the first church in Vermont and
in that church Thomas H. Canfield was bap-
tized by old "Priest" Bronson seventy years
ago. He has attended every convention of
the diocese of Vermont for forty-one
years, during thirty-one of which he has
been the secretary of the organization. He
was one of the original incorporators and
trustees of the Vermont Episcopal Institute
at ?!urlington, chartered in 1S54, and for
twenty-eight years has had charge of the
funds of the establishment. He was mainly
instrumental in the erection of Bishop Hop-
kins Hall for the purpose of a church school
for young ladies, and he has so ably man-
aged the finances of this corporation that
the diocese of Vermont now possesses this
beautiful property of one hundred and fifty
acres on the banks of Lake Champlain,
u[)on which is an {•'.jiiscopal residence, a large
gothic stone building for the theological
department and boys' school, with another
of equal dimensions and materials for the
use o( the young ladies, both in successful
operation and not a dollar of debt outstand-
ing nor any lien of any kind on the ])roj)ertv.
Mr. Canfield was a potential factor in
raising the funds for building Trinity Chapel,
Winooski, and the Episcojial church at
Brainerd, Minn., and he also furnished the
site for churches at Moorhead, and Lake
Park, Minn. ; Bismark, N. 1 )., and Kalama,
W'ash. He has represented the diocese of
Vermont in the general conventions of the
church in the ignited States, held in Phila-
delphia in 1856, in Richmond, Va., in 1859;
in New Vork in 1874, in Boston in 1877,
and in Chicago in 1886.
Few men have had a more busy life,
which from present indications is likely to
continue in the same way to the end, and he
probably will, as he says he expects to do,
"die in the harness." In conclusion it may
be truly said what the late Rev. Dr. Wick-
ham of Manchester so beautifully expressed :
"If Burlington can boast of her Edmunds,
the leader of the L'nited States Senate, and
of Phelps, the eminent jurist and distin-
guished representative at the Court of St.
James, she has not another citizen that has
honored her more than Thomas H.
Canfield."
CARLETON, HiRAM, of Montpelier,
son of David and Mary (Wheeler) Carleton,
was born in Barre, August 28, 1838.
His father, David Carleton, was twenty-
fifth in descent from Baldwin de Carleton,
and seventh in descent from Edward Carle-
ton, who emigrated from the mother country
in 1639 and settled in Old Rowley, Mass.
Baldwin de Carleton, of Carleton Hall,
Cumberland, Eng., was a remote ancestor.
He received his early education in the
common schools of Barre, and pursued his
preparatory studies for college at the acad-
emy of that place. He then entered the
LIniversity of Vermont, graduating in i860,
after which he was principal of the Hines-
burgh Academy. He then removed to Keese-
ville, N. Y., where he was employed as in-
structor in natural science, mathematics and
Greek, in the Keeseville Academy, of which
he was afterwards made the principal. In
1865 he completed the study of the law
with Ephraim E. French, Esq., of Barre, and
was admitted to the bar of Washington
county court at the September term. In
1 866 he located in Waitsfield where he
began, and contined for ten years, the prac-
tice of his profession. He then changed
his residence to Montpelier in order to be-
come a member of the firm of Heath &
64 CARNEY.
C'arleton, which continued till 1883, when he
was appointed judge of probate by Governor
Barstow. He has since held this office by
successive elections.
In T,S6g Judge Carleton was the represen-
tative of the town of Waitsfield in the Gen-
eral Assembly, and the following year was
^
/
HIRAM CARLETON
re-elected by a unanimous vote. In that
body he served as chairman of the com-
mittee on education, and was largely instru-
mental in the passage of the act permitting
the establishment of the town, system of
schools. In 1870 he was the delegate from
Waitsfield to the state constitutional conven-
tion, and was chosen state's attorney for
Washington county for two years.
|udge Carleton has been recently elected
president of the Vermont Historical Society,
and has acted as treasurer of the Vermont
Bar Association since 18S3. For fifteen
years he has most creditably served as both
trustee and treasurer of the Washington
county grammar school. He is also a
member of the Masonic fraternity, uniting
with Aurora Lodge, No. 112, of Montpelier.
ludge Carleton was married in Chester-
field, N v., Oct. 26, 1865, to Mary Eliza-
beth, daughter of Lathrop and Mary (Ball)
Pope. Of this union are issue : Frederick,
and Mary Ball Pope.
CARNEY, JOHN VOSE, of Bennington,
son of Daniel and Mary (Wheeler) Carney,
was born in Newcastle, Me., Nov. 6, 1835.
His maternal grandfather was a member
of the patriotic band who spilled the tea
in Boston harbor.
Mr. Carney passed through the common
schools of his native town, and instead of
devoting his nights to relaxation or amuse-
ment, employed them in careful and unre-
mitting study.
In 185 I he went to Worcester, Mass., to
learn the trade of a machinist, but after
three years removed to Bennington. During
the war, he acted as inspector of arms at
Watervliet Arsenal. He then commenced
the manufacture of knit goods at Bennington,
but meeting with reverses, sold his plant and
engaged in business for the Mutual Life In-
surance Co. He is now a half owner of the
Crawford & Carney shoddy mills in Ben-
nington.
Republican in his political preferences.
Judge Carney has been given many civic
honors. Besides being elected as assistant
judge of the Bennington county court, he
was sent to the Senate in 1884 ; also ap-
appointed to serve on the citizens' Benning-
ton battle monument committee, and was
chairman of the banquet committee at the
dedication of the monument.
Mr. Carney belongs to the Methodist
church, and for about twenty-one years was
superintendent of the Sunday school.
March 23, 1854, he was joined in matri-
mony at Worcester, Mass., to Susan A.,
daughter of Asa and Sally Morse Abbott.
One daughter was the fruit of this union :
Allura Jeannette (Mrs. C. N. Hodgkins of
Bennington. She passed awav, April 7,
1880).
CANNON, M. W., of West Rutland,
was born in that town, April 9, 1867.
Of Irish parentage, he was educated in
the common schools, and after completing
his course of study, labored upon a farm
belonging to his parents, which occupation
he followed until 1887, when he entered a
political life.
In 1888 he was the candidate for justice
of the peace on the Democratic ticket, and
received the largest vote ever given to an
aspirant for the office in the town. Two
years later he was elected selectman, which
position he now holds, being chairman of
the board. In 1890 he was the nominee of
his party for town representative, and, re-
ceiving a handsome majority, entered the
Legislature at the age of twenty-four, the
youngest member of the body. He imme-
diately took an active part in the debate on
reform measures, and distinguished himself
by an able and eloquent speech on the
weekly payment bill. He was re-elected in
1892, and served creditably on the com-
mittee on rules and elections. Mr. Cannon
CARPENTER.
has taken a leading part in town affairs, antl
has been prominently identified with all
measures of reform. In October, 1S93, he
was offered the choice of the office of post-
master in West Rutland or a position in
Washington, by the Cleveland administration.
The latter position he accepted.
In social life, he is affable and agreeable,
is unmarried, and in religious belief is a
Roman Catholic.
CARPENTER, AMOS BuGBEE, of
Waterford, son of Isaiah and Caroline
(Bugbee) Carpenter, was born in Waterford,
May 25, 181S.
The first of the family who emigrated to
America was M'illiam Carpenter, who came
from Wherwell, England, in i6_^8, and was
one of the earliest settlers of Weymouth
and Rehoboth, Mass. Jonah Carpenter, the
grandfather of Amos B. Carpenter, was a
minute man during the Revolutionary war,
and Isaiah, his son, came to Waterford in
iSoS, where he cleared a farm, which has
since been the family home.
Mr. Amos B. Carpenter attended the
common schools of Waterford, and after-
wards pursued short courses of study at the
Lyndon Academy and Peacham grammar
school. When eighteen years of age, and
each season after that time until married, he
taught school during the winter and attended
to his farm duties during the summer ; but
though his educational opportunities were
limited, he has supplemented them by a
CARPENTER. 65
lifelong habit of reading, and a large expe-
rience of men and affairs. He has made
general farming the vocation of his life,
paying considerable attention to the pro-
ducts of the dairy.
He was united in marriage, June 24, 1S47,
to Cosbi B., daughter of Ezra" and Hannah
(Burleigh) Parker, of Littleton, \. H. 'Ihey
have had eight children, six of whom still
live: Martha W. (Mrs. Stillman E. Cut-
ting of Concord), .'\lthea C. (Mrs. Stephen
J. Hastings of Waterford), Philander Isaiah
(died in infancy ), Caroline Bugbee (Mrs. L.
J. Cummings, deceased), .Amos Herbert,
Cosbi May (Mrs. L. J. Cummings of Clinton,
Iowa), Ezra Parker, and Miner Bugbee.
Mr. Carpenter is a consistent Republican,
and for thirty-eight years has discharged the
duties of postmaster at West Waterford. He
was a member of the state Legislature from
\\'aterford in 1888. Nearly half a cen-
tury ago he was elected a corresponding
member of the Historical and Genealogical
Society at Boston, and is about to pul)lish a
AMOS BUGBEE CARPENTER.
record of the Carpenter family, on which
he has persistently labored for many years.
He has received the three degrees of Blue
Lodge Masonry, and is a member of Moose
River Lodge of West Concord. He was one
of the charter members of the Green
Mountain Grange, P. of H., which was the
first subordinate body formed in New Eng-
land, and later was selected ti) fulfil the
duties of Master of Waterford Grange.
66 CASSIE.
CASSIE, George, of Barre, son of
James and Margaret (Ronald) Cassie, was
born in Auchmaliddie, Aberdeenshire, Scot-
land, May 29, 1857.
His education was limited to the public
schools in his native town, and he served his
apprenticeship at the trade of a stone cutter.
When the regular term of five years had ex-
pired, he served as journeyman two years,
and in 1880 emigrated to the United States,
settling in Barre in 1882. Commencing
with a small capital, he has gradually in-
creased his business, until it has proved
most lucrative and successful. Two years
ago Mr. Cassie conceived the idea of import-
ing pure-bred Shetland ponies for breeding
purposes. This venture has also proved
successful.
Mr. Cassie is a Democrat, and is an ex-
cellent representative of the Scotch-Ameri-
can, combining American enterprise with
the native thrift and shrewdness of the
Scotch.
He married, May 16, 1889, Laura E.,
daughter of Charles L. and Celinda
(Dickey) Currier of Barre. Their first
child, Jessie, died in infancy ; their second,
Raymond J., was born in October, 1891.
CAVERLY, Charles Solomon, of
Rutland, son of Dr. Abiel Moore and Sarah
L. (Goddard) Caverly, was born in Troy, N.
H., Sept. 30, 1856.
He received the usual education in the
public schools of Pittsford, to which town
his father removed in 1862, and he also
attended those of Brandon. In the summer
of 1873 he entered Kimball Union .Academy
at Meriden, N. H., graduating there in 1874,
and then entered the classical department
of Dartmouth College, from which he grad-
uated in 187S. He was valedictorian of his
class, and received two prizes at his grad-
uation. He received his degree of M. 1).
from the medical department of the U. V.
M. in 1881. During the time of his educa-
tional career he employed himself in teach-
ing at West Haven, Proctor and Pittsford.
After his graduation he visited New York
City, where he spent nearly two years of
studv in hospitals, and also availed himself
of the advantages of private instruction. In
1883, Dr. Caverly returned to Rutland and
began to practice his profession, at first in
connection with Dr. Middleton Goldsmith,
but after a year he opened an office inde-
pendent of him, and since then he has been
alone. He makes a specialty of the diseases
of the nose, throat and chest, often visiting
New York for a few weeks for the purpose of
more particular study and research. He is
a member of the State Medical -Society,
and has held most of the offices in this
society, being president in i89i-'92. He
has belonged to the American Medical Asso-
ciation. He is a member of the Rutland
Medical Club, and in i89i-'92 was president
of the Rutland County Medical .Society. Dr.
Caverly is a member of the Rutland Repub-
lican Club, of the Rutland Board of Trade,
and one of the directors of the Rutland
Hospital Association.
He married, Nov. 5, 1885, Mabel A.,
daughter of Harley C. and Mary ( Root)
Tuttle of Rutland, by whom he has one son :
Harley Tuttle.
From 1887 to 1889, Dr. Caverly dis-
charged the functions of health officer of
Rutland, and was appointed a member of
the State Board of Health in 1S90 by Gov-
ernor Dillingham to fill an unexpired term,
being reappointed by Governor Page for a
term of six years. He has been president
of that body since 1891.
Dr. Caverly has entered the Masonic fra-
ternity, affiliating with Rutland Lodge, No.
79, Davenport Chapter, No. 17, and Killing-
ton Commandery, No. 6, Knights Templar.
He is a member of the Congregational
church, and interested in the Y. M. C. A. of
Rutland.
CELLEY, WiLLIA.M E. S., of Bradford,
was born in Roxbury, Mass., Jan. 7, 1838.
His father's name was Benjamin, and his
mother's Jane M. Sawyer.
When he was three years of age his
father's family removed to Bradford, and the
following year to the town of Fairlee, where
he now resides. He was educated at the
public schools and at Bradford Academy.
\\'illiam was brought up on the farm of his
father, a highly respected citizen, who twice
represented the town in the state Legisla-
ture, and died at the advanced age of nine-
ty-three. He has always resided on this
and on the adjoining estate, and has devoted
his attention to general farming, though at
present is especially engaged in the produc-
tions of the dairy.
Mr. Celley is a man of independent con-
victions, an earnest supporter of temper-
ance principles, and an ardent advocate of
the law of prohibition. He was district
clerk thirty-four consecutive years, is a
member of the board of school directors,
and one of the trustees of Bradford Acad-
emy. He has held various offices in the
town, and in 1876 was elected to the state
Legislature by the votes of the Republican
party.
He is a member of the M. E. Church of
Bradford, and has lately presented a fine
bell to the L^nion Church of Fairlee as a
memorial token in honor of his father. He
has for many years been a steward in the
church to which he belongs, and has been
in various ways connected with other organi-
zations of a religious and reformatory char-
acter.
He was united in marriage June 13, i86^,
at Bradford, to Jane C, daughter of Jasper
and Ceiinda (Heath) Moore" of West" Fair-
V
E. S. CELLEY,
lee. Two children have been born to them :
Emma J. (deceased), and George E., who
resides with his parents. They have also
an adopted child, H. Evelyn.
CHAFEY, Martin Beard, of Albany,
son of Hiram and .Asenath (Kendall)
Chafey, was born in Albany, May 11, 1842.
He was educated at the public schools of
Albany, where he also became a pupil of the
academy, and afterwards attended the Peo-
ple's Academy at Morrisville.
He commenced his business career with a
clerkship at Derby Line, and then enlarged
his experience by serving for one year in a
wholesale store in Boston. In 1866 he
entered into partnership with his brother,
Hiram W., but since 1882 he has continued
the business by himself, carrying a large
stock of general merchandise. Since 1879
he has been agent for the collection of rents
for Middlebury College. Was postmaster at
Albany from 1866 to 1886.
t Mr. Caffey was married to Jennie Wilson,
daughter of Alexander and Margaret (Cal-
derwood) Mitchell of Craftsbury. Their
children are : Don M. (died in childhood),
Agnes ( )., Roland E., and Maggie E.
.\ life-long Republican, Mr. Chafey has
been town clerk since 1876, and in 1893 was
cha.mi!i;ki.i\. (,■,
appointed deputy collector of internal rev-
enue for .Albany and vicinity. He enlisted
in the army, but being a minor his parents
refused their consent. Before the age of
twenty-one he had enlisted once and was
drafted twice.
He was elected to the General Assembly
of 1890. Attending the session of that
year, also the extra session of 1891. His
son Roland, accompanying him as page in
the House in 1890 and in 1S91, was ap-
pointed assistant secretary of the House at
the age of fourteen years, he being the
youngest person ever appointed to that posi-
tion in the state, and now at the age of
seventeen years is assistant cashier in the
First National Bank, Ithica, Mich.
In religious preference a Baptist, he nev-
ertheless attends and supports the Metho-
dist F;piscopal church. He has been a
member of Central Lodge F. & A. M. of
Irasburg.
CHAMBERLIN, PresTON S., of Brad-
ford, son of Abner and Mary ( Haseltine)
Chamberlin, was born in Newbury, Nov.
•>>< I s-,->
-5, 1^32.
Educated in the common schools and at
Newbury Seminary, he remained on his
father's farm until the age of twenty-one,
when he removed to the town of Bradford,
where he has since resided.
He is a Republican and has been elected
to fill several town offices and in 1890 rep-
resented his town in the Legislature. A
trustee of Bradford Academy for fifteen
years, he is strongly interested in the cause
of education.
Mr. Chamberlin enlisted in the United
States service in May, 1861, under the first
call of President Lincoln, being a member
of the Bradford Guards. For the first two
months of the war he served as sergeant in
Co. D, ist Vt. Vols. Upon the call for nine
months' men in 1862, he enlisted in the 12th
Regt. and went out as captain of Co. H,
(Bradford Guards) and was mustered out
with the regiment. Captain Chamberlin
was a charter member of Washburn Post,
G. \. R , No. I 7, and for several years its
Commander.
He married Hannah S., daughter of
George W. and Rebecca (Mussey) Corliss
of Bradford, Jan. 17, 1856. They have
three daughters : Annie (wife of C. E.
Spalding), Mary H. (wife of George R.
Grant), and Fldith Julia.
CHANDLER, Frank, of Brandon, son
of Rufus and Mary (King) Chandler, was
born in Coleraine, Mass., June 13, 1838.
His education was chiefly obtained at the
West Brattleboro high school, and he com-
menced a mercantile career in his early
68
boyhood. For some twelve xears he was
employed as a clerk in different situations,
the last six being in a wholesale clothing
store in Montreal. Since that time he has
devoted himself to agricultural pursuits, and
in connection with these has conducted a
summer resort at Silver Lake, Leicester,
where for the past fourteen years he has held
semi-annual camp meetings, to which socie-
ties of every denomination have been hear-
tily welcomed.
Mr. Chandler was wedded in Leicester in
iiS64 to Ellen M., daughter of Stephen and
Sarah Alden. To them eight children have
been born : Sarah Klla (deceased), John B.,
Frank E., Mary A., Rufus A. (deceased),
Grace A., Gertrude L., and Ernest D. (de-
ceased). He has held many responsible
offices in the town of Leicester, which he
represented in Montpelier in 1878. He has
been prominent in the organizations of the
Good Templars and Patrons of Husbandry,
and for more than thirty years has been an
active member of St. Paul's Lodge, F. & A.
M., No. 25, of Urandon.
CHAPIN, William, of Middlesex, son
of Joseph and Catherine ( Holden) Chapin,
was born Dec. 7, 1831.
Mr. Chapin comes from a line rich in his-
toric associations. On his mother's side he
is fourth in descent from William Holden,
who was with the Colonial troops at the
capture of Louisburg in 1 745, and served
under the immortal U'olfe upon the heights
of Abraham in 1759. A soldier of the
patriot army of the Revolution, he was pres-
ent at Stillwater and Saratoga and witnessed
the surrender of Burgoyne. The paternal
grandfather of the subject of the present
sketch came to Middlesex as one of its ear-
liest settlers shortly after the Revolutionary
war, in which he had fought under Washing-
ton. Together with his oldest son, Joseph,
he marched to Plattsburg and again encoun-
tered the dangers of the battlefield in behalf
of his native land.
Receiving only the instruction of the
common schools of his native town, the
early training of Mr. ^Villiam Chapin was
eminently practical. After an early experi-
ence in district school teaching during the
winter at Middlesex and Waterbury, he was
employed as a clerk in a store at Swamp-
scott, Mass., and later in i858-'59 in the
Union store at Montpelier. With these ex-
ceptions, he has alwavs lived upon the farm
where he was born.
He is a very successful operator in real
estate, besides being a large holder of the
same. He is an enthusiastic breeder of
Jersey cattle and Shropshire sheep, owning
one of the best flocks in the county.
After holding many town offices, he was
sent to the Legislature in 1880 and was a
member of the State Equalizing Board in
18S2. In 1SS4 he was honored by an elec-
tion to the Senate and re-elected in 1888.
He has also been a member of the Board of
Agriculture from 1887 to 1892.
Hon. William Chapin is a unique and
original character, possessing a fund of
quaint and genial humor with an inimitable
gift of drollery in story telling. When he is
convinced of the righteousness of his cause
"he knowing, dares maintain," and in brief
is an excellent specimen of a good old-
fashioned Green Mountain farmer.
He was married at Worcester, May 15,
i860, to Catherine, daughter of Deacon
Jonas and Minerva E. (Vail) Abbott. Of
this union there were five children : Harry
Lee, Joseph Abbott, William Allen, Hinck-
ley B., and Edgar L. (deceased).
CHASE, Charles Sumner, of whit-
ingham, son of Abraham and Catherine
(Read) Chase, was born in the town of
Whitingham, May 13, 1855.
After having attended the common schools
of the town he studied law and stenography,
and was admitted to the Windham county
bar in September, 18S0, and has since prac-
ticed law at Whitingham. He has served as-
the official stenographer of the Bennington,
Rutland and Windham county courts for the
past seventeen years. He took a prominent
part in the organization of the Moses New-
ton Shoe Co., of which he has liad the man-
agement, and was also connected with the
construction of the Deerfield Valley R. R.,
and the Hoosac Tunnel & Wilmington Rail-
road Co., and is a director of and attorney
for the same.
He is a Republican, and has been town
treasurer, justice of the peace and held
some minor offices. Mr. Chase is a mem-
ber of Unity Lodge, F. & A. M., of Jack-
sonville.
He married, Jan. 19, 1881, Carrie Rmily,
daughter of John Addison and Emily C.
Brigham of Boston, Mass. Two children
have been born to them : Robert Martin,
born Feb. 22, i.SS^, and Harry ]!righam,
born Aug. 9, 1SS9.
CHASE, Charles M., son of l-lpaphras
Bull and Louisa (Baldwin) Chase, was born
in Lyndon, Nov. 6, 1829.
^^. ^l^^-h
y
CHARLES M. CHASE.
He received his preparatory education in
the academies of Lyndon, St. Johnsbury,
and Meriden, N. H., and was afterwards
gradtiated from Dartmouth College in the
class of 1853. He then pursued his profes-
sional studies with President Allen of Farm-
er's College, Cincinnati, and in 1S57 was
admitted to the bar in Sycamore, 111., where
he commenced the practice of his profes-
sion, at the same time editing the DeKalb
County Sentinel and teaching music, thus
continuing until the breaking out of the
civil war. In i863-'64 he was in Kansas, a
portion of the time employed as city editor
of the Leavenworth I)ail\' Times, and having
CH.ASK. 69
charge of the musical association of that
city. For some time he traveled in the
state as correspondent of the Sycamore Re-
publican, describing the bloody struggles
that took place during the episodes of 1856.
In 1865 he commenced the publication of
the Vermont Union at Lyndon, which he
still continues. In connection with this
enter|)rise he has made numerous trips in
Florida, California, the western and the
southern states as correspondent of his own
paper, one of these trips being published
in book form under the title of "Editor's
Run in New Mexico and Colorado." The
book received numerous compliments from
the press and had quite an extensive sale.
During the first years after leaving col-
lege, Mr. Chase divided his time between
studying law and teaching in Cincinnati, (J.,
having charge for three years of the vocal
music department in Ohio Female College
and Farmer's College, conducting conven-
tions, giving concerts, etc. During this
period he composed different church tunes,
which were published in the books of that
date and later.
Mr. Chase enlisted in 1861, and had
charge of the brigade band of the 13th 111.
Vols, till their discharge at the end of three
months service in Southwestern Missouri.
He was married June 15, 1865, at Syca-
more, 111., to Mary M, daughter of Timothy
and Mary (Waterman) Wells. Their five
children are : Everett B., John B., George A.,
Jennie H., and Nellie L.
Mr. Chase is Democratic in his political
adherence, and for several years held the
office of police magistrate in Sycamore.
For twenty years he has been justice of the
peace in Lyndon. He was the prime mover
in securing the charter for the Lyndon
Academy and Craded School, being for a
long time president of the board of direc-
tors. In i866-'68 he was the Democratic
candidate for Congress in the First Vermont
District, and was appointed delegate to the
national convention of that party in St.
Louis in 1876. His ability as a financier
has called him to the duties of director in
the Lyndon National Bank and the Savings
Bank & Trust Co. of St. Johnsbury, of
which he has been president since 1891.
He has taken the vows of Free Masonry,
and is actively connected with the lodge at
Lyndon and Haswell Chapter in St. Johns-
bury.
CHASE, Edgar MeRRITT, of jay, son
of Merrill and Electa (Stickney) Chase, was
born in Jay, .April 18, 1857. Having re-
ceived his education at the public schools of
Jay, he now owns and occupies a small farm
at the village and for several years has been
foreman in IS. F. Faine's lumber mill.
7°
He has held many town offices and was
elected to the Legislature in 1892, where he
served on general and several special com-
mittees. He has always been a strong
Republican in his political faith, and is a
member of Masonic Union Lodge, No. 16, of
Troy. In religious belief he is Methodist
Episcopal.
years overseer of the poor, and also served
in most of the other town offices, and was
representative in the Legislature of 1878. J
He is a public-spirited man of strong
convictions and benevolent impulses. Has
always been a temperance man in principle
and practice, and a prominent member of
the L O. G. T. In the long and eventful
existence of the West Concord L'niversalist
Church, a period of more than half a cen-
tury, Mr. Chase has been a constant atten-
dant and active worker ; about thirty years
superintendent of the Sunday school, and
many years chairman of the parish com-
mittee. He is also president of the Northern
.Association and treasurer of LTniversalist
Convention of Vermont and Province of
Q)uebec, which office he has helil the past
fourteen vears.
EDGAR MERRITT CHASE.
August 17, 1 88 1, Mr. Chase married Myra
Bartlett. who died Nov. 17, 1891, leaving
two children : Charles Bartlett, and Maud
Electa.
CHASE, WiLLARD, of West Concord,
son of Ceorge and luinice (.Abbott) Chase.
was born in Landgrove, March 10, 1840.
Coming to Concord with his parents two
years later, he was brought up on the same
farm where he has since resided. His father
was a frugal, industrious farmer, skilled also
in many handicrafts, and the subject of this
sketch naturally received much training in
these directions.
Being an ambitious, self-reliant boy, he
acquired a thorough common school educa-
tion. As a farmer, he evinces the same
energy and thoroughness, making specialties "
of creamery butter and maple sugar. In
i8go he made 10,100 pounds of sugar.
Mr. Chase is an earnest Republican. He
was school district clerk and treasurer for
twenty-one years. Called to the position of
selectman at the age of twenty-six, he has
ed that position ten terms ; he was five
January i, 1868, he married .Ann Maria
W., daughter of the late David W. and Sally
(Stiles) Lee of St. Johnsbury.
CHASE, ZiNA GOLDTHWAIT, late of
Cambridge, son of .Alden and .Abigail
(Chase) Chase, was born in Cambridge,.
•August 9, 1830.
His educational advantages were derived
from the common schools and he steadily
followed farming as an occupation, at the
same time dealing largely in cattle. Mr.
Chase twice enlisted in the ranks of his
country's defenders and in his first attempt
was advanced to the grade of orderly ser-
geaiu (if Co. H, 2d Regt. \'t. N'ols., but
unfortunatelv he was mustered out for disa-
bility.
After holding many minor positions of
trust in the town, he was elected by a strong
Republican majority to the state Legisla-
ture in the fall of i>S.S6, which position he
and in 1890 was elected senator of Addison
county, also the youngest man ever sent
from the county in that capacity. In both
of the legislative bodies he served on im-
portant committees and being well versed in
parliamentary law, he was often called upon
to preside.
Mr Child belongs to many political and
agricultural societies and, though not a
member, is a liberal supporter of the
( 'hristian church.
filled with credit to himself and satisfaction
to his constituents. He was a member of the
Masonic order, and was united in marriage,
August 2, 1S56, to Jane H., daughter of
Samuel and Hannah Montague. One child,
Hollis M. Chase, has blessed their union.
CHILD, George Edward, of Wey-
bridge, was born Feb. 22, 185 i, and is the
son of John and Mahala (Briggs) Child.
Receiving his early education in the
schools of Weybridge, he continued to pur-
sue his studies at the Stanstead (P. ().)
Academy and Fort Edward Collegiate Insti-
tute. At first intending to enter a profes-
sional life, he concluded that farming and
speculation were his true vocations. Mr.
Child has given a large share of his atten-
tion to the breeding of Merino sheep and
of late years his specialty has been the rais-
ing of cattle and beeves. His farm, on
which Gov. Silas Wright was born, is histor-
ically interesting.
In political creed a Republican, after
having held many town offices he was sent
to the Legislature in 1884, being the
youngest member ever sent from \\'eybridge.
GEORGE EDWARD CHILD
He was married in Weybridge on Jan. 25,
1S77, to Susan, daughter of Edwin and
Sarah Wright. This union has been blessed
with two daughters : Cecile Maude, and
\'erna Wright.
CLARK, Ezra Warren, of Derby,
son of Alvah \\'arren and Mary C. (King)
Clark, was born at Glover, Oct. 12, 1842.
His father, .Alvah, was one of twelve chil-
dren, eleven of whom lived to maturity.
Mr. Clark's educational training was
acquired in the public schools of Glover, the
( )rleans Liberal Institute, and the Metho-
dist Episcopal Seminary of Newbury. For
several terms he taught in the public schools,
and was principal of the Orleans Liberal
Institute. In the spring of 1867 he began
the study of medicine with Dr. R.R. Skinner
of Barton, and soon after entered the medi-
cal department at Dartmouth College, and
in 1S69 pursued a course of study at the
Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia,
where he graduated in 1S70.
72
Dr. Clark commenced to practice his pro-
fession in Charleston, but in 1873 removed
to Derb)', where by jjatient industry, assidu-
ity, and his liberal methods he built up a
large and valuable business. At the same
time he has given some attention to practical
farming.
He has been health officer for several
years, and has been town superintendent of
schools in Charleston, Glover and Derby,
and selectman from 1889 to 1893.
Always deeply interested in the cause of
temperance and education, Dr. Clark has
been an active worker in their behalf. He
has been for a long time chairman of the
executive committee of Derby Academy, to
the endowment fund of which he has been a
liberal contributor.
He is a member and officer of several
medical societies. He is Republican in his
political creed, and in his religious prefer-
ences Methodist Episcopal. He has always
been energetic in church matters, and for
fifteen years superintendent of the Sunday
school.
Dr. Clark was uniteci in marriage .April
30, 1871, to Isadore M., daughter of Noble
and Emily E. (Rice) Aldrich of Glover.
Their union has been blessed with six chil-
dren : Albert W., Marion E., Helen M.,
Royce \\'., Genevieve M., and Dora Mae.
CLARK, John Calvin, of St. Johns-
bury, son of John S. and Ann E. (Robinson)
Clark, was born in Lunenburg, June 3, 1852.
His educational advantages were received
in the public and private schools of Detroit,
Mich., and he commenced his business
career at the age of eighteen, when he was
employed as a clerk in the First National
Bank at St. Johnsbury. In 1873 he accepted
the position of cashier in the First National
liank of Chelsea ; but after ten years
returned to St. Johnsbury as assistant cashier
in the institution in which he was first em-
ployed. In 1886 he was promoted to the
post of cashier, which he retained until
1893, when he resigned to become the
treasurer of the E. & T. Fairbanks Co. i\Ir.
Clark is also treasurer of the St. Johnsbury
Electric Light Co., The Mystic Club, and
Home for Aged Women, and is a director of
the First National IJank.
He is a staunch and straightforward Re-
publican but has never held any political
office excelling that of clerk of the village
corporation. He is a member of the Sons
of Veterans, and of Passumpsic Lodge, No.
27, of St. Johnsbury.
He was united in marriage .April 14, 1881,
to Lida E., daughter of Rev. John M. and
Anna Haselton Puffer. Three children are
the issue of the marriage : Robert P., Mar-
geret R., and .Arthur Dana.
CLARK, RiPLEV, of Windsor, son of Eli
and Sarah (Warner) Clark, was born in
Strafford, July 23, 181 7. His father, Eli,
was from Boscawen, N. H., and a soldier in
the war of 1812.
Mr. Clark received his elementary educa-
tion in the district schools of Stratford, at
Thetford .Academy, and the New England
Seminary at \\'indsor. He studied medi-
cine with Dr. Phelps of Windsor, and gradu-
ated from the meclical school of Dartmouth
College in 1846. Commencing in Reading,
Dr. Clark subsequently practiced his profes-
sion in Illinois, and later at AMiite River
Junction. In 1861 he settled at Windsor,
where he built up a large practice. Develop-
ing bronchial troubles from the severity of
our winters, he was obliged to seek a change
of climate, and for the last dozen years has
resided in Florida during the winter.
He is a Republican and cast his first presi-
dential vote for William H., and his last for
Benjamin Harrison. .Averse to public office,
he has confined himself to the duties of his
profession, but in 1880 was elected to the
Legislature from Windsor. For twenty years
he was the medical director of the state's
prison.
He married, .August 9, 1S48, Mary .Ann,
daughter of Isaiah and Abigal (Topliff) Ray-
mond of Bridgewater. Of this marriage is
one son ; Isaiah Raymond.
CLEMENT, PeRCIVAL W., of Rut-
land, belongs to a family which has long
been prominent in Rutland county, and his
work has from the first been in the larger
business interests of the section. His be-
ginning was in the marble business, in con-
nection with the quarrying and manufactur-
ing enterprise established by his father, and
in later years he has been prominent in
railroad and other affairs.
Mr. Clement is the son of Charles and
Elizabeth (Wood) Clement. He was born
in Rutland, July 7, 1846, and his home has
always been in that town.
He was educated at the Rutland high
school, St. Paul's School, Concord, N. H.,
and Trinity College, Hartford. He began
business life as a clerk in the Rutland office
of the marble firm above referred to, Cle-
ment & Sons, in the same year and became
a partner in 1871. This firm sold out to the
Rutland Marble Co. in 1876 for a price
which made the transaction the largest then
known in the marble business of this coun-
try. The members of the firm then organ-
ized the State Trust Co., and afterwards the
Clement National Bank, both in Rutland,
and both corporations have since remained
under their control.
Mr. Clement was engaged in the banking
business until 1882, when he began buying
74
CLEVELAND.
largely of the stocks of the Rutland Railroad
Co. He became the active manager of the
affairs of this corporation in 1883. The
finances of the company were demoralized
and its securities greatly depressed, and for
four years Mr. Clement gave his attention to
the property, finally acquiring absolute con-
trol of it. The stock and bonds of the cor-
poration advanced in price enormously and
its credit was restored, and in 1887 Mr.
Clement sold out to the Delaware & Hud-
son Canal Co. He remained with the rail-
road company, however, as its jsresident and
in 1 89 1 negotiated a lease of the property to
the Central Vermont R. R. Besides his
connection with the Rutland banks named,
Mr. Clement is a director in the Howe Scale
Works and the chief owner of the Rutland
Herald, and concerned in many other local
enterprises.
Mr. Clement has been little before the
public except as a business man. He has
always been a Republican, but has ne\er
sought political office and has held none
except that of Rutland town representative,
to which he was elected in 1892. His
special work in this position was in getting
the Rutland city charter. He was the active
spirit in organizing the Rutland Board of
Trade in 1889 and its president three years.
He has been led by his affairs to spend con-
siderable time in the cities and is a member
of the Union League Club of New York,
the Algonciuin Club of Boston, and of some
other similar organizations.
Mr. Clement married Maria H., daughter
of Henry W. and Caroline (Hinman) Ciood-
win of Hartford, Conn., in 186S, and has
had ten children, of whom six are living :
Elizabeth Wood, Caroline Hinman, Ethel
Scovil, Margaret Coodwin, Anna Elizabeth,
and Robert.
CLARKE, RaNSLURE WELD.of Brattle-
boro, son of Elam and Cynthia (Lewis)
Clarke, was born in Williamstown, fan. 27,
1S16.
His studies, besides those in the schools
of his native town, were pursued at Black
River Academy, Ludlow, and at the Orange
county grammar school at Randolph Cen-
tre. He entered Dartmouth College in
1838, and graduated in 1842. Immediately
upon his graduation, he became principal of
Black River Academy which position he
filled for three years, devoting his spare
time to the study of law in the office of Gov.
P. T. Washburn. On his resignation from
the principalship, he lent his entire energy
to his professional studies in the office of the
late Hon. L Dorr Bradley, and was admitted
to the bar of Windham county at the Sep-
tember term of court in 1S46.
On his admission to the bar he at once
began the practice of law in Brattleboro.
In 185 1 he received recognition from the
Republican party, and was elected state's
attorney for Windham county, and re-elected
for the years of i853-'54. He was a member
of the Constitutional Convention in 1S57,
and one of the presidential electors in 1S68.
In the campaign of 1S58 he was elected
state senator from Windham county, and re-
elected in 1859. Mr. Clarke was register of
probate for the district of Marlboro in 1861-
'62, when he resigned to accept the position
of assistant quartermaster of United States
Volunteers.
Judge Clarke was married in May, 1849,
to Lucy C, daughter of the late Judge John
and Polly (Wilson) Wilder. She died in
1864, and in 1868 he married Susan O.
Wilder, a sister of his first wife. Of the
first union there was one daughter, Mary
AV., now the wife of Hon. Milo M. Acker of
Hornellsville, N. V., and of the latter union
one son, Francis E.
Captain Clarke received the appointment
of postmaster of Brattleboro in 187 1, and at
the expiration of his four years' term was
reappointed, and served until Jan. i, 1879.
In local affairs, Judge Clarke has taken a
prominent part, and among other positions
of trust which he has held, is that of presi-
dent of the Brattleboro Savings Bank. For
more than thirty years he has been I'nited
States commissioner and master in chan-
cery, and in 1S82 he was elected assistant
judge of the AVindham county court, which
position he held until December, 1892.
CLEVELAND, James P., JR., son of
James P. and Anna P. ( Huntington) Cleve-
land, was born in Bethel, Sept. 21, 1828.
His father, James P. Cleveland, Sr., is still
living, at the age of ninety. Very many
years ago he joined the Masonic fraternity,
of which he is believed to be the oldest liv-
ing representative in the state of Vermont.
James P., Jr., removed to Braintree in 1845,
and until 1880 followed farming. At that
time he removed to West Randolph and has
devoted himself to life, fire and accident in-
surance. He has also engaged in settling
several estates, and frequently acted as guar-
dian.
.■\ member of the Republican party, he
has been appointed both deputy and sheriff
of his county. He was enrolling officer in
1863, and assistant judge in i878-'79, and
was elected a member of the Legislature in
i876-'77. Enlisting as a private in Co. F,
I 2th Regt. Vt. Vols., he was elected ist lieu-
tenant, and served nine months for the regi-
ment. He was a charter member of V. S.
Cirant Post, No. 96, of West Randolph, and
has Ijelonged to the Masonic order more
75
than thirty years, and held the position of man of the committee on pubhc buildings.
Worshipful Master four years, and treasurer
twenty-five years. He is also a charter
member of Randolph Lodge, No. 48, I. O.
O. F.
and was an efficient member of that on
highways, bridges, and ferries. He was
largely influential in jirocuring the enact-
ment of the new highway law, which has
given such general satisfaction to the state
and met such hearty approval in other states.
Mr. Clifford was united in marriage, Dec.
,V, 1871, to Mary J., daughter of .Vmos C.
JAMES P. CLEVELAND, JR.
Mr. Cleveland married, .\ugust 3, 1850,
Martha, daughter of Elijah and Patience
(Neff) Flint, who died Jan. 4, 1893. They
have had three children: Frank H., Jennie
A., and Harry L.
CLIFFORD, Newell E., of shei-
burne, son of Cleorge B. and Sarah ( Rem-
ington) Clifford, was born in Starksboro,
May 21, 1850.
Availing himself of the usual educational
facilities of his native town, upon reaching
the age to choose an occupation he adopted
that of his father, that of a carpenter and
builder.
In 18S0 he moved to Shelburne, where in
1887 he engaged with Dr. W. Seward Webb
of New York City, owner of Shelburne
Farms, and has since been at the head and
superintended the erection of the beautiful
buildings on that magnificent estate.
Since his majority, Mr. Clifford has taken
nmch interest in public matters, especially
in the schools of his town, and he has been
entrusted by his townsmen with many
responsible positions, being at present se-
lectman, school director, and a member of
the state Legislature. In this last posi-
tion he served most creditably as chair-
NEWELL E. CLIFFORD.
and Lucy A. Cole, of Starksboro. As the
result of this union, there are three children :
Maud E. (deceased), Edith F.,and Cicero G.
COBB, Nathan Bryant, of Strafford,
son of Daniel and Marinda (Bryant) Cobb,
was born at Strafford, Oct. 14, 1827, and is
descended from old Puritan stock.
His maternal great-grandfather and grand-
father were among the minute men who
fired on the green at Lexington, opposing
the forces of British tyranny, and his paternal
grandfather, Nathan Cobb, was also a sol-
dier of the Revolution. Daniel Cobb, his
father, struggling under adverse circum-
stances, acquired a good education and be-
came a successful lawyer at Strafford. Sena-
tor y S. Morrill says concerning him, "Judge
Cobb for nearly half a century was the
chief legal counsel in town, an earnest advo-
cate and safe adviser." Though a cripple he
saw service at the battle of Plattsburg.
Mr. Nathan B. Cobb, though an invalid
much of his life, has done good service in
manv of the town offices, has been an ex-
76
COBURN.
tensive reader, and is considered an expe-
rienced, trustworthy and well-informed man.
He was educated in the common schools of
Strafford, and entered Norwich University,
but an illness which proved nearly fatal pre-
vented the completion of his collegiate
career.
AN BRYANT COBB.
A Republican in his political faith, he was
elected town clerk in March, 1863, and has
filled that office ever since. He has been
justice of the peace twenty-seven years, and
for nine years superintendent of schools.
He was elected town representative in 1870
and 1S80, and assistant judge of Orange
county court in 1874.
Norwich University conferred the degree
of A. M. upon Judge Cobb in 1874. He is
a deacon of the Congregational church, and
for many years was prominently connected
with the Harris Library as its librarian.
He married, Nov. i, 1861, Emily C,
daughter of Hyde and Mary (Wiggin) Cabot
of Chelsea, who died .April 14, 1872. Decem-
ber 19, 1873, he was united to Mary Jennie,
daughter of Eleazer and Mary (Cabot)
Gardner of Thetford, by whom he had one
child : Gardner N. His second wife died
March 17, 1879.
COBURN, James Allen, of East
Montpelier, son of Earned and Lovisia
(Allen) Coburn, was born in Montpelier,
April 6, 1828.
Educated at the district school, he re-
mained with his father, who was a lifelong
resident and prominent citizen of the town
of Montpelier, several years after attaining
his majority and assisted him in the manage-
ment of his farm and mills. Gifted with a
strong talent for mathematics, he taught
school successfully for six winters. In 1850
he married and moved to the farm of his
father-in-law, which he has since purchased,
and here he has always remained.
judge Coburn has always been active and
prominent in the councils of the Repul)lican
party in his section. A representative in the
Legislature in 1 869-' 70, he was elected
assistant judge in 1S78 and 1880. During
the war he was an- active member of the
I'nion League of East Montpelier.
He married, Dec. 4, 1850, .Abbie Daggett
of l'2ast Montpelier, daughter of ^Arthur, Jr.,
and Nancy (Farwell) Daggett. From their
union have sprung five children : learned,
Arthur D., Flora H. (Mrs. Henry Kelton),
James Lee, and Dwight H. (died in infancy).
COFFEY, Robert John, of Benning-
ton, was born in the city of St. Johns, N. B.,
Dec. r^, 1842.
In 1853 he moved to Montpelier and re-
ceived his education in the common schools
of Montpelier and Morristown, living in that
town from 1855 to 1859. In the spring of
1S60 he attended the academy at Hyde
Park one term.
.At the breaking out of the war of the
rebellion he was living in Montpelier and
was one of the first volunteers from that
77
town. He first enlisted in Co. !•', 2(1 \'t.
Regt., but receiving a chance to enlist in
Co. F, New England Guards of NorthfieUl
he enlisted May 3, 1861, for three months
and participated in the first important battle
of the war at Big Bethel, June 10, 1861. In
a few days after his return from the three
months' service on .Sept. 10 he enlisted for
ROBERT JOH
three years in Co. K, 4th Regt., and at the
organization of the company he was made
3d sergeant and was always on duty until
disabled by a wound Oct. 16, 1863, during
which time he was engaged in the battles of
Lee's Mills, several day battles in front of
Richmond under General McClellan, South
Mountain, .\ntietam, Fredericksburg, Banks
Ford, Gettysburg, Funkstown and many
skirmishes, .^t Banks Ford, he captured
during the battle two confederate officers
and five soldiers for which gallant exploit he
has been awarded a medal of honor by Con-
gress. While on picket duty near Center-
ville, he was badly wounded and disabled
for further service and was mustered out at
Brattleboro in 1S64 with the remnant of
the men that left the town three years be-
fore over one thousand strong.
In 1867 he was married to Demis Hattie
Burnham ; by this union they have had one
child.
Soon after the war he became engaged in
the hotel business ; first at Waitsfield, Vt.,
and then for several years in Montpelier,
Richmond and Windsor.
He is a staunch Republican in politics.
When the \'ermont Soldiers' Home was
established in Bennington in 1887 he was
the unanimous choice of the trustees for
superintendent which position he has filled
with satisfaction and credit. In 1873 he
joined the G. A. R. and has been an active
and prominent member of the order since,
holding many offices in post and depart-
ment. He is at present major and brigade
jirovost marshal on the staff of (len. Julius
J. Estey and has seen nearly fifteen years
serv^ice in the National (Uiard of \'ermont.
He is a member of Aurora Lodge, No. 22,
F. & A. M. of Montpelier and also a mem-
ber of Mohegan Tribe, No. 6, of Bennington.
COLBURN, ROBERT M., of Springfield,
son of Joseph ^^'. and Emily (Edgerton)
Colburn, was born in Springfield, Dec. 6,
1844. His grandfather was a soldier of the
Revolution, and fought at Bunker Hill and
Long Island. His father was a wealthy and
prominent resident of Springfield, was sena-
tor from Windsor county, and served four
years as assistant judge.
The subject of the present sketch was
educated at the public schools of Spring-
field and the academies of Meriden, \. H.,
Manchester, and .\ndover, Mass. Reared
upon his father's farm, and accustomed to
act as his father's foreman and assistant in
business, Mr. Colburn is still largely inter-
ested in agricultural pursuits, but is also a
78 COLTON.
good financial and business man, and there-
fore has been called upon to fill several im-
portant positions and among these are dis-
trict and town offices.
Belonging to the Republican party, he
was elected to represent the town in 1880.
Mr. Colburn is a member of the Vermont
Historical Society, and also of the Sons of
the American Revolution.
He married, Dec. 23, 18S4, Sarah E.,
daughter of Luther and liunice (Preston)
Wheatley of Brookfield. They have two
children : Frank W., and .Alice -Ada.
COLTON, EBEN POMEROY, of Iras-
burgh, son of John and Phoebe (Morey)
Colton, was born in West Fairlee, Feb. 11,
182S.
lution, of the Free Masons, and of other
societies.
He married at Barton, Vt., March 2, 1S54,
Almira .A., daughter of Levi and .Achsah
(Ainsworth) Bailey. From this union there
were born four children : Mary J., born
July 4, 1859 ; Jennie G., born April 10, 1862 ;
Jessie O., born July 14, 1867, and Eben P.,
born July 7, 1875.
Governor Colton's legislative career was
one honorable to himself, his town and his
county, and received merited recognition in
his election to the lieutenant-governorship.
He never made politics a business, and is
one of the men who always has enough to
do, other than office-holding. He has taste
for books and historical matters to fill any
leisure that he ever gets.
EBEN POMEROY COLTON.
He came to Irasburgh March, 1841, with
his father's family, and has resided in that
town almost continually since. He has been
a builder, manufacturer of lumber and a
farmer.
He was a whig prior to the formation of
the Republican party, and since 1S54 has
been a Republican. He was a member of
the House of Representatives from Irasburgh
in 1S59, 1S60 and 1876. In 1S70 and 1S72
he was elected a state senator from Orleans
county. In 1878 he was elected Lieutenant-
Governor.
Governor Colton was for some years mas-
ter of the State Grange, Patrons of Hus-
bandry, and is a member of the Vermont
Society of the Sons of the American Revo-
CONANT, Edward, of West Ran-
dolph, son of Seth and Melvina (Perkins)
Conant, was born May 10, 1829, in Pomfret.
Leaving home at the age of fifteen, he
worked as a machinist in East Bridgewater,
Mass., till he was twenty-one. After two
vears of preparatory study at Thetford
Academy, he entered Dartmouth College in
1852, and left at the close of the fall term of
1854. In November of that year he be-
came principal of Woodstock (Conn.) Acad-
emy, and afterwards was principal at the
Royalton Academy and Burlington high
school. In February, 1861, he became prin-
cipal of the Orange county grammar school
at Randolph where he remained fourteen
years. During his administration tiiis insti-
tution became a State Normal School. He
was principal of the State Normal School at
Johnson for three years (1881 to 1S84) when
he returned to the State Normal School at
Randolph, of which institution he is still the
principal.
Mr. Conantwasa member of the National
Council of the Congregational Churches,
which met in Boston, 1S65, and in New
Haven, Conn., in 1874 and in Minneapolis,
Minn., in 1892. He has occujaied the posi-
tions of president of the Vermont Teachers'
Association, member of the Board of Edu-
cation and of the Vermont Constitutional
Convention in 1870. He was State Super-
intendent of Education from 1874 to 1880.
He married. May 10, 1858, Cynthia H.,
daughter of John and Betsey (.'\very) Tag-
gart of Stockbridge, by whom he has four
children living : Frank Herbert, Seth Ed-
ward, Nell Florence, and Grace Lucia.
Mr. Conant's interest in his profession
has resulted in the authorship of several
educational works, among which may be
mentioned : " A Few Roots of English
^Vords " and "A Drill Book in the Elements
of the English Language" and "Conant's
Vermont."
In 1866 he received the honorary degree
of M. A. from Middlebury College and from
the LTniversity of Vermont in 1S67.
The respect and love his pupils give him
from the first — and their gratitude to this
wise man — grow as the years roll by.
CONWAY, John, of Norton Mills, son
of John and Catharine (Sullivan) Conway,
was born at St. Catharine, P. Q., Nov. 29,
1 84 1, and was educated in the common
schools of that place. John Conway, Sr.,
was a farmer and teacher, and John re-
mained with him until he was twentv-three
years old, when he married and moved to
Quebec. In 187 1 he took up his abode at
Norton Mills, then a little hamlet on the line
of the G. T. R. R., and was employed by
the Norton Mills Co. in the lumber business.
Soon his faithfulness and efficiency secured
him the position of foreman, both in the
mill and in the woods. In 187 8 he became
the general foreman for A. M. Stetson and
for twelve years served him in this verv
responsible position. About eight million
feet of lumber per year were handled, and
as Mr. Stetson was absent much of the time
Mr. Conway had the entire charge and super-
vision of this large business, which em])loyed
in the winter one hundred and fifty hands.
Mr. Conway is an independent Democrat
and as such was elected to the Legislature in
i888-'90-'92. He received the appointment
of customs officer in 1892. He also served
on the county board of education in 1889
COOK. 79
and has been for several years a member and
chairman of the board of school directors, a
striking proof that he has won the confi-
dence and respect of the community.
»^*>'t?>^
He was married, July 25, 1865, at St.
Catharine, to Judith, daughter of John and
Elizabeth (Lannin) Griffin of that place.
Their union has been blessed with eight
children : Katharine E. (wife of Dr. Elie of
Island Pond), John F., Elizabeth G., Mary
.Ann, NelHe, Henry J., and .Alice (the two
latter deceased), and Rose Lottie.
COOK, JOHN Bray, of (ireensboro,
son of Charles, Jr., and Caroline (Hunting-
ton) Cook, was born at Greensboro, July 3,
1836.
Mr. Cook's grandfather removed to
Greensboro in 1801, settling on the farm on
which he now resides. His educational
training was received at the Greensboro
public schools and in two terms each at the
academies of St. johnsbury and Barre. Till
the age of twenty-two he remained and
labored upon the i;irm, and removed to Iowa
in the spring of 1S61.
In October of that year, he enlisted for
three years in Company A., 14th la. Infan-
try, and expected to be sent immediately to
the front, but the trouble with the Siou.x In-
dians occurring at this time, the regiment
was ordered to Fort Randall in South
1 )akota. Here Mr. Cook remained for two
years, sharing in many of the exciting events
<So
of the campaign under General Sully. After
the Minnesota massacre, he was detailed
with a party of twenty-five to pursue the
Sioux Indians, and after a successful skir-
mish captured six, who were carried to the
fort, but who subsequently escaped. By the
command of General Sully, Mr. Cook was
assigned to the quartermaster's department,
in which he remained until the expiration of
his term of service. His company built the
first building at Fort Sully. And as wagon
master, under a strong Indian guard, he
drew the logs for the first warehouse erected
at Fort Rice.
He has been elected to several town
ofiices, and appointed justice of the peace.
In his political faith he is a Republican.
Mr. Cook is affiliated with Caledonia
Grange, No. 9, of Hardwick, is a member of
the Congregational church, and a teacher
in the Sabbath school.
Mr. Cook married, Nov. 14, 1S65, Katha-
rine, daughter of Capt. Charles and Han-
nah (Lewis) Kallamyer. Captain Kallamyer
left the service of the German Emperor for
political reasons, and afterwards entered the
regular army of the United States.
COOLIDGE, JOHN C, of Plymouth,
son of Calvin G. and Sarah A. (Brewer)
Coolidge, was born in Plvmouth, March ^t,
i84S-
His great-grandfather, Capt. John Cool-
idge, a Revolutionary soldier, came from
Lancaster, Mass., and settled in Plymouth in
1 781. His father was a prominent farmer
of that place.
John C. Coolidge was educated at the
common schools and at Black River Acad-
emy. -Although a farmer, he is well known
as a merchant and business man, having
been engaged successfully in trade from the
age of twenty-three.
He was captain of Co. K, loth Regt. \'t.
.State Militia, and has held the usuat town
offices ; has been deputy sheriff and consta-
ble almost continually for more than twenty
years, and is a director of the Ludlow Sav-
ings Bank & Trust Co.
As a Republican, he represented Plymouth
in the biennial sessions of i872-'74-'76,
serving on the committees on claims and
reform school.
On May 6, 186S, he was married to \'ic-
toria J., daughter of Hiram D. and .Abigail
(Franklin) Moor of Plymouth. One son, J.
Calvin, was born to them, and one daughter,
.■\bbie G., who died at the age of fourteen.
Mr. Coolidge's wife died in 1884, and in
1 89 1 he was united to Carrie A., daughter of
George and Marcella L. (Moore) Brown, a
descendant of Lieut. Bowman Brown, a
soldier of the Revolution.
COOPER, Alanson Lawrence, of
Newport, son of Silas and Rosalinda (Hub-
bard) Cooper was born March 14, 1824, in
Rochester and is a lineal descendant of the
seventh generation of John Cooper, who
came from P'.ngland previous to 1636, and
settled at Cambridge, Mass.
His elementary training was received in
the common and select schools of Roches-
ter, and he also studied for a short time at
Newbury Seminary. He taught several
terms in Pomfret and Rochester, also in
Cayuga and Wayne counties, N. V.
Entering the Vermont Conference of the
M. E. Church in 1846, Mr. Cooper was
stationed in several towns in Vermont, but
in 1856 was obliged from ill health to retire
from the work. In 1857 he entered Garrett
Biblical Institution, Evanston, 111., where he
graduated in 1859, after devoting himself
especially to theological and biblical
branches of study. Previous to his gradua-
tion he joined the Wisconsin Conference,
but later he was transferred to that of Ver-
mont and was stationed at Woodstock,
where he continued lor two years. Since
that time he has filled many of the first
positions in the conference as pastor and
I^residing elder, and by his conscientious
ministry has won the approval of all asso-
ciated with him.
Mr. Cooper is an adherent of the Repub-
lican party and a strong Prohibitionist. He
has held the office of superintendent of
schools in Cabot and Springfield, and has
been trustee of the Vermont Methodist
Seminary for many years. He was one of
the charter members of the State S. S. Asso-
ciation, and was president of the association
in iSys-'yf).
He married, ^^ay 17, 1S53, l.ucinda M.,
daughter of Jeremiah and Serepta ( Hincher )
Atkins. Their children were : iSIary !■;.
(married Rev. C. M. Ward), Kmma Louise
(married Rev. Carlos L. .Adams), .\lice
Etta, who died Feb. 12, 1872, and Rosa
May.
lutionary army from Connecticut, serving
five years under Washington's immediate
command, while his grandmother first saw
light on the Atlantic Ocean, as she was born
during the passage of her family from Hol-
land.
The only educational advantages received
by Mr. Cotton were those of the district
schools of Weybridge and Shoreham, and
for sixty years he has lived upon the farm he
now occupies.
IHected justice of the peace and clerk
and treasurer of his school district for many
years, he was chosen to represent Weybridge
in the Legislature of i,S<S2, and has often
filled the position of juryman in many cases,
notably at the trial of Chaquette for murder.
Mr. Cotton has of late been much em-
ployed in the settlement of estates, and has
not been able to accept all trusts of this nat-
ure offered to him. He is a constant reader
and has devoted much attention to the law,
of which he has acquired considerable
knowledge. He is a cultured gentleman of
strict integrity, and much respected by his
fellow-citizens.
LAWRtNCE COOPER,
In i863-'64 he was stationed at Mont-
pelier, and while there Mr. Cooper was
elected chaplain of the House of Represen-
tatives. During the civil war, he was busily
engaged in charitable efforts to improve the
condition of our gallant soldiers in the field,
and in the hospital at Montpelier.
He received the degree of Bachelor of
Divinity in 1880, and, nine years later, that
of Doctor of Divinity, from the Garrett Bibli-
cal Institute, and has been occasional con-
tributor to the Vermont Christian Messen-
ger, and Zion's Herald. He is also endowed
with some talent for poetical composition.
He represented the Vermont Conference
as a delegate to the general conference of
his church in Chicago in 1868.
COTTON, Joshua Franklin, of Mid-
dlebury, son of William and Dorcas (Finch)
Cotton, was born at Weybridge, Jan. 27,
1820.
His parents were of Knglish and Dutch
stock ; his grandfather enlisting in the Revo-
JOSHUA FRANKLIN COTTON.
He married, Dec. 20, 1844, Abby C,
daughter of Olive Lathrop of Weybridge.
Mrs. Cotton died in February, 1888.
COWLES, ASAHEL Read, of New-
port, son of Leonard and Emeline (Clray)
Cowles, was born in Craftsburv, Mav 26,
1845.
Having removed to Coventry in 1851, he
received his education in the public schools,
82
COWaES.
the lirownington Academy, and the high
school at Coventry. He studied vocal music
with James and Albert ^\■hitney of Boston.
For twenty years of his life he has devoted
himself to teaching vocal music, four years
in New York. He is extensively engaged in
the sale of musical instruments and sewing
machines. He has stores for the sale of
these articles in Newport and Morrisville.
He is a member of the Republican party,
a Master Mason and member of Memphre-
magog Lodge, No. 64, Newport ; belongs to
the Methodist Episcopal church in Newport,
and is now leader of its choir.
ASAHEL READ COV
He married, Dec. 30, 187 1, Hattie E.,
daughter of William P. and Lydia ( Andrus )
Titus of Craftsbury, and by her had two
sons : Harry E., and Percy W.
COWLES, Elmer Eugene, of Wey-
bridge, son of S. B. M. and Lucy M. (Weth-
erbee) Cowles, was born in New Haven,
August 21, 1 86 1.
He graduated first from Beeman Acad-
emy, New Haven, 1877, and at Middlebury
College in the class of 1884 with high hon-
ors. Devoting his life to teaching, for two
years he was compelled to resign this calling
by the failure of his eyesight and since that
time has been occupied in agricultural pur-
suits, making a specialty of breeding valuable
stock — notably Merino sheep. Mr. Cowles
has held several minor appointments, but
has never sought office. He has been town
superintendent and secretary of the county
board of education, and a member of the
board of selectmen. He holds to the gen-
eral principles of the Republican party, but
in politics is conservative. He is a member
of the Delta L^psilon.
ELMER EUGENE COWLES.
Mr. Cowles married in Weybridge, Sept.
25, 1887, Sarah, daughter of L. I. and
.NIargaret Wright.
CRAMTON, JOHN WILLEY, son of
P^lihu and Lois Cramton, was born in Tin-
mouth, Nov. 10, 1826.
Receiving the customary education of that
time in the schools of Tinmouth, Mr. Cram-
ton, after working the home farm for several
years, changed the scene of his labors to
Templeton, Mass., where for more than
three years he was engaged in the business
of peddling.
In January, 1S53, he came to Rutland,
where he began the manufacture of tin
ware ; a business which he still continues.
But in addition, in i860, he became the
proprietor of the Central House, at that
time a hotel well known in Rutland county.
In 1S64 he purchased the Bardwell House,
where he now resides. Mr. Cramton is
most widely and creditably known through-
out the state. A description of the various
positions he has filled, both in a private and
public capacity, would far exceed the
allotted space of this sketch. In 1886 he
became a trustee of the Howe Scale Co.,
then in financial straits ; and upon its re-
organization, he was chosen vice-president,
^t^^^^-(^-^^<^^-^-/^
which position he holds today. For more
than ten years he was director of the state's
prison, being appointed by Governor Bar-
stow to that post. He is president of the
Baxter National Bank, the True Blue Marble
Co., the Steam Stone Cutter Co., and the
Rutland Street Railway ; and has acted as
chief executive officer of the village corpor-
ation of Rutland for several terms. Nor
does Mr. Cramton confine his efforts to
financial trusts. He is also an extensive ag-
riculturalist of the progressive type, owning
large estates in Rutland and Clarendon, one
of which is devoted to the produce of the
dairy ; and all are noted for the breeding of
fine horses and blooded stock. During the
war Mr. Cramton was largely engaged in
buying horses for the army ; and he is now
director of the Vermont Horse Breeders'
Association. For more than twenty years
his voice has been potent as a director of
the State Fair Association, and he has also
held many offices in the Fair .Association of
Rutland county.
Strongly attached to the principles of the
Republican party, he has never paid much
attention to political office-seeking, but has
held it sufficient to confine himself to the
duties of a good citizen and kind-hearted
neighbor ; in appreciation of which he was
chosen senator of Rutland county in 1888.
He was married Oct. 3, 1S82, to Florence
Belle, only daughter of Jacob and Mary
Bucklin Gates.
Mr. Cramton has not confined his pecu-
niary transactions to A'ermont, but has
varied and extensive interests in many other
states.
His religious creed is that of the Protes-
tant Fpiscopal church, and he has entered
the ranks of Free Masonry, being a Knight
Templar attached to Killington Command-
ery. He also belongs to the Knights of
Pythias and the Plymouth Rock .'Association.
It will be seen that Mr. Cramton has led
a most busy life. It is much to his credit
that he has filled so successfully the many
and varied responsibilities that his active
and honorable career has thrust into his
hands.
COYNE, Peter M., of Maidstone, son
of Michael and Sabrina (Connor) Coyne,
was born at Spiddle, Ireland, March 14,
1847-
Mr. Coyne came to this country a father-
less boy at the age of nine years, .\fter re-
maining about two years at Island Pond, he
went to Lancaster, N. H., and received his
education in the common schools of that
town. Having his own way to make in the
world under adverse circumstances, he re-
mained in Lancaster until 1876, laboring on
farm and railroad, until by patient industry
and thrift, he acquired an ample property.
He then went to Maidstone where he pur-
chased a large farm on which he now re-
sides. He has also given considerable at-
tention to lumbering on the Connecticut
river.
.\ffiliated with the Democratic party, from
his ability and faithfulness he has been
elected by his townsmen to many positions
of trust, and was a useful member of the
Legislature in 188S.
Mr. Coyne enlisted in the 14th New
Hampshire Regiment, but being a minor
could not gain the consent of his guardian,
and was not received into the service.
He was married in March, 1878, to Mary
E., daughter of James and Margaret Malone,
and their union has been blessed with five
children: Eddie M., James, Mary, Theresa,
and Peter.
CRANE, JOSEPH ADOLPHUS, of
Greensboro, son of Romanus and .Asenath
(Goodrich), Crane, was born at Greensboro
August 26, 1 84 2.
.Attending the public schools of Greens-
boro, he completed his course of study in
the academies at South Hardwick and Barre,
and then taught school for several winters,
working for his father in the summer. .At
his father's death in 1S79 he succeeded to
the estate, which he sold in 1881, and took
up his residence in the village. He has
made a specialty of dairy produce and grade
Jerseys. Mr. Crane entered into partner-
ship with L. F. Babbitt in 18S7 and the firm
did a general mercantile business. Later he
bought out his partner and continued the
business in connection with E. O. Randall.
Republican in his political faith, he has
served as a member of the town committee,
as a justice for several terms, and as super-
intendent of the public schools. He is an
Odd Fellow and belongs to Lamoille Lodge,
No. 26, at East Hardwick.
A member of the Congregational church
for twenty-five years, he for a long time per-
formed the duties of parish clerk and super-
intendent of the Sunday school.
He was united in marriage to Irene S.,
daughter of Elihu and Ruth (Bean) A\"right,
Jan. 25, 1871. Of this union there was one
child ; Jennie .Asenath.
CROFT, LEONARD P., of North Clar-
endon, son of William and Ruth (Palmer)
Croft, was born in Wallingford, May 25,
1851.
After receiving a common school educa-
tion in the schools of his native town, sup-
plemented by a course at Piurr and Burton
Seminary at Manchester and Kimball L^nion
.Academy at Meriden, N. H., he entered St.
Lawrence University at Canton, N. ¥., where-
LTIiWdKlll.
85
he remained a year. He then entered
I'nion College of Schenectady, N. V., where
he graduated with high honors in the de-
partment of civil engineering in the class of
1S73. After completing his education, he
engaged in railroad and mining engineering
in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and for
about three years was the mining engineer
in charge of the Penn Gas Coal Co. near
Pittsburg. Returning to his native state in
1878, he purchased a large farm in Clar-
endon, on which he has since resided. He
has been successful in this agricultural en-
terprise and found it remunerative, still he
has given some attention to engineering,
especially in cases which have come before
the courts. He is an extensive dairy farmer
and breeder of Holstein cattle, and has also
been successful in breeding fine road horses.
He has filled nearly all the offices of trust
in his adopted town, and represented Clar-
encion in the Legislature of 1890.
Mr, Croft, from his natural abilities and
superior educational advantages, is naturally
an influential man in his town and section
of the county.
CROSSETT, Janus, of Waterbury, was
born in Duxbury, Nov. 12, 1823. His par-
ents were Edward and Hannah (Carter)
Crossett.
Edward Crossett was a prominent citizen
and farmer of the town of Duxbury. His
father <iving when janus was twentv-one
years old, from that time the entire care and
su])])ort of the family devolved upon Janus.
Mr. Crossett commencing as a farmer, soon
devoted his attention to the lumber business,
which he has since carried on for more than
thirty years. He is a practical man, with a
bent for statistics, and during the last forty-
four years he has kept a careful record of
business matters, which has been of much
use as the basis of various settlements.
A Republican in politics, he has held one
or more town offices constantly for the last
forty years. He represented Ouxbury in the
Legislature in i855-'56-'57, and was elected
assistant judge in 1871. A devoted advo-
cate of temperance, he has never used liquor
or tobacco, and carries his three score and
ten years as actively as most men do fifty.
For forty years he has been n member of
the Winooski Lodge, No. 49, V. iN: A. M., of
Waterbury.
He married, Nov. 27, 1844, Eureta R.,
daughter of Amos and Fanny (U'heeler)
Crosby. They have two children : Menta
F. (Mrs. E. \V. Huntley), and James E.
CUDWORTH, ADDISON EDWARD, of
South Londonderry, son of Abijah Whiton
and Sarah I\L (Simmonds) Cudworth, was
born in Savoy, Mass., July 3, 1852.
His early education was obtained at the
common schools, and he was fitted for col-
lege at Green Mountain Perkins Academy,
South Woodstock. Entering Dartmouth
College in the class of 1877, at the end of
the sophomore year he left school on
account of failure of eyesight. His parents
successively removed to Winhall, Weston,
and finally, in 1869, to South Londonderry,
where he has since resided. In the fall of
1876 Mr. Cudworth began the study of law
in the office of Hon. J. L. Martin ; was ad-
mitted to the bar in September, 1879, and
entered into partnership with Mr. Martin,
which connection continued till the removal
of the latter to Brattleboro, since which
period Mr. Cudworth has continued the
business by himself. In 1880 he was elected
state's attorney for his county, and four years
later he represented the town in the ( leneral
.Assembly. Mr. 1. udworth is a direct de-
scendant in the ninth generation of Gen.
James Cudworth of Scituate, ^L'^ss., who
came to the country in 1632.
He was married .April 15, 1880, to Mary
Esther, daughter of James Martin and
Louisa (McWhorter) Rogers of Hebron, N.
\'. .-\ son and daughter liave been issue of
this alliance : Clyde E., and Ina S., both
of whom died in December, 1892.
CUMMINGS, Harlan P., of North
Thetford, son of Eben and Betsey J. Cum-
mings, was born Jan. 19, 1837, in Thetford.
86
Eben C'ummings was one of the first set-
tlers of the town. He ser\ed in the war of
1S12 and assisted in proving land war-
rants for the soldiers, who took part in the
struggle, and their widows. He occupied
the farm where Harlan P. now resides, and
was one of the most trusted and influential
citizens of the town.
Obtaining his educational training in the
common schools and at Thetford .Academy,
he has devoted his whole life to agricultural
pursuits and has made raising Merino sheep
a specialty. He has always been an enter-
prising and public-spirited man and was in-
strumental in introducing the creamery
which has contributed so much to the pros-
perity of the town. He contributed largely
toward the building of the church and Lyme
bridge, and has been clerk of these corpora-
tions nearly forty years.
Mr. Cummings is much interested in the
cause of education and is a trustee of Thet-
ford -Academy. He has a large amount of
probate business, holding in trust a great
amount of property, a fact which shows he
enjoys to a high degree the confidence and
respect of the community.
He has for a long time been chairman of
the Republican town committee and presi-
dent of the political club of the town.
Twenty-five years since he was elected jus-
tice of the peace, holding this office contin-
uously, and in 1876 was chosen to the Gen-
eral .Assembly by a large majority, and was
postmaster at North Thetford from 1866 to
1876.
Mr. Cummings enlisted in Co. .A, 15th
Regt. Vt. Vols., and continued with it e\ erv
day during its entire term of service. .Aftt r
the close of the war he became an active
member of the E. B. Frost Post, G. A. R.
CURRIER, JOHN WINNICK, of North
Troy, son of John and Mary (Elkins) Cur-
rier, was born in that town, April 5, 1835.
Mr. Currier is a fine representative of
American self-made men. A\'hen only nine
years old he graduated from the "little red
schoolhouse" and went with his father into
the cotton mills at Palmer, Mass., and from
this date he has only himself to thank for
his success in life's struggle and for the lib-
eral education which he has derived from
keen observation, undaunted energy and
honorable ambition. .After leaving the cot-
ton mills he removed to Holyoke, where he
learned the jeweler's trade, and in 1854 went
to Boston to take charge of a wholesale jew-
elry store.
In 1854 he enlisted in the Springfield City
Guards under Col. Henry S. Briggs, and
when the civil war began he hastened from
Pennsyhania to join his company, which
had volunteered its services in response to
President Lincoln's first call for troops.
-After doing duty for a time at the L'. S.
.Arsenal in Springfield, he was enrolled for
three years. May 31, 1861, and mustered in
as sergeant in Co. F, loth Mass. Infantry,
serving with his regiment at the Washington
Navy Vard and -Arsenal till .August 9, 1862,
when he was sent to Massachusetts to assist
in recruiting a regiment. January 6, 1862,
he was discharged for promotion. Made
adjutant of the ist Va. Vols., Nov. 26, 1862,
he was appointed additional paymaster L^ S.
Vols. Jan. 14, 1S63, which post he declined
in order to accept from the provost marshal
of the .Army of the Potomac a position for
furnishing military clothing and equipments,
being stationed at Citv Point, \'a.
^^
WINNICK CURRIER.
In 1 87 1 he returned to North Troy,,
bought the old homestead and erected an
elegant residence thereon, and has created a
model farm from the estate. His winters
are mostly spent in Bo.ston or on his South-
ern plantation.
-Mr. Currier is a very public-spirited man
and has done much for the benefit of his
native village. He planned and was chiefly
instrumental in constructing the present fine
system of waterworks.
He is a member of Post Bailey, No. 67,
G. -A. R., one of the largest posts in the
county, and gave Camp j. W. Currier, S. of
v.. No. 81, a fine flag. He is also president
of the Orleans County Veterans' .Associa-
tion, and an honorary member of the State
National Guard.
87
In politics a strong adherent of the Dem-
ocratic party, he has been entrusted with
nearly all the town offices, was made town
representative in 1S78 and again in i8<S2.
He has been Democratic candidate for
member of Congress and Lieutenant-(;ov-
ernor, and has attended every national con-
vention since 1S72, nearly always as delegate
or alternate, and was U. S. Deputy Marshal
for four years under President Cleveland's
first administration.
In religious profession he is an Episco-
palian.
Since 187 1 Mr. Currier has extensively
engaged in the manufacture of lumber and
has erected at North Troy a flouring mill
with a capacity of one hundred barrels per
day. He was interested in building the
Clyde River R. R., now a part of the C. P.
R. R. system, and was one of the original
constructors of the Atchison, Topeka &
Santa Fe. He has given much attention to
the formation of companies for handling
patent rights and developing mines. He is
naturally very social in his tastes and is a
Free Mason, and a member of the Scotch
Charitable Society in Boston, the oldest
organization of the kind in America.
November 9, 1866, he married Eveline,
daughter of John E. and Laura (Willard)
Chamberlain of Newbury. Of this union
were two sons: John (deceased), and
Charles Elliot. An adopted daughter is the
wife of T. L. Wadleigh, of Meredith, N. H.
CURTIS, JOHN, of North Dorset, son
of Daniel and Betsey (Bowen) Curtis, was
born in that town, Dec. 24, 1819.
He received his education in the com-
mon schools, and fitted for college at the
Burr Seminary of Manchester and the Cas-
tleton .Academy, and after this preliminary
instruction graduated from the U. V. M. in
1847. During his school-boy days, in con-
nection with his brother, he made many ex-
periments in electricity, proposing to com-
municate instantaneously from one place to
another by this means through a wire prop-
erly arranged. While he was pursuing his
collegiate course, he was greatly dismayed
to learn that Professor Morse had invented
the magnetic telegraph, which he had put in
operation, and thus anticipated all efforts of
Mr. Curtis in that direction. .After his
graduation he still continued to devote him-
self to mechanics, and thus became a scien-
tific and mechanical engineer. He was
soon employed by the state of New York to
look after the engines and other mechanical
appliances used in the state's prison at Dan-
neniora. Being convinced of the impor-
tance of using steam expansively, he soon
constructed a valve which he attached to the
engine in the machine shop, whereby it was
forced to use steam in this manner, and the
experiments proved remarkably successful.
.At this time the U. \\ M. honored him with
the degree of A. M.
Soon after he left Dannemora and
returned to his native place, where he was
interested in the construction of the Ben-
nington & Rutland R. R. Mr. Curtis has
made various improvements in engines, on
three of which he has obtained patents. It
is in ho small measure owing to his efforts in
this direction that he has the satisfaction of
seeing the engine of today doing its work
with less than one-fourth part of the fuel
formerly required.
JOHN CURTIS.
Mr. Curtis was married in 1851 to the
widow of the late Dr. Cochran of Dorset.
The 6th day of July, 1865, he was again
united to Nancy Mosher, daughter of .Alba
and Rebecca (Mosher) Marshall of Troy,
N. V. Two children have been born to
them : Marion .Ada, and John Daniel.
He has always been a strong Republican,
but without any disposition for office seek-
ing. .Always interested in education he has,
however, been superintendent of the schools
continuously for about twenty years. In 18S4
he consented to the nomination of state
senator for Bennington county, and was
elected to that important position.
GUSHING, Daniel L., of Quechee,
son of Theophilus, who was an early settler
of Hartford, and Lucinda (Richardson)
Lushing, was born in that town, .August
4, 1834-'
Commencing his education in the com-
mon schools and graduating at Newbury
Seminary in 1851. Having fitted himself
for a civil engineer he entered the city
engineer's office of Hartford, Conn. While
there he laid out the grounds and buildings
of the Colt manufactory of fire-arms, since
destroved bv fire. In 1S54 he entered the
service of the state of New York where he
had the practical oversight of that portion of
the enlargement of the Erie Canal extend-
ing from Rochester to Lyons. Afterward,
removing to the West, Mr. Gushing built
thirty miles of railroad under most dis-
couraging circumstances and his success in
this undertaking proved his unusual energy
and executive ability. When the civil war
broke out Mr. Cushing manifested great
zeal in recruiting volunteers and raised two
companies for the service of his country.
Returning to Hartford, for family reasons,
he concluded to remain and invested in real
estate and mercantile interests. In 1886, he
with others, helped organize and construct
the Hartford Woolen "Mills. Mr. Cushing
has settled many difficult estates and held
many public offices in his native place and
has ably represented it in both branches of
the Legislature
Mr. Cushing is a Free Mason and a mem-
ber of Hartford Lodge of Hartford.
In September, 1867, he married Ellen F.,
daughter of William and Eveline (Porter)
Clark, of which union have been born six
children : Henry Clark, Mary Porter, Edwin
L., Annie L., Daniel T., and Frederic G.
CUSHING, Havnes Porter, son of
Matthew and Resia (Woodruff) Cushing,
was born in Burke, June 10, 18 16.
He received his education in the district
schools of Burke, at Lyndon Academy and
Newbury Seminary. Emphatically a self-
made man, he often related with pride the
fact that when he started for the last named
institution he left home with his parents'
blessing and just fifty cents in money.
Commencing his life's career as an educa-
tor, he was successful in his vocation in many
towns in New Hampshire and Vermont,
and especially so at Newbury Seminary.
In 1844 he joined the ^'ermont Metho-
dist conference in full connection, and filled
some of the most important appointments
in the gift of that body. When he had
been preaching only nine years, six of the
best parishes in ^'ermont sought his minis-
tration, for he had always proved a most
successful pastor, alike popular with old
and young. Faithful, devoted, earnest, fear-
less in espousing his convictions, gifted with
HAYNES PORTER CUSHING.
great persuasive power and deep piety, it is
not to be wondered at that at his death,
Oct. 21, 1890, an utterly irreligious man
should pay this tribute to his memory : "He
was a true minister and was a friend to
sinners."
Mr. Cushing was united in marriage to
Miss Nancy Maria, daughter of Alanson S.
■and (rratia (Fletcher) Shaw, who died Dec.
31, 1877. To them were born three chil-
dren: Klla C. (Mrs. .A. L. Finney of Lyn-
donville), Charles E., and another who died
in infancy. February 26, 1879, ^^ con-
tracted a second alliance with Miss Delia
Cirace, daughter of William and Nancy
(Calef ) Huntington of Washington, Vt.
Interested in educational affiiirs, Mr.
Gushing held the office of superintendent of
schools for many years in the different
scenes of his professional labors. A strong
Republican in principle and vote, he repre-
sented Barton in the Legislature during the
war, and upon him devolved the duties ot^
chaplain of the House in 1857 and 1878.
During the civil war he was twice offered
the post of military chaplain, but was obliged
to decline on account of feeble health.
Kver active in the cause of temperance,
he joined the society of Good Templars in
1865, holding many of the highest offices
and being their delegate to the R. W. G. L.
when the latter held their sessions in Bos-
ton, rietroit, Richmond and ?51oomington,
111. He served as Grand Lecturer, and in
this post worked most zealously and effect-
ively to promote the interests of the order.
His life in general was consecrated to good
works, and he was a good and faithful serv-
ant in the discharge of every duty and
responsibility.
CUSHMAN, 2ND, HENRY T., of Ben-
nington, son of J. Halsey and Martha Louise
(Thayer) Cushman, was born in Benning-
ton, May 6, 1866.
His education was obtained in the graded
schools of the village, and he commenced
his active business life in the capacity of
grocer's clerk ; but, before a year had
elapsed, in 1880, he became an operator in
the Bennington Telephone Exchange and
was soon promoted to be superintendent.
He then, for a short period, entered the
employ of the New Haven (Conn.) Clock
Co., but returned to Bennington, in 1885,
and engaged in his former occupation until
the exchange was closed, when for a few
months, he worked in the office of the
Bennington Banner, with the intention of
learning the trade of a printer. Abandon-
ing this attempt, in 1887, he commenced to
read law in the office of NVilliam B. Sheldon,
and was admitted to the bar after three
years study. The Hon. Mr. Cushman was
admitted to practice at the general term of
the supreme court, in i8go, and was ap-
pointed master in chancery two years
later. He entered into partnership with his
former instructor, and they now enjoy a
large and lucrative practice. Mr. Cush-
man was of counsel for the defence in the
case of State vs. Bent and Roberts (64 ^"t.),
CUTLER. 89
and associate counsel, for the defence, in
State vs. Bradley, an important criminal
case, that attracted much attention.
He has taken an active part in political
affairs, and, as a Republican speaker, did
much effective service in the presidential
campaign of 1892, in Bennington county.
He has been chosen clerk of the Ben-
nington graded school district, and is at
present president of the Bennington Village
Corporation. In 1882 he was appointed
assistant state librarian, and in 1891 offici-
ated as one of the committee of fifty of the
battle monument and state centennial cele-
brations, especially devoting his efforts to
the entertainment of the guests, serving as
chairman of that committee. He was one
of the charter members and organizers ot
the State Fireman's .Association, of which
institution, in 1892, he was elected presi-
dent, and re-elected in 1893.
Mr. Cushman is an enthusiastic and
worthy member of the Improved Order of
Red Men, and is the Chief of Records of
the local tribe. He is also a member of the
Masonic fraternity, and interested in
brotherhood work, following in this respect
his honored father, who was widely known
as a Free Mason. He is a Congregation-
alist in his religious faith.
CUTLER, Henry Ralph, is a native of
Glo\er, his ]xirents were Henrvand Cordelia
(Skinner) Cutler, and he was born Dec. i,
i860.
9°
In early life he attended the public schools
of Glover and Barton, and afterwards was a
pupil of the St. Johnsbury Academy. \\'ith
this preparatory education he commenced
his business life as clerk for J. W. Hall of
Barton, but afterwards entered the employ
of D. L. Dwinell of Glo\er, with whom he
remained five years. Since 1S83 he has
represented the large clothing house of
Gushing, Olmstead c& Snow of Boston, Mass.
He is a Republican in his political pro-
fession, and was appointed a colonel on Gov-
ernor Page's staff.
Colonel Cutler is a member of Lodge No.
55, Free and .Accepted Masons, of Barton,
and of the Commercial Travellers' Union of
Boston. Though liberal in his religious
belief, he attends and contributes to the
Congregational church at Barton.
June I, 1889, he married Alice E., daugh-
ter of J. E. Dwinell of Glover.
CUTTING, Hiram Adolphus, son of
Stephen C. and Eliza (Darling) Cutting,
was born in Concord, Dec. 23, 1S32, and
died .April 18, 1892.
Though of distinguished ancestors, both
on father's and mother's side, he derived no
adventitious aid from ancestry or wealth.
Receiving his earliest instructions in the dis-
trict school, he diligently availed himself of
whatever advantages it had to offer. From
his sixteenth year until he attained his major-
ity he taught school from three to fi\e
months annually. He also attended school
at the St. Johnsbury .Academy in the spring
and fall — sometimes both — and served
therein as assistant teacher.
Desiring to enter the medical profession,
from the age of fifteen he studied its theorv
and practice, under the tuition of Dr.
George C. \\'heeler of St. Johnsbury, but
his health gave way and for a time he be-
came a land surveyor. At the age of nine-
teen he became assistant to D. H. Hull, one
of the first proprietors of an itinerant
daguerreotype-car in Vermont. He contin-
ued in this employment until he entertained
a proposition from his uncle, John G. Dar-
ling, a successful merchant of Concord, who
proposed that he and Cutting should open a
store at Lunenburg. The proposal was ac-
cepted and the new firm began business on
the ist of January, 1855. The connection
thus established lasted successfully for twenty-
five years, when Mr. Cutting purchased the
entire stock and business. After that he
conducted the enterprise alone. In July,
1870, a fire consumed the store, together
with most of its contents. His loss was
heavy, and was aggravated by the destruction
of a very extensive geological collection and
of more than a thousand volumes — mainlv
scientific works — that had been pjlaced in
the second story of the building.
In 1870 he recommenced his medical
studies privately, under the tuition of Prof.
E. E. Phelps of Dartmouth College, and
soon after received a diploma from this
institution.
At the close of the war he took out a
license as claim-agent, and prosecuted hun-
dreds of claims to a successful issue. _, In
June, 1873, he was appointed examining
surgeon. In addition to this office, he held
those of special notary public and master in
chancery.
ADOLPHUS CUTTING.
Dr. Cutting was appointed state curator of
the cabinet by Gov. John \V. Stewart in
1870, and in the same year he received the
further appointment of state geologist, was
reappointed by Gov. J. Converse, and was
subsequently confirmed in the office until
change should be necessary. In 1880 he
was appointed by Gov. Roswell Farnham to
a position in the board of agriculture, and
was elected its secretary. As chairman of
the Fish Commission of Vermont, in w^hich
position he was placed by Governor Farn-
ham, Dr. Cutting was no le.ss useful than in
other relations. In 1868, Norwich I'niver-
sity conferred the degree of A. M., and that
of Doctor of Philosophy upon him the fol-
lowing year. In consequence of his scien-
tific attainments he was made a member,
active, corresponding, or honorary, of no less
than seventy-nine scientific, literary, and
medical societies scattered throughout Amer-
ica and Europe. As geologist, metallurgist,
mining expert, practical and consulting
scientist, he was perhaps not excelled in New
England, if indeed in the United States.
Dr. Cutting was the possessor of a library of
twenty thousand volumes and a cabinet of
minerals and curios containing thirty thous-
and specimens.
He was married on the 3d of February,
1856, to Marinda E. Haskell of Lennox-
ville, Canada F^ast.
CUTTING, Oliver B., of West Con-
cord, son of Franklin and Prudence (Isham)
Cutting, was born in Concord, Sept. 12, 1837.
Mr. Cutting was brought up a farmer, re-
ceiving his education at the common and
high schools in Concord and \\'aterford. At
nineteen years of age he commenced teach-
ing in the winter and working in the summer
on the farm. In 1868 he began business as
a druggist and book dealer, to which occu-
pation he still devotes himself. He has been
appointed local agent for the\'ermont Mutual
Fire Insurance Co.
A member of the Republican party, he
was appointed postmaster in 1877, and held
that office eight years.
Enlisting as a pri\ate in the Union army,
August 20, 1864, he was wounded at the
battle of Cedar Creek, Oct. ig of the same
year, and discharged from the hospital in
May, 1865.
He is a Master Mason and a member of
the Grand Army.
He was first married Feb. 23, 1S65, to
Lavina, daughter of Russell and Louisa
Powers. One child, Ursula M., was born to
them, and his wife died May 3, 1868. He
contracted a second marriage with Lois K.,
daughter of Austin and Abigail Robinson,
Feb. 7, 1872. They have two children :
Clarence F., and Susie L.
CUTTING, William B., of Westmin-
ster, son of Samuel and Hannah ( Brackett )
Cutting, was born in (Ireen River, No\.
20, 1827. Receiving a common school
education, at the age of sixteen Mr. Cut-
ting commenced his business life as a clerk,
and afterwards engaged in the manufacture
of paper in connection with other mercan-
tile pursuits.
In 1853 he remo\edto Boston and entered
the employ of the Old Colony R. R., and
also started in the grocery trade. In 1854
he commenced to work for the Indianapolis
91
and Cincinnati Railroad Co., continuing
until April, 1861, when ill health comjielled
his removal to Kalamazoo, Mich., where he
formed a partnershi]^ to carry on the grocery
and produce business, also the manufacture
of lumber and barrel staves. He was again
forced by sickness to return to the East,
where he took up his residence at Spring-
field, Mass., afterwards in Brattleboro, and
finally, in 187 1, settled on a farm in \Vest-
minster West, where he now resides.
A Free Soiler prior to the formation of the
Republican party, Mr. Cutting took an active
part in the Fremont and Lincoln political
campaigns and continued for some time to
act with that party, but differs from it on the
tariff question, and is now an Independent.
Elected to the state Senate in 1882, he has
held most of the town offices, and has been
justice of the peace for twenty years. He
has been a member of several organizations
of the I. O. O. F., and Master of Maple
Grove Grange of Westminster West. .Mr.
Cutting is a L^nitarian in his religious views.
He married, August 12, 1851, Mary .■\.,
daughter of Grant \\. and Matilda (Camp-
bell) Rannev. By her he had six children :
William L., Mary' R., Charles C, Frank H.,
Stella M., and Nelly G.
92
DALh, George N., of island Fond,
son of James and Jane (Needham) ] )ale,
was born in Fairfax, Feb. 19, 1S34.
After attending the common schools in
Waitsfield, he studied two or three years at
Thetford Academy. Resolving to become
a lawyer, Mr. Dale commenced his studies
in the office of Dillingham & Durant at
\Vaterl)ury and was admitted to the bar at
the March term of the Washington county
court in 1856. He then entered into part-
nership with Hon. \V. H. Hartshorn at
Cluildhall, where he continued to ])ractice
till 1 86 1. At that time he removed to
Island Pond and for several years pursued
his profession, both by himself and with the
firms of Dale & Robinson at Derby and Bar-
ton, and with I )ale &: Carpenter in Charles-
ton, but since 1882 he has confined his
office work to Island Pond.
(Governor Dale is affiliated with the Masonic
fraternity, being a member of the following
organizations : Island Pond Lodge No. 44,
Haswell Chapter, St. Johnsbury, and North
Star Coramandery Knights Templar, of
Lancaster, N. H.
He married, Oct. 6, 1865, Helen M.,
daughter of Porter and Mary P. (Wilder)
Hinman, and their union has been blessed
with three children : Porter H., Helen Inez,
and Mary Lettie.
Go\-ernor Dale has been honored with
many offices in the gift of the people. He
was state's attorney for Essex county tor four
years from December, 1857, and was chosen
to the Legislature from Guildhall in i860.
Soon after he received the appointment of
Deputy Collector of Customs and was put
in charge of the port of Island Pond. This
office he resigned in 1866 but was reap-
pointed in 1 87 1 and discharged its duties
till 1882. He was a member of the state
Senate for four consecutive terms from 1866
and in 1870 was elected Lieutenant-Gover-
nor of the state. In the Legislature of 1892
he represented the town of Brighton.
Governor Dale was president of the Ver-
mont Bar Association in 1S86. As an advo-
cate and orator he commands the admira-
tion, and, as a man, wins the love of those
who know him.
DAMON, Charles, of victory, son of
I'.enjamin and Fanny (Jaseph) Damon, was
born in Kirbv, Ian. q, 1S24.
His educational advantages were derived
from the common schools, and he adopted
the trade of a tanner and currier, which
in connection with the boot and shoe busi-
ness he pursued for eighteen years in the
Dominion of Canada. In 1852, Mr. Damon,
allured by the golden promises of California,
emigrated to that state, and for five years
was alternately employed in mining and the
milk business. Returning to Coaticook, P.
(^., he purchased a farm and gave much at-
tcntion to breeding Morgan horses, in which
he met with great success, raising some very
valuable stock. In 1873 he removed to
Victory, where he still devotes himself to
stock raising and agriculture.
He was married at West Concord, Dec.
20, 1874, to Elizabeth A., daughter of
Richard T. and Joanna ( Bandfield ) Boyce,
and by her he has had one daughter :
Lilian A.
Mr. Damon held the office of school com-
missioner and councilor, at different times,
while a resident of Coaticook, and while in
Victory he has been selectman, town treasu-
rer and agent, as well as lister. For two
terms he has been the choice of a Repub-
lican majority to represent them in the
lower branch of the state Legislature.
DANA, Charles S., of New Haven, son
of Hon. Edward S. and Mary (Squier) Dana,
was born in New Ha\en, Sept. t :;, 1862.
His father, Hon. E. S. Dana, w-as for
many years assistant clerk of the National
House of Representati\es at Washington, one
of the leading ?'ree Masons of the state, and
served in both branches of the state Legis-
lature.
Charles S. Dana follows the \ocation of a
farmer, and in connection with his mother
is possessor of one of the finest estates in
Vermont. He is also the owner of the
largest private library in Addison comity.
He has acted as newspaper correspondent
for many daily and weekly newspapers for a
DAN.A. 93
number of years, and has taken an active
interest in politics since attaining his ma-
jority.
For six years he was a member of the Re-
publican town committee, has served as a
tlelegate in state, district and county con-
ventions, and enjoys the distinction of hav-
ing been the youngest man e\er elected in
New Haven to be moderator of the annual
town meeting. He was one of a com-
mittee of three to raise money to build the
present Congregational church of that place.
He was census enumerator in 1890.
In 1S80 Mr. Dana was assistant door-
keeper of the Vermont state Senate, and
assistant secretary of that body in 1890.
He now holds the position of secretary of
the .\ddison County Agricultural Society,
and in 1S93 was appointed as a member of
Co. 19, Columbian Guards, at the \\orld's
Fair. Mr. Dana is a member of I'nion
Lodge, No. 2, F. cV- A. M., and takes a
lively interest in all matters pertaining to tiie
agricultural, political and , moral welfare of
\'ermont.
DANA, Marvin Hill, of Stillwater, n.
v., son of Edward Summers and Marv Howe
Squier Dana, was born in Cornwall, March
2, 1867.
Having obtained his earlier education at
lieeman Academy, he afterwards graduated
at Middlebury College, the Sauveur School
of Languages, the law department of L'nion
L"ni\ersitv, and the C.eneral Theological
94
Seminary in New York City. He also tooic
a post-graduate course at tlie University of
New York. He received the degrees of
A. B. and A. M. from Middlebury College
and L. L. B. from Union University. After
studying law in the office of Judge Lyman
E. Knapp, Mr. Dana practiced his profession
in Missouri and Malone, N. Y., but was sub-
sequently ordained in All Saints' Cathedral,
Albany, by Bishop Doane, June ii, 1893,
and is now pastor of St. John's Episcopal
Church, at Stillwater, N. Y."
As an author he has contributed to various
periodicals, both in prose and verse, and
has published a volume of poems entided :
"Mater Christi and Other Poems," which
has met with a ready and flattering sale. A
volume of prose tales and sketches is soon to
be issued. He has frequently been selected
as class poet at the institutions where he has
been a student, and he was chosen by the
alumni of Middlebury College to deliver the
annual poem at the commencement of 1894.
Mr. Dana possesses eminent musical abil-
ity and a marvellous memory, being able to
repeat any list after once hearing or reading,
and is distinguished as a linguist — reading,
writing, and speaking English, German,
French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic,
I-atin, and Greek, and reading Hebrew,
Syreac, and Romaic.
He is the present head of the Society of
St. Paul in America. In 1892 he was nomi-
nated councilor of the "American Institute
of Civics," and in 1893, Fellow of the Royal
Geographical Society of Great Britain.
DARLING, JOSEPH Kimball, of Chel-
sea, son of Jesse and Rebecca (Whitaker)
Darling, was born March 8, 1833, at
Corinth.
He received his educational training at
Corinth Academy and at the hands of a
private tutor. Being desirous to see some-
thing of the world beyond the boundaries of
his native state, in 1853 Mr. Darling went
to California, where he was employed in
surveying and mining till 1861. Returning
to ('orinth he purchased a farm, upon which
he labored for two years. Feeling that it
was his duty to give his services to his
country in the civil war, he enlisted, August
16, 1862, as a private in Co. H, 12th Vt.
Regt., and was mustered out at Brattleboro,
July 14, 1863.
He then for some years pursued a mer-
cantile life and was also the postmaster at
East Corinth from 1864 to 187 1. At this
time he formed a resolution, somewhat late,
perhaps, to study law and commenced read-
ing with Hon. Roswell Farnham. Having
been admitted to the bar in 1S74 he prac-
ticed at East Corinth for ten years, when
he removed to the town of Chelsea, where
he now resides.
Mr. Darling has affiliated with the Repub-
lican party ; was for several years the chair-
man of the Orange county Republican com-
mittee ; was chosen state's attorney in 1882
and is now the deputy clerk of the Orange
county courts. He was elected from Chelsea
to represent the town in i890-'94 and while
a member of the Legislature served upon the
temperance, judiciary and election com-
mittees, of which last body he was the chair-
man. During his latter term of office he
was member of the judiciary, ways and
means committees and chairman of the
committee on military affairs.
ALL DARLING.
He is attached to Ransom Post, No. 74,
G. A. R., a member of the Congregational
church at Chelsea and has been for twenty
years superintendent and teacher of a Sab-
bath school.
He was married Oct. 6, 1S59, at Corinth
to Mary Alice, daughter of Deacon Joseph
and Mary (Robie) Knight. She died Octo-
ber, 1873, leaving four children : Charles K.,
Emma L., Hale Knight, and Eben, the last
dying in infancy. Mr. Darling's second
marriage was in Chelsea to Emma, daughter
of Rev. Harvey and Laura Webster. She
died April 5, 1885.
DARLING, J. R., of Groton, son of
John and Jennette (Brock) Darling, was
born in tlroton, Nov. 16, 1823.
DAVENPORT.
95
Recei\ing his education at the Peachani
and Danville Academies, Mr. Darling re-
solved to follow a business career, and
through a long and honorable life has
strictly devoted himself to mercantile and
agricultural pursuits. From 1847 to 1S57
he was a member of the firm of Wek^h,
Darling & Clark in the town of Groton.
Since that time he has been engaged in gen-
eral trade, lumbering and farming, and in
1883 he entered into a copartnership with
his sons under the firm name of Jonathan
R. Darling & Sons. Their business has
been carried on in Peacham and Groton, in
which latter place Mr. Darling owns and runs
a large saw mill.
J. R. DARLING.
An old-time whig till 1856, Mr. Darling
joined the Republican party at the period of
its formation and is an ardent advocate of
the protection of American labor and indus-
tries. He has held many ofifices of trust and
responsibility ; has been town clerk for
thirty-three years ; was representative to
the Legislature in i857-'58, and state sena-
tor in i88o-'8i. He was chosen assistant
judge of Caledonia county in 1869, which
position he held for three successive years.
Judge Darling was united in marriage,
July I, 1849, to Sarah M., daughter of John
and Phebe (Heath) Taisey of Groton.
Eight children have been born to them, of
whom si.x are still living ; Cyrus T., Eva-
lona, John T., Robards N., Elmer E., and
\\'alter P>rock.
Judge Darling has never been a member
of any secret or social society.
DAVENPORT, CHARLES NEWTON,
son of Calvin N. and Lucy VV. Davenport,
was born at Leyden, Mass., Oct. 20, 1830.
He re(-eived a common school education
in his nati\-e town, which he afterwards sup-
plemented by study at the Shelburne Falls
Academy, and the Melrose .Academy in
West Brattleboro. Electing to follow the
profession of the law, he jirepared to do so
by entering the office of Oscar L. Shafter of
Wilmington, Vt., where he continued for
three years. At the .April term of 1854 he
was admitted as an attorney to the \Vindham
county bar, and immediately entered into a
copartnership with his preceptor, but this
association was soon dissolved and Mr.
Shafter removed to California. Mr. Daven-
port purchased his law library and practice
and succeeded to his position among the
legal fraternity. In 1856 he was admitted
to practice in the Vermont Supreme Court.
He was studious, careful, earnest and am-
bitious to attain professional distinction,
and i|uickly took position as a leader of the
bar in Windham and Bennington counties,
which he vigorously maintained for more
than a quarter of a century. In .April, 1851,
Mr. Davenport received his former law pupil,
Kittredge Haskins, into partnership, and this
connection continued for ten years. In
March, 1S68, he transferred his residence
and practice from Wilmington to Brattle-
boro, which town he thenceforward made
his home. In June, 1875, he received his
friend, Jonathan G. Eddy, into copartner-
ship. In the Federal courts of the Ver-
mont district he gained great distinction and
frequently appeareil before the Supreme
Court at Washington, where he was admitted
to practice in 1876.
Mr. Davenport was a Democrat, but
always erratic, and in his later years usually
styled himself an Independent. In the cam-
paign of i860, the distinction between the
Douglas and Breckenridge faction was most
clearly marked and bitterly fought among
the Vermont Democrats. Mr. Davenport
rapidly rose to the leadership of the Douglas
wing until it gained the control of the party
in the state. Several times he was the Dem-
ocratic candidate of his district for election
to Congress. In 1865, and again in 186S,
he was the Democratic nominee for Gov-
ernor. Painful and deep-seated disease
brought him to his deathbed, .April 12,
1882. His funeral from the Baptist church
of Brattleboro was largely attended by the
citizens and by members of the Masonic
fraternity, to which he had long belonged.
He was married on the 12th of December,
1854, to Louisa Haynes of Lowell, Mass.,
96
who bore him six children, of whom lour
died young. Two still survive ; Charles H.,
and Herbert J. Mrs Davenport died Sept.
30, 1870, and he contracted a second alliance
on the 6lhof November, 1871, with Roxanna
]., widow of Henrv Dunklee of Brattleboro.
She died May 22, '1881.
DAVISON, AmoRY, of Craftsbury, son
of Amory and Nancy (Mills) Davison, was
born in Craftsbury, June 29, 1830.
AMORY DAVISON.
He came of an old Revolutionarv faniilv,
and his grandfather served in the Conti-
nental army.
Mr. Davison was educated at the schools
of Craftsbury and at Bakersfield and Crafts-
bury Academies. He commenced his busi-
ness career as a farmer in 1854, and followed
that occupation for twelve years, but at the
end of that period, turned his attention to
buying and selling neat stock, in which busi-
ness he still continues to engage, though he
has never lost his interests in agricultural
pursuits. In 1868 he was elected director
of the Irasburg National Bank, and con-
tinued to act in that capacity until the affairs
of that institution were wound up in 1875.
When the Barton National Bank was organ-
ized in 1875, he was chosen to fill succes-
sively the offices of director, vice-president
and president, which last position he still
retains.
A whig of the Horace Greeley school, he
joined the Republican party at its inception
in 1854, anil no less ardently adheres to
their principles now as thirty-nine years
since, or during the war of the rebellion.
He has been selected to fill about all of
the town offices, and has served as select-
man fourteen years : was sent to the Legis-
lature in i860, and was a state senator from
Orleans county in 1892. Appointed railroad
commissioner by Governor Page, he was
again assigned to this post by Governor
Fuller in 1892.
He was united in marriage, June 26, 1855,
to A. Augusta, daughter of Merrill and
Lauretta (West) Williams of Greensboro.
Three children have been the fruit of their
marriage : Portus ^^"., Amanda, and Julius E.
DAVIDSON, MlLON, of Newfane, son
of Alvan and Ann (Howe) Davidson, was
born in Unity, N. H., Nov. 28, 1834. In
his early childhood his parents removed to
Acworth, N. H., where he was brought up to
MILON DAVIDSON.
his father's occupation, that of a farmer.
From the age of fourteen to seventeen he
was in the employ of Capt. Samuel Mc-
Clure, a neighboring farmer.
His early school advantages were limited,
for he had only one term a year, from the
age of ten to twenty-one, but his evenings
were devoted to his books, and he generally
rose three or four hours before sunrise to
study by the light of the fire or a tallow can-
dle. He fitted for college at Meriden and
at New London, N. H., and, continuing' his
97
studies uniler grent iirivations and discour-
agements, graduated at 1 )artmouth ill 1862.
He then taught as principal — mostly in
academies — twelve years, reading law, as
opportunity offered, with Mr. Soule of f'air-
fax and Hon. A. Stoddard of Townshend,
and was admitted to the bar in 1872. In
1874, without solicitation on his part, he
w-as chosen treasurer of the Windham County
Savings Bank, and still holds that office. The
business of the bank increasing, he has, in
recent years, necessarily dexoted more of
his time to that, and less to the practice of
law.
He is a member of the executive commit-
tee, trustee and treasurer of Leland and Gray
Seminary, treasurer of the \\"indham County
Creamery Association and a director in the
Union Mutual Fire Insurance Co. of Mont-
pelier. He has been director in the Brat-
tleboro & Whitehall Railroad Co., superin-
tendent of schools and president of the
Christian Aid Association.
Formerly as a Democrat and more recently
as a Prohibitionist, he has received the votes
of his party for town representative and
state's attorney. He was a delegate to the
national convention of the Prohibition
party in 1888; a candidate on their ticket
for presidential elector the same year, and
for state treasurer in 1892.
He married Gratia E., daughter of Samuel
A. and Rachel (Woodworth) Andrews, of
Richmond, Nov. 28, 1864. They have one
child : Lula Estella.
At the centennial celebration of Acworth,
N. H., Mr. I)a\idson read an original poem,
which is published in the history of that
town, and at the opening of the B. & W.
R. R. he wrote a lengthy metrical composi-
tion— commemorating that event — which at-
tracted much attention.
Mr. I)a\idson is a member of the Baptist
church, but has liberally aided other denomi-
nations. He has a reputation for strict hon-
esty and high moral character ; yet he is
best appreciated by those who know him
most intimately.
DAVIS, DennISON, of Putney, son of
Alanson and Experience (Orvis) Davis, was
born in Putney, May 3, 18 19.
His early education was obtained at the
district schools of his native town and at a
select school in Dummerston.
Mr. Davis spent most of his life on the
home farm, branching out into the horse
and cattle business as a side issue. For
many years past he has devoted a large
share of his time to the importation of Can-
adian horses and the shipment of cattle to
the markets at Brighton.
Mr. Davis has in turn held every im-
portant town office except town clerk and
treasurer, since he attained his majority,
and represented his town in the (General
.Assembly of 1880.
Mr. Davis was married in 1840 to Cather-
ine M., daughter of Zora and .Abigail (Orvis)
Scott. Mrs. Davis died in 187S. There
was one son from this union, who died in
1876, leaving two children, a daughter and
son : Hattie E., and Dennison P.
DENNISON DAVIS.
He has been chosen administrator of
many estates and always performed the ser-
vice with honor to himself and satisfaction
to all concerned.
Mr. Davis was again married in 18S6 to
Abbie Jane (Joslin) Evans, and now lives
on the Lorenzo Davis farm one mile north
of Putney Village.
DAVIS, Frank E., of Davis Bridge,
son of Freeborn (J. and Sara (Brown)
Davis, was born in Whitingham, May 22,
1847.
His family were among the earliest settlers
of the town. His progenitors for three
generations have successively lived on the
farm where Mr. Davis now resides.
His education commenced at the Leland
and Gray Seminary, Towrjshend, but later he
studied at .Arms .Academy, Shelburne Falls,
Mass., and was graduated from Kurnham's
Business College, Springfield, Mass.
.After his graduation Mr. Davis was first
em])loyed as a traveling agent, but in 1868
he engaged his .services as a clerk at Reads-
98 DAVIS.
boro and later became a member of the
firm of Stearns & Davis. After three years'
connection with this concern, he moved to
Turners Falls, at which place he engaged in
business for a year. He then returned to
A\'hitingham, and though possessing a farm,
he has worked much of the time for E. J.
Bullock & Co. of Readsboro as salesman.
In 1887, on account of the failing health of
his parents, he moved to the homestead
where he now resides. During the summer
season Mr. Davis is the manager of the
Spring Hotel at Sadawga, and is now the
station agent at Whitingham for the H. T.
& W. R.''R.
In politics he has been a Republican and
was the nominee of that party for repre-
sentadve in 1870. He has been chairman
of the board of selectmen for two years, re-
cei\ing the unanimous vote of his towns-
men, and has also discharged the duties of a
lister for many terms. In 1892 he was made
a justice of the peace.
Mr. Davis affiliates with the Deerfield \'al-
ley Lodge, I. O. O. F., at Readsboro, and is
the V. (j. of the same. He is a member of
the M. E. Church at \\'ilmington. He was
married in Whitingham, August 21, 1873, to
Ida j\I., daughter of |. and Olive (Sweet)
Bullard. They have three children ; F.
Rockwell, Sara, and F. FUiot.
DAVIS, Frank William, of Bakersfield,
son of Joel C. and Martha (Montgomery)
Davis, was born in Honeoye Falls, N. V'.,
July 31, 1850.
He received a good common school edu-
cation. At the age of twenty-four he com-
menced his business career at East Fairfield,
but in 1878 removed to Belvidere, where he
has ever since made his home, with the
exception of two years, when he was engaged
in trade at Bakersfield.
Mr. Davis was married at Bakersfield to
Emeroy F., daughter of Ira F. and Mahala
A. Dean, by whom he has had three chil-
dren.
From 1889 to 1893 he has been in part-
nership with several others in the manu-
facture of butter tubs at Belvidere Centre,
and the enterprise has proved remunerative
and been of much benefit to that com-
munity.
Mr. Davis has filled all the town offices,
and for five years has been an active member
of the Lamoille county Republican com-
mittee. He represented the town in 1888,
and served on the firand List committee, and
was its secretary.
He belongs to both the Masonic frater-
nity and the order of Odd Fellows, being a
member of Mount Norris Lodge F. & A. M.,
of Tucker Chapter R. A. M. at Morrisville,
and of Burlington Council, and he is in good
standing with Sterling Lodge, I. O. O. F., at
Hyde Park.
DAVIS, George, of East Montpelier,
son of Timothy and Pauline (Stevens)
Davis, was born in East Montpelier (then a
part of Montpelier), March 13, 1S35. Clark
Stevens, his maternal grandfather, was the
well-known pioneer and (,)uaker preacher of
the town of Montpelier, and Mr. Davis was
brought up in the peaceful tenets of that per-
suasion.
The public schools of Montpelier fur-
nished him his early educational training,
and his life has been passed upon the fine
old farm where he was born. From this last
statement it is needless to name his calling.
GEORGE DAVIS.
but Mr. Davis is a specialist in his profes-
sion, and is known far and wide for his herd
of Devon catde. Specimens of these have
brought him many a premium at the state
and New England fairs, while as a breeder of
Light Brahma fowls he is unrivalled. Mr.
Davis is also interested in the breeding of
colts, and for a long time was accustomed to
serve as the starting judge at horse races, in
which position he always manifested the
needed qualities of firmness and decision.
He is a most excellent judge of all farm ani-
mals, and consequently is much demanded
as a member of the awarding committees at
county fairs and all gatherings of a like
nature : for this office his conscientious im-
partiality especially fits him. He has been
many years a director and vice-president of
the State Agricultural Society.
Mr. Davis received tiie Rei)ublican \ote
and the election for member of the (leneral
Assembly in 1S84, and served on the com-
mittee on highways and bridges.
DAVIS, Gilbert A., of Windsor, son
of Asa and Mary (Hosmer) Davis, was born
Dec. iS, 1835, at Chester.
Receiving an education limited to the
district school and Chester Academy, he
commenced to teach when he was fifteen
years of age. In 1S52, he removed to New
Jersey, where he pursued the same profes-
sion for four years, giving instruction at
Belvidere and other places in Warren and
Hunterdon counties. Here he betjan to
^gsSSSv*
i
read law with Hon. J. G. Shipman of Belvi-
dere. Returning to Vermont, he continued
the study of his profession in the office of
Hon. William Rounds of Chester and later
with Messrs. Washburn ( P. T. ) lS: Marsh
(Charles P.) of Woodstock.
Mr. Davis was admitted to the bar at the
May term of the Windsor county court in
1859. He remained with his last instruct-
ors about a year and then removed to
Felchville in Reading. Here he remained
for nearly twenty years, and laid the founda-
tion of a large and successful practice, and
still keeps an office in Felchville since his
removal to \Mndsor in 1879.
He has always been identified with public
improvements, is a director in the Windsor
1>AVIS. gy
i;iectric Light Co., has been a trustee of the
village, and when the water works were con-
structed he was one of the commissioners
for that purpose, and is the president and
treasurer of the Windsor Machine Co.
Mr. Davis is a member of the Rei)ublican
party and has held many important town
offices. In 1858 and 1861 he was assistant
clerk of the House of Representatives and
to him was intrusted the task of making out
the grand list. He served as Register of
Probate for Windsor county for five years,
and represented Reading in 1872 and 1874,
serving both years on the committee on
education, of which he was chairman at the
session of 1874. He was elected to the
Senate in 1876, where he was a member of
both educational and judiciary committees.
He was state's attorney for Windsor county
for the term of two years, iS78-'8o. In 1874
he was selected by Covernor Peck to com-
pile the school laws of Vermont and he has
also published a history of Reading. At the
celebration of the centenary of that town,
he delivered the address, and was also the
orator at the centennial celebration of the
adoption of the constitution and name of
the state, held at Windsor, August 9, 1877.
Mr. Davis has been for many years an
official of the Vermont Historical Society; a
member of the Vermont Commandery of
Knights Templar, the clerk of the Congre-
L;ational Society of Windsor and the super-
intendent of the Sabbath school.
He was a member of the Republican
national convention at Chicago in 1888,
and a member of the Triennial Council of
Congregational Churches at Worcester in
i88g and Minneapolis in 1892.
In .April, 1862, he was married to Delia
I. Holies, at Turner, 111., and their union has
been blessed with four children, two of
whom are now living : Marv I., and Gil-
bert F.
DAVIS, Samuel RA^', of Troy, son of
Ray and Hannah (Firown) l)a\is, was born
in Troy, April 19, 1837.
His father was one of the first settlers of
the town, having mo\ed there in 1833 from
Lexington, Mass.
The subject of this sketch received his
education in the schools of the town, and at
P.akersfield Academy. At an early age he
acquired a taste for general reading, which
hc.s increased with increasing years, and his
well-stocked library of carefully selected
books bears witness that his taste has been
well cultivated. Mr. Davis has always re-
sided in his native town. He is known as a
]irogressi\e farmer whose success may be
largely attributed to his untiring energy,
together with good judgment and sound
sense.
In politics he is a staunch Republican ;
though of an unassuming nature he has been
often honored by the confidence of his
fellow-citizens. He has held the various
town offices, from juryman to selectman, and
represented Troy in the state Legislature in
1867 and '68. He was one of the county
road commissioners in i886-'87, and assist-
ant judge for two terms from 1888.
SAMUEL RAY DAVIS.
He is a close observer, and his extensive
reading combined with a retentive memory
serve to keep him abreast with the leading
topics of the day.
An evolutionist in his belief, his religious
preferences are liberal, though he supports
and attends the Congregational church.
Judge Davis was married in 1.858 to
Orcelia Kennay of Fairfield, by whom he
has had four children.
DEAVITT, John Ja.WES, of St. .Albans,
son of John and .Anna (Manley) Dea\itt,
was born in Brunswick, N. Y., May 3, 1808.
During the winter of 1819, he was a
student of the Lancastrian School of Troy,
N. Y., and 'seven years subsequently entered
the St. -Albans .Academy after which, having
made choice of his profession, he read law
in the offices of Royce & Hunt and Hon.
David Read. Mr. Deavitt was a cadet at
the U. S. Military Academy at West Point in
1828, and stood high in his class.
In 1 83 1 he was employed in the office of
Judge Cushman at Troy, N. Y., and soon
after became a partner of Henry Wilson,
Esq., city attorney. He then removed, first
to St. .Albans, and afterwards to Johnson,
where he was assistant of Cornelius Lynde,
the postmaster. .After an interval of district
school teaching, in 1833 he located in St.
.Albans and formed a law partnership with
Hon. Orlando Stephens, at the e.xpiration of
which he was appointed deputy collector and
inspector of I'. S. Customs for Franklin,
where he became a resident and practiced
his profession for sixteen years in conjunc-
tion with his duties as a L^nited States
official. In 1853 he returned to St. Albans,
ha\ing an office in connection with Judge
\\illiam liridges till 1870.
Air. nea\itt has been a staunch and lifelong
Democrat, yet he was elected from Franklin
in November, 1842, as a delegate to the
Constitutional Convention held in Montpelier
during the following year. He was ap])ointed
postmaster of St. .Albans under the adminis-
tration of President Buchanan, and held the
office under President Lincoln till 1862. He
was admitted to practice in the United States
I listrict Court at Windsor in May, 184.S, and
se\enteen years after he received a similar
JOHN JAMES DE
pri\ilege at Washington with respect to the
Supreme Court of the Ignited States. In
April, 1874, he was elected municipal judge
by a large majority, three-fourths of the
voters being Republicans, and unanimously
chosen at a second election, after which he
declined to serve. He was a delegate to the
DEMINC.
natiiJiKil Democratic convention iicid in
New York in 1868. He has acted as chair-
man of jail commissioners of Franklin
cotmty.
Judge Deaxitt was united in wedlock
Nov. 25, 1830, at St. Albans, to Patience,
daughter of Willard and Sarah ( |ewell)
Wing.
This venerable old man was present at the
laying of the corner stone of the present
college edifice at Burlington in July, 1825,
and distinctly remembers witnessing the
reception of LaFayette and his son Oeorge,
as they were escorted into Burlington by
Governor Van Ness.
Judge Deavitt has given largely to chari-
table objects, and he has ever been liberally
munificent to friends and relatives. He is a
firm believer in the Christian religion, and
has been both director and president of the
First Congregational Society of St. .Albans.
He still takes a great interest in courts and
judicial proceedings, and is an indefatigable
reader of history, keeping himself well in-
formed with regard to all subjects of current
interest. Judge Deavitt is reputed to be an
able lawyer, and an eloquent and persuasive
jury advocate.
DEMING, Franklin, of Wells River,
son of Benjamin F. and P'-unice (Clark)
Deming, was born in the town of Dan\ille,
Sept. II, 1828.
His early educational training was received
in the public schools of Danville and at
Derby Academy and the Phillips Academy
in his native town. His father was an old
resident of the place, for a long time judge
of probate and county clerk, and afterwards
a member of Congress.
Mr. Deming was six years of age when he
had the misfortune to lose his father, and
after completing his education he worked as
clerk in a store for seven years. When he
became of age he removed to Wisconsin,
where he remained a year, and then settled
in St. Johnsbury, where he engaged in the
clothing business as a member of the firm of
Boles & Deming. In 1857 he moved to
\\'ells River, and has resided there ever
since, engaged in general trade. He was
first chosen a director of the National Bank
of Newbury in 1874, and then president, a
position he still holds. He also is president
and half owner of the Adams Paper Co. of
Wells River.
He has always been a Republican, and
was a useful member of the Legislature of
1888, serving on the committee on banks.
For twenty-five years he was jw.stmaster.
He has taken the degree of Royal .\rch
Mason in Haswell Chapter of St. Johnsbury.
Mr. Deming married, October, 1854,
Catherine, daughter of Francis Bingham, of
St. Johnsl)ury. Two children ha\e been born
of this uniori : Katie B. (.Mrs. Dr. H. H. Fee
of Wells River), and Alice K.
Mr. Deming commenced his business
career with a very modest capital, but, with
judgment and foresight, he has managed his
affairs most advantageously, and is regarded
as a sound and conscientious financier.
DEWEY, Charles, of Montpelier,
oldest son of Dr. Julius Vemans and Mary
(Perrin) Dewey, was born in Montpelier,
March 27, 1826. He was fitted for college
at the Washington county grammar school,
and graduated at the University of Vermont
in 1845.
In September, 1845, he was appointed
assistant secretary of the Vermont Mutual
Hre Insurance Co. ; was elected secretary
of that company, January, 1850, and held
that office until Nov. i, 1871. He was a
director of that comjiany for thirty years.
He was appointed a director of the
National Life Insurance Co. in January,
1 85 1, vice-president in 1871, and has been
jiresident of that comjiany since 1877, when
his father, who was the founder of the com-
jiany and its president, died. In 1865 he
was elected a member of the first board of
directors of the First National Bank of
Montpelier; in 1878 was elected vice-presi-
dent, and in January, 1891, president.
P"or several years he was director and vice-
] (resident, and was elected ]iresident of the
Lane Manutactiiriiig Co. of Montpelier in
1891.
He has served as trustee of the Washing-
ton county grammar school since 1864 and
as president of the board since 1879: also
trustee of several boards appointed by the
Episcopal diocesan conxention of Vermont.
He was for man\- vears a delet;ate from
ARLES DEWEY.
Christ Church, Montpelier, to the diocesan
convention, and in 1886 a lay delegate from
the diocese to the general convention of the
Episcopal church, held that year in Phila-
delphia. He has been for over forty years a
vestryman and for more than nineteen years
a warden of Christ Church, Montpelier.
He was three times elected a state sena-
tor, serving as such in i867-'6S-'69. He was
appointed state inspector of finance by Ciov-
ernor Barstow in 1882 and served two years,
but declined a reappointment by Go\ernor
Pingree.
May 3, 1848, he was married to Betsey
Tarbox, daughter of Lund and Susan ( Edson )
Tarbox, of Randolph. Three sons and six
daughters blessed their union. All save one
daughter, Ella L. ( Mrs. Carroll P. Pitkin),
survive : Frances L ( Mrs. Henry E. Filield),
William T., Jennie D. (Mrs. Edward D.
Blackwell), Mary G., George P., Gertrude
M., Kate D., and Charles Robert.
DEWEY, Charles Edward, of Ben-
nington, son of Jedediah and Hannah Eldred
Dewey, was born in Bennington, Nov. 29,
1826.
His education was received in the commorr
schools, and in early life he was prominently
connected with the ochre trade, but he has
always made farming his principal occu])a-
tion. He was born in the old Dewev house,
built in 1774, around which cluster many
interesting historic associations. It is one
of the oldest houses in Vermont, and under
its shelter some of the hardy rangers reposed
before the battle of Bennington. In this
house Mr. Dewey and his father first saw
the light.
Here the worthy son of worthy sires has
received many distinguished guests desirous
of visiting a spot hallowed by so many strik-
ing memories of the past. The surrounding
farm has been somewhat dismembered by
cutting off portions for building lots, but
much of it yet remains, which however, must
soon be absorbed for the same purpose, as
it lies in the residential portion of the village.
Mr. Dewey is an adherent of the Repub-
lican party, and a Congregationalist in re-
ligious faith. He has been incumbent of
several town offices, notably that of select-
man, w^hile he has been prominently con-
nected with the schools of Bennington as
trustee, and one of the building committee
CHARLES EDWARD DEWEY.
of the graded high school. He is a charter
member of the Vermont Historical Society,
and the Bennington Battle Monument As-
sociation. He was actively associated with
the committee in the construction of the.
I03
monument and the celeliration at its com-
pletion.
Mr. Dewey was married Feb. 5, 1856, to
Martha, daughter of Samuel I. Hamlen of
Cleveland, Ohio. Seven children ha\e been
born to them : Mary (Mrs. Charles Merrill of
Bennington), Arthur J., Sarah (Mrs. B. C.
lennev of Bennington), George H., Charles
H., Kdwnrd K., and l-ldith M.
DEWEY, HlRAM KlNNE, of Barton, son
of Lyman F. and Laura (Kinne) Dewey,
was born in Waterford, July 22, 1832.
In ])olitics Mr. Dewey has always been a
Republican and has several times been
ihosen to office in the towns in which he has
resided. In 1870 he was appointed clerk
in the House of Representatives. In 1892
he represented the town of Barton in the
Legislature and was a useful member of the
committee on banks and the library. His
religious preference is Congregational.
Mr. Dewey was married March i, 1866,
to Susan Augusta, daughter of Calvin and
.Ann (Fifield) C.errish of Concord, N. H.,
and they have had three children : Fred,
Kdie, and Lena. The first named died in
infancv.
IIRAM KINNE DEWEY.
He obtained his education at the public
schools of his native town and the acade-
mies of Peacham, Mclndoes Falls and St.
Johnsbury. For five years after leaving
school he was engaged in teaching in \'er-
mont and New Hampshire. In 1861 he
was made chief clerk, and had charge of
the U. S. Pension .Agency at Concord, N.
H., until 1865. In 1868 he held the posi-
tion of engrossing clerk in the N. H. Legis-
lature. In the fall of that year he moved to
Lyndonville and was in trade and in the em-
ploy of the Connecticut & Passumpsic R. R.
for three years. In 1869 he received the
appointment of postmaster at Lyndonville
which ofifice he resigned in 1871 to accept
the position of cashier of the Irasburgh
National Bank of Orleans, where he re-
mained till 1875, when he was elected
cashier of the Barton National Bank at Bar-
ton which position he still holds.
DEXTER, Avery J., late of Wardsboro,
was the son of Charles and Lucinda (Bas-
comb) Dexter, and was born in \\'ardsboro,
.April 27, r8i8, and died April 19, 1893.
He was educated at the common schools
in the town, and worked on the home farm.
In 1848 he began the manufacture of chairs
and furniture, which business he carried on
for two years. In 1850 he established a
general merchandise store in Wardsboro,
which he continued until 1880, carrying on
a farm at the same time.
VERY J. DEXTER.
-Mr. Dexter is a man of character and abil-
ity, and enjoyed the confidence of his fellow-
townsmen, which will be readily gathered
from the following facts.
He has been justice of the peace for ovfer
forty years, and has held the office of first
104
selectman for twenty-three years, also town
clerk since 1864. In 1858 and 1859 he was
elected to the (General Assembly, and ser\ed
creditably in the first session held in the new-
State House, when Senator Edmunds was
speaker. He was re-elected in 1864 and
T865, during the St. Albans raid, and voted
for the confirmation of Lincoln's emancipa-
tion of slavery. He was again elected in
1878 and 1879, and also in 1886.
Mr. Dexter was married March 12, 1841,
to Miss Mary Durant, daughter of Daniel
and Mary (i)urant) White of Gloucester,
Mass. Of this union were nine children, six
of whom are still living : Charles D., Ger-
trude I. (Mrs. Marshall O. Howe), Frederic
H., Mary A. (Mrs. Brownson Matteson),
Luna J. (wife of D. L. Smith), and Efifie E.
Mr. Dexter was fairly successful in his pri-
vate business. He was generous, according
to his means : to accumulate a large property
was never the aim of his life. He has
left what is "better than riches — a good
name." His unselfish and kindly interest in
others, the sympathy and counsel that he has
freely extended to those who have sought his
advice, will long be held in grateful remem-
brance by many whom he has thus befriended.
DEXTER, Charles D., of Wardsboro,
son of Avery J. and Mary D. (White)
"^.
CHARLES D. DEXTER.
Dexter, was born in Wardsboro, Nov. 2->,
1843.
He attended the common schools of his
native town, and then pursued a course of
study at the Leland and Gray Seminary in
Townshend.
For some time he devoted himself to the
interests of education as a teacher, and then
removed to Baltimore, Md., where he en-
gaged in business for a considerable period.
In 1864 he returned to Wardsboro, and after
some years began the manufacture of sieve
hoops, which business he has carried on up
to the present time. Mr. Dexter has also
been engaged in farming to some extent.
In his political preference he is a staunch
Republican, and was elected to the Legis-
lature in 1890.
He was married Dec. 25, 1S70, to Rosa
L., daughter of Jason S. and Carrie ('l'hom]j-
son) Knowlton of Wardsboro. Their union
has been blessed with three children : Carrie
M., James A., and Charles K.
Mr. Dexter has held many and \aried
positions of honor and trust in his town, and
has a strong hold upon the esteem of his
fellow-townsmen as an able and conscien-
tious citizen, a kind friend and good
neighbor.
DEXTER, EleazeR, of Reading, was
born in Hardwick, Mass., July 7, 1813, and
was the son of Eleazer and Charity (Will-
iams) Dexter. His father followed the
business of farming in Hardwick, and fell
fighting bravely in the service of his country
at the battle of Plattsburg in 18 14. Eleazer,
Jr., was the youngest of a family of fifteen
children and received such an education as
could be obtained in the common schools
of those days. Manifesting a great taste for
music, at the early age of thirteen he began
to travel with his brother, whom he assisted
in giving entertainments, of which music
formed the principal part. Soon his ambi-
tion led him to higher aspirations and he
became a facile composer of music of a light
character, many of his efforts being received
with great approbation. In 1S43 Mr. Dex-
ter located at Reading to give instruction in
band music.
He has never entered political life, but in
1880 was elected representative from Read-
ing. Receiving excellent instruction in his art
from eminent musicians in Boston, he be-
came an eminent teacher of both vocal and
instrumental music, and has had for his
])upils many who have since found both
profit and fame in their profession, notably
the Stratton Brothers, George M. Clark,
Hank White, O. .\. Whitmore and Theodore
J. .-Vllen, both well known solo performers on
the clarinet and cornet, all of whom were
originally citizens of Reading.
During the war of the rebellion Mr. Dex-
ter travelled extensively through New Eng-
land, New ^'ork and Canada exhibiting a
panorama of the principal events of that war,
accompanying the entertainment with Iwtii
vocal and instrumental music. He com-
posed at the time many patriotic songs
which proved to be very popular.
Notwithstanding his four score years, Mr.
Dexter lives peacefully in the enjoyment of
a good old age, cheered by memories of the
past and in confident hope for the future.
DICKEY, .ASA M., of Bradford, son of
-■Xdam and .Anna (Merrill) Dickey, was born
at East Orange, March lo, 182 1.
His grandfather .\dam with his two broth-
ers served in the Revolutionary war, in which
struggle the two latter lost their lives.
He received his education in the common
schools and the Methodist Seminarv at
Newbury. During his struggle for an edu-
cation, he defrayed a part of its cost by
teaching school and at the time seriously
thought of making this profession his life-
long occupation, but the law proved a
stronger attraction to his active mind and
he commenced to read with Hon. John
Colby of Washington, completing his studies
with Hon. Levi B. ^'ilas of Chelsea. He
was admitted to the bar at the June term in
1845. Soon after Mr. Dickey met with a
lifelong misfortune in an impairment of
vision, but he nevertheless persevered in his
chosen profession, and opened an offic:e at
West Topsham, where his success was
marked and immediate. He was elected
state's attorney of Orange county in 1850
and was re-elected the succeeding year.
Mr. Dickey then formed a partnership with
Hon. C. B. Leslie of Wells River and re-
mained there till 1S56, when he opened an
office at Bradford, where he did a large and
increasing business. In 1870 he moved to
St Johnsbury and entered into partnership
with Walter F. Smith. .-\t this time he was
again troubled with his eyes, but he soon
attained a large and lucrative practice in
Caledonia, Orleans, Washington and Esse.x
counties, .\fter a serious illness, he re-
turned to Bradford and although seeking no
business, he has been retained in many im-
portant cases.
In 1853 he was chairman of the Demo-
cratic state committee and was appointed
chief of staff with the rank of colonel by
Ciovernor Robinson. He was a delegate to
the national convention of 1864 and in 1869
represented Bradford in the Legislature,
was candidate for speaker and a member of
the judiciary committee. For two suc-
cessive years he was Democratic candidate
for Congress and one year his party's candi-
date for U. S. senator. He was also ap-
pointed by President Cleveland postmaster
at Bradford.
Colonel Dickey was largely instrumental in
the organization of the Merchants National
Bank of St. Johnsbury, and is president of
the village corporation of Bradford.
He was united in marriage July 9, 1846,
to Harriet M., daughter of John and Lucy
AVood Chubb of Corinth. Three children
have been born to them, two daughters —
who died in early life — and one son, Ceorge
\., a well-known young lawyer of Bradford.
Colonel Dickey is a iirominent member of
the M. E. Church and was appointed by the
bishop lay delegate to an ecumenical coun-
cil in London. Professionally he is best
appreciated in his jury practice. His in-
timate knowledge of human nature and cor-
rect judgment of motives have made him a
master of the art of cross-e.xamination. His
strength as an advocate lies in the clear ex-
[losition of his case, his logical deduction
from the evidence, and his earnest sincerity.
DICKINSON, ALBERT JOYCE, of Ben-
son, son of Isaac and Cornelia (Coleman)
Dickinson, was born in Benson, .\pril 5,
1841.
His education was that of the common
schools of the time, and after he had grad-
uateii from them he continued the pursuit of
knowledge at the Castleton Seminary. Born
and reared upon a farm, he has naturally fol-
lowed that occupation, and has always lived
in the place of his birth, except an interval
of lour years, extending from 1873 to 1877,
when he removed to the town of West Ha\en.
io6
DILLINGHAM.
At duty's call he enrolled himself in Co. D,
14th Yt. \'ols., and with this organization was
present at the battle of Gettysburg, receiving
an honorable discharge at the expiration of
his term of enlistment.
In his political affiliations he is a Republi-
can, and so far merited the confidence of
his fellow-citizens, that they chose him a
member of the House of Representatives in
1886, and elected him as senator from Rut-
land county in 1890.
He is a member of the Masonic frater-
nity, having associated himself with Acacia
Lodge, No. 91, in which he has been called
to fiU the Master's chair. He also belongs
to John A. Logan Post, No. 88, G. A. R.,
and is enrolled among the Sons of the .Ameri-
can Revolution.
Mr. Dickinson was married at Benson,
Oct. 7, 1867, to Helen tloodrich, daughter
of Benjamin and LIrsula (Goodrich) Bascom,
of which marriage have been born : Florence
Bascom, Fannie Coleman, John Quincy, Ben-
jamin Horace, Charles .Albert, and Colleen
.Amelia.
DILLINGHAM, WILLIAM PAUL, third
son of Paul and Julia (Carpenter) Dilling-
ham, was born in Waterbury, Dec. 12, 1843.
His great-grandfather, John Dillingham, was
LLIAM PAUL DILLINGHAM.
killed at Quebec while serving under Wolfe,
and his grandfather, Paul Dillingham, served
three years in the Revolution, and settled in
Waterbury in 1S05.
William, after attending the common
schools, went to Newbury Seminary and to
Kimball Union .Academy at Meriden, N. H.
He read law with his brother-in-law. Matt
H. Carpenter, in Milwaukee from 1864 to
tS66, and then with his father. Gov. Paul
Dillingham, at Waterbury, and was admitted
to the bar at the September term, 1867, of
Washington county court.
He was, in 1866, appointed secretary of
civil and military affairs to fill a vacancy
occasioned by the resignation of Charles M.
Gay, Esq., and was again secretary of civil
and military affairs during the administra-
tion of Gov. .Asahel Peck, 1S74 to 1876.
Mr. Dillingham was elected state's attor-
ney for Washington county in 1872, and re-
elected in 1874. The trial of Magoon for
the murder of Streeter, and that of Miles
for the Barre bank robbery, both of which
resulted in conviction, were events in his
time as prosecuting officer that attracted
much public attention, but they represented
but a small part of his labors, for the docket
was then crowded with criminal causes.
He represented Waterbury in the House
in 1876 and again in 1884, and was a sena-
tor from Washington county in 1878 and
1880. In 1882 he was appointed commis-
sioner of state ta.xes under the new ta.x law
of that year, and held the office of commis-
sioner for si.x years. In 1S88, as the Repub-
lican candidate for Governor, he did effect-
ive work as a campaign speaker for Harri-
son and Morton, and was elected Governor
by the largest majority ever given in the
state to a candidate fur that jjosition.
He has practiced law since his admission
to the bar, and was, till his father retired, a
member of the firm of P. Dillingham & Son,
and thereafter for some years was in prac-
tice alone. L'pon the e.xpiration of his term
as Governor in October, 1890, the partner-
ship of Dillingham & Huse was formed. In
1892 Fred A. Howland became a member
of the firm which is now Dillingham, Huse
iS: Howland.
Mr. Dillingham married, Dec. 24, 1874,
Mary E. Shipman, daughter of Rev. Isaiah
H. and Charlotte R. Shipman of Lisbon, N.
H. They have one son, Paul Shipman, born
Oct. 27, 1878.
Governor Dillingham is a Methodist, and
was a lay delegate from Vermont to the
( '.eneral Conference of the AL E. Church at
Omaha in 1893. He is president of the
board of trustees of the Vermont Methodist
Seminary.
DILLON, JOHN W., of Putnamsville,
son of William and Sarah (Megaw) Dillon,
was born in East Montpelier, July 17, 1850.
He received the usual privileges of a
farmer's son, attending the district schools
of his native town and the Washington
I07
county grammar school. Soon after he went
into a railroad office and learned the art of
telegraphy. Subsequently he acted as book-
keeper for John C. Dow & Co., of Lawrence,
Mass., and afterwards entered into an en-
gagement with C. C. Putnam & Son of Put-
namsville to perform the duties of clerk,
bookkeeper and overseer of their extensive
business, and with them he remained foiir-
teen years.
Mr. Dillon is now interested in the
granite and insurance business at Barre, and
he has also become the owner of some valu-
able granite properties near Hardwick.
He was appointed postmaster by the Re-
publican administration of 1881, and held
that position till his resignation in July, 1892.
He has been justice of the peace during
nearly his entire residence in Middlesex,
which town elected him representative in
1892 and he served on the general com-
mittee. He has always been interested in
public affairs and when called to office has
conscientiously discharged his duties and
responsibilities to the general satisfaction of
those who have entrusted him with the
various positions he has assumed.
Mr. Dillon was married Dec. 15, 1S80, to
Belle M., daughter of G. M. and Mary S.
(Putnam) Whitney of Middlesex. They
have one child living : Grace E. A son,
Paul, died Feb. 13, 1890.
DIMICK, George Washington, of
Windham, son of Nathan and Tabitha
(Fairbanks) Dimick, was born in Sherburne,
Nov. 7, 1837.
Mr Dimick received his early education
at the common schools of Bridgewater ; also
at \Vindsor high school and Black River
Academy. During the winters he followed
the occupation of teacher in the district
schools, and in the summer labored on the
farm. In Oc'ober, i860, he removed to
Windham, where he purchased a property,
and on this he has since resided.
Mr. Dimick has served as selectman sev-
eral terms and also represented the town in
the state Legislature in 1872 and 1882. He
has discharged the duties of superintendent
of schools, town agent, and trustee of public
money, while as a business pursuit he has
followed the shipping of produce for twenty-
five years.
Mr. Dimick was married, March 28, i860,
to Belle P., daughter of Alvah and Cherry
(Davis) Peck.
DIX, Samuel NEVINS, of Montgomery
Center, son of Samuel and Maria B. (Church )
Dix, was born in Troy, May 4, 1S39.
The boyhood and youth of Mr. Dix were
spent in the useful occupations of a farmer's
life, and he gleaned somewhat scanty instruc-
tion at the district schools of Troy, Derby,
Coventry and .\lbany ; attending the Albany
Academy for a brief period.
After attaining his majority, he was em-
])loyed in agricultural labor until the civil
war, when in 1862 he enlisted as a private
in Co. I, 15th Regt., Vt. Vols., and was dis-
charged after his term of nine months'
service.
When Mr. Dix returned from the scene of
action and resumed the occupations of civil
life he pursued his former vocation for some
time, and then entered the employ of Dun-
can Harvey, of Peacham. In 1870 he trans-
ferred his services to Columbus Green, of
Montgomery. In 1875 Hon. ^V. H. Stiles
purchased the business, and Mr. I>i\ faith-
SAMUEL NEVINS DIX.
fully served him till 1S78, when he was taken
into partnership, and the arrangement lasted
until the death of Mr. Stiles in 1891.
He is of Republican political faith, has
been entrusted with the positions of select-
man, justice of the peace, and town grand
juror, was a member of the Legislature in
1880 and again in 1882, was for a time
assistant postmaster, and has been entrusted
with the settlement of many estates.
Mr. Dix was married, Oct. 28, 1S75, to
.Annette L., daughter of Hon. William H.
and B. M. Stiles. One child has been born
to them : Alfa May.
He is a charter member and Past Com-
mander of Charles Haile Post, No. 95, G. A.
R., of Montgomery. Mr. I )ix is a man of
affable address and a successful financier.
loS
DODGE, ANDREW JACKSON, of Low-
ell, son of Andrew and Artimissa (Kelton)
Dodge, was born in Montpelier, Jan. ii,
1S25, and in April, 1S48, removed with his
parents to Lowell.
Educated in the schools of Montpelier,
when he arrived at man's estate he began to
teach in Montpelier, Middlesex, Lowell,
VVestfield, and Eden. In early life he pur-
chased his present valuable farm of one
hundred and sixty acres. Besides his regu-
lar farm work he has paid considerable at-
tention to lumbering and has dealt exten-
sively in Barre plows. For forty years Mr.
Dodge has been an agent for the sale of
unoccupied real estate, and since 1S55 has
JACKSON DODGE.
been the business manager in Lowell of the
\'ermont Mutual Fire Insurance Co., of
which he was a director.
Mr. Dodge has been a strong Republican
ever since the formation of that party and
his fellow-citizens have bestowed upon him
many of the town offices, selectman, lister,
first constable ; fifteen years he Was town
superintendent of schools, and justice of the
peace most of the time for the last forty
years. He was a member of the state Leg-
islature at the regular sessions of i<S5g-'6o
and the special session of '61. He was
elected sheriff of Orleans county in 1872
and held the office two years,
September 9, 1855, he was married to
Sarah C, daughter of E. S. and Irene Snow
of Montpelier. By her he had three chil-
dren, of whom two are now living : Clar-
ence, and Clara ( Mrs. J. K. Little of Boston ) .
He was again united, to Lucinda C, daugh-
ter of E. S. and Irene Snow, Oct. 14, 1864,
and from this marriage there were three
children : Sarah, .\lton, and .Andrew Jack-
son (all deceased).
Mr. Dodge has always been liberal in his
religious beliefs and a public-spirited man,
ready to help in all worthy enterprises.
DODGE, Harvey, of Post Mills, son of
Eliphalet S. and Mary (Cox) Dodge, was
born at Thetford, August 26, 182 1.
Eliphalet S. came to Thetford in 1802 and
purchased one-half of the original Post farm,
on which most of the thriving village of
Post Mills is located, and pursued the occu-
pations of a farmer and lumberman. Eliph-
alet S. was uncle of the well-known George
Peabody, the millionaire banker and philan-
thropist of London, who, while he was a
poor boy, resided nearly two years with
Mr. Dodge upon his farm and received
from him much kindness and encourage-
ment.
Mr. Harvey Dodge was brought up upon
the farm and has always resided there ex-
cept four years which he spent in Norwich.
He successfully devotes himself to farming
and stock raising.
" Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou
shall find it after many days." Mr. Peabody
in remembrance of his early associations
has endowed the village of Post Mills with a
public library, his own name has been given
to the institution and his cousin Harvey who
gave the site holds the position of librarian.
By the terms of the bequest, three members
of the Dodge family, while such members
survive, are made permanent trustees and
with them are associated other elective
members and the resident minister or minis-
ters of the parish. This library contains
nearly six thousand well selected volumes.
Mr. Dodge was united in marriage .April 9,
1S46, to Sarah Jane, daughter of Halsey and
.Mercy (Burton) Riley. They have had four
children, two of whom are living : Burton R.,
and Henry M. In a second union he was
married to Martha E., daughter of Frederic
and .Anna (Chandler) Ladd.
Mr. Dodge has held many positions of
trust and honor. He has always been Re-
jjublican and as such has been deputy
sheriff fourteen years and justice of the
peace for sixteen consecutive terms. He
was elected to represent Thetford by a large
majority in 1S70, and was made assistant
judge of Orange county court in 1876. For
twenty years he has belonged to Crystal
Lake Lodge, I. O. O. F. The standing of
Judge Dodge in town and county is attested
by the many important positions to which
he has been chosen.
I09
DODGE, JOHN LOCKE, of ISarton
Landing, son of William P. and Nancy L.
(Locke) Dodsje, was born in Irasburg, (X-t.
21, T833.
His educational advantages were limited
to the common schools and the academies
of Derby and Brownington.
\\'hen nineteen years of age, he com-
menced his active career as a teacher, but
three years later was seized with the western
fever and went West, where he engaged in
the hotel business, but returned to his native
DODGE, Prentiss Cutler, of Bur-
lington, son of Robert and Alma C.
(\\'heeler) Dodge, was born in l'",ast ^[ont-
pelier, Feb. 13, 1849.
Obliged to abandon school at the early age
of eleven years, Mr. Dodge was apprenticed
to the late Hiram .Atkins. He remained
with him, serving his time, and then worked
as a journeyman printer in Piurlington,
Springfield, Boston and New York. In 1872
he made an extensive tour through the
southern states, and upon his return followed
the calling of commercial tra\eler in various
lines of business.
In 18S9 Mr. Dodge entered into an
engagement as Burlington correspondent of
the Rutland Herald, and in the following
year purchased the Burlington Independent,
which enjoys the distinction of being the
only Democratic paper in Northern Ver-
mont. In 1S90 he put in a job office, which
JOHN LOCKE DODGE.
state in i860, and has been since that year a
Vermont farmer.
Since the formation of the Republican
party, he has given it his steady adherence,
and for his loyalty and ability has been en-
trusted with many official responsibilities
both by the town and county. For twenty-
fi\e years he has most creditably discharged
the duties of these, and in 1892 was chosen
to represent Irasburg in the Legislature.
Mr. LJodge is an earnest supporter of the
Congregational church in Irasburg, and has
contributed by his influence and energy to
its success.
He was united in marriage, Oct. 15,
1861, to Sarah Jane, daughter of Hiram and
Ruth (Cogswell) Merrill, by whom he has
one son : Carlos A.
Mr. Dodge stands high in the esteem of
his fellows and can boast of a useful life, the
honor and probity of which have been duly
appreciated by his friends and neighbors.
PRENTISS CUTLER DODGE.
now requires three presses to turn out his
commercial work, and his business is in-
creasing rapidly.
Mr. Dodge married, Dec. 8, 1874, in Buf-
falo, N v., Nelia M. Kent of Rome, N. V.
He has never held political office, nor
does he belong to any secret societies, ex-
cejit that he is a member and Fast Chancel-
lor Commander of Champlain Lodge, No. 7,
Knights of Pythias of Burlington. Though
without school advantages since the age of
eleven, he has come to the editorial chair by
an excellent and well proved route — the
Greeley route ; a hard climb that once made
gives strength for and good assurance of
permanent success.
September i, 1S93, Mr. Dodge received
the appointment of immigrant inspector, suc-
ceeding Gen. \V. \V. Henry of Burlington.
DONNELLY, JOHN H., of Vergennes,
son of Thomas and Mary (McDonald)
Donnelly was born in Keesville, N. V., Feb.
19, 1855.
His early education was obtained in the
Vergennes graded school and afterward
from a course of instruction at the college
at Ottawa, Canada. He commenced the
active career of his life by entering the
employ of the Vermont Seat & Roller Co.
as a clerk and in this continued for about
five years; and in iSyShe commenced the
occupation of merchant tailoring, and has
established one of the largest and most
extensive retail trades in the state.
Mr. Donnelly is a firm believer in the
doctrines of the Democratic party and has
been alderman of the city of Vergennes for
three years. He has also served on the
board of council and as a Democrat has
been highly honored by his party, of which
he is one of the chief leaders in the state.
In the last two Democratic conventions at
St. Louis and Chicago he has been appointed
delegate, and has also been nominated for
various town and county offices. He is
prominent and takes a deep interest in all
the firemen's organizations of the state. He
is a member of the Vergennes Volunteers
and is one of the executive committee of
the Fireman's .Association of Vermont.
DOTY, George W., of Morrisville, was
born in Montpelier, Feb. 16, 1838. .At the
age of two years he was adopted by O. L.
Metcalf, a farmer of Morristown.
Mr. Doty received his education in the
common schools and the People's .Academy,
paying his expenses by his labor and the
care of the building. .At the age of nine-
teen, under the auspices of the Emigrant .Aid
Societv, he went to the then Territory of
Kansas, where he joined a jiarty of forty
young men from \'ermont, who, under the
leadership of N\'illiam B. Hutchinson, estab-
lished themselves at a point on the Osage
river, about fifteen miles from the Missouri
line. This settlement they named Mapleton.
During the next three years and a half,
young Doty was both a witness of and an
actor in the most exciting scenes of that
remarkable period. .As soon as the town-
ship of Mapleton was organized, he was
elected first constable, and joined the Free
Soil forces of Captain Bain and Colonel
Montgomery. He was also a member of the
force under Col. Jim Lane that dispossessed
the bogus Lecompton Legislature. Later, as a
Free State man, he was dri\-en out of Colum-
bus, Mo., at midnight, barely escaping with
his life.
In the late fall of i860 Mr. Doty returned
to his native state, and was the first man in
Lamoille county to enlist at the outbreak of
the civil war. In conjunction with V. A.
Woodbury he recruited sixty men, who after-
ward became members of Co. E, 3d A"t. \'ols.
He himself was mustered into the United
States service as a private in Co. F, 2d Vt.
\'ols., and followed the fortunes of that com-
mand throughout most of the bloody battle-
fields. He was present at the first struggle
at Bull Run, and was with the command
during the seven days' fight on the peninsula,
2d Bull Run, and in the Maryland cam-
paign, 1S62. A member of the 2d AT. Color
Guard, he was not absent from duty a single
day till he was wounded at Fredericksburgh
by a minie ball, which he carries in his
right knee. Being thus disabled, he was
transferred to the A' eteran Corps, and served
until the close of the war. He was several
times promoted, being a sergeant when
wounded, and would have been commis-
sioned in a short time.
Mr. Doty is a staunch Republican, and
soon after his return from the army, was
appointed deputv sheriff, and later was
elected sheriff, holding this position three
years. For fourteen years he has been a
member of the prudential committee of the
People's Academy and Morrisville jiraded
school.
For thirty years he has been a Free
Mason, a member of Mt. Vernon Lodge,
and has held every position in that body, as
well as in the chapter. .\ charter member
of J. M. Warner Post, d. A. R., he served as
its commander for eight consecutive years.
Mr. Doty also acted as the aid of Com-
manders-in-Chief Farnshaw and Alger, G. A.
R., and in 1891 was unanimously elected
Senior \'ice-Commander, Dept. Vt., antl in
1893 received a like compliment when pro-
moted to be Commander of the department.
He married, April 30, 1863, at Prattle-
boro. Flora A., daughter of Loren and
Fedelia (Paine) Bundy. Of their children
one son died in infancy, and two daughters
survive: .Anna G. (Mrs. L. M. Jones, of
Johnson, Vt.), and .-Mice C.
For twelve \ears Mr. Doty was station and
express agent and telegraph operator on St.
J. & L. C. R. R., at Morrisville. For the
last ten years Mr. Doty has been successfully
engaged in Morrisville as a furniture dealer
and undertaker.
Mr. Doty requited the kindness of his fos-
ter parents by providing them a home in
their old age.
DOWLEY, George S., son of Darius
L. and Austis (Baldwin) Dowley, was born
in Wardsboro, August 16, 1843.
GEORGE S. DOWLEY.
His parents removed to Brattleboro when
he was of early age, and he received his
education in the public schools there, grad-
uating from the high school, after which he
studied for two years under a former princi-
pal of the West Brattleboro .\cademy.
Upon the close of his studies he entered
the local ofSce of the Vermont & Massachu-
setts Railroad Co., where he remained for
several months, when the position of teller
in the old Bank of Brattleboro — now the
Vermont National Bank — was offered him,
which he accepted. Four years afterwards
he became cashier, and continued as such
until his election in 1889 as president. In
addition to his official duties in the Vermont
National Bank, he has enjoyed many posi-
tions of trust in his town and county, the
duties of which he has always met with
characteristic ability and sterling honesty.
Mr. Dowley has served many years as
treasurer of his town and the village school
district and is also county treasurer as well
as a director in the Vermont \'alley Railroad
Co., and various other organizations, and has
several times been prominently mentioned
as the Republican candidate for State Treas-
urer of Vermont.
He married, May 17, 1870, Miss .Ada E.,-
daughter of William H. and Adeline S.
(Thayer) Estabrook, of Brattleboro.
DRAPER, Joseph, late of Brattleboro,
was born in Warwick, Mass., Feb. 16, 1834.
He was of New England ancestry, both
father and mother being natives of Massa-
chusetts.
His early education was obtained in the
common schools and in the academies at
ISrattleboro, and Deerfield, Mass. .After he
entered upon the study of medicine, he at-
tended lectures at one of the medical
schools in New York and also at the Jeffer-
son Medical College, Philadelphia, where he
graduated in 1858. .After a considerable
period in general practice he became an
assistant of Dr. Rockwell in the Vermont
.Asylum for the Insane at Brattleboro, where
he remained until January, 1SC5. He left
this position for that of an assistant surgeon
in the United States General Hospital at
Brattleboro, in which he remained a few
months, and in May, '1865, became an
assistant in the state asylum at Worcester,
.Mass. He was also acting superintendent
of that institution for one year. In 1870 he
became an assistant to Dr. Buttolph in the
state asylum at Trenton, N. J., where he
remained until February, 1873, when he
was appointed superintendent of the Ver-
mont .Asylum, where he remained until his
death.
Dr. Draper was in closest touch and sym-
pathy with everything that concerned psy-
chiatry and psychology, and was very
jealous of the reputation of our hospitals
and asylums. His sympathies were quick
and large and went out to all who came in
his way needing them, so that during his
long residence in Vermont his name became
a household word and familiar to a large
portion of people, by whom he was held in
the highest esteem.
He was united in marriage to Mary J.
Putnam, who survives him.
Ur. Draper was a diligent student and
yearly prepared papers which he read before
medical societies. He is also the author of
a history of the Vermont Asylum, covering
its first fifty years. .'\t the time of his death
he was president of the New England Psy-
chological Society. He had been president
of the Vermont Medical Society.
DREW, LUMAN AUGUSTUS, of Burling-
ton, son of John Y. and Almira (Atwater)
Drew, was born in Burlington, Oct. 27, 1832.
He was educated in the public schools of
Burlington and for a year pursued his studies
at Bakersfield Academy
When he became of age he was associated
with his father in a wholesale and retail
market in the town, which business is still
continued under the firm name of L. A. &
A. A. Drew. He then took a contract in
the construction of the Burlington & La-
moille R. R. In connection with his brother
he is much engaged in breeding horses,
chiefly of the Ethan Allen stock, having sent
forth many " flyers " from their establish-
ment, who have made a record in the 2 :30
class. Mr. Drew was a promoter of and a
large stockholder in the Vermont Horse
Co. and later took a lively interest in the
Vermont Horse Breeders Association and
was chief marshal at the first meeting of the
latter body. He was appointed by the
commissioners superintendent of the Ver-
mont state building at the World's Fair at
Chicago, 1893, and performed the duties of
that responsible position with much credit
to himself and to the general satisfaction of
the whole state, as the many handsome
newspaper notices testify.
Before the city of Burlington was chartered
he was chosen constable : was elected to
the position of chief of police ; then sheriff
of Chittenden county, which he held thir-
teen years, when he resigned both offices.
In 1887, he was appointed by Governor
Ormsbee one of the board of cattle com-
missioners and three years after acted as
doorkeeper in the House of Representatives.
In 1890 he became associated with H.
N. Parkhurst of Barre in the granite busi-
ness under the firm name of Drew, Park-
hurst & Co.
Mr. Drew has always taken a lively in-
terest in fireman's organizations, and in
early boyhood was an active member of the
Boxer Engine Co., of Burlington. Now
honorary member of the Ethan .-Mien Co.
He was largely instrumental in sending and
going with the Ijarnes Hose Co. to Chicago
in 1877 to participate in the national fire-
man's tournament in which they won the
first prize of S500 in gold, and also brought
back a silver trophy belt which was pre-
sented to the city of Burlington, the com-
pany reserving the right to display it at any
time upon parade by depositing S200 with
the city treasurer for its safe return.
Mr. Drew espoused, April iS, i860,
Matilda R., daughter of Phineas and Persis
(Nichols) Parkhurst of Barre, by whom he
has issue one daughter : Carrie L.
He has held many official positions in the
Creen Mountain Lodge, I. O. O. F., is a
Mason of the 32d degree and Knight
Templar. He was a charter member of the
first council A. A. S. R. established in Ver-
mont. He belongs to the Burlington Re-
publican Club and in his religious belief is a
Methodist.
At the time of the St. Albans raid he was
quartermaster in the military regiment of
the state and took an active part in the pur-
suit of the raiders.
Dubois, William Henry, of West
Randolph, son of Earl C. and Anna (Lam-
AKI HENRY DuBOIS.
son) DuBois, was born in Randolph, March
24, 1S35.
He received an academic education in his
native town, and while engaged in his studies
at the West Randolph Academy, worked more
or less in his brother's store in the village,
and there acquired a taste for mercantile life.
Being ambitious for a broader field of
labor, he procured a situation at Randolph,
Mass., and from there, when but eighteen
years of age, he went to Boston and entered
the wholesale boot and shoe store of his
uncle, Wales Tucker, taking the position of
bookkeeper. In 1856 he was admitted as a
partner in the firm of James Tucker & Co.,
wholesale dealers in boots and shoes in Bos-
ton, where he continued until 1864, with
successful results, but with impaired health.
During the next two years Mr. DuBois
sought rest and strength in the healthful
climate of his native state, and finding his
health restored, he went to New ^'ork in
December, 18O7, and became a partner in
the wholesale boot and shoe jobbing house
of DuBois, Magovern & Co. In the autumn
of 1S72, he retired permanently from active
mercantile life, and occupied himself the
next two years in building a home in his na-
tive village. There he has ever since resided,
and actively interested himself in local im-
provements and educational matters. He
was largely instrumental in establishing there
the West Randolph graded school, which is
at this time one of the best schools in the
state. He has also been treasurer of the
village of West Randolph since it was incor-
porated in 1876. Up to that time the town
of Randolph had never had any organized
banking institution, and seeing the great
need of banking facilities, Mr. DuBois pro-
cured a charter and organized the Randolph
National Bank of West Randolph. Mr. Du-
Bois was chosen president at its commence-
ment, and still retains the position. He is
chairman of the board of water commis-
sioners of the village of West Randolph, and
of the board of auditors of the town of
Randolph.
In politics Mr. DuBois has always been a
firm Republican. In 1876 he was elected a
member of the General Assembly from Ran-
dolph, by the largest majority ever given a rep-
resentative in that town. In that Legislature
he served on the committee on banks and
education. The same year he was appointed
inspector of finance by Gov. Horace Fair-
banks, and reappointed by Governor Proctor
in 1878, and again by C;o\ernor Farnham in
1880, holding the office for six years, when
he was elected State Treasurer in 1882,
which office he held for eight years.
Mr. DuBois was the first state officer to re-
commend to the Legislature a direct tax upon
corporations in Vermont. Governor Proc-
tor in his message to the same Legislature
commended the suggestion of the inspector
on this subject, and such a law was passed.
DU.NI.VP. 113
In 1892 Mr. DuBois was elected senator
from ( )range county, serving with ability as
chairman of the committee on finance and
on the joint standing committee on state
and court expenses, and a member of the
railroad committee, and of several special
committees.
Recognizing Mr. DuBois' familiarity with
the finances and financial affairs of the state,
Governor Fuller appointed him inspector of
finance in l)ecember, 1S92, which position
he now holds.
.Mr. DuBois was married Jan. i, 1862, to
.-\nne Eliza, daughter of Myron |. Gilbert
of Brandon. -She died May 31, 1887 ; they
had nine children, four of whom died in in-
fancy, and five are now living : Mary Susan,
Charles Gilbert, Clara .\delaide, .-Xnne Lam-
son, and John Henry. Mr. DuBois was
again married June 5, 1888, to Miss Ada-
line L., daughter of Horace and Lucy Smith
Moulton of West Randolph.
DUNLAP, Tho.mas Hiram, of South
Shaftsbury, son of Marshall and Thalia
(.Mattison) Dunlap, was born in .Arlington,
August 13, 1853.
Commencing with the public schools of
Arlington and Shaftsbury, he concluded his
educational career at Burr and Burton Sem-
inary, and Bryant & Stratton's Business Col-
lege at Manchester, N. H. After a brief
experience as teacher and farmer, he ob-
tained a position as clerk in \\'hite Creek,
114
N. v., remaining until the spring of 187S,
when he returned to Shaftsbury and again
engaged in agricultural pursuits. In the fall
of 1 88 2 he entered the employ of W. P.
Mattison & Co. as clerk, remaining there
to the present time.
Mr. Dunlap was census enumerator in
1890 and two years after represented Shafts-
bury in the Legislature, in which he was
assigned to the committee of highways,
bridges and ferries.
In sectarian views he is a Baptist, and has
taken the obligations of Free Masonry,
being actively connected with Tucker Lodge,
No. 48, of North Bennington.
Mr. Dunlap married, June 10, 1S91,
Addie, daughter of William B. and Harriet
(Cole) Mattison of South Shaftsbury.
DUNNETT, ALEXANDER, of St. Johns-
bury, son of Andrew and Christiana (Gal-
braith ) Dunnett, was born in Feacham, Nov.
29, 1S52.
XANDER DUNNETT.
Having received a preparatory education
in the public schools of Beacham, Newbury
and Ryegate, he was graduated from the
Randolph Normal School in the class of
1874. Resolving to study law, he entered
the office of Nelson L. Boyden of Randolph,
and in the spring of 1875 he pursued his
professional studies at Boston University,
until he was admitted to practice at the bar
of Orange county at the June term, 1877.
\Vhile at school he employed the winters in
teaching at Munroe, N. H., Topsham, Ran-
dolph and Rochester. He commenced the
practice of his profession at South Ryegate
and two years later was appointed master in
chancery in Caledonia county. In 1S83 he
removed to St. Johnsbury where he entered
into partnership with A. F. Nichols, Esq.,
which connection continued three years.
Since that time he has been alone. In 1866
he was elected state's attorney for Cale-
donia county and held that office for four
years.
Mr. Dunnett is one of four partners who
are the proprietors of the Ryegate Granite
Co., which is the largest granite manufactory
in Caledonia county.
He belongs to the Republican party. He
was appointed town superintendent of
schools in Ryegate and for several years dis-
charged the duties of moderator in that
town and since in St. Johnsbury.
He was united in marriage April 2, 1879,
to Ella J., daughter of James and .Anne C.
\Miite, who died March 23, 1881. Decem-
bers 23, 1884, he married Sarah M., daugh-
ter of Silas M. and Harriett Towne of Barre,
who passed away .August 8, 1888. He con-
tracted a third alliance with Mrs. Ella
Chalmers, widow of Rev. John R. Chalmers
of St. Johnsbury, .April 29, 1890.
In his religious belief Mr. Dunnett leans
toward the L'nitarian church. He has been
an active and influential Free Mason, having
served as Master of the Blue Lodge and
High Priest of the St. Johnsbury Royal
.Arch Chapter : he is also a member of the
order of Knights Templar.
DUNTON, Charles H., of Poultney,
son of Elijah and Mary .Ann (French) Dun-
ton, was born in L'^nderhill, Jan. 24, 1844.
He received his preparatory education at
the New Hampton Institute, at Fairfax, and
was graduated from the L^niversity of Ver-
mont in the class of 1870. He then for a
year supplied the Methodist church at John-
son, and in iS7i-'72 took a post-graduate
course at the Boston L'niversity. Having
been admitted to the Troy conference of the
Methodist Episcopal church, for two years
he discharged the duties of pastor at Man-
chester and East Dorset. In 1874 he was
elected a teacher of natural science in the
Troy Conference Academy, at Poultney, an
institution which, after some years of sus-
pension, was at that time reopened. .After
serving three years in this subordinate
capacity, he was elected principal of the
institution in 1877. This position he has
occupied ever since, spending most of his
summer vacations in travelling abroad, and
among the states.
-As a social leader and popular educator,
Dr. Dunton is too well known for comment.
He has jilaced the Troy Conference Acad-
emy in the first ranks of the schools of the
state.
In his political views he is Republican,
but his lifevvork and energies have been
more especially devoted to his professional
duties. In 18S3 he was one of the state
m
IIUINKI.I.. iir
UWINEI-L, Frank a., of .\Iontpelier,
son of Albert and Irene D. (Rich) Dwinell,
was born at East Calais, May 23, 1848.
He received his education from the com-
mon schools of his native place and gradu-
ated from Barre Academy in the class of
1 868; began business in active life in his
father's store at East Calais, remaining until
1 8 74, when he removed to I'lainfield and
engaged in the mercantile business, which
he successfully carried on for a number of
years.
In 18S5 the Farmers' Trust Co. was or-
ganized. Mr. Dwinell was elected presi-
dent, at once taking an active interest in the
management, which position he has retained
up to this time. Under the conservative
policy and prudent management inaugur-
ated, and which has always been maintained,
a strong financial corporation has been
built up. In consequence of his connection
with this company, he moved to Montpelier
in the spring of 1890.
representatives to the interstate convention
held at Louisville, Ky., which originated the
Blair bill. Three years after this time he
received the degree of D. D. from Syracuse
University, and for a long period has, by
successive appointments, been state exam-
iner of normal schools.
Dr. Dunton was married at Johnson, June
26, 1872, to Nettie W., the accomplished
daughter of Judge Samuel and Flavilla (Wat-
erman) Belding.
In his denomination. Dr. Dunton is with-
out question the foremost man in the state,
and his own reputation and that of his
school are of such a character that words of
commendation are superfluous. His untir-
ing energy and great educational ability
have met with well-merited success in the
chosen walk of life to which he has de\oted
so much intelligent and industrious effort.
In 1892 he was a member of the General
Conference of the M. E. Church.
In the civil war he proved his patriotism
by enlisting in Co. F, 13th Vt. Regt., and
after six months of creditable service, was
honorably discharged on account of physical
disability.
Mr. Dwinell has identified himself with
several local institutions, being a director of
the Wetmore & Morse Granite Co., a direc-
tor and vice president of the Montpelier
Building & Construction Co., also a direc-
tor in the First National Bank.
In politics Mr. Dwinell is a Republican,
takes an active interest in political affairs
and has held various public offices ; was for
a number of years town clerk and treasurer
of Plainfield. He was elected to the Gen-
ii6
eral Assembly of 1878, and in 1890 was
elected senator from \\ashington county and
was elected president pfo tempore of the
Senate, also served on several important
committees.
He was united in marriage at East Mont-
pelier, Dec. 15, 1870, to Hattie A., daughter
of Lawson and Asenath (Clark) Hammett.
Two children are the issue of this mar-
riage : Elbert Hammett, and .Melvin Ray-
mond.
DWINELL, JOSEPH Elmer, of Glover,
son of Joseph Hammond and Almira (Hol-
brook)'Dwinell, was born in Keene, N. H.,
.April 30, 1830. His ancestry, of French
^f':-
JOSEPH ELMER DWINELL.
origin upon the father's side, can be traced
back to an early date in the settlement of
the New World. His grandfather of si.x
generations back settled in Topsfield, Mass.,
in 1672, where he became the possessor of
an extensive property, owning all the land
from Middleton to Wenham. His mother's
ancestor, Thomas Holbrook, was English
and came from the mother county in 1624,
becoming one of the original settlers of Wey-
mouth, Mass., where he died at an advanced
age, a prominent and wealthy man.
The subject of the present sketch pos-
sesses in a marked degree the suavity and
ideality of a Frenchman, combined with the
pride and energy of an fc^nglishman. When
he was about two years of age, his father
moved to Glover, which has since been his
home, except for a short time, when he was
at St. Johnsbury, White River Junction, and
Island Pond. He received his education in
the common and high schools of the town,
his school days coming before the founding
of the Orleans Liberal Institute, of which
institution he has long been a trustee, treas-
urer, and much of the time chairman of the
executive committee.
In 1853 he bought a half interest in his
father's business of furniture dealer, manu-
facturer, and undertaker. His brother
Charles soon assumed his father's place in
the firm, and under the nanne of J. E. & C.
H. 1 )winell, they carried on the largest and
most flourishing furniture trade at that time
in Orleans county, keeping warerooms at Bar-
ton, Barton Landing, and Greensboro. He
still has an interest in the business, though
not as actively engaged in it as formerly.
He has filled many offices of trust in town
and county with ability, acting for several
years as constable, collector and deputy
sheriff. He has employed much of his time
in the settlement of estates, for which work
he seems eminently adapted. He has been
for the last ten years, one of the directors of
the Barton National Bank. During the
years i873-'74 he was a partner with his
brother, the late I). Lyman Dwinell, as a dry
goods merchant in Glover. He has at times
been quite extensively engaged in the lum-
ber trade.
He is at present chairman of the town
school board, ever working for the best in-
terests of education in his beloved state.
Mr. Dwinell is passionately fond of music,
and was one of the original founders of the
Orleans Musical Association. He has had
great influence in bringing that organization
to its present enviable position, having
served as one of its officers from the lowest
to the highest grade. He has been a mem-
ber of the choir in Glover for fifty-three
years, and chorister of the Congregational
church for twenty years.
He is a staunch Democrat in politics, and
a firm Universalist in religious preference,
though he ever advocates that a spirit of
brotherly love should unite all sects. He
was for many years superintendent of the
Universalist Sunday school.
He married, Oct. 9, 1856, Eliza M., daugh-
ter of the late .Amos Phelps and Phila (Sart-
well) Bean, of Glover. Eight children have
been born to them, four of whom lived to
maturity : Fred P]lmer, Harley Joseph, .Alice
Eliza (Mrs. Henry Ralph Cutler), and Edith
May (Mrs. Arthur Charles McDowell).
EATON, FREDLauRINE, of Montpelier,
son of Arthur G. and Ellen M. (Chase)
Eaton, was born in Calais, July lo, 1859.
At an early age he removed with his
mother to Montpelier and obtained his edu-
cation at the Union and Washington rounty
grammar school. After this he was for a few
FRED LAURINE EATON.
years employed as a clerk, and was made, in
1877, teller in the First National Bank, where
he remained till 1881, when he was engaged
as the cashier of the National Bank of Barre.
After four years of this employment he ex-
changed to the First National Bank of Mont-
pelier, which he has served as cashier to the
present time. He has been for years both
town and village treasurer, and has acted as
the treasurer of the ^^'etmore & Morse Granite
Co., of the R. C. Bowers Granite Co., and
of the \'ermont Quarry Co. Of the last two
corporations he is also a director.
Mr. Eaton married, Oct. 15, 1884, at
Barre, Lillian, daughter of Lewis and Lu-
cinda (Pettingill) Gale. Two children have
been born to them : Stanley, and Dorothy.
He was a charter member of Gen. Stephen
Thomas Camp, S. of V., receiving the com-
pliment of being elected their first captain,
and in 1888 was promoted to the colonelcy of
the Vermont division of that organization.
Mr. Eaton belongs to the various ^Lasonic
bodies and is now serving as the F^minent
Commander of the Mt. Z ion Commandery
of Knights Templar.
EAYRES. 117
EAYRES, George Nelson, of Rut-
land, son of James and .-Vnna (Bingman)
Eayres, was born in Rutland, Dec. 12, 1824.
He was educated in the public schools
and at Castleton Seminary and by experi-
ence as a teacher in various educational in-
stitutions in the towns of Rutland and Pitts-
ford.
Bred upon a farm, .Mr. Eayres continued
with his father till 1855, when he removed
to I'ittsford, and purchased the estate
known as the " Hitchcock " farm, where he
remained for more than twenty years, when
he again changed his residence and located
at Rutland, leaving his property in the care
of his oldest son. .After a prolonged visit to
the West, chiefly in \Visconsin where he had
important business interests, he returned to
Rutland and in 1S79 received the appoint-
ment of superintendent of the Vermont
House of Correction, the duties of which
office he continued to discharge to ^[ay i,
1S93.
In the early part of his life a whig, Mr.
Eayres has acted with the Republican party
since the time of its organization and has
held many offices in the gift of the people,
representing Pittsford in the Legislature of
1876.
He was joined in marriage to Almira A.,
daughter of Eliphalet and .-Mmira (Thomas)
.\llen, Sept. 19, 1849. Six children have
been the fruit of this union, four of whom
are now living ami have families — two sons
in Pittsford and two daughters in Rutland.
ii8
EDSON, Ezra, of Mendon, son of
Cyrus and Hannah (Hudson) Edson, was
born in Turner, Me., Jan. 12, 1813, one of
seven children, himself and one brother
being the only survivors.
His parents, descended from. Puritan an-
cestry, removed from Bridgewater, Mass.,
first to Maine, and afterwards to Shrewsbury,
in 1 81 7, but finally took up their abode in
South Mendon. Here the son was educated
in the common schools and West Rutland
Academy, never losing an opportunity to
improve his mind by private study and read-
ing. Though having a strong predilection
for the legal profession, the force of circum-
stances caused him to learn the trade of a
blacksmith, and in this capacitv he was for
some time in the employment of the Ames
Co. at Bridgewater. He then returned to
Mendon, purchased a farm, but after some
years removed to the village, tievoting him-
self to the labors of the forge and dealing to
a considerable extent in real estate.
Socially and politically he is eminent in
his section, has held every important otRcial
position in the town, which he ably repre-
sented in six sessions of the Legislature,
serving on several important committees.
For nearly half a century he has honor-
ably and I conscientiously discharged the
duties of a justice of the peace. In early
life he became a member of the Rutland
Baptist Church, which yet in his later years
he regularly attends.
Mr. Edson married in Bridgewater, July
I, 1837, Angelina, daughter of Zenas and
Lydia (Whitman) Washburn. Four chil-
dren are the fruit of this union : Lucien,
Lucien Otis, Hannah Whitman (Mrs. Mar-
quis E. Tenney), and Mary Jane. The two
sons and last daughter died young. His
wife died in 1S82, and his daughter, Mrs.
Tennev, her husband and two granddaugh-
ters are living with him where he has lived
for forty- two years.
EDMUNDS, George Franklin, of
Burlington, son of Ebenezer and Naomi
(Briggs) Edmunds, was born in Richmond,
Feb. I, 1S28.
His preliminary education was had in the
public schools and under a private tutor.
When but eighteen he began the study of
law in Burlington, and continued it at Rich-
mond in the office of his brother-in-law, A.
B. Maynard, in i846-'47. In the two fol-
lowing years he was a student in the office
of Smalley & Phelps in Burlington. In
March, 1849, he was admitted to the bar of
( hittenden county, and to partnership with
Mr. Maynard at Richmond. The new firm
was very successful. In November, 185 1,
he removed to Burlington, which thencefor-
ward became his home. At the time of Mr.
I'Aimunds' removal to Burlington the legal
fraternity of the state was exceptionally
strong. Ex-Governor Underwood, D. A.
Smalley, E. J. Phelps, L. E. Chittenden, and
others were formidable competitors, but he
soon worked his way to the front. In 1866,
when he was first appointed to the National
Senate, he had secured the largest and most
lucrative practice in that section of Vermont.
The services of George F. Edmunds fill
-'ime of the cleanest, brightest pages in the
legislative history of the state and nation.
In 1854 he made his first appearance in the
field of local politics as the moderator of the
Burlington March meeting, and he was soon
afterward elected representative of the town
to the Legislature. A member of the House
in the years i8s4-'55-'56-'s7-'58-'59, he
was also speaker during the last three ses-
sions. In 1864 he served in the joint com-
mittee on the state library, and also in the
committee on the judiciary. In 1855 he
was made chairman of the latter body.
In 1 86 1 Mr. Edmunds was returned,
against his protest, to the state Senate from
Chittenden county, and was chairman of its
judiciary committee. Re-elected in 1862,
he served on the same committee. In each
of these years he was also president J>ro
tempore of the Senate. In 1866, United
States Senator Solomon Foote died and Mr.
Edmunds was appointed his successor by
Gov. Paul Dillingham. April 5, 1866, he
liegan that long senatorial career which so
^;^jL^JnA^^^^^—^
honored himself, his state, and his country.
He was afterwards elected by the Legisla-
ture for the remainder of the term ending
March 4, iS69,and in 1868, 1874, 1880, and
1886 received elections for the full senatorial
term. In 1891, after more than a quarter of
a century's ser\'ice, he resigned. His impress
on national legislation was greater than that
of any other man of his time, and he had
for years been the foremost senator. No
one thinks of his pro tempore presidency of
the Senate, so overshadowed is it by his real
leadership.
In the winter of 1876 came a crisis in the
history of the United States, the great dan-
ger of which is year by year realized. The
nation was threatened with all the evils of
disputed succession to the chief magistracy.
Senator Edmunds comprehended the situa-
tion, and led from danger to lawful safety.
He first submitted the draft of a constitu-
tional amendment, which remitted the duty
of counting the electoral votes to the Su-
preme Court of the United States. But this
was rejected by a vote of 14 to 3 1. On the
1 6th of December he called u]) the message
from the House of Representatives, an-
nouncing the appointment of a committee of
seven to act in conjunction with a commit-
tee of the Senate in advising some method
of counting the electoral vote ; and sub-
mitted a resolution referring the message of
the House to a select committee of seven
senators, having power to prepare and re-
port, without unnecessary delay, such a
measure as would secure the lawful count
of the electoral vote, and the best disposi-
tion of the questions connected therewith,
and that this committee have power to
confer with the committee of the House
of Representatives. The resolution was
adopted, the committee appointed and
Senator Edmunds was made its chairman.
In the discussions which followed he devised
the electoral commission bill.
On the 13th of January, 1877, Mr. Ed-
munds reported the proposed measure,
which provided for the appointment of an
electoral commission, and which defined the
duties of its members. The bill passed into
law. .Senator F^dmunds was appointed a
member of the electoral commission on the
part of the Senate, and contributed effi-
ciently to the lawful solution of the problem
in which so many dangers lurked.
The anti-polygamy law now in force is
rightly known as the Edmunds law. But a
list of good measures passed and bad meas-
ures defeated by his efforts and under his
leadership would be interminable.
Unsought by him, in 1S80 and 1884 manv
of his party, who wanted it to make its first
statesman its leader, earnestly worked for
his nomination for the presidency in the
Republican national conventions of those
years. In 1891 he resigned his seat in the
United States Senate, and has since devoted
his time to the practice of his profession.
ELDREDGE, LOYAL D., of Middle-
bury, son of Julius and Polly (Cowles)
Eldredge, was born at Stockholm, N. V.,
Feb. 5, 1831.
At the completion of his preparatory
studies he graduated at Middlebury College
in 1857 and was admitted to the bar in 1859.
Mr. Eldredge practiced his profession at
Alburgh Springs for three years and was
elected state's attorney for Grand Isle county
in 1 86 1 and '62. In the latter year he re-
moved to Middlebury, and has resided there
ever since, devoting himself to the practice
of law and other avocations.
From 1S64 to 1870 he held the office of
assistant assessor of internal revenue, and
deputy collector, and in 1870 was appointed
first deputy collector of internal revenue of
the 1 )istrict of Vermont. He was elected to
the state Senate in 1876, and was a member
of the lower House in 1888. Six years
previous to this period he was made a trus-
tee of Middlebury College and in 1884
treasurer of that institution. Both of these
offices he holds at the present time.
Hon. L. D. Eldredge married, July 29,
1858, Wealthy A., daughter of Ralph and
.Martha (Kneeland) Parker of \\aterbury.
( )ne daughter was the fruit of this union :
Julia .A. (Mrs. C. O. Leavenworth of Cleve-
land, Ohio).
ELDRIDGE, LOVELL JaCKSON, of St.
Johnsbury, son of Lewis J. and Rosa J.
(Tracy) Eldridge, was born Nov. 19, 1S63,
at Montgomery.
^Vhen eight years old, he was left an
orphan, without friends or property. By
dint of persistent work on the farm, he paid
his own way in district schools until he was
eighteen years of age. Meanwhile he saved
money enough to provide for himself a sup-
plementary course of one year's study at the
State Normal School, Johnson, and three
years at People's .Academy, Morrisville. At
both schools he took a select course of study
and thorough drill, preparatory for business.
Oreat credit must be given him for availing
himself to the fullest extent of his oppor-
tunities, and for his honorable struggle,
when a youth, to obtain the best education
afforded by his narrow circumstances. On
leaving school and facing, for the first time,
the business world, Mr. Eldridge was handi-
capped by no cash debts, nor burdened
with the consciousness of having had
material favors from relatives or friends. His
first venture was to canvass eleven of the
western and central states, in the stencil
and stamp business, with headquarters at
Madison, Wis., manufacturing, largely, his
own goods. Returning to Vermont to re-
gain his health, for three years he taught
school in Enosburgh and Hyde Park. From
1 88 7 to 1890, he was travelling salesman
and collector in the New England states for
a large pottery firm of Trenton, N. J. He
was then appointed local agent at Morris-
ville for the Connecticut (leneral Life In-
surance Co., remaining there two years,
when he was placed in charge of the general
LOVELL JACKSON ELDRIDGE.
agency of the same company, with head-
quarters at St. Johnsbury, where he now has
a large and prosperous iDusiness.
He married, Oct. 19, 1892, at Platts-
burgh, Clinton county, AIo., Katie A., daugh-
ter of Col. Charles W. (banker of that city)
and Mary E. (Funkhouser) Porter.
Mr. Eldridge has been a member of the I.
O. O. F. since 1891, and also of the Sons of
Veterans, Camp No. 50, at Morrisville. He
has never taken any part in politics nor held
political office.
He became an active member of the First
Congregational Church of Danville, in 1890,
and later of the Young Men's Chri-stian
Association of St. Johnsbury.
Mr. Eldridge has been president of the
Morrisville Lyceum Bureau, and, in 1S90,
joined the Vermont Life L^nderwriters Asso-
ciation, of which he was elected one of the
vice-presidents in 1S91.
ELLIOT, LESTER HALL, of Waterbury,
son of Ezra and Eliza (Hall) Elliot, was
born in Croyden, N. H., August i, 1835.
Commencing his primary education in the
district schools, he entered the University of
Vermont, from which he graduated in 1861,
completing his scholastic career in the
LInion Theological Seminary of New York
City, where he was graduated in 1864.
Being licensed to preach by the Brooklyn
(N. \'.) Congregational Association, he
commenced by supplying the pulpits of the
Congregational churches of Colchester and
Winooski and on May 21, 1866, he was
ordained and installed as pastor of the
church in the latter place. This position he
occupied for six years and then removed to
Bradford, where he continued his ministra-
tions till 1880, when, after temporary en-
gagements, in several parishes in this state
and Keeseville, N. Y., he finally became sec-
retary and agent of the \'ermont Bible
Society in 1884, in which occupation he
has continued till the present time, with res-
idence at Waterbury. Mr. Elliot was dele-
gate to the National Council of Congrega-
tional Churches, held at Oberlin, Ohio, in
November, 1871. While residing in Wi-
nooski he was made superintendent of public
schools, and he represented the town of
Waterbury in the Legislature of 1892.
During that session he was a member of the
committee on education and chairman of
that on the insane.
He was wedded, Oct. 21, 1866, at Greens-
boro, to Lois Maria, daughter of Enoch
and Abigail (Cook) Tolman, who died in
Winooski, Jan. 6, 1871. Their children
were : Anna M., and Henry T., both of
whom died in infancy.
He was again married, Nov. 30, 1875, at
Campton, N. H., to Phebe Elizabeth,
daughter of Ezekiel H. and .^Imira (Dole)
Hodgdon. They have one son : Henry
Hodgdon.
ELLIS, Edward Dyer, of Pouitney,
son of Zenas C. and Sarah ( Dyer) Ellis, was
born in Fair Haven, .^lugust 31, 1850. His
father. Judge Ellis, was well known and
prominent in the county and state.
Mr. Edward Ellis, having obtained a thor-
ough preparatory training in the schools of
Fair Haven, later attended Kimball L'nion
.\cademy at Meriden, N. H., which he left in
1869 to enter Middlebury College and from
this institution he graduated in 1874. He
then devoted himself to a course of profes-
sional study in the medical department of
Harvard University from which he received
a diploma in 1877. In 1S7S he settled in
Pouitney as a practicing physician in which
capacity he has since remained, meeting
with success and establishing in connection
ELLSWORIH.
ELLSWORTH.
with his professional labors a druggist's busi-
ness.
He is an adherent of the principles of the
Republican party, but has devoted the major
part of his time to his professional pursuits,
never seeking official preferment, though he
is at present chairman of the Republican
town committee.
EDWARD DYER EL
Dr. Ellis is vestryman and treasurer of
St. John's Episcopal Church, was formerly
the president and secretary of the Rutland
County Surgical and Medical Society.
He was married at Hampton, N. Y., Oct.
2 1, 18(85, t° Isabella, daughter of R. T. and
Lydia (Stowe) Ray. Of this alliance four
children are issue : Sarah Blanche, Lydia
Stowe, Hannah Dyer, and Rodney Ray.
Dr. Ellis is highly esteemed by his ac-
quaintances for the firmness of his character
and general ability. He is conservative in
his ideas and has met with well-merited suc-
cess both in public and private life.
ELLSWORTH, JOHN CLARK, late of
Greensboro, son of John and Sarah ( Strong )
Ellsworth, was born in Chatham, C^onn.,
Feb. 22, 1793. His great-grandfather,
Capt. John Ellsworth of East Windsor,
Conn., married Anna, daughter of Timothy
Edwards, and sister of the celebrated Jona-
than Edwards. John C. Ellsworth, the
fourth of his name, and his father were the
first of the family to emigrate to \'ermont,
arriving in 1798, and the father was the first
judge of probate in Orleans county. I'hey
settled on a farm in Greensboro and here
John Clark eagerly availed himself of the
limited educational privileges open to him,
attending the yiublic schools and Peacham
Academy, then under charge of his uncle,
P^zra Carter, who was the first principal of
that institution. He also was instructed to
some extent by his father, who was a man of
much literary ability for that time.
At the outset of his acti\e life he served
as a clerk in the employment of his uncle.
Deacon Strong, at Hardwick, but in the fall
of 1 82 1 he accepted a call to missionary
work among the Cherokee Indians and in
the company of Rev. Austin Worcester and
others he proceeded to Brainerd, Ga., con-
tinuing his labors among the savages until
1836, when he returned to Greensboro on
account of the ill health of his wife and the
removal of the Cherokees from Georgia by
Gen. Andrew Jackson. Mr. Ellsworth pur-
chased a farm adjoining that of his father ;
pre\ious to his death he purchased a farm
near the village, and in the cultivation of
this property employed himself till the time
ELLSWORTH
of his death, July 11, 186 1. In his experi-
ence as Indian missionary he encountered
many hardships and obstacles, but these he
cheerfully and laboriously overcame, being
assisted in his unselfish work by his noble
wife, who was the matron of the Indian
school, of which he was the superintendent.
Those interested in Indian mission work
will obtain valuable information by a perusal
of the letters of Mr. Ellsworth in the Mis-
123
sionary Herald from 182 1 to 11S36. He
early became attached to the cause of aboli-
tion and while in Georgia, with his compan-
ion, Mr. Worcester, suffered much persecu-
tion for righteousness' sake, being arrested
and narrowly escaping imprisonment on
account of their active sympathy with the
downtrodden Indian, and their labors in the
cause of Christianity and the welfare of the
aboriginal race received little or no encour-
agement from the white portion of the sur-
rounding community. 'I'he greater part of
his long and peaceful life was devoted to
study and literary pursuits, and "far from the
busy hum of men" he tranquilly enjoyed the
pleasures afforded him by the perusal of his
books.
He was the representati\e of (Ireensboro
to the Legislature at an early ])eriod, but
though much interested in politics as a
staunch Republican he never took an active
part in public life.
Mr. Ellsworth first married Eliza, daughter
of Thomas Tolman, a soldier of the Revolu-
tion, later a Congregational minister, who
died April iS, 1856. His second wife,
whom he wedded March 17, 1857, was Mary
E., daughter of Charles B. Bailey and Abi-
gail (Cobb) Field of Greensboro, but for-
merly residents of Peacham.
EMERY, Curtis Stanton, of Chelsea,
son of Amos and Sarah M. (Hibbard)
Emerv, was born Nov. 6, : 861, in Brook-
field. ■
He removed, with his parents, to Chelsea
in the spring of 1869.
.After receiving his education at the com-
mon schools and at Chelsea Academy, he
read law with the late Hon. C. W. Clarke
and A. S. .Austin at Chelsea. He was ad-
mitted to the bar of Orange county in 1S83
and to that of the Supreme Court at Mont-
pelier in 1886.
Mr. Emery commenced practice at Chel-
sea at the time of his admission to the
courts, and continued for three years, when
he was appointed cashier of the First
National Bank of Chelsea, which position
he resigned in February, 1893. He then
resumed his profession, doing also a general
insurance, loan and collection business.
Since 1888 he has been a director of the
Union Mutual Fire Insurance Co., of Mont-
pelier.
Mr. Emery has held many town offices
and was elected commissioner for Orange
county in 1885, a position which he holds to
the present time. He was elected to the
Legislature of 1888, being the youngest
member of the House, and serving on the
committee on elections. By a curious coin-
cidence, his father sat in the House at the
same time, being a member from the town o(
Sharon. He is now county auditor for
Orange county.
He was united in marriage May 12, 1887,
to Hattie J., daughter of Franklin and
Maria R. Ordway of 'i'unbridge. They have
two children : .Sallie Helena, and Donald.
Mr. Emery has held nearly all the offices
in George Washington Lodge, No. 51, F. &
A. M. of Chelsea and at present occupies
the Master's chair.
ENRIGHT, Joseph Cornelius, ot
Windsor, son of Rev. Joseph and Catharine
(Wier) Enright, was born in Morgan, Dec.
2, 1852.
He graduated from Dartmouth College in
the class of 1878, and commenced to study
law in the same year. He was admitted to
the Windsor county bar in 1881, and since
that time has been in the practice of his
profession in Windsor, being also largely
interested in insurance and real estate.
In 1879 Mr. Enright was appointed super-
intendent of schools in Hartland,and subse-
quently served in the same capacity in the
town of Windsor, where he has been first
selectman since 1S91. In 1890 was elected
to represent Windsor in the General .Assem-
bly, and served as chairman of the state's
prison committee. He was again called to
the same body in 1892, and in that session
was chairman of the committee on claims.
In 1893 he was chosen school director for
three vears.
124
He is a member of the Masonic order, in
which he has taken every degree from the
ist to the 32d, inchisive ; he has served as
secretary and warden of Vermont Lodge
No. 1 8, recorder of Vermont C'ommandery
No. 4, and secretary of Vermont Lodge of
Perfection.
He was united in marriage July 23, 1882,
at Brompton, V. Q., to Clara J-, daughter of
Amos and Matilda (Alger) Varney. One
daughter has been born to them : Daisey
Maud.
ENRIGHT, John J., of Burlington,
was born in South Burlington, .\pril 6, 1S62.
In 187S he was graduated from the Bur-
Burlington and was only beaten by one
vote. In 1892 he was a candidate for the
office of Secretary of State.
Mr. Enright has unusual business ability
and has been long identified with several
business enterprises in his city. He is one
of the owners of Mirror Lake Hotel at Lake
Placid in the Adirondacks and is interested
in the Hotel Burlington. He is also some-
what interested in real estate in Burlington.
Mr. Enright takes great pleasure in owning
and driving fine horses and he enjoys the
reputation of possessing the finest driving
horses at all times. He is well known
among horsemen and has sold several valu-
able horses at a large figure. He has risen
to a prominent position as a lawyer in this
county and has a lucrative legal business,
ranking as one of the best commercial at-
torneys in the state.
lington high school and began the study of
law in the office of Judge Hamilton S. Peck
and later with Hon. Henry Ballard. At the
age of twenty one he was admitted to the
bar of Chittenden county, and had charge
of Mr. Ballard's office for a year while that
gentleman was absent in the West, doing
quite a large business at that time. He
then opened the office which he now occu-
pies. These quarters are nicely furnished
and equipped, covering the whole ground
floor, and his clientage is steadily on the in-
crease, he having been obliged to employ a
stenographer the past three years to assist
him.
In politics Mr. Enright has always been a
strong Democrat and has a large following
in the Democratic ranks. In 1882 he was a
candidate for the Legislature from South
fiSTEY, Jacob, late of Bratdeboro, son
of Isaac and Patty ( Forbes) Estey, was
born in Hinsdale, N. H., Sept. 30, 1814.
Isaac Estey, his grandfather, was a farmer
and resided in Sutton, Mass. The eldest
son, Isaac (father of Jacob), and his brother
Israel settled in Hinsdale, N. H., where they
built a sawmill and engaged in the manu-
facture of lumber. The enterprise, how-
ever, proved far from prosperous, and as the
statute law then permitted imprisonment for
debt, under its provisions Isaac Estey was
arrested and thrown into the county jail as a
debtor, llpon his release he resorted to
agriculture for the support of himself and
family, and passed the remainder of his life
in that pursuit.
The subject of our sketch was adopted
when four years old by a wealthy family in
Hinsdale. .After spending nine years under
their roof, at the age of thirteen he left his
foster parents and walked to Worcester,
Mass., where one of his elder brothers
resided. The following four years he labored
upon farms in the towns of Rutland, Mill-
bury and vicinity. \Vhen seventeen years
old he apprenticed himself to T. & J. Sutton
of Worcester, in order to acquire a mastery
of the plumber's trade, and of the manufact-
ure of lead pipe.
Before the attainment of his majority he
resolved to establish himself in business,
and for this purpose removed to Brattleboro,
where he was successful from the beginning,
and established the reputation for ability and
probity which he always retained.
In 1848, he erected a large building and
rented the upper part of it to the proprie-
tors of a small melodeon factory, but as they
were unable to pay the stipulated rent, Mr.
Estey accepted, in 1S50, an interest in their
business in liquidation of his claims, and a
few years afterwards purchased the entire
establishment. To this new industry he
gave close attention, striving for its enlarge-
ment and the development of its promising
possibilities, and in the course of a few years,
he deemed it expedient to dispose of his
plumbing business, and to devote himself
exclusively to the making of organs. With
this determination he erected a second and
larger building, but in the fall of 1857 a con-
flagration consumed both structures. Though
at once rebuilt, another fire in 1864 destroyed
the new creation, and a very much larger one
was promptly erected in order to furnish
ample room for the storage of the immense
quantities of material that were needed for
the prosecution of the business.
In 1 866 his son-in-law, Levi K. Fuller, and
his son, Julius J. Elstey, were admitted to
partnership with himself. In 1869 the sud-
den overflow of the stream near which their
factory was located, caused the death by
drowning of one of their workmen, carried
off lumber to the value of several thousand
dollars, and greatly endangered the safety of
the manufactory. To avoid the repetition
of similar disasters, the company selected
higher ground, and on this have erected
nine large factories, each three stories high,
together with large dry houses and the neces-
sary buildings for boilers and engines, with
immense storage and packing houses.
Mr. Estey was ever a strong advocate of
the principles of the Republican party, and
in i868-'69 he represented Brattleboro in the
state Legislature. He was also a member
of the state Senate from Windham county
in the biennial sessions of 1872 and 1874,
and rendered most excellent service in that
body. He was one of the principal movers
in the organization of the First Baptist
Church in Brattleboro in 1840, and was dur-
ing life one of its most active and liberal
supporters. His death, on April 15, 1890,
was a great loss to the community in which
for so many years he had lived.
He was married on the 2d of May, 1S37,
to Desdemona, daughter of David and .Anna
Kendal Wood of Brattleboro. Three chil-
dren were the fruit of their union, the eldest
of whom is not living ; the two remaining
are: Abby E. (Mrs. Levi K. Fuller), and
Julius J.
HSTEY, Julius J., of Brattleboro, son
of Jacob and Desdemona (Wood) Estey,
was born in Brattleboro, January, 1845.
He was educated in the public schools of
his native place and at the celebrated Nor-
wich Military University. He did not com-
plete the full course, however, as he was
admitted by his father into the business
established in 1846 — which has now be-
come so justly famous — the manufacture
of the Estey organs. At his majority in
1866, he was admitted as a full jiartner in
the firm of J. Estey & Co. (afterwards
known as the Estey Organ Co.), which was
composed of Jacob Estey, Julius J. Estey,
and Levi K. Fuller. As treasurer, before
and since his revered father's death in 1890,
he has contributed greatly to the large and
highly successful business of organ manu-
facturing. General Estey is, and has been
for years, the president of the Peoples
National Bank of Brattleboro, one of the
soundest and most progressive banking insti-
tutions in the state.
Mr. Estey is first and foremost a thorough
business man, but he is also a leading factor
in state affairs, having represented the town
.lUS J. ESTEY.
of Brattleboro in the Legislature in 1876,
and having served as state senator from
Windham county for the biennial term be-
ginning in 1882, his services in both bodies
being particularly creditable both to his
party and himself. He was appointed a del-
egate-at-large from Vermont to the Republi-
can national convention of 1888, where his
influence and good work was felt and appre-
ciated by his associates.
At an early age he became interested in
military affairs, serving in the National
Guard of Vermont. In 1874 he was elected
captain of Co. I, know-n since as the Estey
Guard.
In 1876 he was appointed by Gov. Hor-
ace Fairbanks a member of his military
staff with the rank of colonel, and in i88i
FAIRBANKS.
was elected lieutenant-colonel of the \'er-
mont National Guard, which position he
held until his election as colonel in 1886.
In 1892 he was promoted to the command
of the brigade, with the rank of brigadier
general, which position he still holds.
It is a matter of record that General
Estey has always commanded one of the
finest and best disciplined military bodies in
the New England states. He is considerate,
polite and popular with his men, who love
and respect their leader as few similar
organizations do. This is due as much per-
haps to the strong Christian character of the
man as to his soldierly qualities, for not the
least portion of his life has been exerted in
active service for his church, where he has
always successfully endeavored to inspire
higher and nobler work in the denomination
to which he belongs.
In 1867 he married Florence, daughter of
Dr. Henry Gray of Cambridge, N. Y., from
which union he has been blessed with three
sons : Jacob Gray, Julius Harry, and Guy
Carpenter.
He has been president of the Baptist
State Sunday School Association, and for
the past ten years has held the presidency of
the board of managers of the Baptist state
convention. He has been a great benefac-
tor to and worker in the Sunday school of
FAIRBANKS.
127
his church, which he has fostered and en-
couraged to the utmost.
.\mong the educational institutions of the
state which he has particularly ])romoted is
the Vermont .\cademy of Saxton's River,
which is now one of the foremost institu-
tions of learning in Vermont. For some
years he has been the treasurer of this insti-
tution. He has for many years been a
member of the board of trustees of the
school for young men at Mount Hermon,
Mass., and the Northfield Seminary, for
young ladies, at Northfield, Mass., both of
which were established by Mr. I). L. Moody,
the evangehst. Of the latter institution lie
is also treasurer.
Since the organization of the Young
Men's Christian Association of Brattleboro
General Estey has served as its president
and been one of its most liberal supporters
and trusted leaders. His interest in this
organization, however, is not confined to the
local organization, but he has for years been
active in the state gatherings and chairman
of the state executive committee.
His benevolence and charity to deserving
objects is too well known to require especial
mention. He has won the highest en-
comiums of his associates and fellow-men
and has always led an active and upright life.
FAIRBANKS, FRANKLIN, of St. Johns-
bury, son of Erastus and Lois (Grossman)
Fairbanks, was born in St. Johnsbury, June
18, 1828.
He received his early education in the
public schools of his native town, the Pink-
erton Academy, Derry, N. H., and in the
academies at Peacham and St. Johnsbury.
At the age of seventeen he entered the
scale works and by actual labor in the
various departments, and having a natural
genius for mechanics, made himself familiar
with everything that had to do with the
making of a scale. He afterwards was clerk
in the store and in all the departments of
the office of the establishment, and these
years of practical experience in the shop,
store and office served as a school to give
him a technical and business education.
When he was twenty-seven years of age
he was admitted as partner in the firm of E.
& T. Fairbanks & Co. For many years he
was superintendent of the works, a position
for which he was prepared by his practical
knowledge of all the operations of the estab-
lishment. To his efficient management is
due much of the success and growth of the
company. He naturally assumed the prac-
tical, while his brother Horace undertook
the business administration. He was active
in the construction of the St. lohnsbury &
Lake Champlain R. R., a work demanding
courage, the most skillful engineering, and
great executive ability. In 1876, at the or-
ganization of the firm as a corporation he
was elected vice-president, and at the death
of his brother in i888 he was made presi-
dent and has held this office to the present
time.
While Colonel Fairbanks has not been in
politics, he has always manifested a consist-
ent and active interest in public affairs. He
was elected by the Republican party as rep-
resentative from St. Johnsbury to the state
Legislature in 1870 and again in 1872, at
the latter session being chosen speaker of
the House. He has been a member of the
state Republican committee for more than
twenty years. He was appointed aid-de-
camp with the rank of colonel in Governor
Hall's staff in 1858. He ret^eived the same
appointment in 1 86 1 from Governor Fair-
banks. .\t this time he did effective service
in raising troops, caring for their disposition
and arranging for their comfort at the front.
Since 1888 he has been president of the
First National Bank of St. Johnsbury. He
is also president of the Ely Hoe & Fork Co.
128
FAIRBANKS.
of the same town. He is a trustee of the
Northfield (Mass.) Seminary, the Soldiers'
Home, the St. Johnsbury Academy, the
Athenffium, and Museum of Natural Science.
From his boyhood Colonel Fairbanks has
had an earnest and intelligent interest in
natural science. When a young man he
became a collector of illustrations of an-
thropology, mineralogy, and ornithology.
These studies have been his recreation and
at times have shared, while they have re-
lieved, his business cares. Having a con-
.xf
FAIRBANKS, HENRY, of St. Johnsbury,.
son of Thaddeus and Lucy Barker Fair-
banks, was born in St. Johnsbury, Mav 6,
1830.
When ten years old he spent a year in
I'inkerton .Academy, Derry, N. H., and then
entered the St. Johnsbury Academy, which
the brothers, E., T. and J. P. Fairbanks,
established in 1842, to provide instruction
for their children. He was graduated from
this academy in 1S47, from Dartmouth Col-
lege in 1853, and from Andover Theologi-
cal Seminary in 1857, having spent a year in
Europe in iS48-'49, and six months in 1856.
In the latter year he went with Dr. S. H.
Taylor, the honored teacher of Phillips .\n-
dover .Academy, as far as Egypt and Pales-
tine, and completed his tour of Europe by
the ascent of Mt. Blanc. .After graduation
he took the charge of a large number of
home missionary fields, not only preaching,
but directing the vacation labor of students
and others in them, and gathering up the
fruits of their work. In i860 he went to
Dartmouth College as professor of natural
philosophy, taking afterward the department
of natural history.
viction that a more extended knowledge of
the sciences would elevate the community,
he erected and presented to the town a
museum of natural science, which was dedi-
cated in December, 1891. This museum
has been by his liberality fully equipped for
scientific study, and amply endowed.
Since 186 1 Colonel Fairbanks has' been
superintendent of the Sunday school of the
North Church of St. Johnsbury, a continu-
ous service of thirty-two years. For ten
years he was a member of the international
lesson committee.
December 8, 1852, Colonel Fairbanks
married Frances A. Clapp, daughter of Rev.
Sumner G. and Pamelia (Strong) Clapp.
They have had four children : .\lfred, Mary
Florence (now Mrs. Joseph T. Herrick of
Springfield, Mass.), Margaret Jane, and
Ellen Henrietta, of whom two, Mrs. Her-
rick and Ellen H., now survive.
After eight years in this service he returned
to St. Johnsbury, where he developed various
inventions, securing many patents, and at the
same time preached as his health allowed.
He led the evangelistic work of the Young
Men's Christian .Associations in the state,
and as president of the State Missionary
FAIRRANKS.
KAIRMANKS.
129
Society had opportunity for much work in
this direction. He is a trustee of Dartmouth
College, and president of the St. Johnsbury
.Academy, and, in 1891, went to London as
a member of the International Congrega-
tional Council. For several years he ha?
been secretary of the corporation of E. &:
T. Fairbanks & Co.
He was married in 1862 to Miss .Annie,
daughter of Prof. D. J. Noyes of Dartmouth
College, who lived ten years. In 1874 he
married Ruthy Page of Newport. He has
six children ; the eldest, Rev. Arthur Fair-
banks, Ph. D., is a member of the faculty of
Vale Divinity School, and the second, Robert
N. Fairbanks, is in business in New York.
FAIRBANKS, ThaddeuS, born in
Brimfield, Mass., Jan. 17, 1796; died in St.
Johnsbury, Vt., April 12, 1886.
The first of the name came to this coun-
try in 1633, Jonathan Ffayerbanke, from
Sowerby, near Halifax, on the west border
of Yorkshire ; and Richard, who was the inn-
keeper and first postmaster of Boston. Jon-
athan, the ancestor, so far as known, of all
the American families, built in 1636 a house
in Dedham, Mass., which with the additions
made later is still standing. The "Item —
two vices and one turning laeth and other
seuch thinges," and "Item — many smale
tools for turning and other the like work,"
in the in\entory of the estate of Jonathan
F. in 1 668 seem to indicate thus early the
mechanical taste of the family, while the
plan of the house, the finish, and many little
arrangements show taste and skill. George,
the second son of Jonathan, came with his
father from England, lived in Dedham, and
in 1657 removed to Sherborn, where he was
selectman and a leading citizen. His fourth
child, Eliezur, was born in 1655 and became
a prominent man in Sherborn. His yoimg-
est child was "Captain" Eleasur, born in
1690, whose eleventh child, born in 1734,
known in Sherborn history as "Deacon"
Ebenezer, moved to Brimfield, Mass., in
1783. His second son, Joseph, born in
Sherborn in 1763, moved with his father to
Brimfield, bought a small farm, and in 1790
married Phoebe Paddock of Holland, Mass.,
whose ancestor came to America with Gov-
ernor Carver, and married into the family of
Governor Bradford, and whose brother,
Judge Ephraim Paddock, and others of the
family, coming to Vermont, became honored
and prominent citizens. To them three
sons were born: Erastus, Oct. 28, 1792;
Thaddeus, Jan. 17, 1796, and Joseph Pad-
dock, No\'. 26, iSo6.
'I'hatldeus, though born upon the farm,
was a slender child, nervously organized,
growing too fast to be strong, suffering in
his plays with rougher children, then as all
his life lacking ])hysical vigor, so that in his
later years he said that he did not know
that he ever in all his life felt well, an expe-
rience that led to such care of himself and
such pains to make the most of himself that
few men have accomplished more or lived
longer than he. He describes himself as
exceedingly timid, exceedingly bashful, so
that when sent on his mother's errands to
the store in the evening no one could know
what a struggle it cost him to pass the grave-
yard, made terrible by the talk of the boys,
under the dark trees on the way, or to nerve
himself to speak to the storekeeper as he
must. What costs another nothing develops
in such a child a true manliness, a real hero-
ism. .And because it was not easy for him
to speak he thought the more, and gained
the habit, so marked in all his life, of not
beginning to speak until he had thought the
matter through and was quite prepared to
speak intelligently. The boy who preferred
to be with his mother instead of ]jlaving
with boys outside was learning to consider
every question .so thoroughly that later his
advice was sought and heeded by probably
more men than ever came to any one else in
the state.
His father, Joseph, was a carpenter as well
as farmer, and Thaddeus, who was afraid to
speak to the storekeeper, when five years old
was found running as fast as a child could
around and around upon the plates of a
building partly raised ; and very early he
began to use his father's tools with a skill
that seemed inborn, setting in motion little
machines driven by the brook back of the
house, or making various things for his
mother's convenience.
His father at that time had met with some
losses, there was little money in the country,
and the years when Thadileus should have
gone to some academy were vears when the
crops failed, so that he had only the op])or-
tunities furnished by the common schools,
when he was well enough to attend. Books
were expensive. He often in later years
spoke of how large a sum the dollar that
must be paid for a new arithmetic seemed to
him, and many a student coming to him for
aid has had occasion to be glad that he re-
membered how in his boyhood and young
manhood he longed for educational priv-
ileges, which he missed so much that he was
glad to help others to gain them.
Joseph Fairbanks and his sons were too
enterprising to be content with the hard
work and small returns of the life on the
rather rough farm. The new settlements of
Vermont attracted them, and in .May, 1815,
he sold his property in Brimfield, purchased
the falls of Sleeper's river, in what is now
the southwest part of the village of St.
Johnsbury, and moved his familv into a
130 FAIRBANKS.
little cabin of rough boards there, in which
they lived two and one-half years, as pio-
neers live.
He and his son Thaddeus worked to-
gether, and being skilled mechanics, built a
dam upon the stream, which, coming from
the then wooded country, was of some size,
and erected and operated a sawmill and a
gristmill where the Fairbanks scale factory
has grown up. Meeting thus the necessities
of the new country they began to prosper.
In a shop over the gristmill they also made
carriages, doing so good work that in 1892
an old gentleman drove into St. Johnsbury
with a wagon which he said had been used
every year since his father purchased it of
Thaddeus Fairbanks in 1819. In the summer
of 1 8 18 Thaddeus built a two-story double
house in which his parents lived the rest of
their life, and to which he, marrying in Jan-
uary, 1820, brought his wife, and lived there
until 1838. The work of the mills and the
shops increased, and for ten years he
boarded from three to seven men, as the
e.xigencies of that work required.
The maternal uncles of Thaddeus Fair-
banks were iron workers, the newly opened
iron mine at Franconia, N. H., attracted
his attention, and in 1823 he started a small
iron foundry, and was joined in 1824 by his
brother F>rastus, who gave up his store in
Barnet, the elder uniting his business expe-
rience with the mechanical and practical
skill of the younger, as they formed the
firm of E. & T. Fairbanks. Besides some
job work they made cooking and parlor
stoves, patenting one which sold well. Thad-
deus also patented a cast iron plough, an
unheard of thing, which the farmers said
would " break all to pieces " but which, as
made by the inventor, soon displaced the
wooden ones with steel point, the only kind
before known. For stoves and ploughs,
Thaddeus made not only the plans, but also
the patterns with his own hands, moulding
many of them and attending to the melting,
improving the blast furnace, and overcom-
ing the faults that appeared in weak or
porous castings. What he learned by this
experience of making strong iron was in-
valuable to him in all the later business.
In 1829 and 1830 the attention of the
farmers of New England was directed to
the raising of hemp, and machines for
dressing it were required. E. & T. Fair-
banks built three of the immense Haynes
machines, thirty-two feet long, and each
having one hundred and thirty fluted rolls
arranged in pairs and geared together so
that the hemp stalks were crushed between
them as they were drawn from one end to
the other of the machine. Mr. Fairbanks
made the gear wheels, a machine for fluting
the rollers, and parts that required skilled
FAIRBANKS.
work, besides planning and superintending
the building of the new shop and store
rooms, and patenting an improved hemp
dresser. He was also made manager of the
St. johnsbury Hemp Co.
His duties as manager, purchasing hemp
by weight, developed a necessity, which
with such a man as he must prove the mother
of invention. That which cost from ten to
fifteen dollars per ton must be accurately
weighed. The only weighing machine for
carts then known consisted of a stick of
timber suspended high in the air, from one
end of which two chains hung down with
rings at the ends which could be slipped
over the ends of the axle, while from the
other end of the timber lever hung a plat-
form upon which weights were piled until
the cart swung clear of the ground. The
first device of Mr. Fairbanks consisted of a
platform upon which a cart could be driven,
resting and balanced upon a long knife-
edge, or upon two in line, fixed upon a
triangular lever, of which the apex hung by
a steel-yard rod from a beam pivoted and
graduated like the old Roman steel-yard,
while the base rested upon proper bearings
at the other end of the scale. To keep the
platform balanced upon the supporting knife
edges, a stiff post was framed into it, from
the top of which level chains extended to
posts set in the ground on either side which
being level neither lessened nor increased
the load resting upon the lever under the
]jlatform.
The scale which Mr. Fairbanks built upon
tliis plan to weigh hemp worked so well that
his brother thought that some might be sold
as town scales, and an agent was to take the
early morning stage and make the attempt.
Mr. Fairbanks savs : "While sitting up watch-
ing for the time to call him, the principle
upon which we now build our scales sud-
denly came to my mind. I told the agent
that he must wait a few days until I could
make plans and patterns in accordance with
my new discovery, and said to my wife that
I had just discovered a principle that would
be worth more than a thousand dollars."
If such an arrangement of compound levers
had ever been suggested before Mr. Fair-
banks did not know it, for it had not been
put into practical use, and he obtained a
patent for it early in 1S3T, as his invention.
His was the first real improvement upon the
scales buried in the destruction of Pompeii.
The first hay scale was rude, having wooden
levers with cast iron bearings, but it was
vastly better than anything before made,
and in a few weeks several were sold.
Mr. Fairbanks at once saw that the com-
bination of levers in the hay-scale, in which
the four pivots upon which the platform
rested should all stand in the same relation
IjVvAXjiWy-A^/wvyi "^-Uw/vAMvyvJXVyi
132
FAIRBANKS.
of leverage to the indicating beam from
which these levers hang, would be equally
adapted to scales of other sizes for other
uses. He at once set about making plans
and patterns with his own hands for store
scales. These and the counter scales, as
well as the railway and canal boat scales
which he designed later were new articles of
manufacture, and everything about them
must be originated. He says : ' "I had to
consider the strength of material, the shape
that would secure the greatest strength with
the least material, and the symmetry and
beauty of outside appearance. These, es-
pecially the last, required a great amount of
study. No one can be sure beforehand
what the taste of the public will approve.
That I succeeded in what I aimed at is
shown by the fact that now after the lapse of
fifty years the scales are made after the
same design and all other makers follow the
same. My evenings and sometimes nights
were spent in this study, for I must be at
the shop all day. My habit was to make
the plans complete in my mind before com-
mencing to put them upon paper."
The scale was a comparatively simple in-
vention, but many of the machines invented
by Mr. Fairbanks for facilitating the man-
ufacture were exceedingly ingenious, one for
engraving the sides of the scale-beams being
capable of so many adjustments that the old
foreman used to say that it could do every-
thing but talk. Invention was not laborious
— to see a result desirable was to devise a
mechanism for accomplishing it. The real
struggle was with poverty, and unskilled
help and with ill-health. The demands of
the business growing so rapidly could not
be met from its earnings, and he made
scales for fifteen years with only the rude
tools which he fitted up himself, and for
fifteen more bought only a little machinery.
Trained mechanics could not be hired in
the country, and he had only such assistants
as he could educate himself. No business
was ever carried on at greater disadvantage,
or by its success attested more manly quali-
ties in its manager.
The invention of the scale met at once a
great want, and gradually changed so en-
tirely the methods of doing business, that
now it is as essential as the steam engine or
the telegraph. Almost nothing is measured
or counted, everything is weighed, from the
minute prescription of some potent drug to
the loaded freight train or canal boat. And
Mr. Fairbanks lived to see scales de-
manded for such a variety of uses that some
five hundred modifications were sent out
from St. Johnsbury. The scale has become
a most potent factor in modern civilized
life, the arbiter between buyer and seller,
and by its accuracy is always teaching ex-
FAIRBANKS.
actness in business methods, and enforcing
strict integrity in business transactions.
His invention was a scale, not a pair of
scales. It takes its name from the graduated
beam, the scale of equal parts (scala, lad-
der), and not from the two scales '(shells) of
the even balance.
Mr. Fairbanks obtained early an English
patent, and others later. The first was sold
to H. Pooley of Liverpool, who thereupon
established what is still the leading manu-
factory of ( Ireat Britain. The scales made
at St. Johnsbury are also sold in England,
and to other countries the export is very
large. These scales are graduated accord-
ing to the standards of all the nations of the
world, and are sent everywhere, Russia,
Japan, China, Australia and the South
.American states furnishing large markets.
These scales and their inventor have re-
ceived abundant recognition and honors,
awards, diplomas, medals, from mechanics'
and agricultural fairs, the Philadelphia Cen-
tennial, the London, Paris and Vienna Ex-
positions, and as a posthumous tribute to
Mr. Fairbanks, as well as an honor to the
house which he established, twenty awards
by the judges of the Columbian Exposition
of 1893. More personal than these, after
the Vienna Exposition he received from his
"Imperial and Royal .\postolic Majesty"
the Emperor of Austria, the knightly decora-
tion of the Imperial Order of Francis
Joseph ; from the Kingof Siam the decoration
Paspamula, the gold medal of Siam, with the
heathen prayer, " May the Power which is
mighty in the universe keep him and guard
him, and grant him all happiness and pros-
perity ;" and from Mohammed es Sadok,
Pasha, Bey of Tunis, the decoration " of our
Order of Iftikar," and the Mohammedan
invocation, " May you wear it in peace and
prosperity."
Mr. Fairbanks was not only a scale maker,
but having occasion to build so much he be-
came an architect of no mean ability, work-
ing out the details, from frame to finish, not
only of shops, but of some public buildings,
some fine residences, and a great many
most convenient little houses, sold or leased
to workmen, which are a comfort to their
families and an ornament to .St. Johnsbury.
And his inventions were not merely of
scales, for which, and machines for making
them, he received thirty-two patents, but he
])atented also a hemp machine, a stove, a
cast iron plough, a device for creating
draught in chimneys, a steam heater, a
steam water heater, a feed water heater, and
an improvement in refrigerators. This last
consisted in placing the ice above the level
of the articles to be cooled, and the princi-
ple has been universally adopted for refrig-
erators, fruit houses, meat packing houses.
FAIRHAN'KS.
etc. The moisture is condensed upon tlie
ice, with all tainted \a]5ors, and the cooled
dry air flows down ujion the articles below.
Mr. Fairbanks could not go into new busi-
ness, and gave away his patent, which its
new owners later told him was worth at
least a million of dollars. .\ rival comjiany
attempted to cover the claims of this into a
patent of their own by reissue, and to
establish a monopoly. The battles that
followed were among the hardest fought of
patent litigation, and the final decision
established the priority of his invention, the
judge saying : '' In this case the evidence is
perfectly conclusive of the construction,
both in 1846 and 1849, by Thaddeus F'air-
banks of refrigerators embodying the prin-
ciple." In all refrigerating apparatus, as in
the plough and the scale, Mr. Fairbanks' in-
vention proved a revolutionary improve-
ment.
Perhaps it was owing to his own sense of
loss by deficiency of education that Mr.
Fairbanks was led to such intense interest in
giving educational advantages to others.
As a young man we find him interested in a
lyceum, with his employes and others, and
his lectures upon astronomy and heat pre-
pared for that audience indicate vigorous
and original thought. St. Johnsbury had
various private high schools before its acad-
emy, and he and his noble wife were seldom
without nephews, nieces or others in the
family enjoying these advantages. He and
his brothers established St. Johnsbury Acad-
emy in 1842, and twenty years later he un-
dertook its support, and still later erected
its buildings, and contributed to its endow-
ment fund enough to make his total gifts to
it over two hundred thousand dollars. He .
also contributed largely to the funds of
Middlebury College of which he was a trus-
tee, and was a constant giver to many
western colleges and other institutions. He
was likewise for many vears the largest con-
tributor to home missionary work in \'er-
mont, and equally large to foreign missions,
while all the societies that naturally ap-
pealed to him received liberal regular dona-
tions, from him, and scores of students were
aided by him.
Mr. Fairbanks, while exceedingly taciturn,
was an attractive, impressive man. Active
to the last, in spite of limitations from par-
tial blindness, he was interested in every-
thing, and his last patent was allowed upon
his ninetieth birthday. His was a beautiful
old age. Children loved him, and clung to
him. A little child taken to church for the
first time saw him come in, and in an awed
whisper asked, "Mamma, is that Jesus?"
He died after a painful illness, from the
indirect effect of a fall, at the age of ninety
years and three months. On the day of his
I'ARMAN. 133
funeral all business in St. Johnsbury was
suspended, buildings were draped in mourn-
ing, and great numbers came to look once
more on his face, and joined the procession
to the grave. A man of Christian faith, of
spiritual insight and force, and of fine native
gifts, Mr. Fairbanks was successful above
most men in his chosen lines of work, and
was useful wherever he was successful.
He was married, Jan. 17, 1820, to Lucy
P. Barker, a native of St. Johnsbury, whose
father Barnabas, came with his father and
the first settlers of the town, and in 1791
brought his bride, Ruth Peck, from Reho-
both on a pillion behind him. Mrs. Fair-
banks was a woman of marked ability, taking
her full share of the care of the family, and
full of kindly deeds. Her son. Rev. Henry
Fairbanks, Ph. D., is spoken of elsewhere in
this work. Her daughter, (^larlotte, became
the wife of Rev. G. N. Webber, D. D.,
pastor at Hartford, Conn., professor in Mid-
dlebury College, and pastor at Troy, N. Y.,
and died March 29, 1869. Mrs. Fairbanks
was born April 29, 1798, and died Dec. 29,
1866.
FARMAN, MaRCELLUS WiNSLOW, of
Westfield, son of Ashley and Harriet (\^'ins-
low) Farman, was born in Westfield, July
29, 1865. He is ninth in lineal descent
from Kenelm, brother of (lov. Edward
Winslow.
Until fifteen years of age he attended the
public schools of Westfield, and then for a
short time pursued his studies at the Nor-
mal School at Johnson. For several years
his sight had been failing gradually owing to
an internal affection of the eyes, aggravated
by excessive use, and his affection developed
until It terminated in the loss of physical
vision. This was an especial affliction, as
from early boyhood he had evinced strong
literary tastes, but undaunted by what to
many would have proved an insurmountable
obstacle, he again attended the Johnson
Normal School, receiving his instruction
through the medium of a reader. In 1887
he entered the University of Vermont, tak-
ing a special course to fit himself for a pub-
lic speaker, and notwithstanding the disad-
vantage under which he labored he attained
high rank in both school and college. His
first lecture was delivered in the spring of
1890 before the Burlington V. M. C. A. and
was attended and received with unqualified
approbation by the president of the Uni-
versity, members of the faculty and the
leading men in the city. His lectures cover
political, historical and religious subjects
and have received most complimentary en-
dorsement from many sources.
Mr. Farman has met with marked success
as a popular and ]>owerful speaker, and in
134
FARXHAM.
the campaign of 1892 was employed by the
state RepubHcan committee in this capacity.
For several years he has been an occasional
contributor to the press.
From early manhood he has been an
active and consistent member of the Con-
gregational church, has served on its com-
mittee and was formerly a member of the
choir. He is also an efficient worker in the
Y. P. S. C. E.
FAULKNER, SHEPHERD D., of Whit-
ingham, son of William and Hannah (Dal-
rymple) Faulkner, was born in Whitingham,
March 9, 181 8.
Mr. Faulkner belongs to a family promi-
nently connected with the history of Whit-
ingham, his father being one of its early set-
tlers. After such an education as the com-
mon schools of the time afforded he desired
to devote the energy of his life to farming,
in which occupation by his constant labor
and careful management he has amassed a
considerable fortune. Recently he has not
engaged in any active occupation but has
lived a retired life at Jacksonville or with his
son William A. Faulkner at Brookline, Mass.
In the days of the whig party Mr. Faulk-
ner was one of its members, but has been
and is now a staunch Republican. He was
first selectman at the time of the draft to
fill the town quota in the days of the civil
war and has ever been one of the substan-
tial citizens in the community, holding many
offices of honor and trust.
Mr. Faulkner was united in marriage
Nov. ir, 1S45, at Whitingham, to Miranda,
daughter of Alfred and Clarissa (Smith)
(Ireene. There were two children : William
A., and Emma M. (Mrs. Henry Holbrook of
Whitingham), deceased.
Mr. Faulkner was one of the early found-
ers of the Universalist Society in Jackson-
ville, is a firm believer in its doctrine and a
liberal supporter of religious and charitable
organizations.
FARNHAM, ROSWELL, of Bradford, son
of Roswell and Nancy (Bixby) Farnham,
was born in Boston, Mass., July 23, 1827.
Governor Farnham is of the eighth genera-
tion in line of direct descent from Ralph
Farnham, who emigrated from England to
America and settled in Andover, Mass. His
maternal grandfather, Capt. David Bixby,
was a distinguished soldier in the Revolution,
and was present in the actions at Lexington
and Bunker Hill, afterwards doing excellent
service in Rhode Island ; he was also at the
battle of Stillwater, and later went to sea on
board a privateer, and returned home in pos-
session of considerable prize-money at the
end of his first cruise. The second venture
was not so fortunate. His vessel was cap-
tured by a British frigate, when but a short
distance out of port. He, himself, was con-
veyed to England, lodged in Dartmoor
prison, and there, in common with other
American capti\es, suffered great privations
for seventeen months. The father of Ros-
well Farnham was in business on Court street,
Boston. He removed to Haverhill, Mass.,
where he began the manufacture of boots and
shoes for the southern market. In 1839, the
great financial deluge which swept so many
fortunes away, ruined him. In 1840, Roswell
Farnham, Sr., removed his family to Brad-
ford. There he purchased a farm on the
Connecticut river, upon which he resided
until within two years of his death, on the
2oth of December, i860.
The subject of this sketch prepared for
college in the academy at Bradford, and
while thus engaged assisted in the cultivation
of his father's farm. Lacking the means
requisite to enter college when fully pre-
pared, he pursued the studies of the fresh-
man and sophomore classes at the same
academy, and in September, 1847, he joined
the junior class at the L^niversity of Vermont,
from which he graduated in August, 1849,
and received the degree of A. M. in 1852.
Immediately after graduation he entered
upon active duty as a teacher at Dunham,
Lower Canada, now Province of Quebec.
From Dunham, Mr. Farnham removed to
Franklin, Vt., where he took charge of the
Franklin Academical Institution, and later
he taught the Bradford Academy in this state.
^^^^^^^^^,^^>l<^^>^/^.
136
But he did not intend to devote his hfe to
the profession of teaching, and therefore re-
linquished the charge of the seminary. Dur-
ing this period he found leisure for the study
of law, and made such progress that he was
admitted to practice at the Orange county
bar in January, 1857.
Mr. Farnham's professional career began
as the partner of Robert McK. Ormsby. In
1859 '^s commenced practice independently,
soon acquired a remunerative business, and
had the satisfaction of witnessing its gradual
increase. During the same year he was
elected state's attorney for Orange county by
the Republican party, and was subsequently
re-elected twice by the same organization.
As second lieutenant of the Bradford
Guards, Mr. Farnham accompanied the first
regiment of the Vermont Volunteers to the
scene of action, and was stationed for the
greater part of its three months service at
Fortress Monroe and at Newport News, Va.
When the 12th Vt. Vol. Regt. was formed
out of the militia companies of the state the
Governor detailed the Bradford Guards as
one of the companies of that organization.
Lieutenant Farnham was elected their cap-
tain, but before the regiment came to Brat-
tleboro, its place of rendezvous. Captain
Farnham was appointed and commissioned
as lieutenant-colonel. For nearly half of the
term of his new service, he was in command
of the regiment, the colonel being in com-
mand of the brigade. At the expiration of the
second term of service Lieutenant-Colonel
Farnham returned to the practice of law
in Bradford, where he has since resided.
Shortly after, he was the Republican candi-
date for representative of the town, but was
defeated by a Democratic majority. In 186S
and 1869 he was elected by the Republicans
to the state Senate, and served creditably in
that body throughout both terms. He was
chairman of three important committees and
a member of two others. In 1876 he was a
delegate to the national Republican con-
vention which nominated Gen. R. B. Hayes
for the presidency. He was also one of the
presidential electors in the same vear, and
for three years was a member of the State
Board of Education. He is, and has been,
one of the elective trustees of the University
of Vermont and State Agricultural College.
In 1880 Colonel Farnham was nominated as
candidate for the chief magistracy of Ver-
mont, and was elected by a majority of 25,-
012 votes. The number of political sup-
porters indicated by the ballot was larger
than any previous candidate had enjoyed.
His two years of office as Governor were
extremely busy ones, yet he attended faith-
fully and efficiently to the duties of his posi-
tion, and that to the neglect of his personal
affairs. His administration was as grateful
and profitable to the people as it was hon-
orable to himself.
In religious matters he is, as might be an-
ticipated from what has been said of his
ancestry and education, a member of the
Congregational church.
Governor Farnham was married on the
25th of December, 1849, to Mary Elizabeth,
eldest daughter of Captain Ezekiel'and Nancy
(Rogers) Johnson of Bradford. Three living
children are the fruit of their union : Charles
Cyrus, Florence Mary, and AMUiam Mills.
FARRELL, PATRICK JOSEPH, of New-
port, son of James and Rose Ann Theresa
( Hart ) Farrell, was born in Stanstead, P. Q.,
May 10, 1 86 1.
His education was derived from the
Wells River and Newport Academies but he
mainly relied on his own efforts by private
study to make himself a scholar. Soon
after his birth, his father removed to New-
bury and afterwards to Newport. In his
early youth Patrick worked upon a farm and
assisted his father in handling bark, and
employed his evenings in studying the art
of telegraphy. In the spring of 1880 he
entered the employ of the Conn. & Pass.
R. R., at Newport as billing clerk, and a few
months after was transferred to Lyndon-
ville as train dispatcher, then was employed
at Stanstead and Derby Line as station
agent, and conductor of passenger trains
running from the former town to Newport.
By the death of his father, he was compelled
to resign this position and give his attention
to the business affairs of the former, suc-
ceeding him as agent for a Boston firm who
dealt in hemlock bark.
He now turned his attention to the legal
profession and in 1884 began studying law
with Crane & Alfred at Newport, then
entered the office of C. A. Prouty, and was
admitted to the bar in October, 1887. He
was appointed a postal clerk the same year,
his route extending from Newport to Spring-
field, Mass., and soon after he was promoted
to the position of chief clerk with his head-
quarters at Boston, having charge of the
largest division in New England. He re-
signed in 1889 and returning to Newport,
formed a copartnership with C. A. Prouty in
the law business which lasted nearly two
years, when the r)rleans Trust Co. was or-
ganized and Mr. Farrell was made its treas-
urer, which position he still retains and has
also charge of the legal affairs of the bank.
Mr. Farrell has held several public offices
in his town and village, and was, during
three years, chairman of the board of trus-
tees of said village. He is a strong Demo-
crat, having served several years on the
Democratic town committee, and is now a
member of the Democratic state committee.
In 1S90 he was his party's candidate for the
office of state's attorney in Orleans county
and in 1892 was one of the Democratic
candidates for Vermont presidential electors
and was an earnest and effective speaker in
the political campaign of that year.
He was married August 9, 1883, to Sarah
M., daughter of Patrick and Johanna M.
Brady of Newport. Their children are :
Mary Agnes, Helen Isabel, Charles Henry,
and Charlotte Claire.
Mr. Farrell is emphatically a self-made
man and one of the brightest young attor-
neys in the state. He owes his success
almost entirely to his own unaided efforts to
advance, and deserves the highest credit for
his energy and perseverance. He has not
buried a single talent in the ground, but has
used every honorable means to acquire his
present enviable position, which now pre-
sents to him the flattering hope of a still
more prosperous future. He is a member
of the Roman Catholic church.
Fir.i.u. 137
FIELD, Henry Francis, of Rutland,
son of William M. and Minerxa (Daven-
port) Field, was born in Brandon, Oct. 8,
1843. His ancestors originated in Con-
necticut and were descended from Z echariah
Field, who setded in Hartford in 1639.
The education of .Mr. Field was obtained
in ]jublic and pri\ate sc-hools and at the
seminary in Brandon. .At the age of seven-
teen he entered the Brandon Bank as a
clerk, remaining there for something more
than a year and until, in March, 1862, he
removed to Rutland to take a position in the
office of John B. Page, then the treasurer of
the state. In 1864 he received the appoint-
ment of teller in the Bank of Rutland, soon
after reorganized or converted into a national
bank, and three years later was elected to
the cashiership of the Rutland County Na-
tional Bank, which position he has held for
the past twenty-six years and still retains.
He has also been for many years a director
of the same institution.
FIELD, Frederic Griswold, of
Springfield, son of Abner and Louisa ( Gris-
wold) Field, was born in Springfield, Jan. i,
1842. His father, Abner, was the first post-
master of North Springfield, several times
represented the town, and was twice elected
to the state Senate. He was an influential
man in his day and much respected for his
probity, energy and decision of character.
Mr. F. G. Field passed through the usual
course of the common schools and attended
the Springfield Wesleyan Seminary several
years. Shortly after his majority he deter-
mined to follow the mercantile profession
and with this view in 1864 opened a store
for general trade in North Springfield. \Vith
the exception of two years he has been suc-
cessfully engaged in business there. He is
also an extensive owner of real estate and to
some extent is engaged in farming.
.As a Republican he has been chosen to fill
various town offices, was representative to
the Legislature from Springfield in i87o-'72,
and elected senator in 1880. He was com-
missioner for Windsor county in 1890, and
in 1S91 was appointed inspector of finance
to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death
of Hon. L. O. Greene of Woodstock.
He was married July 2, 1872, to Anna M.,
daughter of Addison and Florella Tarbell of
Cavendish. They have two children : Fred
T., and Bertha I.
The counsel and advice of Mr. Field are
highly esteemed in financial and business
matters and he does a large amount of con-
vevancing, besides settling many estates in
North Springfield and vicinity. He is as
sound a business man as his brother Wal-
bridge, the present chief justice of the
Massachusetts Supreme Court, is lawyer.
He is a member and the senior deacon of
the Rutland Congregational Church, and for
a <piarter of a century has been connected
with the Sabbath school of the church as
superintendent or assistant.
Mr. I'ield married, June 21, 1S65, Annie
Louisa, daughter of John Howe of Brandon,
who was the founder of the corporation
known as the Howe Scale Co., first organ-
ized and established in Brandon and after-
wards remo\ ed to Rutland. The children of
138
this union are two sons : John Howe, and
WilHani Henry.
Mr. Field's official career commenced as
town treasurer, which office he held for ten
years. He was also, meanwhile, treasurer of
the village, and of the graded school district
of Rutland for several years, and has been
treasurer of the county since 1877. He
served as assistant doorkeeper of the Senate
in 1858 and 1859 and was deputy secretary
of state in 1861. He is a Republican in
politics, and was chosen a senator from Rut-
land county in 1884, when he was chairman
of the committee on banks, and in 1888 he
represented Rutland in the House, where he
was also chairman of the committee on
banks, and served at both sessions on other
important committees. In 1890 he was
elected State Treasurer and re-elected to the
same office in 1892.
FISH, Frank Leslie, of Vergennes,
son of Frederick A. and Sarah M. (Gates)
Fish, was born at Newfane, Sept. 17, 1863.
He was educated at Leland and Gray
Seminary, and at the Vermont .\cademy,
graduating from the latter in 18S6. At this
school he took a leading part in the rhetori-
cal and literary exercises, aiding in establish-
ing and being the first editor of the Ver-
mont Academy Life, a successful school
periodical. After completing his academic
course he taught several terms in the district
schools. While engaged as principal of the
graded school at South Londonderry he
commenced the studv of law with A. K.
Cudworth. After further study with Milon
Davidson of Newfane, he entered the office
of Hon. James M. Tyler at Brattleboro, re-
maining with him until Mr. Tyler's acces-
sion to the supreme court, when he entered
the office of Judge Levant M. Reed of
Bellows Falls, continuing his law studies
and acting as register of probate for the
1 )istrict of Westminster. When at this place
he edited the local columns of the Bellows
Falls Times. He was admitted to the bar
at the general term of the Supreme Court,
October, 1889. In January following he
opened an office at Vergennes, where he
now resides.
Though but thirty years of age he has
established a reputation as a successful law-
yer ; was elected state's attorney of .Vddison
county in 1892 ; is city collector of taxes;
was chosen superintendent of schools for Ver-
gennes in 1892, and now holds that position.
Mr. Fish was married March 15, 1892, to
Minnie J., daughter of Chauncey and Kmer-
etta (Hopkins) Lyon of W'aterbury.
FISK, FeRRIN BaTCHELDER, of Lyn-
don, son of Deacon Lyman and Mary (Spof-
ford) Fisk, was born in Waitsfield, July 30,
1837, and from the age of thirteen to
twenty-one labored at his father's trade of
coopering. Strongly determined to obtain
an education, at his majority he entered
Barre Academy. Having chosen the minis-
try as his profession, he took a course in
Bangor (Me.) Theological Seminary, where
he graduated in the class of 1863. In the
early part of the war of the rebellion he
served as delegate of the Christian Commis-
sion in the Army of the Potomac. The
coffee wagon had been sent to the Christian
Commission at City Point, Va., and not
being appreciated by those in authority, it
had been left to rust by the wayside. Mr.
Fisk finding it, saw it was a good idea and
got permission to try it. It proved a great
success and is remembered with gratitude
by many a veteran.
Leaving Dracut in 1865, the subsecjuent
pastorates of Mr. Fisk were in Massachu-
setts, Vermont, and Minnesota, and for two
years he acted as the field agent of Carleton
College of the last named state. Ill-health in
his family demanded removal to a warmer
climate, therefore he served in the home
missionary field in Illinois and Florida for
about five years. Returning to Vermont, he
supplied at Morrisville and afterwards re-
moved to Lyndon, where he now resides and
has under his charge the parishes of Lyndon
and St. Johnsbury Centre.
August 25, 1863, Mr. Fisk was united in
marriage to Miss Harriet L., daughter of
Charles F. and Luana (Carpenter) Bige-
139
low. 'I'hey have four children : Flora F.
(Mrs. (j. L. Zimmerman), George Shep-
hard, Fidelia, and Grace Harriet.
Mr. Fisk was chaplain of the Vermont
Senate in icSOg and 1870, and inaiigurated
the custom of daily legislative prayer meet-
ings. He is a poet of more than local rep-
utation and a few of his compositions have
been published in the "Poets and I'oetrv of
\'ermont."
FLAGG, George W., of ISraintree,
son of .\ustin and Mary V.. (Harwood)
Flagg, was born in that town, April 9, 1839.
F^ducated in the common schools of Brain-
tree and Randolph Academy he remained
upon his father's farm till the age of twenty
and afterwards was a day laborer till the
breaking out of the civil war.
^^e^
In May, 1861, he enlisted at Montpelier
in Co. F, id Regt., Vt. Vols., and partici-
pated in every engagement in which the old
Vermont brigade bore part from Bull Run
to .Appomattox. He was constantly on
duty, but for one month was disabled by a
wound received in the Wilderness. May 3,
1864, his brigade was the first to enter
Petersburgh, when General Grant advanced
on Richmond. Mr. Flagg enlisted as a
private, served four years, participated in
twenty-five battles and was promoted to the
rank of sergeant ; he as such more than once
commanded his company in the absence of
all the superior officers. He was honorably
discharged as ist lieutenant with brevet
captain, July 25, 1865.
He was in commantl and took home to
the state the only company organized in the
capital of the state during the war.
Soon after the close of the war, he mar-
ried and settled upon a farm. He now owns
three hundred and fifty acres in the east por-
tion of the town, it being the second best in
town, the production of which he has quad-
rupled in twenty-four years. He is a well
known breeder of Cotswold sheep and has re-
ceived many medals and prizes for specimens
exhibited at New England state and county
fairs. He also possesses an excellent
orchard, for the fruit of which he finds a
ready market.
Early in life he showed great aptitude for
collar and elbow wrestling and was wont,
even when a boy, to display this accomplish-
ment at public gatherings. He gradually so
increased in skill that he was the acknowl-
edged champion of the Army of the Poto-
mac. From the age of thirty-five to forty-
eight, he travelled extensively in most of the
northern states, giving exhibitions of his
proficiency, and his only rival was H. ^L
Dufur with whom he had many hard fought
battles.
.\t the age of eighteen he lost his last fall
(for business), for fifteen years he knew no
difference in men, he could throw any man
he ever met in five minutes. He travelled
through Western New York, where he won
many matches, also Ohio. He wrestled in
almost every town of importance in Michi-
gan where he defeated the renowned Indian
chief Tipsico at a back hold match. In
New England he wrestled for agricultural
societies, one of which was the Vermont
State Fair, also at July 4th gatherings to
thousands of people under great excitement.
In his travels he challenged all comers for
any amount with perfect confidence.
.After each campaign of travels he returned
to work on his farm, never training for a
match or series of matches.
During Mr. Flagg's wrestling career he
doubtless wrestled two hundred matches.
.Athletic sports had a great fascination for
him. A game that was very popular in his
boyhood days, the champion wrestler being
the lion of the day at all public gatherings.
In all of his matches he always manifested
good cheer towards all, never losing his
temper, being strictly honest.
.As a temperance man none were more
zealous in the cause than he. In all of his
travels he never tasted licjuor ; making
speeches in the Legislature in the cause of
temperance, never tiring in advocating its
cause.
Mr. F'lagg married Delia .A., daughter of
Whitman and Elmira (Smith) Howard,
May 16, 1865. f!y her he has had two
children : Lester G., and Bert C.
;i40
FLETCHER.
As a Republican, Mr. Flagg has been
•called upon to serve his town in many minor
•offices, and was elected representative to the
Legislature in i8S6.
He received his degrees in Masonry in
Phoenix ],odge of Randolph, and has joined
U. S. Grant Post, No. 96, G. .-V. R., of West
Randolph, and is its present commander.
Mr. Flagg possesses a marked personality,
is fully six feet in height with the figure of a
Hercules ; and with his jovial good nature, his
sturdy strength and endurance, his unflinch-
ing courage and unselfish patriotism is the
^typical Green Mountain Boy of '76 and '61.
FLANDERS, William Dana, of Orange,
son of Royal C. and Hannah B. (Williams)
Flanders, was born in Orange, June 20,
1850. Royal C. Flanders enlisted as a pri-
vate in the 2d Regt. Vt. Infantry, and after-
wards in the 9th, and when he returned from
the war, after more than four years service,
he held the commission of lieutenant.
Dana attended the common schools of
•Orange, but his father dying when he was
about sixteen years of age, his efforts to
obtain an education were brought to a ter-
mination. Before he was of age, he began
as a laborer in a sawmill, and naturally has
followed the business of lumbering from that
time. In 1879 he formed a partnership with
Carlos B. Richardson, which lasted six years,
and since that time he has carried on the
business alone, in the summer time giving
some attention to farming.
Favoring the princi])les of the Republican
]>arty, he has been thought worthy to fill the
usual town offices, and was sent to the Legis-
lature from Orange in 1892. Here he served
upon the committee on claims.
Mr. Flanders was married at Barre, July
3, 1878, to Cora B., daughter of Carlos B.
and Sarah (Jackson) Richardson. Four
children are the fruit of their marriage, two
of whom died in infancy ; Nettie B. and
Fred C. are still living with their parents.
Mr. Flanders is a Free Mason of more
than twenty years standing, is a member of
Granite Lodge, No. 35, of Barre, and also of
the chapter of that place. Though he com-
menced life under many disadvantages, he
has made full use of his opportunities, and
bears an excellent reputation in the com-
munity in which he lives.
FLETCHER, HENRY ADDISON.ofProc-
torsville, son of Ryland and Mary Ann,
(May) Fletcher, was born in Cavendish
Dec. 1 1, 1S39.
The name of Fletcher for three genera-
tions has been a prominent one in the town
of Cavendish. Dr. Asaph Fletcher was a
member of the convention that framed the
Constitution of Massachusetts. Having
moved to Cavendish in 17S7, he was also a
member of the convention which applied to
Congress for the admission of Vermont
into the Union, was several times elected to
the Legislature and was also a county judge
and presidential elector. Of his family of
nine children the three most distinguished
were : Horace, a prominent Baptist clergy-
man ; Richard, a member of Congress and
judge of the Supreme Court ; and Ryland,
who became Lieutenant-Governor, and was
the first Republican Governor of the state.
Sketches of both the latter appear in Part I
of this work.
Henry A. Fletcher was mustered into the
U. S. service Oct. 23, 1862, as ist sergeant
of Co. C, 1 6th Regt. Vt. Vols., commanded
by Col. W. G. Veazey, was appointed ser-
geant major March 9, 1863, and com-
missioned 2d lieutenant of Co. C, April 2,
1863.
.A Republican in his political preferences,
he represented Cavendish in the House in
1867, 186S, 1878, 1880 and 1882 and was a
senator from Windsor county in 18S6.
Among his other legislative duties he served
on the committees on banks, railroads, revis-
ion of laws and the general committee. In
1 8 78 he was appointed aid on the staff of
Ciovernor Proctor with the rank of colonel.
In 1890 he was elected Lieutenant-Gover-
nor of the state. He is a member of
Howard Post, No. 33, Cj. A. R. of Ludlow.
Mr. Fletcher is unmarried and is a farmer
residing on the old homestead, which has
been owned and occupied by the family for
more tlian a century. His name is equally
associated with the distinguished memory of
an honored ancestry and his own excellent
record as a citizen and a public man.
FOOTE, ROLLIN ABRA.M, of Cornwall,
son of Col. Abram and Orpha (William-
son) Foote, was born in Cornwall, Jan. 9,
1832.
children ; Abram William, and I'Vank S,
son.
141
:imp-
JN ABRAM FOOTE.
He obtained his education in the common
schools of his birthplace, settled upon the farm
which has been in the possession of the Foote
family from the first settlement of the town,
and has continued there pursuing his vocation
till the present time. The estate has been
enlarged and improved since it came into
his hands, and he does not complain of
" hard times " in the present depression in
agriculture. He is one of the substantial
men of the county ; where advice is often
sought, and whose influence is wholly on the
side of good order. In 1879, he formed a
copartnership with his son, Abram W. Foote,
for the sale of hay and agricultural imple-
ments, and has built up a prosperous trade
in that line ; and he has also made a spe-
cialty of breeding matched horses.
Mr. Foote has held all the principal offices
in the town of his nati\ity, among which
may be named : Lister eleven years, overseer
of the poor seventeen years, and road com-
missioner.
He married, March i, 1854, Miss Julia
Arabella Sampson, by whom he has had two
FORBHS, Charles Spoonbr, of st.
Albans, son of Abner and Catherine Forbes,
was born at Windsor, .August 6, 185 1, and
removed to St. Albans in 1S63.
The public schools gave him his prelimi-
nary training, and resolving to become a.
journalist by profession, he commenced his
newspaper career on the St. Albans Tran-
script at the age of seventeen. He has
been connected with various state papers for
nearly twenty years and since 1879 has been
the Vermont correspondent and state mana-
ger of the Boston Journal.
Mr. Forbes cast his first vote for President
Grant and was prominent in the Campaign
Club of St. Albans in 1S72, and has actedas
secretary and treasurer of the local Republi-
can clubs afterward formed. He was secre-
tary of the Republican state convention of
1886 : was a delegate and one of the secre-
taries of the national convention of Repub-
lican clubs held in New York City in 1887 ;
made secretary of the Republican League of
\'ermont in 188S, and assisted in organizing
CHARLES SPOONER FORBES.
one hundred and fifty campaign clubs. He
was appointed captain and aid-de-cani]) on
the brigade staff, V. N. C., in 1886 and was
a member of the staff of Governor Dilling-
ham, with the rank of colonel.
Colonel Forbes has held many honorable
])ositions in civil life, among them the secre-
142
taryships of the Vermont commission on
the Washington centennial at New Yorl;,
the State Press Association, the Vermont
Society of the Sons of the American Revo-
lution, the Vermont Historical Society, the
Vermont League for (iood Roads, and the
state commission to the World's Columbian
Exposition. He was elected president of
the Vermont Press Association in 1893. In
December, 1889, he received the appoint-
ment of deputy collector of internal revenue
for the Vermont Division, which office he
held for four years.
The religious \iews of Colonel Forbes are
Episcopalian and he is a member of St.
Luke's Church, St. Albans. He has been a
vestryman, treasurer and parish clerk, and
also a delegate to se\eral diocesan conven-
tions of the church. Colonel Forbes was
one of the notification committee appointed
at the special diocesan convention in 1893
to inform Rev. Arthur C. A. Hall of Oxford,
England, of his election to the Vermont
Ri.shopric.
FORD, Samuel W., of concord, son
of Robert and Lydia (Hale) Ford, was born
in the town of (Irafton, N. H., June 16,
1823.
When Samuel had arrived at the age of
six years his father moved to Kirby and in
the public schools of that town he received
his early educational training.
Mr. Ford left home when about seventeen
years old and pursued the vocation of farm
laborer until the age of thirty. He was an
excellent type of his class of that period now
unfortunately so seldom to be found in our
agricultural communities. Sturdy, intelli-
gent and industrious he fought his way
through difficulties and obstacles, until he
was able to marry and settle upon the fertile
farm that he has occupied ever since, where
he has still continued to manifest the thrift
and perseverance of his early life. He has
been most successful in breeding good grade
Shorthorn stock and Shropshire sheep,
Mr, Ford bears a striking resemblance to
the late ex- President Hayes and also is of
the same political creed. As selectman he
was most active and energetic in raising the
town quota of soldiers during the civil war.
The requisition was received Saturday and
on the following Thursday sixteen recruits
were enrolled before sunset. In 1876 he
represented the town of Concord in the
Legislature.
Mr. Ford was married March 8, 1853, to
Sophronia, daughter of William and Polly
Willry. Mrs. Ford has been the mother of
four children : Ellery, Helen (Mrs. William
Lindsan), Dan, and Almeda (Mrs. Milo A.
Green).
FOSS, James M., of St. Albans, was
born at Pembroke, N. H,, Jan. 6, 1829.
His parents were Jeremiah and Clarissa
(Moore) Foss.
He was educated at Pembroke .Academy,
until his seventeenth year, when he deter-
mined to supplement his academic instruc-
tion with practical information in a direction
that would fit him for the business life to
which he had resolved to devote himself.
To this end he commenced an apprentice-
ship, November, 1846, in the machine shops
of the Concord Railroad Co., at Concord, N.
H, From 1850 to 1862 Mr. Foss worked as
a machinist and locomoti\e engineer on the
Boston, Concord & Montreal R. R., acquir-
ing a thorough familiarity with the details
and practical knowledge of the construction
and operation of railroad machinery. Dur-
ing the last portion of his service, he was in
charge of the shops of the last named road.
From 1862 to 1865 he was master mechanic
of the Boston & New York air line, in
connection with the Back Bay Co. In
March, 1865, he returned to Concord, N.
H., as master mechanic of the Concord
Railroad, where he remained until June,
1868, at which time a larger field for the
employment of his ability in his special line
was afforded him, and he accepted an offer
for the management of the Vermont Central
Railroad Co., as its master mechanic. In
1873 he was made superintendent of the
motixe power and machinery of the Central
•4J
\'ermont system, which comprised the \er-
mont Central, \'ermont & Canada railroads,
the Rutland, and other leased lines. During
this period the corporation constructed its
own locomotives, some half hundred of which
were turned out under the supervision of
Mr. P'oss. His efficiency as a railroad man
was recognized by his promotion in 1879 to
the position of assistant general superinten-
dent, which was followed by a further ad-
vancement, in 1885, to the office of general
sui)erintendent. This appointment he held
until 1892, when impaired health compelled
him to resign. But the corporation with
which he had been connected for so many
years was loth to part with his services, and
he remained in its employment in the
capacity of assistant to the president, a posi-
tion in which the benefit of his advice and
judgment could be availed of, while he could
be afforded more leisure than was possible
while performing the more active duties of
general superintendent. This position of
assistant to the president he still retains after
nearly half a century of active railroad life.
Mr. Foss was married, Nov. 15, 1855, to
Ellen A., daughter of John ^'. and Laura
Barron, who died in April, 1871. For his
second wife he wedded, Sept. 18, 1874, Mrs.
So])hia H. (Chester) Locklin (widow of H.
H. Locklin), daughter of John and Mary
Chester, natives of England and residents
at Dudswell, P. Q. Of this union there is
one son : James Barron Foss, born August
17, 1876, who, with Hortense H. Locklin,
daughter of Mrs. Foss, constitute the family.
He is a believer in the great industry of
Vermont farming, and has a large area of
land under cultivation, located on the road
from the village to St. Albans Bay.
His business life has demanded all his
time, and he has found no opportunity to
mingle actively in politics, but he has always
manifested a loyal allegiance to the princi-
ples of the Republican party.
He is a member of St. Luke's Episcopal
Society, and contributes generously to its
support. Mr. Foss is a member of the sev-
eral Masonic bodies, and has attained to the
32d degree in that fraternity.
He possesses a genial, social nature, and
enjoys the quiet entertainment of a few
friends at his handsome and hospitable home.
FOSTER, ALONZO M., of Cabot, son
of G. W. and Polly (Kelton) Foster, was
born in Calais, Jan. 30, 1830. His father
was an early settler and when much of the
town was an unbroken wilderness he cleared
away the land, built farm buildings, and set
out shade trees. Not content with this
homestead, he busied himself extensively in
reducing wild lands for other farms in the
neighborhood.
At twenty years of age .'Monzo M. Foster
bought one-half of his father's estate on
credit and carried on this property success-
fully for sixteen years. In 1866 he came
into possession of a valuable property in
Cabot, known as the "Old C'anip tiround,"
or "J,yford Farm," where, although doing
general farming, he has gi\en his most ener-
getic efforts to the manufacture of maple
sugar, producing from an orchard of more
than two thousand trees three to four tons
annually, for which he finds a ready sale
both at home and abroad. The products of
"Maple Grove Sugar Camp" are becoming
known and appreciated throughout the
country, and while Mr. Foster has for years
led the column of ^'ermont producers, it is
now, though unofficially as yet, learned that
his sugar has received the highest award at
the late World's Fair.
Mr. Foster acted with the Free Soil party
in 1852, but since that time has \oted the
Republican ticket, and in 1864 and 1865
was sent as representative of the town of
Calais to the Legislature.
He is a member of the Patrons of Hus-
bandry, and was for years Master of Wash-
ington Grange of Cabot. Remote from city
life, he has spent a useful and quiet existence
among his native hills, esteemed and re-
spected in the community in which fortune
has cast his lot.
Mr. Foster was united in marriage, Ajiril
20, 1 85 1, to P>lsie W., daughter of Charles
and Susan (Rich) Dudley of Calais. Their
five children are : Charles D., Harry H., Ina
B., Bernard i\L, and Linnie D.
FOSTER, AUSTIN THEOPHILUS, of
Derby Line, son of Stephen and Mary
(King) Foster, was born in East Mont-
pelier, Sept. 20, 1822.
His education was obtained through the
usual medium of the common schools and
an after course of instruction at the acad-
emy in Montpelier.
In the spring of 1836 he went to Derby
Line and entered the store of Spaulding &
Foster just across the Canadian frontier at
Rock Island, P. Q., as a clerk. In 1841 he
was associated in partnership with Levi
Spaulding and his brother Stephen Foster
under the firm name of Spaulding, Foster &
Co. In 185 I he also opened a general store
at Derby Line which he continued until
1882. In 1865 he purchased from the
estate of Charles Pierce the shoe factory at
Rock Island which he still owns. Mr.
Foster has been an active business man for
fifty two years during which he has resided
continuously at Derby Line, he has generally
met with success in his operations. He was
a director in the People's Bank at Derby
Line from januarv, 18^2, till it was merged
FRANCISCO.
in the national bank of that place of which
he has been a director since its organization
and its president since 1871.
He represented the town of Derby in the
General Assembly in 1S62 and 1S63, being
elected by the Republican vote, and was
chosen senator from Orleans county in 1886.
■He was appointed U. S. Consular Agent in
1869 at Stanstead, P. Q., and served in that
capacity for fifteen years.
Mr. Foster has also been prominent in
religious circles, receiving the honor of an
election to the presidency of the Universalist
convention of the state of Vermont and
Province of Quebec in 1882 and has been
called to that office every year since by ac-
clamation.
i
^
AUSTIN THEOPHILUS FOSTER.
He was united in marriage in 1848 at
Stanstead, P. Q., to Aurelia, daughter of
Harris and Abigail Way of Rock Island, who
only lived about two years after their mar-
riage. In 1853 he married Sarah H., daugh-
ter of Capt. John and Lydia Gilman. By
her he has four children ; Harriet (Mrs. F.
M. Hawes, Somerville, Mass.), John G.,
Mary J., and Stephen A.
FOSTER, Wells a., of Weston, son of
Jeremiah and Mary (Temple) Foster, was
born at Weston, April 8, 1837. • t.O
He was the youngest of a family of three
children, and his father died when he was
five years old. His education was neces-
sarily limited, and was received in the com-
mon schools. When he arrived at the age
of thirteen, he had the misfortune to lose his
mother, and from that time never knew the
blessing of a home till he had made one for
himself. He labored upon a farm in the
vicinity till he was nineteen, and during the
next seven years was variously employed in
mechanical pursuits, first at Mt. Holly, and
later at Boston. In 1863 he was drafted
into the army, but purchased his release.
Soon after he commenced the manufacture
of ash handles for agricultural tools in com-
pany with W. S. Foster, and afterward with
R. B. Jaquith. The firm then began to turn
out chair stuff in the rough, and soon after
began manufacturing finished chair stock.
Now their increased business requires a
force of forty men, and their buildings cover
an area of four acres. In 1S89 the firm suf-
fered the loss of their entire plant by fire,
but with characteristic energy they immedi-
ately rebuilt their works, and are doing the
usual amount of business, turning out a
product of 540,000 a year.
Mr. Foster is a Republican, and repre-
sented Weston in the General Assembly in
18S4 and 1886, serving on the committee
on the grand list.
He was married in Mt. Holly, Dec. 23,
1858, to Lavina L., daughter of Austin L.
and Lois (Simonds) Benson. Of this union
were two children: Ella (Mrs. Walter M.
Wright, of South Gardner, Mass.), and
Vernie A.
Mr. Foster has settled many estates and
often acted as guardian and has always con-
scientiously and ably discharged the duties
of these trusts. He is a director of Chester
National Bank, and one of the trustees of
the Black River Academy, of Ludlow.
FRANCISCO, M. JUDSON, of Rut-
land, was born on the 5 th day of August,
1S35, at West Haven, and was the third son
of John Francisco who moved to West
Haven in 1795, participated in the war ot
18 1 2, and at the battle of Plattsburgh was
one of the famous Green Mountain Boys.
The subject of this sketch left home when
sixteen years old for Ohio, to enter Oberlin
College. After completing his studies there
he passed several years travelling through
the West and South, visiting all the states
then admitted to the LTnion. He returned
to Vermont in 1859, returning West again in
October, i860, as principal of the North-
western Commercial College at Fort Wayne,
Indiana. Here he resided during the first
years of the rebellion and took an active
part in raising volunteers for the Lnion
cause, and in circumventing the schemes of
the " Knights of the Golden Circle."
In 1863 I\[r. Francisco married Margaret
Holmes, daughter of Israel Holmes of Water-
bury, Conn., one of the oldest and best
i4()
known families of that state. Mr. Holmes
was directly connected with the founding of
the brass industry in the I'nited States and
established a large number of manufactur-
ing concerns in Connecticut, notably among
these being the Holmes, Booth & Hayden
Manufacturing Co. ; the Waterbury Brass
Co. ; the Plume & Atwood Manufacturing
Co. ; the Scoville Button Co. ; the Water-
bury Clock Co., and the Wolcottville FJrass
Co.
Leaving Fort Wayne in 1S64, Mr. Fran-
cisco accepted the presidency of the
Pennsylvania College of Trade and Finance,
at Harrisburg, where he organized a large
and flourishing institution, in which many
men now at the head of influential corpora-
tions received their first knowledge of com-
mercial principles. After several years of
close application in the management of the
college, failing health compelled him to re-
linquish his position, and he returned to his
native state where he found renewed vigor,
and entered upon that sphere of activity
which was destined to be of wider scope
than that of any preceding years. When
the English fire insurance companies were
negotiating for admission into the United
States Mr. Francisco was promptly tendered
and assumed the general management for
Vermont of the North British and Mercan-
tile of Edinburgh and the Liverpool and Lon-
don and Globe of London. He was later
made manager of the Vermont, New Hamp-
shire and Northern New Vork departments of
several other like companies ; it was while
in the service of these corporations that he
made his memorable argument before the
joint committee of the state Senate and
House of Representatives in opposition to
the so-called "valued policy" bill. He has
also the distinction of having written the
largest fire policy ever issued in New Eng-
land, the face value being $2,100,000.
In 1887 he was elected president of the
Rutland Electric Light Co., and since that
time has devoted the best part of his energy
to furthering the success of his different
electrical ventures. In 1887 he also became
a member of the National Filectric Light
Association. At the convention of the latter
organization in Kansas City he was elected
one of the executive committee, holding that
position until the Providence convention
when he was chosen second vice-president.
At the St. Louis meeting he was elected first
vice-president which place he still occupies.
His paper on municipal ownership, read be-
fore the convention of the National Associa-
tion at Cape May, N. J., required two
editions to supply the popular demand.
Shortly after this he appeared before the
joint committee of the Senate and House of
Representatives in Washington with a review
of the Postmaster-General's argument for a
limited postal telegraph, and later still re-
viewed the subject of municipal ownership
before the Massachusetts Legislature. Since
the publication of his book entitled "Munic-
ipal Ownership, Its Fallacy," with other
numerous contributions to various scientific
and literary journals Mr. Francisco has been
acknowledged the best authority of the day
upon this problem.
As a citizen of Rutland he ranks as one of
its foremost and progressive representatives.
He does not aim at political preferment, but
confines his labors to the interest of his
business life, which fact is evinced by the
careful and energetic supervision given the
institutions with which he is associated. He
is the senior partner of M. J. Francisco &
Son ; president of the Rutland Electric
Light Co. ; vice-president of the National
Electric Light Association ; director of the
Rutland Trust Co. ; member of the Rutland
Board of Trade, the Rutland County Asso-
ciation of L'nderwriters, the American Insti-
tute of Electrical Engineers ; a Mason of many
years standing and a stockholder or director
in many other corporations outside the state.
Mr. Francisco has two sons : I. Holmes,
and Don C.
FRARY, Solon Franklin, of South
Strafford, son of Jonathan and Lvdia Col-
^.^ai!**,^^
SOLON FRAN
cord (Blaisdell) Frary, was born in Straf-
ford, Jan. 27, 1822. He is lineally de-
■scended from John Frary, who came from
England in 1638, and was among the earli-
est settlers of the town of 1 ledhani, Mass.
The progenitors of Mr. Frary for three gen-
erations are buried in the town of Strafford.
He received his education in the common
schools and Norwich University, and com-
menced the active business of life in a coun-
try store as clerk with Hon. J. S. Morrill and
Judge Jedediah Harris, at Thetford, where
he remained for three years. He then
returned to .Strafford, where he continued to
engage in trade till 1S90, when he retired
from the pursuits of active life.
December 18, 1854, he was united in
marriage to Adeliza, daughter of Benjamin
and Betsey (Kent) Oilman. Their children
are : Gertrude, and Bessie Jane.
Mr. Frary has always been a Republican ;
has held the offices of town treasurer, town
agent, justice of the peace, and chairman of
the board of auditors. He was chosen rep-
resentative of the town in the Legislature of
1S72, and was elected in 1S88 from ()range
county to the state Senate. He discharged
the duties of postmaster for twenty-eight
years, has often been made chairman of the
Republican town committee, and was one of
the trustees of Goddard Seminary, being one
of the auditors of their accounts and chair-
man of the investment committee. He is
liberal in his religious views, and has been a
generous supporter of all the societies of his
town.
FRENCH, Warren Converse, of
Woodstock, son of Joseph Wales and Polly
(Converse) French, was born in Randolph,
July 8, 1819. He was educated at the com-
mon schools and the Orange county gram-
mar school at Randolph. His father was
the oldest son of Gen. John French, one of
the early settlers of Randolph, who was
brigadier-general of state militia at the time
of the last war with England and marched
with his brigade to Burlington at the time of
the British invasion in 181 4, Jacob Collamer,
then a young lawyer at Randolph, being one
of his aids-de-camp.
He studied law with Tracey & Converse
at Woodstock and was admitted to the l>ar
of Windsor county court at the May term,
1844, commencing practice at Sharon, where
he remained until 1857. Upon the election
of Hon. James Barrett to the bench, he was
invited by his uncle, Mr. Converse, to
remove to Woodstock and succeed Judge
Barrett in the firm of Barrett & Converse.
In this firm he remained as a partner till July
I, 1865, when Mr. Converse retired from the
profession and was succeeded by Mr. \\'iil-
iam E. Johnson. This connection lasteil
until July, 1868, after which for some time
Mr. French continued the practice of his
I'UI.I.F.R. 147
profession by himself. In Jul\-, 1879, he
formed a partnership with his son-in-law,
Frederick C. Southgate, and this arrange-
ment still exists. He has been in full and
active practice, mostly in Windsor and
Orange countie.s, from his admission to the
bar, and has been engaged in many impor-
tant civil and criminal cases.
In politics he was a whig until the organ-
ization of the Republican party, of which he
has since been a steady adherent. He was
a member of the Constitutional Convention
of 1850 ; the first state's attorney for ^\'ind-
sor county elected by the ]jeople under the
amended constitution of iN^o, and state
^^ '^f^
WARREN CONVERSE FRENCH
senator in 1858 and 1859. He represented
Woodstock in 1876 and was the same year a
member of the national convention which
nominated Mr. Hayes.
In religious belief he is a Congregational-
ist, and was superintendent of the Sunday
school for many years.
Mr. French married, Sept. 19, 1849, at
Sharon, Sarah A., daughter of Hon. William
and Lydia (Gleason) Steele. They have
been blessed with six children : Mary (Mrs.
William H. Brooks, deceased), .Anna (Mrs.
Frederick C. Southgate), Lillie (Mrs. Har-
old S. Dana), Warren C, Jr., William Steele,
and John.
FULLER, Henry, of Bloomfield, son of
Henry and T. (Bowker) Fuller, was born in
Maidstone, August 26, 1838.
148
\\'hen two years old his father mo\ecl to
Bloomfield, where the subject of this sketch
has since resided. His education was con-
fined to such instruction as could be had in
the high schools and in Derby Academy.
Farming has been the steady occupation
in the life of Mr. Fuller, though he has given
some attention to teaching. Having from
his early youth a great desire to travel and
see the world outside the narrow limits of
his home surroundings, he was unable to
indulge this longing till he had arrived at the
years of middle life, but in 1892 he gratified
his cherished wish and spent the greater
part of the year in visiting every portion of
his native land from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, traveling more than eight thousand
miles to effect his purpose.
The grandfather of Mr. Fuller, with his
brother, came to Minehead, now Bloomfield,
in or about 1800. He raised a family of
ten children, nine of whom lived to the age
of eighty years.
Mr. Fuller has been a lifelong Democrat,
though in his latter days he has had a ten-
dency tow^ard Prohibition. He has been
constable, collector, selectman, and town
clerk for thirteen years, and has held other
minor offices.
At the age of seventeen he joined the
M. E. Church, and during his whole life has
earnestly labored in the cause. Devoting
himself to the welfare of the parish and Sab-
bath school, he has been steward for many
years, and served on various church com-
mittees.
He married, May 31, 1864, Miss Nettie
W. Colby of Whitefield, N. H., which union
was blessed with two sons : Henry Clarence
(died Oct. g, 1867), and Asa C, now a
preacher in the M. E. Church. Mrs. Fuller
died Jan. 15, 1868. For his second help-
meet Mr. F'uller took to wife Miss May L.,
daughter of Mary and Nathan M. Johnson,
of Bloomfield. By her he has had two chil-
dren : Earle W., and Maude M.
FULLER, LEVI K., of Brattleboro, son
of Washington and Lucinda (Constantine)
Fuller, was born in Westmoreland, N. H.,
Feb. 24, 1841.
His parents were of English and German
stock, and his ancestors on both sides served
in the Revolutionary war. He removed to
Windham county in 1845 with his parents,
and began his active career at the age of
thirteen by learning telegraphy and also the
art of printing. At sixteen, having devel-
oped an aptitude for mechanics, he won a
premium for a steam engine improvement at
the Windham County Agricultural Society's
fair. Going to Boston, he served an ap-
prenticeship as a machinist, acting for a time
as night telegraph operator at the Merchants'
Exchange. During a great portion of his
residence in Boston he also took a scientific
course at the e\ening schools. Returning to
Brattleboro in i860, he entered the Estey
works as machinist and mechanical engineer
and later established a shop of his own,
where he manufactured wood-working and
other machinery with success.
In .^pril, 1866, he entered with Col. J. J.
Estey the firm of J. Estey & Co. (now the
Estey Organ Co.), superintending the man-
ufacturing department, and for twenty years
has been vice-president of the company.
He has been a most indefatigable inven-
tor, his name appearing in the Patent Office
at Washington as the author of a hundred
different inventions, many of great value.
His success in aiding in establishing large
European agencies for the company, and his
many trips abroad in its interest, have won
for him recognition on both sides of the
.Atlantic as a liberal and intelligent man of
business. On his trip in 1873 he was ten-
dered by President Grant the appointment
of commissioner to the Vienna Exposition,
which he was obliged to decline on account
of the press of private business. The
musical trade of two continents acknowledge
his success as a factor in elevating the great
corporation to its present high position.
His last achievement in securing the adop-
tion of what is termed in the musical world
"international pitch" for musical instru-
ments, now officially adopted by all man-
ufacturers in this country, has been termed
by Mr. Steinway "one of the most impor-
tant, perhaps the most important, in the
annals of musical history."
He is an active member of the American
Society for the Advancement of Science, and
of the American Society of Mechanical En-
gineers. He is also interested in astronomy,
has an observatory of his own attached to
his private residence and the finest equa-
torial telescope in Vermont. His library
also of scientific and technical works is one
of the most complete in the state.
Organizing the Fuller Light Battery, V. N.
G., as an independent company in 1874, he
has continuously served therewith since,
bringing it to a degree of perfection uni\'er-
sally commended by all regular army in-
spectors as second to no military organiza-
tion in the country, adding greatly to the
reputation of the Vermont militia. He was
brevetted colonel in 18S7 for long and mer-
itorious service. He also served as aid on
the staff of Governor Converse.
Mr. Fuller's private business, however, has
not prevented him from participating act-
ively in public affairs, both local and state.
He has held important town and village
offices, is a trustee of the Brattleboro Sav-
ings Bank and the Brattleboro Free Library.
In 1880 he was elected to the state Sen-
ate, taking an active part in the important
legislation of that session, including what
was then know as the "new tax law," a meas-
ure tending to equalize the burden of taxa-
tion and most satisfactory to the people. As
a member of the Senate he served as chair-
man of the committee on finance, upon the
committee on militarv affairs, and that on
railroads. In 1886 he was elected Lieuten-
ant-(iovernor, filling that position with credit
to himself and honor to the state, proving
himself one of the best presiding officers
whose services the Senate has had the good
fortune to enjoy.
Early in life he became connected with
the Baptist denomination, and has ahvay.s had
an active interest in the success of the
church of his choice. His gifts, however,
have never been confined to that faith, but
his liberality to all denominations is proverb-
ial. His interest in educational matters is
well known, one of the most important e\i-
dences of which is the Vermont Academy at
Saxton's River, to which he has largely given
both his time and money, and this institu-
tion, under his management as president of
the board of trustees, has taken a high rank
throughout New England.
He has always been specially interested in
agriculture and the development of that
branch of Vermont's industries. His pur-
chase of a farm and the presentation of the
same to the Vermont Academy, his intro-
duction of finely bred sheep and other stock,
and the inauguration of new features in con-
nection with ]3ractical farm educational
work, has attracted wide attention in the
community.
Governor Fuller's fitness for the position
of chief magistrate of his state has long
since been recognized, and in 1892 his
Republican friends bestowed upon him the
highest honor in their power by nominating
and electing him to the gubernatorial chair.
Mr. Fuller was married. May 8, 1865, to
Abby, daughter of Hon. Jacob and Desde-
mona (Wood) Estey.
FULLER, JONATHAN KiNGSLEY, of
Barton Landing, son of Samuel Freeman
and Elizabeth ( Kingsley) Fuller, was born
in Montgomery, May 13', 1848.
Mr. Fuller attended the common, select
and private schools of his native town until
twenty-one years of age. His parents being
limited in their circumstances, and young
Fuller being somewhat delicate in health, he
had to forego the great desire of his heart, a
classical education. In 1870 he entered the
law office of John S. Tupper. Here he gave
himself earnestly to the study of law, and
having access not only to a large law library,
but also to a fine collection of theological
and historical works, his reading co\ered a
wide field. During this time also, while
teaching school, he felt moved to enter upon
the work of the ministry. The M. E. Church,
of which he was a member, urged him to
take a license to preach, and, forsaking the
legal profession, he began the course of study
prescribed by the church. This was con-
tinued for four years, and ordination followed
at St. Johnsbury, April 23, 1873. He was
stationed at Eden in i872-'73, at Richford
in i874-'76. At the close of a very success-
ful pastorate in this thriving center, he
handed his resignation to the Vermont Con-
ference.
Uniting with the Congregational church
at East Berkshire, he immediately received a
hearty call to the parish of that denomina-
tion in Bakersfield. Free to control and
direct his own labors his congregations in-
creased, while a steady demand was made
X.
V
JONATHAN KINGSLEY FULLER.
for his sermons and other writings upon the
popular questions of the day. Six of the
twelve years of this pastorate he was super-
intendent of schools, aiding in the establish-
ment of Brigham Academy. As a testimony
of appreciation of such service, he was, on
Dec. 15, 1885, made a life member of the
Creneral Theological Library of Boston.
While at Bakersfield, Mr. Fuller devoted
a litrte time to farming, in which pursuit he
was highly successful. He was a frequent
lecturer before the State Board of Agricul-
ture.
FULLINGION.
Politically, Mr. Fuller is an independent
Republican. He has written and lectured
often on such themes as " Civil Service Re-
form," " Political Methods," " Political Re-
form," "Religious and Political Liberty,"
"Moral Training in Our Schools," "Oppor-
tunity : or, the Uses and Abuses of Wealth."
In 1883, Mr. Fuller was made honorary
member of the .A. B. C. F. M. ; in 1885 he
was instrumental in organizing a Congrega-
tional church at F]ast Fairfield ; in 1888 he
became an orignal member of the Congre-
gational Club of Western Vermont. ' In 1889
he severed his connection with the church
in Bakersfield, and of the several calls which
he received, accepted the one from Barton
Landing, where he now ministers to a thrifty
church in a flourishing community.
In 1890 he received under Professor Har-
per the appointment of examiner in the
American Institute of Sacred Literature. In
i8gi he was elected to membership in the
American .\cademy of Political and Social
Science in Philadelphia. In this .same year
he .was chosen superintendent of schools for
the town of Barton, which office he now
holds ; he is also one of the directors of the
Orleans County Summer School. In 1892
he was constituted a member of the Orleans
County Historical Society. In this same
year he was sent from the state convention
of Congregational churches as delegate to
the Free Will Baptist yearly meeting. In
1892 he was unanimously chosen chairman
of the board of school directors for the town
of Barton.
Mr. Fuller was married Sept. 16, 1875, to
Gertrude Florence Smith of Richford. Of
this union there have been born : John
Harold, Hawley Leigh, Raymond Garfield,
and Robert Samuel.
FULLINGTON, FREDERICK H.. of
P>ast Cambridge, son of John 'I', and Syh ia
(Carpenter) Fullington, was born in Cam-
bridge, Dec. 9, 1 85 1.
F^shraim Fullington came from Raymond,
X. H., nearly a hundred years ago, and set-
tled on the farm which has continued the
property and residence of the family for four
generations.
The present possessor of the estate re-
ceived his early education in the district
schools of Cambridge, and afterward jnir-
sued a course of study at the Johnson Nor-
mal School. The second of a family of four
sons, he early displayed such energy and
industry that he was the chief reliance of his
father. When he became of age he rented
the property, and has conducted it ever
since, at the same time giving his father the
shelter of a home. Dairying and the manu-
facture of ma])le sugar and syrup are his
princi]ial resources. His sugar orchard,
numbering o\er two thousand trees, is one of
the finest in the state, and has averaged four
pounds to the tree in annual production.
Mr. t'uUington was chosen to the Legis-
lature of 1888 by the largest Republican
majority gi\en in the town of Cambridge.
He has been selectman and road commis-
sioner, and is now school director and school
superintendent. He is a modest man, the
possessor of good common sen.se, and of
undoubted intesjritv.
FREDERICK H. FULLINGTON.
He married, March 16, 1875, F^mma,
daughter of James F. and Clara (Davis)
I'aylor of Barton, by whom he has had two
I hildren : Fred Earl, and Stella Blanche.
FULTON, ROBERT REED, late of East
Corinth, son of Robert and .\bigail (Smith)
Fulton, was born in Newbury, May 20, 1824.
Mr. Fulton's father was born in Scotland
and emigrated to .America in 1801. Imme-
diately on his arrival he removed to New-
bury and there settled. Mr. Fulton's mother
was the daughter of Col. John Smith of
Revolutionary fame, who moved to Newbury
in 1780. Descended from such ancestry,
from his boyhood days he won the esteem
and confidence of his townsmen. .Although
his early life was spent on one of Vermont's
hill farms, Mr. Fulton received what was for
his generation a liberal education, attending
the Thetford and Corinth Academies.
Besides holding the minor offices in his
native town, he was chosen its representa-
tive in 1867 and 1868. In 1870 he estab-
•52
lished himself as a merchant in the village of
Kast Corinth. He was. in iS88, chosen to
represent Corinth in the legislature and was
also postmaster for many years, which office
he held till the time of his death, Jan. i8,
1893.
ROBERT REED FULTON
In politics he was a pronounced Republi-
can, and in religion a worthy member of the
Congregational church. .\ man of generous
impulses, unassuming, kind and courteous
was Robert Reed Fulton.
He was married to Annie Halley, in
November, 186 1, daughter of James Halley
of Newbury, who survives without issue.
FURMAN, Daniel G., of Swanton. was
the son of Warren S. and Mary A. (Ware)
Furman, and was born in Elizal)ethtown, N.
Y., August 22, 1855.
He was indebted to the New Hampton
Institute at Fairfa.\ for his educational train-
ing. Mr. Furman studied law with George
W. Newton of St. .Albans and the Hon. H.
A. Burt of Swanton, and was admitted to the
bar in Franklin county, September, 1876.
He practiced two years in Berkshire, after
which he removed to Swanton, where he has
established a large and successful business.
As a Democrat, he was elected as the rep-
resentative of the town of Swanton in 1888,
and was a candidate for the speakership, and
in 1893 was appointed United States Consul
at Stanbridge, P. Q.
DANIEL G. FURMAN.
Mr. Furman married, Sept. 8, 1880
Flizabeth M., daughter of Hiram and
beth (P.arr) Best. One daughter and
blessed their union : Berenice Mav
Willis B.
, Miss
Kliza-
a son
and
G.4LHJP, O. M., of Victory, son of
.Amos and Emoline Gallup, was born in
Wakefield, N. B., March 21, 1838.
His father was a prominent farmer and
business man. Mr. Gallup received a fair
education in the common schools of the
town, and began his career as a driver of
logs. Mr. Gallup had a great natural apti-
tude and desire for large operations and
soon commenced railroad building. His
first work being the Hopkinton & Milford
R. R., he next built the .Acton & Nashua
R. R., and then went to Woods River Junc-
tion, R. I., and constructed the railroad there
and afterwards the larger portion of the
Kingston & Narragansett road. He soon
came to A'ermont and built forty- one miles
of road from the town of Johnson to the
Lake. He then constructed the Profile &
Franconian Notch R. R., opening up this
important summer resort in the White
Mountains. Later he built the docks at
Swanton and the Champlain House at
Maouam Bav, at a cost of §28,000.
His next enterprise was tlie link connect-
ing Betiilehem, N. H., with the main line
and after this he constructed thirteen miles
of railroad to Maquam I5ay and Roiise's
Point.
In 1880 he came to X'ictory and with C.
H. Stevens bought the mill now called
'" Gallup's Mills," but his partner soon sokl
out. At this time there was not a good
highway in the place, and Mr. Gallup at
■once surveyed a route for a railroad at his
own expense and obtained by personal
effort a large part of the subscription for the
enterprise, contributing fifteen hundred
dollars on his own account ; then he took
the contract to build the road at a losing
price, that the town might recei\e the bene-
fit of it. From that time to the present he
has been engaged in his mill, although he
has since built a road for the Wild River
Lumber Co., in the western part of Maine.
Mr. (Jallup was elected to the Legislature
in 1S92 from Victory as a Democrat. He
takes a great interest in every movement
which conduces to the moral and material
well-being of his community, and has been
a liberal contributor to all worthy enterprises
in the community, having donated land for
the schools and churches of the ])lace
Mr. Gallup was married July 3, 1883, to
Miss Mary .A. Cutter, daughter of .\. B. Cut-
ter of Bradford, Mass. Four children have
blessed their union, of whom two are living :
.^nnie, and Frank.
CAGE. ,53
GAGH, Sidney, of Westminster, son of
\\'illiam P. and Laura AL (Richmond) Gage,
was born in NVestminster, Nov. 25, 1853.
His education was confined to the com-
mon schools of \\'estminster, and after his
somewhat limited schooling, he engaged in
the employ of his father in the manufacture
of baskets, and later succeeding his father,
has continued in the same business to the
present time.
He has been called upon to assume the
responsibility of some of the town offices in
his native place, and in 1892 represented
Westminster in the General .\ssembly. Mr.
(iage is a member of the board of trustees of
the Bellows Falls Savings Institution, having
served in that capacity since 1889. An
earnest, honest, upright citizen, he has won
the esteem and good will of his fellow citi-
zens.
SIDNEY GAGE.
Mr. Gage was married in Bellows Falls,
Feb. 21, 1877, to Fllen L., daughter of
.•\lbert E. and Lucy M. (I)a\is) Leonard of
Grafton.
GARDNER, ABRAHAM BROOKS, of
Pownal, son of Samuel J. and Jennette
(Merchant) (Gardner, was born at Pownal,
Jan. 6, 1858.
.■\fter his education was finished in the
Bennington public schools, he labored on
his father's farm, where he remained until
his twenty-seconcl year, when he bought an
estate of his own.
154
In 1 886 Mr. (iardner was elected to rej)-
resent his town in tlie Legislature, an office
which he ably filled for one term. For the
past four years he has been, and is now, one
of the selectmen of Fownal.
/d^— ^^^
I
ing convalescent was put in charge of the
muster rolls at Sloan Hospital. He received
an honorable discharge from the service in
1865.
Soon after leaving the army, Mr. Gates
entered the drug store of J. C. Brigham of
St. Johnsbury. In 1868 he removed to
Morrisville and engaged in the same busi-
ness, and built up an excellent trade, from
which ill health compelled him to retire in
1893.
He was united in marriage, June 7, 1869,
to Florence H., daughter of Col. Jonas and
Delia (Prouty) Cutting, formerly of Stowe.
Their children are : Lillian L. ( Mrs. HoUis
M. Chase), who was an adopted daughter,
Henry Franklin (deceased), and Albert
Oscar.
Mr. Gates is a Republican in his political
predilections, and has been auditor of ac-
counts fifteen years, member of the board of
trustees of People's Academy and is one of
the school directors of Morristown. He has
served upon the Republican committee of
the First District of Vermont and been ap-
pointed chief of staff of Governor Fuller
with the rank of colonel.
He is also a prominent member of the
Masonic body. He is in religious prefer-
ence a Ba])tist.
Mr. Gardner was married in October, 18S0,
to Miss Audria M., daughter of D. F. and H.
E. Bates. Their three children are : Flor-
ence A., Daniel F., and Jennette M.
GATHS, AMASA O., of Morrisville, son
of Daniel F. and I.avina (Jordan) Gates,
was born in Morristown, .April 25, 1842.
Of Revolutionary ancestry, his education
was obtained in the common schools and the
People's Academy of Morristown, at which
academy he was prepared for Middlebury
College, which he entered in the class of
i860. He remained in college till his junior
year, when he enlisted in the L'nion army.
In December, 1S63, he was mustered into
the service as ist sergeant of Co. C, 17th
Regt. Vt. Vols., and ])articipated in the bat-
tles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, and
North .Anna. He was then taken sick and
sent to Campbell Hospital, and then to his
home on furlough. To such a degree was
he reduced by illness, that he was "brought
the whole way on a stretcher. At the e.x-
piration of his leave of absence, he went to
the Cteneral Hospital at Montpelier and be-
Colonel Gates has for thirty years been
affiliated with Free Masonry, during which
period he has belonged to Mt. ^'ernon
Lodge He was a charter member of J. M.
Warren Post, No. 4, G. A. R., Morrisville,
has held the position of adjutant and for
three years been its commander. He has
'55
been lor two years inspector of department
of Vermont and twice has been honored
with the office of delegate to the national
encampment.
GIDDINGS, William H., of Water-
bury, son of William, Jr., and Betsey (Wal-
lace) Giddings, was born in Bakersfield,
Oct. 24, 1840.
After the customary common school edu-
cation in Bakersfield he resolved to follow
the medical profession and for this jnirpose
commenced his studies with Dr. \\ . R.
Hutchinson of Enosburgh. He then entered
the medical department of the University of
Vermont from which he received a diploma,
graduating in the class of 1866. He com-
menced the practice of his profession in his
native town where he remained actively en-
gaged until April, i^g2, when he was chosen
acting superintendent of the \'ermont Asy-
lum for the Insane, and the wisdom of his
selection to this position was confirmed by
his appointment as superintendent a few
months after. This office he still continues
to hold.
He was united in wedlock in Bakersfield,
Feb. 1 1, 1868, to Sarah A., daughter of John
and Betsey (Pierson) Perkins. One child
has been born to them : Florence F.
Dr. Giddings was elected a member of
the Constitutional Convention in 1870 and
by the vote of his Republican constituents
he was sent as town representative to the
Legislature ten years after, and was finally
elected senator from Franklin county in
1888, where he served with marked ability
as the chairman of the committee on the
insane.
GILL, Daniel Oscar, of Springfield,
son of Charles and Sophia (Healey) Gill,
was born at Hartland, August 15, 1837.
When Daniel was three years old, he was
adopted by his uncle, Daniel A. Gill, and
educated in the public schools of Springfield
and at Kimball Union Academy at Meriden,
N. H. Mr. Gill was bred a farmer, and
never forgetting "that the cultivation of the
earth is the most independent labor of man "
has remained a farmer during a long and
useful life. He now owns and superintends
several estates. On one of these his father
was born and lived eighty-nine years. Dur-
ing the last five years Mr. Gill has resided
in Springfield, where he has some important
interests, and is a partner in the firm of
Noyes & Gill. He is also a stockholder and
'director in the Jones & Lamson Machine
Co., of Springfield. He has been often
called upon to settle estates and act as
guardian, all of which trusts he has ably and
faithfiilly discharged.
As a member of the Republican party he
has been called continuously for thirty years
to some town office and has been a justice
of the peace for nearly a (juarter of a cent-
ury. In 1886 he represented Springfield in
the House and was a member of the com-
mittee on railroails. 'I'he only se<ret society
with which he is affiliated is the Springfield
Grange, P. of II.
.Mr. Gill was united in marriage Jan. 27,
1864, to Helen C, daughter of Captain
John and Elizabeth (Clough) Westgate, of
Plainfield, N. H. She died within two years
of their marriage. He contracted a second
marriage with Miss Jennie I.., daughter of
Rev. (ieorge D. and Fanny (\\'hite) l!ut-
terfield, of Monticello, Iowa. Two children
have blessed their union : Frank D., and
Fred Butterfield.
GLEASON, Carlisle Joyslin, of
Montpelier, son of Huzziel and Emily H.
(Richardson) Gleason, was born in Warren,
Oct. 23, 1831.
He was prepared for college at the West
Randolph Academy, and was graduated
from Dartmouth College with the class of
i
CARLISLE JOYSLIN GLEASON.
1856, receiving the degree of .\. B. In col-
lege, he was a member of the Social Friends
and Delta Ka]5pa Epsilon societies. Enter-
ing the law office of Timothy P. Redfield in
Montpelier, he pursued his studies there
until February, 1857, when he was made
principal of the Central grammar S(;hool,
Peabody, Mass. During this time he con-
tinned his legal studies, returning to Mont-
pelier in July, 1S58, where he resumed his
place in Mr. Redfield's office. He was
admitted to the bar Oct. 4, 185 8, but still
continued with Mr. Redfield as student and
assistant till Jan. i, 1861, when he became a
partner under the firm name of Redfield &
Gleason. He was associated with Mr. Red-
field until the latter was elected, in 1870, a
judge of the Supreme Court. During this
time he was actively engaged in his pro-
fession.
In 1856 and during the extra session of
1857 he was reporter of the Vermont Senate
and in the following year he performed the
same duties in the House of Representa-
tives. Though almost a stranger in Mont-
pelier, he received the appointment of
reporter of the Senate in the contest insti-
tuted by the late Hon. E. P. Walton, upon
whom at that time devolved the duty of
making this appointment. There were ten
or twelve candidates, and just before the
opening of the session, Judge Luke P.
Poland was to deliver an opinion in a case of
considerable importance. On the morning
of the day on which the opinion was to be
delivered, Mr. Walton informed the aspirants
that he would appoint the candidate who
should produce the best report of it. Mr.
Gleason's report was judged the best, and he
received the appointment. In 1859 and
1S60 Mr. (;ieason was secretary of the Ver-
mont Senate.
January i, 1872, he formed a copartnership
with Henry K. Field, Esq., and they carried
on a successful practice at Montpelier.
Their clients were largely from Boston and
New York. In 18S1 Mr. Gleason retired
from the active practice of his profession.
In 18S2 and 1883 he was chairman of the
board of listers and assessors and also justice
of the peace. In the spring of 1885, he
took charge of the American Mortgage and
Investment Co., in Boston, Mass., and acted
as attorney, director and treasurer in closing
up the business of that company. In June,
18S5, he was elected director and treasurer
of the .American Investment Co., of Nashua,
N. H., and had charge of the Boston office
of that company till March, 1891, when he
returned to his former residence in Mont-
pelier, which he has since made his home.
He is now a member of the firm of Goss &
(ileason of Vergennes, manufacturers of
kaolin and owners of the Monkton Kaolin
Works. Mr. Gleason claims to have retired
from acti\e business, but there are few men
who are more industriously employed. His
real estate investments in Montpelier and
Washington county require his constant care
and he bears the reputation of being a care-
ful and successful financier.
He was married, Dec. 12, i860, to Ellen
Jeannette, daughter of Oramel H. and Mary
(Goss) Smith, of Montpelier.
Mr. Gleason is a staunch Democrat, but
he has not sought political office, preferring
to give his attention to professional duties
and in later years to business pursuits. He
has been United States commissioner since
his appointment by Judge Woodruff" in 1873 ;
the office came to him unsolicited.
GLEASON, Henry Clay, of Rich-
mond, son of Rolla and Jenette T. (Mason)
Gleason, was born in Richmond, March 28,
1S51.
His education was obtained from the
common schools of his native town and at
Barre .\cademy. When quite young he
entered on his business career in a small
way as a speculator in poultry and farm pro-
duce ; from the profits thus realized he pur-
chased a farm and followed by other invest-
ments in real estate. For a period of eleven
years beginning under Grant's last adminis-
tration he was mail agent on the Central
Vermont R. R., between St. .\lbans and Bos-
ton, and having half the time to devote to
his personal affairs he continued in other
lines of business and also operated in the
lumber trade in which he is still engaged.
Since leaving the mail service he has given
special attention to farming and dairy
products. In this he has been successful
and by his advanced methods has been en-
abled to winter sixty cows and four horses.
.Among his other enterprises was a creamery
which he started simply as a private affair to
manufacture the butter from his own dairy.
From this small beginning it has increased
to such an e.\tent that he is now receiving
the milk of some 5,000 cows from which his
daily manufacture of butter is more than
3,000 pounds.
He was married in 1S79, to Katie I).,
daughter of Albert and Mariette ( Williams )
Town. Two daughters were born to them :
Grace J., and Gladys M.
Mr. Gleason is a sound Republican in his
political faith. His father was an active and
well known politician and the disposition to
take a deep interest in all public matters
seems to have been inherited by the son ;
his private business, however, has occupied
so much of his care and attention that he
has been unable to accept many of the town
offices which have been tendered him. He
represented his town in the Legislature in
1888 and is at the present time serving as
one of the state senators of Chittenden
county.
GLEASON, JOSEPH THOMAS, of
Lyndonville, son of George and Sabrina
( Thomas ) Gleason, was born in Lunenburg,
June 18, 1844. He is the seventh in lineal
descent from John 1 [owe of Sudbury, Mass.,
whose progenitor was John Howe, a War-
wickshire squire, and kinsman of Sir ("harles
Howe of Lancaster in the reign of Charles
I. John Howe of Sudbury was one of the
petitioners in 1657 for the grant constitu-
ting the town of Afarlboro, Mass. Both the
paternal and maternal grandfathers of ]. T.
Gleason served in the war of the Revolution,
the latter holding a commission as lieuten-
ant in a New Hampshire regiment. His
grandfather, Joseph Gleason, came to Lunen-
burg in 1S02 where for half a century he was
deacon in the Congregational church. His
father, George Gleason, eighty-four years of
■■•-•i'?<3fHfW^lf^W
THOMAS GLEASON
age, lives in Lunenburg, one of its solid men,
a former captain of militia and a deacon of
the Baptist church.
After receiving his education in the
schools of Lunenburg Mr. J. T. Gleason en-
listed in December, 1861, in Co. K, 8th
Regt. Vt. Vols., drilled with the regiment
for a brief period and was then rejected on
account of his extreme youth. Anxious still
to serve his country in her hour of peril he
re-enlisted in Co. E, 15th Vt. Vols., in
August, 1862. When the regiment took up
the route for Gettysburg Mr. Gleason, or-
dered to the hospital by the surgeon on ac-
count of illness, refused to obey and marched
with his command to Gettysburg, serving
with it until it was honorably discharged
at the close of its period of enlistment.
During the war he contracted disabilities
from which he has never fullv recovered.
GLE.ASON. 15^
.\fter his return he engaged in agricult-
ural pursuits. In 1874 he began the study
of law in the office of Joseph P. Lamson,
Lsq., of Cabot, and then pursued his pro-
fessional researches under W. W. Eaton,
Esq., of West Concord, until the spring of
rS75, when he opened an office for himself
He was admitted to practice at the Vermont
bar in 1876 and entered into copartnership
with (). F. Harvey, Esq., at West Concord
which connection was dissolved in 1877. ^'^
year afterward he removed to Lyndonville
where he was the first member of his pro-
fession to open an office and where he now
resides. Well read in the law and trusted
by the people of the vicinage he has built up
a large general practice embracing the set-
tlement of many estates, while of all the
suits he has brought, he has never lost but
one. His title of judge he derives from his
election to an associate judgeship of the
Caledonia county court. Coming to Lyn-
donville two years before its incorporation
Judge Gleason drew up its charter, put it
through the Legislature and at once took a
prominent part in settlement of the many
questions that would naturally arise in the
new town and was identified with every step
of its progress. His readiness of speech
and clearness of statement gave him a prom-
inent place in the deliberative assemblies of
Lyndon, where, a staunch Republican, he has
been for several years auditor and modera-
tor, also serving since 1S86 as chairman of
the Republican town committee.
He owns and resides in one of the hand-
some mansions of Lyndonville, having been
married, Sept. 9, 1884, to Mary S., daughter
of Roswell and Laodicea (Holbrook)Aldrich.
They have one daughter : Louise M.
Judge Gleason is a Congregationalist in his
religious belief and has taken a deep and
abiding interest in the Masonic order, being
a member of Crescent Lodge No. 66, F. &
A. M., Lyndonville, and Palestine Com-
mandery K. T., Caledonia Council R. & S.
M., Haswell Royal Arch Chapter of St.
Johnsbury. He is serving his second term
as (Srand Patron of the Grand Chapter of
the Order PZastern Star of A'ermont and is
also a member of Farnsworth Post No. 106,
G. A. R., of Lyndonville and is its efficient
adjutant.
foseph Thomas Gleason serves as an illus-
tration of a typical New Englander, who,
coming out of the war broken in health and
without a dollar, commanded success from
adverse circumstances.
GLEASON, Richardson J., of Waits-
field, son of Huzziel and Emily (Richard-
son) Gleason, was born in Warren, Dec.
28, 1828.
Mr. Gleason's early youth and manhood
1 5 8 GI.EASON.
were passed upon the farm, and he received
such an education as could be obtained in
the common schools of Warren and Waits-
field. In 1S49 he entered the employment
of Mr. Richardson of the latter place and
remained with him three years. He then
removed to Royalton and gave his services
to Daniel Tarbell for two years. At the end
of that time he returned to Waitsfield and
was employed as clerk by Cyrus Skinner.
In 1855 he conducted a union store in the
village and afterward formed a mercantile
partnership with Judge J. H. Hastings which
continued for four years. Since then he has
been in trade at AVaitsfield, and has been an
important factor in the business life of the
place.
Mr. Gleason is a Republican. The esti-
mation in which he is held is amply attested
by the trusts conferred upon him. He has
held nearly every town office, settled several
estates and acted as trustee in many im-
portant matters, .\mong the many impor-
tant appointments bestowed upon him are
town clerk and treasurer. These positions
he has occupied for nearly forty years. He
was made assistant postmaster in 1S5S and
in tS6i was appointed postmaster, which
place he retained until his resignation in
1889. He was sent to the state Legislature
in i8go and served on the grand list com-
mittee.
He married, March 31, 1856, Mary L.,
daughter of Captain Crowell and Almira
Pease Matthews of Waitsfield. Their chil-
dren are : Herbert C, Marj- E., Jennie M.,
and Louise R.
Mr. Gleason belongs to the Congrega-
tional church and for a long time has been
the treasurer of that society in Waitsfield.
GLEASON, Samuel Mills, of Thet-
ford, son of Richard Mills and Harriet
(Moxley) Gleason, was born at Thetford,
June 28, 1833.
He was fittted for college at Thetford
Academy, under Hiram Orcutt, and gradu-
ated at Dartmouth College in 185S. He read
law with Cornelius ^V. Clarke, Esq., of Chel-
sea, and was admitted to the bar in 1861.
He at once commenced the practice of
law at Thetford Center, where he has con-
tinued ever since. He is one of the best
known and most successful lawyers of this
section. He was state's attorney in 1864
and 1865, and again in 1868 and 1869.
While acting in that capacity he conducted
successfully many important criminal cases.
In the long contested chancery case of Bick-
nell and Pollard against the Vermont Copper
Mining Co., supposed to involve the sum of
§500,000, he was associated with Hon. John
W. Rowell, and argued the case for an entire
day before the general term of the Supreme
Court, receiving the congratulations of Chief
Justice Pierpoint. In 1883 he was appointed
receiver of all the immense mining and
other property in controversy (in the suits
against the \'ermont Copper Mining Co.,
Vermont Copper Co., and Ely Goddard &
Cazin), which was once valued at more than
a million dollars, and he has successfully dis-
charged that trust.
Judge Gleason married, May 19, 1S62,
Sarah Lysenbee, daughter of Dr. Enoch Hil-
ton and .Arvilla Smith (Brown) Pillsbury ot
Hubbardston, Mass.
He represented Thetford in the Legisla-
ture in 1864 and 1865 and was senator in
1880. He is one of the trustees of Thetford
Academv, and of the State Normal School
SAMUEL MILLS GLEASON.
at Randolph, and was a director and attor-
ney of the West Fairlee Savings Bank. He
was elected in 1893 a trustee of the Brad-
ford Savings Bank and Trust Co. In 1880
he was appointed by Governor Farnham
chairman of the board of railroad commis-
sioners for two years, and filled this respon-
sible position to the satisfaction of the
public as well as of the railroad companies.
He has been town clerk many years, and
was elected judge of probate for the district
of Bradford in Orange county, in September,
1886, by a large majority, and later by every
vote of both political parties in the district,
which office he now holds.
Judge Gleason is a man universally es-
teemed for his many estimable qualities.
GOODELL, Jerome Winthrop, of
Burlington, son of Ira and Sila (Holmes)
Goodell, was born in West Townshend, Oct.
29, 1842.
His educational advantages were received
in the Townshend public schools followed bv
one term in the Leland & Gray Seminary of
that place. He then worked with his father
and at Keene, N. H., in a lumber mill, till
COODELI.. 159
He has taken thirty-two degrees in the
order of Free Masonry and has held most of
the offices in the various organizations. He
is Sublime I'rince of the Royal Secret and
member of the \'ermont Consistory of Bur-
lington. He has also taken all degrees in
the order of Odd Fellows, was made Grand
Patriarch in 1890, Grand Master in 189 1
and the following year was elected by the
Grand Lodge as (Irand Representative for
\ermont for two years. He is a member of
the Royal .\rcanum and the American Legion
of Honor. He adheres to the tenets of the
Methodist church.
-Mr. Goodell married, March 16, 187 1,
Mary C, daughter of Luther and Mary
(Thomas) Sampson of Wayne, Me.
GOODELL, Tyler D., of Readsboro,
was born in that town, Nov. 10, 1849, the
son of David and Sabrina ( Hicks) Goodell.
The parentage of Mr. Goodell was of New
Lngland stock and he inherited many of the
characteristics for which New Knglanders of
the old school are distinguished.
JEROME WINTHROP GOODELL.
he arrived at his majority. Returning to his
father with whom he remained till 1864, he
then changed his residence to Boston, Mass.,
where he was employed as a clerk in a fur-
nishing store on Washington street for six
years. In 1870 he commenced to act as a
commercial traveler for the house of George
M. Cilaziel & Co. In 1874 he settled in
Burlington, where he held the office of
superintendent of the Burlington Manufact-
uring Co., but two years after the firm of J.
W. Goodell & Co. was established which
continued until 1885 when the copartner-
ship was dissolved and Mr. Goodell con-
tinued his business alone, engaging in the
working of marble and granite which has
proved both successful and remunerative.
He is also engaged in the manufacture of
patent box binders.
Mr. Goodell for two years served as alder-
man for the sth ward of the city of Burling-
ton and since the establishment of a board
of managers for the water system has been
one of the commissioners. He has been
elected to many minor offices by the votes of
the dominant jiarty.
i'he early life of Mr. Goodell was spent in
acquiring an education and upon the farm,
and for ten years from his twenty-fifth birth-
day he was a stage dri\er from Readsboro.
.'\bout 1874 Mr. (loodell purchased the
Goodell House of Readsboro, and since that
time has successfully conducted that well-
known establishment, making it a model
country hotel and jiresiding over his guests
i6o
GOODENOUGH.
with a grace e(|ualled only by the boniface
of old.
Mr. Goodell married, first, June 25, 187 1,
Flora E., daughter of Rev. Jeremiah Gifford.
She died Dec. 26, 1874. The fruits of this
marriage were Hallie T., and Flora E. He
married, second, Feb. 12, 1879, Ida M.,
daughter of E. W. and G. M. Robertson of
Readsboro. Of this union were four sons,
two of whom are living : Earl W., and Har-
vey E.
Always afililiating with the dominant party
he has received many honors at their hands.
Besides holding many local positions he has
three times represented his town in the Leg-
islature, viz. : in the sessions of 1880, 1886
and 1892.
Although not rabid on the subject of tem-
perance, Mr. Goodell believes in the uphold-
ing and honoring of the prohibitory laws of
the state, and has fully demonstrated that
^'ermont hotels can be successfully con-
ducted without selling liquor.
GOODHUE, Homer, of Westminster
West, son of Deacon Ebenezer and Lydia
HOMER GOODHUE.
(Ranney) Goodhue, was born in Westmin-
ster, March 4, 181 1.
He received his early education in the
common schools of his native town and at
the Deerfield, Mass., and Bennington
Academies, graduating from the latter in
1828, when he returned to Westminster and
taught school for two winters, spending his
summers on the farm.
In I S3 1 he went to Charlestown, Mass.,
where he was employed as an attendant in
the McLane Asylum for the Insane, from
which place he was promoted, after three
years of service, to that of supervisor, which
position he held for eighteen years, when he
resigned and returned to Westminster in
1852.
In iS53-'54 Mr. Goodhue travelled ex-
tensively in the United States and British
provinces, in the company of a private
patient under his care.
After his return Mr. Goodhue took a lead-
ing part in town affairs, and since that time
has held all the various town offices, and
represented his town in the Legislatures of
1863 and 1865. He was also elected state
senator in 1866 and 1867, and filled the
position creditably to himself and acceptably
to his county and state. He served as
county commissioner from i860 to 1S75,
and was appointed by the Legislature in
1867 a commissioner of the insane, and re-
appointed in 1868.
In 1882 he was chosen one of the state
board of supervisors of the insane, which
position he has continuously held since that
time, serving the board as chairmain during
the past eight years. Mr. ( loodhue has
never yet failed to be present at the regular
monthly meetings of the board in Brattle-
boro and generally in Waterbury. He has
had more practical experience in the care
and management of the insane and insane
asylums than any other man in Vermont, and
probably in New England. His judgment
has often been sought by persons engaged
in this specialty.
Mr. Goodhue was married March 8, 1855,
to 1 )elyra, daughter of James and Patience
(Hallett) Tuthill. She "died Nov. 21, 1893.
GOODENOUGH, JONAS Eli, of
Montpelier, son of Alonzo l']. and Elizabeth
( Roulston) Goodenough, was born in Berlin,
Oct. 22, i860, on the farm originally bought
and settled on by Joseph Goodenough in
1794.
He was educated in the district schools
and Washington county grammar school,
taught school several winters, and studied
dentistry with Dr. O. P. Forbush of Mont-
pelier, receiving a certificate of qualification
from the state board of dental examiners.
August I, i8S4,he entered the Montpelier
post-office as clerk under Postmaster George
^^'. Wing, and was appointed assistant post-
master June 16, 1888, which position he re-
tained till the expiration of the term of Mr.
Wing's successor, Mr. Morse, when Mr.
Goodenough was appointed postmaster by
President Harrison, taking possession of the
i6i
office August I, 1892. He has administered
the duties of the office to the satisfaction of
the entire community and made many im-
provements in the service.
He is a member of Aurora Lodge, No. 22,
F. & A. M., of which he has been Master.
He is also a member of King Solomon
Lodge, Royal Arch Chapter, and Mount Zion
Comniandery.
JONAS ELI GOODENOUGH.
Mr. Goodenough married, Feb. iS, 1S89,
Eliza P., daughter of James H. and Cathar-
ine B. Holden of Middlesex.
GOODWIN, Elam Marsh, late of
Hartland, son of Israel and Betsey ( Mel-
endy) Goodwin, was born in Plainfield, Dec.
22, 1828.
Commencing his education in the com-
mon schools of Plainfield, he continued pur-
suing his studies at the People's Academy of
Morrisville and concluded them at the Green
Mountain Perkins Institute of South Wood-
stock. In early life he evinced a taste for
the natural sciences, and was always a great
reader and careful student in this field. He
had collected a very choice and well-selected
cabinet of minerals, shells, relics, and arch-
aeological curiosities. When he was twenty-
one he went to the West for a year, but re-
turned well satisfied to make Vermont his
home. In 1862 he purchased the farm on
which he resided until his death in 1890.
He was a successful teacher both before and
after he devoted himself to agricultural pur-
suits, and was a valuable member of the State
Board of .Agriculture.
Mr. (loodwin was an earnest Republican
and has held many official positions. He
was town su])erintendent of schools in Hart-
land and for many years town agent. He
represented Hartland several terms in the
House, was county commissioner, and sen-
ator from Windsor county in 1882. In the
House and Senate as elsewhere he was an
able and fluent speaker. The duties of
e.xecutor, trustee, guardian, referee and au-
ditor constantly devohed upon him with the
increasing confidence of his associates.
Mr. Goodwin was married March 17,
1869, to Ellen A., daughter of Seth and Eliza
Densmore Brewster of Hartland. Their only
child is Fred Marsh.
He was a Universalist, and during his
long life was a shining example of probit)',
maintaining a high standard of rectitude
among his friends and neighbors.
Ex-(;overnor Pingree in his memorial ad-
dress said : "He was ranked by all as a man
conspicuous for his natural and acquired abil-
ities, most of the time filling official posi-
tions in his town and county and constantly
attaining a wider and more pronounced rec-
ognition for qualities of heart, head and
character as a public man."
GOSS, Story N., of Chelsea, son of
Abel and Amanda (Hebard) Goss, was born
in Waterford, Feb. 7, 1831. His father was
a farmer, and Story remained upon the farm
until he was twenty-three years old.
Educated at the public schools of Water-
ford and later at the academies of St. Johns-
bury and Chelsea, he commenced to study
medicine with Doctors Bancroft and Newell
at St. Johnsbury and afterwards with Prof.
E. R. Peasley of Dartmouth College. He
graduated in 1S56 from the medical depart-
ment of Dartmouth College and in 1S57 he
received a degree from the Medical College
of New York. Later he accepted an ap-
pointment as senior physician on the staff
of Dr. Sanger at Blackwell's Island. Re-
maining there one year he returned to \'er-
mont and commenced the practice of his
profession in Georgia, where he continued
to live till the breaking out of the civil war.
Dr. Goss was married Jan. 4, 1S5S, to .Vnn
Eliza daughter of Stephen and Phoebe
( Hale ) Mncent of Chelsea, and four children
have been born to them : .Arthur Vincent,
Harry Hale, Walter Story, and Annie E.
Dr. (loss was commissioned assistant sur-
geon 9th Regt. Vt. \'ols., Sept. 26, 1862, and
ordered to report to the general hosjiital at
Brattleboro. Here he remained till .\])ril
when he received orders to join his regiment
in the field, previous to which he was pre-
sented with a sword by the patients and at-
tendants of the Brattleboro institution in
token of their high appreciation of his valu-
l62
able services. Continuing with the 9th Regt.
in the vicinity of Vorktown, he was com-
pelled to resign in October, i<S63, as he was
stricken down with malarial fever. Par-
tialh' recovering, his zeal for the cause led
him to re-enlist as acting assistant surgeon,
U. S. A., and was ordered again to Brattle-
boro and shortly afterwards to Fairfax Semi-
nary Hospital, Xa., at the time when the
battles of the Wilderness were fought. For
a third time he was stationed at Brattleboro
and later at Burlington until the close of the
war.
After his discharge from the service he re-
turned to Georgia and remained there till
1870, when he settled in Chelsea and has
practiced his profession there ever since.
Dr. Goss was one of the original members,
who constituted Waterson Post, No. 45, G.
A. R. He has been a Republican from his
youth. He was for several years superin-
Academy, and at the New Hampton (X. H.)
Institute.
After graduating from that institute, he
taught school in IJncoln and Starksboro
three years. He commenced business in
the fall of 1S73 by opening a retail boot and
shoe store, and continued in the same until
STORY N. GOSS.
tendent of schools at Georgia and also at
Chelsea. Dr. (ioss stands high in his pro-
fession as a public-spirited citizen and has
been for a long time the public health officer
of the town in which he resides.
GOVE, MOSES B., of Lincoln, son of
Daniel and Sarah (Taber) (Jove, was born
in Granville, N. Y., Sept. 28, 1847.
His parents removed to I.incoln when he
was five years old, where he has since re-
sided. He received his education at the
common schools of that town, at Barre
VIOSES 8. GO
(October, 1890, when at the organization of
the IJncoln Lumber Co., he became one of
the stockholders, and was elected secretary
and treasurer, and has held that position up
to the present time.
Mr. Gove has been prominently identified
with his town, and has held many positions
of honor and trust, having been a justice of
the peace continuously since 1874, town
clerk and treasurer since 1875, postmaster
from 1877 to the time of his resignation in
1890, assistant judge of Addison county
court, iS9i-'92, and a school director in
1893.
Judge (love has been a member of the
Methodist Episcopal church for more than
twenty years.
He was married Mav 10, 1870, to Miss
Mary E., daughter of Asa and Fannv Purin-
ton, and thev have had three daughters, one
of whom died in infancy, and two are living :
Amy Pearl, and Fanny Estelle.
GRANGER, PLINY NVE, of West
Burke, son of John and Eunice (Owen)
Granger, was born in Bethel, Nov. 26, 1823.
His education was received at the public
and private schools of IJethel and \\'ood-
stoclc. The family having removed to Wood-
stock when he was seventeen he assisted his
father, who was a carpenter and joiner by
trade, and afterwards was concerned in the
business of a butcher till 1.S45, when a strong
desire for adventure induced him to embark
at New Bedford on a whaling voyage as
ship's carpenter. This voyage extended
through three and a half years.
Returning in the fall of 1848 Mr. (Granger
resumed work at his carpenter's bench at
which he continued to labor till the spring
of 1853, when he was admitted to the M. E.
Conference and immediately began to preach
in various towns in the state. He continued
his duties as pastor for twenty years and
then assumed the position of agent for the
State Temperance Society, lecturing all over
Vermont and making his residence at
Peacham. Returning to his ministerial labors,
he is now stationed at West Burke. He has
always been a successful preacher, ever mak-
ing additions to the societies of which he has
had the pastoral charge. He has had few
active revivals but believes in constant regu-
lar work.
Mr. Granger's ancestors emigrated from
the old country to Amherst, Mass., and Suf-
field. Conn.
He was united in marriage ]\Iay 28, 1849,
to Sophia, daughter of Loring and Susan
(Metcalf) Richmond of Woodstock, who
died Dec. 24, 1S78, leaving issue: John
Lormg (deceased), Sarah J. (deceased),
Guy R., George H., one of a surveying
party which went up the Pearl river in 1880
and was never heard from; Susan L. (]\Irs.
Harrison McClachlin of Peacham), and
Frank P. September 7, 1880, Mr. Granger
married as his second wife Ellen E., daugh-
ter of Nathaniel P. and Lydia (Rollins)
Stevens of Derby.
Mr. Granger has occupied the responsi-
ble position of superintendent of schools in
the towns of Walden, Holland and Lyndon,
represented Peacham in the Legislature in
1 87 2. In 1^74 he was chosen a senator
from Caledonia county. He has served
eight years as commissioner both in Orleans
and Caledonia county. In 1880 and 1884
he was selected as delegate from the Ver-
mont annual conference to the General M.
E. Conference and has been for several
years trustee of the Vermont M. E. Semi-
nary, trustee and treasurer of the Preachers'
Aid Society and also served for a consider-
able time as steward of the M. E. Conference
and upon several other standing committees
of the church. Mr. Granger was presiding
elder of St. Albans district from 1S78 to
1882 and of St. Johnsbury district from 1882
to 1886. He has always been a steady ad-
GREENK. 163
vocate of temperance and has been eminent
in the order of Good Templars : was a
charter member of Lodge No. 7. He has
also served as delegate to the Grand Lodge
of \'ermont and to the Right Grand Lodge
when it assembled at Detroit, Mich.
GREENE, OLIN D., of Warren, son of
Milton and Aurora (Goodno) Greene, was
born Sept. 21, 1856, in Rochester.
Brought up as a farmer, he obtained his
education in the common schools of Roches-
ter and the State Normal .School at Ran-
dolph. Concluding to adopt the medical
profession, he studied for three years with
his brother. Dr. L. M. (Ireene of Bethel, and
meanwhile attended lectures at the U. \'. M.,
from which institution he graduated M. D.
in 1879.
Dr. Greene commenced prai tice in Roch-
ester, remained there one year and then re-
moved to \\'arren where his devotion to his
chosen profession has secured to him a large
and steadily increasing practice. He is a
member of the State Medical Society.
He was married March 4, 1879, 'o Emma
L., daughter of Richard and Clara ( Ray-
mond) Bee of Rochester. Their only child
is Mabelle S.
Dr. Greene belongs to the Republican
])arty, and though never an eager aspirant
for political honors, has occupied the office
of justice of the peace and in 1888 was
elected to represent Warren in the Legfsla-
ture, where he was a useful member of the
committee on manufactures.
Two brothers of Dr. (Ireene occupy the
pulpit, one in Lowell, Mass., and one in
\\akefield of the same state.
GROUT, DON D., of Waterbury, son of
Luman M. and Philura L (French) Grout,
was born in Morris\ille, April 24, 1849.
Pklucated at the People's Academy, Mor-
ris\ille, he taught for a time in Stowe and
HoUiston, Mass., and was the principal of
the academy at West Charleston.
Deciding upon a professional career he
began the study of medicine under Dr.
(ieorge A. Hinman of Charleston and later
with Dr. Edward S. Peck of New York.
This was followed by attendance at several
courses of lectures at Dartmouth and the
L'niversity of Vermont from which latter in-
stitution he graduated M. D. in 1872. Upon
his graduation Dr. (irout received the ap-
pointment of assistant physician in the
Kings County (N. Y.) Hospital and later
filled the same position at the asylum for the
insane at the same place. He began the
practice of his profession at Wolcott in 1873,
and in 1875 removed to Stowe where he
built up a lucrative practice, which he re-
linquished in the spring of 1890 to enter
I 64 UKOIT.
upon a larger field of activity, which he found
at AVaterbury, where he has since resided
and is actively engaged in his profession.
Politically, Dr. Cirout affiliates with the
dominant party of A'ermont, and that his ef-
forts ha\e been appreciated by his party is
evidenced by the positions of honor and
trust which have been given him. He was
superintendent of schools while in Wolcott ;
Royal Arch Masons and of Waterbury Coun-
cil of Royal and Select Masters. He has
for the past two years been the Worshipful
Master of Winooski Lodge.
(IRIFFIN, BenoNI, of Sudbury, son 'of
Benoni and Abigail (Ray) Griffin, was born
in Sudbury, March 26, 1809. The family
came originally from England and the name
of Benoni has descended from father to^son
for many generations both here and in the
uld country. His educational advantages
were limited to the common schools of Sud-
luiry and he went from these to labor upon
the farm. Mr. Griffin cultivates with great
success a large farm of three hundred acres
in extent. He also trades extensively in
I attle and is known as an honorable and
energetic dealer in those lines of business to
which he has given his attention.
As an adherent of the Republican party
he has held all the offices which could be
( onferred upon him by his fellow townsmen,
and he w-as elected member for Sudbury to
the state Legislature of 1880. Mr. Griffin
was employed as a recruiting officer during
the war of the rebellion.
while a resident of Stowe he represented that
town in the Legislature, serving on the com-
mittees of public health and lunatic asylums,
and had charge of the bill to locate and con-
struct a state asylum for the insane, and was
appointed by (;overnor Dillingham one of the
trustees for said institution, and had the per-
sonal supervision of the construction of a
portion of the buildings. He has held many
town offices and is at present one of the
AA'aterbury village trustees.
Dr. (Irout has been three times married.
In July, 1873, he married Nettie A., daughter
of John and Susan Jones of Barre, by whom
he has had two children, Inez L., and Luman
M. ])ecember 20, 18S1, he married Angle,
daughter of Venon and Eliza A\'ilkins of
Stowe. She left him four children : Annie
M., Josie R., Benjamin Harrison, and Angie.
In 1892 he married his present wife, Ida E.,
daughter of D. J. and Jane Morse of Water-
bury.
Dr. Grout is an active member of the Ma-
sonic fraternity, being a member of the
Winooski Lodge, A\'aterbury Chapter, of
BENONI GRIFFIN
Mr. Griffin'was united to Sarah W., daugh-
ter of Thomas and Dorcas ( Murray ) Miller,
March 12, 1840. Their children are: La-
Roy S., Edna J., Florence S., Ella C. (Mrs.
E. C. Spooner), Finest B., Rolla C, Mary
A., Nettie M., and Irwin B.
GROUT, JOSIAH, of Derby, son of
Josiah andSophronia (Ayer) Grout, was horn
of American parents in Compton, Canada,
May 28, 1842.
\\'hen six years of age his father removed
to \'ermont and he received his education in
the public schools and Orleans Liberal In-
stitute at Glover. He also commenced a
course of study at the St. Johnsbury .Acad-
emy, which he left to enlist Oct. 2, i86t, as
a private in Co. I, ist Vt. Cavalry. He
was mustered in on the organization of his
company as 2d lieutenant, promoted to cap-
tain in 1 86 2, and in 1864 was appointed
major of the 26th N. Y. Cavalry which was
organized for frontier service after the St.
Albans raid. While serving with the ist \'t.
he participated in seventeen different en-
(jRour. 165
cially e.\celling as a jury ad\ocate. In 1S80
he returned to X'erinont and has since
devoted himself solely to his extensive model
stock farm, his chief delight being farming —
and it well done. Major Grout's efforts as
an agriculturist and stock raiser have met
with great success and he possesses some of
the finest Jersey cattle, blooded .Morgan
horses and Shropshire shee]) in tlie Green
Mountain state.
Major Grout was united in marriage,
October, 1S67, to Harriet, daughter of .Aaron
and Nancy (Stewart) Hinman, one of the
leading families of Derby. They have one
son : .Aaron H.
Major Grout is an earnest Re])ublican.
He represented Newport in the Legislature
in 1872, 1874, and Derby in 1884, 1SS6 and
1S80. He was one of the Orleans county
senators in 1S92. He was speaker of the
House, in 1874, 1886 and 1888. He has
served as the chief executive officer of the
Republican Club at Derby, and was four
years vice-presdent and one year president
of the Vermont League of Republican Clubs.
He is liberal in his religious belief and has
been raised to the sublime degree of a-
Master Mason. During the three years he
was in Chicago, he built up a nice law
practice which was reluctantly exchanged
for business prospects at Moline, where for
two years he was one of the supervisors of
Rock Island county. He devotes himself
industriously and with conscientious purpose
to the accomplishment of all his undertak-
ings and can be literally regarded as one of
those who does with his might whatever his
hands find to do. Particularly is this
I'haracteristic of faithfulness noticeable in
the work he has bestowed in improving and
developing his farm and stock, which with a
pardonable pride he so cheerfully shows all
who call to see him.
gagements and was badly wounded in a
skirmish with the partisan leader Mosby,
April 1, 1863.
At the termination of the war he entered
the law office of his brother, General Grout,
at Barton where he continued till December,
1865, when he was admitted to practice in
the \'ermont courts. The following year he
removed to Island Pond where he had
charge of the Custom House for three years
and also served the same space of time in
the same capacity at St. .Albans and New-
port. In 1S74 he changed his residence to
Chicago and afterwards to Moline, 111.
While at Newport, before going West, he
practiced his profession with very great suc-
cess, ranking high as a lawyer and espe-
GROUT, Selim E., of St. johnsbury,
son of Theophilus and Hannah (Chick)
Grout, was born in Kirby, June 11, 1836.
His father first saw the light in the old
homestead now in the possession of Gen. W.
\\'. (irout, M. C, and died when Selim was
only eleven years old. .At that time the
farm was sold and Selim was thrown upon
his own resources to fight the battle of life
without paternal guidance at a critical age,
but he possessed the characteristic family
traits of courage, versatility and enterpri.se.
Beginning his education in the common
schools at Concord, he attended later the Lyn-
don .Academy. He worked upon the farm,
learned the trade of a shoemaker, carriage
maker and harness maker, acted as clerk,
then engaged in selling ice in New York
and creditably encountered the rough edge
of the world in many and waried caiiacities.
i66
Later he carried on the carriage and harness
business, and when the P. & O. R. R. was
completed in January, 1872, he was ap-
pointed the first station agent at West Con-
cord and acted nearly twenty years in that
capacity. During the latter part of this
period he gave his attention to manufactur-
ing chair stock, bobbins, and dressed lumber
until his works were burned down in 1890.
He also owned and carried on a large grist
mill at West Concord for several years.
SELIM E. GROUT.
Mr. Grout was married at Concord Sept.
18, 1862, to .Annette, daughter of Benjamin
and Sophronia (Richardson) Hutchinson of
^^'aterford. I'hey have adopted .Arthur Mur-
ray and Florence C. Grout.
Mr. Grout was a charter member of Essex
Grange P. of H. and also one of the original
members of Moose River Lodge, No. 82, F.
and A. M., and has passed through the chairs
of L and S. W. For two terms he served
his lodge as Worshipful Master.
From the beginning Mr. (irout has been
an active RepubHcan. A man of benevolent
impulses, he has been a 'useful and public-
spirited citizen, obliging and accommodating
often to his own loss. He represented Con-
cord in the Legislature of 1880. His stand-
ing in the community may be inferred from
the fact that he has been deputy and high
sheriff of Essex county for seventeen years,
auditor for six years, and was elected state
senator from Essex county in 1890.
GROUT, William W., of Kirby, was
born of American parents in Compton, P. Q.,
May 24, 1836. His ancestry is traced back
to Dr. John Grout who came from England
in 1630 and settled in Watertown, Mass. His
great-grandfather, Elijah Clrout, of Charles-
town, N. H., served as commissary in the
Rexolutionary war. His grandfather, Theo-
philus Grout, settled on the Moose river in
the new state of Vermont upon land after-
ward included in the present town of Kirby,
in the year 1799, and there cleared a large
farm which his father, Josiah Grout, after-
wards owned and on which he lived till near
the time of his death.
\\ illiam ^\'. Grout recei\"ed a common
school and academic education, and was
graduated at the Poughkeepsie (N. Y.) Law
School in 1857. He was admitted to the bar
in December of the same year, and settled
in the practice of the law at Barton. In July,
1862, he was nominated by the Republicans
of the county to the office of state's attor-
ney, but declined the nomination and en-
listed in a company then being raised in Bar-
ton for the civil war. On its organization he
was made captain, and subsequently was
promoted to be lieutenant-colonel of the
15th Regt., which was attached to the brig-
ade of General Stannard, afterward so famous
for the repulse of Pickett's charge at Gettys-
burg. The 15th Regt. did not remain at
Gettysburg till the close of the battle, but on
the afternoon of the second day was ordered
to the defence of the ist corps train, then
on the way to \\'estminster, and liable to at-
tack from Stuart's ca\alry, which were prowl-
ing in the rear of the L'nion army. A few
days after the regiment joined the brigade
at Funkstown, and the next day brought up
in front of the enemy at Hagerstown, and
Colonel (Irout with two hundred men from
the 1 6th Regt. went upon the skirmish line
against which the enemv was actively de-
monstrating, while Lee w-ith the bulk of his
army was crossing the Potomac. In August,
1863, Colonel Grout was mustered out with
his regiment on account of expiration of
term of service.
In the fall of 1864 the enemy raided St.
Albans, robbing banks, etc., and by order
of the (Governor of Vermont, Colonel Grout
was placed in command of the provisional
forces raised on the east side of the moun-
tain to guard the Canadian frontier. The
Legislature then in session organized three
brigades of militia, and Colonel Grout was
elected brigadier-general and assigned by
the Governor to the command of one of
them.
In 1865 he was elected state's attorney
of Orleans countv, and was re-elected in
1866. He represented Barton in 1868, 1S69,
1870, and 1874. In 1876 he was elected
i68
to the state Senate from the county of Or-
leans, and on organization was made presi-
dent pro temfiore of that body.
In 1878 he was nominated for Congress
by the Repiibhcans of the third district, but
was beaten by Bradly Barlow, a greenbacker.
In iSSo he was elected to the Forty-seventh
Congress from the third district. By the
tenth census Vermont lost a member, and the
third was absorbed by the first and second
districts, (jeneral Grout was a candidate for
nomination in the second district in 1882,
but was beaten by Judge Poland, ex-member
of both House and Senate, and ex-chief judge
of the Supreme Court. In 1S84 General
Grout was nominated by the Republicans of
the second district and was elected to the
Forty-ninth Congress by a majority of nearly
thirteen thousand, and has since been re-
elected to the Fiftieth, Fifty-first, Fiftv-sec-
ond, and Fifty-third Congresses, invariably
running ahead of his ticket. He has served
on the committees on territories, levees and
im])rovements of the Mississippi River, edu-
cation, District of Columbia (of which he
was chairman in the Fiftv-first Congress),
expenditures in the interior and treasury de-
partments, and upon the committee on ap-
propriations, of which he is now a member.
Meantime General Grout has been en-
gaged in an active law practice till quite re-
cently, and all the time interested in agri-
culture. He now owns and resides upon
the old homestead in Kirby where his grand-
father settled in 1799, and which has been
in the family ever since.
(General Grout married Loraine M. Smitn
in i860, who died in 1868. He buried two
children in infancy. He has not remarried.
GROUT, THEOPHILUS, of Newport,
son of Josiah and Sophronia (Ayer) (Jrout,
was born in Compton, P. Q., Sept. 3, 1848.
His early education was received in the
public schools of Concord followed by an
academic course at the institutions at St.
Johnsbury, Newbury and Mclndoes Falls,
after which, as he had resolved to adopt the
legal profession as his life work, he com-
menced his studies in the office of Bisbee
& Grout and was admitted to the bar of
Orleans county at the September term in
187 1. He commenced to practice in the
town of Newport and with the exception of
one year which he spent in Galveston, Tex.,
he continued his professional career in that
place, having some of the time been in
partnership with his brother Josiah and C.
A. Prouty, Esq , but chiefly by himself. In
1878 he was made state's attorney and he
has been connected with many important
cases in the county. In 1880 Mr. Grout
was chosen member of the Legislature to
represent Newport, in which body he served
with marked ability on the committees to
which had been entrusted the revision of the
statutes and the rules. In educational af-
fairs, he has always taken an active interest,
has acted as superintendent of schools and
trustee of Newport Academy. In these
duties his early experience must have been
of service, for he had been an instructor in
his youth, having taught in several educa-
tional establishments in the northern jiart of
the state.
He was united in marriage Nov. 25, 1873,
to Ellen A., daughter of Charles and Mary
(Stubbs) Black of CJalveston, Texas, and of
this union there are issue : Charles T., and
Addie Lou.
Mr. Grout is a member of the Protestant
Episcopal church, in which he is a warden
and lay reader and is active in the work of
the Sunday school.
In Free Masonry he has received the
honors of the 32d degree and he is the act-
ing prelate of Malta Commandery No. 10,
of Newport. When he withdrew from pro-
fessional practice in 1891 he became editor
and proprietor of the Newport Express and
Standard, which journal he continues to
imblish till the present time.
i69
HAILE, Benjamin Harrison, of Mont-
gomery, son of Nathan and .Mary Ann (Tar-
bell) Haile, was born in Montgomerv, Dec.
26, 1S46.
The family of Haile came from Scotland
to Rhode Island at an early day in the col-
onial period. Nathan Haile was an early
settler in .Montgomery, a farmer and a lum-
berman.
Henjamin was the fourth child of a family
of five, and was born on the farm where he
now resides. He received his education in
the schools of Montgomery. Early inured
to the labor of a farm, he developed a
sturdy physique and unusual executive ability,
and from the time of his arrival at man's
estate has taken charge of all the business
appertaining to his father's farm and also of
other properties which he has purchased
from time to time. In the winter he devotes
his attention to lumbering. In every calling
he has met with merited success. He was
largely instrumental in establishing a co-
operative creamery at Montgomery.
Like his namesake Mr. Haile is a stalwart
Republican, and he has filled many public
positions. In his native town, composed
largely of a foreign element, his wise counsel
and prudent advice have been influential
and beneficial in the management of public
affairs, and he was a useful member of the
House of Representatives in 1888. He has
been county commissioner.
Mr. Haile married in 1880, Hattie, daugh-
ter of .\. P. and Harriet (Rawson) Richard-
son. Their children are : John Rawson, and
Clarence Hamilton.
HALE, Harry, late of Rindge, N. H.,
Windsor and Chelsea, was born in Rindge,
N. H., Feb. 10, 1780. His father. Colonel
Nathan Hale, who had been at home after
July, 1777, upon his limited parole to return
within the enemy's lines at the end of two
years, if not sooner exchanged, had left home
pursuant to the terms of his parole, to return
within the enemy's lines, and at the time
of his son's birth was a prisoner of war in
the hands of the British at New Utrecht,
L. I., where he died, Sept. 23, 1780, without
again visiting his home, so that the subject
of this sketch never saw his father. His
training, of course, devolved upon his wid-
owed mother, a woman of remarkable energy,
decision, and intelligence. He was educated
at the common schools in Rindge, with the
addition of a term or two at New Ipswich
-Academy, but succeeded in acquiring a
thorough practical education, and was al-
ways remarkable for his command of pure
and forcible English both in writing and in
speech.
When about twenty years of age he joined
liis brother Nathan at Windsor, and either
then or on arriving at his majority, entered
into copartnership with him under the firm
name of N. & H. Hale as country merchants,
having a store at Windsor street and, after a
few years, another at the West Parish, now
West Windsor. He removed from Windsor
to Chelsea in 1807, and there continued for
some years in partnership with his brother
Nathan. On the dissolution of their partner-
ship he formed a business connection with
Joshua Dickinson for several years, carrying
on a country store under the firm name ot
Hale & Dickinson. They built the structure
on the west side of the north common, since
known as the Dickinson store. Somewhere
about 1825 he retired from trade, and
thenceforth devoted himself to the manage-
ment of his grist mill and his farms.
He was early chosen a captain of militia
and was best known by the title of Captain.
He was frequently elected to town offices,
selectman, lister, town agent, etc. For many
years he was justice of the peace. In 1828,
1832, and 1836 he represented Chelsea in
the Legislature. For several years he was
county clerk of Orange county and bank
commissioner of the state. He was repeat-
edly moderator of the town meetings, and in
all respects a leading citizen of his town.
He always took an active interest in politics ;
was an early Federalist, but when John
Ouincy Adams became a candidate for the
jiresidency warmly supported him against
the violent opposition of many of the leaders
(if the old Federal party. On the breaking
out of the anti-Masonic excitement about
1S27 and 1828, Mr. Hale, who had never
been a Mason, fully sympathized with the
hostility to that institution, and was first
elected to the Legislature as a candidate of
that party. Subsequently he acted for many
vears with the whigs, but on the organiza-
tion of the so-called "Liberty Party," his firm
and unyielding hostility to slavery led him
to join it, and to it adhered till his death.
In 1S43 he received its nomination for state
treasurer on the ticket with Lawrence Brain-
erd as Covernor, an-d this compliment was
renewed for several years. It may be added
that he never sought office, and that all his
nominations and elections came unsought.
In all the relations of jniblic and jirivate
life, he bore an honorable and unsullied
character, and his whole career was marked
by integrity and uprightness. Perhaps his
most distinguished characteristic was his
firm and exact adherence to justice, which
made him a safe umpire not only between
his neighbors, a duty he was often called to,
but an almost equally safe arbitrator between
himself and his neighbor.
lyi
He was a most liberal siqjporter of the
Congregational church, with which he wor-
shipped, but ne\'er became a member until
1838.
He was never a rich man. but never failed
to "pay one hundred cents on the dollar,"
and but once while in business was com-
pelled to ask so much as an "extension of
time" from his creditors, which was most
freely and willingly granted, and within
which his indebtedness was fully met. The
generous education which he gave his chil-
dren was a continual drain on his resources
which he never regretted, although it left
him in moderate circumstances, financially,
in his old age. He died at Chelsea, June,
1861.
Mr. Hale married, first in Rindge in 1802,
Phebe, daughter of David and Phebe (Spof-
ford) Adams. She died at Chelsea, Jan. 13,
181 5, having been the mother of eleven
children, six of whom survived her. He mar-
rieil, secondly, Nov. 14, 1818, at Chelsea,
Lucinda, daughter of Ephraim and Mary
(Safford) Eddy. She bore him seven chil-
dren. All her own children and four of her
step-children survived her. She survived her
husband and died at Chelsea, .August i, 1S71.
On the renovation of the Congregational
church in Chelsea in 1876 a memorial win-
dow of stained glass was placed in the rear
of the pulpit, which describes Mr. Hale as
"Foremost among those who builded this
house to the worship of God, iSio," adding
the text selected by his children, "One that
ruleth well his own house, having his chil-
dren in subjection with all gravity."
HALE, Mark, son of Harry and Phebe
Hale, born .\ugust20, 1806, was appointed a
midshipman in the navy in 1825 and re-
signed in 1832. No tidings have been re-
ceived of him since his resignation, and he
probably died many years ago. He is de-
scribed in a letter written by one of his ship-
mates to his father as a young man of fine
person, prepossessing manners, and as highly
respected both in his private and official
capacity by his brother officers in every
grade.
HALE, Thomas, son of Harry and Phebe
Hale, was born in Chelsea, June 21, 1813.
He was admitted to the bar in 1S44, but
never practiced the legal profession to any
extent. Most of his life was spent in jour-
nalism. He was for many years editor of
the Vermont Journal at Windsor, and also
founded and edited the New England Ob-
server at White River Junction. He was
also the editor of the Sentinel at Keene, N.
H., and of various other papers in New
England. .\s a journalist he was very suc-
cessful, continuing in that profession until
he was comiielled to abandon it by the fail-
ure of his sight.
He was married to Sarah Rallou Potter in
1869, and died in Plainfield, N. J., on the
4th of March, 1893, leaving his widow and
one son (Thomas) surviving him.
HALE, Henry, son of Harry and Phebe
Hale, was born in Chelsea, June 21, 1814.
Graduating at the University of Vermont
in 1840, he studied law and practiced his
profession first at Orwell, \'t., then at Pough-
keepsie, N. V., and remo\ed to St. Paul,
Minn., in 1855, where he resided until his
death in December, 1890. Not long after
he removed to St. Paul he gave up profes-
sional labor and devoted his time mainly to
the care of the estate which he accumulated
there, and to travel, making Ireijuent visit.sto
Europe, where he spent a large portion of his
time.
He married, just before his remo\al to St.
Paul, Mary Elizabeth Fletcher, daughter of
Paris Fletcher, Esq., of Bridport. He had
two children, who both died in infancy, and
left only his widow surviving. By his will he
left a large portion of his fortune to the city
of St. Paul for the purpose of founding a free
library and free dispensary. He was a man
of great reading and ability and had a high
standing in his profession.
HALE, Safford Eddy, eldest son of
Harry and Lucinda Hale, was born in Chel-
sea, Oct. 26, 1818, and received his pro-
fessional education in the medical dejjart-
ment of Dartmouth College. In 1842 he
went to Elizabethtown, N. V., where he
entered upon the practice of medicine,
which he continued until within a few
months of his death, which occurred .April
iS, 1893.
With an acute and cultivated mind, pol-
ished manners, agreeable presence, lively
wit, fine professional attainments and skill,
absolute integrity and fearless independence,
he at once became and continued to the end
to be one of the most respected citizens of
Elizabethtown. He felt a lively interest in
all matters of public concern, and although
not an active politician or desirous of office,
he from time to time served the community
in such positions as justice of the peace,
commissioner of highways, county treasurer,
etc. He was for one term president of the
Essex County Medical Society and its secre-
tary many year?.
He married Elizabeth Palmer Churchill,
daughter of Joseph Churchill, Esq., of Wood-
stock. She "died March 8, 1S71. He left
surviving him three children : Frederick G.
(a lawyer at Chicago), Joseph C. (of Lead-
ville, Col.), and Clara L., who resided with
her father, and still resides in P'lizabethtown.
172
HAl.E, Robert SaFFORD, second son
of Harry and Lucinda Hale, was born in
Chelsea, Sept. 24, 1822. He graduated at
the University of Vermont in 1842, and re-
ceived from that college the degree of LL.D.
He studied law in Elizabethtown, N. Y., and
was admitted to practice in 1847, continu-
ing in that professon at Elizabethtown until
his death, which occurred Dec. 14, iSSi.
The following extract from the memorial
minute adopted by the Board of Regents of
the State of New York on the occasion of his
•death, gives a concise and clear sketch of
his public life ;
" In 1856 he was elected judge of Essex
•county, and in 1859 a regent of the univer-
sity. In 1S60 he was appointed a presiden-
tial elector, and in 1S65 he was elected to
Congress. In 1868 he was employed as
special counsel of the Treasury before the
Court of Claims of the United States. In
1870 he was nominated as a judge of the
Court of Appeals, but, with the majority of
his party candidates, was not elected. In
187 I he was appointed agent and counsel of
the United States before the mixed commis-
sion of claims under the treaty of Washing-
ton. In 1873 hs ^^'^5 again elected to Con-
gress, and in 1876 he was appointed by the
Legislature one of the commissioners of the
■state survey.
"To the discharge of these various pro-
fessional and public duties, Mr. Hale
isrought a singular combination of powers.
His fine natural ability was admirably trained
by various study and accomplishments. His
mind was a treasury of well ordered knowl-
edge. His eloquence was clear, forcible and
brilliant ; and his quick sympathies, his pro-
fuse and delightful humor, his moral earnest-
ness and courage made him one of the most
•delightful of companions, as he was one of
the most persuasive of advocates and most
upright of magistrates. His political, like
his professional career, was distinguished by
that independence which is as rare as it
is manly, and which of itself is a public in-
fluence of the highest character. In this
board, Mr. Hale's service was constant and
efficient. In all its deliberations his sound
judgment, his clear perception and his
great experience were invaluable, and the
board are but too sadly conscious that his
loss cannot be replaced."
He married Lovina Sibley, daughter of
Jeremiah Stone of Elizabethtown, who sur-
vives him. He also left five children : one
son Harry (who is a practicing lawyer in
Elizabethtown), and four daughters, three
of whom are still living with their mother at
Elizabethtown.
HALE, Rev. John Gardner, third
son of Harry and Lucinda Hale, was born at
Chelsea, Sept. 12, 1S24. He graduated at
the University of Vermont in 1845, and
Andover Theological Seminary in 185 1. In
1852 he was sent by the Home Missionary
Society to Grass Valley, Cal., where he re-
sided for several years. Before his depart-
ure to California he had married Jane P.,
daughter of Israel Dwinell of East Calais,
and after a few years he returned to Ver-
mont, and was settled successively at East
Poultney, Chester and Stowe. His health
was always rather delicate and the climate ot
Vermont somewhat severe, therefore he
again went to California, and settled at Red-
lands, where he resided until his death in
March, 1892. At all his places of residence
he was respected and loved as an able, sin-
cere and earnest minister of the gospel. He
left surviving him, one son. Rev. Edson
Dwinell Hale (a Congregational minister in
California), and three daughters.
HALE, William Bainbridge, fourth
son of Harry and Lucinda Hale, was born in
Chelsea, July 20, 1826. He had not the
benefit of a college education, but was a
great reader and had a wonderfully retentive
memory, and was really a better educated
man than most college graduates. He was
for many years president of the First Na-
tional Bank of Northampton, Mass., and a
prominent and influential citizen of North-
ampton. The following from the Spring-
field Republican is a just tribute to his
memory.
' In Northampton he was interested in
various manufacturing enterprises as well as
banking, and for several years was president
and manager of the old Florence Sewing
Machine Co. in its palmy days. He was
also interested in the Knapp dovetailing
machine and other industries. He was
identified with the affairs of the old town of
Northampton, and, in i860, as president of
the Young Men's Institute, did much in
bringing about the establishment of the
present large and flourishing free library.
In town meetings he was a ready and fluent
speaker, and always took an active hand in
debates, frequently having stirring discus-
sions on educational and other questions
with Judge Bond, the late Charles Delano
and others.
" Mr. Hale was a man of more than ordi-
nary ability, of wide reading and possessed
an extraordinary gift of language, which at
times mounted to eloquence. He spoke in
public readily and fluently, and with great
effect. His manner was autocratic; often
he expressed himself with impolitic vigor ;
his likes and dislikes were apt to be ex-
treme ; but his weight of character overbore
all the traits that might have made enemies.
He was never persuaded to run for office.
and his transparent unselfisliness increased
his influence."
He married, first, Harriet Amelia, daugh-
ter of Wright Porter of Hartford, who died
Dec. lo, 1882. July 7, 1S86, he married
Mrs. Victoria Morris of Grassdale, Va., who
survives him. After his second marriage, he
removed to Grassdale, Va., where he con-
tinued to reside until his death in Novem-
ber, 1892. He left two sons, children of
his first wife : Philip, an organist and musi-
cal critic of lioston, Mass., and Rev. Edward
Hale, a graduate of Harvard, who is now a
Unitarian minister at East (Orange, N. J.
HALE, Matthew, youngest son of
Harry and Lucinda Hale, was born in Chel-
sea, June 20, 1829. He graduated at the
University of Vermont, in 1851, and after-
wards received from that college the degree
LL.l). He studied law with his brother
Robert S. at Elizabethtown, N. ¥., and was
admitted to the bar of New Vork in 1S53.
He settled first in Poughkeepsie, N. V., then
for a few years in New York City ; after-
wards in Elizabethtown until 1868, since
which time he has been engaged in the
practice of his profession at Albany, N. V.
He was a member of the New Vork state
Constitutional Convention of 1867, and of the
New York state Senate in 1868 and 1869.
In 18S3 he was the Republican candidate
for justice of the Supreme Court in the
Third District, but was defeated by the Hon.
Rufus W. Peckham. He has been an active
member of the New York State Bar Asso-
ciation from the time of its organization, and
has been its president. In 18S6 he was ap-
pointed by the New York Legislature one
of three commissioners to investigate and
report the most humane and practical
method of carrying into effect the sentence
of death in capital cases ; and in pursuance
of the recommendation of this commission,
the New York Legislature in 1888 enacted
that the punishment of death should there-
after lie inflicted by causing to pass through
the body a current of electricity of sufficient
intensity to cause death. This mode of in-
flicting the death penalty has ever since pre-
vailed in the state of New York, and has
proved more efficient and less painful and
revolting than the old method of inflicting
capital punishment by hanging.
Since 1884 Mr. Hale has been an inde-
pendent in politics. He has been quite
prominent in the advocacy of political re-
forms, and is now {1893) president of the
New York State Ci\il Service Reform League.
He married in 1856, Ellen S., daughter of
the late Hon. Augustus C. Hand, justice
of the New York Supreme Court. She died
in 1867. In December, 1877, he married
his present wife, Mary, daughter of the late
HALE. ,73;
Col. Francis L. Lee, formerly of Loston,.
Mass., by whom he has five children, three
daughters and two sons, the eldest of whom
was born in January, 1879. He still resides
and practices his profession in .Albany, and
is now the only surviving son of his father.
HALE, Franklin D., of I.unenberg, son
of Sprague T. and Nancy M. (Moulton)
Hale, was born in Barnet, March 7, 1854.
He alternately attended school and worked
upon the farm, receiving his preparatory in-
struction in the common schools of Concord,,
and after continuing his studies at the high
school of Northfield and at St. Johnsbury
.Academy, finally graduated in the law de-
partment of Michigan University in 1877.
After being admitted to the bar, Mr. Hale
.IN D. HALE.
became a member of the firm of Hutchin-
son, Savage & Hale at Lewiston, Me., and
some time afterwards spent two years in
traveling in the western states. In 1S81
he settled in Lunenberg as a lawyer, and also
engaged in farming. Here he has continued
to reside.
Mr. Hale was married Nov. 2, 1881, to
Addie L., daughter of Hon. Levi and Susan
(Powers) Silsby. Their children are : Susie
M., and Charles S.
The usual town offices have been entrusted
to him. He was, in 1884, representative
and senator from Esse.v county in 1SS6 in
the state Legislature, elected by Republican
votes. He was state's attorney from 1S83 to
174
iS8S. In 1S92 he was elected auditor of
accounts of the state of Vermont. He also
received the appointment of town site trustee
in Oklahoma Territory in 1891.
Mr. Hale belongs to the Masonic frater-
nity, and is a member of the Knights of
Honor ; also a member of the Congrega-
tional church.
HALE, Ja.mes Buchanan, of Newbury,
son of lohn and Laura Burns (Hutchins)
Hale, was born in Haverhill, X. H., July 13,
1855, and removed to Newbury in 1S67 with
his parents, entering the employment of the
well-known firm of F. & H. T. Keyes & Co.,
May 22, 1871. Mr. Hale's instruction in the
mercantile profession was thorough and prac-
tical. In 1882 he bought the stock of gen-
eral merchandise and good-will of Deacon
Henry H. Deming in Newbury village, where
he still continues, and by his energy and
exceptional business ability has built up a
large and prosperous concern.
In 1889 Mr. Hale was elected town treas-
urer, which ofifice he still holds, and is also a
trustee of the Bradford Savings Bank and
Trust Co., located at Bradford.
In politics Mr. Hale is a Democrat, in
religion a Congregationalist, of which church
and society he is a member and officer.
December 7, 1880, he married Carrie M., only
daughter of Daniel P. and Melissa ( Keyes )
Kimball. Mr. Hale by this happy union has
had one daughter, Mary K., and one son,
Harold B. Mr. Kimball has for many years
been a resident of Newbury, and one of the
largest and most progressive farmers in the
Connecticut \'alley ; an upright Christian, a
deacon of the Congregational church, a man
honored by his townsmen and a member of
the Legislature in i88o-'8i.
HALL, Alfred Allen, of St. Albans,
son of R. H. and Mary E. (Crowley) Hall,
was born in Athens, Dec. 31, 1848.
He received his education in the common
schools and at Leland & Gray Seminary,
Townshend. He read law with 1 )a\is &:
Adams at St. Albans and was admitted to the
bar in April, 1873.
Soon after he was admitted to the Supreme
Court of the state and to the L'nited States
district and circuit courts. In 1874 he
formed a law partnership with W. I). Wilson
at St. Albans, where they have since enjoyed
a lucrative practice. Mr. Hall served as
president of the board of trustees in 1880-
'81. For six years he was a member of the
school board, and during three years its
chairman. For many years he has been one
of the trustses of the Franklin county gram-
mar school. He has ser\ed seven years as
moderator of the town, and has been for fif-
teen years treasurer of the public library. In
iS82-'84 he was state's attorney. In 1892
he was elected to the Vermont state Senate
and was made president pro tern of that
body. In June, 1893, he was appointed by
the Governor chairman of a commission
upon the revision of the laws of the state.
He comes of good Revolutionary stock,
and is a member of the Sons of the Ameri-
can Revolution. He was a member of the
National Guard from 1876 to 1886, being
promoted from pri\ate to the non-commis-
sioned and commissioned staff, and in 1884
was appointed by Governor I'ingree colonel
and aid-de-camp.
Mr. Hall has had an eminent career as a
Mason. He is past Grand Master, past Grand
High Priest and past Grand Commander,
being the first Mason in the state to receive
all these honors. He has repeatedly repre-
sented the \arious bodies of his state at the
national gatherings of the order throughout
the country, and has attained the 33d and
highest degree in the Scottish Rite.
June 15, 1874, he married Abbie L.,
daughter of John H.and Loantha Z.Austin.
They have two children : Harrie Vaughn,
born Feb. 2, 187S, and Leroy Austin, born
August 10, 1 88 7.
HALL, Charles Taylor, of Mont-
gomery, son of Samuel S. and Martha M.
(Taylor) Hall, was born in Montreal, P. Q.,
Feb. 23, 1862. He received his early edu-
cation in the public schools of \\'altham,
Mass., and completed his education in the
high school at ^Nlontreal.
His father was a manufacturer of wooden-
ware, and the son, manifesting a natural
aptitude for the business from the early age
of sixteen, had the practical management
and was foreman of the factory, remaining in
that capacity until he was twenty years old.
In 1882 the factory was burned, and he
engaged in the manufacture of veneering for
five years, at the expiration of which time he
purchased an interest in the large butter-tub
works of The W. H. Stiles Company, at
Montgomery Centre, and has been ever
nsice the junior partner and business nian-
:i^sj,mij^^
LES TAYLOR HAL
ager of the concern. The company also
engage in the manufacture of floor boards
and bobbins, and have been so successful in
their operations that they are about to largely
increase their plant, and have recently pur-
chased one thousand acres of spruce timber
land, thus providing a sufficiency of material
for the next twenty years.
Though taking a lively interest in isolitics
as a member of the Republican party, Mr.
Hall has never sought or held public office,
and of secret societies he is a member of the
Masonic fraternity only.
He was married to Etta L., daughter of
H. P. and Ann (Fogg) Foss, of Franklin,
March, 1886, by whom he has had one
daughter.
HALL, Emerson, of St. Johnsbury, son
of John and Jane (Graham) Hall, was born
in Cabot, Jan. 9, 1816.
H.ALL. 175
He obtained his education in the schools
(;1 Cabot and I'eacham Academy, for some
time labored on his father's farm, then came
to St. Johnsbury, where for six years he was
employed in the hotel of that place. In
\846 he became engaged in general trade
and continued in this occupation for twenty-
eight years. He has been for a long time
one of the substantial business men of the
town and by his personal integrity and in-
dustrious energy has won an enviable posi-
tion in the community.
He has discharged the duties of deputy
and high sheriff at a time when the insuffi-
ciency of the police force made these duties
more arduous than at the present time. He
received the appointment of postmaster
under President Lincoln, but resigned be-
fore the expiration of his term to represent
St. Johnsbury in the state Legislature in
i868-'69. In this body he served on the
committee on banks.
Mr. Hall wedded, June 19, 1850, Mary S.,
daughter of Isaac W. and (Blount) Stanton
of Danville. Three children have been born
to them : Mattie J., Carrie May, and Eliza.
The last named died in early childhood. In
1859 he was elected trustee of the Passump-
sic Savings Bank and for the last thirty years
has been one of the executive officers of that
institution, and for the last fifteen years its
(jresident. A staunch Republican since the
formation of the party, he cast his first presi-
dential ballot for Gen. \Mlliam Henry Har-
rison in 1840.
Mr. Hall is a Congregationalist in his re-
ligious belief, attending the North Church of
St. Johnsbury.
HALL, Isaac N., late of Groton, son of
Henry and Susan (Burnham) Hall, was born
in Rumney, N. H., June 3, iSoS. He was
of FLnglish descent and came from a long-
lived family. His grandfather lived to
eighty-six years and his great-grandfather
died at ninety-three years, while his mater-
nal great-grandmother, Lydia Bradley, at-
tained the age of one hundred and four, .^n
ancestress of the latter was taken captive by
the Indians near Haverhill, Mass., in the
early colonial times.
The parents of Mr. Hall were not in af-
fluent circumstances, and his only educa-
tional advantages were those afforded by the
district schools in the time of his early youth.
At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to
his uncle Moses Burnham, a noted carpenter
and builder, with whom he served his time
and upon his master's removal to Groton
the young apprentice accompanied him and
at the expiration of his term of service set-
tled in that town and has remained there
ever since. In 1826 he lost his father, and
his mother immediatelv after her husband's
176
death moved to Groton and made her home
with her son, living to the age of eighty-one.
Mr. Hall married Elizabeth, daughter of
William Taisey of Groton, April 28, 1829.
Nine children have been born to them, seven
daughters and two sons. Of these five are
living ; Judge T. B. Hall of Groton, Maria,
(Mrs. Stephen Vance of Albany, Vt.), Helen
(Mrs. George WiUard of Walt'ham, Mass.),
Theresa (Mrs. Alex. Cochran of Groton),
and I.vdia (Mrs. Whitnev of San Fran-
ISAAO N. HALL.
Cisco). The first Mrs. Hall died No\-. 11,
1873, and he contracted a second alliance
with Mrs. Louisa A. (Webster) Hall of Ply-
mouth, N. H.
In can be truly said of Judge Hall that he
enjoyed the confidence of the people in a re-
markable degree, as shown by his election to
many responsible offices. He was justice of
the peace and town clerk for more than a
generation, and represented his town in the
Legislature in 1835, 1836, 1840, and 1867.
He was elected assistant judge of Caledonia
county court in 1842, 1844, and 1845, and
in 1848, i860, and 1861 was senator for that
county. Judge Hall was appointed a state's
prison director in 1868 and 1869, and was a
delegate to the Constitutional Convention in
1850; he was also made one of the directors
of the bank at Newbury, at Wells River, and
served as United States assistant assessor of
the second district of the state of Vermont.
He was one of the first projectors and build-
ers of the Montpelier & W'eWs River R. R.,
and was one of its directors until the road
was put into the hands of the bondholders,
and its president from 1873 to 1877. ;■ In a
.sketch of the early settlers of Groton it is
said of him :
"His agency and usefulness in all matters
of public interest will be discovered in all
that relates to the growth and prosperity of
the town for the last sixty years. There is
no man who has exerted a greater influence
for good or who has advanced the interests
and morals of the town in a greater degree."
In early life he joined and was ever after
an earnest and consistent member of the
Methodist Episcopal church. He was a
delegate to its general quadrennial confer-
ence held at Cincinnati.
Judge Hall, while with Mrs. Hall at the
residence of her daughter, died at South
Chicago Nov. 21, 1893, and Nov. 25, 1893,
he was buried at Groton.
HALL,S.AMUEL Baker, of Pennington,,
son of Marshall Carter and Sophia B. (Dem-
ing) Hall, was born in Bennington, Feb.
17, 1S46.
His education was obtained in the Ben-
nington public schools and seminary, and
also at the Rock Point Episcopal Institute
at Burlington, and Phillips Exeter Academy
of Andover, Mass.
SAMUEL BAKER
\Vhen his school life was completed he
commenced his business career as a clerk in
a dry goods commisson house in New York
City. In the fall of 1S67 he received the
i
HAMILTDN.
■77
appointment of bookkeeper of the First
National Bank at North Bennington, and in
1873 was promoted to the position of cashier
of that bank, which office he still continues
to fill. In 1890 he was elected treasurer of
the Bennington & Rutland R. R. He is
interested in real estate and also in the bank
with which he is connected.
Politically Mr. Hall is a Repiiblican l)ut
has never taken an active interest in politics
as he has been compelled to give the princi-
pal part of his time and attention to his
business affairs, but he has served the village
at different times in local offices and is at
present chairman of the North Bennington
school board.
He is a liberal supporter of the Congre-
gational society at North Bennington and an
attendant of that church.
Mr. Hall was united in marriage Oct. 3,
1870, to Sarah, daughter of (leorge W. and
jane (Hinsdill) Robinson of Bennington.
Their children are : Deming, Robinson,
Francis H. (deceased), Samuel Carter, and
Charles Lincoln.
HAMILTON, JOSEPH, of St. Johnsbury,
son of James and \L'iry (Hammond) Ham-
ilton, was born in North (lore, P. (^., ^Lay
T2, 1S39.
His early education was received at La
Chute Academy in Canada, and he has
since taken the course of study prescribed
by the Methodist Episcopal Church for all
who enter her conferences. He came to
\'ermont in 1865 and joined the Vermont
Conference on trial in .Vjiril, 1866. His
first appointment was Kirby where he re-
mained two years. His second appoint-
ment was Marshfield, and in April, 1868, he
was ordained deacon by P>ishop Ames and
admitted into the conference in full con-
nection. In 1870 he was ordained elder by
Bishop Simpson. In 1869 he was appointed
to West Berlin and Gouldsville. In 1870
to Waitsfield ; during his stay here a new
church was built costing $6,000. In 1S71
he was sent to Marshfield ; 1872 Plainfield ;
1875 Groton ; 1877 he was sent to Roches-
ter ; during his three years here he took
eighty-five members into the church ; 1880
he was sent to Wilmington; 1883 to West
Fairiee ; 1886 to \Voodstock, where he raised
S3, 200 to repair the church, making it one
of the most convenient churches in the con-
ference : in 1 888 he was appointed to White
River Junction and while here he organized
a Methodist church at (Jlcott and raised
$2,000 and succeeded in building a new
church worth $3,000. Fie served the church
at Northfield from 1890 to 1892 at which
time he was appointed presiding elder of the
St. Johnsbury district and through his efforts
a district parsonage was purchased in the
village of St. Johnsbury. During his minis-
try he has baptized three hundred and forty-
eight persons and attended three hundred
funerals.
In political matters he is a Prohibitionist
and has voted with that party.
April 27, 1879, he married Charlotte E.,
daughter of Dr. J. Q. A. and Lavina A.
(Newton) Packer of Marshfield. Of this
union six children have been born : four
sons and two daughters.
HAMILTON, Merrill Thomas, of
Newport, son of Hannibal and Julia E.
(Tho;npson) Hamilton, was born in Berk-
shire, F'ranklin county, April 7, 1849.
Obtaining his education in the public
schools of Berkshire, Richford Academy and
the Northampton Institute at F'airfax, in 1869
he entered the dental office of Oilman &
Sheerar at St. Albans, where for three years
he studied dentistry. In 1871 he removed
to Newport where he has been established
e\er since. Dr. Hamilton is unusually pro-
ficient in his profession in which he takes
the highest rank and has enjoyed a very ex-
tensive practice, not only in the state, but
also in Canada. In 1884 he became inter-
ested in the manufacture of brick in Derby
and also at Barton Landing, but three years
subsequently sold out his interest in the
business.
He was united in marriage August 22, 1873,
to Clara F., daughter of Warren and Emily
178
HAMMOND.
HANFLAHAX.
(Rowell) Fuller of Newport, whom he had
the misfortune to lose after three years of
wedded life. One son was born to them,
Harry Fuller. Dr. Hamilton contracted a
second alliance May 24, 1878, with Etta L,
daughter of Eleazer and Mary .A.. (Culver)
Porter of 'I'roy. Of this marriage there have
been issue : Lavina Fuller, and Samuel Wor-
cester Fuller.
Dr. Hamilton is an expert horseman and
takes much interest in equine matters. He
posses.ses two large farms in North Trov,
making a specialty of dairy products. Demo-
cratic in his political views, he has never
taken any active part in public affairs, but
conscientiously devoted his whole time to his
profession. For many years he has been
the treasurer of St. Mark's Episcopal Church
in Newport, and he has taken the degrees of
Ancient Craft Masonry in Memphremagog
Lodge of that place.
HAMMOND, Fred Burton, of Troy,
son of Oscar and Martha (Cole) Hammond,
was born in Derby, Oct. 12, 1859.
Notwithstanding his political f;iith, he be-
ing a very strong Democrat of the conserva-
tive class, he has been elected clerk and
treasurer of the town, also one of the trustees
of the public money. He was appointed
postmaster under the Cleveland administra-
tion in 18S5, and on the re-election of Mr.
Cleveland he was reappointed postmaster,
which position he is now filling. .Although
Troy is a strong Republican town he was
elected town representative, serving on the
committee on claims.
Mr. Hammond is an enthusiastic member
of the Masonic fraternity, being a member
of Masonic Union Lodge No. 16, at Troy,
member of Cleveland Chapter No. 20, and
Malta Commandery No. 10, of Newport.
He also affiliates with the Mount Sinai Tem-
ple at Montpelier. He was District Deputv
errand Master of the tenth Masonic district
in 1890 and 1891.
May I, 1884, he married Frances ]\L,
daughter of Robert B. Chandler of North
Troy, and has two daughters : Adeline
Moore, and Rachel Frances.
=!ED BURTON HAMMOND.
His education was obtained in the pub-
lic schools of Derby and at Newport .Acad-
emy.
He served his mercantile clerkship in the
Boston clothing store at North Troy, be-
came manager of the same store in 1881
and in 1884 he bought a half interest in the
general store of Hiram K. Stewart of Troy.
The firm dissolved partnership in 1885 ; Mr.
Hammond then erected the building he now
occupies.
HANRAHAN, JOHN DAVID, of Rut-
land, son of James and Ellen (O'Connor)
Hanrahan, was born in Rathkeale, county
Limerick, Ireland, Jan. 18, 1844.
He attended the National schools in the
place of his nativity till his father removed
with his family to New York City. Here he
became a pupil of the free academy, then
entered the New York Medical University,
where he remained till 1861, when at the
breaking out of the rebellion he entered the
\J. S. Navy as surgeon. During i86i-'62-'63
he served in the Potomac flotilla, and on
the 23d of August, 1863, the vessel on which
he was serving was captured and all on board
made prisoners. After being in Richmond
six weeks he was paroled and transferred to
Washington. While a paroled prisoner in
\\'ashington he attended a course of medical
lectures at the medical department of the
(Georgetown University. In the early spring
of 1864 was exchanged and ordered to duty
in the North Atlantic squadron, where he
served under .Admirals Lee and Porter until
discharged in July, 1865. Two years subse-
quently he received his diploma from the
medical department of the New York L'ni-
versity, practiced in New York until the
spring of i86g, when he removed to Rut-
land, where he has since resided and built
up an extensi^■e general practice.
Dr. Hanrahan has been connected with
various medical societies, in which he has
taken an active interest and held many posi-
tions of trust and responsibility. Outside
of his professional duties, he has been largely
influential in both town and state affairs, has
been trustee of the village of Rutland, as
rl
o^^^
l8o HAMMOND.
well as the president of the board, was ap-
pointed president of the Rutland county
pension board in i.SSs, the duties of which
he so acceptably discharged that, notwith-
standing his loyal adherence to the Demo-
cratic party, President Harrison continued
him in office until his resignation to accept
the position of postmaster of the city of
Rutland, which appointment he received
from President Cleveland in 1893. A strong
Irish Nationalist in his views, Dr. Hanrahan
has been a potential factor in the Rutland
Land League and a delegate to all the na-
tional conventions. He has served as chair-
man of the Rutland county Democratic
committee and has frequently been a mem-
of the state committee ; has been a delegate
to the Democratic national conventions of
1884 and '88 and chairman of the delegation
of 1892. Has always been a warm sup-
porter of President Cleveland. Dr. Hanra-
han is also prominent in G. A. R. circles.
He is a member of the local post and has
served on the staff of Commanders-in-chief
Veazey, Palmer and Weissert, and has been
medical director of the Department of Ver-
mont.
In his religious creed he is a Roman
Catholic, worshi])ing with the congregation
of St. Peter's in Rutland.
Dr. Hanrahan was united in marriage Feb.
12, 1870, to Mary, daughter of Bernard and
Elizabeth (Halpin) Riley of Wallingford,
who died April, 1882. October 31, 1883,
he was again married to Frances, daughter
of John C. and Mary (Hughes) Keenan of
Rutland. Fi\e children have resulted from
their union ; May, .Anna, Hugh, Frances,
and John.
Hammond, Lowell G., of Ludlow, son
of ledediah and Clara (Bent) Hammond,
was born Feb. 17, 1824, in Mt. Holly.
A farm-bred boy, he received his education
in the common schools of Mt. Holly, and at
twenty-two years of age located at Ludlow,
where he engaged in the grocery trade. Then
he formed the ])artnership of Mason & Ham-
mond, dealing in dry goods and groceries
during four years. Since 1854, he has con-
ducted an extensive business in general mer-
chandise. In 1871, meeting with a severe
disaster froni the loss by fire of his large store
and a partial loss of his stock, he immediately
constructed a much larger and finer block,
containing one of the finest halls in the coun-
ty, where he has carried on his business ever
since.
He has always voted the Republican ticket
and repeatedly held positions of trust in vil-
lage and town : being chosen representative
in 1886. He was married in August, 1S47, to
Maryette, daughter of Dr. Lowell W. and
Sally (Pettee) Gurnsey, of Shewsbury. Their
children are : Leonora ^L, Norris G., and Ad-
die W. For almost forty years Mr. Ham-
mond has been a most impor.tant factor in the
business life of Ludlow, and an active pioneer
in new features of trade. He has taken a
lively interest in pubhc improvement and has
been a generous donor to educational and
religious enterprises. He is vice-president of
thetrustees of the Black River Academy, of
Ludlow.
"^♦tf **<
LOWELL G.
He is a Universalist in his religious prefer-
ences ; for more than forty years has belonged
to the order of Odd Fellows, being a member
of Altamont Lodge, of Ludlow.
HARMAN, George Washington, of
Bennington, son of Nathaniel and Alice
(Hascall) Harnian, was born in Pawlet,
May 7, 1812.
He acquired the rudiments of his educa-
tion in the common schools, this being sup-
plemented bv six terms at the academy, and
private instruction. He read law with his
father, and was admitted to the bar at Rut-
land in September, 1833. He practiced his
profession at Pawlet until 1848, when he re-
moved to Bennington, and for twenty years
was cashier of a bank in that village. In
1859 he resumed the practice of law, and is
looked upon as one of the sages of the pro-
fession. In 1843 he represented Pawlet in
the Constitutional Convention, and was one
of the county commissioners in i846-'47.
iSi
Mr. Harman has held most of the local
offices in Bennington, including that of mun-
icipal judge, but he has never had any polit-
ical aspirations. He has been from the very
first one of the strongest advocates and sup-
porters of the bar association, and at various
times has been importuned to accejjt its
presidency, but has always firmly decline<l.
Mr. Harman is the author of several arti-
cles which have met with high approval from
those interested in the subjects to which he
has devoted his literary efforts. .Among
these may be mentioned a sketch of the life
of John Burnham, the first lawyer of Ver-
mont, which was published in the records of
the Vermont Bar .Association, a historical
paper on Battenkill and Ondawa, another on
Allen at Ticonderoga, pro\ing conclusively
that Benedict .\rnold was present when that
post was surrendered ; several papers relating
to the batde of Bennington, and various
others.
In i<S74 he began his studies as an artist at
the .Academy of Design and .Art Students'
League in New York, and in 187S went to
Paris, France, to continue same at the Gov-
ernment Ecole-des-Beaux-.Arts under the in-
struction of MM. y. I.. Gerome and .Alex-
GEORGE WASHINGTON HARMAN.
Judge Harman's whole life has been pre-
eminently marked by ].irinciples of order,
industry and perseverance, three character-
istics which always contribute in a great
measure to make an honorable and success-
ful life.
HARDIE, ROBERT Gordon, of Brat-
tleboro, son of Robert (Jordon and Frances
(Hyde) Hardie, was born in Brattleboro,
March 29, 1854.
He recei\ed his early education at the
public schools of Brattleboro and RnHaiid.
ROBERT GORDON HARDIE.
andre Cabanel. E.xhibited in the Salon in
the years i879-'8o-'8i-'82. Returning to
.America in 1883.
The first work which brought Mr. Hardie
prominently before the public was the por-
trait of Hon. David Dudley Field, painted
in 1888 and now in the Capitol at .Albany,
N. V.
In the same year he married Catharine,
second daughter of Hon. S. M. Cullom, U.
S. senator from Illinois.
HARRIS, BROUGHTON Davis, of Brat-
tleboro, .son of Wilder and Harriet (Davis)
Harris, was born in Chesterfield, N. H.,
.August 16, 1822.
Mr. Harris began his preparation for col-
lege in the Chesterfield .Academy, and later
attended Kimball Union .Academy at Meri-
den, N. H. Matriculating at Dartmouth in
1S41, he was graduated with high honors in
the class of 1845, being a member of the I'hi
Beta Kappa and .Alpha Delta Phi societies.
.After graduating Mr. Harris began the
study of law under Judge .Asa Keyes, and
continued it later in the office of P^dward
Kirkland, Esq., of Brattleboro. While thus
engaged he also entered the ranks of journal-
i m, and for a year edited the \erniont
l82
I'hcjenix. In August, 1S47, together with
William K. Hale, long president of the Urst
National Bank of Northampton, Mass., he
founded the Kagle, a semi-weekly news-
paper devoted to the interests of the whigs.
On his departure for Utah in the spring of
1851 the paper was given over to the con-
trol of others. On his return in the fall of
1 85 2 Mr. Harris again became editor and
proprietor of the Eagle, which he changed
into a weekly paper. During those days of
great excitement in the political situation of
the country the Eagle maintained the po-
sition of a successful and popular contem-
porary of the ablest journals ever published
in the state, and Mr. Harris won for himself
the distinction of being classed with the most
skillful and forcible writers then in the ranks
of journalism. His connection with the
paper ceased by sale in 1856.
V
/ V
BROUGHTON DAVIS ---
In the fall of 1850 his life-long friends.
Senators CoUamer and Foot, without his
knowledge, procured for Mr. Harris the ap-
pointment of first secretary of the new terri-
tory of Utah from President Fillmore. In
his administration of this office many diffi-
culties and obstacles were interposed by the
Mormons. The first Governor of Utah was
Brigham Voung, and the ideas and opinions
of the two officials were so radically antago-
nistic that there was soon friction and later
an open rupture between the Governor and
the secretary. So defiantly did the Governor
an<i his pliant I,egislature disregard the pro-
visions of the enabling act of Contjress that
Secretary Harris, after earnestly expostulat-
ing, finally positively refused to disburse the
money committed to his care by the United
States go\ernment for the benefit of the ter-
ritory. He wrote an able letter assigning
excellent reasons for this refusal, and as a
result the Mormon Legislature waxed wroth
and passed a series of resolutions requiring
him forthwith to deliver over the money to
the Mormon United States marshal of Utah
on pain of instant arrest and imprisonment.
The secretary, firmly adhering to his original
conviction of duty and loyalty to his govern-
ment, peremptorily refused to comply with
this demand, and, amid threats of violence
and assassination, returned to \\'ashington
and restored every dollar of the coveted ap-
propriations to the United States treasury.
The administration heartily endorsed his
action, and shortly afterward tendered him
the office of secretary and acting Go\ernor of
the territory of New Mexico, an offer which
he promptly declined.
In 1847 Mr. Harris was register of pro-
bate in Windham county. In i860 he was a
member of the state Senate and served on
the committee on railroads. Being re-elected
in 1861, he was assigned to the imiwrtant
post of chairman of the committee on mili-
tary affairs at the breaking out of the rebel-
lion, when nearly all legislation pertained to
military matters. In the celebrated Peace
Congress, which asseinbled in Washington
on the invitation of Mrginia, just before the
war, Mr. Harris was a delegate appointed by
(iov. Erastus Fairbanks, together with Ex-
Clow Hiland Hall, Lieut. -(lov. Le\ i I'nder-
wood. Gen. H. H. Baxter, and Hon. I.. ¥,.
Chittenden.
As senior member of the well-known firm
of Harris Brothers & Co., he was engaged
for many years \ery extensively and success-
fully in the construction of railroads, being
connected with some of the most important
lines in the country.
.Although never an office seeker, Mr. Har-
ris's name has often been mentioned in con-
nection with congressional ser\ice, and many
prominent men and leading newspapers have
at times urged him to become a candidate
for the chief magistracy of the state. Mr.
Harris is one of the corporate members of
the Brattleboro Savings Bank and for many
years has been, and now is, president of that
solid and prosperous institution.
Mr. Harris was married on the 24th of
March, 1 851, to Sarah Buell, daughter of Ed-
win M. Hollister of New York City (now
deceased). Their wedding journey was to
L^tah, there being then no white settlement
between the Missouri River and Great Salt
Lake. They have but one child, who is now
the wife of John Seymour AN'ood, lawyer and
author, of New York City.
HARRIS, Charles A., of lOast Burke,
son of Amasa antl Ruth (Tarbox) Harris,
was born in Lyndon, Sejst. 2, 1820.
His educational advantages were limittd
to the public schools of Lyndon, sujiple-
mented by a course of study at the academy
of that \iliage.
HARRI.S. 183
entire satisfaction to the i)ublic during his
administration of the office. Mr. Harris has
held numerous town offices in Derby and
Hast Burke, and was the representative of the
latter town in the Legislature of 1874, where
his services were creditable. Since 1884 he
has been justice of the i)eace. In his relig-
ious belief he is a Congregationalist, and he
has long been an active member of this
denomination.
Mr. Harris was married, ( )ct. 20, 1847, to
Kuphamea Ramsey, daughter of l-;ben and
Mary (True) Blake. Two children ha\e
l>een born to them : Charles K., and Marv K.
HARRIS, John Edward, of Hardwick,
son of Erasmus B. and Caroline (lirown)
Harris, was born in Danville, July 27, 185 8.
He received his educational training in
the common schools and at Phillips Acad-
emy at Danville.
In 1874 he removed to Montpelier and
read law in the office of Messrs. Randall &
Durant. At the completion of his course of
study he was admitted to practice at the
Seinember term of the Washington county
court in 1879. For two vears he followed
As soon as he had arrived at man's estate,
he commenced his business career by enter-
ing the employ of the Farmers and Mechan-
ics Mercantile Co., of St. Johnsbury, where
he remained more than two years, when, in
company with associates, he bought the busi-
ness, and under the style of John Bacon iS:
Co. they continued till 1847. He then went
to Derby and remained two years pursuing a
similar occupation, after which he connected
himself with Mr. Harry Himman, under the
firm name of C. A. Harris & Co. For twenty
years Mr. Harris remained in business in
Derby. In March, 1867, he removed to
East Burke, where he jjurchased a small farm
and also a store in company with Daniel
Townsend, and engaged in trade till March,
1872, after which time he continued by him-
self till 1893, when he ga\e his stock to his
children and retired from the active cares of
hfe.
His reputation as an able financier has
been proved by his services as director of
the Lyndonville National Bank for six years
and his election to the presidency of that
institution in 1889.
He was made postmaster of both the towns
of Derbv Centre and F^ast Burke, and gave
r
1
JOHN EDWARD HARRIS.
his prt)fession in Montpelier and Dan\ille,
then he purchased the St. Johnsbury Index,
now the Republican, which he sold in 1885
and moved to Burlington, where he bought
a half interest in the Burlington Clipper.
This he parted with in 1889, when he trans-
ferreil his business to Hardwick, establish-
1 84
HARTSHORN.
ing the Hardwick (Gazette, of which paper
and the accompanying job office he is now
proprietor.
Mr. Harris is an absokite independent in
his political course and has always con-
ducted the newspapers with which he has
been connected on liberal principles, subject
to no party control.
He married in 1879, Carrie, daughter of
N. K. and Susan (Moody) Brown of Bur-
lington. She died June 20, 1892, leaving
three children : Charles B., Frances N., and
Edward J.
Mr. Harris has done special journalistic
work on the Boston Globe, the Washington
Post, Chicago News, and Springfield Repub-
lican.
He is an Episcopalian and a member of
the I. O. O. F., having held all the offices
but the first in Caledonia Lodge of St. Johns-
bury.
HARTSHORN, JOHN WiLLARD, of
Lunenburg, son of Colburn and Elizabeth
(Fay) Hartshorn, was born in Lunenburg,
Oct. I, 1815.
JOHN WILLARD HARTSHORN,
The public schools of Lunenburg gave him
his educational training, and when he arrived
at man's estate he left his native town to
seek his fortune in the world. He went to
Sterling, Mass., and remained three years,
during which period he witnessed the com-
pletion of the first railroad from Boston to
^\■orcester. Then he returned to Lunenburg,
and purchased a large farm for S800 and a
hundred barrels of cider, ten of the latter
to be paid annually. At the time of the
famous cider and log cabin campaign in
1840, the orchards of Mr. Hartshorn mani-
fested "active partisanship" by producing
twenty-one hundred bushels of apples. For
many years he was a noted farmer, drover
and stock breeder, and he acquired some
local reputation as an auctioneer, and satis-
factorily settled many estates in the neigh-
borhood. He was one of the original direc-
tors of the P. & O. R. R., and retained that
position until the road passed into the hands
of a receiver.
From the time of his return until 1H7S,
when he received an almost fatal injury from
a fall, Mr. Hartshorn was continuously in
the service of the town as lister, overseer of
the poor, moderator and justice of the peace
for fifty-one years. He has been chosen to
both branches of the state Legislature, mem-
ber of the House in 185 2 -'5 3, and senator in
iS70-'7i, and been honored by two terms as
judge of probate in i850-'5 7. For seven
years he was one of the directors of the
state prison.
Judge Hartshorn married, Nov. 16, 1840,
Ann, daughter of Chester and Betsey
(Hutchins) Smith of Lunenburg, and four
children have been born to them : Hon.
F:iden J., of Emmettsburg, Iowa, Elizabeth
(Mrs. George H. Emerson, deceased), Harry
C., and Cora (Mrs. Edward Lowell), of Lew-
iston. Me.
HARVEY, RONEY M., of Topsham, son
of John and ]\Largaret (Hight) Harvey, was
born in Tojjsham, May 20, 1843.
He was educated in the common schools
of the day, and also attended Newbury Semi-
nary, Peacham .Academy, and a select school
at East Topsham, taught by Rev. N. R.
Johnson.
In his youth he became noted as a "ped-
agogue," and was always in demand to ad-
minister discipline in the notorious hard
schools of the times. In 1866 he visited the
Pacific coast with the \iew of making his
home in that country, but was soon recalled
by the sickness and death of his father. He
went to West Topsham in the spring of 1867,
and at once commenced the study of law in
the office of J. O. Livingston, Esq., and was
admitted to the bar at the December term of
Orange county court, 1869. He soon
opened a law office at West Topsham, where
he now resides. Mr. Harvey was united in
marriage to Cora I., youngest daughter of
Hon. Roswell M. Bill, late of Topsham,
Dec. 28, 1870. Three children have been
born to them: Lrwin M., Laila J., and
lohn N.
HASEI,TON.
IIASF.LTOX.
iS:;
A Republican of the most ijronounced
type, Mr. Harvey has held many and various
town offices, was state's attorney in 1878,
and has twice represented his town in the
Legislature. Here he served on important
committees, and was elected one of the super-
visors of the insane. In 1890 he was elected
state senator from Orange county. He still
continues his law Inisiness at W'est Tojisham,
W^ "^f^^
and is well known in his section of the state.
His success in many important cases in
which he has been employed is principalh-
due to his Scotch pluck and the personal
interest which he takes in all his work. In
addition to the law, Mr. Harvey has become
well known as a dealer in limiber and real
estate. He is a hurried man of business,
and his many cares allow him little time in
which to enjoy the quiet of his home.
HASELTON, SENECA, of Burlington,
son of Rev. Amos and Amelia ( Frink )
Haselton, was born in Westford, Feb. 26,
1848.
His early education was obtained in the
public schools of Jericho, Underhill and the
academies of Underhill and Barre. He then
entered the classical department of the U.
v. M., from which he graduated with high
honors in 1871. During his college course
he taught several terms in Barre, Shelburne,
Richmond and Waterbury, and for a year
after his graduation from the uni\ersity he
occupied the jiosition of associate principal
of Barre Academy. In 1873 he began the
studv I if law in the office of Wales .S: Taft at
ISurlington, but soon after accepted the chair
of instructor of mathematics in the Univer-
sity of Michigan, at the same time pursuing
his ])rofessional studies in the law depart-
ment of that institution. Later he returned
to lUirlington where he has since remained,
attaining a very high rank as a general prac-
titioner.
Judge Haselton is a strong adherent of the
I )emocratic party and has always taken an
active and leading part in both city and
state politics. For many successive terms he
was city judge and in 1886 represented Bur
lington in the Legislature, serving on the
judiciary committee. In 1888 he was ap-
pointed a member of the state examining
committee on admission to the Vermont bar,
and the following year served as chairman
of the same. Two years later he was chosen
mayor of the city of Burlington to which
l^osition he has been twice re-elected. His
term of office has been characterized by ex-
ceptional prosperity on the part of the city.
SENECA HASELTON.
A school building of rare beauty has been
erected and an important modification ot
the system of the city has been determined
upon and is in progress. An electric rail-
way has been secured through a contract
which makes the enterprise especially ad-
vantageous to the business interests of Bur-
lington. Since Mayor Haselton has been in
office the rate of taxation has been consider-
ably reduced and now compares favorably
with that of any other progressive city in
New England.
1 86
HASKINS, KlTTREDGE, of Brattleboro,
son of Asaph and Amelia (^\'ard) Haskins,
was born in Dover, April 8, i8,^6. His great-
grandfather, grandfather and father served
respectively in the French war, the Revolu-
tionary, and the war of 1812.
Educated in the public schools of his
nati\e town and by a private tutor, he com-
menced the study of the law in the otifice of
Messrs. Shaffer & Davenport at Wilming-
ton ; was admitted to the bar of Windham
county court, x\pril i-i, 1858, and immedi-
atelv entered into a copartnership with the
Hon. Charles N. Davenport at Wilmington,
which was dissolved in the spring of 1861,
when he removed to the village of Williams-
ville, where he opened an offii e. He has
KlTTREDGE HASKINS.
been admitted at various dates a counsellor
of the Supreme Court of the State of Ver-
mont, a counsellor, attorney, proctor and
solicitor of the Circuit Court of the United
States for the District of Vermont at Wind-
sor, and counsellor of the Supreme Court of
the United States at Washington, D. C. In
November, 1863, he removed to Brattleboro,
pursuing the practice of his profession with
marked success.
In politics he was a Democrat until the
breaking out of the rebellion, when he be-
came a supporter of the administration of
President Lincoln, and has acted with the
Republican party since.
He has been a justice of the peace since
Dec. I, 1861 : state's attorney for Windham
county ; was town representati\e of Brattle-
boro in 1872, and was elected to the state
Senate in 1892. He was appointed by I'res-
dent Hayes and also by President Arthur
United States Attorney for the District of
Vermont, holding the ofifice until June 21,
1887. In January, 1893, he was appointed
by the Governor of Vermont one of the
commissioners to establish, in conjunction
with a similar commission on the part of the
State of Massachusetts, a boundary line
monument between the two states. .'\t the
organization of the Bratdeboro Free Library
in 1883 he was elected one of its trustees,
and has served in that capacity and as pres-
ident of the board to the present time.
He enlisted as a volunteer, and on the
organization of Co. I, i6th Regt. Vt. Vols.,
Sept. 20, 1862, he was elected and commis-
sioned I St lieutenant of the company. He
resigned and was honorably discharged, by
reason of disabilities incurred in the service.
On his return home he immediately entered
the government service as a civil employe
in the office of the assistant quartermaster
of volunteers at Brattleboro, doing duty there
and at Burlington, St. Albans and Mont-
pelier until the close of the war. He was
appointed and commissioned captain of Co.
H, 12th Regt. Vt. jMilitia, and was appointed
colonel and aid-de-camp of Governor Peter
T. Washburn.
He is a 3 2d degree Mason and has been
prominently connected w-ith the order since
June, 1857. He has been M. E. Grand
High Priest of the Grand Royal Arch Chap-
ter of Vermont ; was president of the Order
of High Priesthood for many years, R. E.
Commander of the Grand Commandery of
Knights Templar of the state, and in the M.
W. Grand Lodge of Vermont, has served as
Grand Junior and Grand Senior Warden,
and in June, 1893, was elected to the ofifice
of R. \V. I )eputy Grand Master, which posi-
tion he now holds. He has been a member
of the Grand Army of the Reiniblic for
many years.
He married Esther Maria, daughter of
Maj. Adna B. Childs of Wilmington, July i,
i860, and had one child, who died in 1864.
He is an Episcopalian and for many years
has been one of the vestry of St. Michael's
Church of Brattleboro. He has been quite
constant in his attendance upon the conven-
tions of the diocese as a delegate from his
parish, and was elected as one of the lay
deputies by the diocesan convention to the
general convention of the church, which met
in Chicago, 111., in 1886, again at the city of
New York in 1889, and at Baltimore, Md.,
in 1892.
Hastings, Jonathan Ham.mond, of
\Vaitsfield, son of Garinter antl Hannah (Ol-
cutt) Hastinffs, was born in Waitsfield, Feb.
IS;
12, 1824. His father came from New Hamp-
shire to \\'aitsfield in 1823, where he fol-
lowed the business of farming, innkeeper, and
loaning money. With no educational ad\an-
tages but those of the common schools he has
acquired in his extensive business relations a
wide knowledge of the world, and a large
stock of general information. Owing to the
ill health of his father he was early called to
the management of his financial affairs whic:h
he safely conducted for him until his decease
in 1857. Since 1856 he has retired from ag-
ricultural pursuits as his other business de-
manded his sole attention. For four years he
was in partnership with R. J. Gleason, engag-
ing in general trade. The public has reposed
.such confidence in him, that he has been
called upon to settle a majority of the estates
in the town for the past twenty-five years, also
acting as guardian, trustee, referee, commis-
sioner, and business adviser. He has been a
director of the National Bank of Waterbury,
since 1856, and is now vice-president of the
same.
Naturally Judge Hastings has been sought
after to fill the various offices of the town
where he resides, and the county also has
sought his services as deputy and sheriff from
1847 to i860. He was elected by a large
Republican majority in 1862 and 1863 to
the Legislature and was further honored by
being the choice of that party to represent
them in the Senate of which he was a mem-
ber from 1869 to 1872, serving as committee
on claims, and chairman of the committee
on banks. Elected assistant judge in 1880,
he held that office four years, and has acted
as justice of the peace for more than thirty
years. Again in 1892 his townsmen saw fit to
make him their representative in the House,
where he served on the committee of ways
and means. He is now trustee of the public
money and law agent for his town. Ener-
getically devoted to the cause of temperance
he was a charter member of Waitsfield Lodge
L O. G. T.
Judge Hastings was married Nov. i, 1848,
to Miss Ellen M., daughter of Hon. Samuel
and Hannah (French) Merriam, of Johnson.
Six children have been born to them of whom
two only are now living: Abbie M. (Mrs. J.
C. Joslyn, of Minneapolis, Minn.), and Lucy
H. (Mrs. John W. Gregory), of Waitsfield.
Judge Hastings was again married Sept.
29, 1892, to Orris, daughter of John C. and
Charlotte (Lovell) Paddock of St. Johnsbury.
HASTINGS, Stephen J., of Passumpsic,
son of Warren and Lydia (Richardson) Hast-
ings, was born in Waterford, Feb. 10, 1850.
His grandfather and father were reputable
citizens of the town, the latter being a mem-
ber of the Legislature of 1864 and 1865. He
gave his son the benefit of a common school
and academical training, completing his edu-
cation by sending him to Dartmouth College,
where he graduated in 1873.
M the age of twenty-one Mr. Hastings mar-
ried Althea C, daughter of .\mos and C'osbi
(Parker) Carpenter, and six children have
been born of their union : Warren J. (de-
ceased), .Mthea L., Ruth B. (deceased),
Harold S., Frank B., and Dora K.
Soon after his marriage he settled on a
farm in Waterford, now- Passumpsic, and has
devoted special efforts to the breeding of
blooded Jersey stock. His attempt has been
most fortunate, and his herd of twenty-three
cows averaged 414 pounds of butter per cow
in 1892. He is also a large maple sugar
producer. .After discharging the duties-^of
several public ofifices, he was sent to the
Legislature in 1882, and in the following
year was appointed by (iovernor Barstow as
one of the Vermont representatives at_,the
Farmers' Congress in New ^'ork City, and
again served in that cajiacity by request of
Governor Pingree.
Mr. Hastings has passed the portals of
Freemasonry and Odd Fellowship, is a
Knight Templar of Palestine Commandery,
of St. Johnsbury, and has been Noble (irand
of Caledonia Lodge, as well as C. P. of
Moose River Encampment L O. O. F.
HATCH, Royal A., of Strafford, son of
Royal and Marian (Chandler) Hatch, was
born in Strafford, Se])t. 3, 1838.
HAVWARD.
He passed the usual time in the public
schools of Strafford and continued his studies
at Thetford Academy, and later at the acad-
emy at Chelsea when Judge Ross was prin-
cipal of the school.
Finishing his educational training at the
age of seventeen, he returned to Strafford
and helped to raise the frame of the build-
ing which has been the scene of his active
labors for nearly forty years. He early dis-
played an aptitude for mechanics, and his
father erected this shop to give him an op-
portunity to indulge his favorite pursuits
and at the same time to develop the re-
sources of the town. He has engaged in
the manufacture of bedsteads for almost
forty years, introducing new machinery to
accommodate the changing demands of the
market.
Mr. Hatch was married to Mary E.,
■daughter of Samuel and Almira (Ripley)
Cobb, of Hanover, N. H. Their children
were : Mabel Ripley, Marian Chandler,
Laura Alice, Caroline B. (deceased), and
Royal.
Although of Democratic stock he is a be-
liever in protection, and consequently has
acted with the Republican party. His busi-
ness engagements have not allowed him
much time to take an active part in public
affairs, yet he has served his town in several
important capacities. He now holds the
position of agent for the Vermont Mutual
P'ire Insurance Co., and is director for
Orange county, having filled both jilaces for
many years.
Mr. Hatch has been for more than thirty
years a Free and Accepted Mason, and
affiliates with Temple Lodge, No. 54, n\
Strafford. He was a charter member at the
■organization of Bishop Lodge, No. 31, L <).
G. T., and is now treasurer of the Clrand
Lodge of Vermont.
He is well known as a reliable business
man : enterprising and substantial, is re-
spected by all, and is an important factor in
the affairs of the town, where he has the
good fortune to be surrounded by a refined
and interesting family.
HAY, Barron, of Bradford, wn of
James and Laura (White) Hav, was born in
Bradford, Sept. 26, 1828.
His education was acquired in the com-
mon schools of Orford and Bradford, and at
Bradford .Academy. His father was a soldier
in the war of 181 2, and when Barron was
ten years old he went to Orford, N. H.,
to live with L. D. Corless, Esq. Here he
remained for seven years, working upon the
farm and attending school in the winter
terms. In 1845 he returned to Bradford,
where he has since resided. Ha\ing re-
solved to de\ote his energies to business, he
entered the store of 0. & E. Prichard as
clerk, and has been connected with the firm
for forty-two years, during twenty of which
he has been a partner in the house.
Mr. Hay is a Democrat in his political
faith. He has held the position of town
treasurer for seventeen years, was town clerk
in 1875, and in 1891 was elected a member
for five years of the board of water com-
missioners. He has been a justice of the
peace, and in i866-'67, and in 1884 was sent
to the House of Representatives.
He is a careful, capable, and honest busi-
ness man, and owes his success in the world
solely to his own efforts.
He was united in marriage to Jeanette
C, daughter of Levi and Almira (Abbey)
Smith, Oct. 16, 1854. They have had two
children : Fred E. (deceased), and John
Barron.
The Bradford Opinion, on the event of
Mr Hay's sixty-fifth birthdav, savs : " We
can truthfully say of him that he detests
meanness and trickery in whatever form it
shows itself, and is accredited by all w-ith
being the best type of an honest man. These
traits are so conspicuous that to some he at
times seems 'cranky,' but, just the same, he
is honored by those who ha\e known him
for a half century, as well as those of more
recent acciuaintance."
HA^'WARD, HENR^- R., of Tunbridge,
son of Reuben and Maria (Cushman) Hay-
ward, was born in Montpelier, March 29,
1 84 1.
He was educated in the common schools,
and moved in 1854 to Tunbridge, where he
has since resided.
In 1861 he enlisted in Co. E., 2d Regt. Vt.
Vols., as 3d sergeant, and served three years.
He was promoted to 2d lieutenant, and was
honorably discharged at the expiration of his
term of service, when he returned to Tun-
bridge and engaged in the lumber and grist
milling business, which he has since followed.
He has been commander of Whitney Post
No. 21, G. \. R., ever since its organization,
with the exception of two years, and also held
various town offices, serving as selectman,
lister, overseer of poor, etc. Mr. Hayward
represented Tunbridge in the Legislature of
1880.
He was married, Nov. 17, 1864, to Miss
Susan E., daughter of Mason and Celenda
(Thompson) Farnham, of Tunbridge, and
thev have had six children, five of whom are
living.
HAZEN, Lucius Downer, of st.
Johnsbury, son of Lucius and Hannah B.
(Downer) Hazen, was born in Hartford,
Jan. 19, 1834.
LUCIUS DOWNER
The common schools of his native town
furnished the facilities for his early educa-
tion and he afterwards attended Kimball
I'nion Academy at Meriden, N. H., where
he pursued a commercial course and com-
menced at the age of fifteen to assist his
HKATH. 1S9,
father in his store and on the farm. In
1863 his father died in possession of the
largest farm in Vermont and, two years after,
the subject of this sketch removed to Barnet,.
where he was employed in purchasing wool
for the Caledonia iManufac-turing Co. He
then made a heavy investment in timber
lanils in Whitefield, N. H., and in 1872 com-
menced the manufacture of lumber, extend-
ing his operations to the towns of (Iroton,
N'ictory, JMill's Pond and Richford, Vt. In
1890 he sold 1 6,000 acres of timber land in
Mctory to the Olcott Falls Co , previous to
which sale he was the owner of one half of
the township.
He was wedded Jan. 12, 1S62, to Orinda
G., daughter of Lloyd and Lois (Griswold)
Kimball of Mclndoes Falls. Four children
have been the issue of their union : Lucius
K., Mary L. (Mrs. N. H. Houghton),.
Charles IJ., and Margaret E.
Mr. Hazen was selectman of Newbury
during the four years of the war and in 1869
was chosen by a Republican constituency to-
represent the town of Barnet in the Legisla-
ture. He represented St. Johnsbury in 1888
and served on the committee on the insane
and also on that of banks. He has been
director and vice-president of the Merchants.
National Bank of St. Johnsbury for fifteen
years, this being a longer term of service
than that of any other director. In 1892 he
was appointed a delegate at large to the
national Republican convention at Minne-
apolis. He is a deacon in the ^Xorth Con-
gregational Church and a member of the A.
B. C. F. M., and also of the American Home
Missionary Society.
„j;,Heath, Charles Henry, late of Mont-
pelier, son of Elias and Ruth (Blanchard)
Heath, was born in Woodbury, Nov. 4, 1829..
His earlier education was received in the
public schools of Woodbury, the Washington
grammar school and the People's .\cademy
at Morrisville. He then entered the Llni-
\ersity of Vermont, from w^hich he graduated
in 1854, recei\ing three years later the de-
gree of A. M.
For two years after his graduation he was
principal of the academy at Morrisville,
which during that time ranked as the best
school of its kind in the state. He then com-
menced the study of law in the office of Thom-
as (lleed, of Morrisville, and was admitted to
the bar of Lamoille county court in Decem-
ber, 1858. LTntil 1872 he practiced at Plain-
field, but then removed to Montpelier. Early
in the sixties he served as state's attorney
for the county for two years, and in 1868,
1869, and 1870 was elected to the state Sen-
ate, and was subsequently made a trustee of
the State I.ibrarv.
1 90 HEATON.
Mr. Heath was married Feb. 9, 1859, to
Sarah EKza, daughter of Dr. David Wing and
Rebecca (Caldwell) Putnam, of Morrisville.
His death occurred July 12, 1889.
Mr. Heath's life work was not all done in
the law nor in the House where laws were
made, but his outlook was as broad as the
interests of humanity extend, and whatever
commanded itself as helpful to these was
sure to enlist his hearty co-operation. He
]iossessed a marvelous memory and whate\er
he observed seemed indelibly impressed
upon his mind.
The cause of temperance had in him an
ardent supporter, and firmly believing in the
principles of Free Masonry he was a staunch
adherent of the order, being advanced to the
degree of Knight Templar.
A Rejjublican in politics, a liberal Christ-
ian in his church relations, he attempted no
disguise of his beliefs or disbeliefs, but de-
clared them openly, forcibly and often.
HEATON, Homer Wallace, son of
Dr. Cershom and Polly (Wallace) Heaton,
was born in Berlin, August 25, 181 1.
Having received his early education at the
schools of his native town, he continued his
studies at the St. Lawrence Academy, Pots-
dam, N. v., and the Washington county
grammar school at Montpelier.
He commenced the study of law with J.
P. Miller, Esq., and N. Baylies, Jr., in Mont-
pelier, and was admitted to the Washington
county bar, November term, 1835. At the
dissolution of the firm of Miller & Baylies,
he at once formed a partnership with Mr.
Miller under the firm name of Miller cS; Hea-
ton, and when Colonel Miller retired in 1839
he took as a partner Mr. Charles Reed, and
under the style of Heaton & Reed they con-
tinued to practice until the death of the lat-
ter in 1873.
Mr. Heaton was united in marriage July
I, 1841,10 Harriet, daughter of John Stearns.
Of this union were four sons, three of whom
are now living : Charles H., James S., and
Homer ^^'. Mrs. Heaton died April 26,
1859.
Mr. Heaton was state's attorney in 1839-
'41, '60, and '61, and represented Montpe-
lier in 1848. He has always been a staunch
Democrat and was the Democratic candi-
date tor Governor in 1869 and '70, and for
Congress in 1872 and '74. Of late years
Mr. Heaton has kept out of the practice of
the law all that he could to devote himself to
the care of his own property and the man-
agement of the Montpelier Savings Bank and
Trust Co., of which he has been presi-
dent since its organization in 1871.
HENDEE, George Whitman, of Mor-
ris\ille, son of Jehial P. and Rebecca
(Ferrin) Hendee, was born in Stowe, Nov.
30, 1832.
George W. Hendee was educated in the
common schools, and at the People's Ac-
ademy at Morrisville. His parents were
|ioor, and all his educational advantages
were obtained by his own strenuous and
imaideci exertions. At the age of twenty he
commenced the study of law in the office of
W. (;. Ferrin of Johnson. He was admitted
to the Lamoille county bar in 1855. It was
in era of frequent justice and jury trials.
The industry, pleasing address, and clear in-
sight of the young advocate were soon re-
warded with an ample and constantly increas-
ing practice. .\ large proportion of the
more important cases were soon committed
to his charge, and nearly all of his recent
practice has been in the county and supreme
courts of the state and U. S. circuit and
district courts. During the last twenty-
five years the discharge of important politi-
cal duties, and the management of great
business enterprises, have at times withdrawn
the attention of Governor Hendee from his
professional labors. He was one of the
pioneers in the construction of the P. & O.
R. R., and gave his entire time to it for a
period of seven years, and is now the only
director who has given the road continuous
service since the organization of the corpor-
ation. He has been for three years, and is
the president of the Montreal, Portland &
Boston R. R. of Canada. His connection
.. "a
ip2 HEBARD.
with banking interests has been varied and
extensive. He is a director and the vice-
president of the Union Savings Bank and
Trust Co. of Morrisville. He was receiver
of the National Bank of Poultney, and of
the Vermont National Bank of St. .Mbans,
and was national bank examiner from 1879
to 1885.
Governor Hendee is and always has been
a Republican. When he was twenty-one
years old, he was elected to the office of
superintendent of schools, a position he has
since repeatedly and worthily filled, and dur-
ing the almost forty years since that time
there has been no year in which he has not
been called by the public to discharge some
official trust. He has many times acted by
order of court as auditor, trustee, and special
master. He was a member of the Vermont
House of Representatives for Morristown
two sessions, 1861-62, state's attorney for
Lamoille county in i8s8-'59, deputy provost
marshal during the war, senator for Lamoille
county in i866-'67, and 1868, and Lieutenant
Governor in 1869.
Sworn in as (;o\ernor by Judge Steele on
the death of Gov. P. T. Washburn, he served
the remainder of the term. He was a mem-
ber of the Forty-third, Forty-fourth and Forty-
fifth Congresses, and there served on the
committee on pri\ate land claims, and on
the District of Columbia. He was largely
instrumental in drafting and securing the
passage of the law which made an entire
change of the form of government of the
District, under which it has since existed,
and which has placed it on an entirely
sound financial basis.
During his long public career Governor
Hendee has served his town in many and
varied capacities, and the grateful apprecia-
tion in which his services, both public and
private, are held, is well known. He is now
.serving his third term as president of the
board of village trustees. E)uring the last
ten years he has sought relaxation in agri-
cultural pursuits. He is largely interested
in the breeding and development of first-
class light carriage horses of the Morgan
type and blood. He is a member of the
Masonic fraternity; married Nov. 17, 1855,
Millissa, daughter of Stevens and Caroline
(Johnson) Redding. Their only child was
Lillian Frances, now deceased. His wife
died in 1861, and he married, Dec. 23, 1863,
Viola S., daughter of Loren and Fidelia
( Paine) Bundy.
HEBARD, Salmon B., son of Hon.
William Hebard, was born Nov. 15, 1835,
and was educated at the Orange county
grammar school of Randolph, and at Chel-
sea Academy. [For an extended sketch of
Hon. William Hebard see historical portion
of this work.]
He entered his father's office as a law stu-
dent when he was nineteen years of age, but
at twenty-one he was appointed clerk of
Orange county court and held that office
until i860. He was admitted to the bar in
1 86 1. In the fall of that year he enlisted
and was made 2d lieutenant of the istVt.
Light Battery and served in the Department
of the Gulf until November, rS63, when he
returned to Chelsea and resumed legal prac-
tice, soon forming a partnership with his
«^
father which continued until the death of
the latter. He has been town agent ever
since 1875, and deputy clerk of Orange
county court most of the time since i860,
and on the death of Hon. L. G. Hinckley
in 1887 was appointed clerk. In 1880 he
was elected state's attorney for Orange county
and in 1884 senator.
Mr. Hebard is an earnest, reliable man of
good judgment and ability.
HENRY, William Wirt, of Burlington,
son of James M. and Matilda (Gale) Henry,
was born Nov. 21, 1831, in Waterbury.
His educational advantages were limited
to the district and village schools of Water-
bury and one term in the People's .\cademy
of Morrisville.
He was in California in 1852, whence he
returned in 1857, and entered into partner-
ship with his father and brother. Selling out
his interest in i86t, he enlisted as a ])rivate
in Co. D, 2d Vt. Vols. Promoted ist lieuten-
ant, Co. D, he was present at the first battle
193
of Hull Klin, mill a few months afterwards he
was mustered out on a surgeon's certificate.
He again entered the service, August 26,
1862, as major of the loth Infantry, Vt. \'ols.,
and successi\ely was promoted to the grade
of lieutenant-colonel and colonel, and finally
to brevet-brigadier-general for gallant and
meritorious service during the war. He
commanded his regiment at the battles of the
\\'ilderness, Spotts\'lvania, North Anna, Tol-
opotomy Creek, Cold Harbor, Petersburg,
Cedar Creek, Va., and Monocacy, Md.
Slightly wounded at Cold Harbor and Mon-
ocacy, he was hit four times at Cedar Creek.
Congress granted him a medal for gallantry
at Cedar Creek.
The first entry of (General Henry into
public life was his appointment as constable
in White Oak township, Eldorado county,
California, in 1856. After the war he was
twice elected state senator from Washington
county, and also from Chittenden county, in
1874. He was appointed United States
marshal for district of Vermont, in 1879,
which office he held for seven years. He
was mayor of Burlington in i887-'88, and
appointed immigrant inspector in 1892.
General Henry was married August 5,
1857, to Mary Jane, daughter of Lyman and
Mary (Sherman) Beebe. Five children were
born to them : Bertram Beebe, Mary Matilda,
Ferdinand Sherman, Katie Beebe, and Carrie
Eliza. His second wife was Valera, daughter
of Timothy J. and Susan P. (White) Heaton,
whom he married at A\'atertown, Dec. 3,
1872.
After his return from the war, (ieneral
Henry again re-entered the old firm and the
business was removed to Burlington. This
partnership was dissolved in 1870, and from
it sprung the firm of Henry, Johnson & Lord.
General Henry has been prominent in the
Masonic fraternity and military societies in-
stituted since the civil war. He received his
first degrees in Masonry in Aurora Lodge,
Montpelier, in 1858 : was a charter memlier
and Past Master of the lodge at \\'aterbury ;
also charter member of Burlington Lodge,
Burlington. He has enjoyed the honor of
Past Grand Master of the L O. (). F. and de-
partment commander of the G. .\. R. of
Vermont. He has been admitted to the
military order of the Loyal Legion, the .Soci-
ety of the Army of the Potomac, and the
Knights of Pythias.
HEWITT, ALEXIS B., of Putney, son of
William and Abigail (Holman) Hewitt, was
born in Windham, Nov. 29, 1822.
He received his early education at the
common schools of the town, and had
several terms at the old Saxton's River
academy, where he received a teacher's
certificate.
In i842-'43 he taught school in London-
derry, but becoming dissatisfied with the
small pay teachers received in those days,
he removed to Putney, in the early part of
1843, 3""^ found em])loyment in a woolen
mill, where he remained for twelve years,
being superintendent for nine years of the
time. Here he acquired sufficient capital
to establish himself in business, and in the
spring of 1857 he bought a one-half interest
in "The Old Corner Store" with Mr. Baker,
continuing for fourteen years. In 1869 Mr.
A. F. Kelley, now Kelley Bros., bankers,
Minneapolis, Minn., bought the interest of
Mr. Baker, and the firm name of Hewitt &:
ALEXIS B. HEWITT.
Kelley was adopted. This firm continued
the business for three years, until 1S72,
when ;\Ir. Hewitt bought the interest of his
partner and continued it until 1882
Mr. Hewitt has always been a man of
high character and standing in the commu-
nity, and has held many positions of trust,
to which he has been both appointed and
elected.
In 1862 he received from President Lin-
coln the office of postmaster : holding the
office continuously until 1882, when he re-
signed. In 1857 he was elected town treas-
urer, a position of trust which he still holds.
In 1868 he was elected town clerk, and since
that time he has been elected each year.
He has also been receiver of taxes since
1884.
In 1890 and 1892 he represented his town
in the General Assembly at Montpelier, and
194 HILL.
was a delegate to the national Republican
convention at Minneapolis in 1892.
Mr. Hewitt was married August 4, 1845,
to Miss Abbie F., daughter of John B. and
Harriet Moore Pierce.
A man of quiet habits, unostentatious, but
of liberal views, having much sympathy for
the unfortunate, and always taking a deep
interest in the welfare of the town and its
people ; he is beloved by the community,
and most by those who know him best.
HILL, George W., of Lunenburg, son
of Carleton and Amanda M. (Carr) Hill, was
born in Danville, Dec. 18, 1842.
His father moved to Concord when George
was three years old, and he received his ed-
ucation in the common schools of that town
and of Lunenburg.
liilfliill
At the age of eight he had the mis-
fortune to lose his mother, and five years
afterward he left home and found employ-
ment in various places in Concord until
1856, when he returned to Lunenburg and
there engaged in farm labor until his patri-
otic impulses led him to serve in the army
of the Union. F^nlisting in Co. K, 8th
Regt. ^'t. Vols., under the command of Col.
Stephen Thomas, he shared in the vicissi-
tudes of the Louisiana campaign. He was
present at Routes Station, Bayou Teche,
Fort Bisland, Port Hudson, Donaldson, Win-
chester, Va., Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek.
Severely wounded in the first named engage-
ment, he refused an honorable discharge and
returned to his regiment. He entered the
ser\ice a i)rivate, was promoted through
e\ery grade to 2d lieutenant, and as such
returned with his company at the close of
the war.
After the termination of the struggle
Lieutenant Hill returned to Lunenburg, en-
gaged in farming and finally settled on the
place where he now resides.
He was united in marriage, Nov. 7, 1865,
to Amanda M., daughter of Sylvanus and
Martha Lane. Four children have been the
fruit of their union : Harry S., George W.
(deceased), Clara AL, and Madge E.
Mr. Hill is an adherent of the Re]3ublican
party and has repeatedly been charged with
the responsibilities of many offices in the
gift of his fellow-townsmen. He ably repre-
sented Lunenburg in the Legislature of i8go.
He is a prominent member of Howard Post,
G. -A. R., and for three years was commander.
He is noted for energy and perseverance, is
a good financier and successful farmer.
HILL, Harlan Henry, of Lowell, son of
Samuel and Jane (Fairbanks) Hill, was born
in (ireensboro, April 16, i860.
He is one of the most successful physi-
cians in Orleans county, and has an univer-
sally large practice. Dr. Hill is a self-made
man and after leaving the public schools of
( Greensboro, by a hard and diligent struggle
])rocured sufficient funds for a more extended
education in the Liberal Institute of Glover,
and the Elclectic College of Physicians and
Surgeons, of New York City, from which lat-
ter institution he was graduated in 1883, af-
ter an extensive experience in hospital
practice at Bellevue and Blackwell's Island.
.\fter graduating he pursued his profession
a few months with his former preceptor,
1 )r. Templeton, of Glover, with whom he had
studied three vears, going from (Hover to
Morgan. In the fall of 1884 he moved to
Lowell, where he soon acquired an extensive
practice. In 1886, Dr. Hill was elected town
superintendent of schools.
He is a member of the Vermont Eclectic
Society and in 1892 was elected vice-presi-
dent. Politically, he is a strong Republican ;
in religious preferences he is a liberal.
May 12, 1884, he married Zana B. Drew,
of Cilover.
HITCHCOCK, Aaron Charles, of
Westfield, son of Medad Smith and Patty
(Hitchcock) Hitchcock, was born July 19,
1823, in \Vestfield. He is seventh in de-
scent from Luke Hitchcock, who settled in
New Haven, Conn., in 1644, from which
place his two sons, Luke and John, removed
to Springfield, Mass., building a log house
on the present site of the old court house,
which habitation was burned down when
Springfield was attacked and pillaged by the
Indians. The great-grandfather of Aaron
was the first white settler who remained
through the winter in lirimfield, Mass., and
was one of the original proprietors of that
town, from where Capt. Medad Hitchcock
removed to \\'estfielcl in 1805 and there
built the first grist and saw mill and the first
frame barn, the latter serving as church and
schoolhouse for a time.
l"he Hitchcock family have always been
prominent in Westfield, and no member
more so than A. C. Hitchcock, whose edu-
cation was received in the public .schools.
His father died when he was seventeen
years old and on him devolved much re-
sponsibility (ably borne) as the eldest of a
'family of six. Air. Hitchcock has de\oted
HOI'.AkI-. 195
Since the formation of the Republican
party, Mr. Hitchcock has been a sturdy ad-
herent of the same, and, while in no sense a
politician, he has often been called upon to
serve his town. In i860 and 1861 he was
fitly chosen to represent \\'estfield in the
state Legislature and at the special session in
April, 1 86 1. He has been a trustee of the
W'estfield grammar school since its incor-
poration and for thirty years was its treasurer
and one of the ]3ru(iential committee. .At
the age of twenty-five he became an active
member of the Congregational church to
which he has been a most liberal contributor
and supporter, always active in Sunday
school work and taking much interest in
home and foreign missions.
The success of Mr. Hitchcock in the
course of a long and active career has been
the result of his personal energy, common
sense, and natural good judgment.
AARON CHARLES HITCHCOCK.
his life mainly to agricultural pursuits and
was a pioneer in fruit growing in his section,
and as a farmer and business man has been
eminently successful. He is a large owner
of real estate in Orleans county and also in
Iowa and Dakota. In 1873 he purchased a
half interest in a general store at Troy for
his son Edward and a year later bought out
the other partner. This property, howe\ er,
he sold after his son's death.
He was married March 12, 1849, *" ^ '>'"
ista L., daughter of Johnathan and Lydia
(Rowell) Jenkins of Kirby, who is a direct
descendant of the famous Hannah Dustin.
They ha\e had three children : (,'harles S.
(deceased), Edward A. (deceased), Emma
C. (Mrs. Hiram O. Miller).
HOBART, John White, of St. .Albans,
son of Thomas S. and Mary (Packard) Hob-
art, was born in Randolph, .August 23, 1829.
The subject of this sketch is of English
descent, and was educated at (Grange county
grammar school, and at Thetford Academy,
under the tuition of Hiram B. Orcutt. The
traits of character which were to bring suc-
cess to young Hobart early manifested them-
selves, and before reaching man's estate he
was fighting the battle of life unaided. At
the age of eighteen he entered the employ-
ment of the Vermont Central Railroad in the
train department. In 1848, several months
before the road was completed, and during
the period of this employment, he had more
or less to do with the construction of the
line.
In 1S49 the road was opened to .Mont-
pelier on the 4th of July of that year, and
Mr. Hobart was appointed station agent at
the Capital. Ten years of faithful service in
this capacity was rewarded by a further
recognition of his ability and usefulness, and
in March, 1859, he was made master of trans-
portation. This position he held fourteen
years, and at its close had completed a
quarter of a century of active service for the
Vermont Central corporation, commencing
his second quarter as general superintendent
of the road and its leased lines in 1873. The
growth of the road, and its e,xtension by
branch roads built, and other roads leased,
furnished a large field, requiring more ex-
tended supervision, and in 1883 Mr. Hobart
was made general manager of the Central
Vermont system.
Continued application will tell on the
strongest constitution, and though capable
of more physical endurance than the average
man, Mr. Hobart had to succomb to im-
jiaired health, and on lunc i, 1891, for that
196 HOIiART.
reason, resigned his ]30sition, after having
l.)een in the employment of the company
forty-three years.
lUiring a large part of the period of his
service as general superintendent and gen-
eral manager, the railroad management was
harassed by vexations litigation, extending
over a long i^eriod, and making heavy de-
mands on the time and ability of the presi-
dent, the late ex-Governor John Gregory
Smith, and compelling him to depend
largely, and at times entirely, upon his gen-
eral superintendent and manager in all affairs
connected with the ojierations of the rail-
road ; how thoroughly and ably the many
lacobs (I.yman) Howe. They ha^e one
son : Norman L.
He never aspired to any political office,
though in 1870 he was elected a member of
the Constitutional Convention.
He is a member of the several local
branches of the Masonic fraternity, and was
district deputy grand master for a term.
Mr. Hobart is associated with many of
the local enterprises in the town of St.
Albans, to which his well-balanced judgment
and business instincts are a tower of strength.
He is a member of St. Luke's Episcopal
Church, and a generous contributor to its
support. His genial disposition and uni-
versal courtesy makes him essentially a man
of the people. No corporation ever had a
manager who so generally commanded the
esteem of all classes of employes.
HUE HOBART.
duties of the latter were performed is shown
by its prosperity, notwithstanding it was so
heavily handicapped during that period, a
prosperity that John W. Hobart helped to
make possible.
His reputation as an able railroad man-
ager has extended far beyond the borders of
his native state, and he has several times
received offers from corporations, notably
the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, and the
New Orleans & Mobile. These offers with
large salaries connected with them would
have persuaded many less unselfish natures,
but through them all his loyalty to the old
Central Vermont never swerved, nor his love
for the Green Mountain state in which he
was content to pass his life.
He was married in Royalton, Jan. 18, 1853,
to Mary lane, daughter of I.uther and Mary
HOBSON, Samuel Decatur, of island
Pond, son of Samuel and Hannah (Sawyer)
Hobson, was born in Hollis, Me., Oct. 5,
1830.
Mr. Hobson is of English descent and was
educated in the common schools and at Lim-
erick Academy. Ih 1852, he removed to
Island Pond, and aided in the erection of the
first building in the village. He continued
the business of builder and contractor until
1857, when he was engaged by Isaac Dyer,
of Portland, as foreman of his mill and lum-
ber business, and he remained with him two
years, when he became the agent of St. John
Smith of the same place, whose interest he
soon purchased. After continuing here for
three years Mr. Hobson bought the Wood-
bury Mills at East Brighton in 1886, and
"Hobson's Mills" has since that time been
his residence, until, in 1890, he removed to
Island Pond, and his sons have been associa-
ted with him. In addition to their regular
trade, they maintain an extensive mercantile
establishment and carry on a large stock
farm.
Mr. Hobson was united in marriage in
January, 1854, to Mary E., daughter of Eben
and Sarah (Haley) Sawyer, of Hollis, Me.
To them have been born : Harry Howard,
Helen M. (Mrs. K. B. Fletcher, jr., of Lan-
caster, N. H.), John E. (deceased), Eugene
F., Sarah M., Albion W., Mary C, and Elsie G.
Mr. Hobson is an active and influential
Republican. Having performed the duties of
the various town offices he was chosen to the
Legislature in 1856, and again in 18S2 and
1883. The following year he was elected
to the Senate from Essex county and was
appointed by Governor Dillingham a mem-
ber of the committe to locate the new state
asylum for the insane. In i860 he received
the honor of an election as assistant judge of
the county court.
197
Judge Hobson is a liberal and iniblie-spir-
ited man of strong temperance views and a
consistent member of the M. E. Church. He
possesses good judgment and remarkable en-
ergy, in consequence of which he has l)een
financially successful.
HOI. BROOK, ARTHUR T., of l.cming-
ton, son of Thomas P. and (Mi\e (Huffington)
Hoibrook, was born Nov. 8, 1839, in Leming-
ton. His father, Thomas, came to Lemington
from Helchertown, Mass., as one of the earli-
est settlers, in 1805. Here in the conipara-
ti\e wilderness he reared, amid his rough
surroundings, a family of eighteen sturdy
children, who though accustomed to hard-
ships and toil from early infancy, all lived to
maturity.
-Arthur attended the schools of his native
town and the neighboring academy of Cole-
brook, N. H., when not engaged in labor
on the farm. He now is in possession of a
fine fertile estate, embracing six hundred and
forty acres, which he manages with great
ability, producing two tons of maple sugar
annually. A dutiful son, he has remained
upon this farm his whole life long, and
cherished the declining years of his father
who died in 1873, at the ripe old
age of eighty-eight ; and of his mother who
still survives, and though nearly four score
and ten, is a pleasant and intelligent old
lady, retaining full possession of her mental
faculties.
Mr. Hoibrook is a prominent Republican,
but though living in a Democratic town, has
been pronounced worthy of almost all the
ofifices in its gift, and was complimented by
an election to the Legislature in 1S74. He
has also been called upon to fill the responsi-
ble position of justice of the peace ancl town
clerk for thirty and twenty years respectively,
while his assistance has been frequently
sought in settling estates. In 1S70 he was a
member of the Constitutional Convention.
He was married in Colebrook, Jan. 17,
1880, to Marial C, daughter of Judge Elias
and Clarissa (Smith) Lyman. Two children
have blessed their union : ^L^ude Lyman, and
Harold .Arthur.
Mr. Hoibrook is a member of the Patrons
of Husbandry. He is independent in his
judgment, honest, moral, industrious. Of
frank and hospitable nature, one is always
assured of a hearty welcome in his pleasant
and comfortable home.
HOLBROOK, JOHN, late of Hrattle-
boro, son of John and Sybil (Lane) Hoi-
brook, was born in Weymouth, Mass., July
10, 1761, and soon after he became of age
moved to Xewfane ( reporting himself to
Hon. Luke Knowlton, who assisted him to
employment as a land surveyor, as he had
been taught drawing and the surveyor's art
by British officers stationed at Dorchester
Heights). Voung Hoibrook ran town and
division lines in the vicinity of Xewfane
hill.
.\t the age of twenty-fi\e he married
Sarah, daughter of Luke and Sarah (Hol-
land) Knowlton. Luke Knowlton was one
of the first judges of the Supreme Court of
Vermont, and was one of the very earliest
settlers, coming from Shrew-sbury, Mass.,
where most of his family were born.
At that time the settlers sought high ele-
vations in order to protect themselves from
roaming Indians who were wont to attack
from ambush along the valleys, and also to
escape the malarial fevers. Mr. Hoibrook
soon opened a small general store in the L
of what is now about the onlv house left of
JOHN HOLBROOK.
the early ones built on Newfane hill. He
took his produce and articles of barter on
pack-horses over a bridle path defined by
marked trees along the West River valley
down through Brattleboro, then unsettled, to
Greenfield, where they were exchanged for
dry goods and groceries. .After accumulat-
ing his first thousand dollars he moved to
Brattleboro, buying the old mills which
stood where Hines & Newman afterward
built their shop, and also buying the house
which is now known as the .American House,
of which his family occupied a i)art, he
opening a country store in the other part.
He fmallv formed business relations with
198
HOLBROUK.
HOLBROOK.
David Porter, a leading merchant in Hart-
ford, Conn., under the firm name of Porter
& Holbrook at Hartford, and Holbrook &
Porter at IJrattleboro. Mr. Holbrook was
one of the original directors of the old
Phoenix Bank of Hartford, and is said to
have brought the first bank notes here for
circulation. He started the first flat bottom
boats on the Connecticut river between here
and Hartford, and for many years these
boats were the principal means of exchang-
ing heavy freights with the seaboard. He
also built a slaughter house on the island
across the river, where large quantities of
beef, pork, hams and tongues were cured
for market, and which were sent mainly to
the West Indies by the Hartford firm in ex-
change for goods of that country. About
the year 1809 he sold his property to
Francis Goodhue, who came to Brattleboro
from Wethersfield.
Mr. Holbrook removed to ^\'arehouse
Point, Conn., where he lived for two or
three years or until the death of his son-in-
law, William Fessenden, who left a small
family and an extensive business, which
made it necessary for Mr. Holbrook to re-
turn and assume charge of the concern,
which he subsequently extended and enlarged
after taking as a partner Joseph Fessenden,
brother of William, and, under the firm
name of Holbrook &: Fessenden, the busi-
ness was continued for many years. In
1794 Mr. Holbrook was appointed post-
master and served till July i, 1804. At the
age of sixty, he retired from active business
and built a house for his own occupancy on
extensive grounds in the north part of the
village, where for the remainder of his life
he devoted himself to fancy gardening and
to the beautifying and cultivation of his
home farm. He was the second member of
the original board of trustees of the Ver-
mont Asvlum under the Marsh bequests, and
died in office in 1838.
HOLBROOK, Frederick, of Brattle-
boro, ex-(;o\ernor of ^'ermont, was born in
East Windsor, Conn., Feb. 15, 1813. His
father was John Holbrook. [See preceding
sketch.]
Freckrick Holbrook receixed a sound Kng-
lish education in the progress of which he
devoted much attention to mathematics. For
two years he was a diligent student at the
Berkshire Gymnasium, Pittsfield, Mass., an
institution then under the direction of Pro-
fessor Dewey, and held by many to be the best
private school in the country at that time.
When twenty years of age he crossed the
Atlantic to obtain the advantage of a Euro-
pean tour. Returning home in 1833, he set-
tled in Brattleboro and confined his energies
mainly to agricultural pursuits.
Frederick Holbrook was married on the
13th of lanuarv, 1835, to Harriet, daughter
of Joseph and Sarah (Edwards) Goodhue of
Brattleboro. Their children are : Franklin
F., William C. [see following sketch], and
John.
Public official life with Mr. Holbrook be-
gan in 1847, when he was elected register of
probate for the district of Marlboro. In
1850 he was chosen to the presidency of the
^'ermont State .Agricultural Society, of which
he was one of the founders. The first ad-
dress delivered before the association was
from his lips. Eight consecutive annual
elections followed his first elevation to that
most useful and honorable post. In 1849,
and 1850 he was returned to the state Senate
as the representative of his fellow-citizens ia
\Mndham county. While a member of the
Senate, and acting as chairman of a special
committee on agriculture, he proposed and
prepared a memorial to Congress setting
forth the usefulness and urging the establish-
ment of a National Bureau of Agriculture.
The project received the indorsement and
commendation of the President of the United
States in his message to Congress. It was
no less favorably received by the rejjresenta-
tives of the several states, and by their action^
approved by the chief magistrate, the depart-
ment of agriculture soon passed from the-
domain of possibility into that of reality.
His essays and other writings lor the agri-
cultural press for several years first attracted
public attention to him. His style of writ-
ing, the result of careful training in the for-
mation of good composition, and clear, con-
cise statement, was said to be graceful and
forceful, and, later on, conspicuous in his.
state papers and official correspondence.
Qualities so useful and public service so.
beneficial naturally led to Mr. Holbrook's.
ele\ation to the gubernatorial chair of Ver-
mont. In 1 86 1 he was placed therein by a.
gratifying majority of votes. The choice was
one of special honor to the subject, inasmuch
as the time was one of the darkest and most
portentous in the whole of our national his-
tory. Responsibilities of the gravest char-
acter devohed upon the executive head of
the state and burdensome and incessant labor
was required of him.
\\'hile Clovernor of Vermont Mr. Holbrook
was called upon to assist in devising means
for the preservation of injured Union sol-
diers. Under his guidance Vermont was the
first state in the L'nion to provide hospitals
for its soldiers. Thereby many were saved
from sinking into untimely graves. There
were no precedents to guide action. Good
practical sense alone availed to work out the
problem. But few mistakes attended the
attempted solution, and brilliant success
crowned it in the outcome.
^rr^A^^^Aj' /^>^i/^^o^/^^
Since he was Governor he has dechned
all overtures of public office, preferring the
quiet, honored, and eminently useful life he
is now leading. As an authority on many
and diverse subjects, his opinions are eagerly
sought and largely followed by an ever-
widening circle of friends and acquaintances.
Appointments from general government
have sought his acceptance, but have been
declined. Never an office-seeker, and com-
paratively seldom an office-accepter, when-
ever he has been persuaded to don the official
harness he has always been noted for the
efficiency, thoroughness and beneficence of
his work. The best ends, the wisest means
to the ends, and the highest rule of action
have entered into all his meditations, plans,
and deeds of pubhc activity.
Chairman of the board of trustees of the
Vermont Asylum for the past forty years, he
has incessantly sought the best good of the
patients and the best welfare of the institu-
tion. Legislator, Governor, and public ben-
efactor, his career has been one of dutiful,
loving utility. In the tranquil but prolific
department of agriculture his position, if
vacated, would be extremely difficult to fill.
HOLBROOK, William C, of New
York, son of Frederick and Harriet ((lood-
hue) Holbrook, was born in lirattleboro,
July 14, 1842.
He commenced his education in the pub-
lic schools of Bratdeboro, and afterwards at-
tended a private school for boys under the
charge of the Rev. .\ddison Brown. He first
engaged in mercantile pursuits in Boston,
Mass. Returning to Brattleboro on the out-
break of the war of the rebellion, and enlisting
as private in Co. F, 4th Vt. Vols., he accompa-
nied that regiment to Washington as ist lieu-
tenant, and was shortly afterwards made act-
ing adjutant. Subsequentiy he was promoted
to major of the 7th Vt. Vols., which organi-
zation he accom])anied to Ship Island, Miss.,
and was commissioned colonel of the com-
mand in August, 1862. He served as such
and as brigade commander until after the sur-
render of all the rebel armies. Colonel Hol-
brook actively participated in sieges and the
battles of Vicksburg, Grand C.ulf, Baton
Rouge, Jackson's Bridge, Gonzales Station,
Spanish Fort, Blakely, Whistler and Mobile,
and he re-enlisted in the 7th Regt. for three
additional years service or for the war on the
exjMration of its first term of service.
.■\t the close of the struggle he entered the
Cambridge Law School and began there the
study of law. In 1868 he went to New York
City, was there admitted to the bar and has
since been actively engaged in the practice
of the law. He has also been admitted a
member of the bar of Windham county, and
of the circuit and district courts of the L^nited
States, of various departments in New York,
New Jersey, and Western Pennsylvania.
Colonel Holbrook was married in New
York City, Jan. 17, 1872, to Anna Morrison,
daughter of Thomas and Margaret Chalmers.
Three children are issue of the union : Mar-
garet Chalmers, Marion Goodhue, and Chal-
mers.
Colonel Holbrook is allied with numerous
civil and military social organizations, among
which may be named Sedgwick Post, No. 8,
i
WILLIAM C. HOLBROOK.
of Brattleboro, G. A. R., the military order of
the Loyal Legion, the societies of the Army
of the Potomac, of the Officers and Soldiers
4th Vt. Vols., of the \^"indham County ^'eter-
ans, of the Windsor County Veterans, of the
19th Army Corps, of the Xt. Officers, of the
Veteran Officers and Soldiers of the 7th \'t.
^'ols. Of the three last named he either is,
or has been, president. He also belongs to
the Association of the Bar of the City of New
York, and is a life member of the New Eng-
land Society of that city.
HOLDEN, Charles Reed, of Holden,
son of Fitch and Chloe (Todd) Holden, was
born in Mt. Holly, June 3, 1840.
i\fter the customary public school educa-
tion he pursued a course of study at the
Springfield Methodist Seminary, after which
he went to Illinois, following the occupation
of farmer and stock raiser for six years.
Though meeting with success, he returned
to the East in 1865, where after a temporary
residence in several towns, he finally settled
in Chittenden, and there has engaged ex-
tensively in the lumber trade, paying some
attention also to agriculture. So highly has
Mr. Holden been esteemed in the (immun-
ity where he resides that when the U. S.
government established a new jjostottice in
that part of the township known as North
Chittenden, it received the title of Holden
as a deserved compliment to him.
He espoused, June 4, 1859, M. Ellen,
daughter of Beeman and Rhoana Rixby,
from which connection have sprung : Jennie
May, Charles R., Jr., Agnes J., Ada R., Ottie
L., and Guy B.
Mr. Holden has passed through the rou-
tine of office in his town and represented
Chittenden in 1878, gi\ing his services to
the committees on elections and debentures.
HOLDEN, James Henry, late of Mid-
dlesex, son of Elijah and Orpha (Steele)
Holden, was born in Middlesex, Mav 26,
1829.
His father afterwards moved to Barre and
then to Waitsfield, and James, whose educa-
tion was limited to the common schools of
those towns.bv takin^ ail\nntat;e to the utmost
%v^
JAMES HENRY HOLDEN.
of his opportunities was enab';d to master all
the branches there taught. He became a
fine penman and a good bookkeeper. He
also gave much attention to music, and for
many years was leader of the choir in his
native village. Remaining upon his father's
farm in Waitsfield until his majority, he was
for seven vears afterwards emiiloved as a
clerk in Waitsfield, an<l Danvers, Mass. , In
1856 he commenced business for himself in
.Middlesex, in which he continued for thirty-
two years, until the time of his death, en-
gaging in various partnerships during that
time. Always honest and conscientious in
his dealings he retained the confidence and
respect of all his customers during his whole
business career, and was the leading mer-
chant of that town.
In his early years he joined the Rep\ib-
lican ]3arty in which he acted a prominent
part during the rest of his life. He repre-
sented the town of Middlesex in the Legis-
lature of i860, and from 1872 to 1876 was
assistant judge of the county court. Judge
Holden was selectman of the town during
the period of the war, and rendered good
service to his country in enlisting and send-
ing soldiers to the front. He has frequently
acted on town and county committees, and
was for two years county commissioner under
the ]jrohibition law of the state. For more
than twenty years he was postmaster at Mid-
dlesex, and in every position of public trust
proved himself a capable and faithful steward
of the people.
An acti\e member of the Masonic lodges
at Moretown and U'aterbury, he was buried
with the customary funeral ceremonies of
the order. He was a member and a worthy
chief of the (iood Templars, and in all moral,
social, and benevolent enterprises in the
town he gave freely his time, his talent, and
his money.
Judge Holden married at Fayston, July
16, 1855, Catherine, daughter of Eli and
riuma (Sherman) Bruce, from which union
there were : Pluma Eliza (Mrs. J. E. (jood-
cnough of Montpelier), William .Allen (de-
ceased), and James Harry.
HOLDEN, Sylvanus Marsh, of south
Londonderry, son of Philemon and Sally
(Faulkner) Holden, was born in London-
derry, Feb. 14, 1838.
His education was received in the com-
mon schools of Londonderry and at the
West River Academy, from which he gradu-
ited in 1858. After leaving school he
remained on the homestead until r 860, when
he went to Brattleboro and learned the trade
of a jeweler. In 1861 he started in this busi-
ness at South Londonderry, continuing until
1865, when he commenced to deal in general
merchandise, and was thus employed until
1 87 1. He then bought the farm where he
has since residsd, de\()ting himself to agri-
culture and dealing in cattle and real estate.
He is now also conducting a farm in Lon-
donderry, where he has started a general
merchandise store in addition to his agricul-
tural o])erations, and is now the ])ossessor of
a large ]5roperty in South Dakota.
He has served his town as chairman of
listers for ten years, beginning in 1881, and
as justice of the peace for the past six years.
Mr. Holden was married, Nov. 28, 1861,
at North Adams, Mass., to Kllen S., daughter
of Thomas and Mary (Wiley) Jaquith.
'I'here were born to them three children :
Willie S. (deceased), Archie W. (deceased),
and Arthur H.
HOLDEN, ORSEMOR S., of Felchville,
son of Joel and Priscilla (W'hitmore) Holden,
was born in Reading, July 30, 1843.
He received the school advantages of his
native town. His father died when he was
only seven years of age. From his father's
family he inherited a rare taste and gift for
music, which he has cultivated during his
whole life, and of this accomplishment he
has availed himself at times to earn his liv-
ing. For about twenty-eight years he has
followed the occupation of a house, sign and
carriage painter, though he has meanwhile
traveled extensively with concert troupes.
In 1864 he commenced an engagement with
Whitmore & Clari's Minstrels during their
seasons, and this lasted five years. Mr. Hol-
den is a popular ballad singer, possessing a
baritone voice of great compass and power.
He enlisted three times during the civil
war, but could not pass the medical
examination.
He has received his degrees in Mt. Sinai
Lodge, No. 22, L O. O. F. of Proctorsville.
He is an earnest member of the Republi-
can partv ; has been eight years justice of
the peace, and ten years a selectman, eight
years chairman of the board. He has been
twice elected to the Legislature from Read-
ing, in t886 and 1890, serving on the com-
mittee on claims. He is now road commis-
sioner, town agent and auditor.
He contracted marriage July 2, 1873, with
J. Ella, daughter of Samuel H. and Julia A.
(Spaulding) Nutting of Andover.
HOLDEN, John StedmaN, of Ben-
nington, son of Lewis and Eliza A. (How-
let) Holden, was born in Charlton, Mass.,
May 9, 1845.
He was educated in the public schools of
Charlton but was sent to Nichols Academy
at Dudley, when sixteen years of age ; and
afterwards entered upon a course of study at
the Weslyan Academy, Wilbraham, Mass.,
and finally graduated from Poughkeepsie
Business College.
The business experience of Mr. Holden
has been widely varied. When nineteen he
was employed as a clerk in Hartford, Conn.,
and for two years engaged in the roofing
business in that city ; he next served three
years on the police force of Hartford.
Abandoning this occupation in 1871, he
entered into a copartnership with his brother
to trade in general merchandise at Palmer,
Mass., under the firm name of H. P. & J. S.
Holden, and while here they established two
branch stores. This connection was dis-
solved in 1S79, when Mr. J. S. Holden
established himself in the oil" businesss at
Miller's Farm, near Titusville, Pa , where he
purchased the Crystal Oil Works and manu-
factured refined oil, but in 1S80 sold this
property to the Standard Oil Co., and then
for two years did a wholesale trade in this
article. He then erected woolen mills at
Palmer, Mass., which he operated till 1889
when he sold the establishment, bought the
Hunt & Tillinghast woolen mills at Ben-
nington, and entered into partnership with
Charles W. and George F. Leonard under
the firm name of Holden, Leonard & Co.
Here they employ about three hundred
hands during all the year in the manufact-
ure of woolens, and in connection with this
they have a large store. Mr. Holden has
large interests in tenement house property
in Palmer, Mass., and is president of a wire
company in that town. He also is a direc-
tor in the Bennington County National Bank
and its vice-president.
He is a member of the Congregational
church and an ardent supporter of the Ben-
nington Y. M. C. A.
Belonging to the Republican party he was
chairman of the committee of that organiza-
tion in Palmer. He is trustee of the village
of Bennington, a thorough protectionist, and
though interested in politics, has no desire
for official positions.
He was married Oct. 21, 1868, to Jennie
G., daughter of Cyrus and Almira (Burr)
Goodell of Hartford, Conn. Five children
have been born to them : Arthur (., Alice A.,
Lula J., Florence E., and Clarence L.
HOLLAND, Emerson, of Vergennes,
son of Stephen and .Achsa R. (Bi.xby) Hol-
land, was born in Hinsdale, Mass., May 21,
1829.
He received a good education by attend-
ing the common schools of Panton, to which
town his parents moved when he was yet
young. Later he attended a private classical
school at ^'ergennes, and the academy at St.
Albans.
He spent the years 1854 and 1855 in
Kalamazoo, Mich., as a clerk in a store and
warehouse. When his father died, he was
obliged to return and has since been a farmer
and surveyor, and as both has been actively
employed. He holds many positions of trust
and has assisted by appointment of probate
court in settling fifty-six estates.
In politics Mr. Holland is a Republican
and has held various town offices. He was
town treasurer for seventeen years and five
204 HOLTON.
years selectman, after which he resigned. He
represented Panton in 1864 and 1865, and
served as chairman of the committee on mile-
age and debentures. He was census enum-
erator for Panton and \\'altham in 1890. In
1892 he was elected associate judge for
Addison county.
judge Holland is unmarried, and his sister,
lessie M., presides over his household at the
old homestead.
Judge Holland has a good library of classi-
cal works. He has made a most conservative
record in the positions of honor which he
has held, but is a quiet, unassuming man and
despises office-seeking. He is of a dignified
bearing, and though naturally reserved is
friendly and sincere in his relations, and is
one of the able and respected men of Addi-
son county.
HOLTON, Charles O., of Canaan,
son of John and Abbie (Morse) Holton, was
born in Charleston, Jan. 8, 1855.
His early educational advantages were lim-
ited to the opportunities afforded by the com-
mon schools of Charleston.
LES O. HOLTON.
After laboring on his father's farm till he
was twenty years of age, he grew interested
in the art of photography and practiced it in
Charleston and later on in Sherbrook, P. Q.,
and North Troy. In 1875 he was employed
in reproducing and enlarging ])ictures at the
Centennial ex])osition in the city of Philadel-
phia. He then returned to Charleston and
engaged in the drug business with his brother.
In 1880 he removed to Canaan, where, not-
withstanding his limited capital, he has stead-
ily prospered in business, adding to his orig-
inal trade the sale of jewelry, silverware, and
fancy goods.
Mr. Holton has served as town clerk and
superintendent of the schools and in 1872
was complimented by an election to the
state Legislature.
He was married Dec. 11, 1S79, '" Lla M.,
daughter of George W'., and Mary (Clreen)
Hamilton of Charleston. They ha\e one
child : Neil.
HOLTON, Henry DWIGHT, of Brattle-
boro, son of Elihu D. and Nancy (Grout)
Holton, was born at Saxton's River, julv 24,
1838.
Having prepared himself for college, he
decided to forego the regular collegiate
course and to at once enter into the profes-
sion he had chosen for himself; therefore he
immediately began to study the theory and
application of medicine under the tuition of
Dr. H. J. Warren of Boston. Subsequently
he continued under Professors Valentine
and A. B. Mott, in New York, and also at-
tended the lectures in the medical depart-
ment of the L'niversity of New York, from
which he graduated in March, 1S60. After
his graduation. Dr. Holton went to Brook-
lyn, N. v., where for six months he acted as
l)hysician to the Williamsburg Dispensary.
In November, i8fio, he removed to Putney
from whence, after seven years successful
practice, he went to Brattleboro where he
located permanently.
Being always a firm believer in the bene-
fits accruing from the association of medical
practitioners, Dr. Holton, in i86t, became a
member of the Connecticut River Valley
Medical Association; in the year following
he was made its secretary, a position ably
filled by him for five years, when he was
elected president. In 1873 he was elected
president of the ^'ermont Medical Society,
which he entered in 186 1, and of which he
was a censor for several years. In 1864 Dr.
Holton became a member of the American
iMedical Association and was elected to its
vice-presidency in 1880. During the ses-
sion he was made a member of the judicial
council to which was submitted for arbitra-
tion all questions concerning professional
ethics. He was sent as a delegate to the
International Medical Congress held at
Brussels in 1875. While abroad, during a
visit to England, he was made a member of
the British Medical Association. He is also
a member of the .American Public Health
Association and was elected its treasurer at
the meeting held in the city of Mexico in
1892. He is also a member of the Boston
i^Z-^i-^Z-^.
irCZd^^^'
206
tiynaecological Society, and tlie New York
Therapeutical Society.
Dr. Holton is the recipient of many grati-
fying testimonials to his medical erudition
and skill, not only from medical associa-
tions, but also from the authorities of his
own state. In 1873 he was appointed medi-
cal examiner to the Vermont Asylum for the
Insane, by the court ; and in the same year
he was elected by the Legislature one of the
trustees of the University of Vermont, in the
medical department of which institution he
was for some years professor of materia
medica and general pathology ; and in 1881
he received from the same institution the
honorary degree of A. M.
I!)r. Holton has been an extensive trav-
eler in both the Eastern and ^\'estern
Hemispheres. In 18.71 he crossed the con-
tinent to San Francisco in order to attend a
meeting of the American Medical .Associa-
tion, at which he was elected to membership
in the Rocky Mountain Medical Association.
He has been a frequent contributor to
current medical literature and his essays in
turn have been published in various medica!
journals and in the transactions of the
societies. He reported " Mott's Cliniques"
for the press.
Dr. Holton has avoided that entire re-
striction of active energy to one pursuit
which sometimes subjects individuals to the
charge of narrowness. For twenty years he
has been an active member of the Urattle-
boro school board, and during a large por-
tion of this time its chairman. He was one
of the first trustees of the Brattleboro Free
Library ; has been a director of the Vermont
National Rank for fourteen years : and presi-
dent of the Brattleboro Gas Co. for twelve
years.
Politically, Dr. Holton is a staunch Re-
publican, and in 1884 was elected to the
state Senate from Windham county, serving
in that body as chairman of the committee
on education, chairman of the committee on
insane asylum, and a member of the joint
committee on the house of correction. In
1888 he was elected representative from
Brattleboro to the General Assembly, where
he vcas a member of the committees on
education, ways and means and public
health. He served for three years as sur-
geon of the 1 2th Regt. Vt. Militia.
Dr. Holton was instrumental in the or-
ganization, and is president of the board of
trustees of the Pan-American Medical Con-
gress, which, under the patronage of the
government, met in \Vashington in 1893.
(This organization was one of the most
important in the medical profession, and
was organized for the purpose of scientific
discussion and more intimate relations of
the medical fraternity of the Western Hemi-
sphere, and undoubtedly will have an indi-
rect influence upon the political relations of
the United States and these countries.) He
was appointed commissioner for Vermont of
the Nicaragua Canal convention, held in
New Orleans in December, 1S92; was also
one of the commissioners for Vermont of
the Columbian E.xposition.
He is a member of Brattleboro Lodge,
.\o. 102, F. and A. M.
He married, Nov. 19, 1862, KUen Jane,
daughter of Theophilus and Mary Damon
(Chandler) Holt of Saxton's River. They
have one adopted daughter: (Mrs. Clifton
Sherman of Hartford, Conn.)
HOLTON, JOEL Huntington, of
Burlington, son of Erastus Alexander and
Hannah Brainard (May) Holton, was born
in Westminster, Nov. 15, 1841. He is a
direct descendant of Kenelm, brother of
( ;o\-. Edward Winslow of the old Plymouth
colonv.
Mr. Holton obtained his education in the
schools of Westminster and the academies of
Barre and West Brattleboro. In 1857 he
commenced to learn the trade of a silver
])later and continued in this employment for
fi\e years, when, prompted by his patriotic
impulses, he enlisted August 18, 1862, as
private in Co. I, 12th Vt. Regt., in which
organization he was promoted to the grade
of sergeant, and served till the regiment was
mustered out, |uly 14, 1863.
After his return from the annv he was
employed as clerk in a hardware store at St.
Albans; he then jnirchased a half interest in
a plating and saddlery loncern at Derby
Line. In 187 1 he removed to Burlington,
where he formed a copartnership to do a
wholesale and retail trade in hardware, .sad-
dlery and biulders' supplies. He shortly
became sole proprietor in the wholesale
department, and is now the most extensive
hardware dealer in Vermont.
A staunch adherent of the Democratic
party, he has taken an active i)art in city
and state politics, has been the incumbent
of many important offices, was elected alder-
man from a strong Republican ward of the
citv, and nominated for mayor in op])Osition
to the Hon. U. .A. Woodbury.
Mr. Holton married, Oct. 29, 1863, Emma
J., daughter of Sylvester and Amanda (Far-
man) Diggins of Westminster, who died
June 16, 1881. Three children were the
fruit of their union: Frank F. (deceased),
Harry Sylvester, and Susie May. Mr. Holton
was again united in marriage, June 25, 1883,
to Kate E., daughter of Thomas \\'. and
Rebecca (Richardson) NMley of Westmin-
ster.
He is commander of Stannard Post No. 2,
G. A. R., and is much interested in (1. A. R.
work. He united with the Congregational
church of Burlington, and is now serving his
second term as member of its prudential
committee.
HOOKER, George White, of Brat-
tleboro, son of Samuel S. and Esther (White)
Hooker, was born at Salem, N. Y., Feb. 6,
1838.
He attended the common schools of Lon-
donderry, and his scholastic education was
subsequently supplemented in the West
River Academy. Commencing life as a
clerk, he continued at Londonderry and at
Bellows Falls, and then went to Boston as
tra\eling salesman.
In August, 1 86 1, he enlisted as a private
in Co. F, 4th Vt. Vols., and soon after he
was made sergeant-major. In the spring of
1862 he recei\ed the commission of 2d
lieutenant, and in the summer that of ist
lieutenant. After the battle of Antietam he
declined a captaincy in the line, and was
appointed to the staff of Gen. E. H. Stough-
ton. From thence he was afterward trans-
ferred to that of Gen. George J. Stannard.
In June, 1864, he was appointed assistant
adjutant-general of volunteers by President
Lincoln, and held that position until mus-
tered out, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel
in 1865. After the triumphant close of the
struggle Colonel Hooker returned to Boston,
and traveled through the eastern and west-
ern states. In the spring of 1876 he was ad-
Hdol'KU 207
niitted as junior partner to the firm of William
Belden & Co., bankers and brokers, in New
Nork. In 1S76 he remo\eil to Brattleboro,
which has since been his home.
Colonel Hooker has very properly mani-
fested patriotic interest in the political affairs
of his adopted state. In 1878 he was ap-
pointed chief of staff with the rank of colonel,
by (Governor Proctor. In 1880 he was a
delegate-at-large to the national Republi-
can convention in Chicago, and in the same
year was chosen a member of the national
Republican committee. In the fall of 1880
he was chosen to represent the citizens of
BratUeboro in the state Legislature, and re-
elected in 1882. During the first session he
was unanimously elected judge-advocate-
general by the Legislature.
Colonel Hooker was chosen sergeant-at-
arms of the House of Representati\es at the
beginning of the Forty-seventh Congress.
In 1S79 he was elected department com-
mander of the Grand Army of the Republic
in ^'ermont, and was again elected in the
following year. He also received the unusual
compliment of nomination for the third
term, but positively declined re-election.
Colonel Hooker was married on the 28th
of January, 1868, to Minnie G., daughter of
James and Love (Ryan) Fiske of Brattle-
boro. One son is the fruit of their union :
James Fiske.
HOOPER, Marco B., of Fletcher, son
of John W. and Polly (Hall) Hooper, was
born in Bakersfield in 1837. John W. Hooper
was a soldier in the war of 181 2, and died
from the effect of wounds received in the
same.
Marco was one of a family of twelve chil-
dren and was left an orphan at the age of
seven years by the death of both his parents.
He was thus compelled in early youth to face
the hardships and difificulties that beset his
path, in which undertaking he had little as-
sistance from educational facilities, as his ad-
vantages in this respect were limited to the
district school. Soon after he was fourteen
he entered the employment of B. F. Bradley
of Fairfield to learn the carriage maker's
trade and he remained with him until 1861.
After a residence of some years in East Fair-
field he went back to Fairfield and engaged
in business in Mr. Bradley's sho])s. Subse-
quently he labored on a farm for eight years
in Fletcher. In 1885 he bought the house
and shops of the late S. E. Chase of Fletcher
and gave his attention to carriage repairs
and bucket manufacturing until 1892, since
which time, in conjunction with his sons, he
has occupied and cultivated a large farm in
the town.
Always a Republican since he cast his first
ballot for .Abraham Lincoln, Mr. Hoojierwas
208
sent to the Legislature as the member from
Fletcher in 1892 and served on the manu-
factures and distributing committees. He is
a Baptist in his religious faith.
He married, Ma\' 31, i860, Mary, daugh-
ter of Joseph and Junia (Montague) Robin-
son Fletcher, belonging to one of the oldest
families of that place. A goodly family of
six sons have blessed their union : Elmer J-,
\\". liurton. John W., H. .Arthur, Samuel R.,
and Joel .A.
MORTON, Edwin, of Chittenden, son
of John N. and Elsie (Potter) Horton, was
born in Clarendon, .August 25, 1841.
He was reared among the usual surround-
ings of the youth in his time, dividing his
time between an attendance at the common
and select schools of Clarendon and Black
River .Academy of Ludlow, and labor upon the
paternal homestead. Being desirous of a more
e.xtended education than that afforded by the
course of study which he had pursued he de-
voted much time to private research and read-
ing. HesetUed in Chittenden in 1858, where
he has principally followed the calling of a
farmer, but has been ol)liged to devote much
time to those official duties which his upright
character and keen intelligence have brought
to him. He has held at various times different
town offices, especially that of lister. For
twenty-three years he served as constable and
collector, resigning these positions in 1S93.
He was the Republican representative of the
town for three terms and in 1884 was elect-
ed senator from Rutland county, and served
on the committee on claims. In 1890 he was
again complimented by an election as repre-
sentative and in that session of the Legisla-
ture his previous experience placed him at
once among the leaders of the House.
Mr. Horton was married in Bethel, August
4, 1862, to Ellen L., daughter of Zenias
and Harriet (Brown) Holbrook. Their
children are : Bertha A. (Mrs. Harley Baird
of South Boston), Fred E., Ida M. ( Mrs. D.
F. Spaulding of South Boston), and Hattie E.
When the war which imperiled the exist-
ence of the Union commenced Mr. Horton
although restrained by his parents was re-
solved to participate in the struggle. He there-
fore deserted towards the front and enlisted
in Troy, N. Y., June 15, 1861, serving for
one year in Co. G., 2 2d Regt., of that state
and in 1862 was discharged from the LT. S.
service. When the draft took place in 1863
Mr. Horton was the only one of the fifteen
drafted from the town whom fortune selected
to fight for their native land, to fulfill this
duty. He immediately joined the 4th ^'t.
Regt., and saw hard service in the battles of
the AVilderness and at Petersburg and was
twice wounded while in action, but remained
with the regiment and was discharged when
the regiment was mustered out in 1865.
Mr. Horton has a large acquaintance
throughout the state and many friends. He
is a member of Roberts Post, G.A. R., of Rut-
land, and of the society of Vermont Officers.
He has taken the vows of the Masonic order,
uniting with Otter Creek Blue Lodge, Daven-
port Chapter and Council, and Killington
Commandery of Knights Templar, and Mt.
Sinai Temple ; he is also a member of Kill-
ington Lodge, Otter Creek Encampment, and
Canton Rutland of Odd Fellows.
HOWARD, Charles W., of shore-
ham, son of Willard and Sarah (Page)
Howard, was born in Windham, Dec. 4,
1S46.
He was educated at the common schools
in \\'indham and afterward fitted for col-
lege at Chester Academy. He entered Mid-
dlebury College in 1868 and graduated with
honors. In 1874 he received a degree from
the medical department of the University
of Vermont at Burlington. During the next
year, he studied medicine with Dr. Eddy of
Middlebury, and afterward, for a year, was
in the hospital at Hartford, Conn., remov-
ing to Shoreham in 1875. From that time
he has applied himself to his professional
duties and built up a large practice. He
has risen from the condition of a poor boy
by steady work to that of a man of influence
and repute, while he has also acquired some
property.
209
I )r. Howard has no aspirations for politi-
cal preferment, but has held several offices,
serving continuously as town clerk since
1881, and also as town treasurer. He has
been honored with the town snperintendency
of schools since 1S83, and has been a mem-
ber of the committee on the county board of
education.
CHARLES W. HOWARD.
He is highly esteemed by his citizens, not
as a church member or society man, but for
his true worth and high principles. He was
a member of the Delta Upsilon fraternity
during his college course, and is an atten-
dant of the Congregational church.
On Nov. 28, 1876, in the town of Shore-
ham, he was united in wedlock to Lottie N.,
daughter of Edwin B. and Naomi Douglass.
From this union is one daughter : Florence.
HOWARD, Henry Seymour, of Ben-
son, son of Judson J. and Persis (Pierce)
Howard, was born in that town, Feb. 26,
1841.
His education was obtained in the schools
of Benson, the Casdeton Seminary, and from
a course at the high school at West Rutland.
After the completion of his school training,
he taught school for a time, and being anx-
ious to lend his personal aid in the defence
of his country's welfare, he enlisted, August
29, 1862, in the 14th Regt. Vt. \'ols., and
was soon promoted to the grade of corporal.
He participated in all the hard service which
fell to the lot of his brigade. Upon his
return from the South, he was for a few years
employed in an establishment for the manu-
facture of flour, at Pjrandon, and in 1868 he
established himself in the hardware trade in
Benson, in which business he has continued
to the present time.
Mr. Howard was married in Benson, Sejjt.
1,5, 1S64, to Eunice P., daughter of John and
Ruth ( Pratt) Balis. Two children are the
fruit of this marriage ; Judson Balis, and Hal-
lie Maud.
Mr. Howard has been selectman, lister,
and is town clerk and notary ])ublic, besides
ha\ing held many other offices of honor and
trust. .\s the candidate of a Republican con-
stituency he represented Benson in the
House of Representatives in 1884, serving
on the committee on public buildings. He
was a charter member of .Acacia Masonic
Lodge, No. 91, of Benson, in which he has
filled the chair of junior warden. He is also
a comrade of the G. A. R. For a quarter of
a century he has been a respected and hon-
ored member of the Congregational church,
and has long served as chorister in the soci-
ety of this persuasion in Benson.
^ENRY SEYMOUR HOW
By his unquestioned sincerity, his honora-
ble dealing in business and the public spirit
which he has ever manifested when the prog-
ress and welfare of his native place were in
question, he has won the respect of all his
friends and neighbors, and is considered a
leading and influential citizen of the state.
HOWARD, ROGER S., was born in
North Thett'ord. Mr. Howard was educated
at the district schools of his native town and
at Kimball Union Academy, Plainfield, N. H.
Being reared upon a farm he has naturally
followed that avocation, and has dealt largely
in lumber as a side issue.
Mr. Howard has affiliated with the Demo-
cratic party. Has been selectman of his
town for seven successive terms, and was
honored by his constituency with two elec-
tions to the lower branch of the Legislature,
in 1 884 and 1886, and took an active part
in the legislation of those sessions.
Mr. Howard married, March 5, 1868,
Kathere T., daughter of S. C. and Mary
(Reed) Taylor. Of this union is one son:
Frederick T.
He is prominently connected with the
Masonic fraternity and has taken the chap-
ter degrees.
A man of sterling worth, Mr. Howard has
had the lo\e and respect of the community
in which he has resided.
HOWARD, Walter E., of Middle-
bury, son of William Bickford and Louisa
(Cilley) Howard, was born in Tunbridge,
May 29, 1849.
Receiving his early education in the
Springfield Wesleyan and Leland and Ciray
seminaries, he entered Middlebury College,
from which he graduated in the class of
1871. After leaving this institution he fol-
lowed the profession of a teacher and at the
same time studied law. In 1S76 he was
appointed principal of the State Normal
School at Castleton, and five years later
began the practice of his profession in Fair
Haven. In 1889 Mr. Howard received the
appointment of professor of history and
political science at Middlebury College.
Always a strong Republican, he was sent
to the state Senate from Rutland county in
1882. In this body he served as chairman
of the special committee on amendments to
the state constitution, and was also a mem-
ber of those on federal relations, education
and the library. Shortly afterwards he was
made V. S. Consul at Toronto, Can., and in
1892 received a similar appointment at
Cardiff, \Vales. He represented the town of
Fair Haven in the Legislature of 1888, where
he was chairman of the committee on elec-
tions and a member of that on the judiciary.
In September, 1893, he resumed the profes-
sorship of history and political science in
Middlebury College.
HOWARD, William Sumner, of Con-
cord, son of James and Sarah (Adams) How-
ard, was born in Ludlow, Sept. 7, 1822.
Educated in the public schools of Ludlow
and Concord, he made the best use of the
opportunities afforded him. Hisfather moved
to Concord and purchased the Howard home-
stead when William was about fourteen years
old, and the son assisted the father in btiild-
ing, clearing, and developing their estate.
L'nder his careful management, and by tak-
ing advantage of all the resources in his
|)0wer, he has now one of the very best up-
land farms in town, well supplied with every
modern appliance and excellent stock. Here
he has always resided, enjoying the fruits of
his energy and industry.
Always a Republican since the formation
of the party, such a man would naturally be
called upon to discharge the duties of various
town offices, and Mr. Howard has been
prominently connected with educational
affairs, serving as district clerk for more than
thirty years and for more than forty as trus-
tee of the Essex county grammar school,
founded by Rev. Samuel Reed Hall as a nor-
mal school, the oldest in the United States.
Mr. Howard was a charter member of Es-
sex Cirange P. of H. of A\"est Concord.
He was united in wedlock, June 8, 1843,
to Lucinda F., daughter of William and Ra-
chel (Wilcox) Gorham of Kirby, and of this
union there are issue : William Elmore,
(leorge S., and Mary Elizabeth (Mrs. L. W.
Macam of Moncton, N. B.).
HOWE, Elhanan Winchester, of
Northfield, was the son of Joel and Rebecca
(Wakefield) Howe, and was born in the town
of Winhall, March 2, 1825.
He was one of a family of fifteen children,
•and as his parents were poor he had to push
his way in life unaided and alone. He re-
ceived his education in the common schools
in the town of Manchester.
- He commenced the marble business in
South Dorset in 1853 and continued the
same at Northfield in the firm of Howe &
Sawyer. He also was interested in an enter-
prise of the same nature at Montpelier. In
i860 he formed a business alliance with
aged to surmount, a practical education in the
schools of Clarendon and 'I'roy Conference
Academy of Poultney. Subsequently he taught
school and while teaching studied and im-
proved his opiwrtunities. For some time
he was engaged in farming in Clarendon and
\\allingford, but mo\ed to Mt. Tabor in 1854.
.Mr. Howe has served with credit in \ari-
ous otficial capacities, first as an old-time
whig and later as a loyal Republican. His
residence in the town has seen him lister,
town clerk, constable, collector, selectman
and deputy sheriff. He has done good ser-
vice as town representative in four different
sessions, 1856, 1861, 1863, 1864, acting on
important committees and finally was deemed
worthy of a seat in the state Senate in 1874,
where he was a member of the agricultural
and general committees.
He is allied both to the order of Free
Masons and Odd Fellows.
George ^^'. Soper, and later became a part-
ner in the firm of F. L. Howe & Co. at
Northfield, which at present is one of the
most prominent in the state, carrying a \ ery
large stock of ornamental work.
Mr. Howe was married in Dorset, July ,5,
1 848, to Miss Pamelia J., daughter of John
C. L. and Eliza (Viall) Soper. Their children
are : Frank L., A\'ilbur C, and Helen M.
I Mr. Howe was appointed postmaster at
South Dorset in 1850 and held the office
fi\e years. He has served as deputy sheriff
of Washington county for twenty years, and
has been its sheriff since 1890. He has ever
been a strictly temperate man, and has proved
a reliable and efficient officer in the enforce-
ment of the law. As a Master Mason he is
affiliated to DeW'itt Clinton Lodge, No. 15.
HOWE, Luther Proctor, of Danby,
son of Joseph and Olive (Scott) Howe, was
born in Ludlow, Jan. 6, 1821.
Descended from a well-known ancestry, he
obtained, despite difficulties which he man-
1
LUTHER PROCTOR HOWE.
He married at Clarendon, Oct. 23, 1845,
NLiry .Ann, daughter of Ozial H. and Avice
(Harrington) Round. To them were born:
.Addie (Mrs. Joel C. Baker), and Charles
Luther. November 2, 1865, he formed a
second alliance with Helen Maria, daughter
of Judge .Austin and Betsey NL Baker. 'Lhey
have one son : Luther Proctor, Jr.
HOWE, Marshall Otis, of Xewfane,
son of Otis and Sally (Marsh) Howe, was
born in Wardsboro, Oct. 4, 1832.
■ His early education was acipiired at the
district school, su]i|ilemented by a few terms
at the academy. In earlv life he read sev-
eral of the standard elementary treatises on
law and civil government. He has a general
knowledge of the leading branches of the
natural sciences, and has made a collection
of minerals, grasses, etc. He was agricul-
tural editor of the Vermont Phcenix from
1880 to 1890, and has been a paid writer
OTIS HOWE.
for other publications. An article compar-
ing, according to the census statistics, the
agricultural products of Vermont with those
of other eastern states and the leading agri-
cultural states of the West, which he con-
tributed to the New York Tribune, showed
a surprisingly favorable result for Vermont,
and the article was copied and commented
upon by nearly all the papers in the state.
Mr. Howe has since more fully elaborated
the comparative statistics of Vermont pro-
duction in many newspaper contributions,
and in vols. HI and XI of the reports of the
Vermont Board of Agriculture. He has
treated of the "Past and the Present Pro-
ducts of the Soil" in vol. V of the Vermont
agricultural reports.
Mr. Howe has been a school superin-
tendent for nine years, and now holds that
office in the town of Newfane. He has been
for many years statistical correspondent of
the department of agriculture for Windham
county. He was census enumerator in 1880,
and in 1S82 he represented Newfane in the
I,egislature, where he attended strictly to his
uties, never but once failing to be present
and \ote when the yeas and nays w-ere
called. In 1890, on recommendation of the
\'ermont delegation in Congress, he was ap-
pointed supervisor of the eleventh census
for the district of Vermont. For the past
twenty-five years Mr Howe's home has been
in Newfane.
He was married in 1866 to Gertrude I.,
daughter of Avery J. and Mary (White)
Dexter of Wardsboro. They have five sons :
Marshall A., Hermon A., Arthur O., Carlton
D., and Clifton D. Marshall A. Howe, the
eldest son, is now a member of the faculty
of the University of California.
HOWLAND, Frank George, of Barre,
son of George and Angelina (Buszell) How-
land, was born in Boston, Mass., August 27,
1863.
His father's employment was that of
farmer and auctioneer and he has been a
resident of F'ast Montpelier since April, 1866.
He has been the incumbent of several im-
portant town offices and was sent to the
Legislature in 1882.
FRANK GEORGE HOWLAND.
F>ank G. Howland pursued the usual
course of instruction in the public schools
and then graduated from the Vermont M. E.
Seminary at Montpelier, in the class of 1884.
An adherent of the Republican party, he
represented the town of Barre in the Legisla-
ture of 1892, and served creditably as a mem-
ber of the committee on banks.
He was united in marriage Marrh 29,
1 888, to Marv, daughter of Sidney and Irene
A. (Heath) VVells of Barre.
iSIr. Howland was elected teller of the Na-
tional liank of Harre, Feb. 16, 1885, and
two years later was promoted to the position
of cashier. He was largely instrumental in
securing the charter for the Barre Savings
Bank and Trust Co , which commenced busi-
ness Feb. 27, 1893, and of which institution
he is treasurer. He is considered in the
community in which he resides as an acti\e,
energetic, and efficient man of business ;
shrewd, intelligent, and honorable in all his
transactions.
HUBBARD, George a., of Guildhall,
son of John and Susan D. Hubbard, was
born in Guildhall, Sept. 10, 1850.
At the age of seven he removed to Lunen-
burg to attend the common schools of that
place. Here he remained till he was seven-
teen, at which time he returned to Guildhall
and completed his education at the Essex
county grammar school.
For many years Mr. Hubbard made his
residence at the place of his birth, and for
most of that period was employed in farm-
ing, but after his marriage he removed to
the home of his wife, where he remained
until 1892, when his position of county clerk
required his immediate presence at the
county seat.
He was united in marriage at Lunenburg,
Oct. 13, 1871, to Ida M., daughter of Lor-
enzo and Ann (Woods) Manning of Guild-
hall. One son was born to them and died
in infancy. One daughter, Addie Manning,
and an adopted child, Ethel May, are living.
Mr. Hubbard is an active Republican, and
has been selectman for five consecutive
terms. He has also been town superintend-
ent, and was elected to represent Guildhall
in the Legislature of 1890.
He is a quiet, self-respecting man of good
moral principles, and gives promise of a long
career of usefulness.
He has been a member of the P. of H. at
Guildhall.
HUBBARD, LORENZO W., of Lyndon,
son of Richard and Loraine (Weeks) Hub-
bard, was born in Lyndon, Feb. 3, 1841.
He received his education in the common
schools of his native town and at Lyndon
Academy.
September i, 1863, he enlisted in Co. M,
nth Regt. Vt. Vols., and on the completion
of its organization he was appointed ser-
geant. Serving in this capacity one year he
was made hospital steward of the regiment
and served as such until the close of the war.
He then studied medicine at the Bellevue
Hospital Medical College, New York, from
hui!I;f,i.i,. 213
which he graduated March i, 1867. In the
following .April he went to Lunenburg, where
he practiced medicine six years ; then
located permanently at Lyndon.
Dr. Hubbard represented Lyndon at the
General Assembly in 1882 and 1886. In
each session he was a member of the com-
mittee on the insane, and offered in the
House the joint resolutions requesting the
Governor to appoint a commission to inves-
tigate as to the advisability and location of a
separate building for the care of the criminal
and convict insane, which resulted in the
construction of the asylum at Waterbury.
In 1S83 Dr. Hubbard was made president
of the St. Johnsbury board of examining sur-
geons for pensions, which office he accept-
ably filled for more than two years.
Dr. Hubbard is a deacon of the Congre-
gational church. He is a practitioner of the
regular school and since 1867 has belonged
to the White Mountain Medii:al Society ; he
is also a member of the ^■ermont Medical
Society, and was one of its license censors
two years and has served as treasurer of the
Lyndon Republican Club.
He is a member of Crescent Lodge F. &
A. M., Lyndonville, and of Chamberlin Post
G. A. R., No. I, of St. Johnsbury. He has
taken great interest in the academy and
graded schools of Lyndon, serving on the
committee for the past twelve years.
Dr. Hubbard was married, Nov. 10, 1868,
to Mary E., daughter of Bela and Martha
(Perry) Halton. Of this union there was
issue: Charles Bela, May E. (deceased),
and one son who died in infancy.
HUBBELL, MVRON R., of Wolcott, son
of Seth and Sylvia (Spaulding) Hubbell, was
born in Wolcott, .April 6, 1835. His grand-
father was the first settler of the town of
Wolcott. Coming there in 1 7S9, he endured
privations and hardships, carrying his corn
on his back twehe miles to mill for several
years. LTnder such conditions he reared a
family of seventeen children. Seth, the father
of the subject of the present sketch, was a
life-long resident of the town, and Myron R.
was brought up among the usual surround-
ings of a New England farm.
Completing his education in the common
schools, when he arrived at man's estate he
went to the Northwest on a tour of observa-
tion, but soon returned to the paternal home-
stead, devoting himself to the care of his
parents during their declining years. At
their death he sold the farm and removed
to the village.
Mr. Hubbell has a decided talent for in-
vention and for twenty years has devoted
himself to this pursuit, constructing his own
models and patterns, and has obtained in
all fifteen patents. He has devoted much
!I4
HUMPHREY.
time and thought to improving reversible
plows, and is the originator of the theory
that the draught attachment of a re\ersible
plow should be adjusted to the right and left
furrows, alternately, at each turn of the
mouldboard. To accomplish this object he
devised and patented the shifting-lever clevis
now so generally used on reversible plows,
and also patented the rod running length-
wise of and swiveled to the beam for the
same purpose.
It is unnecessary to say more in reference
to this matter, as the great value of his im-
provements in reversible plows are generally
and widely known. He has also invented
and patented a car-coupler, which those who
are conversant with this subject unhesitat-
ingly declare to be far in advance of all
others they have ever examined. Mr. Hubbell
and W. W. Cate, of Wolcott, are joint invent-
ors in a spiral rotary cylinder for planers,
which is now in operation and is doing
superior work.
He married, .^Xpril 2, 1862, Miss Mary,
daughter of Ralph and Sybil (Powers) Mar-
tin, of Wolcott ; their only living child is
Ralph M., of Wolcott. Mr. Hubbell has
always been attached to the Republican
party, but has never cared for or accepted
official positions. He is a member of Min-
eral Lodge, No. 93, F. & .\. M.. of ^Volcott.
HUDSON, Solomon S., of East Haven,
son of Calvin and Philomelia (Powers) Hud-
son, was born in Athens, July 22, 1836.
He was an industrious pupil of the public
schools, and made the best use of his limited
opportunities to obtain an education.
.At the early age of nineteen he took to
himself a wife, and with this responsibility
commenced to clear a farm in the unbroken
wilderness, carrying his worldly possessions
on his back. In this enterprise he was en-
gaged five years, when he was summoned to
the field by the outbreak of the civil war.
In 1862 he enlisted in Co. A, loth Regt..
Vt. Vols. He remained in the army about
three years, most of the time on detached
service, and was discharged when the regi-
ment was mustered out. Returning to his.
farm at the close of the war, he remained
there until 18S6, when he moved to his
present location in East Haven village, and
has since been engaged in general trade.
.Mr. Hudson has held many responsible
positions in town, having been for many
years justice of the peace and selectman.
He represented East Haven in 1880, and
under a Republican administration received
the appointment of postmaster, a position
which he worthily filled for six years.
In 1855 he married Eunecia L., daughter
of Russell and .Almira Hosford. .She died
Jan. 29, 1881. He contracted a second alli-
ance with Lydia Gero, daughter of Hoklen
and \'iantha Partlow.
Mr. Hudson has received the first three
degrees of the Masonic fraternity, and is a
member of Island Pond Lodge, No. 44. He
also belongs to Erastus Buck Post, G. A. R.,.
of that place. He stands prominently forth
in the community as a moral, industrious-
and energetic man of good judgment and
ability.
HUMPHREY, Charles Ti.wothy
Allen, of East Burke, son of Timothy and'
Sabrina (Cushing) Huinphrey, was born in
St. Johnsbury, Jan. 2, 1822.
His father was one of the early settlers of the
town and Mr. Humphrey received only such
educational advantages as were afforded by
the public schools. .At the age of fourteen
he commenced to labor for a livelihood. Four
years after he bought his time from his father
for S125, chopped cord wood and dro\e
teams from Boston to Portland in order to
reimburse his father for the time he had pur-
chased. In 1840 with twenty dollars in his
pocket he started for the West. Arriving at
Conneaut, Ohio, he remained two or three
years in this place, engaging in farming and
trading ; then removed to Geneva, in the
same state, and in 1847 returned to Burke,
and finally took up his abode in East Burke,
where he employed himself in general trade.
Mr. Humphrey has held many responsilile
offices. Has been justice of the peace, lister,
o\ erseer of the poor, notary public, and town
HUMPHREY.
agent to settle claims. He received the honor
of an election by Republican votes to the
"war session" Legislature of i86o-'6i. In
1877, he was elected associate judge of the
Caledonia county court, serving the full term
of two years. He has been director of the
Merchants' National Bank, of St. Johnsbury,
for more than eleven years ; has been the
administrator for many valuable estates, and
has acted as guardian in many cases. He
attends and supports the Methodist church
of that place.
HLNrKK. 215
in 1889, giving especial attention to the
breeding of Devon cattle, and horses of the
Wilkes strain of blood. For forty years he
has been called upon to discharge the du-
ties of various offices of the town and was
sent to the Legislature as the representative
of a Republican constituency in 1868, 1869
and 1882, giving his service to the commit-
tees on the grand list, highways and bridges,
and on public buildings. Being drafted for
service in the army he was rejected on ac-
count of physical disability. He is a mem-
ber and for several years has been steward
of the ^L E. Church in Burke.
.Mr. Humphrey married, F"eb. 25, 1856,
1 .ucia A., daughter of Benjamin F. and .\nnie
(Miner) Belden, of Burke. Four children
ha\ebeen born to them : Mary Helen (Mrs.
Sumner (r. Prescott of Lyndon), I'Vank Fras-
tus, .Annie B., and Inez 1..
HUNTER, Ellsworth M., of Fair
Haven, son of Mahlon and Susan Hunter,
uas born in the town of 1 Inbb.irdton. April
[I, 1S62.
ChARLES TIMOTHY ALLEN HUMPHREY.
He was united in wedlock Sept. i, 1 841, to
Flavilla Pamelia, daughter of Matthew and
Resia Gushing, of Bttrke, who died .'\pril 1 1 ,
1880. Four children were born to them :
Violetta M. (.Mrs. OUn Smith, of Springfiekl,
Mass., deceased), Fdwin Payson (deceased),
Rose Sabrina (deceased), and Celia C (wife
of Dr. Frederick Newell, of Barton).
Judge Humphrey contracted a second
alliance Sept. 14, 1880, with Mary L., daugh-
ter of Samuel and F.milv (Har\e\) Prout\-,
of Burke.
HUMPHREY, JULIUS AUGUSTUS, of
East Burke, son of F>astus and Hannah 1.
(Johnson) Humphrev, was born in that town
Nov. 3, 1830.
His father came from Connecticut to East
Burke very early in the present century and
Mr. Humphrey attended the public schools
until seventeen years of age ; since that time
he has always lived and labored on the farm
where he was born and which he purchased
ELLSWORTH M. HUNTER.
He received his early educational train-
ing in the common schools and afterwards
took a course of study at a business college.
.\t the age of twenty-one, Mr. Hunter, who
had adopted journalism as his (jrofession,
was made business manager of the Rutland
1 )aily Review, and in the following year was
employed as an editorial writer on the Platts-
burg (X. V.) Telegram, afterwards founding
2l6
the flipper at Fort Ann. He returned to
his native state in 1887, and for the last
four years has filled the position of editor
and manager of the Vermont Record.
He was united in marriage Sept. 5, 1886,
to E. Alida, daughter of Lyman and Marie
(Broughton) of Fort Ann, N. V. Of this
marriage there have been three children :
Gertrude, Anna, and Frances M.
In 1886 Mr. Hunter was elected a mem-
ber of the Republican county committee of
Washington county, N. V., and with four
others composed the executive board of that
committee. After his return to Vermont he
entered politics and assisted in 1888 in
forming se\eral Re]jublican league clubs,
and was secretary of the John A. Logan
Club at Castleton. Twice he was elected a
delegate to the Republican state convention
of ^"ermont. He was a delegate to the press
congress of the World's Fair. He was
elected justice of the peace for two succes-
sive terms, being nominated on the tickets
of the Republican, Democratic and Labor
parties, the last named of which nominated
him for assistant judge in 1890, when his
vote was much larger than that of his party.
Mr Hunter is a charter member of Fair
Haven I,odge, No. 52, L O. O. F., of which
he is an officer.
HUNTLEY, EBER W., of Duxbury, son
of Gilbert and Mary E. (Nash) HunUey,
was born in that town, Nov. 11, 1839.
He a\ailed himself of the school training
of his native town and then pursued a course
of study at the Peoples Academy of Morris-
ville. He early manifested an aptitude for
mechanical pursuits, and soon after his ma-
jority commenced working at the carpenter
and joiner's trade, and later was a millwright
and house builder.
In the fall of 1886 he purchased the mill
site in Duxbury, near Waterbury, a wonder-
ful natural water privilege. There he re-
built the mill and put in a large plant for
planing, dressing and matching hard and
soft wood lumber, which is sold as a finished
product. A large share of his stock is pur-
chased in the neighborhood and thereby the
farmers are furnished with a convenient
home market for their surplus wood products.
Mr. Huntley was elected by the Republi-
cans of Duxbury to the Legislature of 1882,
where he was a member of the committee on
corporations. His personal standing in the
community has resulted in his being called
to the occupancy of many town offices since
he was twenty-one, and among these he has
been the incumbent of the town clerkship
and also town treasurer for more than a score
of years.
He has received the degree of the Blue
Lodge in the order of Free Masonry, and
has twice occupied the chair in the east.
He married, August 26, 1863, Minta F.,
daughter of Janus and Eurette (Crosby)
Crossett, of Duxbury. One child is issue of
this union : Mertie E.
HUSE, Hiram Augustus, of Montpe-
lier, son of Hiram Sylvester and Emily Mor-
gan (Blodgett) Huse, was born at Randolph,
Jan. 17, 1843.
His parents moved to \Visconsin in 1845
and that was his home till 1868. In the
West he went to school at the red school-
house, at Willard Seminary in Watertown,
Wis., and at Dixon. 111., and taught district
school several terms. In 1860 he went to
Randolph where he fitted for college (in
part under Edward Conant), at the Orange
county grammar school, and also taught dis-
trict school again, and in i87i-'72 was Mr.
Conant's assistant in the State Normal
.School.
HIRAM AUGUSTUS HUSE.
He graduated from Dartmouth College in
1S65, and from the .Albany Law School (of
which .Amos Dean, formerly of Barnard, was
then the head) in 1867, and was admitted
to the New York bar in Albany. After a
year at his home in Wisconsin, he moved to
Vermont, where he was admitted to the ^'er-
mont bar in Orange countv, lune term,
1S69.
While in college he enlisted .August 19,
1862, at Randolph and served as a private
in Co. F, 1 2th Vt. Vols., till the regiment
was mustered out July 14, 1S63.
lll'TCHINSON.
He moved to Montpelier in 1872, begin-
ning the practice of law, and for some ten
years served as editorial writer on the (jreen
Mountain Freeman.
He has been state librarian since 1873,
represented Montpelier in the Legislature of
187S, and was elected state's attorney in
1882.
January i, 1883, a law partnership was
formed by Clarence H. Pitkin and himself
under the firm name of Pitkin & Huse,
which continued seven years. At the close of
William P. Dillingham's term as Governor in
October, 1S90, the partnership of Dillingham
& Huse was formed, and by the admission
of Fred A. Howland in 1892, the firm is
now Dillingham, Huse & Howland.
Mr. Huse married at Randoljjh, Jan. 30,
1S72, Harriet Olivia, daughter of Melzar and
Eunice Harriet (Smith) ^^'oodbury. They
have two children : Harriet Emily, and Ray
Woodbury.
Mr. Huse's mother died at his home in
Montpelier, May 29, 1890, and his father
now resides with him.
He is a comrade of Brooks Post, G. A. R.,
and a member of .Aurora Lodge, F. & .\. iNL,
and of the Sons of the American Revolution.
HUTCHINSON, JaMES, of West Ran-
dolph, son of James and Sophia (Brown)
Hutchinson, was born in Randolph, Jan. i,
1826. The grandfather, John Hutchinson,
was one of the earliest settlers of Braintree.
Noted for his industry and honesty, he was
much in public life and represented the town
in the Legislature for seventeen years, while
his father, James, was an enterprising and
prosperous farmer, enjoying the confidence
and res])ect of the neighboring community.
The education of the subject of the pres-
ent sketch was obtained first in the district
and then in a private school in West Ran-
dolph, and after this course of instruction he
was engaged in teaching for three consecu-
tive winters.
November 2, 1847, Mr. Hutchinson was
united in the bonds of wedlock to Miss .Abby
B., daughter of Fllijah and Patience (Netf)
Flint, of Braintree (who died ^L^y 4, 1879).
He settled upon the old homestead in
Braintree, where he lived till 1869, when he
moved to West Randolph. While in the
former ])lace he filled many town offices and
was elected delegate to. the state Constitu-
tional Convention in 1856. For two years,
1864 to 1866, he was associate judge of the
county.
Judge Hutchinson was elected state sena-
tor in 1868, and also in the following year,
while in 1S70 he received the appointment
of county commissioner, and was in 1872
HUTCHINSON.
217
chosen a delegate to the national Re])ublican
con\ention at Philadelphia. He was ap-
pointed postmaster at West Randol])h in
1872, which office he held till 1887. With a
few others. Judge Hutchinson petitioned the
Legislature of 1889 for a charter for a savings
bank in West Randolph, and on the organiz-
ation of the institution, he was elected its
president, a position in which he continues
to the present time.
.\mong the earliest founders of the Repub-
lican party, he was always an acti\e worker
in its behalf, and even previous to its exist-
ence, in the days of anti-slavery agitation, he
was an enthusiastic disciple of (larri.son and
Phillips, ever extending a hearty welcome to
all who were interested in the cause of aboli-
tion. For five years he filled the office of
\ice-president for \'ermont of the New Eng-
Kngland Anti-Slavery Society. During the
troubles in Kansas, Judge Hutchinson was
connected with the Emigrant .Aid Society,
and in the company of the state agent visited
several places in the state to raise men and
money to aid in freeing Kansas from the
trammels of the slave-holders, and at one
time he himself accompanied an expedition
for this purpose. He has held leading jjosi-
tions in the temperance societies of \"ermont
and has always been a devoted adherent of
the cause, strongly advocating the law of
i)rohibition.
IDE, Henry Clay, of St. Johnsbury, son
of Jacob and Lodaska (Knights) Ide, was
born in Barnet Sept. i8, 1844.
He conducted his preparatory studies at
the St. Johnsbury Academy and then entered
Dartmouth College from which he graduated
with the highest honors of his class in 1866.
He was principal of St. Johnsbury .Acad-
emy from the time of his graduation until
the summer of 1S68, when he was appointed
head master of the high school of Arling-
ton, Mass., which po.sition he filled till the
autumn of 1869, when he read law with the
late Judge B. H. Steele of St. Johnsbury till
December, 1870, when he was admitted to
the bar. He immediately began to practice
in St. Johnsbury and in 1873 formed a part-
nership with Hon. H. C. Belden which con-
tinued till 1S84, when the firm of Ide & Staf-
ford was formed, which in 1890 was changed
to that of Ide & (^uimby. This last partner-
ship was dissolved in 1892 and since then
Mr. Ide has practiced alone. In 1890 he
was admitted to the bar of the United States
Supreme Court. During this period Mr. Ide
was engaged in much of the most important
litigation in Northern Vermont, and stood in
the front rank of his profession.
He was united in wedlock, Oct. 26, 1S71,
to Mary M., daughter of Joseph and Sophia
Matcher, of Stoughton, Mass., who passed
from life April 13, 1892. Of this marriage
four children were born : Adelaide M., Annie
L., Harry J. (deceased), and Mary M.
Mr. Ide has been honored with manv of-
fices in the gift of his fellow-citizens. For
three years he was state's attorney for Cale-
donia county and was twice sent to the state
Senate, in which he served on several im-
portant committees. He was prominent in
carrying through measures securing the prop-
erty rights of married women, simphfying
legal procedure, etc. In 1884 he presided
at the Republican state convention, and was
chosen delegate to the national convention
at Chicago in 1888 where he served on the
committee on credentials.
Mr. Ide was appointed by President Har-
rison a commissioner on behalf of the United
States to act with others appointed by Eng-
land and Germany to settle the disputes in
Samoa. Chosen by that commission as its
chairman, he rendered important service in
organizing, formulating and carrying on its
work. In November, 1S91, he resigned this
appointment on account of sickness in his
family, returning to this country with expres-
sions of regret from the King of Samoa, his
associates, and all other officials with whom
he had come in contact in the course of
his official duties. On his return he also re-
ceived from the president a letter of thanks
for his efficient and valuable services as com-
missioner.
He has been for years a director of the
First National Bank of St. Johnsbury, the
Passumpsic Savings Bank — one of the largest
institutions in the state — the 'I'redegar Na-
tional Bank of Jacksonville, Ala., and in va-
rious manufacturing and railroad corpora-
tions, all of which trusts he has carefully
and honorably fulfilled.
In 1893 he was appointed chief justice of
Samoa, and on the 6th of October left St.
Johnsbury and on the 20th of that month
sailed from San Francisco to enter upon his
new and most important duties in those dis-
tant islands of the South Pacific.
JACKMAN, A. M.,of Barre, son of Abel
and Dorothy (True) Jackman, was born in
Corinth, March 2, 181 3. His father came
from Salisbury, Mass., and was one of the
early settlers of Corinth.
The son, left an ori:>han at an earlv age,
went to Barre and learned the trade of a
wool carder and cloth dresser. His oppor-
tunities for education were limited to the
common schools of Corinth and a few terms
at the Barre district schools.
Working with untiring industry and living
prudently, laying up and not squandering
the liberal wages he received, he was enabled
in 1836 to hire and three years after to pur-
chase the mill in which he was employed,
and he conducted the business until the
factory was destroyed by fire in 1853. In
February, 1856, Mr. Jackman bought an
estate in liarre. Much of this he has sold,
and this portion of the property is now occu-
pied by the thriving village of Barre. When
he commenced his business everyone, with
perhaps the exception of the doctor, lawyer,
and clergyman, wore homespun, the product
of the family loom, woven and fashioned in
the home circle, and there was but one cloth
manufactory in the state, that of Governor
Paine of Northfield, the only product of
whose mills was exclusively indigo blue
broadcloth. Mr. Jackman has lived to see
an entire change in the population of the
town of Barre, and he is the only one that
remains of the bygone generation of Barre
village.
He took to wife, April 11, 1837, Christina,
daughter of David and Delia (French)
French. Their union was blesssd with four
JACKMAN.
sons and one daughter: Orvis French (a
soldier of the Union, deceased in 1885),
John, (leorge W., Eveline (Mrs. F. H. Rob-
erts), and Charles Edgar (deceased). Mrs.
Jacknian departed this life in 1885.
JAMES.
219
I .
1
Mr. lackman has always been a Democrat,
and has taken an acti^•e interest in town and
county affairs. For twenty-five years he wa;-.
sheriff or deputy sheriff, and also justice cf
the peace. He was strongly in favor of a
resolute prosecution of the war for the pres-
ervation of the Union, and one of his sons
lost an arm in the service. Mr. [ackman
carries the cares and labors of his four score
years bravelv, with form still erect and his
mental faculties unimpaired.
JACKMAN, HENR't' A., of East Corinth,
son of Winthrop '1". and .Mary (Elkins) Jack-
man, was born in Barre, Feb. 18, 1829.
His mother died when he was four years
old and for two years he resided with an aunt,
then he was compelled to push his own way,
working on a farm till he was twenty-one
and obtaining such instruction as the winter
terms of the district school afforded. .After
attaining his majority he went to Boston where
he remained nine years engaged in teaming.
At the commencement of the civil war .Mr.
Jackman enlisted in the 2d Mass. Light Bat-
tery. This battery was first stationed at
Baltimore and afterwards sent to Fortress
Monroe and witnessed the naval contest be-
tween the Monitor and Merrimac. Soon
after he accompanied the command to Ship
Island and New (Orleans in General Butler's
expedition. He w'as jiresent at the first at-
tem])t of Farragut to cajiture Vicksburg, and
afterwards participated in almost all the bat-
tles and hostile expeditions in the depart-
of the Culf including the successful attack
upon Mobile. When his term of service ex-
pired he ])roni|)tly and patriotically re-enlisted
as a \eteran volunteer, and with his command
marched from Mobile to .Montgomery and
thence to \'icksburg, where he remained till
honorably discharged in .Xugust, 1865, after
more than four years of active and continuous
service, during the latter part of which he
acted as quartermaster-sergeant.
Soon after his discharge he came to East
Corinth, and, in company with his brother,
purchased and carried on the grist mill in that
place for four years. In 1876 he moved to
Topsham and engaged in the manufacture of
bobbins and spools and to this end he has
just erected a plant that promises much for
the future prosperitv of the community.
Mr. Jackman was married at Bradford in
October, 1869, to Mrs. Nancy (Crown) Row-
land, and four children have been born to
them : .Alfred C, Winthrop T., Henry .\., Jr.,
and Mary E.
He is an ardent Republican, a man of few
words, but prompt, decided and resolute in
action and with a persistence that in the end
IS bound to succeed in whatever he under-
takes. He has always avoided rather than
sought office, as the demands of his business
are imperative. For several years, however,
he served as selectman and represented Tops-
ham in the House in 1876. He is a mem-
ber of the G. A. R. and for two years served
as commander of Ransom Post, No. 7, of
F^ast Corinth.
JAMES, JOHN A., of Middlebury, son
of .Samuel and Susan (Payne) James, was
born in Weybridge, April 7, 1853.
Descended from a family of undoubted
worth and respectability, he received his
earlier education in the schools of \\'ey-
bridge and afterwards studied at the high
school of Middlebury.
His chief occupation has ever been that of
a farmer and he resides on the old homestead
which has been in the possession of the
[ames family since i 788. Here he has stead-
ily jnirsued his calling and like many farmers
of his county gave much attention to sheep
breeding, but in recent years he has devoted
more efibrt to the dairy, and breeding of fine
horses. His property yields him fine returns
and he is one of those who find farming re-
numerative.
.Mr. James is a Republican and he has
been honored by his fellow-townsmen with
more offices than he cared to accept. He
JANES.
JENNE.
was chosen 'representative of the town of
Weybridge in 1890 and served on the com-
mittee on agriculture. While in the House
he was an intelligent and conservative mem-
ber.
He was married in \\'eybridge, April 15,
1874, to Orpha, daughter of Philo and Eliza
(Landon) Jevvett. Four children have
blessed their union : Grace E., Emma C, J.
Perry (died in vouth), and Samuel E.
to follow that profession. He was made suc-
cessively the principal of the graded and high
schools of Northfield and of Middlebury.
His popularity and success in these posi-
tions, and his superior qualities as scholar
and instructor, attracted the attention of the
college authorities and his services were en-
gaged as professor of Latin and French in
Middlebury college, and he has occupied
that chair since 1891.
\A'hile at the University of Vermont, Pro-
fessor Janes was an active and prominent
member of the local Delta Psi society, and
in Boston joined the Theta Delta Chi frater-
nity, of which he has ever been an active
and loyal member.
He is a member of the Congregational
church and has been actively connected
with local county and state Christian Endea-
vor societies, energetically furthering their
work and usefulness and holding their high-
est offices. Though one of the youngest
professors in the state he has won the
respect of all who have come into contact
with him, and has gained a wide reputation
in social and educational circles.
JENNE, James Nathaniel, of St.
Albans, son of John (Jilbert and Charlotte
(Wordworth) Jenne, was born in Berkshire,
I )ec. 2 I, 18^9.
JOHN A, JAMES.
Mr. James is a member and liberal sup-
porter of the Congregational church of his
town, to which the James family has ever
been attached. He is esteemed a true and
hearty supporter of the principles he pro-
fesses, and all who know him predict for
him a useful and honorable career in his
county and the state.
JANES, Arthur Lee, of Middlebury,
son of Charles W. and Mina (Anderson)
Janes, was born in Montgomery, .•\ugust 22.
1867.
His early education was obtained in the
public schools of St. .-Mbans, where he fitted
for college. After a course of hard and un-
remitting study he entered the University of
Vermont, following the classical course in
that institution. In the fall of 1887 Mr.
Janes changed the scene of his labors to
Boston University, from which he graduated
in 1889. During the time that he was thus
employed in completing his education, he
had at intervals engaged in teaching with
much success, and on graduation determined
JAMES NATH
Ha\"ing recei\ed his preparatory educa-
tion at the Enosburg Falls graded schools,
he entered the medical department of the
U. V. ^L and graduated therefrom in 1881.
JENNINGS.
He afterward attended for four years the
regular courses of the Post Graduate Mediial
School of New York, from which he took a
diploma in 1890.
Dr. Jenne began the practice of medicine
at Georgia, remaining there until 1887, when
he established himself at St. .Albans, and at
once attained a high standing in his pro-
fession, and won an enviable reputation as
a skillful surgeon. Elected a member of the
Franklin County Society, Clinical Society of
N'ew York, .American Medical .Association,
and the Yermont State Medical Society, he
was made president of the latter in 1890.
Previous to this date he was a member of its
board of censors, and he has been a dele-
gate on several occasions to the societies of
other states, and to the .American Medical
Association. In 1890 he was chosen a
member of the board of consulting surgeons
of the Mary Fletcher Hospital, to which ])osi-
tion he has been elected annually since that
time. In 1892 was invited to fill the chair
of adjunct professor of materia medica in
the medical department of the U. Y. M., and
in 1893 to the chair of materia medica.
In 1889 Dr. Jenne was commissioned as-
sistant surgeon ist Regt. V. N. G., and the
following year was promoted to the office of
surgeon, which was subsequently followed by
his advancement to the position of brigade
surgeon with the rank of lieutenant-colonel,
which office he now holds.
He is a member of the A. O. F. of .A., and
of the Masonic fraternity ; in the latter or-
ganization he is afifiliated with P'ranklin
Lodge, Champlain Chapter, and Lafayette
Cammandery.
Dr. Jenne was united in marriage in
September, 1883, to .Abbie, daughter of
Hiram and Miranda (Gilmore) Cushman.
JENNINGS, Cyrus, of Hortonville, son
of Justin and Harriet (Hill) Jennings, was
born in Hubbardton, Feb. 23, 1838.
Having received his education in the
common schools he adopted farming as his
profession, in which pursuit he has been
vigorously engaged to the present time.
Strongly Democratic in his political faith,
he has enjoyed the confidence of his fellow-
townsmen to such an e.xtent that they have
seen fit to entrust him with the offices of
selectman and lister. In 1876 he was called
upon to represent his native town in the
General Assembly, which honor was sup-
plemented by an election to the .Senate in
1890.
Mr. Jennings was united in marriage,
Nov. 13, 1 86 1, to .Alice E., daughter of N.
H. Eddy. Four sons have blessed this
union : William .A., Edward J., Elmer E.,
and Joseph S.
JENNINGS, REV. ISAAC, late of Ben-
nington Centre, son of Isaac and Anne
Beach Jennings, was born in Trumbull, Conn.,
July 24, 1816.
\Vhile yet a lad he removed to Derby of
that state and there his early days were
passed. Having obtained his preparatory
education in accordance with the admirable
New England system in the common school
and preparatory academy he graduated from
Yale College in the famous class of 1837,
which numbered among its numbers such
prominent men as Hon. William M. Evarts
of New York, Chief Justice Morrison R.
Waite, Hon. Edwards Pierpont, Samuel J.
Tilden and others, and the thoroughness of
his mental training was apparent in all his
after life.
F'resh from collegiate honors, he com-
menced the active career of life as the prin-
cipal of a school in Washington, Conn., in
iS37-'38, but transferred the scene of his
labors to New Haven, where he took charge
of the Hopkins grammar school, and num-
bered among his pupils Dr. Timothy Dwight,
afterward president of his alma mater, but
he soon abandoned the profession of a
teacher to study for the Christian ministry,
pursuing a course of theology at New Haven,
Conn., and subsequently at .Andover, Mass.
From the theological seminary of the latter
place he graduated in 1842. Though
earnest in church work, he never lost his
interest in schools, a fact fully substantiated
by his connection with those of Akron, ()..
where he commenced his ministry, becom-
ing pastor of the Second Congregational
Church of that city June 14, 1843. There
he labored with untiring zeal to carry out
measures of reform in their then defective
school system, and his energetic efforts were
rewarded, for he inaugurated there the sys-
tem of graded schools, now so common
throughput the country. To such an extent
did he leave his impress upon the interests
of education in that section that he has
been justly styled in the annual reports of
the board of education, "The Father of our
Public Schools."
February 17, 1847, he was married to
Sophia, daughter of Matthias and Sophia
(Loomis) Day of Mansfield, Ohio. They
had nine children : Isaac, Jr., Walter
Loomis (deceased), Sophia Day (deceased),
Frederic Beach, Matthias Day (deceased),
Charles Green Rockwood, Robert Gould,
Philip Burton, and William Bigelow.
.After a successful pastorate at Stamford,
Conn., commencing in 1847, Mr. Jennings
removed to Bennington, where he was in-
stalled over the First Church of Christ,
Bennington Centre, Sept. 21, 1853, and
here the remainder of his useful and Chris-
tian life was passed. For over thirty-four
JOUXsnN.
223
years he presided over his Hock — a typical
"New England hill-side ])arish," as he him-
self quaintly termed it. With repeated op-
portunities to go to larger fields, and with
prospects of larger financial gain, Mr. [en-
nings steadily refused to leave his people in
historic Bennington, preferring to live and
die among them. In 1859 he made a Ku-
ropean tour and returned with fresh vigor
and enlarged powers for his life work.
(Jf his published writings the "Memorials
of a Century" is probably the best known,
and will go down to posterity as a history of
Bennington and the old First Church. (Jne
of the most remarkable pulpit efforts of Mr.
Jennings was his centennial discourse deliv-
ered in the old church on its one hundredth
anniversary in 1863, which will long be re-
membered by those who were privileged to
listen to it. Ever zealous and active in all
matters pertaining to the welfare and credit
of the town from the inception of the enter-
prise he took great interest and an influen-
tial part in the erection of the Bennington
battle monument. He was an active mem-
ber and vice president of the association,
and a member and secretary of the board
of directors, while his last public utterance
pronounced the benediction which closed
the ceremony on laying the corner stone of
the monument. A model pastor, faithful and
beloved to an eminent degree, a public-spir-
ited citizen, an enthusiastic promoter of good
works, his useful and Christian life was
brought to a close .August 25, 1887.
JENNINGS, FREDERIC B., son of Rev.
Isaac and Sophia Day Jennings, was born in
Bennington Centre, August 6, 1853.
.\fter completing the preparatory course
he entered Williams College, where he grad-
uated in 1872 with high honors. He subse-
quently studied law at the Harvard Law
School, taking his degree therefrom in 1S74,
and from the University Law School in New-
York City in 1875 ^^''^h honors.
Mr. Jennings entered the office of William
M. Evarts in New York City in 1874, where
he remained in successful practice several
years, after which he established his present
law firm of Jennings & Russell, 30 ISroad
street, New York City.
While his time and energies have been
chiefly devoted to his law practice, many
other business interests have shared his at-
tention. Mr. Jennings is the vice-president
of the .American Trading Company, a large
and prosperous concern engaged in business
with China, Japan and London. He is also
vice-president of the Bennington & Rutland
Railroad Co., and of the First National
Bank of North Bennington. He is a trustee
of the Free Library Hall at Bennington, as
well as a trustee of public schools in the
city of New \ork, and a director or trustee
in se\eral other business enterprises in New
Nork.
Mr. Jennings married, July 27, 1880, Laura
Hall, daughter of Trenor W. and Laura W
D. S. Park, and a granddaughter of the late
(lovernor Hiland Hall. Their children are :
Percy Hall, Elizabeth, and F"rederic B., Jr.
JOHNSON, Leonard, of Pawlet, son
of James and Ruth (^^■illiams) Johnson, was
born at Pawlet, Nov. 28, 1828.
Having recei^■ed the u.sual educational ad-
vantages of the common schools, he was a
tiller of the soil till he arrived at his majority,
when his active disposition making him de-
sire a change, he entered the employment of
the R. & W. R. R. Co. as station agent, and
has continued in this occupation for forty
years.
During the late civil war he acted as re-
cruiting officer and assistant ])rovost mar-
shal.
In 1852 he became a member of the order
of Odd Fellows, joining Hopkins Lodge,
Hartford, N. Y., and he has been a Free and
.Accepted Mason for thirty-fi\e years.
Mr. Johnson was married at Pawlet, Feb.
26, 1857, to Harriet, daughter of Harry and
Harriet ^"iets. Of this union were born
three children : Wayland, R. O. .M., and
.Anna .A. .As his second wife he wedded
Ellen, daughter of Charles and Julia Wright,
of Hartford, N. Y.
In his political career he has been re-
peatedly elected selectman, and has been
justice of the peace in Pawlet for thirty-eight
years. Twice has he represented his native
town in the state Legislature, and been
deemed worthy of filling the responsibile
position of senator from Rutland county for
two successive terms. In all these positions
he has never failed to merit the confidence
reposed in him by those through whose in-
strumentality he has been called to ofifice.
JOHNSON, RUSSELL Thayer, of
West Concord, son of Ransel and Sally
(Farmer) Johnson, was born in Newark,
April 4, 1S41.
RUSSELL THAYER JOHNSON.
The public schools furnished him with his
early educational training and he fitted for
college in the Charlestown (P. Q.) Acad-
emy, after which he studied medicine with
Dr. Charles S. Cahoon of Lyndon, and
graduated from Bellevue Hospital Medical
College, Xew York City, in 1867.
Dr. Johnson began the practice of medi-
cine in Stanstead, Canada, and in 1869 he
removed to Concord, and since that time
has had an extensive practive not only in
that, but also in adjoining towns. In 1862
he enlisted in the nth Regt. Vt. Vols., and
served nearly three years, most of the time
in the medical department of the Sixth
Army Corps and since 1872 has been ex-
amining surgeon for pensions.
He is a Republican, and was member from
Concord in the Legislature of 1884. In
1886 he was vice-president of the Vermont
State Medical Society. For nine years he
has been supervisor of the insane. He has
been honored with several town offices, and
at present is town treasurer.
He is a prominent Mason and Odd Fel-
low and is also a member of the C. A. R.,
having held several important offices in the
department of Vermont.
Dr. Johnson was married, March 29, 1869,
to Asenath A., daughter of Samuel and
.\lmira (Currier) Weeks of Wheelock.
JOHNSON, William Edward, of
\\'oodstock, son of Eliakim and Harrie A.
(Collamer) Johnson, was born in \N'ood-
stock, June 26, 1841.
He received his preparatory education at
Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, N. H.,
and entered Dartmouth College from which
he graduated in the class of 1862.
He studied law with Gov. P. T. Washburn
and Hon. Charles P. Marsh of the firm of
Washburn & Marsh, and was admitted to
the bar of \\'indsor county at the May
term, 1865. He has from that time on
WILLIAM EDWARD JOHNSON.
been actively engaged in the practice of his
profession at Woodstock. A noticeable thing
in his legal work is the large number
of cases referred to him for decision, and
for findings of fact, more perhaps than to
any other lawyer in the state. Mr. Johnson
JONES.
is the grandson of the late Hon. Jacob
Collamer.
He has proved his business capacity, and
is a director in the Woodstock National
Bank, the Woodstock Hotel Co., and the
Aqueduct Co.
He has been always attached to the prin-
ciples of the Republican party, and was
elected to the state Senate in iSSSi From
1872 to 1874 he was state's attorney for
Windsor county.
Mr. Johnson was united in marriage,
August 20, 1866, at Woodstock, to Miss
Elizabeth, daughter of Philo and l^lizabeth
M. (Fitch) Hatch. Of this union there is
one child : Margaret L.
JONES, Edwin Kent, of South North-
field, son of Daniel and Rhoda (Pratt) Jones,
was born in the town of Randolph, June 4,
1828. He was the youngest of a faniilv of
five children, and his mother dying when he
was an infant, he found a good home in the
household of Mr. and Mrs. J. .A. Kent, of
Warren, in the schools of which[place he re-
ceived his education.
|» -1^
EDWIN KENT JONES.
He removed to Northfield when he was
twenty years of age and became a house car-
penter. He erected the first academy and a
large number of dwelling houses in North-
field during the thriving and prosperous
times that followed the advent of the railroad.
In i860 he went to South Northfield to settle
the estate of his brother-in-law, George S.
Edson, and soon after formed a ]iartnershi])
with his uncle, engaging in trade and at the
same time giving some attention to lumber-
ing and the manufacture of chairs. By his
various enterprises he has added materially
to the prosperity and welfare of the village.
Mr. Jones is a Republican in his politi-
cal i)references, has served the town in vari-
ous capacities, as justice, selectman and as
town representati\e in 1866 and 1867. He
is the author of the militia law which is the
basis of the present system. In 1882 and
1884 he was elected senator from Washington
county. He has been prominently connected
with the Dog River Valley Fair .Association as
its treasurer and president.
He is a member of the DeWitt Clinton
Lodge, F. & A. M.
He was married I )ec. 30, 1852, to Har-
riet E., daughter of .Samuel and Harriet
((Gardner) Dodge, of Northfield. Four
children have been born to them, of whom
three are living : Fred A., Susie E.( deceased),
Minnie .A. (Mrs. E. H. Prince of Chicago),
and Jessie A.
JONES, Henry R., of Benson, son of
Henry and Lodema (Crawford) Jones, was
born in Shoreham, Dec. 11, 1822.
He received his early instruction in the
public schools of Shoreham and Newton
.Academy and afterward as a student at Burr
Seminary in Manchester, from which he
graduated in 1844. After teaching a pri-
vate school for one year he commenced the
study of medicine with Dr. Joel Rice of Brid-
port. He attended his first course of lect-
ures at the medical college in Castleton, con-
tinuing his studies with Dr. Joseph Perkins,
professor of obstetrics and materia medica
in that institution, and graduated in the fall
of 1849. The following year he commenced
his professional labors in New Haven, but
left to attend a post graduate course at the
College of Physicians and Surgeons in New
York Citv. Devoting se\ eral months to hos-
pital practice and attending lectures, he re-
turned to Vermont and settled at Benson,
where he has since enjoyed a large and
lucrative practice.
In educational matters he has taken great
interest and was for a long time town super-
intendent of schools. Dr. Jones has always
voted the Republican ticket, both national
and state, up to the time of President Cleve-
land's nomination in 1884 ; since then he has
been independent in his political views.
In the winter of 1863 he was appointed by
Ciovernor Holbrook one of the board for the
county of Rutland to e.xamine those liable to
military duty with a view to selecting the fit-
test subjects to choose from in case of a
draft. He represented Benson in the House
in the years 1868 and '6g, serving each ses-
sion on the committee on education, and
contributed largely to obtaining a special
charter for a railroad from Fair Haven or
Whitehall to some point on Lake Champlain.
Early in its history he became a member
of the State Medical Society. In 1884 he
was chosen delegate to the American Medical
Association and to the Burlington Medical
cultural pursuits chiefly for many years, cul-
tivating the estate which has been in the
family for over a century. He formerly
made a specialty of breeding Durham catrte
and Merino sheep, but of late years has
devoted his attention more especially to
sheep and horses. Mr. Jones and S. S.
Rockwell originated the business of export-
ing improved sheep, sending away the first
lot in 1843. This enterprise first extended
to the Mississippi river, and in i860 to the
Pacific coast. He made many trips west
before any railroads were built in that sec-
tion, and remained on that coast five years,
having his horses and sheep shipped to him,
his headquarters being at San Francisco.
Mr. Jones was formerly a whig, and be-
came a Republican when that party was
formed. He has been elected four times to
the House of Representatives from his town.
College at its annual examination of students
preparatory to graduation. In the organiza-
tion of the Rutland County Medical and Sur-
gical Society he took an active part and was
early elected its jjresident.
He was united in marriage at Benson,
May 18, 1853, to Louise R., daughter of
Hon. Isaac and Louise C. (Chase) Norton.
Five children have been the fruit of this
union, three of whom still survive : Emma
S., Henry R., Jr., M. D., and Charles N.
JONES, ROLLIN J., of West Corn-
wall, son of Arnzi and Hepzibath (Harvey)
Jones, was born in Cornwall, Nov. 12, 1819.
His mother was a relative of James Hervey,
M. A., one of the most popular English
authors of the eighteenth century. His
father was a great-grandson of Benjamin
Jones, who was an officer in the F^nglish
army. His progenitors came to America in
the early settlement of the country.
He received his early education at the
common schools in Cornwall, and afterward
went to Hinesburgh Academy and from
thence to the high school at Saco, Me.
He owns one of the most productive
farms in the state, and he has followed agri-
ROLLIN J. JONES.
in 1849, 1850, 1867, and 1868, and three
times to the Senate, in 1853, 1854, and 1869.
He was a member of the Constitutional Con-
vention in 1857. In 1870 he accepted the
coUectorship of internal revenue for the first
congressional district under President Grant,
at the same time refusing to have his name
considered for the position of Lieutenant-
tiovernor of the state. He was a popular
candidate, having never been beaten in con-
vention or at the polls, and has declined
being a candidate for many important offices
that seemed easily within his reach. He re-
tired from politics early in life, peferring to
JONES.
227
devote his time to the management of his
estate.
Mr. Jones has been a member of the Bap-
tist church since 1840. He is one of the
board of managers of the state Baptist con-
vention for helping destitute churches and
one of the board of managers of the 15a])tist
State Historical Society. He has also held
for many years the position of a trustee of
Saxton's River Academy.
He was married in Hinesburgh, on Sejjt.
15, 1842, to Flora, daughter of Sarah and
Austin Heecher. From this union two
daughters were born : Martha Grace, and
AHce May, both of whom died in youth.
Mr. Jones has been a liberal contributor
to the Sheldon Museum of Middlebury. He
is a man of literary tastes, quiet and unas-
suming in his manner, yet withal possesses
an extended acquaintance and is largely
influential in the state.
JONES, Walter Alonzo, late ot
Waitsfield, son of Hiram and Laura (Car-
penter) Jones, was born in Waitsfield, July
27, 1840. His father, Hiram Jones, was
prominent in town and county affairs.
WALTER ALONZO JONES.
The boyhood and youth of Mr. Jones were
spent upon his father's farm, and he received
his primary education in the public schools,
after which he fitted for college at Barre
Academy. In the fall of 186 1 he entered
the University of Vermont, but was obliged
to leave in his sophomore year on account
of ill-liealth. He was graduated from the
medical college at Pittsfield, Mass., in i<S65,
and practiced his jirofession for a short time
at Fabius, N. V., and afterwards in his native
town. In 1868 he, with others, bought the
somewhat extensive mercantile business of
his uncle, and this soon after came into his
liands exclusively, for which reason he relin-
(|uished the practice of his profession and
devoted himself to business piirsuits.
Dr. Jones was actively identified with town
affairs, especially interesting himself in edu-
cational progress, and to him more than any
other is due the great improvement and
enviable reputation of the schools of Waits-
field. He represented his town in 1880 and
1SS2, serving each term as chairman of the
grand list committee. His well demonstrated
capacity for affairs, the high esteem in which
he was held, easily gave him the nomination
to the state Senate in 1888. This was his
last public service.
Dr. Jones was a leading and consistent
member of the Congregational church and
had its interests always at heart. For four-
teen years he acted as superintendent of the
Sunday school.
He married, at Waitsfield, Nov. 17, 1869,
Elvira, daughter of Jedediah and Naomi
(Joslin) Bushnell, and of this union there
were born two sons : Matt B., and Walter E.
Dr. Jones died Feb. 9, 1892, not before the
people of Washington county, and indeed
of the state of Vermont, had learned and
appreciated his worth, so that they sorrowed
for the loss of a good man, a valuable citi-
zen, a wise counsellor, and a trusted friend.
JONES, Walter Frank, of West
l^o\er, son of William H. and Diana (AUis)
Jones, was born in Do\er, April 7, 1840.
His educational advantages were obtained
in the common schools of Dover and at Wil-
mington high school, from which he gradu-
ated in i860. After the completion of his
studies he entered his father's store as clerk,
in which he remained for some years, and
then took charge of the hotel in West Wards-
boro. Remaining there a year, he again
returned to his native town and entered into
partnership with his father to do a general
merchandise trade, which connection lasted
seven years.
Mr. Jones was married, April 23, 1862, to
Miss .Annette, daughter of Devi and Nancy
(Rice) Snow, of Somerset. Of this union
are two children : Orrin H., and H. Jennie.
Mrs. Jones died Dec. 16, 1881. He was
united to Martha A., daughter of Wells P.
and Mary Ann (Bowker) Allis, who died
Dec. 29, 1892, leaving one child ; Martha .V.
Mr. [ones held the office of postmaster for
ten years, being appointed under President
Lincoln in 1861, and from time to time has
228
filled nearly every one of the town ofifices ;
for ten years he was town clerk and treas-
i
^^*^
^kt,
i«?S4> '
urer. He was elected to the General Assem-
bly from Dover in 1888, an honor which he
again received in 1892.
JOYCE, Charles H., of Rutland, son
of Charles and Martha E. (Grist) Joyce, was
born in Wherwell, England, Jan. 30, 1830.
He came to this country with his parents
in 1836, and settled in Waitsfield. He
worked on a farm and attended the district
school, winters, until he was eighteen years
old, when he left the farm and completed
his education at the Waitsfield and North-
field Academies and at Newbury Seminary.
He was a page in the Vermont House of
Representatives three sessions, assistant
librarian one year, and librarian one year.
He taught school several terms, at the same
time pursuing his legal studies under Hon. F.
F. Merrill of Montpelier, and the late Col. F.
V. Randall of Northfield. He was admitted
to the bar of Washington county at the Sep-
tember term, 1852, and commenced the prac-
tice of law at Northfield in December, 1855.
In September, 1856, he was elected state's
attorneyofWashington county, and re-elected
in 1857. During the last year of service as
state's attorney he greatly distinguished hmi-
self in the prosecution and conviction of one
Ariel Martin, for the murder of two men in
Calais. Hon. James Barrett presided at the
trial and ' Martin was defended by Paul
Dillingham and Luther L. Durant.
In June, 1S61, he was appointed by Gov.
Erastus Fairbanks major of the 2nd Regt.
Vt. Vols. Infantry, the first three years'
regiment to leave the state, and in June
following he was promoted by Governor
Holbrook to lieutenant-colonel in the same
regiment. He fought gallantly with his regi-
ment in the first battle of Bull Run ; at Lees
Mills ; at Williamsburgh ; at (lolden's Farm ;
at Savage Station ; at White Oak Swamp ; at
the second Bull Run ; and at Fredericks-
burg. In several of these battles he was
specially mentioned by his superior officers
for gallant conduct upon the field. In Jan-
uary, 1863, he was compelled to resign his
commission on account of a severe disa-
bility contracted during the campaign of
1861.
On his retirement from the army Colonel
Joyce removed to Rutland and resumed the
practice of his profession. At the March
CHARLES
term, 1869, of the Rutland county court, the
case of State against Ziba, Fred and Horace
Plumley for the murder of one John Oilman
was tried ; Colonel Joyce had charge of the
defence, and his argument for the respond-
ents attracted wide attention and placed
him at once in the front rank of jury advo-
cates in this state. In 1874 he was engaged
to assist the state's attorney in the prose-
cution of John P. Fair for the murder of one
Anne Frieze at Rutland under the most
horrible circumstances. The case attracted
wide attention and it was said by the daily
• press of the day that Colonel Joyce's closing
argument was a masterly effort and highly
appreciated by the bar and the vast audience
present at the trial. But probably the great-
est effort ever made by him and the most
splendid victory he ever achieved at the bar,
was in the celebrated case of Calvin S. Inman
of Poultney, tried for the shooting of Patrick
Sennott, at the September term of Rutland
county court, 1889, and acquitted. The
colonel made the closing argument for the
defence and during its delivery the large
court room was packed with people from all
parts of the county. A death-like stillness
was preserved by the vast audience until he
closed, when the deep murmur of applause
showed the effect produced by the fiery and
eloquent words of the advocate. The Rut-
land Daily Herald speaking of the argument
said : " Colonel Joyce was eloquent and im-
pressive. It was the effort of his life. He
was inspiring ; he was ])athetic ; and with
the magical witchery of a silver tongue he
painted a portrait so touching, so saddening
that at times there was scarcely a dry eye in
the audience. Again in characterizing the
affray, and that which led up to it, he gave
full reign to his terrible power of denuncia-
tion."
In 1869 he was elected a member of the
state House of Representatives from the
town of Rutland, and in 1870 was again
elected for two years, during which time he
was speaker of the House. In 1874 he was
elected to Congress from the first congres-
sional district, and re-elected in 1876, 1878
and 1880. Colonel Joyce took an active
part during his eight years service in the
national House of Representatives, in the
discussion of most of the important ques-
tions which came before Congress. In 1876
he made speeches on the death of Vice-
President Wilson ; on the presentation of the
statue of Kthan .Mien ; on early resumption
of specific payments ; on the centennial cele-
bration of the American independence ; in
1878 on the repeal of the resumption act
■and the remonetization of silver ; on the
election of President and ^'ice- President ;
on the tariff ; on an amendment to the Mexi-
can war ]5ension bill, to exclude rebels from
the pension roll ; in 1879, on the policy of
the Democrats in forcing an extra session of
Congress by failing to pass the regular a]j-
propriation bills; in 1880, on commercial
reciprocity between this country and Canada :
■on the alcoholic liquor tariff; and in 18S2,
on Chinese immigration ; on the apportion-
ment of representatives to the national Con-
gress ; and on the policy of the government
in relation to pensions. Many of these
speeches attracted the attention not only of
the people of Vermont, but of the whole
countrv and were widelv circulated.
JLTDEVINE. 229
In jiolitics Colonel Joyce has always been
an earnest, thorough-going Re])ublican, antl
has in every presidential canijiaign since 1852
done effective work upon the stump for his
jjarty, not only in Vermont, but in New
Hampshire, Connecticut, Indiana and New
York.
He has long been ranked among the lead-
ing platform orators in the country ; a fine
voice, an earnest, im])ressive manner, a thor-
ough knowledge of his subject, and a firm
conviction of the truth of what he utters, are
among the elements which make him one of
the most eloquent and efTecti\ e speakers be-
fore a popular audience in this country.
During all the years of his busy and labor-
ious life, in his profession and in Congress,
he has found time to respond to all the num-
erous calls made upon him for the 4th of
July orations, addresses at agricultural fairs.
Memorial Day addresses, and lectures upon
a great variety of subjects. He has always
been a close and thorough student and a
keen and interested obser\er of men and
things. His favorite books outside of the
law, are the Bible, Shakespeare, Milton, Bun-
yan's Pilgrim's Progress, Scott's works and
I )ickens', while history, biography, political
economy and general literature make up the
catalogue. The esteem in which Colonel
Joyce has always been held by the people of
his adopted state is fully shown by the posi-
tions of trust and honor to which they have
so often called him.
He was married, Feb. 21, 1853, to Rouene
Morris, daughter of Gurdon and I.aura
(Scott) Randall, of Northfield. Of this
union there are now living one son and one
daughter. The son, Charles Pitt F., gradu-
ated at Princeton in 1887 and at Dartmouth
Medical College in 1892. The daughter,
Inez Rouene (educated at Tilden Seminary,
Lebanon, N. H., and Temple Grove, Sara-
togo, N. v.), was married, March, 1877, at
Washington, D. C, to Theron C. Crawford
of Michigan.
JUDEVINE, Harvey, of West Concord,
son of Cornelius and Lucy (Wetherbee)
Judevine, was born in Concord, March 28,
1820. The name of Judevine has been prom-
inent in the annals of the town of Concord
for almost a century. Cornelius Judevine
came thither in 1805, was the first merchant
who settled there, and had a large and pros-
])erous trade, yet he found some leisure to
attend to public affairs, for he represented
the town in the state Legislature twice.
'I'he maternal grandfather of Harvey, Ca]it.
Samuel \\'etherl)ee, was a captain in the
Revolutionarv war and marrieil Susannah
Johnson, who with her father's family was
captured by the Indians, .August 29, 1754, at
Charlestown, N. H. She had a sister named
Captive (from the fact that she was born on
the march of the prisoners to Canada).
Harvey Judevine passed through the usual
educational course in the common schools,
KELTON, Francis P., of East Mont-
pelier, son of Samuel S. and Ursula (Sprague)
Kelton, was born in East Montplier, May 6,
1841. The name of Kelton has been well
known and honored in this town for three
generations. The grandfather of Francis P.
settled in town in 1798. His son Samuel S.
Kelton was prominent in official affairs for
sixteen years ; was assistant judge of Wash-
ington county court for two years. He
moved to Montpelier in 1876 and died there
March, 1892.
Francis P. was born and reared on the
paternal homestead, receiving such educa-
tion as the common schools afforded, sup-
plemented by a course of instruction at Dr.
Spaulding's .\cademy at Barre.
He married, Jan. 19, 1876, Joanna A.,
daughter of Capt. FMvvin J. and Mary ( Wig-
glesworth) Colby of Salisbury, Mass., of
which marriage there is issue : Mary H.,
Raymond A., and Robert S.
IVIr. Kelton has successfully pursued the
vocation of a farmer on the farm which his
father occupied. He has made a specialty
of dairy products and raising thoroughbred
Jerseys. Here he lives, respected by his
and then was admitted to the Concord gram-
mar school. He also attended the academy
in Plymouth, N. H.
At the time of his majoritv, Mr. ludevine
became practically the superintendent in the
management of his father's affairs until the
death of the latter in 1862. For years he
has been in active business, being engaged in
the manufacture of lumber. He is best known
however, as a real estate operator and farm
manager and is the owner of a very exten-
sive property including no less than seven
different farms.
On the 23d of August, 1846, he was
united in marriage to Florilla Jane, daughter
of Rev. Josiah Morse of Concord. Their
only child, Luthera M., died at the age of
sixteen. Mr. Judevine contracted a second
alliance, Feb. 27, r86i, with .Angle, daughter
of P^benezer and Lepha (Joslin) Holbrook,
also of Concord.
Mr. Judevine is a staunch Republican,
and, beginning with constable, has held al-
most every town office and is now chairman
of the board of school directors. He was
representative from Concord in 1865 and
fifteen years later senator for Essex county,
serving in the Senate on the grand list
committee.
He is of a marked and original personal-
ity, serious and reflective, but with an under-
lying and spontaneous vein of wit and humor..
For nearly half a century his influence in
town affairs has been extensive and contin-
uous.
FRANCIS P. KELTON
231
townsmen, all of whom recognize his private
worth and hearty interest in all good works.
He belongs to the majority party of the
state, has been selectman and held other
civil offices, as well as representing East
Montpelier in the state Legislature in 1S90.
KELTON, Truman Chittenden, of
Flast .Montpelier, son of Xaum and Fanny
(\'incent) Kelton, was born in the town of
Montpelier, May 11, 181 7. The father was
an early pioneer, born in Warwick, Mass.,
1778, coming to Montpelier in 1798. He
was an e.xcellent farmer, a successful teacher
and fiNe times a representative of the orig-
inal town of Montpelier.
The son received his education in the
common schools and learned the trade of a
mason, which he followed for more than
thirteen years. He is, however, better
known as a farmer and business man. He
has successfully cultivated an estate of more
than two hundred acres, the basis of which
has been owned and occupied by the Kelton
family for nearly a century. He is esteemed
a man of excellent judgment and thoroughly
conscientious in every work he undertakes.
CHITTENDEN
Such a man would naturally and jiroperly
be sought for public office, accordingly we
find him acceptably filling the positions of
town treasurer for fourteen years, town clerk
thirty-one years, and justice of the peace
twenty-five years; while in 1863 and 1864
he was called upon to represent East Mont-
pelier .in the Legislature.
In 1S46 he married iMiieline K., daughter
of Joel and Ruba ( Metcalf) Bassett. Their
marriage has been blessed with six children,
fi\e of whom survive: Cieorge, Herbert,
Henry, Fanny (Mrs. A. 1). Coburn), Walter
(deceased), and Edwin, all residing in this
vicinity.
In recent years he has acted as a local
counsel in business affairs, has executed
nearly all deeds retjuired in his neighbor-
hood, performed all the offices of a convey-
ancer and settled more than twenty-five
estates, some of them in\ol\ing extensive
interests.
KEMP, Dean GUSTAVUS, of .Montpelier,
son of Phineas .\. and Betsey (Blanchard)
Kemp, was born in Worcester, Nov. 8, 1841.
DEAN GUSTA
He resided with his father until he was
about eighteen years of age, and spent his
time in attendance at the district school and
in hard work on the farm. He then went to
.Montpelier, and became a pupil in the Wash-
ington county grammar school. In 1S62 he
entered the office of Dr. W. H. H. Richard-
son, as a medical student, and afterwards
attended a course of lectures at the Bellevue
Hospital Medical College of New Vork City,
where he graduated March 26, 1866, and
commenced the i)ractice of his profession
with his first instructor. Soon after, he pur-
chased the residence of Ur. Richardson and
succeeded him in a large and successful prac-
tice, which he retains to the jiresent time.
KENISTON.
Dr. Kemp was a member of the board of ex-
amining physicians for pensions under the
administrations of Presidents Garfield, Arthur
and Harrison, and has been for years the
treasurer of the Vermont Medical Society and
was its president in iSS6. He has been sec-
retary of the Montpelier school board for
several years and is a director of the Mont-
pelier Electric Light and Power Manufact-
uring Co.
He was married to Annette C, daughter of
George \V. and Laura (Cadv) Maxhani, of
Northfield, Sept. 5, 1866.
In politics he is a Republican : and is a
member of Bethany Congregational church.
KENFIELD, FRANK, of MorrisviUe, son
of Asaph and F^liza (Shephard) Kenfield, was
born in Sterling, now a part of Morristown,
March 13, 1838. George Kenfield, the
grandfather of Frank, was a soldier of the
Revolution, .\saph was the first male child
born in Morristown, and followed farming as
his life occupation. He was born June 26,
1794, and died Oct. 11, 1866.
Frank was educated in the common
schools, and at the People's Academy,
MorrisviUe. After he was of age, he went
to Massachusetts for a year, where he taught
school and then made a tour of observation
through the West and South. In the spring
of i860 he returned from his wanderings,
built a saw mill at Morristown Corners and
commenced the lumber business, but this
was interrupted by the call to arms, that
resounded through the land in 1861.
He enlisted Sept. 24, 1862, as a private
in Co. E, 13th Regt. Vt. Vols., was immedi-
ately elected 2d lieutenant, and soon after
promoted to be ist lieutenant. He was with
his regiment every day of its service, and
when General Pickett made his furious
charge at Gettysburg he had the good fortune
to capture a confederate captain, whose
sword is still in his ])ossession. In the latter
part of this engagement he received a severe
wound. On his recovering he again entered
the service, recruited Co. C, 17th Regt.,
was commissioned its captain, and mustered
in, Feb. 8, 1864. The third attempt at
battalion drill of this regiment was on the
bloody field of the Wilderness, and there
Captain Kenfield was again severely wounded,
sent to the hospital at Fredericksburg and
allowed a thirty-days' furlough. At the
battle of Petersburg Mine, July 30, 1864, his
company was almost annihilated, and he was
captured and sent to Columbia, S. C. After
seven months' imprisonment he was trans-
ferred to Wilmington, N. C, and paroled.
He was mustered out of U. S. service, Mav
IS, 1865.
Since his return from the army Captain
Kenfield has been actively engaged in mer-
cantile pursuits, but more recently he has
given attention to farming and stock and
produce buying.
He has been entrusted with nearly every
town office, and was sent to the Legislature
in 1884, where he served on the general and
military committees. He was influential in
securing the appropriation for the soldiers'
home, and was appointed one of its trustees.
He holds the office of assistant quarter-
master-general of the department of Vermont
( ;. A. R.
He married, Sept. 5, 1866, Lamott C,
daughter of Lomis and Catherine Wheelock
of Montpelier ; she died in 1872, leaving one
daughter, Kate B. (Mrs. Carl Smith). Feb-
ruary 9, 1874, he formed a second alliance
with Airs. Margaret Lyman, daughter of
David and Ann Cruller.
Captain Kenfield is a member of the
Loyal Legion, and has served as commander
of J. M. Warren Post, G. A. R., of Morris-
viUe. For more than thirty years he has
been numbered among the brotherhood of
Free Masons.
KENISTON, Nathan, of Greensboro,
son of Nathan and Grace (Currier) Kenis-
ton, was born in Cabot, Feb. 5, 1816. His
father was a native of Portsmouth, N. H.,
and was one of the earliest settlers of Cabot.
The son received his scanty education in
the district school and remained at home
till he was twenty-two years of age when he
'-35
removed to (jreensboro and was em])loyed
as laborer on a farm in that vicinity, but be-
ing desirous to see something of the world
outside the narrow circle to which his pre-
vious life had been limited, he walked with
a companion to Boston, a distance of more
than two hundred miles, where he engaged
in the occupation of brick making in the
summer season while he drove a general
delivery wagon between Dover and Boston
during the winter. He remained in Boston
and vicinity about five years, then returned
to Greensboro, where he bought a small
farm which he managed most successfully in
spite of the serious apprehension of his
friends that he would fail in this attempt,
but this word was not to be found in his
dictionary and he struggled on, bought ad-
joining land — in all, five hundred acres— and
devoting a large part of his efforts to dairy
products, brought this enterprise to a pros-
perous issue by his unflagging zeal and indus-
try. In addition to his ordinary occupation
he plied the trade of brick mason and plasterer
and as he had no rival in the place he did a
remunerative business. In 1858 he bought the
grist mill at Greensboro \'illage, made exten-
sive repairs and thus had another source of in-
come ; not content he added to his other
properties a saw mill privilege, built and
equipped the mill with the first circular saw
ever used in the place, then took as a partner
Hiram Blaisdell. These mills they afterwards
exchanged for a large agricultural property in
Hardwick. Having obtained some knowl-
edge of the trade of carpenter and joiner, he
abandoned his farm in Greensboro and built
the house where he now resides in Greens-
boro Village and in addition erected other
dwellings in that place and St. Johnsbury.
Mr. Keniston was married. May 4, 1845,
to Abigail, daughter of Zaccheus and Jennet
(.\twood) Thompson, who died Nov. 12,
1866. He was a second time wedded,
.August 19, 1868, to Mary E. Ellsworth,
daughter of Charles B. and Abigail (Cobb)
Field. No children have been the fruit of
either union, but in 1848 he adopted Elloit
F. Rollins, who lost his life in the war of the
rebellion, and in 1871 he adopted Myrtle
Thompson who died about two years later.
In political choice he has been a life-long
Democrat, yet has never desired or sought
preferment. He has been elected justice of
the peace, member of the school board and
highway surveyor. In 185 i he united with
the Congregational church and he has ever
been a generous donor to the society in
Greensboro as well as a liberal contributor
to home and foreign missions, with which he
has especially identified himself by becoming
an honorary member of the .American board
and making Mrs. Keniston a life member of
the .American Home Missionary Society.
Mr. Keniston is the last survivor of a very
large Bible class and has always taken a
lively interest in church affairs, but his
generous heart does not confine itself to the
outward forms of religion, for his kindly
charity is extended to all in need or sorrow.
KEYES, Thomas C, of Newbury, son
of Freeman and Emeline C. (Jewett) Keyes,
was born in Newbury, Jan. i, 1844.
He was educated chiefly at Newbury
Seminary, and then passed through a course
of instruction at the Commercial and Colle-
giate Institute of New Haven, Conn.
In 1864 Mr. Keyes was admitted as a
partner in the mercantile firm of F. & H.
T. Keyes & Co., and since his father's death
in 1 87 1, he has owned and continued the
business.
He is a Republican in his political sym-
pathies, and was appointed postmaster in
1875, which office he continued to hold for
ten years. He was elected to represent
Newbury in the House in 1886, and has
long been a member of the Republican
town committee.
Mr. Keyes was united in marriage, Nov.
24, 1 88 1, in Chicago, III, to Martha P.,
daughter of John and Elizabeth (Hosmer)
Morse, of St. Johnsbury.
KIMBALL, ROBERT JaCKSON, of Ran-
dolph, son of Hiram and Jerusha (Piradish)
Kimball, was born in Randol])h, Feb. 16,
1836. His ancestors were English and his
grandfather and great-grandfather both served
in the Revolutionary war in Col. Samuel B.
Webb's 3d Conn. Regt. His grandfather
removed from Pomfret, Conn., to Ranclol])h
about the year 1795.
He was' educated at the West Randolph
.Academy and commenced business at the
early age of thirteen as a newsboy on the
A'ermont Central R. R. : was afterwards a
telegraph operator and expressman and has
been interested in telegraph and railroad en-
terprises to a considerable extent ever since,
and is now director in the old Vermont &
Boston Telegraph Co. He engaged in the
banking business at Toronto, Canada, in
1862 and in 1865 established a banking house
in New York, which still continues as R. J.
Kimball & Co. In 1872, owing to a great
decline in securities, he was unable to meet
his engagements in full and settled with his
creditors within forty-eight hours after his
failure by the payment of twenty- fi\e cents
on the dollar and received his discharge
from any further obligation. In 1881 he
jiaid the other seventy-five per cent together
with nine years' interest at six per cent, the
whole amounting to manv thousands of
dollars.
He was an aid-de-camp on Governor
234 KING.
Dillingham's staff, i8S8 to 1890; represented
the town of Randolph in the Legislature in
1890 and 1 89 1, and served on the committee
of ways and means, banks, and special joint
committee on the ^Vork^s Columbian Expo-
sition, and was consular agent at Toronto in
1864. He is vice-president of the State
Republican League, also the Republican
Club at Randol])h, and a trustee of the State
Normal School at Randolph.
He married Martha L., daughter of Charles
A. Morse, in 1863.
While he has for manv vears been a mem-
ber of the Baptist church, his liberal support
to the cause has not been confined to that
denomination. He has shown his gener-
osity and public spirit in many ways in differ-
ent enterprises in his native town. He has
a home in Brooklyn, N. Y., where he was
instrumental in forming a flourishing society
of Vermonters, of which he was made presi-
dent, and is connected as a trustee in various
important religious, charitable and other in-
stitutions in that city. He has maintained
his home in West Randolph since 1864.
KING, Aaron N., of Tunbridge, son of
Kid. Nathaniel and Lydia (Noyes)King, was
born in Randolph, July i, 1820. His father
Elder King was one of the earliest settlers of
Tunbridge, and was one of the first preachers
of the Freewill Baptist denomination west of
the Connecticut river. So marked was his
abilitv manv were the revivals that followed
his preaching. Through his efforts largely
was the first conference of the denomination
organized at Tunbridge. To him came the
committee appointed to prepare the articles
of faith, and the doctrines outlined by him
and written down by the committee were the
articles of faith found in the 'IVeatise of the
denomination. He preached from stumps
in the woods, in barns and later in houses of
worship. The days not spent in preaching
were spent in labor and by his frugality and
industry he accumulated a large property.
He represented Tunbridge in the Legislature
thirteen years and held many offices of trust,,
he found time however for study and was
noted as a Bible student and theologian in
the yearly meetings of the denomination in
this state.
Mr. A. N. King was the youngest of thir-
teen children. In his earlier business life he
was a farmer and was succesful in this pur-
suit.
December 2, i84i,he was married to Eliza
B. Nutter at Northfield. Two sons were the
fruit of this imion : Heber A., and Millard T.
In 1854 Mr. King embarked in mercantile
business in Tunbridge, and is still engaged in
it. At about the same time he engaged in
banking and was for several years a director
in the Royalton bank. He was also a director
in the Orange County National Bank, of
Chelsea, and for several years, until its suc-
cessful close in I S93, president of the First Na-
tional Bank, of Chelsea. At the expiration
of the charter of this bank the National Bank
of Orange County was organized through his
efforts, and he was elected its first (jresident.
He has nearly completed forty years ser\ice
as a bank officer. He has bought farm after
farm until he is one of the largest landed
proprietors of Orange county, and, at an age
when other men retire from active business,
is continually at work looking after various
interests.
He has been an active member of the
Republican party since its organization and
represented 'runbridge in the Legislature in
1868 and iS6g, was for twenty-five years
postmaster, se\ eral years town treasurer and
has held other offices in Tunbridge.
His elder son, Heber A., was early asso-
ciated with him in his mercantile business,
continuing in this until his death, Dec. 2,
1889. The vounger son, after getting his
education at Randolph Academy, entered the
store of his father and has for a long term of
years been the junior member of the firm of
A. N. King & Son. He, like his father, is an
active member of the Republican party and
represented Tunbridge in i884-'85 and was a
senator from Orange county in i888-'89. Has
been treasurer of the town the greater part of
the time since 1881. He has been post-
master several years and is a director of the
National Bank of ( )range County.
KING, Charles W., late of Lunenburg,
son of Willard and Laura L.(Ladd) King, was
born at Lunenburg, Nov. 9, 1832. His
father, Captain Willard King, was an old
resident of the place, industrious, frugal,
conscientious, and ever a most zealous
worker in the cause of temperance and
religion. He started in life with no capital
but his two hands and an axe, cleared for
himself a farm about three and one-half
miles from the present village, and there
lived, labored and reared his family of eight
children.
Charles ^V. was early trained to labor, and
his opportunities for an education in the
district school were but meagre. After the
crops were harvested he was able to attend
school a few weeks, boarding at home and
walking seven miles. Hut he had an insa-
tiable desire for knowledge, and every spare
moment was spent in reading and studying.
He taught school at seventeen, and at
twenty-one was elected superintendent, and
for several years was an important factor in
educational movements in his town and
county. Mr. King was bred a farmer, and
to this occupation was given his chief atten-
tion, though he was also successfully engaged
in other business. He was everywhere re-
cognized as a man of keen insight, at once
sure and rapid in his conclusions, and of
excellent general ability. He was frequently
KING. 23s
trusted with the management and settlement
of estates, invested funds for others, and
occupied responsible financial positions in
large enterprises. January 18, 1884, he was
elected treasurer of The Browns' Lumber
Co., of VVhitefield, N. H., and occupied that
position till his decease. He was for a long
time a director of the First National Bank
of St. Johnsbury, and was in his last years
its vice-president.
Republican in politics, as such he repre-
sented Lunenburg in 1874, and served on
the committee on education, and was influ-
ential in abolishing the board of education
and electing a state superintendent. In
1878 he was chosen to the state Senate from
Essex county, and again served on the com-
mittee on education. He was trustee of
Johnson State Normal School and two years
county road commissioner, also many years
justice of the peace. In all of the varied
and private trusts committed to his hands
Mr. King was faithful, diligent and efficient,
and earned the respect and esteem of his
associates.
He married, Dec. 25, i860, Jennie, daugh-
ter of Reuben and Fannie Chandler. Their
children are : Charles C, and Willard G.
Mr. King died at Whitefield, N. H., August
12, 1S93, regretted by all to whom he had
become known by his public, business and
social life.
KING, Charles M., of Benson, son of
Mosley F. and Juliette King, was born in
Benson, Feb. 26, 1849.
He received a careful training in the com-
mon schools of Benson and Barre Academy,
forming the industrious habits and sound
ideas which were to render him efficient ser-
\ice in the events of his after life. Like so
many citizens of the Creen Mountain state,
Mr. King has devoted himself to farming in
the town where he was born. This vocation
he has jjursued in all its branches, and by
patient and unremitting toil has met with
merited success, attaining a high position
among the citizens of Benson. He is a Re-
publican in his political faith, and has dis-
charged acceptably the duties of selectman
and other town offices. He has been for
many years a director of the Rudand County
.\gricultural Society, and is also a director in
the Western Vermont Agricultural Society.
His high reputation for intelligence and
energy met with a fitting reward in his
choice as representative of Benson to the
Legislature in 1888, where he manifested the
same careful and attentive consideration
which had always characterized his jirivate
life, in his attention to his legislative duties,
giving his services to the committee on agri-
culture.
236 KING
Mr. King united with the M. E. Church in
1 88 1, and is now filHng the office of one of
its stewards.
He was married at Fair Ha\en, March 31,
1880, to Martha J., daughter of Nathaniel and
Dorcas (Kenyon) Fish. They have one daugh-
ter and one son : Candace 1)., and Carl F.
KING, Royal Daniel, of Benson, son
of Horace and Eunice (Belden) King, was
born in Benson, Nov. 17, 1S24. His grand-
father, a Revolutionary veteran, after the war
of independence moved from Connecticut
and settled in the town of Benson.
Mr. Royal D. King received his prelim-
inary instruction in district and pri\ate
schools, fitted for college at Castleton Sem-
inary, and graduated from the University of
Vermont in 1846. His life has been mainly
de\'oted to the profession of teaching, though
he spent some time in the law office of
Smalley & Phelps of Burlington. He has
been an instructor both in his native state
and in Illinois.
His first presidential vote was cast for
Henry Clay, and he has acted with the Re-
publican party since its inception. He has
taken an active part in the public work of
Benson, serving for a long period as town
superintendent of schools, and being select-
man at the outbreak of the rebellion he was
especially energetic in the enlistment of
soldiers, till he himself was mustered into the
United States service Sept. 10, 1862, in Co.
D, 14th Regt. Vt. Vols., with which command
he honorably ser\-ed till after the victory of
Crcttysburg, when he w-as mustered out with
the regiment July 30, 1863.
Mr. King received the compliment of an
election as representative from Benson to the
Legislature in 1852 and 1854 and was ap-
pointed a member of the committee on edu-
cation in both sessions. He was reappointed
town superintendent and held the position
up to March, 1880. He was also elected
senator from Rutland county in 1880, where
he again served on the committee on educa-
tion and also on that of the librarv.
For several years he was secretary of .Aca-
cia Lodge, F. & A. M.
KINGSLEY, Jerome Orlando, of
.Athens, son of Billy Gray and Lucy ( Pal-
mer) Kingsley, was born in South Wood-
stock, Sept. 29, 1822.
Receiving a limited education in the dis-
trict and select schools of South Woodstock,
he lived at home until he was twenty-six
years of age, teaching in district schools
during the winter and laboring on the farm
in summer. In 1849 Mr. Kingsley went to
Plymouth and bought a farm, where he
lived eleven years, during which period he
held the offices of first selectman and super-
intendent of schools for three and four
years respectively. In i860 he sold his farm
property and purchased an estate in Chester
in 1 86 1, where he remained for seven years,
until i86S, acting as selectman during two
years of his residence in that place. He
then sold his farm and removed to Athens,
where he has since lived.
In 1870 he was the delegate from .Athens
to the Constitutional Convention, and repre-
sented the town in 1870 and 1884. He has
I.ANDON. 237
discharged the duties of lister and justice
of the peace, and selectman for several years.
Mr. Kingsley was married on the 29th
day of March, 1849, to Angeline E., daugh-
ter of John and Rebecca (Eaton) Sargent.
Of this union there was one child : Eugene
S. His wife died .August 27, 1884.
LADD, Chester M., of Worcester, son
of Mark !'., and Harriet (Hildreth) Ladd,
was born in Worcester, March 16, 1848. In
early life his father was a Methodist preacher,
and later a large and successful farmer, still
continuing occasionally to labor in the
former vocation in Worcester.
The son divided his time during the days
of his boyhood between farm labor and an
attendance of the schools of Worcester, and
upon the death of his father, went to Chicago,
where in connection with his brother he
established a mercantile business and also
dealt in real estate. In 1882, on account of
the failure of his wife's health, he returned
to Worcester and bought the large lumber
mill which he has since conducted with an
ability that has met with well-deserved suc-
cess. His business has steadily increased
and he is now able to turn out one million
feet of lumber annually. At the same time
he is an agriculturist, owning an excellent
meadow farm which he cultivates with in-
dustry and care, thus giving to himself a
pleasant rural home.
Mr. Ladd is a member of the M. E.
Church, and is a Republican in his political
allegiance. He represented Worcester in
the Legislature of 1892, serving on the com-
mittee of highways. He is a member of the
school board, and has held other town
offices.
He was united in marriage Sept. 2, 186S,
to Ella S., daughter of William and Lydia
(Carr) Bruce of Worcester. They have two
children : Mildred E., and Mark P.
LANDON, Mills J., of New Haven, son
of Elisha H. and Charlotta (Hoyt) Landon,
was born in New Haven, Dec. 14, 1845.
He received his education at Beeman
Academy at New Haven, and Black River
Academy at Ludlow. He is and always has
been a practical farmer and dealer in young
stock. He has made a specialty of the dairy
business, breeding Durham cows to quite an
extent, has a well-laid-out and productixe
farm which he carefully cultivates, and is one
of the successful farmers of Vermont.
In political faith he is a Republican and
has held many town offices, including select-
man, lister, and justice of the peace, which
last position he has held for many years past.
He represented his town in the Legislature
of 1886, and ser\ed on the committee on the
grand list. While there he made a most
conservative record, and reflected credit
upon the place of his nativity.
Mr. Landon is a Free Mason and is affili-
ated with Libanos Lodge, No. 47. He has
been a member of the Congregational church
since 1868, and has held for many years the
position of treasurer of the society. He also
served as chairman of the building commit-
tee of the beautiful church recently erected
in New Haven.
He was married on Feb. 25, 1868, to
Harriet L., daughter of Deacon Oliver and
Louisa Dexter, of Windham county, of this
marriage three children survive : Charlotta L.,
Mary Ann F., and Ralph Dexter.
Mr. Landon is a man of energy and un-
questioned integrity. He is yet in the prime
of life and has a career in the future as one
of the leading men of his town and county.
LANDON, O. B., of Johnson, son of
John S. and Lucy (Hinckley) Landon, was
born in South Hero, June 28, 1839.
He attended the common and private
schools of his native town and this, with three
months' instruction at the Commercial Col-
lege of New Haven, Conn., completed his
education.
Mr. Landon labored as a farmer in South
Hero till he was nearly thirty years of age
and then took up his abode in Colchester,
w'here he engaged in the manufacture of lum-
ber and land plaster. Remo\ ing to Milton,
for seventeen years he continued in the same
employment and also conducted an exten-
sive grist mill. In Johnson for some time
he has been doing a business in feed and
western grain, but his chief enterprise has
been the erection of a creamery in connec-
tion with his mill. This he commenced to
operate in 1892, and he has increased the
original capacity of the plant, w-hich was
5,000 pounds of milk daily to nearly five
times that amount. By his careful and sys-
tematic management it is calculated that
thirty per cent more product is realized than
under the old system.
He married, jime 4, 1867, Alice M., daugh-
ter of Horatio and Beulah (Bliss) Chapin
of Williston, who has borne him two chil-
dren ; Persis L., and Wilbur .A.
Mr. Landon enlisted in August, 1862, in
Co. C, 1 2th Regt. Vt. Vols., commanded by
Col. .\. P. Blunt, served out his term and re-
ceived an honorable discharge when the
regiment was mustered out of service. Since
that time he has been a member of Old
Brigade Post, G. A. R., of Johnson. Though
an ardent Republican he has never sought
for nor accepted any political ofifice.
LANE, Edwin, of Lanesboro, son of
Willis and Laura (Cutler) Lane, was born in
Barre, April 2, 1835.
His father moved to Orange when he was
a child, and he received his education in the
common schools of that town and at Barre
Academy. Soon after attaining his majority,
he was engaged for six years in building at
Barre, and later in the wood and lumber
trade at Montpelier. In 1867 he desired to
see something of the world, and visited the
state of Michigan on a tour of inspection,
where he was employed as a millwright and su-
perintendent. Two years afterwards, he
built a steam mill in Marshfield, and soon
formed a partnership with his father, which
continued about twelve years. He then form-
ed a partnership with his uncle, Dennis Lane,
which continued till the death of the latter,
and entered upon a similar enterprise at
Montpelier, running the Pioneer Mills of
that place, and finally located his business
at Lanesboro, where he has built up a large
and successful lumber business. During his
residence at South Marshfield, in two years
his mills were thrice burned, and a man with
less courage and determination would have
surrendered himself to despair ; and again
in 1892 he suffered a loss of §7,000 by the
destruction of his plant at Lanesboro, but
his energy and force of character were now
called into action, and in less than two
months the present large, convenient and
well appointed mill was constructed. He
has always been considerate in his treatment
of his employes, and consequently has never
suffered from the inconvenience of a strike.
Mr. Lane was united in marriage in De-
cember, i860, to .\nn L., daughter of Will-
iam and Ann Perrin, who died two years
after their union. He contracted a second
alliance with Lilian, daughter of Jerry and
Mary U'ebber of Rochester, N. Y., with
whom he lived eleven years. In 1881 he
married Lffie P., daughter of Nathan and
Philena Skinner, who passed from earth
January, 1893. By his first wife he had one
child : Lilian A. Lane. Of the second mar-
riage there were issue : /\rthur E., Glen C.
(Mrs. Charles M. Bennett of Montpelier),
and Fred C. Hallie E., and Efifie were the
children of his last marriage.
Mr. Lane was Republican in his politics,
but with one exception has always refused
the honors of office. He, however, con-
sented to represent the town of Marshfield
in the Legislature of 1892.
He is a Free Mason, affiliated with Granite
Lodge, No. 24, of Barre.
LANE, HENRY Clark, of Westminster,
son of Ithamar and Lucinda (Clark) Lane,
was born in ^Vestminster, Jan. 26, 1824.
He received his education in the common
schools of his native town and Walpole
Academy, Walpole, N. H., from which after
a four years course he graduated at the head
of his class. Mr. Lane's ambition was to
qualify himself for a professional life, but
upon his graduation the duties of a son to an
invalid father so strongly impressed him,
that he voluntarily relinquished his ambitious
hopes and assumed the cares and responsi-
bilities of his father's estate, which he found,
in consequence of his parent's ill-health, to
be seriously burdened with debt. Having
decided as to what was his present duty, he
applied himself to the work and in due time
the obligations were fully discharged. He
had, however, now reached that age which
made it practically impossible for him to
take up and prosecute his studies again
with any hope of realizing his early ambition,
and finding farming a congenial pursuit he
continued to follow this vocation until the
age of thirty, when he gave his attention to
the settlement of estates and devoted him-
self largely to the public affairs of the town.
In 1866, Mr. Lane was elected a select-
man and held that ofifice continuously for
twelve years, during which time the state
erected the William French monument, and
the management was given by (Governor
Converse into his hands, which duties he
discharged with credit to himself, and to the
satisfaction of the state. Republican in his
political creed he was elected in 1874 a
justice of the peace and has continued in
this office to the present date, and it is
doubtful if any other justice in this section
of the state has heard so many cases as he
HENRY CLARK LAKE.
has. Mr. Lane has an unusual faculty for
financial affairs and in 1881 was elected a trus-
tee in the Bellows Falls Saving Institution,
in 1 88 2 was advanced to its presidency, and
has continued to fill that postion to the
present time.
He was married, Sept. 11, 1850, to Mary
P., daughter of Frederick and Elizabeth
T. (Peniman) Nutting. Of this union were
four children : Fred L, Emma E., Caroline
L,, and Nellie V., all of whom are married.
Mrs. Lane died March 19, 1874.
LANE, Henry James, of F:ast Burke,
son of Sylvanus and Martha (Balch) Lane,
was born in Lunenburg, March i, 1855.
He received his preparatory education in
the public and graded schools of Lunenburg,
entered the L'. V. I\L in 1881, and four years
later graduated from the classical depart-
ment. In 1887 he received the degree of
M. D. from the Burlington Medical College,
I.AIHKOP. 239
antl soon after fi.ved his abode at East Burke
where he entered u]ion the practice of his
profession and where he still continues to
reside.
Born and reared upon a farm, during his
educational career he partially gained his
support by employment as a clerk at Burke
in the intervals of study. Dr. Lane has been
appointed to serve on the state l^oard of
health and is s])ecial health officer for Burke
and East Haven, has been made su])erin-
tendent of schools, and in 1892 was elected
as a Republican to the lower branch of the
Legislature, where he was a member of the
joint special committee for public health and
reform, also on special committee on elec-
tions in Caledonia county.
May 20, 1876, he espoused Sarah E. Phil-
lips. By her he has had issue : Jessie E.,
and Charles S.
Dr. Lane is an ardent advocate and
staunch supporter of the cause of tem])erance
and served on several special committees in
the Legislature appointed to consider this
important subject. In his religious creed
he is Congregational, and is a member of
LTnion Lodge, No. 4, I. O. O. F., I.yndon-
ville. He also takes an active interest in the
order of Cood Templars and by all means
in his power labors to advance the cause of
total abstinence and prohibition.
LATHROP, Cyrus U., of Williams-
town, son of Urbane and Eliza (Wiggins)
Lathrop, w-as born in Chelsea, Oct. 31, 1839.
240
LATHROP.
He was the youngest of a family of six
children, and his mother, left a widow when
he was only three years of age, by great
industry and prudence managed to keep the
family together. Cyrus commenced at the
common school, and by strong personal
effort was enabled to continue his studies at
the Chelsea and Newbury Academies. At
. the age of twenty-two he purchased a farm
at Williamstown, and the cultivation of this
estate has been his principal occupation
ever since. He was one of the pioneers in
the formation of the Williamstown Granite
Co., and chairman of the board of railroad
commissioners for the town of Williamstown
in their bonding and contracting for their
railroad, and is at present chairman of the
Williamstown Construction Co. He has
settled many estates and gives an active
support to every wise measure for the ad-
vancement of the interests of the town.
When the Union of the states was threat-
ened with dissolution by the slave aristoc-
racy, Mr. Lathrop determined to battle for
his country's flag, and he enlisted for three
years in Co. C, Sth Regt. Vt. Vols., under
the leadership of General Stephen Thomas.
He followed the standard of his regiment in
every engagement after his enlistment until
the war was ended, and he received an
honorable discharge from his military duties
in June, 1865.
He has ever been a stalwart Republican,
and been thought worthy by his party to
hold many responsible offices in town and
county. For four years he was associate
judge of the Orange county court, and in
1892 was elected to represent Williamstown
in the present Legislature.
Judge Lathrop is a comrade in the G. A.
R. He was a member of Waterson Post,
No. 45, of Chelsea, but later became charter
member and commander of William Wells
Post, No. 113, of Williamstown.
November 24, 1861, Judge Lathrop was
united in marriage to Frances A., daughter
of Denison and Eliza (Luce) Hopkins, of
Williamstown. One son, Frank D., has been
the fruit of this marriage.
LAVIGNE, JOSEPH W., of Winooski,
son of Henri and Francoise (Beausoleil)
Lavigne, was born in the town of St. Da-
masse, district of St. Hyacinth, Province
(Quebec, July 14, 1844.
In 1848, the father with his family came
to Williston, where they continued to live
till 1852. He then moved to Essex, and
remained there two years. From this place
he removed to Indiana and remained two
years, coming back to Essex in 1856, where
they lived till 1864. In Essex, Joseph, as a
boy and young man, attended the common
schools and the classical institute, and re-
ceived his education which he subsequently
improved by reading and studying at home.
From the age of sixteen till he reached
twenty-four, he assisted his father in the
241
manufacture and sale of brick. In iiS72 he
entered the employ of the |. & J. Rogers
Iron C'o. of Ausable Forks, N. V., in the
brick manufacturing business, where he
continued about thirteen seasons. He then
entered the wholesale grocery house of
George W. Kelley of Burlington. .At the end
of a year he established himself in a retail
grocery store in Winooski, where he has
carried on the business ever since, and in
which he built up an extensive and lucrative
trade. In this business, as well as in his
previous career, he has earned the reputa-
tion of being an honest and upright man.
These qualities, together with good business
qualifications and sound judgment induced
his fellow-townsmen to elect him to various
town and village offices, among which may
be mentioned that of member of the board
of school commissioners, which he held for a
period of eight years, selectman, grand juror,
trustee of the village, and town representa-
tive, which he was elected in 1892. In
politics he is a Democrat, and has been a
hard worker and influential member in the
local councils of the party.
In 1865 he was united in marriage to
Adeline Desautels, daughter of Francis and
Julia (Le Claire) Desautels of St. Jean
Baptiste, P. Q., on the 2 1 st day of April. By
her he had three children : Helen (Mrs.
Capt. M. H. Daniels of Vergennes), J.
Henry, and Arthur. His wife died Oct. 9,
1870. Subsequently he married Mary A.
Chagnon, daughter of John and Celeste
(I'rudeau) Chagnon, by whom he had four
children : Lillie A., Luke L., Lizzie C, and
George W.
Mr. Lavigne is a member of the Roman
Catholic church, and also of St. Jean Bap-
tiste Benevolent Society.
LAWTON, ShaILER Emery, of FJrattle-
boro, son of Benjamin and jane E. (Nettle-
ton) Lawton, was born in Goshen, Conn.,
Oct. 3, 1S53.
He attended the public schools of his na-
tive town until 1863, when he removed with
his parents to Great Barrington, Mass.,
where he took a course at the Sedgwick
Institute, in the meantime assisting his
father, who was a merchant. Mr. Lawton
went to Bridgeport, Conn., in 1873, and
engaged in mercantile pursuits, continuing
for a year, when his desire for the study of
medicine prevailed, and he returned to
Great Barrington and was enrolled as a stu-
dent under the watchful eye of that distin-
guished physician, Clarkson T. Collins. He
continued his studies here for a year, and
then pursued a two years' course at the Col-
lege of Physicians and Surgeons of New
York City, but owing to a lack of funds he
was not able to remain. Learning from a
friend of the medical department of the
L'niversity of \'ermont, of the exceptional
opportunities offered there, he began anew,
and availing himself of all the advantages of-
fered by that institution, he was graduated
M. I), in 1881. During the vacation time of
his school years he was employed as attend-
ant at the Hartford (Conn.) Retreat, where
he was afforded special opportunities for the
close study of mental diseases.
In 18S1, after graduating. Doctor Lawton
came to the Vermont Asylum for the Insane
at Brattleboro, to fill the place of assistant
physician during the temporary absence in
Europe of Doctor Draper. In the fall of
1 88 1, at the resignation of Doctor Phelps, he
was appointed second assistant physician,
and during thewinterof 1 881 -'82 he received
the appointment of first assistant physician,
to succeed Dr. J. \\'. Clark, holding that po-
sition until the fall of 1889, when he resigned
to fulfil a long-cherished design of spending
a year in a special course of study in neuro-
logical and psychological medicine. His
resignation was not, however, accepted, and
he was voted a year's leave of absence by
the board of trustees. He spent six months
of his year's leave at the Post-Graduate
Medical School in New ^'ork, and the bal-
ance of the time in travel abroad, visiting
and studying at the principal institutions of
the old world.
Doctor Lawton returned to ISrattleboro in
November, 1891, and again took up the du-
242
ties of first assistant physician, which position
he held until March 19, 1892, when, at the
death of Doctor Draper, he received the
appointment of acting superintendent, and
was elected superintendent, April 20, 1892.
He was united in marriage, June i, 1893,
to Mary Lillian, daughter of Cajjt. James M.
and Croline (Stamds) Upton, of Roxbury,
Mass.
LEACH, Chester K., of Fletcher, son
of loseph and 01i\e (Burton) Leach, was
born in F'airfield, Jan. 17, 1830.
He was one of a family of sexen children
and his early history is that of hundreds of
young men in his native state, born and lired
upon the farm and in the intervals receiving
a meagre education in the district schools.
From 1856 to the time of the civil war he
was employed in the \ocation to which he
had been brought up, but sharing in the
general outburst of patriotism that followed
the fall of Fort Sumter, he enlisted in the 2d
Regt. of the old Vt. Brigade and was mus-
tered into the L'nited States service June 20,
1861. He was immediately made 2d Lieut,
of Co. H., and participated with his regi-
ment in the first battle of Bull Run. After
this defeat he was present at every important
battle and engagement in which that veteran
regiment took part, and received his dis-
charge as ist Lieut, after three years of gal-
lant and arduous service.
Captain Leach was married, Oct. 8, 185 1,
to .\nn A., daughter of .Samuel and Hannah
(Thomas) Montague, and four children haxe
been the issue of the union : Justin S., Zelia
J. (Mrs. D. C. Robinson), Byron L. and
Myron C, the two last being twin brothers.
After his discharge from military duty
Captain Ixach, like Cincinnatus, returned to
the plough, and, after cultivating different
farms, finally settled on the old homestead,
where he still remains. He is a successful
dairyman and also produces a large crop of
sugar from his orchard of more than two
thousand maple trees.
Captain Leach has received the blue lodge
degrees of F"ree Masonry and unites with
the Mt. Vernon Lodge of Morrisville. He
has also a membership in J. M. \\'arner
Post, No. 4, (;. A. R.
He was elected as the Republican candi-
date to the state Senate in 1878 and was a
member of the committee on military affairs
and agriculture. Fiesides this position he
has also held manv offices of minor impor-
tance in the town where he resides.
LEACH, Moses J., of Wolcott, son of
F3rvin and Mary .Ann (Scott) Leach, was
born in Craftsbury, Dec. 22, 1837. He can
trace his lineage back to the old Puritan
stock that made the glory of New England,
to within ten years of the time when the
little band of pilgrims first landed on
Plymouth Rock.
When he was nine years old his father
moved to Wolcott where the son received
LEAVKNWDRTH.
LKAVENWdRTH.
243
whale\er educational advantages the com-
mon schools afforded and afterwards at-
tended the I'eople's Academy of Morrisville.
He remained in the employment of his
father one year after his majority to repay
him the amount spent in his academic train-
ing. Soon after young l.each went to Massa-
chusetts where he was employed in a saw
mill until the early winter of that historic
year, 1861. In August, 1862, he enlisted in
Co. E, 13th Regt. Vt. Vols., and participated
with that organization in the famous flank
movement of (General Stannard's brigade
which repulsed (General Pickett's great
charge at Gettysburg. He wore a corporal's
stripes and was not absent from his com-
pany a single day.
Upon his return to civil life he " beat his
sword into a pruning hook " and established
himself upon a farm which he cultivated
till 1S69, then sold the property and re-
moved to the centre of the village where he
built the first drug store ever erected in the
town and has carried on this business since
that time.
Mr. Leach was united, March 16, 1864, to
Ellen B., daughter of Moody and Milliscent
(Moulton) Parker of Wolcott.
Naturally he is a comrade of Gen. George
P. Foster Post, G. A. R., and has filled
several important offices in the department
-and national encampment of the order.
He has received the three first degrees of
Ancient Craft Masonry in Mineral Lodge,
No. 93, of Wolcott.
Mr. Leach cast his first presidential vote
for Abraham Lincoln and has continued a
Republican ever since. He has done
thorough and successful work in many town
offices, having served as town clerk con-
tinuously since March, 1872, and was ap-
pointed postmaster in December, 1890.
Several times he has been selected as a
delegate to county and state conventions,
and under no circumstances has he betrayed
a trust reposed in him.
LEAVENWORTH, ABEL EDGAR, of
Castleton, son of Abel and Anna (Hickok)
Leavenworth, was born in Charlotte, Sept. 3,
1828.
Having obtained his preparatory educa-
tion at the district schools of Madrid, N. V.,
and Charlotte, he continued his studies at
Hinesburgh Academy, and afterwards en-
tered the University of Vermont, from which
he graduated in 1856, on his return from
the South.
He commenced his career as a teacher in
1846, taught district schools five winters and
became successively the principal of Bolivar
(Mo.) Academy, and the academies of
Hinesburgh, Brattleboro and New Haven. In
1870 he secured the incorporation and en-
dowment of Beeman Academy at New
Haven, the position of princi])al of which,
after a most successful administration, he
resigned in 1874 to become principal of the
State Normal School at Randolph, leaving
the former institution with an endowment
fund of twelve thousand dollars. Leaving
the Normal School at Randolph in 1879,
after having greatly increased its facilities
and the number of the pupils, he spent two
years in institute work and the collection of
a large and choice cabinet of minerals,
while recruiting his impaired health. In
1 88 1 he purchased the school building and
equipment of the Rutland county grammar
school, and was appomted principal of the
State Normal School at Castleton under its
patronage. Since that date Mr. Leaven-
ABEL EDGAR LEAVEN
worth has devoted his energies to the inter-
ests of the school, and has always given
special attention to the training of teachers,
having signed six hundred and thirty-nine
certificates while principal of the various
institutions under his charge.
Mr. Leavenworth is a veteran of the civil
war, and soon after his enlistment as a pri-
vate in Co. K, 9th Regt. Vt. Vols., was pro-
moted through the ranks of sergeant and
I St lieutenant to that of captain. He was
made assistant inspector general of Wistar's
brigade of the Lfnited States forces on Vork
Peninsula, of the 2nd division of the 18th
army corps, and of the provisional brigade
at Bermuda Hundreds. He also served as
244
LE BARRON.
assistant adjutant general of the last named
command, later of the 2d brigade, j;d divis-
ion, 24th army corps, and led the skirmish
line into the city of Richmond, April 3,
1865. He was appointed assistant provost
marshal of that city and subsequently assist-
ant adjutant general of the district of Appo-
mattox. He was mustered out of the service
at Richmond, June 13, 1865, having received
highly commendatory letters from the gen-
erals on whose staff he had served.
Mr. Leavenworth was married at Corning,
N. Y., Sept. 14, 1853, to Mary Evelina,
daughter of Samuel and Sally (Hubbard)
Griggs of Cazenovia, N. Y. To them were
born : Anna Maria (deceased), Francis Abel
(deceased), Samuel Edgar, Clarence (Jreen-
man, William Stowell, Emily Reynolds (de-
ceased), and Philip Reynolds. Mrs. Leav-
enworth died July 30, 1877, and he con-
tracted a second alliance at Linden, Md.,
August 12, 1889, with Lucy Elizabeth,
daughter of Marcus N. and Julia ^L (Burt)
^^'adsworth of Oswego, N. Y.
At the age of twelve he united, with the
Congregational church, with which he has
continued his connection, serving the local
congregation as deacon and delegate to
county associations and state conventions.
Never sectarian in belief or practice, he has
ever maintained most friendly relations with
all branches of the Christian church.
He was one of the founders of the Delta
Psi fraternity in the U. V. M., and in early
life was an active Mason, Odd Fellow, Son
of Temperance, and Good Templar, having
been presiding officer in each, as also in
various county and state teachers' organiza-
tions, and later in the Grand Army, from
which body he was a delegate-at-large for
Vermont at the twenty-fifth national encamp-
ment at Detroit, in August, 1891. He has
also been a member of the .American Acad-
emy of Political and Social Science from the
first year of its organization.
Le baron, Isaac Newton, of Morris-
ville, son of Apollos and Rhoda (Sanger) Le
Baron, was born in Calais, April 30, 1839.
He received his early education at the dis-
trict school, and afterwards w-as a pupil of the
academies of Barre and Morrisville. Com-
mencing his life as a farmer, he met with
great success in his chosen vocation. In
1866 he began the mantifacture of brick,
which he continued for four years, but unfor-
tunately the financial result was not propor-
tionate to the skill and industry displayed by
Mr. Le liaron in the business. The lack of
fortune was followed by a large decrease in
the value of real estate in his vicinity, and
after an ineffectual struggle, he was obliged
to abandon the old homestead upon which
he had so long and earnestly labored, but
though suffering pecuniary loss, he could now
solace himself with the comforting reflection,
that his honor and respectable standing in
the community still remained.
Casting his first vote for .Abraham Lincoln
Mr. Le Baron has ever since remained a
strong adherent of the principles which that
vote professed. Repeatedly he has been
called upon by his townsmen to fill the differ-
ent positions of trust and importance in their
gift. As lister, selectman, justice of the peace
and superintendent of schools, he has always
merited their confidence and in 1888 he rep-
resented their interests in the state Legisla-
ture where he made a manly and satisfactory
record.
Mr. Le Baron is an active and conscien-
tious member of the L'niversalist church to
whose interests he has devoted much active
effort, for seven years serving as the sup-
erintendent of their Sabbath school. In
years past he has been the faithful secretary
of the old Lamoille County Fair.
He was united in wedlock to Maria L.,
daughter of Malachi and Patience Barrows of
Morristown. From this marriage there are
seven children : Dana F., Eva L, Ada C.
(deceased), Daisy M., Washington Irving,
and Isaac Newton, Jr.
LELAND, George Farnham, of
Springfield, son of Charles A. and Susan
(Farnham) Leland, was born in Baltimore,
Jan. 25, 1858.
His education was obtained at the public
schools of Springfield, and at seventeen
years of age he entered the employment of
his father, Charles A. Leland, of North
Springfield, as clerk, remaining with him
two years. After that, his father having sold
his business to Hon. F. G. Field, he con-
tinued four years as clerk for him. In April,
1882, in company with his father, he formed
a business partnership under the title of C.
A. Leland & Son, and purchased the stock
and good-will of Cobb & Derby of Spring-
field, to deal in general merchandise, and
they have conducted their business on the
principle of a farmers' exchange, which
method has given wide and general satisfac-
tion in the community where they reside.
This has enabled them to greatly increase
their stock, and they now do the largest
general country trade of any establishment
in their vicinity.
Mr. Leland has filled many town offices,
and as a Republican candidate was sent to
represent S]iringfield in the Legislature of
1892, .served on the grand list committee
and was chairman of tfiat on rules.
He is an enthusiastic Mason, and is past
master of St. John's Lodge, No. 41, and in
Royal .Arch Masonry has held the highest
office in Skitchewaugh Chapter, No. 25, of
Springfield and Ludlow. He is also a
member of Vermont Commandery, No. 4, of
Windsor.
November 8, 1881, Mr. Leland married
Nellie A., daughter of Edson X. and Mary
(Barrett) Pierce. Their union has been
blessed with two children : .Arthur !>"., born
August 28, 1886, and .A[ary .\., born June
2, 1890.
LEWIS, Frank W., son of .Mbert R.
and Emily (Holt) J>ewis, was born in Mid-
dlesex, Oct. 21, 1852. He is a grandson of
the late Dr. Joseph Lewis, Jr., whose father,
a surgeon in the Re\olutionary army, was by
the_side of (leneral Montgomery when the
latter fell in the unsuccessful attempt to storm
(Quebec.
The school privileges enjoyed by Mr.
Lewis were rather limited and somewhat
irregular, but this lack was compensated in
a measure by the fact that he was, from
childhood, an omnivorous reader and a dili-
gent student, and that for some years he had
access to extensive libraries. He was usually
graded with [nipils much older than himself,
managing even then to lead his classes, and
at fourteen had mastered such elements of
an education as were afforded by district
schools of the better grade, besides giving
some attention to the study of languages.
.At fifteen he entered an advanced class in
the high school at Canton, Mass., after leav-
ing which he continued his studies, mainlv
LEWIS. 2^5
without assistance. Later he pursued the
course in "English Literature and Science"
l^rescribed for the candidates for the minis-
try of the Methodist Ejiiscopal church, and
the four years' course in "Biblical, Ecclesi-
astical and Literary" studies required after
admission on trial, passing his examinations
with credit.
Being dependent for supi)ort and educa-
tion chiefly on his own efforts, little of Mr.
Lewis' boyhood and youth was exempt from
hard work, even when attending school. He
was variously emjjloyed, gaining some in-
sight into ijursuits of several kinds, mercan-
tile and mechanical, as well as those of the
farm, and in city as well as country, having
spent some years in Boston. He has taught
several terms of district school, and for a
year had charge of the Weston high school.
In the fall of 1877 he united with the
Methodist Episcopal church, entered actively
into its work, and was at once singled out
as having qualifications for, and an im-
doubted call to, the ministry. Yielding to
the conviction that duty lay in this direction,
and urged forward by what seemed pro\iden-
tial indications, he passed the required ex-
aminations the following spring, was licensed
to preach, and appointed by Bishop Gilbert
Haven to supply the pulpit at Topsham. A
year later he was admitted to the Vermont
conference, ordained deacon in i8Sr, and
elder in 1883. He was appointed to Barton,
his present charge, in 1890, where he is
serving his fourth year.
Mr. Lewis has never taken any acti\e part
in politics, but has served as superintendent
of schools and in some other minor offices.
He has been statistical secretary of Vermont
conference since 1883, and for several years
on the conference board of examination.
He wedded, March 26, 1879, Miss Ella P.,
daughter of David H. and Fidelia (Thresher)
Whitney of Granville. Their marriage has
been blessed with three children : Bessie
Ethel, Lula Miriam, and Annie Louise.
Mr. Lewis is considered one of the most
efficient, intellectual, and well educated
young divines on the St. Johnsbury district.
Whatever recognition his merits have re-
ceived, in promotion or otherwise, has been
bestowed unsolicited. No man in the con-
ference has surrendered the designation of
his work more entirely into the hands of
the constituted authorities of his church.
LEWIS, L. HalSEV, of Hyde Park, son
of David and Julia (Smith) Lewis, was born in
the town of Blooming Grove, X. V., Dec. 2,
185.3-
He received his education in the schools
of New York City and Michigan, and when
his education was completed, learned the
printer's trade at Middletown, X. Y.
246
August 1 8, 1878, he settled in Hyde Park
and purchased the Lamoille News. Three
years after he united that paper with the
Vermont Citizen. Since that time he has
conducted the combination of the two
papers under the title of the " News and
Citizen " with offices at Morrisville and
Hyde Park. The News and Citizen is un-
swerving in its advocacy of Republican
principles, and under Mr. Lewis' manage-
ment its influence is strongly felt throughout
the state. Notwithstanding the active part
he takes in politics, Mr. Lewis has never
found time to hold political office, as his
newspaper business monopolizes all his time
and personal attention.
Notwithstanding his devotion to journal-
ism, he has however found time to devote
to the two great secret societies of Odd
Fellows and Free Masons. He is a mem-
ber of Mt. Vernon Lodge, F. & A. M.,
Tucker Chapter R. A. M., Burlington Coun-
cil, and Burlington Commandery. He also
belongs to Sterling Lodge, No. 34, I. ( ). O. F.
Mr. Lewis was married, Nov. 4, iSSo, to
Alice D., daughter of Russel S. and ^L ^L
Page.
LEWIS, Rodney M., of Wells, son of
Benjamin and Cherlina (Culver) Lewis, was
born in Wells, June 30, 1839.
He obtained his education by a course
in the common and select schools, supple-
mented by more advanced studies in North
Hebron Academy, N. Y.
Mr. Lewis has devoted his whole business
life to the manufacture of woolen goods,
chiefly cashmeres and knit underwear, being
until 1875 a partner with his father under
the firm title of B. Lewis and Son. At that
time he took charge of the business and has
managed it individually ever since. He is
also the proprietor of the Lewisville cheese
factory and of a large farm, the cultivation of
which he carefully oversees.
He married, at Castleton, Dec. 31, 1859,
Maria A., daughter of John and Agnes Fos-
ter, and by her has had two children : Helena
(Mrs. George D. Carter), and Genevie\e.
Mr. Lewis is an adherent of the Repub-
lican party and has been called ui)on to dis-
charge various public trusts appertaining to
town and county for periods varying from
one to si.xteen years. While considering the
list of offices whose duties he has discharged,
it is difficult to see how he has had oppor-
tunity to manage his pri\ate affairs, .\mong
other positions may be mentioned that of
state representative for four years from 1870
to 1874.
He has also found opportunity in his busy
life to give some attention to the ancient
craft of Masonry, being a member of Morn-
ing Star Lodge and Royal Arch Chapter of
Poultney, in one of which he has held the
position of scribe and in the other of junior
warden.
LINCOLN, Benjamin Franklin, of
Lyndon, son of Benjamin and Sophia
(Makepeace) Lincoln, was born in Ware-
ham, Mass., Sept. 4, 1831.
He was educated in the common schools
of his native town, and at twelve years of age-
went to New Bedford, Mass., where he lived
for six years and then moved to Wilmington,
Del., and there learned the tinner's trade.
.At twenty years of age he visited California,
spending one year in mining, and thence re-
moved to Oregon where he engaged in the
hardware business, remaining four years,,
when he returned to New Bedford, Mass.
BENJAMIN FRAN
In 1S62 he came to Vermont and engaged
in the hardware business at Lyndon. In
-April, 1866, he commenced the lumber busi-
ness in which he has been employed for
twenty-five years, operating in Michigan and
\'ermont jointly.
.-Vs a Republican, he represented his town
in the General Assembly in 1876, 1878, and
1888, and was elected to the state Senate in
1890 and 1892.
Mr. Lincoln is a member of Crescent
Lodge, No. 66, F. & A. M., is now presi-
dent of the Lyndon National Bank, also
president of the Caledonia Publishing Co.,
of St. Johnsbury.
He was married at .\cushnet, Mass., Nov.
28, i860, to .'Annie A., daughter of John .A>
LIVINGSTON.
and Sophronia (Skinner) l.oniljard. hive
children are the issue of this union ; Alice S.
(Mrs. Homer C. Wilson), Mary S., lienja-
min, John E., and Charlotte C.
LIVINGSTON, Fred B.,of Morrisvillr,
son of William R. and Anna S. (Allard)
Livingston, was born in Schuylerville, .\. \ .,
.Aucrust II, 18^2.
FRED B. LIVINGSTON.
His educational advantages were derived
from the public schools, and a course of
study at the Cambridge Washington .-Xcadmy.
.\t the age of seventeen, while acting as
station agent at Cambridge, N. Y., he mas-
tered the art of telegraphy, and followed
this as his occupation for some years in Rut-
land and Burlington, but in the latter city
failing health compelled him to resign his
])osition. .After a short rest to regain his
health, he came to Morrisville and settled on
a farm, where he has been engaged ever
since in extensive agricultural operations,
making a specialty of dairy products and
maple sugar and syrup. With a sugar
orchard of three thousand trees, an un-
developed resource of nearly an equal
amount, and using all modern improvements
in the manufacture, he has built up an ex-
tensive trade, sending the ])roduct to all
parts of the world. In 1880 he received the
sweepstakes prize on butter at the New
Orleans exposition, accompanied by a medal
and a pecuniary testimonial of seventy-five
dollars.
l.OCKWOOI). 247
Mr. l.ixingslon was married to Stella L.,
daughter of Alnon I), and Susan (Bingham)
Thomas of Morrisville, Jan. i, 1875. Three
children have been born to them : Florence
I!., (lertrude A., and Stella (deceased).
He is a member both of the Odd Fellows
and Masonic societies, belonging to the
Sterling Lodge, No. 44, 1. O. O. F., and
holding the office of treasurer of Mt. \'ernon
Lodge, No. 8, F. & A. M.
As a Republican he was elected repre-
sentative from Morristown to the state Leg-
islature in 1890 where he served on the
committee on rules, and that of ways and
means, and in the extra session of 1891 he
was made chairman of the World's Fair
committee. He introduced the agricultural
college bill, and labored earnestly for its
])assage. .AH his service in the Legislature
was ably performed and duly appreciated by
those whose vote secured him the position of
representative.
LOCKWOOD, ALBERT H., of Ludlow,
son of William and Sallie (Oriswold) Lock-
wood, was born in Springfield, Oct. 18, 1840.
!% t^
He is the youngest and only survi\ing
member of a family of four children. When
less than a year old, by the death of both of
his parents he was left an or])han, and was
entrusted to the care of Mr. and Mrs. Bucklin
Burnham of Springfield, with whom he re-
mained till he was seventeen years old, and
whose kindly care he repaid by support
during their declining years. While under
248
the roof of Mr. Burnham, he received such
education as the common schools could
afford.
In 1858, he came to Ludlow, a poor boy
without influence but with a firm resolve to
push his way and win a support by his own
unaided effort and after twelve years spent in
the subordinate position of a clerk he formed
a partnership with Charles Raymond to deal
in clothing, boots and shoes. In 1S76, he
moved to the West but the experience of one
season expedited his return and he made his
residence in Ludlow, where he was for five
years associated in business with Edward E.
Parker, but is engaged at present by himself
as a dealer in boots and shoes in that town.
He married, June 10, 1863, Mary A., daugh-
ter of Albert and Dolly Adams, of Evansville,
Wis. They have two children : Alice M., and
Edward A.
For eighteen years Mr. Lockwood has been
an active member of the Congregational
church and a liberal contributor to the same.
He has also chosen to ally himself to the
charitable organization of Freemasonry, re-
ceiving the first three degrees in Lafayette
Lodge \o. 53 and afterwards passing through
the higher grades of Royal Arch Masonry and
Knight Templar. He is treasurer of his
chapter and is a Sir Knight of Killington
Commandery No. 6, of Rutland.
.^s a Republican, he received the appoint-
ment of postmaster in 1884 and continued in
office four years. He is now, and has been
for ten years, treasurer of both town and cor-
poration. In 1 888 he represented his town
in the Legislature and served on the com-
mittee on claims. Notwithstanding the early
disadvantages against which he was obliged
to struggle, Mr. Lockwood, by his own un-
aided and persistent effort has amassed a
handsome comijetency.
LYFORD, Horace W., of Warren, son
of Hazen and Electa (\Vhite) Lyford, was
born in that part of the old town of Mont-
pelier which is now East Montpelier, Feb.
16, 1835.
After he had passed through the usual
educational course at the schools of East
Montpelier and also in Montpelier village,
he learned the sash and blind trade from his
uncle, and while thus occupied manifested a
natural aptitude for mechanical pursuits. At
the age of nineteen he formed a partnership
with his father, under the title of Hazen
Lyford & Son, to manufacture sash and
blinds. Horace was from the first the busi-
ness manager, and soon became sole proprie-
tor of the concern. In 1861 he exchanged
this property for a hotel in \Varren, which
he has since conducted in a manner satis-
factory to the public. In 1865 he engaged
in the tin and hardware trade, and followed
this by the manufacture of pail-bail handles
and clothes-pins. During the last ten years
he has devoted his attention to the manu-
facture of butter-tubs, and has invented sev-
eral appliances that not only turn out a
superior article, but result in an immense
saving of labor.
Mr. Lyford is an earnest Republican and
has held many public positions of trust and
influence. He was first selectman in Warren
in the years of the war, and was many years
deputy sheriff. He was from 1872 to 1876
sheriff of \\'ashington county. He has been
justice of the peace continuously for twenty-
nine years. In 1888 he was elected assistant
judge of \\'ashington county court, and was
re-elected in 1890.
Judge Lyford was united in marriage,
Sept. 9, 1858, to Sarah R., daughter of John
and Sarah (Chamberlain) Vincent, of F^ast
Montpelier.
He has been long and prominently identi-
fied with the Masonic fraternity, being a
member of Aurora Lodge, No. 22, of Mont-
pelier, King Solomon Chapter, No. 7, of the
same place, Montpelier Council, No. 14, a
Knight Templar of Mt. Zion Commandery,
No. 9, of the Washburn Lodge of Perfection,
No. 14, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite,
and a Noble of the Mystic Shrine.
LYMAN, Charles A., of Royalton, son
of Jabez and .Abigail (Woodbury) Lyman,
249
was born in Royalton, Oct. 21, iS^ijand
has always been a resident of that town.
He received the customary common
school education in Royalton. He has
chiefly followed the vocation of a farmer but
has also practiced the trade of a carpenter
and given much attention to the manufact-
ure of lumber. He has been entrusted with
many responsible positions, among which
may be mentioned those of selectman, over-
seer, lister, auditor, and trustee of the sur-
plus revenue fund. He has always dis-
charged these duties with honor to himself
and profit to his fellow-citizens. In 1892
he was elected by a strong Republican
majority to represent the town of Royalton in
CHARLES A. LVK
the General .Assembly, where his energetic
action in behalf of his constitutents merited
the approbation of those who had entrusted
him with that position.
Mr. Lyman was united in wedlock, March
8, 1S54, to Hannah W., daughter of Horatio
and Sarah ( W'alcott ) Freeman. Four chil-
dren were born to them, of whom only one
(Mrs. Nellie M. Doyle), is now surviving.
He contracted a second alliance, July 5,
1866, with Laura J., daughter of William and
Elizabeth (Walcott) Fay. Four children
were issue of this second marriage, three of
whom are now living : Albert F., Ida C, and
Elizabeth W.
LYNDE, George W., of Williamstown,
son of John and Dolly (Smith) Lynde, was
born in Williamstown Feb. 3, 1849.
He was educated at the common schools
and at Randolph and Barre academies.
When twenty years of age he commenced
extensive operations in the lumber business
in Groton and these he carried on in part-
nership with his father-in-law for fifteen
years. He then remo\ed his plant to Mill
X'illage and has since employed it in running
the grist and saw mill, and i)olishing works.
Mr. Lynde was united in marriage, March
16, 187 1, to Frances, daughter of Richard
L. and Phebe (Moore) Martin, by whom he
has had two children : Fred G. (deceased),
and John Richard.
In 1886 he removed to the farm formerly
belonging to his father-in-law and has con-
tinued there the latter ]5ortion of his life.
He may be styled the typical X'ermont farmer,
so large is the scale on which he conducts
his operations and so great the success he
meets with in all his enterprises. He is also
the possessor of a fine maple grove and one
of the four owners of the Williamstown gran-
ite quarry.
Mr. Lynde is a Republican in his ijolitical
sympathies; and in religious belief a L^niver-
salist. After having filled the usual town
offices he was sent to the Legislature in 1888,
where he served on the genera! committee.
He is active, public-spirited, and influential
in every social and business enterprise, and
a highly esteemed member of the commun-
ity in which he resides.
LYNDE, John, of Williamstown, son of
Cornelius and Rebecca (Davis) Lynde, was
born in \Villiamstown, August 6, 1810. Cor-
nelius Lynde left Harvard College at his
country's call, enlisted in the Continental
army and served through the Revolutionary
war, attaining the rank of major. In 1 786
he moved from ^^"illiamstown, Mass., to the
town of the same name in Vermont, and
was one of the original proprietors. He laid
out and allotted the land to his associates,
was justice of the peace and first town clerk.
He constructed the first saw mill in the
town, was representative from 1791 to 1795,
member of the state council, first postmas-
ter, and associate judge for two years. In
the first year of the century at a meeting in
his house, a Universalist society was organ-
ized, believed to be the earliest in the state.
The mother of John Lynde was the oldest
daughter of Col. Jacob Davis, the pioneer of
Montpelier.
The subject of the present sketch was
educated at the common schools of Will-
iamstown, and at the early age of sixteen
began to teach, working in the summer on
his father's farm.
He married at the age of twenty-two,
uniting himself in the bond of wedlock to
Dollv Smith. She bore him twelve children,
250
nine of whom still survive : Ellen ( Mrs. W.
B.Bass), John, Martha (Mrs. Jerry Kenis-
ton), Rebekah (Mrs. Nat Simons), George
W., James K., Laura (Mrs. Harvey L.
Cheney), and Emma (Mrs. Dr. William B.
Mayo of Northfield, Vt.), and Dr. Cornelius
V. Two of his sons, John and Charles (the
latter deceased), served in the civil war.
His first wife died in July, iS8i, and he was
again married in 1S82 to Laura E., daughter
of Norman Davis.
Mr. Lynde was a farmer till 1865, and
after that was engaged in trade until 1887,
when he sold out his interest to his son,
James K., and again returned to farming. He
has been very prominent in all social and
public affairs, has settled many estates, and
was a general counsellor in business and
legal matters. For more than ten years he
was one of the directors of the Northfield,
and later of the Rarre bank.
Formerly a whig, but now a Republican,
he has been for forty-four consecutive years
justice of the peace, has held every town
office, and was twice town representative
before the war and three times afterwards,
and was chosen senator in 1876. He was
assistant judge of Orange county court for
two terms.
Judge Lynde has ever been a liberal donor
to all benevolent and religious enterprises, a
public-spirited citizen, and has given to all
his children every educational advantage
that was in his power to bestow.
LYON, JOHN Stanley, of Fair Haven,.
son of Seth S. and Jane (Barnard) Lyon,
was born in Winhall, Jan. 28, 1861.
He received his early education at Black
River Academy, Colgate University, Hamil-
ton, N. v., and the University of the City of
New York. In college he develo])ed marked
taste in the fields of mental philosophy, polit-
ical science, literature and oratory, and was
especially interested in Creek and Latin
literature. He was class poet in both acad-
emy and college, and also editor of the
college magazine. In his early youth he
taught the district school. In 1885 he was
called to the position of instructor in Greek
and Latin in Friends' Seminary, Stuyvesant
Square, New York City, which position he
held for five years ; and, though not a
Quaker, was appointed vice-principal of the
institution at the end of the third year.
While thus employed he was actively engaged
in church work, and feeling called to the
gospel ministry, he resigned the chair of
classics, and was ordained in the Fair Haven
Baptist Church, Feb. 26, 1891.
Mr. Lyon married Ella G., daughter of
John E. and Almina White, of Mount Holly,
Dec. 29, 1886. He has two children : Clif-
ford S., and Raymond F.
Of rare natural ability and attainments,
and withal an earnest and impressive speaker.
Rev. Mr. Lyon has placed the church at Fair
Ha\en among the leading Baptist congrega-
tions of the state. Enthusiastic in his work
MtFAKI.ANl)
and watchful for opportunities teach am c tlie
interests of his people, he has won many-
friends in his chosen field of labor, a fact
which fully attests his Christian, manly char-
acter. He is deeply and actively interested
in all public matters but es])ecially in those
that advance the welfare of his beloved (Ireen
Mountain state.
LUND, Henry W., of Canaan, son of
Hezekiah and Mary (Shores) Lund, was
born in Granby, Oct. ii, 1S54.
He commenced his education at district
school No. 2, of Granby, from which more
teachers and professional men have come,
than any other district of its size in that
section of the state. He continued his
studies at St. Johnsbury .\cademy and then
commenced reading law with Hon. H. C.
Bates of St. Johnsbury, completing his pro-
fessional training with George W. Harts-
horn, Esq., at Canaan. He was admitted
to the bar of Elssex county at the March
term of 18S4, and immediately opened an
office in Canaan in which locality he has
remained and by assiduity and energy has
secured a large connection and profitable
practice.
Mr. Lund is a self-made man and by
teaching paid all the necessary expense in-
curred in obtaining his education and while
pursuing his legal studies. When only
twenty-one he was elected superintendent of
schools in Granby and he has held a similar
appointment in the town of Canaan. In
1892 he was made state's attorney and still
fills that office. Lie is a young man of keen
observation, ready wit and resolute will, and
will undoubtedly, if he so elects, become
prominent in town and county affairs.
He was married in 1881 to Carrie V.,
daughter of Sylvester P. and Carrie (Col-
burn) Jones of Canaan and formerly of
Farmington, Me.
MCFARLAND, HENRY Moses, of Hyde
Park, son of Moses and Livonia ( Leach )
McFarland, was born in Waterville, August
5, 1852-
Mr. McFarland's great-grandfather served
in the war of the Revolution, coming out of
the service with the rank of major. His
father also served his country in the civil war
as captain of Co. A, 8th Regt. Vt. Vols., and
was a brave and resolute officer, having at
various times received honorable mention
for meritorious conduct on the field of battle.
He received his preliminary educational
training in the schools of Water\ ille and the
People's Academy, working his way through
the University of Vermont, where he grad-
uated as valedictorian in the class of 1878.
.■\fter his collegiate course he came to
Hyde Park, for three years teaching in the
academy, and at the same time reading law
with Messrs. Brigham & Waterman. In 1881
he was admitted to the bar and commenced
to practice, being elected three years after-
ward state's attornev for Lamoille countv.
In connection with his law practice, hehas
built up an extensive insurance business, his
agency being by far the largest in this sec-
tion of the state. Mr. McFarland served his
town for several years as superintendent of
public schools. He was secretary of civil
and militarv affairs under Governor Page ill
1890. He was the first \ice president of the
Lamoille County Savings Bank and 'i'rust
Co., and in 1892 was elected to a similar
position in the Lamoille County National
Bank of Hyde Park.
He has joined both the orders of Free
Masons and Odd Fellows ; was a charter
member and the first N. G. of the local or-
ganization of the latter institution in Hyde
Park, and has received not only the degrees
of .Ancient Craft Masonry, but those con-
ferred by Tucker Chapter, as well as being a
Knight 'Lemplar of Burlington Commandery.
Mr. McFarland was united, Dec. 22, 1881,
to Julia, daughter of Hon. Waldo and Ellen
(Noyes) Brigham of Hyde Park. Three
children are the issue of their marriage.
MACKIE, George CaRDNO, of Barre,
son of John and Ann (Clark) Mackie, was
born in Fraserburg, Aberdeenshire, Scotland,
May I, 1849.
He received his education by attending
the public schools of his native land, and
when seventeen years of age was appren-
ticed to the trade of a granite stone cutter.
He emigrated to America in 1871 and worked
at his trade in many states of the Union. At
this time the art of cutting and polishing
granite was in its infancy and mostly all of
the finished work of this description was im-
ported from abroad. Mr. Mackie came to
Barre in 1880, accompanied by his half-
brother, James C. Simpson, and entered the
employment of \\'etmore & Morse. They
were the first Scotchmen to ply their trade
in that community, though at present there
are probably a thousand of their countrymen
engaged in similar pursuits in and around
the neighborhood. In 1884 he commenced
business in partnership with his brother.
They met with great success and at the end
of three years found themselves the owners
of a valuable pro])erty and employing sixty
men. At this time they made an advan-
tageous sale of their business to Jones Bros,
of Boston and for five years Mr. Mackie con-
tinued to act as their superintendent, during
which time the firm has been very prosper-
ous, owing not a little of their success to the
industry and executive ability of their mana-
ger. Since parting with his interest in the
quarry, Mr. Mackie has invested largely in
real estate and to the care and improvement
of this he has devoted much of his time and
energy. In 1893 he bought out the firm of
Sortwell & Morse and now owns one of the
best manufacturing plants in Barre, consist-
ing of about six acres of land, a fine water
power, with some very valuable granite cut-
ting machines. His sons, James and Will-
iam, are now his business partners.
He was married in 1869 to Mary, daughter
of ^\■illiam and Jane (Scott) Cameron, of
Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and they have four
sons living : James, William, John, and
Robert.
Mr. Mackie belongs to the brotherhood of
the "square and compasses" and is treasurer
of Granite Chapter, R. A. M., of Barre, and
is also trustee of the Burns Club of that
place. He is an adherent of the Republican
party, and has held the office of village
bailiff. He has had to make his own way in
life, and affords a notable example of what
can be accomplished by energy, intelligence
and public sjiirit.
MACOY, BVRON Grafton, of Cam-
bridge, son of Daniel and Laura (Downer)
Macoy, was born in Cambridge, Jan. 8,
1S44. Daniel Macoy was a long-time resi-
dent of the town, and when a bov of twelve
years paddled the \'ermont \'olunteers bound
for the seat of war at Plattsburg, across the
river at Jeffersonville in a log canoe.
Byron was one of a family of seven chil-
dren, and was educated in the public and
jirivate schools of Cambridge. In 1858 he
went to live with his brother, H. N. Macoy,
who was a lumber merchant in Cambridge
and built the first steam and circular saw-
mill in Lamoille countv. During the six
years that he remained with his brother, he
turned his natural mechanical dexterity to
good account, doing all kinds of work that
required this species of skill. He then
rented the mill for a year of his brother, who
meantime had gone to Ottumwa, la. Byron
soon joined him there, but a year's experi-
ence removed all desire to remain in the
West, and he returned to Cambridge in
1S66. He, with his brother, W. D. Macoy,
and two others, built the large steam saw-
mill now established there. Ill-health soon
compelled him to relinquish the business, and
during the last twenty years he has been en-
gaged in the occupation of a furniture dealer
and undertaker.
He married. May 16, 187 i, Emma, daugh-
ter of Joseph Riley.
Mr. Macoy is a Re]niblican and was elected
to the Legislature in 1890; served on the
committee on manufactures. As one of the
committee for the construction of the Con-
gregational church he was largely instru-
MANCHESTER.
mental in securing the services as architect
of his brother, H. N. Macoy.
Mr. Macoy, by his integrity of purpose and
interest in the general welfare, enjoys in a
large measure the esteem and confidence of
his townsmen.
MANI.EY. 253
I )r. Manchester has always belonged to
the Republican ])arty, but his professional
duties ha\e not allowed him to mingle much
with political affairs. He is a member of
the Rei)ublican county committee and chair-
man of the Republican town committee in
Pawlet.
lie is secretary of Morning Flower
Lodge, F. & A. M., and has also regularly
])assed the chair in the same body, and is a
member of the chapter R. A. M., and of the
council R. & S. M. at Poultney, as well as a
Sir Knight of Killington Commandery K. T.
of Rutland. A Congregationalist in his
creed, he is both clerk and treasurer of the
church of that denomination in his place of
residence.
MANLEY, JOSEPH E., of West Rutland,
son of Fobes and Wealthy (Hill) Manley,
was born at Sutherland Falls, then a portion
of the town of Rutland, Feb. 15, 1831.
'I'he subject of this sketch was of English
and Scotch descent, and one of twelve chil-
dren of a typical New P^ngland family. His
father was stern in discipline and of sterling
religious character, leaving the impress of
BYRON GRAFTON MACOY
His devotion to the principles of the
Masonic order has gi\en him all the honors
his local lodge could confer upon him. He
is a member of Warner Lodge, No. 50, F.
& A. M., of Cambridge, and has filled all
the chairs of that organization.
MANCHESTER, HlRAM LEVI, of Pawlet,
son of Le\i A\'. and I'^eline (Shaw) Manches-
ter, was born in Hamilton, N. Y., Dec. 28,
1855-
He attended the common schools till the
age of seventeen and for a year pursued his
studies at Castleton Seminary. He com-
menced his medical education in Burlington
and received his diploma from the University
of the City of New York, from which institu-
tion he graduated on the iSth of Februarv,
1879.
Dr. Manchester began the pursuit of his
profession in Fair Haven with Dr. T. K.
Wakefield but after three months opened an
office in Pawlet, in June, 1879, where he has
since remained and built up a large practice.
He married, July 8, 1879, in Whitehall, N.
Y., Flora A., daughter of Harry and .Annis
(Benjamin) Bartholomew. Two children
have blessed their union ; Paul R., and
Hazel A.
his teachings upon the minds of his children.
Mr. Manley early in life was educated in the
common schools, but after attaining his ma-
jority, being desirous of higher educational
advantages, he entered Castleton Seminary,
a then leading institution under the charge
of Rev. K. J. Hallock, graduating therefrom
254
in 1854. During this time he provided for
his support by teaching school in the winter
and employing his vacations in agricultural
labor.
He was wedded August 19, 1857, to Electa
A., daughter of Kbenezer Porter of Orwell.
Two children were born to them ; \Vilbur
P., and Lillian K.
After he left the seminary he engaged in
the marble business, and is considered as an
expert in all matters relating to the deposits
of this stone, and has published an article
on the "Marbles of Rutland County," which
can be found in the first report of Professor
Collier of the Vermont Board of .\griculture.
He is a staunch Republican and believes
in Democracy from a Republican stand-
point. .'\t the age of twenty-eight he was
chosen justice of the peace for Rutland
county, receiving the compliment of thirteen
consecutive elections, during which time he
has tried many hundred cases, both civil
and criminal, and his decisions have been
characterized by such justice and impar-
tiality, that jury trials were resorted to in
only two instances, and one appeal only
from his decision was reversed in the county
court. During his term of service he secured
a small but well selected library, and occu-
pied his leisure hours with the study of the
law. He entered the office of Hon. C. H.
Joyce of Rutland in 1S74, and at the March
term of the following year was admitted to
the Rutland county bar, since which time he
has been in successful practice. His ser-
vices have been especially sought in the set-
tlement of estates as administrator and com-
missioner. Mr. Manley is philanthropic in
spirit, and has done much in the aid of the
church and the cause of temperance : held
the office of special prosecutor for six years
prior to 1892 ; was secretary of the Rutland
County Temperance Society for ten years, and
for a considerable period dischared the du-
ties of president. He was elected a resident
member of the Webster Historical Society
of Boston in 1884, and evincing an early
taste for literary metaphysical study he has
written and published many articles on
standard and popular subjects.
In his religious belief he is a Congrega-
tionalist, and united with the First Church at
West Rutland, July 4, i860. During a resi-
dence of over thirty years at West Rutland,
he has taken a lively interest in promoting
the welfare and prosperity of the village,
having invested to a large extent in real
estate. He has erected many structures,
both dwelling houses and for business pur-
poses, and ever manifests a strong desire to
promote the progress of the town and state.
MANN, Charles David, of ira, son of
Benjamin S. and Harriet (Thornton) Mann,
was born in Middletown Springs, Dec. 21,
i860. He is of mixed Elnglish and Scotch
descent and his paternal grandfather took
part in the campaigns of 181 2. His parents
moved from Miildletown Springs to Ira in
1S61, from which place his father enlisted in
Co. B, 9th Regt. ^"t. \'ols. Benjamin was
taken a prisoner at Harper's Ferry and was
sent to Chicago on parole where he died of
fever.
Charles D. Mann received the usual edu-
cational advantages of the public schools and
was afterwards a pupil in the Vermont Acad-
emy at Saxton's River. His father's death
left his mother and one brother to face the
CHARLES DAVID
Struggle of life alone. Since Mr. Mann
reached his majority he has always devoted
himself to some extent to public affairs. He
commenced his public career by an appoint-
ment as constable and collector of his native
town which latter office he has held until the
present time. He has also been made
school superintendent and was the choice of
the county convention in 1892 to discharge
the duties of commissioner. In 1893 Gover-
nor Fuller conferred upon him the honor of
a commission as justice of the peace. He
has been actively connected with the work
of the Baptist church since the age of six-
teen and even while at the academy he was
largely interested in the V. M. C. A. He
was one of the charter members of Camp
John .\. Sheldon S. of V., and for a time
acted as their quartermaster. He follows
principally the callina; of a fanner but pays
considerable attention to pension claims and
insurance.
MANN, HOSEA, Jr., of Wilmington, son
of Hosea and Maria (Grousbeck) Mann, was
born in Wilmington, July 13, 1858.
He received his early education at the
•common schools of his native town, and at
the Brattleboro Academy and Eastman's
Business College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. After
leaving school he commenced the study of
the theory and practice of law with the fjon.
O. E. Butterfield, was admitted to the Wind-
ham county bar^in 1882, and at once began
the practice of his profession at Wilmington.
HOSEA MANN, JR.
In 1879, as soon as Mr. Mann had reached
his majority, he was elected treasurer of the
Wilmington Savings bank and town clerk of
the town of Wilmington, both of which posi-
tions he held until 18S5, when he resigned
to devote his time to other matters. In 1886
he was elected state's attorney for Windham
county, and served in that capacity for a full
term of two years. He was elected to the
General Assembly for the successive terms,
1886, 1888, and 1890, and served with great
credit, giving \aluable assistance in putting
through many important measures. In 1890
his ability as a legislator was recognized, and
he was elected sjaeaker of the House, being
one of the youngest men who ever recei\"ed
that honor.
Mr. Mann is interested in many financial
and industrial enterprises, and has given a
great deal of his time and money to the de-
\elopment of his own town and state as a
place of summer resort.
He was married, February, 1880, to Eva
A., daughter of Rev. Jeremiah and Jane
(;ifford of Wilmington. Of this union is one
son : Ralph Hosea.
MARSH, Charles Phelps, late of
Woodstock, son of John and Amstis Marsh,
was born in Wethersfield, Jan. 7, 18 16.
He came of distinguished ancestry, the first
progenitor of the family being John Marsh,
who organized a colony in Connecticut in
1635-
The subject of this sketch graduated from
the University of Vermont in 1839, com-
menced the study of law in the office of
Chandler & Billings of Woodstock, and was
admitted to the bar in 1843 at the May
term of the Windsor county court. A year
later Mr. Marsh formed a partnership with
Peter T. Washburn, Esq., which continued
for a quarter of a century. During these
years of active professional life he held sev-
eral high positions of honor and trust, and
for four years was state's attorney for Wind-
sor county. He was in 1870 a member of
the Constitutional Convention, and in 1886
and 1888 represented Woodstock in the
House of Representatives. He was for many
years one of the assistant judges of the
Windsor county court, and the bar of his
own county and lawyers from other counties
having cases at Woodstock were content with
his judgment and rulings as with those of a
regular presiding judge from the supreme
bench.
Politically, he was an original Harrison
and Clay whig, and naturally became an
adherent of the Republican party when it
was formed in 1854. In 1842, while a law
student, he edited the \\'hig Advocate, a
campaign paper, and with such care and
ability that it attained a great circulation and
won him deserved praise.
Judge Marsh was always a strong friend of
education, an earnest advocate of morality
and whate\er tended to the promotion of
the public good. His talents both in busi-
ness and in a judicial way were jiarticularlv
administrative, and he ever evinced a mas-
tery of the situation whatever might be the
emergency. His life was such in all his re-
lations with his fellowmen that it is not to be
wondered at that his death, which occurred
[an. 13, 1893, was so generalh- mourned in
Vermont.
judge Marsh was married on the 5th of
|uiv, 1844, to Mary Elizabeth, daughter of
Rev. U'orthington Wright. Four sons were
l)orn to them, the oldest of whom alone sur-
\ives : John W. Marsh, Esq., a lawyer now-
residing in Chicago. Mrs. Marsh died in
256
MARSHALL.
1854 and Judge Marsh contracted a second
alliance, in 1859, with Amelia Brayton of
Swanton, who survives him.
He was a member of the Masonic fratern-
ity, and the society of Odd Fellows.
Judge Marsh was a gentleman of a school
that, if it was not the old school, yet was old
enough to carry memory back to pleasant
days "before the war." A stranger would
hardly have selected him as one to lead in
an "end of the century" body of legislators,
yet in a House of two hundred and forty
members, made up largely of farmers, this
faultlessly dressed lawyer of courtly and not
new-fashioned manner did lead. 'I'he secret
was an open one. He was a clear-headed,
candid gentleman, one fit to represent
Woodstock.
eminently successful in all his agricultural
enterprises, and was one of the substantial
men of the town whose good judgment and
sound sense was esteemed by all who came
in contact with him. He became a large
stockholder in the Fairbanks Scale Co., in
various banks, and was largely interested in
real estate in the town of Burke and its
vicinity.
He was united in marriage July 20, 1843,
to Calista A., daughter of John and Nancy
(Bemis) Martin, of Burke, whom he had
the misfortune to lose by death, [une 18,
1862. By her he had; Carrie (deceased),
MARSH, PlaTT T., of Simonsville, sonof
Col. Sylvanus and Sarah D. (Thorn) Marsh,
was born in the town of Andover, Jan. 5,
1 844. His father served with distinction in
the war of 1812.
He was educated in the public schools of
Andover, and has always devoted himself to
the occupation of farming. He has a very
pleasant home, around which cluster the
cherished memories of kindred running back
for more than a hundred years. Here he
cultivates his fertile acres, making a specialty
of the dairy and in addition possessing a
fine orchard of maple trees, from which he
annually gathers an abundant crop of sugar
and syrup.
He married, April 13, 1869, Abbie H.,
daughter of Mills and Emily (Lockwood)
Redfield. Their children are : Mary A.
(Mrs. George P. Stickney), Henry P., and
Arthur R.
Mr. Marsh is a strong Republican and for
several years has performed the duties of
selectman, while he has been called upon to
fill many offices of trust and responsibility in
the town where he resides. In 1890 he was
elected to the Legislature and again in 1892.
In this body he served on the committee of
the grand list and that on the insane, and
has always discharged his duties creditably
and conscientiously.
MARSHALL, JESSE, late of West Burke,
son of Jesse and Sarah (Hall) Marshall, was
born in Ludlow, Dec. 12, 181 7.
Receiving his education in the public
schools of Guildhall and Burke, to which
latter town his parents removed in 1833, he
first purchased a small farm which he cleared
but sold in 1854. He then bought a much
larger property, on which he lived during
the rest of his days, bringing it up to a fine
state of cultivation, and devoting especial
attention to the breeding of Devon cattle
and Morgan horses. Mr. Marshall was
L^'
JESSE MARSH
Benoni Hall, and Fayette (deceased). He
was again married, July 30, 1862, to Isabel
M., daughter of Joshua and Sarah M.
(Allen) Thomas, of Burke.
Mr. Marshall for very many years had
served as selectman, overseer, lister and
auditor of the town in which he resided, and
enjoyed to such an extent the confidence of
the community, that, in 1870 and 1872, he
was called by a Republican constituency to
represent Burke in the Legislature where he
rendered important service upon the grand
list and other committees. He was intrust-
ed with the duties of administrator of many
estates. A strong Lhiiversalist in his relig-
ious belief, he attended and supported the
Universalist church. He was a very charit-
able and public-spirited man, and his death,
which occurred May 2t, 1892, was sincerely
mourned as an irreparable loss by a large
circle of friends and acquaintances.
MARSHALL.
MARSHALL, OSCAR AZOR, latent I'.rat-
tleboro, son of Azor and Ann (ICstahrook)
Marshall, was born at ( )ak Gro\ e, \\'is.,
August 9, 1858.
He was educated in the public schools of
Brattleboro, and entered the employment of
the Vermont National Bank, May 31, 1875.
He became assistant cashier of the People's
National Bank in 1S83, and cashier in j886,
which position he held to the time of his
death. He was a director of the People's
National Bank, and also a trustee of the
Brooks Library. Mr. Marshall was one of
the incorporators of the Brattleboro Savings
Bank, the Vermont Savings Bank of Bratde-
boro, and the Wilmington Savings Bank.
. £1:4
OSCAR AZOR MARSHALL.
Mr. Marshall represented Brattleboro in
the Legislature of Vermont in the sessions of
1890 and 1 89 1. He was a useful member,
and ably served his town and state. He
introduced the first bill providing for a
secret ballot law in the state, basing it upon
the Australian system, and it was largely
through his painstaking efforts that this be-
came a law. He held numerous minor town
offices, in all of which he pro\ed himself a
conscientious, scrupulous, honorable gentle-
man.
He was one of the rising young men of
the state, enjoying the full confidence and
esteem of all who knew him, and his death
was universally regretted, for no man in the
community was more beloved. A good
citizen, a faithful friend, and a public bene-
NLARriN. 257
factor, he was most sincerely mourned when
he jiassed from this mortal life.
Mr. Marshall was married Sept. 25, 1883,
to Katherine R., daughter of Francis W.
and .Matilda C. (Smith) Brooks. Of this
union are two children: Klizabeth (L, and
Brooks.
MARTIN, Frank J., of P.arre, son of
Kimball P. and Delana (Wiley) Martin, was
born in Washington, Oct. 22, 1858. The
Martin family came to Vermont from Con-
necticut. Frank Martin's progenitors were
early settlers of Williamstown and their de-
scendants form no inconsiderable share of
the population of that town.
The early life of Mr. Martin was on a farm,
and more than ordinary tasks devolved upon
him in consequence of the sickness and early
death of his father. In spite of his increased
duties he managed to secure such a share of
knowledge as was afforded by the schools of
iiarre and Williamstown and some attend-
ance at the Barre Academy.
For four years after he had entered active
life he divided his attention between employ-
ment as a clerk in the winter season and
labor on the farm in summer. In 1880 he
had acquired sufficient funds to take a four
years' course of study at Worcester Academy,
Mass. This he accomplished in three years
and graduated in June, 1883. He then
taught school in Connecticut and in Will-
iamstown, and after employment as a clerk
in Massachusetts and Vermont, he com-
menced, in 1887, the study of law in the
office of Frank Plumley, of Northfield, re-
maining there till May, 1888, when he went
to Montpelier, and while deputy-clerk of the
Washington county court studied with M.
K. Smilie, till .April, 1S90, when he entered
the office of H. A. Huse, of Montpelier.
He was admitted to the bar at the general
term, 1890.
In Deceinber, 1890, with F. P. Carleton,
he began practice at Barre in the firm of
Martin & Carleton, which continued till Mr.
Carleton 's removal to Montpelier in 1892.
December, 1892, he and L. P. Slack formed
the firm of Martin & Slack.
Mr. Martin, Dec. 28, 1892, espoused Ida
M., daughter of Samuel G. and Lucy M.
(\Vheeler) Norris.
He is a Re])ublican and is one of the
town grand jurors and one of the listers of
Barre. In 1890 and 1892 he was second
assistant state Hbrarian. He has taken the
blue lodge degrees and affiliates with
Granite Lodge, No. 38, F. & .\. M.
MARTIN, Joseph Gray, of Nfanches-
ter Center, son of James and Lucy ((iray)
Martin, was born in Landgrove, Oct. 8, 1S50.
258
His education was obtained in the schools
of Landgrove and Londonderry and for a
time he enjoyed private instruction in the
latter place and Peru. After a visit to the
South he returned to his native place on
account of ill-health, and in 1869 he studied
law with his brother J. L. Martin in South
Londonderry. Here he remained till 1874
when he was for a short time with Jon-
athan G. Eddy of Jamaica. He was ad-
mitted to the bar at the April term of the
Windham county court in the same year,
and soon after opened an office in London-
derry where he remained till 1881 when he
removed to Manchester Center. Mr. Martin
has been admitted to practice in the Supreme
Court and both the district and circuit
courts of the United States. By meritorious
e.xertion he has arrived at a large general
JOSEPH GRA
practice, has been retained as attorney for
two national banks and employed as counsel
for either the state or the respondent in
several important criminal cases. In 1886
he formed a copartnership with Frank T.
Spring, which continued till the death of the
latter, and in 188S he formed a partnership
with Frank Archibald, state's attorney, which
arrangement still continues. In 1894 he
organized the Vermont Spring Co., of which
he is president. This corporation owns a
large tract on Putney mountain containing
chalybeate and sulphur mineral springs.
January 14, 1873, Mr. Martin was united
to Mary E., daughter of Joshua and Lydia
A. (Walker) Barnard of Winhall, who died
March 9, 1886, leaving four children : Lucy
E., Willard B., Lucius P., and James G.
(deceased).
Mr. Martin belongs to the dominant
party of the state but has held only a few
minor offices. He is an Episcopalian in
religious belief and has taken the Masonic
degrees conferred in Anchor Lodge, No. 99,
F. & .A. M. of South Londonderry.
MARTIN, James LOREN, of Brattleboro,
son of James and Lucy (Gray) Martin, was
born at Landgrove, Sept. 18, 1846.
His early education was in the district
schools, and at Londonderry and Marlow
(N. H.) academies. In 1867 he became a
student of Judge H. H. Wheeler, and pursued
his legal studies as time and opportunity
permitted. The following year he went to
the law school in .Albany, N. Y., from which
he graduated, and was admitted to the Ben-
nington county bar at the June term in
1869. He practiced law in Londonderry
from that time until January, 1882, when he
bought out the law business of the late Charles
N. Davenport, and moved to Brattleboro. In
1 888 he formed a copartnership with Hon.
E. L. Waterman, and later George B. Hitt
became a member of the firm. He com-
mands a leading position as a lawyer.
In 1886 he was elected president of the
Brattleboro Tool Co., and two years later was
appointed tax commissioner by Governor
Dillingham, which office he still holds. In
the fall of 1 89 1 he formed a partnership with
L. E. Holden, for the manufacture of lumber,
and the firm is now conducting a large busi-
ness. He is also president of the Martin &
Fitts Lime and Cement Manufacturing Co.
Mr. Martin's political career began with
his election to the Legislature as representa-
ti\e of Londonderry in 1874, in which body
he served on the committee on education,
having charge of the bill to abolish the board
of education and for the appointment of a
state superintendent. Two years later he
was again returned to the Legislature, serv-
ing as chairman of the committee on elec-
tions, and a member of the judiciary com-
mittee. In 1878 he was for a third time
elected to the same position, and was chosen
speaker of the House on the second ballot.
He was elected to the House in 1880 and
1882, and at both of the last-named sessions
was again chosen speaker. His thorough
knowledge of parliamentary law, and singular
aptitude for the prompt dispatch of business
rightfully won for him his reputation as a
model speaker. In 1892 he represented
Brattleboro, and declined being a candidate
for speaker. He was chairman of the judic-
iary committee, second on the ways and
means committee. .At this session he won the
reputation of being a painstaking, hard-
working, and a very useful mcml.ier of the
House of Representatives.
He was first married, Nov. 19, 1X69, to
Delia E., daughter of Lewis and .\lary
(Aiken) Howard. She died Dec. 14, 1881.
Three children were born to them, none of
whom survive.
On the loth of January, 1SS3, he married
Jessie Lilley, daughter of Capt. Kdward and
Susan (Lilley) Dewey, of Montpelier. They
ha\e three children : Margaret Susan, Helen
Ruth, and Katharine (Iray.
MARTIN, Milton, of Williamstown, son
of James and Martha (Coburn) IVLirtin, was
born in AMlliamstown, Feb. 19, 1809.
He was one of a family of nine children,
and a brother of the late ex-Lieut.-Gov.
Burnam Martin, and lived the frugal life of a
farmer's bov until he was eighteen years old.
During this time he obtained what educa-
tional advantages he could from the common
schools of Williamstown. Abandoning his
original occupation he resolved to learn the
trade of a blacksmith, and was apprenticed
for three years to Enoch Howe, with whom
he served his time.
Shortly after he went to Wolcott and there
married, in 1832, Mary ALartyn, by whom he
had seven children, three of whom are living :
Albert R., Lenora (Mrs. Austen H. Young of
Minneapolis), and Fred R. His wife died
in 1868, and he espoused Mrs. Nancy (Whit-
ney) Covil, who passed away March 12, 1875.
He has contracted a third alliance with Mrs.
Nancy (Martin) Chamberlain. Mr. Martin
remained in Wolcott for five years, pursuing
his trade, and then returned to Williamstown,
where he continued at the forge, until his
eldest son had gained skill and experience
sufficient to succeed him, when he turned his
attention to farming and also the manage-
ment of the village inn. He bears his years
lightly and "the grasshopper is not a burden"
in his ripe old age, and though somewhat
deaf all his physical and mental faculties are
'Unimpaired and active.
Mr. Martin may properly be designated a
Jacksonian Democrat, for he cast his first
presidential vote for "Old Hickory" and he
has adhered to that party ever since. He
has been honored with official trusts both in
Wolcott and Williamstown ; was postmaster
for five years and justice for fifteen in the
latter town, which place he has twice repre-
resented in the Legislature. He has also
been a director in the Montpelier t^ White
River R. R.
MARTIN, William, late of I'lainfield,
son of William and Sabrina (Axtell) Martin,
was born in the town of Marshfield. His
grandfather, Jesse Martin, was a veteran of
Bunker Hill, and his father, Hon. A\illiam
.MAkii.\. 259
Martin, was a man of mark, who represented
Marshfield for thirteen years in the Legisla-
ture, was colonel of a cavalry regiment, and
associate judge of the county court.
William Martin passed through the usual
experience in his boyhood days, receiving
his education in the common schools. The
rough and constant labor of the farm devel-
oped his energy and endowed him with un-
common physical strength and endurance
He was always a prodigious worker, and for
a time was a manufacturer and merchant,
but for many years devoted his chief atten-
tion to the occupation of his youth. He is
a large owner of real estate, possessing at
the time of his death several extensive farms
in this and neighboring towns, and he was
also the proprietor of a large saw mill, which
is carried on by his sons.
Mr. Martin was an enthusiastic adherent
of the dominant party in the state, and held
many public offices ; representing Marshfield
in the Legislature.
He was strongly in favor of a vigorous
prosecution of the civil war, and one of his
sons, William E. Martin, served as 2d lieu-
tenant in Co. C, 13th Regt. Vt. Vols., under
the command of Col. F. V. Randall, and
was promoted to ist lieutenant before that
regiment was mustered out. He then en-
listed in the 17th Regt., and was killed at
the battle of Petersburg Mine, July 30, 1864.
In honor of his memory the local organiza-
tion of the Grand Army of the Republic in
Plainfield received its title of the William
E. Martin Post.
The subject of this sketch was wedded
Jan. II, 1838, to Vienna L. Perrin, by whom
he has had eight children: Julia S. (Mrs.
Walter Page, deceased), \Mlliam E. (killed
at Petersburg, Va., as stated above), C'urtis
A., Cassius L., Charles P., F'dwin B., Harry
H., and Benjamin F.
MARTIN, WILLARD S., of Plainfield,
son of Joshua B. and Betsv (Sheppard)
Martin, was born in Marshfield, |nn. 26,
1827.
He enjoyed only the pri\ileges of the
common school, but by active observation
and assiduous reading he is practically a
well educated man.
In i860 he moved to Plainfield and ]iur-
chased a fine property of nearly six hundred
acres, and he has made his home here ever
since. He has been an extensi\e dealer in
and breeder of fine stock. .A public-spirited
man of kindly and sympathetic nature, he
has met with some serious losses in generous
attempts to assist his neighbors and friends.
Mr. Martin was united in marriage, Feb.
21, i860, to Fannie, daughter of Orlando
and Cecilia (Nash) Lewis of East Mont-
pelier, who died May 7, 1889. Five chil-
26o
MATIHEWS.
dren are the issue of their marriage : K.
AHce, Willard S., Jr., Orlando L., Arthur R.
(deceased), and Edgar L.
Mr. Martin is a Republican in his political
belief and has been entrusted with many
responsil)le positions in his town. He has
held the office of justice of the peace for
thirty years and was chosen to the Legisla-
ture in 1864 and 1S65. He received the
election of associate judge in iS74,andcon-
WILLARD S. MARTIN.
tinued on the bench for four years. He was
elected senator from Washington county in
1882. He was six years director of the Barre
National I'ank, and two years president of the
Washington County Agricultural Society.
Judge Martin is a L'niversalist, has always
taken a lively interest in educational matters,
and for a long time has been a trustee of
Goddard Seminary of Karre.
MASON, Charles W., of Vergennes,
son of Lawrence S. and Sarah (French)
Mason, was born in Potsdam, N. V., Nov. 6,
1837.
He was educated at the common schools
and academy at New Haven, receiving a
thorough preparation for after life. He has
always devoted his attention to farming, and
by industry and skill from small beginnings
has increased the value of his property to
such an extent that he has now one of the
best farms of .\ddison county, consisting of
over four hundred acres of productive land.
He is a breeder and dealer in thoroughbred
Merino sheep, and has raised many of very
high \alue. These have been exported to
nearly all states of the L'nion, and he has
also shipped many to Africa, being one of
the first to establish this enterprise. " He also
is a breeder of high-blood horses.
Mr. Mason is a Republican, and has been
honored with various town offices, and is
popular and prominent in Addison county.
He enlisted in Co. G, 14th Vt. Vols., when
they organized Sept. 9, 1862, and was
mustered in in October of the same year,
holding the position of 2d lieutenant. ' Re-
turning to Vermont in July, 1863, he raised
Co. E for the 3d Vt. Militia Regl, and was
commissioned captain by ex-Gov. J. Gregory
Smith. He was present and took part in the
bloody struggle at Crettysburg, and has a war
record of which one may well be proud.
He belongs to the Masonic brotherhood,
being a member of Libanus Lodge, No. 47,
of Bristol, and the Chapter and Royal Arch
Lodge of Vergennes. He has been a mem-
ber of the Congregationalist church for a
quarter of a century, and is one of the ex-
amining and building committee of the
church recently erected.
Mr. ALason is a well-informed gentleman
on state and foreign matters, and an intelli-
gent and pleasant conversationalist.
MATTHEWS, CHARLES W., of Granby,
son of Jonathan and Nancy F. (Bell) Mat-
thews, was born in Clranby, August 31, 1857.
Jonathan Matthews came to Granby in
1838, and has ever since been a resident of
that place, purchasing the farm on which he
now lives. The son received an excellent
education in the district school, and com-
pleted his instruction at the St. Johnsbury
.•\cademy. He has always remained on the
paternal estate, and is an enterprising and
substantial farmer, an enviable lot in these
days of bustling and by no means remuner-
ative toil in other branches of money getting.
He belongs to the ruling party of Vermont,
and has received the offices of lister and
selectman, and enjoyed the honors of town
clerk and treasurer for nearly fifteen years.
He has served as county commissioner, and
also was a member of the House of Repre-
sentatives in 1880 and 1892. Though a
young man, Mr. Matthews has been promi-
nent in town and county affairs, and gives
promise of a career of much usefulness.
He is a prominent member of the I. O. O. F.
Mr. Matthews was married June 25, 1879,
to Hettie, daughter of Loomis and Adeline
(Farr) Wells. They have one child : Leila.
MATTISON, William P., of South
Shaftsbury, son of Reuben and Eunice (Slye)
Mattison, was born in Shaftsbury, Dec. 22,
1828. His great-grandfather, Thoinas Matti-
son, caine from Rhode Island in the latter
26l
half of the i8th century, was chosen the first
town clerk of Shaftsbury, and the earliest
deed on record in that tow'n bears his signa-
ture.
The opportunities for early education en-
joyed by William P. were those afforded by
the schools of his native town, supplemented
by a short course at North Bennington Acad-
emy. For several succeeding winters he was
employed in teaching in Bennington and
Hillsdale, N. V. On his return to Shaftsbury
he gave his attention to the manufacture of
squares for se\eral years, still continuing at
intervals his former profession and devoting
all his spare time to the study of law, which
he hoped to adopt as a profession.
'ILLIAM P. MATTISON.
Mr. Mattison was united in wedlock August
9, 1853, to Sarah C, daughter of William F.
and Catherine (Sharts) Stickle, of Hillsdale,
N. Y. Five children were the fruit of the
union : Katherine A. (Mrs. Charles F. Chapin
of \\aterbury. Conn.), Frederick L., May V.
(Mrs. Ceorge A. Bruce of South Shaftsbury),
William R. and Clayton S.
Some time after his marriage, he removed
to Hillsdale, and during a period of about
five years engaged in teaching and farming,
and also became a partner in a general store.
In 1 86 1 he again returned to Shaftsbury,
and entered the employment of the Kagle
Square Co. He had always taken great in-
terest in the affairs of this corporation, giv-
ing much time to the study of square-making
and imiiro\'ed machinerv therefor. In 1864
the Kagle Square Co., which till then had
been organized as a ]jartnership, was incor-
porated and three years later Mr. Mattison
was elected secretary and treasurer. In
1883 he was promoted to the position of
vice-president, which office he holds at
the present time. In 1880 the plant of the
company, which had been rejjeatedly en-
larged to accommodate the manufacture of
bedsteads, sash and blinds, and boring ma-
chines, was destroyed by fire, with the excep-
tion of the sfpiare-finishing department, and
it was principally owing to the active and in-
telligent efforts of Mr. NIattison that the works
were reconstructed. To him was entrusted
the responsible task of erecting the necessary
buildings and providing a new plant on a
larger scale than the former, equipped with
the most improved machinery. In this en-
terprise he was eminently successful and the
company is now more prosperous than e\er
before. His success as the chief acting execu-
ti\e officer of the Eagle Square Manufacturing
Co. for a long term of years stamps him as a
representative member of that large and
valued class of New Kngland manufacturers
who have done so much to win the high repu-
tation which these states enjoy as industrial
centers.
Politically, Mr. Mattison has been a Repub-
lican since the inception of the party. His
natural ability and energy have made him a
fit candidate for many official positions in
both Shaftsbury and Hillsdale. In 1872 he
represented his town in the Legislature, serv-
ing as a member of the committee on land
taxes and taking an active part in all matters
affecting the manufacturing interests of the
state. Six vears subse(]uently he was chosen
state senator from Bennington county, in
which body he was a member of several
highly important committees.
Mr. Mattison, by an accident received in
185S, had the misfortune to lose the sight of
his right eye, which disqualified him for ser-
vice in the late war.
In his religious preferences he inclines to
the Baptist faith. He has always taken a
li\ely interest in the welfare of his native
town to whose material welfare he has been so
large a contributor.
MATTISON, Fred LELAND, of South
Shaftsbury, son of William P. and Sarah
(Stickle) Mattison, was born in Hillsdale,
N. v., April 20, 1857.
His educational advantages were received
in the public schools of Shaftsbury, the
graded school of North Bennington and the
Wilbraham (Mass) Academy. He com-
menced the active business of life as a clerk
in his father's store in South Shaftsbury and
afterwards became bookkeeper of the Eagle
Square Co. till the year 1884 when he was
262
McCULLOUGH.
elected secretary and treasurer of that cor-
poration, which position he still retains, and
since the illness of his father has had the chief
control of the business. He is one of the stock-
holders in that company which was founded
by Silas Hawes in i'8i2. In 1878 Mr.
Mattison purchased a third interest in the
general store owned bv \\'. P. Mattison &
Co.
In his political sentiments he is Republi-
can and he supports and attends the Aletho-
dist church.
trines of the protectionists, and is now a;
strong Cleveland Democrat of the independ-
ent type, who believes in principle rather
than party.
Mr. May was married Dec. 12, 1872, to
Miss Eunice A. S., daughter of Sumner W.
and Rosette (Eastman) xArnold. Three chil-
dren have been the issue of this marriage :
Florence Joanna, Eunice Rosette, and Bea-
trice Sophia.
During the war he made an attempt to en-
list in the 17th Regt. Vt. Vols., but was re-
jected. A second effort was more successful,
and he was enrolled in the 26th Regt. New
York Cavalry under Col. Ferris Jacobs. He
received a commission from Governor Fen-
ton as ist lieutenant and regimental com-
missary, but was not present at any battle of
the war.
Mr. May has also knelt at the shrine of
Free Masonry, having taken the degrees of
blue lodge, chapter and temple and he is a
member of Chamberlain Post, No. i,(;. A. R.
A modest and unassuming man, notwith-
standing his liberal and advanced view of
the present aspect of public affairs, he has
never sought for political promotion, but he
was the candidate for auditor of accounts on
the Democratic ticket in 1890 and 1892,
and is a member of the Democratic state
committee for Caledonia county. Mr. May
was in 1893 appointed bank examiner in
\'ermont by President Cleveland, and is at
present director of the state prison and house
of correction.
AND MATTISON
He married, Nov. 29, 1881, Jennie,
daughter of Clark and Sarina Bates of South
Shaftsbury. Four children have blessed the
union : Raymond, Louis, Irwin, and Dorothy.
MAY, ELISHA, of St. Johnsbury, son of
Preston and Sophia Stevens (Grout) May,
was born in Concord, Dec. 12, 1842.
He was educated at the common schools
and at St. Johnsbury Academy. After his
preliminary studies he read law with Jona-
than Ross, Esq., at St. Johnsbury and was
admitted to the bar at the December term
in Caledonia county in 1867. The following
year he served as assistant clerk in the House
of Representatives under John H. Flagg. .At
one time a partner of Henry E.Belden, Esq.,
Mr. May is now associated with Hon. Henry
C. Bates.
F"ormerly a member of the Republican
party, he withdrew his allegiance in 1884,
being a pronounced opponent of the doc-
MCCULLOUGH, JOHN GRIFFITH, of
Bennington, son of Alexander and Rebecca
McCullough, was born in Newark, Del. He
is of mingled Scotch and AVelsh ancestry,
and the circumstances which surrounded his
early youth did not present a rosy prospect
for his future ; for his father died when he
was three years of age, and his mother when
he was seven. His early educational advan-
tages were meagre, but with unwearied in-
dustry he made the most of them, and suc-
ceeded in graduating from Delaware College
with the highest honors before reaching his
twentieth year. He then commenced the
study of law in the office of St. (leorge
Tucker Campbell of Philadelphia, dividing
his time between study and practical expe-
rience in the office and attendance at the
law school of the University of Pennsyl-
vania, from which institution he received
the degree of LLB. In 1859 he was ad-
mitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of
Pennsylvania. At this time impaired health
rendered a change of climate and surround-
ings necessary, and he set sail in that vear
for San Francisco, but the severity of the
seacoast winds induced him to remove to
Sacramento, where he was admitted to the
^^^g/1/Vl.C^^^t..^^^onx^^
264
McCUI.LOUGH.
bar of the Supreme Court of California.
Even here the climate was too rough for his
delicate condition, and he soon changed his
residence to Mariposa, at the foot of the
picturesque Sierra Nevadas. California at
this time was passing through her trying
pioneer period, and her precarious situation
was about to be complicated by the bursting
of the war cloud of the rebellion, and the
young lawyer arrived on this rough scene in
time to perform his part in the drama. A
terrible struggle between the Secessionists of
Southern California and the Unionists ap-
peared inevitable, when the arrival of Gen-
eral Sumner, sent by the government to su-
persede Cen. Albert Sidney Johnston, then
in command at Fort Alcatraz, frustrated the
scheme of Southern sympathizers to separate
California from the Union. In young Mc-
Cullough, whose loyalty to the Federal
government was intense, { General Sumner
found a ready and efficient supporter and
coadjutor. .Ascending the stump, in spite
of his delicate health which precluded active
service in the field, by his courage and elo-
quence, he did yeoman service for the cause
of freedom and national unity.
Having secured the admiration and confi-
dence of the Union element, he was nomi-
nated for the General Assembly in 1861, and
elected by a triumphant coalition of Repub-
licans and Douglas Democrats. In 1862 his
constituents returned him to the state Senate,
though the district up to that time had been
overwhelmingly Democratic. Such was his
success and vigor in shaping legislation, that
notwithstanding his youth and his brief ex-
perience as a practical lawyer, he was nomi-
nated the next year by the state convention
of the Republican party as attorney-general
of California, and elected by an overwhelm-
ing majority. In this position he labored
with signal skill and success in the interest
of and for the honor of the state. Renomi-
nated in 1867, he failed of a re-election,
though receiving the largest vote of any can-
didate on the Republican ticket. For four
succeeding years as the head of a well-known
law firm in San Francisco, he enjoyed a
highly renumerative practice and the en-
viable reputation with court, counsel and
client, of a practitioner scrupulously accurate
in statement and in every action or position
governed by the nicest sense of professional
honor.
In 187 1, while on a visit to the eastern
states. General McCullough married Eliza
Hall, daughter of Trenor W. and Laura V. H.
Park of Bennington. They have four chil-
dren : Hall Park, Elizabeth 1,., Ella S., and
Esther Morgan.
Two years after his marriage, having
acquired an ample fortune, he remoxed to
Southern Vermont, where he interested him-
self in railroad, commercial and banking
enterprises. His active operations in these
directions have made him for some months
in the year a resident of New York, where a
portion of his time is passed, but his home
and permanent and favorite residence is in
the Green Mountain state. Some disap-
pointed individual has said that Vermont
was a good state to emigrate from ; the sub-
ject of this sketch believes rather that it is a
good state not only to emigrate to, but to
marry into also. He is an ardent admirer
of those Vermont methods and principles by
which, the Grecian statesman said, a small
state may be made great, and a great state
greater still.
From 1873 to 1883 he was vice-president
and general manager of the Panama Railroad
Co., and from the latter year until his resigna-
tion in 1888 he was president and directing
genius of the corporation. He was elected
a director of the Erie R. R. in 18S4, and
since 1888 has been chairman of the execu-
tive committee. He was the first president
of the Chicago & Erie R. R., a position
which he still holds, and is president of the
Pennington & Rutland Railroad Co. He
is also president of the First National Bank
of North Bennington, a director in the New
York Security and Trust Co., of the Fidelity
and Casualty Insurance Co. of that citv, and
is largely interested in many other corpora-
tions.
American politics have always possessed
the liveliest interest for (leneralMcCullough,
and he has suffered no political campaign to
pass by since i860, in which his voice has
not been heard in earnest and efficient
advocacy of the men and principles of the
Republican party, yet he entertains no
ambition in the direction of public office.
His genial nature and social tastes have won
him hosts of friends, and his home life in
the state of his adoption is singularly happy
and contented.
McDUFFKE, Henry Clay, of Bradford,
son of John and Dolly (Greenleaf) McDuffee,
was born at Bradford, Oct. 3, 1831. John
McDuffee was one of the first settlers of the
town. He was a teacher and later a railroad
projector and civil engineer of distinguished
ability and extended reputation.
Henry C. was educated in the Bradford
public schools and at Bradford .Academy.
He lived upon the farm where he was born
until 1 868, when he removed to his pleasant
home on Main street in Bradford where he
now lives. He learned surveying at an
early age and has always pursued that voca-
tion more or less. .After the death of his
father, and brother Charles, who were agents
for Joseph Bell of Pioston, an extensive land
owner in Canada, New England and the
iMcGE'n KICK.
265
western states, Mr. McDuffee was appointed
agent, having complete control of the man-
agement and sale of this large property, and
discharged that trust with much credit.
During that time and since, he has had
charge of many other complicated estates
in different parts of the country, and has
also conducted a widely extended business
in buying and selling real estate in the
South and West. For a number of years
Mr. McDuffee had the management of some
HENRY CLAY McDUFfEE.
large oil wells and coal mines in Ohio.
Afterwards he was manager of a linen mill
in Claremont, N. H., where he remained
until 1 8 70, when he returned to Bradford.
Mr. McDuffee has always been a public-
spirited man, and greatly interested in any-
thing which he thought was for the true in-
terest of his town. He was one of the
organizers of the Bradford Savings Bank
and Trust Co., personally secured its char-
ter and for many years was one of the
directors. He was also influential in estab-
lishing the Bradford Opinion and soon after-
wards became the principal owner. He has
been for many years a trustee of Bradford
Academy. Mr. McDuffee is a man of large
business experience and has traveled exten-
sively.
He was for some time engaged by a large
banking establishment of Boston to inspect
and to establish loan agencies throughout
the West and along the Pacific Coast.
He is a loyal Republican and is a man
who has the courage of his convictions. He
has held nearly all the important town
offices. He was elected as representative
from Bradford to the deneral Assembly of
icSyo and 187 1, being the first Republican
representative ever elected in that town.
He was re-elected in 1872 receiving at this
time the largest Re]Hiblican vote ever polled
in Bradford before or since. He was high
bailiff of Orange county for 1872 and 1S73 ;
assistant U. S. .Assessor from 1871 to the
time the office was abolished, and was
elected state senator from Orange county in
18S4 serving at this time on the committees
of finance, railroads and banks. He was
also for many years chairman of the Orange
county Republican committee and in 1888
was one of the presidential electors.
He is a member of Charity Lodge 43 and
Chapter of F. & A. M. of Bradford.
March 12, 1863, he married Laura Water-
man of Lebanon, N. H., who died the fol-
lowing September. He married his present
wife, Rosie ^L, daughter of Hon Roswell
M. and ^^arinda (Nelson) Bill of Topsham,
June 8, 1869. They have one child : Ernest
Bill.
MCGETTRICK, FELIX WILLIAM, of SL
Albans, son of Michael and Mary (O'Con-
nell) McGettrick, was born in Fairfield,
Nov. 20, 1847.
The educational facilities which Mr. Mc-
( lettrick enjoyed before the war were exceed-
ingly limited, as he li\ed nearly three miles
from the nearest district schoolhouse, but
266
after his return from the battlefields of \"ir-
ginia he took a partial course of study at the
New Hampton Institute at Fairfax, and then
placed himself as a private pupil under the
charge of Mr. C. J. Alger at Burlington, in
whose office he commenced the study of law,
which he afterward continued with the firm
of Edson & Rand at St. Albans.
In 1870 he combined his legal studies
with the teacher's profession, but two years
later he began to practice at St. Albans.
He has been engaged in several important
cases and ranks high as an able criminal
lawyer, and as an advocate he has no supe-
rior in the state, possessing great command
of language, and is both forcible and elo-
quent as a .speaker.
Mr. McGettrick enlisted, when a lad of
sixteen, in Co. E, 2d Regt. U. S. Sharp-
shooters, and in the winter of 1864 the com-
mand were in camp around Brandy Station
and Culpepper, Va. He was present at the
battles of the Wilderness and Spottsylvania,
and in the latter engagement was seriously
wounded. He was discharged at the close
of the war.
He is actively interested in politics, being
a staunch supporter of the principles of the
Democratic party. He has been town grand
juror and member of the school board, as
well as town agent for prosecuting and de-
fending suits. He was sent as a delegate to
the Democratic national convention in 1880,
and seven years afterward was appointed
special inspector of customs. He was the
nominee of his party for Congress in 1892,
and the following year received the appoint-
ment of superintendent of construction of
the new United States custom house and
postofifice at St. Albans.
Mr. McGettrick was married, January,
1872, to Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas and
Mary (Burke) Morris of Fairfield. They
have three children : Edward Thomas,
Charles Henry, and Mary Catherine.
MCLAM, James R., of Topsham, son of
James and Agnes (Leech) McLam, was
born in Ryegate, Nov. 24, 184 1. His parents
came from Scotland to Caledonia county
about 1830, and James received a good prac-
tical education in the schools of Ryegate,
supplemented by a course of instruction at
the Caledonia grammar school and at Mcln-
does Academy. He remained with his father
upon the farm until he was twenty vears of
age, when he went to Boston, Mass., and en-
gaged in the business of trucking for three
years.
After spending a year in Iowa, he returned
to Ryegate, and finally removed to Topsham,
where he engaged in general trade for four
years, and then parted with his interest in
the business to Mr. Stewart, who had been
connected with him. For several years he
ga\e his attention to insurance, pensions and
town affairs. He then went back to his old
stand, and taking A. C. Wormwood, of Bos-
ton, as a partner, they successfully conducted
the business till 1892, having a practical
monopoly of trade in the ^•illage, when Mr.
McLam sold out to Mr. Wormwood.
February i, 1871, he married Susan ].,
daughter of Daniel and Jeanette (Cochrane)
Wormwood, and of this union were issue :
Elmer D. (deceased), George L., Cora J.,
and Affnes M.
^•*^ ^^^ t
Though not a farmer, he has gi\-en both
time and money to the establishment of a
co-operative creamery in East Topsham, and
is a director and secretary of the company.
MCLEAN, Albert, of Norton Mills, son
of John and Mary (Carleton) McLean, was
born in Alna, Me., August 31, 1849.
He received his education in the public
schools of Alna and at Eastpitston (Me.)
Academy.
His father was a farmer and merchant
and to these \ocations he added a large ship-
ping business, finding opportunity, neverthe-
less, to discharge the duties of town clerk
for a period of fifty years. Albert remained
with him until his majoritv, in his extensive
operations, when he moved to Norton Mills
and engaged as clerk for Wilmot Nelson,
remaining about four years. .Afterward he
went into partnership with Mr. Nelson as
iMiMASTKR.
A. McLean & Co., and continued in trade
until the business was sold to A. M. Stetson
& Co., in 18S9, when he entered their em-
ployment as head clerk.
Mr. McLean is a Republican and a Free
Mason, having received his degrees in Island
Pond Lodge No. 44.
\\hen the town was organized in 1885 he
was chosen town clerk and has served most
faithfully and acceptably ever since. He
also has made a most efficient town treasurer
for five years. He is obliging and of sterl-
ing moral worth.
He was wedded, in 1885, at Island Pond,
to Ella B., daughter of \\'illiam and Margaret
Libby of East Machias, Me., and by her he
is the father of two children : John Walter,
and Cora P^nuna.
MCMASTER, William D., of Wood-
stock, son of John and Nancy (Burke) Mc-
Master, was born in Ireland, Nov. 28, 1833,
and emigrated with his parents to X'ermont
when a child.
His education was obtained in the public
schools, and from the experience derived in
an a]i|irenticeNlii|i served in a printing uffi( r.
Mcr)UIVE\-.
26^
WILLIAM D. McMASTER.
Mr. McMaster has followed the vocation
of printer, editor and publisher. From Jan.
I, 1861, he has been the proprietor and pub-
lisher of the Spirit of the Age. He is now
the oldest journalist as regards continuous
service in the state.
Mr. McMaster was married lulv to, 1867,
to Maria E., daughter of Wilder and F'Jiza
C. (Demary) Raymond. Two children were
the fruit of their union : Charles 1^., and
William R., both deceased.
Democratic in his political faith, he has
served on state, county and town committees,
was postmaster of Woodstock during Presi-
dent Cleveland's first administration, hold-
ing the office for four years and ten months,
and several times has been the candidate of
his ])arty for town representative. During
the period of the rebellion of the slave states
his paper heartily endorsed and supported
all measures leading to a \ igorous prosecu-
tion of the war.
MCQUIVEY, ALSON N., of Bread Loaf,
son of Nathaniel and Family E. (Dunham)
McQuivey, was born in Ripton, Feb. 3,
18:^1.
He passed through the common schools
of Ripton, the high school of Middlebury
and the Vermont Methodist Seminary at
Montpelier. After completing his educa-
tional training he settled down as a farmer
near Bread Loaf Mountain, a noted summer
resort, where he has methodically and suc-
cessfully pursued his business. He has
dealt somewhat extensively in real estate and
is iiiuch interested in breeding driving
horses.
He was united in marriage at Middlebury,
Jan. 25, 1876, to Mary, daughter of Carlos
and Marcia Hooker. Shortly after her
marriage she died and he then espoused
Florence A., daughter of William N. and
268
Joanna B. (Fletcher) Cobb. Three chil-
dren have been born to them : Agnes A.,
Gordon D., and Arthur.
Mr. McQuivey belongs to the dominant
party in the state and for six years has filled
the offices of superintendent of schools,
auditor, lister and selectman. He was
appointed census enumerator in 1890, and
two years afterwards was called upon to
represent the town of Ripton in the Legisla-
ture, where his services were given to the
committee on the library.
He belongs to the order of Odd Fellows,
and is specially attached to Lake Dunmore
Lodge, No. II. He formerly affiliated with
the state Grange, and is at present a mem-
ber of the Congregational church. Mr.
McQuivey is one of the leading men in the
town, and is prominently connected with all
affairs of social and political life.
MEAD, Elisha Ferguson, of starks-
boro, son of William and Mandana ( Fergu-
son) Mead, was born in Hinesburgh, June
25, 1824. His grandfather, Alpheus Mead,
' Mt t^r^^^
ELISHA FERGUSON MEAD.
was born in Greenwich, Conn. He was a
soldier in the Revolutionary war, was cap-
tured and confined in the old sugarhouse in
New York. He was one of the early settlers
of Hinesburgh, where he died in 1837. The
mother of the subject of this sketch was the
daughter of Flisha Ferguson, of Starksboro.
His grandmother on his mother's side was a
sister of Elijah Hedding, one of the early
bishops of the Methodist church.
Elisha Ferguson Mead was educated in the
common schools and in the Hinesburgh
Academy. He studied law in the office of
Hon. Asahel Peck, at Burlington, and was
admitted to the bar of Chittenden county, in
1847. He practiced in Chittenden county
until 1855, when he moved to Michigan,
where he opened an office at Romeo, and
had a large practice in that and the sur-
rounding counties, and in the United States
circuit and district courts. He was elected
to the Legislature of Michigan in 1866, and
served on the judiciary committee, was re-
elected in 1868, and was a])pointed chairman
of that committee, and filled the position
satisfactorily the next two years. He prac-
ticed law in Michigan until 1874, when he
retired from professional life and has since
resided at Starksboro.
MEAD, JOHN ABNER, the subject of this
sketch, was born in Fairhaven, on the 20th
day of April, 1841. His ancestors were En-
glish and the family was an ancient and hon-
orable one. There is in Westminster .\bbey
a monument erected to the memory of Rich-
ard -Mead, ^L I)., one of his ancestors, who
was the friend and physician of the talented
though not amiable George H, and of Queen
.Anne. Col. Richard K. Mead, aid-de-camp
to General Washington from 1777 to 1783,
attained the rank of colonel and rendered
valuable service throughout the war of the
Revolution. He was with the commander-in-
chief in all his principal battles and person-
ally superintended the execution of Major
Andre, a duty which he was accustomed to
say, he was not able to perform without shed-
ding tears. The Rt. Rev. William Mead,
Bishop of Virginia, was also of the same
family. Richard \\'. Mead, another ancestor,
born in Chester county. Pa., in June, 1778,
was said to be the first importer of Merino
sheep into the United States. The great-
great-grandfather of the present sketch. Col.
James Mead, was the first white settler in
Rutland and in the valley of the Otter creek,
and was a descendant from one of the two
families of Meads who emigrated from F^n-
gland about 1642. He was born at Horse-
neck, N. Y., August 25, 1730, and married
Mercy Holmes of the same place. Having
purchased seven thousand acres of land at
six cents an acre, situated on either side of
Otter creek and near the falls at Center Rut-
land, Colonel Mead left Manchester, \t., on
the morning of the 28th of September, 1769,
with his wife and eleven children and a son-
in-law, and starting out into the unbroken
wilderness, arriving at Central Falls on the
evening of the 30th, having been en route
three days and two nights. .\n extract from
the inaugural address of Mayor Mead on the
organization of the city government graphi-
270
callv describes the experiences of the first
settler : "Go back with me for a moment
for one hundred and twenty-four years, and
picture, if you will, that man, the first settler,
with his wife and eleven children ; one pair
of oxen with the old-style sledge piled high
with all their earthly belongings ; the mother
and girls riding alternately upon two small
horses ; the father and boys in turn driving
the oxen, and closely behind, their two cows.
At Manchester, Vt., they leave all roads and
strike out into the unbroken forest ; they
push their way, slowly but surely, along the
sides of the mountains. There are no setders
along their route to point the way or shelter
them by night. They mo\e along that rocky
crest and after three days and two nights,
they arrived at their destination, the Central
Falls, as they were known upon the old
survev, viz., the falls at Center Rudand.
They stopped the first night near the present
village of Dorset, the second night near that
•of Danby ; they passed through Tinmouth,
West Clarendon, and finally arrived at the
home of the Caugnawaga. (Jne of the chiefs
met him at the door of his wigwam, talked for a
few minutes in an unknown tongue to his
.squaw, and papooses and other Indians, and
then throwing his hands high in the air and
wide apart, he exclaimed in English, 'Wel-
come, Welcome !' The father allowed the
cattle to feed upon the leaves in the under-
brush near by, the boys arranged to sleep
near the sled, while the mother and girls,
kneeling in a circle, utter their feeble prayers
in the Indian wigwam, thirty miles from the
nearest white settler. If sickness threatens
the parents or their children, there are no
neighbors to help and to sympathize, there
is no physician to consult or relieve their
anguish, and should death overtake them in
this wilderness, the parents must hew from
the trees of the forest the cofifin for the loved
one, and bury their dead alone in the lonely
wilderness ; there are no friends, no bearers,
no chapel, no church, and no pastor to soothe
and minister and to ask divine sustenance in
this hour of anguish ; there are no stores, no
shops, no mills of any kind, no fields of grass
or grain, no roads or paths, except an occa-
sional Indian trail."
At the organization of the town go\ern-
ment on the 2d Tuesday of October, 1770,
Col. James Mead was made the first modera-
tor, first selectman and first town representa-
tive of Rutland, and the old farm cleared by
Colonel Mead still remains in the Mead
family, having been deeded from father to
son for one hundred and twenty-five years,
the original purchase having been from the
Caugnawaga Indians.
.Abner, son of Col. James Mead, was great-
grandfather of Mayor Mead, from whom he
derived a portion of his name. He married
Amelia, daughter of Rev. Benjamin Roots,
the first clergyman in Rutland. John .A. was
the only child of Roswell R. and Lydia A.
(Clorhani) Mead. His father was a success-
ful farmer and merchant in West Rutland till
his death in 1S75. His mother died when
he was but six months old. Her father ser\ed
in the war of 181 2, and so maternal and pa-
ternal ancestors give him a loyal claim on
the country. John A. Mead was educated
in the common schools of West Rutland
and at Franklin Academy, Malone, N. V.,
graduating from Middlebury College in 1864,
and in 1868 received his diploma of M. D.
from the College of Physicians and Surgeons
in New York City. He immediately accepted
a position as house physician in the Kings
County Hospital, Brooklyn, N. V., remaining
there until December, 1870, when he removed
to Rutland, where he successfully practiced till
1S88. At this time he was tendered a "chair"
in the medical department of the University
of Vermont and for some time he hesitated
as to whether he should or not continue in
his chosen profession, but he finally and re-
luctantly retired from professional pursuits in
order to give his whole attention to his ex-
tensive business interests. During his career
in medicine he was appointed surgeon-gen-
eral of the state on the staff of Gov. Redfield
Proctor, was medical superintendent of the
house of correction from the time it was es-
tablished till he gave up his profession, was a
member of the pension examining board for
eight years, and was appointed surgeon-gen-
eral of the Vermont state encampment of the
G. A. R. in 1890.
Dr. Mead is now one of the largest real
estate owners in Rutland, was director and
cashier of the old National Bank of Rutland
for several years, was treasurer of the Rut-
land R. R. and director and treasurer of the
Addison R. R. for nearly five years, director
of the Clement National Bank since it was
organized, vice-president of the State Trust
Co. since its organization, and continued as
such till he was elected its president.
He is president of the New England Fire
Insurance Co., of the P. E. Chase -Mfg. Co.,
and the Rutland board of trustees, and
trustee of Middlebury College of Middle-
bury. In 1888 he reorganized the Howe
Scale Co., and is now president and execu-
tive officer of that corporation. The history
of this corportion had been unfortunate since
its first organization in 1857, but in his new
sphere Dr. Mead proved more successful
than ever before, as the wonderful growth
of this company fully testifies. Within five
years under his administration he made this
company second to none other manufactur-
ing a weighing machine. In addition to
the production of the renowned Howe
scales, he added the truck department, and
in two years thev developed over a thousand
varieties, and manufactured more trucks
than any other comijany in America. Letter
presses were added, and soon a large busi-
ness in this line was established. A full line
of lifting jacks was also added to their out-
put, increasing their sales largely. In 1895
he contracted for the sole manufacture of
the Cyclone coffee mills, formerly made in
Portland, Me., and all the patterns have been
removed to Rutland and become a part of
the business of the Howe Scale Co. The
Harrison Conveyor Co. was also added to
the manufactured products of this company,
and today they are melting more iron than
any concern in the state, and are producing
more scales than any corporation in the
world.
In the administration of the financial and
a. supervision of the mechanical affairs of
this company, Dr. Mead has exhibited rare
e.\ecuti\e ability. His watchful care of
every detail, and his judgment of human
nature, enabling him to select competent
assistants in the varied departments, and
his untiring perseverance have contributed
largely to the remarkable success of this in-
dustry.
He has always shown a kindly interest in
the welfare of his employes, and of the
■workingmen, and has never hesitated to
chairipion their cause whenever their de-
mands were reasonable and in his judgment
just, and they in turn evinced their apprecia-
tion of his efforts in electing him to the
state Senate in 1892 by a large majority, and
again in 1893 by making him the first mayor
of the city of Rutland by over three-fourths
of the total vote cast for the candidates for
this office.
Dr. Mead is most emphatically one of that
large class of New Englanders who are the
sole architects of their reputations and for-
tunes, having acquired his academic educa-
tion by his own efforts in the school room
and on the farm. He left his studies for a
year to acquire means to begin the study of
his profession, and on his receiving his
diploma in medicine, he found himself a
debtor to quite an extent, and, in short, on
leaving the hospital and starting in prixate
practice in Rutland, it was an absolute ne-
cessity that financial success should attend
his first efforts, or he could have maintained
himself but a few weeks.
Impelled by patriotic duty. Dr. Mead
enlisted in Co. K, 12th Vt. Vol. Regt., serv-
ing in the campaign of 1862 and 1863, and
returning to college he graduated with his
class in 1864. He is a member of Roberts
Post, C. A. R., and has always felt a warm
interest in matters pertaining to the "Boys
in Blue." He was a member of the staff of
General Alger and of General Veazev when
they were commanders-in-chief of theClrand
.Arm v.
Dr. Mead is a staunch adherent of the
Republican party, and as state senator was
chairman of the committees on claims, and
of the World's Fair, also a member of the
committees on manufactures and banks. He
is a member of the Congregational church,
and for many years has been one of the ex-
ecutive committee, and is \ice-president of
the Congregational Club of Western Ver-
mont.
He was united in marriage, Oct. 30, 1872,
to Mary M., daughter of Hon. William N.
Sherman, a prominent citizen of flreenwich,
R. I. Dr. and Mrs. Mead have one child,
a daughter : Mar\' Sherman.
MtAD, John B., late of Randolph, was
born in Stratham, N. H., March 15, 1831.
In 184 1 he catue to Randolph and lived
with Dr. and Mrs. I^. D. lilodgett, who were
childless.
/
His education was obtained in the district
school and in the Orange county grammar
school, and was supplemented by discipline
obtained by teaching school both in Ver-
mont and New Jersey.
The first year of the rebellion found him,
at the age of thirty, settled with wife and
two young children on what had been the
Dr. Blodgett farm, just south of Randolph
Center, where Mrs. Blodgett still lived, receiv-
ing love and care from him in his manhood
as he had received them from her in his
boyhood. Late in 1861 he enlisted, making
such arrangements as he could for the well-
being of the family left behind him.
Colonel Mead's military service, and that of
no soldier was more honorable, was in the
8th Vermont Regiment, where he held every
commission from 2d lieutenant to colonel.
His record is this : 2d lieutenant Co. G.
Jan. 7, 1862 ; ist lieutenant Co. G, April 2,
1863; captain Co. G, May 5, 1863; major,
July 26, 1864 ; lieutenant-colonel, Nov. 24,
1864; colonel, March 4, 1865 ; taken pris-
oner at Bayou des Allemands, Sept. 4, 1862 ;
wounded Oct. 19, 1S64, at the battle of
Cedar Creek ; mustered out June 28, 1865.
At the close of the war Colonel Mead re-
turned to the farm, and was in 1867 and
1868 elected to represent Randolph. In
1878 he was a senator from Orange county.
In 1875 he was a member of the State Board
of Agriculture, and from 1878 to 1880 was
state superintendent of agriculture. In
1884 and 1S85 he was commissioner from
Vermont to the New Orleans Hxposition,
and in 1886 was the commissioner from
New England to the New Orleans Exposi-
tion of that year, and was a member of its
board of management.
He was a practical farmer on modern
lines, and was an importer and breeder of
red-polled cattle, and in 1883 spent some
time in England selecting stock for impor-
tation.
Colonel Mead was from young manhood
an active member of the Congregationalist
church, and for many years a deacon there-
in. He was an earnest advocate of tem-
perance and held the highest official posi-
tions in the organization of Good Templars.
Full of zeal in all educational matters he
was for many years a member of the board
of trustees of the Randolph State Normal
School and secretary of the board, and with
public spirit invested thousands of dollars in
erecting a large boarding house, which he
and others thought necessary for the better
condition of the school.
He was engaged at the last in an enter-
prise looking to the settlement by Ver-
monter.s of a large tract of land in North
Dakota.
Colonel Mead died suddenly at his home
in Randolph, Dec. 16, 18S7 — his death
doubtless hastened, and it is believed, caused
by the lingering effects of his years of mili-
tary service.
He married in May, 1858, at Randolph,
Orpha O., daughter of Elias and Orinda
(Blodgett) Carpenter. Their children were :
Charles C., born in 1859 ; John F., born
August i6, 1861; Nellie 0."(Mrs. W. F.
Morse of Barre), born in 1864; Myra B.,
born in 1866 and died in 1879, ^^id Orinda
C, born in 1868 and died in 1885. Mrs.
Mead died May 6, 1877. In August, 1880,
Colonel Mead married Laura C, daughter
of Hiram and Jerusha (Bradish) Kimball.
Mrs. Mead and their daughter, Annie K.,
born in 1882, now reside in West Randolph.
Colonel Mead was of commanding pres-
ence and soldierly bearing — earnest, elo-
quent, and brave physically, intellectually
and morally. He was a real and, so far as
in man lies, the ideal Christian citizen and
soldier.
MEAD, John P., of Randolph, son of
John B. and Orjiha O. (Carpenter) Mead,
was born in Randolph, August 16, 1861.
His education was received at the Ran-
dolph Normal School and St. Johnsbury
Academy, and during his earlier life he
remained with his father on the farm, acting
as his foreman during his frequent absences.
He now owns the homestead at Randolph
and a large cattle ranch in North Dakota,
the latter property jointly with his brother
now located in that state. He is engaged
in dairying and horse breeding, and has the
character of an enterprising, industrious and
successful farmer. He held the appoint-
ment of assistant commissioner of Vermont
at the International Exhibition at New
Orleans in 1885, and in 1886 was superin-
tendent of the second division of the first
Minneapolis Exposition. He has traveled
in every state but one this side of the
Mississippi, and for a man of his age pos-
sesses wide knowledge of men and affairs.
He is one of the trustees of the Randolph
Normal School, has held town offices, and
in 1892 was representative from Randolph
and servetl on tiie committees on education
and the World's Fair.
MElfCH, LEONARD E., of ICast Monk-
ton, son of Henry B. and Jane E. (Burritt)
Meech, was born in Hinesburgh, Oct. 27,
1844.
His education was principally received at
the academy of Hinesburgh, but he supple-
mented his school instruction by a long
course of judicious reading and home study.
He served in the civil war in Co. G, 14th
Regt. Vt. Vols., in which command he was
promoted to the grade of corporal and a
little later was compelled to accept his dis-
charge on account of disability.
He has always followed the occupation of
a general farmer, especially devoting his at-
tention to the breeding of Jersey cows, and
horses of a high class.
Well informed in political affairs he has
been chosen to nearly all the official posi-
tions in his town, and in 1884 represented
Monkton in the state Legislature where he
gave his services to the committee on the
state's prison.
Mr. Meech w^as married in Monkton, July
3, 1865, to Edna S., daughter of Daniel S.
and Frances M. (l)eming) Ladd. From
MEI.ENUV. 273
this union were four children, only one of
whom, Daniel, survives.
He is allied with the Masonic fraternity,
and for twelve years has been a member of
the Methodist Episcopal church in which
he has served for some time as steward.
Sincere and unassuming, his straightforward
and honorable dealings have won for him a
numerous body of warm friends in his com-
munity.
MELENDY, JONATHAN WASHBURN, of
South Londonderry, son of Emery and
Jerusha (Pierce) Melendy, was born in Lon-
donderry, Nov. 18, 1845.
His education was derived from the com-
mon schools and the West River and Sa.xton's
River academies, and after its completion he
engaged with his father in the trade of a
blacksmith, which he had learned during his
boyhood. Later he devoted his attention to
agriculture, and in conjunction with his
brother has operated the home farm to the
present time.
JONATHAN WASHBURN MELENDY.
He was twice elected first constable and
collector, and was selectman of the town for
nine years, during six of which he served as
chairman of the board. In 1879 he was
made town railroad commissioner and was
instrumental in the building of the B. & W.
R. R. In 1 87 1 he was appointed deputy
sheriff, which position he held by successive
ajipointments until 1878, when he was
elected sheriff of Windham county, dis-
2 74
MERRIFIELL).
charging the duties of that office for six
years, and was afterward appointed by his
successor as a deputy, which position he still
retains. In 1890 he was elected a state sen-
ator from Windham county, and served on
the committee on claims, and was chairman
of that on fish and game.
He is a member of .Anchor Lodge, No.
99, F. & A. M., of South Londonderry, in
which he has filled the Master's chair, and
of .Adoniram Chapter, No. 15, of Manchester.
Since the construction of the B. & W. R.
R. Mr. Melendy has been a director of the
corporation. Since 1880 he has been en-
gaged with his brother in the undertaking
business at South Londonderry.
Mr. Melendy has been a public-spirited
man and prominent in all movements for the
benefit of his town and community.
He was married, Nov. 26, 1868, to Carrie
L., daughter of Hon. David and Lydia
(Dudley) Arnold of Londonderry. Of this
union is one child : Emery A.
MERRIFIELD, JOHN HASTINGS, of
Williamsville, son of John A. and Louisa \\'.
(Williams) Merrifield, was born in Newfane,
June 12, 1847.
He received his early education in the
common schools and the Springfield Wes-
leyan Seminary.
Working on his grandfather's farm, and
finally conducting the same, he commenced
his business career by the purchase of a gen-
eral merchandise store, which he carried on
till 1 88 1. The following year he went to
Dakota and for four years was connected
with the Vermont Loan and Trust Co., when
he returned to Williamsville, and since 1S87
has been acting station agent of the B. & W.
R. R.
Mr. Merrifield was married, Feb. 24, 18S6,
to Miss Ella R., daughter of .\sa and Polly
M. (Morse) Stratton, of Newfane.
He has discharged the duties of lister,
selectman, and superintendent of schools in
his native town, which he represented in the
Legislatures of 187S and 1880. In 1874 and
1876 he was engrossing clerk of the Legisla-
lature, second assistant clerk of the House in
1882 and 1888, first assistant clerk in 1890,
and clerk in 1892.
MILES, LORENZO Dow, of Newport,
son of Orrin and Eunice (Clark) Miles, was
born in the town of St. Johnsbury, Sept. 26,
1838.
He received his preparatory education in
the schools and academy of Johnson, and
was contemplating a college course, which
design he was unable to carry out on ac-
count of the bursting of the war cloud in
1861. He enlisted in Co. E, 3d Vt. Regt.,
while yet a schoolboy, but was detached on
special service with Battery F, 5 th U. S.
regulars, with which organization he re-
mained till early in the winter of 1863, when
he returned to his regiment, with which he
served till he was honorably discharged at
Burlington, July 27, 1864. He participated
in all the battles in which the Sixth .Army
Corps were engaged, except the seven days'
fight in front of the rebel capital, including
Lee's Mills, .\ntietam, both engagements at
Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg,
Wilderness, Petersburg, Welden Station, Cold
Harbor and Fort Stevens. In all these
bloody struggles he escaped unscathed, nor
was he ever captured by the enemy, but did
his duty every day during the three years of
his service except a period of three months,
which he spent in the hospital, sick with
typhoid fever. .\t the expiration of the war
Mr. Miles came to Albany, where he settled
down as a farmer.
March 14, 1865, he was united to Harriet
E., daughter of Eben K. and Jennett (Gregg)
Lord ; they have three children : Carrie E.,
Eddie F., and Frank E.
In 1 8 74 Mr. Miles was appointed deputy
sheriff" and successively re-elected until he
was made sheriff" ten years later. Since the
fall of 1878 he has resided in Crafts-
bury, Barton, Irasburg and Newport, but
finally made his place of abode in .-M-
bany. He has been concerned in the arrest
of many prominent criminals and was active-
ly employed in search of the murderer
Almy.
Republican since the formation of tiie
party. He is a member of Baxter Post, d.
A. R., of the K. of P., and in the Masonic
order is a member of the K. T. He is Hberal
in his reUgious preferences.
MILES, WILLARD WESBERY, of Barton,
son of Orin and Eunice (Clark) Miles, was
■born in Albany, Feb. 6, 1845. His ances-
tors were among the early settlers of this
country and his father's and mother's grand-
fathers were Revolutionary soldiers and set-
tled in \'ermont at the close of the Revolu-
tionary war.
Mr. Miles, after a course in the public
schools in Albany, fitted for college at the
Barnston and Hatley academies in the Prov-
ince of (Quebec, at the time intending to
complete his education at college ; but being
compelled to rely upon his own resources
and financial means, consisting [principally
of stood health, a robust constitution and
freedom from expensive habits, he finally
decided to abandon his purpose to take a
college course, and devote the time necessary
to complete that course, to the study of law.
Previous to entering an office, he took pri-
vate lessons in Greek and Latin of Re^•. S.
K. B. Perkins. For some time he taught in
the common schools in Albany and vicinity
and two terms in each of the academies of
Albany and Craftsbury, employing his leisure
time in reading law. In 1866, he entered
the office of Charles I. Vail, I'^sii., then of
MILLER. 275
Irasburgh, where he remained for two years.
He then went to Ann .'\rbor, Mich., for the
pur|)ose of entering the law school at that
place, but on account of ill-health he was
com])elled to return to Vermont, and in the
fall of 187 1, entered the office of Hon.
\Villiam W. Grout at Barton, where he re-
mained until the Se])tember term of Orleans
county court, 1872, at which time he was ad-
mitted to the bar and was ap])ointcd master
in chancery.
He commenced the practice of law at
South Albany, where he remained till June,
1873, when he removed to North Craftsbury,
and there opened a law office. He prac-
ticed law at this place until April, 1881,
when he removed to Barton, and formed a
copartnership with Gen. William \\". (irout,
under the name of Grout & Miles. That
firm did a large and remunerative business
during its continuance, and was engaged in
many of the important suits in that ])art of
the state. In 1888, on account of congres-
sional duties. General Grout withdrew from
the firm, since which time Mr. Miles has
conducted that business alone at Barton,
where he is now located. Since the dissolu-
tion of the firm of Grout & Miles, he has
retained and continues to hold the clientage
of that firm.
Mr. Miles is a strong Republican and has
ever felt a deep interest in the prosperity of
the Republican party. He has been entrust-
ed with official positions both in .Albany
and Craftsbury, holding the office of town
clerk in the latter named town for several
vears and until his removal to Barton. In
1872, he was sent to the Legislature to rep-
resent the town of Albany, serving on the
committee on elections, and in 1878 he rep-
resented the town of Craftsbury, serving on
the judiciary committee of which Judge
Poland was chairman. In 1 890 he was elect-
ed state's attorney for the county of Orleans,
which office he still holds.
He is a member of Meridian Sun -fcodge
of F. & A. M., No. 20. In his religious be-
lief, he is Congregationalist and a member
of the Congregational church at Barton.
September 29, 1872, he married Ellen M.,
daughter of Luther and Lavinia (Dewey)
1 low of Albany. They had three children :
Ida M., Mabel A., and Orin L. (deceased).
MILLER, Crosby, of Pomfret, son of
John and Hannah (Crosby) Miller, was born
in Pomfret, June 6, 181 1.
Educated in the common schools and
afterwards at Chester .Academy, he has
de\oted the principal energies of a long life
to farming, but has found opportunities to
discharge many other duties which have de-
devolved upon him in consequence of the
high reputation for integrity and ability
276
which he has always maintained in the com-
munity.
In politics he was a whig until the Repub-
lican party was formed, since which he has
steadfastly adhered to its principles. For
several years postmaster, and having held
most of the town offices, including treasurer
for thirty years, he was sent to the state Sen-
ate in 1851 and 1852, and for four terms was
the representative from Pomfret, commenc-
ing that service in i860. He has been
county commissioner and United States as-
sistant assessor, and was made assistant
judge of the county court in 1872, which
office he held for ten vears. The limits of
this article are hardly sufficient to enumerate
a tithe of the trusts which ha\e devohed
upon him. As a farmer, Judge Miller was
president of the Windsor" County Agricul-
tural Society, and a director and vice-presi
dent of the State Agricultural Society, a
director of the Champlain Valley and Con-
necticut River societies, while as a financier
he has held for seventeen years the position
of director of the Royalton National Bank,
and that of its president for ten years, and
vice-president of the Otter Queche Savings
Bank. For a long time past he has beena
trustee of the U. V. M. and State Agriculural
College, and a member of the board of con-
trol of the experiment station since its
establishment. Judge Miller's wisdom as to
what is best to be done and how to do it is
the reason of his having been called to so
many and important duties.
Judge Miller married, April 5, 1835, '"^
Pomfret, Orpha, daughter of Joseph Denni-
son and Rebecca (Miller) Hewitt. Their
five children were : Melvin, KUen Matilda
(Mrs. A. B. Chandler), Isabella (deceased),
Crosby Park, and Kmma Lucy (Mrs. H. H.
Mclntyre).
MILLER, JOSEPH, of East Dummerston,
son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Wilson) Miller,
was born in Dummerston March 3, 1817.
His great-grandfather, Capt. Isaac Miller,
who surveyed the township of Dummerston
in 1767, ga\e in 1775 the land, which was
lot No. 37, containing one hundred acres, to
his eldest son, Capt. \'espasian .Miller. \'es-
pasian had been a soldier in the old French
war in 1759, afterward followed the sea until
1775 when he came to Dummerston and in
1778 moved his family to this town.
Mr. Joseph Miller received a somewhat
limited education in the public schools, but
availed himself of his opportunities so profit-
ably that for five winters he was an instructor
in the village schools and was made town
superintendent in 1857. The business of his
life has been the tillage of the soil, and his
intelligent and industrious efforts have been
rewarded with merited success. His farm is
pleasantly situated in the eastern part of the
town and produces excellent crops. He has
a large orchard from which he manufactures
the best quality of maple sugar. Some
friends of Grover Cleveland during his first
term as President bought a box of this pro-
duct and sent it to him, and to be strictly
impartial a similar purchase was made and
sent to President Benjamin Harrison. His
sugar was especially noticed by the French
commissioners at the Centennial in Philadel-
phia in 1876, and received an award at the
Columbian Exposition in 1893.
Mr. Miller's political life began at the age
of thirty-two, when he was chosen, town
clerk, and having held the ofifice for forty-
four years, he was re-elected at the last March
meeting. From 1850 until 1884 he dis-
charged the responsible duties of a justice
of the peace, and has represented his town
in the state Legislature for two successive
terms (in 1862 and 1863). Soon after the
war he was chosen town treasurer, holding
that office at the present time, and was made
census enumerator of the United States for
the township of Dummerston in 1880. His
long experience in public business makes
him a valuable officer and reliable legal
counsellor in matters pertaining to town af-
fairs. His assistance and advice are often
sought in making wills and the settlement of
estates. He is an excellent penman, and the
town records kept by him can be as easily
read as typewriting.
Mr. Miller was first united in marriage,
March 3, 1841,10 Eliza A., daughter of Isaac
and Abigail (McWayne) Reed, who died
Nov. 26, 1843. His second wife was Sophia,
daughter of \\'illiamand Polly (Frost) Arms,
whom he espoused Dec. 25, 1844. She de-
ceased July 26, 1883. Of this marriage there
are three children now living : J. Arms, Adin
P., and Ansel Irwin.
MILLER, JOSEPH ARMS, of East Dum-
merston, son of Joseph and Sophia (.'\rms)
Miller, was born in Dummerston, August 22,
1847.
Mr. Miller was born and bred upon a
farm, and in the intervals of hard and unre-
mitting labor availed himself of such educa-
tional advantages as were afforded by the
district schools of Dummerston. He has
always followed the occupation in which he
was brought up, and the instruction of his
youth, added to the experience of riper
years, has brought him a well-earned com-
petency, derived from commendable care,
industry and punctuality.
For four successive years he was chosen to
perform the duties of first selectman, and
refused at the beginning of the fourth year
to longer hold the office. He was consid-
ered a fitting individual to represent Dum-
merston in the Legislature of 1890, and
se\eral times has been selected to minor
offices in that town.
Mr. Miller was married, Jan. 10, 1871, to
Sarah M., daughter of Thomas L. and Maria
MILLER. 277
(Ramsdell) Read. Ten children have been
issue of this union ; Willie A., .\ddie S., J.
^
Warren, Arthur L., Avery F., Earnest (;.,
Florence E., Dwight R., R. Irving, and
Floyd S.
MILLER, Harris M., of \Vest Fairlee,
son of Madison M. and Sarah E. (Vesper)
Miller, was born in West Fairlee, May 24,
1852.
He was brought up on the farm of his
father, who, in addition to cultivating his
property, bred and extensively dealt in
horses. The son received his educational
training in the common schools of the town
and at Thetford Academy. When he arrived
at his majority, Mr. Miller resolved to see a
little of the outside world and consequently
made a tour of observation through the
Northwest, visiting Iowa, Minnesota and
Dakota. This trip occupied two years, and
on his return he determined to engage in
business as a butcher and on account of the
growth of population from the working of
the Ely copper mines he soon enjoyed a
trade of $20,000 per annum. .\t this time
he purchased the property where he now
resides and he has erected thereon a com-
modious and elegant mansion.
Mr. Miller was united, Nov. 16, 1S78, to
Katie A., daughter of A. I. and Mary (Piper)
Abbott of Medford, Minn. They have one
son : Llewellyn M.
He is a member of Jackson Lodge, No.
60, F. & A. M., in which he took his degrees
when he was twenty-one years of age, has
filled all the chairs and is its present Wor-
shipful Master.
Mr. Miller is an active and influential
Democrat and has repeatedly served his
party as chairman of the county convention
and upon the county committee. After
serving as lister, selectman and constable
he was elected the representative from
West Fairlee in 1890 and complimented by
a re-election in 1S92. For six years he
actively and vigorously discharged the duties
of deputy sheriff, proving himself to be a
most able and efficient executive officer.
For a man of his age he is widely known
and deservedly popular in his town and
countv-
of what energy and industry can effect on a
Green Mountain farm, for he has paid off an
encumbrance of $7,000, improved his prop-
erty, and retired to enjoy his latter days in.
peace and dignity in Shelburne village, sell-
ing at a profitable advance his estate, which
at times has produced thirteen hundred bar-
rels of apples annually.
Mr. Aliller was maried, Feb. 8, 1844, to-
Ann Maria, daughter of Asahel and Frelove-
( Irish) Ballard, of Lawrence, N. Y.
He was brought up a Democrat of the-
Jackson school, but, when the Kansas agita-
tion occurred, became a Free Soiler, and
finally a Republican, to which party he has-
steadfastly adhered and gi\en a hearty sup-
ort. He has been entrusted with many
town offices, is now town clerk and justice of
the peace, and was sent to the lower branch
of the Legislature in 1890, where he served
with credit on the committee on elections.
MILLER, NORRIS Robinson, of shel-
burne, son of Caleb and Polly (Naramore)
Miller, was born in Charlotte, Jan. 23, 1822.
He is of mixed lineage, for his grandfather,
an old Revolutionary veteran, was a Scotch-
man, while his mother was of Dutch descent.
The former was an early settler of Char-
lotte, where Norris enjoyed the limited edu-
cational resources of the common schools,
and was a tiller of the soil until he was of
age, when he relinquished agriculture in part
for the calling of a carpenter. He continued
working at his trade in Lawrence, N. Y., till
1868, when he purchased a fruit farm in
Shelburne and commenced to raise fruit for
the Boston market. He is a marked proof
NORRIS ROBINSON MILLER.
Mr. Miller became a member of the Meth-
odist Episcopal church in 1839, and has
been honored with many of the official
positions which a layman can hold in that
church. He has also been a member of the
Patrons of Husbandry.
MILLER, ADIN FRANKLIN, of East
Dummerston, son of Joseph and Sophia
(.-\rms) Miller, was born in Dummerston,
July 16, 1850.
Born and bred on a farm, he commenced
his education by attendance in the common;
schools and then ])iirsued a course of in-
struction at Power's Institute of I'.ernards-
ton, Mass.
He has been all his life a farmer, devoting
his entire effort to this honorable calling,
reaping where he has sown and winning a
comfortable and well earned subsistence
from the soil.
ADIN FRANKLIN MILLER.
Mr. Miller has been called upon to serve
in many offices in his native town. For
nearly ten years he has been constable and
collector and represented Dummerston in
the Cleneral Assembly of the state of \'er-
mont in 1888.
He was united in marriage, Dec. 31, 1874,
to Hattie Alice, daughter of Deacon Adin A.
and Fannie (Kathan) Dutton.
MORRILL, Justin Smith, of Strafford,
son of Nathaniel and Mary (Hunt) Morrill,
was born at Strafford, .\pril 14, 1810, and
now resides there.
He received his early education in the
public schools of his native town and at
Thetford and Randolph academies, begin-
ning business life at the age of fifteen, enter-
ing a local store as a clerk, afterward going,
in 1828, to Portland, Maine, where he also
was employed as a clerk with a merchant en-
gaged in the West India shipping trade and
then with a wholesale and retail dry goods
establishment. In 1831 he returned to Straf-
ford, and became the ]jartner of the late
Judge ledediah Harris, the leading merchant
in Strafford, lint tliis business connection was
.Mokkii.i,. 279
terminated by tlie death of Judge Harris, in
1.S55. l'"or many years he was one of the
directors of the Orange County P,ank, of
Chelsea. Mr. .Morrill ceased to give his per-
sonal attention to mercantile business in 1S48,
and devoted himself chiefly to agricultural
and horticultural jiursuits.
From his boyhood Mr. Morrill had given
his unoccupied working hours to careful and
diligent perusal of standard and classical
authors and while a clerk had read such works
as "P)lackstone's Commentaries." He was
thus storing a retentive memory with facts
and fitting himself consciously or uncon-
sciously for public life and national usefulness.
I'ntil he was forty-four years old, however, he
had neither sought nor held any office higher
than that of a justice of the peace, although
in the circle of his numerous acquaintances
he had become known as a man of much
more than ordinary intellectual ability, of
remarkable balance of judgment, of marked
business capacity, of uniform courtesy, and
of pleasing personal address. Suddenly he
stepped to the front. In 1854, the late
.\ndrew Tracy, of Woodstock, representative
of the second congressional district in Con-
gress, after a single term declined to be a
<andidate for re-election. Mr. Morrill was
suggested by some discerning friends as a fit
man to succeed him. The suggestion found
favor, and he received the nomination of
the whig party convention of the district. It
was a notable compliment to be paid to a
(piiet and studious man, who had never
e\en represented his town in the Leg-
islature. Mr. Morrill was elected by a small
majority, as there were then three political
l)arties in the state, and took his seat in the
Thirty-fourth Congress, on the 3d of Decem-
ber, 1855. He had been elected as an anti-
sla\ery whig, but the whig party was then in
the throes of dissolution, and when he ap-
peared in Washington it was as a representa-
ti\e of the new Re])ublican partv, in the
organization of which in Vermont he had
taken part, and of whose principles he be-
came the earnest advocate. He soon made
his mark as an intelligent legislator. He
o])posed the tariff of 1857 in a s]:)eech which
attracted wide attention. He carried through
the House the first bill against Mormon
jiolvgamv. Con.scious that a college educa-
tion would have been of great value to him-
self in public life, he resolved to do what he
could through national legislation to promote
liberal and scientific education for the youth
of the land. He introduced the first bill to
grant iniblic lands for agricultural, scientific
and industrial colleges, and advocated it in
an able speech. It was \etoed by President
liuchanan, but was again introduced by Mr.
Morrill in 1862, and through his able man-
agement became a law. Under this act forty-
28l
se\ en or more land-grant colleges have l)een
successfully established in various states, with
five hundred professors and over five thous-
and students. The national bounty has
called out state aid in large amounts and the
act supplemented by the recent act (also
carried through by Mr. Morrill) increasing
the fund at the disposal of these institutions,
has given an immense impulse to liberal,
scientific and industrial education, and will
confer incalculable benefits upon the rising
generations of our land. Mr. Morrill was five
times re-elected to the House by majorities
ranging from seven thousand to nine thous-
and, and grew steadily in standing and influ-
ence in the lower branch of Congress till, in
the Thirty-ninth Congress he held the leading
position of chairman of the committee of
wavs and means ; and it was said of him, with
truth, that his influence in the House was
greater than that of any other member with
the exception of Thaddeus Stevens. Among
the important speeches made by him during
the critical period before the ci\ il war was
one in support of a report, also made by him,
in opposition to the admission of Kansas
with a pro-slavery constitution. During the
war he had charge of all tariff and tax bills in
the House of Representatives— a herculean
task — and made arguments thereon, and the
"Morrill tariff" of 1861, a monument of indus-
try and practical wisdom, and the internal
revenue tax system of 1862 connect his name
indissolubly with the financial history of the
time.
In 1866, after twelve years of honorable
service in the House, Mr. Morrill was trans-
ferred by the Legislature to the U. S. Senate.
He took his seat with an established national
reputation as a statesman. Subsequently as
chairman of the committee on finance in the
Senate, he held a most important position
of power and influence, and his service as
chairman of the committee of public bviild-
ings and grounds, and as a member of the
committee on education and labor, has
been of the most laborious and useful char-
acter. He is authority in ^^'ashington on
questions relating to finance and taxation,
and his opinion on any subject carries much
weight in Congress. Mr. Morrill's period of
ser\ice in the national Legislature is as re-
markable for its duration as it is distin-
guished for its usefulness. His fifth election
to the Senate, at the age of four score, was
an event without a precedent, and will jjrob-
ably remain without a ])arallel. If he sur-
vi\ es to the end of his present term it will com-
plete forty-two years of service. The longest
pre\ ious continuous term of service in Con-
gress was that of Nathaniel Macon of North
Carolina, w^hich was thirty-seven years, or
twenty-four in the House and thirteen in the
Senate. Mr. Morrill already looks back ujion
nearly thirty-nine years of congressional life,
and he is now younger in mind and body
than most men of three score.
It is the crowning glory of such a career
that it is absolutely spotless. No act of dis-
honor or word of discourtesy was ever
charged to him. He has uniformly held the
highest respect and esteem of his brother
legislators of all parties, as well as the citi-
zens of \'ermont.
Mr. Morrill has been too busy in affairs of
the state to give much time to literary labor,
though making some contributions to the
Forum, and to the North American Review,
but a volume entitled "Self-Consciousness of
Noted Persons," being a collection of ex-
pressions of self-appreciation on the part of
many famous men and women, gathered by
him in the course of his wide reading, was
published in 1882, and a second edition in
1886.
Mr. Morrill was married in 185 1, to Ruth,
daughter of Dr. Caleb and Ruth (Barrill)
Swan of Easton, Mass. Of this union there
is one son living : James S.
Mr. Morrill has been for twenty-six years
a member of the board of trustees of the
L'uiversity of Vermont and State Agricultural
College, and for many years one of the
regents of the Smithsonian Institution. The
degree of M. A. has been conferred upon
him by Dartmouth College, and that of LL.
D. by the Pennsylvania ITniversity, and also
by the Vermont University, and the State
Agricultural College. Of Senator Morrill's
speech on the tariff, made in the Senate Dec.
13, 1893, George Alfred Townshend, the
veteran and up-to-date correspondent, says :
"I fell to wondering whether Daniel Webster
ever made a speech in better literary form
or with more sense of proportion." Charac-
terizing the senator himself— the Nestor of
the Senate — Townshend uses not unfitly the
words, "our Clladstonian friend."
MORSE, George A., of Last Elmore,
son of Ira and Huldah S. (.Ainsworth) Morse,
was born in Plainfield, Oct. 22, 1848.
Descended from a grandsire who was a sol-
dier in the Revolutionary war, his boyhood
was spent upon his father's farm, and in the
intervals of labor he attended the common
schools and then continued his studies at
Hardwick Academy, teaching school win-
ters.
For two years after attaining manhood he
worked upon different farms but in 1871 re-
moved to East Elmore and bought a saw-
mill, engaging in the manufacture of lumber.
.\t first his capital was very limited, but by
his industry and strict attention to business,
his resources soon increased, and he is now
in possession of two thousand acres of timber
land and turns out a million and a half feet of
282
boards per annum, while the product of his
plant is still increasing He lets the logging
principally to the neighboring farmers. By
diligence, energy and good management he
has accumulated a handsome property, sold
his mill and has removed to Morrisville.
Mr. Morse is president of the Morse Manu-
facturing Co. of Wolcott, and is owner of a
large portion of the stock : he also is a di-
rector of the Hardwick Savings P'ank and
Trust Co.
MOULTON, Clarence f., of West
Randolph, son of Horace and Lucy (Smith)
Moulton, was born in Randolph, Alarch ii,
1837-
He spent the early years of his life on the
farm, and in the intervals of agricultural toil
he attended the common schools of Ran-
dolph and later the New London Literary
and Scientific Institute, where he received
his preparatory instruction for Dartmouth
College, from w^hich he graduated in the
class of 1863. Soon after his graduation he
went to New York and entered the office of
Austin Corbin & Co., bankers. After this he
became a partner in the mercantile house of
Clapp, Braden & Co., importers of millinery,
having also the charge of Mr. Clapp's private
estate and acting as guardian for his minor
nephews and nieces, after his death. In 1877
he became a member of the firm of A. F.
Roberts & Co., commission merchants in
flour and grain. He now became the pro-
prietor of a seat in the Produce Flxchange,
and was made a director of the Hanover
Fire Insurance Co., of New York. He is
also a member of the New York Consolidated
Exchange, but his early fondness for the soil
of Vermont brought Mr. Moulton back to the
scenes of his boyhood and youth. In 1882
he bought the place where he now resides.
He has been appointed to many of the
town offices, has been constable, selectman,
justice, and commissioner, and chairman of
the school board. He received the position
of postmaster under the administration of
President Grant, and is still the incumbent
of the same, having had the care of the
office for about twenty years. He was
elected by the Republicans to the Legisla-
ture in 1882, and was chosen senator for
Lamoille county in 1890, in which he was a
member of the finance committee and chair-
man of that on the grand list.
Mr. Morse has taken the three degrees of
Ancient Craft Masonry, and is a member of
Mineral Lodge, No. 93, of Wolcott.
He espoused, Jan. i, 1874, Alice M.,
daughter of William and Pheoba (Olmstead)
Silleway of Llmore. Two children have
blessed their union : George G., and Ethel
(;iee.
ARENCE F. MOULTON
Mr. Moulton was united in marriage in
1875, to Annie J., daughter of Addison F.
and Mary (Sherman) Roberts. Three chil-
283
dren ha\ e been born to them : Shernuui Rob-
erts, Horace Freeman, and Desier (lapp.
In his pohtical affiliations Mr. Moulton is
a Repubhcan, but he has never been an act-
ive partisan in public affairs, since he has
devoted his active energies to business and
his leisure to reading and social enjoyment.
Mr. Moulton is one of the ]>roprietors and
the secretary of the Green Mountain Stuck
Farm Co., an establishment which must be
seen to be fully appreciated. Here a plant
has been erected, with every detail and
appointment perfected, regardless of ex-
pense, and a magnificent herd of nearly
three hundred registered Jerseys are kept
under ideally perfect conditions with respect
to feed and care. The result is butter of
great perfection, which was found worthy to
take the gold medal at the Paris Exposition,
1889, also the gold medal at the World's
Fair at Chicago in 1893.
MUNSON, LOVELAND, of Manchester,
son of Cyrus and Lucy (Loveland) Mimson,
was born in Manchester, July 21, 1843.
The first ancestor of Mr. Munson to be-
come a resident of Vermont was Jared Mun-
son, who emigrated from Lanesboro, Mass.,
in 1778 and settled on a portion of the land
on which Manchester village now stands.
His son Rufus was born in 1762 and accom-
panied his father to Manchester, where he
died at the early age of thirty-five in 1797.
Cyrus Munson, son of Rufus, was born in
Manchester, Jan. 22, 1790, and was twice
married. His first wife, to whom he was
married on the loth of August, 181 1, was
Catherine Walker, who died in i8
On the 1 6th of November, 1841, he married
Lucy, daughter of Deacon Asa Lo\eIand. Mr.
Munson led the life of a quiet, industrious
farmer, was honored by election to different
town offices, and died on the ist of October,
1857-
Loveland Munson received a good acad-
emical education. Choosing the legal pro-
fession, he began the study of law in 1862
in the office of Elias B. Burton. Admitted
to the bar of Bennington county in June,
1866, he at once entered into copartnership
with his former preceptor. The firm of Bur-
ton & Munson, while it continued, had a
good practice, as did afterward its junior
member when alone.
Mr. Munson occupied for many years a
prominent place in the political affairs of the
state. About 1866 he was elected member
and afterward chairman of the Republican
county committee and served as such for
several years. After his selection for this
position he was made chairman of the Re-
publican district committee, and was con-
tinued in this for several years. From 1863
to 1866 Mr. Munson edited the Manchester
Journal and his interest in literature he has
always kept alive. In 1S82 he deli\ered an
excellent address on "The llarly History of
.Manchester" which was afterward published.
From 1866 to 1873 he was town clerk of
Manchester, and in the latter year declined
further election because of the jiressure of
professional ]nirsuits. From December, 1866,
to December, 1876, he was register of pro-
bate for the district of Manchester. He was
a member of the famous Constitutional Con-
vention of 1870.
In 1872 Mr. Munson entered the \"ermont
Legislature as the representative of the town
of Manchester. During the session of that
year he served on the committees on the
judiciary and on railroads, and also on a
special joint committee appointed to inves-
tigate the affairs of the Central Vermont
R. R. The latter assembled after the ad-
journment of the Legislature and made its
report to the Governor. Again elected to
the House in 1874, he served in the session
following as chairman of the judiciary com-
mittee. He received a large vote for the
speaker's chair in competition with judge
H. H. Powers. In 1878 he represented
Bennington county in the Senate, and re-
ceiving the honor of an election to the presi-
dency/;y; /<?;;/, was for that reason excused
from all committee service, except that on
rules, of which committee he was chairman.
Mr. Munson was again returned to the
House in 1882, and by the action of his
friends was made a candidate for the speak-
ership against Hon. J. L. Martin, but the lat-
ter was elected. At this session he was chair-
man of the general committee and was also
a member of the judiciary committee. His
sound sense and absolute sincerity gave him
the leadership on the floor of the two Houses
in which others carried off the honors of the
speakership. Strong in debate, his speeches
uniformly commanded the close and respect-
ful attention of his colleagues, and almost
always their hearty support of measures ad-
vocated by him.
In May, 1S83, he received the appoint-
ment of judge of probate for the district of
Manchester, succeeding Judge Ranney How-
ard, deceased.
He was appointed by Governor Ormsbee
in 1887 chairman of a committee authorized
by the Legislature of 1886 to revise and re-
draft the school laws and incorporate with
their revision new features to improve the
schools and present the same in the form of
a bill. The bill so drafted with some few
changes became the school law enacted in
1888.
Judge Munson was, in September, 1889,
upon the resignation of Judge Veazey, ap-
pointed sixth assistant judge of the Supreme
Court, and in 1S90 was elected fourth assist-
284
NEEDHAM.
ant judge of that court which position he
now holds by re-election in 1S92.
Judge Munson's fairness, studious habit,
and literary skill rendered him a most valu-
able acquisition to the bench, and his pe-
culiar ability as a presiding officer helps to
keep up the well-deserved reputation the
\'ermont trial courts have won as places
where the law is administered with fit dignity
and decorum.
Judge Munson married. May 4, 1882,
Mary B., daughter of Rev. Alexander B. and
.'\nna M. (Hollister) Campbell, of Men-
don, 111.
NEEDHAM, LEWIS CaSS, of Leicester
Junction, son of Benjamin E. and Amanda
(Page) Needham, was born in Shrewsbury,
April 6, 1843. His parents were early set-
tlers of Massachusetts, and his great-grand-
father, Benjamin Needham, was one of the
founders of the town of Shrewsbury. Owing
to his being the only dependent of a widowed
mother and her younger children, Mr. Need-
ham is about the only member of his family
who is without a personal war record. His
LEWIS CASS NEEDHAM.
great-grandfather was a soldier in the Revo-
lution ; his grandfather, father, and an uncle
were soldiers in the war of 1812 ; an uncle,
Horace Needham, served in the Mexican
war, and many others of the family were
engaged in the war of the rebellion.
The early education of the subject of this
sketch was obtained in the schools of Shrews-
bury during the fall terms, his summer and
winter months being spent in farm labor and
teaching. Mr. Needham resolved upon a
business career, and pursued a course of
study in the Eastman Business College of
Poughkeepsie, N. V. Subsequently he re-
turned to his birthplace and lived with his
widowed mother until her death. In 1868
he went to Rutland and commenced work in
the employuient of the Rutland Railroad Co.
In 1878 he moved to Leicester and since
then has been agent for the CentraU'ermont
Railroad Co. in that place.
He represented Leicester in the Legisla-
ture in the session of 1884 ; has been justice
of the peace since that time, and superin-
tendent of schools since 1890. He was
chairman of the Republican town committee
in 1S90, and takes an active interest in
political affairs.
Mr. Needham became a member of Centre
Lodge, F. & A. M., at Rutland, in 1865, and
afterward affiliated with St. Paul's Lodge at
Ikandon, in 1890. He became a member
of Killington Lodge, L O. (). F., of Rutland
in 1870, and was a zealous and efficient
worker in the order. He united w-ith the
Congregational church at Rutland in Janu-
ary, 1S75, and was transferred to the church
in Whiting in 1885, where he has been a
deacon since 1887.
Mr. Needham was married, Jan. 23, 1879,
to Ella, daughter of Nelson and Nancy
( Farr) Brown of Rutland. Of this union
there are two children : Martha E., and
Florence R. Mrs. Needham is a grand-
daughter of Solomon Brown of Lexington,
Mass., who was a Revolutionary soldier, and
fired the first gun in the battle of Lexington.
The gun is a keepsake in the Brown family.
NELSON, WILMOT C, of Norton's
Mills, son of Nathaniel and Eliza (C.reen-
liaf) Nelson, was born in Alna, Me., May 9,
1850.
His education was derived from a course
of study at the common schools, at the com-
pletion of which he entered his father's
shop to learn the tanner's trade and engaged
in this calling till he arrived at his majority,
when he entered the employ of the Norton
Mills Co., as clerk. When the company
failed in 1874, Mr. Nelson went to Island
Pond, but soon returned and rented a store,
in which he carried on the principal retail
general trade of the place. In 1884 he
entered as senior partner the firm of A.
McLean & Co. This concern five vears
after sold their interest to A. M. Stetson iS:
Co., by whom Mr. Nelson was engaged as
foreman of the establishment.
Mr. Nelson was united in marriage, August
7, 1874, in Boston, to Cora A., daughter of
\\'illiam and Margaret Libbey of Elast
Machias, Me. Four children have been the
fruit of their union : Frank M. (deceased),
Gertrude E., Edward J-, and Edith M.
WILMOT G. NELSON.
He has taken the several degrees of the
blue lodge, working with Island Fond Lodge,
No. 44, and is also a Royal Arch Mason and
a member of the lodge of Odd Fellows in
that town.
When the town of Norton was organized
in 1S85 Mr. Nelson acted as moderator and
first selectman, which office he held for
three consecutive terms. He has also been
postmaster for fifteen years and deputy
sheriff for twelve years. His business en-
gagements have been so pressing and im-
portant, that he has avoided office. He is
an outspoken Republican and his influence
can be seen in the constantly increasing
vote of that party in the town, which, not-
withstanding the large foreign element, gave
a majority for Harrison in 1892. His in-
fluence in the community has been con-
stantly on the side of good morals and
progress.
NEWELL, Lyman Merrifield, of
Wardsboro, son of Jackson and Sarah ( Mer-
rifield) Newell, was born in Wardsboro, April
14, 1833-
NEWTON. 285
Having availed himself of the educational
advantages derived from the common
schools, he was employed as clerk in his
father's store until 1S55, when he bought
his father's interest and continued the busi-
ness for four years. He then retired from
active mercantile life and bought a farm,
which he has conducted u|) to the present
time.
He was united in marriage April 20, 1855,
to Sylvan D., daughter of Calvin and Orrilla
(Choate) Taylor.
For twelve years past Mr. Newell has been
town treasurer and town agent. For many
years he was lister and constable, and also
trustee of public money. He was a mem-
ber of the Constitutional Convention in 1870,
JtERRlFIELD NEWEL
while for four years, 1867, 1868, 1872 and
1S73, he represented the town in the General
Assembly. An upright citizen, Mr. Newell
has the respect of the community in which
he resides.
NEWTON, WILLIAM S., of ISrattleboro,
son of Willliam and Betsey (Harris) New-
ton, was born in Marlboro, June 26, 1822.
He was of the seventh generation on the
line of descent from England. Cotton New-
ton, his grandfather, was a soldier in the
Revolutionary war, and was at the battle of
Stillwater.
His educational training was obtained
in the common schools and at the Brattle-
boro Academy, and when seventeen years of
age he left the farm upon which he was
born, to take his first step in active business
life, being employed as clerk in the store of
Jesse Cone at the center of the town, which
was then located on the present site of the
meeting house. Subsequently he came to
Brattleboro, where he obtained a similar
position in the store of (lardner C. Hall, in
whose service he remained for two years.
Again he returned to the place of his nativity,
but in 1852 accepted a position in the
employment of the Vermont & Massachu-
setts Railroad Co., at Brattleboro ; from
thence he transferred his services to the
post-ofifice under the administration of
Samuel Dutton. In March, 1S59, he formed a
copartnership with Nathaniel Cheney and
engaged in the grocery business. This con-
nection was dissolved in July afterwards and
he continued the trade at the old stand till
Dec. I, 1887.
He was elected town clerk, March 3, 1863,
and justice of the peace at the September
Freemen's meeting afterwards ; elected a
trustee of the Vermont Savings Bank in
January, 1882, and vice-president in Jan-
uary, 1 89 1. In all of these capacities he
has given universal satisfaction by the exact-
itude, impartiality and conscientiousness
with which he has discharged the some-
what delicate duties of his official position,
and the unwavering rectitude and constant
probity of his daily life have earned the
entire respect of the community where he
resides.
Gifted with a keen sense of the ridiculous,
no one more appreciates the comic side of
life or enjoys with more hearty zest the droll
occurences that are continually arising to
relieve in some degree the irksome toil to
which poor humanity is otherwise con-
demned.
His religious preference is the Congrega-
tional faith.
Mr. Newton was united in wedlock, March
30, 185S, to Lucinda \\'. Harris, daughter of
David \V. and Salome (Wheeler) Goodrich,
of Chesterfield, N. H.
NICHOLS, William Henry, of Brain-
tree, son of William and Betsey (White)
Nichols, was born in Braintree, Dec. 23,
1829. He descends from old New England
stock, which has exhibited the virtue of good
citizenship through successive generations.
Isaac Nichols, his great-grandfather, was a
colonel in the Revolutionary army, and a
participant in the battles of Bennington and
Saratoga. He came to Braintree with his
wife and seven stalwart sons and one grand-
child in October, 1787, and took up his
residence on Quaker Hill, building a rude
log hut, covered with bark. From that time
to the present, the family has been promi-
nently and officially connected with public
affairs. Isaac was the first representative,
repeatedly holding that position ; and he and
his wife were original members of the First
Congregational Church, of which he was for
a long time a deacon, and which was organ-
ized in 1794. His wife, Dorcas (Sibley)
Nichols, was a woman of unusual mental
and physical vigor, of great celebrity as a
nurse, and lived to the remarkable age of
one hundred and four years and ten months.
His youngest son, Rev. Ammi Nichols, was
a clergyman for two-thirds of a century.
Betsey White, mother of Judge Nichols,
was a lineal descendant of Peregrine White,
the first born of the Pilgrims, and the old
family homestead, now occupied by the son
of Judge Nichols, has been the home and
unencumbered property of the family for
more than a century.
William H. Nichols attended the Orange
county grammar school and West Randolph
Academy, and graduated from Middlebury
College in the class of 1856. He studied
law with John B. Hutchinson, meanwhile
teaching several terms of the Orange county
grammar school and West Randolph .Acad-
emy. He was admitted to the Orange
county bar in 1857, and continued to prac-
tice until the fall of i860, when he estab-
lished himself as a lawyer at Cedar Falls,
Iowa.
On the breaking out of the war he enlisted
as a private, served in the departments of
Mississippi and the (ailf, at X'icksburg,
Shiloh, the siege and second battle of Cor-
inth, and capture of Mobile, and was
wounded at Corinth. He served at times as
drill-master, and ordnance and commissary
sergeant. .After being mustered out he came
to Braintree and took charge of his father's
farm.
A Republican in politics, he has discharged
many public and official trusts. He was a
member of the last Constitutional Conven-
tion ; re])resentative from Braintree in 1870 ;
judge of county court, 1872 to 1874; has
been superintendent of schools, and was for
a long time clerk and treasurer, a position
that has been held by successive members
of the family for nearly three-quarters of a
century. In 1879 he was elected judge of
probate, and has since creditably filled that
position.
Judge Nichols married, .August 3, 1856,
Ann Eliza, daughter of William A. and
Abby (Curver) Bates. Their children are :
Henry Hebert, William Bates, Edward H.,
and .Anna.
Judge Nichols is a whole-souled gentle-
man, and in all of the various relations of
civil and military life has discharged his
duties ably and faithfully. He has been for
thirty-six years a member of Phcenix Lodge,
No. 28, F. & A. M., and is also a comrade
of U. S. Grant Post, No. 36, of West
Randolph.
NIMBLET, Oscar L., of Monkton, son
of Hosea and .Althea (Williams) Nimblet,
was born in Monkton, Jan. 16, 1832.
His scholastic training was recei\ed at the
public and private schools of his native town
and at Bakersfield .Academy. Immediately
after leaving Bakersfield he commenced the
studv of medicine by attending lectures at
Dartmouth College, and afterwards graduated
with high honors from the medical depart-
ment of the University of Vermont, receiving
his diploma in the class of 1854. Returning
to Monkton, he practiced successfully in that
town and vicinity.
Doctor Nimblet was married at Mont-
pelier, August 16, 1853, to Sarah V., daugh-
ter of David and Hannah (Prescott) Mason,
by whom he has had issue : Ida A. (Mrs.
Moses Sears, of Williston), Katie L. (Mrs.
Alfred Hull, of Hinesburgh), Altha S. (Mrs.
William Stone, of U'illiston). Mrs. Nimblet
died Dec. 2, 1884, and Doctor Nimblet was
united, Jan. 2, 1886, to Mrs. Eliza C. Weller.
Doctor Nimblet has always been an ardent
supporter of Republican principles. On ac-
count of his interest in educational matters,
he has been called upon to act as superin-
tendent of schools for a quarter of a century,
besides serving as school director and town
agent. He represented Monkton in the Leg-
NORTON. 2S7
islature of 1888, giving his .services to the
committee on the insane, in which capacity
he established a most desirable record. He
has enrolled himself a member of the Ma-
sonic fraternity, and though a believer in
C'hristianity, is not a member of any particu-
lar sect.
He possesses marked literary ability, and
has often contributed to papers and periodi-
cals. He is a fluent and eloquent speaker,
and has often displayed his oratorical powers
in lectures and on public occasions in vari-
ous parts of the state.
NORTON, LUMAN Preston, of Ben-
nington, son of Julius and Maria (Spooner)
Norton, was born in Bennington March 20,
I S3 7. Mr. Norton is directly descended
from William C. Spooner, signer of the De-
claration of Independence, and his great
grandfather, John, fought in the Revolution-
ary army in which he held the rank of
(■a])tain.
He received his preliminary education at
the public schools of Cambridge, N. Y., and
afterward pursued his studies at the acad-
emies of Randolph and Bennington and also
that of Bloomfield, N. V. Entering Union
College, Schenectad)', N. Y., he graduated
in June, 1858, and the following year formed
a copartnership with his father at Benning-
ton for the manufacture of pottery, a busi-
ness established by his great-grandfather in
1793. After his father's death in 1861 Mr.
Norton continued in the concern for twentv-
OLMSTEAD.
one years, when he sold his entire interest
to his partner and removed to Bismark, Dak.,
for the benefit of his impaired health. On
his return to Vermont he accepted the gen-
eral agency of the Northwestern Mutual Life
Insurance Co. He was elected the first
president of the Bennington County Savings
Bank and also of the vitlage of Bennington.
He is largely interested in real estate both in
Vermont and in the West.
A Republican in his political preferences,
he has taken little active part in public af-
fairs, though confidence in his integrity and
financial capacity have called him to the
office of trustee of Bennington \illage, repre-
senting that town in the Legislature of 1874,
being assigned to important committees.
In Mt. Anthony Lodge, No. 13, F. &: A.
M., he has been the incumbent of all the
ofifices with the exception of that of master ;
is a charter member of Bennington Histor-
ical Society, and belongs to the Improved
Order of Red Men. He is a communicant
of the Protestant Episcopal church. He is
auditor of the diocese of Vermont and has
been for many years lay delegate to the dio-
cesan convention.
Mr. Norton married, Oct. 12, 1858, Alice
L., daughter of Bradford Godfrey. Four
children have been issue of this union :
Luman S., Agnes C. (wife of Judge Charles
H. Darling of Bennington), Alice Mabel,
and Julius Philip.
OLMSTEAD, ALNER AllYN, of South
Newbury, son of Isaac H. and S. Ann
(Allyn) Olmstead was born at Newbury,
Tune 15, 1850. He is of English-Scotch
descent.
OLMSTEAD.
He received his education at Newbury Sem-
inary and Vermont Methodist Seminary at
Montpelier. In 1 87 1 he commenced the study
of law with Orrin Gambell of Bradford, but on
account of difficulty with his eyes he was
compelled to abandon his hopes of entering
that profession, and formed a partnership
with his father for the manufacture of chairs,
which trade he had learned in his minority.
This business connection continued until the
death of his father in 1878. The next vear
Mr. Olmstead built a large and commodious
chair factory, costing about S6,ooo, and since
that time he has successfully conducted the
business, with the addition of the lumber
and furniture trade. He is a farmer and
breeder of blooded horses, of which he is a
great lover, owning twelve at the present
time. He is enterprising and possesses a
marked degree of will power, with that con-
tinuity that makes it painful to give up. He
is a director, treasurer, and manager of the
Orange County Canning Co., which he was
instrumental in organizing.
Mr. Olmstead is a Democrat, and although
his town is strongly Republican, in 1890 he
was elected a member of the General As-
sembly, a position not held in Newbury by a
Democrat since Henry Keyes, thirty-five
years before. He served on the committee
of manufacturing and on the joint special
committee of the World's Fair. He gained
the reputation of being a prudent and care-
ful legislator, and won the confidence and
esteem of his associates. His townsmen
honored him with a re-election in 1892, when
he served on the committee of grand list,
and, being a staunch temperance ad\ocate,
was placed on the committee of temperance,
where he did good work. On the 5th of
May, 1892, at the Democratic state conven-
tion in Montpelier, Mr. Olmstead was chosen
a member of the Vermont Democratic state
committee, and now holds that position. On
the 13th of June, 1893, J. Sterling Merton,
Secretary of Agriculture in Mr. Cleveland's
cabinet, appointed Mr. Olmstead to the posi-
tion of state statistical agent for Vermont at
a salary of $600 per year.
He joined the M. E. Church in 1870, and
has been an active member, officer and lib-
eral supporter since. He was made a Mason,
in 1874, and is now a Royal Arch.
On May 27, 1880, at South Newbury, he
married Miss Jennie M., daughter of John
and Susan C. (Fuller) Thompson, a noble
Christian woman, "who did him good and not
evil all the days of her life." She died Dec.
25, 1889.
ORVIS, Franklin Henry, of Man-
chester, was born on the 12th day of July,
1824, and is the eldest child of Levi Church
and Electa Sophia (Purdy) ()r\is. His
father, Levi Church Orvis, and grandfather,
Waitstill Orvis, were likewise natives of Ver-
mont, though born east of the mountains.
His mother was descended from Reuben
.IN HENRY ORVIS.
Purdy, who will be remembered as the head
of one of the oldest and most highly re-
spected pioneer families of the town of
Manchester. Levi Church Orvis came to
Manchester about the year 1820, living for a
time in the family of Ephraim Munson, and
attended Hill's School. Shortly afterward
he married Electa Sophia Purdy. He was
engaged in the mercantile and marble busi-
ness at Manchester up to the time of his
death in 1849.
It was in his father's store that Franklin
H. Orvis obtained his early business train-
ing. He was educated in the common
schools of the town, and at the Barr Semi-
nary, and the Union Village Academy at
Greenwich, N. V., from which last institution
he graduated in 1842, being then eighteen
years of age. The next two years were
passed in Wisconsin and Illinois in mercan-
tile ]nirsuits, but in 1S44 he went to New
\ ork City as a clerk in the wholesale dry
goods house of Marsh & Willis, which posi-
tion he held for about two years. In 1846,
Mr. Orvis, in association with Elijah .M.
Carrington, formerly of Poultney, under the
firm name of Carrington & Orvis, engaged in
the wholesale dry goods business, whuh he
continued until about the year i860, when
he retired to give his whole attention to the
hotel which he had established some eight
years before. But the Equinox of Man-
chester, as is very well known, has been con-
ducted as a summer resort exclusively ; there-
fore, when Mr. Orvis withdrew from his
occupation in New York City, the winter
months became to him a season of compara-
tive inactivity, except during the period of
his connection with the Manchester Journal,
which paper he purchased in 1871, and con-
tinued with gratifying success. In 1872 Mr.
( )rvis became proprietor of the St. James
Hotel at Jacksonville, Fla., which he con-
ducted as a winter resort. In 1875 he pur-
chased the Putnam House at Palatka, Fla.,
enlarged it and continued its management
imtil it was destroyed by fire in Noxember,
1884. In 1880 Mr. Orvis leased the Wind-
sor at Jacksonville, conducting this and the
Putnam at Palatka until the latter was burned,
since which the Windsor has occujiied his
time during the winter, and the Equinox at
Manchester during the summer. The suc-
cessful conduct of a large hotel calls for as
much of tact and good judgment as the man-
agement of any other extensive enterprise.
These necessary traits and qualifications are
possessed by Mr. Orvis in an abundant
degree ; and while to him is due the credit
of having built up these large enterprises,
and made for them a reputation second to
none in the country, acknow-ledgment should
be made of the efficient assistance rendered
by his sons, who have inherited much of the
business thrift and energy of their father.
He was married Nov. 17, 1852, to Sarah
M., daughter of Paul and Sarah R. Whitin, of
\\hitinsville, Mass. Six children are the fruit
of this union.
It will seem from the foregoing brief
resume, that the life of Franklin H. Orvis has
been one of busy activity for more than half
a century. While he has been thus engaged
with his business affairs he has nevertheless
found time to participate in the \arious
events and measures looking to the welfare
and improvement of his native town. P^very
enterprise tending to its advancement has
found in him an earnest advocate, and every
worthy charity has received from him sub-
stantial aid. In the fall of 1869 he was
elected to the Vermont Senate from lienning-
ton county as the candidate of the Republi-
can party, of which party he has been an
290
active member since 1861. In 1892 he was
again elected to the Vermont Senate for two
years. Although now in his seventieth year
he is actively engaged as the head of the well-
known Equinox Spring Co., of Manchester.
OSGOOD, Charles Wesley, of Bel-
lows Falls, son of Peter and Rebecca Osgood,
was born in North Andover, Mass., Nov. 14,
1841.
His early education was received at the
common schools of .\ndover and supple-
mented by a short course of study at Phil-
lips Academy. At the age of fifteen he
ended his brief schooling and commenced
to learn the trade of a machinist. Having
mastered this, after various vicissitudes Mr.
Osgood came to Bellows Falls in 187 1 and
entered into partnership with William G.
Barker, under the firm name of Osgood &
Barker, to do a general trade. When they
started they employed but one man, but the
firm was successful and business steadily in-
creased. Ten years after the formation of
the concern Mr. Barker died, and since then
Mr. Osgood has owned and operated the
plant and he is now chiefly occupied in the
manufacture of paper-making machinery.
In 1883 his shops were burned, but in 1891
he purchased the estate known as the Island
House property and erected a spacious
building thereon, in which now nearly a hun-
dred men are employed.
Though a strong Republican, Mr. Osgood
has neither cared for nor sought ofifice.
He married at North Andover, Mass., Fan-
nie M., daughter of B. Gardner Searle. Three
children have been issue ; Edward Gardner,
Charles Herbert, and Fannie Rebecca.
OWEN, Clarence Philander, of
Glover, son of Philander and Irene (Knapp)
Owen, was born in (Mover, March 31, 1844.
He is of Puritan lineage, being a descendant
from Samuel and Priscilla Owen, who emi-
grated from Wales about 1685, settled in
Salem, Mass., but not finding sufficient re-
ligious liberty there, went to Roger Williams
colony at Providence, R. I.
His great-grandfather, Capt. Daniel Owen,
was the president of the first state conven-
tion of Rhode Island, which adopted the
Constitution, and drafted the letter which
informed General Washington of the organ-
ization of the state government. He was
also chief justice of the state and Dept.-
Governor from i 786 to 1 790, and with five
others was granted the exclusive privilege of
coining money for a term of twelve years,
then was a partner in an iron foundry with
the celebrated John Paul Jones until the
breaking out of the Revolution. .^Lt the
close of the war, with others, he received a
grant of land in the towns of \\'estfield and
Barton.
Mr. Clarence Philander Owen obtained
his education in the public schools, the
Orleans Liberal Institute of Glover, and
Barre Academy. .After a course of legal
study in the office of Knapp and ^^"^ight of
Keosaukqua, Iowa, in the fall of 1866 he
was admitted to the Van Buren county bar
of that state, but never practiced his pro-
fession, for he was immediately appointed
United States inspector of customs for the
First Iowa district. While visiting his home
in 1868 he was seized with a dangerous ill-
ness the nature of which precluded all in-
door occupation, and he became a farmer.
In this employment he has always remained,
making a specialty of Jersey stock and Mor-
gan horses.
CLARENCE PHILANDER OWEN.
He was united in marriage Feb. 4, 1869,
to -Anna, daughter of William and Fanny
(Randall) Chase, of Wheelock. Two daugh-
ters have been born to them : Maud L.
(Mrs. William S. Mason of Glover), and
Kate (Mrs. Willard C. Leonard of New
London, N. H.)
Mr. Owen has been earnestly interested in
public affairs, is a member of the Repub-
lican party, has served on the county com-
mittee, held most of the town offices and is
county auditor, now serving his third year.
In 1886 and 1888 he was elected associate
judge for Orleans county, serving the full
term of four years, and in 1S92 represented
the town of Glover in the General Assembly,
serving on the ways and means committee.
Judge Owen is a C'ongregationalist, and a
Free and Accepted Mason, affiliating with
Orleans Lodge, No. 55, of Barton, and
Cleveland Chapter, No. 20, of Newport.
OWEN, JOSEPH, of r.arton, son of Jos-
eph and Esther (Cohvcll) Owen, was born
in Clover, Feb. 18, 1818. He is the grand-
son of Hon. Daniel Owen, Covernor of Rhode
Island, to whom part of the towns of Barton and
Westfield was granted in 17S1. The young-
est son of the Covernor, and father of the sub-
ject of this sketch, in com])any with other
settlers came to Barton in i 798, thence floated
down the ri\er to Newport, made an excur-
sion through the woods to Westfield, where
they built camps on their own lots, subse-
quently settling in Barton.
OWF.N. 291
by all for his i)ersonal integrity and financial
ability.
He has taken small share in political or
town matters, nevertheless he has served as
collector and selectman in Barton. He has
always voted with the Re])ublicans since the
dissolution of the whig party.
For fifty-seven years he has been a mem-
ber of the Methodist church of which he has
been one of the stewards since his early
manhood. He has been a faithful instructor
in the Sunday School besides being a liberal
and generous benefactor to the church.
He married, Dec. 14, T848, Diana, daugh-
ter of Daniel and Sally (Cilman) Shaw, of
Sutton, who died August 23, 1884, leaving
two children : Flla F. (Mrs. Waldo Mossman,
of Barton), and Ceorge W. July 22, 1886,
he was married to Mrs. .Abbie B. Bickford, of
Montpelier, daughter of Reuben and ICliza-
beth (Sawyer) Cliffin. He has now retired
from business, enjoying the fruits of his
labors.
OWEN, Oscar Daniel, of Barton,
son of Daniel and Sarah (Barnard) Owen,
was born in Barton, Oct. i. 1842. His
JOSEPH OWEN.
The present Joseph Owen obtained his
education in the schools of Barton and Clover
and afterwards at Browington Academy. He
commenced the active business of life as an
instructor in Westfield, Barton, and Sutton,
and after employment as a clerk in the latter
place removed to Barton and settled upon a
farm, the greater part of which is now occu-
pied by the village. He was a farmer, and
tilled the soil for the love of it, and conse-
quenrty made it a success ; and he stoutly
affirms that a young man now, with pluck
and courage for capital stock, can acquire
wealth on a Vermont farm. Mr. Owen has
been one of the most prominent busines men
in Orleans county and was much respected
OSCAR DANIEL OWEN.
ancestors came to this country from Wales
in 1685 for the better enjoyment of civil and
religious liberty and to seek a wider field for
agricultural labor than they could find in
their native land. They settled in Rhode
Island and from thence the grandfather of
Mr. Owen removed to the Hampshire Crants
292 ORMSBEE.
and was one of the earliest settlers of the
town of Barton.
Mr. Owen passed through the customary
course of instruction at the common schools
and academy and at the age of nineteen
made his first step in an active business
career by being employed as clerk in the
local store. He then took his departure for
Rockford, 111., and worked in the same
capacity for two years, after which he trans-
ferred his abode to Boston, Mass., where he
still continued to hold a similar position.
Having by this time a wide and varied
knowledge of business affairs, in 1869 he
returned to Barton, where he commenced as
a merchant on his own account. By his
energy, thrift and industry, he has been
more than successful, has built up a most
flourishing trade and deservedly acquired a
handsome fortune by honorable and straight-
forward dealing. In 1875 he had the mis-
fortune to lose his entire stock and store by
fire, but, undismayed by this stroke of ill-
luck, with characteristic pluck, he imme-
diately commenced the erection of his
]jresent business block at that time the finest
in the vicinity. He is largely engaged in
buying and shipping Vermont butter and
dairy produce in general.
Mr. Owen married, Nov. 5, 1874, Mary
A., daughter of Judge Fordyce S. and
Martha H. French of Barton. One daugh-
ter, Julia, is issue of their union.
ORMSBEE, EbeNEZER JOLLS, of Bran-
don, son of John Mason and Polly (Willson)
Ormsbee, was born in Shoreham, June 8,
1834.
He received the education afforded by the
common schools of the state and the acade-
mies at Brandon and South Woodstock,
dividing his time between the farm and the
school until his majority, when he taught
school winters while acquiring the higher
branches taught in the academy. He began
the study of the law in the office of Briggs &
Nicholson, at Brandon, in 1857, and was
admitted to the bar of Rutland county at the
March term of court in 1 86 1 .
Instead of entering upon the practice of
his profession, however, he enlisted in the
"Allen Grays," a military company of Bran-
don, in April, 1861 ; this company became
Co. G of the I St Regt. Vt. Vols., and having
been elected 2d lieutenant thereof, he was
commissioned as .such, April 25, i86i, and
was with his company in the service of the
United States during the term of its enlist-
ment, being mustered out of the United
States service, August 15, 1861. Returning
home, he again enlisted in Co. G of the 12th
Regt. Vt. Vols., was elected captain of the
company, and commissioned Sept. 22, 1862.
This regiment was attached to the 2d ^'t.
Brigade, commanded by General Stannard,
which became the 3d Brigade in the 3d
Division of the ist Army Corps, Army of the
Potomac, and taking a most noteworthy part
in the Gettysburg campaign. Captain Orms-
bee was with his company during its term of
service, sharing the dangers and hardships
of his men, and was again mustered out with
them, July 14, 1863.
Taking up the duties of civil life, he com-
menced the practice of law at Brandon, as a
partner of Anson .A. Nicholson, in 1864, af-
terwards entering into a like business con-
nection with Hon. Fbenezer N. Briggs, with
whose son he is now engaged in the practice
of his profession at Brandon. Was appointed
assistant United States internal revenue as-
sessor, in 1868, serving as such until 1872.
Was elected state's attorney for Rutland
county, 1870 to 1874; town representative
from Brandon in the General Assembly of
the state in 1872, and senator from Rutland
county in that body in 1878. .Appointed
and served as a trustee of the Vermont re-
form school, from 1880 till 1884, when he
was made Lieutenant-Governor of the state,
and was chosen Governor of the state in
1886.
Among many other positions of trust to
which he has been called, and in which he
has served with eminent ability, is that of
chairman of a commission to treat with the
Pi ITe Indians, at Pyramid Lake, Nevada,
concerning the relinquishment of a portion
of their reservation to the L'nited States, to
which he was appointed by the President in
1 891 ; the same year he was appointed by
the President as the United States land com-
missioner at Samoa, the duties of which of-
fice he discharged until Mav 16, 1893, when
he returned to this country and resumed the
practice of his profession.
The subject of this sketch has been twice
married : In 1862, to Jennie L. Briggs,
daughter of Hon. E. N. Plriggs, of Brandon ;
and in 1867, to Frances (Wadhams) Daven-
port, daughter of William L. Wadhams, of
Westport, N. Y.
Always an ardent Republican in politics,
he has been an active member of the state
Republican committee, and a firm supporter
of the principles and policy of that party.
He is a member of St. Paul's Lodge F. and
A. M., of Brandon, and has long been a
comrade of C. J. Ormsbee Post, No. iS, G.
A. R., an order at whose annual memorial
services he has been a speaker and partici-
pant for many years.
His religious preference is that of Episco-
palian.
He is now ( 1894) engaged in law practice
at Brandon.
^•-^^-<-»-«-t-4A-»>^ J \JjLy%^xyLAy^^-*--*^ ••
294
PAINE, Milton Kendall, of Windsor,
son of Isaac and Martha Locke (Riggs)
Paine, was born in Boston, Mass., July 15,
1834. He is of English descent. When
Washington assumed the command of the
Revolutionary forces at Cambridge, Milton's
great-great-grandfather, William Paine, then
in the eighty-third year of his age, entered
the camp accompanied by his son and two
grandsons, and when the general questioned
him with regard to his own presence there,
he replied that he was there to encourage his
son and grandsons and see that they did
their duty to their country.
Milton K. Paine received his educational
training at the common and high schools of
Chelsea, but before attaining his fifteenth
year he entered the drug store of A. & H.
Wardner of \Mndsor as clerk, and seven
vears afterward started in that business in the
/*
1> %
tion of Paine's Celery Compound, of which
the local sales were immediately enormous,,
and the medicine is now known and used
throughout much of the civilized world. Mr.
Paine has also originated many appliances
for the economical manufacture of medi-
cines, and has received several U. S. patents
for articles of practical value. His health
failing after nearly forty years of arduous
application to his profession, he disposed of
his stock in trade, and on March 19, 1887,
sold his interest in the Celery Compound to
A\'ells & Richardson Co. of Burlington. He
retired from active business April 20, 1888,.
one of the oldest and most widely known
druggists of the state.
Mr. Paine was married in May, 1S57, to
Helen A., daughter of Dr. Horace Austin of
Athol, Mass., whom he had the misfortune
to lose by death in September, 1864. She
left one daughter, Jennie Louise Paine, now
Mrs. W. R. Sheldon of Charlestown, N. H..
<.)n May 6, 1S72, he wedded Mrs. Mary
( Lemmex) Smith, daughter of William H.
and Elvira (Warner) Lemmex of Windsor.
Colonel Paine is an active Republican,,
attesting his faith by his works, and has held
several official positions. He was a member
of the staff of Governor Farnham in 1881,
receiving the rank of colonel, and in 1888
was elected the Windsor county member of
the state Republican committee, which posi-
tion he still holds. He is a justice of the
peace, and was for two years president of
the Vermont Pharmaceutical Association.
He was an incorporator, and has been for
four years past the treasurer of the \'ermont
society, Sons of the American Revolution.
He is treasurer of the Old South Congrega-
tional Church at Windsor, and superinten-
dent of the Sabbath school.
In the Masonic order Colonel Paine has
ever taken a deep and abiding interest, and
in this has attained an eminent position,,
having reached the 33d degree. He is one
of the senior members of the Supreme
Council in the state of \'ermont.
KENDALL PAINE.
same town, with a capital of $30, running in
debt for his entire stock. So successful was
he, owing to his prudence and energy, that
in two years he was free from all pecuniary
obligations and had built up a trade that was
ever widely increasing. A man of original
mind and natural inventive faculty, devel-
oped by careful observation, even in his
youthful days, he began the preparation of
])erfumes by processes originated bv himself,
and later compounded the "Wild Cherry
Tonic," which had an immense sale, not
only in the state, but in various parts of the
LTnion. His crowning effort was the in\en-
PAGE, Carroll Smalley, of Hyde
Park, son of Russell S. and Martha Malvina.
(Smalley) Page, was born in Westfield, Jan.
10, 1843.
He was educated at the People's Academy
at Morrisville, the Lamoille county gram-
mar school of Johnson, and the Lamoille
Central .Academy of Hyde Park.
Covernor Page is identified with many of
the important business enterprises of his
county and state, being president of the
Lamoille County Savings PJank and Trust
Co., of the Lamoille County National Bank,,
of the Hyde Park Hotel Co., and of the
Fife Lumber Co. He is the treasurer of the-
Hvde Park Lumber Co., of the Morse Man-
'"^^^ JoJj'^'
296
ufacturing Co., of the Buck Lumber Co., ami
a director of tlie St. J. & L. C. R. R.
.Altliougii aiways a very busy man lie lias
foun(i time to give good service to iiis party
and to iiis state. He represented Hyde
Parli in the House from 1869 to 1872, was
senator from Lamoille county from 1874 to
1876, and was county treasurer and reg-
ister of the probate court for the district of
Lamoille for about ten years. In 1880 he
was a delegate to the Republican national
convention at Chicago, that nominated
James A. Garfield for President. From 1872
to 1S90 he was a member of the Republican
state committee, serving from 1878 to 1884
as its secretary, and from 1884 to 1890 as its
chairman, his chairmanshi]) covering the
notable campaign of 188S.
.■\s a financier he became well known to
the people of the state while filling the oiTice
of inspector of finance (examiner of savings
banks) from 1884 to 1888. In 1890 he was
elected Governor — the highest office in the
gift of the people. To this position, which
he filled till 1892, he brought the same ad-
ministrative ability that has characterized
the conduct of his private affairs.
But first and always a business man, it is
not in political or official life that Governor
Page's reputation has become most widely
extended, but rather as a dealer in Green
Calf .Skins, in which line of business his trade
is confessedly the largest in America, if not in
the world, extending not only to the Pacific
coast, but through all the British provinces
in .-\merica, and to England, France and
Germany.
Governor Page is a Mason, an Odd Fel-
low, and a member of the Society of the Sons
of the American Revolution.
.April II, 1865, Mr. Page was united in
marriage to Ellen F., youngest daughter of
T. H. and Desdemona Patch, of Johnson.
They have three children : Theophilus Hull,
Russell Smith, and Alice.
PARK, TRENOR William, late of Ben-
nington, son of Luther and Cynthia (Pratt)
Park, was born in Woodford, Dec. 8, 1823.
His parents removed to Bennington when
he was two or three years of age, and as they
were poor he had few educational advan-
tages, but in his earliest youth he contrived
to contribute something to the famly sup-
port. Resoh ing to adopt the legal profes-
sion he began to study law in an office in
the town when only sixteen, and a few years
later he was admitted to the bar. In 1852
a political appointment changed the whole
current of his life, and interru])ted a suc-
cessful professional career in Bennington.
His father-in-law, ex-fJov. Hiland Hall, had
been selected by President Fillmore as
chairman of the V. S. land commission of
California, to settle disputed land titles in
the territory lately acquired from Mexico.
This appointment induced Mr. Park to re-
move to San Francisco, where his skill and
success in the management of his first case
attracted the attention of the newly estab-
lished firm of Halleck, Peachy & Billings,
and he was invited to become a member of
that concern. This offer he accepted, and
the firm soon became, and continued for
years, the most eminent one in California.
Mr. Park became prominently identified
with the reform movement in San Francisco
in 1855, and assisted James King to estab-
lish the San Francisco Bulletin, and after
the assassination of that editor in the streets
of the city, he became the attorney of the
historic vigilance committee, which de-
livered San Francisco from the reign of
terror established by lawlessness and ruffian-
ism. The commercial panic of 1858 swept
away a considerable portion of the large
fortune w-hich Mr. Park had acquired, but he
soon recovered his lost ground. .About this
time he became interested in politics, and
was a candidate for L". S. senator, lacking
but few votes of an election. Returning to
Vermont in 1863, he established the First
National Bank at North Bennington, and
soon after was elected to the Legislature,
exercising great influence in that body. He
now gave his attention to a number of rail-
road enterprises in his native state, assisted
in the reorganization of the Vermont Central,
and was one of the original incorporators of
that company under its new title. He pur-
chased the Western \'ermont R. R.,
and commenced the construction of the
Lebanon Springs R. R., hoping to make
Bennington an important railroad cen-
ter, but not meeting with adequate co-
operation he sank a large fortune in this
latter patriotic enterprise. In 1872 Mr.
Park was associated with General Baxter in
the ownership and conduct of the famous
Emma Mine, and he was for many years a
director of the Pacific Mail Steamship Co.
In 1874 he was elected president of the
Panama R. R., holding the office till the
time of his death. Under his skillful man-
agement, and with the able assistance of
Gen. J. G. McCullough the stock rose from
par to three hundred cents on the dollar, at
which price it was sold to the I)e Lesseps
Canal Co. Mr. Park was pre-eminently a
public-spirited man. When a trustee of the
U. V. M. he donated to that institution the
art gallery which bears his name. He was a
liberal contributor to the New York Tribune
"Fresh An P'und," established the Benning-
ton Free Library, and with ex-Go\ernor
Prescott of New Hampshire, ex-Governor
Rice of Massachusetts, and E. J. Phelps of
Burlington, constituted a committee on the
design of the Bennington battle monument.
He also contemplated a magnificent charity
298
to be entitled the "Park Home," to be
established in Bennington, a refuge lor desti-
tute women and children. Unfortunately
his death occurred before his plans could be
completed, and a large property which had
been secured near the town as the site of
the new charity was donated to the state by
his heirs and is now occupied by the Soldiers'
Home.
Mr. Park was married Dec. 15, 1S46, to
Laura, daughter or ex-Clov. Hiland Hall, of
Piennington. He had the misfortune to lose
this estimable lady in June, 1875. He es-
poused as his second wife, Ella, daughter of
A. C. Nichols, Esq., of San Francisco. His
own death occurred in 1882, while en route
to Panama. One son, Trenor L., and two
daughters (Mrs. J. G. McCullough and Mrs.
Fred B. Jennings), survive him.
The energy, perse\eranc, and public spirit
of Mr. Park carried him from the humblest
circumstances in youth to a manhood of
noble attainments, and his enterprises pro-
cured for him the possession of great wealth,
a large portion of which he conscientiously
employed, not in selfish self-indulgence, but
for the benefit and assistance of his fellow-
men.
PARKER, Charles S., of Elmore, son
of Henry C. and Mary (Batchelder) Parker,
was born in Barre, Nov. 2, 1820.
He availed himself of the educational fa-
cilities afforded by the common school and
academy of the time, and in early life was
both teacher and farm laborer, but soon de-
voted all his attention to the tillage of the
soil and has followed this occupation through
the course of a long and honorable life. He
has now practically retired from active pur-
suits, but can look back with satisfaction
upon his career, contented with the success
he has achieved.
Mr. Parker prided himself upon the fact
that he was the first to introduce the breed-
ing of Jersey cattle into Lamoille county and
he possesses at the present time a fine herd
of thirty thoroughbreds. For two years he
has been the president of the Lamoille
County Agricultural Society, and is a recog-
nized authority in all matters pertaining to
the cultivation of the farm or the breeding
of stock.
From the formation of the party Mr. Par-
ker was a Republican, but since 1884 he has
identified himself with the Prohibitionists.
He has served as sheriff of Lamoille county
and was elected associate judge in i867-'68,
county commissioner in 1867, and repre-
sented the town of Elmore in i863-'64. He
has also been county bailiff and justice of the
peace.
He has been a member of the M. E.
Church for more than fifty years, and is the
oldest living steward of that church in town.
He has also been admitted to the Masonic
fraternity and is a member of Mt. Vernon
Lodge in Morrisville.
CHARLES S. PARKER.
Judge Parker was married, Oct. 17, 1842,.
to Eliza A., daughter of Seth and Susan
( Sherman ) Town. To them have been born
five children : Carlos S., Natt S., Henry C,
Candace A. (wife of Rev. D. B. McKenzie
of Troy, N. Y.),and Ellen F. (widow of the
late J. H. Batchelder of Barre).
PARKER, Harry ELWOOD, of Bradford,
son of Charles and .Amelia ( Bennett) Parker,
was born in the town of Lvman, N. H., June
11,1853.
His education was received in the local
schools of Lyman and at Lisbon Academy,,
in which town his family took up their resi-
dence in 1863. Possessing fine musical
ability, he devoted himself to the study of
this art for several years, and at the age of
sixteen was the leader of a military band in
Marion, Va. In 1869 he commenced to
learn the trade of a printer, relinquished it
for a time, but resumed this occupation in
1S72. Five years later he commenced the
publication of the Lisbon (ilobe, a small five-
column sheet, and in 1881 he removed to
Bradford, consolidated the rival papers of
the place and established the L^nited Opinion.
L'nder his able management the circulation
of the paper has largely increased. Mr.
Parker is also half owner of the Record,
Plymouth, X. H., and the Northern Herald
of Lisbon, N. H., in addition to which he
does a large job printing business, the ar-
rangements for which, including a spacious
and convenient building, are said to be supe-
rior to any country establishment of its kind
in Xew England. He is president of the
Opinion Mfg. Co. (newspaper folders), and
president of the Bradford Loan and ]'>uilding
Association.
ARRY ELWOOD PARKER.
In 1878 he was chosen engrossing clerk
of the New Hampshire Legislature, a lucra-
tive and responsible position, to which he
was again elected in 1879 and 1880. His
busy life has not given him much leisure for
attention to public affairs, but he was ap-
pointed postmaster for the town of Bradford
in i8go. He is the president of the Ver-
mont Editors and Publishers Association for
1893, and he has been selected by Governor
Fuller to serve as aid-de-camp upon his staff
with the rank of colonel.
Colonel Parker is very prominent in the
circles of Odd Fellowship, being P. C. P. of
Trotter Encampment of Bradford, and grand
secretary of the Grand Lodge of Vermont,
having held that position since 1S87. He
is also a Free Mason, affiliating with Char-
ity Lodge, No. 43 ; Mt. Lebanon Chapter,
No. 1 1, R. A. M. ; Bradford Council, No. 11,
of Bradford ; Palestine Commandery, No. 5,
of St. Johnsbury, and Mt. Sinai 'Pemjile,
Nobles of the Mystic Shrine of Mont])elier.
P.ARKEK. 299
He is deputy supreme regent of the Royal
Arcanum.
He was married at Nashua, N. H., Sept.
24, 1873, to .Anna M., daughter of William
S. and Sarah (JMiierson) \\eston. Five
children have blessed their union : Leslie
Weston (died in infancy), Katherine Louise,
Sarah Knowles, Charles, and Levi.
Colonel Parker is a spirited advocate of
all village improvements, heartily devoted
to the interests of his town and section,
always on the alert to introduce new enter-
prises, and a progressive and popular editor.
PARKER, Henry J., of Andover, son
of Benjamin and Betsey (Fullam) Parker,
was born in Plainfield, N. H., May 2, 1836.
.After attending the common schools, he
continued his educational course at the
\\'esleyan Seminary of Springfield, and the
Kimball I'nion .Academy of Meriden, N. H.
In the spring of 1855, he found employment
in Boston, Mass., as a bookkeeper, but soon
went to (Dttawa, 111., w^here he obtained his
living by teaching and also served as a
clerk in various establishments for four
vears, when he returned to Springfield.
\.^
He was united in marriage, Nov. 9, 1859,
to .Adelaide E., daughter of Timothy and
Emily Putnam of Sjiringfield. One child
has blessed the marriage ; Edwin H.
Mr. Parker in response to the call for
volunteers to serve for nine months, enlisted
Sept. I, 1 86 2, in Co. H, i6th Regt., from
the town of Weston and was mustered out
with that command.
After his return from the scenes of the
struggle, he purchased an estate in Andover
and this has since been his residence. He
has made many improvements in the
property, since he understands both the
theory and practice of farming, making a
specialty of dairy produce and maple sugar.
For a quarter of a century he has been the
general state agent for the Clranite State
Mowing Machine Co., of Hinsdale, N. H.,
and has traveled several years in the in-
terests of A. P. Fuller & Co., dealers in
granite and marble. He was one of the
incorporators and a trustee of the Chester
Savings Bank and since its formation direc-
tor and treasurer of the Andover Dairy Asso-
ciation.
Through the confidence of his Republican
associates, Mr. Parker has held nearly all
the positions of trust and responsibility in
the town, which he represented in 1874.
Fourteen years later he was called to a seat
in the Senate from Windsor county. Both
these positions he filled with dignity and
credit.
PARKER, Luther Fletcher, of
Peacham, son of Isaac and Arabella (Cobb)
Parker, was born in Coventry, Sept. 22,
1821.
The early education of Mr. Luther Parker
was obtained in the schools of Coventry and
in Brownington and Peacham Academies,
and while a student he taught in Coventry
and the neighboring towns. In 1844 he
entered the U. V. M., but after remaining
two years was obliged to leave the university
on account of ill-health, when he again
taught for two years at Coventry Falls. He
then commenced the study of medicine in
the office of Dr. G. W. Cobb, of Peacham,
and after the latter's death continued with
his successor. Dr. Farr, attending a course
of lectures at Dartmouth and \Voodstock.
He was subsequently requested by Dr.
Brewer, of Barnet, to assume his large prac-
tice, which he retained till his removal to
Peacham, when he purchased the profes-
sional connection of Dr. Farr. In 1864 he
received the diploma of M. D. from Llart-
mouth College. For forty years he has had
a large and extensive practice, has kept
fully abreast with the great advance of
medical science for the past half century,
and has gained a high reputation as a con-
sulting physician in all the surrounding
country. Dr. Parker is the proprietor of a
farm in Peacham, which he himself operates.
Formerly a whig, but now a Republican,
though often sought for political office, he
has always refused to serve, except in 1886
and 1888, when he represented Peacham in
P.-iRTRUlGE.
the Legislature, in both sessions being a
member of the temperance and ways and
means committees. He has always been
active in securing and enforcing prohibitory
laws. He was sent, after the battle of the
Wilderness, in charge of a sum of money
collected in Peacham for the sanitary com-
mission. When he arrived at the front the
exigency of the occasion was so great that
he gave his professional services freely to
the wounded in that great battle.
.-CT*- 4^'
LUTHER FLETCHER PARKER.
He has been a member of several medical
societies, of Peacham Congregational Church,
the Vermont Home Missionary Society, and
always a generous contributor to different
religious organizations.
Dr. Parker married, June 6, 1850, Louisa,
daughter of Deacon Moses and Jane .Adel-
aine ( Martin) Martin, of Peacham. ( )f this
union are issue : Mrs. E. C. Hardy, of
Framingham, Mass. ; Mrs. W. H. Bayley, of
Peacham ; Mrs. G. B. M. Harvey, of New
York ; H. M., of Minneapolis, Minn., and
Lizzie A.
PARTRIDGE, FRANK CHARLES, of
Proctor, son of Charles F. and Sarah A.
(Rice) Partridge, was born in East Middle-
bury, May 7, 1 86 1.
He graduated from the Middlebury high
school with the class of '77, and followed
this with one term at Middlebury College.
Entering Amherst College in the fall of 1878,
he graduated in 1882 at the head of his class,
receiving the degree of A. B., and was pres-
i'.\kirii)c;e.
ident of his class. In the tall of 18S2 he
entered C'oliniibia College Law School, and
graduated in 1884 with the degree of L. L. H.
Mr. Partridge was admitted to practice in
the Supreme Court of \'ermont in 1885, and
in the United States Supreme Court in 1891.
He was assistant manager of the Producers
Marble Co. of Rutland from 1884 to 1885,
when he removed to Proctor, where he be-
came treasurer of the Vermont Marble Co.,
serving in that ca]5acity until 1890, since
which time he has been vice-president. He
is also vice-president of the Clarendon &
Pittsford Railroad Co., and a director of the
Proctor Trust Co.
FRANK CHARLES PARTRIDGE.
Politically, Mr. Partridge has always been a
Republican, and though young in years has
been honored with elections to many posi-
tions of trust. He was a page in the Senate
of 1876, page to the Governor in 1878 ;
town clerk of the town of Proctor, i887-'90,
and town agent and school trustee. He was
private secretary to Secretary of War Proc-
tor from 1889 to 1890. June 10, 1890, he
was appointed solicitor for the Department
of State by the President to succeed ^\■alker
Blaine. He served as law ofificer of that
department during the last two years of Sec-
retary Blaine's administration, and under the
administration of Secretary Foster until Jan.
25> 1 893. when he was appointed Envoy
Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
of the United States to Venezuela, which
position he still holds.
P.-VRTKIIJCE. 301
.-\ young man of great native ability and
strong character, Mr. Partridge owes his
success in life to his own energies.
PARTRIDGE, HENRY v., of Norwich, son
of Capt. Alden and Ann Elizabeth (Swazey)
Partridge, was born in Norwich, Dec. 10,
1839. His father, Capt. Alden Partridge,
was born in Norwich, Jan. 12, 1785, and was
the son of a Revolutionary soldier. Captain
Partridge graduated from West Point in
1806, having entered that institution in 1805,
his junior year at Dartmouth College. The
following year he was apjjointed ]jrofessor of
mathematics at the military school of the
United States and the Sejitember following
was made professor of engineering. .After-
ward he was promoted to the post of super-
intendent of the school and discharged the
duties of that position, with one or more in-
termissions, until 1 8 18, when he resigned
and went out in charge of a surveying party
sent to the northeast frontier of the United
States in order to determine the boundary
line. In 1820 Captain Partridge foimded
the American Literary, Scientific and Mili-
tary .\cademy at Norwich, which he taught
with much success until 1825 when he re-
moved the school to Middletown, Conn. In
1832 Captain Partridge returned to Nor-
wich and reopened the school. Two years
after a charter was obtained from the Legis-
lature and the academy became a military
college with Captain Partridge as its first
president. Under his supervision the insti-
tution ranked second only to the National
."Academy. Captain Partridge died at Nor-
wich, Jan. 17, 1854.
The subject of this sketch received his
education in the public schools of Norwich,
from private instruction, and at Bristol Col-
lege, Penn. In 1859 he went to Illinois
where he entered an oflice for the purpose
of making himself a member of the legal pro-
fession, and a year after removed to Warren,
Penn., to continue his studies.
In .'\pril, 1861, he responded to President
Lincoln's first call for troops and raised a
company of the 39th Regt. Pa. Vols. (loth
Reserves), McCall's Division. He partici-
pated first in the battle of Gainesville and
afterward in McClellan's Peninsular cam-
])aign, but was discharged for physical dis-
ability in August, 1862. In 1863 he was
appointed to a position in the paymaster
general's office at Washington and remained
in that capacity about three years. Then
he became an attorney for the Union Paper
Collar Co. of New York, continuing in their
service for five years. Since that time he
has made his residence at ('olbrook. Conn.,
and Norwich, from which latter town he was
elected to the Legislature in 1882.
302
PEARL, ISAAC L., of Johnson, son of
Zimri A. and Kliza (Blake) Pearl was born
in Milton, Nov. 17, 1S32.
His father was a woolen manufacturer,
and, after pursuing the customary educa-
tional course at the public schools and the
Milton Academy, the son concluded to
follow the same business ; and in order to
give himself a liiorough training in his
chosen occupation, he commenced to work
in the Winooski Woolen Mills. He then
shifted the scene of his labors to the estab-
lishment of Messrs. S. & 1). M. Dow in
Johnson, and, on the death of the latter,
"purchased a half interest in the factory,
where, in partnership with Stephen Dow, he
continued the business eight years. .Mr.
Dow then withdrew, but after some changes
in the firm again renewed his interest. In
.April, 1S71, the mill was burned and imme-
diately rebuilt and since then for twenty
years the business has been successfully con-
ducted by the firm of I. L. Pearl & C"o. Mr.
Pearl commenced at the foot of the ladder,
learning every detail of the .business and
from the completeness of his early training,
has been able successfully to mount to the
top, and has seen the fruition of his hopes in
the fine factory and increased business, that
have crowned the efforts of his lifetime.
He was married, March ti, 1858, to
Hattie N., daughter of Sylvester N. and
Caroline (Green) Tracey. Four children
are issue of their alliance, three of whom are
living : Jed. A., Flora .\., and Lizzie H.
Mr. Pearl is a director of the Lamoille
County National Bank of Hyde Park, and
has been for a long time secretary of the
board of trustees of the Johnson State Nor-
mal School. Four times he has filled the
chair of Worshipful Master of Waterman
I-odge, No. 83, F. & .\. M., of Johnson, and
he is also a member of the I. O. G. T.
In his political preference a Republican,
he was elected judge of probate of Lamoille
county in 1870, was county commissioner
for four years and for a quarter of century
has been auditor. He was honored by be-
ing the choice of his fellow-townsmen to
represent them in the state Legislature of
1888, and in that body was chairman of the
manufacturing committee.
PEASE, Allen Luther, of Hartford,
son of Luther and Harriet (Cone) Pease, was
born in Hartford, Sept. 8, 1843. His father
was a successful and enterprising business
man in Hartford, in whose pubhc affairs he
was always prominent.
Mr. A. L. Pease passed through the cus-
tomary course of education in the common
schools and then received a higher grade of
instruction in Kimball Union Academy, of
Meriden, N. H.
Shordy after he arrived at man's estate, he
emigrated to Kansas and there engaged in
mercantile pursuits, being an active i>artici-
pant in the stirring scenes of that period.
.\fter remaining six years, he returned to
Hartford and became a member of the firm
of L. Pease & Son, dealers in hardware and
agricultural implements. This business he
has successfullv conducted for twentv-three
years, during the last seventeen of which he
has been sole proprietor. He has also been
largely interested in real estate and has
erected many buildings, notably the Pease
Hotel. Mr. Pease has been a director of the
White River Savings Bank, and was one of
the incorporators of the Caintal Savings Bank
and Trust Co., of Montpelier.
LUTHER PEASF.
An ardent adherent of the Republican
party, he was sent to the Legislature in 1884,
where he served on the committee on corpo-
rations. In 1890, he was chosen senator
from Windsor county, and in this branch of
the Legislature was chairman of the state
prison committee and member of that on
claims. He held the appointment of post-
master from 1 88 1 to 1884.
Mr. Pease espoused, Jan. 28, 1869, Sophia
M., daughter of Chandler and Roxanna
(Huntting) Ward, of Lawrence, Kan.
He is an eminent member of the Masonic
fraternity in which he has taken a deep and
abiding interest for thirty years. During this
period he has passed through the va riou
bodies of the craft, until he has attained
the ji^d degree. At the present time
he sits in the master's chair in Hartford
Lodge No. 19, is a member of Windsor Chap-
ter No. 6, R. A. M., Windsor Cotmcil No. <S,
R. & S. ^^., and X'crmont C'ommandery No.
4, K. r.
PHCK, Cicero Goddard, of Hines-
burgh, son of Nahum and T.ucinda (Wheeler)
Peck, was born in the quiet village of Hines-
bttrgh, Feb. 17, 1828. His father, Nahinn
Peck, was a distinguished lawyer, and at the
time of his death was the oldest practitioner
in Chittenden county. Cicero G. Peck is a
descendant in the eighth generation from
Joseph Peck, who in 1638, with other Puri-
tans of Belton, Yorkshire, I'^ngland, fled
from the persecution of the Established
church to this country to secure for them-
selves freedom of thought, speech, and
action.
CICERO GODDARD PECK,
Cicero G. was educated in the common
schools and at the old Hinesburgh Academy,
in which institution he prejiared, at the age
of twenty, for a regular collegiate course,
but his health failed and he was forced,
though reluctantly, to abandon his cher-
ished hope of a liberal education, and to
seek outdoor employment. He therefore
engaged in agricultural occupations, in which
he has been quite successful, and has,
therefore, remained on a farm all his life,
though he has devoted a good deal of time
to other affairs, having been called on fre-
I'lXK. 303
i|uently to act as executor or administrator
in the settlement of important estates in the
\icinity.
He has enjoyed the entire confidence of
his townsmen, as is evinced by the fact that
he has been called to every office within
their gift, and several of these he has filled
many times. He has been chosen to fill the
jjosition of selectman seven consecuti\e
years. He has always taken an active
interest in all jniblic institutions or in any
movement to advance the welfare of the ag-
ricultural portion of the community. fn
1864 he took a leading part in organizing
the \'alley Factory Cheese Co., which has
been in successful operation imder his super-
\ision, and has been a great financial benefit
to the farmers of the town.
In early life he identified himself with the
Free Soil party, and was always a strong o]3-
ponent of the aggressions of the slave power,
and since the organization of the Republican
party has been a firm adherent to its princi-
ples. In 1878 the Republicans of Chitten-
den county, recognizing his loyalty to the
political principles which he professes, and
his fitness for the position, elected him to
represent the county in the state Senate,
where he served on the committee on edu-
cation, grand list, and chairman of the com-
mittee under the fourth joint rule. In 1890
he was chosen by his townsmen to represent
his town in the Legislature, _ also being a
member at the extra session of 1891. As
a member of the House he served on the
committee of joint rules, as chairman of the
joint special committee on industrial mat-
ters, and again on the committee on educa-
tion, taking an acti\e part in urging the
adoption of the town system of schools.
He has always taken a lively and active
part in all educational matters, has been a
member of the school board for fifteen years,
and town superintendent from 1877 to 1884,
in(lusi\e, and again from i8gi to 1894. Un-
der the school law of 188S he was chosen a
member of the board of education, which of-
fice he filled while this law remained in force.
By this board he was chosen committee for
the selection of text books for the county,
having twice before serxed on a like com-
mittee. .At the session of 1892 he was nom-
inated by (Governor Fuller and confirmed by
the Senate as trustee of the state reform
school for six years, from Dec. 1, 1892. In
June, 1893, he was honored by Governor
Fuller as one of the appointees to the inter-
national congress of charities, correction and
philanthrojjv, held at Chicago, June 12-1 8,
1893.
He has been an outspoken and earnest
advocate of temperance, always favoring all
organizations having for their chief aim the
su]ipression of the vice of intemperance, and
304
for several years when the order of Good
Templars was active, was worthy chief of the
lodge in his town. In early life he identi-
fied himself with the Methodist Episcopal
church, and has alwavs been an active and
liberal supporter of all the interests of the
church of his choice.
He was married at Hinesburgh, March 29,
1854, to Maria P., daughter of Selah and
Phoebe (Russell) Coleman, of Hinesburgh.
He has no children of his own, but has an
adopted daughter, Lucv, now married to
Rev. M. R. France, of Cobleskill, X. Y.
PECK, Marcus, of Brookfleld, son of
Reuben and Hannah G. (Edson) Peck, was
born in Brookfleld, Jan. 26, 1834. Reuben
Peck was a life-long resident and successful
business man in the town of Brookfield, and
inseparably connected with the agricultural,
commercial and manufacturing interests of
the place, living to the patriarchal age of
eighty-five.
%.-
4^t
MARCUS PECK.
Marcus received his educational advan-
tages in the common schools, and at the
academies of Newbury and Barre. Soon
after he arrived at years of discretion he
commenced the sale of hay forks, and has
pursued this occupation more or less ever
since. He has had the general management
of the manufacture and sale of this article
since 1870, and is now sole proprietor of the
business, which is conducted under the firm
name of Peck, Clark i!i: Co. They also turn
out garden rakes, hoes and cant hooks, for
which they find a ready sale throughout
New England and New York, and the merit
of the product is too well known to require
comment. Mr. Peck was formerly largely
interested in cheese factories, and at the
present time is extensively engaged in farm-
ing in Brookfield and adjoining towns.
He was. elected by the Republican vote,
senator from Orange county in 1880, serv-
ing on many important committees. He was
a charter member of Mystic Lodge, No. 97,
F. & A. M., the position of worshipful mas-
ter of which he has filled nine terms.
Mr. Peck married, June 26, 1859, Mary
E., daughter of Erastus and Electa (Brown)
Wilcox, who bore him four children : One
who died at the age of eleven, Bessie Fran-
ces (deceased), Mary Stella (Mrs. Arthur
Lyman of Rutland), and Marcia L. His
first wife died in 1872, and he contracted a
second alliance in January, 1S73, with Mrs.
.'\deline (.\bbott) Wheatley, daughter of
Walter and Sarah Abbott.
Mr. Peck has been active in church work
for over forty years, and has been one of the
officers of the .Second Congregational Church
for the last fifteen years.
PECK, Theodore SaFFORD, of Burl-
ington, was born in Burlington, March 22,
1843. He enlisted at the age of eighteen as
private in Co. F, ist Yt. Cavalry, Sept. i,
1861 ; mustered into the United States ser-
vice, Nov. I, 1861 ; transferred to Co. K,
and discharged for promotion, June 25,
1862 ; appointed, by Col. George Jerrison
Stannard, regimental quartermaster-sergeant,
9th Regt., Yt. Infantry, June 25, 1862 ; pro-
moted 2d lieutenant, Co. C, Jan. 7, 1863;
promoted ist lieutenant, Co. H, June 10,
1864; acting regimental quartermaster and
adjutant, also acting assistant adjutant-gen-
eral, aid-de-camp, and brigade quartermas-
ter, 2d Brigade, 2d Division, i8th Army
Corps ; promoted captain and assistant quar-
termaster. Ignited States Yolunteers, March
II, 1865 ; assigned to ist Brigade, 3d Divi-
sion, 24th Army Corps. He served on the
staffs of Brevet Maj. Gen. George J. Stan-
nard, Brig. -Gen. Isaac J. Wistar at Suffolk,
Va., Brig.-Gen. Joseph H. Potter, Brevet
Brig.-Cien. Michael T. Donahue, and Brevet
Brig.-Gen. Edward H. Ripley, in the trenches
in front of Petersburg and Richmond, Ya.
In the Yermont cavalry he was present in
action at Middletown and Winchester, \'a..
May 24 and 25, 1862 ; in the 9th Regt.,
Winchester, August, and Harper's Ferry,
Ya., Sept. 13, 14 and 15, 1862 (captured
and paroled) : siege of Suffolk, Nansemond,
Edenton Road, Blackwater, May, 1 863 ;
Yorktown and raid to Gloucester Court
House, Ya., July and August, 1863 ; action
of Young's Cross Roads, December, 1863;
Newport Barracks, Feb. 2, 1S64: raid to
Swansborough and Jacksonville, N. C, May,
1864 ; Fort Harrison, Sept. 29 and 30, 1864 ;
Fair Oaks, \"a., Oct. 29, 1864 : was present
in New York City commanding a battalion,
9th Yt. Regt., in November, 1864, at the
second election of President Lincoln. He
was also present in the siege (winter, 1SC4,
and spring, 1865) and capture of Richmond,
\'a., and was with the first organized command
of infantry (3d Brigade, 3d Division, 24th
Army Corps) to enter the confederate capital
at the surrender on the morning of April 3,
1865 ; his brigade was also provost guard of the
city for two weeks after its capture. He was
wounded Sept. 29, 1864, in the assault of
Fort Harrison, Ya. He received a medal of
imm^
THEODORE SAFFORD PECK.
honor inscribed as follows : "The Congress
to ist Lieut. Theodore S. Peck, Co. H, 9th
Yt. Yols., for gallantry in action at Newport
Barracks, N. C, Feb. 2, 1864."
Captain Peck was mustered out of the
United States service on account of the close
of the war, June 23, 1865, having served
nearly four years as a private in the ranks,
an officer in the line and on the staff, a mem-
ber of the cavalry corps and also of the
ist, 4th, 9th, iSth, and 24th army corps in
the armies of the Potomac and the James.
The government at the close of the war offered
him two commissions in the regular army,
which were declined.
Upon his return to Vermont he was ap-
pointed chief of staff, with rank of colonel,
I'l'XKKIl'. 305
by (lovernor John W. Stewart ; afterwards
colonel of the first and only regiment of in-
fantry of the state, which position he held
for eight years. In 1869 appointed assist-
ant adjutant-general of the (i. \. R. depart-
ment of Yermont, and by his energy and tact
saved the order from going to pieces ; in
1 87 2, senior vice commander, and in 1876-
'77 department commander. In 1881 he
was appointed adjutant-general of \'ermont,
with rank of brigadier-general, and is on
duty in this office at the present time. He
is a charter member of the Yermont Com-
mandery Military Order of the Loyal Legion
and was a vice president-general of the
National Society, Sons of .American Revolu-
tion. He had four ancestors in the Revolu-
tionary war and one in the war of 1812.
Oeneral Peck was appointed by President
Harrison a member of the board of visitors
at the L'nited States Military .-Vcademy at
West Point in 1S91.
He is a resident of Burlington, following
the business of general insurance, and repre-
senting fire, life, marine and accident com-
panies, the aggregate capital of which
amounts to about $300,000,000, the business
extending throughout the United States and
Canada.
On the 29th of October, 1879, he married
.Agnes Louise, daughter of the late William
Leslie of Toronto, Ont. They have one
child : Mary Agnes Leslie.
General Peck is a man of public spirit and
enterprise. In politics he is a loyal Repub-
lican. He is a member of the Masonic and
other fraternities, and was for ten years grand
marshal of the Grand Lodge of Yermont.
PECKETT, JOHN Barron, of Brad-
ford, son of John Barron and Martha (Til-
ton) Beckett, was born in Bradford, Dec.
19, 1822, and has always resided there.
His education was received at the jiublic
schools of Bradford. His father was a dealer
in lumber, a farmer, and a business man who
was a prominent figure in the early history
of the town, of active energy and robust,
vigorous frame. The son, though not cast
in the same iron mould, inherited many of
the mental traits of his parent.
At the age of fourteen years he entered
the employment of Asa Low, Esq., a promi-
nent merchant of the town. .\t his majority
he formed a partnership with .Adams Preston,
Esq., which continued three years. He then
engaged with his former employer and re-
mained with him until .April, 1854. He
then purchased an interest in a large grist
mill and saw mill in Bradford, and formed a
partnership with Col. George W. Pritchard
& Sons, and for thirty-seven years was the
active manager of this establishment during
the existence of four firms. .\n immense
3o6
business was carried on in wood, lumber and
grain during the entire period. Mr. Peckett's
masterly management caused the respective
firms to stand high in financial circles, and
the business among the leading enterprises
of the state.
He enlisted in 1861 in the Bradford
Guards, ist Regt., and as ist Lieut, of that
company was present at the battle of Big
Bethel, being mustered out at the expiration
of his term of service. He is a member of
Washburn Post, No. 17, G. A. R.
JOHN BARRON PECKETT.
Mr. Peckett has held many town offices,
but is perhaps best known as justice of the
peace, the duties of which he has performed
for twenty years.
He was united in marriage, Sept. 9, 1S47,
to Caroline H., daughter of /\sa and Lucinda
(Brooks) Low of Bradford. Two sons and
two daughters have been born to them : Asa
Low (who at this writing is engaged in the
claims department of the Boston & Maine
R. R. at Boston, Mass.), John B., Jr. (who is
an attorney at law at Bradford), Caroline
Frances (deceased at twenty), and Martha
L. (died in infancy).
He has conducted his business in such a
systematic manner as to conduce both to
private and public prosperity. He has been
thoroughly identified with the financial pros-
perity of the town of Bradford, and has
constructed more buildings than any other
individual in the place. By his dilligence
and energy he has acquired a handsome
competency.
He was very influential in opening a road
on the west side of Lake Morey, in Fairlee,
and from the head of said lake to Bradford
line. He has built a fine summer residence
upon a beautiful and commanding point of
the shore of said lake, and is greatly interested
in the dexelopment of the localitv.
The family for three generations have been
strong advocates of temperance and emphat-
ically in fa\or of an impartial enforcement
of the legal enactments to suppress the liquor
traffic.
PEMBER, Emmett R., of Wells, son of
Russell and Emily (Bidwell) Pember, was
born in Wells, Sept. 21, 1846.
He enjoyed such educational facilities as
were afforded by the public schools of Wells,
supplemented by a course of study at the
Troy Conference Academy at Poultney, and
the Fort Edward Institute of Fort Edward,
\. V. His ambition tempted him to follow
a professional life, but filial duty induced
him to remain with his parents on the home-
stead, and here he has devoted the larger
part of a useful life to agricultural pursuits.
Mr. Pember was united in matrimony at
Caroline, N. V., Oct. 3, 1872, to Carrie,
daughter of ^^'illiam and Julia A. (Barton)
\Mnchell. This union has been blessed
with five daughters and one son : Grace E.,
Celesta M., Julia E., Ernest W., Ruth A.,
and Ruble Alice.
Mr. Pember is an ardent Republican and
has continuously been the incumbent of
some town office since he was twenty-one
years of age. He has served sixteen years
as chairman of the Republican town com-
mittee and also several years on the Repub-
lican county committee. He was elected
senator from Rutland county in 1880, serv-
ing on the committees on agriculture and
highways and bridges. He enjoyed the dis-
tinction of being the youngest member of
the Senate during that term, but notwith-
standing his youth established a high reputa-
tion as a careful, considerate and intelligent
legislator. For two terms he has served
acceptably on the State Board of Agriculture.
He also has knelt at the altar of Freemasonry
and is connected with Morning Star Lodge,
No. 37, of Poultney. He has always*been
actively identified with educational work
both in our common schools and Sunday
schools and several years of his earlier life
were spent in teaching. Whatever tends to
promote the moral, religious or material
interests of the community in which he lives,
or the state at large, ever finds in him a
faithful and zealous advocate.
PERKINS, Marsh OliN, of Windsor,
son of Henry Olin and Mary Eloise (Gid-
dings) Perkins, was born in Rutland, Feb.
7, 1849.
307
His early education, including a college
preparatory course, was obtained in the
public schools of Rutland. He entered
Middlebury College and graduated in the
class of 1870. While still pursuing his
studies he made his first essay as an in-
structor, and taught at Bridport, Hydeville
and Wallingford. He was made principal
of the South Woodstock Academy in 1870.
The following year he was elected to a simi-
lar position in the Windsor high school,
which he occupied until 1880, when he
became editor of the Vermont Journal.
Mr. Perkins has always acted with the
Republican party and held many offices of
trust and responsibility, among which may
be mentioned that of school director con-
tinuously from 1 88 1 of both the town and
village of \\'indsor. He was elected a mem-
ber of the Legislature to represent the town
in 1882 and 1884, and four years after was
chosen a senator for Windsor county. In
1888 he was appointed by Governor Dilling-
ham a member of his staff with the rank of
colonel.
In Masonic circles Colonel Perkins has
been especially prominent, and at various
times has been the presiding officer of all
the bodies of the order in Windsor. He has
also most creditably filled a similar position
in the Grand Lodge, Grand Chapter and
Grand Commandery of the state, and in
1884 was made honorary member of the
Supreme Council Northern Masonic juris-
diction, A:. A:. S:. R :., U. S. A. In "1891
he was elected an active member of the
same and deputy for Vermont.
He was united in marriage, Dec. 31, 1878,
to Clara Alice, daughter of Lyman J. and
Abbie (Locke) Mclndoe. Five children
have been born to them ; Locke Mclndoe,
Gail Giddings, Margaret Florinda and Ma-
rion Eloise (twins), and Herbert Marsh.
PERRY, ELBRIDGE, of Pomfret, son of
Asa and Martha Ann (Spooner) Perry, was
born at Pomfret, Sept. 2, 1846.
Educated in the public and private schools
of Barnard, at the age of twenty he left the
paternal roof and labored on various farms
for a period of five years. In April, 1872, he
purchased the estate on which he now resides
and which he has cultivated till the present
time. He is a substantial farmer and has
enjoyed a contented, though perhaps a some-
what uqeventful, career. Gn his farm he
raises large numbers of cows and sheep.
He belongs to the Republican party ; has
been road commissioner, school director, and
town representative to the Legislature of
1892. He has also served the town as select-
man.
Mr. Perry was married Jan. 26, 1870, to
Viola, daughter of Smith and Caroline M.
(Hackett) Hodges, of Pomfret. Five chil-
dren ha\e been born to them : Mima A.,
Hermon S., Arthur .\., Seth K., and Mildred
H.
PERRY, James M., of Barre, son of
Daniel A. and Dulcina (Freeman) Perry,
was born in Plainfield, Feb. 28, 1838. His
father was a farmer of Flnglish descent, and
during his whole life resided in Plainfield,
where he was prominent in civil life, and
was twice a member of the Legislature. The
boyhood of James was passed on the old
homestead, where he divided his time be-
tween labor on the farm and an attendance
at the common schools 01 Plainfield, and
Barre Academv.
JAMES M. PERRY
At the age of twenty-one Mr. Perry com-
menced his mercantile life as a clerk in the
Lhiion store of Barre : this was a good
school, for the establishment was a financial
success. In 1864 he returned to his native
town and engaged in trade for four years.
He then, perceiving a fine business oppor-
tunity in Barre, opened a large store in that
village, where he still continues to reside,
carrying on a large trade in dry goods and
boots and shoes. He is recognized as a
safe and successful financier and has been
])rominently identified with the monetary in-
terests of the \illage. He has been for
twelve years and is still a director of the na-
tional bank and also holds the office of
president of the Barre Savings Bank and
Trust Co.
5o8
Mr. Perry was married Feb. i6, 1869, to
Alma H., daughter of Allen and Betsey
(Nelson) Martin, of Barre. Four children
are issue of this union : J. Frank, Carl M.,
Edna IX, and Dean H.
The orders of Masonry and Odd Fellows
claim Mr. Perry as a member. He belongs
to Granite Lodge, No. 35, F. & A. M., of
Barre, and to Royal Arch Chapter, No. 26,
and was one of the founders of Hiawatha
Lodge, No. 20, L O. O. F.
He is a Republican, and has received sev-
eral offices in the gift of that party, has been
chairman of the board of village trustees and
also an active member of the town committee.
In 1S90 he was elected to the House of Rep-
resentatives and did good service as a mem-
ber of the committee on claims.
PHELPS, BRIGHA.M Thomas, of West-
minster, son of John and Judith H. (Brig-
ham) Phelps, was born in Grafton, May 4,
1 84 1. In 1849 hs removed with his parents
to ^^'alpole, N. H., remaining there six years,
and from there to Westminster where he
now resides.
He was educated in the common schools
of Walpole, N. H., Westminster Academy
and at the Bryant & Stratton Commercial
College of San Francisco, Cal. He entered
business life m the employment of Krigham
& Balch, wholesale commission merchants of
San Francisco, and there continued until
failing health admonished him that an out-
door life was a necessity, and upon delibera-
tion he decided to remove to Westminster
and engage in tobacco raising and general
farming, which he did in T870.
Mr. Phelps is a Republican and is in full
sympathy with his party. In 18 71 he was
appointed deputy sheriff of Windham county
which office he held for ten years. He has
been called to serve his town in many
official capacities, as first constable, auditor,
tax collector, and to represent it in the
Legislature, being elected to that body in
1888 and serving on the committee on
agriculture.
Mr. Phelps responded to the nation's call
and in August, 1S62, enlisted in Co. I, of
the 12th Vt. Vols., and was a corporal of his
company. His regiment was ordered to the
defenses at Washington and was there in
Casey's Division and was afterwards attached
to the first corps (General Reynolds) of the
.Army of the Potomac, and honorably dis-
charged July 14, 1863. In 1S64 recruited
and was elected ist lieutenant Co. B, 12th
Regt. Vt. State Militia.
In social life Mr. Phelps takes a deep
interest. He is a member of E. H. Stough-
ton Post, G. A. R., No. 34, of Bellows Falls,
and was its commander for two years, i8gi-
'92, and of the Temple Lodge, F. cS; A. M.,
of Bellows Falls, also of the Chapter and of
the Hugh De Payen's Commandery of
Keene, N. H.
He was married, July, 1874, to Annie O.,
daughter of Nodiali L. and F.liza A. ( Bur-
roughs) Holton of Westminster.
BRIGHAM THOMAS PHELPS.
Mr. and Mrs. Phelps are the inventors of
the Excelsior square system of cutting ladies'
and children's garments, which is of such
value that it has found its way into every
state in the Union. In recent years Mr.
Phelps has also conducted this business in
connection with the management of his farm.
PHELPS, Edward John, of Burling-
ton, son of Hon. Samuel S. Phelps, was born
in Middlebury, July 11, 1822.
He received his education at Middlebury
college, graduating in 1840, and studied law
at the law school of Yale Llniversity, and in
the office of Hon. Horatio Seymour in Mid-
dlebury. He was admitted to the bar in
.\ddison county in December, 1843, ^nd
after something more than a year of prac-
tice in Middlebury, established himself as a
lawyer in Burlington.
In 185 I the office of second copiptroller
in the treasury was unexpectedly offered to
Mr. Phelps by President Fillmore. .As its
duties would not require a cessation of pro-
fessional practice, he accepted the office,
and held it through Mr. Fillmore's adminis-
tration. He represented Burlington in the
Constitutional Convention of 1870, and was
made president of the American Bar Asso-
V.
.>^-^i^.
3IO
ciation in 1881. Mr. Phelps has been for
more than twenty years a trustee of the
Vermont State Library. He was appointed
professor of law in Yale College in the same
year, and gave a short course of lectures
before the law school of Boston University
upon constitutional law. Mr. Phelps was a
whig while that party continued organized
and active. Since that party ceased to be he
has regarded himself as an independent in
politics, not bound in fealty to any organized
party. In the main, however, he has voted
for Democratic nominees. In the year 1880
he was the candidate of the Democratic
party of Vermont for the office of Governor,
and received the largest vote ever cast in
Vermont for a Democratic aspirant to that
office.
Mr. Phelps was married in August, 1846,
to Mary, daughter of Hon Stephen Haight
of Burlington. Of this marriage there are
surviving two sons and one daughter : Ed-
ward, Mary (Mrs. Horatio Loomis of Bur-
lington), and Charles Pierpoint.
The faculties and qualities by which he is
chiefly known and regarded have been mani-
fested mainly in his vocation as a lawyer.
Vet, not only his arguments to courts and
juries, but also his occasional addresses and
his professional lectures, show him exten-
sively conversant, from scholarly study and
extensive reading, with a wide range of
learning outside of the law, and deeply im-
bued with the text and spirit of the best
classics of our language, and familiar with
the current literature of the day.
Outside of the court room the public ex-
hibitions of Mr. Phelps mark him as one of
the best furnished, best-judging, and most
cultivated and accomplished of public speak-
ers. There is but one expression in this
respect by those who heard his address on
Chief Justice Marshall at Saratoga before
the .American Bar .Association in 1880, or his
address two years after on American Legis-
lation, or witnessed his presidency of the
Bennington Battle Centennial in 1877, or
heard him on Judge Prentiss before the Ver-
mont Historical Society in 1SS2, or any
other of his public addresses.
Mr. Phelps has never cast his fortune or
plumed his ambition in the line of politics.
What has been before stated as to his politi-
cal relations and action as a citizen and
voter sufficiently explains him in this re-
spect, however congenial and gratifying polit-
ical life and political preferment might have
been to him under other auspices and con-
ditions. His chosen status in his relation
to politics attests the ingenuousness of his
views, discordant as they may be with the
common conception and sentiments of the
majority of his state.
In 1885 he was appointed by President
Cleveland L'nited States Minister to the
Court of St. James, and no one could have
more faithfully, ably and elegantly discharged
the duties of that responsible office. He
was leading counsel for the United States,
before the Behring Sea Board of Arbitration,
which held its sessions in Paris in 1893.
.Although the public performance of this
most high professional engagement was in
the second Cleveland administration his em-
ployment and preparatory work in this great
international lawsuit was in the time of the
Harrison administration.
PHELPS, Frederic B., of irasburg,
son of William and Maria { Forward ) Phelps,
was born in Belchertown Mass., Feb. 8,,
1829.
1^ l^.
FREDERIC B. PHELPS.
While fitting for college at the academy
at Belchertown he was allured by the golden
promises of wealth offered in California in
1849, and emigrated to that state, where he
remained for eight years, during which time
he acquired a thorough practical knowledge
of Spanish and other European languages.
On his return to the East he resumed his
studies and graduated from the Hartford
Theological .Seminarv in 1870. He was
ordained and installed pastor of the Congre-
gational church at Lowell, Oct. 18, 1870,
where he continued his ministerial services
for nine years, the latter portion of the time
also preaching in Westfield. In both these
PHILBRICK.
places many members were added to the
church through the energetic efforts of the
pastor. In 1879 he was installed at St.
johnsbury East, where he remained four
years and finally, after six years of minister-
ial labor in Massachusetts and New Hamp-
shire was called to Irasburg, where he is now
engaged in the labor of his profession.
During the twenty-three years of his pastoral
labors he has lost but three Sabbaths from
sickness, and he has frequently aided in
revival work in parishes other than his own.
Rev. Mr. Phelps has twice entered the
married state. His first wife was Damaris
S., daughter of Jared and Julia (Storrs)
Clark, to whom he was united at Belcher-
town, Mass., Jan. 10, 1859. She died five
years later having been the mother of two
sons, both of whom died in infancy. He
was again wedded at North Amherst, Mass.,
.•\pril 19, 1865, to Sarah T., daughter of
Daniel and Tammy (Eastman) Dickinson.
By her he has had seven children : Frederic
William (deceased), Charles Dickinson,
Edith Sophia (deceased), Myron Austin, Julia
Eastman, Florence Dell, and Isabelle Maud.
Mr. Phelps has been a Republican since
the formation of the party and was a mem-
ber of the state convention that nominated
John A. .Andrew for Governor of Massachu-
setts. For four years he was superintendent
of schools in Lowell, and also served on
school committes inErving, Mass., and Sulli-
van, N. H.
For some time he was chaplain of .Mt.
Norris Lodge of G. T. at Lowell, and he
held a similar position in the lodge at
Erving, Mass.
PHILBRICK, JONATHAN, of Guildhall,
son of Thomas P. and Susan (Boston) Phil-
brick, was born at Bartlett, N. H., Oct. 26,
1836. His father was for many years a stage
driver of the old school, an employment that
has fallen into disuse under the aggressive
and universal advance of the iron horse. He
removed to Maidstone when Jonathan was
six years old.
The latter received his education in the
schools of that place and also in those of
Guildhall. Leaving the paternal roof when
he had attained his eighteenth year, he was
for a period employed on various farms in
the vicinity. Later he removed to Holyoke,
Mass., and labored in a paper mill for two
years. He then made his residence in Bos-
ton where he was engaged by the Boston and
Providence R. R. Corporation to serve them,
first as fireman and afterward as locomotive
engineer, and in this responsible capacity
he remained, careful and diligent in the per-
formance of his duties for twenty-nine years.
In 1858 he purchased the estate where he
now lives and as a solace to the declining
years of his father, settled his parent in this
comfortable home and thirty years after took
possession of the jiroperty himself and Irom
that time has made it his abode. In every
way he has improved the farm which, under
his vigorous and successful management, has
always furnished abundant and remunerative
crops.
Mr. Philbrick is a Democrat, but though
belonging to the minority party, received
the compliment of an election to represent
Guildhall in the Legislature of 1892, and he
has also filled the position of selectman in
the town. He is a member of the Brother-
hood of Locomotive Engineers.
He was united to Amelia F., daughter of
E. M. and Mary (Boston) Hayes of Boston,
Oct 25, 1876.
PHILLIPS, GEORGE HENRY, of Put-
ney, son of .\aron Jones and Susan (Walker)
Phillips, was born in Athol, Mass., May 3,
1836.
GEORGE HENRY
He moved with his parents to Winhall at
an early age, and it was here that he received
his early educational training by attending
school during the winter season and laboring
during the summer on the farm, as was cus-
tomarv in those days.
On' the 28th day of August, 1862, Mr.
Phillips enlisted as a private in Co. C, 14th
Vt. Vols., and was jiromoted through suc-
cessive grades to that of orderly sergeant,
which rank he continued to hold until his
discharge in 1865. He is a member of
Greenwood Post, No. 90, G. A. R., of Put-
ney, and iias always taken an active part in
its work.
In 1S64, after his return from the war, he
bought a farm at Winhall and carried it on
for one season, when the well-known Dr.
Ranney farm in WestTownshend was thrown
on the market, and he sold his \\'inhall inter-
ests and purchased the latter place, which
he successfully conducted until 1870, when
he removed to Putney, where he has since
resided and carried on farming, as well as
real estate business and the shipping of
cattle to Brighton.
Mr. Phillips has served the town of Put-
ney for three years as lister, for two years as
selectman, and in 1S82 as a member of the
Legislature.
Mr. Phillips was married, Nov. 25, 1864,
to Helen ^Iar, daughter of Holman and
Lucretia (Whipple) Barrows.
PHILLIPS, WlNFlELD Scott, of Arl-
ington, son of Charles and Marietta (Bennett)
Phillips, was born in Silver Creek, N. V.,
Dec. 9, 1841.
\\'hen he was six years old his father re-
mo\ed to Pawlet, where Mr. Phillips was
educated in the pubKc schools. After a
short experience as teacher, he studied
medicine with Dr. Munroe of West Pawlet,
remaining with him till the doctor's death ;
he then put himself under the charge of I )r.
Mosely of Arlington. He attended the
Albany Medical College in 1866, and was
graduated from the medical department of
the U. V. M. in 1867. After a brief con-
nection with Dr. Mosely, he took a special
course in the Burlington Medical College, and
soon after established himself at Arlington
where he has built up a large and prosper-
ous general practice.
He has confined himself very closely to his
professional duties, but in 1890 was sent as
representative to the Legislature by the Re-
publican vote, where he gave his attention
to special committees on temperance, and
was made chairman of the committee on the
insane. Dr. Phillips was a charter member,
and for three or four years censor, of the
Union Medical Society, and now holds the
office of president of the Bennington County
Medical Society. He is also associated with
the Medical Association of the state, and
was for six years master of Red Mountain
Lodge, No. 63, F. & A. M., member of
Adoniram Chapter, Manchester, of Taft
Commandery, No. 8, Bennington, and for
one year ser\ed as deputy district grand
master. He is a member of the Episcopal
church.
On Oct. 23, 1869, he was united in
marriage to 1 one, daughter of Clark and
Sarissa (White) Parsons of Arlington. Two
children are issue of this union : Hallie Lone,
and Charles Winfield.
PHINNEV, Truman C, of Montpeher,
son of Elisha and Priscilla (Wentworth)
Phinney, was born in Middlesex, April 11,
1827.
At the age of .seventeen he left his father's
farm and went to Brandon, where he learned
the jeweler's trade. In 1849 he came to
Montpelier and went into the jewelry busi-
ness with Capt. A. A. iSIead, under the firm
name of Phinney & Mead. This firm con-
tinued in business until 1856, when Mr.
Phinney sold his interest to his partner, and
started alone in the same business. Here he
continued in business until 1S63, when he
sold out to Stephen Freeman. After spend-
ing a year in California, he returned to
Montpelier and engaged in business with
Denison Dewev, under the firm name of D.
Dewey & Co. In 1869 he sold his interest
to Mr. Dewey, and immediately thereafter
bought the Ballou bookstore. For the next
sixteen years Mr. Phinney prosecuted a gen-
eral book and stationery business, at what
became known as the I^hinney bookstore,
disposing of the business in 1885.
Mr. Phinney was elected sergeant-at arms
by the Legislature of 1870, and has held this
office continually by successive elections un-
til twenty-three years have been passed by
him in this office. During this period, and
in addition to his customary dutie.s, he has
superintended the i)rei)aration of the grovnul
for the new state library building, the intro-
duction of a new system of heating and ven-
tilating the Capitol building, and the several
extensive repairs by which the utility and
beauty of the chief public buildings in the
state have been greatly enhanced. Since
1885 Mr. Phinney has devoted his whole
time to state service, merging with the duties
of sergeant-at-arms those of deputy secretary
of state, to which position he was appointed
in 1 89 1.
For the last twenty-three years Mr. Phin-
ney has served the interests of local educa-
tion upon the school board, and for several
years has also served upon the board of ves-
trymen of Christ Church. He has been
prominently identified with local Masonry
for nearly forty years, for seven years holding
the position of master of Aurora Lodge, and
for fourteen consecutive years that of T. I.
Master of Montpelier Council, R. and S. M.
He is a member of the Sons of the American
Revolution.
Mr. Phinney married Miss Sarah E.
Barnes, daughter of \\'illiam S. and Adeline
P. (Howe) Barnes, of Albany, 111., Sept. 11,
1 85 5. Their family consists of three daugh-
ters and one son : Mary A., Jennie P., Anna
\\'., and Robert T.
PIER, FREDERICK Baldwin, of Rawson-
ville, son of Rev. Orvis and Kunice (Smith)
Pier, was born in Westford, July 26, 1847.
He received his early education at the
common schools and graduated from the
Black River Academy, at Ludlow, in 1864.
He then learned the trade of a car])enter in
Jamaica, which occupation he followed for
eleven years. In 1875 he established himself
as a merchant in Rawsonville, where he has
since resided. In 1877, through the unre-
mitting labor and work of Mr. Pier, the gov-
ernment established a postoffice in the place,
and he has since been postmaster. At the
age of twenty-five he was elected justice of
the peace, and has since continuously held
the positiion, while his ability and energy have
called him to various other posts of trust and
responsibility.
Mr. Pier married, Jan. 2. 1868, at Bond-
ville, Helen A., daughter of Charles R. and
Faustina (Barrus) Williams. There are two
children living : Gladys M., and Frank W.
PIERCE, Charles Alexander, of
Bennington, son of James and Dorcas Bayard
Pierce, was born in Chester, .August 22,
1839.
He was educated in the common schools,
and at the age of sixteen entered the ofifice
of the Brattleboro Phoenix, where he served
his apprenticeship. In 1861 he established
the Manchester ( Vt.) Journal, which he con-
tinued to publish for nine years, but finally
purchased the Bennington ISanner, which he
now owns, and in connection with this is
the proprietor of one of the largest job
printing, bookbinding and publishing estab-
lishments in the state. He was appointed
postmaster at Bennington in 1S91 by Presi-
dent Harrison.
He enlisted in Co. C, 14th Regt. Vt. X'ols.,
of which company he was ist sergeant, and
on account of an accidental injury received
his discharge in May, 1863.
Mr. Pierce wedded .\bby, daughter of
Isaac \V. and Maria Cibson, of Londonderry.
Their children are : Charles \V., Warren A.,
and Nettie M.
PIERCE, George W., of Brattleboro,
son of Nathan G. and Roxana (Reach)
Pierce, was born in \\'estminster, Dec. 3, 1854.
He received his education in the common
and private schools of his native town and
assisted his father on the farm until he was
twenty-four years of age, when he entered
the emiiloyment of the A'ermont Asylum for
the Insane at Brattleboro. For eight years
he served as supervisor of the male depart-
ment, and at the expirati(m of that time he
was selected for the management of the farm.
For the past six years Mr. Pierce has been
the manager of the asylum farm department,
a position which he still holds.
His name has been very prominent in the
agricultural interests of the town and of the
!'4
PIERSON.
PIERPOINT.
State. In 1892 he received the appointment
as a member of the State Board of Agricul-
ture, which office he soon resigned, his busi-
ness relations not allowing him to hold the
same. In the same year he also refused the
candidacy for town representative. At the
present time he holds the office of secretary
of the Vermont Dairyman's Association ;
also is master of Protective (Irange, Brattle-
boro. Mr. Pierce is an active member of the
Universalist church, now being a member of
the board of trustees of the First Universal-
ist Society in Brattleboro.
In 1884 Mr. Pierce married Ida M., daugh-
ter of Alvah and Sylvia AVeed of Saratoga, N.
v., by whom he has four children : jNIilton
W., George E., Frederick \V., and Weed K.
PIERSON, James Smith, of Burling-
ton, son of Smith F. and Lydia R. (Tabor)
Pierson, was born in Shelburne, Iiec. S. 1S40.
it
.After attending the public schools of Bur-
lington until he was seventeen years of age
he went to Janesville, Wis., where he found
employment as a clerk in his brother's store
for a few months ; then returned to Burling-
ton where he was occupied with learning the
trade of a machinist till 1862, when he
enlisted as a private in Co. C, 12th Vt. Vols.,
but was discharged on account of sickness
before his term of service expired. For
nearly five years owing to disease contracted
while in the army the state of his health pre-
vented any active employment. He next
removed to the city of New York and gave
his attention to the development of Professor
Lowe's invention of water gas, the success of
which is due largely to the improvements he
invented and perfected in the apparatus for
manufacturing the gas, which is now univer-
sally used in .America, and has reduced the
cost of gas to the consumers in the United
States, millions of dollars per year. He was
for several years engaged in constructing gas
works in most of the large cities in this
country and for two years was general super-
intendent of the United Gas Improvement
Co. of Philadelphia, the largest gas cor-
poration in the world. After accumula-
ting a fortune he retired from active busi-
ness in 1886 and returned to Burlington,
where he purchased his father's old farm
and has since occupied himself with the im-
provement of the same. He is a director in
the Burlington and Waterbury (Conn.) (las-
light companies and president of the latter,
also a director in the Burlington Electric
Light Co., and has official connection with
various other water gas companies.
Mr. Pierson married, Dec. 7, 1872, Lu-
cille, daughter of James and Lienor (Pellea-
true) Blake of Brooklyn, N. V. They have
an adopted daughter : Constance.
He is an adherent of the Republican
party but has never sought or held any
office. He belongs to several social organ-
izations in the city of Burlington and attends
the Protestant Episcopal church.
PIERPOINT, Evelyn, of Rutland, son
of Hon. Pierpoint and Abigail (Raymond)
Pierpoint, was born in Rutland, June 10,
18 1 6. He is descended from the Rev. James
Pierpoint, who was the second clergyman of
New Haven, Conn. [For a sketch of his
father. Judge Pierpoint, see Part I of this
work.]
The subject of this sketch received the
customary education in the public schools
in Rutland, followed by a short course of
study in Bennington .Academy. AVhen twelve
years of age he was employed as a clerk in
Rutland post-office, and served a term of
years as clerk in a general merchandise
store in that place. In 1837 he took charge
of the store of the Brandon Iron Co., and
later formed a partnership with William Y.
Ripley at Centre Rutland. He was for a
number of years engaged with a dry goods
jobbing and importing house in New York
City, and was engaged in trade for four years
in Lansingburgh, N. Y. He then returned
to Rutland, and after engaging in business
with his father-in-law for four years, erected
in Mendon the first steam saw mill in Ver-
mont, and during the buiUling and operation
of the Rutland & Burlington R. R. was en-
gaged in the lumber and bridge building
business. In 1851 he engaged in the real
estate business, and has been directly inter-
ested in the purchase and sale of many of
the prominent transfers in his growing city.
He was a member of the Council of Censors
in 1854 and 1855, and was one of five dele-
gates to the national convention in Phila-
delphia in June, 1855.
Politically Mr. Pierpoint is a Republican,
and was justice of the peace and for a num-
ber of years town treasurer ; was inspector of
finance under (Governors \\'ashburn, Hendee
and Stewart : was one of the directors and
cashier of the National Bank of Rutland ;
was also one of the incorporators and direc-
tors of the Merchants' Bank in that city.
Mr. Pierpoint was one of the founders of
Otter Creek Lodge of I. O. O. F., and is the
only surviving charter member of that body.
He also belongs to the Masonic Lodge of
Rutland, and is a Congregationalist in his
religious preference.
June 4, 1 84 1, he was united in marriage
to Sarah J., daughter of Limes and Miriam
(Buttrick) Barrett, of Rutland, who departed
this life May 7, 1893. Five children were
the fruit of this union : Kate Frances (de-
ceased), Alice J. (deceased), Charles E.
(deceased), Mary K. (deceased), and Annie
Evelyn, now at home with her father.
PIKE, PaPHRO D., of Stowe, son of
William and Nancy (Hitchcock) Pike, was
born in Morristown, Dec. i, 1835.
He passed the days of his youth in labor
on the i)aternal acres, and gained his educa-
tion in the common schools of Morristown,
and later at Johnson .Vcademy. When he
had arrived at man's estate, as he had a nat-
ural taste for mechanical ijursuits, he pur-
chased a saw mill, which furnished him with
employment till i860, when he moved to
Stowe and engaged in a similar enterprise,
constructing a mill in that town.
When President Lincoln issued his callfor
volunteers he enlisted in Co. L), nth Regt.
\'t. Infantry, and followed the fortunes of
that organization during its entire service,
including the last grand advance on Rich-
mond. During this period he was constantly
at his post, with the exception of two months
spent in the hospital, and was honorably dis-
charged in July, 1865.
Mr. Pike wedded Abigail, daughter of
Luke J. and Eunice (Camp) Towne, of
Stowe, Nov. 7, i860. Three sons are the
issue of this union : Arba A., Lewis A., and
Fred M.
After his release from the army he was
variously employed as carpenter and mill-
wright for several years, and in 1871 he
commenced the manufacture of butter tubs.
In this he continued for fourteen years, when
he sold the business and went to Brooklyn,
N. v., and was employed in the Hatters Fur
Cutting Co., but after a time returned to
Stowe and again purchased his old mill,
where with improved machinery the firm of
P. D. Pike & Sons are now engaged in the
manufacture of butter tubs, making use of
several improvements in the mechanical
appliances of the trade which have been
patented by himself, and from small begin-
nings has derived an increasing and prosper-
ous business.
Though favoring the political principles of
the Republican party, Mr. Pike has not
found much time for 'official life, so urgent
and various have been the demands of his
private affairs, but he has faithfully discharged
the duties of those town offices which have
been conferred upon him. He was elected
to a seat in the House in the Legislature of
1880, and served on the committee on
manufactures.
PINGREH, Samuel E., of Hartford,
son of Stephen and Judith (True) Pingree,
was born in Salisbury, N. H., August 2,
1832. Moses Pengre, his earliest .American
ancestor, was the proprietor of salt works in
Ipswich as early as 1652, was selectman of
that town, deacon of the First Church, and
deputy of the general court in 1665, and
from this worthy, Samuel E. Pingree is the
sixth in lineal descent.
After the usual preliminary studies pur-
sued in the academies at Andover (N. H.)
and Mclndoes Falls, he entered Dartmouth
College, from which he graduated in 1857.
;i6
Selecting the profession of law, he studied in
the office of Hon. A. P. Hnnton of Bethel,
and was admitted to the bar of Windsor
county at the December term of 1859, after
which admission he began to practice at
Hartford with fair prospects of success.
At this juncture the war for the preserva-
tion of the Union commenced, and Mr.
Pingree promptly responded to President
Lincoln's call for troojjs by enlisting as
private in Co. F, 3d Regt. Vt. \'oh., and was
soon chosen TSt lieutenant of that organiza-
tion. In August, 1 86 1, he w-as promoted to
captain, commissioned major 27th of Sep-
tember, 1862, for meritorious conduct, and
finally received the grade of lieutenant-
colonel on the 15th of January, 1863. In
his first important engagement, that of Lee's
Mills, ^'a., he was severely wounded and con-
fined for ten weeks in hospital at Philadel-
SAMUEL E. PINGREE.
phia, but returned to his command imme-
diately upon his recovery, and was present
in most of the important battles in which
the Army of the Potomac was engaged. In
the second day's battle of the Wilderness,
Lieutenant-Colonel Pingree was placed in
command of the famous 2d Vt. Regt. (all the
field officers of that regiment having been
killed or wounded), and this honorable posi-
tion he retained until that organization was
mustered out of the U. S. service. After
participating in the battles of Spottsylva-
nia Court House, North Anna River, Cold
Harbor, Petersburg, and in the sanguinary
struggle for the possession of the Weldon R.
R., in which last affair he narrowly escaped
capture with a portion of his command, he
concluded his military service by assisting
in repulsing the movement of General Early
on \Vashington, arriving with his comrades
of the 6th Corps just in time to save the
capital of the nation from destruction. He
was honorably mustered out of service lulv
27, 1864.
After his return to civil life Colonel Pingree
resumed the practice of his profession at
Hartford. In 1S6S '69 he was state's attor-
ney for Windsor county and during his term
of office Hiram Miller was indicted and tried
for the murder of Mr. and Mrs. Gowan, and
it was chiefly owing to the careful preparation
and the efficiency with which Colonel Pingree
conducted the prosecution that the accused
criminal was duly convicted and suffered the
extreme penalty of the law.
Though not an office seeker Colonel Pingree
has never shunned responsibilities of official
position. He has been town clerk of Hart-
ford for thirty-four years, less the time he was
in the war, and in 1868 was chosen delegate-
at-large to the national Republican conven-
tion at Chicago. Two years subsequently he
was made president of the Reunion Society
of Vermont Officers, before the members of
which association he delivered an excellent
and scholarly address in 1872. In the fall
election of 1882 Colonel Pingree was chosen
Lieutenant-Governor of the state by the
Republicans, his popularity being indicated
by the fact that his vote was the largest of
an}' cast for the state officials and two years
later his merit was still farther recognized by
his election to the office of Go\ernor. His
administration was characterized by the same
efficiency and zeal which he has ever dis-
played as soldier, lawyer and citizen. LTpon
the establishing of a state railway commission
ex-Governor Pingree was appointed chairman
of the board, in which position he is now
serving.
Governor I'ingree was married Sept. 15,
1869, to Lydia M., daughter of Sanford and
Mary (Hinman) Steele, of Stanstead, P. Q.
PITKIN, PerlEY PEABODY, late of
Montpelier, son of I'ruman and Rebecca
(Da\is) Pitkin, was born in Marshfield,
March 9, 1S26. It was his misfortune to
early lose his mother, Rebecca (Davis) Pit-
kin, but his subsequent good fortune to be
guided in his future conduct and studies by
his grandfather. Gen. Parley Davis of Mont-
pelier Centre, who was the first general sur-
veyor of ^^'ashington county, and with his
cousin. Col. Jacob Davis, first permanently
settled in Montpelier. The general's grand-
father was Major Stephen Pitkin, one of the
first settlers in Marshfield. Through these
3i8
ancestors General Pitkin inherited the com-
mon attributes of great energy, a good judg-
ment, and a strong mind, a kind and court-
eous disposition.
His education was secured at the district
schools and completed in the Washington
count\- grammar school. Until the war he
resided at East Montpelier. When the gold
fever struck the commu.nity Mr. Pitkin
visited California and for three years was em-
ployed in trading and mining.
After his return to East Montpelier he
represented that town in the General Assem-
bly during 1859 and i860 and in the extra
session, convened to take action on the war.
Mr. Pitkin very soon made up his mind as
to the action which he would personally take
and so, on the 6th of June, t86i, he having
meantime \'olunteered his service, he was
commissioned quartermaster of the 2d Regt.
Vt. Vols. In April, 1862, he was promoted to
be assistant quartermaster of the volunteers
with the rank of captain, and July 8, 1864,
to the rank of colonel. In November, 1864, ■
obedient to the wishes of his Governor, Col-
onel Pitkin resigned from the army to assume
the ofifice of state quartermaster general,
which office he retained for a period of six
years. During that time he had charge of
the state arsenal with its large quantity of
military stores, the major part of which he
afterward disposed of to foreign govern-
ments, turning the proceeds into the treasury
of the state.
Upon his return from the South, he located
at Montpelier in business with Dennis Lane
and James \V. Brock, and from that time on
exerted a large influence both in the affairs
of that company and the town. In 1872
General Pitkin represented Montpelier in
the Legislature. He was first selectman dur-
ing i868-'7o; i874-'77 ; i879-'8o ; a com-
missioner of Green Mount cemetery from
March 2, i88o ; a director of the First Na-
tional Bank from Jan. 9, 1866; a director
of the National Life Insurance Co. and
member of its finance committee, from Jan-
uary, 1878; a trustee of the Washington
county grammar school from 1868 ; and for
some years president of the Montpelier
school board.
His principal business was in the manage-
ment of the Lane Manufacturing Co., of
which corporation (which sends its saw-
mills as far as Japan) General Pitkin was
president, from the death of Dennis Lane in
1888, to his death.
Every movement in town or village mat-
ters that contemplated a true and probable
progress, received his encouragement, his
service, and his support. He was a man of
fine physique and commanding appearance,
and his presence filled the eye. His own
eye, dark and clear, beamed with kindness
and glowed with power. His personal influ-
ence, born of the general respect which was
had for his judgment and his fairness, was
very great — in a word, it was a commanding
influence.
His work in the war was such that to enter
upon any account of it w'ould be idle, with
the space at command. In the memorable
campaign of 1S64 the wagon trains of the
Army of the Potomac were under his direc-
tion : the supply of food, clothing and am-
munition was largely under his management.
General Grant wrote his memorable "fight
it out on this line if it takes all summer" dis-
patch while Cleneral Pitkin waited to take it
to Washington. In "Benedict's Vermont in
the Civil War" will be found a clear sketch of
General Pitkin's military service, while in L.
E. Chittenden's "Personal Reminiscences" is
a chapter devoted to him — a very readable
chapter, too, though some of it will bear a
little salting.
Mr. Pitkin married, April 14, 1848, Caro-
line M., daughter of James Templeton, of
East Montpelier. Their four sons are : Clar-
ence H., Carroll P., Fred E., and Frank I.
Mrs. Pitkin died Dec. 11, 1883, and (ieneral
Pitkin married, July 26, 1886, Mrs. Jennie
(Dewey) Poland, daughter of Denison
Dewey.
PITKIN, John G., of Fair Haven, son
of Joseph and Lucinda (Smith) Pitkin, was
born in Poultney, Sept. 6, 1826.
He received his education in the public
schools of Poultney, and at the age of twen-
ty-one removed to Fair Haven where he has
since resided, with the exception of three
years (from 1852 to 1855), which he spent
in California. In 1855 he engaged in the
grocery and provision business in which he
continued for ten years, when he and his
brother, W. W. Pitkin, formed a partner-
ship, under the firm name of Pitkin &
Brother, to do a general hardware trade, in
which enterprise they have been successful
to the present time.
In politics, Mr. Pitkin has always been an
ardent Republican. He has held nearly all
of the town offices, and has always filled
them with credit to himself and honor to the
town. In 1872 he represented Fair Haven
in the state Legislature, also in 1886 and in
1892 was elected to the state Senate from
Rutland county.
Mr. Pitkin is a member of Eureka Lodge,
No. 75, F. & A. M. of Fair Haven, and has
been master of the lodge six years. He has
served as D. D. G. M. of the Fourth Ma-
sonic district three years. He is also a
member of Poultney Chapter, No. 10;
Morning Star Council, No. 10, of Poultney;
and of Killington Commandery, No. 6, Rut-
land.
Mr. Pitkin was married in Fair Haven,
Dec. 31, 1855, to Miss Susan [., daughter of
Samuel and Marinda (ISrown) Uowaal. Of
91^
this union only one child is issue, a daua;h-
ter: Hattie M. (Mrs. \\. H. Childs of Xew
York City).
PLATT, Myron, of Larrabee's Point,
son of Elmore and Betsy (Peck) Piatt, was
born in Glens Falls, N. Y., on August 15,
1830.
Until eleven years of age he attended the
district schools of his town and then entered
Glens Falls Academy. In 1851 and ]852
he took a special course at the Polytechnic
Institute, Troy, N. Y. Shortly after he went
into business in Glens Falls where he re-
mained until 1858 when he moved to Shore-
ham, purchasing a large farm on Lake
Champlain at Larrabee's Point. Here he
has remained since, devoting himself to farm-
ing and stockraising.
Mr. Piatt has held all town offices which
he could be persuaded to accept. He was
inspector of elections in Glens Falls, N. Y.,
in the presidential election in 1856, in
which campaign he supported Fremont, the
Republican candidate, and the principles of
this party Mr. Piatt has steadfastly believed
in. He has been a justice of the peace since
1868, receiving his commission from each of
the Governors since. For the last twelve
years he has been the only trial justice in
Shoreham. He was elected assistant judge
i'll.mli:y. 310
of the Addison county court in 1886 and
while upon the bench established a reputa-
tion for sound sense in the discharge of his
duties.
Judge Piatt married in Shoreham, August
6, 1S56, Sarah i:iizabeth, daughter of L. D.
and Mary Larrabee. From this union three
children have been born: Mary L. (Mrs.
Robert O. Kascom of Fort Edward, N. Y.),
Fred Elmore, and Xellie.
YRON PLATT.
Judge Piatt is a member of no church or
society but known throughout the county as
an honorable man and true to his principles.
PLUMLEY, Frank, of Northfield, was
born in Eden, Dec. 17, 1844.
Reared upon a farm and educated in the
common schools of the town and the Peoijle's
.Academy, of Morris\ille, he adopted for a
time the profession of a teacher, but in 1866
commenced the study of the law with Powers
& (ileed, at Morrisville, and a year after
entered the law department of the I'niversity
of Michigan, .Ann .Arbor, where he also pur-
sued a selected course of study in the literary
department. .After three years of professional
training he was admitted to the bar at the
.May term of the Lamoille county court, 1S69,
and afterwards came to Northfield, and
entered the office of Hon. Heman Carpenter.
The firm of Carpenter & Plumley, formed in
1870, was disolved by mutual consent in
1876. Mr. Plumley has attained a leading
position at the bar. He was state's attorney
from 1876 to 1880 inclusive, and anions: lii<
important cases were the Carr and Meeker
murder trials. He was appointed in 1889 by
President Harrison, United State's attorney
for Vermont.
Mr. Plumley possesses the entire confi-
dence of his townsmen in every walk of life.
He is a member of the M. E. Church and for
twelve years has been superintendent of the
Sunday school.
.^S"**"-
FRANK PLUMLEY.
He is now serving his fourth consecutive
term of three years each, as a member of the
board of directors of the Xorthfield graded
and high schools, of which body he is chair-
man, and for several years has filled the same
position on the board of village trustees. He
is also a trustee of Norwich University, and a
trustee of the Northfield Savings Bank.
He was married August 9, 187 1, to
Lavinia L., daughter of Hiram and Mary
(Smith) Fletcher of Eden. They have two
children : Charles Albert, and Theodora May.
Mr. Phmiley is a Republican, and an
ardent temperance man. Elected repre-
sentative from Northfield to the Legislature
in 1882, he served with ability on the judi-
ciary committee, and also on that on the
insane. He was chairman of the Repub-
lican state convention in 1886, and was ap-
pointed one of the delegates from Vermont
to the anti-saloon conference, held in New
Vork in the spring of 1888, and was the
fourth delegate-at-large to the Republican
national convention of 1888, in which he
was a member of the committee on the plat-
form, and was the author of the resolution
presented to that committee pledging the
cordial sympathy and moral support of the
national Republican party to all well-directed
efforts to tem]jerance reform. It was pre-
sented on the floor of the convention by Mr.
Boutelle of Maine and adopted with
slight verbal alterations. Mr. Plumley has
a national reputation as an interesting and
effecti\-e campaign orator, and in the strug-
gle of 1884 he was sent to Michigan by the
national committee, to which state he has
been recalled at each successive state and
national campaign since that time. Mr.
Plumley has served four terms as the wor-
shipful master of DeWitt Clinton Lodge, No.
15, F. & A. M., and is also a member of
Northfield Lodge, No. 19, I. O. O. F., and
of Northfield Lodge, No. 175, L O. G. T.,
and was the first and the present \\. C. of
Northfield Lodge, which contains two hun-
dred and forty members.
For five years he was grand secretary of
the Grand Lodge L O. G. T., and represent-
ative from that body to the Right Worthy
Grand Lodge of the \\'orld at its New Vork
and Topeka sessions. For three successive
years he filled the office of grand chief
templar in the state. He is a lecturer on
constitutional law at Norwich L'ni\ersity,
which institution conferred on him the de-
gree of A. M. at its commencement in 1S92.
PLUMLEY, Frank M., of Sherburne,
son of Adolphus and Lucy (Dexter) Plum-
ley, was born in Shrewsbury, March 27,
1840.
He received his early educational training
in the common schools and later supple-
mented this by a course of general reading.
.A lover of books he has collected a small
but well selected library. After the comple-
tion of his schooling he followed the calling
of a commercial traveler for a few years and
then settled down upon a farm in his native
town, to which vocation, after a short time,
he added a lumber business which he
carried on successfully for thirty years. In
1885 he removed to Sherburne and engaged
in the lumber trade in that town until 1893
when he purchased an estate on the Wood-
stock road on which he now resides.
Mr. Plumley was married in Shrewsbury,
Nov. 30, 1862, to Eliza N., daughter of
Curtis and Eliza Hale. To them have been
born three sons : Rush, Ralph, and Albert.
He has always been an earnest Republi-
can ; has held the offices of selectman, road
commissioner, justice of the peace, as well
as other positions of honor and trust, and
was chosen to represent Sherburne in the
state Legislature of 1892, where he ser\'ed
with
ures.
credit on the committee on manufact-
Being yet in the prime of life he will
>$
M. PLUMLEY.
probably become more prominent in county
and state affairs within the next few years.
POLAND, JOSEPH, of Montpelier, son
of Luther and Nancy (Potter) Poland, was
born in LTnderhill, March 14, 1818. His
father, Luther Poland, was born in Brook-
field, Mass., March 11, 1790, moved to
Vermont in 1814, and died at Montpelier,
June 16, 1880.
The family moved from I'nderhill to \Va-
terville (then Coit's (lore), in 1821, and till
1835 Joseph worked on the farm, meanwhile
attending the district school and Johnson
Academy. In September, 1835, he came to
Montpelier, and as an apprentice entered
the office of the Vermont A\'atchman, where
he remained until 1839. He was confirmed
in anti-slavery opinions by witnessing the
riotous conduct of those who, in October
1835, disturbed the meetings at the State
House and the "Old Brick Church," at
which Rev. Samuel J. May lectured.
January i, 1839, he began the publication
at Montpelier of the Voice of Freedom,
the first distinctly anti-slavery periodical of
the state, but in less than a year was com-
pelled to dispose of the property on account
of broken health.
In June, 1S40, he was able to resume
his chosen profession, and established the
Lamoille Whig at Johnson. \\'hile residing
there he served as assistant clerk in the state
Legislature. .After four years' connection
with this pajier, Mr. Poland returned to
Montpelier and established the Oreen
Mountain Freeman as the organ of the new-
ly-formed Liberty party. This publication
he continued, with marked success, until the
close of the presidential campaign of 1S48,
during which period the vote of the party in
the state increased to more than 15,000,
and in the nation to 300,000. He served as
chairman of the state committee, and large-
ly as general organizer of the party, during
a large portion of these years— a period
made ever memorable as witnessing the
birth of that wonderful moral and political
revolution which, a few years later, elevated
.\braham Lincoln to the presidency, and
struck the fetters from every .American slave.
About 1882, the late Hon. E. P. Walton
jusdy wrote : "Mr. Poland may properly in-
dulge in the double boast of him thatgirdeth
on the harness and of him that putteth it off,
having lived to see .American sla\erv, not
only forever extinguished bv the organic law
JOSEPH POLAND.
of the land, but remembered only with such
detestation that history blushes at the record."
In 1S49 ^^^- Poland was chosen a director
and secretary of the Farmers' Mutual Fire
Insurance Co., positions which he held
during the entire life of the company, more
than thirty years. In i852-'53 he ser\-ed as
judge of probate for Washington county ; in
i858-'6o was a member of the state Senate,
and in i87o-'7i represented the town of
Montpelier in the Legislature. In 1861 he
was commissioned by Governor Fairbanks
(and afterwards by President Lincoln, in
connection with Hon. John B. Page and
Hon. John Howe, Jr., under an act of Con-
gress providing for allotment commissioners)
to visit the Vermont regiments in the field
and procure from each soldier an allotment
of such portion of his monthly pay as could
be spared during his enlistment, to be trans-
mitted to his family, or any depository he
might select. In 1863, under a commission
from Governor Smith, Mr. Poland purchased
what was then denominated the "Fair
Ground," but now "Seminary Hill," in Mont-
pelier, and erected thereon the buildings
constituting "Sloan Hospital," which was
maintained for many years, first by the state
and subsequently by the general government,
as a rendezvous for invalid soldiers. He has
been a trustee of the Vermont State Library
since Nov. i, 1859. From 1861 to 1869 he
held the position of collector of internal reve-
nue for the First Congressional District of
Vermont. In March, 1868, Judge Poland in
connection with his son, J. Monroe, purchased
the \'ermont Watchman, which he continued
until 1882, when he permanendy retired from
active business. He left the paper with far
more than double the circulation it had when
he assumed it. Mr. Poland was also favor-
ably known to the Congregational churches
of Vermont and New Hampshire as the pub-
lisher and proprietor of both the Vermont
Chronicle and the New Hampshire Journal.
Of Mr. Poland's long service in the editorial
field, space allows us only one or two brief
expressions of his brethren on his retirement.
The Rutland Herald said : "The Watchman
and Journal, under his hands, has always
hewed straight to the line on all great ([ues-
tions of deep public concern in morals and
politics. A man of excellent ability as a
thinker and writer, of discreet action and
sagacious judgment in politics, Mr. Poland
has acted well his part in ^'ermont journal-
ism. His influence has been large, and it has
been uprightly exerted." The St. Albans
Messenger said : "But it is not so much in
relation to the public as an able and con-
scientious journalist that we feel mo\ed to
write, but rather in his relations to the editors
and publishers of the state. In these rela-
tions Mr. Poland has been most exception-
ally free from the petty jealousies, the spirit
of detraction and disparagement, the rancor
and unwarranted personal abuse which have
prevailed too generally among the editors of
the state, and in this respect he leaves to his
professional brethren a very worthy example."
Mr. Poland became a communicant of
Bethany Church in 1S39, and has been since
the death of Hon. E. P. Walton its senior
deacon ; also served as superintendent of its
Sunday school, which relations he sustained
to the Congregational church in Johnson,
during his residence there.
Judge Poland has been for half a century
by \oice, pen and earnest work an untiring
friend and advocate of the temperance cause.
During his long residence in Montpelier
Judge Poland's political and personal influ-
ence has been far-reaching and effective, and
has been freely sought and acknowledged in
connection with most of the public men and
measures of his time. Proverbially public-
spirited, he has ever moved far in advance
of men of much larger means in encourag-
ing every business, benevolent, or social
enterprise in his community ; the sick and
the suffering have always found in him a
friend and benefactor, and the worthy young
men are by no means few whom he has en-
couraged and assisted to enter upon a
successful business career for themselves.
July 7, 1840, Mr. Poland married Mary Ann,
daughter of the late Joseph Rowell. Of their
seven children, but one, Edward R., is
living ; three died in infancy : Clara A., an
accomplished daughter of twenty-one, died
in 1865 : Charles F. died in 1875, in early
manhood, and J. Monroe formerly adjutant
of the 15th Vermont, died Sept. 16, 1891.
Mrs. Poland died in 1862, and Feb. 8, 1873,
Judge Poland married Julia M. Harvey,
"daughter of James K. and Carohne (Coburn)
Harvey, of Barnet.
PORTER, Charles Walcott, son of
Judge John and Jane Francis (Foster) Por-
ter, was born in Hartford, July 11, 1849.
His early education was received in the
schools of Hartford and the Kimball Union
Academy of Meriden, N. H. He then en-
tered upon a course of study at Phillips
Academy, .\ndover, Mass., graduating in
1870. 'Two years afterwards he was settled
in Montpelier and began the study of law in
the ofificeof Hon. B. F. Fifield. He was ad-
mitted to the bar in 1S74, at which time he
formed a partnership with C. H. Pitkin, Esq.,
and his former instructor, under the firm
name of Fifield, Pitkin & Porter, and later a
new firm was organized under the title of
Pitkin and Porter, which arrangement re-
mained unchanged until 1S80, when Mr.
Porter withdrew from the concern and con-
tinued to practice his profession without a
partner until the time of his death, .-Xugust i,
1891.
He was always a Republican, and in 1872
he received the appointment of deputy sec-
retary of state and held that position for
twelve years. He also was made deputy in-
surance commissioner. In 1SS4 he was
elected secretary of state and by successive
re-elections was continued in that office for
six years. Mr. Porter was president of the
Berlin Granite Co. from its organization in
1887 to the time of his death.
He was married July 16, 1885, at Mont-
pelier, to Florence, only daughter of Charles
W. and Olive (Eaton) Bailey.
POWERS, HEMAN a., of Braintree, .son
of Heman and Isabel (Nash) Powers, was
born in East Montpelier, June 22, 1827.
Mr. Powers obtained his education in the
schools and academy of Montpelier. .-\t the
age of seventeen he went to Milford, Mass.,
entered a shoe manufactory, and soon be-
came an expert in bottoming boots, which
occupation he pursued in thirteen different
states, traveling for his employer, Mr. Whit-
ney, who challenged the country to produce
his equal in skill or rapidity. .\t the age of
twenty-five he returned to \'ermont and
commenced farming in the town of Plain -
field, but some quarter of a century since he
purchased the "Judge Waite" estate in Brain-
tree and has made it his residence from that
period. Mr. Powers believes that Vermont
is the best state in the Union for farmers and
proves his faith by his works, for he most
iEMAN A. POWERS.
successfully cultivates one of the best farms
in the state. He has a large herd of cows,
mostly graded, but generally selected for in-
dividual merit, and has sent about $4,000
worth of butter to the Narragansett Hotel of
R. I. annually for the last fifteen years, dur-
ing which time he has not failed in making
his regular four shipments a week. i'"or-
POWERS. 323
merly his farm was considered the most pro-
ductive one in Orange county, but Mr. Pow-
ers has doubled its capacity, obtaining enor-
mous crops of hay, oats, corn, and potatoes.
.Although a Democrat in a strongly Re-
publican community, he has been entrusted
with many local public offices of importance,
and represented Braintree in 1884. He is
a man of jovial disposition, keen insight, and
remarkably sound judgment, who is highly
respected and very po])uIar in the commun-
ity. He was formerly much interested in
checkers, of which game he was a champion
player.
He was united in marriage in 1850 to
.Sarah J., daughter of Shubeal P. and Betsy
(Sanborn) Short, of East Montpelier. Eight
children have been issue of this marriage,
five of whom survive: Bettie M. (.Mrs. C.
B. Ford of Idaho), Laura (deceased), Sadie
(Mrs. .\I. Bruce), .Alice, Elsie, and Herman
Earl.
POWERS, Horace Henry, of .Morris-
ville, son of Horace and Love E. (Oilman )
Powers, was born on the 29th of May,
1835, in Morristown,a descendant of Walter
Powers, who emigrated to this country in
the early part of the i 7th century.
He prepared for his college course by
study in the People's Academy at Morris-
town, entered the University of A'ermont,
and graduated therefrom in 1855. The two
years immediately following his graduation
were passed in teaching school at Hunting-
don, Canada East, and in Hyde Park.
During this period he began the study of
law under the direction of Thomas (Jleed of
Morristown, and subsequently continued it
under that of Child & Ferrin of Hyde Park.
.Admitted to the bar of Lamoille county in
May, 1858, he settled in Hyde Park, and
there practiced his profession until March,
1862. He then formed a law partnership
with P. K. Gleed at Morri-sville, and con-
tinued with him until December, 1874, when
he was elevated to the bench of the Supreme
Court. Throughout the whole of these years
his firm enjoyed a large and comparatively
lucrative practice in the counties of Lamoille,
Orleans, Caledonia, and Franklin. His pro-
fessional standing was fully equal to that of
the best in northern Vermont.
Independently of his high judicial posi-
tion, judge Powers has worthily and satis-
factorily filled many other public offices. He
represented Hyde Park in the \'ermont Leg-
islature of 1858, and had the distinction of
being the youngest member of the House.
In the session of 1872 he represented I^-
moille county in the Senate, served on the
judiciary committee, and officiated as chair-
man of the committee on railroads. In the
vears 1861 and 1862 he was state's attorney
H. HENRY POWERS.
for Lamoille county. In 1S69 he was mem-
ber of the last Council of Censors, and in
1870 made his personal intluence powerfully
felt in the state Constitutional Convention
which effected the change from annual to
biennial sessions of the Legislature. He
acted as chairman in committee of the
whole. His sole connection with financial
institutions is that of director of the Lamoille
County National ISank, an office he has held
since 1865.
In 1S74 he represented Morristown, was
chosen speaker of the House and received
his first election to the bench. In 1890
Judge Powers was elected to the Fifty-second
Congress from the first Vermont district, and
in 1892 was chairman of the Vermont dele-
gation to the Republican national conven-
tion at Minneapolis, and was elected to the
Fifty-third Congress.
As lawyer, legislator, or jurist. Judge
Powers has always commanded the admira-
tion of his fellow-citizens.
Judge Horace H. Powers was married
Oct. II, 1858,10 Caroline E., daughter of V.
W. and Adeline Waterman of Morristown.
Two children are the issue : Carrie L., and
George M.
PRAi-r. 325
dent that a radical change must ensue in the
manner of conducting their business, as the
trade demanded that the different lines of
goods should be carried in greater variety
and in separate stocks. His brother, O. J.
Pratt, assimied the dry goods and millinery
de]jartment, which he has carried on for
nearly thirty-five years, while the firm of D.
S. Pratt & Co. conducted a custom and
ready made clothing business. In i860
this partnership was dissolved, and that of
Pratt, ^^"right & Co. was formed, which con-
tinued in the general clothing trade till
1873. In addition to the above lines of
business Mr. Pratt has been extensively en-
gaged in farming and the breeding of horses.
Shorthorn cattle and Southdown sheep, and
it is very doubtful if there is a man in the
state who has received higher prices for his
thoroughbred stock. The adjoining country
has been much benefited by the large num-
ber of fine animals which he has bred, and
while his Shorthorn cattle have been largelv
PRATT, Daniel Stewart, of Brattle-
boro, son of Rufus and Maria (Estabrook)
Pratt, was born in Pjrattleboro, August 3,
1826. He is of Scotch and L^nglish de-
scent. His namesake and maternal great-
grandfather. Col. Daniel Stewart, was a
soldier in the Revolutionary army in which
he served as captain, and after his retire-
ment to private life held many important
positions. His grandfather, IVIaj. James
Estabrook, was born at \\'arren, R. I., in
1775, came to Brattleboro with his parents
"when he was four years of age, and was
both conspicuous and popular in the local
militia, in which he obtained the rank of
major.
The early boyhood of Daniel Stewart
Pratt was spent upon a farm, and his educa-
tion was received in the public schools of
Brattleboro. From the age of fifteen to the
time he attained his majority, he was em-
ployed in the market established by his
father in the town. He then entered as a
clerk the store of Wheeler & Pratt, who did
a general dry goods and grocery business,
and continued in their service till the firm
was dissolved in 1850. He then became a
member of the firm of Pratt, Wheeler &
Co., of which his brother, Lucius G., was the
senior partner. This concern continued to
do business most successfully for four years,
doing a general dry goods, millinery and
grocery trade, their sales the last year
amounting to Sioo.ooo. At the expiration
of the lime of partnershi]!, it became evi-
JiEL STEWART PRATT.
sold to go South and West, he has even
exported a few head to the mother country.
He has the credit of selling to Robert Hal-
loway of Illinois, the finest cow that ever
stood in that state, while for one bull, which
he owned in connection with the Messrs.Wins-
low, he obtained the sum of S9000. Mr. Pratt
was made chairman of the board of select-
men in 1879, which was the year of the
great freshet, when the bridges and roads in
the town were nearlv all destroved, but under
326
his energetic and skillful management they
were repaired and rebuilt in the most sub-
stantial and satisfactory manner. He has
been a director for the last thirty years in
some bank in town, and at present is serv-
ing as one of the board of investment of the
Vermont Savings Bank, where his counsel
and advice are influential from his knowledge
of the value of property in the West, where
he has had a wide experience in the hand-
ling of real estate, both for himself and other
people. He became interested with others
in the Vermont Live Stock Co. in 1884, and
has filled the office of vice-president and
president of this organization.
During the war Mr. Pratt rendered valua-
ble service in recruiting Co. B, i6th Regt.
Vt. Vols, several of the enlisted men receiv-
ing substantial aid from him in obtaining
their outfit, while he liberally contributed to
the support of their families during their
absence. He sent a paid substitute to the
front, and after the close of the struggle was
made quartermaster of the ist Vt. Regt. of
the National Guard, in which capacity he
creditably served until honorably discharged.
He has always been a staunch Republican,
though declining all offers of political pre-
ferment, as his tastes do not run in this
direction.
Mr. Pratt was united in marriage Feb. 14,
1850, to Caroline Pamelia, daughter of Ed-
mund and Betsey (Wright) Hoar of Bedford,
Mass. Six children have been born to them :
Charles Stewart (deceased), Edmund Rufus,
Mary .Alice, Carrie Maria (deceased), Jennie
S. (deceased), and Walter Stewart.
PRAY, RUFUS M., of South Woodbury,
son of Thomas and Polly (King) Pray, was
born in Calais, .\pril 8, 1S44.
His father's calling was that of a carpen-
ter and joiner, who was a long time resident
of the town, in the schools of which Rufus
received his education. The latter, a mere
lad of seventeen, did not resist the patriotic
impulse that moved him to enter the ranks
of the Union army, and enlisted in the 2d
N. H. Regiment, which for three months
garrisoned at old P'ort Constitution on the
seacoast of that state. On his journey home-
wards, he stopped at St. Johnsbury, where
Co. K, of Calais, 3d Regt. Vt. Vols, were
engaged in their daily drill, and such was
the enthusiasm of the young volunteer, that
he at once re-enlisted without even bidding
farewell to the loved ones at home or cross-
ing the paternal threshold. Mr. Pray shared
the fortunes of the gallant third in all its
numerous engagements from Lewinsville
and Lee's Mills, to the bloody battles of the
Wilderness, where he was wounded in foot
and forehead, and was sent to the S. A.
Douglas hospital at Washington, from thence
transferred to the U. S. General Hospital at
Montpelier, from which he boldly returned
to active duty before his wounds were wholly
healed. He then experienced the vicissi-
tudes of Sheridan's Shenandoah campaign,
and at Cedar Creek, while on the skirmish
line, received a dangerous wound in his hip,
which was traversed by a minie-ball. He
was carried twelve miles in an army wagon
to Sheridan Hospital, then sent to Frederick,
Md., and later to Montpelier, where he re-
ceived an honorable discharge after a gal-
lant service of four years, one month and
twenty-six days, during which time he was.
not excused from duty a single hour, except
when wounded.
Since his return from the army, though
for more than a year a cripple, he has beerk
able to labor a little at his trade of carpen-
ter and joiner, and to cultivate with effort a
small farm.
Mr. Pray was married August 8, 1864, to
Nellie A., daughter of David and Sabrina
(Chase) Whitham of Woodbury. One child
has been the fruit of this wedlock : Lillian
^L (Mrs. Robert B. Tassie of Montpelier).
Mr. Pray is still a member of that party
for whose political principles he fought and
bled. He was appointed postmaster at
South Woodbury, July 12, 1889, under
President Harrison, and held that position
till his resignation on being elected to the
Legislature of 1892 by an unusual majority.
He was town treasurer in i89i-'92.
PRIME, Merrill Foster, of Barton,
son of Dr. Thomas M. and Amity (Paige)
Prime, was born in Brome, P. < >., Sept. 26,
1859.
His earlier education was received in the
schools and academy of Knowlton, Canada.
.After matriculating at the College of Physi-
cians and Surgeons in Toronto, he entered
McGill Medical School, where he remained
two years, till the spring of 1878. The fol-
lowing fall he entered the L'niversity of the
City of New York. From this institution he
graduated in the spring of 1879. Returning
to McGill he took his fourth year in special
work, and the year following passed before
the College of Physicians and Surgeons of
Montreal, receiving the degree of L. C. P. S.
Dr. Prime, while in New York, took private
lessons in diseases of women and physical
diagnosis. He began practice with his
father in Knowlton, P. Q. Early in 1882 he
settled in Barton, where he has since re-
mained and built up a large and profitable
practice.
He is a Democrat in his political faith, a
member of the Episcopal church and also
of the State Medical Society. Has been,
health officer for the town of Barton for
three years. In August, 1893, he was ap-
PRICHARD.
pointed pension examining surgeon for the
liureau at Newport. oo <- a
He married, May 25, 1882, Cora A
daughter of Elbridge G. and Amanda (Ball)
Shaw, of Waterloo, P. Q. Their two chil-
dren are : Lucile, and Hazel W inifred.
PRICHARD, JOHN B. W., of Bradford,
was the son of George XN". and Elizabeth
(Pearson) Prichard, and was born in brad-
ford, Sept. 26, 1839.
His educational acquirements were limited
to the town schools and a course of study at
Bradford Academy.
He commenced his active life as clerk for
his father, who was a merchant, and also
served his brothers in a similar capacity.
When the slave-holding aristocracy at-
tempted to secede from the Union Mr.
Prichard was a member of the noted Brad-
ford Guards, a company of the ist \ t Regt
and accompanied them when hey left the
state at the outset of the struggle. He vvas
present at the battle of Big Bethel, and wa.
mustered out with the regiment upon their
return from the f^eld in August 186 1.
He was married, Jan. 21. 1862, to Oris.a
T., daughter of Sargent and Melissa (Green-
ief ) George. Two children have been the
St of thit union : Fred K., and Warren H
When discharged from the service Mr.
Prichard returned to Bradford and bought
out his brother's stock and store, which he
continued to carry on for three years- Jhen
he went to Massachusetts and was engaged
In trade until 1869, when he agam returned
to his birthplace and formed a partnership
^th Barron Hay to engaged m a genera
mercantile business, and this arrangement
has lasted till the present time
The esteem in which he is held a a bu s -
ness man may be inferred from the fact tha^
he was elected town clerk m 1870, and with
Se exception of a single year he has been
the incumbent of that oftice ever since He
has thrice been honored by the position of
selectman and was elected as a Republican
to represent Bradford in the state Legisla-
^"MJ^PrTchard has filled all the chairs of
Charity Lodge, No. ,3, and t«- terms ha
nresided in the east. He was a charter
Inember and has been adjutant and com-
mander of Washburn Post, ^o. 17, G. A. K.
PROCTOR, REDFIELD, of Proctor, son
of Jabez and Betsy (Parker) Proctor, was
born in ProctorsviUe, June 1,1 831.
The American branch of the P/o^tor
fan'ify springs from an excellent Lnghsh
stock! The first ancestor ^'^ ^^ ^ "I^
was Robert Proctor, who as early as 1045
was living at Concord, Mass.
PROCTOR.
327
Redfield Proctor received an excellent
preparatory education, and was graduated
from Dartmouth College in 1851. Ihree
vears later he received the degree of .\. M.
from the same venerable institution. Select-
in'^ law as his profession, he pursued the pre-
liminary studies at the Albany Law School in
New York. After graduation in 1859 he was
admitted to the New York bar at .Mbany,
and also at Woodstock, Vermont. During
a portion of the years i860 and 1861 he
practiced his profession in the office of his
cousin. Judge Isaac F. Redfield, the eminent
iurist, at Boston, Mass.
Upon the outbreak of the rebellion in
1 86 1 he immediately returned to Vermont
and enlisted in the 3d Vt. Regt., was com-
missioned as lieutenant and quartermaster,
and repaired to the front. In July of the
same year he was appointed on the staff of
Gen. William F. ("Baldy") Smith,and mOc-
tober was promoted and transferred to the
cth Vt Vols., of which he was commissioned
maior. With this regiment he served nearly
r;iar in the neighborhood of \N ashington
and on the Peninsula. ^ October 1862
Maior Proctor was promoted to the colonelcy
of the isth Vt. Vols., and in the memor-
able and decisive engagement at (.ettysburg
this command was stationed on the famous
Cemetery Ridge during a part of the second
dav's struggle. ,
Redfield Proctor was married May 20
X858, to Emily J., daughter of Hon. Salmon
F. and Sarah J. Button of Cavendish Five
children, four of whom ^^^ /tvmg, are U,e
issue of their union : Arabella G., Fletcher
n Fmilv D., and Redfield, Jr.
Xfter his return to Vermont, Colonel Proc-
tor established himself i".R"'|t^d, entering
nto law partnership with )^ heelock G.
Veazey, afterwards a judge of the Vermont
Supreme Court, and now a member of the
U^S Interstate Commerce Commission.
Thrown into the conduct of business matter,
in settling the affairs of a concern of whK:h
he had been appointed receiver Colonel
Proctor found that it was more to his taste
to do things than to talk about them. 1 he
amaction that business life has for a man of
;"onounced executive ability -o.. withdrew
Lm from active practice of law, and in
^^869 he became manager for the Sutherland
Falls Marble Co. In r88o the Sutherland
Falls and Rutland Marble compames were
consolidated under the name of Ihe \er
mont Marble Co., with Governor Procto as
; president, l-'^der his manageme. t th^
company enlarged and so mcreased its busi
ness as to become the largest concern of the
'^^■^^;;:^r'icial career of RedfieM
Proctor began in 1866 as a selectman of he
Town of Rutland. In 1867 he represented
/
^ c^ H--^-^
his town in tlie state Legislature, serving as
chairman of the committee on elections of
the lower House. Again a member of the
House in 1868, he served as a meniber ot
the committee on ways and means. Elected
to the state Senate in 1874, he was chosen
president pro tempore of that body. In 1876
he was elected Lieutenant-Governor of the
state and in 1878 was nominated by the
Republicans and elected Governor of \ er-
mont. He was delegate-at-large to the Re-
publican national convention in 1884, and
also in 1888, and in the latter year was
chairman of the Vermont delegation. In
18S8 the Legislature of Vermont unanimously
recommended him for a cabinet position,
and in March, 1889, President Harrison
appointed him Secretary of ^^'ar. Senator
Proctor won national reputation by his con-
duct of the war portfolio, and his adminis-
tration is considered one of the ablest m the
history of the department.
On the retirement of Senator George f .
Edmunds from the United States Senate,
Governor Page appointed Secretary Proctor
to fill the unexpired term, and Oct. ib,
1802, he was elected by the Vermont Legis-
lature to fill both the unexpired and full
terms, the latter ending March 4, 1899.
Senator Proctor speaks well and always to
the point, but is best known as a strong man
who does things-a man of action, guided by
wisdom. He has long had the full confidence
of the people of Vermont, and his abihty and
experience will enable him to digmfy the
high office to which they have called him.
PROCTOR, FLETCHER DUTTON, of
Proctor, son of Hon. Redfield and Emily J.
(Dutton) Proctor, was born m Cavendish,
Nov. 7, i860. J , ■
His early education was followed by in-
struction at the Rutland Military Institute
and the Middlebury high school. He then
entered Middlebury College, but soon alter
matriculated at Amherst College, from which
institution he graduated in 1882 After the
completion of his educational course he
entered the employment of the Vermont
Marble Co., and commenced his busmess
career by learning the trade of a machmist,
and after this occupied various positions,
until in 1885 he became the superin-
tendent of the company. From that time
he has been active in its management and
in 1889 he was elected president, which po-
sition he now holds. In September of he
same year he was chosen to fill a similar
office in the Clarendon & l^>"sford R. R-,
which corporation operates some Af een or
twentv miles between the towns of 1 ittstord.
Proctor, Rutland, and West Rutland. I pon
the organization of the Proctor Trust Co. in
1891, he was made director and president.
PROCTOR. 329
Since he has had charge of the affairs of
the \ermont Marble Co. that corporation
has purchased the marble business of (lilson
& Woodfin, Ripley & Sons, and made a
thirty-year lease of the property of the
Sheldon Marble Co., so that now the V er-
mont Marble Co. has in its employ over
eighteen hundred men, and is by far the
largest producer of marble in the world.
Mr. Proctor was a member of the \ ermont
National Guard, enhsting in Co. A m 1884,
and was promoted to the grades of 2d and
ist Lieut. He resigned in 1886, and was
appointed inspector of rifle practice on the
staff of Colonel Greenleaf, which position he
resigned in 1887. In 1S83 he waselecte.l the
first permanent colonel of the Vermont divi-
sion of Sons of Veterans and during his
administration the division increased from
three to twenty-seven camps.
FLETCHER DUTTON HRu^- i ori.
He was united in marriage May 26. 1886,
to Minnie E., daughter of Hon. Asher C.
and Erminnie Robinson of Westford. Iwo
children have been born to them: Emii>,
and Mortimer Robinson.
Mr Proctor has ser^•ed numerous terms as
selectman, both in Rutland and i;'-octor and
has been a member of the school board for
Jhelattervillage since 1883.. He was sec-
retary of civil and mihtary affairs under Gov.
oJmsbee, was elected to the I.eg>slature frcni^
the town of Proctor in 1890, and wa. chosen
a senator from Rutland county in 1892.
33° PUTNAM.
PUTNAM, Christopher C, Jr., of
Putnamsville, is the son of Christopher C. and
Eliza (Stone) Putnam, and was born in Mid-
dlesex, August 26, 1839. His grandfather emi-
grated to Middlesex in 17S4, and here his
father was born in 1810, and for fifty years
has been an extensive lumber dealer and
manufacturer.
C. C. Putnam, Jr., obtained his education
in the district schools of the town, at the
Washington county grammar school and at
Newbury Seminary. For several years he
divided his time between teaching and assist-
ing his father in the management of his affairs.
The latter has invested very largely in the
timber lands of Middlesex, ^Vorcester, Calais
and Elmore, and from these a vast quantity
of boards and other finished products are
distributed through New York and the New-
England states. The father and son are prob-
ably the most extensive dealers in lumber in
central Vermont, having formed a partner-
ship after the latter's return from the army.
In 1862, Mr. Putnam, Jr., joined Co. I,
13th Regt. Vt. Vols., as a private, was promo-
ted to sergeant, was present at the memorable
charge of Gettysburg, and was discharged
when the regiment was mustered out of the U.
S. service.
In connection with their business the Put-
nams operate three saw mills, a planing mill,
a store, and a farm.
Mr. Putnam was united in marriage, Octo-
ber, 1868, to Mary E., daughter of Abel and
Mary Whitney, of Middlesex, who died four
years after their union. P"or his second wife
he wedded, Sept. 22, 1874, Jennie, daughter
of Medad and Mary Jane (Mclntyre) ^^'right,
of Montpelier. Two children have been
born to them : Ralph W., and Eula W.
He is a man of industry, energv, and good
judgment and has often been called upon to
act as referee and commissioner of important
and weighty matters. Mr. Putnam has held
many town offices. He has always been a
Republican, and in 1886 r'epresented Middle-
sex in the Legislature.
PUTNEY, Charles Edward, of St.
Johnsbury, son of David and Mary (Prown)
Putnev, was born in Bow, N. H., Feb. 26,
1S40.
He recei\"ed his primary instruction in
the public schools of Bow, fitted for college
at New London, N. H., and was graduated
from the classical department of Dartmouth
in 1870, having attained high rank in his
class.
CHARLES EDWARD PUTNEY.
With the exception of three years service
in the army, Mr. Putney's life has been that
of an educator of the highest type. He com-
menced the practice of his profession while
yet an undergraduate, teaching in various
schools in the neighborhood of the college
and also in Massachusetts. For three years
after the completion of his college course he
was the principal of the Boys' Boarding
331
School of Norwich, then came to St. Johns-
bury as assistant in the academy at that
place, and was finally chosen ]3rinci]ial of
the institution, which position he still oc-
cupies. He has been state examiner of the
Randolph and Johnson Normal Schools and
has served as president of the Caledonia
county board of education.
Mr. Putney was united in marriage, July
26, 1876, to Abbie, daughter of Rev. Jonathan
and Phebe Fo.xcroft (Phillips) Clement of
Norwich. They have two daughters : Marv
Phillips (Wood), and Ellen Clement.
From purely patriotic motives and at great
personal sacrifice he enlisted in Co. C, 13th
Regt. N. H. Vols., in which he rose to the
rank of sergeant. His regiment ser\ed with
the armies of the Potomac and James, and
he jiarticipated in eight regular engagements,
ha\ing the good fortune never to be wounded
or taken prisoner.
He is a member of Chamberlin I'ost, No.
I, G. A. R. of St. Johnsbury : has always
taken much interest in the St. Johnsbury V.
M. C. .A. ; is affiliatetl with the Congrega-
tional church, and has always a class of
students in the Sunday .school.
Probably no man in \"ermont has exerted
a greater or more beneficial influence u]Jon
young people, for his aim has e\er been not
only to train their intellects, but to broaden
their whole lives.
RAMSAY, George Lafayette, late of
Lemington, was the second son of Robert
and Jane (Morgan) Ramsay, being born in
the town of Wheelock, Oct. 3, 1829. His
GEORGE LACAYETTE RAMSAY.
father, who was at that time one of the largest
sheep owners in the state, came to the green
hills of the new state from his native town of
Londonderry, N. H., and settled in Wheel-
ock, in the immediate vicinity of the place
still known as "Ramsay Corners" about the
beginning of the present century.
George was educated in the district schools
of Wheelock and firownington, and at the old
stone academy of the latter town, under the
discipline of Professor Twilight, received
what was at that time a far better education
than the average farmer thought necessary to
bestow upon his son.
About the year 1850, when the gold fields
of California had become known, the young
Vermonter had reached his majority and the
next two years were spent amid the rocky
hills Of the "Golden State ;" returning east
he began work in the "Old Faneuil Hall
Market" at Boston, afterwards entering the
employment of Briggs, Guild & Co. With the
exception of a short time spent on the road
as traveling salesman for the firm, he remained
till i860 with these same employers, during
the last few years as confidential business
clerk. About a year previous to the war of
the rebellion, Mr. Ramsay's health, which
had been gradually failing, gave way from
overwork and confinement and he was com-
pelled to leave the city and return to his
native state, purchasing in the town of Lem-
ington, five miles south of Colebrook, N. H.,
one of the finest meadow farms in Vermont.
Here he settled and lived contentedly in the
possession of a typical Vermont home, dis-
l)ensing hospitality with a liberal hand to all
who called upon him, until the date of his
death in 1892.
He was married Feb. 20, 1862, to .Vn-
nette Eugenia, daughter of Col. George C.
and Jane"(Royce) Dyer, of .Sutton, P. Q.,
and rarely has a man been more blessed in
the choice of a life companion. His married
life was blessed with six children : Eugene I ).,
lane IVL, Jeanette R., Gertrude, (leorge R.,
and Mary M., who with his widow survive
him.
During the latter years of his life he
entered more extensively into the lumber
business and for the five years preceding his
death manufactured annually about S3,ooo
worth of last blocks from the hard wood of
his forest.
In politics Judge Ramsay was a Repub-
lican. Casting the onl\- vote for Abraham
332
Lincoln in his town in the fall of rS6o he
was subjected to many disjjaraging remarks,
and in reply to the taunt of a neighbor re-
plied proudly, "My vote will shine like a
golden eagle amid a lot of rusty coppers."
He was a prominent figure at county conven-
tions, and in 1883 and 1884 held the office
of assistant judge of Essex county court.
Through life he was a man of the finest
principle, a strong temperance advocate,
ever practicing what he preached. During
his stay in Boston he joined St. Johns Lodge
of Free and Accepted Masons, the oldest
lodge in the Bay state, and was during his
life a working member and a regular attend-
ant at the meetings of the order.
In personal appearance Judge Ramsay was
a man who would attract attention among a
gathering of men : fully six feet in height,
erect and well proportioned, of fine personal
appearance and great courtesy. Men whom
he had antagonized by his outspoken adher-
ence to what he believed was right, were
forced to admire him and recognize at once
his ability, and the superior manhood which
characterized his life.
His death, which occurred on Dec. 29,
1S92, after only an hour's illness from valvu-
lar disease of the heart, was a great loss both
to his family, town and county.
RANDALL, ElIAS ORLANDO, of
Greensboro, son of Erastus and Caroline M.
(Smith) Randall, was born in Greensboro,
Sept. 16, 1833.
.\fter an attendance at the public schools
of Greensboro and Craftsbury Academy, and
some experience in teaching in Craftsbury
and Glover, from 1S50 to 1852 he labored
on his father's farm, and at the expiration of
the latter year purchased a saw mill in
Glover. He continued in the lumber busi-
ness in connection with carpentering and
the construction of buildings till 1866, and
then purchased a general merchandise store
in West Glover, which he carried on in con-
nection with an extensive produce business
for twenty-three years. During this time he
was also engaged in agricultural pursuits,
owning and operating farms in Glover and
Greensboro to the amount of three hundred
and fifty acres. In 1890 he removed to
Greensboro where he now remains, having
entered into partnership with J. A. Crane to
engage in general trade, and at the same
time continuing his farming business.
Mr. Randall married, Sept. 13, i860,
Eleanor R., daughter of John and Eliza A.
(Lyman) Clark of Glover. They have one
adopted daughter : Lila A. Tucker.
For over a score of years he filled the
offices of postmaster and justice of the peace
in Glover, and was the incumbent of many
other positions of trust and responsibility.
For two successive terms, 18S4 and 1886, he
represented that town in the Legislature,
giving his services to the committees of ag-
riculture, state prison, Bennington battle
monument, and joint rules. Mr. Randall is
a strong Republican, and has always labored
for the interests of that party. During the
war he acted as recruiting officer and filled
out the quota required from the town. For
many years he served on the executive com-
mittee of the Congregational church in
Glover, of which church he was an active
member and a liberal supporter.
RANDALL, George W., of Waterbury,
son of Oliver C. and Electa (Coffin) Ran-
dall, was born in Waterbury, Sept. 18, 1825.
GEORGE W. RANDAuL.
He was bereft of paternal guidance when
five years of age and by this sad loss was
thrown on his own resources. Having re-
ceived such instruction as was afforded by
the common schools of Waterbury, at the age
of sixteen he was apprenticed for three
vears to learn the blacksmith's trade, during
which engagement in the intervals of labor
he still continued his educational course and
later at Stowe and Bakersfield academies,
paying his expenses as he advanced. After
teaching successfully for a short period, he
entered the law office of Hon. Paul Dilling-
ham of Waterbury, but, attracted by the
newlv discovered golden wealth of California,
he departed in August, 1849, to seek his for-
tune in that remote quarter of the I'nion, and
after running the gauntlet of yellow fever in
his passage across the Isthmus of Panama
and meeting with lively adventures at Aca-
pulco, he finally reached San Francisco, paid
50 cents for sleeping on a pile of shavings,
and next day received ^55 for striking five
hours at a blacksmith's forge. He then
went to the mines and seventeen months
after returned to Waterbury with S6,ooo
worth of gold-dust. Two years later he again
returned to California, contracted yellow fe\er
and was the only survivor of a company of
thirty. Mr. Randall's health did not permit
him to remain, and again returning to his
native state he has since been engaged in
farming and dealing in real estate and lum-
ber. Besides being possessed of large tracts
of timber land, he owns and operates saw-
mills both in Bolton and Waterbury.
Mr. Randall is a Republican and has been
repeatedly called upon to serve the town in
almost every official capacity. As a mem-
ber of the Legislature in 1872 he was influ-
ential in securing appropriations for the re-
form school, and in 1S82, while again serv-
ing in the House, he was a member of the
committee on railroads. Washington county
elected him in 1890 to the Senate and he
did good service as a member of the com-
mittee on claims and chairman of that of the
insane.
Mr. Randall was married June 21, 1S54,
to Leefie, daughter of John White, who died
in 1874. He then was united to Bell, daugh-
ter of Henry and Betsey (Woodward) Glea-
son, of which union there are two children :
Pearl, and George W., jr.
president of the associations of the Berkshire
County (Mass.) Teachers, of the Alumni of
Bates College, and of other bodies. He has
always taken great interest and an active
part in the educational meetings held in
Vermont under the state superintendent and
other officials, and in 1891 was president of
the Vermont State Teachers' .Association.
Mr. Ranger was united in marriage, Nov.
25, 1S79, to Mary, daughter of Capt. William
Snowman, of Portland, Me., of whom he was
bereft in August, 1 885. She left two children,
neither of whom survive. July 30, 1889, he
married Mabel, daughter of' Ira W. and
Laura (Day) Bemis, of Lyndonville. P>y
her he has one son.
RANGER, Walter Eugene, of Lyndon
Centre, son of Peter and Eliza M. (Smith)
Ranger, was born in Wilton, Me., Nov. 22,
1855-
He received his early instruction in the
public schools and Wilton Academy, was
graduated from Bates College in 1S79, ^nd
four years after received the degree of A. M.
from his alma mater. During his collegiate
course he commenced the practice of the
profession to which he has since devoted
himself. Commencing his career by serving
as principal of the Nichols Latin School at
Lewiston and of the Lenox high school at
Lenox, Mass., in 1883 he was appointed
principal of the Lyndon Institute, which
position he still retains. During his admin-
istration the number of students has been
trebled, the standard has been raised, and
extensive additions have been made to the
buildings of the institute. Mr. Ranger has
devoted some attention to newspaper writ-
ing, done a great deal of literary work, both
in verse and in prose, chiefly in connection
with educational matters, and has also de-
livered many addresses before social, religious
and political organizations. He has been
WALTER EUGENE RANGER.
Mr. Ranger is a strong Republican, and
has been delegate to both district and state
conventions of that party.
He fills the chair of junior warden, Cres-
cent Lodge, No. 66, F. cSf A. M., and is
affiliated with Haswell Chapter and Palestine
Commandery. He is the senior past sachem
of Wannalancet Tribe, No. 11, I. O. of R.
M., and is D. G. S. at present for the same.
He is an active member of a number of
other social, fraternal, scientific and educa-
tional organizations, both state and national.
He is a member of the Free Baptist Church,
and has often preached in the churches of
Lyndon and of many other towns.
RAYMOND, Albert C, of Stowe, son
of .\sa and Jane (Lovejoy) Raymond, was
born in Stowe, Feb. 10, 1842. His father is
334 RAYMOND.
a prominent and lifelong resident of Stowe
and has arrived at four-score years after a
busy and successful career.
.\lbert C. studied in the public schools and
in Barre Academy, then under the charge of
Professor Spaulding. Immediately after the
completion of his educational career in 1862
Mr. Raymond enlisted in Company E, 13th
Regt. Vt. Vols., and July 3, 1863, helped to
stem the tide of Pickett's charge at Gettys-
burg. Never absent from duty a single day,
at his discharge he re-enlisted in the 17th
Regt. and was in every general engagement
from the Wilderness to Appomato.\. On
July 26, 1864, Lieutenant Raymond was
wounded in the face and temporarily lost the
use of his eyes, but he rejoined his com-
mand in October. His company in the bat-
tle of Petersburg Mine was reduced to a cor-
poral and eight men, and it was as captain
of this gallant little band that the subject of
this sketch was mustered out at the expira-
tion of his term of service.
On his return from these e.xciting scenes
he determined to push his fortune in the
West, and for eight years made his residence
in the state of Iowa, where he engaged in
farming. Here his children were born and
here he had the misfortune to lose their ex-
cellent mother. Soon after this sad event he
returned to his native town and engaged in
various occupations including the care and
labor involved in a small farm, while in addi-
tion he has given his attention to the settle-
ment of estates and has acted as guardian
and trustee.
He married, June 11, 1865, Priscilla,
daughter of John and Louisa (Town) Moody
of Stowe. Their union was blessed with three
children : Louis H., Louise (Mrs. Fred Fogg
of Enfield, N. H.), and Maud B. Mrs. Ray-
mond died in 1872, and Mr. Raymond later
espoused Martha, daughter of Hiram Smalley
of Greensboro, who departed this life in
April, 1882. Mr. Raymond's third alliance
was contracted in 1883 with Alice, daughter
of Medad and Patty (Miller) Hitchcock. Of
this union three sons were issue, one of
whom, Paul, alone survives.
Mr. Raymond for many years has dis-
charged the duties of selectman and town
clerk, was made postmaster in 1889 and still
holds that position. He was also a member
of the General .Assembly in 1886 and served
on the special committee on the division of
the town of Rutland.
He belongs to the order of the Loyal Le-
gion and is past commander of H. H. Smith
Post, G. A. R., of Stowe. Thirty years since,
he became a Free Mason, and has repeat-
edly filled the master's chair in Mystic
Lodge, No. 56, which hokls its communica-
tions in his native town.
READ, Levant Murray, of Bellows
Falls, son of Charles and Olive C. (Willard)
Read, was born in Wardsboro, Dec. 26, 1842.
He was educated in the common schools
of his native town and in Leland and Gray
Seminary, Townshend. He then studied law
with Hon. H. H. Wheeler, then of Jamaica,
and was admitted to the bar in 1869, at the
.\pril term of Windham county court. He
began practice at Jamaica, entering in part-
nership with Hon. Hoyt H. Wheeler. In
1872 Mr. Read removed to Bellows Falls,
continuing to practice his profession, and
was elected judge of probate for Westmin-
ster district in 1876, which office he has con-
tinuously held to the present time. Mr.
Read was state's attorney of Windham
county in 1880 and 1882.
In politics Judge Read is a staunch Re-
publican, and while closely identified with
the interests of his party, has been too
busily engaged in the practice of his profes-
sion to admit his acceptance of political
honors at the hands of his fellow-citizens.
He was elected to the Legislature from the
town of Rockingham in September, 1892.
He enlisted in Co. H, 2d Vt. Vols.,
in 1863, was in the battles of Rappahanock
Station and Mine Run, and the bloody
struggle of the Wilderness, in which contest
he was wounded, and was discharged August
20, 1865.
He was the first commander of E. H.
Stoughton Post, No. 34, G. A. R., and was
afterwards twice re-elected. Also a member
of the Mount Lebanon Lodge, F. & .A. M.,
of Jamaica, of which he was master for four
successive terms. He was elected to the
chair of grand master of the Grand Lodge
in 1878, and held that eminent position till
1 88 1. He was first dictator of the subordi-
nate lodge of K. of H., and also grand dic-
tator of the Grand Lodge.
He married, Dec. 13, 1876, Sarah A.,
daughter of Jared R. and Sarah A. Perkins
of Bellows Falls. They have one daughter :
Mary .\lice.
Judge Read has served upon the commit-
tee appointed by the Supreme Court upon
admissions to the bar, and was, in 1892,
elected president of the Vermont Bar Asso-
ciation.
READ, CaRLETON W., son of Orrin and
Julia (Powell) Read, was born in Charlotte,
Oct. 21, 1834. He is of EngHsh lineage
and his earliest ancestors in this country
date back to John Read, 1598, who settled
in Rehoboth, near Boston. His family was
afterwards scattered, emigrating to different
parts of the country, John Read, ancestor
of the subject of this sketch, was related by
marriage to Governor John Winthrop. He
possessed a large estate, and acted as referee
and commissioner, and was high sheriff of
his county for several years.
Carleton \V. Read received a common
school education at Charlotte, and supple-
mented this by a course of study at Bakers-
field Academy, Bakersfield, under the tutor-
ship of J. S. Spaulding, principal.
Mr. Read was married at Charlotte, Oct.
31, 1855, to Vienna M., daughter of Deacon
Homer and Alvirah Clark. Of this union
there were two daughters: i-ldna I. (deceas-
ed), and Carlotta C.
Mr. Read is a Republican and has been
unusually honored by his town and county,
and yet he is of a retiring disposition. He
has always taken an acti\e part in all matters
pertaining to the best interest of the town,
county, and state in which he resides. In
1882, he had the honor of a seat in the state
Senate and acted on the committees of rail-
roads and agriculture. He was also a dele-
gate to the Republican national convention,
held in Chicago, in June, 1888, and cast his
vote for Benjamin Harrison. He has been
town treasurer since 1884. His social and
business connection with prominent men,
throughout the state, as well as his extensi\e
dealings in wool, stock, etc., make him favor-
ably and widely known.
He was one of the first interested in the
Farmers' National Bank at Vergennes, having
been a director for ten years, and is at this
time its president.
Mr. Read is quite liberal in all his views,
both religious and political, believing Ameri-
can ])eople should have free thought and a
free ballot, thus enabling them to act upon
their own convictions of right and wrong.
His father's advice to him when a boy was to
be a farmer. Therefore, he moved to Addi-
son in 1858, and shouldered a debt of $7,000,
on two hundred acres of land, which has been
paid, and more property added to the orig-
inal purchase. i\Ir. Read belie\es that farm-
ing will pay.
REED, Marcus L., of West Concord,
son of Samuel S. and Louisa ( Joslin) Reed,
was born in Kirby, Feb. 5, 1839.
Mr. Reed received an excellent common
school education in Kirby and Concord, to
which town his father removed when Marcus
was seventeen years old. As soon as he
arrived at his majority he went to Burlington,
where his brother was extensively engaged in
business pursuits. Here he remained a short
period and then returned to engage in the
shoe trade.
Thinking that his country had need of all
her sons, he enlisted, Feb. 24, 1864, in Co.
Ci, 17th Regt. Vt. Vols., which suffered
heavier losses for its time of service than
any other organization that left the (ireen
Mountain state, and in its ranks fought in the
«EEU. 335
fierce struggle of the Wilderness, and at
.S])ottsylvania, where he was wounded. Sent
to Washington, he soon returned to the
front, only to be stricken down by sickness
while in camp at the Weldon R. R. .Again
he was transferred to Washington and de-
tailed to take charge of the ordnance and
knapsack room of Harwood Hospital, Wash-
ington, D. C, which duty he performed till
his discharge as acting orderly in July, 1865.
Mr. Reed was married at Concord, Sept.
13, 1866, to i'',mily C, daughter of Theophilus
and Hannah Chick Crout. They have two
children ; William Livingston, and George W.
MARCUS L. REEO.
When he returned from the South he
moved to (Iranby, where he occupied himself
in farming till 1878, when he remo\ed to
West Concord and from thence in 1886 to
the excellent farm he now occupies.
^While residing in (Iranby Mr. Reed was
elected to all local offices, and represented
that town in 1869 and 1870. In 1892 he
was a member of the Legislature from Con-
cord. He is an excellent presiding officer,
a man of dignified yet genial manners and of
excellent judgment.
For thirty years he has belonged to the
Masonic brotherhood. Four terms he has
served as worshipful master of Moose River
Lodge of West Concord and he is a Sir
Knight of Palestine Commandery. .After
his return from the war he also became a
member of \\oodburv Post, G. A. R.
33(>
ROBERTS, Daniel, of Burlington, the
son of Daniel and Almira Roberts, was born
at Wallingford, May 25, 181 1. Daniel Rob-
erts, senior, was the son of a Revolutionary
soldier, and after serving a seven years'
apprenticeship to the cloth dresser's trade,
became a wandering schoolmaster, and with
his young wife came to Wallingford, where
be pursued his regular vocation for thirty
years or more and then removed to Man-
chester. Here he purchased and cultivated
a farm.
Both parents of the subject of this sketch
were more than usually intelligent and noted
for their musical ability, a talent which their
son naturally inherits. He entered Middle-
bury College at the age of fourteen, gradu-
ating in the class of 1829. He then studied
law with Hon. Harvey Button, of Walling-
ford, and was admitted to the bar of the
Rutland county court at the September term,
1832.
DANIEL ROBERTS.
In the following November he started out
to seek his fortune, with ninety dollars in his
pocket, and after various adventures in New
York and Ohio finally reached Grand Gulf
and Natchez, Miss., in which latter place he
was admitted to the bar on public examina-
tion in court. After a short sojourn in New
Orleans the young traveler took passage up
the Mississippi on the steamer Yellowstone,
which made an annual trip in the Indian fur
trade. He endeavored to secure a chance
of employment in that trade during the
spring voyage, but was unsuccessful. His
disappointment was his good fortune, as was
probably his departure from New Orleans,
for the cholera prevailed there during the
season of 1833 and made sad havoc on the
steamer. He then sought out and visited
his kinsfolk in \\'inchester, 111., where he
spent the summer of 1833 in the woods
shooting squirrels and wild turkeys and con-
tracting the ague as compensation. He then
went to Jacksonville, 111., and formed a busi-
ness connection with Murray McConnell.
In the summer of 1S35 Mr. Roberts returned
to his native state, in which he has resided
ever since. He took the office and suc-
ceeded to the business of Milo L. Bennett,
of Manchester, afterwards a judge of the
Supreme Court, and remained in practice
there for twenty years, when he removed to
Burlington, where he formed a partnership
with Lucius E. Chittenden, afterwards regis-
ter of the treasury. It is now more than
sixty-one years since Mr. Roberts was ad-
mitted to the bar, fifty-eight years of which
period he has been in active practice in this
state. His name first appears in the state
reports in the case of Kimpton vs. Walker,
9th Yt. Reports, 191, February Term, 1S37,
and can be found in every volume from the
ninth up to the present time.
His earliest politics were strongly anti-
sla\ery, and as a Liberty-party man, free soiler
and the like, in the then prevailing state of
public opinion, offices did not seek him ; for
two years, however, he was bank commis-
sioner, and from the spring of 1865 to that
of 1866 he was a special agent of the L'nited
States Treasury Department. In 1868 he was
elected state's attorney for Chittenden,
county, and during the first term of Presi-
dent Grant's administration he was offered
the position of solicitor of the United States
Treasury Department, but declined the honor.
He has served the city of Burlington as city
attorney for three terms. Although never in
the Legislature, Mr. Roberts has had marked
influence in guiding the legislation of the
state. His hand is clearly seen throughout
the general statutes by those familiar with
their history and development. In particu-
lar he has been instrumental in securing by
the statute, simplification of the ancient rules
of criminal pleading, and enlarging the prop-
erty rights of married women. His views
upon law reform he developed at length in
an address before the Vermont Bar Associa-
tion as president thereof in 1880. Two years
previous, under a contract made with the
judges of the Supreme Court by authority of
the Legislature, he completed a digest of the
decisions of that court down to, and includ-
ing, volume 48 of the Vermont Reports, en-
titled "Roberts' Vermont Digest." This
work is accepted among the profession in
Vermont as a model digest for its terseness
accuracy of statement and for bringing out
the very point of the decision. In 1889 he
published a supplement to this digest, em-
bracing volumes 49 to 60 inclusixe.
At the Vermont centennial celebration at
Bennington, August 16, 1877, he was the ap-
pointed orator of the occasion. His dis-
course is inserted among the ])ublished pro-
ceedings of the day, is a \aluable historical
document and a good s])ecimen of Mr. Rob-
erts' impressive and scholarly style. In 1879
at the semi-centennial gathering of his college
class he received the degree of I.. I,. 1). from
his alma mater.
Mr. Roberts was united in marriage, July,
1837, to Caroline, daughter of Rev. Stephen
Martindale, of Wallingford. She died on
the 14th of June, 1886. Four children are
the issue of this union : Mary, Caroline M.,
Stephen M., and Robert.
Besides his engagements in the U. S. Cir-
cuit Court, the practice of Mr. Roberts has
been mainly in the counties of Chittenden,
Rutland, Addison and Bennington. Among
the criminal cases in which he has appeared
which possess some dramatic interest or
involve some intricate principle of the law,
may be named that of the State vs. .Archi-
bald Bates, Bennington county. Mr. Rob-
erts and Harmon Canfield were assigned by
Chief Justice Williams to defend Bates for
the crime of murdering his brother's wife.
In spite of their strenuous efforts the jury
brought in a verdict of guilty, and Bates was
hung on Bennington Hill on the 8th of Feb-
ruary, 1839. This was the last public execu-
tion in S'ermont. Since that time all
executions have been within the walls of
the state prison. Mr. Roberts has said of
this trial that, although he defended the pris-
oner with all the earnestness possible, he
never spoke to him before, during, or after
the proceedings, nor even went to see him
hung. State vs. McDonald, 3 2d Vt. Reports,
491, is a leading case involving the law of
homicide. Mr. Roberts' brief in the case is
particularly pointed and, as well as the opin-
ion of Chief Justice Redfield, is worth study.
On a second trial McDonald was very prop-
erly convicted of manslaughter and sentenced
to state's prison for life, where during his
confinement he died of consumption. Such
of the ci\il causes in which Mr. Roberts has
been engaged as have been sent to the
Supreme Court are to be found scattered
through nearly sixty volumes of the state
reports. He still continues busily engaged
in his professional labors.
ROBERTS, Ellis G., of Fair Haven,
son of Robert and Janette (Griffith) Roberts,
was born in Bontnewydd near Carnar\on,
North Wales, August 25, 1850.
ROBERTS. ^^-j
F.ducated in National and British schools
of that country he came to America in 1873,
settled in Scranton, I'a., being associated
with a prominent physician in a drug store.
Returning to Wales in 1878, he entered the
Royal University, Belfast, Ireland, as an
undergraduate, studying medicine and sur-
gery during the years i878,-'79-'8o. Return-
ing to .\merica in 1883, he entered the Uni-
\ersity of Pennsylvania, graduating in the
course of medicine and surgery, in May, 1 884.
Engaging in the practice of his profession
in Fair Haven, immediately after, he has ac-
quired a large and successful practice and is
well known as a genial associate and a phy-
sician of sterling ability and character. He
was appointed health officer in 1891, which
position he now holds, and is the accredited
medical examiner of all the leading life
insurance associations. He has tra\eled
extensively in this and foreign countries.
In politics a staunch Republican, he is
active in all that pertains to the welfare of the
state and nation.
He is a member of the Presbyterian church ;
Eureka Lodge No. 75, F. & A. M. ; of
Poultney Chapter, No. 10, R. A. M. : Killing-
ton Commandry, No. 6, Rutland ; Noble of
Mt. Sinai Temple .■\. .\. O. N. S., Montpelier,
and various other organizations.
He was married to Jennie, daughter of
F\an D. and Winifred Humjjhrey, at Fair
Haven, .April 18, 18S9.
338
ROBERTSON.
ROBERTSON.
ROBERTS, Elbert James, of jackson-
sonville, son of Benjamin Franklin and Cor-
sanda ( Brown ) Roberts, was born in Whit-
ingham, May 9, 1866. He belongs to a
family of purest New England stock, and one
long and honorably connected with the town,
being a great-grandson of the Hon. James
Roberts, who was one of its original settlers.
His education was acquired in the schools of
Jacksonville, and from three years attendance
at Arms Academy, Shelburne Falls, Mass.
For a while after leaving this institution he
taught school, but soon entered the employ-
ment of \V. A. Brown as a clerk in his store
at Jacksonville. In the fall of 1889 Mr.
Roberts started for himself purchasing the
Porter grist and saw mill, where he has done
a prosperous and flourishing trade. To this
occupation he has added a widely spread
traffic in fertilizers, all kinds of farming im-
plements and machinery, and also conducts
a large business in vehicles and a livery
stable. He is, besides, a speculator to a
considerable extent in wool and all kinds of
live stock.
He was united in marriage, March 11,
1891, to Clara, daughter of J. W. Sawyer of
Sadawga. Mr. Roberts is an active Demo-
crat and most loyal to his party. He takes
a very active interest in all village, town and
county affairs. For three years he has been
the first constable of his town, and has acted
as the treasurer of the North River Manu-
facturing Co.
He belongs to the Universalist church,
and has also joined the Masonic fraternity,
being an active member of Unity Lodge,
No. 89, of Jacksonville.
ROBERTSON, JOHN, of Bellows Falls,
son of William and Christian (Ross) Rob-
ertson, was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia,
Oct. 4, 1824. The parents of Mr. Robert-
son came from Scotland and settled and for
a time lived in Putney, but afterward re-
moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where they
remained about three years. When he was
about a year old his parents returned to Put-
ney, where his father engaged in the manu-
facture of paper.
He was educated in the common schools
of Putney and in the larger school of life,
which so eminently qualifies men for its
duties and responsibilities. He entered upon
the paper maker's trade with his father at an
early age, and by hard work and diligent
study acquired a thorough knowledge of the
methods and management of the business
and was fully qualified for his after life. At
the age of eighteen he was given his time,
and, in connection with a brother, began the
manufacture of paper on his own account in
Putney. In 1872 he began business in Bel-
lows Falls, under the firm name of Rob-
ertson, Moore & Co. In 1882 this co-
partnership was dissolved and the firm of
John Robertson & Son was formed and con-
tinues to the present time. In 18S2 their
spacious factory which they now occupy was
built. The same year he moved to Bellows
F'alls, still continuing to hold a large interest
in the Putney mills in addition to the Bel-
lows Falls concern.
Mr. Robertson is a consistent advocate of
Republican principles, and was elected reji-
resentative to the General Court from Putney
in 1867 and 1868, serving on the committee
of manufacturing and corporations. Upon
his becoming eligible in 1884, he was chosen
by his fellow-citizens of Rockingham to re]i-
resent them in the Legislature.
•1%
^.gpKB** ^
JOHN ROBERTSON.
Mr. Robertson is a member of the Golden
Rule Lodge, F. & A. M., and has filled the
offices of J. W., S. AV. and Master, and is a
firm believer in the principles of the order.
He was married, Oct. 5, 1846, to Nancy
J., daughter of James and Mary (Smith)
Black. Of this union were ; Mary C., Charles
E., Helen C. (deceased), Jennie M., and
Jennie C. (deceased). Mrs. Robertson died
August 15, 1886. On Oct. 10, 1888, he was
again married, to Stella M., daughter of
Thomas and Mary (Chilson) Dana. One
child, Marion D., was born to them. Mrs.
Robertson died June 11, 1892.
ROBERTSON, WILLIAM, of Putney, son
of George and Margaret (Benson) Robertson,
was born in Hartford, Conn., June 15, 1822.
ROBERTSON.
His jiarents moved to Putney in 1823,
-where he received his early ethication. After
locating in Putney his father formed a
partnership with his brother for the manu-
facture of writing paper, which continued
until 1828, when he put u]) a mill in the vil-
lage for the manufacture of the same by
hand. No sooner was this completed than
a freshet carried it away but he soon erected
a new mill and operated it until 1837, when
he commenced the manufacture of straw
ROBINSON. 339
He is a prominent Mason, belonging to
the (lolden Rule Lodge, of Putney, and the
Brattleboro Commandery and Chapter.
ROBINSON, George Wardsworth,
late of Bennington, son of Cajn. Heman
and Betsey (Wardsworth) Robinson, was
born in Bennington Centre, Jan. 14, 181 9.
Grandson of Cen. David Robinson, w^ho took
part in the battle of Bennington. He was
educated in the public schools and academy
of Bennington, and when he arrived at man's
estate he took his departure for New York
City, where he was emjiloyed as a clerk in a
carpet store, but at the solicitation of his
grandfather returned to Bennington in 1843,
taking charge of the general's estate. Later
he became proprietor of the Walloomsac
House, and was also employed as an
auctioneer.
Politically Mr. Robinson was a Democrat
and was formerly postmaster at Bennington
Centre. He was a charter memlier and the
first president of the Bennington Historical
Society, to which he devoted much time and
ROBERTSON.
paper, young Robertson working with him
until 1840 w^hen on account of serious re-
verses hisfatherandhefailed. Young Robert-
son without a dollar bought the mill and fol-
lowed the business until 1865, when he began
the manufacture of tissue paper with fresh
machinery and a new mill and is now carry-
ing on the business.
At the time of the St. Albans raid the state
militia was organized and Mr. Robertson was
made captain of Co. B. This force was
maintained for several years, but was never
called on for service.
Captain Robertson is a Republican and
has represented his town in the Legislature,
doing creditable service in that body.
Captain Robertson was married in Mont-
pelier, Oct. 2, 1834, to ,\bbie .\., daughter of
Dr. Amore and .Abigail (Drown) Benson, of
Landgrove. Of this union are three chil-
■dren : Frederick E., Frank M., and Helen.
GEORGE WARDSWORTH ROBINSON.
labor. He was also much interested in tlie
erection of the Bennington battle monument,
and he is the fortunate possessor of a very
fine collection of relics relating to the battle
which are of much historical interest.
Mr. Robinson was united in marriage,
.Vjiril 8, 1840, to Jane L., daughter of Joseph
X. Hinsdill, of Hinsdillville. To them nine
children were born : David, Mrs. Fannie
340 ROBINSON.
Harrison of San Francisco, Chester H.,
Heman, Agnes J., Sarah Fay (Mrs. Samuel
B. Hall), Carrie H., Jennie E., and George A.
ROBINSON, John C, of Jamaica, son
of John P. and Mary R. (Cheney) Robin-
son, was born in Jamaica, Sept. 12, 1840.
He pursued the usual educational course
in the common schools of his native town,
and supplemented this by study at the Ice-
land and (iray Seminary at Townshend and
the Methodist Seminary of Springfield.
.\fter leaving school, at the age of twenty,
he opened a photographer's establishment,
in which he was employed for five years ; he
then closed out his business and gave his
services to the West River National Bank of
Jamaica as teller, remaining there until 1875.
He was elected treasurer of the Jamaica Sav-
ings Bank in 1S73 and has since held that
position. When the charter of the national
bank expired in 1885 the savings bank
bought its building and has since carried on
a business which has greatly prospered under
the able management of Mr. Robinson.
Mr. Robinson was wedded June 10, 1878,
to Ella J., daughter of John and Maria
(Stowell) Cheney. Four children have been
born to them : John S., Carroll C. (who was
a messenger in the Legislature of T892 ), Roe
E., and Mary, all of whom are living.
He has been the incumbent of several
official positions, was made collector of taxes
in 18S2, and was superintendent of schools
for several years ; also justice of the peace,
town agent and town grand juror.
Mr. Robinson is a Republican and was
postmaster from 1877 to 1885, and in 1892
he was elected to represent Jamaica in the
General Assembly.
ROGERS, Nathaniel Sewall, of New-
port, son of Nathaniel and Mary (Smith)
Rogers, was born in Moultonboro, N. H.,
June 7, 1840. When he was five years of
age his father moved to Newport Centre,
where he commenced to clear and cultivate
a farm, in the labor of which his son assisted,
while pursuing his studies at the public
schools. The father, at the age of fifty-
seven, entered the army Oct. i, 1862, in Co.
H, 15th Regt. Vt. Vols., fighting in defence
of the Union. On ^[arch g, 1S63, was taken
prisoner by Mosby, at the time General
Stoughton was taken, and confined in Libby
Prison and finally exchanged, when he re-
turned to his home completely broken in
health.
During this period the subject of this
sketch took his father's place, supporting the
family during his absence, .\fter his father's
return, prompted by a conscientious desire
to serve his country ( having been prevented
up to this time by illness), he enlisted Sept.
15, 1S63, as a private in Battery M, ist Vt.
Heavy Artillery. Having been mustered
into service in Brattleboro, Mr. Rogers first
sen'ed in the defences of Washington, and
subsequently, in the battle of Spottsylvania,
was the first man wounded in his regiment,
in consequence of which disaster he lost his
right leg, and was discharged from the Mont-
pelier Hospital Sept. 14, 1865.
At the conclusion of the war he returned
to Newport Centre, and, having previously
purchased his father's farm, continued to
carry it on till the death of his parents. In
1880 he moved to his present village resi-
dence.
He was naturally a Republican, and as
such has held many positions of trust. Was
justice of the peace for fourteen years ; and
in September, 1892, was elected assistant
judge of Orleans county.
judge Rogers was united in marriage
Sept. 25, 1866, to Mary E., daughter of
Rufus and Philinda (Oaks) Whipple of
Newport Centre. Three children were the
issue of this marriage : Elmer C, Ernest
S., and Jennie G.
judge Rogers has been adjutant, chaplain,
and commander of T. B. .Alexander Post,
No. 26, G. A. R., and for the past year held
the office of assistant inspector department
Vt. G. A. R. He has been connected with
the executive committee, and teacher and
member in the Sunday school of the Free
Will Baptist .Church, with which he united
at the age of nineteen years.
ROONEY, Michael F., of Mendon,
son of Thomas and Ellen (McLaughlin)
Rooney, was born in West Rutland, Dec. 27,
1863.
payment bill, which measure became a law
of the state. He was largely influential on
the committees on highways and bridges.
Two years afterward he again received the
same compliment, though ojjposed by one
of the strongest and ablest Republicans of
the town. In this Legislature he also dis-
played the same vigor as at first, doing duty
again on the same committees as before.
In his religious preferences Mr. Rooney
is a Catholic, but he has always been a
hearty and liberal supporter of all Christian
institutions.
ROOT, Henry Green, of Bennington,
son of Klisha and Betsey (Moseley) Root,
was born in flreenfield, Mass., Sept. nS,
iSiS.
His early education was received in the
public schools of Greenfield, and this was
supplemented by a course of study at Fellen-
burg and Deerfield academies.
At the age of seventeen he entered the
employ of Boynton & Whitcomb, atTem])le-
ton, Mass., to learn the manufacture of tin-
ware. Four years later he formed a partner-
shii.) with Luther R. Graves and soon after
Receiving his early education in the pub-
lic and private schools of West Rutland and
Clarendon, he has later devoted much at-
tention to study and reading, especially in
matters relating to state legislation. In
1888 he settled in the town of Mendon,
■where he engaged in farming and lumber-
ing. His business has steadily increased in
magnitude and prosperity, and he is now
running a steam saw mill, which employs a
large force of hands. Though yet a young
man and living in a rural community, he has
met with unusual success financially and po-
litically.
A Democrat in political faith, and a resi-
dent of a strongly Re]iublican town, he has
been the recijiient of many responsible posi-
tions at the hands of his fellow-citizens, and
has always discharged these trusts with
credit to himself and satisfaction to his con-
stituents. In 1890 he was elected the rep-
resentative from Mendon, an ample proof of
his popularity and the high esteem in which
he is held by all his friends and neighbors.
In his first legislative experience he showed
himself an active and conservative member
of the House, securing an ap])ropriation for
his town, also introducing the fortnightly
thev established themselves in Bennington,
imder the firm name of Graves & Root, which
firm existed more than fifty years, and for
many years they were the largest producers
of tinware in Vermont. They established
the second National bank in Vermont, of
which Mr. Gra\es was president, and Mr.
342
Root \ ice-president, which offices they hold
at the present time.
He was a director of the board of the Ben-
nington Battle Monument Association, and
chairman of the executi\e committee at the
centennial celebration at that place.
He has been for more than thirty years a
director of the Vermont State Agricultural
Society, serving three years as its president.
Formerly a whig he is now a staunch ad-
herent of the Republican party, was for se\-
eral years member and chairman of the state
committee and represented Bennington in
the Legislature in 1850 and 1857. In i860,
as elector at large, he voted for Abraham
Lincoln, and six years later he served two
successive terms as senator from Bennington
county.
Since 1857 he has been a member of the
Congregational church, of which for several
years he has been a trustee.
Mr. Root married, Dec. 23, 1846, Cath-
erine L., daughter of Samuel H. and Sylvia
(Squires) Blackmer, of Bennington, who
died in September, 1887. Two children
were the fruit of the union : Samuel H., and
Catherine K. (Mrs. William A. Root). On
Ian. 23, 1889, Mr. Root married Mary A.,
daughter of Dr. Nathan and Esther (Conkey )
(;ale, of Orwell.
ROPES, Arthur, of Montpelier, son of
George and Miriam (Johnson) Ropes, was
born in Newbury May 5, 1837.
He obtained his early educational train-
ing in the common schools and St. Johns-
bury Academy, and was for a time a member
of the class of 1864 in Dartmouth College.
He became a teacher in the common schools
of Vermont, then was assistant in St. Johns-
bury Academy and afterwards promoted to
be the principal of the high school of that
village. Impaired health induced him to
spend a year in outdoor life in the Lake Su-
perior region. He then gave his attention
to business affairs and was employed as tel-
ler in the Passumpsic National Bank, which
he quitted to become the cashier of the
Northfield National Bank of Northfield. He
next engaged in manufacturing at Waterbury
and Montpelier and in 1880 he entered the
business office of, and soon became a writer
upon the editorial staff of the Vermont
Watchman. During Mr. Prescott's owner-
ship of the Watchman Mr. Ropes was its ac-
tive editor. In 18S6 he began the publica-
tion of the Rural ^'ermonter at Montpelier,
and in 1888 his enterprise and energy dis-
played itself in the formation of an associa-
tion of business men in Montpelier and
Washington county, entitled the Watchman
Publishing Co., for the purpose of purchas-
ing the Watchman and uniting with it the
A'ermonter. This was accomplished and
Mr. Ropes has since filled the editorial chair
of the Watchman and is the business mana-
ger of the company, of which he is a direc-
tor and the clerk.
Though a Republican he holds no politi-
cal office and his ambition does not run in
that direction, but in that of conducting a
newspaper influential in advancing the ma-
terial and moral welfare of the people of the
state.
ARTHUR ROPES.
Mr. Ropes was married June 28, 1864, tO'
Mary J., daughter of George \\'. and Char-
lotte (McNider) Hutchins. They have twO'
daughters : Charlotte, and Laura L.
ROSS, JONATHAN, son of Royal and
Eliza (Mason) Ross, was born April 30,.
1826, at Waterford. Jonathan Ross, the
grandfather of the judge, moved from Massa-
chusetts to Waterford in or about the year
1795. There he cleared away the forest and
cultivated a farm on which he supported
himself, wife and family of six children, of
whom Royal, the father of the subject of this
sketch, was the second son.
Jonathan Ross received the excellent ed-
ucation ordinarily imparted in the common-
schools of Vermont, and fitted for college in
the academy at St. Johnsbury. Matriculating
at Dartmouth College in 1847, he graduated
from that institution in 1851.
L'p to the close of his twenty-first year
Mr. Ross had a practical acquaintance with
agricultural labor on his father's farm. His
summers were occupied in the cultivation
343
of its acres, and his winters, between the
ages of eighteen and twenty-five, in teaching
'n the pubHc schools of Vermont, New
Hampshire, and Massachusetts. In this
pursuit he achieved unusual and decided
success.
.After graduating from college he taught in
Craftsbury, and was principal of the academy
at Chelsea. While residing in the latter
town he studied law in the office of Judge
William Hebard, and was admitted to the
bar of Orange county Jan. i8, 1856.
In 1S56 Mr. Ross contracted a legal co-
partnership with A. J. Willard, Ksq., of St.
Johnsbury, which continued for nearly two
years. After that he practiced by himself
until 1865, when he was associated with G.
.\. Burbank, Esq. This connection lasted
for twehe months, and was succeeded in
i86g by partnership with Mr. \\'. P. Smith.
The latter relation existed until the follow-
ing year, in which Mr. Ross was elected a
judge of the Supreme Court.
Judge Ross has taken an active and influ-
ential part in the public affairs of Vermont.
From 1858 to 1868 he was treasurer of
the Passumpsic Savings Bank. Under his
fiduciary management the corporation never
lost a dollar. In i862-'63 he was state's
attorney for Caledonia county. In 1S65,
1866, and 1867 he was sent to the Legisla-
ture as the representative of St. Johnsbury,
and served effectively on the judiciary and
other committees. He was for some years
before 1870 an active and influential mem-
ber of the state board of education. In
1869 he was a member of the last Council
of Censors held in the state. In 1870 he
was returned by Caledonia county to the
state Senate, and in the same year was
elected sixth assistant judge of the Supreme
Court. In 1890 he was elected chief judge
of the Supreme Court, which position he
now worthily fills.
Mr. Ross was married on the 22d of No-
vember, 1852, to Eliza Ann, daughter of
Isaiah and Caroline (Bugbee) Carpenter.
Eight children were born to them : Caroline
C, I'>lizabeth, Helen (deceased), Julia (Mrs.
Yh. Aldrich, of Somerville, Mass.), Martha,
Edith, Edward Harlan, and John. Mrs'. Ross,
who was a sister of Judge .-Monzo P. Carpenter
of the New Hampshire Supreme Court, died
some years since, and Judge Ross married
for his second wife. Miss Helen Daggett.
ROWELL, George Barker, of Bar-
ton Landing, son of .Adoniram Judson and
Lucy A. (Richardson) Rowell, was born in
North Troy, March 30, 1846.
After the usual course of instruction in the
common schools, his educational training
was pursued in the Missisquoi Valley and St.
lohnsburv .Academies, and subsecpiently he
graduated from the liurlington Medical Col-
lege, June, 1872, as a practitioner of the
homoeopathic school. For some time he
was em])loyed as a teacher in the Richford
graded and public schools, but soon after his
graduation commenced the practice of his
profession in his native town. He removed
to Irasburg in 1873, where he continued in
the same occupation till 1891, when he
came to Barton's Landing. Here he be-
came a general dealer in horses, cattle, wag-
ons and other articles. In connection with
a partner he purchased a large farm at Iras-
burg.
During the war Mr. Rowell served as a
clerk in the quartermaster's department un-
der Captain Dunton, at City I'oint, Va., in
1864. For four years he discharged the
duties of town superintendent of Irasburg.
In his political creed he inclines to the
principles of the Republican party and is a
Congregationalist with respect to his relig-
ious preferences.
He is a master Mason in good standing
and unites with Missisciuoi Lodge, No. 9, at
Richford.
He was united in wedlock Jan. i, 1873, to
Isadore, daughter of Daniel and Susan (Per-
kins) Darling of Masonville, P. <■)■, who died
August 20, 1876. Mr. Rowell contracted a
second alliance Sept. i, 1891, with Etta,
daughter of Hugh and Jennie (Rowan)
Grant of Pembroke, Ont., the fruit of which
union is one son : Hugh Grant.
ROWELL, JOHN W.,of Randolph, was
born in Lebanon, X. H., June 9, 1835.;
The early education of Judge Rowell was
received in the common schools and at the
West Randolph .Academy. There he was
thoroughly prepared for admission to college
a year in advance. Circumstances, however,
conspired to prevent his graduation. Choos-
ing the profession of law, he entered in
i8'56 upon its study in the office of Jefferson
P. Kidder, ex- Lieutenant Governor of Ver-
mont, afterwards one of the judges of the
Supreme Court of Dakota, and a delegate
to Congress from that territory. From 1857
to the winter of 1858 he studied in the office
of judge Edmund Weston, and also attended
a course of lectures in the law college es-
tablished by Judge Hayden and other gen-
tlemen at Poland'', Ohio. At the June term
in 1858 he was admitted to the bar of
Orange county. Mr. Rowell at once asso-
ciated himself in partnership with Judge
John B. Hutchinson. This connection con-
tinued until the latter part of 1859, when
Judge Hutchinson accepted the position of
cashier of the Northfield Bank, which he
held until 1861. He then returned to Ran-
dolph and again entered into partnership
with his old business associate. 'I'his new
344
relation lasted until iS66, when it was dis-
solved by reason of the ill-health of Judge
Hutchinson. Mr. Rowell removed to Chi-
cago in February, 1870, and entered into
business connection with John Hutchinson,
formerly U. S. Consul at Nice. In Septem-
ber, 1S71, he returned to Randolph, re-
sumed legal practice in his old home, and
has since made it his permanent residence.
During the legislative sessions of 1861 and
1862, Mr. Rowell represented Randolph in
the General Assembly, and was distinguished
as the youngest member, except one, of the
House. He served both sessions upon the
judiciary committee. He also rendered ex-
cellent service on other committees. In
1862 and 1863 he efficiently filled the office
of state's attorney for Orange county.
In 1874 he was elected a state senator
from Orange county and served as chairman
of the committee on the asylum for the insane
and also on the committee on the judiciary.
From 1872 he was for eight years reporter of
the decisions of the Supreme Court. Mr.
Rowell had by his learning in the law and
his great skill in active practice become one
of the leaders of the Vermont bar when Gov-
ernor Farnham, fan. 11, 1882, appointed him
sixth assistant judge of the Supreme Court.
The appointment was to fill a \acancy on the
bench occasioned by the promotions conse-
quent on the death of Chief Judge Pierpoint.
Judge Rowell now holds the position of
second assistant judge of the Supreme Court.
Judge Rowell was formerly a director of
the Northfield Bank, and has been a director
and vice-president of the Randolph National
Bank since its'organization.
He was married on the ist of August, 1858,
to Mary L., daughter of Rev. Leonard and
Hannah (Gilman) \\'heeler, of Randolph.
ROYCE, George Edmund, of Rut-
land, son of Alpheus and Harriet (Moore)
Royce, was born in Orwell, Jan. t, 1829. He
is the seventh in lineal descent from Deacon
Edmund Rice, who emigrated to America
from Birkhamstead, Hertfordshire, England,
in 1638, and settled in Sudbury, Mass. His
great-grandfather, .\donijah Rice, was the
first white child born in Worcester, Mass.,
and here resided until the latter part of his
life when he moved to Bridport. He served
in several campaigns in the old French and
Indian war, and was one of the celebrated
band of scouts known as Rogers' Rangers.
His grandfather, Jonas Rice, held a commis-
sion as first lieutenant in the regular army
under General Washington, was present at
the crossing of the Delaware, the battles of
Trenton and Princeton, and shared in the
misery and privations of Valley Forge. At
the close of the war he settled in Orwell and
was united in marriage to Elizabeth Carver,
a direct descendant of John Carver, first
(Governor of Plymouth Colony. His father,
Alpheus Royce, bore the name of his ances-
tors until middle life, when he changed the
orthography of the appellative to Royce, al-
leging as his reason for the alteration that
the family of Rice was becoming too numer-
ous and would soon be likely to outnumber
the Smiths.
(ieorge Edmund Royce received his edu-
cation in the public schools, followed by two
terms at the Troy Conference Academy. .As-
sisting his father in the labor of the farm
until the age of nineteen, he was then em-
ployed in the store of John Simonds as clerk
at Watch Point, Shoreham, where he re-
mained two years. From there he removed
to New York in 1850 and labored for one
year as salesman for Dibble, Frink & Co.,
wholesale dry goods dealers, then gave his
■wW* T^'^V
3EORGE EDMU
services to Lathrop, Ludington & Co., who
were in the same line of business, and with
whom he remained about seven years. In
1S59 he, with others, organized the firm of
Robbins, Royce & Hard, wholesale dry
goods dealers, and two years after the con-
cern was changed to Robbins, Royce &
Acker, which arrangement continued until
Jan. I, 1S64, when, although the business
was very successful and satisfactory, the
partnership was dissolved on account of the
failing health of Mr. Royce and he removed
to Rutland, where he still resides. In 1865
he became interested in the ^\■ardvvell stone
345
channelling machine, which resulted in the
formation of the Steam Stone Cutter Co., of
which corporation he became and has con-
tinued one of the trustees and treasurer, also
being its general manager.
Mr. Royce was first married to Meriam
E., daughter of Samuel and Eliza I\I. (Bot-
tom) Brewer, of Orwell, Feb. 5, 1857 ; she
died March 2, 1S66 ; he then wedded Mar-
tha A. Brewer, sister of his first wife, Sept. 6,
1866 ; he contracted a third alliance with
Ellen C. White, of Orwell, Nov. 4, 1875. His
children by his first wife were : Fannie E.
(Mrs. Charles N. Drowne), George B., Julia
M. (died in infancy), Kate M. (Mrs. C. H.
Hyde, of Rutland). By his second wife he
had : Jane M., Robert S. (died, in Naples,
Italy, Jan. 27, 1890), Julia E. (Mrs. Freder-
ick Forest Dowlin, of North Adams, Mass. ;
died Oct. 13, 1893). From his last mar-
riage there are issue : Edmund W., Thomas
I., Pauline M., Albert A., Henry M., Richard
H., and John C.
Mr. Royce was one of the original incor-
porators and directors of the True Blue
Marble Co., and since 1887 has been its
treasurer and manager. Since the organiza-
tion of the Baxter National Bank he has also
been a director of that institution.
He is a Democrat in his political prefer-
ences and a bi-nietalist, and has five times
been elected to the position of selectman in
the town of Rutland, besides holding many
other local offices. He has large real estate
interests in Rutland and the West. He is a
Universalist in his religious creed, and
one of the trustees of St. Paul's church, Rut-
land, and a sustaining member of the Y. M.
C.A.
RUGG, David Fletcher, of Hartland,
son of William \\'. and Rachel (Dodge) Rugg,
was born in Londonderry, Dec. 15, 1852.
He received his education at the West
River, Chester and Black River Academies,
and from the early age of fifteen was a
teacher during the winter terms in the
schools of Winhall, Shaftsbury, Ludlow and
Weathersfield. While thus engaged he still
found time to pursue the study of medicine,
to which profession he had resolved to de-
vote the labors of his life. Commencing his
researches in the office of Dr. W. F. Eddy,
of Londonderry, he became a student in the
medical department of U. V. M., and after-
wards entered the same department of Dart-
mouth College, and finally graduated from
the U. V. M., 1876, as valedictorian. He
received the faculty prize for best thesis.
In the same year he took up his abode in
Hartland, and, occupied in practicing his
profession, has continued to make this town
his residence.
Dr. Rugg was united in marriage, Dec.
28, 1 88 1, to Julia A., daughter of Albert D.
and Sarah (C.oddard) Hagar. One child
has been born to them ; Harold Goddard.
.•\n active Republican, Dr. Rugg has been
for years a member of the town committee.
He has been chairman of the State Board of
Censors, town superintendent of schools, and
also served on the County School Board.
For manv vears he has been a member of
the I. O. O. F., and he is enrolled in the
Aermont Medical Society, of which he was
vice-president in 1883, and in the American
Medical Association, White River Valley and
Connecticut River \'alley Societies. He was
also a member of the Ninth International
Congress of Physicians, held at Washington,
D. C., in 1SS7.'
RUSSELL, Chandler Miller, of Wil-
mington, son of Jordan H. and Harriet L.
(Partridge) Russell, was born in Wilming-
ton, Dec. 7, 1842.
His earlv education was received in the
public schools and he fitted for college at
Wesleyan Academy, graduating in 1865.
In 1862, while pursuing his academic
course, he returned to his native state and
enlisted in Co. F, i6th Vt. \ols., and partici-
pated with this regiment in the batde of
Gettysburg, being mustered out of service
August 10, 1863.
Subsequently he creditably filled the posi-
tion of principal of the \Vilmington high
school, and in 1867 engaged in mercantile
346
business in that town, which pursuit he fol-
lowed until 1878. Three years later Mr.
Russell again resumed the profession of
teaching, and in 1882 entered the National
College of Elocution and Oratory at Phila-
delphia, graduating in 18S4. In connection
with Mrs. Russell he then traveled through
New England and New York, giving public
readings, which were received with marked
favor. For the last six years Mr. Russell
has traveled extensively, lecturing upon pop-
ular subjects, in which enterprise he has
been unusually successful.
He was united in marriage in June, 1877,
to Gertrude E., daughter of Lorenzo and
Beulah (Blanchard) Bowen of Readsboro.
Of this union one child was born : Blanche
Leone.
Mr. Russell was one of the incorporators
of the Mount Vernon Institute of Elocution
and Languages of Philadelphia, and at pres-
ent holds the position of director. He has
held many important local offices, always
discharging faithfully and conscientiously
the trusts reposed in him. In 1891 he was
elected a councillor of the American Insti-
tute of Civics, New York City. He is a
frequent contributor to the columns of vari-
ous newspapers and periodicals, and is now
collecting material for a history of the 1 6th
Vermont Regiment, and, with the aid of an
excellent private library and his own per-
sonal endeavor, keeps well informed with
rearard to all matters of current interest.
For nearly thirty years Mr. Russell has
been a Free Mason, holding various honora-
ble positions in the order, and he is promi-
nent in the G. A. R.
He is the manager of an extensive insur-
ance business, but still devotes some time to
filling engagements on the platform.
RUSSELL, George Kendal, of Bel-
lows Falls, son of \\'illard and Abigail E.
( Ward) Russell, was born in Cabot, .April 1 1,
1841.
Having received his early education at the
common schools and the Franklin (N. H.)
Academy, he moved with his parents to Law-
rence, Mass., and from thence to Exeter, N.
H., where he engaged in the manufacture of
paper with his father, commencing his busi-
ness career at the early age of seventeen.
Like so many of our youth, he felt the
martial ardor of the time and in 1862 enlisted
in Co. E, 15th N. H. Regt., and served till
that organization was mustered out of service.
In 1870, he purchased the interest of his
father in the Exeter mill and continued by
himself till 1873, when he disposed of the prop-
erty and removed to Bellows Falls, where he
again entered into a business connection with
his father, buying a paper mill which the firm
operated till 1879, when, the father selling
his interest to the son, the latter erected a
pulp mill. Twelve years afterwards he sold
this to the Fall Mountain Paper Co., and,
after disposing of his other manufacturing
property to the Robertson & Coy Paper Co.,
retired from active business life.
Always a Republican he held many official
positions in the towns of Brentwood, N. H.,
and Exeter, and has also devoted much time
to Free Masonry, being a member of King
Solomon's Lodge, No. 45, of Bellows Falls,
Abenaqui Chapter, and Beauseant Com-
mandery, of Brattleboro, while his name is on
the roll of Mt. Kilborn Lodge, K. of H., and
E. H. Stoughton Post, No. 34, G. A. R.
Mr. Russell, Nov. 9, 1863, espoused Annie
A., daughter of Mark and Elizabeth ( Flagg)
Colbath. Of this union there are three living
children : WillardT., Lizzie \\'., and Grace L.
RUSSELL, Julius W., of Burhngton,
son of William P. and Lydia (Miner) Rus-
sell, was born in Moira, N. Y., Sept. i, 1846.
Receiving his early instruction at the
academies of Williston and Shelburne, he
entered Wesleyan LTniversity, Middletown,
Conn., September 1864, where he remained
two vears, then changed to Yale College,
where he graduated in 1S68. He was then
principal of Hinesburg Academy until De-
cember, i86g,when he entered the law office
of Judge William G. Shaw of Burlington,
continuing with him till 1870, when he went
to New York City, where he attended the
RrTHERFclRII
kriHEKKOKI)
Columbia I-aw School. During the summer
of 187 1 he was in the office of L. K. Mngles-
by, Esq., of Burlington, and was admitted
to the bar of Chittenden county at the Sep-
tember term of the same year. He has made
Burlington his home since that time, and
has made a specialty of commercial law.
Mr. Russell married, Dec. 31, 1872, Kate,
daughter of Dr. Elmer and luneline (Dud-
ley) Beecher of Hinesburg. Their children
are : Flora E., William J., and Elmer B.
For two years he was state's attorney and
was city attorney of Burlington from 1SS9 to
1891. He has served as grand juror and
also school commissioner, and for twelve
years has been a justice of the peace.
He is a member of Washington Eodge, F.
& A. M., of FJurlington. His religious pro-
fession is Congregational, and he is a
member of the V. M. C. A.
RUTHERFORD, JOSEPH C, of New-
port, son of Alexander and Sally (Clifford)
Rutherford, was born at Schenectady, N. Y.,
Oct. I, 1818. His parents came to Vermont
in 1826, and settled at Burlington in 1830.
It was in the high schools at Burlington he
received the principal share of his education.
At the age of twenty years he started out in
the world for himself. He early expressed
the desire to study medicine, but his cir-
cumstances were such that he was unable to
do so until 1S42, when he entered the office
of Dr. Newell, then of Lyndon and after-
wards of St. Johnsbury.
In May, 1843, he located at Derby, and
in December of that year was married to
Hannah W., daughter of Hon. Jacob Chase.
( )f this union were five children, three of
whom are still living : Dr. Jacob C. of
Providence, R. I., Mrs. John S. Colby of
Chicago, and Mrs. George S. Woodward of
Chicago.
In 1844 he resumed the study of medi-
cine in the office of Dr. Moses F. Colby,
Stanstead, P. (J., and graduated at Woodstock
in 1849. In 1 85 1 he went to Blackstone,
Mass. In 1857 he returned to Derby, from
where he removed to Newport in i860,
which place has been his home since that
time.
At the breaking out of the war of the re-
bellion in 1 86 1, he was commissioned sur-
geon by Governor Fairbanks, and examined
recruits for enlistment. He held this posi-
tion until commissioned by (lovernor Hol-
brook as assistant surgeon of the loth Vt.
Vols. Mustered into the U. S. service, he
immediately started for the front, where the
regiment was assigned to duty in the defences
of Washington, D. C, and was stationed
near Edwards Ferry, Md. The regiment
remained here and in this vicinity about nine
months. When the armv of the Potomac
was ordered to Gettysburg, Pa., the loth
Vt. was sent to Monocacy Station, Md., to
guard the rear of the army and the supplies.
After the battle of Gettysburg, the loth Vt.,
joined the army of the Potomac, and was
enrolled in the 3d division 3d army corps.
His first experience on the battlefield was
Nov. 26, 1863, at Locust Grove, Ya., where
he received an injury that nearly cost him
his life, and which resulted in a broken con-
stitution and a crippled frame. Notwith-
standing its serious character, he remained
at the post of duty, and was in every battle
in which his regiment participated, until
near the close of the war. In March, 1865,
he was promoted to be surgeon of the 17th
Vt. Vols., which regiment had but one battle
after he joined it, that of Petersburg, .April
2, 1865. He was mustered out of the L. S.
service with the 17th Vt. Vols, in July, 1865,
after having served within a few days of
three years. His relations with the two
regiments were, and with their survivors
have been to the present time, of a very
pleasant character. He won the respect
and esteem of both officers and men, and
the ties of friendship that were there ce-
mented with blood and hardship, have be-
come stronger and stronger as time has sil-
vered the locks of the surviving comrades.
And today, nearly thirty years after the war,
his comrades speak of Surgeon Rutherford
with deep feelings of gratitude and respect.
Directly after being mustered out of the
service he returned to his home in New-
port, where he has since resided, and re-
sumed the practice of medicine in civil life.
In 1866 he was commissioned examining
surgeon for pensions, which place he has
held to the present time, 1S93.
He joined the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows in 1844, was made a Free Mason in
1866, and has taken all the degrees up to
and including that of the Knight Templar.
At an early day the doctor took a deep
interest in the anti-slavery cause, and was a
delegate to the first convention held by that
faction in Vermont. His first vote for pres-
ident was cast for William Henry Harrison,
and when the Republican party was organ-
ized he joined it, and has voted with it ever
since. In 1S80 he was chosen by the Legis-
lature a supervisor of the insane, which office
he held for two years.
.After a busy life of hardship and toil for
the relief of the sulTerings of others, he has
retired from the active practice of his pro-
fession, and is now living in his quiet and
pleasant home in the peaceful enjoyment of
the fruits of his labors. His kindness to the
poor and destitute is limited only by his
means, and he is ever ready by kindly words
and deeds to cheer and solace the woes he
cannot altogether heal.
348
RYTHER, Fred E., of Dover, son of
Eaton and Mary A. (Morse) Ryther, was
born in Dover, August 26, i860.
He was educated in the schools of Dover
and has followed the vocation of farming
since early manhood, with the exception of
some time spent in teaching.
An ardent Democrat in political faith, he
has been honored by his townsmen with
many positions of honor and represented
Doxer in the (leneral Assembly of i8go.
He enjoys the distinction of being the first
Democrat to represent the town since the
organization of the Republican party. He
has also served the town as selectman for
two terms and as superintendent of schools.
Mr. Ryther is an energetic and popular
young man, who has a life of much useful-
ness before him, and that he is meeting the
expectations of his friends is evidenced by
his career.
SANBORN, ISAAC Wheeler, of l.yn-
donville, son of Deacon Benjamin and Abi-
gail B. (Stanton) Sanborn, was born in Lyn-
don, Feb. 16, 1833. His grandfather came
ISAAC WHEELER SANBORN.
to Wheelock from Sanbornton, N. H., which
was named in honor of the Sanborn family.
Isaac W. Sanborn received his education
in the schools of Lyndon, the Lyndon and
St. Johnsbury academies and Newbury Sem-
inary, finishing his school studies in 1855.
He has ahvays been an extensive farmer,
owning originally, with his father, the land
on which the village of Lyndonviile stands,
and has large interests in real estate and
banks. He isl^resident of the I^yndon Sav-
ings Bank, of the Caledonia County Publish-
ing Co., and of the board of school direc-
tors of the town of Lyndon. He has been
a justice of the peace for twenty years.
Politically, Mr. Sanborn is a Republican
and cast his first presidential vote for John
C. Fremont in 1856. For thirty-five years
he has discharged the duties of the town
clerk and treasurer. For a quarter of a cen-
tury he acted as secretary of the Caledonia
County Agricultural Society and served the
Young Men's Temperance Society of that
county in the same capacity.
He has always been identified with the
cause of education : was one of the incorpor-
ators and is at present secretary and treas-
urer of the Lyndon Institute and Commer-
cial College, to which he has been a liberal
contributor, so much so that the Sanborn
Student's Home, a fine boarding house
erected in 1891, was named in his honor.
To his financial ability have been entrusted
the funds of the village of Lyndonviile since
its organization, and for several years he
acted as town superintendent of schools. In
1870 and 1872 he represented Lyndon in
the Legislature, serving on the committees on
education, the standing joint committee and
on the House committee on rules. He was
assistant clerk of the House for two sessions,
and in 1870 delegate to the Constitutional
Convention.
Mr. Sanborn has decided literary tastes, is
a regular correspondent of the St. Johnsbury
Republican, and in his earlier days was a
frequent contributor to several leading New
York and Boston periodicals. At the cen-
tennial celebration of the organization of the
town of Lyndon, July 4, 1891, Mr. Sanborn
was chairman of the executive committee.
In his religious belief he adheres to the Bap-
tist denomination, and is a liberal contrib-
utor to all benevolent enterprises.
SARGENT, Caleb Gushing, of Cor-
inth, son of Jonathan and Sarah (Marston)
Sargent, was born in Candia, N. H., Dec.
24, 1835. His ancestors in each family
branch were of English extraction. His pa-
ternal ancestor, WilHam Sargent, son of Rich-
ard Sargent of the Royal Na\y, was born in
England, in 1602, and came to America, it is
said, on the Mayflower and landed at Ipswich,
349
Mass., about 1630. He was one of the
twelve men who commenced the settlement
of Ipswich, in 1633, and afterwards heljjed to
form settlements in Newbury and Hampton,
and in 1640 was one of the eighteen original
proprietors, or commoners, who settled New
Salisbury, now known as Amesbury, Mass.
His great-grandfather, Moses Sargent, of
Candia, N. H., was a soldier of the Revolu-
tion and one of the original proprietors and
leading men of the early days of that town.
The early life of the subject of this sketch
was spent on his father's farm until he was
about eighteen years of age, when, under the
inspiration of his mother's counsels, he re-
solved upon the attainment of a liberal edu-
cation ; but the accomplishment of his pur-
pose lay along the way of hardships and amid
difficulties whose solution seemed at times
uncertain and disappointing to his youthful
aspirations. However, by the dint of unmit-
igated industry and perseverance, and by
resources deri^'ed from his intiividual effort,
mainly directed in the line of school teaching,
he was enabled to attain the purpose of his
early ambition. He pursued his preparatory
studies at Blanchard .Academy, Pembroke, N.
H., and entered Dartmouth College in 1856,
from which he graduated in class of i860.
Immediately after completing his college
course he commenced the study of law in the
office of Clark & Smith, of Manchester, N.
H., and in 1861 came to Corinth, and for
the completion of his legal studies entered his
name in the law office of Robert Ormsby, of
Bradford. In 1857, Mr. Sargent was as-
sistant at Blanchard .\cademy, and for four
years next previous to 1864, was principal of
the Corinth .\cademy, at Corinth ; and a
trustee and prudential officer of that institu-
tion until its union with the Cookville graded
school in 1876.
In 1863, being compelled by inauspicious
circumstances to defer for a time his life
purpose of the legal profession, he devoted
himself to trade, and since then has been
engaged chiefly in mercantile and general
business pursuits, with agriculture as a col-
lateral avocation, and under different business
associations, but mainly in Corinth.
In i878-'79 Mr. Sargent discharged the
duties of assignee of the Union Mining Co.
of Corinth, and later was paymaster, clerk
and treasurer of the Vermont Copper Mining
Co. ; also of the Vermont Copper Co., in
their several business operations at Pike Hill
and Vershire, until their suspension in 1883.
The noted Ely riot of July 2, 1883, which
necessitated the calling out the state militia
to accomplish its suppression, was conse-
quent upon this suspension. At its early
inception it appeared to involve the destruc-
tion of all the company's valuable works, if
not the life of some of its officers, so intense
and uncontrollable was the maddened furor
of the men on the morning of its first out-
break. While much of truth antl considera-
ble of conjecture has been written relative
to the causes, scenes, and affairs of that
disastrous occasion, yet one fact remains —
on the afternoon of that ominous Monday,
when the infuriated mob had taken the
control of affairs into their own hands, and
had surrounded the residence of the sick
president, left unprotected by police or
sheriff, and were howling threats of violence
and devastation in every window and door-
way, and the lives of the inmates seemed to
hang on the doubtful mercy of the frantic
assailants, that it was very largely due to the
heroically cool, frank, and conservative
action of the treasurer, in his conciliatory
efforts with the men on that occasion, and
unaided, that peace and order were tempo-
rarily restored and the backbone of the riot
partially broken, which doubtless saved the
great property from destruction that in the
councils of the frenzied rioters was to have
been destroyed in early morning.
For five years subsequent to 1863 Mr.
Sargent held the position of captain in the
state militia and became early in life a mem-
ber of the Masonic order, officiating as mas-
ter of Minerva Lodge for twel\-e years.
In the cause of temperance reform he has
taken an active interest, both in town and
state, having filled the offices of counselor
and treasurer in the Grand Lodge of Cood
Templars and represented that grand body
in the Right Cirand Lodge at Madison, \\"is.,
in 1872, and has since been a grand officer
in the order of the Sons of Temperance.
Judge Sargent is a Republican in his po-
litical proclivities and was a member of the
first state Republican convention, at Con-
cord, N. H., in 1855, and has served as
member and chairman of the Orange county
republican committee for several years. In
matters of town he has occupied responsible
and conspicuous positions ; was superin-
tendent of schools, justice of the peace, town
agent and selectman for several years in suc-
cession. For nineteen years he discharged
the duties of postmaster, was delegate to the
Constitutional Convention of 1870, and was
representative from Corinth in the Legis-
lature of 1878, where he was an influential
member of the House, serving as chairman
of one of its larger committees. In 1886 he
was elected assistant judge at the county
court and re-elected in 188S, and in 1S90
and 1891 discharged the duties of county
auditor.
In his religious preferences Judge Sargent
is a Congregationalist and has been an ac-
tive member and officer of that society in
Corinth for more than a quarter of a century.
350
He married, May 28, 1861, Cordelia Viva,
daughter of Theodore and Ruth Allen
(Tenny) Cooke of Corinth. Four children
were born of this union : Carl Theodore,
Edward Hou£;hton, Carrie Delia, and Jennie
I!ell.
SAWYER, Edward Bertrand, of
Hyde Park, son of Joshua and Mary ( Keeler)
Sawyer, was born in Hyde Park, April 16,
1S28.
EDWARD BI^rRiND SAV
His education was obtained in public and
private schools, to some extent under the
care of a tutor, and during one term at the
People's Academy. His father was his first
instructor in the law, the study of which he
commenced at eighteen years of age, reading
also in the office of Hon. \V. W. White, then
of Johnson. Appreciating the defects of his
early schooling, he adopted a system of self-
education, taking Fowler's " Self F>ducation,
Complete " for a guide and Benjamin Frank-
lin for his model.
'I'hree years of his early life he spent with
a brother who was engaged in trade in the
Province of Quebec, and while with him he
received a somewhat varied business train-
ing, but he had a fixed inclination to the
practice of the law, and after the preparatory
study above referred to, was admitted to the
bar of Lamoille county, at the June term of
1849, ^rxi immediately commenced to prac-
tice with his father. The same year he was
appointed clerk of the court, which office he
held, with the exception of two years, until
September, 1861, when he resigned to enlist
for the war. He again held this appointment
from 1868 to 1875, when he a second time
resigned, and since then has continued in
the practice of his profession.
In 1865 he interested himself in the arti-
ficial breeding of trout, and was probably the
first man in the state to engage in this enter-
prise. Two years after he abandoned this
undertaking, to purchase the Lamoille
Newsdealer, a paper which he revivified
and edited for three years, devoting a large
share of its columns to the advocacy of the
Portland & Ogdensburg R. R. In 1870
he sold this journal and varied his experi-
ence by becoming the proprietor of the
American Hotel, and after seven years' man-
agement of this concern, retired to resume
his professional labors, and since 1877 has
given these his exclusive attention.
Mr. Sawyer devoted all his time from the
beginning to the end of the war to the
service of his country. He enlisted Sept.
14, 1 86 1, having first raised and organized
Co. D, 5th Vt. Regt., and raised Co. I, ist
Vt. Cavalry. Upon the organization of this
body he was unanimously elected captain,
and in the retreat of General Banks down
the Shenandoah Valley received a severe
injury by a fall off his horse. Having been
previously promoted to major, though dis-
abled, he did not suffer his energy to remain
idle, but recruited two hundred men for the
regiment at large, and in addition organized
Co. L and Co. M, forming the sixth squad-
ron of the regiment, of which he was
colonel, when not in charge of a brigade or
detached on special service, until he resigned.
He was placed in the command of the 2d
brigade of Kilpatrick's division when that
general made his raid upon Richmond, and
upon that occasion and many others was
complimented for his efficient services by his
superior officers, though no record can be
found of his asking for promotion. In Sep-
tember, 1863, he was wounded in the cheek
by a rebel sharpshooter, and though in no
great battles during the war was more than
forty times under fire. Colonel Sawyer or-
ganized and was the first commander of
Aaron Keeler Post, G. A. R., which was
named in honor of his maternal grandfather,
a veteran of the American Re\olution.
Colonel Sawyer was married in June, 1849,
to Susan Almira, daughter of Hon. Isaac
and Dorcas (Titus) Pennock. Of this mar-
riage four children were issue : Mvra Ellen
(M^rs. F. N. Keeler), Edward B.', Mattie
Helen, and Bertha Mary (deceased). In
August, 1866, he wedded Helen M. Pennock,
the sister of his first wife, by whom he had :
.■\lma Dorcas, Clarence Parsons, and Lucy
Etta.
Colonel Sawyer came from old Federal
and whig stock, and sang Harrison songs in
the political campaign of 1840. He was in
the convention which instituted the Repub-
lican party in Vermont, and in that of iiS56,
which nominated Ryland Fletcher forCiov-
ernor of the state. He advocated Fremont's
election, and spoke in his favor in every
town in the county. An incident which
fell under his observation during his resi-
dence in Canada, attracted his attention to
the subject of .American slavery, and he be-
came a most bitter opponent of that institu-
tion. He was privileged to hear some of
the joint debates of Douglas and Lincoln,
and ever after remained an enthusiastic ad-
mirer of the latter. He was the junior
member and secretary of the Vermont dele-
gation to the national convention of i860,
and an uncompromising advocate of Mr.
Lincoln's nomination. He represented Hyde
Park in the Constitutional Convention of
1870, and favored the change to the bien-
nial session. He is now a firm believer in
the theory that law, and law only, makes
money, and that the government can make
a dollar out of any material.
SCARFF, Charles WaYLAND, of Bur-
lington, son of Emanuel H., and Mary
(Bowen) Scarff, was born in Pella, Iowa,
June 3, 1858.
His early education was received in the
public schools of that town, and he gradu-
ated from the Iowa Central L'niversity in
1878, four years afterward receiving from
his alma mater the degree of A. M.
Commencing his active life as a teacher
in the Marion county public schools, he
soon after located on a tract of government
land near (Irand Island, Xeb., where he was
employed as a book-keeper in a wholesale
hardware firm till 1885, when he went into
the real estate business. .As secretary of the
Crand Island Koard of Trade he was largely
iniluential in securing the location of the
Baptist L'niversity for that place, and for this
institution he raised nearly thirty thousand
dollars while on a visit to the East, which
he made for that purpose. He was also en-
gaged in the erection of a business block
and a fine hotel of his own in Grand Island,
and in 1887 organized its Street Railway Co.
He has been a liberal benefactor to the
Baptist L'niversity, having contributed ten
acres of land for the building site, as well as
a large amount of time and money to supply
its various needs.
Mr. Scarff was married, June 3, 1882, to
Lestina, daughter of Daniel and Emily Shep-
ard Lebatt, of Grand Island, Neb. They
have had four children: Emanuel (de-
ceased), Eleanor May, Lestina Meda, and
Walter Tahnage.
In the spring of 1S91 Mr. Scarff came to
Burlington, where he has extensively engaged
in real estate and manufacturing operations,
mainly in developing and building up the
Scarff addition to Burlington. He is a Re-
publican in his political views, but has never
accepted any office.
SCOTT, OLIN, of Bennington, son of
Martin Billings and Mary Ann (Olin) .Scott,
was born in Bennington, Feb. 27, 1832. He
derives his lineage on his father's side from
Landlord Fay, of the historic Catamount Tav-
ern, General Safford, Major Samuel Billings,
and Jonathan Scott, while among his moth-
er's ancestors were Capt. Moses Sage and
Giles Olin, all of whom were pioneers in the
early settlement in the southern part of the
state and identified with the disputes concern-
ing the New Hampshire Grants as well as
taking an active part in the war of the Revo-
lution.
The early educational ad\antages of Mr.
Scott were limited to the district school, and
at the age of eleven he found employment as
clerk in Troy and Albany, N. V. In 1846-
'47, he attended the L'nion Academy, at
Bennington, supporting himself by his own
exertions. He then served an api>rentice-
ship of three years to learn the trade of mill-
wright, at the same time pursuing a systematic
course of study in engineering, and to increase
hisjiroficiency in this science lie attended the
North Bennington .Academy for a year, then
worked at mill building until he became lore-
man of the Eagle Foundry and Machine
Shops in Bennington. Here he remained
till 1S58, when he entered into a partnership
with Hon. S. H. Brown, of that i)lace, to
operate the Bennington Machine Works.
This arrangement continued until 1863, when
he purchased the interest of his partner and
in 1864 purchased the business and plant of
the Kagle Foundry and Machine Shops. In
1865 after purchasing a property suitable for
that purpose, he erected thereon new build-
ings, to which he transferred the plant of the
Eagle Foundry and also that of his own es-
tablishment thus consolidating the business
of both, carrying on the concern from that
time in his own name. A large part of the
machinery used in the manufacture of gun
powder during the war of the rebellion and
since, was built by Mr. Scott, who has also
exported machines for this purpose to various
parts of the world. In 1869 he built the
agent for the Lafiin &: Rand Powder Co., of
New York, and the DuPont Powder Co., of
Wilmington, Del. ; which jjosition he still
holds, at the same time operating the Ben-
nington Machine Works. His next venture
was the establishment of a company for mak-
ing machinery for the manufacture of wood
pulp into paper stock and his improved New-
England pulp grinder has acquired great
popularity in all parts of the United States
and Canada. In 1892, he was chosen to and
still holds the presidency of the Lasher Stock-
ing Co., organized at Bennington, for the
manufacture of men's half hose. In addi-
tion to the other business operations named,
he has continuously operated the Benning-
ton Machine Works, to the management of
which he still gives his personal attention.
Mr. Scott was united in marriage in 1856
to Celeste E., daughter of Samuel and Lydia
Gilbert of Salem, N . Y. 'I'wo daughters and
one son were the fruit of this union, none of
w-hom survive.
He has been for many years a member
and trustee of the Second Congregational
Church, and a member of the Masonic fra-
ternity, in which latter he has taken the de-
gree of Kt. Templar. He was one of the
originators of the plan for building the Ben-
nington battle monument, is a director and
recording secretary of the Monument .Asso-
ciation and has ever taken an active part in
carrying out their designs. In this, as in
many other enterprises, Mr. Scott has well
served the interests of the community in
which he dwells.
For many years he was town auditor and
has also served the village graded schools
and savings bank in the same capacity and
has acted as a trustee of the graded school,
being for two years chairman of the board.
Mr. Scott for four years held the commis-
sion of captain of Co. K., ist Regt., N. G.
v., and served two years on the staff of Gov-
ernor Farnham with the rank of colonel.
OLIN SCOTT.
Lake Superior powder mills, at Marquette,
Mich., and became a stockholder in the same
and four years later became general superin-
tendent of the Laflin & Rand Powder Co., of
New York. In 1882 Mr. Scott formed the
Ohio Powder Co., at Youngstown, Ohio, of
which company he was for several years vice
president and director. In 1884 he organ-
ized the Pennsylvania Powder Co., Limited,
at Scranton, Pa., of which company he was
president and director. In 1887, he sold his
interests in the above named powder com-
panies and became consulting engineer and
SENTER, JOHN Henry, of Montpelier,
son of Dearborn Bean and Susan C. (Ly-
ford) Senter, was born in Cabot, Nov. 11,
1848.
Having received his education in the com-
mon schools and the high school of Concord,
N. H., he for many years was a school
teacher, having taught forty-three terms. He
studied law with Clarence H. Pitkin, Esq.,
and was admitted to the bar in Montpelier
at the March term of 1879. Subsequently
he practiced his profession in Warren, but
in 1885 moved to Montpelier and formed a
partnership with Harlan W. Kemp, the firm
doing both an insurance and law business,
which arrangement continued until 1891. In
1 88s he was elected a director and secretary
SHATILCK.
of the Union Mutual Fire Insurance Co. at
Montpelier, which position he still retains.
For some years Mr. Senter has been the
attorney for Montpelier village and he is now
secretary of the Montpelier Board of Trade.
In 1888 he was admitted to the bar of the
United States circuit and district courts in
Vermont.
Mr. Senter was married at Plattsburgh, N.
Y., Nov. 30, 1876, to Addie (;., daughter of
Carlos and Mary (Ainsworth) Martin. They
have five children : Frank (iinevra, Clarence
Hiram, Mabel Addie, John Henry, and Clara
May.
JOHN HENRY SENTER.
He is a Democrat and for twenty-one
years has been secretary and assistant sec-
retary of the Vermont Democratic state com-
mittee, has held the office of justice of the
peace, superintendent of schools and other
minor positions. Mr. Senter was appointed
national bank examiner under the first ad-
ministration of President Cleveland. August
24, 1 886, he was made United States cir-
cuit court commissioner for the district of
Vermont, being appointed thereto by Judge
H. H. Wheeler. In January, 1894, Mr. Sen-
ter was appointed by President Cleveland
and confirmed by the Senate United States
district attorney for the district of \'ermont.
He is a member of I. O. O. F., affiliating
with Vermont Lodge, Thomas Wildey En-
campment and Canton Montpelier.
While in Warren he was an untiring and
persistent advocate of the town system of
schools and after vears of effort saw its
adoption in that town many years before it
l)ecame in 1S92, by general law, the svsteni
for the state.
SHATTUCK, Martin, of Eden, son of
Randall and Mary Ann (Thomas) Shattuck,
was born in Belvidere, Feb. 5, 1S42.
Mr. Shattuck received his intellectual
training at the common schools of Belvidere,
but his practical education was derived from
hard labor upon his father's farm where he
remained till he was twenty-two years of
age, when he entered his cousin's store at
\\'aterville as clerk. .After two years at
Waterville he married and went home to
reside.
Having decided to engage permanently in
trade he returned to Waterville, first enter-
ing business with his father-in-law, but soon
buying him out. .After continuing alone for
more than a year, in May, 1871, he moved to
MARTIN SHATTUCK.
Eden and with a very limited capital to start
with for twenty-two years has conducted a
general country store with a constantly in-
creasing volume of business. He is also
engaged in farming and the production of
maple sugar. He is recognized where
ever known, as a safe and successful finan-
cier and a liberal donor to ])ublic and re-
ligious enterprises.
Mr. Shattuck married, Jan. 31, 1S66,
Meribah Esther Hyde, daughter of William
and Betsey (Fuller) Wilbur of Waterville.
354
They have two sons : Merton Carroll, and
Harlan William.
He has always favored the Republican
party in his political inclinations and while
at Waterville was made assistant postmaster,
and after his removal to the town of Eden
he was appointed postmaster which position
he continued to fill for a period of about
twenty-two years. He has been made select-
man, auditor and trustee of public money
and in 1880 was sent to the Legislature,
being ajipointed a member of the committee
on ways and means.
He has also knelt at the altar of Free
Masonry, being a member of Mt. Norris
Lodge of Eden, No. 69, and of Tucker
Chapter R. A. M.
SHAW, ALBERT J., of St. Johnsbury,
son of John and Elizabeth (Harriman) Shaw,
was born in Barnet, March 2, 1830.
His educational advantages were confined
to the district and high school of Stephens-
ville, followed by a course of study in
Peacham Academy.
He naturally turned to those business pur-
suits in which his earlv life had been passed,
and has devoted his attention to agriculture
and the manufacture of lumber. He re-
sided in Victory from 1859 to 1890, when he
moved to St. Johnsbury.
His political record commenced in 1868,
when he was made justice of the peace.
Two years later he was a delegate to the
Constitutional Convention from Victory, and
was the Republican representative of that
town in 1876 and 1884. For twenty years
he filled the position of town clerk and
treasurer, and then declined re-election,
while he manifested his interest in the cause
of education by acting for nine successive
terms as the town superintendent of schools.
Mr. Shaw, actuated by patriotic zeal, en-
listed in Co. 1, 3d Regt., and was mustered
in at Burlington and immediately afterwards
dispatched to New Haven, Conn., where he
contracted a severe cold while on guard
duty, which was followed by hemorrhage of
the lungs, which trouble necessitated his
discharge Nov. 24, 1864, and from which he
has never fully recovered
For three years he held the office of chap-
lain in ^Voodbury Post, G. .A. R., of West
Concord, but on his removal to St. Johnsbury,
he transferred his membershijj to Chamberlin
Post of the latter place.
He was married, June 16, 1S59, to Francis
J. M., daughter of N. S. and Sarah M. (Story)
Damon, of Kirby. Four sons have been
issue of this alliance : Albert H., F^dward C,
William O., and Herbert J.
SHAW, HENR^' HaTRIC, of West Brat-
tleboro, son of John and Elizabeth (Harri-
man) Shaw, was born in Barnet, Dec. 21,
1842.
His education was obtained at the Cale-
donia grammar school and Middlebury
College, and he afterward pursued a course
in theology under the private instruction of
President Lord. For nearly three years he
also gave his attention to the study and
practice of the law in the office of Mr. Hale,
of Barnet. Resolving to devote his life to
the profession of teaching, he prepared him-
self for his occupation by mastering the
Oswego Normal course. He had some ex-
perience in his profession while preparing
for and during his college course, and acted
as principal for the New Haven Academy
for a year before his graduation. During a
period extending from 1S65 to 18S1 he was
successively principal of the Chester Acad-
emy, the Springfield high school, the Burr
and Burton Seminary of Manchester, and of
the Northfield graded school. In T88r he
was called to the charge of the Glenwood
Classical Seminary, in West Brattleboro,
where he still remains.
Mr. Shaw was united in marriage, August
20, 1867, to Lucy F., daughter of John (i.
and Frances Whiting, of Saxtons River.
This union has been blessed with three
children : Harry \Vhiting, Anne \\'hiting
(died in infancy), and Minnie \\'hiting.
In 1870 Mr. Shaw was licensed to preach
by the Springfield and the Claremont Asso-
ciation for the term of four vears, and two
years subsequently received the same pri\i-
lege for life from the Rutland and Benning-
ton County Association of Congregational
Ministers and Churches.
SHAW, Wilfred C, of Granville, N.
Y., son of James M. and Helen (Carver)
Shaw, was born in Pawlet, Oct. 25, 1852.
His education was acquired in the com-
mon schools of Pawlet and also at the acad-
emy of that jilace. After the completion of
his studies he engaged in the occupation of
farming on the place where he was born, and
to this he devoted the efforts of his life.
From the careful, methodical manner in
which he has pursued his vocation he has
met with merited success. His ]3erce])tive
powers and sound judgment backed by un-
questioned integrity and indomitable energy
have placed him in the ranks of the leading
men in his community and have secured to
him many offices of lionor and trust at the
hands of his fellow-townsmen, including that
of selectman and justice of the peace.
He was married at Middle Granville, N. Y.,
Jan. 14, 1874, to Mary, daughter of Benja-
min and Margaret (Parry) Williams. Two
children have been born to them, one of
whom, Helen, is living.
SHEDD, WILLIAM R., of Wells River,
son of Timothy and Susan (Reed) Shedd,
was born in Newbury, August 23, 1816.
His educational acquirements were ob-
tained in the public schools of Newbury and
at Kimball Union Academy. His father,
who was a tanner, came from Rindge, N. H.,
to \Vells River early in the present century,
"bought an estate in that village, erected a
tannery and followed his trade for more than
twenty-five years He was a man of marked
sagacity and unusual business ability, and
his ambition increased with his opportuni-
ties. He soon became engaged in farming,
lumbering, and general trade.
William R. Shedd was the fourth of a fam-
ily of seven, and has always lived in Wells
River with the exception of twenty years'
residence in the adjacent village of Newbury
prior to 1892. He remained with his father
till the time of the death of the latter in
1857, assisting him in the varied details of
his business, and after his decease was for
some time employed in the administration
of the estate. About this time Mr. Shedd
transferred the tannery into a grist mill, and
after running this for a few years, sold it, as
well as the mercantile establishment, about
i860.
He was united in marriage, May 28, 1850,
to Charlotte, daughter of Peter Buder, of
Oxford, Mass. She died .\pril 12, 1885,
leaving one daughter : Ruth Annie.
SHEi.nnx. 355
Mr. Shedd has been for forty years offi-
cially connected with the National Bank of
Newbury as director and president. For
five years he was a director of the state
prison, and under his management and that
of his colleagues the institution was made
remunerative.
.■V loyal Republican from the outset, he
has been called to fill various positions of
public trust Serving as lister repeatedly, he
was selectman for many years and chairman
of the board during the trying period of the
civil war. His good judgment, faithfulness,
and ability in public afilairs are evidenced by
his representing his town in the Legislatures
of 1863 and 1864 and his election to the
Senate from Orange county in 1S72.
SHELDON, Charles, late of Rudand,
son of Medad and Mary (Bass) Sheldon,
was born in Rutland, July i, 18 14.
His early education was limited to the
district schools of the period, and at the
completion of his studies he labored for two
years upon his father's farm at Waddington,
N. Y. He then entered a cabinet shop and
learned the trade, but finding this occupa-
tion uncongenial to his tastes, sought and
obtained employment as a clerk in a coun-
try store, but afterwards went to Montreal,
where at the age of eighteen he became
captain of a steam craft, and was afterwards
the master of a fine vessel plying on the St.
Lawrence and Ottawa rivers. He next en-
CHARLES SHELDON.
357
gaged in the lumber trade with varied suc-
cess in Troy and New York ("ity.but in 1850
returned to his birthplace where he com-
menced the marble business, forming a
partnership with David Morgan, Jr., and
Lorenzo Sheldon. After sundry changes in
the concern, in 1865 he associated with
himself his sons, Charles and John .\. Shel-
don. Subsequently a third son, William K.,
was admitted as a partner, and in 1889 the
firm was incorporated as the Sheldon Marble
Co. Their business has been uniformly
successful, and though tw'ice temporarily
suspended by fire, on each occasion the
works were rebuilt on a more extensive plan
than before, and upon the death of Mr.
Sheldon they consisted of three large mills
fully equipped, constituting one of the
largest marble producing concerns in extist-
ence, which is well known throughout the
world. Mr. Sheldon has ever been the
practical head of this immense business,
and to his able management is chiefly ow-
ing the prosperity which it has enjoyed.
He was united in marriage June 13, 183S,
to Janet, daughter of John and Janet (Som-
erville) Reid. To them were born seven
sons and one daughter : John A., Charles
H., James S. (died in mfancy), George P.,
Richard K., Janet S.(died in infancy), Archie
L., and William K. Mrs. Sheldon departed
this life in February, 1859, and on Jan. i,
1862, he was united to Harriet D. Pierce,
daughter of Hon. George Redington of
Waddington, N. Y., who survives him.
While Mr. Sheldon was a resident of the
state of New York he was an active partici-
pant in political affairs, being a staunch
whig, and at one time an influential mem-
ber of the whig state committee. He was
the political associate and friend of Horace
Greeley and Thurlow Weed, and was later
identified with the Free Soil party. He was
a warm admirer of James G. Blaine, and
his admiration for the brilliant statesman
was intensified by a somewhat intimate per-
sonal acquaintance. After his return to Rut-
land, though frequently urged, he would
never accept public office, devoting himself
•exclusively to his extensive business inter-
ests. He died of pneumonia Nov. 3, 1889,
and was buried in the family vault in Fver-
green cemetery. He was a pleasant and
kindly master, and as thorough a workman
as any of his subordinates. That he always
commanded their esteem and respect is a
fact amply demonstrated by the presence of
the five hundred men who came to partici-
pate in the closing scenes of the drama of
their employer's life, and the loss which the
community sustained by his death w-as em-
phasized by the closing of all places of busi-
ness during the hours of the funeral, out of
.respect for the deceased.
SHHPARL), John Franklin, of South
Royalton, son of Isaac Stevens and Lucy
(Wheat) Shepard, was born in Sharon, Sept.
4, 1835. His great-grandfather was Moses
Shepard who was of Scotch descent, came
from Connecticut and was one of the first
settlers of Sharon. On his mother's side his
ancestors were English.
He received his education at the public
schools and at Royalton .\cademy. His
father moved from Sharon to Royalton in
1848 and this town has been his home since,
with the exception of the years 1S58 and
1859 when he went West, but returned to
Royalton before the breaking out of the
rebellion.
He enlisted in September, 1861, in the
2d Regt. Co. E, of Berdan's U. S. Sharp-
shooters from Vermont, and was one of the
few men of that company who carried his
own rifle. In the winter of 1862 he con-,
tracted rheumatism and for that reason was
discharged from Judiciary Square Hospital,
\Vashington, D. C", April 19, 1S62. Return-
ing to Royalton he ]iartially regained his
health, and in .April, 1863, bought of his
father a part interest in the home farm (Mill
Brook Farm) and mill property, and in 1866
bought out the entire property of his father
and engaged in farming and manufacturing
lumber.
Mr. Shepard is a staunch Republican and
represented Royalton in the Legislature of
1886. He has taken an active part in town
affairs, has held various official nositions and
358
SHEPARDSON.
at present is chairman of the board of school
directors. He was a charter member of
Orville Bixby Post, Xo. 93, G. A. R., and has
taken an active part in that order. He is
also an energetic Patron of Husbandry and
in 1891 and 1892 was Master of White River
Valley Pomona Grange.
November 25, 1863, he married Mary
Flynn, daughter of Jesse and Ann (Havens)
Button. They have five children : Charles
F., Lucy A. (Mrs. A. B. Fowler), George S.,
John C, and Fred J.
SHEPARDSON, SAMUEL C, of West
Fletcher, son of Joel and Huldah (Good-
rich) Shepardson, was born in Fairfax, Dec.
20, 1824. His father, Joel Shepardson, was
a man of excellent business ability, but his
principal vocation was farming.
Samuel was brought up at home, receiving
his education in the schools of Fairfax and
Fletcher, and when he was fourteen years
old moved with his family to the farm which
he now occupies. Possessed of a powerful
frame, quick perceptions and unusual en-
ergy, he soon developed a great capacity for
shrewd and skillful farm management. He
has also been a successful financier, and
ranks among the most wealthy citizens of
the town. Dairying and the production of
maple sugar are his chief resources. He
has an orchard of 1400 trees, and manufact-
ures a most excellent and remunerative
grade of sugar. He has solved the vexed
labor question by rearing two sons, who with
his assistance are fully capable of carrying
on the farm.
Mr. Shepardson was united in marriage,
Oct. 3, 1850, to Emily, daughter of Joseph
and Junia (Montague) Robinson of Fletcher.
Of their four children, Joel A. died at
twenty-three, Mary in infancy, and Willie S.
and Herbert D. survive, being associated
with their father. Willie is quite promi-
nently connected in town affairs, having
been lister, and is at present a selectman
and one of the school directors.
Mr. Shepardson is a Republican, and was
elected to the House in 1884, where he
served efficiently on the committee on agri-
culture and federal relations.
His widely-known reputation for impartial
judgment and strict integrity has often called
him to the settlement of estates, but he has
not accepted town offices though many times
urged to discharge their duties.
SHERMAN, Oscar L., of Williamsville,
son of Nathan and Mary (Howard) Sher-
man, was born in Dover, Nov. 20, 183 1.
The common schools furnished him with
his education. Leaving school at the age
of eighteen he labored for some time upon
his father's farm, and then mo\ed to Will-
iamsville, where he was employed for two-
years as clerk in a general store. .Attracted
by the reports of the golden wealth" of Cali-
fornia, he emigrated to that state and was a
successful miner. Returning to ^^'illiams-
ville in 1855, he entered into partnership
with G. L. Howe to do a general country
trade, and after the death of Mr. Howe, in
1865, Mr. Sherman continued the business
alone.
In i860 and 1861 he was elected to the
Legislature as the candidate of the Demo-
cratic party. In this body he served cred-
itably during that important and critical
period. For four years he was postmaster
under the administration of President Buch-
OSCAR L. SHERMAN.
anan, which office he resigned at the end of
his term. He is now vice-president and
director of the People's Bank of Brattleboro,
and the latter position he has held ever since
the organization of that institution. He
was also a trustee of the \\indham County
Savings Bank for six years. Mr. Sherman
has been in his present store for thirty-seven
years, and is well known and respected as
an upright business man, and a generous
and kind-hearted neighbor.
He was married Sept. 10, 1856, to Betsy
C, daughter of Captain .Aaron C. and Betsy
(Crosby) Robinson of Newfane. Three
children have been born to them, of whom
two now survive : Robinson M., and Al-
bert N.
SHERMAN, Sidney Harvey, of Brattie-
boro, son of Joseph and Chloe (Howard)
Sherman, was born in Dover, May ii, 1828.
His ancestors, originally from Germany,
emigrated to the neighborhood of London,
whence thev came to Connecticut, at length
removing to Shrewsbury, Mass. His great-
grandfather, Joseph Sherman, served in the
Revolutionary war, and his grandfather,
Nathan Sherman, after participating in Shay's
rebellion, emigrated to Vermont and settled
in the eastern part of what is now the town
of Dover about 1790.
ARVEY SHERMA
Mr. Sherman enjoyed the common advan-
tages of the district schools, and only three
short terms in the village academies, and
commenced his business career as a clerk in
the store of P. F. Perry, in Dover Center, in
1847, but being dissatisfied with his limited
opportunities went to the city of New York,
where he engaged as book-keeper for the
New York Wire Mills. A year later he went
to .Amherst, Mass., where he was employed
as a clerk for the next six years. .After this
he engaged in trade on his own account at
Williamsville, but sold out to his cousin, O.
L. Sherman, and went to Illinois, locating
on Fox river, in the town of Geneva, where
he remained about two years. He then re-
turned to Dover and erected a store in the
village of Rock River, and was instrumental
in establishing the postoffice at that place,
called East Dover, where for many years he
held the office of postmaster. At the com-
SHKRMAN. 359
mencement of the war he was elected first
selectman of the town, and became actively
interested in filling the required quota of
soldiers and in raising the requisite share of
the war ex])enses, in which he was so suc-
cessful that no debt was left against this
small township, which raised no less than
Si 6,000 in a single year, although the popu-
lation was but little more than 600 individ-
uals. In the spring of 1869 he associated
with himself in business Mr. \.. H. (lould,
under the firm name of Sherman & (iould,
and in 1870 was chosen a delegate from the
town to the Constitutional Convention at
Montpelier. He was for several years town
clerk of the town, and for eight years justice
of the peace, and at one time or another has
filled all the prominent offices in the gift of
his town. He was elected to represent
Dover in the Legislature of the state for the
biennial term of i872-'74.
Mr. Sherman was always actively interested
in the growth of the village of East Dover,
erecting new houses, a parsonage, remodel-
ling the Baptist church and purchasing the
mills in that place, investing therein several
thousand dollars and running the first circu-
lar board saw ever used in the town, where
he carried on a very successful business in
the manufacture of lumber, chair stock, sap
buckets and pails, giving employment to a
nimiber of men. He also put in the first
portable grist mill in town.
In 1875 he sold most of his real estate in
1 )over and moved to Bratdeboro. He was
engaged in the hardware store of C. F.
Thompson &: Co. for one year, when he
bought uut the insurance business of B. R.
Jenne, taking into partnership Clarence F.
R. Jenne, who became his son-in-law.
He was one of the original incorporators
of the Brattleboro Savings Bank and at one
time its vice-president, and has held for sev-
eral terms the office of justice of the peace,
which he holds at the present time. He has
always been identified with the social, relig-
ious, and business interests of the town.
Mr. Sherman is by faith a Baptist and was
largely instrumental in raising the funds with
which to liquidate the debt incurred by the
erection of the present Baptist church struct-
ure in Brattleboro, and served as one of the
building committee when that edifice was
remodeled in 1889. He is now and has been
for se\eral years the clerk and treasurer of
the Windham County Baptist .Association.
Mr. Sherman was chosen treasurer of the
Connecticut River Muttial Fire Insurance
Co. at a time when it had become financially
embarrassed, and by his arduous and judicious
labors the affairs of the company were set-
tled upon a satisfactory basis and its debts
liipiidated.
;Co
In addition to his own numerous business
interests, his services have been frequently
sought after in the settlement of estates and
other business relations.
Mr. Sherman was first married at Dover,
July 20, 1854, to Artie H., daughter of Aaron
P. and Hannah Perry. Of this union there
was one child, which died in infancy at
Geneva, 111. Mrs. Sherman died at Dover,
Feb. 16, 1858. Mr. Sherman again married
at North Leverett, Mass., Jan. 2, 1859, Mary
E., daughter of Joseph and Anna (Nichols)
Farnsworth, of Halifax. Of this union were
three children : Ida May ( Mrs. Clarence F.
R. Jenne), Delia M., and Clifton L. (editor
of the Hartford, Conn., Courant).
SHIPMAN, Elliot Wardsworth, of
^'ergennes, son of William W. and Elizabeth
(Reed) Shipman, was born in Brooklyn, N.
v., July 12, 1862. Both his paternal and
maternal descent are from old and well-
known families who early settled in the val-
ley of the Connecticut, and he is directly
decended from the daring Wardsworth who
concealed the charter of the province in the
old oak to preserve it from the clutches of
the tyrannical Governor, Sir Edmund An-
dres.
Mr. Shipman received a most thorough
and exhaustive education and after the usual
preliminary training entered the University
ol New \'ork from which he graduated in
18S3 having devoted his attention to a classi-
cal course. He then entered the college of
Physicians and Surgeons of New York and
received a special diploma from the Univer-
sity of Vermont, where he graduated in 1SS5,
being honored with second prize as a reward
for an essay upon a subject connected with
his profession. He then served a year of
active apprenticeship in the Charity and
other hospitals of New York City,' after
which he practiced in New York City for a
year and then took up his residence in Ver-
gennes, where he has been a practicing
physician up to the present time, making a
special study and practice of diseases of the
eye and ear. In this specialty he is the only
practitioner between Rutland and Burling-
ton. In order to increase his skill and keep
up with all modern improvements in the
manner of dealing with these diseases he
spends a portion of the winter in New York,
where he has established a connection with
a New York specialist in eye, ear, nose and
throat work.
Dr. Shipman though taking a deep interest
in all matters pertaining to the public wel-
fare, is so entirely devoted to his professional
life that he cannot give much of his valuable
time to discharging the duties of any public
office, but he is nevertheless health officer of
the city and secretary of the board of trade.
is a member of Vermont State ^Medical
Society and Burlington Clinical Society. He
has been prominently connected with the
Lake Champlain \'acht Club and is one of
the executive committee of that institution.
He is a vestryman of St. Paul's Episcopal
church of ^'ergennes.
He married, Nov. 15, 1889, Martha T.,
daughter of Charles O. and Mary E. (Par-
ker) Stevens.
Dr. Shipman ranks high among the pro-
fession of \'ermont, as well as in his own
community.
SHORES, Ethan PRESCOTT, of Granby,
son of Levi P. and Sarah (Prescott) Shores,
was born in Victory, Feb. 7, 1842. His
father who still survives was one of the early
settlers of the town and t^than was from boy-
hood inured to hardship and privation,
but this severe training developed Hercu-
lean frame and iron constitution.
He remained at home till the age of nine-
teen, dividing his attention between labor and
such schooling as in rare intervals he could ob-
tain, but when the Rebellion came he resolved
to devote that strength and manhood to the
service of his country. He enlisted in Co.
K, 8th Regt. Vt. \'ols., and remained with it
during the entire time of service, except thirty
days which he spent in the hospital recover-
ing from a wound, which he had received in
action.
At the battle of Cedar Creek, the colors
of the regiment were nearly captured, for
the standard bearer had been shot and the
regiment was in full retreat. Shores seized
them, but too late, and with one comrade was
cut off and surrounded by the enemy, who de-
manded the immediate surrender of the flag.
He shot one and bayonetted another of the
rebels, while his comrade likewise stretched
still another on the field, then breaking
through the ranks around them, they rejoined
their regiment which had formed in battle
line a short distance in the rear. Here Ser-
geant Shores delivered the colors to the proper
officer, who in five minutes was shot dead,
and then their former brave defender bore
them throughout the remainder of that bloody
fight.
At another time, though severely wounded
and made prisoner, he contrived to break
from his guards and after two nights and
three days of weary travel and perilous ad-
venture, reached the L-nion lines. After
more than three years of brave and con-
stant service he received an honorable dis-
charge.
Mr. Shores settled upon the farm which he
now occupies, then but an uncleared lot, and
has devoted that energy and courage so sig-
nally displayed upon the tented field to the
subjugation of the \-irgin soil.
SHURTI.KFK.
^,6l
He was wedded, Feb. 7, 1867, to Susan
Maria, daughter of Charles and Harriet
(Silsby) (Ileason. Their union has Ijcen
blessed with four children ; i-ltta I';., I-lhvin
P., ^^'inifred J., and Maud K.
Mr. Shores has been a]ipointcd to many
posts of honor and influence, and was se-
lected to represent the town of (iranby in
the Legislatures of 1876 and 1878. He is a
])roniinent member and has been W. C. T. in
the (Iranby Lodge of L (). G. T.
He is blunt and outspoken, of strong
convictions and prejudices, but with his
heart in the right place, he is always to be
found on the side of temperance and right
living.
SHUMWAY, John QUINCY, of Jamaica,
son of Lewis and Sally (Mason) Shumway,
was born in lamaica, ^[ay 19, 1835.
He was educated at the public schools of
his native town. At nineteen years of age
Mr. Shumway began his business career, and
established a factory for the manufacture of
butter tubs. He continued this business
until 1870, when he sold out and took the
position of foreman in a boot and shoe man-
ufactory, the first and only establishment of
the kind in Windham county.
In 1878 he received the appointment of
deputy sheriff and resigned his position to
accept it. He also took the agency of
several leading insurance companies and
devoted his entire attention to his official
duties as deputy sheriff and his insurance
business. He continued in this line until
the fall of 1888, when he recei\ed the nomi-
nation of sheriff of Windham county at the
hands of the Republican party, and has since
that time held the position, being twice re-
elected. .Mr. Shumway has been justly
popular in his own town, and has been
chosen to perform many of the important
public duties. He was first constable and
collector of the taxes from 1881 to 1889. In
i89i-'92-'93 he was elected first selectman,
has served as auditor, and represented his
town in the Legislature of 1886, refusing a
renomination in 1888, preferring to serve
his county as sheriff. Since 1886 Mr. Shum-
way has been a trustee of the Jamaica Sav-
ings Bank, one of the successful financial
institutions of the state.
He is also very prominent in social
circles, and has twice been elected worship-
ful master of Mt. Lebanon Lodge, No. 46, F.
& A. M., of which he was for ten years sec-
retary.
Mr. Shumway was married .August 13, 1858,
to Miss Olive Ann, daughter of Chandler
and Polly J. Waterman. ()( this union there
were three children : M. .Agnes, Arthur Iv,
and Olive K.
SHURTLEFF, JOHN Taylor, of Pen-
nington, son of Jonas and Illizabeth (I'ay-
lorTshurtleff, was born in Williamsport, N.
v., Dec. 31, 1834. Mr. Shurtleff's great-
grandfather, having a plantation near Tren-
ton, N. J., furnished cattle for the Revolu-
tionary army in camp near Philadelphia,
and General Washington was godfather to
the planter's son. h'is grandfather, Benoni,
served in both land and naval battles of the
Revolution.
'Phe subject of this sketch received his
early education in the public schools of
Pridgewater and Phillipsbury, Penn., and
afterward pursued a course of studies in the
Waterville Institute in the state of Maine,
and in St. Mary's Academy, P. Q. In 1851
he came to Woodstock, where he entered
the medical college. In 1857 he found em-
plovment as prescription clerk in the store
of kageman, Clark & Co., New York City,
and later took a medical course in the Ann
.Arbor Medical College.
For two years he was employed in drug
stores at Ottumwa, la., and Springfield, 111.,
and in 1859 established himself in the drug
business in Bennington, where he has built
up one of the largest trades in this line and
has patented several \aluable remedies of
his own.
He has filled many minor public positions
and in 1886 was sent as representative from
Bennington to the Legislature, serving on
the general committee and that on banks.
362
SHURTLEFF.
He is a director of the Bennington Count}'
National Bank since first organized, trustee
and formerly treasurer of the Bennington
County Savings Bank, and a member of the
Bennington Monument Association, which
organization he has served as director and
one of the finance committee.
Mr. Shurtleff has been actively associated
with the Masonic fraternity, for twelve years
presided over Mount Anthony I.odge, No.
13, for many successive terms has filled the
positions of High Priest of Temple Chap-
ter, No. 8, and past Grand King of the
Grand Chapter of Vermont. He is also past
commander of Taft Commandery, No. 8, and
for many years has acted as senior warden
and treasurer of St. Peter's Episcopal Church
of Bennington.
June 26, 1862, Mr. Shurtleff was united in
marriage to Maria E., daughter of Samuel and
Julia Mower, of Woodstock. She departed
this life in September, 1S81, leading two sur-
viving children : George Henry, and Mary
Elizabeth.
SHURTLEFF, STEPHEN CURRIER, of
Montpelier, son of Abial and Rebecca (Cur-
rier) Shurtleff, was born in Walden, Jan. 13,
1838. He is descended from W'illiam Shurt-
leff, the first of the name in the United
States, who was killed by lightning at Marsh-
field, Mass., June 23, ifi'Se.
STEPHEN CURRIER SHURTLEFF.
He received his early educational training
in the common schools of AValden, and
farther pursued his studies at the academies
of Glover, Newbury and Morrisville. Re-
solving to follow the profession of the law,
he studied at Plainfield with C. H. Heath,
Esq., and was admitted to the bar of Wash-
ington county at the March term, T863. In
the following May he commenced to practice
at East Hardwick, but in September of the
same year removed to Plainfield, where he
practiced until 1876. In this year he estab-
lished himself at Montpelier, where he has
since resided.
He was united in marriage April 28, 1868,
to Elizabeth M., daughter of John .Augus-
tine and .Arminda M. Pratt, of Marshfield.
By her he has had two children : Harry C,
and Maud L.
Mr. Shurtleff has always been a Democrat,
and in 1874 he represented Plainfield in the
Legislature, and in 1886 and 1888 was the
Democratic candidate for Governor.
Self-reliant and strong, Mr. Shurtleff, from
the first, has steadily advanced to his present
enviable position at the bar. He has been
for many years the counsel of the Montpe-
lier & Wells River R. R., and his practice
extends well over the state. He also has a
good practice in the L'nited States courts,
especially as a patent lawyer. In i8go, in a
Legislature strongly adverse politically, he
received an almost successful support for a
seat on the supreme bench of the state.
SILSBY, Wendell, of West Burke, son
of Harvey and Celia (Bloss) Silsby, was born
in Lunenburg, March 28, 1846.
After attending some of the public schools
of Westmore until the age of sixteen, he
enlisted as private in Co. E, nth Regt. \t.
Vols., in which command he was one of the
youngest soldiers. Though a mere youth he
did his duty manfully in the batdes of Spott-
sylvania and Cold Harbor, and having been
seriously wounded he was transported to the
hospitals at Annapolis and Montpelier,
where he remained until he was honorably
mustered out of the U. S. service, May 22,
1865. After his recovery, for some time he
united with his brother in the manufacture
of lumber, and he has been engaged in this
occupation more or less since that time. In
1872 he purchased an estabhshment of his
own in \\'estmore, which he operated until
1890. In 1884 he added to his possessions
a shingle mill of large capacity, and two
years later a saw-mill, finally constructing a
dressing mill in 1892. Mr. Silsby has acted
as lister in Westmore and Burke, and for
six years has discharged the duties of justice
of the peace in the latter place. He has
represented both towns in the Legislature,
serving on the committee of manufactures in
both sessions. For two years he was the
commander of D. Rattray Post, No. 9, G. A.
R., is an Odd Fellow, and has no marked
religious preference, yet attends and sn])-
ports the Methodist church.
April II, 1873, Mr- Silsby married Ada,
daughter of Elbridge and Sarah (Marshall)
(laskell. Three children have been born of
this marriage : Charles E., Harvey W., and
Mabel.
SILVER, William Rillv, of uioomfield,
son of Arad and Sophie (Nichols) Silver, was
born in Bloomfield, March 27, 1820.
Arad Silver came to Bloomfield (then
called Mine Head) in 1805, and William R.
remained with him on his large farm until
his majority. The latter was one of a family
of ten children and enjoyed only the most
limited educational advantages, walking to
school . two and one-half miles, journeying
over the state line to Columbia, N. H., but
he carefully improved the limited opportun-
ities afforded him. His first essay in active
life was a passage down the river to Middle-
town, Conn., on a lumber drive and raft, and
for five years he labored in the woods near
the banks of the Connecticut river. When
he returned to ESloomfield he purchased a
fine estate on the Connecticut river, which
ever since he has made his place of resi-
dence. He has been successfully engaged
in general farming and for fourteen consecu-
tive years has won the first premium for seed
corn at Upper Coos and Essex county fairs.
He has made sheep husbandry a specialty.
He is remarkably vigorous and well pre-
served for his years, and can read without
glasses. He signed the temperance pledge
at the age of ten years and has never drank
a glass of liquor in his life.
His political record has been that of a
Republican, for which party he with two
others deposited the first ballot in town.
Representing Bloomfield four terms in the
Legislature, he always served on the com-
mittee on agriculture. In 1876 he received
the appointment of associate judge of Essex
county court. Judge Silver is recognized in
the community as a man of benevolent im-
pulses, keen judgment and prudent foresight,
possessing the respect and good-will of all
his acquaintances and friends.
In 1849 he was married at Bloomfield,
to Relief, daughter of .Adin and Nancy
(Clough) Bartlett. By her he has had issue
eight children: George, Louisa (deceased),
Elvira, William R., Henry, Fayette, Bernice,
and Alice (Mrs. F'dson Holden).
SIMON DS, David Kendall, of Man-
chester, son of David and Anna (Byam)
Simonds, was born in Peru, .April 5, 1839.
His education was received in the public
schools of Peru, Burr and Burton Seminary,
Manchester, and was graduated from Middle-
bury College in July, 1S62, ranking fourth in
SKIN.NKK. 363
his class. In order to defray his ex])enses
during his collegiate career he taught in the
Westfield grammar school, in North Troy
village and for two years was principal of
Champlain .Academy, N. V., at the same
time keeping up his studies with his college
class. In June, 1863, he visted Tennessee
and Mississippi as correspondent of the Chi-
cago Tribune, Missouri Republican, and the
New York World. Later he studied law with
("rane and Bisbee, at New])ort, and was ad-
mitted to the bar of Orleans county in 1865.
Here he practiced his profession for four
years during which time, in connection with
Royal Cummings, he organized the Newport
F^xpress, which he edited for some time, and
then he removed to St. Johnsbury. There
he founded and took charge of the St. Johns-
bury Times, and soon after accepted a simi-
lar position from C. A. Pierce, proprietor of
the Bennington Banner. In 187 1, he trans-
ferred his labors to Manchester, where he
bought the Journal of that place, which he
still owns and edits. Mr. Simonds has been
the author of several books and pamphlets.
He was united in marriage, .August 7,
1873, to Ellen M., daughter of Rev. .Asa and
Mary (Simonds) Clark, formerly of Peru.
Two children are the fruit of this union :
Louise, and Clark.
For three months during the war Mr.
Simonds served in the 3d Tennessee Regi-
ment, and as correspondent he followed
Grant and Sherman to .Atlanta.
Republican in his political views, he has
held many offices in the gift of the people in
both Newport and Manchester and represen-
ted the latter towruin the Legislature in 1886,
giving his services in that body as chairman
of the educational committee. Two years
later he was chosen senator from Bennington
county, where he was chairman of the commit-
tee on federal relations and a member of the
committees on education and military affairs.
Mr. Simonds has taken the Masonic vows
in .Adoniram Lodge, .Adoniram Chapter, and
Taft Commandery. In 18S8 he was Grand
Patron of Vermont for the order of the ICast-
ern Star, and he has taken much interest in
the Vermont Press Association, belongs to
the Manchester Congregational Church, and
is one of the executive committee of the
^\'estern \'ermont Congregational Club. He
is also a trustee of Middlebury College, and
of Burr and liurton Seminary.
SKINNLR, ELIAB Reed, of Montpelier,
son of Simeon and .Abigail (Reed) Skinner,
was born in Brookfield, Dec. 25, 18 19.
He received a common school education
in Brookfield and Chelsea, to which latter
place his parents had removed in 1826, and
he also attended a private school under the
tuition of Rev. Mr. Dow, a noted divine of
364
the period. When he arrived at man's estate
he commenced active business as a butcher,
in which occupation he remained until 1852,
when he commenced at Chelsea a wholesale
traffic in staple and fancy goods, moving to
Montpelier in 1858, then extending his trade
through the entire northern part of the state.
In this he continued till 1875, ^ver increas-
ing the business, and employing many four-
horse teams to travel, not only in this state,
but also through northern New York. At
this time he resigned the personal superin-
tendence of the business, which, however,
he still continues to transact by means of
traveling agents. In 1880 he purchased a
controlling interest in the Montpelier Gas-
light Co., to which he devoted his principal
attention till 1892, when the plant was pur-
chased by the Standard Light and Power Co.
Mr. Skinner was married, March 27, 1848,
to Laura A. Bean, daughter of William and
Mary Wilson of C'helsea.
He is a good type of the old-time mer-
chant, one who always minded his own busi-
ness and minded it well, and who enjoys
with the ample competence it has given
him the good-will and respect of his towns-
men.
SKINNER, Richard Baxter, of Bar-
ton, son of Dr. Jonathan Fitch and Sophia
(Stevens) Skinner, was born in Barnet, May
I, 1834-
His education was obtained in the schools
of Barnet, Brownington Academv and the
Lyndon and Peacham .Academies. After his
graduation from these institutions he at-
tended a course of lectures in Castleton
Medical College and in the medical depart-
ment of Harvard University, from which
latter he graduated in 1858 with the highest
honors in his class. The following summer
he began in Barton the practice of his pro-
fession with his father, with whom he re-
mained till 1 87 1, since which time he has
been by himself. Dr. Skinner has an ex-
tensive practice all over Orleans county and
is in great demand as a consulting surgeon
in doubtful and critical cases. For the sake
of recreation he has purchased a small farm
and was one of the earliest breeders of
Jersey cattle in the county.
In i860 he received a commission as
surgeon of the Third Militia Regiment of
Vermont from Governor Hall.
He has been a staunch Republican since
the formation of that party, and in 1880
represented Barton in the Legislature. He
was chairman of House committee on the
house of correction rendering efficient ser-
vice on that committee.
For several years he was one of the trus-
tees of Barton Academy and town superin-
tendent of schools. He was one of the
early members of the C)rleans County Medi-
RICHARD BAXTER SKINNER
cal Association and also a member of the
Vermont State and White Mountain Medical
Associations. He was a member of the
Newport board of examining surgeons for
pensions at Newport for the four years of
President Harrison's administration.
From his early manhood he has been an
active member of the Congregational church.
Dr. Skinner was married, Feb. 24, 1864,
to Marcia A., daughter of Amos C. and
Eliza E. Robinson of Barton, who died Nov.
27, 1882.
SMALLEY, Bradley Barlow, of Bur-
lington, son of Judge David A. Smalley, was
born in fericho, Nov. 26, 1836.
BRADLEY BARLOW SMA
His father, David A. Smalley, was one of
the most eminent citizens of Vermont, and
when Bradley was four years of age he re-
moved to Burlington. There the son dili-
gently availed himself of the excellent op-
portunities afforded him to obtain a good
common school and academical education.
This completed, he decided to adopt the
legal profession, beginning the requisite
studies in the office of his father, where he
also finished his professional education under
the super\ision of that admirable expositor
of the law, and was admitted to the bar of
Chittenden county in 1863. Two years prior
to the latter event he received the appoint-
ment of clerk of the United States courts in
Vermont, which position he held till 1885
when he was appointed collector of customs
by President Cleveland. He was collector
till 1889 and was again appointed to the
same office in 1883 and is the present in-
cumbent.
SMILIE. 365
Mr. Smalley's political affiliations are with
the national Democratic party. That or-
ganization seems to be in the permanent
minority in \'ermont, but notwithstanding
this Mr. .Smalley wields much influence and
has made his mark on the legislative history
of the state. In 1874 and again in 1878 he
represented Burlington in the Legislature,
and established his reputation as a practical
working member. He has also held muni-
cipal offices in the city of Burlington. In the
councils of the Democratic \>a.ny, both na-
tional and state, Mr. Smalley has been and is
an influential participant. He has been a
member of the national Democratic commit-
tee since 1873, and since 1876 has been a
member of the national executive commit-
tee. As such he has devoted nearly the
whole of his time to the service of his party,
during the later presidential campaigns hav-
ing charge of one of the departments. He
has been a delegate from the state of Ver-
mont to nearly, if not all, the national Demo-
cratic conventions for twenty years. He is
in possession of the fullest confidence of his
fellow-Democratic leaders, and exhibits al-
most unlimited power for active political
work.
Mr. Smalley was one of the \\'orld's Fair
Commissioners from Vermont.
Mr. Smalley has manifested much and
most intelligent interest in the railroad
affairs of the state, and was a director of the
Central Vermont R. R. up to the time of its
reorganization. He is now one of the direc-
tors of the Southeastern system of railroads,
and is also a director of the Burlington
Trust Co.
Thorough and diligent in business, excel-
lent in civil life, and efficient in all things by
him undertaken, he is respected equally by
political friends and political opponents.
Bradley B. Smalley was married on the 4th
of June, i860, to Caroline M., daughter of
Hon. Carlos Baxter, late of Burlington.
Five children have been the fruit of their
SMILIE, Melville Earl, of MontpeL
ier, son of Flarl and Matilda B. (Thurston)
Smilie, was born in Canbridge, August 21,
1844. His father moved to Madison, Wis.,
in 1852, where he died in 1855, and Mel-
ville returned to Vermont in September,
1856.
He received his preparatory education at
the common schools and L^nderhill Acad-
emy, and in i86r entered the L^niversity of
Vermont, but left that institution at the end
of his sophomore vear on account of failing
health. After leaving college he was em-
ployed as a clerk in a store until he began the
study of law. Shortly afterward he mo\ed to
Montpelier, where he continued to read law
366
and was appointed deputy county clerk. He
was admitted to the barof \\'ashington county
March 15, 1866, and acted as the reporter of
the Senate during the session of that year.
\V'hen that body adjourned he engaged in
the practice of his profession at ^^■aterbury,
where he remained se\en years, during two
of which he was employed as principal of
the high school of that place.
Mr. Smilie was elected state's attorney for
Washington county in 1868, and served for
LE EARL SMII
two successive terms. He was also superin-
tendent of schools in ^^'aterbury. In 1874
he made his residence at Detroit, but the
following year returned to Montpelier, taking
charge of the county clerk's oflfice during
the last year of Clerk Newcomb's life. He
was appointed county clerk the 27th of Jan-
uary, 1876, and has discharged excellently
the duties of the position to the present
time. He was made president of the village
corporation of Montpelier in 1890, and for
the last eight years has served as justice of
the peace. For many years Mr. Smilie has
been a member of the Montpelier school
board. He is a director and a member of
the executive board of Vermont Mutual Fire
Insurance Co.
He has entered the Masonic fraternity,
af^liating with Winooski Lodge, No. 49, of
Waterbury, in which he has filled the mas-
ter's chair ; he also unites with the chapter
and council.
Mr. Smilie was married in Waterbury, May
26, 1870, to Ellen, daughter of Heman and
Beulah (Demmon) Pinneo. They have one
son : Melville E.
SMITH, Charles Carroll, was born
in Sharon, Conn., June 11, 1830, the sixth
in a family of eight children of Ransom and
Lydia (Burtch) Smith.
His boyhood was spent on a farm under
circumstances adverse to acquiring a liberal
education, though he had longings in that
direction. From the age of eight to eighteen
years, a three-months' winter school in his
native district was his annual allowance, but
he so improved his meagre opportunities
that he taught successfully the remaining
winters till he reached his majority.
He then, for a short time, attended the
State Normal School at New Britain, Conn.,
the better to fit himself for limited teaching
in the common schools, but his early long-
ings for an academic education so followed
him, that he finally took a preparatory course
at the Green Mountain Liberal Institute of
South Woodstock, and the full course at
Middlebury College, from which he was
graduated in August, 1862.
His patriotic impulses at once led him to
enter the Union army, as secession was
then elated with victories won. He accord-
ingly enlisted, August 30, in Co. E, 14th
Regt. Vt. Vols., and with a creditable record
ser\ed out his time, and was honorably dis-
charged when his regiment was mustered out
of the service of the United States.
Deciding to devote his life to the healing
art, he began its study with Prof. Walter
Carpenter of Burlington, and received his
diploma from the medical department of the
L'niversity of Vermont, in June, 1865 : but
wishing for further opportunity to study dis-
eases before starting in private practice, he
obtained a position on the staff of physicians
attached to the Citizens' Hospital of Flat-
bush, L. I., where he remained about a year.
He then settled in the village of Gaysville,
in Stockbridge, and has been favorably re-
ceived as an intelligent and faithful medical
practitioner in that community. He is a
ntember of the \\'hite River Medical Associa-
tion, and the choice for its presidency has
more than once fallen to him, which shows
his standing in the profession. He is also a
member of the Vermont Medical Society.
He has always taken an active interest in
public affairs, and has served faithfully and
acceptably in various ofifices in the town
where he resides.
In politics he is a firm Republican, and as
such represented his town in the state Leg-
islature in 1872 and 1884. In 1890 he was
a senator from Windsor county, and as a
member of the committee on education and
of several other committees, rendered im-
portant service.
Dr. Smith belongs to the G. .\. R. ; he
was a member of Daniel Lillie Post, No. 61,
located at Bethel, at its organization ; was
its first commander, and had several re-elec-
tions to that position. But the veterans of
his town desiring to meet nearer home, in
1891, Gen. H. H. Baxter Post, No. iii, was
organized at Gaysville, of which he was a
charter member.
October 17, 1862, he married Mary L.,
daughter of I5ela R. Perry of Hancock. To
them three children have been born : Ran-
som Perry (deceased), Mabel Gertrude, and
Leda Florian.
SMITH, Clement F., of Morrisviiie,
son of Daniel and Betsey (Pike) Smith, was
born in Morristown, July 29, 1856.
Mr. Smith is one of the best known and
energetic young farmers in this vicinity. He
was brought up on the farm where he now
resides. After having availed himself of
such educational advantages as were offered
by the common schools and People's Acad-
emy of Morrisviiie, he purchased his father's
farm and stock, paying $10,500 with only
$500 to pay down. Besides having his pay-
ments to meet, he has greatly improved the
farm and buildings, and has now one of the
best Jersey dairies in Vermont. He keeps
about forty cows, mostly pure bred, which
average to produce nearly four hundred
pounds of butter each per annum. He keeps
abreast of the times in using all modern
machinery, usually being the first one in his
vicinity to try the merits of a new machine
or device that comes upon the market. He
has been agent for and sold a large amount
of farm and dairy machinery in his county.
His was the third silo that was built in Ver-
mont. He was the first master of Lamoille
Grange and has held several town offices.
Laport Dairy, as he calls his farm, is pleas-
antly situated about three miles from Mor-
risviiie on the road to Stowe.
Since he was twenty years of age he has
been continuously a steward of the M. E.
Church. In politics he is a temperance
Republican.
Mr. Smith married, Sept. 25, 18 78, Mary
A., daughter of Mark P. and Rhuhamah A.
(Stevens) Burnham of Enfield, N. H. They
have been blessed with six children : Mabel
C., Lily A., Grace B., Ramy M., Alice B.,
and Mark B., all of whom are living.
SMITH, Charles F., of Topsham, son
of Edmund H.and Huldah (Kidder) Smith,
was born in Topsham, Dec. 11, 1854.
He was early made acquainted with agri-
cultural labor, being bred upon his father's
farm, and thus gaining an amount of experi-
ence that proved largely of benefit in his
after life. He gleaned such education as he
could in the schools of Topsham, and before
he had attained his majority he found his
way to Boston. There he went to work first
567
in a shoe store, then as a butcher, after which
he carried on the business of a sale stable
for about six years. He then returned to
Topsham and his original occupation, devot-
ing much attention to the raising of poultry,
and also entered to some extent into the
butter trade. Soon he purchased a stock of
' ^ «? '
groceries and general merchandise, and
never omitting a favorable chance to
buy or sell a horse when opportunity offered,
carried on the business of a country mer-
chant, and in addition ran the village saw-
mill. In the fall of 1892, seeing a better
opportunity to realize a competency, he
purchased the good-will and stock of the
preparation styled the " Green Mountain
Liniment and Cough Elixir," and to this he
added the well-known Green Mountain Sar-
saparilla, with a wholesale drug line. His
expectations appear to have been realized,
and he is laying the foundation of a widely-
extended, reputable and lucrative trade.
.A man of so much energy could scarcely
escape the responsibilities of public oflfice,
and as the natural consequence of his exec-
utive ability he has been chosen to discharge
the duties of constable, collector and deputy
sheriff. He is a Republican, and was for
five years assistant in the post-office, and
postmaster, and was in 1890 elected repre-
sentative from Toj^sham to the (General .As-
sembly. He is now sheriff of Orange county.
Mr. Smith was married, June 17, 1877, to
R. Augusta, daughter of James and Rachel
(Anderson) Perkins, of Boston, Mass. Their
union has been blessed with a son and
daughter : Bessie May, and Bradley P.
Sheriff Smith is a member of Hiawatha
Lodge, I. O. O. F., of Barre.
SMITH, Cyrus H., of Townline, son of
Elisha and Ellen (Whitford) Smith, was born
in Addison, March 5, 1855. His education
was obtained at the common schools of Ad-
dison, at Ft. Edward Institute, Fort Edward,
N. Y., and at the Vermont Methodist Sem-
inary at Montpelier. But more important
than this school training was that of kindly
discipline, regularity and self-culture, which
he received in the home circle. Always
taught to regard the interests of business
rather than the pursuits of idle pleasure, the
result of the inculcation of these principles
has rendered Mr. Smith one of the leading
farmers and most energetic business men in
his native town. He is both intelligent and
conservative and strictly attends to his own
private affairs. He has especially devoted
himself to the breeding of Merino sheep and
now owns an excellent flock. He is some-
what interested in horses and advocates the
raising of the Black Hawk-Morgan breed as
best suited to the wants of the community.
He was wedtledin Bridport, Jan. 31, 1877,
to Alma E., daughter of John O. and Char-
lotte (Sanford) Hamilton. Their marriage
has been blessed with four children : Mary
H., Carroll C, Mabel E., and Herman E.
Mr. Smith is a strong Republican, and,
although a comparati\ely young man, has
been called upon to fill many of the town
offices, including selectman, auditor, lister,
and justice of the peace, and at present is
serving as one of the school directors of the
town. He is a progressive and substantial
citizen.
SMITH, Elisha, of Townline, son of
Hiram and Anna (Starkweather) Smith, was
born in Bridport, Dec. i, 182S. His grand-
father, Nathan Smith, was one of the earliest
settlers of Bridport. He was twice taken
prisoner in the war and carried to Canada,
but made his escape each time, and after
many perilous adventures and great priva-
tions, finally succeeded in reaching the town
of Pittsford.
Elisha Smith received his primary educa-
tion at the common schools of Bridport,
followed by a course of study at the acade-
mies of Williston and Bakersfield, obtaining
what was considered at that time a liberal
education.
He was married in Panton, Dec. 18, 1851,
to Ellen Whitford ; four children have been
issue of this union : Anna L. (Mrs. Edward
T. Gough, of Addison), Cyrus H., Benjamin
\\'., and Cora E.
After his marriage he moved from Brid-
port, and settled on one of the lake farms
in Addison county, and, in 1864, he pur-
chased and made his home upon the estate
which he now possesses in the valley of
Lake Champlain, where he devotes his at-
tention to general farming, stock raising and
wool growing.
Mr. Smith is one of the sturdy representa-
tive yeomen of the state, never seeking
office or personal distinction, but a strict
man of business and true worth, one hon-
ored and respected, who despises the profes-
sional politician. He originally belonged to
the old whig party, but joined the ranks of
the Republicans in 1856. He was select-
man during the crisis of the civil war and
represented Addison in the state Legislature
in 1872, serving as chairman of the com-
mittee on mileage and debentures. For
many years he has been a believer in the
efficacy of the law of prohibition. He be-
longs to no secret societies, and though he has
not lived for the sake of show or distinction,
is very influential in his town and county.
SMITH, Emery L., of Barre, son of
Alvin and Susan (Lewis) Smith, was born in
Northfield, Oct. 11, 1842.
His mother died in his early boyhood and
the family was broken up in consequence of
this sad loss, but Emery was fortunate enough
to find a comfortable home in the household
of Mr. Joseph ( lold, of Roxbury. He ap-
plied himself diligently to labor on the farm,
receiving in the intervals of toil such instruc-
tion as the common schools afforded, and
after his return from his military service he
managed to attend two terms at the Orange
county grammar school at Randolph.
Before he had arrived at his majority he list-
ened to the call of patriotic duty and enrolled
himself a member of Co. G, 6th Vt. Vols.,
and before his first year of active service had
expired, was taken prisoner and sent to Rich-
mond where he languished in captivity some
months, was then paroled and immediately re-
joined his comrades. With this exception and
a brief service as recruiting officer, on which
he was detached as a mark of appreciation of
his meritorious conduct, he was constantly at
the front during his term of service of three
years.
Mr. Smith was married, Oct. 11, 1866, to
Mary, daughter of Eliphalet and Lucy (Par-
ker) Hewitt, who bore him four children:
Alice L., and Corrie A., then twins who died
in early infancy. Mrs. Smith died Nov. 22,
1875. He married Martha, daughter of
Clark and Emily (Carter) Day, April 12,
1887, by whom he has had one child : Harry
D. (deceased).
When Mr. Smith removed to Barre, for
more than a year he worked for his father-
in-law, I'.liphalet Hewitt, who was the pion-
eer stone cutter of the place, but in the
spring of 1868 he began business on his own
account, and has continued till the present
time a stone cutter and granite dealer, ha\-
ing during that period been a jiartner in
several firms. He was the first to quarry
granite in the winter season, also to use a
permanent derrick, for which he invented a
special capstone to increase the power. He
was first to see the advantages of the steam
drill and the electric battery, and introduced
their use. His present ])artners are John K.
and Donald Smith, and the firm possesses
one of the best plants in New England,
employing a large number of men.
Mr. Smith is a man of independent polit-
ical convictions and has the courage to live
up to them. Of late he has acted with the
Democratic ])arty. He has been village
bailiff, is a public-spirited citizen who has
always predicted a prosperous future for the
town of Barre, and does his utmost to real-
ize his anticipations, ^^'hen he came here
there were about a dozen men engaged in
quarrying and stone-cutting, but now in its
various branches there are a hundred firms,
employing a working force of over eighteen
hundred laborers.
For nearly thirty years Mr. Smith has
been a member of the Masonic fraternity,
and he is also a member of R. B. Crandall
Post, No. 56, G. A. R., of Barre. He joined
many years ago the Knights of Honor, and
still continues to affiliate with that society.
SMITH, Frederic Elijah, of Mont-
pelier, son of Elijah and Anna (Robertson)
Smith, was born in Northfield, June 11,
1830. His grandfather served in Thomas
Barney's Co., in Col. Ira Allen's regiment
during the Revolutionary war.
Mr. Frederic Smith pursued his studies
in the common schools until sixteen years
of age, then entering Newbury Seminary,
graduated from that institution, and in 1848
became a clerk in Loomis & Camp's dry
goods store in Montpelier. In 1853 he
established himself in Montpelier as a drug-
gist, which occupation he was pursuing with
great success when the civil war broke out.
Leaving the concern in charge of his clerks
he entered the service of his country, to
which he had been summoned by Gov.
Erastus Fairbanks to take charge of the
arming, equipping and subsistence of the
6th Regt. Vt. Vols. With this regiment he
was sent by the Governor to the front in
order to settle with several quartermasters
who had left the state with their accounts un-
adjusted. While in discharge of this duty he
was, Nov. 23, 1 86 1, appointed quartermaster
of the 8th Vt. Vols., and immediately re-
turned to commence his new duties, assist-
SMITH. 369
ing Col. Stephen Thomas in enlisting men,
and afterwards taking charge of them while
rendezvoused at Brattleboro. He accom-
])anied the regiment which had been ordered
to join the command of Major-General But-
ler to Ship Island, and later to New Orleans.
Soon afterwards he was stationed at .Algiers,
on the west side of the .Mississippi, where he
was post quartermaster, and made provost
judge by appointment of the department
commander. He next served as commissary
of subsistence on the staff of Cien. Godfrey
Weitzel in the department of the Gulf, till
December, 1863. [jrovidingfor thearmy in the
field during all of its marches till they finally
arrived at Port Hudson.
After the war he returned to Montpelier
where he engaged in mercantile ]nirsuits till
1869, when he moved to New York, where
he remained for three years. In 1872 he
returned to Montpelier, where he became
FREDERIC ELIJAH SMITH.
engaged in manufacturing, establishing fac-
tories in different towns, and having stores
in several places in the United States.
Mr. Smith was married, Oct. 12, 1852, to
Abba Morrill, daughter of Nathan and Bet-
sey (Dole) Hale of Danville. Three sons
were the issue of this union : two died in
infancy, the third, Walter Joseph, was born
May 9, 1862, and died May 9, 1S81, one
whose bright and lovely youth had given
promise of a noble manhood.
Colonel Smith is now president of the
Watchman Publishing Co. ; of the Mont-
pelier Public Library (from its foundation) :
the Colby ^^'ringer Co., of Montpelier ; the
Maplewood Improvement Co., of Tennesee ;
and of the board of trustees of the Diocese
of Vermont : he is vice-president of the First
National Bank of Montpelier ; of the Ver-
mont Mutual Fire Insurance Co. ; and the
Bowers (Iranite Co. ; a director in the Na-
tional Life Insurance Co., and a member of
its finance committee ; in the Vermont
Quarry Co., and in the Wetmore & Morse
Granite Co. Colonel Smith was for four
years prior to 1891, president of the Vermont
Mutual Fire Insurance Co., an office which
the pressure and importance of private inter-
ests compelled him to resign. Since the war
Colonel Smith has maintained in the Grand
Army of the Republic and Loyal Legion his
military associations, and for many years
has been secretary of the Vermont Officers
Reunion Society. He is also a member of
the Sons of the American Revolution.
He has always taken a deep interest in the
educational interests of the state, and is a
trustee of the Norwich L'ni^ersity and ^^■ash-
ington county grammar school, and was for
some years president of the Montpelier
school board. He has long been junior
warden of Christ Episcopal Church in Mont-
pelier, a trustee of the Vermont Episcopal
Institute, Bishop Hopkins' Hall, a member
of the board of investment of the aged and
infirm clergy fund, and has been a delegate
to the triennial conventions of his church in
New Vork and Baltimore.
In 1876 he was appointed aid to Gov-
ernor Fairbanks with the rank of colonel,
and in 1S86 and 1888 served two terms as a
senator for ^^'ashington county. In 1892 he
was made delegate-at-large to the Republi-
can National Con\-ention at Minneapolis.
SMITH, Myron W., of Fairlee, son of
Grant and Rebecca (Swift) Smith, was born
in Fairlee, July 26, 1834.
His educational advantages were limited
to the common schools of Fairlee and Thet-
ford, but he has always been a most diligent
and judicious reader of books, and may fairly
lay claim to the title of a self educated man.
The cares of the family devohed upon him
at nineteen years of age on account of the
death of his father, compelling him to forego
his cherished desire to obtain a liberal edu-
cation. From 1850 to 1868 he lived in
Thetford, but since the last date he has
passed his time upon his farm in Fairlee, de-
voting himself to the congenial employment
of an agriculturist, to reading and to the dis-
charge of the many official duties which his
appreciative fellow-townsmen have intrusted
to his charge.
Mr. Smith has acted with the Republican
party from the time of Fremont to the ad-
ministration of Benjamin Harrison. He has,
at various times, held many of the offices in
his town, acting for nine consecutive years
as superintendent of schools. He was elected
to the lower branch of the Legislature in
1S80 and again in 1890 ; in both these
bodies earnestly advocating reform in the in-
terest of equal taxation.
Mr. Smith was united in marriage, Dec.
28, 1859, to Anna A., daughter of Johona-
than and Mary (Colcord) Bryant. The
grandfather, Daniel Bryant, served for three
years in the Revolutionary war. Their union
has been blessed with two children : Irving
G. and Carrie M.
The great-grandfather (Swift) on the
mother's side, was also a soldier of the Revo-
lution for several years and a United States
pensioner.
Several generations of this family have
made their name a synonym for bravery and
patriotism. David Smith, in the eighth gen-
eration, emigrated from the north of Ireland
and settled in New Boston, N. H., where he
was taken prisoner by the Indians, but set a
neighbor and himself free from two Indian
guards the first night by a sudden act of des-
perately determined bravery. The grand-
father of Mr. Smith was commissioned cap-
tain of the Fairlee militia in 1778, and served
as a minute man, also as scout in the Cham-
plain Valley. Grant Smith, though exempt
from military serxice by reason of his offi-
cial position, went with the Fairlee company
at the time of the battle of Plattsburg. New-
ton W., a younger brother, died in the LTnited
States service Feb. 5, 1864, a member of the
3d Vt. Battery, Light Artillery. Myron W.
enlisted in Company A, 15 th Regt., Col.
Redfield Proctor, in 1862, served his time,
and was mustered out with his regiment.
He is a charter member of the original and
also of the reorganized Washburn Post, No.
17, G. A. R., and was also a member of Val-
ley Grange P. of H. of Fairlee. He has been
an active member of the Congregational So-
ciety and church for many years.
SMITH, Walter PeRRIN, of .St. Johns-
bury, son of John S. and Sophronia M.
(Perrin) Smith, was born in Hardwick, Nov.
4, 1841.
ludge Smith prepared for college at the
Hardwick and Morrisville academies and
graduated from the L^niversity of Vermont
in 1867. He studied law at the L^niversity of
Michigan and with Powers & Gleed at Mor-
risville, and was admitted to the Lamoille
county bar at the May term, 1869. The fol-
lowing autumn he removed to St. Johnsbury
and formed a partnership with Hon. Jona-
than Ross. He continued the practice of
his profession until elected to the office of
judge of probate for the district of Cale-
donia in 1882, which position he now holds.
He was state's attorney for Caledonia county
from 1874 to 1876 : represented the town of
St. Johnsbury in the Legislature of r88o,
and has been superintendent of schools!
He was for several years a director in the
Merchants National Bank of St. Johnsbury ;
is at present a director in the First Xatioriai
Bank, and a trustee and one of the board of
investors in the Passunipsic Savings Bank,
and president of Carrick Bros. Granite Co!
WALTER PERRIN SMITH.
August 15, 1S76, he was married to Miss
Susan A. Holbrook of Lyndon, daughter of
Dr. Perley R. and Louise I\L (Lawrence)
Holbrook, and they have one son : Robert H.
In politics he has always been a Republi-
can, and in religious faith aCongregationalist.
SPAFFORD, Henry W., of Rutland,
son of William H. and Eliza (Rumrill) Spaf-
ford, was born in Weathersfield, Nov. 2,
1840.
He received his education in the district
schools of his native town and Cavendish,
and in Springfield Seminary and Chester
Academy. .\t the outset of his active life he
was employed as station agent at Danby,
and North Iknnington.
Enlisting in Co. A, 4th Regt. Vt. \ols.,
Sept. 4, 1861, he was promoted to commis-
sary sergeant, and after being confined in a
rebel prison in Richmond for seven months
he was mustered out of service, at the expira-
tion of his three-vears' enlistment, at Brattle-
boro. He again sought service in the same
regiment, was promoted to ist Lieut, and
quartermaster, and appointed a member of
the staff of (Jen. (Jeorge P. Foster, and (ien.
Lewis A. {'.rant. He was acting quarter-
master of the Vermont Brigade during the
last part of its service, and when the com-
mand left the field for \'ermont, he was
again mustered out with his regiment at
Burlington.
Soon after the close of the war he was
employed as bookkeeper in the large hide
and leather house of Lapham & Clarendon
in New York City, but impaired eyesight
caused by exposure in the army compelled
him to give up his position. On Jan. 16,
1 86 7, he again entered the service of the
Bennington and Rutland Railway Co. as sta-
tion agent at North Bennington. He was
successively promoted to general freight
agent and to general passenger agent, both
of which offices he holds at the present time.
I
4gi^. ?*H,'
^- m-
HENRY W. SPAFFORD.
Mr. Spafford was married, Oct. 5, 1864, to
Mattie E., daughter of William and Fanny
(Spring) Kingsbury, of Chester. Mrs. Spaf-
ford died June 3, 1877, leaving four children.
He was again married, Dec. 5, 1879,10 Lydia
Ella, daughter of Jared and .Xlmira (Eaton)
Marsh, of Chester, of which union there are
fi\e children.
Mr. Spafford lived in North Bennington
from January, 1867, until .April, 1882, when
he removed to Rutland, where he now
resides.
372
SPEAR, Victor 1., of Braimree, son of
Jacob A. and Caroline (Flint) Spear, was
born in Braintree, Sept. 20, 1852.
His preparatory education was received
in the schools of Braintree and at the West
Randolph Academy. He then entered Dart-
mouth College, where he pursued the usual
course of study, and was graduated with the
degree of B. S. from that institution in 1S74.
He is a strong Republican, and as such
represented Braintree in 1880, and was
chosen a senator from Orange county in
1886. Four years later he was appointed
by Governor Page a member of the board
of agriculture, and discharged his duties
with great devotion and efficiency, acting as
secretary in the laborious task of collecting
statistics of the unemployed resources of
the state. He was reappointed to the board
in 1892, chosen statistical secretary, and
prepared the illustrated booklet on Vermont,
of which 40,000 copies were distributed
from the ^'ermont building at the Colum-
bian Exposition, Chicago. He secured re-
turns of dairying, sheep husbandry and
maple sugar products in the state for 1892,
and has in charge the general matter of col-
lecting statistics and publishing lists of un-
occupied real estate that is on the market.
Mr. Spear is well and favorably known
throughout the state, and was a prominent
candidate for Governor before the Republi-
can state convention in 1892. He is a gen-
tleman of unassuming manners, undoubted
integrity and excellent judgment, combined
with genuine public spirit and quite exten-
sive experience of men and affairs.
STANLEY, Albert E., of Leicester,
son of Silas W. and Electa (Eastman) Stan-
lev, was born in Leicester, June 4, 1833.
Having a strong natural aptitude for
mathematics, he ardently desired to adopt
the profession of a civil engineer, but yield-
ing to the wishes of his parents, after some
time spent in the profession of teaching, he
returned to the paternal farm. Here, in
connection with his father, he has combined
various branches of business with farming and
stock raising, their specialty being registered
Merino sheep, of which they usually keep
about two hundred. In 1884 he began the
business of shipping sheep to Montana, and
the venture proving successful, he has sent
one or more carloads of sheep annually to
that locality. He usually purchases on com-
mission from fifty to one hundred thousand
pounds of wool every year, and is quite an
extensive land owner. He is also engaged
in the manufacture and sale of orchard pro-
ducts.
He was united in marriage Dec. 29, 18S6,
to Mrs. Abbie M. Davis, daughter of Lieut.
James and Maria E. (Slack) Welch, of
Randolph.
His education commenced in the common
schools in Leicester. At an early age he
373
went to Haverliill, Mass., where he lived
durhig his minority, enjoying the benefits of
the grammar and high schools of that noted
town. He contemplated a collegiate career,
and entered Kimball Union Academy, at
Meriden, N. H., to complete his preparatory
course. Failing health not permitting him
to carry out his intention, he returned to
Leicester, where he has since resided. For
thirty-six years he has been clerk and treas-
urer of the town, and for twelve years was
postmaster. For thirty-five years he has
been an active and efficient agent of the
Vermont Mutual Fire Insurance Co., and
for ten years secretary and treasurer of the
Queen City Park .Association, while he is
constantly acting as administrator in the
settlement of important estates.
.\s a Republican he represented Leicester
in the Legislature of 1872, and was the only
member of the county who received the
compliment of a re-election in 1874. He
was again elected to the Legislature in 1882,
and was chosen a member of the Senate
from .\ddison county in 1886, and served
on the special committee on the division of
Rutland. He was also chairman of the
committee on the insane as well as a mem-
ber of the general committee and the joint
committee on the library.
In his doctrinal belief Mr. .Stanley is a
Spiritualist in the proper sense of that word,
though holding no less the essential tenets of
the Unitarian faith. He has widely lectured
upon religious themes and performs accept-
able service on funeral occasions throughout
the state.
June 3, i860, he was united in marriage
to Ada, daughter of Simeon and Amanda
McCanon, of Bennington, N. V. Two sons
have been the offspring of this union : Ned
A., and Fred D., both located in New Bed-
ford, Mass. — one a dentist, the other an
attorney-at-law.
STANTON, Zed S., of Roxbury, son
of George B. and Lucretia (Sulloway) Stan-
ton, was born in Roxbury, May i, 184S.
.After attending the district schools of the
vicinity he pursued a course of study in the
Northfield graded school. He afterwards
worked on the railroad, then taught school
and while teaching resolved to adopt the law
as his profession and enrolled himself as a
student in the offices of A. R. Savage and
Frank Plumley of Northfield, and subse-
quently in the office of L. L. Durant of
Montpelier. He was admitted to the bar of
the Washington county court, March 15,
■1880. In 18S2 he was admitted to practice
in the Supreme Court, and in the U. S. Cir-
cuit Court in 1892.
Since 1873 with the exception of one year
Judge Stanton has continuously held town
office, and has occupied the ])ositions of
selectman, lister, agent, constable, moder-
ator, superintendent of schools and school
director and trustee. He represented Rox-
bury in the General .Assembly during the
sessions of 1884 and 1886 and in legislative
work and debate became a leading member.
ZED S. STANTON.
In 1884 and 18S6 he was elected an assist-
ant judge of Washington county court and
has since 1890 served most efficiently as
state's attorney for Washington county,
which office he still holds.
Judge Stanton was married, May 31, 1880,
to 'Mrs. Jennie S. (Smith) Walbridge of Rox-
bury. They have one child : Jessie Lu-
cretia.
START, HENR>- R., of Bakersfield, son
of Simeon Gould and Mary Sophia (Barnes)
Start, was born in Bakersfield, Dec. 28, 1S45.
He was educated in the common schools
and in Bakersfield and Barre academies, and
served in the army as a member of Co. .A,
3d Regt. Vt. Vols.
.After the close of the war he studied law,
and was admitted to the Franklin county
bar in .April, 1867, and began practice the
same year in Bakersfield. From 1876 to
187S Mr. Start was state's attorney for
I'ranklin county. Forming a partnership
with .A. P. Cross, of St. Albans, he retained
his residence in Bakersfield, and the firm of
Cross & Start had a large ])ractice. The
active conduct of the trial of cases largely
374
fell on Mr. Start, and when he was elevated
to the bench it was at once noted that his
wide experience as a trial lawyer had given
him good preparation for the right conduct
of trials as presiding judge in the county
courts.
In iSSo Mr. Start was elected a senator
from Franklin county, and served on the
judiciary committee and as chairman of the
joint standing committee on the reform
school. From 1880 to 1888 he was one of
the trustees of the Vermont reform school,
and was, the last-named vear, one of the pres-
idential electors who cast the vote of Ver-
mont for Harrison and Morton.
In 1890 he was elected representative
from Bakersfield, and at the beginning of
the session of that year was chosen speaker
of the House of Representatives, and at its
close was without opposition elected fifth
assistant judge of the Supreme Court. His
service on the bench, which he continues by
unanimous re-election in 1892, has com-
mended itself to the entire bar of the state
as excellent judicial work.
Mr. Start married, June 10, 1869, Ellen S.
Houghton, daughter of Stillman S. and Sarah
E. Houghton. Their children are : S. (lould,
Guy H., Mabel S., and Bennett H. Mrs.
Start deceased July 12, 1S90.
START, Simeon Gould, of Bakers-
field, son of Moses and Margaret (Gould)
Start, was born in Bakersfield, July 28, 1805.
Capt. Moses Start emigrated to the state in
the latter part of the last century, and was
an active and prominent figure in the town.
Simeon G. was one of a large family, and
spent his youth in the labors of the farm.
His education was obtained in the district
schools, but to this he added a wide fund of
general information in his maturer years.
His early life was devoted to agricultural
labor, and a clerkship in a country store,
but he soon invested his modest savings in
a farm in BakeVsfield, where he remained
till 1865, when he moved into the village,
and until the last few years has been chiefly
engaged in the public affairs of the town.
Mr. Start was formerly a Democrat, but
acted with the Republican party during the
war, and since 1872 has been an inde-
pendent in his political views. Honorably
discharging the duties of manv town offices,
he has been the principal trial justice of the
place for more than a quarter of a century.
He represented his town in the Legislature
of 1872, and was ever considered a man of
marked and original personality.
He married, Oct. 2, 1833, Mary Sophia,
daughter of Comfort and Sophia (Corse)
Barnes. Of this marriage there were born :
Rolla N., Ozro G. (assistant judge of Frank-
lin county court), Charles N. (formerly at-
torney-general of Minnesota, and now judge
of district court at Rochester, Minn.),
Lorenzo B., Merritt L., Henry R. (judge of
the Supreme Court of Vt.), and Ella S. (de-
js^ r-
ceased). Mrs. Start died April 22, 1862,,
and he married Mrs. Betsey Perkins, April
10, 1865.
STEARNS, Charles H., of Johnson, son
of Otis \V. and Mary S. (Carpenter) Stearns,
was born in Johnson, Feb. 7, 1S54.
After preliminary instruction at the com-
mon schools he received the balance of his
education at the Normal School at Johnson
and the \'ermont M. E. Seminary at Mont-
pelier. His father was a manufacturer of
butter tubs and an inventor, and the son
spent much of his boyhood and youth in his
father's shop, where he became acquainted
with every detail of the business and had en-
tire charge of the establishment before he
arrived at man's estate. In 1875 O. W.
Stearns & Son built the mill now owned by
the latter at Johnson. The senior partner
in the firm possessed considerable inventive
genius and has devised and applied nearly
all of the machinery now used by them,
especially a contrivance for smoothing the
outside surface of the staves lengthwise with
the grain, thereby avoiding the use of sand-
paper and giving a finer and more delicate
finish, also a labor-saving device for splitting
and rossing blocks. Since 18SS Mr. C. H.
Stearns has been sole proprietor of the con-
STEARN'S.
375
cern, and nmv runs a large hniiber business
in connection with the factory, getting out
about 1,000,000 feet of liHiiber annually. The
company manufactured 7,000 tubs during
their first year's experience and in 1892 had
the satisfaciton of turning out the enormous
total of 320,000. Five-pound butter boxes
and packing crates are extensively manu-
factured and sold. In 1890 Mr. Stearns, in
company with his cousin, Mr. M. L. Stearns,
erected an extensive plant at Lyndonville for
the manufacture of butter tubs and lumber,
shipping the stock for this factory from their
mill in Canada. In addition to these different
CHARLES H, STEARNS.
branches of the Itnnber trade Mr. Stearns is
also extensively interested in granite, owning
and operating a quarry and cutting sheds at
Hardwick, employing in all these different
lines of business from seventy-five to one
hundred men.
He was married Dec. 28, 1876, to Viola
.■\., daughter of fessie A. and Rebecca (Mc-
Laren) Hall of lohnson. Thev have one
child: C. Arthur."
Mr. Stearns has been chairman of the Re-
publican Lamoille county committee for the
last four years and has also served on that of
the town. He was seven years town treas-
urer and was in 1886 elected to the Legisla-
ture in which he was a valuable member of
the general committee. He is a director of
the Union Savings Bank and Trust Co. of
Morrisville, and, for a man of his age, is
widely known in business and political
circles.
He has ibeen a member of the Masonic
fraternity since he was twenty-one years old,
has filled all the chairs of the lodge, and in
1892 was elected G. J. D. of the (Irand
Lodge of \'ermont. He also claims member-
ship in the I. O. (). F.
STEARNS, JOHN C, of Bradford, son
of John and Elizabeth (Chandler) Stearns,
was born in Chelsea, Feb. 11, 1831.
His education was received in the com-
mon schools and Bradford .'\cademy, and he
commenced his business career as a clerk in
a general store in Bradford. For six vears
he was a member of the firm of Brooks"&
Stearns, which was engaged in trade in Wor-
cester, Mass., in which place he became a
member of the Massachusetts militia, and on
his return to Vermont enlisted in the Brad-
ford Guards, in which latter organization he
was promoted to the position of lieutenant.
At the breaking out of the civil war he en-
listed as a private in Co. D, was promoted
JOHN C. STEARNS.
to the rank of sergeant-major of the 1st Vt.
Vols., and at the expiration of their term of
service was appointed ist Lieut, and adjutant
in the 9th Regt., but was compelled to re-
sign, June 30, 1863, on account of disability.
During his active service he was a member
of the staff of General Trimble of Ohio,
and participated in engagements at Cloud
Mills, Winchester, .Suffolk, and Harper's
Ferry, at which last ])lace he became a ])ris-
oner upon the surrender of his regiment
3/6
with others under General Miles, and after
being ]jaroled was sent to Chicago, 111., where
he did guard duty till May, 1863.
After his return from the war he employed
himself in the general insurance business
and farming, in which occupation he has
continued to the present time.
Mr. Stearns was a whig, and has been a
Republican since the formation of the latter
party. He was appointed U. S. Assessor
of Internal Revenue of the Second District
of Vermont by President Grant, and U. S.
Collector of Internal Revenue for the state
by President Garfield, June, 1S81, in which
office he continued till July, 1885. Six years
subsequently he was selected by Hon. Red-
field Proctor, Secretary of War, as a commis-
sioner to mark the lines of battle of the Army
of the Potomac, the Confederate .Army of
Northern Virginia, and the position of the U.
S. Regulars at the battle of Antietam, in con-
nection with the Confederate General Harry
Heth of Virginia, and he is now engaged in
that work. In 1867 he was appointed colo-
nel and aid-de-camp on the staff of Gov.
John B. Page, and he also held the position
of I St Lieut, and adjutant of the ist Regt.
V. N. G. Colonel Stearns represented Brad-
ford in the House of Representatives in
1886, and served in 1878 as a senator from
Orange county. He was appointed delegate
to the national Republican conventions held
at Chicago that nominated U. S. Grant and
Benjamin Harrison. He was one of the
original trustees of the Vermont Soldier's
Home, and in 1890 was elected its treasurer.
He is a member of the Vermont Com-
manderv of the Loyal Legion, of Washburn
Post, G.' A. R., and Charitf Lodge, F. & A. M.
Colonel Stearns married, Sept. 12, 1863,
Martha F., daughter of John Barron and
Martha (Tilton) Pecket, of Bradford.
STEVENS, ALONZO JACKSON, of
Winooski, son of Alonzo and Susan (Sin-
clair) Stevens, was born in lissex, April i,
1828.
He was educated in the schools of Flssex,
and after reaching his majority engaged in
the occupation of carpenter and joiner. In
1855 he came to Winooski, and there was
employed as a millwright by the firm of
Edwards & White. Soon after the death of
the junior partner, Mr. White, the shops
were destroyed by fire, and in 185 8 the land
on which they had been erected was pur-
chased by A. B. Edwards in conjunction with
Mr. Stevens, and under the designation of Ed-
wards & Stevens, these two gentlemen built
up an extensive business. The firm remained
unchanged until 186S, when Mr. Frank
Jubell was admitted to the concern. Under
the title of Edwards, Stevens *& Co., they
largely manufacture mill-gearing and shaft-
ing, iron and brass castings and wood-work-
ing machinery.
In 1858, ^Ir. Stevens was married to Mary
J., daughter of Hiram and Mary (Shelden)
Rood of Colchester. Of this union there
are issue : Mary Ella, Charles H., and
Hattie M.
He was a charter member of the Winooski
Savings Bank, and has been a director of
the institution since its organization.
In his political views Mr. Stevens is
thoroughly Republican, and has several
times been elected one of the selectmen of
Colchester. He represented that town in
the Legislature in 1869 and 1870, and was
elected a senator from Chittenden county in
1886. The esteem and confidence in which
he is held by his fellow- townsmen has been
manifested by the many ])ositions of trust
and confidence to which he has been called.
STEVENS, Charles, of Maidstone, son
of Charles and Kmiline (Batchelder) Stevens,
was born in Maidstone, Jan. iS, 1842.
LES STEVENS.
His father a farmer and stock raiser. At
the age of twenty-one he left his home,
arriving in Boston, Mass., with two dollars.
He first found employment as foreman on a
farm at Chestnut Hill, then was engaged as
foreman on the water works there for four
years. After this he started for the West
where he visited Omaha and Kansas City ;
from thence he made his way to Memphis
on a flat boat and then on foot to Jefferson
in Texas. Here he was employed as sub-
contractor on a railroad, but his health fail-
ing he removed to Duvals HlulT where he
was occupied in bridge building until he was
compelled to return to his native town by
a severe attack of malaria. After his re-
covery he made New York the scene of his
labors, building a section of the Harlem
railroad. He next took up his abode in
Boston where he was engaged in the con-
struction of sewers. In 1879 he went to
Colorado and giving his attention to milling
and mining operations he purchased prop-
erty of the latter description and also con-
structed a large mill. For two years he
continued and then departed to explore the
country three hundred miles west of Roseita
in Gunnison county where he discovered
and started nine mines. In 1884 he re-
turned to the farm which he had purchased
in Maidstone, and has been occupied since
in improving this property.
1 )emocratic in political faith, he has been
selectman several times, is now justice of the
peace, and represented the town in iSpo-'gi.
He was wedded, March 30, 1876, to
Sarah A., daughter of \\'illiam M. and Ruth
M. (Jordan) Perkins.
STEVENS, Charles Phelps, of Troy,
son of Charles Deming and Murilla (Cob)
Stevens, was born at Huntington, (ulv 9,
1836.
The history of his life is a record of one of
the most successful self-made business men
in Vermont. Receiving only the scant edu-
cation to be obtained in the district schools
of Duxbury, yet possessing abundant health
and indomitable courage, this boy, w-ho was
brought up in a saw mill, has now become
one of the largest manufacturers of lumber
in the state. Brought up to the carpen-
ter's trade, in his early youth he secured his
first financial start in the construction of
dwelling houses by contract. From the
profits which he saved he purchased a lot of
timber land and in 1862, by the advice of
the late Leander Hutchins, president of the
Waterbury Bank, who furnished the neces-
sary capital, he invested largely in property
of the same nature in Duxbury. This ven-
ture was very successful, so much so that
in 1862 he became proprietor of a lumber
mill in Duxbury, which he operated till 1866,
at which time he built another in Bolton,
Can., still retaining the management of the
first for two years. This property he
sold in 1868, substituting another in Jay
devoted to the same business. He now
made Troy his place of residence, and from
their first erection operated all his mills night
and day till 1870, when he parted with those
in Jay and Bolton, entering into ]jartnership
with D. H. Ruck of Troy, with whom he
STEVENS. 377
commenced a general merchandise business
and in connection with this constructed a
cla])board mill at Phelps Falls in Troy, Mr.
Buck retaining the management of the store,
and Mr. Stexens of the mill. C. P. Stevens
and D. H. Buck then formed a copartner-
ship under the name of C. P. Stevens & Co.
They afterwards erected at the Falls a
large saw mill and the first factory for the
manufacture of veneer in Orleans county, if
not in Vermont, which, however, was soon
transformed into a large feed and fiour
mill. In 1876 they constructed extensive
mills in Richford, around which a village
has grown up, known as Stevens' .Mills.
He is a partner in very many enterprises
of this descrijation, and a very extensive
owner of timber-bearing real estate in Bolton
and Jay, beside having a financial interest
in several manufacturing concerns. He
also possesses three farms in Troy con-
taining as fine tillage land as can be found
in the Missisquoi valley, which under his
scientific management clearly proved that
farming can be made to pay in the C.reen
Mountain state. It may be easily imagined
that Mr. Stevens has not had much time to
devote to public affairs, although soon after
he arrived at man's estate he was appointed
justice of the ])eace, his commission being
signed by the late Gov. Paul Dillingham. In
1882 he represented Troy in the Legislature,
serving on the committees of railways and
manufactures. Six years later he was chosen
•^,78
to the Senate from Orleans county, giving
valuable aid to the committees on rules,
manufactures and railways, also the joint
standing committee on game and fisheries,
while he was actively influential in passing
the $25,000 appropriation for the Soldiers'
Home. In the Senate as in private life his
unusual capacity for affairs was recognized.
In his polilical preferences he has always
been an ardent and loyal Republican.
Mr. Stevens has been twice married. He
first wedded, February, 1862, Francis M.,
daughter of Truman Morse, who departed
this life after their union had lasted ten years,
and in 1873 he married Annette C, daughter
of Eli Sherman, by whom he has two chil-
dren : Lena, and Charles Sherman.
Mr. Stevens is liberal in his religious
creed, but has always attended and supported
the Congregational church in Troy, of which
society for twenty years he has been the
trustee.
STEVENS, JONAS T., of Hyde Park,
son of Amasa and Martha (Smith) Stevens,
was born in Eden, June 3, 1S42.
His father, Amasa, was a long-time resi-
dent of Eden, was prominently connected
with public affairs, and for a considerable
period was associate judge of the county
court.
Jonas T. Stevens obtained his education
in the common school, and for a time gave
his services to neighboring farmers, being
also employed in mills in the vicinity of his
birthplace. Acquiring a small but well-
earned capital, he invested it in a saw mill,
when his business plans were suddenly in-
terrupted by the breaking out of the civil
war. He was too good a patriot to remain
behind, when so many of his countrymen
were thronging to the field, and abandoning
his mill he enlisted in Co. I, ist Vt. Cavalry
and participated in nearly seventy engage-
ments, in which that gallant corps were
engaged. He had three horses shot under
him, but escaped unhurt and was only pre-
vented by a four weeks' sickness, when he
was sent to the hospital, from being always
present for duty. He recovered, however,
in time to be present in the Winchester
fight, where he had the satisfaction of seeing
the rebel C.eneral Early sent "whirling
down" the .Shenandoah Valley, and April i,
1863, he had the misfortune to be taken
prisoner at the engagement at Broad Run,
and sent to Libby Prison, but was fortunately
paroled and rejoined his regiment within
less than six months, eager and ready for the
fray. He was discharged after almost three
years service, having been promoted through
every grade to i st Lieut, of his company.
After his gallant service in the army, he
returned to the vocation he had deserted at
the commencement of the war, and for
twenty-three years was engaged in the man-
ufacture of lumber at Eden Mills. Since
that period he has occupied himself with
farming to some extent, but a large share of
his time has been devoted to public affairs.
For eight years he was deputy sheriff and
held that office till 1878, when he w-as
elected sheriff of the county, serving two
years, and again he discharged the duties of
a deputy, till he was re-elected to sheriff in
1892. He has been entrusted with various
offices, and was elected representative in
1872 and 1874 by Republican votes, doing
good service as a member of the committees
on general claims and corporations.
Mr. Stevens was united, in 1867, to Emma,
daughter of Charles A. and Eunice White of
Eden. One son has been born to them :
Edson M.
Mr. Stevens is a member and past com-
mander of Aaron Keeler Post, No. 91,0. .\.
R., and has received seven degrees in Free
Masonry, affiliating with Mt. Morris Lodge,
No. 69, of Eden, and Tucker Chapter, R. A.
M., of Morrisville.
STEVENS, James v., of Waterville, son
of \'alorous and Rebecca K. (Morse) Stevens,
was born in Waterville, Jan. 12, 1850.
Commencing his education at the common
schools, in his twelfth year he served a short
time as clerk with William Wilbur, of \\'ater-
ville, then returned to his studies and con-
tinued them till he was seventeen. .\t that
age he entered the employment of Mr. E. H.
Shattuck, with whom he remained seven
years, when he was admitted as partner having
an equal interest in the business. He re-
mained in the concern five years, until 1880,
when he left Waterxille and engaged in busi-
ness in Boston, but soon returned to his
native place, which since has been his resi-
dence.
Mr. Stevens is attached to the principles
of the Republican party ; has held all the
town offices in the gift of his fellow-citizens
and is now town clerk and treasurer as well
as trustee of U. S. surplus money.
He is a member of \Varner Lodge, No. 50,
F. & A. M., and Sterling Lodge, No. 44, I.
O. O. F.
He was united in marriage, August 20,
1874, to Ann, daughter of Clark and Mary
Jane Wilbur.
STEVENS, Thomas B., of East Mont-
pelier, son of Stephen F. and Rachel (Byrd)
Stevens, was born in the town of Monkton,
Nov. 28, 1S33. In 1790 Clark Stevens, a
member of the Society of Friends, came to
Vermont from the town of Rochester, Mass.
He finally settled on a farm in Montpelier
upon which his grandson, Thomas B., now
resides. Clark Stevens became a (Quaker
preacher, and to him belongs the honor of
organizing the first religious society and
erecting the first structure for public worship
in Washington county. He was in his youth
a soldier in the Revolutionary army and
afterwards a sailor. D. P. Thompson wrote
of him as "a prince in appearance, but a
child in humility," and the memory of no
man is more revered. He died Nov. 20,
1853, having lived to the patriarchal age of
eighty-nine years, and departed after having
reared a family of eight children, of whom
one, Stephen F., after pursuing his trade of a
STEVENS. 3-9
generations for their industry, frugality,
energy and sterling worth.
Such a man must have naturally been
selected by his fellows for every official posi-
tion he would accept ; and besides holding
the usual town offices he was elected by the
Republicans to represent the town of East
Montpelier in the Legislature of 1872.
Mr. Stevens was married in December,
1862, to Jane, daughter of .Vllen and I.ydia
(Edgerton) Bliss of Calais, who bore him
one daughter : I.enora Rachel.
STEVENS, William Blanding, late of
Bradford, was born in Newbury, .April 9,
1822. He was the second son of Caleb and
Mary (Matthews) Stevens, and received his
education from the common schools and
academies of the vicinity.
The independent and self-reliant spirit that
governed his whole career manifested itself
at the early age of ten, when he worked for
the neighbors at a shilling a day, or its
einiixalent.
cabinet maker at Monkton for a few years,
returned to the old homestead in Montpelier
and there cared for his parents till their
decease. This faithful son was honored and
respected by all the community.
Thomas B. Stevens purchased the paternal
estate, four miles from the state capitol, and
has devoted a useful and contented life to
agricultural pursuits, improving the property
and adding to it till he now is the fortunate
possessor of many of the most fertile acres
in Washington county or indeed in the state.
Constructing a commodious dwelling house
with ample outbuildings, which are models in
their appearance and convenience upon a
site commanding an extensive view, he has
devoted his efforts mainly to dairy farming.
He is no unworthy scion of a family which
has been known and honored durini; three
WILLIAV. BLANDING STEVENS.
M fifteen he commenced his business life
as a clerk at .South Newbury, with James
Chadwick, and afterward entered the store
of F. & H. Keyes, at Newbury Street, where
he continued until he formed a partnership
with his brother, at I'iermont Crossing, in
185 1. Here they developed a profitable
trade, and a few years later they removed to
the village of Bradford, where the firm has
remained, with several changes in the part-
58o
STEVENSON.
nership, until the day of Mr. Stevens' death,
March 2, 1S93. His business career was
upright and honorable, receiving the hearty
and frank approval of his patrons and com-
petitors. A Boston merchant says : " Mr.
Stevens I have known for over forty years ;
and in all that time I have the pleasantest
recollection of his manly and genial presence
and strict honor, estimating him as one of
the noblest gentlemen and merchants that
Vermont has had the honor to produce."
In the many improvements and enterprises
of IJradford, Mr. Stevens was always one of
the first to be consulted, as he was looked
upon as a ready and safe adviser. In the
day of Bradford's calamity, when its business
centre was swept away by fire, in the spring
of 18S3, Mr. Stevens proved his faith in the
town by the erection of a brick block that
still stands as a memento of his confidence
and energy. He did much to increase busi-
ness in Bradford these later years. The new
hotel, the creamery, the grist mill, all owe
their success largely to the influence of his
liberal spirit and financial support. Every-
thing that tended to the prosperity of the
town had from Mr. Stevens hearty and sub-
stantial aid.
In politics Mr. Stevens was a Republican,
and held many town offices. He was a
loyal supporter of the North during the war
and of the loyal veterans since the struggle.
In religion he was aCongregationalist, and
though not a member of the church, he gave
its business interests the same practical at-
tention that he did his own. He had much
to do with thebuildingof the present church
structure, and his religious belief was a
potent factor in his life.
He married, in 1856, Miss Harriet E.,
daughter of Austin and Miriam Ladd,
of Haverhill, N. H. They had four children,
one of whom, Helen Luella, died in infancy.
The others are : Carrie ( Mrs. Albert \V.
Porter of New York), and May (Mrs. O. R.
Baker of Bradford).
The home of Mr. Stevens was one of the
happiest in the village, with all that love and
care could give it.
As a citizen Mr. Stevens sought to live
peacefully with all men. He was naturally
kind of heart. Those that worked with him
as partners, and for him as assistants, always
found him pleasant, agreeable and indulgent.
Mr. Stevens departed this life March 2,
1893. An old citizen writes of him that he
" took an active interest in the prosperity of
the village, being liberal in his support of
both churches and schools, and rendering it
one of the most thriving communities of the
state. His sterling virtues and enterprising
business habits endeared him to a large
circle of friends, and made him one of the
foremost citizens of the town."
STEVENSON, IRVIN, of Lowell, son 01
Irvin and Eliza ( Fletcher) Stevenson, was
born in Lowell, April 5, 1885, and is one of
the reliable, substantial young business men
in the town. Mr. Stevenson was educated
in the Lowell and Westfield public schools
and at the Kimball L^nion Academy, Meri-
den, N. H. He is also a graduate of the
National Business College, New Haven,
Conn., and taught several terms in the
public schools.
Not choosing to be a practical farmer like
his father, in the fall of 1885 he went into
the mercantile business in Lowell in com-
pany with A. A. .Aseltine, of Enosburgh
Falls. A year and a half later he became
sole proprietor of his present large store, and
carries a fine stock of general merchandise.
Politically he is a strong Democrat with
conservative tendencies, and was postmaster
during Cleveland's first administration. Mr.
Stevenson is and has been for many years
town superintendent of schools, and in 1892
was elected town treasurer. He is also quite
actively interested in town affairs.
He has been for eighteen years an exem-
plary member of the Congregational church,
and is an energetic promoter of the welfare
of that denomination in Lowell.
November 13, 1879, he was united in
marriage to Mary L., daughter of Henry
Smith, of Chatham, N. Y., and has by her
one daughter : Louise.
STEWART, JOHN WOLCOrr, of Mid-
dlebury, son of Ira and Elizabeth (Hubbell)
Stewart, was born in Middlebury, Nov. 24,
1825. The first ancestor of Governor Stew-
art's family on the paternal side, whose
record has been preserved, was Robert
Stuart, of Edinburgh, Scotland. Samuel,
his son, emigrated first to Londonderry,
Ireland, and secondly, from thence with the
historical Scotch-Irish colony which crossed
the Atlantic and settled in Londonderry,
N. H., in the early part of the eighteenth
century. John Stewart, grandfather of John
Wolcott, familiarly known as Captain John,
was born in Londonderry, N. H. He was
a man of marked characteristics, full of
martial energy, and took an active part in
the French and Revolutionary wars. At
the early age of fifteen he first killed an
Indian in a notable fight in the forest.
Subsequently he became a member of a
courageous band of frontiersmen known as
Rogers' Rangers. He accompanied the ill-
fated expedition of General Montgomery
against Quebec, and was in the immediate
neighborhood of that gallant officer at the
time of his death. He happened to be in
Bennington, paying his addresses to the
lady who afterward became his wife, when
Burgoyne's invasion took place, and he at
382
once volunteered and led a company of
[jatriot soldiers in the decisive conflict that
followed.
John W. Stewart prepared for matricula-
tion in the Middlebury Academy, entered
Middlebury College and graduated from
that institution in 1846. Adopting the legal
profession, he began to qualify himself for
practice by reading law in the office of
Horatio Seymour, in Middlebury, and re-
mained there until January, 1S50, when he
was admitted to the bar of Addison county.
Commencing practice at Middlebury, he
conducted it alone until 1854, when he con-
tracted a copartnership with ex-U. .S. Sena-
tor Phelps, and maintained the connection
until the death of the latter in .April, 1S55.
His association with Senator Phelps proved
to be very valuable in many respects.
Early in his professional career Mr. Stew-
art identified himself with the political affairs
of his native state. In the years 1852, 1S53
and 1854 he held the office of state's attor-
ney for Addison county. In 1S56 he was
elected to the Legislature as representative
of Middlebury, and served therein as chair-
man of the committee on railroads. His
services proved to be so acceptable to his
constituents that he was again elected in the
following year, and was also re-appointed to
his former position on the railroad commit-
tee. In January, 1857, the State House at
Montpelier was destroyed by fire, and a
strong movement was set on foot to make
Burlington the capital of the state. This
movement Mr. Stewart resisted. Although
one of the members from the west side of
Vermont, he was influentially active in the
legislative debates on the question of re-
moval, and favored the retention of Mont-
pelier as the capital. His logic was weighty
and powerful, and was largely instrumental
in carrying the point in favor of the old
location. In 1861 Mr. Stewart was returned
to the state Senate from Addison county,
and served on the judiciary committee.
Elected for a second term to the Senate of
1S62, Mr. Stewart again served on the judi-
ciary committee and as chairman of the
committee on rules. In 1864 he was re-
turned to the House from Middlebury, and
served on the committees on joint rules and
judiciary. In 1865, 1866 and 1867 he was
a member of the House, and at each session
was elected speaker. One of the changes
in the organic law of the state, effected by
the Constitutional Convention of 1870, was
that bv which the biennial system was
adopted. Mr. Stewart was the first Gover-
nor of Vermont elected under the new order
of things, and was chief magistrate of the
state, to his and its honor, from 1S70 to
1872. He was in 1876 again a member of
the House, and was again its model speaker.
He has not given his whole time to the
practice of his profession, but has devoted a
portion of it to the management of financial
institutions. He was chosen a director of
the Middlebury Bank in 1S58, and for several
years prior to 1881 he served as president
with great acceptability and gave strong
evidence of entire fitness for the position.
In 1 88 1 the pressure of other engagements
upon his time forced him to decline a
further re-election.
In 1882 Governor Stewart was elected by
the Republicans of the new First Con-
gressional District to the Forty-eighth Con-
gress. His long service in both branches of
the Vermont Legislature and his excellent
gubernatorial administration gave promise
that was amply fulfilled of good and influen-
tial service in national legislation. He was
re-elected to Congress in 1884, 1886 and 1888.
Since the expiration of his eight years in Con-
gress Governor Stewart has returned to the
active practice of law — to the work of a pro-
fession which he adorns and whose members
are all his admirers and friends.
John Wolcott Stewart was married, Nov.
21, i860, to Emma, daughter of Philip and
Emma Hart Battell of Middlebury, a grand-
daughter of the late Hon. Horatio Seymour
of Middlebury. Five children were the fruit
of their union. Three of these, two daugh-
ters and one son, are still liviing.
STICKNEY, GEORGE WASHINGTON,
of Andover, son of Joseph and Ann (Hos-
nier) Stickney, was born in New Ipswich, N.
H., Oct. 25, 1804. Joseph Stickney, Sr.,his
grandfather, was a \eteran ranger in the old
French war, and Joseph, Jr., his father,
served with credit in the Revolutionary strug-
gle. George's mother, Ann Hosmer, had
often gazed upon Paul Revere, and her father,
\\illiam Hosmer, rallied with his comrades
upon the green at Lexington.
George \V. Stickney was of the third of
four generations, three of which have acted
an honorable part in three famous wars, for
his son Cassias was a brave soldier of the
L'nion and died in Libby Prison of woimds
received in battle. George W. received only
the limited educational advantages of the dis-
trict school, but is a man of remarkable in-
telligence and force of character. .At the
age of eighty-nine his mind is clear, his
memory retentive, and he still labors in the
field. His uncle, Moody Stickney, cleared
the farm in 1790 where he now resides, and
this property for more than a century has
been in possession of some member of the
family, where to-day four generations are
sheltered under the roof tree of the old
homestead and gather around its hospitable
board. Five soldiers of the Revolution set-
tled in this school district in Andover, and
fifteen sons of these worthy sires served in
the bloody struggle to preserve the Union,
six of whom never returned.
Mr. Stickney was united in marriage Nov.
22, 1832, to Roxillana, daughter of Amos and
Roxillana (Utley) Burton. To them have
been born eight children : Nancy (Mrs.
Alonzo C. Gutterson, deceased), Warren (de-
ceased), Byron, Jane (deceased), Cassius
M. (killed in the war), Eliza (Mrs. Warren
Beard of Chester), Preston L., and Eva J.
tIsMr. Stickney was from the outset a pro-
nounced abolitionist, casting his first presi-
dential vote for John Quincy Adams and his
last for Benjamin Harrison, and deposited
his ballot at every intervening election. He
has been called upon to serve in all town
offices, has acted as justice of the peace for
over half a century and for six terms repre-
sented Andover in the Legislature, while dur-
ing the civil war he discharged the duties of
deputy United States marshal and enrolling
officer.
STICKNEY, JOSEPH TREADWAV, son
of Tyler and Laura (Treadway) Stickney,
was born in Shoreham, on the 28th of July,
183:;.
STILES. 383
voted great attention to raising Spanish
Merino sheep, and was honored with the
first prize for the best flock at the inter-
national exhibition in Philadelphia, in 1876.
Like all Vermonters, he is much interested
in the breeding of horses, preferring those of
the Morgan variety, while in cattle his preju-
dices are in favor of the Durham stock.
Mr. Stickney adheres to the principles of
the Republican party, and very deservedly
represented his town in the Legislature of
1886, where he was a useful member of the
general comnnttee. He has been the choice
of his fellow-townsmen for many positions of
trust, including that of selectman and over-
seer. For three years he served on the
committee on pedigree in the Vermont
Sheep Breeders' Association. He has a
large acquaintance, and is a man of exceed-
ing popularity, but does not avail himself of
this advantage in office-seeking, nor does he
desire promotion in the management of
public affairs, but quietly works for the good
of his party, enjoying the esteem and confi-
dence of all his friends and acquaintances.
Mr. Stickney has never entered the mar-
ried state, and has also avoided membership
in clubs and societies, and is not officially
connected with anv church organization.
SI
^
JOSEPH TREADWAY STICKNEY.
His primary educational training was ob-
tained at the common schools of his native
town, and he afterwards graduated at New-
ton Academy, in Shoreham. He has always
devoted his life to agricultural pursuits and
to the breeding of blooded stock, in which
he has met with great success. He has de-
STILES, FRANK W., of Springfield, son
of William L. and Betsey A. (Sargent) Stiles,
was born in ^Vindsor, Dec. 27, 1849.
His education was somewhat limited, being
confined to the public schools of Windsor,
but during his youth and early manhood,
under many disad\antages, he pursued quite
an extended course of reading and study.
His father being subject at times to mental
derangement, the support of the family de-
\ol\-ed largely upon the son, and from
necessity he early acquired habits of indus-
try and self denial. In 1864 the family
removed to Springfield, and Frank entered
the employment of the Novelty Works Co.
and other business houses. .After ten years
experience in this vocation, he established a
job printing business, and, Jan. 4, 1878,
issued the first number of the Springfield
Reporter, a four column folio devoted to the
promotion of local interests. The prospect
of success was not very encouraging, as seven
difTerent attempts in journalism had pre-
viously failed in that locality, but Mr. Stiles
persevered and through his energy and un-
ceasing effort, soon saw the circulation and
influence of his news]iaper rapidly increase
till it reached its present en\iable position,
resting on a firm financial basis, entirely due
to the business and editorial ability of its
founder and promoter. From this success
other good fortune has been derived, and
Mr. Stiles is now the owner of valuable real
estate in the town and its vicinit)'.
384
He has always been an outspoken and
staunch supporter of the RepubHcan party,
but has never sought or held public office.
He has received the first three degrees of
Masonry in St. John's Lodge, No. 41, of
Springfield.
Mr. Stiles was united in marriage June 5,
1879, to Ann S., daughter of Daniel and
Mary (Boyle) Hayes of Plymouth. To
them have been born : George Hayes, Louise
May (deceased in infancy), Bessie Ann
(deceased in infancy), Harold F. W., and
Russell William.
STILLSON, Henry Leonard, of Ben-
nington, son of Eli Bennett, and Eliza Ann
(Leonard) Stillson, was born in Granville,
N. Y., Sept. 19, 1842.
He received an academic education, sup-
plementing that of the common schools, and
has de\'oted his life chiefly to journalism and
literary pursuits. He commenced his career
by lending his services during the war to the
Rutland Herald. After four years thus em-
ployed he embarked in the insurance busi-
ness, but soon resumed his original vocation,
and since 1871 has resided in Bennington,
where for twenty years he has been con-
nected with the Bennington Banner.
HENRY LEONARD STILLSON.
This is a very brief abstract of the life of
a man whose reputation as a historian is
widely extended on both sides of the At-
lantic. He was the editor-in-chief of the
"History of Freemasonry and Concordant
(_)rder," a standard work which has gone
through several editions, and had the un-
precedented sale of 33,000 copies during the
first year, thus making his name a familiar
one among Masons, both here, in Canada
and in Europe. He is connected with a
number of journals devoted to interests of
Freemasonry, and the L O. O. F., and is a
frequent contributor to "Frank Leslie" and
other periodicals of that description. In
1892 he had the signal honor to be made a
member of the correspondence circle of the
"Lodge Quatuor Coronati" of London, Eng.,
a select circle of antiquaries, and is also a
member of the American Historical Associa-
tion. His ability as a writer in his chosen
class of subjects has been heartily endorsed
by leading journals of America, England,
and those upon the continent.
Mr. Stillson has consecrated some of his
best literary efforts to the Masonic fraternity
in which he holds an eminent position, and
for whose welfare he has exer labored with
enthusiasm and energy. He is affiliated with
Mt. Anthony Lodge, No. 13, of which he is
past master ; Plattsburg Chapter, No. 39, R.
A. AL ; Taft Commandery, K. T., No. 8 ;
Cyrene Preceptory and Priory, K. T., No. 29,
of Toronto, Canada, and Mt. Anthony Chap-
ter No. I, O. E. S. He has been called
upon to discharge the duties of grand patron
of the last named body, is an honorary Pre-
ceptor of the Sovereign Great Priory of
Canada. He is past grand master and past
grand representative of the L O. O. F., and
has also written the history of that order in
the state of Vermont. The biography of Mr.
Stillson's works occupies two pages in the
annual report of the American Historical
Association for 1893, among the latest of
which was the "Vermont Centennial History,"
issued last year.
Mr. Stillson was united in marriage, August
5, 1868, to Josephine Sophia, daughter of
Benjamin and Maria (Buckman) Woodruff,
of Plattsburg, N. V. Mrs. Stillson died Feb.
18, 1880, leaving one daughter, Frances
Emily Stillson, now living, and a son, Benja-
min Leonard Edward, since deceased. Sep-
tember 6, 1 88 1, he was wedded to Helen
Kenyon, of Manchester, Vt., and to them
four children have been born : Bessie, Ruth
Katherine, Adah Caroline, and Lee Hascall,
none of whom survive.
Mr. Stillson has always acted with the
Republican party and has represented Ben-
nington in state and county conventions but
has never sought for or held any other politi-
cal preferment. He is the present health
officer for the village and town of Bennington
and North Bennington graded school district
— the executive for three boards of health.
STONE.
385
STONE, Charles Marshall, son of
Charles and Sarah (Wells) Stone, was born
in Lyndon, April 18, 1833.
He left his father's farm in 1849, when six-
teen years of age, and entered the office of
the St. Johnsbury Caledonian in which he
acquired a thorough knowledge of the print-
ing and publishing business, having received
his education in the public schools and the
Lyndon and St. Johnsbury academ es. In
1855 he purchased a half interest in the
paper, two years later became sole editor
and proprietor and so remained to the last
year of his life when his eldest son entered
the concern as assistant editor.
Mr. Stone was married in 1858 to Sarah,
daughter of Gov. Erastus and Lois| (Cross-
man) Fairbanks. Four children were born
to them, three of whom survive. After a
short illness, Mr. Stone died, Mfrch 12,
1890, at Jacksonville, Fla. He was a veteran
in Vermont journalism, having conducted the
Caledonian for thirty-six years. Kver de-
voted to his caUing, possessed of brijadth of
thought, courage of utterance, sincerity and
strength of conviction, which qualities
marked his entire life, he wielded an influ-
ence that was felt and acknowledged not
only in his own state, but also far beyond its
borders.
STONE, Arthur Fairbanks, of St.
Johnsbury, son of Charles M. and Sarc\h
(Fairbanks) Stone, was born in St. Johnsi
bury, Feb. 18, 1863.
His preparatory education was the usual
one received in the public schools and he
fitted for college in the St. Johnsbury .Acad-
emy, where he was graduated in 1881. He
then matriculated at Amherst College, Mass.,
from which he received his diploma as a
bachelor of arts, in 1885.
After his graduation, he resolved to de-
vote himself to the profession of journalism
and as his first essay, was employed as a
reporter on the staff of the Northampton
(Mass.) Daily Herald for two years. He
then changed the scene of his labors and
served in the same capacity for a year in
connection with the F"all River 1 )aily News.
In 18S9 he purchased a half interest of the
Caledonian at St. Johnsbury and after the
death of his father, in 1890, continued its
publication, discharging the duties of the
editor-in-chief of that newspaper.
Mr. Stone was united in marriage, Jan. i,
1890, to Helen, daughter of A. J. and
Harriet E. Lincoln of Northampton, Mass.
They have one daughter : Edith L.
He is attached to the Republican party,
but though advocating its principles has
never sought official preferment. Mr. Stone
is president of the local Natural History
Society, is the present clerk of the village of
St. Johnsbury and has efficiently served as
the secretary of the Vermont Press .Asso-
ciation.
STONE, Mason SERENO, of Mont-
peher, son of Orson N. and Candace (Mason)
Stone, was born at Waterbury Center, Dec.
14, 1859.
His early education was received in the
public .schools and seminary of that place,
and he afterwards attended the People's
.Academy of Morrisville. He was graduated
from the classical department in the Uni-
versity of Vermont in 1883.
MASON SERENO STONE.
Having had some experience as an in-
structor during his college course, he resolved
to devote his life to the cause of education,
and during the next six years filled the
office of principal of the W'illiston .Academy,
Bristol high school, and People's .Academy,
Morrisville. In 1889 he was elected sujier-
visor of schools in Orleans county, and in
the next year organized the first summer
school in Vermont. In 1891 he was ap-
pointed tutor in mathematics in the Uni-
versity of Vermont to fill the position left
vacant by the absence of the regular in-
structor. While at the university he was
apyjointed chief of the educational division
of the Indian Bureau at Washington, but
declined the position, jireferring to accept
the office of superintendent of schools for
the district of Easthampton, Mass., which
post he resigned a year later, when he was
elected superintendent of education for the
-,86
STRANAHAN.
State of ^'ermont, the duties of which ofifice
he continues to discharge.
Mr. Stone is independent in his politics.
For several years he has been a member of
the Congregational church in Morrisville,
and has always manifested a lively interest
in the religious work of the young people's
societies. Mr. Stone is a self-reliant and
energetic man, possessing the happy faculty
of arousing the enthusiasm and interest of
those with whom he comes in contact in the
professional work to which he has hitherto
devoted his life.
STOWELL, JOHN WESLEY, of Put-
ney, son of Asa and Mary (Colby) Stowell,
was born in Putney, Sept. 29, 1835.
chairs, continuing until 1S83, when Mr.
Stowell bought the interest of his partner
and continued the business until 1885.
Mr. Stowell has given much of his spare
time to inventions, the most successful of
which was the Gem folding table, on which
he received letters of patent in 1885, and for
the manufacture of which he organized the
Stowell Manufacturing Co., of which organi-
zation he was elected president and general
manager.
Mr. Stowell was married at AMnchendon,
Mass., May 6, 1856, to Helen M., daughter
of James and Lydia Hosley, of Marlow, N.
H. Of this union there were three children.
Mrs. Stowell died .April 24, 1870. Mr. Stowell
was again united in marriage, Oct. 29,
1873, to Miss Olive J. Farley, of Coleraine,
Mass.
Mr. Stowell is prominent in Masonic
circles, and has held all the ofifices of his
lodge, as well as that of deputy grand master
of the 8th Masonic district of Vermont for
two years. He is also prominent as a mem-
ber of the Knights of Honor.
^ 1^
STRANAHAN, Farrand Stewart, of
St. Albans, son of Farrand Stewart and Mary
Caroline (Curtis) Stranahan, was born in
New \"ork Citv, Feb. 3, 1^42.
JOHN WESLEY STOV.ELL.
He receixed his early education in the
public schools of Putney, and at eleven years
of age began life for himself. His first em-
ployment was in a chair stock factory at
Royalston, Mass., where he remained for
three years, removing thence to Ashburn-
ham, Mass., where he was fortunate enough
to meet Professor Burrage of Amherst Col-
lege, who took an interest in young Stowell
and instructed him privately.
In April, 1861, Mr. Stowell returned to
Putney and began the business life which has
led him to success. His first venture was in
the manufacture of chair stock with J. N.
Underwood,which business he continued" until
1873, when he formed a partnership with R.
C. Hitchcock for the manufacture of toy
FARRAND STEWART STRA^
He was educated in the public schools 01
the metropolis, and in 1859 came to Ver-
mont. H e was made paymaster on the Ver-
mont Central R. R. in 1865. From 1867 to
STURTEVAN'l'.
187 I he was engaged in business in Si. Al-
bans. At the close of this period he was ap-
pointed treasurer of the National Car Co.,
which position he still retains. In 1886 he
became cashier of the Welden National Hank
of St. Albans, of which institution he was
made vice president in 1892. Mr. Strana-
han is also a director in the Central Vermont
and the Ogdensburg and I,. C. R. R. Cos.,
and is vice-president of the Missisquoi road.
Republican in political i)reference, he has
served as trustee of the village of St. Albans,
and represented the town in 1884. Four
years afterward he was elected to the state
Senate, was a trustee of the state reform
school from 1888 to 1892, and was made
Lieutenant-Governor in 1892.
He was united in marriage, August 26,
1862, to Miranda Aldis, daughter of Hon.
Lawrence and Fidelia (Gadcomb) Brainerd,
from which alliance two children were born :
iSLibel Fidelia (deceased), and Farrand
Stewart.
Mr. Stranahan enlisted in the L'nited States
service in August, 1862, and was succes-
sively promoted from the grade of ist ser-
geant to the rank of 2d and ist lieutenant
of Co. L., ist Vt. Cavalry and shared in all
the battles in which that regiment partici-
pated till the winter of 1864, when he was
appointed aid-de-camp on the staff of Gen.
George A. Custer, serving in every engage-
ment in which that brilliant general took
part till September, 1864, at which time
Lieutenant Stranahan received an honorable
discharge and returned to his ado])ted home.
He is a member of A. R. Hurlbut Post G.
.A. R., of which he has been commander,
and he also is enrolled in the military order
of the Loyal Legion.
STURTEVANT, WiLBER R., of Hart-
land, son of Cullen F. and Harriet ( Morey )
Sturtevant, was born in Hartland, Nov. 22,
1844. He comes of Puritan lineage, being
the grandson of Friend Sturtevant, who was
born in Halifax, Mass., and settled in Hart-
land in 1804, where he was a medical prac-
titioner. His mother was a near relative of
Capt. Samuel Morey, of Fairlee, whose
claims as the original inventor of the steam-
boat have been lately urged with so much
authority and force.
Mr. Sturtevant received the customary
course of school instruction in the town of
Hartland, and then served an apprentice-
ship in his father's mill to learn the art of
woolen manufacturing. His father was
widely known as the maker of the Sturte-
vant Sheep's Grey, an article noted for its
extreme durability. At the age of twenty-
three Mr. Sturtevant commenced his busi-
ness career as a merchant in the town of
Hartland, where he has continued till the
SULLO\VA\-. 387
present time, conducting a successful and
remunerative trade, and winning the respect
of all by the honorable and straightforward
manner in which he has dealt with the
community.
He was appointed postmaster in 1880,
and has held the office since that time,
except under President Cleveland's admin-
istrations. He has creditably filled the
position of town clerk for many years and
been called to various other offices of public
trust, in which he has never disappointed
the expectations formed of his ability and
integrity. In 1886 he represented Hartland
in the Legislature.
Mr. Sturtevant has knelt at the altar of
Free Masonry and is united with Vermont
Lodge, No. 18, of Hartland.
He was wedded, Oct. t8, i 871, to Lenora,
daughter of Cornelius and Mary (Pike)
Robinson. Their children are : Florence H.,
Alice R., and Helen R.
SULLOWAY, LORENZO, of St. Johns-
bury, son of Lorenzo and Sabra (Campbell)
SuUowav, was born in Wheelock, July 17,
i8;,9.
His education was received in the schools
of Wheelock, and he commenced his busi-
ness career as a commercial tra\eler for a
sugar e\aporator company. Afterwards he
formed a partnership for general trade with
1'.. F. Taylor in his native town, where he re-
mained till 1873. In 1867 he was appointed
3SS
deputy sheriff, which office he held till 1878,
when he was elected sheriff of Caledonia
county, and removed to St. Johnsbury. This
office he now holds, having been elected in
1878, 1880, 1882, 1884, 1886, 18S8, 1890,
and 1892, by large majorities. In 1890, he
was the regular nominee of both the contend-
ing parties. During his term of office he has
ably taken charge of a great many notorious
criminals. In 1876, he was considered a
fitting person to represent Wheelock in the
Legislature where he served on the general
committee.
He married, Nov. 2, 1870, Lizzie, daughter
of John and Jane (Herron) Ranney, of
Wheelock. One son has been born to them ;
Ralph C.
DRENZO SULLOV
Mr. SuUoway is a member of many secret
and social organizations, among which may
be named : Crescent Lodge, No. 56, F. &
A. M., of Lyndon, in which he has filled all
official positions save that of master ; Has-
well Chapter, Palestine Commandery, No.
5, Mizpah Lodge of Perfection, Caledonia
Lodge of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias,
Olive Branch of Daughters of Rebekah, the
Order of the Eastern Star, and the JMystic
Club. He is a Methodist in his religious
belief.
SUMNER, HlRAM S., of Bristol, son of
Thomas and Dorcas (Fuller) Sumner, was
born in Potsdam, N. Y., May 24, 1834.
He was an only son, and at the age of
eighteen accompanied his parents, who
settled upon a farm in Addison. His early
education was chiefly derived from the
schools of Middlebury, where his parents
were residing in 1843. In 1S60 he pur-
chased a large farm in Bristol Flats, where
he has since made his residence. In ad-
dition to his successful farming operations
he has been actively engaged as agent for
the sale of farming implements and ma-
chinery.
He was united in marriage at Addison in
the summer of 1855 to Olive A., daughter of
Erasmus and Lucy (Carpenter) Gulley.
Four children were born to them : Charles
E., Bertha M., Henry G., and Maude M.,
the last of whom died after a short illness,
Feb. 18, 1891.
Mr. Sumner is a Republican in his politi-
cal preferences, and has always taken an
active interest in the welfare of his party.
He has held the office of selectman, and was
on the board of listers at the quadrennial
appraisal at two different times, and has held
other positions of honor and trust.
He is a member of the Congregational
church at Bristol. He is prominently con-
nected with the Masonic faternity, and for
nearly thirty years has affiliated with Libanus
Lodge No.' 47, at Bristol. He has united
with Munsell Council, and Gifford Chapter
No. 25, at Bristol, and is a Knight Templar
of the Mt. Calvary Commandery at Middle-
bury.
SWAIN, Albert Nathaniel, of Bel-
lows Falls, son of Nathaniel and Lucia
(Stow) Swain, was born in Reading, July 12,
1828.
He received his literary instruction in the
common schools, but his practical education
was derived from the printing office. In
this latter he served an apprenticeship of
three years, commencing in 1847 in the
office of the Vermont Journal at Windsor,
during which he gave some attention to the
study of Latin. After this he continued for
a similar period as journeyman with the
same employer, when seized with an am-
bition to become a journalist he removed to
Krattleboro and there found a position as
printer and assistant editor of the \'ermont
3>
ALBERT NATH
Republican then published by O. H. I'latt.
In 1856 he came to Bellows Falls, where he
became editor and soon after proprietor of
the Bellows Falls Times, which he continued
to publish, in connection with conducting a
job printing establishment, for more than
thirty-two years, when he retired from active
life still making that town his place of resi-
dence.
Mr. Swain was married, Nov. i;,, 1856, to
Susan W., daughter of John L. and Phebe
(Town) Putnam of Brattleboro.
He was an early member of the anti-
slavery party and cast his first ballot for the
candidates of the old Liberal party, when it
could poll but six votes in his town. In
1852 he voted for John P. Hale, and after
TArr. 389
the organization of the Republican party
gave to it a steady and loyal adherence.
In 1870 Mr. Swain was elected a member
of the Constitutional Convention by the
unanimous vote of his fellow-townsmen.
This assembly he regards as the strongest in
ability of any legislative body with which he
has been connected, being composed of the
strongest men in the state, among them ex-
(lovernors, congressmen, judges, and that
eminent lawyer, Hon. ]■;. J. Phelps. The
most prominent question debated and de-
cided in that con\ention was that of the bi-
ennial sessions of the Legislature, the adop-
tion of which measure received the earnest
support of Mr. Swain. He was also a rep-
resentative in the .Assemblies of 1872 and
1876, and was chosen senator from his
county in 1886. He was assigned to various
committees, including those on education,
printing, joint rules, railroads, and federal
relations. ( )n the first three he served as
chairman.
Mr. Swain was one of the originators as
well as earliest members of the Vermont
Press Association, and for four years acted
as president of that body. He served as
])Ostmaster of Bellows Falls under the ad-
ministrations of Lincoln, Johnson and (irant,
giving general and marked satisfaction in
this position during a period of twelve years.
He has been a trustee of the Bellows Falls
Savings Bank since 1882, president of the
Rockingham Free Library since its organiza-
tion, and has held many other positions of
trust and responsibility, in all of which he
has never disappointed the expectations of
those who have committed these duties to
his care.
TAFT, ELIHU Barber, of liurlington,
son of Eleazer and Ellen (Barber) Taft, was
born in Williston, March 25, 1847.
After the advantages of a good home edu-
cation and one in the common schools and
\Villiston .Academy, he entered the Univer-
sity of Vermont in 1867, graduating in 1871.
Four years after he received the degree of
A. m! from his alma mater. He entered
his name as a law student in 1870 with the
well-known attorneys, Messrs. Wales and
I'aft at Burlington, and ]iursued his legal
studies with them during his last year in the
uni\ersity. Being admitted to practice at the
bar of Chittenden county court in 1873, he
took u]) his residence in Burlington and was
admitted some time after to practice in the
Supreme Court in the same county. On the
motion of Hon. K. J. Phelps, at the Febru-
ary term, 1879, he was admitted as an attor-
nev in the United States district and circuit
courts. He was apjiointed United States
(leputv collector of internal revenue of the
third district of \'ermont in 1874 and served
|^/^^<?o^
until he resigned in 1881. Mr. Taft has
been a successful lawyer for o\er twenty
years in Burlington and his professional in-
tegrity and ability have never been (|ues-
tioned.
He was married, April t, 1875, to l.ucia
A., daughter of Anson S. and Agnes (Stuart)
Johnson, who died Dec. 15, 1S75.
Mr. Taft is a Republican in his political
faith and has been honorably recognized by
his party and the people. He has served
several terms as school commissioner and as
one of the board of aldermen, being presi-
dent of the board for three terras. In 1888
he received the honor of an election as a
senator from Chittenden county, and during
the session of that year was made chairman
of the general committee, one of the most
important in the Legislature. He is a life
member of the American Society for the Ad-
vancement of Science. His life-long study
of natural history entitles him to rank among
the foremost of amateur naturalists, to which
fact his large private cabinet of birds, fos-
sils, shells and minerals will bear ample tes-
timony.
He has been a most extensive traveler,
not only in the New but also in the Old
A\'orld. He visited the Centennial at Phila-
delphia, the region of the great lakes and
copper mines of Michigan, is familiar with
the scenery on the western side of the
Rocky Mountains, the Yosemite Valley, the
Yellowstone National Park and the Pacific
coast from San Francisco to Puget Sound.
Nor has he neglected places of interest
nearer his native state but has made exten-
sive tours through Canada, sailing down the
St. Lawrence, and up the gloomy Saguenay.
The winter and spring of 1887 he spent in
the South and Southwest, seeing New
Orleans, Galveston and the City of Mexico,
also making a trip to the top of the volcano
Popocatepetl, to the petrified forest of
Arizona and the Grand Canon of the Col-
orado.
His last and most extended journey was
in 1889, to the most important cities and
countries in the Eastern Hemisphere, in-
cluding Paris, Rome, Bombay, Calcutta,
Benares, Cairo, Jerusalem, Smyrna, Athens,
Constantinople, Vienna, Venice, Cologne
and cities of Denmark, Russia, Sweden and
Norway, Scotland, England and Ireland and
Holland, concluding with a visit to Paris
where ten days were occupied at the great
exposition before he turned his steps home-
ward.
He has ever been a zealous Free Mason
and as soon as he had arrived at man's
estate received the obligations of .\ncient
Craft Masonry in Webster Lodge, No. 61, of
\\'inooski. He was a charter member of
Pkirlington Lodge, No. 100, at Burlington,
'^91
of which he is a past master. He i:, past
grand recorder and jiast grand treasurer
of the Cirand Commandery of Vermont ; a
member of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine
and has attained the 3 2d degree in the
.\ncient and Accepted Scottish Rite. In
most of the different bodies of this last
order he has worthily presided.
Mr. Taft has ever maintained the char-
acter of an upright man, an honest and able
lawyer and a good ditizen.
TAFT, Russell S., of Burlington, was
born in Williston, Jan. 28, 1835, and went
to Burlington in 1853, where he resided until
May, 1 88 1, when he returned to Williston,
but is now living again in Burlington. He
was educated at the common schools and
academies ; read law, and was admitted to
the bar of Chittenden county in November,
1856 ; was selectman of the town of Burling-
ton from 1 86 1 to 1864, and alderman of the
city of Burlington from 1865 to 1S69 ; was
state's attorney for Chittenden county from
1862 to 1865 ; a senator for that county in
1865 and 1866 ; city attorney for the city
of Burlington in 1871 and 1872 ; register of
probate in the district of Chittenden from
1863 to 1S80, and Lieutenant-Governor of
the state in i872-'74. In 1880 he repre-
sented the city of Burlington in the Legisla-
ture ; was elected sixth assistant judge of
the Supreme Court. He has since been bi-
ennially re-elected to the bench, and has
been since 1890 first assistant judge of the
Supreme Court.
Judge Taft is especially conversant with
Vermont decisions, and in disposing of cases
is much more inclined to apply to them the
law as it is in Vermont than the law as jt
may be in other jurisdictions.
T A P L I N , Merrick Mansfield, of
Barton Landing, son of Richard and Susan
(Ordway) Taplin, was born in Irasburgh,
June 8, 1851.
.After attendance at the public schools of
Irasburgh and (Orleans Liberal Institute he
decided to devote himself to a business ca-
reer and in 1868 commenced to deal in
cattle and horses. In 1884 he added to his
former occupation a trade in wagons, sleighs
and agricultural implements. At the same
time forming a copartnership with Dr. Geo.
1!. Rowell under the firm name of Taplin &
Rowell, and they own and operate a large
dairy farm in Irasburgh. He is largely inter-
ested in real estate. He with his partner have
recently taken a half interest in the St. Johns-
bury Carriage Co.
Mr. Taplin is a strong Republican ; was
for ten years lister in Irasburgh, and served as
selectman and lister after removing to Barton
Landing.
392
His religious preferences are Congrega-
tionalist and he is a musician of ability. He
has been an ardent supporter and president
of the Orleans County ^lusical Association.
Mr. Taplin married, March 23, 1887, Susie
E., daughter of Hon. Charles and Mary
(Mehin) Rogers.
TAYLOR, Giles GalUSHA, of Fletcher,
son of Giles and Cynthia (Leach) Taylor,
was born in Fletcher, Feb. 11, 1813. His
father was the first blacksmith of the town
in which he was one of the earliest settlers,
and was a veteran soldier of the war of 1812.
The son received a scanty education in
the district schools, and at the early age of
eighteen married, and then settled upon a
section of land near Metcalf pond, a lonely
sheet of water among the hills, where with a
woodman's axe he cleared a farm from the
native wilderness. By dint of unceasing toil
he slowly increased his resources, gradually
purchasing more land, until he is now the pos-
sessor of an estate of three hundred acres and
resides upon a farm adjoining his original
homestead, which has been in the posses-
sion of the family for three-quarters of a
century. The dairy and the sugar orchard
are the principal sources from which he
derives his income. In his manufacture of
maple sugar he uses the best of modern ap-
pliances with successful and remunerative
results. Mr. Taylor has also a fine apiary.
He is a true-blue Democrat of the Jack-
sonian school, and cast his first presidential
vote for Martin Van Buren. For more than
forty years he has been moderator in town
meetings, and has always presided with
dignity and impartiality. Such is the con-
fidence reposed in him that though a mem-
ber of the minority party, he has been
elected to fill various town oflices, and was
called upon to represent Fletcher in the
J^egislature of 1890, in which body he was
the oldest member.
Four score years have left their traces
upon his form, yet his mental faculties are
nearly as active as in his youthful days, and
he still enjoys a joke and hearty laugh as
well as any man in Franklin county.
Mr. Taylor married, Feb. 15, 1831, Lydia,
daughter of James and Abigail (Aldrich)
Chase. Five children were issue of this
wedlock: Lorinda (Mrs. William Leach,
deceased), James B. (deceased), Eliza (Mrs.
A. B. Case of Cambridge), Florilla (de-
ceased), and Abbie P. (Mrs. W. J. Spauld-
ing).
TAYLOR, Herbert Edward, of Brat-
tleboro, son of Jeremiah and Mary ( Edwards)
Taylor, was born in Cuillord, <_)ct. 13, 1837.
He was educated at the common schools
of Guilford, at the Westminster Seminary,
and Powers Institute of Bernardston, Mass.,
spending his vacations on the home farm,
where he also passed the early vears of his
life.
In 1861 he enlisted with Co. F, 4th Regt.
Vt. Vols., and served three years, receiving
his discharge in September, 1864. He
was severely wounded in the battle-., of
the U'ilderness, May 5, 1864, and was
disabled for manual labor, and has since
constantly suffered from the effects of his
wounds. Returning from the battlefield he
located on the home farm, where he re-
mained until the early spring of 1865, when
he removed to Brattleboro and engaged in
the clothing and furnishing business, which
he continued until 1875.
ERBERT EDWARD TAYLOR.
In 1879 he was appointed deputy-collector
of internal revenue of the District of Ver-
mont, in which capacity he served the
government until 1885. In 188 j Mr. Taylor
was elected a deputy-sheriff and also tax
collector for the town of Brattleboro, to
which position he was re-elected successively
for four terms. He was also door-keeper of
the House of Representatives in 18SS.
Mr. Taylor served in the Vermont National
Guard, from 1886 to 1888, as captain and
provost-marshal of the ist Regiment ; and
also, from iSSS to 1S90, as colonel and aid-
de-camp on the staff of Gov. William P.
Dillingham. Colonel Taylor has been ac-
tively and prominently identified with the
G. A. R., and in 1888 was elected com-
mander of the Department of Vermont.
In social matters Colonel Taylor has also
taken a ])rominent part. He is a member
of Columbian Lodge, No. 36, V. & A. M.,
and a member of Beauseant Commandery
of Knights Templar, as well as a member of
the Sons of .American Revolution. •
Col. H. E. Taylor was married, Oct. 7,
1867, to Emeline, daughter of Stephen and
Electa (Sargent) Button, of Dummerston.
Of this union is one son : Linn Button Tay-
lor, of Brattleboro. Mrs. Taylor died in
1877.
Colonel laylor was appointed, Nov. 23,
1S89, by Secretary of the Treasury Windom,
to the position of special inspector of cus-
toms, with official station at St. .Albans, a
position which he held till Nov. i, 1893,
operating upon the northern frontier and in
Canada, and was instrumental in preventing
and detecting smuggling and other frauds
upon the Treasury Department. .After the
termination of his service for the govern-
ment, he returned to his home in Brattleboro
and engaged in the insurance business with
his son.
T.4YLOR, Harvey Edson, of West
Cornwall, son of Samuel and Brusilla
(Briggs) Taylor, was born in Salisbury, Jan.
3i> 1839-
He commenced his education in the dis-
trict schools, and finished by pursuing a
course of study at the grammar school in
Middlebury and at Fort Edward Institute.
In early life he commenced the study of the
law, but forsaking this, became interested in
breeding and selling sheep in the West. For
five years he was engaged in trade in \\'est
Cornwall, but is now a farmer and sheep
breeder. He has devoted himself particu-
larly to the RambouUett strain, having im-
ported from the flock of Victor Gilbert, of
France, in 1884. Mr. Taylor has a large
trade throughout the country.
He was united in marriage, at Troy, X.
v., .Sept. I, 1864, to Kathleen Liola, eldest
daughter of William and Martha (Murray)
Hanks, of .Addison.
He is an adherent of the Republican party
and received the compliment of an election
to represent Cornwall in the Legislature of
1890. He served with credit on the com-
mittee on claims, and introduced the bill to
abolish the commissioner of emigration, in
which attempt he was successful. He urged
this measure because he was firmly con-
vinced that it was poor state policy to pa)-
salaries to agents to decry the agricultural
advantages of ^'ermont. Mr. Taylor has
ever led an active and useful life, in the firm
belief that it is better to wear out than to
rust out. He has never become a member
TEMI'LE. 393
of any secret society or organization, since
he sees no benefit resulting from such con-
nection.
TEMPLE, George G., of Lunenburg,
son of Frank G. and Lucy (Stockwell) Tem-
ple, was born in Concord, .April 14, 1851.
His educational advantages were restricted
to the public schools of Concord and when
he was twenty-two years of age he removed
to Lunenburg, where he jjurchased the prop-
erty known as the John W. Hartshorn farm
and since that time he has been successfully
engaged in agricultural pursuits, to which he
has added stock raising. He has also been
busily occupied in buying and selling cattle.
Mr. Temple is a man of strong physique and
tireless energy.
f^He has always been successful in his va-
rious enterprises, is strongly Republican in
his political preferences and has sened
several terms as selectman and road com-
missioner. So strong is the confidence re-
posed in him by his fellow-townsmen that he
was sent to represent them in the lower
branch of the General .Assembly of 1886.
TEMPLETON, Horatio, of Worcester,
son of Joel H. and .Abigail (.Austin) Temple-
ton, was born in Montpelier, May 29, 1819.
I
HORATIO TEMPLETON.
He is one of a family of nine children and
came to \\orcester with his parents when he
was six years old, and received his education
in the i:ommon schools of the town. His
394
father was not in affluent circumstances and,
after his schooHng was completed, Horatio
worked under his father's supervision at the
trade of a carpenter and joiner. As soon as
his resources enabled him to do so, he rented
a saw-mill, which he carried on for several
years with such success that in 1849 he was
able to build one for himself and soon after
to purchase an adjacent farm which he still
possesses. Until i860 he was busily engaged
in the manufacture of staves, barrel heads and
lumber, but just before the war he rented his
property, purchased the hotel in Worcester
and as proprietor conducted it for about
eight years. During the war he was actively
engaged as a recruiting officer under state
authority. For a considerable period subse-
quently he was occupied in trade with his
son-in-law at Worcester, the firm being Tem-
pleton & Vail, but sold his interest, and since
that time has been principally employed in
the affairs of the town, in settling estates and
as agent for the Vermont Mutual Fire Insur-
ance Co.
He was married, Sept. i, 1839, to Rhoda
S., daughter of Mathias and Elizabeth (Stev-
ens) Fulsom. Seven children are the issue
of the union : Horatio M., Amanda R. (Mrs.
E. L. Wright, deceased), John S.,Abbie Ann
(Mrs. H. D. Vail, of Worcester), Emma J.
(Mrs. H. W. Lilly), Charles F., and Eillian
M. (Mrs. J. L. Stone).
Mr. 'I'empleton was formerly attached to
the Republican party, but since 1872 has
affihated with the Democrats. - For nearly
thirty years he has discharged the duties of
justice of the peace, and has also served as
treasurer and constable. He represented the
town with credit and fidelity in 1858 and
1859 and, in spite of his political views, was
again representative from Worcester in 1882
and 1890. He has long been a member of
Aurora Dodge, No. 32, F. & .-X. ^L
TENNEY, JOHN ALLEN, late of Corinth,
son of Dr. Joshua and Susanna (Allen) I'en-
ney, was born, Feb. 21, 1815, in Corinth.
He received his education in the schools
of Corinth and at Bradford Academy. Mr.
Tenney embarked on his business career as a
salesman of paper for Mr. Low of Bradford,
and afterward formed a partnership for the
sale of general merchandise with Theodore
Cooke of Corinth. At the same time he
also engaged in farming. In 1859 he re-
moved to Indian \'illage, Tama Co., Iowa,
and while there engaged in trade and also
dealt largely in real estate, .\fter four years
experience of western life, he returned to
Corinth and again pursued the business of a
merchant combined with that of a farmer.
Here he made his abode until the time of
his death.
He was a Republican, and represented
Corinth in the Legislature in 1848 and 1849.
He was town clerk and register of probate
for many years. For nine years he dis-
charged the duties of judge of the probate
for Bradford district, and held the position of
assistant judge of Orange county court for
two yeats by election, and one year by ap-
pointment to fill the place of a former
incumbent who had resigned. While in Iowa
he was made county supervisor.
Judge Tenney belonged to the Masonic
fraternity, and occupied a high position in
the brotherhood.
He was married at Corinth, Jan. i, 1844,
to Mary, daughter of Henry and Jennie
(McKeen) Doe of Corinth, who died May
7, 1847. His second wife was Lydia Doe,
who died Jan. 29, 1889, by whom he had
one child : Mary I. He contracted a third
alliance with Mary Raymond, June 23, 1892.
Judge Tenney died, regretted by a large
circle of friends and acquaintances, Oct. i,
1892.
TERRILL, George EdrICK, of Under-
bill, son of Londus F. and Susan (Fernald)
Terrill, was born in Underbill, (uly 30, 1861.
GEORGE EDRICK TERRILL.
He was educated in the common schools
of his native town and the Green Mountain
Academy at Underbill Centre. After leav-
ing school in 1876 he was engaged as a clerk
in the mercantile establishment of his father
where he continued until 18S4, when he pur-
chased a half interest and remained a iiart-
ner until 1889. He then bought out his
father and has since successfully continued
the business.
He was married in Plattsburg, N. Y., June
II, 1878, to Ida J., daughter of Cyrus and
Lucy (Mead) Prior. Of this union are two
children : Efifie A., and Scott E.
He is a member of McDonough J.odge,
No. 26, F. & A. M., and has been its secre-
tary for six years and also its junior warden.
He joined Burlington Chapter in 1882 and
also Burlington Council and later the Com-
mandery of which he was standard bearer.
He joined Burlington Chapter, No. 3, R. A.
M., and Burlington Council, No. 5, R. eS;
S. M., in 1883; Burlington Commandery,
No. 2, K. T., in 1884 ; Mount Sinai 'I'eniple,
Ancient Arabic Order, Nobles of the Mystic
Shrine, Nov. 16, 1892 ; Vermont Consistory,
A. A. S. R., 3 2d, March 31, 1893. He also
belongs to Green Mountain Lodge (Odd
Fellows), No. 4. He is a member of Cen.
George A. Custer Camp, No. 7, S. of V., was
its first captain in 1884. He was success-
ively promoted in this organization to the
rank of major, lieutenant-colonel and colonel
of the Division of ^'ermont, and was a dele-
gate to the national encampments at Min-
neapolis, Minn., Helena, Mont., and Cincin-
nati, Ohio.
As a Republican he represented his town
in the tSeneral Assembly of 1892, was a mem-
ber of the committee on railroads, and has
been town treasurer since 18S5, and for six
years past has been chairman of the Repub-
lican town committee.
TEWKSBURY, AMOS BRADFORD, of
West Randolph, son of Amos W., and Annis
(Campbell) 'I'ewksbury, was born in New
Boston, N. H., April 11, 1832. His father
removed to West Randolph from New Bos-
ton in 1854. He was widely known as a re-
liable business man and acted in the official
capacity of town clerk and treasurer. He
engaged in general trade and soon possessed
the deserved confidence and patronage of a
wide circle in his neighborhood. During
the twenty-eight years which he passed in
^^'est Randolph as a merchant and manu-
facturer the town progressed in development
with great rapidity, and Mr. Tewksbury con-
tributed his full share to its welfare. He died
at \\'est Randolph, August 16, 1883, with a
high reputation for liberality and strict in-
tegrity.
The son inherited his father's practical
and sterling ([ualities, and after receiving his
education in the common schools of New
Boston and the Merrimac Normal School he
entered the firm with which his father had
been connected, and his business experience
has developed a keen insight, a judgment
both ready and reliable, and an ability to at-
THAVER. 395
tend to all petty and various details in his
transactions which is rarely equalled among
business men.
The trade of A. ^V. Tewksbury & Sons is
one of the most extensive in the state. They
ha\e extensive sawmills and manufacture
large ([uantitiesof lumber. In addition they
have a door, sash and blind factory, besides
an establishment for making adjustable win-
dow screens.
Mr. Tewksbury has deservedly been in-
trustetl with many official positions, and in
1882 he was chosen representative of the
town of Randolph ; but he has best served
the interests of the place by therein con-
ducting a large and jirofitable business on
liberal principles.
He was united in marriage, July 19, 1S64,
to Anna M., daughter of Abner and Hannah
Dodge. Of this marriage there are two chil-
dren : George D. ( deceased ) , and Kdward W.
THAYER, LEWIS PaIGE, of West
Randolph, son of W. H. H. and Sarah A.
(Lewis) Thayer, was born in Barnard, Oct.
23,1851.
In his earlier years he pursued his studies
at the academy at West Randolph, and the
Randolph Normal School. Resolving to
devote his life to journalism, he commenced
to study the practical part of his profession
in the office of the Green Mountain Herald,
then owned by the Re\-. E. Gerry. Having
mastered the printer's trade and obtained
some knowledge of editorial duties, he
purchased the paper, and from a list of 275
subscribers w-orked up a circulation of 4000.
In 1879 he moved to Montpelier where he
commenced the publication of the Vermont
Farmer, and after about two years sold the
journal to Mr. George H. Richmond, ha\ing
made the paper a success. He then returned
to the Herald, but has not confined his at-
tention to this sheet alone, having been
associated with the Northfield New.s, Bur-
lington Clipper, and other papers.
Mr. Thayer is at present the chairman of
the executive committee of Vt. Press .Associa-
tion. He has never desired, sought for, or
held political office.
He was united in marriage, August 29,
1879, at Yankton, Dakota, to Alice M.,
daughter of A. A. and Betsey .\. Smith. Two
children have been born to them : Maurine,
and Harrison Smith.
THOMAS, HORACE, of Salisbury, son of
Isaac and Matilda (Hubbard) Thomas, was
born in Salisbury, .August 15, 1809. Mr.
Thomas is a member of a family of old New
England stock, which was one of the first to
find its way into Vermont.
He took advantage of the scanty course
of instruction afforded by the neighboring
396
schools, and when he came of age, acceded
to his father's wish that he remain at home
and assist him in the labors of the farm. At
his father's death, he purchased the interest
of the other heirs, and still remains on the
old Thomas homestead.
He married, Dec. 3, 1835, Anna B.,
daughter of William and Eunice VVainwright,
of Salisbury. Of this union there were five
sons and one daughter: William W. (who
died at Middlebury in 1879), ^Villard H.
(who died at Salisbury in 1887), Walter J.
(a veteran of the wa_r), Robert B., Delia A.
( Mrs. Frederick Emerson, of Adamsville,
Mich.), and Edson H.
Mr. Thomas has always been identified
with the Republican party, and is an active
promoter of the interests of his native town,
where he is universally honored and respect-
ed. For thirty-four years he has been town
treasurer, and has enjoyed many successive
terms as selectman. He was chosen as rep-
resentative to the Legislature at its first
biennial session in 1S70. He has been for
many years an active and influential mem-
ber of the Congregational church at Salis-
bury village, and has long served as a trus-
tee of that society.
THOMAS, Stephen, of Montpelier, .son
of John and Rebecca (Batchellor) Thomas,
and grandson of Joseph and Hannah (Vick-
ery) Thomas, was born in Bethel, Dec. 6,
1809. His grandfather Joseph served in, the
Revolutionary war, and was a lieutenant in a
New Hampshire regiment in the Saratoga
campaign, and his father John was a soldier
in the 31st Regt., U. S. Inft., in the war of
181 2, and died from exposure in service at
Pittsburgh.
Stephen was but four when his father died,
and his widowed mother's circumstances
were such that he had to go to work when a
mere boy. He went to district school in
Thetford, and at eighteen was apprenticed
to a woolen manufacturer, and followed his
trade in Thetford, Strafford and West Fair-
lee. He started manufacturing for himself
at Hartland, but was burned out and went to
work in Thetford, and finally settled in West
Fairlee. Here he did a good deal of sheriff
business, and also pension business, and was
soon the leading man of affairs in town.
He represented West Fairlee in the House
in 1838, 1839, 1845, 1846, i860 and 1861,
and was a state senator from Orange county
in 1848 and 1849. He was a delegate to
the Constitutional Conventions of 1843 and
1850; register of probate for the district of
Bradford from 1842 to 1846, and judge of
probate for that district from 1847 'o 1849.
Judge Thomas was active in politics, and an
earnest Democrat till the rebellion began.
He was an alternate to the Democratic na-
tional convention of 1848, and a delegate to
the next three conventions, those of 1852,
1856, and i860. At the sessions of the
convention of i860, at Charleston, S. C, and
Baltimore, he became convinced of the set
design of southern Democrats to break the
Union if they could not control it. He was
the rjemocratic candidate for Lieutenant-
Covernor in i860, and earnesdy advocated
the election of Douglas.
.At the special session called by (Governor
Fairbanks at the outbreak of the rebellion
in .April, 1861, the greatest sum proposed to
be raised for war purposes was half a million
dollars, but Judge Thomas urged with energy
that it be a million — and his fiery zeal carried
the appropriation which he well knew would
be needed.
STEPHEN THOMAS.
November 12, 1 86 1, he was made colonel of
the 8th Vermont, which regiment he raised and
led to the South, remaining its colonel till
Jan. 12, 1865. Feb. i, 1865, he was com-
missioned brigadier-general of volunteers,
and served as such till .August 24, 1865. He
was elected Lieutenant-Governor in 1867
and 1 868, and under commission from Pres-
ident Orant was pension agent for Vermont,
with headquarters at Montpelier, from 1870 to
1877. He is now president of the U.S. Clothes
Pin Co. of Montpelier, which does a large
jobbing business in lumber and house find-
ings, and not only extends its clothes-pin
trade over the whole country, but does a
large export business. The corporation now
THOMPSON.
employs fifteen hands. He is also iiresident
of the North Haverhill (iranite C'o.
(General Thomas ser\ed with distinction
in the department of the ( lulf till t CS64, when
his regiment was ordered North, and in the
summer of that year put imder Sheridan in
the Shenandoah Valley. His services at the
battles of \\'inchester, Fisher's Hill, and
Cedar Creek were of the highest order. He
was commended in general orders for ser-
vices at \\'inchester, Sept. 19, 1864, when he
charged with the Sth Vermont and 12th
Connecticut, under his command on his
own responsibility. It is not unjust to other
brave oflficers to tell the truth, that at all
soldiers' reunions the applause always gets
to its highest when General Thomas appears.
He was the idol of the common soldier, and
the veterans seem to add year by year to
their enthusiasm for the bluff — sometimes
gruff and always brave — old general.
General Thomas married Ann Peabody of
Reading, who died at West Fairlee, Jan.
8, 1877. They had two children : Hartopp
of Junction City, Wis., and Amanda T.,
widow of Luther Newcomb, who was many
years county clerk at Montpelier.
General Thomas has, since the death of
his wife, made his home at Montpelier with
his daughter, 'Mrs. Newcomb. He has held
the highest places of honor in the gift of the
various veteran associations in the state, the
camp of the Sons of Veterans at the capital
is "Stephen Thomas Camp," and so the
sons, like the fathers, regard him as the type
of. the American citizen soldier — exemplar
by descent of those who in battle founded
and defended, and in person of those who in
battle preserved, the great Republic.
THOMPSON, Laforrest Holman, of
Irasburgh, son of Levi S. and Irene (Hodg-
kins) Thompson, was born in Bakersfield,
Jan. 6, 1848.
His father moved from Bakersfield to
Cambridge about 1855, remained there one
year and then moved to Potton, Canada,
where Laforrest's mother died. The boy
worked on the farm until 1865, having
scant schooling but reading and studying
much for himself. From 1S65 he studied at
the grammar school (now the Normal school)
at Johnson, and at Kimball Union .-Academy
at Meriden, N. H.,and taught school himself.
In 1869, he was fitted for college but his
health was not such as to permit him to
enter. He taught instead at Craftsbury and
Irasburgh, and studied law mostly by him-
self.
In March, 1871, he was admitted to the
Orleans county bar and at once began prac-
tice at Irasburgh. He has always been an
indefatigable worker and he soon fought his
way to the front rank of his profession. In
THO.MPSON. 397
1S74, he was elected state's attorney and
from 1S76 to 1 88 1, when his law practice
demanded his whole time and caused him to
resign, he was judge of probate.
In 1880 and 1882, Judge Thompson rep-
resented Irasburgh and was, the latter year,
chairman of the judiciary committee of the
House. In 1884 he was a senator from
Orleans county and president />/v tetnpore of
the Senate.
in 1890 Judge Thompson again rejjre-
sented Irasburgh in the House, and was
again chairman of its judiciary committee.
.At the session of 1890 he was elected sixth
assistant judge of the Supreme Court, which
office he now fills.
His election brought to judicial ser\ice at
once the ardent student, and the man of
affairs giving the right reason for the right
decision.
Mr. Thompson married, August 24, 1S69,
Mary Eliza, daughter of Hon. .\. P. Dutton
of Craftsbury, who bore him four children.
Mrs. Thompson died March 29, 18S1, and
Judge Thompson afterwards married Harriet
C. Kinney, by whom he also has children.
THOMPSON, Sumner Shaw, late of
Lyndonville, son of Jacob and Esther (Shaw)
Thompson, was born in Halifax, Mass., .April
T2, 1823. He was a descendant of Lieut.
John Thompson, who married a daughter of
Francis Cooke, one of the Mayflower pil-
grims.
His education was obtained in the public
schools at Plympton, Mass., and at the age
of nineteen he received a contract from his
brother to build a part of the New Bedford
& Taunton railway, and for forty-seven years
until his death he devoted himself to rail-
road construction. He was concerned in
building the Vermont & Canada, Central
Vermont, New Hampshire Northern, Atlantic
& St. Lawrence, New London Northern,
Boston, Concord & Montreal, Newport &
Southeastern, Passumpsic, Frankfort (.Mich.)
& Southeastern, Montreal, Portland & Bos-
ton, Woodstock, Somerset, Saratoga & Sack-
ett's Harbor, and several railways now incor-
porated with the Old Colony & Southeastern
system.
,\t the time of his death he was iiresident
of the Frankfort & Southeastern R. R. in
Michigan, a director of the ("onnecticut &
Passumpsic, and vice-president of the Mont-
pelier & \\'ells River R. R., of which latter
he was appointed receiver, managing the
property so ably that it increased in \alue
while in his hands. He was also a director
in the Lyndonville Savings Bank, and the
First National Bank of St. Johnsbury, of
which latter corporation he was also vice-
president. He was director of the Vermont
Mutual Fire Insurance Co., and one of the
398
founders of the St. Johnsbury Republican.
He also presided over the board of trustees
of the Lyndon Classical Institute, to which
he was a most generous contributor.
He was staunchly Republican in his polit-
ical views, representing Lyndon in 1866 and
1867 in the House, in which he did efficient
service on several important committees. In
1S76, and again in 1878, he was chosen a
senator from Caledonia county, and in 1880
was made a presidential elector.
While residing in Massachusetts he became
a member of the Mayflower Lodge, I. O. O.
F., and was afifiliated with the Christian Bap-
tist church.
Mr. Thompson was united in marriage,
April 10, 1847, to Harriet Stark, daughter of
America and Mary (Chandler) Wiley of
Frveburg, Me. Two children were born to
SUMNER SHAW THOMPSON.
them: Ella E. (wife of Hon. Samuel W.
McCall of Winchester, Mass.), and Hattie
W. (Mrs. Charles S. LeBourveau, Jr., of
Lyndonville).
Mr. Thompson died at Frankfort, Mich.,
Oct. 24, 1889.
He was an excellent example of a self-
made man, and though deprived of a colleg-
iate education, he early learned its value
and took great pleasure in aiding young men
without means in the pursuit of their studies,
and also in donating large sums of money to
institutions of learning. L'nlike many men
who have been forced to make their own way
in the world, he was very generous and char-
itable, never neglecting any appeal for
assistance which came from a worthy per-
son. His benefactions were ever unobtrus-
ively offered and quietly bestowed without
ostentatious display.
TIFFANY, Eli, of Bennington, son of
John and Elizabeth (Marsden) Tiftany, was
born in Horbury, in the West Riding of
Yorkshire, England, Nov. 9, 1830.
He attended such schools as were provided
at that time for factory operatives till he was
fourteen years old. He then worked in
woolen mills till the spring of 1851, when he
emigrated to this country, making his abode
at Waterbury, Conn., to operate new machin-
ery for the Waterbury Knitting Co. In
1856 he remo\ed to Meriden, Conn., where
he remained two years employed in a similar
capacity by the firm of Powell & Parker. He
next visited Glastonbury, Conn., where he
invented an automatic rib knitting machine
for which he received a patent May i, i860.
In 185S, pre\ious to the issuing of the above
patents, he moved to Thompsonville, Conn.,
and there connected himself with George
Cooper in the manufacturing of the above
mentioned machinery, then in i865 he re-
moved to Cohoes, N. Y., and formed a co-
partnership under the tide of William Wood
& Co., for the purpose of producing knit cuff
and drawer bottoms for the knitting mills in
general. Finally in 1870 he removed to
Bennington, where the firm of Tiffany &
Cooper was formed for the purpose of
building rib knitting machinery, and an ex-
tensive business in this line was built up.
In 1874 his original patents were extended
and in 1880 he started a new industry
with his brothers, which was independent
irom the firm of Tiffany & Cooper, the arti-
' les produced by the concern of Tiffany
I'.ros. being knit underwear, the quality of
\\ hich has built them up a very flourishing
.111(1 prosperous business. During the early
|iart of 1886 the firm of Tiffany & Cooper
was dissolved. Mr. Tiffany purchasing the
interest of his partner for whom he substi-
tuted his son Frank M., and continued the bus-
iness under the firm of E. Tiffany & Son
until 1890, when Louis L. was admitted to
the firm making it E. Tiffany & Sons, which
are now conducting a very large and pros-
perous business in the line of rib knitting
machinery, and have not only thoroughly in-
troduced these machines in the LInited States
and Canada, but have also sent several to
South America within the past few months.
Mr. Tiffany possesses a special talent for
the invention of knitting machines, no less
than fifteen different patents having been
issued to him for different devices in this
article. During the last year he has made
some of the most valuable and important im-
provements, especially in circular machines,
for which aiijilications for patents are now-
pending.
In 1 888 he jnirchased an interest in the
Columbian Navigation and Commercial Co.,
of which he is vice-president, and which is
conducting a very successful business in
trading, carrying freight and passengers
along the coast and up the rivers of "the
United States of Colombia, S. .A.
He is a public-spirited man, always giv-
ing liberally to any cause which he con-
siders worthy, and which will tend to help
his fellowmen ; this has secured for him the
respect of the community in which he lives.
Some twenty years ago Mr. Tiiianj visited
his old home in England, spending se\ eral
months roaming about the country in which
he spent his boyhood days, visiting his old
friends and enjoying himself in general.
Then during the summer of 1893 he made
quite an extended trip, visiting his old
home once more, then sailing via the West
India Islands, visiting Carthagena of the
United States of Colombia, where his busi-
ness called him, and returning once more to
his adopted and beloved home in .-Vmerica.
He was united in marriage, .August, 1863,
to Phoebe E., daughter of James and .Ann
(Glover) Cooper, of Thompsonville, Conn.,
who died April 29, 1893, leaving three chil-
dren : Frank M., Louis L., and William J.
Though holding to the principles of the
Republican partv, Mr. Tiffany has ne\er
1 IN'KliR. 399
sought political preferment. For the past
ten years he has been a trustee of the Ben-
nington graded school.
TIN KHR , Charles Francis Orsamus,
of St. |ohnsl)ury, son of Francis and R.
Elizabeth (Hutchinson) Tinker, was born
in .Ashby, Mass., June 23, 1849.
The days of his schooling were spent in
Leominister, Mass., and at the age of seven-
teen he removed with his parents to South
Dedham, now Norwood, in that state. He
entered the drug store of his father where he
remained until 1870 when he became a stu-
dent in the medical department of Harvard
University, completing the course in 1873.
Intending to engage in the ])ractice of dent-
istry, he was employed in the office of E. I).
Gaylord, Boston, for two years, then after a
short interval in Norwood, he took up his
residence in Johnstown, N. Y., where he
practiced his profession for four years, ^^■hile
in that place he became a member of the
Fourth District Dental Society of New York.
Returning to his nati\e state Jie still pursued
V
CHARLES FRANCIS ORSAWUS TINKER.
the practice of his profession in Boston and
Norwood, but in 1885 came to \'ermont and
setded in St. Johnsbury where he still re-
mains. During his residence in this state he
has been made a member of the \'erniont
State Dental .Society.
In political faith he is a Republican. He
joined .Apollo Lodge, No. 2, Knights of
Pythias, as a charter member. In this or-
ganization he has been actively interested
4O0
and exceedingly prominent, ha\ing been
elected to the positions of Prelate, Chancel-
lor, Commander, and Sir Knight Captain.
This last office he resigned in order to accept
the position of colonel and aid-de-camp on
the personal staff of Cen. James R. Caran-
hani, who commands the uniformed ranks of
the Knights of Pythias of the world. When
the ( Irand Lodge of K. of P. was embodied,
in 18S9, he served two successive terms as
Grand Chancellor of the state, at the expir-
ation of which he was chosen Supreme Rep-
resentative to the Supreme Lodge for four
years.
Mr. Tinker is affiliated with the North
Congregational Church of St. Johnsbury,
and a member of the Mystic Club of that
place.
He was united in marriage, July 14, 1870,
to Ann Eliza, daughter of Albert and Martha
W. (Swain) Wellington, of Ashby, Mass.
This union has been blessed with three chil-
dren : Orra Certrude {deceased at the age
of seven), A\'ellington Hutchinson, and
Earnest Francis.
TITUS, Edward, of Wilmington, son of
Alonzo and Mary (Miller) Titus, was born
in Wilmington, Oct. 25, 1833, and he has
alwavs resided in his native town.
yi^W^
He received his early education in the
public schools and completed a regular
course of study at the \\'ilmington high
school. He taught a number of terms with
marked success.
Mr. Titus married Carrie Bills, adopted
daughter of David and Harriet (Palmeter)
Bills, May i, 1859. Of this union there was
one child : Frank Edward, born Sept. 4,
1864, who for a number of years has carried
on a successful business in Brooklyn, N. Y.
Soon after marriage Mr. Titus engaged in
the manufacture of various articles of wooden
ware, which occupation he successfully fol-
lowed for over twenty-five years. Since 1869
he has been justice of the peace and for the
greater part of this time the principal trial
justice. Many important and difficult cases
have been heard before him, but his decis-
ions have invariably been fair and correct,
being rendered in strict accord with the law
as understood and with the facts of the case.
In addition he has held nearly every town
office in the gift of his townsmen, discharg-
ing the duties thereof with scrupulous fidel-
ity. In December, 1891, he was elected
member of the board of trustees of the Wil-
mington Savings Bank and constitutes a
member of the finance committee. Recog-
nizing his competency and superior ability
in the consideration of legal questions and
his integrity of character as a man, he was
elected assistant judge of the Windham
county court in 1S92, the duties of which
honorable position he discharges with credit
to himself and to the perfect satisfaction of
the public.
Mr. Titus is a true and loyal ^'ermonter,
a self-made man, an upright, active and en-
terprising citizen. He has ever been iden-
tified with public improvements and enter-
prises and deservedly enjoys the respect and
esteem of all who know him.
TOLMAN, Henry Stanley, of Greens-
boro, son of Enoch and Abigail (Cook)
Tolman, was born at Greensboro, Sept. i,
1825. His grandfather (Thomas Tolman),
an officer in the Revolutionary army, was
one of the early settlers of that town, and
was appointed first town clerk and assistant
secretary of state.
Mr. Henry Tolman was a pupil of the
public schools of Greensboro and Peacham
Academy. At his father's death, which oc-
curred just before the son arrived at major-
ity, he took charge of the homestead, to the
care of which in addition to several other
farms he has devoted the efforts of his life,
making a specialty of dairy products and
raising horses and sheep. He has a half in-
terest in the lumber firm of Tolman, Simp-
son & Co., has been a director and stock-
holder in the St. Johnsbury & Lake Cham-
plain R. R., and president of the Caledonia
National Bank at Danville.
He has served on the town and county
Republican committee, was for twenty years
selectman, and held numerous other official
position in the town which he represented
for three terms in the state Legislature in
1866, 1867 and 188S ; he was elected senator
from Orleans county in 1874, and during the
war discharged the duties of recruiting offi-
cer, also drawing the money due to soldiers'
wives.
For forty years he has been a consistent
member of the Congregational church, serv-
ing on the executive committee.
Mr. Tolman married Martha A., daughter
of f. C. and Clara (Livermore) Jackson of
Greensboro, who died May 11, 1862, leav-
ing one son : .\lpha E. He was married a
second time to Fannie P. Waterman Eaton,
daughter of Arunah and Mehittible (Dodge)
Waterman, who departed this life March 5,
1890. By his second wife Mr. Tolman hacl
one daughter : Martha A.
TOWLE, Edwin RuTHVEN, of Franklin,
son of Jonathan and Lorena (Daines) Towie,
was born in Franklin, August i, 1833. His
grandfather, Reuben, after honorable service
in the war of the Revolution, came to this
part of the state, accompanied by his son,
from New Hampshire, when Franklin county
was as yet comparatively a wilderness, and
here engaged in the occupation of a farmer.
EDWIN RUTHVEN TOWLE.
The education of Edwin R. was obtained
in the district schools, and he was a student
at the Franklin Academy when that institu-
tion was under the charge of Hon. Roswell
Farnham, afterwards Governor of the state.
Although anxious for greater educational
TRL'AX. 401
atlvantages, as an only son Mr. TowIe felt it
his duty to remain at home and follow the
occui)ation of his father. He did not, never-
theless, neglect any opportunity for self-
improvement, but devoted all his leisure
time to profitable reading and also gave
much attention to the art of composition.
This probably caused him in early life to
resolve to become a journalist. In 1S70 he
found opportunity to exercise his talents as
the agricultural editor of the St. Albans
Messenger. This he still remains, laboring
to the best of his ability to render his efforts
successful in the occupation to which he has
devoted so large a portion of his life.
February 14, 1856, he was wedded to
Caroline E., daughter of Jacob and Mary
( Kirby) Truax. From this union have been
born two sons : Herman E., and Edwin J.
In 1 88 1 he received the honor of an ap-
pointment to the State Board of .Agriculture
at the hands of Governor Farnham, the
duties of which position he discharged most
satisfactorily for a period of five years. In
addition to the usual work of a memlier of
this body he prepared reports of the meet-
ings for the use of the press and of the
board. Many years ago he wrote a histori-
cal sketch of the town of Franklin for Miss
Hemenway's Gazetteer of \'ermont, and a
similar paper for the History of Franklin
County, published in 1891. In 1892 he was
the editor of a genealogy of his family, a
work which required much time and labor.
While in no sense a politician, he has always
been a thorough believer in the principles of
the Republican party. He has held several
positions of trust in the town and also in the
Methodist church, of which he has been a
faithful and acti\e member for nearly half a
century.
TRUAX, ALBERT B., of Montpelier, son
of George and Elizabeth (Briggs) Truax,
was born in Swanton, Feb. 28, 1835.
His education was limited to the district
school, followed by a course of study at
Swanton Academy, but by industrious appli-
cation he has taken ample advantage of his
opportunities and has arrived at a high
degree of scholarship.
His father was a blacksmith and he was
early initiated into this trade. Albert B., at
seventeen, became a member of the M. E.
Church under the ministrations of the Rev.
Orrin Gregg, of the Troy Conference. For
a year he labored as the leader of a young
people's class, and soon after was called to
preach. He was first licensed to exhort and
then permitted to act as a local preacher,
which privilege was granted until he entered
the travelling connection. He served under
Presiding Elder Morris as junior preacher
in the Cambridge circuit. He joined the
402
Troy Conference in the spring of 185 8, and
two years later was ordained deacon by
Bishop Osmon C. Baker, when by a change
of boundaries he became a member of the
Vermont Conference, in which he was or-
dained elder by Bishop Baker in 1S62. He
looks back with grateful remembrance upon
thirty-five years of effective service in the
church, having never enjoyed a vacation of
more than two weeks at any time, and losing
only fi\e Sabbaths from illness. Serving his
fifth year as presiding elder, he has not failed
thus far to meet every appointment. The
following charges have been entrusted to his
care : those of Winooski, Johnson, Under-
bill, Bakersfield, Alburgh, \Vest Berkshire,
^ 0^
A., Ada E. (deceased), Josephine E., Car-
lotta May, and .\lbert W."
TRULL, Daniel N.,late of Lyndon, son
of Joel and Cynthia X. Trull, was born in
Burke, June 12, 1835.
In 1 84 7 the family removed to Lyndon,
where he was educated at the academy of
that place till 1 85 2, when he commenced the
study of medicine with Dr. Selim Newell.
After the usual course of lectures in \\'ood-
stock and Hanover, he graduated at the
Dartmouth Medical College in 1855. He
then commenced the practice of medicine in
company with Doctor Xewell in St. Johns-
bury, but owing to too close application to
business his health failed, and he was com-
pelled to discontinue his chosen profession
after two years.
On the 1 6th of December, 1S60, he was
married to Cornelia C , daughter of Hon.
S. B. Mattocks, and they spent the winter in
Virginia for the benefit of the doctor's
health. In the spring of 1861 they returned
to Lyndon, where the doctor accepted the
position of recruiting officer, in raising men
for the army.
ALBERT B. TRU
W'aterbury, Northfield, Bradford, Brattleboro
and Bellows Falls. Having completed a
successful six years' term as presiding elder
of Montpelier district, he was, in the spring of
1893, appointed pastor at Enosburg Falls.
While stationed at Bradford he served as
town superintendent of schools. He has
lectured in the state for the past twenty
years, particularly on the subject of temper-
ance, and has delivered many memorial
addresses on Decoration Day. Mr. Truax
was formerly a member of the Grand Lodge
of Good Templars of the state, in which
body he served two years as grand chaplain.
He w^as married, Feb. 6, i S60, at Winooski,
to Sarah D., daughter of Theron and Joseph-
ine R. (Kingsbury) Winslow. Their union
has been blessed with five children : Wilbur
'1
From 1864 to 1869 he was engaged in the
carriage business. L^pon leaving this busi-
ness he made several changes of residence,
spending another winter in the South hoping
to regain his health.
Becoming interested in banking, he was a
director of the Lyndon Bank for eight years.
and served several terms as its president. In
1890 he removed to St. Johnsbury, where he
resided till a few months before his death,
which occured Dec. 31, 1892.
Doctor Trull was a well-read physician,
and had health permitted, would have be-
come eminent in his profession. As a busi-
ness man he was sagacious, far-seeing, cau-
tious, and prudent ; as a counselor, no man
was more frequently consulted by neighbors,
to whom he ever gave intelligent considera-
tion, helpful suggestions, and useful advice.
He was quick to respond to appeals for
charity, and always ready to assist the de-
serving poor.
TRUSSELL, Jacob, of East Peacham,
son of Joshua and Electa (Curtis) Trussell,
was born in Sutton, Sept. 20, 1833.
His education was obtained in the schools
of Danville, supplemented by instruction at
Phillips and Caledonia County academies.
After some experience in the profession of
teaching, he studied law with Mordecai Hale
and Edward Har\ey of Mclndoes, and for a
short time was under the care of Judge
Jonathan Ross. In i860 he was admitted
to the \'ermont bar and immediately began
to practice at Peacham.
\Vhen the civil war commenced Mr. Trus-
sell patriotically enlisted in Co. D, ist Vt.
Ca\alry and ser\ed mostly with the Army of
the Potomac, participating in many battles,
raids and skirmishes. He was severly wounded
in Wilson's raids, June 23, 1864, and was soon
after discharged as ist lieutenant. \\'hen the
I St Regt. was completely routed at Broad
Run, JNIosby, the guerrilla, pursued Trussell
eight miles to the picket lines and nearly
succeeded in capturing him, being very de-
sirous to obtain possession of the particularly
fine horse which Mr. Trussell bestrode. After
the close of the war he made an expedition
to Virginia City, Mont., driving fifteen hun-
dred miles across the plains. He then turned
his steps to Sioux City, Iowa, taking charge
of a gang of men who were completing the
railroad to Omaha ; he then engaged as con-
tractor on the Union Pacific R. R. till it was
completed to Ogden, Utah, when he returned
to Peacham and bought a large farm on
which he remained fourteen years. In 18S2
he returned to the practice of law at Dan-
ville and ten years later became engaged in
trade at South Peacham.
A Democrat imtil the breaking out of the
war he is now a strong Republican. Re]jre-
sented his tow-n in the Legislature of 1S84
where he served on the military committee.
He attends and supports the Congrega-
tional church, and is a member of Passum])-
sic Lodge, F. & .A. M., of St. Johnsbury, and
Stevens Post, G. A. R.
lUCKER. 403
Mr. Trussell was united in wedlock Oct. 4,
1871, to Flora M. Blanchard of Peacham,
who died August 16, 1886, leaving two sons :
Nathaniel H., and William. He married for
his second wife, Nov. 9, 1888, Mrs. Marietta
C. Walbridge, widow of Augustus J . Wall)ridge.
TUCKER, MELVIN Ellis, of Hardwick,
son of .Amasa and Diancy (Ellis) Tucker,
was born in Calais, April 27, 1849.
He availed himself of the educational ad-
vantages offered by the schools of Calais and
Hardwick, followed by one term at the Ver-
mont Methodist Seminary at Montpelier.
.As his mother died when he was a mere lad,
he was entrusted to the care of Stephen M.
Richardson of Hardwick, w-ith whom he re-
mained till he was eighteen and after this
period he was wholly dependent on his own
'«
»*'^i
\
4r-
resources. He first served an apprentice-
ship at the trade of a carpenter and mill-
wright, but in 1873 commenced as a dealer
in lumber at Eden Mills. Two years later
he removed to Hardwick, where he operated
a saw mill in connection with a farm. Mr.
I'ucker has been interested in seven mills
devoted to the manufacture of lumber and
has a financial interest in several others.
He is now busily engaged in the manufact-
ure of lumber from lands he owns in Eden
and Lowell. His remarkable success is due
to his untiring industry and energetic spirit,
for he has had to rely on his own unaided
efforts without the assistance of friends or
capital.
He was married, Nov. 12, i<S7o, to Lizzie
L., daughter of Marvin and Sally Smith of
Calais. They have had six children : Mary
D. (Mrs. W. S. Bunker of Hardwick), Alice
B., lona R., Vena E., Florence S. (died in
infancy), and Earl Bartlett.
Mr. Tucker has been too busy a man to
take much active interest in political move-
ments, but has been called to the offices of
selectman and assistant judge of Caledonia
county, the duties of which he carefully and
conscientiously discharged. In 1890 he
represented the town of Hardwick in the
Legislature, where the course he pursued
was satisfactory to his Republican constit-
uents.
judge Tucker has taken the obligations
both of Odd Fellowship and Free Masonry,
is treasurer of Caspian Lake Lodge, No.
87, of the latter body, and a member of
Lamoille Lodge, No. 21, L O. O. F. He is
a Methodist in his religious preferences.
TURNER, Edwin R., of North Con-
cord, son of Henry and Charity (Washburn)
Turner, was born in Concord, July 22, 1826.
His father came to Concord in 1810 and
settled on the farm where his son was born.
Here he remained for sixty years, dying at
the age of eighty-nine.
Edwin received his education in the pub-
lic schools of his native place and then set-
tled on the homestead, where he remained
till he was forty-two, caring for his aged
parents till their death. He then removed to
Waterford, where he resided for two years,
but at the end of that time returned to
North Concord, where he purchased a fine
meadow farm, which he has operated with
great success, carrying an excellent stock of
cattle, and enjoying the reputation of being
one of the best farm managers in his county.
By his intelligent assiduity he has amassed a
handsome competence, and is a fine speci-
men of the sturdy New England yeoman.
A Republican in his political creed, he
has held many important town offices, and
has served two terms, from 1884 to 1888, as
assistant judge of Essex county court, and
has been county road commissioner four
years, from 1888 to 1892.
Judge Turner is regarded as a prudent,
careful and judicious adviser in all matters
relating to finance and the affairs of the
town.
E. R. Turner was united in marriage at
Concord, Dec. 3, 1852, to Jane, daughter of
Farewell and Mary (Nichols) Hutchinson
of Waterford. Three children have blessed
their union : Frank H., Irvin, and Ina D.
TUTTLE, Albert Henry, of Rutland,
son of George A. and Susan J. (Cutter)
Tutde, was born in Granville, N. Y., May
25, 1838.
He is a direct descendant of William
Tuttle, who came from England to Boston
in 1635, soon after becoming a prominent
settler of New Haven, Conn.
The education of Mr. Tuttle was received
in the public and high schools of Rutland,
and in 1854 he began the business of life as
a clerk in the service of his father, who was
the owner and proprietor of the Rutland
Herald. Here he remained till he received
^^ 15^
ALBERT HENRY TUTTLE.
an appointment from President Abraham
Lincoln in the New York naval office in
1 86 1, where he filled various responsible
positions until he resigned in 1864 on ac-
count of his father's ill-health.
( )n his return to Rutland he became one
of the proprietors of the Herald, taking
active control of the paper, in connection
with which were operated a book store, and
a book-publishing, binding and job printing
establishment for the next ten years. In
1S73 he abandoned these employments and
took sole charge of the daily and weekly
Herald.
He was appointed postmaster by Presi-
dent Grant in 1874, and reappointed 1878,
and was continued in office by President
Arthur, but was suspended in 1885, one
year before his commission expired, by Presi-
dent Cleveland to make way for a Demo-
crat, having been the longest incumbent of
any postmaster in Rutland.
Mr. Tuttle possesses an unusual degree
of executive ability, and always familiarizes
himself thoroughly with every detail of any
business which he undertakes. In 1887 he
sold the Herald to Mr. P. \V. Clement, but
for several years remained its business man-
ager. Subsequently, in company with his
son, he purchased the Bates House, a prom-
inent hotel in the city, which he still retains.
He was largely influential in the construc-
tion of the Rutland Street Railway, and for
several years was its treasurer. He has been
president of the village of Rutland, was
a member of the board of village trustees
at the time of his appointment as post-
master, compelling his resignation as trustee :
has been a director of the Clement Bank,
and a member and clerk of the village
school board.
He was married in October, 1858, to
Emma M., daughter of David G. and Eme-
line S. (Cluff) McClure, of Rutland. 'I'wo
children ha\e blessed their union : Cora A.
(iSIrs. Frank A. Barnaby of Brooklyn, de-
ceased Feb. I, 1889), and Ceorge 1). (de-
ceased).
Mr. Tuttle belongs to all the Masonic
orders, having taken every degree from
entered-apprentice to the thirty-second inclu-
sive ; is treasurer of the Rutland Royal
Arcanum Council ; treasurer of Protection
Lodge, Knights of Honor : treasurer of the
Royal Society of Good Fellows, and a mem-
ber of the Mystic Shrine. He belongs to the
Rutland Congregational Church. He has
been much interested in the Vermont Press
Association, having served as president and
■chairman of the executive committee. He
has e\er been an enthusiastic worker in the
Republican party, giving his services to the
town or county committee ever since his re-
turn from New York to the present time.
For fifteen years he has been a member of
the First district Republican committee in
which he has filled the office of secretary,
treasurer and chairman.
TYLER, ERASTUS, of Vernon, son of
Erastus and Harriet (Johnson) Tyler, was
born in \\'indham, July 4, 1832-
Afr. Tyler's educational advantages were
limited to the public schools, and he has
always followed the occupation of a farmer
in his native town.
He is a strong Republican in his political
preference and has held several important
official positions, having been elected chair-
man of the board of selectmen for the years
1880, 1 88 1, and 1882. In 1886 he was
called upon to represent the town in the
Legislature, and for the last lour years has
TVLER. 405
discharged the duties of a member of the
board of listers.
He was united in marriage at Brattleboro,
Nov. lo, 1S58, to Martha .\., daughter of
Edward A. and Julia (Hutterfield) Gra\es.
Their union has been blessed with nine
children : Anna R., George E., Charles H.,
Julia H., Edward A. (now proprietor of the
Brooks Hou.se at Brattleboro), Bert I,., Will-
iam J., F. Leslie, and John C.
TYLER, James M., of Brattleboro, son
of Ephraim and Mary (Bissell) Tyler, was
born in U'ilmington, .April 27, 1835.
He received his education in the district
schools of Guilford, to which town his
parents moved in 1840, and at Brattleboro
Academy : studied law, and was admitted to
the Windham county bar at the September
term, i860. He then returned to \Vilming-
ton and began the practice of his jirofession
in partnership with Gen. S. P. Flagg, which
connection continued until December, 1864,
when he removed to Brattleboro, forming a
partnership with the late Hon. C. K. Field,
which terminated with the latter's death in
1 880.
In i863-'64 and at the special session of
1865 Mr. Tyler represented the town of
Wilmington in the General .Assembly and in
iS67-'68 was state's attorney for Windham
county. He represented the Secon<l District
of Vermont in the sessions of the Fort)'-
sixth and Forty-seventh Congresses, where
he served on several important committees.
His most notable speeches were delivered
upon bills relative to the apportionment of
representatives in Congress, internal reve-
nue, the tariff, education in the South, and
Chinese immigration.
In 1887 he was chosen chairman of the
board of commissioners to revise the school
laws of the state, but resigned to accept
from Governor Ormsbee the appointment of
judge of the Supreme Court, which ])osition
he still holds by successive elections by the
I .egislature.
judge Tyler has been promoted from time
to time until he is now third assistant judge.
His work upon the bench has fully demon-
strated his excellent ([ualifications for this
high and honorable position.
He was married Dec. 11, 1861, to Ellen
E., daughter of ^Villiam F. and Sophia
(Plummer) Richardson, who died Jan. i,
1871. He was again married, Sept. i, 1875,
to fane P., daughter of Solomon P. and
Sarah E. (.Apjileton) Miles, of which union
there was one son : Ajipleton, who died in
infancy.
judge Tyler was for many years vice-i)resi-
dent and trustee of the N'ermont Savings
Bank of lirattleboro, but resigned when he
received his appointment to the bench. He
406 TYLER.
has been a trustee of the Vermont Retreat
for the Insane since 1875, and for several
years a member of the board of trustees of
the Brooks Library.
In politics he has always been a Rei)ubli-
can ; in religion he is a Congregationalist.
TYLER, RO^ALL, of Brattleboro, son of
Chief-Justice Royall and Mary (Palmer)
Tvler, was born in Brattleboro, April 19,
1812.
He was fitted for college at Phillips
.\cademy, Exeter, and entered Harvard as
a sophomore in 1831. He graduated in
VALENTINE.
1834, and immediately began the study of
law in the ofifice of Charles C. Loring, a very
prominent lawyer on Court street, Boston.
Mr. Tyler was admitted to the bar in 1S37,
and in the following spring returned to Brat-
tleboro. He was admitted to the bar of
Windham county on a certificate from the
Massachusetts courts in 1840. Within a
year afterwards he entered the office of Asa
Keyes, the firm being known as Keyes &
Tyler. Shortly after this, Mr. Tyler went to
Newfane to attend to the business of Charles
K. Field during his absence in the West.
tJn the latter's return a year later, Mr. Tyler
resumed his practice in Brattleboro. In the
meantime he had been elected state's attor-
ney, a position which he ably filled for two
years, though he still devoted himself to his
private practice. In 1846, having then
served as register for the two previous years,
he was appointed judge of the probate
court for the district of Marlboro. He was
elected county clerk in 185 1, when he dis-
continued his practice of the law. The
office of county clerk since 1851, and that
of judge of probate since 1846, Judge Tyler
has conscientiously and ably filled to the
present time. He has also represented his
town in the Legislature. He has, while
clerk, regularly attended every session of the
county and supreme courts in Windham
county since 1851.
In 1 84 1 he married Laura B., daughter of
Asa and Sarah B. Keyes, and they have had
three children, one of whom died in infancy.
The elder daughter (Mrs. Allan D. Brown)
died 1S77, while the younger is Mrs. (i. W.
Piatt, of (Ireat Barrington, Mass.
Judge Tyler is a gentleman of the old
school, and if there are any gentlemen of a
school better than the old school, he is one
of them.
Judge Tyler is a prominent member of
St. Michael's F^piscopal Church.
VALENTINE, A. B., of Bennington,
son of Joel and Judith (Wells) Valentine,
was born in Bennington, April i, 1830. He
is descended from Richard Valentine, who
was one of the original proprietors of Hemp-
stead, L. I., where he settled in 1647.
The educational training of Mr. Valentine
was received in the Bennington common
schools. Union .Academy and at Sufifield,
Conn. \\'hen he had arrived at man's estate
he commenced business with his father
under the firm name of Joel Valentine &
Son, but later attracted by the gold fields of
California, he emigrated, in 1S52, to the
Pacific coast where for two years he was
engaged in mining and trade. Then he re-
turned to Bennington where he established
a grist-mill in the building formerly occupied
by his father.
In 1856 he was united to Alma L., daugh-
ter of Luther W. and Cynthia (Pratt) Park.
Five children are issue of this marriage :
May ( Mrs. A. B. Perkins of Bennington,
deceased). Park (deceased), Jennie A.,
Wells v., and Lilian.
July 31, 1862, Mr. Valentine received a
commission as lieutenant and quartermas-
ter of the loth Regt. Vt. Vols., and two
years later he was promoted to the rank of
captain and commissary of subsistence and
was assigned to duty in the old ist Vermont
Brigade. He also received a commission.
4o8
VALENTINE.
as brevet-major given for meritorious ser-
vices.
On leaving tlie service of his country
Major Valentine returned to his native town
where he purchased his father's property
and converted it into a knitting mill. 'I'his
enterprise met with success and though the
mill was destroyed by fire, it was soon re-
built, and the business reorganized and in-
corporated under the name of the \'alentine
Knitting Co.
He was actively engaged in the establish-
ment of the graded schools in Bennington
village and in the erection of the fine school
building of which Bennington is so justly
proud. He took a prominent part in the
celebration of the centennial anniversary of
the battle of Bennington, being chief mar-
shal on that occasion, and was actively in-
terested in the Bennington Battle Monu-
ment .-\ssociation and in the construction of
the monument itself. It was largely through
his efforts that the Soldiers' Home was
established in Bennington, and in G. A. R.
circles he is well known, having been depart-
ment commander of that organization for
two years (in 1882 and 18S3).
Though politics as such possessed no great
temptation for Major Valentine, in 18S6 he
was prevailed upon to represent his county
as one its state senators. In the session of
that year he was identified with many im-
portant measures in connection with the
Soldiers' Home and the amendment of the
laws relating to the National Guard of Yer-
mont, which latter legislation resulted in
great benefit to that body. As he had been
especially active in educational legislation,
he was appointed by Go\ernor Ormsbee one
of the committee of three to select text
books to be used in the schools of the state
and to contract for the purchase of the same.
Subsequently he was selected by Governor
Dillingham to fill the position of commis-
sioner of agriculture and manufacturing in-
terests of the state. Major Valentine was a
member of the Republican national conven-
tion in 1884, was one of the original incor-
porators and directors of the Bennington
County .Savings Bank and is now president
of that institution. He was for many years
president of the board of trustees of the
Bennington graded schools, and was a char-
ter member of the Vermont Commandery of
the Loyal Legion. He is now (1894) presi-
dent of the Vermont Officers Reunion So-
ciety. His knit goods manufactory is the
largest in the state, and its reputation is
second to none in the country.
In his religious belief he is an agnostic,
though he attends and supports the Congre-
gational church, contributing liberallv to
religious and charitable enterprises. Major
Valentine has tra\eled much, is liberal in his
ideas, proud of his \illage, and above all
things desirous of its prosperity, being ever
ready to unite with his neighbors in adding
his influence to any scheme which tends to
the improvement of his native town.
VEAZEY, WHEELOCK Graves, of Rut-
land, son of Jonathan and .Annie (Stevens)
^'eazey, was born in Brentwood, N. H., Dec.
5, 1835. Brentwood was the home of his
ancestors back through many generations.
He received his early scholastic education
at Phillips (Exeter) .Academy, matriculated
at L)artmouth College and graduated there-
from in the class of 1859. Having selected
the practice of law for the future labor of his
life he studied in law offices and in the
law school at .Albany, N. Y., and graduated
there in i860. He began practice in Spring-
field in November, i860, and was admitted
to the Vermont bar at the next December
term of the Windsor county court.
Mr. Veazey was actuated by clear convic-
tion of duty and animated by patriotic en-
thusiasm when he enlisted as a pri\ate in
Co. A of the 3d Regt. Vt. Vols. When the
company was organized in the month of
May, 1 86 1, he was elected to the captaincy,
and in the following August received promo-
tion to the ranks of major and lieutenant-
colonel, and continued to hold the latter
rank until sent home to bring out a new
regiment in the fall of 1S62. On the 27th
of September, 1862, he was elected colonel
of the 1 6th Regt. Vt. Vols. With this gal-
lant body of men he continued to serve until
.August 10, 1863, when, with his regiment at
the expiration of its term, he was mustered
out of the service of the L'nited States.
General Hancock then assured him a briga-
diership if he returned to the service, but his
health would not permit. During his mili-
tary experience Colonel Veazey took part in
many of the battles of the .Army of the
Potomac. For some time he was a member
of the staff of Gen. A\'. F. (Baldy) Smith, and
on several occasions was placed in command
of other regiments besides his own. In the
seven days' battles before Richmond, in
1862, he was a participant, commanding
either his own regiment or some other to
which he was temporarily detailed. .At Get-
tysburg the 1 6th A't. formed a part of the
third division of the First .Army Corps under
General Doubleday, and actively shared in
the sanguinary encounters of the three days
of the greatest battle of the war. In the
battle of the second day, near its close, his
regiment was in the fight between the corps
of General Sickles and the rebel forces un-
der General Longstreet.
'I'hat evening Colonel Veazey was ordered
to take his regiment and others and establish
a picket line along that portion of the field
where the battle of the second day had been
fought. The position of the Sixteenth in
that line was along that part where Long-
street's corps made the famous charge of the
third day. This is popularly known as Pick-
ett's charge. Veazey's regiment was, there-
fore, in the pathway of Pickett's division,
and not having been relieved on the morn-
ing of the third, on account of the difficulty
of doing it, owing to the severity of the skir-
mishing on the picket line during the morn-
ing, was the first to be struck by the charg-
ing column. Under Veazey's order the men
resisted the rebel skirmishers, but when their
main lines approached, Veazey, instead of
falling back through the Union lines, moved
his men to the left just far enough to uncover
the rebel front, and thereby had them in
position to attack their fiank as the column
passed him. About that time General Han-
cock, then commanding all that portion of
the Union lines, dashed down to the danger
point where Pickett's charge was aimed, and
was there wounded and bleeding on the
field as Veazey moved his regiment back
and to right to take position on the left of
the Thirteenth Vermont in the deadly as-
sault made by these regiments, which crushed
Pickett's right flank. In this movement
^'eazey passed where Hancock was bleeding
and refusing to be taken from the field. The
latter watching and appreciating the move-
ment, said to Veazey : "That's right. Colo-
nel, go in and give 'em hell on the flank."
Veazey's next move was to get his men into
line, as they were scattered over the field
gathering in prisoners, and again change
front to the left and charge the flank of
Perry's and 'Wilcox's approaching brigades,
which he crushed, capturing many hundred
prisoners and two stands of colors. This
was the substantial close of the battle of
Gettysburg. This young officer's feats in
the battle gave him a national reputation,
and secured him a medal of honor, under a
resolution of Congress, having upon it an
inscription as follows : "The Congress to
Col. Wheelock G. Veazey, i6th Vt. Vols.
For Distinguished Gallantry at the Battle of
Gettysburg, Pa., July 3, 1863."
Colonel Veazey returned to Vermont in
1863, and, as soon as health badly shattered
in the service would permit, resumed the
practice of his profession at Rutland, and
continued in practice until October, 1879.
From 1864 to 1S73, by virtue of eight con-
secutive elections, he served as reporter of
the Supreme Court, and in this capacity pre-
pared nine volumes of the Vermont Reports.
In 1872 and 1873, he represented the citi-
zens of Rutland county in the state Senate,
and officiated in that body as chairman of
the commitee on military affairs and also in
the committee on the judiciary. In 1874 he
recei\ed the appointment of register in bank-
ruptcy, and retained it until the repeal of
the bankrupt law. In 1878, he and Hon.
C. W. Willard were appointed commission-
ers by Governor Proctor to revise the laws of
the state. The revision was duly made, re-
ported, adopted by the Legislature in 1880,
and is now in force as the revised laws of
\'ermont. In the same connection Judge
^'eazey also made a searching investigation
and report to the Legislature upon the sub-
ject of court expenses, which resulted in a
reduction of the same to a very large amount.
The elevation of a lawyer so competent
and judicious to the bench was simply a
iiuestion of time. It came in 1879 by his
appointment as judge of the Supreme Court
to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation
of Judge Dunton. Beginning with 1880,
and including 1888, Judge Veazey was at
each biennial session elected a judge of the
Supreme Court. This position he resigned
in 1889 to accept an appointment as a
member of the interstate commerce commis-
sion, the duties of which important place he
continues to perform.
In the educational, financial and cor-
porate institutions of the state. Judge Veazey
was naturally deeply interested. He was
one of the trustees of Dartmouth college
from 1S79 and until his resignation in 1891 ;
he has also been trustee or director of other
educational as well as industrial institutions
in and out of the state. Before going upon
the bench. Colonel Veazey was active in
public and political affairs. He was a
delegate-at-large to the national Republican
convention at Cincinnati, which nominated
Rutherford P). Hayes for President. He has
always taken the greatest interest in his
comrades of the war, and been connected
with them in their organizations, state and
national. Colonel Veazey was one of the
early department commanders of the Grand
Army of the Republic in Vermont, and has
been president of the Reunion Society of
\ermont Officers. In 1890 he was elected
commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of
the Republic, a position than which there is
none more honorable in the Union. In all
the high places held by him — in military and
civil life — he has kept the respect, won the
admiration and had the affection of his old
comrades, and of his fellow-citizens. He
received the honorable degree of LL. 13. from
Dartmouth college in 1887.
He was married on the 22d of June, 186 1,
to Julia A., daughter of Hon. Albin and
Julia A. Beard, at Nashua, N. H. They
have had four children, two of whom are
VAIL, HOMER W., of North Pomfret,
son of Joshua and Harriet (\\'arren) \'ail.
was born in I'omfret, August 5, 1843. -^
direct descendant of Lieut. Thomas Vail,
who was an officer in the old French and
Indian war, and fought through the bloody
struggles at the capture of Fort Niagara and
in the Montreal campaign.
Homer W. received his education in the
public schools of Pomfret and the select
school. For five years after his majority he
was employed in a publishing house in Bos-
ton, but was summoned home by the failing
health of his father, who shortly afterwards
died and left to his care his mother and her
younger children.
Mr. Vail was one of the earliest stock
raisers in the state to give great attention )o
the breeding of Jersey cattle. He has made
a specialty of dairy products, and at the Na-
tional Food Exposition held in New Vork in
1892, he obtained the gold medal sweep-
stakes for the best butter on exhibition.
.After holding most of the minor offices in
his native town, he was elected by the Repub-
licans to represent Pomfret in the Legisla-
ture of 1874 and was chosen a senator from
Windsor county in 1892. He is president
of the Windsor County .Agricultural Society
and was appointed a member of the board
of agriculture by Go\ernor Ormsbee in 18S6
and has served continuously in this capacity
ever since. He has held for three years the
position of New England director of the
American Jersey Cattle Club. He has been
associated with the Banner Crange of the I'.
of H. and is also allied with the Masonic fra-
ternity as a member of Woodstock Lodge,
No. 31, of Ottaquechee Chapter and a
Knight Templar of Vermont Commandery.'
He married, March 9, 1880, Sarah .A.,
daughter of Jackson and Sarah (.Kngier) Vail
of .Montpelier. Four sons have blessed their
union : Ralph (deceased), Solon J., Henry
G., and Homer J.
VlALL, George Marcius, of East
Dorset, son of L G. and Helen .A. (Roberts)
Viall, was born in Dorset, May 5, 1849.
Of mixed English and Scotch descent.
His early educational advantages were the
customary ones given in the public schools,
and he afterward fitted for college at Elmwood
Institute, Lanesborough, Mass. Entering
the classical department of Union Univer-
sity, Schenectady, N. V., he graduated at the
head of his class, in 18-4, with the degree of
.A. B., receiving the additional honor of .A. NL,
GEORGE MARCIUS VIALL.
in 1877. Resolving to devote his life to the
medical profession, he commenced his stud-
ies in the medical department of the same
institution, receiving his diploma in 1876.
For a short time he practiced in Dorset, but
was compelled by the death of his father and
grandfather to devote himself to family in-
terests. .Accordingly, he took the manage-
ment of a large farm on which he has since
resided. In addition he has acted as admin-
istrator and assignee in the settlement of
many imjiortant estates, and has held the
412
offices of town clerk, treasurer, lister, and
trustee of public money.
Politically, Mr. Mall is an adherent of the
Democratic party, was elected to the state
Senate from Bennington county in 1882, and
to the House of Representatives from Dor-
set in 1 886, serving on several important
committees.
He was united in marriage in February,
1S76, to Lucy E., daughter of David E. and
Hannah E. (Curtis) Deming, of Lanesbor-
ough, Mass. Of this marriage there are two
children ; Lucy Deming, and" Helen P^liza.
Mr. Viall is a member of the Episcopal
church, but believes that all will be rewarded
or punished according to the deeds done in
this life without respect to creed or doctrine.
VIALL, William B., of West Randolph,
son of A. Boynton and Lucy (Newhall) ^'iall,
was born in Dorset, Oct. 19, 1842.
Receiving the customary education of the
public schools in 1862 he entered the em-
ployment of the Vermont Central R. R.
Commencing at the foot of the ladder with
the position of brakeman, he soon displayed
qualities suitable to a higher class of work.
He has served the corporation in various
capacities and is now holding the respon-
sible position of adjuster of claims. Though
not a lawyer, he is constantly called upon to
act for the company in cases involving both
business and legal difficulties, and is univer-
sally recognized as a man of quick percep-
tions, acute judgment and wide general in-
formation, while from his pleasing address he
is deservedly popular. For some years he
held government contracts for the greater
part of the Star route lines of the AN'estern
states, besides some in New England.
In 1878 he took up his residence in \\'est
Randolph where he served as postmaster
during President Cleveland's first adminis-
tration, and in 1892 was the nominee of the
Democratic party for the office of 1 .ieutenant-
Governor.
He was united in wedlock, Jan. 29, 1S68,
to Eunice L., daughter of .'\lden and Clarissa
(Rice) Lamb of Granville, and thev have
one daughter : Lucy Clarissa.
VINCENT. Walter H., of Orwell, son
of Horace and Cylinda (Wing) Vincent, was
born in East Montpelier, March 31, 1S5S.
His great-grandfather, a physician, came from
New Bedford, Mass., when his grandfather
Captain Isaac Vincent was thirteen years old,
to Montpelier, at a time when there was only
one frame house in what is now Montpelier
village, having an ox team for conveyance.
Coming to the end of the road it then being
a dense forest, he cleared the timber off and
located his future home and Uved there until
his death. The farmhouse, over one hundred
years old, is now occupied by Horace \"in-
cent. The farm proving to be the best in
that part of the state, where four genera-
tions have thus far spent their lives. It
being the old muster grounds for June
trainings made so much of years ago. There
has been a physician in each generation of
the family of which Walter H. is the present.
Mr. ^^'alter Vincent received a good early
education, graduated from Goddard Semin-
ary in the college preparatory course, June,
iSSo, afterwards entered the medical depart-
ment of the L^niversity of Vermont. 'Pook
three regular courses of lectures in the L'ni-
versity Medical College of \'ermont. In the
fall of 18S3 he removed to New York City,
where he became a student at the L-niversity
of New York, graduating in 1884. He had
also profited by the instruction of Dr. Charles
M. Chandler, of Montpelier. For three
months he wms employed in the nursery and
hospital of New York as assistant house
physician, and then settled in the town of
Orwell, July 28, 1884, where he has estab-
lished a profitable practice.
He is an enthusiastic Republican and true
to his party affiliations. Recently appointed
for three years as health officer for Orwell,
Whiting and Leicester, he is also one of the
board of school directors of his town.
In 1889 he was appointed delegate from
the ^'ermont State Medical Society to that of
the state of Rhode Island, and has been the Ad-
dison county councilor of the former associa-
tion. In 1892 he was honored with the office of
WADI.EIGH.
vice-president of the State Medical Society,
and was one of two delegates chosen to be jires-
ent at the examination of the medical students
of the University of Vermont. He is a mem-
ber of the Rutland County Medical Society ;
in 1893 he was appointed as a delegate from
the Vermont State Medical Society to the
American Medical Association at Milwaukee.
Dr. Vincent is a prominent member of the
Masonic order, and is at present worshipful
master of Independence Lodge, No. 10, of
Orwell, and affiliated with Farmers' ChajJter
of lirandon, and is al.so a Sir Knight of the
.Mt. Cahary C'ommandery of Middlebury.
He is a thoughtful and considerate man
and those who have known him longest speak
of him most highly as a gentleman and phy-
sician, a kind friend and generous neighbor.
He was married at Rutland, Oct. 8, 1890,
to Kate, daughter of A. ^[. and Harriet
Winchester. One son, Paul Winchester, was
born August 23, 1892.
WAD
Concord,
Wadleigh
23, 1829.
LEIGH, Benjamin F., late of
son of Eliphalet and Ruth ( Pressey )
I, was born in Sutton, X. H., I )ec.
He was principally educated in the public
schools of Kirby, to which place his father
had removed when the son was a small boy,
and the latter found a good home with Hon.
E. W. Church, of Kirby, upon whose farm
he was employed until he attained the age
of twenty-three years. Forty years ago he
settled in Concord, where he gave his atten-
tion to trade and was also the proprietor of
a hotel. He then made West Concord his
place of residence, where he remained until
his death in September, 1S91. For a time
he followed various occupations, but later
engaged in insurance business, acting as
agent for the Vermont Mutual Fire Insur-
ance Co., at the same time cultivating a
small farm near the village. He was well
known and universally popular in the com-
munity, deservedly possessing the esteem
and confidence of all his acquaintances.
He was married at West Concord, Feb. 6,
1859, to Caroline F:ivira, daughter of Elmore
and Nancy ('laggard) Chase. Six children
were issue of the marriage, only three of
whom survive : F. Eugene, Elmore E., and
Marion L
Mr. Wadleigh was affiliated with Moose
River Lodge, No. 82, F. & A. M., and in
his political creed was a Republican with
independent tendencies. He had been jus-
tice of the peace for several years ; and in
1S72 was elected town clerk and treasurer,
which position he ably filled until his death.
In 1S82 he was elected to the Legislature as
representative from Concord.
WAITE, HORACE, of Hyde Park, son of
Smith H. and Lucinda (Goodenough) Waite,
was born in Fairfield, May 16, 1826.
His education was obtained in the com-
mon schools of Sheldon and at Bakersfield
.Academy. Left an orphan at the age of
five he found a home with .Asa Grant with
whom he remained till he arrived kt man's
estate and for whom he worked seven vears
after attaining his majority.
In 1854 he in\ested his carefully saved
earnings in the purchase of a large farm in
Eden, where he resided until 1877 when he
removed to Morrisville to secure better edu-
cational advantages for his family. He has
continued to give much attention to his farm,
making the dairy its principal feature.
He was united in marriage, I'eb. 16, 1853,
to I.ovisa L, daughter of lienjamin H. and
Lydia (McAllister) Leach. Four children
are the issue : Smith B., .Abbie L. (deceased),
Eva B. (Mrs. Solon Abbott of Hiddeford,
Me.), and Martin P.
Mr. Waite has always been a member of
the Republican party, has often been called
to office and when the town of Eden adopted
the town system of schools under the optional
law, Mr. Waite was elected chairman of the
414
WAKEFIELD.
\VALBRIDGE.
board. In 1865 he was elected to represent
Eden in the General Assembly and served
on the grand list committee. He has also
served as county commissioner and was
assistant judge of Lamoille county from 1S82
to 1886.
Since the death of his wife Judge Waite
has resided with his son, Smith B. Waite, at
Hyde Park. The judge possesses in a rare
degree the confidence of his townsmen and
has been often called upon to act as audi-
tor, referee and guardian in the settlement
of numerous estates in his vicinity.
Mr. Waite is an ardent votary of temper-
ance, signing the pledge at eight years of
age and keeping it inviolate.
WAKHFIELD, WILLIAM WALLACE, of
Westfield, son of .Alvah and Hannah (Kimp-
ton) Wakefield, was born in Orleans county,
June 27, 1S44.
f^
rades he had the good luck to make his
escape the \ery first night after he was taken
prisoner.
.After his return to Lowell he engaged in
farming till 1875, when he became inter-
ested in the lumber business at Eden, where
he remained two years and then formed a
partnership under the firm name of Hoyt &
A\'akefield, to engage in the same line of
trade at Westfield! His sterling qualities,
both as a citizen and a business man, have
called him to many official positions, among
which may be enumerated those of select-
man, auditor, lister, first constable, and
deputy sheriff, which latter position he holds
to the present time. In 1892 he was elected
high bailiff of Orleans county, and the same
year was sent as town representative from
Westfield to Montpelier, where he served
creditably on several general and special
committees.
Mr. Wakefield has for a long time been a
member of Masonic LInion Lodge No. 16,
of Troy, and twelve years since passed
through the Royal Arch. He is connected
with the Baptist church in Lowell, and has
taken a prominent part in Hazen Post, G.
,\. R. He has always been a strong Re-
publican, and an active worker in the party.
February 11, 1866, he married Ruth E.,
daughter of Daniel and .Amanda Newton of
Lowell. Of their five children four survive :
Emma, Florence, Helen, and Maude.
JAVI WALLACE WA<EFIELD.
He received his early education in the
Lowell public schools, and during his third
term at Johnson .Academy was one of several
students who went to Morrisville and enlisted
in Co. M, I ith Vt. Vols., in September, 1863.
He remained with his command to the close
of the war, receiving his discharge in Oc-
tober, 1865, was engaged in all the battles
from the Wilderness to Petersburg, includ-
ing Spottsylvania, North .Anna River, Cold
Harbor, and, with four hundred of his regi-
ment, was captured in the engagement near
the Welden R. R., but with forty of his com-
WALBRIDGE, JOHN HiLL, of West
Concord, son of Henry and .Almira (Hill)
Walbridge, was born in Plainfield, June 30,
1847.
His mother dying in his earliest infancy,
he was put under the charge of his maternal
grand uncle, Chauncey Hill, an extensive
farmer and highly respected citizen of Con-
cord. Henry moved to St. Johns, Mich.,
soon after the death of his wife, established
himself there as a successful lawyer, and
during the civil war served as captain in the
33d Mich. Vol. Infantry.
.After having received his early education
at the public schools of Concord and St.
Johnsbury Academy, Mr. J. H. Walbridge
graduated from Lombard LTniversity, Gales-
burg, 111., in the class of 1S70, in which year
he returned to West Concord, and at the
earnest solicitation of his foster parents de-
cided to remain with them during the remain-
der of their lives. Soon after this time he
met with severe reverses in business, from
the loss by fire of the Essex woolen mills at
West Concord, and subsequently through his
liability as bondsman and by the failure of
debtors. Since these losses he has been
principally engaged in agricultural pursuits,
and is locally well known as a successful
breeder of sheep, dairy stock and colts.
WALBRIDGK.
He was wedded, April 19, 1872, at \\'est
Concord, to Cynthia H., daughter of Ehiiore
and Cynthia (Hill) Chase. They have three
children : Henry Chase, Blanche May, and
Winifred.
For nearly a quarter of a century ^Ir. W'al-
bridge has been affiliated with Moose Ri^■er
Lodge, No. 82, V. & A. M., and for three
tertns has presided in the I'last.
\ ^:
W.ALES. 4 I 5
will to all, and genial manners, have gained
him a wide circle of friends.
WALES, TORREY ENGLESBY, of Bur-
lington, son of Danforth and Lovisa .S.
Wales, was born in Westford, June 20, 1820.
He graduated from the I'. \'. ^L in the
class of 1 84 1 : studied law with Hon. .Asahel
Peck of Burlington, and was admitted to the
bar of Chittenden county in 1846, and soon
after commenced the jjractice of law in Bur-
lington. In 1857, he formed a law jjartner-
ship with Judge Russell S. Taft, under the
name of U'ales & Taft, which continued
twenty-one years. In 18S2, he and his son,
George W. Wales, became law partners under
the name of Wales & Wales ; this firm was
dissolved by the death of George W. Wales,
in i8go.
IILL WALBRIDGE.
He has conscientiously and honorably tlis-
charged the duties of many official positions,
among which may be numbered supervisor
of schools for Essex county, to which post
he was almost unanimotisly elected. He has
been appointed county examiner, justice of
the peace, grand juror, and superintendent
of schools. In 1888 he was elected, by the
largest Republican majority ever given in
Concord, a member of the state Legislature,
where he labored actively on the committee
of education, and was recognized as an in-
dependent and forcible debater. He drew
and presented a bill reducing the limit of ex-
emption from taxation in savings banks, and
also reducing the percentage that those in-
stitutions and trust companies could invest
in Western securities, this last measure be-
coming a law. He also drafted and pre-
sented the bill which became the present
law for the protection of horse owners. Mr.
^^■albridge is one of the trustees of the John-
son Normal School. He is an interested
student of history and of current political
and economic questions. His hearty good
■'■•p-'^ .^"""^
TORREV ENGLESBY WALES.
Judge Wales was state's attorney for Chit-
tenden county, in i854-'55-'56 ; mayor of
the city of Burlington in i866-'67 ; acting
mayor in 1870, and for several years he was
one of the aldermen of the city. He was a
member of the House of Representatives from
Burlington, in i868-'69, — 1876-'77. In 1S62
he was elected judge of probate for the dis-
trict of Chittenden and has e\er since held
the office by continuous re-elections.
He is one of the original nine incorjiora-
tors of the Mary Fletcher Hos|)ital, chartered
in 1876, and has been its treasurer from the
beginning. He is a member of the board of
trustees of the Uni\ersity of N'ermont. He
is president of the Burlington Law Library
4i6
Association ; of tlie Burlington Manufactur-
ing Co. ; of the Home for Aged Women, at
Burlington ; of the Farmers' and Mechanics'
Savings Institution and Trust Co., and vice-
president of the Merchants' National Bank.
He has been twice married. His first
wife was Elizabeth C, daughter of Silas and
Prudence N. Mason ; she died in 1868. For
his second wife he married Mrs. Helen M.
White, of Boston.
He is a member of the Congregational
church.
WALKER, Daniel C, of North Cam-
bridge, son of Lyman and Adeline (Chase)
Walker, was born in Cambridge, Dec. 11,
1841. William U'alker, his grandfather,
came here from Pirookfield, Mass., in 1800,
and located in the north part of the town,
on the farm where Lyman was born, and
resided there to the time of his death in
1879, and where Daniel still resides.
Receiving the customary education of the
public schools, and afterwards pursuing his
studies at Bakersfield Academy, Mr. Walker,
at the age of twenty, enlisted as a private in
Co. L^, I St Vt. Cavalry, sharing in all the
numerous engagements in which his regi-
ment took part. Constantly on duty, except
six weeks when he was confined by sickness
in the hospital, he was thrice wounded, but
not severely, received a promotion to the
grade of sergeant, and was honorably dis-
charged from the service June 21, 1865.
After his return from the war, being gifted
with considerable mechanical ingenuity, Mr.
Walker was employed for several years as a
carpenter and joiner, but his principal occu-
pation has been that of an agriculturist, his
chief attention having been given to the
dairy and the maple orchard. He has held
many of the offices of the town, was lister,
selectman, justice and school director and
was appointed postmaster under President
tirant, which office he held until his resig-
nation in 1S92. The same year he received
the honor of an election to the Legislature
as a Republican, serving on the committee
on agriculture.
He joined and has been the commander
of Post 10, G. A. R., of Cambridge. Mr.
Walker is a modest man of solid worth, who
possesses the respect and confidence of his
neighbors. His sterling qualities of char-
acter have often called him to act as admin-
istrator and agent in the settlement of
estates.
He was united in marriage, April 16, 1S67,
to Kate M., daughter of Josiah and ;\Iary
(Stone) Converse, of Bakersfield.
WALKER, Franklin William, of Ben-
son, son of Rufus and Susannah (Raymond)
Walker, was born in Sudburv, June 23, 1812.
In 1 81 7 his parents removed to Benson,
where most of his life has been spent. His
early educational advantages were limited to
the district school, but being possessed with
a love for study and a strong resolution to
have all there was for him, he devoted him-
self to the improvement of his mind by study
and reading in his leisure moments while
employed as a clerk in his brother's store, in
Benson, between the years of fourteen and
twenty-one. \\'hen he arrived at his majority
his enterprising spirit led him to try the
perils and adventures of an unbroken wilder-
ness in the then territory of Michigan. He
bought land of the government in Lenawee
county in the present town of Morenci, built
a log hut and cleared away the surrounding
forest, and took long journeys through the
thickly-wooded country in company with
other young men of like adventurous spirit,
undaunted by cold or fatigue, the experiences
¥^
.^
.lAM WALKER.
of which tended to make him a man of nerv'e
and courage. Mr. Walker returned East in
1836, and feeling the need of a better educa-
tion before entering upon business for life
determined to spend some time at .school in
Castleton. After this he formed a partner-
ship with his brother, a merchant in Benson,
which was dissolved in 1846, after which he
continued as sole proprietor till 1871. 'XS
He is one of the oldest residents of the
town, esteemed and respected by all. He
enjoyed to such an extent the confidence of
the communitv that he was sent to the
House of Representati\es in 1857 and i<S5<S.
He was a staunch Democrat until the ques-
tion of slavery was agitated when he joined
the Republican ranks, and has since remained
a loyal supporter of their principles. In
1843 he was appointed trtistee of the U. S.
deposit money and since that time has been
honored with many official positions of re-
sponsibility, and is the present town treasurer
(1S94) and has been justice of the peace
over forty years.
He is one of the seven members who es-
tablished the M. E. Church in Benson in
1838, and is still a loyal member of the
same.
.\t St. Louis, Mo., June 3, 1861, Mr.
Walker was married to Elvira A., daughter of
-Albert G. and Margaret (Honsinger) Sherman
of Benson, then a teacher in Lindenwood Fe-
male College, St. Charles, Mo. 'I'hree chil-
dren ha\e been born to them : William
Franklin (now cashier of the First National
Bank of Fair Haven), Susie Sherman (wife
of Dr. C. A. Belden of Torrington, Conn.),
and Rufus Raymon (merchant in Benson).
WALKER, William Harris, of Lud-
low, son of Ephraim and Lydia (Harris)
^\'alker, was born in U'indham, Feb. 2, 1832.
His parents removed to Londonderry in
1838, w'here he received his primary educa-
tion in the district schools of the town. He
fitted for college at Leland and Cxray Semi-
nary and Black River Academy, and in
1858 graduated from Middlebury College.
While pursuing his studies he was elected as-
sistant secretary of the Vermont Senate in the
year 1857. In order to secure the necessary
funds to complete his collegiate course he was
allowed by the faculty of the college to teach
in a grammar school in Orleans, Mass., and
served one term as principal of the West Ri\er
Seminary at South Londonderry. Soon after
his graduation he was appointed principal
of tlie academy at Little Falls, N. Y., where
he remained for two years, during which
time he entered his name as a student at law
in the office of the Hon. Arphaxed Loomis.
In i860, resigning his position as instructor
and removing to Ludlow, he finished his
studies with Hon. F. C. Robbins, was admit-
ted to the bar of Windsor county at the
December term, 1861, and immediately
opened an otifice at Ludlow, where he re-
mained in practice until he was chosen an
assistant judge of the Supreme Court by the
Legislature in 1884.
Judge Walker represented the town of
Ludlow in the Legislatures of 1865 and 1866,
and 1884, serving on several important com-
mittees, and as chairman of the judiciary com-
mittee in 1884. In 1867 and 1868 he was
elected a senator from Windsor county,
serving on the judiciarv and other comniit-
WALKER. 417
tees. He ably filled the position of state's
attorney for Windsor county for two suc-
cessive terms. In 1878 he was appointed
by Governor Fairbanks a commissioner to
make examination of the insane asylum,
being associated with Dr. Goldsmith of Rut-
land, and Dr. Fassett of St. .Albans, and was
a supervisor of the insane for two years end-
ing December, 1880.
I—
JAM HARRIS
The integrity, ability, and judicial fairness
of Judge Walker have often caused his ap-
pointment as referee in cases pending in the
courts of several counties in the state. In
187S he was elected judge of probate, dis-
charging the duties of that office to the sat-
isfaction of the people. He was a judge of
the Supreme Court from 1884 until Septem-
ber, 1 88 7, when he was obliged to resign on
account of impaired health. He has always
been a strong Republican in his political
views, and cast his first presidential ballot
for General Fremont.
He is one of the trustees of Middlebury
College, and president of Black River .Acad-
emy. In this last he has taken an active
interest, and was largely influential in the
construction of a new building in 1888, at a
cost of nearly Si 6,000.
In 1862 Judge Walker entered the patriot
army and was elected captain in the i6th
Regt. of the Vt. Vols., but was obliged to
resign this honorable position on account of
a severe attack of typhoid fever. For a
quarter of a century he has belonged to the
Masonic order.
4i8
In 1859 Judge Walker was united to Miss
Ann Kliza, daughter of Dr. Ardain G. and
Ruth (Pettigrew) Taylor, of Ludlow. One
son has been born to them : Frank .Ardain.
WALLACE, Ja.MES B., of Concord, son
of Hiram and Lavinia (Pike) Wallace, was
born in Concord, Dec. 12, 1838.
He remained on the old homestead with
his father, who was a re.spected farmer, until
he arrived at his majority, and received such
education as the schools of Concord and the
Essex county grammar school could afford.
JAMES B WALLACE.
At the age of twenty-four he was united in
marriage to Mary, daughter of James and
Jane D. (Hudson) Kenyon, by whom he had
the following children ; Jennie (Mrs. Free-
man Hutchinson), Hiram J., and Willie.
After his marriage he was extensively en-
gaged in agricultural pursuits, purchasing a
large estate in 1864. Soon afterwards exten-
sive copper mining operations were com-
menced on a farm in the neighborhood and
Mr. Wallace was engaged as manager of the
property and the boarding house thereon.
In this business he remained for fifteen years,
and was then engaged by R. B. Graves to
superintend his large farm in the town.
When this property was sold to Mr. L. I).
Hazen, and in connection an extensive lum-
ber business was started, Mr. Wallace was
still retained as superintendent of the estab-
lishment.
In iSSo Mr. Wallace was elected trial jus-
tice of peace, a position which he filled cred-
itably until his election to the judgeship. In
1888 he was elected an assistant judge of
Essex county court and two years later re-
ceived a similar compliment.
His genial face and rotund figure were
familiar in the Essex county Republican con-
ventions of which he was a constant and
prominent member for twenty years.
Judge Wallace has held the usual town
offices, was for ten years chairman of the
board of trustees of the Essex county gram-
mar school and has always manifested a
marked interest in all educational affairs.
He is now county auditor and has often been
called upon to act as guardian and to assist
in the settlement of various estates. He is
well and fa\orably known in the county,
where he enjoys the reputation of a cordial
and hospitable host, extending a hearty wel-
come to all who visit him.
For about twenty years he has been an
acti\e member of Moose River Lodge, F. &
A. M.
WARD, Hiram Owen, of Moretown, son
of Earl W. and Elizabeth (Munson) Ward,
was born in South Duxbury, Jan. 10, 1842.
HIRAM OWEN WARD.
His education was obtained first in the
common schools of Duxbury and Barre
Academy, while later he took a course at
Eastman's Business College, at Poughkeep-
sie, N. Y.
WAKDUKl.l,.
His early labor on his father's farm proved
a severe but wholesome training, and fitted
him well for the duties of his after life. In
1878 he sold the farm which he had inher-
ited, and moved nearer \\'aterbury, where he
purchased a sawmill and box factory. Sell-
ing his boxes at cash prices, he took his pay
in musical instruments, deriving a large
profit in these transactions. In 18S9 he
came to Moretown, where his business has
constantly expanded till he is now a large
proprietor of plants for the manufacture of
clapboards, boxes and shingles, as well as a
grist mill and a grocery store.
Mr. Ward married, June, 1866, May A.,
daughter of Harrison and Caroline (Canar-
dy) Smith. Three children have been issue
of the union : Clinton H., Burton S., and
Clair \V.
Mr. Ward has held many offices both in
Duxbury and Moretown, and has represented
each place in the state Legislature, in which
he served on the committee on claims. In
business matters he is esteemed both shrewd
and prudent, is a genial companion and a
public-spirited and intelligent citizen.
WARDWELL, GEORGE JEFFORDS,
of Rutland, son of Joseph H. and I.ydia
(Howard) Ward well, was born in Runiford,
Me., Sept. 24, 1827. Mr. Wardwell traces
his descent from a family that settled in
Salem in the old colonial days. One of the
family was executed during the witchcraft
delusion in that place, and another was an
officer in the Continental Army during the
Revolutionary war.
Mr. Wardwell's somewhat limited educa-
tion was received from the public and private
schools of Rumford, Me., and a short course
of study at Bridgeton academy. .\t the age
of thirteen he was apprenticed to his cousin,
who vvas a general mechanic, and he com-
menced his career by the manufacture of
sleighs in Rumford and vicinity. Later he
moved to Lowell, Mass., where he was
engaged in constructing looms. He then, in
partnership with his brother, took a contract
to build forty of these articles, but the broth-
ers had the misfortue to lose their shop and
its contents by fire. Still they fulfilled their
agreement, and after fitting up a small shop
in Hanover, Me., they were employed in
the manufacture of sleighs, and sashes and
doors for the California market. Here they
met with more than one disaster, and in
1852 the partnership was dis.solved. After
carrying on the business for some time
alone, Mr. Wardwell moved to Andover, Me.,
where he occupied himself in the various
vocations of inn-keeper, postmaster, and
manufacturer of furniture. Always posses-
sing great mechanical skill, in 1854 he
WAKUUKl.L.
419
inventeci and received a patent for the first
pegging machine for making boots and
shoes, but unfortunately he did not reap the
results of his skill, owing to the dishonesty
of his [jartner.
After a short sojourn in Hatley, Can., he
removed to Moe's Ri\er, again forming a
partnership for the manufacture of furniture
and sleighs, then changed the scene of his
labors to Coaticook, P. ()., where he worked
at his trade and gave much attention to his
various inventions, the ])rincipal one of which
was a stone channelling machine, for which
he secured a patent in 1S59. The first one
was placed in Sutherland Falls quarry in
1 86 1, where it worked successfully, but owing
to the depressed financial condition at that
time, he was compelled to give up the
development of the machine and continued
working at his trade in Canada until 1863,
when he obtained a new patent on an im-
proved machine which accomplished the
work of fifteen laborers, cut a channel from
three to four feet deep, and was employed in
the Sutherland Falls quarry for seventeen
years. As he was still unable to reap any
practical result from his discovery, he con-
tinued for some time with the company con-
structing stone-boats. Soon after he received
a contract on somewhat unreasonable terms
to build several of these machines for various
parties, and subsequently was enabled to dis-
pose of his patent to the Steam Stone Cutter
Co., receiving §1,500 in cash and §33,520 in
the stock of the corporation, of which he was
made superintendent. One of the machines
was exhibited at the Paris exposition in
1867 and was sold in F'rance. The .same
year he parted with his foreign patents to
the Steam Stone Cutter Co., for over $17,000
in stock. At this time several parties con-
structed machines in direct violation of his
patent, the validity of which after a tedious
litigation was established, and injunctions
were issued against the sale and use of the
illicit machines. The invention has proved
itself of immense practical value, and from
calculations made up to 1886, it has been
])ro\ed that over §7,000,000 ha\e been saved
to the stone producers in the working of their
quarries. As a testimonial of its worth Mr.
Wardwell received a gold medal from the
Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Associa-
tion in 1865 ; and its value was recognized
by the presentation of a silver medal from
the Paris exposition, in 1867 ; he afterwards
received a similar recognition from the Cen-
tennial exhibition at Philadeli)hia. In 1874
he invented and patented two different forms
of valveless steam engines, which also received
medals at Philadelphia. .At present he is
the largest stockholder in the Steam Stone
Cutter Co., at Rutland, having taken out
^A?. /, (U^e^^-<:ZA^x.^l^
WAI I.KMAN.
421
twenty-five patents for the channelling and
other machines in this country and Europe.
October 4, 1850, iMr. W'ardwell was united
in marriage to Margaret, daughter of Thomas
and Margaret (Dickey) Moore of Hatley,
Canada, who departed this life Nov. 10,
1883. She left issue four children, two of
whom alone survive : Lizzie Olina (Mrs.
Thomas Mound of Rutland), and George
Alvin. .August 22, 1888, Mr. Wardwell es-
poused his second wife, Kittie C. E., daugh-
ter of Hiram W. and Mary M. (Huntoon)
Lincoln of Danby. To them one child has
been born : Charles Howard.
For nearly thirty years Mr. Wardwell has
been a hard and laborious student, a fact to
which his large liljrary amply testifies, mak-
ing a specialty of chemistry and geology.
He possesses a \-ery large collection of spec-
imens relating to the latter science, and a
well fitted, practical laboratory. He has
made several visits to Europe for the pur-
pose of studying the geological formation of
the country, especially with reference to
quarries. He is a member of the Masonic
fraternity, being a past eminent commander
of Knights Templar, and lielonging to the
Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the
Mystic Shrine. For more than twenty years
he has been affiliated with the .\merican and
British Association for the Advancement of
Science. He is an adherent of the Demo-
cratic party ; has filled various official posi-
tions of trust in Rutland : is the vice-presi-
dent of the board of trade in that city, and
one of the committee of fifteen who framed
its charter. He is also a director of the
Merchants' National Bank of Rutland, and at
the present time president of the board of
school commissioners of the city of Rutland.
Mr. Wardwell is liberal in his religiou>
views, and has been a generous supporter 11
the Universalist church. He is eminently .1
self-made man and possesses great inventi\e
genius, ha\ing fully overcome the defects of
his early education by a long course of ardu-
ous study and able and successful efforts for
self-improvement.
WARREN, Charles Carleton, of
Waterbury, son of Charles \\'. and Julia
(Perry) Warren, was born in Hartland, Feb.
II, 1843.
He was educated in the schools of the
place of his nativity and at Kimball Union
Academy, Meriden, N. H. In 1862, at the
age of nineteen, he joined the band attached
to the I St Brigade \'t. Vols., with which he
remained till they were discharged from ser-
vice. After his return from the war he was
for some time employed in a tannery be-
longing to his father, but in 1868 he leased
<L large establishment in Waterbury which he
subsequently purchased and where he has
smce conducted an e.xtensive and constantly
increasing business, making a specialty of
manufacturing harness leather; In 1887 Mr.
Warren e.xtended his operations by the pur-
chase of a large farm, which he successfully
devoted in great measure to dairy products.
This he afterwards sold to the state as a site
for the new asylum for the insane at Water-
bury village. He holds strong Republican
\iews, and in 1890 was a]ipointed a member
of the board of fish commissions that estab-
lished the first fish hatchery in the state.
Though hampered at first by insufificient
appropriations and other obstacles, the board,
owing largely to the ])ersevering efforts of
Mr. Warren, has finally met with great
success.
He was united in marriage Dec. 15, 1873,
to Ella F., daughter of Jerry and Florella
(Broadwick) McElmore of Middlesex. Two
children have been born to them : Kate
Cratre, and Charles Carleton, Jr.
Mr. Uarren is a member of Edwin
Dillingham Post, G. .A. R., of Waterbury,
and has also taken the obligations of the
Masonic order, uniting with Vermont Lodge,
No. 18, of Windsor.
WATERMAN, EleAZBR L., of Hrattle-
boro, son of Chandler and Polly J. \Valer-
man, was born in Jamaica, July 25, 1839.
He was educated in the common schools,
and at I, eland Seminary, and, adopting the
legal profession, studied law with Butler &
Wheeler, and was admitted to the bar of
WATERMAN.
^Vindham county at the September term,
1863. He commenced practice in Wil-
mington, from which town he was sent as
representative to the General Assembly in
1867 and 1868. Four years later he was
made state's attorney for Windham county,
and in 1876 was elected a state senator from
Windham county, and was chairman of the
Senate judiciary committee. In 1870 he
moved to Jamaica, and afterwards to Brattle-
boro, still continuing his professional labors,
and is now the senior partner of the law firm
of Waterman, Martin & Hitt. In 1S91 he
was appointed special U. S. attorney to ap-
pear for the government in claims originat-
ing from the late war of the rebellion.
Mr. W'aterman was united in marriage,
May 15, 1S64, to Jennie E., daughter of
Aaron and Julia D. IJemis of Windham. By
her he had issue three sons and three
daughters : Mabel J. (now the wife of Dr. D.
P. Webster of Brattleboro ) , Halbert L. (now
a practicing physician at Fitzwilliam, N. H.),
Hugh A. (now of New York), f>nest I.,
F.thel I,., and Alice M.
WATERMAN, HEMAN A., of Johnson,
son of Thomas and Kleanor (Dodge) ^Vater-
man, was born in Johnson, Nov. 3, 1830.
His family is of mixed Welsh and Scotch
descent. Araunah Waterman (grandfather)
came to Johnson in the first year of the cen-
tury, purchasing 1,200 acres of land where
the village now stands, paying 4,000 Spanish
silver dollars for the property. About two hun-
dred acres of that purchase is now owned by
Heman A. He served in the Revolutionary
war, was an intimate associate of the Chitten-
dens, and for many years represented John-
son in the General Assembly. Thomas", who
was a captain in the militia that served at the
battle of Plattsburg, erected the first hotel in
the village and was its genial host for forty
years. Politically a Henry Clay whig, he was
also a member of the Legislature several
years and a judge in Franklin county court
before Lamoille county was organized.
His youngest son, Heman A., received the
customary education of the common schools
of Johnson and afterwards attended the La-
moille county grammar school. For forty
years he has been a prominent farmer and
real estate operator. He has also been a
practical surveyor, has acted as trustee and
referee, and has been largely identified with
the business interests of the place.
A stalwart Republican, he has repeatedly
held every office in the gift of his townsmen.
He was a member of the Legislature from
Johnson in 187S where he served as chair-
man of the general committee. For several
years he performed the duties of L'nited
States assistant assessor and deputy collec-
tor. From his various official positions he
has acquired and maintained a large acquaint-
ance with the public men of the state. t
For nearly forty years he has been a Free
Mason, was a charter member and for several
years was the first Worshipful Master of
Waterman Lodge, named in honor of his
father. He also affiliates with 'lucker Chap-
ter, R. A. M.
Mr. Waterman was married Oct. 9, 1S55,
to Augusta L., daughter of Stephen and Tir-
zah (Lampson) Hoxsie, who were early set-
tlers of Milton. Their three children are :
Elizabeth (Mrs. W. D. Welch of Johnson),
Frank H., and Thomas .\.
WATSON, JOHN HENRY, of Bradford,,
son of Asahel and .\delpha (Jackson) Wat-
son, was born in Jamaica, May 12, 1851.
His parents were of limited means and
the education which he received in the com-
mon schools and academy was freely inter-
spersed with active labor on the farm. He
commenced his life career by the study of
law in the office of Grin Gambell, Esq., of
Bradford, where he continued till he was ad-
mitted to the Orange county bar in Decem-
ber, 1S77. He immediately formed a part-
nership with his instructor, and after six
months' experience, at the dissolution of the
firm, Mr. Watson assumed the full control of
their varied and important business, which
he has ably conducted since that time. He
has the control of one of the largest and
most lucrative practices in ( )range county.
423
He was elected state's attorney of Orange
tounty in iSS6, and in 1892 was elected
from the county to the state Senate, where
he gave his services to the judiciary and
general committees, and was chairman of
that on military affairs. He is one of the
trustees of the Bradford Savings Bank and
Trust Co., and also of Bradford Academy.
In 1 882 he was elected captain of the Brad-
ford tniards, and was afterwards promoted
to the post of major of the ist Regt., V. N.
G. During the riot at the Ely Copper Mine
in 1883, he rendered efficient service in
quelling the mob by capturing the powder
magazine which was in their possession, re-
ceiving much credit for the gallant manner
in which he performed this difficult and
arduous dutv.
homestead, a beautiful place, where he has
resided for more than half a century. Here
in the neighborhood of the pleasant and
historic \illage of Guildhall he has followed
the ])eaceful hut pros])er()us jiursuit of agri-
culture, respected and honored by all who
have the pleasure of his acquaintance.
He was married, Jan. 17, 1850, to I.ucre-
tia Gates, daughter of 'I'homas F. and Sally
(Duncan) Webb. Five children have been
born to them: Charles F., Isabel I.. (.Mrs.
Richard Beattie), George \V., Sarah F., and
Mary B.
For nearly half a century Mr. Webb has
filled the office of town clerk ; is Democratic
in his political principles, and represented
Maidstone in the Legislature in the years
i86o-'6i-'7o, and at the special session of
1 86 1. He carries his years well and is a
most interesting and agreeable gentleman of
the old school. His home circle is cheered
by the presence of his three younger children,
who are the prop and stay of the declining
years of their parents.
WEBSTER, Dan PEASLEE, of Brattle-
boro, son of Rev. Alonzo and Laura (Peaslee)
Webster, was born in Northfield, Dec. 7, 1846.
Mr. Watson married, March 25, 1S79,
Clara L., daughter of Darwin A. and Laurette
L. (Fitts) Hammond, of West W'ardsboro ;
of this union are two children : John Henry,
and Hugh.
WEBB, JOHN W., of Maidstone, son
of Azariah and Elizabeth (Weeks) Webb,
was born in Lunenburg, Nov. 8, 1814.
He received his education in the schools
of Lunenburg, Concord Normal, Lyndon and
Lancaster Academies. F^mployed upon his
father's farm until 1840, he made a tour of
the West as far as Iowa, participating in the
stirring scenes of the log cabin campaign.
When he returned he settled on the old
^ "^m*^^-
h'EASLEE V. EB
His preliminary education was receved in
the common schools and the Newbury .Acad-
emy. After graduating from the medical
department of the L'niversity of Vt., in 1S67,
he successfully practiced his profession in
I'utnev, for sixteen years, when he mo\ ed
to Brattleboro where he has continued till the
424
present time, having by his energy and skill
secured a large and remunerative business.
In 1872, and again in 1874, Dr. Webster
was elected to the Legislature to represent
the town of Putney, and in 1878 he was
chosen a state senator from\\'indham county.
During the fall of that year he was made
railroad commissioner, discharging the duties
of this office till 1880. He was surgeon-
general on the staff of (iovernor Asahel Peck
and again holds that position on the staff of
Governor Levi K. Fuller, and for a long time
served as surgeon of the Fuller Light Battery.
During the civil war he accompanied his
father, who was chaplain of the 1 6th Vt. Regt.,
and was present at the battle of Gettysburg.
Dr. Webster has been an active and en-
thusiastic Free Mason, having served as
deputy grand master of the Clrand Lodge of
Vt. from 1876 to i88r, and he is at present
the eminent commander of Beauseant Com-
mandery, K. T., of Brattleboro. He is a
member of the Connecticut River and ^"er-
mont State Medical Associations.
He was wedded, Jan. 9, 1868, to Ada,
daughter of Charles H. and Maria White, of
Putney, ^"t. Mrs. Webster departed this life
in South Carolina, March 14, 1887, leaving
three surviving children : Hattie A., Harry
A., and Dan C. November i, 1889, he
contracted a second alliance with Mabel
Julia, daughter of Hon. E. L. and Jennie E.
Waterman, of Brattleboro.
WEEKS, John E., of Salisbury, son of
Ebenezer and Elizabeth (l^yer) ^Veeks, was
born in Salisbury, June 14, 1853. He is
descended from early New England stock,
and among his maternal ancestors was John
Alden of ^Layflower fame. His grandfather
came to Salisbury when it was yet a wilder-
ness, and his father was prominent in both
town and county affairs.
After receiving his education in the schools
of Salisbury, and the Middlebury high
school, Mr. J. E. Weeks early engaged in
stock and wool buying in the vicinity, in
which business he is still interested. He
soon settled upon the farm of his father, of
whom he has been the successor in the in-
surance business, acting especially for the
\'ermont Mutual Fire Insurance Co., of
which he was for a time a director. In 1892
he became the junior member of the firm of
Ihomas & \\'eeks, hay and grain dealers, at
Middlebury.
Mr. Weeks was united in marriage, Oct.
17, 1879; to Hattie J., daughter of Frank L.
and Lucretia (Graves) Dyer of Salisburv.
He has been quite prominent in political
and social affairs. He was appointed as-
sistant census taker in 1 880, and four years
later was elected as assistant door-keeper of
the Senate. In 18S8 he was sent to Mont-
pelier to represent Salisbury, and served on
the committee on manufactures, and on
special committee in the matter of a bridge
between North and South Hero, Grand Isle
county. In 1S92 he was elected an assistant
JOHN E. WEEKS.
judge of Addison county court. Judge
Weeks has long been a member of and clerk
and treasurer for the Congregational church
of Salisbury.
WELL MAN, Leigh Richmond, of
Lowell, son of Rev. Jubilee and 'Pheda
((Jrout) \^'ellman, was born in ^^"arner,
X. H., Jan. 4, 1S35, and obtained his edu-
cation in the public schools of Warner,
Westminster, Cavendish and Proctors\ille.
In the latter he was a classmate of Senator
Redfield Proctor. He pursued a further
course of study at Craftsbury and Bakersfield
academies. His family removed to Lowell
in 185 1, where his father was the first settled
Congregational minister in that town, and
with the exception of a few years has re-
sided there ever since. In 1858 he was em-
ployed as a clerk in a store in Greenville,
Ala., returning North April ti, 1S61, the day
of the beginning of the bombardment of
Fort Sumter. The boat ran in close enough
so that the ruins of the fort and the steamer
that took oft the garrison after the surrender
could be seen with a glass. In 1861 he
commenced a mercantile trade in Lowell,
which continued for eight years, when he
began the manufacture of lumber. In 1872
he was obliged to \ isit the \\'est on account
of his health, where he spent nearly two
years as a clerk in a store in River l''alls,
Wis. \\'hen he returned to Lowell, in 1874,
he purchased his present commodious store,
where he carries a large stock of general
merchandise.
Mr. \\'ellman assisted in organizing and is
a member of Mount Morris Lodge, No. 69,
F. & A. M., and did not miss a single meet-
ing during the seven years he occupied the
master's chair. He also lielongs to Tucker
Chapter, Morrisxille.
In 1867 he was married to Bertie L.
•Cheney, who died in December, 1873, lea\-
ing one son : Leigh B. In 1878 he married
Mrs. Emily B. Mustard, by whom he had
two children : Harry R., and Theda G.
Mr. Wellman although a strong Democrat
of the conservative order has held many
town offices, was for fifteen years justice of
the peace, from 1868 to 1872 selectman, and
for many successive terms town treasurer.
WELLS, Edward, of Burlington, son of
William Wellington and Eliza (Carpenter)
Wells, was born in Waterbury, Oct. 30, 1835.
He was educated in the common schools of
Waterbury and at the Bakersfield Academy.
ED'.VARD v;£L_S.
At the age of seventeen years he entered
a dry goods store at Montpelier as clerk,
where he remained one year. From 1856
to 1 86 1 he was employed in his father's
stores at Waterburv and Waterbury Center.
WFSrf)N. 425
He enlisted in the band of the 5th Regt.
Vt. \'ols., Sept. 26, 1 86 1, and served about
six months. Mr. Wells held the position of
transijortation clerk in the Army of the
Potomac, under Gen. P. I'. Pitkin, for about
three years. On his return home, in 1864,
he received the appointment of clerk in the
office of the quartermaster-general of the
state of Vermont, which office he held until
1866. He then entered the office of Hon.
John A. Page, state treasurer, where he re-
mained until 1 868.
In March, 1S68, he became a partner in
the firm of Henry & Co., wholesale druggists,
at Waterbury, who had just transferred their
business to Burlington. In 1872 the firm
name was changed from Henry & Co. to
Wells, Richardson & Co., and in 1883 was
incorporated und«r the name of Wells &
Richardson Co. He is president of the
Wells & Richardson Co. and the Burlington
Trust Co., and a director in the Burlington
Cotton Mills. He was elected to the Legis-
lature in 1890, and served as chairman of
the committee on banking, and also on the
committee on ways and means.
Mr. Wells married, April 26, 185S, Martha
Frances, daughter of I.ucius Parmelee, of
\\'aterbury. One daughter was the issue of
this union. Mrs. Wells died Nov. 25, 1876.
Mr. \\'ells married as his second wife, Oct.
14, 1879, Effie E. Parmelee, sister of his
first wife.
WESTON, Eugene Sydney, of New-
fane, son of Freeman F. and Sarah L (Evans)
Weston, was born in Cavendish, .\ugust 14,
1S47.
His early education was obtained m the
district schools and Chester Academy. Hav-
ing decided upon the medical profession he
entered the office of Dr. Z. G. Harrington of
Chester as a student and attended lectures
in the medical departments of Dartmouth
College and the Unix ersity of \'ermont, re-
ceiving his diploma from the latter in 1871.
.\fter graduation he first located in Heath,
Mass., but soon removed to Coleraine, where
he had a large practice for three years. In
1874 he moved to Pittsfield, Mass., and re-
mained there two years being town physician
and also physician at the house of cor-
rection. In 1879 he located in Newfane
where he has since resided. He has been a
member of both the Massachusetts and Ver-
mont Medical Societies.
He is a prominent Free Mason and for
nearly a quarter of a century he has been an
active worker and has taken a deep interest
in the welfare and prosperity of the order.
He has served three terms as W. .M. of
Blazing Star Lodge, No. 23, of 'iownshend ;
has been high priest of Fort Dummer Royal
Arch ChayHer in Brattleboro : is grand
426
lecturer in the (Irand Lodge and grand
scribe in the Grand Chapter of Vermont.
For two years he was district deputy grand
master of the 8th Masonic District, and has
held appointments on some of the standing
committees in Grand Lodge and Chapter
for several years.
Republican in politics he was elected in
1892 to represent Xewfane in the General
Assembly.
the establishment of Peck Bros., where he re-
mained for eleven years, when he received
the appointment of assistant postmaster and
served in this capacity till his term of office
expired in 1S87. He then engaged in the
retail clothing trade, in which he is still oc-
cupied. In 1891 under a Republican admin-
istration he w-as appointed postmaster of
Burlington. This is the only first-class office
in the state, doing a business of S8o,ooo.
Mr. ^^'heeler has never held any other offi-
cial position.
He is an Odd Fellow, is a sustaining mem-
ber of the College Street Congregational
Church, and is an active member of the Burl-
ington Y. M. C. A.
UGENE SIDNEY WESTON
Dr. Weston enlisted during the civil war.
at the age of seventeen, as private in Co. C,
7th ^'t. Vols., and served till the close of the
struggle, when he received an honorable dis-
charge. His only battle was at the siege of
Spanish Fort near Mobile, Alabama. He
has always taken an active part in matters
pertaining to the i\. A. R., and is a member
of Birchard Post, Xo. 65, of which he is a
past commander.
Dr. Weston w-as married, June 6, 187 1, to
Eva S., daughter of Richard H. and Mary
E. (Crowley) Hall of .Athens, and has four
children : Lena M., Alfred F., Bertha E.,
and Clrace F.
WHEELER, Charles Frederick, of
Burlington, son of Dr. Frederick P. and Mary
.\. (Doude) Wheeler, was born in Bristol,
Sept. 8, 1843.
His attendance at school (in the district
schools and academy in Bristol), terminated
in 1859, and for five years he was employed
as a clerk in a country store. He then
moved to the citv of Burlington and entered
CHARLES FREDERICK WHEELER.
He was married, June 30, 1 884, to Louise
M., daughter of Rev. F. W. and Mary
(McCotter) Olnistead. Their three children
are : Mary Louise, Frank Olmstead, and Cora
Marguerite.
WHEELER, Charles Willard, of
Irasburgh, son of Willard and !Maria (Page)
Wheeler, was born in Enosburgh, April 13,
1839.
Obtaining his education in the common
schools and academy at Enosburgh, he first
engaged in mercantile pursuits in St. Albans,
and later in Burlington.
In obedience to his patriotic impulses, he
enlisted in Co. I, loth Regt. Vt. A'ols., went
at once to the field in the summer of 1862,
beinc; actively identified with its movements
in the campaigns of 1862 to 1865. In the
midst of the most exacting duties of field
service, which had become to be attended
with great privation and peril, he declined
to accept the proffer of a year's service at
home as a recruiting officer, choosing to
remain at the front.
After five months' service in the adjutant-
general's office, and nine months in the
division commissary department, with offers
for a discharge from the service and employ-
ment as a civilian with lucrative pay, he
obtained his release from these positions and
LLARD WHEELER.
joined his regiment when General Grant
took command of the Army of the Potomac,
and from the commencement of that officer's
campaign he participated in every battle to
the close of the war ; was promoted through
the grades of corporal, sergeant, orderly ser-
geant, second lieutenant, first lieutenant, to
regimental quartermaster. He was wounded
at Gedar Creek, and on account of his injur-
ies was absent forty days from military duly.
He received an honorable discharge at the
close of the war, and came to Irasburgh,
where he opened a general store, in which
he has since continued, and at the same time
operated in real estate.
He has been a Republican since the for-
mation of the party, and has been honored
with many official positions in Irasburgh.
Mr. Wheeler represented Irasburgh in the
Legislature in 1886, and in 1890 was elected
from (Jrleans county to the Senate, in which
WHEELER. 427
body he introduced the secret ballot act,
and labored hard for its enactment.
He is a successful man, and always relied
on his own resources, never receiving help
from others.
He is a Congregationalist in creed, and a
member of George G. Post, No. 99, G. A. R.
He was united in marriage, June 7, 1871,
to Louise E. Nichols, daughter of I.evi N.
and Klizabeth Dow of Knosburgh. The
issue of this union were: George E. (de-
ceased). May L., and I.ucy H.
WHEELER, HOYT HENRY, son of John
and Roxanna ( Hall ) Wheeler, was born in
Chesterfield, N. H., on the 30th of .\ugust,
1833. His great-grandfather, Peter Wheeler,
emigrated from Littleton, Mass., in 1762, and
was a capenter by trade, while the mother of
Judge Wheeler was a granddaughter of
Joseph Titus, one of the first settlers of
Chesterfield. His father, John \\'heeler, re-
sided in Chesterfield until 1849, when he
moved to his present residence at Newfane.
Hoyt H. Wheeler first saw the light on the
farm where two generations of his ancestors
had lived and died. His early education be-
gan in the common schools of the neighbor-
hood and was completed at the Chesterfield
Academy, in 1853. (Iraduating from this
institution he taught school for some time,
and also studied law as opportunity afforded
in the office of Charles K. Field, of Newfane.
Subsequently he studied the same subject
under- the direction of Jonathan I). Bradley
and George B. Kellogg, and was admitted to
the bar in September, 1859. He then entered
into partnership with John E. Butler, Esq.,
under the title of Butler & \\heeler. 'i"he
new firm began professional practice in Ja-
maica. Mr. Butler died in 1867, and after
that Mr. Wheeler practiced law by himself.
Early in his career he obtained a very large
practice in Southern Vermont, and in the
county and Supreme Courts acquired the
reputation of a thorough lawyer and a safe
counselor.
' i In 1867, he represented Jamaica in the
House, and served on the judiciary commit-
tee. In 1868 and 1869, he was returned to
the state Senate from M'indham county, and
ser\ed during each session on the judiciary
committee. While a member of the House
he secured the charter of the West River
R. R., which is now known as the Brattle-
boro & Whitehall R. R. In the following
vear what was designated the "enabling act"
was adopted, under his management, by the
Legislature. By virtue of this statute the
towns along the route were permitted to in-
vest municipal funds in the bonds of the cor-
poration, the success of whose undertaking
was thus assured.
428
WHEELOCK.
WHEELOCK.
In 1869, Mr. \\'heeler was elected an as-
sistant judge of the Supreme fourt, was re-
elected in 1S70, and again at each biennial
election until and including 1876. Of
judicial temperament, wise, and learned in
the law, he made a model judge. Without
solicitation on his part or that of his friends.
Judge ^^'heeler was, in March, 1S77, ap-
pointed by President Hayes district judge
of the United States for the district of Ver-
mont in place of Judge David A. Smalley,
deceased. Resigning his seat on the .Supreme
bench of \'erniont, Judge Wheeler at once
entered upon his new duties. They do not
wholly call him to work in Vermont, and a
large share of his judicial labors are per-
formed in New "\ork City, where he has
among the members of the New Vork bar
the same reputation as a just judge of pro-
found learning that he has among their
brethren in Vermont.
With corporate institutions of financial or
other character. Judge Wheeler has held but
slight connection. For several years he has
been a director of the West Ri\er National
Bank of Jamaica, but beyond that has not
accepted any official position.
Judge Wheeler was married on the 24th
of October, 1861, to Minnie L., daughter of
John Maclay of Lockport, N. \'.
WHEELOCK, Edwin, of Cambridge,
son of Samuel and Patty (Adams) Wheelock,
was born in Cambridge, Nov. 17, 1822.
His maternal grandfather was a near rela-
tive of President John Adams, and he comes
of good New England parentage on both
sides of the house. After an attendance at
the district school he fitted for college at the
old Burlington Academy, entered the U. V.
M. and graduated from that institution in
1849. For four years he was employed as a
teacher in the Mountain Academy in West
Tennessee, then returned to Cambridge,
where he commenced and has continued his
ministerial labors in the Congregational
church of that community. For forty years
he has continued his pastorate in that town,
during which time he has conducted more
than 1,200 funeral services and officiated at
800 marriages. He was an original member
of the Lamoille Association of Congregational
Ministers, and is still an influential factor in
this organization.
For fourteen consecutive years Mr. AVhee-
lock has been superintendent of schools in
Cambridge, was a member of the House in
i856-'67, and was chosen senator from
Lamoille county in 1876. Four years later
he was made chaplain of the Senate. He
has been an honored member of the Masonic
order and has served as chaplain of the
Grand Lodge since 1886 until now (1894),
rarely, if e^■er, having missed a meeting of
the Grand Lodge since he has belonged to
the order.
He was married July 30, 185 1, to Laura,
daughter of Daniel and Lucy Wheelock
Pierce, who bore him six children, four of
whom survive : Mary Ella (Mrs. B. R. Holmes
of Cambridge), Lucy (of Boston, Mass.), .^b-
bie Laura(Mrs. C. F. Hulburd of Cambridge),
and George L. of New Vork.
WHEELOCK, Martin W., of Berlin,
son of Joseph W. and Laura E. (Phillips)
Wheelock, was born in Montpelier, March
iS, 1853. In 1854 his parents moved to
Berlin, and he has since resided there, re-
ceiving his education in the schools of
Montpelier.
Employed from his earliest years in his
father's binderv, it was but natural that he
should follow that vocation, and upon the
death of his father, in 1876, Mr. Wheelock
succeeded him in the business of the Mont-
pelier Bookbindery, which he has since suc-
cessfully conducted, adding to his force from
time to time, until he now employs fifteen
to twenty people. After Montpelier estab-
lished its present system of water supply, he
introduced and placed in operation the first
water motor in town, and procured the first
exhibit of electric lighting in Montpelier
from power derived from water motors, and
caused to be put up the " police signal light,"
so called.
At the age of twenty-one he was elected
town superintendent of schools and repre-
sented Berlin in the Legislature of i88o,
and has held minor offices of responsibility
and trust, and for the last eighteen years
has been town clerk, treasurer and justice
of the peace in Berlin. He is at present
one of the directors of the Montpelier Board
of Trade, was, in 1893, president of Vohni-
teer Hose, No. i, and is still a member of
the fire department, and is a member of
the New England Order of Protection and
of Vermont Lodge, No. 2, L O. O. F.
He married Julia .A. Miles, of Montpelier,
daughter of Otis G. and Mary A. (Smith)
Miles, March 16, 1878, and they have three
daughters : Mabel E., Florence M., and
Winona.
Mr. Wheelock is deeply interested in the
prosperity of his native place, and is an
earnest believer in the investment of capital
in home enterprises — a course that experi-
ence proves is not only for the good of the
community, but as safe — to say the least —
for the individual invester.
WHIPPLE, Edward O., of Danby, son
of John and Clarica (Oakes) Whipple, was
born in Athens, June 20, 1821.
WHirCOMH. 429
also for a time in attendance at the Bellevue
Hospital in New ^■ork City.
Dr. \Vhi])ple took up his residence in
Danby in 1848 and has built up an extensive
practice in that and the adjoining towns. A
strong Republican, he has never consented
to accept any political office, choosing
rather to devote himself entirely to his pro-
fessional duties, but his sterling worth and
ability have gained him the highest esteem
of the community in which he resides.
Dr. \\'hipple has received the degrees of
Ancient t'raft Masonry, affiliating with
Marble Lodge, No. 46, of Danby. He has
also taken all those conferred in the I. O. O.
F. He is an active member of the Rutland
County Medical and Surgical Society and
also of that of the state.
He was married in West Townshend, Sept.
25, 1848, to Augusta, daughter of Zadock
and Sarah Sawyer. They have one son :
Frank E., a physician of Danby.
WHITCOMB, ERVIN JACKSON, of
Ludlow, was born in Ludlow, Feb. 24, 1822.
(iAf'-;: :?:r^yaffi;y^^ '
^
EDWARD O.
He received his schooling in ^Albany and
afterwards studied medicine with Doctors P.
D. Bradford and Samuel W. Thayer, subse-
quently graduating from the Castleton Medi-
cal School in the class of 1847. He was
'S
He lived on a farm most of the time dur-
ing his minority, was educated at the com-
mon schools, and Black River Academy, and
occasionally was occupied in teaching.
In 1844 he engaged in trade, dealing in
general country merchandise, in which oc-
cupation he remained five years. After a
sojourn of three years in Ontario, where he
was engaged in mercantile pursuits, he re-
43°
turned to Ludlow, where he dealt in horses,
farm produce and agricultural implements
until 1862. He then formed the partner-
ship of Whitcomb & Atherton, conducting a
wholesale and retail feed, flour and grain
business in connection with a grist mill. In
187 1 the firm erected Whitcomb & Atherton
block, and added a bakery to their business.
In 1887 he retired from active business.
He wedded, Sept. 29, 1846, Elizabeth
Goddard, daughter of Hon. Sewall and
Eunice Howe (Goddard) Fullam of Ludlow.
The fruit of their union is one child : Belle E.
Mr. \\'hitcomb is the only surviving grand-
son of Jonathan Whitcomb, a Revolutionary
soldier. He has been for many years a
member of Black River Lodge, No 85, F. &
A. M. In religious belief he is a L'niver-
salist, has taken deep interest in and been a .
liberal donor to the church. He is a trustee
of the state convention, and also of Goddard
Seminary.
He was formerly a whig, but is now a
Republican, and, after having discharged the
duties of several town offices, was chosen
representative from Ludlow for the two suc-
cessive biennial terms of 1870 and 1872,
and four years later was elected a senator
from Windsor county.
WHITE, Elliot G., of Cavendish, son
of George W. and Clara M. (Swift) White,
was born in Cavendish, June 8, 1S56.
His education was received in the com-
mon schools of Cavendish, and after its
completion he entered the service of his
uncle, Hon. F. E. Swift. Later he moved
to Boston, where he entered the employment
of a horse car company and next was en-
gaged as a clerk in a hotel near Bar Harbor,
Me., but soon after returned to Cavendish,
where he married and engaged in trade.
Commencing business during a period of
general depression caused by the loss by fire
of the woolen mills in that place, by his un-
tiring energy and good management he has
built up a profitable and remunerative busi-
ness in a general country store, dealing, in
addition to his ordinary trade, in feed, grain,
and lumber. He is also interested in real
estate.
November 10, 1S80, he was married to
Nella C, daughter of Peter P. and Chloe
(Adams) Wheeler of Cavendish.
For fourteen years Mr. ^Vhite has held
the positions of town clerk and postmaster ;
for several terms he has served as selectman
and is now the chairman of the board. He
is one of the trustees of the Chester Sav-
ings Bank, a director in the Chester National
Bank, and also librarian of the Fletcher
Library of Cavendish. He has always voted
with the Republican party, and for four
years discharged the duties of deputy sheriff.
He is a member and jjast master of La-
Fayette Lodge, No. 53, F. ^:. A. M., of Cav-
endish, and is affiliated with Skitchewang
Chapter of that order.
WHITE, HEMAN Allen, of Washington,
son of Thaddeus and Rebecca (Gleason)
White, was born in Washington, Sept. 21,
18 1 7. His father, Thaddeus, joined the pa-
triot army at sixteen years of age, served
under the gallant Lafayette, and after the
close of the struggle was one of the earliest
settlers who came to Washington, threading
his way on horseback through the dense for-
ests by a line of blazed trees. He posted the
notice of the earliest Freemen's meeting,
Sept. 2, and in 1794 was elected the first
representative to the Legislature. He died in
i8qi, at the advanced age of ninetv-two.
ALLEN WHITE.
Heman was the youngest son, and enjoyed
only the advantages of the common school
until he arrived at his majority, when he at-
tended Newbury Academy, supporting him-
self while pursuing his course there. In
1 840 he commenced studying law with Hon.
John Colby at Washington, was admitted to
the Orange county bar at the December
term, 1843, and is today the senior practic-
ing member of his profession in that county.
Since 1848 Mr. White has been town
clerk ; he represented Washington in the
General Assembly in 1S57, '58, '63, '64, '65,
and '76, and was chosen a senator from Or-
ange county in 1S70. In 1866 and '67 he
was state's attorney for Orange county. He-
cast his first and last presidential vote for a
Harrison and in 1S56 was elected judge of
probate for the district of Randolph, having
previously served two years as register.
Judge White possesses the entire confidence
and respect of all who know him.
He was united in marriage, Nov. 23, 1S51,
to Mary, daughter of Ziba and F. .A. Spen-
cer, by whom he had one child: Dora M.
(Mrs. R. G. Spafiford, deceased). In April,
186 1, he contracted a second alliance with
Mariette A., daughter of Cutting S. and Mar-
tha H. (Paine) Calef.
VVHITH, H. C, of North Bennington,
son of John and Clarissa (Castle) White", was
born in North Bennington, Dec. 25, 1847.
])lantof twice the cajwcity of the one burned,
and since then has enjoyed an uninterrupted
career of prosi)erity. Mr. White has inven-
ted several improvements in stereoscopes,
which he has patented, giving him almost a
monopoly of the stereoscope business.
Mr. \\hite married .Margie I.., daughter
of William Watson of Urooklyn, X. V., by
whom he has issue four children.
WILCOX, Henry Clay, of Granby, son
of iCdmund W. and Matilda (Farnsworth)
Wilcox, was born in Cambridge, .August 20,
1842.
.After receiving the educational advan-
tages of the Cambridge and Johnson public
schools, at the age of nineteen he found
employment in the L'. S. .Armory, at Spring-
field, Mass., where he remained till the close
of the civil war, when he returned to Johnson
and for three years labored on his father's
farm. For the next seven years he was
variously employed as a manufacturer of
butter tubs, clerk of a hotel in Hyde Park,
/'
y
After receiving his education at the public
schools of North Bennington, at the age of
twenty-one he removed to the city of New
York, where he entered into partnership with
B. G. Surdam, and engaged in the manufact-
ure of stereoscopes and lenses. There he
remained four years and after attaining the
necessary skill he returned to his native town,
where he started in the same line of business
for himself.
In 1877, he removed to his present site
and erected a large plant, and successfully
carried on the business of manufacturing
lenses, writing desks, and stereoscopes. In
1S86, his entire establishment was consumed
by fire, but he immediately erected a larger
HENRY CLAY WILCOX.
and foreman in different establishments en-
gaged m the lumber trade. In 1882 he
assumed the general superintendence of the
Buck & Wilcox Lumber Co., a very impor-
tant and responsible position, the duties of
which he satisfactorily discharged up to
1885, when they sold to C. H. Stevens &
Co., since which time he has been in the
employ of C. H. Stevens & Co. and the
Northern Lumber Co.
Mr. Wilcox was formerly deputy-sheriff at
432
Johnson, and since his removal to (Iranby
has been the incumbent of several important
offices, serving as justice and selectman :
he .was the Republican representative of
Granby in 1886 to 1890, and a prominent
candidate for senator from his county in the
convention of that party in 1S92. Mr. Wil-
cox is regarded as a man of sound business
capacity and great general intelligence.
For more than a quarter of a century he
has belonged to the Masonic fraternity, has
held the office of W. M. in Eden Lodge,
No. 69, H. P. of Tucker Chapter, and Dis-
trict Deputy G. M.
WILKINS, George, of Stowe, son of
Uriah and Nancy (Kittredge) Wilkins, was
born in Stowe, Dec. 6, 1S17.
and in 1S56 a delegate to the Constitutional
Conxention. He was chosen senator from
Lamoille county in 1S59 and was subse-
quently delegate to the union convention at
Philadelphia ; a presidential elector from
the Third District and a member of the
national Republican convention that nomi-
nated General Grant.
Mr. Wilkins is everywhere recognized as
an astute and able trial lawyer, a graphic
and interesting writer and an earnest,
thorough, and resolute advocate. .Always
interested in educational affairs he has been
a liberal donor of books and apparatus to
the schools in his vicinity. The manage-
ment of several large farms purchased by
him in the town and its neighborhood has
recently engrossed the chief share of his
time and attention.
WILLARD, ANDREW Jackson, of Bur-
lington, son of Nehemiah Batchelder and
Hannah (Emerson) A\'illard, was born in
Harvard, Mass., March 19, 1832. .Among
his iirogenitors, the lineage being the same
.After enjoying the educational privileges
of the common schools and the academies
of Johnson and Montpelier, Mr. Wilkins
studied law with Messrs. Butler and Bingham,
and was admitted to the Lamoille county
bar at the December term of 184 1. He
then formed a partnership with O. AV. But-
ler, Esq., which was continued till 1845,
when he purchased that gentleman's library
and alone has conducted the practice of the
firm since that time.
He espoused, July 12, 1846, Maria N.,
daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Blanchard)
Wilson of Hopkinton, N. Y. They have
adopted Charles B., son of Capt. J. H. Swift
of \Vashington.
In 1852 he was elected state's attorney.
as Miss Frances Willard's, he numbers Major
Willard of colonial fame, and President
Willard of Harvard College, while on the
mother's side he is a scion of the well-
known Emerson family, which has given the
country so many eminent teachers of re-
ligion and philosophy, including the "Sage
of Concord," Ralph Waldo. The Willards
and the Emersons seem to be happily
blended in the subject of our sketch.
Ha\ing lost his father in early youtli, Mr.
\\'illard was placed by his widowed mother
in the academy at Lancaster, Mass., but he
finished his preparation for college at the
\\'alnut Street high school of Worcester,
Mass. .\t the age of seventeen he was ad-
mitted to Vale college, where his career was
in every way creditable. Though his studies
were to some degree impeded by impaired
health and eyesight, he took many prizes for
excellence in debate and English composi-
tion, and he graduated with high honors in
the "famous class" of 1853. He then spent
three years in the study of theology at the
Yale Theological Seminary. He was licensed
to preach by the New Ha\en Association of
Congregational Ministers. After a brief
residence as licentiate at Andover, Mass., he
was called in January, 1S57, to the pastorate
of the Congregational church at Upton,
Mass., one of the oldest and largest in
Worcester county. Here he spent nearly
nine years of honorable service, when he
was olsliged by failing health to resign his
charge, and later still to gi\e up entirely the
ministerial profession.
Rev. Mr. Willard removed to Burlington
in 1865, and for about five years he supplied
the pulpits at Essex Centre and Essex
Junction. In 1870 and 1871 he was the
superintendent of the public schools in Bur-
lington. While trying to regain his shattered
health he, as it were, accidentally attended a
medical lecture at the University of Ver-
mont, and was thereby led to the study of
medicine, and graduated from the medical
department of the university in 1877. At
this time he was appointed valedictorian, but
declined the honor. He was awarded the
prize for the best thesis, the subject of which
was "Medical Chemistry," which received
the unusual compliment from the medical
faculty of a recommendation to publish.
Having spent several months in special study
in New Vork City, he had just commenced
to practice medicine in Burlington, when he
was appointed instructor in chemistry and
assistant professor in that science in the U.
V. M. Later he was appointed special pro-
fessor of hygiene and sanitary science.
These positions he held til! 1890, when
increasing professional duties connected with
his specialty obliged him to resign his active
connection with the university, but he has
continued to retain, up to the present time,
the honorary position of adjunct professor
of chemistry in that institution.
Soon after graduation in medicine Dr.
Willard was made superintendent and resi-
dent physician of the Mary Fletcher Hospi-
tal in Burlington. In December, 18S6, he
retired from this position after nearly six years
of unremitting devotion to the interests of
the hospital. There can be no question that
he did a good work while there, to which
Wll.I.ARl.. 433
many grateful ])atients bear willing witness.
One of his first achievements was the foun-
dation of the Mary Fletcher Hospital Train-
ing School, for nurses, which is still in suc-
cessful operation. He early saw, when at the
hospital, the need of special treatment for
diseases of the nervous system, and therefore,
for this purpose, he founded an institution in
Burlington, known as " Dr. Willard's Rest
Cure and Nervine Establishment." Its
present name, however, is the " Willard
Nervine Home." In many respects the
success of this institution has been phenome-
nal. In addition to the main building on
North Prospect street, a summer retreat has
been established on the shores of Lake
Champlain, called "The White Birches," to
which Dr. Willard frequently takes his con-
valescing patients.
Dr. Willard was married May 19, 1857, in
Burlington, to Harriet Buell, daughter of
Henry Pearl and Maria (Buell) Hickok.
Five children have blessed their union :
Henry Hickok, Albert Emerson, Helen Eliza-
beth, Julia Maria, and Frederick Buell.
In politics Dr. Willard has always been a
staunch Republican. In religion he has been
a Congregationalist, until quite recently,
when he joined the Episcopal church.
WILLARD, George F. B., of Ver-
gennes, son of George and Delana D.
(Lake) Willard, was born in Boston, Mass.,
on the 26th of July, 1853.
He received a liberal education for his
chosen profession, graduating from the high
school at Middlebury in 1872, and from
Middlebury College in the class of 1876.
He later pursued a course of study at the St.
Louis Medical College, from which he re-
ceived his diploma of M. D., in 1883. The
same year Doctor Willard settled at ^'er-
gennes, where he has deservedly won a lead-
ing position among the physicians of the city
and surrounding country.
He was married at Washington, D. C,
Dec. 26, 1883, to H. .\da, daughter of I. D.
and S. E. Vedder, of Whitehall, 111., and
from this union there are issue five children :
Delana E., .Ada Hopkins, George Vedder,
Lucy Amelia, and Sarah Lake.
Doctor \\'illard has always strictly devoted
himself to his professional duties, never seek-
ing publicity or political office, but at present
fills the office of alderman and is a member
of the school board of Vergennes. He be-
longs to the Vermont Medical Society, and
while in college afifiliated with the D. U.
Friendly and open-hearted, he is very
popular with all classes in his own city,
being esteemed by all who come in contact
with him.
On account of the illness of .Mrs. Willard,
the doctor gave up his practice in ^'ergennes
in 1893, and removed to Roodhouse, Ills.,
WILLIAMS.
where he is at present building up a good
practice.
WILLIAMS, Frank Clifton, of Cov-
entry, son of Clifton and Mariette (Loomis)
Williams, was born in Glover, May 12, 1853.
His education was obtained in the public
schools of Glover, in the Orleans Liberal
Institute and Goddard Seminary. Shortly
before he arrived at man's estate he was
employed as clerk in several mercantile es-
tablishments in Glover and Coventrv, and in
Mr. Williams was wedded, May 30, 1S77,
to Helen Louise Burbank, daughter of
Samuel and Jane (Coburn) Bowles Bur-
bank of Coventry. Five children have
blessed their union : Grace Helen, Florence
Eliza, Sam Clifton, Kate Mildred, and
Harold Frank (deceased).
WILLIAMS, George ABNER, of Sax-
tons River, son of Russel H. and Mercy
(Waters) Williams, was born in Westmore-
land, N. v., July 10, 1S53.
His earlier education was obtained in
\\'hitestown Seminary, Whitesboro, N. V.
He was graduated from Colgate University
in 18S0, and afterwards received the degrees
of A. M. and Ph. D. from the same institu-
tion. While in college he specially devoted
himself to languages and mathematics, and
1877 entered into a partnership with Homer
Thrasher at Coventry. Four years subse-
quently he bought out his partner's interest
and for some time continued alone, when
Mr. Salmon Nye entered the concern which
continued its operations till 1892, building a
fine block for business purposes on the main
street and besides his regular occupation
Mr. Williams has engaged in lumbering, farm-
ing and horse breeding. In this latter
branch he has been very successful, having
turned out a large number of fast trotters,
though he makes a specialty of roadsters of
the Morgan family.
He is liberal in his religious opinions, but
attends and supports the Congregational
church. For many years he has filled the
offices of justice of the peace and town
clerk and treasurer of Coventry, which town
he represented in the Legislature in 1884
where he was a member of the committee
on claims.
GEORGE ABNER WILLIAMS.
was honored with the valedictory address
upon his graduation. In 1879 he repre-
sented his alma mater in the intercollegiate
contest in New York City, winning the
highest honors in the Latin language. Mr.
Williams has followed the profession of
teaching since 1S73. Immediately after his
graduation he became the instructor in
mathematics and the sciences in Whitestown
Seminary, and subsequently has occupied
positions in the Hamilton (X. V.) Union
School and Cook Academy, at Havana, N.
Y. Since 1889 he has been principal of the
Vermont .Academy, at Saxtons River, which
position he occupies at the present time.
He has always displayed great ability as an
instructor, successfully laboring for the in-
tellectual and moral improvement of all
pupils who have been entrusted to his
charge. His services have always been
sought for, and he has never been obliged to
make an application for any post which he
has filled. He is a member of the American
Institute of Instruction and of the American
Philological Association.
\\'hile in college he was a member of the
Delta Upsilon fraternity, and acted both as
president and vice-president of the Colgate
Chapter. He was a delegate to the conven-
tion of the fraternity at Schenectady in 1879.
At graduation he was chosen a member of
Phi Beta Kappa.
He was united in marriage, June 30, 1880,
to Florence Elizabeth, daughter of Rev.
Eliphalet and Martha (Spaulding) Owen.
Four children have blessed their union :
two daughters, Elbertine and Roberta, and
two sons, Maynard Owen and Russel Hill.
Mr. \Villiams is a descendant on both
sides of the house, from Re\olutionary sol-
diers, and is a Baptist by inheritance and
conviction. He is the author of a book on
"Topics and References in American His-
tory," widely used in schools, and is actively
interested in educational problems in Ver-
mont. He was a member of the legislative
committee of the Vermont State Teachers'
Association, which appeared before the ed-
ucational committee of that body in 1892,
■urging the adoption of the town system of
schools, which measure was finally adopted.
Since 1889 he has served upon the state ex-
ecutive committee of the Y. M. C. A.
Though always taking an active interest in
public affairs, he has never sought or ac-
cepted political office. Hitherto a Republi-
can in his preferences, he is now strongly
inclined to independent views with regard to
national and state affairs.
WILLIAMS, James Peter, of Sunder-
land, son of Peter and F^meline (Jordan)
\\"illiams, was born in Auburn, Me., April 5,
1836.
His education was obtained in the schools
of Auburn, and Fitzwilliam, N. H. For
some time after he arrived at his majority he
was employed in a factory for the manu-
facture of wooden ware, and afterwards re-
moved to Sunderland, in which place, in
1858, he purchased an establishment for the
manufacture of clothes-pins, which he after-
wards changed to a turning shop. Mr.
Williams then changed the scene of his
labors to Manchester, where in connection
with Dexter Pierce he manufactured spoons,
and in 1878 dissolving his partnership he
returned to Sunderland, where he continued
wn..so.v. 435
in a similar occupation, cultivating in ad-
dition a farm of about one hundred acres.
August 29, 1866, he espoused Delia,
daughter of Cleorge Newbury and Sarah M.
(Phillips) (Mmsted of Fitzwilliam. Four
children were born to them : (Irace Amanda
(deceased), Waldo Frank, .Anson Streeter,
and Shirley Olmsted.
A Republican in his political faith Mr.
\Villiams has never assumed any official
position, and in regard to his religious views
he is an agnostic.
WILSON, James DuNLAP, of Greens-
boro, son of John and Margaret (^■oung)
\\'ilson, was born in (Greensboro, Sept. 13,
1848.
He was educated in the schools of Cireens-
boro and in Morrisville Academy, and for
some time taught in the public schools of
Greensboro. He then, for five years, fol-
lowed the occupations of farmer and carpen-
ter and subsequenriy was employed in the
Fairbanks scale works of St. Johnsbury.
Since his return to (jreensboro in 1880 he
has devoted himself to dairy farming and the
manufacture of maple sugar from a large
orchard of 1,200 trees.
November 22, 1877, he wedded Mariette
T., daughter of James J. and Lilias (Miller)
Lumsden of Greensboro. Three children
have been born to them : Florence Edith,
John P^rwin, and James Harrison.
Mr. Wilson has been selectman and jus-
tice of the peace for several years ; has dis-
charged the duties of town auditor, was dele-
gate to the state convention in 1892 at
Montpelier and represented Greensboro in
the Legislature of 1892, serving on the com-
mittee on land taxes and the canvassing
committee. For four years he was a mem-
ber of the Republican town committee.
He belongs to the Presbyterian church, of
which he has been for a long time elder and
Sunday school superintendent.
WILLSON, MELVIN a., son of Sydney
and Lucy (Boutwell) Willson, was born in
Lowell, Mass., July 31, 1847.
He was one of a family of four children
and in his early boyhood was thrown u])on
his own resources, by the death of his father.
Removing to Mctory at the age of eight, he
gleaned a scanty education from the schools
of Lunenburg and Lyndon, meanwhile con-
tributing from his earnings to the support of
the family.
He enlisted Sept. 13, 1864, in Co. K, 8th
Vt. \'ols. under the command of Col. Stephen
Thomas, saw service in the Shenandoah cam-
paign and was honorablv discharged May 13,
1865.
After his return from military service Mr.
\Mllson settled in Granby, where he purchased
436
WINSLOW.
the property on which he now resides. He
has been extensively engaged in general
farming, raising, buying and selling stock and
his plain, blunt common sense and shrewd-
ness have rendered him financially success-
ful in all these enterprises, making him an
important factor in the business affairs of the
town. For the last tw^o years he has added
to his other occupations a trade in feed, flour
and grain.
Mr. W'illson is a Republican, but is inde-
pendent in his views, and has been elected
to nearly all the responsible offices in the
town of (Iranby, which he represented in the
Legislature of 1884.
He was united in marriage March 6, 1872,
to Jean, daughter of Loomis and Adeline
( Farr) \\'ells, of w-hich marriage seven chil-
dren have been born : Addie L., Sidney I..,
Leonard H., Samuel G., Oscar M., John H.,
and Dora M.
WING, George Washington, of
Montpelier, son of Joseph A. and Samantha
Elizabeth (Webster) Wing, was born in
Plainfield, Oct. 22, T843.
He was educated in the district schools,
at Barre Academy, at the Washington county
grammar school, and at Dartmouth College,
from which institution he was graduated in
1866. He has been a resident of Mont-
pelier since 1858. He studied law in the
office of his father, Joseph A. W'ing, Esq.,
and was admitted to \\"ashington county bar,
March term, 1868.
He was assistant state librarian in 1864,
1865 and 1866, and a deputy secretary of
state from 1S67 to 1873. During part of
this latter period he was a clerk in the office
of the state treasurer, Hon. John A. Page of
Montpelier. Concluding this service, he
began the practice of his profession, in
which he has become distinguished, both for
soundness of judgment and ability as an
advocate. He was elected to the House of
Representatives from Montpelier in 1882,
and rendered important service to the state
on the ways and means and the grand list
committees. He had an important part in
framing, and to him belongs the honor of
formulating, the corporation tax law enacted
at that session of the Legislature — a law that
was distinguished by the clearness and pre-
cision of its phraseology and by the benefits
its well considered provisions conferred upon
the state at large. As a member of the
grand list committee his counsel, practical
judgment and peculiar gift in so formulating
an enactment that it could bear but one, and
the right, interpretation, were brought into
requisition in the act revising and consolida-
ting the tax and grand list laws. In advo-
cating, explaining and defending these
measures in the debates in the House, and
in his legislative duties generally, he dis-
closed the qualities of a wise and capable
law-maker. From 1S84 to 1888, during the
administration of President Cleveland, al-
though a staunch Republican, he held the
office of postmaster at Montpelier, to which
he had been elected toward the close of
President Arthur's administration. He was
a capable and popular administrator of the
affairs of the post-office, judicious and
efficient. In 1S90 he was elected a trustee
of the Village of Montpelier, and in 1892
was chosen president of the corporation.
He is treasurer of the Farmer's Trust Co.,
incorporated under the laws of Iowa, and
which has its Eastern office at Montpelier.
Mr. \Mng is a member of Aurora Lodge,
No. 22, F. & A. M., and has taken the 32d
degree in Scottish Rite Masonry.
December i, 1869, he married Miss Sarah
E., daughter of Dr. Orlando P. and Millie
(Hendee) Forbush, who died in April, 1871,
leaving one child : Sarah F. October i,
1882, he married Miss Ida I., daughter of
Stephen F. and Caroline C. (Stone) Jones.
Of Mr. Wing, a brother attorney says :
" He entertains and instructs, whether be-
fore the jury or court, or on the stump. He
is at once scholarly and practical, and has
an enviable power of illustration peculiar to
himself"
WINSLOW, DON AVERY, of Westfield,
son of Orlando and Salome (Hitchcock)
Winslow, was born in Westfield, Oct. 25,
1S24.
He is the seventh in lineal descent from
Kenelm Winslow, one of the earliest settlers
of Plymouth county, and also through his
grandmother \Mnslow, a descendant of the
.\dams family of Quincy, Mass. The estate
formerly belonging to Daniel ^^'ebster in
Marshfield, Mass., was the original Kenelm
Winslow homestead, and had been preserved
in that family till its purchase by the great
orator and statesman.
The subject of this sketch, after attending
the public schools of Westfield and Derby
Academy, did not care to follow^ the foot-
steps of his father, who was a farmer and
general merchant in the village, and in 1846
found his way to Boston, where he studied
music under the instruction of the well-
known Lowell Mason. Mr. Winslow com-
menced his musical career as tenor in an
English opera in the Boston Theater, and
also in a quartette in the Unitarian church
of Bulfinch street in the city. Subsequently,
after instruction in musical composition and
in piano and church organ playing, he
settled in St. Albans, where he was employed
as organist in the Congregational church,
and as professor of music in Swanton x\c-
adeniy. During this period he composed
both secular and sacred music, and many of
his efforts have been pubHshed in Kmerson's,
Perkins', Marshall's, and other musical
works.
For over fifty years he has been continu-
ously connected with churches, either as
leader of the choir or organist. .After giving
up his profession he was employed for ten
years at Johnson as station agent and tele-
graph operator. In icSSg he removed to
Westfield, where he now resides on the old
homestead.
W ^•s^
WINSI.OW. 437
His parents moved to 'I'ownshend ten years
later, and he there received the usual educa-
tion of the common schools, completing his
studies at the establishment which is now
styled the Leland and Cray -Seminary, of
which he was a trustee for twenty-five years.
1 )uring his vacations, as was then customary
for all farm-bred boys, he assisted his father
in the management of his jiroperty, and in
the winter of 1S51 taught school iii Athens.
The following spring he went to Boston,
Mass., where he was employed as a clerk in a
mercantile establishment for more than three
years. He ne.xt turned his steps to Califor-
nia, where he was an instructor in the public
schools, but in the fall of 1858 he returned
to Townshend and engaged in general trade,
in which he continued for thirty-one years.
His health failing him, he sold out his busi-
ness in 1 89 1, removing with his family to
-Amherst, Mass., where he died, Feb. 20,
1893.
DON AVERY WINSLOW.
March 27, 1848, he married Mary S.,
daughter of Curtis and Mary (DeW'olf)
Newton of Greenfield, Mass. She died Jan.
12, 1882. Five children were born to them :
Edward \V. (drowned in early youth), Helen
M. (now president of the Women's Press
Association, Boston), Mary .\., Isabel N.
(Mrs. Alexander Conrad of Cooledge, N.
M.), and Harriet P. Mr. Winslow contracted
a second marriage, May 5, 1886, with .Amanda
M., daughter of Bela and Ann M. Johnson,
of Whitfield, N. H.
He has been a consistent member of the
Congregational church in Westfield, was
formerly a member of the Handel and
Haydn Society of Boston, and was one of the
organizers and early presidents of the Or-
leans County Musical Association.
WINSLOW, Samuel Dutton, late of
Amherst, Mass., son of Peleg and Nancy
(Bowles) Winslow, was born in Dummers-
ton, .April 17, 1S32.
SAMUEL DUrrON V/INSLOW.
He married, Dec. 6, 1S59, Mary E.,
daughter of David and Betsey (Wood) Wil-
lis, of East -Alstead, X. H. There were four
children born to them, of whom the young-
est, Lotie May, alone survives.
Mr. Winslow was quite influential in town
and county affairs, but generally avoided offi-
cial positions. He was for nearly twenty-
one years president of the Windham County
Savings Bank, and was very active in pro-
moting its interests.
He contributed most liberally both time
and money to promote the welfare of the
438
WITHERELI..
WOOIU'.URV.
Congregational church, of which he was a
member for thirty years, and in which he
served from 1863 to 1S91 as deacon, Sunday
school superintendent and teacher, doing all
in his power. to advance its interests and
efficiency.
He was a typical New England man of
active and energetic character, self-depend-
ent, and relying solely upon his efforts. He
possessed superior financial ability, was very
successful in his business enterprises, and
honorably and deservedly amassed consider-
able wealth.
WITHERELL, JOHN H., of Bridport,
son of James and Susan (Willis) Witherell,
was born in Bridport, julv 31, 1841.
townsmen for his good judgment and hon-
esty. In 18S0 he was called upon to serve
in the I^egislature, serving on the standing
committee as also on special committees.
He was united in marriage at Bridport,
Sept. 4, 1875, to Anna L)., daughter of Judge
Henry and Eliza Sollace. Five children
were born to them, four of whom survive :
dertrude S., Kittle F"., Herman S., and
Georgiana.
For four years Mr. Witherell was Master
of the Morning Sun Lodge, No. 5, F. & A.
M. of Pkidporl, and he is a Sir Knight of
Mount Calvary Commandery of Middlebury.
WOODBURY, URBAN ANDRAIN, of
Burlington, son of Albert M. and I.ucy L.
(A\'adleigh) Woodbury, was born in Ac worth,
X. H., July II, 1838. His father was a
native of Cavendish, and returned to Ver-
mont, after a temporary residence in New-
Hampshire, when Urban was two years old.
The latter was educated in the common
schools of Morristown and the People's
Academy in Morrisville, and was graduated
from the medical department of the Univer-
sity of Vermont in 1859.
WITHERELL.
He received his early education in the
jchools of Bridport, but supplemented this
instruction by an extended course of reading
and practical and advantageous study. He
has always been engaged in agricultural pur-
suits, formerly on the shores of Eake Cham-
plain, but later in the village of Bridport,
where he has since resided. He has been
successful in his efforts and for three years
has acted as manager of the Black Hawk
stock farm. He makes horses a specialty
and has bred already some fine specimens
of the \Vilkes and Morgan strain.
Though not one who seeks preferment Mr.
Witherell has held many town offices, among
them those of selectman and justice of the
peace. He has always been a constant Re-
publican and is held in high repute bv his
The subject of this sketch was one of the
first to enlist in the service of his country at
the breaking out of the civil war. He be-
came a member of Co. H, 2d Regt. Vt.
Vols., May 25, 1861 ; was immediately ad-
vanced to the grade of sergeant, taken pris-
oner two months after his enlistment, at the
WOOnwOR'lH.
battle of Bull Run, in \vhic:h engagement he
had the misfortune to lose his right arm ;
was paroled Oct. 5, 1861, and discharged
from service on account of wounds Oct. 18,
1S61. Undaunted by his trying experience,
he again sought to defend his country's flag,
and Nov. 17, 1862, he was commissionetl
captain of Co. D, nth Regt. Vt. Vols. He
was transferred to the \'eteran Reserve ('orps
June 17, 1863. In March, 1865, after faith-
fully discharging the duties of his position,
he resigned.
Captain ^Voodbury was married, Feb. 12,
i860, to Paulina L., second daughter of Ira
and Sarah Darling of Elmore. By her he
has six children: Charles Lincoln, Minnie
Stannard, Gertrude Frances, Edward Fhilo,
Lila Darling, and Mildred Dorothy.
.After his return from the war he settled in
Burlington, and became general manager of
the lumber business of J. R. Booth. His
skill as a financier and his power of applica-
tion have made this concern a great success.
He has also engaged in real estate opera-
tions, and for twelve years has been the
owner of the Van Ness House property.
Mr. Woodbury is a Republican in his
political views. He was elected alderman
from the second ward in Burlington in iS8i
and '82, and the latter year was made presi-
dent of the board. In 1885 and '86 he was
chosen mayor of the city, and in 1888 he
was made Lieutenant-Governor of the state,
serving under the administration of Gover-
nor \\"illiam P. Dillingham. In every posi-
tion, both public and private, he has made a
most honorable record, and one that justly
entitles him to the confidence and respect of
all his fellow-citizens to whom he has proved
by his past career that he is worthy of all
honors they can bestow.
Lieutenant-Governor Woodbury is a mem-
ber of the Masonic fraternity in which he
has taken the obligations of the 32d de-
gree and of the Mystic Shrine. He also
belongs to the I. 0.0. F. and the G. A. R.,
the Llnited States Military Order of the
Loyal Legion, the Sons of the .American
Revolution, and the Knights of Pythias.
WOODWORTH, ARTHUR WELLING-
TON, of Enosburg Falls, son of William S.
and Patience S. (Stevens) Woodworth, was
born in Berkshire, May 7, 1823.
.After receiving his education at the com-
mon schools of Enosburg he was instructed
by his father in the trade of a carpenter and
joiner, at which he worked till he arrived at
his majority. Soon after he was employed
as an agricultural laborer by Judge .Aldis
and Lawrence Brainerd of St. .Albans. .As he
was prudent and industrious, on his return
to Enosburg he was enabled to invest his
well-earned savings in a farm, to which he
Wi)OI,S(.)N. 435
has given most of his attention up to the
present time, making a specialty of dairy-
ing. When the railroad reached Enosburg
he was elected a director, and j^urchasing
some timber land became hea\ily interested
in the sale of wood and ties to the corpor-
ation. He is a joint owner and manager of
the Lumber Manufacturing Co., at Sampson-
ville.
Mr. Woodworth was married, Nov. 15,
1848, to .Adaline '1'., daughter of .Alpheus
and Jane (French) Ladd of Enosburg.
One daughter has been born to them : Lin-
nie R. (Mrs. Walter P. Phelps).
ARTHUR 'v'. ELLINGTO:, .
He cast his first presidential vote lor
Henry Clay, is an ardent Republican and
has filled many responsible positions. .Al-
ways active in the public affairs of his town
and county, he was elected to the Legisla-
ture from Enosburg in 1858 and 1859 and
in rS8o was chosen a senator from Frank-
lin county, serving on many important com-
mittees.
He was a director of the St. .Albans Sav-
ings Bank and Trust Co., and is regarded
by all as a man of sound judgment and un-
doubted integrity, and as one who by his
own unaided efforts has been financially suc-
cessful and has lent a helping hand to many
a fellow-man in need.
WOOLSON, AMASA, late of Springfield,
son of -Asa and .Ann Woolson, was born in
Grafton, .August 6, 181 1.
440
Receiving a common school education,
Mr. \\'oolson early displayed remarkable
mechanical ability, and from the age of
fourteen to thirty-five was engaged at Man-
chester and Chester in manufacturing and
finishing woolen cloths and inventing and
making machinery suitable for this purpose.
In 1S46 he removed to Springfield, and here
became a member of the firm of Davidson
& Parks, engaging in the manufacture of
cloth finishing machinery. Four years later,
upon the death of Mr. Davidson, the con-
cern became Parks & Woolson thus con-
tinuing until 1 8 78, when it was made a
stock company. Mr. Woolson invented and
patented the most effective shearing machine
now in use, with a set of twentv-two revolving
deacon of the Congregational church, presi-
dent of the Jones & Lamson Machine Co.
and of the First National Bank of Spring-
field.
As an inventor he held a high rank, and
was awarded seven premiums, consisting of
gold, silver and bronze medals, at different
fairs in Boston and New York, as well as at
the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia.
He married, Jan. 15, 1838, Mary L.,
daughter of John Davidson. Their only
child, Helen M., died' in infancy, and her
mother departed this life a few months later.
He was again united to Mary E., daughter
of Aaron and Lettice Baker, July i, 1863.
Four children were born to them, two of
whom survive : William D., and Charles A.
vlASA WOOLSON
blades. In 1888 Mr. Woolson, in connec-
tion with others, purchased the stock of the
Jones & Lamson Machine Co., of Windsor,
moved it to Springfield and commenced the
manufacture of machinists' tools of every
description, but soon devoted their efforts
to turret machinery exclusively, using for
this purpose and ])atenting several valuable
appliances invented by James Hartness,
superintendent of the works. The company
is now erecting factories which, vi^hen com-
pleted, will double the capacity of the
business.
Mr. Woolson never aspired to political pre-
ferment, but for nearly forty years was iden-
tified with the business and religious life of
Springfield. At the time of his death he was
WOOSTER, Jay, of Whiting, son of
Benjamin P. and Hannah (\\'arner) Woos-
ter, was born in Whiting, Oct. 23, 1847.
His educational advantages were confined
to the schools of the town and he resolved to
devote himself to the honorable occupation
of a farmer. He has also speculated largely
in live stock, and for several years has been
extensively engaged in purchasing beef cat-
tle for the general market.
Mr. Wooster is a very strong Republican
and an enthusiastic upholder of the national
policy of that party. While never seeking
office he has had all the public positions
thrust upon him, which he cared to accept.
For seventeen years he has discharged the
duties of constable.
He was married 'in Whiting, March 31,
1875, to Mary Pond, daughter of Nelson and
Jane Remeley. From this union two chil-
dren were born : Robert N., and Egbert R.
Mr. Wooster is a typical Yermonter of his
class, of powerful frame and of more than
average intelligence. His acquaintance is
extensive and his friends numerous in the
county in which he resides.
He is a Free Mason, affiliating with
Simond Lodge, No. 59.
WYMAN, ANDREW A., of Athens, son
of Thomas and Huldah (Gilbert) Wyman,
was born in Rockingham, March 12, 1S30.
After receiving his early education in the
common schools of Rockingham, followed
by several terms at the Townshend and
Thetford .Academies, he taught school in
the surrounding towns during the winter
and was employed on the homestead in sum-
mer. For some time he acted as salesman
in the grocery store of his brother at Cam-
bridgeport, and afterwards purchased a farm
in Athens, removing in 1S71 to the old
homestead.
Mr. Wyman, at Chester, Oct. 27, 1857,
was united to Martha, daughter of John and
Martha (Davis) Eastman. One child, Stella
441
S., was the issue of this alliance. Mrs.
Wyman died in October, 1881, and he was
again married Nov. 16, 1882, to .\bbie A.,
daughter of Everett P. and Electa Wellman.
He has been prominently identified in the
affairs of his town, for a long time served as
justice of the peace and selectman, and was
elected assistant judge of the county in 1878
and held the office six years. For four
sessions (1S64, 1865, 1S67 and 1872) he
represented his town in the Legislature, and
in 1874 was elected a state senator from
Windham county. All these positions he
has filled with credit to himself and universal
satisfaction to his constituency. In 1890
Mr. \\'yman was appointed upon the board
of cattle commissioners by Governor Page,
and in 1892 he was elected county com-
missioner.
fi He is a public-spirited man, always mani-
festina; liberal ideas.
compelled him to withdraw from active busi-
ness. For si.xteen years subsequently he
gave his services to the lirattleboro Savings
Bank, and for half that time he ably acted
as treasurer of that institution.
As religious and temperance principles
were strongly inculcated in his early youth,
he has always been a strong advocate of
total abstinence and prohibition.
He was united in marriage, Jan. i, 1848,
to Charlotte Maria, daughter of James and
Elenor Bruce. Of this union there are three
children : Emma F. (wife of E. C. Crosby),
Helen M. (wife of N. I). Allen), and
Annie L.
WYMAN, Martin L., of Gaysville, son
of Anson and Lydia (Hannaford) Wyman,
was born in Poultney, May ^ 1836.
WYMAN, Cyrus Warren, of Brattie-
boro, son of Thomas and Huldah (Gilbert)
Wyman, was born in Rockingham, Dec. 18,
1823.
CYRUS WARREN WYMA
In the intervals of his labor upon a farm
he received his early education in the com-
mon schools, and afterwards enjoyed the
advantages of instruction in a seminary. In
early life he followed the occupation of a
merchant in his native town, where he held
for six years the position of postmaster. He
then moved to Brattleboro, and for a long
period continued in trade, until failing health
t^
w
MARTIN L. WYMAN.
His education was obtained in the district
schools of Stockbridge and in the public and
evening schools of Boston, Mass. At the age
of fourteen he commenced to learn the trade
of a machinist at Boston, and was for a time
in the employment of the Vermont and
Massachusetts R. R. He spent five years at
Fitchburg working at his trade, and after-
ward returned to Boston, where he contin-
ued till 1 86 1, when, with Charles E. Moore,
he formed a copartnership to engage in the
manufacture of all kinds of e.vi)erimental
machinery. He was one of the first to en-
gage in the construction of passenger ele-
vators for hotels and office buildings, under
the patent of the late ( )tis Tufts. The name
of Mr. Wyman often appears as the patentee
of many useful inventions, more especially
those appertaining to elevators. He retired
from active participation in business recent-
ly, leaving his son, Charles E., to occupy his
place as treasurer and manager of the Moore
& Wyman Elevator and Machine Works.
An adherent of the Republican party, he
has been selectman, auditor, grand juror,
justice of the peace, and trustee of the pub-
lic money of the town of Stockbridge, from
which he was elected to the Legislature in
1892, being a member of the committee on
manufactures.
He married, Feb. 12, 1856, Lydia B.,
daughter of Emerson and P21iza (Barrett)
Hardy, of Harvard, Mass. Five children
have been born to them : \\alter E., Charles
E., George R., Martin L., and Alice M.
Mr. Wyman is a member of the Massa-
chusetts Charitable Mechanics' Association,
and has been allied with the Masonic frater-
nity for more than thirty years. He is now
W. M. of White River Lodge, No. 90, of
Bethel, and belongs to Whitney Chapter, R.
A. M., Haswell Council, and Mt. Sinai Shrine.
He is also a Knight Templar of Mt. Z ion
Commandery.
YOUNG, JOHN STILLMAN, of Troy, son
of John and Sophia (Pike) Young, was born
in Jay, March 6, 1845.
His education was received in the public
and grammar schools of Jay, \\'estfield, and
Troy, after which he taught several terms of
school ; he then entered Bryant & Stratton's
Fiusiness College, at Burlington, from which
he graduated in a shorter time than any pre-
ceding pupil. He studied law with his
brother-in-law at Derby Line for awhile, but
concluding the mercantile business would be
more congenial, he went to Boston, and en-
gaged in book-keeping for about two years
and in 1 8 7 1 entered into partnership with L.P.
James in a general store in Troy. After being
in business one year he sold out to his part-
ner and again returned to Boston, where he
remained for two years, but on account of ill-
health returned to Vermont. After a short
connection with the Reed ISoot and Shoe
Manufacturing Co. in Westfield he purchased,
in the fall of 1875, a general mercantile es-
tablishment in Troy, which he has operated
to the present time. In 1891 his store was
consumed by fire, but the following season he
erected one of the finest buildings for the
purpose of trade in Orleans county. He
deals in agricultural implements, furniture
and undertakers' supplies, besides carrying a
large stock of general merchandise. He has
large real estate interests, and owns the old
homestead in Jay, upon which he was born
and reared.
Mr. Young married, Jan. 25, 1883, Ludelle,
daughter of Albert and Dorcas (Angier)
Hodsden.
Till 1886 Mr. Young was a Democrat, but
since then has been a Republican. He has
served the town of Troy in the capacity of
selectman, treasurer, clerk, and auditor for
many years, and from 1889 to 1893 was the
postmaster of Troy, and in 1893 was elected
chairman of the board of school directors.
He enUsted at the outbreak of the civil
war, but as he was under age and could not
obtain his father's consent he remained at
home.
He is a member of Masonic Union Lodge,
No. 16, of Troy, and in his religious prefer-
ences affiliates with the Methodist church.
He possesses rare executive ability, and is
one of the most successful business men in
( )rleans count v.
PART III
BIOGRAPHIES OF SONS OF VERMONT.
ALLBEE, Burton H., of Springfield,
Mass., son of Hiram S. and Biglovv Allbee,
was born at Andover, Feb. 9, 1866.
His early life was spent on the farm and
in acquiring his education in the graded
schools of Springfield. His journalistic ca-
reer began with local work upon various
state newspapers and the authorship of tren-
chant articles on Vermont and her advan-
tages and agriculture. He is said to have
been the earliest advocate of a State Bureau
of Emigration, and became the proprietor of
the Vermont Monthly, devoted to the re-
sources and possibilities of the state. Later
he founded and disposed of the Teachers'
Journal, the only educational journal in the
state. From 18S9 to 1892 he was occupied
in local work and corres]3ondence upon the
Springfield (A't.) Reporter, Bellows Falls
Times, Boston Journal, Herald, Globe and
Record, the Springfield (Mass.) Republican,
Manchester Union, and editing the Teachers'
Journal. In November, 1S91, he began con-
tributions to "Stone" of Indianapolis, on the
mineral resources of the state, a subject to
which he had given considerable attention,
and had made an extensive collection of the
economic minerals of the state. The result
of this work brought him the editorship of
"Stone and Milling," which he resigned to
assume an editorial chair on the Indianapo-
lis Sentinel. .After fourteen months' service,
ending with the city editorship of the paper,
he was called to the city editor's chair on
the Springfield (Mass.) Homestead, and also
the commercial editorship of the New I'^ng-
land and New York Homesteads and Farm
and Home, which position he still occupies.
Mr. Allbee was married Dec. 18, i88g, to
Emma, daughter of James H. and Sarah T-
Goldsmith of Weathersfield Center. From
this union was one child: ^\'illiam Gokl-
smith.
ABBOTT, George B., of Brooklyn,
N. Y., the present surrogate of Kings county,
N. Y., was born at Brookfield, Sept. 27, 1S50.
His parents removed to Brooklyn in his
youth, and he was prepared for college at the
Polytechnic Institute in that city. His
academic education was completed at ^\"\\\-
iams College, where he graduated in 1872.
He then traveled in Europe, and on his re-
turn to New York entered upon the study of
law in the office of Abraham R. Lawrence,
now on the bench of the Supreme Court in
that city, and also studied in the law school
of Columbia College, from which institution
he received the degree of L. L. B. in 1S74.
He at once began the active practice of his
profession, and in i88i,upon the retirement
of the late Henry J. Cullen, Jr., from that
office, he was appointed public administrator
in Kings county, and received a re-appoint-
ment to the same position in 1886.
On February 9, 1889, Mr. .\bbott was
appointed by Governor Hill to the office of
surrogate of Kings county to fill the vacancy
caused bv the death of Surrogate .Abraham
<U^A^J9. GUU-r^-iT^"
],ott. At the general election in November
of the same year he was elected surrogate for
a full term of six years, beginning on Jan. i,
1890, when his term by appointment expired.
The amount of business done annually in
the Kings county surrogate's court and the
value of the property administered under its
direction make that tribunal the most im-
portant probate court in the land, with the
single exception of the surrogate's court in
New York City. Speaking of Judge .Abbott's
character as a judicial officer, " The Surro-
gate," a monthly journal devoted to subjects
connected with the probate law, said, last
year : " Even the limited time which has
elapsed since Mr. Abbott's promotion to the
bench has been sufficient to demonstrate his
exceptional fitness for the high post he
occupies. We have already spoken of his
mastery of the peculiar practice and pro-
ceedure of courts of probate. This gives
him an ease and facility in disposing of
routine business not easily acquired except
by years of experience on the bench. In
the higher qualities of the judicial office he
has manifested a vigorous industry, a degree
of painstaking care, a perfect fairness and a
knowledge of legal principles and how to
apply them which has already won for him
the confidence and approbation of lawyers,
litigants and the public, and assure him a
career of the most honorable distinction
among the surrogates of this state."
Judge Abbott, in addition to his city resi-
dence, is the owner of a fine cottage at
Shelter Island, where he spends his summer
vacation ; and he is a prominent figure in
the social life of Brooklyn, being a member
of the Brooklyn, Hamilton, Excelsior and
Germania Clubs there and of the University
Club in New Votk.
On Nov. 20, 1878, he married Miss Eva
T. Reene of Brooklyn, and has two charm-
ing children : a girl eleven years old and a
boy six, to whom he is devoted.
ALFORD, ALONZO, of Brooklyn, N.
Y.,son of Ammi and Clarissa (White) Alford,
was born in St. Albans, Jan. 28, 1837.
He received the educational advantages
of the schools of St. .\lbans, and at the age
of twenty took a position with A. (1. Strong,
hardware merchant of Burlington, and after
four years removed to New Haven, Conn.,
and engaged in the flour and grain business
with Wadhams & j\Ierwin. In 1863 he
located in New York, was a salesman for Mer-
win & Bray, predecessors of Merwin, Hulbert
& Co., and a few years later having become
interested in the Ballard Rifle Manufactur-
ing Co., was chosen treasurer and manager
of that concern, and subsequently organized
the house of .Alford, Berkele & Clapp, which
firm, besides carrying on its own business as
jobbers of fire-arms, was the New York
distributing agents of E. Remington & Sons,
predecessors of the Remington Arms Co. In
187 1, when the Remingtons opened their
New York warerooms, Mr. .\lford was placed
in charge of them as general manager, oc-
cupying that position for eight years, and
then purchased the business from the then
embarrassed company, and conducted it
successfully for two years, when he sold it
back to the Remingtons and resumed his
old position as manager. 1 88 1 he resigned
this position, purchased the controlling in-
terest in a tool and cutlery manufactory in
Massachusetts, and established warerooms
in New York for the sale of these wares.
The success of this concern began from the
first, and in 1883 it was incorporated under
the title of the Alford & Berkele Co., with
Mr. Alford as president, a position which he
still occupies. In 1887 the Alford & Berkele
Co. bought out the Avery Sewing Machine
Co., and organized the Avery Sewing Ma-
chine .\gency, Mr. Alford being elected
president and holding the position at the
present time, June 30, 1893.
Mr Alford is a Republican, and since his
residence in Brooklyn has been chairman of
the Ward Association, member of the gen-
eral committee, and a liberal supporter of
his party.
He is a member and one of the deacons
of the Central Congregational Church of
Brooklyn ; a member of the Congregational
Club, the Sons of Temperance ; for twenty
years a member of the directory of the Y.
M. C. A. ; a director of the Congregational
Church Building Society, and of the City
Mission and Tract Society, and president of
the Mercantile Benefit Association. He is a
prominent Mason and Odd Fellow ; was
treasurer of the Amateur Rifle Club during
its existence, and a life member of the
National Rifle Association, out of which was
organized the American Rifle Team, which
distinguished itself at Dollymount, Wimble-
don and Creedmoor.
Mr. Alford was united in marriage at fSer--
nardston, Mass., Feb. i, i860, to Chloe Cor-
nelia, daughter of Henry and Sylvina A.
(Hale) Slate. Mrs. Alford is an active
Christian worker, and is treasurer of the
National N. P. \V. C. T. U., and for many
years was the publisher of the official organ
of the W. C. T. U., Our Union, now the
Union Signal, and at present pubhsher of
the Temperance Tribune.
Since the foregoing was written Mr. Alford
has retired from business, and has taken up
his residence at Bernardston, Mass., where
he has a comfortable country home.
ALFORD, Albert Gallatin, of Balti-
more, Md., son of Ammi and Clarissa G.
(White) Alford, was born at St. Albans, Oct.
14, 1847, and afterwards removed to ^^'ater-
ville.
Death breaking up his parents' home
while he was yet a boy, Mr. Alford was
thrown upon his own resources, having had
only the advantages of the village schools.
After a short time spent in the American
Hotel at Burlington he went to New Haven,
Conn., to learn a trade. At the age of
seventeen he enlisted in the U. S. Engineer
Corps at New Haven, Feb. 21, 1S65, and
served three years, having been promoted
an artificer. A taste for military life has
always been fostered ; and while living in
Chicago in 1874, he enlisted in ist Regt. 111.
N. G., and was rapidly promoted, holding a
lieutenant's commission at the time of his
resignation when he moved to Baltimore ;
and from 1886 to 1893 held the office of
captain, ordnance officer and inspector of
rifle practice in ist Regt., Md. N. G.
In business life he early became connected
with the great firm of gun manufacturers, E.
Remington & Sons, and from 1874 to 1883
was their manager of the arms department
in Chicago and later general manager of
their entire business in Baltimore, when in
1883 he established the great sporting
goods house now known as the A. G. Alford
Sporting Goods Co.
Mr. Alford has occupied a leading part in
social organizations and societies. From the
George H. Thomas Post, G. A. R., of Chica-
go, he was transferred to Custer Post, No. 6,
of Maryland, in 1879, i" which post he served
as commander ; also as assistant inspector
general ; two terms on commander-in-chiefs
staff; junior vice-department commander of
Maryland in 1882 ; and has served continu-
ously as department and national officer from
1880 to 1 89 1 in positions mentioned, and
also as chief mustering officer and A. D. C.
He is also a member of the A. O. U. W. and
U. S. Benevolent Fraternity : of the latter he
is one of the supreme officers.
ALBERT GALLATIN
Mr. Alford has never sought political pre-
ferment, but has always been a Republican,
and in 1893 was the unanimous choice of the
Republicans of his ward for first branch city
council, and although this ward was over five
hundred Democratic the year previous, was
defeated by only thirty-three votes.
In 1886 he married Clara Augusta, daugh-
ter of William T. and Margaret Robinson, of
Baltimore, and has two daughters : Delia R.
and Bessie P. Mrs. Alford is the depart-
ment treasurer of the Women's Relief Corps,
and one of the organizers of the department.
ALLEN, JOHN Clayton, of Lincoln,
Neb., son of John H. Allen, was born in
Hinesburg, Feb. 14, i860.
He received his early education at Hines-
burg Academy and graduated from the New
Haven .Academy, when he associated himself
with his father in the lumber and harness busi-
ness in his native town and there continued
until 1881. Remoxing to Lincoln, Xeb., in
March, 1881, he entered the wholesale grocery
house of Raymond Bros. & Co., representing
that firm in southwestern Nebraska and east-
ern Colorado, where he remained until 1886.
In that year, Mr. .-Mien entered into business
on his own account at McCook, Red Willow
county, Neb., and built up one of the largest
wholesale and retail general merchandise
houses in southwestern Nebraska, which he
continued until 1892.
JOHN CLAYTON ALLEN.
Politically, Mr. .\llen has held true to his
early training and is a member of the Repub-
lican party. He was elected a councilman
in the city of McCook in the fall of 1886,
and served two terms of two years each,
being president of the council during the en-
tire term of his incumbency and acting mayor
for six months, resigning that office at the
time of his election as secretary of state. In
1890, he was nominated by the Republican
state convention for the office of secretary of
state, and was elected over four other con-
testants with a plurality of 3,800.
In 1892 he was renominated by acclama-
tion by the Republican state convention for
a second term, and was elected by 21,209
plurality votes over four others. Mr. Allen
has always been regarded as one of the
stanchest Republicans and one of the best
informed politicians of Nebraska, and natur-
ally has a large following. He is looked
upon as a representative of the business in-
terests of Nebraska, and he has ahvavs
enjoyed the confidence and support of the
business men irrespective of political opinion.
He is a member of Willow Grove Lodge,
No. 42, K. of P., McCook, Neb., and a
member of the Commercial Pilgrims of
.\merica.
Mr. Allen was united in marriage, in
August, 1 88 1, to Abbie Stapleford of Ver-
mont, 111., a niece of ex-Attorney Ceneral
C. J. Dilworth of Nebraska. The issue of
this marriage is: Ralph C, born Se])t. i,
18S3.
ALLEN, John Clarence, of Brooklyn,
N. Y., son of Rufus C. and Sabrina (York)
.Allen, was born July 28, 184S, at Wallingford.
Mr. Allen is from an ancestry distinguished
in religious constancy. His mother and her
CLARENCE ALLEN.
ancestors for generations were Baptists ;
while his father and mother were active
Christians from their youth, and sang to-
gether in church for thirty-five years. Love
of music and skill in it are family charac-
teristics, no less than church work. Mr.
Allen's sister Fanny is the wife of T. J.
Whitaker of Brooklyn.
He was educated at the Wallingford high
school and Black River Academy at Ludlow,
and was graduated with highest oratorical
and other honors at Madison (now Colgate)
L'niversity at Hamilton, N. Y., in 1874.
Mr. .Allen entered upon his first pastorate in
Newark, N. J., in 1875. Success crowned
his efforts. Following this work he served
the First Church (Baptists) of Elizabeth,
N. J., for five and a half years, performing
loyal work, baptizing many and raising the
church. The earnest call of the Hanson
Place Baptist Church drew Mr. Allen to
Brooklyn. Here his tireless devotion and
energy found wide scope. During the sum-
mer and fall of 1885 he remodelled the
main audience room and erected lecture and
Sunday school rooms, fitting them with es-
sential modern appliances for church work.
In the first year of the pastorate the entire
church debt was pledged and paid off,
amounting to $40,000. During Mr. Allen's
ministry thus far he has baptized over five
hundred souls, and has been the means of
securing over $125,000 for the use of the
Baptist denomination, and has borne an
honorable part in the formation and work of
the Brooklyn Baptist Extension Society.
His activity in temperance and other re-
form work has been highly commendable.
At the national Prohibition convention, at
Cincinnati, in 1S92, he was a delegate. To
many social organizations he has lent his
earnest support and membership. Among
them are the Phi Beta Kappa Society of
New '\'ork ; the American Institute of Civ-
ics ; Metropolitan Museum of Art : Brook-
lyn Baptist Social Union ; Brooklyn Society
of Vermonters ; and the New York Alumni
Association of Colgate University, of which
he is president.
Mr. x'Vllen was married in 1874 to Julia I.,
daughter of Rev. Charles T. and Irene
(Buell) Johnson.
ANN IS, Jere Wright, of Osage,
Iowa, son of A. \\". and Laura (Hodgkin)
Annis, was born in AVestfield, Jan. 22, 1844.
He received his education at the district
schools of his native town and the Westfield
.Academy.
Upon attaining his majoritv he removed
to Osage, Iowa, and there formed a partner-
ship with E. O. Hitchcock in the mercantile
business, which was successfully conducted
until 1868, when he formed a partnership
with Judge Hitchcock and J. H. Johnson,
and conducted a large hardware business
under the firm name of Johnson & Annis,
which was continued until 1885, when he re-
ceived the appointment of assistant cashier
of the Osage National Bank, which was fol-
lowed in 1 89 1 by his promotion to the posi-
tion of cashier, a position he still holds, as
well as a directorship in the same institution.
Politically Mr. Annis has affiliated with
the Republican party, and at the hands of
his party was honored by an election to the
mayoralty of Osage in 1881, and again in
1893, being the present mayor. He is pre-
sident of the Osage Board of Trade, presi-
dent of the Mitchell County Farmers' ]\Iutual
Fire Insurance Company and Agricultural
Society.
He is a member of Osage Lodge, No. 102,
F. & .\. M,, and Osage Chapter, No. 36, and
is Eminent Commander of Coeur de Leon
Commandery, No. 19.
JERE WRIGHT ANNIS.
Mr. Annis was united in marriage Nov. 24,
1864, at \\'estfield, to Lucia S., daughter of
Hiram and Harriet Hitchcock. Four child-
ren ha^•e blessed this union : Franklin W.,
Fanny, Laura L., and Homer B.
ARTHUR, Chester .4., late President
of the L'nited
States, was born
in Fa i r fi e Id,
Oct. 5, 1830,
the son of Rev.
Dr. William
: •*^"*'* .Arthur. The
educational an-
tecedents and
scholarly tastes
of Dr. Arthur
induced h i m
to give his elder
son, Chester A.,
a thorough
course of in-
struction in the
best schools of L'nion Milage and Schenec-
tady, N. V. Classical preparation for college
he made his own especial care, and with such
success that the future President was fitted for
matriculation at I'nion College when only fif-
teen years old. Honorably graduating with
the class of 184S, young Arthur selected the
profession of law for his future activities, and
l)egan the requisite studies in Fowler's Law
School at Ballston Spa. In 1853 he re-
paired to the city of New York, entered the
law office of ex-Judge K. D. Culver, was ad-
mitted to the bar in the same year, and com-
menced professional practice.
-Mr. Arthur's earliest opportunity of legal
distinction was in connection with the fa-
mous slave case of Jonathan Lemmon of Mr-
ginia. Lemmon had attempted to carry
eight slaves through New York on his way
to Texas. His right to do this was disputed
on the ground that they were free because of
his voluntarily bringing them into free ter-
ritory. The case was tried on a case of
habeas corpus before Judge Payne who
ordered the slaves to be released. The judge
affirmed that they could neither be held to
servitude in New York, nor relegated to
slavery under the provisions of the fugitive
slave act. The Supreme Court of New York
sustained his decision, as did the Court of
Appeals. Not less honorable to Mr. Arthur
■was the defence of the legal rights of the
colored people in 1S56, when he was coun-
sel for Lizzie Jennings, a colored girl who
had been forcibly ejected from a street car
after she had paid her fare. A verdict
against the company was obtained.
Mr. Arthur's genius was naturally inclined
to the science and art of politics — in the true
sense of that much abused phrase. His first
active associations were with the Henry Clay
Whigs. Of the Saratoga convention, which
founded the Republican party in New York,
he was a member. Military affairs also in-
terested him. Prior to the outburst of the
secessionist rebellion he held the office of
judge-advocate of the second brigade of the
state militia. Under Governor Morgan he
was raised, in i860, to the position of engin-
eer-in-chief of the staff. Subsequently he
was made inspector-general, and next quar-
termaster-general of the state militia. This
latter office he held until the close of Gov-
ernor Morgan's magistracy in 1863. In per-
formance of his official functions he equipped,
supplied and forwarded the immense number
of troops demanded from his state. Intelli-
gent, sagacious, vigorous and always incor-
ruptible, his military administration was
notably brilliant and successful.
General Arthur returned to legal practice
in 1863. His business was largely that of
collecting claims against the government.
In legislative affairs he was also greatly in-
fluential. Many important enactments were
drafted by him, and to his labors their
adoption at Albany and Washington was
mainly due. For a brief period he acted as
counsel of the New ^■ork board of commis-
sioners. In local politics he soon became
an efficient factor. By President Grant he
was appointed collector of customs at the
port of New York on the 20th of November,
187 1. A second appointment to the same
office followed in 1875, ^"d ^^-s at once con-
firmed by the Senate, without the customary
formality of reference to a committee. Dif-
ficulties between himself and President
Hayes occurred in 1877, in consequence of
an order issued by the latter, which pro-
hibited persons in the civil service of the
general government from personal activity
in political management. This injunction
was specially onerous on General Arthur,
who was then chairman of the Republican
central committee of New York City, and
also on Naval Officer A. B. Cornell, who was
chairman of the state central committee.
Both refused to comply, and both were sus-
pended from office in July, 1878. The suc-
cessor to General Arthur, appointed after
his suspension, was confirmed in the ensuing
session of the L'nited States Senate. A
previous attempt to eftect Arthur's removal
had failed, through refusal on the part of the
Senate to confirm the nominee of President
Hayes. No oflncial dereliction could be
detected by either of two special committees
who investigated the administration of the
office. The probity of his official acts was
unquestionable, and was freely acknowledged
by the superiors who sought to oust him
from office. The public desired his reten-
tion. All the judges of the New York courts,
most of the leading members of the bar, and
nearly all the mercantile importers in the
city signed a petition asking that he might
be continued in office. But he himself sup-
pressed the petition. The only accusation
against him was that he had disregarded
the President's injunction to refrain, in com-
mon with all civil servants of the public,
from active political management. In a
letter addressed to Secretary Sherman he
showed that during the six years of his
administration as collector at New York he
had removed only two and three-fourths per
cent, of the whole number of subordinate
officials, while the percentage of removals
under his three immediate predecessors
average no less than 28 per cent. He also
showed that in ninety-seven out of one hun-
dred appointments to important positions,
having a salary of §2,000 or more, he had
raised the incumbents from the lower grades
of the service on the recommendation of the
heads of the several bureaus. His fidelity
to the best interests of ' the public could
scarcely have been more apparent.
Returning to pri\ate life, General Arthur
again resumed the practice of law in the city
of New York. He also zealouslv guided the
movements of his political associates, and
assisted in the nomination and election of
Mr. A. B. Cornell to the gubernatorial chair
of the state. He and Roscoe Conklingwere
closely allied in the effort to secure the nom-
ination of General Grant to a third term in
the presidency of the national Republican
convention held at Chicago in i<S8o. Their
lack of success, singularly enough, prepared
the way for his own nomination to the vice-
presidency. James A. Garfield was selected
for the national chief magistracy, and Chester
A. Arthur for the second position. The
latter was nominated by acclamation. In
the exciting canvass that followed he was
one of the principal managers. In his own
state, as chairman of the Republican central
committee, he was particularly effective. His
presidency of the Senate of the United
States, during the special session which
began the 4th of March, 1881, was charac-
terized by great personal dignity. In the
contest between President Garfield and U.
S. Senator Conkling over civil appointments
in the state of New York, and particularly
over the nomination of Judge A\'illiam H.
Robertson to the coUectorship of New York,
he declined to participate. He did, how-
ever, in harmony with that faithfulness to
private friendships, which was one of his
most conspicuous and attractive traits, re-
pair to Albany after the New York senators
had resigned, in order to co-operate in their
re-election. While the issue was yet unde-
termined. President Garfield was assassi-
nated. The pistol of Guiteau prevented
further electioneering in behalf of Mr. Conk-
ling. General Arthur was o^•erwhel^led by
the deepest grief over the terrible tragedy.
The death of President Clarfield was an-
nounced to General Arthur by telegraph at
New York. The members of the cabinet
expressed the wish that he would repair to
Long Branch on the following morning.
This he did. But before his departure, and
in harmony with the advice of his friends, he
took the oath of office as President of the
United States in his own house, about 2 a. m.
of September 20, before one of the judges
of the Supreme Court of New York. From
Long Branch he accompanied the remains
of his deceased predecessor to Washington.
There he was formally sworn into office be-
fore the chief justice of the Supreme Court
of the United States on the 22d of Septem-
ber, and briefly stated his own appreciation
of the grave possibilities devolved upon him.
His first official act on the same day was to
proclaim a day of general mourning for the
lamented Garfield. A special session of the
Senate was convoked, to begin on the loth
of October, for the purpose of choosing a
presiding officer and of confirming such ap-
pointments as might be submitted. The
members of the cabinet were requested to
retain their portfolios until the regular meet-
ing of Congress in December. All of them
consented to do so with the exception of
Secretary Windom of the Treasury Depart-
ment, who insisted on resigning in order
that he might become a candidate for the
Senate from Minnesota. Ex-Gov. E. D.
Morgan, of New York, was nominated and
promptly confirmed as his successor. On
the declinture of the latter gentleman to
serve. Chief Judge Folger, of the New York
Court of Appeals, was chosen and confirmed
in his room.
After his accession to the presidency
General Arthur made official changes in a
gradual and cautious manner. Robert T.
Lincoln, of Illinois, son of the martyr Presi-
dent, was retained in the secretaryship of
war. All the other members of the cabinet
were replaced by different statesmen. In
February, 1882, he nominated Roscoe
Conkling to the vacancy on the bench of
the Supreme Court, but after that gentleman
had been confirmed by the Senate he re-
spectfully declined to accept the elevation. In
August President Arthur nominated General
U. S. Grant as one of two commissioners to be
appointed to negotiate a commercial treaty
with Mexico. In all the legislation of that
and the following year he was a wise and
judicious factor. The foreign relations of
the government were undisturbed and satis-
factory. The "Monroe Doctrine" was again
asserted by him in relation to the canal
across the Isthmus of Panama — the neutral-
ity of which naturally and rightfully falls
under the protectorate of the United States
— in correspondence with the British gov-
ernment. On May 9, 1883, he approved
and promulgated the rules of the civil ser-
vice, under which demonstrated fitness is the
only condition of continuance in office.
President Arthur's administration was at-
tended by the unexampled prosperity of the
people. Whether in the meetings of his
cabinet, at his weekly receptions, or in Sab-
bath worship at the church, he was ever the
same gentle and unobtrusive gentleman.
But beneath this quietude of aspect was an
enormous reserve of power. Holding an
office to which he was only indirectly elected,
he exercised its functions in a manner that
challenged the unfeigned admiration of all
observers. None of the fears entertained by
some at the epoch of his accession were
realized. He fulfilled the highest hopes of
those who knew him best. The respect and
gratitude of the nation were justly and
freely accorded to him. The simplicity,
the strength, the dignity, the wisdom of his
patriotic service are acknowledged on all
hands.
Chester A. Arthur was married in 1859 to
Ellen Lewis, daughter of Captain William
Lewis Herndon, of Fredericksburg, Va.,
Mrs. Arthur died in January, 1880, leaving
two children, viz. : Chester A., aged fifteen,
and Ellen Herndon, aged eight years.
President Arthur died in New ^■ork Nov. 18,
1886.
ARNOLD, Lemuel H., was born in St.
Johnsbury, Jan. 29, 1792, and removed to
Rhode Island at an early age. He gradu-
ated at Dartmouth College in 181 1, was
educated for the bar, but turned his attention
to mercantile pursuits. In 1S31 he was
elected Governor of Rhode Island, and re-
elected in 1832 ; he was a member of the
Governor's council during the Dorr rebel-
lion in 1842, was a representative in Con-
gress from 1845 to 184/1 and died in Kings-
ton, R. I., June 27, 1852.
ATWOOD, Harrison Henry, of Bos-
ton, Mass., son of Peter Clark and Helen
Marion (Aldrich) .^twood, was born in North
Londonderry, .August 26, 1863.
HARRISON HENRY ATWOOD.
Soon after his birth his parents located in
Boston, where his school training was obtain-
ed. He graduated from the Phillips gram-
mar school in 1877, and immediately entered
the law office of Godfrey Morse and John R.
Bullard. At the age of seventeen he took u])
the study and practice of architecture as his
chosen profession, and became a student of
Mr. Samuel J. F. Thayer, where he remained
for four years, and after spending one year in
the office of .Mr. (ieorge A. Clough, ex-city
architect, he began practice in the fall of
1886, his prize designs for the Suffolk
county court house and the public library
being his best work as a student. Aiter com-
mencing practice he was at various times
employed by the city of Chelsea, on public
work, and established a reputation for thor-
oughness and care, his First National Bank
building in Chelsea being the finest and
most expensive building in the city. In May,
1889, he was appointed by Hon. Thomas N.
Hart, mayor of Boston, as city architect, in
which position he served during Mayor Hart's
administration, being re-appointed in 1890.
\\'hile city architect he completed the legacies
in the way of unfinished public buildings left
by former administrations, viz. : The Horace
Mann School for Deaf Mutes, the South Bos-
ton grammar school, the Ro.xbury high
school, and several minor buildings ; and the
new work laid out, completed or placed un-
der contract during his term of office com-
prise four of the finest public school buildings
in New England — the Henry L. Pierce gram-
mar school ; the Prince primary school ; the
Bowditch grammar school, and the Adams
primary school. All the new work was placed
by him in one single contract, a method of
doing the public business never before or since
adopted by the architect department. Be-
sides these beautiful school buildings, much
work was accomplished during these two
years for the fire, police, water, sewer and
park departments.
Mr. .■\twood was a member of the House
of Representatives of 1887 from the eighth
Suffolk representative district, was re-elected
in 1 888, and honored again in 1889, at
which election he received the highest num-
ber of votes ever cast before or since for
any representative candidate, and this too,
despite the fact that the district was o\er a
thousand Democratic majority. During his
service in the Legislature, his committee
appointments were among the most im-
])ortant. His work upon the committees on
state house extension, liquor law, mercantile
affairs and cities was most creditable, and
gained him much in character and reputa-
tion. He was elected an alternate delegate
from the old fourth congressional district to
the national Republican convention at
Chicago in 1888, and was again honored by
being chosen as a delegate to the Repub-
lican national convention at Minneapolis in
1892. He has been a member of the Re-
publican city committee of Boston since
1884, serving as its secretary for four years,
and for the years i887-'88 was a member of
the Republican state committee. Septem-
ber 14, 1892, he was nominated by the Re-
publicans of the new tenth Massachusetts
congressional district as their standard
bearer in one of the hardest fought political
campaigns that Massachusetts has witnessed
in many years. His dignified and manly
course throughout this most exciting con-
gressional canvass, and especially towards
those of his own party whose support was
given to an independent Republican candi-
date, was such as to win even the plaudits of
his political opponents and make even
keener the regret when at the close of what
was at first considered a hopeless task, his
election was defeated by only six hundred
and eighty-five \otes with the independent
Republicans attracting the support of over
twenty-two hundred voters.
Mr. .Atwood is a member of St. John's
Lodge, F. & .\. M., St. Paul's Royal .Arch
Chapter, and Boston Commandery, is also a
member of the I. O. (). F.
He was married in Boston, Sept. ii, 1S89,
to Clara, eldest daughter of the late John
.'\ugust and Sophie ( Kupfer) Stein ; they
have two sons : Harrison Henrv, Ir., and
.■August Stein.
BABCOCK, JOSEPH Weeks, of Nece-
dah, Wis., was born in Swanton Falls, March
6, 1S50 ; removed with his parents to Iowa
in 1S56, where he received a common school
education ; he is a grandson of the late Hon.
Joseph Weeks of Richmond, N. H., who
was a member of the 24th and 25 th Con-
gress ; is by occupation a lumberman ; set-
tled at Necedah in 1S81, where he has since
resided ; was elected to the Wisconsin As-
sembly in 1888, and served as chairman of
the committee on incorporations, and was
re-elected in 1890: was elected to the 53d
Congress as a Republican.
BALDWIN, Melvin R., of Duluth,
Minn., was born in Windsor county, .April
12, 1838 : removed to ^\'isconsin 1847 '• ^^'
tered Lawrence Uni\ersity, .Appleton, Wis.,
1855, remaining through the sophomore
year ; studied law, and then adopted civil
engineering as a profession ; was engaged
on Chicago & Northwestern R. R. till
.April 19, 1S61 ; enlisted as a private in Com-
pany E., 2d Wis. Infantry, brigaded with the
Iron Brigade ; was slightly wounded at the
first, and severely wounded at the second
battle of Bull Run ; promoted to captain of
his company ; was captured at Gettysburg
and confined in Libby, ;\Iacon, Georgia,
Charleston, and Columbia, South Carolina ;
made two escapes, but was recaptured, and
was finally exchanged after se\'enteen months'
imprisonment. Engaged in operative rail-
road work in Kansas after the war ; was gen-
eral superintendent four years ; removed to
Minnesota in 1875, and has re.sided in Du-
luth since 1885 : president of Duluth Cham-
ber of Commerce since 1886 : always a
Democrat ; twice declined Congressional
nomination ; nominated by acclamation in
August, 1892, and was elected to the 53d
Congress.
BARBER, J. ALLEN.was born in Georgia,
after a partial course of studies at the L^ni-
versity of Vermont, studied law and was ad-
mitted to practice in 1833 ; in 1837 he
removed to the then territory of Wisconsin,
and settled at Lancaster, where he has since
practiced. He was a member of the first
Constitutional Convention of AVisconsin in
1846; was elected to the state .Assembly of
Wisconsin in 1852, 1853 and 1863, serving
the last year as speaker : was elected to the
state Senate in 1856 and 1857 : was elected
a representative from Wisconsin in the
42d Congress, asa Republican : was re-elected
to the 43d Congress.
BARTO, ALPHONSO, of St. Cloud,
Minn., was born in Hinesburgh May 27,
1834, and was the son of AVilliam R. and
Mary (Gage) Barto.
He was educated at the district schools
and under private instruction. .At an early
age he removed to Illinois and engaged in
farming, which vocation he followed until
his enlistment in 1861. Upon his return
from the war of the rebellion in 1 864 he en-
gaged in the manufacture of furniture at
Elgin, 111. Desiring to lead a professional
life he studied law and was admitted to the
bar in 1S70. Removing to Sauk Centre,
Minn., in 1869, he began the practice of
his profession and has since followed it with
great success both there and at St. Cloud,
where he novy resides.
He enlisted as a private in Co. K, 5 2d
111. Inf. Vols., in i86i,andwas successively-
promoted to second-lieutenant and captain.
Serving three years he was mustered out
Oct. 25, 1864. '
.A Republican in his political beliefs he has
held many positions of trust within the gifts
of the people ; was a justice of the peace in
Kane county, 111., for three years, and
treasurer of the same county, i867-'69; was
a member of the House of Representatives
of Minnesota, 1871 ; re-elected in 1872 and
elected Lieutenant-Governor of the state of
Minnesota in 1873, serving through a cred-
itable administration until 1S75 ; was a mem-
ber of the national convention which nomi-
nated Blaine in 1884 : has held many local
and state offices and is now re£;ister of the
r.ATCHELDER.
U. S. land office at St. Cloud ; was one of
the organizers of the St. Cloud Merchants
National Bank, has been a director since its
organization, and is now its vice-president.
He married at Middlebury, in 1854, Har-
riet E., daughter of Allen E. and Sarah
Hitchcock, of Whiting. The issue of this
union were: Mary E. (deceased), Lyman
R. (now judge of municipal court at Sauk
Centre, Minn.), and Harriet M. (deceased).
Mrs. Barto died Oct. 13, 1866, and Mr.
Barto married Charlotte, daughter of Will-
iam and Mary Ann Allen, of Ferrisburgh,
Oct. 17, 1S67. Of this union was one
son, William A., who is now about to grad-
uate from the University of Minnesota.
ALPHONSO BARTO.
Governor Barto has been prominent in
Masonic circles, and first affiliated with
Geneva Lodge, No. 139, at fiene\a, 111., in
1 86 1, receiving the chapter degrees and was
exalted to a Royal .•\rch Mason in Fox River
Chapter, No. 49, at St. Charles, 111. ; was
knighted in Sycamore Commandery, Syca-
more, 111., and took the Scottish rite degrees
to the 32d in Occidental Consistory,
Chicago ; and has held nearly all the offices
within the local and grand lodges, was grand
master of the state in 1 891 -'9 2 ; is prominent
in G. A. R. circles and organized one of the
first posts in Illinois at Elgin in 1866 and
was its first commander ; has been past dis-
trict and department commander in Min-
nesota : a member of the Loyal Legion, de-
partment of Minnesota, and a member of the
Society of the Army of the Tennessee.
BATCHELUHR, GEORGE W., of Fari-
bault, Minn., was born in Danville, Feb. 18,
1S26, the son of John and Alice (Kittredge)
Batchelder.
.\fter the usual course at the public schools
he fitted for college at Phillips .\cademy,
Danville, graduated from the University of
Vermont with the class of '51, receiving the
degree of A. B. and that of A. M. in 1854 ;
was a member of the Sigma Phi and Phi
Betta Kappa Societies.
Upon leaving college he went to Windsor,
where he took charge of the graded schools
and began the study of the law with the
Hon. Warren Currier. In 1852 he removed
to Tazelville, Tenn., where he was in charge
of the Tazelville Academy for a year, and
the following year was at the head of Mc-
Minn Academy, Rogersville, Tenn., contin-
uing his law studies with the firm of Hall &
Walker. He was admitted to the bar in
1854 and returned to Vermont for a short
visit. Resolved to follow the advice of
Horace Greeley, he "went West" and for a
BATCHELDER.
short time practiced his profession at Janes-
ville. Wis., but later in 1855 prospected in
Minnesota (then a territory), locating at
the new town of Faribault, in which place he
has made his home and built up a lucrative
practice. His first partner was the late
Judge John M. Berry ; from 1857 to '80 he
was a partner of Thomas S. Buckham, now
judge of the fifth judicial district of Minne-
sota : and his present associate is his son,
under the firm name of G. W. & C. S.
Batchelder.
Mr. Batchelder has always affiliated with
the Democratic party : was nominated for
Congress for the Southern District of Minne-
sota in 1 868, when there were but two dis-
tricts in the state ; also for associate justice
of the Supreme Court, 1888 ; was elected and
served as state senator, i87i-'72 ; was mayor
of the city of Faribault, i88o-'8i ; has been
chairman of city board of education for
twelve years, and exerted a great influence
in bringing about the union of the parochial
and public schools and the adoption of the
"Faribault Plan," which was so widely dis-
cussed by the press and in the Protestant
and Catholic churches of this country and
Europe, adopted by Archbishop Ireland and
sanctioned by the Pope at Rome.
Having always taken a prominent part in
the affairs of Faribault, Mr. Batchelder has
been a director of the First National Bank
for twelve years and a director of the Austin
National Bank since its organization.
Mr. Batchelder wedded, in Wisconsin,
Julv 12, 1S58, Kate K., daughter of Cornelius
and Mary Davis. Of this union are three
children : Georgia L., Charles S., and John D.
BAXTER, LUTHER LOREN, of Fergus
Falls, Minn., son of Chauncey and Philena
(Peet) Baxter, was born in Cornwall, June
8, 1832.
He received his education at the district
schools of his native town, supplemented by
private tuition, a year at Castleton Seminary
and a two years course at Norwich Univer-
sity. Commencing the study of the law at
nineteen years of age under I^indsley &
Beckwith, and concluding his studies with
Judge Horatio Seymour, he removed to
Illinois in the fall of 1853 and was there
admitted to the bar in March, 1854. Loca-
ting at Geneva, Wis., he practiced his pro-
fession successfully until 1857 when he
removed to Carver county, Minn., and re-
sumed the practice of his profession which
he continued, except during his enlistment,
until 1885 ; from 1876 to 1882 at Minne-
apolis and since 1882 at Fergus Falls, where
he still resides.
Judge Baxter enlisted in September, 1861,
as captain of Co. A, 4th Minn. Vol. Infantry
and was assigned with two companies to the
command of Fort Ridley ; remaining there
until March, 1862, he rejoined his regiment
at Fort Snelling and was promoted to the
rank of major. In April, 1862, he was
ordered South with his regiment, where he
participated in many battles, but owing to
sickness was compelled to resign in (Jctober,
1S62. Re-entering the service in Novem-
ber, 1864, as major of the ist Minn. Heavy
.\rtillery, he was promoted to the rank of
lieutenant-colonel in February, 1865, and
coinmissioned colonel the same year and par-
ticipated in the battle of Nashville. He was
elected to the state Senate in the fall elec-
tions and was granted leave of absence to
take his seat. Returning to the army in
March, 1865, he was assigned to duty as
chief of artillery of Chattanooga, remaining
with his regiment until mustered out of
service in October, 1S65.
UTHER LOREN BAXTER.
Judge Baxter is a staunch Democrat, and
as such has held many positions of honor
and trust : was judge of probate for Carver
county in 1858: prosecuting attorney for the
4th judicial district, 1859; county attorney
of Scott county, 1863 ; senator from Scott
county, i865-'69 ; member of the House from
Carver county, 1869; senator from 1869 to
1876: county attorney of Carver county,
1 87 7-' 79, and member of the Legislature,
i879-'8i. At the hands of the Republican
Governor Hubbard, he received the appoint-
ment of judge of the 7th judicial district, in
March, 1885, to fill an unexpired term, and
was elected to the same position for a term
of six years at the elections of 1S86, notwith-
standing the fact that the district cast a Re-
pubhcan majority of 3,500 ; re-elected at the
last election without opposition, he still holds
the position.
13
He has been a .Master Mason for thirty-
eight years and is now a member of the
Scottish Rites ; affihated with the Loyal
Legion and is prominent with the local G.
A. R., being a trustee of the Soldiers' Home.
Judge Baxter was first united in marriage
to Phnma ^Vard. She died in June, 1870.
He formed a second alliance with Barbara
Deuhs, who died in March, 1881. He again
married in November, 1883, Hilda Emma,
daughter of Lewis and Emma M. Child. He
has only two children : Chauncey Luther, and
Bertha.
BEAMAN, Fernando C, was born in
Chester, June 28, 1814; removed to New
York when a boy, and left an orphan at the
age of fifteen ; received a good English edu-
cation at the Franklin County Academy,
studied law in Rochester ; removed to Mich-
igan in 1838, and commenced the practice
of his profession ; was for six years prose-
cuting attorney for Lenawee county : was
judge of probate for four years ; was a presi-
dential elector in 1856 ; in i860 was elected
a representati\e from Michigan to the Thirty-
seventh Congress.
BELCHER, Isaac Sawyer, of San Fran-
cisco, Cal., the son of Samuel and Anna G.
(Caldwell) Belcher, was born in Stockbridge,
Feb. 27, 1825.
1^^ «gi
age. He fitted for college in the academy at
Royalton and entered the University of Ver-
mont in 1842, graduating with the class of
'46. Having chosen the law as a profession
he entered the office of J. W. D. Parker at
Bradford and after a thorough course of
legal study was admitted to practice in the
county courts in 1S49 and to the Supreme
Court of the state three years later. He
continued the practice of his profession in
Windsor county until 1853, when he started
for California, arriving in San Francisco on
the 1 6th of June. He went at once to the
mines in Yuba county and there practiced
his profession until March, 1855, when he
settled in Marysville in that county and soon
acquired a lucrative practice. Mr. Justice
Field of the Supreme Court of the LTnited
States and other distinguished lawyers, were
then practicing at the same bars. His
brother, William C. Belcher, now a leading
member of the San Francisco bar, was asso-
ciated with him.
He was elected to the position of district
attorney of Yuba county in 1855, and held
the office until 1858. He was elected judge
of the tenth judicial district in 1863, and
held that office until 1870. In 1872 he was
appointed by the Governor to fill a vacancy
in the Supreme Court of the state, and at
the expiration of his term declined a nom-
ination to succeed himself and resumed his
practice at Marysville. In June, 1878, he
was elected a member and served as vice-
president of the Constitutional Convention
which met that j^ear. In 1880 he was elected
by the Legislature a trustee of the State
Library, which position he held for eight
years. In 1885 he was appointed a com-
missioner of the Supreme Court of the state,
and this position he still holds.
At the founding of the Leland Stanford, Jr.,
Uni\ersity he was appointed one of its trus-
tees and since that time has acted as such.
In this connection a local paper says of him :
"Judge Belcher is a man of remarkable
strength of mind and soundness of judgment,
and his fellow trustees will find in him a val-
uable coadjutor in administering the noble
trust confided to their keeping."
Mr. Belcher was united in wedlock, August
12, 1861, to Adeline M., daughter of William
r. and Martha (Tappan) Johnson, of Augusta,
Maine. The fruit of this union are : Martha
.\., Richard, William J., and Robert. He
now resides in San Francisco, in the full en-
joyment of the fruits of an upright, honorable
life.
ISAAC SAWYER BELCHER.
His father was a farmer and young Belcher
worked upon the farm and attended the dis-
trict schools until he was fifteen vears of
BELCHER, William C, of San Fran-
cisco, Cal., son of Samuel and Anna G.
(Caldwell) Belcher, was born at Stockbridge,
Dec. 12, 1S20.
M
He graduated at the University of Ver-
mont in 1843 ; and subsequently tauglit
several years in the Academy of Bradford.
He was admitted to the bar in that county
in 1855.
In 1856 young Belcher went to California
and has ever since been engaged in the
practice of his profession, and in some of
the most important law suits on the Pacific
coast. \\'hile in Marysville he was a part-
ner of his brother Isaac S. Belcher who is
now on the supreme bench, but since mov-
ing to San Francisco he has become one of
the firm of Mastie, Belcher, Van Vleet &
Mastie.
C. BELCHER.
He has never held any political or judic-
ial office, or been associated with any secret
society except the Masons. Mr. Belcher is
a life member of Pacific Coast Association
Native Sons of Vermont, and is highly es-
teemed by his associates, and by the citizens
of the commonwealth in which he resides.
BEARD, ALANSON WILDER, of Boston,
Mass., collector of the port of Boston, was
born in Ludlow, August 20, 1825.
Leaving his native town at the age of
seven he spent the years preceding his ma-
jority at Stockbridge, working on his father's
farm during his boyhood, receiving a com-
mon school education, and in addition
private instruction from the pastor of the
Congregational church, Thomas S. Hubbard,
who was a man of liberal culture.
Early inured to the hardships of farm life
among the rugged hills of Vermont, we find
young Beard at seventeen, strong, hardy, of
wonderful vitality, with a thorough English
education, well equipped for a life work,
that may now be said to have begun when
he entered the school room as a teacher, in
which occupation he continued with but
little intermission until his twenty-first year.
In the spring of 1847 Mr. Beard began a
mercantile career, opening at Pittsfield in
his native state a country store, which he
kept for six years ; during the time he was
postmaster of the town, the first position
under the national government he ever held,
and the only one until he was first appointed
collector of the port of Boston. Both the
postmastership and the storekeeper's life he
gave up to come to Boston in September,
1853, entering the clothing house of Whiting,
Kehoe &: Galloupe, as salesman. Less than
three years after he was in the wholesale
clothing business on his own account ; later
under the firm name of Beecher, Beard &
Co. His Boston business was continued
until 1879 under the successive firm names of
C. \V. Freeland, Beard & Co., Beard, Moul-
ton & Co., Beard, Moulton & Bouve. Dur-
ing this time he had the management of
from two hundred to six hundred employes,
the manufacturing being under his personal
supervision.
On the formation of the Republican party,
Mr. Beard, whose early associations had been
with the Whigs, gave his influence to the new
political creed and has held that allegiance
ever since. The year 1S64 brought him into
the Republican state committee, there to re-
main three years. Subsequently he was
chairman of this committee in 1S75 ^^'^ '7^
and again in 1885. In 1868 he was delegate
to the national Republican convention and
again in 1888 he was delegate-at-large to
the national Republican convention. Mr.
Beard was also a member of the House of Rep-
resentatives for Massachusetts in 1870 and
'71, and again in 1884 and '85. Mr. Beard
served as collector of the port of Boston,
under appointment of President Hayes, for
the full term beginning March, 1878, leaving
the office in May, 1882. In January, 1886,
he became treasurer of the commonwealth of
Massachusetts and that office he held for
three years. In 1890 he was again made
collector of the port of Boston, which posi-
tion he held until March, 1894. In every
capacity he has served his party, his state
and country faithfully and well.
Mr. Beard was married at Wayland, Mass.,
Nov. 27, 1848, to Mary Calista Morgan,
daughter of Harvey and Sophia Morgan, then
of Rochester, Vt. To them have been born
three sons : James Wallace, Amherst \\'ilder,
and Charles Freeland, of whom only Charles
Freeland is li\ing.
l6 BELL.
Although in his sixty-eighth year, he is
strong and rugged : a fine speciman of phy-
sical manhood, six feet and two inches in
height and weighing upward of 200 pounds :
although of a military appearance and bear-
ing, he is a most genial and companionable
man.
BELL, Hiram, was born in \'ermont, and
was a representive in Congress from Ohio,
from 1S52 to 1853.
BENEDICT, ROBERT D., of the New
York bar, was born at Burlington, Oct. 3,
1828. His father was for many years a pro-
fessor in the University of Vermont, where
R. D. Benedict was educated and where he
was graduated in 1S4S. After his graduation
he removed to Brooklyn, N. Y., and taught
school for two years in what is now the
Twenty-second ward, after which he entered
the office of his uncle, Erastus C. Benedict,
(afterwards chancellor of the University of
the State) in New York City. He was ad-
mitted to the bar in 1851, and has practiced
law ever since.
In 1S64 he married Miss Frances A.
"Weaver, of Colchester, and settled in Brook-
lyn, which he had left for a few years after
concluding his school teaching. His chil-
dren are two sons : ^Vyllys (also a lawyer in
New York City), Edward G. (who is asso-
ciated with his father in business), and a
daughter, Elizabeth Evelyn.
Mr. Benedict is well known to the legal
profession as the editor of Benedict's Re-
ports, in ten volumes, presenting the decis-
ions of the United States district courts.
He has recently prepared a new edition of
Benedict's Admiralty, which was published
many years ago by his uncle, and has been
the recognized elementary authority on this
subject. His law practice is largely in the
-Admiralty courts.
From the foundation of the New York
Times till the death of Henry J. Raymond,
its founder, Mr. Benedict was connected
with that newspaper as a reporter in the
United States courts and as a writer of edi-
torials.
.An address delivered by him in 1891 on
the centennial anniversary of the granting of
the charter of the University of Vermont,
was published by the University, and a lec-
ture on "The Hereford Map of the World
and the Legend of St. Brandon," was pub-
lished in the proceedings of the .American
Geogra])hical Society for 1892.
He was for twenty years a member of Plv-
mouth Church. For the last eighteen years
he has been a member, and is a trustee of
the Central Congregational Church. He was
president of the board of elections in Brook-
lyn for several years after its creation, and
BENJAMIX.
was the last president of the Republican
League of that city. For many years he has
been a trustee of the .\delphi Academy of
firooklyn ; is a director of the Lawyer's
Surety Company of New York : is president
of the New England Society of Brooklyn,
and has been president of the Brooklyn
Society of Vermonters, and of the Congre-
gational Club of Brooklyn. He was also a
member of the Kings County Club, and is
now connected with the Hamilton and
the Union League clubs.
BENJAMIN, ChaL'NCEY E., late of
Maiden, Mass., son of Josiah and Rebecca
( Emerson) Benjamin, was born in Berlin,
Feb. 1, 1829.
He was educated in the schools of his
native town, and assisted his father on the
home farm until his majority when he re-
moved to Wakefield, Mass. ; remaining there
about a year, he located at Maiden in the
same state and made that place his home
until his death which took place .\pril i^,
1892.
During the first year of his residence in
Maiden Mr. Benjamin worked in the rubber
factory, afterwards he joined his brother-in-
law, E. E. Andrews, in the hardware busi-
ness, in which he continued with success for
several years. He then established an ex-
press line between Maiden and Boston
which he continued for a year when it had
assumed such proportions as to require
additional assistance and he took in as a
partner George W. Vaughn, with whom he
continued the business until his death.
He took a deep interest in Masonic
matters and was a prominent member of
the local lodge of Odd Fellows.
Mr. Benjamin was married in January,
1S56, to Lucy J. Stanwood of Maiden.
Three children have been born to them :
Carrie S. (deceased), Georgiana, and Philip
C.
BENTON, Jacob, was born at Water-
ford, .August 14, 1819 : received an academic
education ; engaged in teaching for several
years, studied law, and was admitted to the bar
in 1843 and commenced practice at Lancas-
ter, N. H. ; was a member of the state Legis-
lature in 1854, 1855, 1856; was a delegate
to the national Republican convention in
i860; was brigadier-general commanding
the state volunteers ; was elected to the For-
tieth Congress, as a Republican, and was re-
elected to the Forty-first Congress.
BENTON, Reuben Clark, of Minne-
apolis, Minn., son of Reuben C. and .Almira
( Fletcher) Benton, was born in Waterford,
Mav 1 1, 18-50.
^^^5^ ^■pP'^v.,
J^C^ ^^^T^C^--^^-'^
i8
In 1 84 1 he removed with his father's
family to Lunenburg, where he resided until
twenty-one years of age. During that time bv
study at home and at such schools as were in
Lunenburg, and two terms at the St. Johns-
bury Academy, he was fitted for college. He
entered the L"ni\ersity of Vermont in May,
1 85 1, and was graduated in 1854.
After graduation he went to Johnson,
where he took charge of the academy. Pre-
vious to entering college he had read law
with the late Jacob Benton of Lancaster,
and with William Heywood, then of Guild-
hall. While in Johnson he read law with
Whitman G. Ferrin now of Montpelier, and
was admitted to practice in June, 1855. He
commenced practice in 1856, remaining in
Johnson until 1858, then removing to Hyde
Park, where he continued until 1867.
REUBEN CLARK BENTON.
March 18, 1856, he was married to .Sara
M. Leland. They have had four children,
all of whom are deceased.
At the breaking out of the war of the re-
bellion he entered the service as captain of
Co. D, 5th Regt. Vt. Vols., at the organiza-
tion of that regiment in September, i86i,
was present with his regiment until Tuly,
1862, and was wounded at Savage Station in
June of the same year. Upon the organiza-
tion of the nth Regt. in .\ugust, 1862, he
was made lieutenant-colonel of that regi-
ment, in which position he continued until
the last of June, 1864, when he resigned for
disability.
In March, 1867, he removed to St. Albans,
where he continued in the practice of his
profession until June, 1875, when he re-
mo\ed to Minneapolis, Minn., where he
still resides.
He was in the years 1879, 1880 and 1881
elected city attorney of the city of Minne-
apolis, which office he resigned December,
i88t, to enter the employ of the St. Paul,
Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway Co., as its
attorney at Minneapolis. For its successor,
the Great Northern Railway Co., Mr. Benton
and his firm still continue as attorneys, having,
besides, a general practice.
During his practice in Minneapolis, he
was at first in partnership with his brother,
C. H. Benton, also a Vermonter, under the
firm name of Benton & Benton : after the
dissolution of that firm, with William P. Rob-
erts, as Benton & Roberts ; and for the past
two years with Mr. Roberts and Rome G.
Brown, the latter a Vermonter, as Benton,
Roberts & Brown, which is the present style
of his firm. Mr. Benton has devoted himself
almost exclusively to the practice of law since
his residence in Minneapolis, and has won
the ]iosition of one of the leaders of the bar
of Hennepin county, and of the state. In
politics he is a Republican, but has no re-
ligious affiliations.
BISBEE, Lewis H., of Chicago, 111., son
of David and Sarah Bisbee, was born March
28, 1S39, at Derby.
The subject of this sketch (one of the
most prominent and gifted members of the
Chicago bar) was born and reared through
boyhood on a farm. It is not true that the
broad, stimulating and intense conditions of
wealth and city life are necessarily suppress-
ive of marked individual force and character.
It is true, however, that much of the brawn
and muscle, the life and brain, the refine-
ment and energy which lead and govern the
real forces of society are developed under
the more quiet and rugged conditions of
country life. It is a most hap])y and valu-
able fact that the real strength and virtue of
society are being constantly replenished from
the rural and agricultural forces of the coun-
try. And there is probably no source from
which is derived a stronger and better rein-
forcement of manners and social refinement.
The home of Hon. Lewis H. Bisbee is in
Hyde Park. It is one of the most refined
and elegant in the country, and is a promi-
nent center of healthful and refining social
influence on a moral and intellectual plane
as high as social development has anywhere
attained.
Mr. Bisbee's advantages in the common
schools while a lad were good. But he early
conceived the idea of obtaining the higher
and broader education afforded in the acade-
mies of Vermont. In summers he worked
on the farm, attending school in the winters
until the age of sixteen. At this age he fell back
on his own resources and proved himself pos-
sessed of the energy and tenacity of purpose
requisite to overcome the obstacles naturally
in his way. He attended the academies at
Glover, Derby, and Morrisville in Northern
Vermont and took a course at St. Hyacinth
College, near Montreal, Can., when nineteen
years of age. The course of instruction there
being conducted in the French language, he
became a thorough French scholar. Subse-
quently he read law with J. L. Edwards,
Esq., a prominent practitioner at Derby,
paying his way mainly by teaching French,
and was admitted to practice in June, 1S62.
The same month he was admitted to the
bar he enlisted as a private in Co. E, 9th
Vt. Inf., and was afterward promoted to the
captaincy of Co. H, of the same regiment.
During his military service his conduct was
marked by gallantry and faithfulness. Through
all the hardships of war he was found reso-
lute and cheerful, and in battle always at the
front. In 1863 he resigned on account of
sickness and returned to Newport and en-
gaged in the practice of law, soon building
up an extensive and lucrative business.
In 1866, Mr. Bisbee was elected state's
attorney of Orleans county, where he then
lived, and was re-elected in 1867, but soon
after resigned to accept the position of deputy
collector of customs, which of¥ice he filled
till 1869, when he was elected to the Legis-
lature of the state. He was again elected to
the Legislature in 1S70. He proved a most
valuable and efficient member of that body,
was one of the leaders of his party in the
legislative debates, and a member of impor-
tant committees. In extempore debate,
when the occasion was important, he was con-
sidered one of the most vigorous and effect-
ive speakers on the floor.
It was in April, 187 1, that Mr. Bisbee
moved to Chicago, but scarcely had he be-
come well started in business when the great
fire occurred. In the rebuilding of the city,
the reorganization and re-establishment of
order and business, Mr. Bisbee came natur-
ally and directly to the front of affairs. He
had an unwavering faith in the future of
Chicago, and the ability to seize and hold
the front position which he has ever since
occupied.
Mr. Bisbee is one of the most successful
jury and chancery lawyers in the Northwest.
His practice is of the highest and most lu-
crative order. His management of the case
known as the " B. F. Allen blanket-mortgage
case," for Hoyt Sherman, especially, was con-
ducted with extraordinary ability, and was
highly complimented by courts and bar ;
also the noted Sturges case, with many
others, might be adduced as confirming his
high reputation as a lawyer.
In 1887 the Illinois Legislature passed a
law permitting the annexation of the town of
Hyde Park to Chicago. Through the in-
strumentality of Mr. Bisbee the annexation
became a fact. Mr. Bisbee was elected to
the common council, representing the town
of Hyde Park, but the Supreme Court of the
state declared this law unconstitutional.
Thereupon in 1888-89 Mr. Bisbee secured
the passage of a new law, which resulted in
the annexation to Chicago of the town of
Hyke Park, Lake Jefferson, and a part of
Cicero, containing an aggregate population
of about 220,000 people. This great work
made Chicago the second city in population
of the L'nited States, and among other ad-
vantages enabled it to hold the World's
Columbian Exposition within its corporate
limits.
-Mr. Bisbee is the author of the well-known
work entitled "The Law of the Produce Ex-
change," which is a standard text book on
commercial exchanges in England and
America.
In 1878 he was elected to the Legislature
of Illinois, receiving nearly the unanimous
vote of the district, one of the most popu-
lous and intelligent in the state. In that
body he was one of the most 'prominent
leaders as a ready and able debater and an
influential and judicious legislator. He is a
graceful and impressive orator, an incisive
and logical thinker ; and being possessed of
a fine and commanding presence few men
are his equal in the legal or legislative de-
bating arena. In politics he is an ardent
Republican, and in campaigns, when the
principles of the party are at stake, his
voice and eloquence are always conspicuous.
Mr. Bisbee is a member of the Oakland
and Hyde Park Clubs, and one of the foun-
ders of the Society of Sons of Vermont in
Illinois, of which he has been president.
He is also a Knight Templar, a member of
the St. Bernard Commandery.
Personally Mr. Bisbee is a genial and af-
fable gentlemen of broad and generous
nature, dignified, courteous and obliging.
In his profession he is honorable, conscien-
tious, painstaking and laborious. Of robust
and hardy nature, refined, cultivated and
learned, he is in the true sense of the term
a self-made man. And the most of his life,
as the lives of strong men generally run, is
still before him.
He was married in 1S64 to Jane E. Hin-
man, of Derby, Vt., a member of a prominent
family of Orleans county. Their two children
are : Hattie Hinman, born at Newport in
1867, and a graduate of Cornell University;
and Benjamin Hinman, born in 1877 in
Chicago.
RI.ANCHARD,
I'.LANCHARD
BLANCHARD, Charles, of Ottawa,
111., son of Ralph and Maria (Kellogg)
Blanchard, was born in Peacham, August 31,
1829.
He was reared on a farm in his native
county, his education being principally ob-
tained at the district schools. For three
successive falls he walked from his father's
farm to the neighboring village, a distance
of two miles, to attend a school which in
those days was called an academy. He at-
tended this school six weeks each winter,
part of the time tending the fires and ringing
the bell to pay his tuition.
.\fter working on his father's farm he
worked for the neighbors until he had earned
forty dollars and in the fall of 1850 started
West with this amount in his pocket, arriv-
ing at Peru, 111., with but five dollars cash ;
from there he went to Granville, 111., and en-
gaged to teach school for the winter at a dol-
lar per day and board himself. The follow-
ing spring he went to Hennepin, where he
taught school three years, and during vaca-
tions and other leisure time he studied law.
At Springfield, 111., he was examined by
Judge Treat and admitted to the bar. Hav-
ing taught school to earn enough to pur-
chase necessary law books, he opened a law
office at Hennepin, but soon removed to
Peru, where he practiced his profession, and
in December, 1861, he removed to Ottawa.
In November, 1S64, he was elected
state's attorney of the district, composed of
La Salle, Ikireau and Kendall counties, and
re-elected in 1868; his term expired Dec. i,
1872. Upon the resignation of Judge (iood-
speed of the ninth district, August 1, 1884,
he was appointed by Governor Hamilton to
finish the unexpired term, and in the June
election of 1885 he was elected for the term
of six years, and re-elected in i8gi.
He was married in Hennepin, Putnam
county, in 1852, to Sarah H., daughter of
Isaac and Sarah (Hormel) Gudgel. They
had four children : Sydney, who became an
attorney at law ; Mae, Herman S., and
Charles, who died in infancy. The wife of
Judge Blanchard was a member of the Con-
gregational church. She died April 16,
1880, and Judge Blanchard again married,
Dec. 31, 1884, Mrs. Sylvia A. Bushnell,
daughter of Jay and Jeannett Garner (now
deceased) formerly of Athens, Pa.
Judge Blanchard is a member of Occiden-
tal Lodge, No. 40, F. & A. M. ; Shabbona
Chapter, No. 37, R. A. M., and Ottawa
Commandery, No. 10, and of the Illinois
.'Association of the Sons of Vermont.
BLANCHARD, JOHN, was born in Cale-
donia county, Sept. 30, 1787.
He spent his boyhood on a farm ; pre-
pared himself for college, and graduated at
Dartmouth in 181 2; removed to Pennsyl-
vania and taught school ; read law and was
admitted to practice ; was a representative
in Congress, from Pennsylvania, from 1845 to
1849.
He died in Columbia, Pa., March 8, 1S49.
BLINN, Charles Henry, of San Fran-
cisco, Cal., son of Chauncy and Edatha
(Harrington) Blinn, was born in Burlington,
Jan. 27, 1843.
Educated in the schools of his native place,
he was prepared for the University of Ver-
mont, when he entered the army.
Heenlisted, August 21, 1861, in the famous
I St \'t. Cavalry, serving three years and four
months. He was attached to Sheridan's
Cavalry Corps : participated in the batdes of
Gettysburg, Chancellorsville, Spottsylvania,
Cold Harbor, Wilderness, Winchester, Cedar
Creek, and twenty-six skirmishes. He was
wounded and taken prisoner at Middletown,
Va., May 25, 1862, in a cavalry charge led
by General Banks ; his horse was killed by a
cannon ball from a battery stationed within
three hundred yards, fell with sixteen others
and was ridden over by a company of the
ist Maine Cavalry; was in prison at Lynch-
burg and Belle Island, Va., from May 25 to
Sept. 17. His regiment has the honor
of having captured at Cedar Creek forty-two
cannon, the largest number taken by anv
regiment during the war. He was honora-
bly discharged at Burlington, Nov. 19, 1864.
After the war he was two years chief clerk
at the Weklen House, St. Albans. He went
to California in 1868, and for six years was
with the \\'ells-Fargo Express Co. In 1S75
he became an editorial writer of the " Alta
California." In 1878 he was appointed chief
permit clerk in the San Francisco Custom
House, which position he still fills.
The positions he has occupied in the
Grand Army of the Republic are too many
for our space ; suffice it to say, he is now
quartermaster and secretary of Veteran
Guard, G. A. R., George H. Thomas Post,
etc. For five years he has been secretary of
the Pacific Coast Association, "Native Sons
of Vermont." He is a regular attendant and
contributor to Simpson Memorial Methodist
Church.
He was married, Dec. 15, 1870, to Nellie,
daughter of Albert and Lucy Holbrook, of
Salem, N. H. She is (1894) the leading
elocutionist of the Pacific Coast. Mrs. Blinn
is a powerful political speaker, and took the
stump for Hayes, Garfield, Blaine, and Har-
rison. Their union was blessed with a son :
Holbrook, born in 1872, graduated at Boy's
high school, spent two years in college, and
is now a rising young actor.
BLISS, NEZIAH W., of Chicago, 111.,
son of Ellison and Mary B. (Worthen) Bliss,
was born in Bradford, Lin. 31, 1826.
His grandfather, P^Uis Bliss, was a lieuten-
ant in the Revolutionary war. His great-
grandfather, Ellis Bliss, was the father of
seventeen children. His great-great-grand-
father. Rev. John Bliss, graduated from
Yale, then located at Saybrook, Conn., in
17 10, and was ordained first pastor of the
Congregational church of Hebron, Conn., in
17 1 7, was dismissed in 1734, and was a lay
reader in the Episcopal church until his
death. Dr. Neziah Bliss, our subject's name-
sake, served fourteen terms in the Colonial
Legislature of Connecticut, and was the
father of our "public common school system,"
and was also a son of the Rev. John Bliss.
The subject of our sketch prepared for
college at Bradford Academy, and graduated
from the University of Vermont with high
rank, class of 1846, having as classmates
ex-Chief Justice Jameson, and H. R. Steb-
bins of Chicago, Judge Belcher, Supreme
Court of California, Judge Nelson, U. S.
circuit court of Massachusetts, Judge J. W.
May, and Hon. H. O. Houghton (Houghton,
Mifflin & Co.), Boston.
He taught schools in Vermont and New
Hampshire, after which he studied law with
R. McK. Ormsby in Bradford. He went
West in 1847, located in Ohio, and there
taught school until 1850, then went to
Warsaw, 111., continued his law studies, and
was admitted to the bar in 1854. He formed
a law partnership with Judge J. ^V. Marsh in
1856, and became attorney for Doan, King
& Co. of St. Louis. In 1S67 he was general
superintendent of St. Louis Lead and Min-
ing Co., and conducted a large business in
mining, smelting, merchandising and farm-
ing. In 1882 he located at Chicago, and
became attorney and counsel for Marshall
Field & Co. : among the many important
cases he has managed for that firm was one
in which he recovered $40,000, duties illeg-
ally exacted on cartons and coverings, under
the tariff act of 1883, the litigation as to the
constitutionality of the McKinley bill, etc.
He married Jessie, daughter of General
and Sarissa (Wells) Andrews, at Warsaw, 111.,
Dec. I, 1852. They had eleven children:
Mary and Stella (twins), Ellis AVright, Abby,
Neziah Wright, Jr., Malcolm A., Wyslys K.,
George W., Walter E., Charles K., Harry
Staples, Ralph, P^ugene B., and Margaret L.
Mr. Bliss married for a second wife, Louise,
daughterof James W. and Catherine (Troxell)
Baugher, and by her had three children.
Mr. Bliss is a man of fine personal ap-
pearance, and strong constitution which his
excellent habits ha\e fostered He is a man
decided in his convictions of right, of per-
fect integrity and truthfulness ; his character
is above reproach. Possessed of a pleasing
address, good conversational powers and
genial temperament, he has made hosts of
friends.
HOARI I.MAN.
He is an Episcopalian, was senior warden
■of St. Bartholomew Church at Englewood,
where he resided with his family for several
years, and now resides at Longwood, a
.suburb of Chicago, located on the highlands
of the Blue Island ridge.
BOARDMAN, HENRY ElDERKIN JEW-
ETT, of Marshalltown, Iowa, son of Rev.
Elderkin J. and Ann (Gookin) Boardman,
was born in Danville, June 21, 1828. He
is a lineal descendant through eight genera-
tions of the ancestor Samuel Boardman, who
emigrated from England about 1635. He
removed to \\'eathersfield. Conn., in 1641.
The name is first found in the records of
Ipswich, Mass., 1637-1639. The father of
Henry E. J., Rev. E. J. Boardman, w^as one
of the first abolitionists of ^■ermont, publish-
ing in 1838 a work entitled "Immediate
Abolition of Slavery Vindicated."
HO.ARDMAN.
23
HENRY ELDERKIN JEWETT BOARDMAN.
The subject of our sketch was educated at
Randolph and St. Johnsbury, and Meriden,
N. H., academies. Graduated at Dartmouth
(JoUege, class of 1850. He spent six years
in Tennessee, .'\labama and Maryland as
principal of academies, becoming professor
of languages in the University of East Ten-
nessee at Knoxville, and was admitted to the
practice of law in Tennessee.
In 1856 he removed to Marshalltown,
Iowa, and has since been a practicing law-
yer in that place and one of the largest land
owners in Iowa. In iSCg-'yg-'SS he tra\eled
extensivelv in the ( )1(1 World. He has been
|)resident of the District Bar Association,
president of the Farmers' National Bank,
director of the First National Bank, of the
City Bank, also of the Central Iowa Railway
Co., of which he was general attorney for
many years, and has been a trustee of the
Iowa College at Grinnell. Was nominated
for supreme judge by the Democratic party
in 1877, as district judge in 1870 and again
in 1879, was nominated for congressman,
July, 1879. He was a delegate from the
sixth congressional district, Iowa, to the Na-
tional Union Convention at Philadelphia,
.•\ugust 14, 1866 ; also a delegate to the Na-
tional Democratic Convention held in New
York, July 4, 1868.
July 6, 1893, at Des Moines, he was elected
president of the Sons of the American Revo-
lution for the state of Iowa. The " Historian
of Iowa" says of him : "His success in pub-
lic and private undertakings and his final
recoveries in litigated cases, involving ab-
stract legal principles, are marvelous. This
is due to extraordinary powers of generaliza-
tion and analysis, and an industry that never
tires. He is solicitous that his acts of benev-
olence shall be known only to himself, and
is one of the most modest and retiring of
men."
He married Miss M. E. Williams (now
deceased) Dec. 7, 1858. Of this union
were three children : Delia Louisa, Annette
Gookin, and Clarence Elderkin Carver (de-
ceased).
BOARDMAN, HalSEV J., of Boston,
Mass., son of Nathaniel and Sarah (Hunt)
Boardman, was born in Norwich, May 19,
1834. He is of Puritan ancestry, a descend-
ant of Samuel Boardman who settled in Con-
necticut in 1 63 1.
He was educated in the public schools of
his native town and at Thetford Academy,
graduating from that institution in 1854 as
the valedictorian of his class. Entering
Dartmouth College in the same year he was
graduated in 1858 with high honors.
.\fter teaching the high school at Leo-
minster one year he entered as a student the
law office of Norcross & Snow, Fitchburg,
Mass., and later, the law office of Phillip H.
Sears of Boston. He was admitted to the
Suffolk bar in i860 and immediately began
the practice of his profession as senior part-
ner of the law firm of Boardman & Blodgett,
this partnership continuing until the junior
l)artner, Caleb Blodgett, was made a judge
of the Superior Court ; later partners have
been Stephen H. Tyng and Frank Paul.
During the past few years Mr. Boardman
has been engaged in various manufacturing
and railroad interests which ha\e necessi-
tated frequent and prolonged absences from
the state. He is president of the Duluth &
24
HOARDJIAN.
BOUTIN.
Winnipeg Railroad Co., and a director of
several other corporations. He is also presi-
dent of the F^vans Coal Co., a large
producer of anthracite coal in Pennsylvania,
president of the Commercial Mining Co. of
Colorado, and a director of the Boston Ma-
rine Insurance Co.
Mr. Boardman is a stalwart Republican.
From 1862 to 1S64 he was commissioner
of the board of enrolment, under President
Lincoln, for the fourth congressional dis-
trict. In 1874 he was chairman of the Re-
publican ward and city committee of the
city of Boston, also a member of the com-
mon council and in 1875 its president, and
the Republican candidate for mayor the
same year. From 1883 to 1885 inclusive
Mr. Boardman was a member of the Massa-
chusetts House of Representatives. He was
a member of the railroad committee during
his entire term and its chairman during the
last two years. In this capacity he was in-
strumental in securing a large amount of
legislation calculated to improve the railroad
service in this state, including provisions for
the change of railroad grade crossings, safety
couplings on freight cars, regulations against
discrimination in freight rates and for im-
provement in signals and precautions to be
enforced against color blindness— all matters
involving exhaustive examination and sound
judgment. Mr. Boardman was elected to
the state Senate in 18S7 and 188S and was
president of that body both years.
He was married in 1862 to Miss Georgia
Hinman of Boston. Thev have two daugh-
ters.
BOUTIN, Charles W., of Hampton,
Iowa, son of Joachim and Martha (Warner)
Boutin, was born in Chester, No\-. 8, 1839.
Removing at an early age to \\'indham he
received such an education as the district
schools of the town afforded and followed the
occupation of a farmer until 1858. He then
followed carpentering in Andover and Ches-
ter until 1865, when he engaged in the dry
goods business in Chicago. This venture
was of short duration, for in December of the
Ife ^i'tfi^^
CHARLES W. BOUTIN.
same year the entire building and stock were
destroyed by fire and he was left without a
dollar. Not daunted, however, he started
out and accepted such employment as he
could find, locating at \\'ebster City, Iowa,
in 1867, where he engaged in the nursery
business, but this proving uncongenial he
sold his interest and removed to Hampton,
where began his life's business — that of an
architect and builder, in which profession he
stands high.
In 1 86 1 he enlisted as corporal of Co. E,
I St. Vt. Regt., and in the following May went
out with the regiment ; again enlisting Augtist
20, in the 4th Vt. Regt., he was success-
ively promoted ist lieutenant, captain and
major. Major Boutin was on duty with his
regiment and participated in all its battles
until June 28, 1864, when with others of his
HRADFOKD.
regiment he was captured by the rebels and
held as a prisoner of war until March, 1865,
being confined at Libby, Macon, Sa^■annah,
Charleston and Columbia. After being ex-
changed he rejoined his regiment and was
mustered out of service with it in 1865. He
took a prominent part in the organization of
the Iowa National Guards and for sixteen
years has served as captain, major, lieuten-
ant-colonel and colonel of one of the craclv
regiments of the state.
Mr. Boutin married at Londonderry, August
25, 1861, Marinda A., daughter of Theodore
and Sarah French. She died in 1864, while
he was a prisoner of war. He married again,
in March, 1869, Julina A. French, a sister
of his first wife. She died in April, 1886. In
November, 1888, Mr. Boutin married at
Ripley, Tenn., Elmma S. Kennedy. Of this
union is one son ; Charles K.
A staunch Republican, he has never evinced
a desire for public ofSce. He has, however,
been a member of the city council, and
county auditor of Franklin county, Iowa, for
two terms ; and twice refused the nomination
for the mayoralty of Hampton.
He has taken a deep interest in matters
Masonic and has held nearly every office in
the gift of the lodge and chapter ; as a Royal
Arch Mason and Knight Tempi ir he has knelt
at the altar of the Mystic Shrine. Assisting in
the organization of the local post G. A. R., he
has been adjutant, past commander, delegate
to department encampment many limes and
a national delegate twice. Became a mem-
ber of Wisconsin Commandery, Loyal Legion,
and assisted in organizing the Iowa Com-
mandery of which he is now a member.
BRADFORD, JaMES HENRY, of Wash-
ington, D. C, traces his ancestry not only
to Gov. William Bradford of Plymouth
Colony, but three or four generations further
back to Rev. John Bradford who after having
been chaplain to the Queen was burnt at the
stake at Smithfield by Bloody Mary with
John Rogers, Latimer and others. His
mother, who died when he was but four
years old, was the daughter of Thomas
Dickinan, the first postmaster, printer and
editor of Greenfield, Mass. She was a
woman of noble character, beloved by all.
Henry attended the district school and at
sixteen mowed his turn with the men in the
hay field for the last time, for that autumn
he went to Charleston, S. C, into the dry
goods store of his brother-in-law.
Three years at Williston Seminary pre-
pared him for Vale with one hundred and
sixty-two others to make the class of '63.
He had jumped from college to the Theo-
logical Seminary, and the next step was into
the army as chaplain, having received the
unanimous vote of the officers of the 1 2th C.
W, for that position. From Hartford to Ship
Island, then up the Mississippi, the first
troops to land at New Orleans, where they
guarded the upper defenses while General
Butler reigned supreme. L'P the far famed
Teche to the Red River, thence to Port
Hudson for a forty-two days siege, then
down the river to the old camp ground at
Brasier City ; the regiment re-enlisting re-
ceived a veteran furlough. Back to New
Orleans and around to Bermuda Hundred
and Washington and up the Shenandoah
" whirling up the valley " with Sheridan. In
bloody work at Winchester, Fisher's Hill,
Cedar Creek and on up to Staunton and
return. Mustered out of service with the
regiment, completed a war experience of
singular freedom from sickness or wounds.
He then went as a home missionary to Hud-
son, Wis., on the St. Croix, for two years.
Coming East for reformatory work his ser-
vice in \Vestboro (Mass.) State Reform
School three years ; Connecticut Industrial
School four years, and Masssachusetts Pri-
mary School three years gave him a broad
experience and enabled him to leave his
impress upon hundreds of young lives, that
have none too much sympathy and care. A
few months at Howard Mission, New York,
then to Washington where he has been for
twelve years a part of what is called The
United States Government. Preaching
almost every Sabbath, chaplain in Post and
Department of the Grand Army and the
Loyal Legion, active in church, temperance
and charitable work, he has lived a busy life
and not less so has Mrs. Bradford, carrying
all over the country the fame of the " Ben
Hur Tableaux," her own creation ; and train-
ing her two girls and two boys into a model
family.
Chaplain Bradford is ne\er so happy as
when breathing the pure air of Vermont,
which state he visits with delight and leaves
with regret, for her hills and valleys and
people are very dear to him.
Chaplain Bradford was married August
19, 1865, to Ellen J., daughter of Sylvester
and J. Sophia Knight of Easthampton, Mass.
Their children living are : Mary Knight,
Harry Bonnell, Horatio Knight, and Faith.
BRIGHAM, HOSEA WHEELER, of Win-
chester, N. H., was born at Whitingham,
May 30, 1837, the son of John and Huldah
(Wheeler) Brigham.
Educated in the schools of his native
town and at Barre Academy he followed
farming until 1862 when he removed to
Boston, Mass., where he made his home
until 187 1. Resolving to follow the legal
profession he entered the office of Judge
Asa French, of Boston, in 1869, and com-
pleted his studies under H. X. Hix, of Sad-
26
awga. Admitted to the Windham county
bar in 1872 he practiced his profession at
Sadawga until 1S81, being admitted, in the
meantime, to practice in the Supreme and
United States circuit and district courts.
Removing to Winchester, N. H., in 1881,
he was admitted to the New Hampshire
courts, and has since lived at that place, en-
joying a lucrative practice.
Mr. Brigham is a staunch Republican,
was a member of the New Hampshire con-
stitutional convention in 1889, member of
the House of Representatives iS93-'94,
postmaster at Sadawga i872-'78, justice of
the peace, chancellor, and four years a
member of the Winchester board of educa-
tion. He is also town clerk.
Prominent in Masonry, he is a member
of Philesian Lodge, No. 41 t, and of the
Royal Arch, Council and Knight Templar.
Mr. Brigham married at Whitingham,
Sept. 14, 1858, Florilla R., daughter of
Joseph and Rebecca Farnum. ( )f this union
are three children : Eva C, Ulric U., anil
Maud F.
BROWN, Orlando J., of North
Adams, Mass., son of Harvey and Lucina
(Fuller) Brown, was born in Whitingham,
Feb. 2, 1848.
His early education was received from his
parents, people of sturdy, representative
New England stock, and at the public
schools of his native town, later supplemented
by several terms at Powers Institute, Ber-
nardston, Mass. He began teaching in the
public schools at the early age of sixteen.
Successful in this pursuit, he not only ai
quired an education, but earned the mean^
for fitting himself for his early chosen pro-
fession, that of medicine.
He graduated from the University of Ver-
mont with the degree of M. D. in 1870.
After studying in the hospitals of New York
for the remainder of that year, Dr. Brown
began his practice of medicine and surgery
in Adams, Mass , Jan. i, 1871. In 1872 he
moved to North Adams, where he has been
an honored and successful practitioner to
the present time. I )etermined to keep apace
with the improved methods of practice, he
has taken several special courses of study at
the hospitals and medical schools of New
York and Chicago. He excels particularly
in the treatment of diseases of women and
children.
Dr. Brown is prominent in the political
and social affairs of North Adams, and has
a wide reputation throughout the state. He
was appointed one of the state medical ex-
aminers for Berkshire county in 1882, which
position he still holds. In 1889 he was one
of the Republican nominees for representa-
tive in the First Berkshire District and was
elected. In the House he was vigilant and
actixe, meriting special credit for his work
with the committee on public health. Dr..
Brown is a member and officer of the Massa-
chusetts State Medical Society, Massachusetts
Medico-Legal Society, Medical Association
of Northern Berkshire, and Berkshire Dis-
trict Medical Society. He has been a health
officer of the town most of the time since
1880, and has served the state continuously
since 1878 as a medical officer of the Massa-
chusetts Volunteer Militia. He belongs to
the order F. & A. M. and other fraternal
and beneficiary organizations, and is a mem-
ORLANDO
ber of the First Universalist Church, of
which he has been deacon since 1885, and
superintendent of Sunday school since 1872,
was member of the building committee for
new church in 1892, besides holding other
important offices.
Dr. Brown was married, Nov. 22, 1S71,
to Eva M., daughter of William and Amelia
(Blakeslee) Hodskins, who died Oct. 14,
1873. Of this union there was one child :
William O. (deceased). Of his second mar-
riage with Ida M., daughter of Homer and
Martha (Phelps) Haskins, which occurred
Sept. 13, 1876, is one daughter: Agnes O.,
his only child surviving. The mother died
at the birth of a second child, Ida M., in
1881. Dr. Brown's present wife is Alice,
daughter of Edward and Celestia (Stevens)
Stowell, to whom he was married Dec. 16,
1884.
llUriKKFIEI.I)
27
BRUCE, Eli Mansfield, of Philadel-
phia, son of Rev. Mansfiekl and Grace
'Cloddard) Kruce, was born in \\'ilmington,
April 25, 1825.
He was educated in the public schools of
his native town and by hard application dur-
ing his leisure time. Fifteen years of age
found him teaching and his aptitude and
ability to gain the good will and esteem of
those under his charge soon placed him in
the front ranks of the instructors of ^\ ind-
ham county, and in after years when he was
in Ohio and Illinois he had no difficulty in
maintaining the reputation of the ''N'nnkee
right Christian life since, and for the past
twenty-eight years has been thoroughly in
earnest in his efforts to jjursuade his fellow-
men to turn from their e\il ways and in his
belief that nothing less than entire and un-
reserved consecration is required of every
one who professes Christianity, his energy
and money have been freely given for that
purpose.
Mr. Bruce united in mairiage Sept. 27,
1843, to Harriet, daughter of Daniel and
Catherine (Moore) Snow, of \\"ilmington.
Of this union are two daughters : Kate, and
Ellen H. The golden wedding of Mr. and
Mrs. Bruce was celebrated Sept. 27, 1S93.
BUTTERFIELD, L. ALONZO, of .Akron,
Ohio, son of Ezra T. and Mary (Leonard)
Butterfield, was born in Wilmington, July
24, 1846.
«tv
ELI MANSFIELD BRUCE.
School Master." In 1857 he commenced a
business life by engaging with the late Dea-
con Estey — famous the world o\er as the
manufacturer of the Estey organs — and he
still carries a gold watch taken in exchange
for one of the melodeons. In the winter of
i858-'5g he visited in the East and was in-
duced by Deacon Estey to go to Philadel-
phia and open a market for the Estey or-
gans, and the trip proved so successful that
his teaching was given up and he removed
to Philadelphia, where a store for Estey or-
gans was opened, in which he is still success-
fully engaged.
Mr. Bruce enlisted and served three
months in the 44th, or "Merchants' Regi-
ment" emergency men, about the time of
the battle of Gettysburg. In politics he is a
Republican but has never taken more than a
voting interest. ' Uniting w-ith the ISaptist
church in 1840, Mr. Bruce has led an u])-
L. ALONZO BUTTERFIELD.
He was educated at the district schools of
Wilmington, Wesleyan Academy and the Bos-
ton University. Since his graduation he has
devoted his entire time to teaching, ha\iug
followed that profession for twenty years ; one
year in Wesleyan Academy and several terms
in the Vermont Methodist Seminary, state
normal school and the New Hampton ( N. H. )
Literary Institution. He taught for three
years in the Boston University ; was instruc-
tor in the Newton (Mass.) '["heological In-
stitution, and for several years at Dartmouth
College ; was for several years associate prin-
cipal of the Boston School of^"ocal Physi-
ologv, with Prof. .Alexander Graham LSell.
28
CARPENTER.
From 1 8 78 to 1SS3 Prof. Butterfield developed
an original sj'stem of voice culture, and has
become widely known as a specialist in voice
culture for speakers and singers and in the
treatment of all forms of defective speech.
For several years he was a professor in the
Emerson College of Oratory, Boston, Mass.,
resigning in June, 1891, to accept a call to
the chair of rhetoric and oratory at Buchtel
College, Akron, O., which position he still
holds. Dr. Butterfield has been prominently
connected with summer schools and institute
work, having had charge of the department
of voice culture and oratory at the National
Simimer School at Saratoga and (ilens Falls,
N. Y., for five summers, beginning in 1887.
In 1883 he was elected to a fellowship in the
Society of Science, Letters and Art, of Lon-
don. He received the degree of Ph. D. from
the thnerson College of Oratory in 18S8.
Dr. Butterfield united in marriage, Julv 3,
1877, to Ruhamah, daughter of Hiram and
Betsey D. (Canney) Felker, of Barrington,
N. H. Of this union is one daughter : Alice.
BUEL, ALEXANDER W., was born in
Rutland county, in 1S13, graduated from
the Vermont Lniversity in 1831, taught
school for many years in Vermont and New
York, during which time he prepared him-
self for the practice of law. In 1834 he
took up his residence in Michigan ; in 1836
was attorney for the city of Detroit ; in
1837 was elected to the state Legislature;
in 1843 and 1844 was prosecuting attorney
for \Vayne county ; in 1847 was again elec-
ted to the Legislature: and from 1849 to
1851 was a representative in Congress from
Michigan.
BURKE, Edmund, was born in West-
minster, Jan. 23, 1809; was educated by
private tutors, studied law^, and was admitted
to the bar in 1829 : removed to New Hamp-
shire in 1833, where he established in Sulli-
van county the New Hampshire Argus. He
was a representative in Congress from New
Hampshire from 1S39 to 1845, and by Pres-
ident Polk was ajjpointed commissioner of
patents in Washington.
CARPENTER, MATTHEW Hale, son of
Ira and Esther
.A.nn (Luce)
Carpenter, was
born in More-
town, Dec. 22,
1834.
When he was
six years old,
Paul Dillingham
told him to be
a good boy at
home, and the
best pupil in
school, and
when he was
fourteen to come
to his house and
he would make a lawyer of him. The boy
then bore the name of Decatur Merritt
Hammond Carpenter, and changed it to
Matthew Hale Carpenter when residing in
Beloit. The lawyer forgot the promise, but
the boy did not, and when he was fourteen
Merritt made his appearance as requested,
charmed Mrs. Dillingham, as he had her
husband, and the ])romise w^as kept.
In 1843 Merritt was appointed a cadet at
West Point, remained there two years, re-
signed in August, 1845, returned to \\'ater-
bury, resumed the study of law, and was ad-
mitted to the Washington county bar at
Montpelier in November, 1S47. His mother
died before he left Moretown, and while at
Waterburv he had a home in Mr. Dilling-
ham's family, as well as a student's place in
his office.
L^pon admission to the bar he went to
Boston to continue his studies in the office of
Rufus Choate, who came to admire and love
him. In 1S4S he went to Beloit, Wis.,
opened an office, got a sign painted and
didn't ha\e the fifty cents to pay for it, but
he did ha\e a good library which Mr. Choate
had enabled him to buy by becoming re-
sponsible to a Boston firm for payment.
In 1849 Carpenter was stricken by what
threatened to be permanent blindness, found
his way to New York, where he remained
sixteen months for treatment. Choate loaned
him money to pay his expenses. After his
New York sojourn, and a few weeks spent at
Waterbury, he returned to Beloit. There
Matt Carpenter, as he was called by every-
body in \Visconsin, soon won distinction in
his profession, and in 1858 he moved to
Milwaukee, which was thenceforward his
home.
During the rebellion he was one of those
patriots who were known as War Democrats.
His services as a soldier were not permitted
because of physical disability, but he was a
tower of strength to the Union cause through-
out the Northwest.
In January, 1869, he was elected by the
RepubHcans of Wisconsin to the United
States Senate. In January, 1875, he was de-
feated for re-election, but in January, 1S79,
the state again returned her first citizen to
the Senate chamber, but he was then in de-
cUning heaUh and, Feb. 25 1S81, he died.
He married, Nov. 27, US55, CaroHne Dill-
ingham, daughter of Paul Dillingham. Mrs.
Carpenter survives him. Of their four chil-
dren two died in infancy, and two, Lilian,
and Paul D., are living.
Xo attempt is here made to even outline
the work of the most brilliant personality of
all the Sons of Vermont. His genius was
not only the capacity of taking infinite pains,
but in person, in voice, in grace and charm of
speech he had no rival. The light of the
inward fire glowed for those who heard and
saw him. He was a student, as the midnight
lamp bore witness ; profound lawyer, as the
highest courts of the land recognized ; a
statesman, who gave the logical ground for
his party to stand on in its work of recon-
struction, and an orator who mo\ed not only
juries and courts, but was the idol of the peo-
ple, and whose winged words made true for
him what he once said when asked to make
a political speech, that the only ceiling under
which to do that was "(lod's blue skv."
CAMP, ISAAC N., of Chicago, 111., son
of Abel and Charlotte (Taplin) Cam]), was
born in Elmore, Dec. iS, 1S31. lioth
parents were natives of Vermont. His
father, a farmer, was the postmaster and a
leading man in town, and had charge of a
large tract of land left to the University of
Vermont by Guy Catlin, who gave him the
disposal of a scholarship in the University :
the father died Dec. 22, 1890, aged ninety
years.
Our subject prepared for college at Bak-
ersfield Academy, paying his board by
teaching music. At the age of twenty he
entered the University of Vermont, earning
the money necessary to meet his expenses,
graduating in 1856.
He immediately became assistant princi-
pal of Barre Academy, where he remained
teaching mathematics and music until 1S60
when he became principal of the high
school at Burlington, a position which he
filled until his removal to Chicago in 1S68,
forming a partnership with H. L. Story,
firm name Story & Camp. In 1884 the
Estey Organ Co. bought Mr. Story's interest
and the firm became Estey & Camp, and
has continued such. Mr. Story received
§250,000 for his interest ; the capital of the
firm today is close to $1,000,000, and it is
one of the most substantial and reputable in
Chicago.
In religion, Mr. Camp is a Congregation-
alist, a director in the Chicago Theological
Seminary, a member of Union Park Congre-
gational Church and president of its board of
trustees.
29
In politics, he is a thorough-going Repub-
lican. He is a member of the Illinois and
Union League clubs, a director of the Chi-
cago Guaranty Life Society and the Royal
Safety Deposit Co. In April, 1891, he was
elected a director of the World's Columbian
FIxposition, and was a member of its com-
mittee on agriculture and liberal arts.
/
4
ISAAC N. CAf*
Mr. Camp is a man of fine ])hysique,
pleasing address and genial in manner ; gen-
erous to church and charitable enterprises :
the architect of his own fortune ; he is
highly esteemed in the city of his adoption.
He was united in marriage, Jan. i, 1862,
to Flora M., daughter of the Hon. Carlos
Carpenter, of Barre. The fruit of this
union was four children, three of whom are
now living : The daughter is Mrs. M. .\. Farr;
the oldest son, Edwin M., is in business with
his father ; the youngest, William C'., is fit-
ting for college. Mr. Camp, with his familv,
has travelled e.xtensively in Europe and in
the L^nited States.
CARTER, Ep.HUND H., of Wahpeton,
N. D., son of Rev. Ira and Elizabeth B.
(Shedd) Carter, was born in Springfield,
.August 9, 184S. He is a descenilant of
Thomas Carter, who came over in the ship
Planter in 1630 and settled at Salisbury,
Mass. His maternal great-grandfather was
Col. Jonathan Martin, an ofific:er in the
Revolutionary army and a member of the
first constitutional convention of New Hamp-
shire.
30
Edmund's education was begun in the
district schools of Springfield and com-
pleted at the M. E. Conference seminaries
of Springfield and Newbury. He learned
mercantile business of Robbins & White of
Cavendish and Tuxbury & Stone of Windsor,
and for five years from 1874 was in the dry
goods business at Felchville. In 18S0 took
up a government homestead in the Red
River Valley, Richland county, Dakota Ter-
ritory, where he has since been extensively
engaged in farming. He owns the Cherry
Hill ranch at Mantodore, N. D., where he
raises Clydesdale horses and Exmoor ponies.
In 1884 formed, with Hon. R. N. Ink, the
Farm Loan Co. of Ink & Carter; in i8go
Mr. Ink withdrew, leaving Mr. Carter sole
manager of an extensive loaning business.
It is his proud boast that no investor has
ever lost a dollar through him.
Mr. Carter is a Republican in politics ; in
religion a Methodist.
CASWELL, LUCIEN B., of Fort Atkin-
son, Wis., was born in Swanton, Nov. 27,
1827. At three years of age he removed to
Fort Atkinson, Wis., with his mother, gradu-
ated from Beloit College, studied law with
the late Matt. Carpenter, was admitted in
185 1, and began the practice of his profes-
sion. Was district attorney, i855-'56 ; mem-
ber of the Legislature in 1863, i873-'74 ; was
commissioner of the Second District Enrol-
ment Board of the state, i863-'65 ; delegate
to national Republican convention, 1S80;
elected to the Forty-fourth, Forty-fifth,
Forty-sixth and Forty-seventh Congresses."
GATE, George W., was born in
Montpelier, Sept. 17, 1S25 ; received a com-
mon school education, studied law and was
admitted to the bar in 1845 ^t Montpelier;
removed the same year to Wisconsin and
located at Plover ; was elected a meinber of
the state Legislature in i852-'53 ; was elected
judge of the circuit court in April, t8s4, and
held that position continuously until March
4, 1875, when he resigned upon being
elected a representative from Wisconsin in
the Forty-fourth Congress as an Independ-
ent Reformer.
GHAMBERLIN, EDSON J., of Ottawa,
( )nt., son of Joseph M. and Roeann (Abbott)
Chamberlin, was born in Lancaster, N. H.,
August 25, 1852.
His early education was accomplished at
the high school of Bethel and supplemented
by a course of study at the Montpelier Metho-
dist Seminary. December 6, 1871, Mr.
Chamberlin entered the employment of the
Central \'ermont R. R. and held success-
ively the positions of time keeper in the car
shops at St. Albans, clerk in the paymaster's
department and in the ofSce of superintend-
ent of transportation. In 1875, he became
corresponding secretary of the general super-
intendent, and in 1877 the private secretary
to the general manager. April, 1884, to Sep-
tember, 1886, he acted as general manager
of the Ogdensburg & Lake Champlain R. R.
and the Central Vermont line of steamers
running between Chicago and Ogdensburg.
September i, 1886, he assumed the position
of general manager of the Canada & .Atlantic
R. R.
Mr. Chamberlin has never entered politi-
cal life nor has he held town or county
offices. He is a prominent member of the
Masonic fraternity, belonging to Engelsby
Lodge of Burlington, a past high priest of
Champlain Chapter, No. i, and a Sir Knight
of Lafayette Commandery and of the su-
preme council Ancient and Accepted Scottish
Rite.
He was united in marriage to Sarah G.,
daughter of James and Clarissa Place, of
Highgate, Sept. 18, 1876.
GHANDLER, ALBERT BROWN, of
Brooklyn, N. Y., was born in West Randolph,
August 20, 1840, and is the youngest son of
^\'illiam Brown Chandler, a man whose life,
covering almost ninety years, was marked
by an eminently Christian spirit that em-
bodied in its law both of these great princi-
ples that were declared as embodying all
the law and the prophets ; and whose
CKANDLKR.
CHANDLER.
wife, f^lecta Owen, was a woman of rare
merit, possessing uncommon intellectual
endowments as well as high character ; she
lived to seventy years old, and both, through-
out their long lives, were sincerely respected
and loved. Albert Chandler's first ancestor
in America was AVilliam Chandler, who
settled in Roxbury, Mass., in 1637. From
the three sons of this man came the New
England branches of the family, among the
members of which were several men who
distinguished themselves in civil or military
life in colonial times. The Hon. Zachariah
Chandler of Michigan, United States Senator
from that state and Secretary of the Interior
under President Grant, was a descendant of
A\'illiam, the eldest of the three ; the Hon.
William E. Chandler, senator from New
Hampshire, who was Secretary of the Navy
under President Hayes, and Commander
Benjamin F. Chandler, an officer in the
navy, are descendants of Thomas another
of the three. .Albert B. Chandler is a de-
scendant of the third brother, John, and he
numbers also among his ancestors, in a
direct line, Mary Winthrop, daughter of
John Winthrop, the first Governor of Massa-
chusetts, and sister of John Winthrop,
founder of New London and the first Gover-
nor of Connecticut.
Of studious tastes, Mr. Albert B. Chandler
made effective use of the opportunities af-
forded him for securing an academic educa-
tion, and in the intervals between school
proved his native industry by working as a
compositor in a printing office in his native
town and in Montpelier. There was a tele-
graph office located in a bookstore at West
Randolph in connection with the printing
office in which he worked, and this enabled
him to acquire the art of telegraphy. For
a time he was telegraph messenger and oper-
ator. In October, 1858, through the influ-
ence of his brother, AN'illiam Wallace Chan-
dler, he was appointed manager of the
Western Union telegraph office at Beliaire, O.
In February, 1 85 9, he was promoted to a posi-
tion in the office of the superintendent of that
Railway Co., at Pittsburg, and on May i of the
same year he was appointed agent of that com-
pany at Manchester, opposite Pittsburg. He
occupied this position with much credit vntil
the end of May, 1863, and there became
familiar with the various branches of railway
service. On the istof June, 1863, he entered
the U. S military telegraph service as cipher
operator in the War Department at Washing-
ton, D. C. In October of the same year he
was made disbursing clerk for Gen. Thomas
T. Eckert, superintendent of the Department
of the Potomac, in addition to his duties as
cipher operator. Here he became personally
acquainted with many officers of the go\ern-
ment, and particularly with President Lincoln
and Secretary Stanton.
Early in .August, 1866, before the general
consolidation of the several telegraph inter-
ests into one company had become fully
organized, he removed to New York City
and became chief clerk of the general super-
intendent of the Eastern di\ision, and was
also placed in charge of the trans-Atlantic
cable traffic, which had then just com-
menced. In addition to these duties Mr.
Chandler was apjjointed, on the first of June,
1869, superintendent of the sixth district of
the Eastern division. He continued in this
service until January, 1875, when, soon
after the election of General Eckert as pres-
ident and general manager of the Atlantic
and Pacific Telegraph Co., Mr. Chand-
ler was made assistant general manager of
that company. In June of the same year he
was appointed secretary, and the following
year he was made a member of the board of
trustees, and subsequently treasurer and
vice president. In December, 1879, after
the resignation of General Eckert, Mr.
Chandler was elected president, continuing
in that position until the complete absorp-
tion of the .Atlantic and Pacific company by
the Western L'nion in 1882. The property
was combined with that of the Western
L'nion, as to its operation, in the spring of
1 88 1, and his duties in connection there-
with, after that time, were only such as were
made legally necessary by its separate cor-
porate existence. In the summer of 1881
he acted as treasurer of the Western L'nion
company during the absence of that officer.
In October, 1881, he accepted the presi-
dency of the Fuller Electrical Co., which
was one of the first to undertake the
development of the arc system of electric
lighting. He remained acti\ely in that
position until May, 1884. During the sum-
mer and fall of that year, having had more
than twenty-five years incessant service, he
spent three months in A'ermont, but per-
formed during this period of relaxation, a
variety of services for the Electrical com-
jiany, and also for the Commercial Cable
Co., whose system was then in course of
construction.
Early in December, 18S4, he was em-
ployed as counsel by the Postal Telegraph
and Cable Co., at the instance of Mr. John
\\'. Mackay, and acted in that capacity
until June i, 1885, when he was appointed
receiver of the property of that company by
the Supreme Court of New York, and had
charge of the operation of its lines and the
management of its business while the fore-
closure suits, which resulted in the sale of
the property in January, 1886, were pend-
ing. L^pon its reorganization he was elected
president of the company. In connection
CHANDLKR.
CHANDLER.
33
with his care of the iiropertj- of the I'ostal
'relegra]ih Co., the general management of
the newly organized United Lines Telegraph
Co., was assigned to him, that company having
purchased the lines formerly known as the
Bankers and Merchants. This property sub-
sequently became a part of the Postal. In
the meantime he had been made a director,
a member of the e.xecutive committee and a
vice-president of the Commercial Cable Co.,
and of the Pacific Postal Telegraph Co., and a
director, and subsequently president of the
Commercial Telegram Co. Mainly through
his efforts the control of the plant of the
latter company was sold to the New
York Stock E.xchange for the purpose of
enabling that institution to make simulta-
neous distribution of its quotations to its
members, and Mr. Chandler became vice
president and general manager of the New
York (Quotation Co., which assumed con-
trol of the business in the interest of the
stock exchange. He is also a member of
the board of directors of the Brooklyn IJis-
trict Telegraph Co., of which he was presi-
dent during the first three years of its
existence.
Immediately after the Western Union
Co. acquired possession in October, 1S87,
of the telegraph system which had been built
up by the Baltimore & Ohio Railway Co.,
^Ir. Chandler was invited by reason of his
well-known views on the subject of tele-
graphic competition, and the necessity for
it, to confer with certain of the principal
owners and officers of the \\'estern Union
Co., the conference resulting in an arrange-
ment for the discontinuance of rate cutting,
rebating and other destructi\e methods of
competition which had previously prevailed
whenever any telegraph interest attained
considerable extent. This condition has
ever since continued, with great benefit to
the telegraph companies, and to the public.
Under it, non-paying rates were of course
discontinued : but a still larger number of
rates were reduced, the aim being to equal-
ize the charges and place the public on a
uniform basis as to telegraph rates, discrim-
inating neither for nor against any one, and
making excellence of service, in speed and
accuracy, the means of influencing patron-
age. This has produced a telegraph service
which is far superior to any that has ever
before been performed, and to Mr. Chandler,
more than to any other one person, the
credit of establishing such conditions, both
in connection with land lines and trans-
Atlantic service, unquestionably belongs —
negotiations respecting the latter having
been intrusted to him, after the merit of the
principles involved had become well assured
by experience on the land lines. An authority
on the history of the telegraph in this
country fittingly alludes to Mr. Chandler as
"a man of much prudence and conservative
judgment, having an engaging courtesy and
refinement."
To Albert B. Chandler the American public
is very largely indebted for the comparative
inexpensiveness of telegraphic communica-
tion in these days, when the most sanguine
ideas that Samuel F. B. Morse could have
indulged in have been more than realized.
From boyhood Mr. Chandler has been con-
nected with the telegraph business, and for
many years he has been prominently identi-
fied with enterprises and movements that
have been fruitful in bringing this immense
interest into its present profitable and useful
condition. During the last five years that
Professor Morse lived, Mr. Chandler was
well acquainted with him, and he has had
the personal friendship of almost every one
of the prominent promoters, inventors, own-
ers, managers, etc., of telegraphic interests
and of electrical enterprises generally, which
have revolutionized the modern world. He
is at the present time president and general
manager of the Postal Telegraph Cable Co.,
vice-president of the Commercial Cable Co.,
and president of several local companies in
different cities that are allied to those inter-
ests. The magnificent new Postal Telegraph
building erected during the past two years,
on the corner of Broadway and Murray
streets, opposite the New York City Hall, is
the most recent of Mr. Chandler's important
enterprises. He selected the site, conducted
the negotiations which secured it, was chair-
inan of the committee which had charge of
its construction and which now controls it.
The building is of limestone, gray brick and
terra cotta, fourteen stories in height over
basement and cellar, and is recognized as
one of the handsomest, as well as most com-
modious, well-appointed and well-lighted
office buildings in the world. The steam
and electrical machinery are of most recent
design, of the highest order of merit, and are
so extensive and complete as to command
the admiration of experts and scientists as
well as less skillful critics. The value of
land and building is about two and a half
millions of dollars.
In addition to these important trusts, Mr.
Chandler has been called upon to give much
time and careful attention to the manage-
ment of a large estate in Brooklyn of which
he is the executor.
Mr. Chandler married Miss Marilla Eunice
Stedman, of West Randolph, Oct. 11, 1864,
and three children have been born of the mar-
riage. The first, a daughter named Florence,
died in early childhood ; the others are two
sons, Albert Eckert and Willis Derwin.
Mr. Chandler ow-ns a handsome residence
on Clinton avenue, Brooklyn, and has a com-
34
CHANDLER.
CHANDLER.
niodius country home in his nati\e town
where his family passes the summer. He i.-.
a man of extremely pleasant manner, very
approachable, and amid his many cares and
responsibilities finds time to cultivate the
graces of social life. His domestic attach-
ments are strong and he is a lover of music
and literature, cultivating his tastes quite
freely in both these directions. He wields a
ready pen in literary and historical work, and
among his diversions has been the prepara-
tion of a genealogical record of his family
that would do credit to a professional searcher.
One of his peculiar faculties is a remarkable
memory for names, faces and dates, and
this, with his ease in conversation, his wide
range of information and his companionable
ways, makes him a very interesting man to
meet and to know.
CHANDLER, William Wallace, of
Chicago, was born at \\'est Randolph, Jan.
7, 1821. He was the eldest of a family of
eight boys, there having been two girls older
and three younger than himself. Twelve of
these thirteen children lived to become
parents, one girl having died in infancy.
His parents, William Brown and Electa
Owen Chandler, were married at Hanover,
N. H., in 1816, and removed immediately
to West Randolph, where they resided to-
gether for fifty years, lacking four months,
when his mother passed to a higher life, —
his father surviving until he was eighty-nine
and one-half years old when he died at the
residence of his son Frank in Brooklyn,
N. Y.
His paternal ancestor, William Chandler,
came from England to Ro.Nbury, Mass., in
1637, only seventeen years after the landing
of the Pilgrims.
William Brown Chandler, whose birth
dates back to primitive times, learned the
manufacture of farming and carpenters'
tools and other branches of handiwork in
iron and steel, from a horseshoe to articles
and implements requiring far more skill.
He also owned a farm (less than thirty
acres), where this large family were reared,
— the small farm contributing largely to
their support. .As was the case in most
Vermont families in those days, industry
and economy were necessary, and as soon
as the Chandler children were able to work
their services were utilized, and they were
never idle, although never overtaxed, ^^'hen
there was no work, their mother, who was a
natural and competent teacher, managed to
keep them studying, which was a great ben-
efit, as the school terms were limited to
three months in summer and winter.
The subject of this sketch was a robust,
hearty boy, and his services on the little
farm and among the neighbors were too val-
uable, after he was nine years old, to allow
him to attend school except the three winter
months.
From early childhood, he manifested an
inclination to write in all sorts of places
where letters could be formed, with a stick
on the sand, or in the smooth snow, and a
new shingle was a delight to him. .At the
age of fifteen, with very little instruction, and
without the aid of copies of any merit, he
had succeeded in formulating a system of
penmanship which attracted much atten-
tion in his nati\e town and throughout the
county.
Soon after passing his fifteenth birthday,
he was induced to teach an evening class of
thirty-eight persons in the village near his
home. Not only boys and girls were his
pupils, but their parents also. He possessed
the rare faculty of being able to impart to
others whatever he knew himself. His suc-
cess in this, his first school, was regarded as
almost marvelous. This was before the days
of steel and gold pens, and he provided each
pupil with three quill pens, uniform as to
quality, which they used alternately for each
lesson. The next day the pens were "mended"
for the following lesson.
To make a good quill pen, and hundreds
of them alike, was "high art" — not one man
in a hundred could do it, but he could, and
afterwards taught thousands to follow very
closely his method. In the autumn of 1843,
at Montpelier, he taught nearly every mem-
ber of the Legislature to make a quill pen,
no one paying him less than one dollar,
and some voluntarily paid him fi\e dollars,
and one senator from ^'ergennes handed him*
a ten dollar note, remarking as he did so, "I
never paid any money for anything more
cheerfully."
The spring after his first school, he at-
tended a term at Randolph Academy, or as
it was called, " The Orange County Gram-
mar School." Soon after he commenced his
studies here, the preceptor asked him to call
at his room that evening, which he did. He
said : " I have learned of your wonderful
success as a teacher of penmanship last win-
ter at the ^^'est village. Here are between
one and two hundred students at this acad-
emy, very few of whom are able to write
even tolerable. They have no system what-
ever, yet many of them are teachers. Now
I am aware that if you should have classes
in writing, you would be able to do very
little with your own studies, but I am anxious
to have these students instructed and will
pay whatever we can agree upon for each
pupil, relying upon myself to collect from
them sufficient to reimburse me. You pro-
cure suitable stationery, keep an account of
what you pay therefor, which shall be re-
funded. Make three classes — I will arrange
.^,6
CHANDLER.
for the time of each, — one in the forenoon,
one in the afternoon and one in the evening,
using the academy hall. If you find you
have not time to set the copies in each book,
limit your work to blackboard illustrations."
Suffice it to say, most of those students were
his pupils, and he was well paid for his
services, albeit he was obliged to give up his
studies. When that school term closed an
extensive farmer, who also ran a brickyard,
said : " I want you for three months to work
as I may direct, and will pay you §15,00
per month.' When the time was up the
farmer said, "Here are $45, that fulfils the
contract, but I am paying some of the others
S20 per month, and your services have been
more valuable than theirs, and no grumbling,
therefore I gladly make you a present of
Si 5." Farmers of that class are now nearly
extinct.
That autumn he attended another academy
for three months, where he also had a class
in penmanship, — not so large, however, but
that he was able to devote more than half
his time towards perfecting his education.
The following winter he taught a district
school in a village, and had a large evening
class in writing. Thus he continued to
work and to study as best he might be able
until he was nineteen years of age, when he
entered Norwich Military Academy, an ex-
cellent school, especially for the study of
mathematics, of which he was especially fond.
This school he attended nearly five terms, in
the aggregate, teaching more or less between
times, and this was by far the best opportu-
nity he ever had for instruction. From that
time until he was twenty-four years of age,
he taught penmanship in most of the large
towns of Vermont and some in the state of
New York, in academies, seminaries, col-
leges, and rooms which he rented outside of
schools.
In June, 1845, he was persuaded to take
a position as advance agent for a concert
troupe, affording him an excellent opportu-
nity to learn men and things, especially to
study geography practically.
In September following, he returned to his
teaching for nine months at Bakersfield
Academy, at St. .-Mbans, and other towns in
Northern Vermont.
Having had experience as an advertising
agent, the Cheney family (the famous Ver-
mont singing masters), who had organized
as a concert troupe, sought his services in a
similar capacity, making him a very tempt-
ing offer, which he accepted, and remained
with them nearly eight months, when they
disbanded at Albion, N. V. Not long there-
after he engaged with another concert
troupe, where he continued until February,
1853, during which ex])erience he visited
twentv states of the Union, traversing some
of them several times over, traveling a great
part of the time with a pair of horses and
buggy — a good way to see the country
thoroughly.
March 5, 1S53, he entered the employ at
Cleveland, Ohio, of the Cleveland, Pittsburg
& \\'heeling R. R., as fourth clerk in a
freight office. In about three months he
was promoted to first clerk, and before the
end of three years he was advanced to the
position of general freight agent of the road,
where he remained nearly nine years, when
he was sent to Chicago upon the organiza-
tion of the "Star Union Line," the pioneer
of the through freight lines of this country.
From that time until the present date.
May 10, 1893, he has been the general agent
of that company at Chicago. For more than
forty years he has been so constantly em-
ployed by the Penna. Co. in different capac-
ities as to have received his pay for each
and every day.
April I, 1893, his health being somewhat
impaired, he was retired on full pay, retain-
ing his rank and title, whether or not he
ever performs any further service.
Mr. Chandler enjoys the distinction of
having invented and put in operation the first
refrigerator cars ever built in this or any other
country. He neglected to procure a patent,
not realizing at the time the magnitude of
the business which such cars would attain in
a little more than a quarter of a century.
Many thousands of such cars are in daily
use all over this broad land.
Mr. Chandler has been married three
times, his first wife bearing him two sons,
both of whom died in infancy. The two
sons of his second wife are married and liv-
ing in New York City : William W. Jr., born
Thanksgiving Day, 1856, and Fred Brown
Chandler, born Thanksgiving Day, 1859, ^^
Cleveland, Ohio.
He married his third wife. Miss Lavinia
B. Pendleton, .\ugust 18, 1 881, in Boston,
her native city, where for several years she
had ranked among the first of that city's fa-
mous teachers. She is a lady of thorough
education and refinement, and besides being
her husband's constant companion is his
amanuensis.
CHASE, LUCIEN B., was born in Ver-
mont, and was representative in Congress
from Tennessee, from 1S45 to 1847, and for
a second term, ending 1849. He was the
author of a work entitled "History of Presi-
dent Polk's Administration."
CHEEVER, DUSTIN GROW, of CHnton,
Wis., son of Josiah Rider and Candace Grow
(Bronson) Cheever, grandson of Nathaniel
Cheever, and great-grandson of Willianv
37
Cheever, who were pioneers of Hardwick,
was born in Hardwick, Jan. 30, 1830.
He received his education in the pubHc
schools of his native town, and at Derby
Academy, where he was a schoolmate of
Hon. Redtield Proctor. Mr. Cheever was
reared on a farm, but spent the winters either
in attending school or teaching. In the
spring of 1851 he emigrated to Wisconsin,
and settled in Clinton, where he still resides.
He at once engaged in agricultural pursuits
with marked success, and has made that his
chief occupation.
Mr. Cheever has ever been an ardent Re-
publican, and many times has been honored
by holding positions of trust and responsi-
bility. During the years 1856 and 1858 he
was town superintendent of schools ; in 1857
he was elected town clerk; 1865 and 1875
he was chairman of the town board of sup-
ervisors, and from 1865 to 1873 inclusive was
justice of the peace. During the war of the
rebellion, from 1861 to 1865, he was enroll-
ing officer for the town, was chairman and
treasurer of the recruiting committee to keep
filled the town quota of volunteers. He was
deputy postmaster from 1871 to 1877 and
managed the Clinton postoffice mainly dur-
ing those years.
In 1872 he was elected a member of the
Wisconsin Legislature, and re-elected in
1873 ; in 1873 was appointed by Gov. C. C.
Washburn a member of the committee to
visit the charitable institutions of the state
and make reports to the Legislature, was
chairman of the committee, a member of the
committee on claims, and was frequently
speaker pro fern of the .Assembly. From
1876 to 1883 was trustee of the Wisconsin
Deaf and Dumb Institute, located at Dela-
van, Wis., and during the entire time was a
member of the executive committee ; was
also a member of the building committee,
having in charge the construction of its pres-
ent fine buildings, erected since the old
ones were destroyed by fire, Sept. 16, 1879.
Early in life he became connected with
the Baptist denomination and has ever had
an active interest in its welfare. He was a
member of the building committee to erect
their present fine church edifice in the vil-
lage of Clinton and contributed liberally of
his time and means to its completion ; has
been superintendent of Sunday school and
for many years teacher of a Bible class. He
is a member of Clood Samaritan Lodge, No.
135, A. F. & A. M., and was the first man
made a Mason in Clinton. For many years
he served the order either as senior deacon,
junior or senior warden and has been dele-
gate to the Grand Lodge : is a member of
Beloit Chapter Xo. 9, Royal Arch Masons.
He is also a member of Hope Temple of
Honor and Temperance, No. ^t„ and takes
a deep interest in all temperance reform
work. In years past when business cares
were less pressing he vi'as an active member
of the I. O. O. F.
Mr. Cheever was married Jan 4, 1853, to
Christiana, daughter of Dustin and Sarah
( Lamson ) Grow. Of this union are two sons :
Ralph \Vright Cheever, editor and proprietor
of the Clinton Herald, a Republican weekly ;
he is also village postmaster, appointed by
President Harrison. The other son, .\rthur
Josiah, is a farmer. Mrs. Cheever died Jan.
I, 1873. October 17, 1878, he married Mrs.
Dell Louisa (Shumway) Bailey, who has a
daughter by her first husband, Phebe L.
Bailey, also a resident of Clinton.
CHEEVER, Silas Grow, of San Fran-
cisco, Cal., son of Capt. Josiah Rider and
Candace Grow (Bronson) Cheever, was
born in Hardwick, June 23, 1838. His pa-
ternal and maternal ancestors were from
England. His great-grandfather, William
Cheever, who was born in Chatham, Mass.,
in 1745, was one of the early settlers of
Vermont.
The subject of this sketch received his
education at the schools of his native state
and from private lessons from professional
instructors in the \\'est after leaving home.
During the years of his minority he worked
on his father's farm until 1856, when he
went to Wisconsin, where his eldest brother,
Hon. D. G. Cheever, resides. He was there
engaged in farming, teaching school and
bagging grain for Chicago, Milwaukee and
Racine markets. In the spring of 1859 he
moved to Iowa and engaged in farming and
building. From there he crossed the plains
to Nevada, where he was interested in min-
ing, and as contractor and builder, until De-
cember, 1867, when he went to California,
arriving in San Francisco in January, 1S68,
where he still resides. He then purchased
a half interest in the Evangel, the organ
of the Baptist denomination, and was for
several years associated with Rev. Stephen
Hilton as assistant editor and business man-
ager : and it was during his connection with
that journal that it saw its most prosperous
days. Subsequently he disposed of his in-
terest in that paper and engaged in general
advertising, including in his list of papers
the Daily and ^\'eekly Call, also Bulle-
tin and several of the leading weeklies of
the Pacific coast.
He has always voted the Republican
ticket, and sometimes made political
speeches at club meetings, but always de-
clined to run for office.
He was captain of Co. Q, of the Nevada
state militia, and was afterwards appointed
assistant adjutant-general, with the rank of
major and served on Gen. John B. \\'inter's
^s
staff in 1867. When on the plains, he, at the
head of a company of determined men, ar-
rested and disarmed a band of rebels and
half-breed Indians who were disturbing and
robbing emigrants, and turned them o\er to
the commander at Fort Independence on
the Sweetwater ri\er.
He has been an Odd Fellow for more
than twenty \'ears and is a past grand of
Unity Lodge of San Francisco and was its
representative to the Grand Lodge in 1877,
and its permanent secretary and organist
since 1882. He has been a member of the
Handel and Haydn Society and held the
office of financial secretary and trustee.
Having a fine and well cultivated tenor voice
he was in demand for church choirs and he
has been tenor soloist and director of several
and also superintendent and musical director
of their Sunday schools. He is a member
of the First Baptist Church of San Francisco,
and also the Pacific Coast Association Native
Sons of Vermont and held the office of secre-
tary in 1891 and 1892, and vice-president.
He is editor and proprietor of the Maple
Leaf, which he publishes in the interest of
the Vermont Association.
He was married in 1858 to Miss Anna
Wells, of Wisconsin, and they had one son ;
Edwin Freemont Cheever, who died in 1863,
and his wife died in 1885. In .April, 1887,
Mr. Cheever was married to Miss Phoebe
H. Carr, and of this union is one son : Earl
Howard Cheever, born Feb. 15, 1890. Mr.
Cheever has two brothers, D. G. and E. W.
B. Cheever, and one sister, Mrs. .Adaline L.
Mason.
CHIPMAN, John S., was born in Ver-
mont, and was a representative in Congress
from Michigan from 1845 ^^ 1847.
CHITTENDEN, L.E., of New Vork City,
was the son of Giles, who was the fifth in
descent from Thomas Chittenden, the first
Governor of Vermont. He was born at
Williston, May 24, 1824.
Educated at the Williston and Hines-
burgh academies, he studied law with Nor-
man L. Whittemore, of Swanton, and was
admitted to the bar in Franklin county,
with John G. Saxe and Croydon Beckwith in
September, 1844. Commencing practice in
Burlington in the spring of 1845, his part-
ners in succession were Wyelys Lyman, Ed-
ward J. Phelps and Daniel Roberts. In 1861
Mr. Chittenden was appointed by Governor
Fairbanks a member of the Peace Confer-
ence, which met at ^\'ashington on the invi-
tation of the Governor of Mrginia, on the
third of February in that year. As he kept
the records of the conference he afterwards
published them in 1864. At the request of
Salmon P. Chase he accepted the position of
Register of the 'I'reasurv, which position he
held until 1864. In 1867 he commenced
the practice of his profession in New Vork
City, where he still resides. Mr. Chitten-
den has collected, and still owns, probably
the largest collection of books printed in
and relating to Vermont. He has published
the following books and pamphlets : "."Ad-
dress on the Centennial Celebration at
Ticonderoga," "Address on the Dedication
of the Monument to Ethan Allen at Bur-
lington," "Recollections of Abraham Lin-
coln and his .-Vdministration," "Reminis-
cences from 1840 to 1890," and several
other pamphlets and magazine articles.
He has been a Republican since the for-
mation of the party, and was an organizer of
the Free Soil party in 1848. He is also a life
member of the N. E. Society, of the Repub-
lican and Grolier clubs, and the Society of
Medical Jurisprudence.
CR 1ST Y, AUSTIN Phelps, of Worces-
ter, Mass., son of John B. and Louisa L.
(Cooke) Cristv, was born in Morristown,
May 8, 1S50.
Beginning in the district schools of his
native town, his education was continued in
the high school at Reading, Mass., and the
academy at Monson, Mass., graduating
from Dartmouth college in the class of '73.
In 1874 he was admitted to Hampden
county bar, having studied law with Judge
Chester I. Reed, of Boston, and with Leon-
ard and Wells, of Springfield, Mass. He
practiced his profession in Marblehead and
Worcester, Mass.
In 1884, Mr. Cristy started the A\'orces-
ter Sunday Telegram, and in 1886, the Wor-
cester Daily Telegram. He is the editor
and chief owner of both : they have a
larger circulation and advertising patronage
than any other newspapers in New England,
outside of Boston and Providence.
In politics Mr. Cristy is a Republican.
He was married in 1876 at Ware, Mass.,
to Mary E., daughter of Henry and Mary
Bassett. Their children are : Horace W.,
Austin P., Jr., Mary L., Rodger H., and
Edna V.
CLARK, Chester Ward, of Boston,
Mass., son of .Amasa F. and Belinda (Ward)
Clark, was born in (;io\er, .August 9, 1851.
Educated at Orleans Liberal Institute and
Phillips Exeter .\cademy, he began the study
of law in May, 1874, with B. C. Moulton, of
Boston. .Admitted to the bar March 12,
187S, he immediately began practice in Bos-
ton, and has since assiduously applied him-
self to his chosen profession, in that city.
He has attained a great degree of success,
having established a lucrative practice.
His residence is at Wilmington Mass.,
where he is prominent in local affairs, having
served as chairman of various organizations.
He has originated and forwarded numerous
public improvements. 'I'he high standard of
Wilmington's public schools is greatly owing
to what he has done for them.
CHESTER WARD CLARK.
Mr. Clark is a inember of the following
•organizations in Boston : The Congregational
Club ; the Middlesex Club ; the Phillips I':.\e-
ter .-Mumni .'\ssociation and the\'ermont .As-
sociation.
CLARK, Ezra, Jr., was born in Ver-
mont, and, having removed to Connecticut,
was elected a representative to the Thirty-
fourth Congress, and re-elected to the Thirty-
fifth Congress, serving as a member of the
committee on elections.
CLARK, Frank G., of Cedar Rapids,
Iowa, son of Theo. F. and Mary .A. (Taylor)
Clark, was born in Roxbury, April 17, 1838.
Fitted for college at South Woodstock and
Barre academies, he graduated at Middle-
bury College, class of 1864 ; began the study
of law in the otifice of (leneral Hopkins,
county clerk of Rutland ; completed his legal
course with Washburne and Marsh of Wood-
stock, where, December, 1866, he was ad-
mitted to the bar.
In June, 1867, he opened a law office at
Belle Plaine, Benton county, Iowa, continu-
ing in practice until November, 1876, when he
removed to Cedar Rapids, where he is now-
engaged in a lucrative practice.
In early life Mr. Clark taught schools in
Bridgewater, Pomfret, Proctorsville, Will-
iamstown, and as principal of an academy
at Chester. At. Belle Plaine, Iowa, he or-
ganized and taught the first graded school,
and was chairman of the school board for
several years. He has also represented his
county in the state Legislature.
Lawyer Clark has an enviable war record.
He enlisted as a private .August, 1862, and
was elected second lieutenant Co. G, six-
teenth Vermont Volunteers, W. G. Veazey,
colonel. April i, 1863, he was promoted
first lieutenant Co. I. He took part in the
Ciettysburg campaign, and actively partici-
pated in the movement that resulted in the
repulse of Pickett's famous charge on the
afternoon of July 3. iMustered out soon
after and returned to college, graduating the
following suiTimer ; called to take charge of
Chester .Academy, fall of '64, he contiuned
there till Jan. 4, '65, when he again enlisted,
serving on the Northern frontier until the
close of the war, being mustered out in
June, 1865.
He was united in wedlock at Rochester,
Sept. 5, 1S65, to Harriet N., daughter of
1 )avid and .Sarah Newton, who died Sept. 28,
1892, leaving six children, one of whom,
Charles Newton, had died. The living chil-
dren are : Charles F., Paul N., David F.,
Robert L., and Maud. Previous to her
marriage Harriet N. Newton was widely
known as a very successful teacher, having
taught in Rochester, Ciranville, Randolph
\\illiamstown, Barre, Berlin, and the acade-
mies at Barre and Chester.
CLARK, Jefferson, of New York City,
son of .Amasa F. and Belinda (Ward) Clark,
was born in Glover, Oct. 3, 1846.
He fitted for college at Orleans Liberal
Institute, and Newbury Seminary, graduated
from .Amherst in 1867, took his legal course
at Columbia College Law School. He was
principal of high school at Needham, Mass.
two years, was admitted to the bar in New
A'ork in 1872. In 1875 he formed a law-
partnership with Sanford H. Steele (brother
of the late Judge Steele), under the firm
name of Steele & Clark. In 1884 his pres-
ent partnership with Edw-in W. Sanborn
(son of the late Professor Sanborn of Dart-
mouth College) w-as formed under the name
of Clark & Sanborn, with offices in Mutual
Life building. Lawyer Clark is especially
effective as an advocate before a jury, and
has been engaged in many important cases,
both in state and in L'nited States courts.
Mr. Clark w-as a charter member of the
Republican Club of New York, in w-hich
city he says "It takes a genuine \'ermonter
40
to be a Republican." He has never held or
sought office.
He is a member of the following organiza-
tions : Association of the Bar of the City of
New York, New York State Bar Association,
New York Law Institute, University Club,
Union League Club, of which he has been a
member of the committee on political re-
form ; American Geographical Society, life
member of New England Society, Alpha
Delta Phi Club, Phi Beta Kappa Alumni in
New York, National Sculpture Society, Mun-
icipal Art Society.
JEFFERSON CLARK.
November 17, 1885, Mr. Clark married
Cynthia Hawley, daughter of the late Hiram
C. Bennett of New York.
CLARK, William Bullock, of Bahi-
more, Md., was born in Brattleboro, Dec. 15,
i860. He is the son of f5arna A. and Helen
C. (Bullock) Clark. His paternal and ma-
ternal ancestry came, the former to Plymouth,
the latter to Salem, Mass., during the first
decade of the colony's settlement. The rec-
ords show them to have been prominent in
the affairs of those towns. A few generations
later his paternal ancestors were among the
pioneer settlers of Westminster, his maternal,
of Guilford.
He graduated from Brattleboro high school,
class of 1879 ; Amherst College, class of 1884,
degree of A. B. ; Royal University, Munich,
Germany, in 1887, degree of Ph.D.: after-
wards studied in Berlin and London, being
absent altogether nearly four years in Eu-
rope. Mr. Clark was especially fortunate in
receiving instruction at Munich from the
world renowned Professor von Zittel.
In 1887 hewas called to the Johns Hopkins
University to organize a course of instruction
in stratigraphical geology and palaeontology.
He has continued a professor in that university,
making Baltimore his residence, and holding
the chair of organic geology.
In 1S8S he was appointed a member of the
V. S. geological survey and requested to pre-
pare one of a series of reports on the exist-
ing knowledge of American geology. The
volume was published in 189 1. In 1889,
under the auspices of the U. S. geological
survey, he made investigations in the Caro-
linas, Georgia, and the Rocky Mountains and
since 1890 has conducted work for the state
and national surveys, in Maryland and New
Jersey, publishing a work on American
fossils.
In 1891 Professor Clark became interested
in establishing a state weather service for
Maryland, which was formed under the aus-
pices of the Johns Hopkins L'niversity, Mary-
land Agricultural College, and L\ S. weather
bureau ; the organization was recognized by
the Legislature of the state in 1892, and
he was, by the Governor, appointed the di-
rector.
Professor Clark was instrumental in form-
ing, in 188S, the Brattleboro Society of Nat-
ural History, one of the objects of which
was to form a natural history museum to
be placed in the Brooks Library building ;
of this society he is secretary.
Professor Clark is a member of many
scientific societies in this country and in
Europe.
He was united in marriage at Boston,
Oct. 12, 1892, to Ellen Clarke, daughter of
Edward A. Strong.
CLARKE, ALBERT, of Boston, Mass.,
son of Jedediah and Mary (Woodbury)
Clarke, was born in Granville, Oct 13, 1840.
He received his education in the public
schools of Rochester and at West Randolph
and Barre academies. He studied law at
Montpelier and began practice there in part-
nership with Hon. W. G. Ferrin. After
practicing there and in Rochester about six
years (with the exception of a year in the
army) he removed to St. .\lbans and en-
gaged in editorial work upon the Daily and
Weekly Messenger. He bought that paper
and also the Transcript in 1870, consoli-
dated them and published until iSSo, when
he sold out to S. B. Pettengill. After spend-
ing a winter in Washington in charge of
some of the congressional work of Hon.
Bradley Barlow, he removed in 1881 to Bos-
ton, where he engaged in journalism, attend-
41
ing somewhat at the same time to railroad
interests. He was president of the Vermont
& Canada Railroad Co. and assisted in con-
solidating it with the Central Vermont. Pre-
vious to this, while at St. .Mbans, he con-
ducted a memorable controversy on " rail-
road i^olitics."
He was on the staff of the Boston Daily
Advertiser when that paper bolted Blaine's
nomination in 1884, but, not bolting himself,
he resigned and became assistant to the
president of the B. & L. R. R., but he re-
signed this position to accept a call to Rut-
land as editor and manager of the Herald,
ALBERT CLARKE.
where he remained about three years. He
returned to Boston and was elected secretary
and executive officer of Home Market Club
and has been annually re-elected since.
In 1874 he was state senator from Frank-
lin county. In 1892 was delegate from
Massachusetts to Republican national con-
vention in Minneapolis, and an active sup-
porter of Harrison. Enlisted as a private
in Co. I, 13th Vt. Vols., at Montpelier,
August, 1862, promoted to first sergeant of
that company, and later to first lieutenant
Co. G, which he commanded at the battle
of (Gettysburg. He was mustered out with
the regiment a month later ; was colonel on
the staff of Gov. Paul Dillingham. In 1887,
'88 and '89 he was secretary and executive
officer of the Vermont Commission to build
monuments at Gettysburg.
Colonel Clarke has given the Home Market
Bulletin reputation, influence and circulation
second to no other economic journal in the
world. He has delivered many public ad-
dresses and spoken in campaigns in several
states ; has held public discussions upon the
tariff with Edward Atkinson, Josiah Quincy,
\V. L. Garrison and others of note, and has
written upon it for leading magazines.
He was commander of Post Baldy Smith,
G. A. R., at St. .\lbans ; junior vice-com-
mander, Department of Vermont ; belongs
to Massachusetts Commandery, Loyal Legion
of LI. S. In i8go was president of ^'ermont
\'eteran Association of Boston, and has been
four times elected president of the Wellesley
Club.
He married, Jan. 21, 1864, Josephine,
daughter of Hon. ¥.. D. and Eliza (Hodg-
kins) Briggs, of Rochester. They had three
children: .Albert Briggs (deceased), Josie
Caroline (deceased), and Mary Elizabeth.
His twin brother, .Almon, was assistant sur-
geon loth Vt. Vols., and surgeon ist Vt.
Cavalry. He lives in Sheboygan, Wis.
CLEMENT, Austin, of Chicago, 111.,
son of Ebenezer and Adoline (Lamb) Cle-
ment, was born at Bridgewater, Sept. 19,
1842.
He received his education in the district
schools of his native town and Hydeville,
with one year at Black River .Academy, Lud-
low. From fifteen until nineteen he was
clerk in a country store at Hydeville, when,
in 1 86 1, he became clerk in a Hour mill in
Illinois. Through the illness of the owner
the entire responsibility of the business, for
several months, fell upon this boy of nine-
teen and so well did he discharge the varied
duties of his position (buying, manufactur-
ing and selling) that he w-as offered a better
situation by several business men. He ac-
cepted a clerkship in the leading dry goods
store of the town, taking "fourth place" and
within a year was promoted to "first place,"
having the management of the business dur-
ing his partner's absence ; who, upon his re-
turn, made him junior partner. So well did
he apply himself to business that within two
years he was the sole owner. He was for a
while cashier of a bank, w-hich position he
resigned to go to Chicago, where, with an
elder brother and others, he founded the
clothing firm of Clement, Ottman & Co.,
which has continued, with a change or two
in name (Clement, Bane & Co. for the past
fifteen years) for a quarter of a century and
is today one of the leading firms in the
United States. In 1885 the business was in-
corporated and Mr. Clement was elected
president.
In 1867 Mr. Clement married, at Adrian,
Mich., Sarah Montgomery. They have two
sons : Allan, and Arthur. .Mian graduated
at the Chicago Manual Training School,
42
learning the trade of a cutter in his father's
factory, and now occupies a responsible po-
sition, being a director and assistant mana-
ger. Arthur has nearly completed the
Native Sons of \'ermont. When he took the
office, in 1887, the association was in a crip-
pled condition and its dissolution expected,
but upon his retirement it was, and still is, a
most flourishing and prosperous organization.
Mr. C'olton is a Mason, a member of the
A. O. U. W., I. O. R. M., and A. O. F. of
America.
chemical engineering course at the Massa-
chusetts Institute of 'I'echnology. Father
and sons are members of the Sons of Ver-
mont of Chicago, and often visit the Green
Mountain state to enjoy its beautiful scenery.
COLTON, AlRIC OSWY, of San Fran-
cisco, Cal., son of Franklin D. and S. (Ras-
kins) Colton, was born at West Bolton, Jan.
23, 1852. His father, who studied law with
Hon. George F. Edmunds at Burlington, was
for several years a prominent lawyer of Chit-
tenden county, and at one time a member of
the Assembly. He went to California in
1859, and was for several years one of the
most prominent attorneys of Sonoma county.
The subject of our sketch was taken to
Petaluma, Cal, at the age of ele\en, and
there educated in the public schools and at
the Baptist College of California. In 1874
he went to San Francisco, where he was ad-
mitted to the bar the following year, and has
since been engaged in an extensive law
practice, with office in the Mills building.
In politics he has always been an ardent
and active Republican. He has held sev-
eral important official positions, and during
i89i-'92 served as prosecuting attorney for
the city and county of San Francisco.
Mr. Colton was for four consecutive years
president of the Pacific Coast Association
He was married at San Francisco, June 1 1 ,
1879, to Frances, daughter of Samuel and
Margaret Henry.
CRAGIN, Aaron H., was born in
Weston, Feb. 3, 182 1 ; adverse circum-
stances prevented him from obtaining a col-
legiate education ; but having studied law,
came to the bar in Albany, N. V., in 1S47,
and the same year removed to Lebanon,
N. H. He was a member of the New
Hampshire Legislature from 1852 to 1855;
was elected a representative from that state
to the Thirty-fifth Congress, and re-elected
to the Thirty-sixth Congress. In 1859 he
was again elected a member of the state
Legislature. In 1864 he was elected a sena-
tor in Congress, from New Hampshire, for
the term of six years from 1865.
CROSBY', Henry B., of Paterson, N. J.,,
son of the late \Vatson Crosby of \\est Brat-
tleboro, was born in Hrattleboro, April 13,
1S15. His father was from Cape Cod,
moved into the country a young man, mar-
ried the daughter of Deacon Joseph Bangs.
43
of Hawley, Mass., and lived on so called
"Tater Lane" West Brattleboro, where they
raised a family of ten children of which
Henry was the sixth.
He was early thrown upon his own re-
sources. At the age of twelve he evinced a
taste for mechanics and followed that busi-
ness until he became a master of mechanics
and in the year of 1837 went to I'aterson
and took charge of j\lr. Colt's factory for the
manufacture of Colt's patent firearms, and
was the first to exhibit them before Con-
gress. After the failure of Mr. Colt Mr.
Crosby entered into the grocery business in
Paterson with a small capital which proved
to be the beginning of his success, and
which was enlarged from time to time, until
it became the largest wholesale and retail
store in that line in the county of Passaic,
and he was called the " King Grocer of New
Jersey." In 1876 he took his son in busi-
ness with him, and they continued together
until 1886, when he retired and left the
business to his son.
He was a staunch Republican and cast his
first vote for William H. Harrison : he never
aspired to political promotion, and could
not be called a politician.
He devoted much time and money to the
growth of the city of Paterson, and he has
the credit of doing most of any man by way
of every improvement, giving his influence
also to good government, good morals and
the general welfare of the city.
He is one of the first stockholders and
directors of the First National Kank of
Paterson, also is vice-president of the
.Savings Bank. He is the president of the
Cedar Lawn Cemetery, also a member of the
Paterson Board of Trade. He was the in-
stigator of the public parks, and succeeded
in the city purchasing two large tracts of
land, each side of the city for public parks,
and is now called the " Father of Parks."
His business relations with firms in New
York brought him into prominence there.
He is a member of the New York Produce
Fxchange.
.Since his retirement from business he has
spent much time in travels in this and for-
eign countries, and has visited nearly all of
the important cities of the Old World.
Mr. Crosby was married, Feb. 22, 1840,
to Pauline S. Hathorn, by whom he had five
children, of whom Josephine, .Annie and
John Henry are still living. Mrs. Crosby
died in July, 1872. He married a second
time, in December, 1875, Harriet Rogers of
Stockbridge, Mass., and by her had two
children : Henry Barry, and Florence.
He now enjoys the pleasure of talking
over the past with some choice friends, and
is proud to say that he has been in business
over forty years and never had a note pro-
tested or dishonored, and never paid less
than one hundred cents on a dollar.
He lives in one of the finest establish-
ments in the city and gives himself to the
enjoyment of all he can find in life, spend-
ing his winters in the South.
CULVER, Marshall Lyman, of san
Francisco, Cal., son of Isaac H. and Mary
E. (Hatch) Culver, was born in Montpelier,
Dec. 4, 1844.
He was educated in the public schools of
Lake Village, N. H., where his parents
mo\ed when he was a mere lad. He worked,
at intervals, in the daguerreotype business
until he was eighteen years of age, when he
enlisted in the army. .After his discharge he
engaged in manufacturing hosiery until 1868,
when he moved to Oregon, and under the
auspices of (lovernor (afterwards U. S. Sen-
ator) Grover built a hosiery mill, which he
superintended for the next five years. In
1868 he moved to San Francisco and con-
nected himself with the Mission Woolen
Mills as Tiianager of the hosiery department,
remaining there until 1882, when he accepted
a position in the San Francisco postoffice,
where he remained about two years. \\'hen
Postoffice Station D (which is the most im-
portant station in the city) was built Mr.
Culver, on account of efficient service, was
appointed assistant superintendent of that
station, which position he now holds. In
44
CURTIS.
1889 the Inter Nos Building and Loan Asso-
ciation was incorporated with Mr. Culver as
its secretary. Much of the success it has
acquired is due to his management.
He enlisted in the 8th N. H. Vols, in 1862,
and was wounded in the battle of Georgia's
Landing, La. A portion of the time he was
under the command of (len. B. F. Butler.
He is a ^2d degree Mason, and a member of
the G. .A. R.
the baking business with his two sons, Wil-
bur E. and John E., at 817 Sixth avenue and
806 Third avenue ; two years after, two
other sons, Arthur and Nathan, were taken
into the firm which then had two more stores,
one at Fifty-eighth street and Ninth avenue,
the other at Eightieth street and Amsterdam
avenue. In 189,^ another establishment was
added at 903 Eighth avenue, where Mr.
Cushman now resides. They are doing a
prosperous business.
He was married to Emily Scott at Wil-
mington, and by her had three children,
one of whom. Wells S., is living. His second
wife was Clarina A., daughter of Lewis and
May 10, 1865, he was united in wedlock
to Henrietta C. Jackins, of Gardiner, Me.
Of this union are : Charles Marshall, and
Nancy Bell, both of whom live in .Alameda,
Cal.
CURTIS, Howard, was born in \er-
mont, graduated at I'nion College, New
York, and practiced law in New York City.
He took a prominent part in the councils
of that city, and was a representative in Con-
gress, from New York, from 1837 to 184T.
He was appointed Collector of New York by
President Harrison and removed by President
Polk.
CUSHMAN, Sylvester, of New York
City, was born in W'ilmington, April 14, 1824,
the son of Levi and Polly Cushman. He was
educated in the public schools of Wilming-
ton.
He began business in his native town as a
tanner. In January, 1866, he removed to
Genesee, III, where he engaged in farming
and stock raising. In February, 1887, he
mo\ed to New York Citv and engasred in
'i/ t
SYLVESTER CUSHMAN.
Sally (Sage) Bills. Of this union there were
ele\en children, ten of whom are now living.
They are : Wilbur E., Katie A., C. Idell,
John E., L. .Arthur, Nathan .A., Cilista,
Larimer .A., and the twins, Merton L. and
Millie L.
CUTTS, MaRSENA E., of Oskaloosa, la.,
was born at Orwell, May 22, 1833 ; received
an academic education ; removed to Iowa
in June, 1855, and has since resided there.
Was prosecuting attorney of Poweshiek
county ; was a member of the state House
of Representatives at the e.xtra session in
INIay, 1 86 1 ; was a state senator from Janu-
ary, 1864, until he resigned in .August, 1866 ;
was a member of the state House of Repre-
sentatives 1 8 70-' 7 1 : was attorney-general of
the state of Iowa from February, 1872, until
January, 1877, and was elected to the Forty-
seventh Congress as a Republican.
45
DAVIS, George Warden, of Kansas
City, Mo., son of S. J. and Rosanna (Bray-
ton) Davis, was born in Alburijh, Dec. 7,
1851.
After attending the public schools of his
native town, and schools in other parts of
the state, his education was completed at
the Fort Edward (N. V.) Classical Institute.
Commencing the study of medicine in
1873 with Dr. M. J. Hyde of Isle La Mott,
the next year he entered the medical depart-
ment of the University of \'ermont, attend-
ing a two-}ears' course of lectures, besides
private lectures and dissections given by
various members of the college faculty. The
fall of 1875 found him a matriculant at the
University Medical College, New York City,
graduating in 1876. The didactic work of
college instruction was immediately supple-
mented by clinical experience in the out-
door poor department of Bellevue Hospital,
and in the New York Dispensary. Nearly
a year was then passed in preparing for a
competitive examination for a position on
the house staff of the New York Hospital,
and on the first day of April, 1878, being
successful, a year and a half was passed in
that institution. Thus was passed nearly
six years in actual medical experience and
study. Immediately on leaving the hospital,
the position of assistant to the chair of
clinical surgery at the University Medical
College, New York City, was tendered him
by Dr. James L. Little, then professor of
clinical surgery in that college. Flattering
offers were also made to take charge of St.
Vincent's Hospital, New York Cit}', and of
the Mary Fletcher Hospital, Burlington, \'t.
But tiring of the big city, and ha\ing no
further desire for hospital life, none of these
positions were accepted, and never having
seen the great West, his footsteps were
turned in that direction.
After a winter of pleasure travel, and be-
coming impressed with the unlimited possi-
bility of that section of country, he concluded
to locate in Kansas City, Mo., which he did
in the spring of 1880. Being interested in
medical education, soon he associated him-
self with others in organizing the medical
department, L'niversity of Kansas City, Mo.,
now the University Medical College, and was
also one of the founders of All Saints Hospi-
tal. His connection with these institutions
has continued ever since and he is now pro-
fessor genito-urinary, venereal and skin dis-
eases in the college and treasurer for the
board of trustees.
Much time has been gi\en to clinical work
and experimental research, especially in the
college dis])ensary and city hospital, so much
so that little attempt has been made to con-
tribute to medical literature.
Interest in other things aside from medi-
cine has engrossed his attention. He has
found time to devote a little leisure to horti-
culture and has kept up a liking for fancy
poultry. At the present time he is president
of the' Mid-continental Poultry Association,
an organization that not only includes breed-
ers in the state of Missouri, but of the four
adjacent states.
Dr. Davis was married Sept. 17, 1886, to
Alice M., daughter of John K. Kiebler. They
have two children : a son and a daughter.
DAVIS, Park, of Sioux Falls, S. D.,
son of Elijah and Miriam (Park) Davis, was
born in Athens, Sept. 24, 1837.
He spent his boyhood days on the farm
and attending the district school. He fitted
for college at" Leland Seminary, Townshend,
entering Middlebury in 1858, graduating in
due course in 1862. He studied law with
Butler and Wheeler at Jamaica, and was ad-
mitted to the bar of Windham county at the
September term in 1864. He commenced
the practice of his profession Feb. 3, 1865,
at St. Albans, with Dana R. Bailey under the
firm name of Bailey & Davis. In the fall of
1879, with Hiram F. Stevens (who was then
his law partner) he went to St. Paul, Minn.,
where, under the firm name of Davis &
Stevens, he continued to practice his pro-
fession until Sept. I, 1881, when he removed
to Albany, N. Y., where he engaged in the
wholesale provision business with his broth-
er-in-law, A. F:. Gray (firm name Gray cV
Davis) where he remained five years. Pre-
ferring to pursue his profession, he went to
Sioux Falls, S. D., and resumed the practice
of law with his first partner, Dana R. Bailey,
where he is engaged in a large and success-
ful practice.
He cast his first vote at a presidential
election for Stephen A. Douglas. Has
since, without exception, voted the Republi-
can ticket. He represented St. Albans in
the ^'ermont Legislature in 1874.
In college Mr. Davis was a member of the
Chi Psi fraternity. He was made a Mason
in Blazing Star Lodge, No. 23, Townshend,
Feb. 17," 1859; took chapter degrees in
Fort Dummer Royal Arch Chapter, No. 12,
Bratdeboro, March 5, 1863 ; council degrees
in Columbus Council, No. 3, St. Albans,
1865 ; commandery degrees in LaFayette
Commandery, No. 3, in 1868. He changed
his affiliation from the Chapter and Com-
mandery at St. Albans, to those bodies in
Sioux Falls, still retaining his lodge mem-
bership in Vermont.
He held many official positions in the
Masonic fraternity, the most important of
which was that of grand master of the
Masons of Vermont for the years 1872, '73
46
and '74, and grand high priest of the Royal
Arch Masons of South Dal^ota in the years
l8go-'gi.
He was married at 'lownshend, Oct. 27,
1863, to Delia S., daughter of Alanson and
Sabrina (Pool) Gray. Their children are •
Henry Park, and May Louise.
DAVIS Thomas T., was born in Mid-
dlebury, August 22, 1810; graduated at
Hamilton College, New York, in 1831 ; stud-
ied law at Syracuse, and was admitted to the
bar in 1S33 ; in 1862 he was elected a
representative from New York to the Thirty-
eighth Congress, and re-elected to the
Thirty-ninth Congress.
DELANO, Columbus, was bom in
Shoreham in 1809 ; removed to Mount Ver-
non, Ohio, in 181 7: was admitted to the
bar in 1 83 1. In 1S44 he was elected a
representative from Ohio to the Twenty-
ninth Congress. In 1 84 7 he was a candidate
for c;overnor, but lacked two votes of a
nomination. In i860 he was a delegate to
the Chicago convention. In 1861 was ap-
pointed commissary general of Ohio, and
filled the office until the General Govern-
ment assumed the subsistence of all troops.
In 1862 he was candidate for United States
senator, but again lacked two votes of
nomination. In 1863 he was elected to the
House of Representatives of Ohio, and was
a prominent member of that body. In 1864
he was a member of the Baltimore conven-
tion, and chairman of the Ohio delegation
zealously supporting President Lincoln and
Andrew Johnson. He was re-elected to the
Thirty-ninth Congress.
DERBY, Philander, of CJardner, Mass.,
son of Levi and Sally (Stratton) Derby, was
born June iS, 18 16, in Somerset.
His career is one which should encourage
all. It is a lesson of industry, sobriety and
perseverance. Remaining on the home
farm until his majority, several years were
spent in Massachusetts and at Jamaica, dur-
ing which time he learned the business of
chair making, when opportunity offered to
engage in the business for himself which he
quickly embraced. The trying period from
1857 to 1861 found him a young manufact-
urer in the town of Gardner, Mass., with the
burden of heavy responsibilities resting
upon him. Nerving himself to meet the
crisis in a manly way, he succeeded in going
through the ordeal without serious harm,
meeting his obligations, maintaining his
credit and his honor unimpeached and firm-
ly established before the world. From that
time to the present he has gone on in a
career of exceptional prosperitv, due chiefly
to himself rather than to fortunate circum-
stances, his untiring energy and persever-
ance.
Mr. Derby though closelv confined to the
building up and development of his business
interests has not been disposed to ignore his
relations to the public nor the welfare of the
community. He has been ready and happy
to do his full share in supporting the institu-
tions of society, to contribute to benevolent
and charitable objects, and to help in enter-
prises which he deemed conducive to the
good order and enduring welfare of the
communitv.
Declining invitations to public office, he
has however consented to act as director of
the national bank and is trustee of the sav-
ings bank in his own town. A man of prin-
ciple, he shares the confidence and regard
of his fellow-citizens ; a friend of temper-
ance, he commends the cause by precept
and example.
A Republican in politics, he is true to his
convictions. An orthodox Congregational-
ist in religion, he is tolerant of ah faiths and
seeks to honor his Christian profession by a
Christian life.
Mr. Derby was married, Feb. 27, 18^9, at
Petersham, to Viola Dunn, daughter of'john
and Abigail Dunn. Of this" union were
three children : Mary Augusta, John Baxter
(deceased, July 11, 1842), Ella Viola,
and .\rthur Philander.
DEXTER, Daniel Gilberl, of San
Francisco, Cal., son of David and Chloe
47
(Hazeltine) Dexter, was born in Dover,
March 29, 1833.
He was educated in the common schools
of his native town, the Dover high school,
and Brattleboro Academy. When nearly
fitted to enter college business pursuits at-
tracted his attention. He was always a
student, and e\ ery leisure hour from business
was employed among books, and leading
periodicals of the day. At an early age he
became a contributor to various leading
newspapers and magazines, which has em-
ployed many happy hours through life.
\\'hile in his teens he was a clerk in a store
in his native town, and before reaching his
majority was a partner in the firm under the
name of Perry & Dexter. A few years later
he removed to Wilmington, and was con
1lfc»i^
DANIEL GILBERT DEXTER.
nected with the mercantile house of E. & C).
J. Gorham, and afterwards became sole.owner
of the establishment. For a time he con-
ducted a mercantile house in Jamaica, but
returning to Wilmington he continued busi-
ness under the firm name of U'alker & Dex-
ter. In 1866 he closed a most successful
business career in his nati\e state and re-
mo\ed to Boston, Mass., where he engaged
in the wholesale boot and shoe business. He
was the financial manager of Mellendy, Dex-
ter & Co. He retired from mercantile pur-
suits in 1 87 1 with large property interests,
having accumulated a fair fortune. Ihe
great Boston fire fell heavily upon him. The
panic of 1873 followed, and seriously im-
paired his fortune, leaving him almost
penniless.
In leisure hours he has devoted much
time to literary pursuits, his mind and pen
being always busy. He appears in Miss
Hemmenway's " Poets and Poetry of Ver-
mont" and has been a contributor to the
leading magazines and periodicals of the day.
In 1878 through the urgent solicitations of
leading literary and business friends he
founded the Cambridge Tribune, Cambridge,
Mass., a successful journal from its initial
number. The list of contributors was un-
surpassed. This enterprise stamped the
editor and publisher with ability of the first
order. In 1885 Mr. Dexter sold the Tribune
on account of failing health and a few
months after went to California. The genial
climate of the Golden State restored him to
health and two years later (1887) he re-
moved his family to Los Angeles with the
intention of making California his home.
He has been connected with many lead-
ing enterprises in the state and won the
esteem of those with whom he has been
associated. He has written much for the
press since his residence in California. In
1 89 1 he removed from Los Angeles to San
Francisco, taking charge of the business of
the Massachusetts Benefit (Life) Associa-
tion, Boston, Mass., as general agent for the
state.
He is connected with the leading societies
and clubs, secret and otherwise ; is a mem-
Ijer of the First Congregational Church, San
Francisco, and a member of the board of
deacons ; a mason and a K. of P.
In politics he is a Republican, having cast
his vote for John C. Fremont, in 1856. He
has never been an aspirant for public office
although an active participant in political
iffairs. He was a member of the aldermanic
hoard in Cambridge, Mass., for two years,
dating from 1869. He was a police com-
missioner of Los Angeles for several years,
which office he held until his removal to San
Francisco.
.'\t the time of the civil war Mr. Dexter
was engaged in active mercantile business.
He was a generous contributor in many ways
to help put down the great rebellion. He
largely aided in raising two companies of
Vermonters for the army.
Mr. Dexter was married Feb. 6, 1856, to
Ellen, daughter of .\sa and Sophia (Lyon)
Simonds, of Peru, Vt. From this marriage
two children have been born : Florence Bell
(wife of Prof. Charles H. Wiswell, of Boston,
Mass.), and David Hazeltine.
-(■^ He is a man of untiring energy — a genial
and warm-hearted friend and companion.
Has a w^arm hand of welcome to e\ery w^orthy
l^erson and his charity is unbounded. His
home is always open to friends of yore and
New Englanders enjov his hospitality with-
out stint.
DEXTER, Solomon King, of Lowell,
Mass., son of Parker and Betsey (King)
Dexter, was born in Topsham, May 23,
1839, O" the old homestead which, with the
then adjoining farms, now forms the summer
residence of his family.
His education was obtained in the district
schools of ^\•est Topsham. For the past
quarter century business men of Lowell,
Mass., have numbered Mr. Dexter among
their shrewdest and most upright produce
merchants, where, at 360 Middlesex street,
he early developed a large and successful
ousmess of wide extent. A spendid monu-
ment to Mr. Dexter's success is the large
and elegant building erected by him, for the
ise of his business, in 18S5. It is a four-
story brick building, trimmed with granite
stone and terra cotta, measuring forty by
one hundred feet, and equipped with every
facility for handling his great commission
business.
Political honors have come unsought to
Mr. Dexter, as a member of the Lowell city
council for two terms, and two years repre-
sentative in the Massachusetts Legislature
which office he filled with honor to^'himself
reflecting the worthy confidence reposed by
his fellow-citizens. He is also a director of
the Traders' National Bank and of the Brad-
bury & Stone Electric Storage Battery Co
both of Lowell.
Mr. Dexter was married at Montpelier,
Feb. 24, 1863, to Mary .Sophia McCrillis, of
\\aits River. There are four children in
the family: Nellie May (now the wife of
Fred L. Batchelder), born at Waits River,
and three others born at Lowell, viz., Jennie
v., now deceased, Daisy B., and Royal K.
.Mr. Dexter has a fine residence at '343
\\ ilder street, Lowell, where a welcome hand
IS always extended to his friends.
DICKSON, James Milligan, of Provi-
dence, R. L.wasbornatRvegate, Feb.6, 1831.
His parents were from Scotland. His father,
Robert Dickson, son of an early settler',
was a successful farmer and a public-spirited
citizen, for years town trustee, and also for
many years an elder in the Reformed Pres-
byterian Church of Ryegate. His mother,
who came from a suburb 'of the city of (ilas-'
gow, was a woman of great refinement and
unusually versed in the'Scriptures.
James was the sixth of a family of ten
children, who have all, we believe, proved
worthy of their parentage. His rudimentary
education was in the public school, but at
fourteen he was sent to Peacham Academy.
Here he was prepared for Dartmouth Col-
lege, but instead of at once entering he went
West, where he spent some time in study
and travel, and taught one term in a private
school at Cincinnati. Returning to Dart-
mouth he entered an advanced class on ex-
amination, and was graduated in 1853.
DILLIN'iaiA-M.
After his graduation at Dartmouth he was
offered a Cireek professorship in a Western
college, but choosing another course he went
to New York City, where after teaching one
year he entered Union Theological Seminary,
from which he was graduated in 1857. He
was ordained to the gospel ministry that same
year, and has since been constantly engaged
in active service, resigning one position only
when he felt he was called to another. He
has been pastor of churches in Brooklyn, N.
v., Newark, N. J., Montgomery, N. Y., and
New York City, and is now pastor of the
Pilgrim Congregational Church in Provi-
dence, R. I.
Shortly after going to New \'ork, in 1883,
he was honored with the degree of Doctor of
Divinity.
From an editorial sketch of Dr. Dickson
in the Treasury (New York) of May, 1889,
we quote the following: "To his church
here — the Thirty-fourth Street Reformed
Church, New York City — he was called on
the ground of his ability as a preacher and
his previous success in the ministry, and for
nearly six years he held the church in its
down-town west side location, and left it
stronger than he found it, notwithstanding
the up-town tendency of population and the
lack of any local constituency for a reformed
church. To his credit be it said that his
most devoted friends are among the people
to whom he has ministered. When he came
to New York our attention was called to him
as a remarkable preacher, and as we have
once and again listened to him we have ap-
proved the judgment expressed." The fol-
lowing is taken from a paper read before the
council which installed him at Providence
in 1889, which was afterward printed : "I
entered the ministry because I could not do
otherwise. I was consecrated to the work
before I was born by a pious mother who
kept her hand on my early life in view of re-
sults. I planned lots of other courses, and
yet, years after she had gone to her reward,
which occurred while I was yet in college, I
marched as straight into the service as
though there had been no possible alter-
native, and I have been happy in it."
Dr. Dickson has written considerably for
the press. Some sermons have appeared in
pamphlet form, and in 1880 he prepared
the Goodwill Memorial, a history of the
original Presbyterian church, at Montgom-
er}', N. Y., which was substantially the early
history of the town.
Dr. Dickson has been twice married, first
to Miss Agnes Annot jNForrison, daughter of
John and Mary Nelson of Ryegate, to whom
one son was born. Nelson James : and second
to Miss Helen Alzina, daughter of William
and Alzina (HoUey) West of Dorset, to
whom three children were born : ^\'illiam
West (deceased), Clarence
Margarella May.
49
Haines and
DILLINGHAM, Frank, of San Fran-
cisco, Cal., youngest son of Paul Dillingham,
late Governor of Yermont, and Julia ( Car-
penter) Dillingham, was born in Waterbury,
Dec. 9, 1849.
He was educated in the \\'aterbury gram-
mar school, Montpelier high school and
Milwaukee College. Young Dillingham after-
ward lived in the family of and studied law
with his brother-in-law, Hon. Matthew Hale
Carpenter, U. S. Senator from \\'isconsin.
At the age of twenty-five years, the subject
of this sketch was elected justice of the peace
in the First and Seventh districts of Mil-
waukee, on the Republican ticket, receiving
a majority of two hundred and thirty-eight
votes over his Democratic opponent, in dis-
tricts which usually gave the Democrats a
majority of about fifteen hundred, and was
also elected chairman of the Republican
county committee, which office he held for
some time. He was afterward a]i]3ointed
deputy collector of internal revenue for the
first district of Wisconsin, which office he
held until appointed V. S. Counsel to Italy
by President Grant. In 1882 he left Wis-
consin for California, and has made San
Francisco his home a greater part of the
time since.
He organized the Consumers' Ice Co.
of San Francisco, and was elected sec-
50
retary and general manager of the same, in
which he is still interested. His associates
in this enterprise were ex-United States
Senator A. P. Williams, E. J. Baldwin, one
of the bonanza kings and owner of the cele-
brated Baldwin Hotel, Hon. R. C. Sneath,
ex-president of the Anglo California Bank,
and others.
Mr. Dillingham is now vice-president of
the Home Benefit Life Association of San
Francisco. He has been four times unani-
mously elected president of the Pacific
Coast Association Native Sons of Vermont,
the largest social organization on the Pacific
coast, and still holds that office.
He is a friend of his native state and
encourages sociability among Vermonters.
Clovernor Fuller appointed i\Ir. Dillingham
one of the honorary commissioners from
Vermont to the Mid-Winter International
Exposition at San Francisco, in 1S94, where
through Mr. Dillingham's energy and push,
A'ermont Day was celebrated in a manner
most befitting to that state and which re-
flected great credit upon its promoter, Mr.
Dillingham, to whose efforts may be ascribed
the success of the affair. Vermonters from
all sections of the country to the number of
over three thousand were present on the
occasion.
He belongs to the Plpiscopal denomina-
tion, and in church work holds the follow-
ing offices : Junior warden of the Church of
St. Mary the Virgin ; director in the Church
Club of San Francisco ; delegate to the
Episcopal convention of California in 1892
and again in 1893, and was a member of the
general missionary council, coni]30sed of
the clergy and laity of the Episcopal church
of America which met in Chicago in Octo-
ber, 1893.
Mr. Dillingham was married June 3, 1883,
to Miss Minnie Louise, only daughter of
Hon. Richard G. and Anne Kathryn (Myers)
Sneath of San Francisco. Two children,
Matthew Carpenter, and Julia Louise, bless
their union.
Mr. Dillingham had three brothers, two
of whom are living : Col. Charles Dilling-
ham, president of the Houston &: Texas
Central Railway Co., and William Paul
Dillingham, ex-(jovernor of Vermont, and
Edwin Dillingham, major loth \'t. Infantry,
who was killed at the battle of the Opequan
near \N'inchester, Va., on the 19th of Sep-
tember, 1864.
DODGE, HENR>' Lee, of San Francisco,
Cal., was born in Montpelier, Jan. 31, 1825.
He traces his paternal ancestry back to the
earlie.st settlement of New England. He was
a son of Nathan Dodge and Hannah Phin-
ney, who were also natives of New P2ngland.
Both parents numbered among the early
settlers of Mont|)elier.
Mr. Dodge recei\ ed his early education in
the schools and in the academy of his native
town. For his higher education, he entered
the University of Vermont, in 1842, when
seventeen years old. In 1847 he entered
the law office of Piatt & Peck in Burlington,
where he continued his studies until the out-
break of the California gold fever in 1849.
Led by its spell, Mr. Dodge determined to
try his fortunes in the mines. He quickly
gathered around him a chosen band of twelve
associates from among his friends, and they
entered at once with zeal on their prepara-
tion for leaving home. They decided to try
the unusual and hazardous journey across the
HENRY LEE DODGE.
Republic of Mexico. On the first day of
June, 1849, Mr. Dodge and his companions
arrived in San Francisco, having been three
months and a half on the way. After land-
ing they pushed off for the mines, where
they soon separated, each following his own
inclinations. Mr. Dodge soon left the mines
and returned to San Francisco, seeking em-
ployment that would demand something else
than mere animal strength.
In .\ugust, 1849, the Alcade of San Fran-
cisco, John W. Geary, appointed him clerk
of his court, and in the following December
he received the additional appointment of
clerk of the Ayuntamiento, or town council.
Mr. Dodge filled both of these positions
until the Mexican forms of government were
51
dissolved by the organization of California's
state government and her admission to the
Union. The duties of these positions were
large and responsible. It was the time of
San Francisco's first growth, when the sale of
town lots and of beach and water lots aggre-
gated more than a million dollars. To Mr.
Dodge fell the task of making and delivering
the deeds, of receiving the payments, and of
turning the money over to the treasury.
Difficult as the demands were, he discharged
them all creditably and to the satisfaction of
everybody concerned. After California was
admitted to the Union, in September, 1850,
the government of San Francisco was re-
organized on the American system. Colonel
Geary was elected mayor and retained Mr.
Dodge as his clerk, under the new order of
administration. i\Ir. Dodge retained the
position about a year and then abandoned
it to take up his profession.
About this time Mr. Dodge returned to
his native state, and, in Orwell, was married
on Dec. 2, 1S51, to Omira, daughter of Hon.
Roswell Bottum of the same town.
In jMay, 1852, Mr. Dodge was admitted at
San Francisco to practice in the Supreme
Court of California, and in the Federal
Courts of the United States. Throwing him-
self into his professional work, he soon built
up a large and profitable clientage, showing,
too, that he had mettle to make a lawyer of
no mean ability.
But mercantile pursuits seemed to promise
more lucrative results than his professional
work. Mr. Dodge therefore closed his law
office, and joining his brother, L. C. Dodge,
established a wholesale provision house. The
business has grown for thirty-five years, with
some slight changes in the firm, being now
Dodge, Sweeney & Co., and has established a
reputation for stability and honor, second to
none in San Francisco.
In 1 86 1 Mayor Teschemacher appointed
Mr. Dodge on the board of supervisors of
San Francisco, to fill the unexpired term
of a member, representing the sixth ward ;
on the election following he was elected to
a full term. He was subsequently elected
on the Union ticket to the Lower House of
the Legislature, and accordingly resigned
his position in the board of supervisors in
January, 1862, and took his seat among the
lawmakers of the capitol. Having served
his term in the Assembly, he was elected
two years later to the state Senate for four
years. He was appointed in June, 1877, on
a Treasury commission, with F. F. Low and
H. R. Linderman, director of the mint, as
associates, to investigate the condition of the
San Francisco Mint and the Custom House.
They performed the delicate duty with rare
skill and wisdom. Indeed, Mr. Dodge's
work was so well done that, in the following
December, he was appointed superintendent
of the U. S. Mint at San Francisco. For
four years and a half he held this ])osition,
and when he relinquished it delivered to his
successor upwards of thirty-one million dol-
lars, and received from the accounting offi-
cers, not only a certificate of the accuracy
of his accounts, but also the unusual com-
pliment : " The superintendent of the Mint
at San Francisco has been and is distin-
guished alike for ability, fidelity and accuracy
(having returned to the Treasury about
Sioo,ooo of the appropriation unexpended).
This is an example worthy of commendation
and imitation." He was invited by Presi-
dent Cleveland, in January, 1886, to serve
on the United States Mint .\ssay Commission,
which was to meet at Philadelphia in the
following February. He accepted the ap-
pointment and served on the commission.
In January, 1885, he was called to the
presidency of the San Francisco Chamber
of Commerce, and on the following January
he was re-elected to the same position.
Mr. Dodge has long been connected with
the Society of California Pioneers, being
president of the society in i879-'8o. He is
also a life member of the San Francisco
Art Union, and other kindred associations.
Lastly, we may state that Mr. Dodge was
selected as one of the trustees of the
Leland Stanford Jr. University. This mag-
nificent endowment, involving property to
the value of several million dollars, is one
of the most splendid gifts ever bestowed on
a people, and its administration will require
not only great earnestness and ripe judg-
ment, but also eminent executive ability
and more than ordinary familiarity with the
varied demands of an educational institution
of such extraordinary character.
Since the organization of that party, Mr.
Dodge has ever been a staunch Republican.
With a moderate taste for art and litera-
ture he has accumulated some treasures in
each. Of a quiet and unassuming demean-
or, he follows the light of his own conscience
with an inflexibility that no influence can
swerve. His spotless integrity has gained a
reputation for him in the community, of
wich any man might well be proud, but
which (ew can rival.
DODGE, Luther C, of San FrancLsco,
Cal., son of Nathan and Hannah (Phinney)
Dodge, was born in Montpelier Sept. 7,
1821.
He was educated in the common and
private schools of his native town, and fol-
lowed farming until July, 1841, when he
entered the employ of J. & J. H. Peck &
Co. of Burlington, as a clerk. In 1847 he
was employed by the Troy & Canada Junc-
tion Telegraph Co. at Burlington as operator.
52
A year later he was elected superintendent
of the company, remaining in this position
till 1853. In September, 1855, he went to
California, where he was engaged in trade
(wholesale provisions) in connection with
his brother, Henry L. Dodge, till 1868, when
he returned to Burlington, remaining there
till April, 1877, serving three terms as mayor
of that city in the meantime. He then re-
turned to California, engaging in business
with E. W. Forsaith under the firm name of
Forsaith & Dodge. In 1882 he disposed of
his interests in San Francisco and engaged
in the manufacture of lumber, sash, doors,
etc., in northern Idaho with his two brothers,
O. A. and N. P. Dodge. In the winter of
i883-'84 the mill and factory, together with
a large stock of lumber, sash, doors, glass,
etc., were destroyed by fire. The following
November he, with his wife, returned to San
Francisco, where they still reside.
Mr. Dodge has held the office of cashier
in the U. S. internal revenue office at San
Francisco since March, 1890.
He is a life member of the Pacific Coast
Association Native Sons of Vermont, and
was a member of the first lodge of Odd
Fellows organized in \'ermont.
October 4, 1849, he married Lucia Ponie-
roy, a native of Burlington, and daughter of
George and Oliva (Sanger) Moore. One
son, George Moore, now a resident of San
Rafad, Cal., is the result of this marriage.
DODGE, Willis Edward, of Minne-
apolis, Minn., son of William B. and Harriet
N. (Baldwin) Dodge, was born in Lowell,
May II, 1857.
The education of the district schools of
Lowell was supplemented by academical
training at St. Johnsbury Academy, where he
graduated from the college preparatory
course, class of 1879. Entering the law of-
fice of his uncle, Hon. F. ^V. Baldwin, of
Barton, he was admitted to the bar in Iras-
burg, in September, 1880. He immediately
went to Fargo, Dak., and was employed in
the law office of Roberts & Spaulding until
January i, when he entered upon the prac-
tice of his profession at Jamestown, law-
firm of Allen & Dodge, afterward Dodge cS:
Camp, where he remained until July i, 18S7.
During this time he was attorney for the
Northern Pacific R. R. Co. and secretary
and attorney for Northern Dakota Elevator
Co. July I, 1887, he became attorney for
St. Paul, M. & i\I. R. R. Co. for Dakota,
and moved to Fargo. September i, 1892,
he moved to Minneapolis, Minn., as attorney
for the Great Northern R. R. Co., which po-
sition he now holds, doing exclusively a cor-
poration business.
Mr. Dodge is a stalwart Republican. In
1886 he was elected to the Dakota Senate
from the Jamestown district with a plurality
of 1,270, out of a total of 4,800 votes, over
both the Democratic and Farmers' Alliance
candidates. He was also district attorney
for Stulsman county in 1882 and city attor-
ney for Jamestown in 1884, '85 and '86. '
.IS EDWARD DODGE.
Mr. Dodge was a member of the Knights
of the Red Cross in Jamestown, Dakota, and
is now a member of the Minneapolis Club, a
social organization of a high order.
He was married March 27, 1882, to Hat-
tie M., daughter of Daniel and Mary Crist,
of Vinton, Iowa. They have two children :
Dora May, and \\'illiam P^dward.
DORSEY, Stephen W., was born at
Benson, Feb. 28, 1842 ; received an academ-
ical education ; removed, when a boy, to
Oberlin, Ohio, was one of the first volun-
teers in the L-nion army, in which he served
at Shiloh, Perryville, Stone River, Chat-
tanooga, and .\Iission Ridge in 1864, and
was transferred to the Army of the Potomac
and took part in the battles of the Wilder-
ness and of Cold Harbor, serving until the
close of the war ; returning to Ohio he re-
sumed business with the Sandusky Tool
Co., was soon chosen its president, and
on the same day he was elected without
his knowledge, president of the Arkansas
Central Railway Co. Removing to Ar-
kansas he was chosen chairman of the Re-
publican county and state committee, was
offered a seat in Congress by the Republi-
S3
cans of the first district, but declined and
was elected almost unanimously United States
senator from Arkansas, as a Republican, and
took his seat March 4, 1873.
DOUGLASS, Stephen A., was born
at Brandon, April 23, 1813. He lost his
father while in infancy, and his mother be-
ing left in destitute circumstances, he en-
tered a cabinet shop at Middlebury for the
purpose of learning the trade. After re-
maining there several months he returned to
Brandon, where he continued for a year at
the same calling, but his health obliged him
to abandon it, and he became a student in
the academy. His mother having married
a second time, he followed her to Canan-
daigua, N. V. Here he pursued the study
of the law, until his removal to Ohio in 1831.
From Cleveland he went still further west,
and finally settled in Jacksonville, 111. He
was first employed as a clerk to an auction-
eer, and afterwards kept school, devoting
all the time he could spare to the study of
law. In 1S34 he was admitted to the bar,
soon obtained a lucrative practice, and was
elected attorney-general of the state. In
1837 he was appointed by President Van
Buren register of the land office at Spring-
field, 111. He afterwards practiced his pro-
fession, and in 1840 was elected secretary of
state, and the following year judge of the
Supreme Court. This ofifice he resigned,
after sitting upon the bench for two years, in
consequence of ill-health. In 1S43 he was
elected to Congress, and continued a mem-
ber of the lower House for four years. In
December, 1847, he was elected to the
United States Senate for the term ending in
1853, was re-elected for the term ending
1859, and re-elected for another term, but
died in Chicago, June 3, 1861. In r86o he
was the candidate of his party for President
but was defeated.
DREW, Charles Aaron, of ciarinda,
Iowa, was born in Kinsea Falls, Canada, Jan.
13, 1859, son of Joseph and Emeline (Ken-
nedy) Drew.
His education was begun at Troy, con-
tinued in Westfield grammar school, and
completed at Derby Academy. In the win-
ter of i877-'78 he taught his first school at
Morgan Center : later he taught in Westfield,
Coventry and Troy. An acquaintance was
formed with Rev. Jacob I'^vans, pastor of
the M. K. church of Troy, into which church
later young Drew was received and of its
Sunday school was superintendent. This
acquaintance was especially helpful to Mr.
Drew ; it helped to inspire him with a de-
sire for a broader and more useful life. \\'hen
not engaged in teaching he worked for the
lumber firm of C. P. Stevens & Co. In the
sjjring of 1880 he entered luistman's Busi-
ness College at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., gradu-
ating in June of that year. After a short
exjjerience as bookkeeper and salesman at
Springfield he returned to the firm of C. P.
Stevens & Co. In the winter of i88i-'82
he taught in Coventry and became ac-
(|uainted with Dr. C. F. Branch of Newport,
superintendent of schools. He began the
study of medicine with I )r. liranch and
graduated from the medical department of
the University of Vermont in June, 1884.
He immediately went as apothecary to the
state hospital for the insane at Taunton,
Mass. ; here he was made third assistant
physician, and, excepting a six weeks' ab-
sence to attend the Berlitz summer school of
languages, remained in continuous service
until the fall of 1SS7.
CHARLES AARON DREW.
In September of 1887 he went to New
\'ork to pursue a six months course of spec-
ial study in the post graduate medical schools
and hospitals. There he gave special atten-
tion to the eye and ear. In 18S8 he returned
to the Taunton hospital, resigning in 1890 to
accept the position of assistant physician in
the government hospital for the insane at
\Vashington, D. C. Since 18S8, besides gen-
eral hos]Mtal work, he has done much ophthal-
mic work for the patients, who, gratuitously,
have had the benefit of his skill. In the
American Journal of Insanity for October,
1S92, was published his article, "A Plea for
Ophthalmic Work in Institutions for the In-
sane," which met the apjirobation of judges.
54
In February, 1893, he became first assistant
physician of the Iowa hospital for the insane
at Clarinda, Iowa.
In"May, 1890, he married Carrie, daugh-
ter of ^Claudius B. and Agnes Somers.
DUNN, Charles C, of Minneapohs,
Minn., was born at Ryegate, Feb. 20,
1 84 1. He is of direct Scotish descent on
his father's side, his grandfather having been
born across the water. His father, John
Dunn, was a \'ermont farmer, one of the
sturdy class who clung to the old state
through all the excitement and temptations
of Western emigration, and lived and died
in the same house which he built when a
young man. The life of the father was in
striking contrast to that of the son. Charles
was the youngest of five sons (there were
also two daughters) and was brought up on
the farm with limited opportunities for
schooling.
CHARLES C. DU
When the war broke out he was tw^enty
years old. He wished to enter the army and
enlisted prom])tly, but was rejected on ac-
count of his health. Trying another locality
Mr. Dunn enlisted again, but was again re-
jected by the medical examiner, and after a
third failure gave it up and engaged with
the firm Cramton & Dunn of Rutland. For
four years he drove a tin cart, selling tin
and japan ware from house to house, taking
barter in exchange. In 1865 he went into
the wholesale and retail stationery business
under the firm name of Sawyer & Dunn, his
part of the enterprise being to dri\e a whole-
sale cart through northern New York and
Vermont, supplying the trade. After two
years the business had greatly increased, and
sales were made only by samples, after the
more modern style. A little later the firm
was consolidated with Cramton iv: Dunn,
dealers in sto\ es and hardware, the concern
becoming Dunn, Sawyer & Co.
Mr. Dunn maintained a very prosperous
business connection in the new firm until
187 1, when, his health having failed, he went
West and invested in timber lands in Wis-
consin. This was the beginning of his suc-
cess as a manager of Western investment
properties. He organized the Jackson
County Bank of Black Ri\ er Falls, Wis., and
became one of the directors. Fx-Senator
\V. T. Price was president.
In 1878 Mr. Dunn went to St. Paul,
founded a company under the name of
Dunn, Thompson & Co., and built the first
refrigerator and cold storage house in that
city. Within a year it was burned out with
heavy loss. Mr. Dunn returned to Rutland
and engaged in farming and the merchant
tailoring business, but the attraction of the
West and its broader field for his abilities
led him to dispose of his interests, and in
1885 he became a citizen of Minneapolis.
Entering the real estate business, Mr. Dunn
at once became an enthusiastic "hustler"
and promoter of the interests of the city.
He has always been loyal and hopeful. One
of his manifest abilities is a talent for organ-
ization. In 1885 and 18S6 he engaged in
the mining business at Neguanee, Mich.,
and was one of the organizers of the Buffalo
Mining Co., of which concern he was a
director and vice-president; the mine was
sold in 1 888. Mr. Dunn then organized the
Midland Lumber and Manufacturing Co. of
Wisconsin, of which he is still vice-president,
and in 1S92 formed the Minneapolis Disin-
fecting Co., and the Northwestern Fuel and
Kindling Mfg. Co., of both of which com-
panies he is general manager. During his
business career he has organized some twenty
different companies.
On account of ill-health and in the course
of his business ventures, Mr. Dunn has been
an extensive traveler. Soon after the war he
spent some time traveling through the South,
penetrating on horse-back as far as the ever-
glades of Florida, and having numerous ad-
ventures incident to the unsettled political
conditions during the Ku Klux times. A
few years later he joined a party of explor-
ers in the Black Hills, and saw some exciting
Indian campaigning.
In 1869, Mr. Dunn was married at Bran-
don, to Miss Anna E. Jones. They have one
daughter : Oce J.
55
Mr. Dunn was one of the organizers of
the \'ermont Association of Minneapolis. At
the time of the census troubles with St. Paul
he proposed the famous indignation meet-
ing, and was largely responsible for the
successful arrangements for the occasion.
DURKEE, Charles, was born in
Royalton, Dec. 5, 1807. Was a merchant ;
removed to Wisconsin, was elected to the
Legislature of that state in 1837 and 1838:
a Representative in Congress in i848-'5o
from Indiana, and a L'nited States senator
for six years, commencing March, 1855.
He was a delegate also to the peace con-
gress of 1861, and in 1865 was appointed, bv
President Johnson, Governor of Utah.
EDGERTON, JOSEPH KetcHUM, was
born in Vergennes, Feb. 16, 1818; spent
his youth in Clinton county, N. Y., and re-
ceived a common school education, chiefly at
Plattsburg. Read law, settled in New York
City in 1835 and came to the bar in 1839,
and removed to Fort \\'ayne, Ind., in 1844.
In 1855 he was president of the Fort Wayne
■& Chicago Railroad Co., and subsequently
financial agent of the same when consoli-
dated with the Pittsburg road, and in 1862
he was elected a representatixe from Indiana
to the Thirty-eighth Congress.
ELDRIDGE, CHARLES A., was born in
Bridport, Feb. 27, 1821. When a child he
removed with his parents to New York ;
studied law in that state and came to the bar in
1846. In 1848, he removed to Fon du Lac,
Wis.; in 1854 and 1855 he was a member
■of the state Senate; and in 1S62 he was
elected a representative from Wisconsin to
the Thirty-eighth Congress ; re-elected to the
Thirty-ninth Congress.
ELLIS, George Williams, of New
York City, son of Zenas C. and Sarah B.
(Dyer) Ellis, was born in Fair Haven, Nov.
2 7, 1848.
t His education was acquired at the Rut-
land high school and Middlebury College,
where he was graduated in 1868, and Col-
umbia College (N. Y.) Law School, which
he attended from 1868 to 1870, when he was
admitted to the bar.
The early years of his professional life
were passed as a student and clerk in the
office of ex-Judge Theron R. Strong, and ex-
Judge John W. Edmunds, and with Tracy,
Olmstead & Tracy in New York City, em-
bracing a period from 1868 to 1874. He
then began practice of the law at 119 Broad-
way, and later at 155 with JohnS. Lawrence.
This association continued until the death of
Mr. Lawrence in 1880, since which time Mr.
Ellis has maintained the business, which is
one of the oldest in the city, numbering
among its clients representatives of all classes
of business.
While politics have never actively inter-
ested Mr. Ellis, his membership in social
organizations indicate his taste and varied
acquirements. Among the societies who
claim his membership are the New York
state and city bar associations, the Univer-
sity Club, the D. K. E. Society and Club,
the Washington Heights Century Club, the
New York Athletic Club, the ^Ietropolitan
Museum of Art, the American Geographical
Society, and the American Academy of Polit-
ical and Social Science.
ELLIS, William H., late of Greenfield,
111., son of Barnabas and Belinda (Kidder)
Ellis, was born in Fair Haven, June 6, 1818.
Educated in the district schools and the
Castleton Seminary, he went at the age of
eighteen to Whitehall, 111., making the trip
by the usual conveyances of that time, by
canal from Whitehall to Buffalo and by lake
to Cleveland, thence by canal to Portsmouth
on the Ohio river, thence steamboat to St.
Louis and from there by stage to his desti-
nation, taking six weeks to make the trip.
56
ELLSWORTH.
For several seasons Captain Ellis taught
school in the neighboring towns, and drove
cattle to Chicago and horses to St. Louis
and New Orleans, and later made entry of
some government land in Greene county,
111., and since 1844 has lived on his farm
now comprising over one thousand acres.
His sterling business qualities met with
public recognition in the election for two
successive terms to the office of county sur-
veyor in 1849, and the appointment by the
county to survey and classify lands acquired
from the government by the state, and 25,-
000 acres were surveyed by him. Governor
French commissioned him captain of the
i8th Regt. Ills. Vols. Captain Ellis did
active work in obtaining a large subscription
to the stock of the Rock Island, Alton & St.
Louis Railroad Co., and in securing the right
of way for the line, and was afterwards
elected a director, and was chairman of the
committee to make arrangements for the
transfer of the road with Judge Green, pres-
ident of the Rock Island, Rockford & St.
Louis Railroad Co. In acquiring the right
of way, and building the Litchfield, Carroll-
ton & Western R. R., of which he was a
director, vice-president, and member of the
finance committee. Captain Ellis was promi-
nently engaged. He was also trustee of the
Central Hospital at Jacksonville, receiving
his appointment froni, Governor Beveridge.
He was a member of Greenfield Lodge,
No. 129, F. & A. M.
Captain Ellis was married Nov. 6, 1S44,
to Maria, daughter of I-'avid and Laura
Wooley. His family consists of four chil-
dren : Julia, Arthur, Amy M., and Flora L.,
all of whom are married.
Captain F211is died May 27, 1893, at hi;-
home at Greenfield, 111. 'I'hrough a long life
he had won and held the respect and love of
a large circle of friends and acquaintances.
ELLSWORTH, CHARLES C, was
born at Berkshire, Jan. 29, 1824 ; received
a common school and academic education ;
is a lawyer by profession and practice ; was
appointed by Governor Barry prosecuting
attorney of Livingston county, Mich., in
1850; removed to Montcalm county, Mich.,
in 185 I : was a member of the state House of
Representatives in 1852 and '54 ; was elected
prosecuting attorney of Montcalm county
at two successive elections ; was appointed
by the President of the LInited States a pay-
master in the Union army in 1862 and
served until the close of the war and was
elected to the Forty-fifth Congress as a Re-
publican.
ELLSWORTH, Samuel S., was born
in Vermont ; was a member of the NewVork
Assembly in 1840, and a representative in
Congress from that state from 1845 to 1847.
EMERSON, Charles Wesley, of Bos-
ton, Mass., was born on Nov. 30, 1837, in
Pittsfield. His parents were Thomas and
Mary F. (Hewitt) Emerson. His boyhood
was passed amid the picturesque scenery of
his native place, and his education was
much better than boys of his day commonly
received. He enjoyed the most excellent
instruction of a father whose taste, culture
and strong intellectual powers developed in
the youth that habit of independent thinking
and original research which have so marked
CHARLES WESLEY EMERSON.
his life, and so contributed to his success.
His paternal grandfather was a man of un-
usual attainments in history and mighty in
the Scriptures. His maternal grandfather
was a Methodist minister. It is of interest
to know that he came from the same stock
as Ralph Waldo F.merson, the Sage of Con-
cord. Their common ancestry goes back to
one Thomas Emerson, who was of a family
knighted by King Henry VIII, and who
emigrated from England to settle in Ipswich,
Mass., in 163S, to become the progenitor of
a famous race.
After leaving the tutelage of his sturdy
father, Wesley took courses in medicine, law,
oratory and theology and was ordained to
the ministry in the Orthodox Congregational
church. He had a tremendous power as a
preacher, and his churches were crowded
57
■with eager listeners. He made liundreds of
■converts, raised churcii societies from a con-
dition of decay to one of flourishing life.
But the stock of vitality which he had in-
herited from his sturdy ancestors was ex-
hausted under the strain which was put
upon him, he was compelled to resign for
rest and recuperation, and he spent the
time in travel on the continent. Upon his
return, with health much restored, he was
■elected lecturer on physiology and hygiene
of the voice in Boston University School of
Oratory.
Upon the death of Professor Monroe, Mr.
Emerson opened an independent school of
■oratory. This was the beginning of what
proved a most remarkable career in educa-
tional work. Under the genius of its presi-
dent the school has grown, until today it is
the largest of its kind in the world. It is a
chartered college incorporated under the
laws of Massachusetts. Among its lecturers
are names well known in the highest literary
and educational circles. Its course embraces
a thorough system of physical culture devel-
oped by President Emerson, the results of
which have been almost miraculous in re-
storing the health of many students ; a sys-
tem of voice culture, largely the result of his
personal study and investigations in the field
of vocal physiology ,; literary and scientific
studies, training in expression, studies in
■classical art, etc., making the course a com-
plete education, physical, mental and esthe-
tic. President Emerson's work has become
of the greatest interest to leading educators
here and in England.
He is a broad scholar, acquainted with the
best of ancient and modern learning. He is
an advanced thinker, bold and independent
and yet withal conservative to a remarkable
degree, testing every theory by actual work
before announcing it. His success is the
result of a mind thoroughly imbued with
the ijrofoundest principles of ]ihilosophy,
reaching from old Plato to the modern Sage
of Concord ; acquainted with the largest at-
tainments of modern science ; saturated with
the spirit of the world's liest art and literature ;
illumined with a lofty faith and throbbing
with a great love for mankind ; and pulsing
with a tireless energy, which knows no obsta-
cle to success. His power is that of a great
personality, from which all elements of mere
individualism have vanished in the light of
universal truth. He is beloved by all his
pupils, in every one of whom he takes the
deepest personal interest. His aim is to de-
velo]j not merely readers, but men and women,
who shall give to the public not simply their
acquirements, but themselves, enriched by
all the culture and consecration which they
achieve.
In his college work President Emerson is
most ably assisted by his wife, formerly Miss
l^usie Rogers, of I )anvers, Mass. She is
hardly second to himself in zeal and energy,
and stands by his side in the affections of the
puj.ils.
EWER, Warren Baxter, son of Rev.
Seth and Eliza (Bourne) Ewer, was born
.■\pril 2 2, 1 8 14, in Windsor. His father was
a Baptist minister and a native of Barn-
stable, Mass. His mother was a native of
Falmouth, Mass. The Ewer family is of
Norman descent, and originated on the Ure
river in the north of France, where the
ruins of the "Eure Castle" are still to be
seen. The head of the family was a par-
ticipant in the Norman invasion of England,
and after the conquest settled there. Dur-
ing the Cromwellian war, the family became
divided, one portion following Cromwell,
WARREN BAXTER EWER.
the mher the King. So bitter was this polit-
ical estrangement that the former changed
the spelling of the family name, adopting
the Scotch name "Ewer." Fourteen years
after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, two
brothers, "Ewer," landed with a colony on
the north shore of Cape Cod, and founded
the town of Barnstable. I''rom those two
brothers all the Ewers of the United States
have descended.
Of six children born to the father of the
subject of this sketch, four were born in
Vermont. Warren, the eldest, attended the
58
common schools until ten years of age, after
which he was sent to the high schools, and
finally finished his preparatorx' studies for,
college at South Reading, Mass. He entered
Brown University at Providence, in the
summer of 1835. At the close of his first
year his health compelled him to leave his
studies, and chance led him to Dedham,
Mass., where he connected himself with the
Dedham Patriot newpaper. The opening of
the Harrison political campaign in 1840
found him sole proprietor of that journal,
and under the advice and patronage of
Samuel G. Goodrich, better known as "Peter
Parley," he removed his paper to Roxbury,
changed its name and entered the campaign
as a supporter of Harrison. He also started
a campaign paper which he called "The
Harrison Democrat," taking for his motto,
"Things by their right names," claiming
that Harrison, rather than his opponent.
Van Buren, represented the true Democratic
principles.
The first political song of that famous
campaign was introduced at the suggestion
of Mr. Ewer and Mr. Goodrich at a political
meeting in the Roxbury town hall, and made
such a decided hit that song singing in pol-
itical rneetings soon became general, and to
meet the want thus created Mr. Ewer com-
piled and published the first political song
book, which was soon after republished and
enlarged by the publishers of the New York
Tribune.
Mr, Ewer appears to have been a very
good judge of character. ']"he writer will give
two instances which have an historical as
well as personal interest ; At the opening of
the Harrison campaign, it was suggested
that some good and well-known speaker
should be secured to canvass the towns
throughout the district. Mr. Ewer, on the
contrary, thought it best to secure some
promising young man direct from the peo-
ple, from the shop, as better calculated to
arouse enthusiasm, and suggested his friend,
Henry ^^'ilson, a shoemaker of Natick, as a
man possessing the requisite qualities, al-
though he was then unknown out of his own
immediate neighborhood. After many ex-
cuses and protestations of unfitness for such
services Mr. Wilson consented, and was' in-
troduced through the pajjers and to his
audiences by Mr. Ewer as "Henry Wilson,
the Natick cobbler," a sobriquet which fol-
lowed him through life. This engagement
was Mr. Wilson's first special effort as a pub-
lic speaker and it led him finally to national
fame, to the Vice-Presidency of the United
States, and would probably have given him
the presidential chair had his life been
spared two years longer.
.Another instance of Mr. Ewer's correct
judgment of character is of equal historic
interest, and occurred in the life history of
the late John B. Gough ; Mr. Ewer, while
publishing a "Washingtonian" temperance
paper in Dedham, was anxious to secure the
services of a good speaker, who could in-
terest that class of people for whose good the
"Washingtonian" movement was initiated.
He had heard of a reformed man near Wor-
cester who was creating some interest in that
vicinity. He took his carriage and drove to
one of his meetings in a little. schoolhouse —
listened to his talk, was profoundly im-
pressed with its manner and matter, and
after it was over introduced himself to the
speaker and finally took him home with him.
In the quiet of that home he subsequently
persuaded Mr. Gough that he could do a
great work if he would make the effort. Mr.
Gough at first doubted his fitness or ability,
but was finally persuaded, and Mr. Ewer
traveled with him for some time, making hi&
appointments and looking after his private
wants. Mr. tlough's personal efforts and
the notoriety given them through Mr.
Ewer's paper, finally attracted the attention
of Deacon Moses Grant, at that time one
of Boston's most wealthy and earnest philan-
thropists. Through Mr. Ewer the I )eacon
sought an interview, which finally resulted in
a year's engagement for free temperance
lectures. Deacon (irant to pav him a thous-
and dollars and his expenses, with an agent
to travel with him. .At the expiration of that
engagement Mr. Gough found himself fairly
launched upon that wonderful career of use-
fulness which elicited from Daniel Webster
the remark that "John B. Gough had proven
himself the greatest natural orator the world
has ever produced."
We next find Mr. Ewer in Boston printing
a paper devoted to the interests of the Lake
Superior copper mines, and edited by a
brother of l^lias Howe, the inventor of the
sewing machine. A\'hile thus engaged the
wonderful discovery of gold in California
was announced to the w-orld. As soon as
that discovery was fully verified Mr. P^wer
made arrangements for the journey, and the
spring of 1849 found him on his way across
the plains in the first great company of gold
seekers. He reached the mines in October,
mined for gold awhile, but soon dropped the
pick and shovel to teach others, from his
editorial chair, how to mine for the precious
metal. He first established a paper at Ne-
vada City, which he- soon sold, and went to
Grass Valley, where he purchased the Grass
Valley Telegraph, and also started the Cali-
fornia Mining Journal, the first mining paper
in California. To secure a larger field for his
work, he subsequently went to San Francisco,
purchased the Mining and Scientific Press,
and brought out the first number in his own^
name Nov. 8, 1S62. Mr. .A. T. Dewey sub-
I'AIKCHILD.
I'AIRClllI.l).
59
sequently became interested in that publica-
tion, and continued with him about thirty
years, when the business was incorporated.
In 1870, when agriculture began to assume
considerable interest in California, Mr.
Ewer added an agricultural department to
the M. & S. Press, which attracted so much
attention that the State Agricultural ISoardof
that year invited him to go to Sacramento
and take the editorial charge of an agricul-
tural paper which it was proposed to start in
that city. He declined the offer, but the
matter finally resulted in the establishment
by Dewey and Ewer of the Pacific Rural
Press in San Francisco, Jan 7, 1871. lioth
the Mining and Scientific Press and the
Pacific Rural Press have been acknowledged
from their start as the two leading papers in
the United States in their respecti\e fields
of labor.
Near the commencement of 1893, Mr.
Ewer retired from active editorial labor,
having been thus engaged fifty-six years,
with only about four years of intermission.
It is doubtful if there is any other person
living who has been so long and so steadily
engaged in active editorial work. Though
now in the eightieth year of his age, he is
well and hearty and has never experienced
sickness. He has left editorial work simply
to get more time to attend to his private
business, and to give younger men a chance.
Except during the Harrison campaign of
1840, Mr. Ewer has never taken any active
interest in politics. He has no taste in that
direction except as a citizen. In the early
fifties he was appointed county school super-
intendent for Sfevada county, unsolicited.
He was also once, without seeking the office,
nominated and elected school director for
San Francisco. He was appointed by the
Legislature of 1867 commissioner to repre-
sent California at the Paris International
Exposition, but knew nothing of it until he
saw the announcement in the papers. Busi-
ness compelled him to decline. He was ap-
pointed by C.overnor, now Senator Perkins,
to represent the state of California at the
first Denver mining exposition.
Mr. Ewer has ever been social in his
tastes and belongs to several social and char-
itable organizations. He is a member of
the California Pioneer Association, a charter
member of the Bohemian Club and a mem-
ber of the Native Sons of Vermont. The
only fraternal association with which he is
connected is the Masonic, in which he has
taken the Templar degrees.
He has been three times married. His
first wife was Miss Hosapher N. Brush, of
Mneyard Haven, Mass. His second wife
was Martha D. Luce of the same place. He
is now living with his third wife, Martha, the
widow of Donald McLennan, the projector
and for many years superintendent of the
Mission and Golden Gate woolen mills of
San Francisco.
FAIRCHILD, David S., of Ames, Iowa,
son of Eli and Grace D. Fairchild, was born
Sept. 16, 1847, at Fairfield.
He was educated at the academies of
Franklin and Barre, and during the years
1866 to 1868, attended medical lectures at
.Ann Arbor, Mich., and graduated from the
Albany Medical College in December, 1868.
He read medicine in the office of Dr. J. ().
Cramton, of Fairfield.
Dr. Fairchild located first in High For-
rest, Minn., in May, i86g, but in July, 1872,
removed to Ames, Iowa, where he has since
been continuously engaged in his practice.
In 1873 he was prominent in the organizing
of the Story County Medical Society and
was its first president. In 1874 he assisted
in organizing the Central District Medical
Society, which includes the central counties
of his state, and was twice elected its presi-
dent. He is also a member of the Iowa
State Medical Society, the American Medical
Association, the Western Association of
Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the
National Association of Surgeons. In 1876
he was a delegate to the International Medi-
cal Congress held in Philadelphia. He
assisted in organizing the Iowa Academy of
Sciences, and was chairman of a committee
appointed by the State Medical Society to
prepare a history of medicine in Iowa, which
was completed. In 1877 he was appointed
physician to the Iowa Agricultural College,
and in 1879 was elected professor of physi-
ology, comparative anatomy, and pathology,
of the same college. In 1882 he was elected
professor of history and pathology, in the
College of Physicians and Surgeons of Des
Moines, and was transferred in 1885 to the
chair of pathology and diseases of the ner-
vous system, and in 1887 to the chair of
theory and practice of medicine and pathol-
ogy. In 1884 he became local surgeon for
the- Chicago & Northwestern R. R., and
two years later was appointed district sur-
geon, and in 1892 consulting surgeon for its
Iowa interests extending over 1,300 miles.
For sixteen years Dr. Fairchild w-as en-
gaged in general practice, but for the past
eight years his practice has been almost ex-
clusively one of consultation, particularly in
surgery- Has contributed many articles to
6o
the medical journals, and to the transactions
of various medical societies.
Outside of his profession he has had no
time for politics or other matters except in
educational matters and he is at present
president of the board of education of his
citv.
cepted the position of teller in the First
National Bank of Chicopee, Mass. Upon the
organization of the Peoples National Bank
of Brattleboro, in October, 1875, he was
chosen cashier of that institution, which he
successfully conducted until October, 1886,
when he was offered and accepted the cash-
iership of the National Hide and Leather
Bank of Boston ; in this larger field he was
always found ready to serve his customers
promptly and faithfully, thus making for him-
self many warm friends.
Becoming deeply interested, and a large
stockholder, in the Traders National Bank of
Boston, he was elected its president, in 1890.
By his energy and careful, conservative meth-
ods the business of the bank was largely in-
creased.
l:/jfeT
He is a member of the .Arcadia Lodge,
three times three (^x^) chapter, and of
Excaliber Commandery ; also of the order
of Elks.
May I, 1S70, he married Welhelmina t'.,
daughter of Hon. W. K. Tattersall of High
Forest, Minn., and has three children :
David S., Gertrude M., and Margaret T.
FAULKNER, William A., of Boston,
Mass., son of Shepherd D. and Miranda
(Greene) Faulkner, was born in Whitingham,
Sept. 14, 1848.
Educated at the district schools of his na-
tive town and Powers Institute, Bernardston,
Mass., he prepared himself further for a
business career by a course at Eastman Busi-
ness College, of Poughkeepsie, N. V.
Mr. Faulkner's early life was spent upon
the farm : but not finding that congenial, to
his taste he decided to enter upon a business
career in which he has enjoyed a succession
of promotions.
Beginning in .April, 1872, with a clerkship
in a dry goods establishment in Shelburne
Falls, Mass. ; in April, 1873, he became
bookkeeper in the Shelburne Falls National
Bank ; in October of the next vear he ac-
WILLIAM A. FAULKNER.
Ill-health compelled him to relinquish the
arduous duties of this position in January,
1893. Since which, his time has been spent
in travel and in caring for his personal mat-
ters and those intrusted to him bv others.
Mr. Faulkner was married at Brattleboro,
Sept. 21, 1876, to Alice H., daughter of Par-
ley and Clara ( Blanchard) Starr. Mrs. Faulk-
ner died in March, 1891.
FIELD, RoswELL Martin, late of St.
Louis, was born in Newfane, Feb. 22, 1807,
and was the son of Gen. Martin Field and
Esther S. Kellogg, his wife.
He fitted for college with Rev. Luke
\\'hitcomb of Townshend, and entered Mid-
6i
dlebury College with his brother, Charles K.
Field, late of Brattleboro, graduating at the
age of fifteen years in 1822. He studied
law with Hon. Daniel Kellogg of Rocking-
ham, and was admitted to the bar in 1825,
at the age of eighteen years, and practiced
in Windham county till 1839. He was
elected state's attorney for said county for
four years in succession, from 1832 to 1835.
He represented the town of Newfane in the
Legislature of Vermont for the years 1835
and 1S36. The special pleas drawn by him
in the libel suit of Torrey vs. Field, reported
in 'I'enth Vermont Reports were declared
by Justice Story to be masterpieces of spe-
cial pleading.
In 1839 Mr. Field removed to St. Louis,
Mo., and continued the practice of his pro-
fession ; at first as partner of Miron Leslie,
also from Vermont, and a man of splendid
talents and great legal attainments. Mr.
Field at once took high rank with the oldest
members of the St. Louis bar, among whom
were Henry S. Geyer, successor of Thomas
H. Benton in the U. S. Senate, Fdward
Bates, attorney-general in the cabinet of
President Lincoln during his first term, and
Hamilton R. damble, provisional ("lOvernor
of Missouri during the war of the rebellion.
After a few years the partnership of Les-
lie & Field was dissolved, and for the re-
mainder of his Hfe Mr. Field practiced his
profession alone. His practice was large
and remunerative. He was engaged es-
pecially in numerous and important land suits,
growing out of conflicting Spanish and
French tides, existing before the United
States acquired the territory of Louisiana.
Not only was Mr. Field a great lawyer, but
he was a fine classical scholar and exten-
sively informed in, and familiar with, the
best of English literature and general sci-
ence. In addition to Greek and Latin, he
was well versed in the Spanish, French, and
German, and spoke the two latter languages
with great facility. He brought and tried in
the LTnited States Circuit Court, Missouri,
the celebrated case of Dred Scott, which
gave him a national reputation. In the war
of the rebellion he was a staunch and promi-
nent defender of the government and the
L'nion, and co-operated with Generals Lyon
and Blair and others in defeating the schemes
of the secessionists to attach Missouri to the
fortunes of the confederacy, and was largely
instrumental in preventing the state from
committing the folly and crime of secession.
A commission as judge of the state Supreme
Court was sent to him by the Governor of the
state in 1865, but he declined the position,
which he would have adorned and dignified,
preferring the quiet of private life.
He was a splendid specimen of ])hysical
manhood, being over six feet in height, well
proportioned and of dignified and imposing
presence. In his social relations he was
genial and entertaining, unstirpassed in con-
versational powers, delighting in witty and
epigrammatic sentences, was elegant in his
manners, affable and refined in his deport-
ment, and to his other accomplishments he
added that of the skillful musician.
In 184S he married Miss Frances Reed,
a beautiful, cultured and lovely young lady
from Vermont, richly endowed with all the
domestic virtues and graces of womanhood.
Their married life was relatively short, as
Mrs. Field died in 1856, and he himself
died in 1869 at the comparatively early age
of sixty-two years.
At the time of his death, and for many
years before, he was regarded as standing at
the head of the bar in the state. He left
two sons, both of whom have exhibited in
later years eminent ability, though in differ-
ent lines from their father, they having selec-
ted the field of journalism and authorship.
The eldest, Eugene Field, of the Chicago
News and Record, has earned and deserves
a high reputation, as a wit and humorist,
being the author of a prose work entitled
"Profitable Tales," and of poems entitled a
"Little Book of Western Verse," ".\ Second
Book of Verse," and "Tin Trumpet and
Drum," and with his brother, Roswell M.
Field, a translation of certain Odes of Hor-
ace entitled "Echoes from the Sabine Farm."
The younger son is Roswell M. Field, for a
number of years employed on the Kansas
City Times and Evening Star, of Kansas
City, Mo., and latterly on the New York
World. As a journalist he has won a favor-
able name and has published a volume of
sketches entitled "In the Sun Flower Land"
which show marked ability and give prom-
ise of still better literary work in the future.
This brief notice of the life and charac-
ter of Roswell M. Field, deceased, cannot
be better closed than by quoting the re-
marks of Judge Wagner, chief justice of the
Supreme Court of the state of Missouri, in
response to the resolutions of the St. Louis
bar, presented to said court. Judge \Vag-
ner in behalf of the court responded as
follows :
" The members of this court have heard
w'ith the deepest regret of the death of R.
M. Field, and the warm and deserved tribute
which has just been paid to his memory
receives an assenting response from the
hearts of all who knew him. In the decease
of our lamented friend and brother, the bar
of Missouri has lost one of its brightest orna-
ments. To a naturally keen, vigorous and an-
alytical iiiind he added a thorough mastery of
legal principles, combined with high scholar-
ly attainments. Perhaps no man at the bar of
this state ever brought to the consideration
62
of any question a greater amount of exact
legal learning, or clothed it with a more im-
pressive and attractive logic. When he gave
the great energies and powers of his mind
to a cause, he exhausted all the learning to
be had on the subject. He studied law as
a science, and delighted to examine its har-
monious structure and explore its philosophic
principles. So deeply w-as he imbued with
its true spirit, and so great was his reverence
for its excellence, that he maintained them
with the most jealous regard, and would
sooner have failed in success than have won
a case by trenching upon a sound legal rule.
He made no parade of learning, and in his
social intercourse he had a childlike sim-
plicity. With his professional brethren he
was full of courtesy and kindness, and his
whole conduct was marked by entire integ-
rity and perfect truth. He adorned every
circle in which he moved, and so beautiful
was his life, in all its relations, that he won
and enjoyed the esteem and regard of all
who knew him. It is fit and proper that the
death of such a man should be marked by
all the honors that we can pay to his mem-
ory. It is just that we should pay this last
tribute as an evidence of our appreciation
of his great abilities and exalted virtues. It
is therefore ordered, that the report of the
proceedings of the bar which have been
presented, be entered of record on the
minutes of this court, and out of respect for
his memory, it will be further ordered that
this court do now adjourn."
FIELD, WaLBRIDGE .4BNER, of Bos-
ton, Mass., son of Abner and Louisa ((Iris-
wold) Field, was born in Springfield, April
26, 1833. His father was a descendant of
the Fields of Rhode Island, and his mother's
ancestors were from Connecticut.
Mr. Field was educated at private schools
and academies until fitted for college, when
he entered Dartmouth and graduated in the
class of 1855. He was tutor in the college
in 1856 and 1857 and again in 1S59. He
studied law in Boston with Harvey Jewell
and at the Harvard Law School ; was ad-
mitted to the bar in Boston in i860, and
began practice with Mr. Jewell. In 1865 he
was appointed assistant United States attor-
ney for Massachusetts under Richard H.
Dana, and remained with him and with
George S. Hillard until 1S69, when he was
appointed by President (Irant assistant at-
torney-general of the L'nited States. This
office he resigned in August, 1870, and be-
came a partner with Mr. Jewell and William
Ciaston, under the firm name of Jewell, Gas-
ton & Field, and after Mr. (laston became
Governor of Massachusetts, Edward O. Shep-
hard was taken into the partnership, and the
firm name became Jewell, Field & Shephard
and so remained until Mr. Field became asso-
ciate justice of the Supreme Judical Court in
1881.
Judge Field was a member of the Boston
school board in 1863 and 1864 and of the
common council in 1S65, 1866 and 1867.
In 1876 he was declared elected to the
House of Representatives of the Forty-fifth
Congress of the United States from the Third
District of Massachusetts, but his seat was
contested, and after about a year's service he
was unseated. He was again a candidate
for the House of Representatives, was re-
elected, and, taking his seat in the Forty-
sixth Congress, served without contest.
Judge F'ield was married in 1869, to Eliza
E. McLoon, who died in March, 1877, and
by whom he has two daughters : Eleanor
Louise, and F^lizabeth Lenthal. In October,
1882, Judge Field was married to Frances
E., daughter of the Hon. Nathan A. Farwell
of Rockland, Me.
FINNEY, Darwin A., was born at
Shrewsbury, August 11, 1 8 1 4 ; removed with
his family to Meadville, Pa., when a lad :
received a classical education ; graduated at
the Meadville College ; studied law, was ad-
mitted to the bar, and practiced at Mead-
ville ; was twice elected to the state House
of Representatives, and once to the state
Senate : was elected a representative from
Pennsylvania in the Fortieth Congress as a
Republican, and served from March 4, 1S67,
until his death while traveling in Europe,
August 25, 1868.
FISHER, ALONZOG., of Chicago, III,
son of Samuel G. and Catherine (Parker)
Fisher, was born in U'est Fairlee, Oct. 10,
1S39.
Educated in the district schools of his
native town and Barre .Academy, he found
his first employment, in 186 1, with Denison
Derby, driving a peddling wagon, and seven
years later he engaged with N. K. Brown &
Co., of Burlington, as a traveling salesman
for their manufacture of patent medicines,
traveling by team and reaching the wholesale
trade of New England and some of the mid-
dle states.
Mr. Fisher located in Chicago in iS76and
established himself in the wholesale patent
medicine business, being the Western dis-
tributing agent for many of the largest con-
cerns in the country, and his business has
grown to be the largest of its kind in the
West. He is still a partner with N. K.
Brown & Co., of Burlington, and spends a
portion of his time in the East in the inter-
est of this connection and at his elegant
summer home at Foster's Point, Me.
Besides his regular avocation Mr. Fisher
has been a large and successful operator in
Chicago real estate.
FLAGG.
63
Sociallv he is verv prominent in Chicago,
being a member of the Citizens' Committee :
a well known member of the Illinois Club,
and an enthusiastic attendant in the Union
Park Church.
A member of the Illinois Society Sons of
Vermont says of him : "For honesty and
integrity in business matters, he has few-
equals ; for his kind and generous impulses
he is well known and much admired."
Mr. Fisher has been twice married. He
married first, August i, 1861, Lois, daughter
of Horatio Nye, of Barton. Of this union
were three children, only one of whom,
Arthur N. (in business vyith his father), is
living. He was married a second time, in
1878, to Fannie D., daughter of Moses O.
Crafts, of Bath, Me. They have two sons :
Theo M., and Alonzo G., Jr.
FLAGG, Fred ALVIN, of Troy, N. v.,
youngest surviving son of Gen. Stephen P.
and Lucinda (Brown) Flagg, was born in
Wilmington, June 19, 1837.
his position, and for several years thereafter
was successfully engaged in the coal trade at
North Adams under the firm name of Rich-
ardson & Flagg. During his business resi-
dence in Massachusetts he was repeatedly
urged to become a candidate for political
honors, but he uniformly declined such dis-
tinction. Retiring from the coal business in
1888, Mr. Flagg, who inherited a fine bass
voice, for a time placed himself under the
training of his lamented brother, Lyman,
whose musical career in Europe is familiar
to most Vermonters, and his advancement
was such that his merits found ready recog-
nition in oratorio and concert music, which
made him at once prominent in the musical
circles of New England.
Mr. Flagg became connected with the
Fidelity and Casualty Co., of New York, in
1890, and vi'as subsequently promoted to the
position of superintendent of agencies, and
is now manager of all departments of the
company for a large territory, including the
state of Vermont, with his headquarters
and general office at Trov, N. Y.
RED ALVIN FLAGG.
He received a classical education at W'il-
liston Seminary, Easthampton, and at W'ill-
iams College, l\Iass.
In 1877 he was appointed deputy collector
of internal revenue for the Tenth Massachu-
setts District, with a residence in Greenfield,
Mass., and three years subsequently was ap-
pointed cashier and home office deputy col-
lector of the same district, with residence at
North Adams. In 1882 Mr. Flagg resigned
FLAGG, John Henry, of New York
City, son of Gen. Stephen P. and Lucinda
(Brown) Flagg, was born in \\'ilmington,
July II, 1843.
He was educated in the public schools of
his native town, and at Wesleyan Academy,
Wilbraham, Mass. His law studies were
pursued at the Albany Law School, and with
the firm of Flagg & Tyler, \Vilmington. The
members composing this firm were his
father, Gen. Stephen P. Flagg, and the Hon.
James M. Tyler, now one of the judges of
the Supreme Court of Vermont. Mr. Flagg
was admitted to the bar in Windham county
at the September term in 1864, practicing
for the first year at Wilmington, and subse-
quently at Bennington, for a period of four
vears.
At the October session of the Vermont Leg-
islature in 1864, he was elected clerk of the
House of Representatives, and was unani-
mously re-elected to the same office for the
succeeding four years. At the first session
of the Forty-first Congress, beginning in
December, 1S69, he was appointed principal
clerk of the U^nited States Senate, which
office he continued to hold through succeed-
ing Congresses until the spring of 1878, when
he resigned. He was admitted to the bar of
the Supreme Court of the L^nited States in
1870, and on terminating his connection with
the United States Senate resumed his law prac-
tice, both in Washington and New York, giv-
ing special attention to international questions
arising under treaties between the United
States and foreign powers, as well as kindred
subjects. He was prominent in the pro-
longed discussion involved in the earlier
64
FLETCHER.
legislation of Congress, defining the relation
of our government to the "Gene\a Award
Fund," and the method of its distribution,
and subsequently prosecuted to a successful
termination a large number of claims arising
under said treaty.
Removing to New York City in the year
1880, he has not only continued his practice
before the Federal courts and departments at
Washington, but has given much attention to
corporation law, receiving a lucrative in-
come therefrom, being steadily employed by
various corporations prominent throughout
the country. He is an accepted authority
on the law of parliamentary procedure as
well as of international law, and has had for
clients several foreign governments in this
HENRY FLAGG.
latter branch of practice, to which so few
lawyers seem to have given special attention.
For many years he has been counsel to va-
rious foreign steamship lines, the large pe-
troleum corporations of the United States,
railroad corporations and many others.
He is a member of Union League Club,
the chief Republican organization of New
York City, the Metropolitan Club of Wash-
ington, a life member of the New England
Society of New York, and was one of the
promoters of the Brooklyn Society of ^'er-
monters, of which he is a member and one
of the executive committee.
Mr. Flagg was married in June, 1889, to
Peachy J., daughter of Frank F. and Marion
Jones of Brooklyn, N. Y.
FLETCHHR, RICHARD, was ,born in
Cavendish, Jan. 8, T78S ; graduated at Dart-
mouth College in 1S06 ; served in the Legis-
lature of Massachusetts ; was a judge of the
Supreme Court from 1848 to 1853 ; and a
representative in Congress from Massachu-
setts, from 1837 to 1S39.
FOLLETT, JOHN FaSSETT, of Cincin-
nati, Ohio, was born in Franklin county, his
father removed to Ohio in 1837, and settled
in Licking county ; he procured for himself
a classical education, entering Marietta Col-
lege in 1 85 1, and graduating in 1855 as the
valedictorian of his class ; he taught school
two years ; studied law and was admitted to
the bar in 1S58; was elected to the Ohio
Legislature from Licking county, in 1865,
and re-elected in 1867 ; was elected in Janu-
ary, 1868, speaker of the House of Repre-
sentatives; in September, 1868, removed to
Cincinnati to engage in the practice of the
law, and on the assembling of the Legislature
resigned the speakership and his commission
as representative from Licking county ; in
1880 was nominated at the Democratic state
convention as one of the electors at large for
( )hio on the Hancock and English jiresiden-
tial ticket: in 1879 received the degree of
LL. D., from Marietta College; and was
elected to the Forty-eighth Congress as a
Democrat.
FONDA, Edmund S., of Osage, lowa,
son of Stephen H. and Julia (Harwood)
Fonda, was born June 3, 1839, at Rupert.
Mr. Fonda was educated in the common
schools and at l-"ort Edward (N. Y.) Insti-
tute. The usual experience of a farmer's
son was that of Mr. Fonda until, in 1S62, he
became a book-keeper and salesman in the
general store of F. Wells, Conslantine, Mich.,
which position he resigned after two years,
and entered into partnership with G. W.
Waterson, of the same place, selling dry
goods and groceries. He continued in the
same business until 1S68, when he removed
to his present home. In the fall of 1869 he
sold out and engaged in real estate, and in
1875 became further engaged in the sale of
farm machinery, a business he continues in
at the present day.
Mr. Fonda served as chairman of the rail-
way committee of the Osage Board of Trade
for five years, during the projecting and
building of the Winona & Southwestern
R. R., and was largely instrumental in get-
ting the company to build to Osage.
Educaiional matters have had a strong
interest for him. He was engaged, previous
to embarking in the mercantile business, in
teaching district winter schools in Vermont,
New York and Michigan. He has served
many years on the city school board, and
65
as a trustee of the Cedar \'alley Seminary
has served several years, and is now presi-
dent of the board. He is also president of
the Mitchell County Agricultural Society,
holding that honor for thirteen years.
In politics he is Republican ; has served
for two years as member of state central
committee. Has never sought office. Was
elected mayor of the city of Osage, in 18S9,
receiving, without distinction of party, every
vote cast but one. Was re-elected mayor in
189T, and declined a re-election in 1893.
He had previously served as city council-
man.
EDMUND S. FONDA.
In 1893 Mr. Fonda obtained a charter
for himself and associates to organize the
Farmers' National Bank of Osage, of which
he is a director. He is now comfortably
situated with a farm of nine hundred and
ten acres, every acre of which is tillable, and
which is situated but two and a half miles
from Osage, valued at $45,000. Has a large
implement trade and other interests.
He married, August iS, 1864, in Constan-
tine, Mich., I.oretta E., daughter of Rulef
and Charlotte A. Crego. 'I'hey have three
children : Lottie J., Fannie L., and Kate !'..
FOOTE, Stephen Miller, United
States .Army, son of Henry William and
Rebecca (Dunlap) Foote, was born Feb. 19,
1859, at La Salle, Mich., and came to \'er-
mont, his father's native state, at fourteen
years of age.
His early education was receixed at Bee-
man Academy, class of '79, when he entered
Middlebury College. 'I'he following year he
entered the LTnited States Military .Academy
at Went Point, graduating in the class of '84.
He afterwards graduated at the L'nited States
.Artillery School at Fortress Monroe, \'a., in
the class of '88.
Junei2, 1884, he was appointed 2d Lieut.
4th .Artillery U. S. A., and ist Lieut. June 17,
1889. From September, 1884, to Septem-
ber, 1885, he served at Fort .Adams, New-
port, R. I., from 1885 to 1886 at Fort Trum-
bull, New London, Conn., and from 1886 to
1888 in the artillery school at Fort Monroe.
F^rom September, 1888, to January, 1889,
he passed traveling in Europe, on leave of
absence, and in January, 1889, became as-
sistant instructor of engineering, and in
charge of non-commissioned officers' school
at the artillery school. Fort Monroe. From
March, 1891, till July, 1892, he was on duty
with the Intercontinental Railway Commis-
sion in Washington, I). C., and in Central
STEPHEN MILLER FOOTE.
.America. From July, 1892, to February,
1S93, he was on duty at Fort Barrancas,
Pensacola, Fla. His last service at present
date is with World's Columbian E.xposition.
Lieutenant Foote is a member of the Chi
Psi Society of Middlebury College.
He was married at Fort Monroe, Va.,
.April 24, 1889, to Sara, daughter of Maj.
John Brooke of the Medical Department U.
S. A., and Esther \\'illing Brooke.
66
FREEMAN, NELSON ORLANDO, of
Freeport, 10. , was born in Wolcott, [an. i,
1836.
Mr. Freeman acquired his early education
in the village school and the academy at
Johnson, and prepared for college at Fort
Edward Institute. Entering Union College
at Schenectady, N. Y., in the class of 1863,
he later was transferred to the University of
Vermont, where he completed the course
and graduated in 1869, receiving the degree
of A. M. In further pursuance of a thorough
preparation for the university he commenced
a course at the Itoston Theological Seminary
in i86g.
Mr. Freeman began his life work by enter-
ing the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal
Church at the conference held at St. Albans.
While attending college he was pastor at
Winooski. In 1870 he went westward and
transferred to the Rock River Conference,
and for the past twenty-five years has served
at various places, including the following
churches : St. Charles and Wheaton, and at
Batavia a second term, four years at Ottawa.
He is now pastor of P'irst M. E. Church,
Freeport, 111.
While ever assiduously applying himself_to
his chosen profession and making no effort
for distinction in social organizations, he is
a member of the Masonic fraternity and of
the Odd Fellows.
Mr. Freeman's first wife was Francis E.
Richmond, of Woodstock, Vt., daughter of
Baezillar Richmond and Lodoisski Brown.
She died in 1867, leaving one daughter since
deceased. Mr. Freeman again married in
1872, Hattie, daughter of Ezra and Catherine
Samson, of Waterman, 111. The result of
this union is three children : Charles S.,
Dwight, and Anna Louise.
ference to the general conference of the
Methodist Episcopal Church held in New
York City, which is the legislative body of
the church and meets quadrennially.
TIMOTHY PRESCOTT FROST.
Mr. Frost is a member of the Society of
the War of 181 2, and of the Brooklyn
Society of the Sons of \'ermont.
He married, Jan. 23, 1876, Carrie M.,
daughter of Nathan and Lavona (Webster)
Holt, and has two children: Philip Pres-
cott, and Florence Virtine.
FROST, Timothy PRESCOTT, of Balti-
more, Md., son of Timothy M. and Mary G.
(Prescott) Frost, was born at Mount Holly,
June 26, 1850.
His education was received in the district
schools of Weston, the Methodist Seminary
of Montpelier, and the Wesleyan University
at Middletown, Conn.
Mr. Frost entered the itinerant ministery
of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1876
and served full terms at Thetford Centre,
Woodstock, Bradford and Montpelier. He
was chaplain of the Vermont Senate in 1886.
He also served two years at St. Johnsbury,
from which place he went to the Summer-
field Church, of Brooklyn, N. Y., in May,
1889. In April, 1893, he was appointed
pastor of the First Methodist Episcopal
Church in Baltimore, Md., where he is
located at present.
In 1888 Mr. Frost was chosen one of two
ministerial delegates from the Vermont con-
FRINK, ALDEN, of Boston, Mass., son of
Luther and Alvatina (Childs) Frink, was
born in Woodstock, April 18, 1833.
Receiving a limited education in the dis-
trict schools, he has earned his own living
since he was nine years of age, working on a
farm until the age of fifteen. He then
learned the carpenter's trade and this occu-
pation he followed for six years in Windsor
and Worcester, Mass., during which time he
learned the draughting of plans and when
twenty-one years of age he began the study
of architecture in the office of Elbridge
Boyden, Worcester, Mass. After remaining
there three years, in the spring of 1857 he
removed to Boston and was employed by the
United States Government as a draughts-
man on the new Minot Ledge Lighthouse.
In 1859 he visited Europe, travelling through
England, Ireland and Scotland as well as on
the Continent. In i860 he returned to
this country and opened an office at 28 State
;aki'ii£L1ie.
67
street, lioston, where he has been located
ever since. Mr. Frink has built over fifty
stores ; over one hundred dwellings ranging
from SSjOOo to $150,000, and a number of
schoolhouses, engine-houses and police sta-
tions for the city of Boston. He also built
the New England Manufacturers and Mer-
chants Institute building in Boston, which
was destroyed by fire in 1886.
Within the past eight or ten years, he has
built ((uite a number of railroad stations for
the Boston & Maine, Fitchburg, and Old
Colony Railroad Companies, at Woburn,
Sonierville Highlands, Winter Hill, Prospect
Hill, Wakefield, Marblehead, Lynn Com-
mon, Waverly, Marlboro, Athol, Concord
Junction, Stoneham, Wilton and other
])laces. He has also made extensive ad-
ditions to the Lowell station in Boston.
He affiliates with St. Andrew's Lodge of
Masons, and is a prominent member of
'I'remont Lodge, No. 15, L O. O. F.
Mr. Frink was united in marriage at Bos-
ton, Jan. 29, 1859, to Ro.xana, daughter of
Benjamin and Charlotte Folsom of Vienne,
Me. Mr. and Mrs. Frink have two children :
Leonard Alden Frink, born Sept. 22, 1870,
entering Harvard College in 1889 in class of
1893, 3-nd is now a student in Harvard Law
School ; and Carrie Roxana Frink, born
April 16, 1876.
GARFIELDE, SELUCIUS, was born in
Shoreham, Dec. 8, 1822; removed to Ken-
tucky in early life ; finished his collegiate
course at Augusta College ; read law and was
admitted to the bar in 1849 ; was elected a
member of the convention to revise the
state constitution ; spent the following year
in South American travel ; emigrated to
California in 1851; was elected a member
of the Legislature of that state in 1852 and
in 1853, was selected by that body to codify
the laws of the state ; returned to I-ventucky
in 1854, was a member of the Cincinnati
national convention in 1856 and an elector
during that canvass ; removed to Washington
Territory in 1857, where he filled the posi-
tion of receiver of public moneys to i860;
in 1 86 1 he was nominated for Congress, but
was beaten by the secession wing of the
Democratic party ; was surveyor general
from 1866 to 1869, when he was elected a
delegate from Washington Territory in the
Forty-first Congress as a Republican ; was
re-elected to the Forty-second Congress.
GILFILLAN, JOHN B., of Minneapolis,
Minn., was born at Barnet, Feb. 11, 1835,
graduated at the Caledonia County Academy
in 1855, then removed to Minneapolis,
where he has since resided, studied law, was
admitted to the bar in July, i860, and has
practiced since ; was a member of the board
of education, i86o-'68, was an alderman of
the city of Minneapolis, i865-'69, was pros-
ecuting attorney of Hennepin county, 1863-
'67, and i869-'73 ; was city attorney, 1861-
64, was a member of the state Senate of
Minnesota, i875'-85, was regent of the State
LTniversity of Minnesota in 1880, and still
holds that office, and was elected to the
Forty-ninth Congress as a Republican.
GLAZIER, Nelson Newton, of Green-
field, Mass., son of John Newton and Phebe
Cass (Bourn) Glazier, was born Dec. 12,
1838, at Stratton.
His education was acquired in the com-
mon schools, Leland Seminary, .Amherst Col-
lege, i859-'6i, and at ISrown L^niversity,
1864, where he graduated in 1866, receiving
the degree of A. B., and from there in 1869 the
degree of A. M. Also three years, i866-'69,
were spent at the Newton Theological Insti-
tution (Baptist). In 1865 while a senior at
Brown L'niversity he was elected representa-
tive from his native town, and served on the
committee on education. This honor was
again conferred on him in 1867 and he was
made a member of the committee on elec-
tions.
Mr. Glazier, August 11, 1862, enlisted in
Co. G, nth Regt., afterwards ist Vt. Heavy
Artillery, and served as private, corporal, and
for a time acting ordnance sergeant at Fort
Slocum, and in recruiting ser\ice in Vermont.
He was made 2d lieutenant of Co. A, Now
2, 1863, and became ist lieutenant, Jan. 21,
1864. He lost his left arm at Spottsylvania,
May 18, 1864, and was honorably discharged
Sept. 3, 1864, on account of wounds received
in action.
He is a member of Edwin E. Day Post,
No. 174, G. A. R., of Greenfield, Mass.
October 21, 1869, he was ordained to the
work of the gospel ministry (Baptist). He
was pastor at Central Falls, R. I., 1 869-' 70,
Montpelier, iS72-'78,South Abington, Mass.,
i88o-'84, Westboro, Mass. (acting pastor),
i884-'86, and in 1887 he became pastor of
the First Baptist Church at Greenfield, Mass.,
which place he now occupies.
From 1872 to 1875 he was superintendent
of schools at Monti)elier. From 1872 to
1878 he was for three consecutive terms
chaplain of the \'ermont Senate. His in-
terest in religious matters generally has
always been great, and he is closely identi-
fied with the reli£;ious and benevolent work
68
GOODNOUGH.
of the Baptist denomination, especially in
Massachusetts, and is deeply interested also
in educational matters.
GLEASON, James Mellen, of Boston,
Mass., was born in ^^'ardsboro, Oct. 6, 1833.
His parents were Josiah and Susan Read
(Morse) Gleason, excellent representatives
of the Green Mountain state — of a thrifty
and hardy race of people.
He was educated in the public schools of
his native town and at Springfield Wesleyan
Seminary ; for three years he was an effi-
cient teacher in the public schools of his
native state.
The 1 6th of January, 1856, he went to
Boston to complete his education, entering
French's Commercial College from which he
graduated in due course. After several
years service as a book-keeper he became
cashier of the John Hancock Mutual Life
Insurance Co., March i, 1870. That he
has carefully and conscientiously discharged,
in an efficient manner, the duties of his re-
sponsible position, no stronger testimony
could be possible than twenty-three years of
continuous service therein.
The politics of Mr. ( Reason, like so many
"Men of Vermont," has been a stalwart
Republican. He has never sought official
position, yet he has not escaped being
sought after by the office, but has as often
declined, having no desire or taste therefor.
Masonrv has the allurements for Mr. Gleason
that politics has for so many others. He was
made a Master Mason in Joseph Warren
Lodge of Boston, Feb. 25, 1868 : a Royal
Arch Mason in St. .Andrews Chapter, Boston,
Jan. 20, 1871 ; a Knight Templar in Bos-
ton Commandery, Nov. 20, 1872. He has
also received the degrees in the Ancient
and Accepted Scottish Rite including the
32d degree. In no way perhaps has Mr.
Gleason become so well known to the Ma-
sonic fraternity as in the capacity of Grand
Lecturer, and never was the office more
effectively filled than by him, in the years
'82 to '87. Few men have more kindly en-
deared themselves to their fellow-men than
Mr. Gleason, and among none is he more
highly esteemed than by his brethren of the
craft. Masonry has given his life abundant
social privileges, which his kindly and gen-
ial manner has enabled him to improve.
He is a member of the .'\ncient and Honor-
able Artillery Co., of Boston, in reality, to-
day, Boston's highest social organization, by
no means a savage war-waging bodv of men.
Mr. Gleason is intensely patriotic ; he re-
lates as one of the most pleasing experiences
of his life "that he attended the dedication
of the Bennington monument with the Ver-
mont Veteran Association, of Boston, and
upon their return they elected him an honor-
ary member."
Such is a brief sketch of a son of Vermont
who in a quiet modest way has done credit
to his native state.
GOODNOUGH, ALGERNON MOR-
DANT, of Redding, Cal., was born in Des
Plaines, Ills., on the i6th of March, 1838.
His parents were both from Vermont, and
his mother dying soon after his birth the
discouraged father returned to his old Green
Mountain haunts, where the subject of our
sketch was reared and educated in a state
he has ever been proud to call his home and
native land. He was the son of Daniel
Goodnough, a hard working-farmer of Eng-
lish descent, and Harriet M. Conant, a
woman of rare intelligence and gentle Chris-
tian spirit, whose family were direct des-
cendants of the world famous Huguenots;
they and their ancestors through successive
generations gave evidence of the source
from vifhich they sprung, not only in their
marked intelligence and enterprise, but in
the fact that they were men,
■• Who wore the while lily of a blameless life."
Mr. Goodnough graduated at Middlebury
College in the class of '61, and the following
year was married to Lucy H., daughter of
Myron Langworthy of Middlebury, who up
to the time of her death in 1890, proved a
true helpmeet and affectionate wife. For
manv vears an invalid with rheumatism, her
Goi)DNiiri;H.
patient, uncomplaining, Christian spirit won
all hearts. Always devoted to her husband's
welfare it is not strange he speaks of her as
" the noblest woman he ever knew, and the
truest friend he ever had."
Shortly after marriage Mr. Goodnough en-
gaged in teaching, his last school being in
Barnstable, Mass., after which he pursued a
course of studies in Yale Theological Semi-
nary, and subseqently was installed pastor of
the Congregational church in Mystic Bridge,
Conn. Failing health induced him to
resign his charge in 1867, when he went
to the Pacific coast with his wife, across the
isthmus, under the auspices of the American
Home Missionary Society, and was for sev-
eral years settled in San Mateo, Cal., where
a commodious church was built during his
pastorate : after which he moved to Vallejo,
Cal., and after some years of ministerial
labor there, his iienltii being still delicate, he
engaged in merchandising, building up a
large trade, by strict attention to business
and honorable dealing with all, in musical
instruments. In the character of a music
dealer he is now well and favorably known
on the Pacific coast. As a singer of home
songs he is known to multitudes in Califor-
nia, and wherever known is always welcome.
He sings over four hundred songs from
memory, without the sight of words or music,
and there is, perhaps, not another man in
America who can sing as many from recol-
lection only.
For many years he has been an occasional
contributor to various magazines and news-
coss. 69
])apers, both secular and religious, and his
articles whether in ]irose or verse, have
always been recognized as possessing a high
order of literary merit. Among the most
notable and widely circulated of his writings
we may mention a religious tract entiried
"My Dead Mother," published several years
ago under the auspices of the M. E. Tract
.Society, by Nelson & Phillips ; speaking of
this tract Bishop J. R. Vincent said : "It
will live a thousand years"— a high compli-
ment indeed, coming from such a source.
In 1872 he came East on a lecturing tour,
delivering in Representatives Hall in Mont-
pelier, and in many other important towns, a
lecture entided : "Five Years in the Sunset
Land." This lecture was spoken of bv the
press in most flattering terms, and received
by large audiences with marked interest and
pleasure, winning for the lecturer an envi-
able reputation as a platform orator of un-
usual ability, as well as an enthusiastic Cali-
fornian.
In addition to his music trade Mr. Good-
nough has quite large real estate interests,
consisting of improved and unimproved
properties in the cities of Redding and
Vallejo, Cal., and a large acreage property
in Shasta county, Cal., where he now re-
sides.
( )f unusually, and we might say unreason-
ably, retiring disposition, the subject of our
sketch, desiring no preferment political or
social, has steadfastly refused to accept any
of the offices which have frequently been
offered him in the various political, fra-
ternal, social and religious bodies to which
he has belonged, being deeply impressed
with the emptiness of all earthly fame, since
"The paths of glory lead but to the grave."
In 1 89 1, a year subsequent to the death of
his former beloved wife, he married Miss Ida
May Bloyd, a native of California, an amiable
young lady, with a large circle of friends,
and who had been for many years an inti-
mate friend of the family. This union has
been blessed with one infant daughter': Elsie
Alzette, born August 21, 1893.
As the position in life, financial and social,
which Mr. Goodnough has acquired is due
solely to his unswer\ing integrity and unaided
efforts, he may justly take pride in the result
of his labors while looking cheerfully toward
the sunset of life, as well expressed in an
original stanza from his pen with which we
close :
trust when this Tast fleeting life ri
And o'er past are its labors, its t
'ond the dark night I shall gree
^ iding day on the hcav<
„e^o
aubles anil
the bright
ily hills.
GOSS, Ezra C, was born in ^^"indsor
county, graduated at the University of Ver-
mont in 1806 ; was a representati\e in Con-
gress from New York, from 1819 to 1821;
and was elected to the Assembly of that
state in 1828 and '29, but died before the
close of his second term.
GOULD, Charles Gilbert, of Wash-
ington, D. C, son of James and Judith
\\'hite (Tenney) Gould, was born in Wind-
ham, May 5, 1S44.
He attended the common schools in his
nati\e town until eighteen years of age,
when he entered the volunteer army of the
United States in the war for the suppression
of the rebellion, his subsequent education
having been received from private tutors
and in the Columbian University at Wash-
ington, I). C.
f
'J^ *'H
CHARLES GILBERT GOU
He enlisted as a private in Company G,
nth Vt. Vols., August 13, 1862, was pro-
moted corporal Dec. 27, 1863, sergeant-
major Feb. 12, 1864, second lieutenant Co.
E, nth Vt. Vols. June 30, 1864, captain Co.
H, 5th Vet. Vols. Nov. 10, 1864, and major
by brevet April 2, 1865. ^Vas honorably
discharged June ig, 1865. During his mil-
itary service he participated in the battles of
Spottsyhania, Va., May 15 to 18, 1864;
Cold Harbor, June i to 12, 1864; Peters-
burg (four), June 18, 1864; Weldon Rail-
road, June 23, 1864 ; Fort Stevens, D. C,
July 12, 1864; Winchester, Va., Sept. 19,
1864 ; Fisher's Hill, Sept. 21, and 22, 1864;
Cedar Creek, Oct. 19, 1864. He was
severely wounded in the battle of Peters-
burg, Va., .\pril 2, 1865, receiving, after en-
tering the enemy's works, a dangerous saber
cut in the head, a bayonet wound in the face
and a second bayonet wound in the back,
besides being severely beaten with clubbed
muskets. \\'as ofificiaily reported as the first
one in the assaulting column to enter the
enemy's works, and for distinguished gal-
lantry in this battle was breveted major
and also received a medal of honor from
Congress.
Being disabled from pursuing the more
active avocations of life when discharged
from the army, he accepted a clerkship in
the United States Pension Office at Washing-
ton, D. C, in January, 1866, and after serv-
ing in various grades and capacities in that
office until October, 1871, he resigned there-
from to accept the position of chief clerk in
the office of the \\'ater Registrar for the Dis-
trict of Columbia, from which he resigned
on account of ill-health in 1874.
In 1S75 he was offered, but declined, the
appointment as U. S. Consul at Odessa,
Russia. In 1876 he accepted an appoint-
ment in the office of the Secretary of the
Navy, which he resigned during the same
year to accept an appointment in the office
of the Secretary of War. This appointment
he resigned in February, 1877, to accept an
appointment in the Ufiited States Patent
Office, in which, after promotion through the
\'arious intermediate grades, he was ap-
pointed a principal examiner July i, 1SS4,
which position he now occupies.
In politics he has always been a Republi-
can, but has never been a candidate for any
political office.
He is a member of West River Lodge,
No. 57, F. & A. M., of Londonderry, and
of Columbia R. .A. Chapter, No. 3, and
Washington Commandery, No. i , K. T., of
Washington, 1 ). C, and of the Commandery
of the District of Columbia, in the Military
Order of the Loyal Legion of the LInited
States, but has always declined office in any
of these organizations. He was a member
of the G. .\. R. from October, 1866, until
1872, in which organization he held the
offices of post adjutant, assistant adjutant
general of the Department of the Potomac
and aid-de-camp on the staff of the com-
mander-in-chief.
He was married Oct. i, 1871, to Ella
Cobb, daughter of Hon. William and Mary
D. (Cobb) Harris, of Windham. Two
daughters, Myra Harris, and Ella, were born
of this union, but neither wife nor daughters
survive. He was again united in marriage
Sept. 12, 1893, to Frances Lucy, daughter
of Gen. George F. and kda. R. (Cobb)
Davis, of Cavendish.
GOULD, Will D., of Los Angeles,
Cal., son of Daniel and Betsa (Smith)
Gould, was born Sept. 17, 1845, at Cabot.
Mr. (iould was educated at high schools
and academies at St. Johnsbury and Barre,
and the University of Michigan, where he
graduated in 1871, and was principal of the
graded schools at Passumpsic Village, Marsh-
field, and Plainfield. At the March meeting
next, after becoming of age, he was chosen
superintendent of schools of his native town.
He studied law in the office of Hon. Charles
H. Heath, and was admitted to the bar at
Montpelier. Removing to his present home
in 1S72, he has been actively engaged in a
large practice, having the oldest lawofifice in
the county. He is a close student, proud of
WILL D. GOU
his profession and scrupulously faithful in the
discharge of duty. Having been born and
raised on a farm, agricultural and horticul
tural pursuits have always attracted his at-
tention, and his thousand-acre farm in the
valley and foot-hills of La Canada and Pasa-
dena bears witness of his foresight and
energy.
" In public affairs, local, state, and national,
he has taken an active interest. He is a
Prohibitionist, and has been the party's can-
didate for superior judge, attorney general,
and member of Congress.
He is a member of several social, frater-
nal, and commercial organizations, including
temperance and Masonic, and Chamber of
Commerce.
Mr. Gould was married at Los Angeles,
June 26, 1875, to Mary L., daughter of Dan-
iel and Harriet T. Hait of Katonah, N. V.
GRAY. 71
GRAY, ANDREW Jackson, of Hamp-
ton, Iowa, son of Dr. Henry and Margaret
(Carpenter) Gray, was born in Weston,
Feb. 23, 1820. Descended from the Scotch
on the paternal, and English on the mater-
nal side, young (Iray was well-equipped
from his birth to cope with the world.
He was educated at the district schools
and at Bennington and Chester academies,
and settled on a farm in Weston at the age
of twenty-one, where he followed the life of
a farmer for twenty years, removing to
Manchester in i860, in order to better edu-
cate his three sons. He was chosen a di-
rector of the Battenkill Bank, of Manchester,
in 1 86 1, and elected vice-president in 1870,
and president in 1880, and continued in
this position until the close of the institu-
tion in 1885, when he was appointed agent
to close its affairs, which he successfully
accomplished and paid one hundred and
,^'':'
. ^
ANDREW JACKSON GRAY,
fifty cents on the dollar to the stockholders.
Mr. Gray removed to Hampton, Iowa, in
1885, where he has since resided and carries
on a successful real estate and loan business,
besides being interested in many other
enterprises.
Mr. Gray was united in marriage Nov.
25, 1845, to Mary, daughter of .'\aron and
Susan Burton of Chester. Their children
are : L. B., L B.> and Henry.
When Mr. CIray was twenty-one years of
age he was called to Woodstock to act as a
juror in a land case. On repairing to the
jury room he found that the eleven other
jurors had opinions adverse to his, and after
a thorough canvass of the case in his own
mind to find wherein he was wrong, he was
unable to change his opinion, and after
being out twenty-tour hours the jury return-
ed a verdict in accordance with his opinion.
Always a Democrat, Mr. Oray has been
the recipient of many public positions. He
was a grand juror, assessor and justice of the
peace in Weston : and a grand juror, assessor
and justice of the peace in Manchester.
He has been prominent in Masonic cir-
cles, and has been treasurer of Adoniram
Lodge, No. 42.
.A man of sterling integrity, he has always
had the love and respect of all whose good
fortune it was to be numbered among his
circle of friends.
GRAY, EDGAR H., of Oakland, Cal.,
was born in Bridport, November, 18 13. Of
Scotch-Irish parentage on the paternal side,
his father being Daniel Gray, a graduate of
Middlebury College in 1805, and his mother
being Amy Bosworth.
«i>><
r^-
While quite young he learned the printer's
trade, and thereafter fitted for college, partly
at select schools in Bridport, and partly in
Brandon, and graduated from Waterville
College (Maine) in 1838; studied for the
ministry and was for a few years pastor of
a Baptist church in Freeport, Me., having
previously married Mary J. Rice of said
state. Sometime between 1845 and 1850,
he was settled in Shelburne Falls, Mass.,
and labored there till i860, when he became
pastor of the E Street Baptist Church, Wash-
ington, D. C. His pastorate at Shelburne
Falls was a very successful one, and he was
much loved and popular among his people.
In 1852 he was called to the leading Baptist
church in St. Louis, Mo., but his people so
strongly opposed his leaving that he de-
clined the call. In i860, however, he ac-
cepted a call to Washington, where he
officiated till about 1878. He was chosen
chaplain of the V. S. Senate, and held that
position at the death of President Lincoln,
and officiated at his funeral.
He had two sons and three daughters by
his first wife, who died during his residence
in Washington, and he subsequently married
a Mrs. Carter, who had interests in Califor-
nia, and he removed to San Francisco, and
became first pastor of a Baptist church in
that city ; afterwards he was employed to
look after and superintend the Baptist
churches in that state. He officiated also
as pastor of a church in Oakland, where he
now resides, and is acting as dean of a the-
ological seminary in that city. In 1889 was
the anniversary of his fifty years in the min-
istry, and his church in Oakland celebrated
the event as a jubilee occasion, in which
other denominations joined. Many expres-
sions from persons present and absent in
commendation of his long, faithful, and use-
ful services were presented. These services
and labors had secured for him a large circle
of admiring and affectionate friends. He
had been honored with the degree of 1). D.,
and' was well equipped for the training of
young men for the ministry, in which work
(1893) he is now engaged at nearly eighty
years of age.
Few men have had the good fortune to
work in the Lord's vineyard as long and
continuously as he, and yet his eye is not dim
nor is his natural force abated.
GRAY, MELVIN L., of St. Louis, was
born in Bridport, July, 1815, the son of
Daniel Gray, of Scotch-Irish descent, and
Amy Bosworth.
He was reared on a farm in his native
town, and in the family of the Re\-. Increase
Graves, the first settled minister (Congrega-
tional) of said town. He attended district
and select schools in the winters and labored
on the farm during the summers, and in that
way fitted for college and mastered the
studies of the freshman year at home, with-
out a teacher, in the winter preceding his
entry of the sophomore class in August,
1836, of Middlebury College, from which his
father had graduated in 1805. He defrayed
the expenses of his college course by teach-
ing winters and graduated in August, 1839,
73
in a class of thirty-eight, among whom were
John G. Saxe, the poet, and the Hon. Will-
iam A. Howard, at one time member of Con-
gress from Michigan, and afterwards ( 'ro\er-
nor of Washington Territory.
He taught in .Autauga county, .Ma., two
years and in Montgomery county of said
state six months, and then located in St.
Louis in September, 1842, and was admitted
to the bar in that city in May, 1S43, after a
study of law for only se\en months, supjile-
menting that short course by continued
study, after admission. In February, 1844,
he formed a partnership with Charles B.
Lawrence, a native of Vermont, afterwards
for many years on the Supreme Bench of
the state of Illinois. .As business came
slowly, Mr. Lawrence removed to Illinois,
and in 1848 Mr. Gray formed a partnership
with Franklin Fisher, a native of Massa-
chusetts, who came to St. Louis from .Ala-
bama where he had been in practice, and
■on his death, in 1849, ^^^- tlray ever after
practiced his profession alone.
He married in 185 i Miss Rith C. Bacon,
■of Warren, Mass., daughter of Rufus F. and
Emeline (Cutler) Bacon, but no children
were born to them, and his wife departed
this life in July, 1893.
For several years prior to 1854 Mr. Gray
had a large practice in steamboat cases,
under the Missouri statute regulating steam-
boats, but in that year Judge Robert \\'.
Wells of the United States District Court for
Missouri decided that the L'nited States
courts had exclusive jurisdiction of ad-
miralty causes, as well on the navigable
rivers as on the sea, and, the United States
Supreme Court sustaining this view, the
state statute became inoperative. The
practice of the subject of this sketch was
wholly in civil cases, and embraced the
whole range of legal and equitable causes. It
is beliexed that the first trade mark suits
brought and tried in the state, were brought
by him in the United States Circuit Court for
the Eastern district of Missouri and of which
cases he had a large number, one of which,
McLean vs. Fleming, 96 United States
Supreme Court rejjorts, is a leading case in
that branch of the law. He has also acted as
executor, administrator and curator of num-
erous estates, many of them quite large, and
having labored over fifty years in the con-
tinuous work of his profession, he has now
withdrawn from the same, though yet vigor-
ous, and devotes his time to his personal
affairs and various financial enterprises.
He has never sought or held ofifice, unless
acting as trustee of Drury College of Spring-
field, Mo., and other educational institutions
may be considered such. He was originally
a Whig, then a Re])ublican, and during the
civil war, was for the Union and his country,
and was a member of the Home Guards, an
organization of the elder citizens of St.
Louis for its protection and defense.
GRAY, Henry William, of San Fran-
cisco, Cal., son of Benjamin and Nancy Jane
(Vance) Grav, was born in Hardwick, fan.
18, 1837.
He received his education in the public
schools of his nati\e town, and the academy
at Glover. When not attending school he
worked on his father's farm imtil he had
passed the years of his minority.
In t86o he went to California, and soon
after his arrival in San Francisco he pro-
ceeded to the mines, where he was engaged
in mining and milling until 1876, when he
located at San Francisco, and engaged in
the livery and boarding stable business,
which he has followed ever since, being at
present proprietor of the Santa Clara Stables.
Mr. Gray was always \ery fond of horses, and
on pleasant afternoons is freqiiently seen driv-
ing a handsome team through (lolden Gate
Park.
He is president of the Gray F^agle Gravel
Gold Mining Co., located at Forest Hill,
Cal., and one of the proprietors of a large
timber tract in Mendocino county ; also a
large shareholder in two irrigation com-
panies in San Joaquin county.
He is a Republican : a member of the
Red Men ; A. ( ). V. W. and the Pacific
C'oast .■\ssociation Native Sons of \"ermont.
-Mr. dray was married in San Francisco
thirty years ago to Miss Catherine Sophia
Gerry. Of this union is one son : Frank
John (Iray, aged twenty-nine, who is justice
of the peace in San Francisco, having been
elected for the second term. Mrs. H. W".
Ciray died in February, 1892.
GREENE, ROGER S., of Seattle, Wash.,
son of David and Mary Evarts Greene, was
born at Ro.xbury, Mass., Dec. 14, 1840. He
is a descendant of many of the distinguished
families of the Atlantic states, and in his
character can be detected some of the
strongest virtues of his ancestry. On the
maternal side he is the great-grandson of
Roger Sherman, one of the signers of the
Declaration of Independence, the Articles of
Confederation, and the United States Con-
stitution. His mother, Mary Evarts, was a
daughter of Jeremiah Evarts, and a sister of
HOGER S. GREENE.
^\'illiam M. Evarts, recently United States
Senator from New York. His father, David
Greene, was for twenty years corresponding
secretary of the American Board of Com-
missioners for Foreign Missions. In his
eighth year the family removed to ^^'estbor-
ough, Mass., and two vears later to Windsor,
Vt.
He received a most careful education, and
after completing an academic course entered
Dartmouth College, from which he was grad-
uated in 1859. During his college life,
being largely dependent upon his own exer-
tions for supjiort, he taught school in \aca-
tions at Windsor in the winter of iS57-'58,.
and at Falmouth, Mass., in the winter of
i858-'59. Soon after his graduation he be-
gan the study of law in the office of F^arts,
Southmayd &: Choate, in New York City, a
firm composed of as brilliant men as e\er
adorned the bar of the metropolis of .America,
each of w^hom had at that time gained national
renown. In this office as student, and after-
ward as managing clerk, he had an excellent
opportunity of gaining a valuable preliminary
legal training. In May, 1S62, in New York
City, he was admitted to practice, but his
loyalty to his country induced him to aban-
don his professional career and to enter the
Union army.
InSeptember,i862, he enlisted under com-
mission as 2d Lieut, of Co. I, 3d Missouri
Inft. : in March following he was promoted
to I St Lieut, of the same company, and still
later, in 1863, was made captain of Co. C,
51st U. S. Colored Inft., serving as such
until honorably discharged by acceptance of
his resignation in November, 1865. He
also served during this period as judge advo-
cate of the District of Vicksburg at the close
of 1864 and beginning of 1865, and judge
advocate of the Western Division of Louis-
iana from June, 1865, until retirement from
service. He receixed a gun-shot wound
through the right arm in the general assault
on Mcksburg while in command of his com-
pany. May 22, 1863. Just before his mili-
tary service. Judge Greene was offered the
position of Assistant I'nited States District
.\ttorney for the southern district of New
\'ork, but declined the otfice.
In January, 1866, he began the practice of
his profession in Chicago, occupying the
same otfice with Perkin Bass, then United
States attorney, with whom he was associated
in practice.
He remained in Chicago until his appoint-
ment by President Grant, in July, 1870, as
associate justice of the Supreme Court of
Washington Territory, when he settled at
< )lympia. He was twice re-appointed, hold-
ing the office until January, iSyg, when he
was commissioned chief justice, at which
time he removed to Seattle, where he has
since continued to reside. In 1883 he was
re-appointed chief justice and served until
the close of his term in March, 1887. Since
that time he has been for the most part en-
gaged in the practice of his profession. In
NIarch, 1887, he formed a professional co-
partnership with Hon. Cornelius H. Hanford,
now United States District Judge of the
District of \Vashington, and Hon. John H.
McGraw, now Governor of the state of Wash-
ington, under the firm name of Greene,
Hanford & McGraw ; afterward, in .\ugust,
the firm was enlarged by the addition of
another member, Joseph F. McNaught, Esq.,
GREKNLEAF.
CRKKNI.KAK.
75
under the firm name of (Ireene, McNaught,
Hanford & McGraw. In July, i888, the
partnership was dissolved by mutual con-
sent, all the partners retiring from jiractice,
the senior partner on account of temporary
ill-health, Messrs. McNaught and McGraw
to enter other pursuits and Judge Hanford
to become chief justice of the Su])reme
Court of Washington Territory. In i88g
judge Greene resumed the practice of law,
and in 1890 formed a partnership with I..
Theodore Turner of Seattle, with whom, un-
der the firm name of Greene & Turner, he
has been in full practice ever since, hand-
ling in course of his practice many of the
most important interests in the state. In
i88g he was trustee and secretary of the
Seattle Investment Co. From 1890 to the
present time, he has been trustee and secre-
tary of the Seattle Trust Co., $500,000 capi-
tal. From 1S90 to 1893 he was trustee and
vice-president of the Rainier Power and
Railway Co., capital $500,000. He has
been successful in business.
Judge Greene is a member of the Seattle
Stevens Post G. A. R., and has repeatedly
been the selection of the Posts of Seattle to
address them on Memorial Day.
Politically, he has always been identified
with the Republican party until the year
1 888, when he joined the Prohibition move-
ment, to which he has ever since adhered.
He was, in 1888, the candidate of the Pro-
hibition party for delegate to Congress from
U'ashington, and in 1892 was the Prohibi-
tion candidate for Governor of the state.
Religiously, his parents being Congrega-
tionalists, his first church connection was
with the church of that denomination in
Windsor, where his membership remained
until after the war. Then he united with
the New England Congregational Church of
Chicago. Afterward he was a constituent
and prominent member of the Lincoln Park
Church. On removal to Olympia he joined
the Baptist church, with which denomina-
tion he has ever since been conspicuously
and influentially identified.
Judge Greene was married August 17,
1 866, at Whitewater, Wis., to Grace, daughter
of Jesse and Rhoda (Pirockett) \\'ooster of
Naugatuck, Conn. They ha\e four children ;
.•\gnes Margaret, born Oct. 18, 1868: Roger
Sherman, born Sept. 29, 1870 : Grace
Evarts, born Jan. 15, 1875, and Mary
Rhoda, l)orn July 27, 1876.
GREENLEAF, Halbert Stevens, of
Rochester, was born in Guilford, April 12,
1827. The descent of the Greenleaf family
of New England is "undoubtedly to be
traced," says the compiler of the Greenleaf
genealogy, "from the Huguenots, who, when
persecuted for their religion, fled from
France about the midtile of the sixteenth
century." The name was originally Fuille-
vert, anglicized Greenleaf, in which form it
occurs in England toward the close of the
sixteenth century. 'I'he common ancestor
of the Greenleaf family of America was Ed-
ward Greenleaf, a silk dyer by trade, who
was born in the parish of P.rixham, in the
county of Devonshire, England, about the
year 1600. He married Sarah Dole, by
whom he had several children in England,
and with his wife and family came to this
country, settling first in Newbury and after-
ward in Boston, Mass., where he died in
167 I. A number of the family ha\e distin-
g\ushed themselves in New England by their
intellectual attainments, which have been of
HALBERT STEVENS GREENLEAF.
a high order. One of these, Jeremiah Green-
leaf, the father of the subject of this sketch,
was the author of what was known as Green-
leaf's Grammar, and devoted a large part of
his life to study, authorship, and instruction
in this special branch of education. He was
also the author of Greenleaf's Gazeteer, and
Greenleaf's Atlas, both excellent works of
their kind, and highly esteemed at the time
they appeared. True to his instincts and
patriotism as a "Green Mountain Boy,"
Jeremiah Greenleaf took an active part in
the war of 1812, enlisting as a private and
winning his commission as an officer. He
married Miss Elvira E. Stevens, the daugh-
ter of Simon Stevens, M. D., of Guilford, "a
true and noble woman, of no small degree of
culture."
76
GRKENLEAF.
Thus the subject of this sketch combines
in his nature, as in his name, the elements of
two characteristic New England families of
the old school. His career has been in
many respects a most varied and remarkable
one. The son of educated parents, it was
quite natural that he should receive a good
education, which was received in part, of
course, at home, and in part at the common
schools and academy of his native New
England. His boyhood and youth were spent
in farm life, but, from his nineteenth to his
twenty-third year, he taught district and gram-
mar schools in the winter months, and during
one season — so as to add as much as possible
to his funds, worked in a brickyard. At the
age of twenty-three he made a six month's
sea-voyage in the whaling vessel, Lewis Bruce,
serving before the mast as a common sailor.
(Jn the 24th of June, 1852, shortly after his
return from sea, he married Miss Jeannie F.
Brooks, the youngest daughter of John
Brooks, M. D., of Bernardston, Mass., and,
in the month of September following, removed
to Shelburne Falls, Mass., where he obtained
employment as a day laborer at the bench, in
a large cutlery establishment. .\ few months
later he found a position in the office of a
neighboring manufactory, and in a short time
became a member of the firm of Miller &
Greenleaf. On the nth of March, 1856, he
was commissioned by the Governor of Massa-
chusetts a justice of the peace. In 1857, a
military company having been formed in
Shelburne Falls, the young men composing
it selected Mr. Greenleaf as their captain,
and he continued in command from the 29th
of August in that year, until the 3d of March,
1859, when he resigned his captain's com-
mission. The same year he became a mem-
ber of the firm of Linus Yale, Jr., & Co., in
Philadelphia, and went to that city to live,
remaining in business thereuntil 1861, when
he returned to Shelburne Falls, and organized
the Yale & (ireenleaf Lock Co., of which he
became business manager.
Making the best disposition he could of
his business, he enlisted as a private soldier
in the Union army in August, 1862, enter-
ing the fifty-second Massachusetts regiment,
to the organizing and recruiting of which he
devoted both his money and energy. He
was commissioned captain of Company E,
Sept. 12, 1S62, and on the 13th of October
was unanimously elected colonel of the reg-
iment, which was soon afterwards ordered
into service under General Banks in the de-
partment of the Crulf. During Banks' first
Red River expedition Colonel Greenleaf was
commandant of the post at Barre's Landing,
Louisiana, and for a brief period in com-
mand of the second brigade of Grover's
division. At the head of his regiment he
participated in the battles of Indian Ridge,
and performed gallant service at Jackson
Cross Roads, and in the grand assault on
Port Hudson, June 14, 1863, and in the
subsequent siege operations resulting in the
surrender of that important confederate
stronghold, he bore a conspicuous part and
distinguished himself by his coolness, judg-
ment and bravery. At the expiration of his
term of military service, Colonel Greenleaf
was offered and accepted the command of
the government steamer. Colonel Benedict,
on the lower Mississippi.
Soon after the close of the war he took
charge of the extensive salt works of Petite
.\nse Island, St. Mary's Parish, Louisiana.
In June, 1867, he removed to Rochester,
N. v., and on the ist of July following, the
firm of Sargent & Greenleaf, of which he is
the junior member, was organized. The
firm of Sargent & Greenleaf manufacture,
under patents held by them, magnetic, auto-
matic, chronometer and other burglar locks ;
combination safe locks, padlocks, drawer,
trunk, house, chest, store, door and other
locks, night latches, etc., and so successful
has the firm been, that to-day their locks of
every description have made their way to
every part of the civilized world.
In the presidential campaign of 1880
Colonel Greenleaf devoted himself with
energy to the support of General Hancock,
the Democratic candidate, and organized
and commanded the "Hancock brigade"
a political-military organization opposed to
the Republican organization of similar char-
acter, known as the " Boys in Blue." In
the early part of February, 1882, he was
elected commander of the First New York
veteran brigade, with the rank of brigadier-
general, and unanimously re-elected to that
position in January, 1883. Although he did
not seek the honor, in the fall of 18S2 the
Democratic congressional convention, for
the Thirtieth District, at Rochester, nomi-
nated General Greenleaf for Congress as a
Democrat, and he was elected, receiving
18,042 votes, against 12,038 for John ^'an
Voorhis, Republican, and 1,419 for (Gordon,
Prohibitionist. He was also elected to the
Fifty-second Congress from the same Repub-
lican district, and is at present a member of
the board of trustees of the Rochester Sav-
ings Bank ; of the Rochester park commis-
sion ; of the St. Lawrence L^niversity at Can-
ton, N. Y., and of the Soldiers' and Sailors'
Home at Bath, N. Y.
GRINNELL, JOSIAH B., was born in
New Haven, Dec. 22, 1821 ; received a col-
legiate and theological education ; went to
Iowa in 1855, and turned his attention to
farming ; was a member of the state Senate
for four years ; a special agent for the gen-
eral post office for two years, and was elected
GRISWOLD.
77
a representative from Iowa to tlie Thirty-
eighth Congress.
GRISWOLD, William D., of st. l.ouis,
was born Nov. 6, 1815, in Benson. His
father and mother were Isaac and Huldah
(iriswold.
'I'he son William received his early educa-
tion in the common schools and afterwards
took a course in Middlebury College. In his
preparatory studies he was tutored by the
late Rev. Dr. Post, of St. Louis. Soon after
leaving college, at the age of twenty years,
Mr. Griswokl went to the \Vest and began
the study of law at Indianapolis. After his
admission to the bar he located in the town
of Terre Haute and began the practice of law
in partnership with John P. Usher, who in
after years was made Secretary of the Inte-
rior in President Lincoln's cabinet. The
law firm of Griswold & L'sher became well
.t^ nf!%5!*.'-
WILLIAM D. GRISWOLD.
and widely known in the states of Indiana
and Illinois, and many important cases were
committed to its charge. In the practice in
Illinois Mr. (Iriswold became intimate with
Abraham Lincoln and Judge David Davis,
and a very sincere regard marked the friend-
ship as long as their lives lasted. Having
located at Terre Haute in 1838 Mr. Cris-
wold continued his residence there for thirty-
five years.
In the year 1842 he married Miss Maria
Lancaster, of Kentucky, who is still living.
They had two children : A son, who is the
well known hotel man, owner and proprietor
of the Laclede, of St. Louis ; and a daughter,
wife of Mr. Huntington Smith of St. l.ouis.
After the expiration of the partnership
with Mr. L'sher, Mr. Griswold gradually re-
tired from the practice of law. In 1858 he
was placed by a state convention on the
Republican ticket with three others, consti-
tuting the bench, for judge of the Supreme
Court. The ticket was defeated at the polls,
whereupon Mr. Griswold took a great inter-
est in the railroad development of his section
of the country. He built the original Evans-
\ille & Crawfordsville R. R., and operated it
for a period of three years, and was then
called to take charge of the Terre Haute,
Alton & St. Louis line, which at that time
was much involved, badly managed, and fast
approaching a state of total wreck. .\s pres-
ident and manager of this road he demon-
strated his superior organizing and adminis-
trative ability. Later, in the year 1S64, Mr.
( Iriswold took hold of the Ohio (It Mississippi
R. R., and as president and manager brought
order out of chaos, and put that important
line into the prominent place which it has
ever since occupied. It was during Mr.
Griswold's administration of seven years
that the change of the gauge of the road was
reduced from the six foot to the standard
width. The work was all accomplished in
one day, and without any injury to the trans-
l)ortation of the line, and at that date was
considered one of the marvels of railroad
building.
Mr. Griswold removed to St. Louis in the
year 1872, and has proceeded to invest
within it and near the borders. He was an
excellent judge of real estate values, and has
unbounded confidence in the growth and
extension of the city. It was this good
judgment which directed him to the pur-
chase of a large body of land lying on the
north side of Forest Park between Kings
Highway and L^nion avenue. The tract was
purchased at the price of S 1,000 per acre,
and lay for years idle, and in the judgment
of many business men, a dead piece of prop-
erty. Time worked wonders with it, how-
ever, and justified all of Mr. Griswold's most
sanguine expectations. Three years ago it
was purchased by a syndicate of well-known
citizens at the handsome figure of i>5,ooo per
acre. It is to-day one of the most attractive
residence portions of the city, where all the
improvements are made upon a scale of
costly elegance. .\ home in Westmoreland
Place or Portland Place implies wealth and
taste, fulfilling Mr. Griswold's early conceiJ-
tion of the ultimate value of that ])ortion of
the city. Mr. Griswold is at present con-
siderably interested in property across the
river in East St. Louis. He is owner of the
eras works of that citv. (}uite recentlv he
78
bought a thousand-acre tract of land in the
American Bottom, lying on both sides of the
Vandalia Railroad, about six miles east of
East St. Louis. He has divided this body
of rich arable land into four farms of 250
acres each, upon which he has put many im-
portant improvements. In this particular
enterprise he has indulged the desire of his
heart to provide for each one of his voung
grandchildren a comfortable and complete
farm home, which is to pass absolutely to
each one when the youngest reaches his ma-
jority. The deed of trust conveying these
lands is to their father, Mr. Huntington
Smith, who at present manages the property.
Mr. Griswold passes his winters and the
cool seasons in St. Louis. In the summer
time he takes his family and repairs to his
native state, Vermont, where at the hand-
some town of Castleton he has provided
another home, which lies one and one-half
hours railroad distance north and east of
Saratoga, near Lake Champlain, where the
winds are cool and refreshing under the
morning shadows of the beautiful Green
Mountains. Here he finds recreation and
pleasure aniong family and friends and in
the atmosphere of a life nearly sjient.
HALL, ALFRED Stevens, of Boston,
Mass., son of Edward and Frances A. (Tut-
tle) Hall, was born in West A\'estminster,
April 14, iS^o.
The people of his native parish, in his
boyhood years, were generally of an intel-
lectual cast, and highly appreciated educa-
tional advantages and attainments. It is
not strange that a naturally good scholar,
growing up in such surroundings, should
have early possessed good ambitions. After
some preparation for college in the home
schools, in \\'est \\'estminster, and at the
Williston Seminary and Kimball Union
Academy, Mr. Hall entered Dartmouth Col-
lege in I S69 and was there graduated in 1S73.
It was necessary for him to earn the pe-
cuniary means of his education in the main,
and to do this he taught school some por-
tion of each year for several vears. He also
taught an entire year, after his graduation
at Dartmouth, in Manchester, N. H., where
also he began the study of law in the office
of Cross & Burnham.
In the fall of 1874 he went to Boston to
enjoy the advantages of a law school. In
1 8 75 he received the degree of LL. B. from
Boston L'niversity, graduating from its law
school. A few months afterwards he was
admitted to the Suftblk bar, and the first of
January, 1876, he began the practice of law
in Boston. He has an excellent clientage
and practice, and has steadfastly continued
at Boston in the pursuit and exercise of his
profession, with the exception of about one
year, since he there began his life work.
L'pon him are also devolved many corpor-
ate and personal trusts in the line of his
professional work and practice.
Mr. Hall was married, Oct. 18, 1876, to
Miss Annette M., daughter of Josiah H. and
Martha A. (Chamberlain) Hitchcock, of
Putney, a lady of exceptional graces and
personal worth. She died Sept. 26, 18S7,
but is survi\ed by a son, Francis C, and a
daughter, Helen A.
Ever since his marriage, Mr. Hall has had
his home in Winchester, a suburb eight
miles out from Boston, and he is identified
with the public measures and responsibili-
ties of his town and community.
HALL, Christopher W., of Minne-
eapolis, Minn., son of Lewis and Louisa
(Wilder) Hall, was born Feb. 28, 1845, at
Wardsboro.
The Leland and Gray Seminary at Towns-
hend, Chester Academy and Middlebury
College were the sources of Dean Hall's
earlier educational acquirements, and occu-
pied the years from 1864 to 1871. He was
principal of tlie Glens Falls, N. V., Academy
in i87i-'72, and the Mankato, Minn., high
school the two following years and superin-
tendent of city schools at Owatonna, Minn.,
from 1873 to '75. From 1875 10 i<S77 he at-
tended the famous University of Leipzig,
Germany, and in 1878 he was called to the
chair of geology and mineralogy in the
University of Minnesota, and has recently
received further distinction from that institu-
tion, in becoming the dean of the College of
Engineering, Metallurgy and the Mechanic
Arts.
Dean Hall has long occupied a prominent
and active position in his chosen field and is
the author of many valuable papers on
geological and educational subjects. iJuring
the winter term of 1878 he lectured on
zoology at Middlebury College and was later,
that year, and up to 1879, an instructor in
the University of Minnesota. From 1879 to
1891 he was a professor of geology, mineral-
ogy and biology, and in 1891 became the
professor of geology and mineralogy. From
1878 to 1 88 1 he was assistant geologist of
the geological survey of Minnesota and be-
came assistant geologist of the United States
geological survey in 1883. The Minnesota
Academv of Natural Sciences at Minneapolis
made him its secretary in 1882 and in 1883
the editor of its bulletins, which positions he
held uninterruptedly to the present time.
Such a busy life has left no time for polit-
ical work. \VhiIe at college he was active in
fraternity life, and was elected on graduation
to the Phi Beta Kappa. He is a member of
the American Association for Advancement
of Science, and was made a fellow of
that association in 1883, and also of the
Geological Society of .America, of which he
is one of the charter members.
Dean Hall's first wife was Ellen .A., daugh-
ter of Hon. Mark H. and Sarah B. Dunnell
of Owatonna, Minn., whom he married July
27, 1S75, and lost while in Leipzig, Germany,
on the 2ist of February, 1876. He married
again, I^ec. 26, 1883, Mrs. Sophia L. Haight,
daughter of Eli and Sophia Seely of Osh-
ko.sh, Wis. Mrs. Hall died July 12, 1891,
leaving an infant daughter : Sophia.
HATCH, EGBERT Benson, of Salinas
City, Cal., son of Charles P. and Lydia M.
(Taylor) Hatch, was born in F^ast Hard-
wick, Feb. 8, 1 83 1.
The Hatch family is one of the oldest in
the state of \'ermont. The great-grand-
father of the subject of this subject married
Sarah Richards and moved from Preston,
Ct., to Norwich, in i 768 ; being a surveyor
he made the first survey of that town. He
raised a large family. The youngest son,
fohn, Jr., was the grandfather of the subject
of this sketch, and with his wife, Waity Ens-
worth, moved to Hardwick in 1809. Feb-
ruary, 20, 1815 he was commissioned ist
Lieut, in the 31st Regt. of the Inft., and the
commission is in the possession of the sub-
ject of this sketch and bears the signatures
of President James Madison and Secretary
of War James Monroe.
Mr. Hatch prepared himself tor the minis-
try, and his early education was received at
the academies of Williston and Johnson, and
in the .Academical and Theological Institu-
tion at Fairfax, Vt , while dependent upon
his own resources, teaching school winters
and working summers in the hayfield, to
provide means which the moderate circum-
stances of his parents compelled them to
denv him.
Mr. Hatch was ordained to the ministry,
in the Baptist denomination, Jan. 3, 1856, at
Lowell, and his whole life has been devoted
to his chosen profession. During these
years of faithful work he has had pastorates
in Clinton, \\'is., Marcellus, N. V., Reno,
Nev., Vallejo and Salinas City, Cal., having
been pastor at the latter place for nine years.
His manner of preaching with the greatest
fluency without the use of manuscript has
always been very attractive to his hearers.
He left ^'ermont in 1S57 going thence to
Wisconsin and from there to New York state
in 1865, taking up his present residence in
Califo'rnia in 1S70. Mr. Hatch has always
been honored bv his denomination. In 1892
■8o
HAVWAKD.
he preached the anniversary sermon before
■the California Baptist State Convention at
Santa Cruz.
Among the social organizations, the Good
Templars have no more active faithful worker
than Mr. Hatch. The Ancient Order of
United Workmen is another body in which
he has done much good work.
Mr. Hatch was married in Johnson, to
Laura W. Butterfield, whose parents were old
settlers of the town of Lowell, having moved
there when there were only seven families in
the township. Mrs. Hatch died in Septem-
ber, 1884, at San Francisco, leaving two
daughters: Mrs. L. H. Cooke of San Fran-
cisco, and Mrs. A. F. Bellene of Salinas.
HAWLEY, David, of Vonkers, X. v.,
son of r)a\id and Bethiah (Buck) Hawley,
was born at Arlington, Aiaril 14, 1S20.
L'psilon and the Skull and Bones societies.
In the spring before his graduation he com-
menced the study of law in the office of
Orsamus Bushnell, Esq., in New York City,
and was admitted to the bar in 1848. In
May, 1850, he formed a partnership in New
York with John H. Glover, a classmate at
Yale. This partnership continued about
twelve years, the firm doing a successful busi-
ness and having charge of some important
trust estates, .'\fter the dissolution of the
firm of Hawley & Glover, Mr. Hawley con-
tinued the practice of law, and having become
counsel for Isaac M. Singer, the sewing ma-
chine inventor, went to Paris, in 1870, at his
request, to draw his will. In 1873 he relin-
quished the general practice of law to take
charge of Mr. Singer's large business inter-
ests in this country, representing him as a
director in the Singer Manufacturing Co.
After Mr. Singer's death in 1875, Mr. Hawley
as sole surviving executor of his will in this
country, administered on his estate, and
though many complications arose therein, he
successfully arranged them all, and had the
estate settled and ready for distribution in
the shortest time allowed by law for that pur-
pose. He was testamentary guardian and
trustee of the minor children and devoted a
large share of his time to the management of
their estates, and when released from that
trust as they attained their majority he retired
from active business.
In politics he is a Democrat, but has
always declined public office, except the
positions of water commissioner and school
trustee in the city where he resides.
In August, 1 85 1, Mr. Hawley married Miss
Maria Louisa \Vhiteside of Cambridge, N.
Y., who died in 1S60. In October, 1S61,
he married Miss Catharine Ann, daughter of
Samuel and Maria Crosby Brown of New
York. He has two children living : Cath-
erine S., and Samuel Brown.
He has made his home at Yonkers on the
Hudson since 186^.
He remained on his father's farm attend-
ing the district school, until nearly twenty
years of age. He then commenced his prepa-
ration for college at Burr Seminary, Man-
chester, and after about eighteen months
study, entered Yale College in 1841. At the
end of the freshman year, sickness compelled
him to leave college, and he spent a year
reading law with Harmon Canfield, Esq., in
his native town. He returned to New Haven
again the following summer, joining the
sophomore class of 1846, and graduated with
that class. He was an editor of the Yale
Literarv Magazine, and a member of the Psi
HAYWARD, LEWIS A., of San Fran-
cisco, Cal., son of Lewis and Margaret
(Smith) Hayward, was born in Dalton, N.
H., Sept. 22, 1847, but claims to be a son of
^'ermont, because his parents moved with
him to St. Johnsbury before he was a month
old, and all his love centers in the (ireen
Mountain state.
He received his education in the common
schools of Vermont, having attended school
in St. Johnsbury, St. .-Xlbans and Bristol and
at intervals worked on his father's farm dur-
ing the years of his minority, and continued
farming in partnership with his father in
Kirby until he was thirty years of age.
Mr. Hayward removed to San Francisco
in March, 1S77, where he engaged in the
HAZELTINE.
81
milk business, which he has followed to the
present time. He became the junior partner
of the firm of J. A. Roy & Co. in 18S4. He
is now one of the members and directors of
the firm known as the (uiadaloupe Dairy
Co., a stock company formed and incorpor-
ated in 1889, and holds the office of treasurer
and is also manager of the city dejiartment
of their extensive business.
He became a Free Mason in 1876, having
joined Moose River Lodge, F. & A. M., No.
82, in West Concord, and is still a member
of the same lodge in good standing. He is
also a member of the Pacific Coast Associa-
tion Native Sons of Vermont.
Mr. Hayward was married in San Fran-
cisco July ig, 18S2, to Margaret S. Hender-
son, daughter of John and Jean (Knowles)
Henderson.
HAZELTINE, Ira S., was born in An-
dover July 13, 182 i ; removed to Wisconsin
at an early age ; studied law and lectured
for ten years upon scientific and reformatory
subjects ; in 1851 laid out the town of Rich-
mond Centre, now county seat of Richland
county ; received a colonel's commission in
1852 at the hands of Governor Farwell ;
was a delegate to the first Republican state
convention in 1854 ; member of the Wiscon-
sin Legislature in 1S67, and established a
newspaper called the Live Republican at
Richmond Centre; in 1868 removed to
Springfield, Mo., and engaged in farming ;
was district lecturer of the grange several
years; was member of state grange execu-
tive committee ; was delegate to the first
Creenback state convention in 1876; was
elected to the Forty-seventh Congress as a
National Greenback Labor candidate. He
still resides at Springfield.
HAZEN, ARTHUR Herbert, of Sioux
City, Iowa, son of Addison and Jane (Hyde)
Hazen, was born at North Hero, March g,
Mr. Hazen was educated at the Vermont
Methodist Seminary at Montpelier, and the
Barre Academy, entering the University of
Vermont in 1876, and prepared himself for
the practice of the law at Montpelier. At
Fargo, North Dakota, he organized the law
firm of Hazen & Clement and was its senior
member from 1S81 to 1885. Mr. Hazen's
business has been largely in banking as well
^ f?5fc-
ARTHUR HERBERT
as in the law, and he has held high positions
of trust in successful Western institutions.
From 1883 to 1885 he was the treasurer of
the Northwestern Trust Co., of Fargo, and
from the time of the original organization
of the Farmers Trust Co., of Sioux City,
Iowa, he was its vice-president and Western
manager which position he now holds. He
is also president of the Red River Valley
Banking Co., which has its office at Fargo,^
and a director of the Moorhead National
Bank, of Moorhead, Minn. Mr. Hazen re-
sided in Fargo from 1879 to 1889, and
while there received political honors as a
82
member of the board of aldermen for three
years. In i88g he removed to Sioux City,
Iowa.
Mr. Hazen was married at Fargo, (October,
1880, to Ida A., daughter of \\illard and
Sophronia S. Marsh, of I'lainfield, and has
one child : Ray M.
HIBBARD, George Lovictor, of
Portland, Ore., son of Joel Tyler and Lucy
Elnette (Cleveland) Hibbard, was born in
Troy, July 18, 1835.
He received his earlv education in the dis-
trict schools of his native \illage until the
age of sixteen years. In iSji or 1 85 2 he
went to l^oston, Mass., where he learned the
GEORGE LOVICTOR
trade of carpenter, joiner, and ship-builder.
This accomplished, he became a contractor
in the city of Boston for about a year. When
the vast western country, with her great pos-
sibilities, was opened to the world the spirit
of research possessed him, and in June,
1857, he turned westward, spending about
three months in prospecting. Satisfied that
he did not like well enough to make this new
country his home, he returned to Wellsville,
N. Y., and became interested in building
until the spring of 1859.
The Pacific coast at this time allured him
to her shores, so embarking in an Aspinwall
steamer, he sailed for San Francisco via the
Isthmus of Panama, and after a long and
tempestuous voyage, cast anchor in San
Francisco Bay. Mr. Hibbard spent a month
or more among friends in San Francisco, and
set sail for Portland, Ore. The upper Col-
umbia promised good results in the building
business, consequently he engaged in the
lumber trade, with sash and door manufact-
ory at The Dalles, Ore., during the years
i860 and 1 86 1.
In January, 1862, he sold out, and taking
a stock of merchandise went to the Florence
gold mines in Idaho, sold out, prospected
awhile then returned to The Dalles in the
autumn of the same year ; bought out the
hotel "What Cheer House," ran it four
months and sold out. He became again in-
terested in building enterprises until the
spring of 1863, when, with Mr. Lurchin, he
founded and built up the town of Umatilla
on the Columbia River in Umatilla county,
Oregon. He sold out in 1863, took a stock
of goods to Bannock City, Idaho, engaged
in merchandise a year, sold out and in Jan-
uary, 1865, settled permanently in Portland,
Ore. In 1866 he went into the produce, gro-
ceries, and general commission business
until 1872, when in the great fire of that
year he lost everything, and was in debt to
the extent of Si 5,000, which he afterwards
paid in full with interest. In 1873 he
started in the wholesale produce commission
business, also consignments of boots and
shoes from his brother, C. A. Hibbard of
Burlington, and C. M. Hibbard of Newport,
now deceased. In 1877 J. W. Brazee be-
came his partner as manufacturers, import-
ers, and wholesale dealers in boots and
^hoes, the firm name being O. L. Hibbard
iV- Co., until Feb. 14, 1885, when he sold out
to Mr. Brazee. The following month he
went to Boston, bought a stock of goods in
conjunction with his brother, C. J. of New-
port Vt., returned in eight weeks and en-
tered into the importing of boots and shoes,
the firm name being Hibbard Brothers.
After a run of two or three years, he as-
sumed the entire business and still continues
in the importing, wholesale and retail, of
boots and shoes.
Mr. Hibbard is a " pioneer " in its strict-
est sense, having seen Portland grow from
an infant village to the full grown, prosperous
city of to-day ; and by his untiring zeal in
every honorable enterprise has contributed
in no small degree to the upbuilding of the
metropolis of Oregon.
Mr. Hibbard, in 1874, was one of the
original charter members of the Portland
Board of Trade which was subsequently sub-
merged into the chamber of commerce, in
which he has continuously been a member
and stockholder, being at present (1894) a
member of the manufacturers committee.
Mr. Hibbard has been many times called
upon to accept public positions, but being
of rather a retiring disposition he has as often
declined overtures.
83
In 1892 he built the Tremont House, one
of the most elegant, complete, and commo-
dious hotel properties on the coast.
Mr. Hibbard was married, Sept. 17, 1867,
to Josephine, daughter of Hon. Josejih and
Sarah (Hurford) Jeffers. She died May 30,
1878, and he married Carrie Jeffers Harned,
sister of his first wife. Of the first union
there were three sons and one daughter, two
of whom are living; and of the latter union
four sons, all living.
HIBBARD, Harry, was born in Vermont ;
graduated at Dartmouth College in 1835 ;
was assistant clerk of the House of Repre-
sentatives for New Hampshire in 1839 ; clerk
of the same from 1840 to 1843 ; speaker of
the House in 1844 and 1845 ■ '" the state
Senate from 1846 to 1849 ; officiating two
years as president ; and was a representative
in Congress from New Hampshire from 1849
to T855.
HIGLEY, Edwin Hall, of Groton,
Mass., son of Rev. Harvey O. and Sarah
(Little) Higley, was born in Castleton, Feb.
15, 1843.
He received his preparatory education at
Castleton Seminary, and then entered Mid-
dlebury College, where he graduated in the
class of 1868. For the next four years he
studied music and philology in Boston and
Cambridge, and from 1882 to 1884 at the
Royal Conservatory of Leipsic, in Germany.
Though scarcely emerged from boyhood,
he was inspired with the enthusiasm attend-
ing the early outbreak of the war for the
Union, and in 1861 he enlisted in Co. K,
I St Vt. Cavalry. During his service he was
detailed as adjutant and as regimental com-
missary and in the latter part of 1863 acted
as brigade ordnance officer on the. staff of
Gen. G. A. Custer. During Kiljiatrick's
raid he commanded a section of I'.attery C,
3d U. S. Artillery and had the satisfaction of
shelling the rebel capitol. He was wounded
and taken prisoner June 29, 1864, after hav-
ing participated in most of the cavalry en-
gagements of the Army of the Potomac in
the campaigns of Pope, second Bull Run,
Gettysburg and the Wilderness. Exchanged
March i, 1865, he was commissioned captain
of Co. K, and soon after brevet major for
gallant and meritorious service during the war.
From 1868 to 1872 Major Higley taught
music in Boston, Mass., and then accepted a
professorship of German and Greek in Mid-
dlebury College, where he remained ten years.
After his return from Europe, he was teacher
of music and organist in Worcester, Mass.
In 1886 he came to Groton School as Greek
and German instructor and as choir master
and organist, which position he holds up to
the present time.
He married, June 2, 1870, in Middlebury,
Jane S., daughter of Oliver and Jane (Shep-
ard) Turner. They have one daughter;
Margaret K.
HOARD, Charles B., was bom in
Springfield June 28, 1 805 ; he was a mechanic
and for se\eral years in early life a clerk in
a private land office at .Antwerp, N. W He
was postmaster under Presidents Jackson
and Van Buren : justice of the peace for sev-
eral years ; a member of the Legislature of
New York in 1S3S, and county clerk of Jef-
ferson county, N. V., in 1844, '45 and '46 ;
was elected a representative to the Thirty-
fifth Congress and was re-elected to the
Thirtv-sixth Congress.
HOLABIRD, William HYMAN, of Oak-
land, Cal, son of Oscar F. and .\delia A.
(Pierson) Holabird, was born in Shelburne,
Sept. 29, 1845.
Mr. Holabird availed himself of the educa-
tional advantages afforded by the schools of
Shelburne and the academy at Williston, and
at the age of fifteen went to Missouri, His
first occupation was as a newsboy on the Han-
nibal & St. Jo R. R.
At the breaking out of the war he returned
to \'ermont and enlisted in Co. C, 12th Vt.
Vols, and served out his term. He entered
the navy as first-class fireman on theL'. S. S.
Monadnock in September, 1S64. In Decem-
ber of that year he was promoted to acting
assistant paymaster. He was in the great
naval engagement at Fort Fisher and resigned
from the ser\ice in 1865 and went to Indiana.
Later he went to Chicago, and was for a time
in the employ of Marshall Field <S: Co., and
J. ^'. Far well.
Mr. Holabird began his railroad work in
1876, with the Penn. & Grand Rapids &
Indiana Co., as general travelling agent. In
1880 he went with the Atchison, Topeka &
Sante Fe R. R., as special agent and for the
past three years has been confidential agent
of President Man\ el of that system. During
his connection with the Atchison system he
has performed much important work in rela-
tion to the company's lands and the location
of new railroad lines.
In politics Mr. Holabird has been an act-
ive Repubhcan and while not aspiring to pre-
ferment has generally represented his party
as delegate to local conventions. He has
also been prominent in various temperance
organizations and Masonic bodies, including
all orders of the Temple.
He married, June 9, 1870, Phebe |., daugh-
ter of Russell and Emeline (James) l)orr, of
Middlebury, whose father is a descendant of
the Puritans. They have three children :
Russell D., Emma .\., and Harrison G.
HOLMES, ELIAS B., was born in Fletch-
er, May 27, 1S07. He commenced life as a
teacher, and at the age of twenty emigrated
to Munroe county, N. V., where he studied
law and was admitted to practice ; in Con-
gress from New York, from 1845 to 1849.
HOPKINS, Caspar Thomas, late of
San Francisco, Cal., was the third son of the
Right Reverend John H. Hopkins, first
bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church
in Vermont, and of Melusina Muller, his
wife, was born at Allegany Town, Penn.,
May 18, 1826. His father was a native of
Dublin, Ireland, and arrived in the United
States at the age of eight years. His mother
was born in Germany. Her father, once a
wealthy shipping merchant, having been im-
poverished by the Napoleonic wars, emi-
grated to the United States in 18 12, when
his daughter was thirteen years old, and
settled at Zelienople, Penn. In 1832 the
father of the subject of this sketch, having
been elected Bishop of Vermont, took up his
residence in the beautiful town of Burling-
ton, and there his family of thirteen children
were educated.
Bishop Hopkins will long be remembered
in Vermont for his indomitable energy and
industry, his varied talents, his peerless ex-
pression of his often peculiar opinions, his
unselfish and self-sacrificing devotion to
duty, and his powerful will. In no respect
were his opinions more peculiar than on the
subject of education, and all his children
were necessarily deeply impressed by those
peculiarities. They were never sent to any
public school until the boys were old enough
to enter college, but the good bishop opened
a school of his own, embarking his entire
property and all he could borrow in the
erection of the old Vermont Episcopal Insti-
tute, which was located just south of the then
village of Burlington, and a part only of
whose buildings now remain. In this school
there were no vacations, no plays, no relax-
ation from alternate study, work, and church
attendance, except on Saturday afternoon.
Severe discipline, and frequent punishment
with the rod or lalack strap were the only
inducements to effort — emulation, rewards,
and even marks being strictly excluded.
The teachers were nearly all theological
students, the great object of the school being
to train up clergymen for the church. For
several years it was well attended, but the
hard times of i838-'39 caused the with-
drawal of so many of the pupils that the
school closed its doors, and bankruptcy
resulted.
Caspar was then fourteen years old and
had been fitted to enter college two years
previously, besides receiving a good ele-
mentarv training in music and French. But
it was now necessary for the boys to go to
work. A farm of one hundred acres of rocky
land, now known as Rock Point, and the
site of the present Vermont Episcopal In-
stitute and Bishop Hopkins Hall was bought
for the bishop by an old Pennsyhania friend.
Here the boys went to work, learning by
daily practice, under the constant lash of
the severest poverty, all those varied prac-
tical lessons which have pro\ed New Eng-
land farm life the best of preparations for
success in after years. Four years of farm-
ing, wood chopping, mechanical work, quar-
rying, building, and boating, while the even-
ings were devoted to solid reading (no
novels being allowed in the house) and Sun-
days to church and sacred music, laid broad
and deep the foundations of a hard-working,
industrious and energetic character. The
education thus begun was completed by the
full four years' course in the University of Ver-
mont, during which Caspar supported himself
by playing a church organ Sundays, tuning
pianos, and lecturing. He was graduated
second in the class of 1847, without having
cost his father a dollar, and entirely free
from debt ; the S500 he expended for board,
clothing and college bills during the four
years having been earned by himself.
In the month of December, 1848, the
California fever broke out, and he was one
of the first Vermont boys to catch the in-
fection. On New Year's morning, 1849, he
left home for New York with $5 in his
pocket, and found himself June 10, 1849, in
San Francisco without a dollar, ragged, badly
afflicted with land scurvy, and S600 in debt.
He came by the Mexican route as a member
of the United Pacific Gold Co., of which he
was elected captain while at the City of
Mexico. His first three years in California
were marked by the same risks, adventures,
sudden changes of fortune, hardships, and
romantic but unprofitable experience com-
mon to the great majority of the "Argonauts."
In 1850, in connection with Herman Win-
chester and H. J. Paine, he organized the
famous "Samuel Roberts Expedition," which
first explored the Rogue and Umpqua rivers
in Southern Oregon. Hopkins' widely pub-
lished description of that region caused its
first settlement by Americans.
In December, 185 i, he secured a position
in the custom house which he held three
years. Through favorable influences and
thrifty habits he was enabled at the end of
this time to return to New York, with the
view of raising capital there to undertake fire
and marine insurance in San Francisco.
Finding it impossible however to get the
necessary money he attempted to secure
agencies of American companies to compete
with the few F'.nglish concerns, then doing
business in California, which had formed a
86
close monopoly. New York companies had
not then learned the principles of scattering
their business through distant agencies, how-
ever, and he returned to accept employment
at Sacramento, with a sub-agent of an Eng-
lish company. After two years of remarkable
success he returned to San P'rancisco and ac-
quired a third interest in the insurance firm
of McLean & Fowler, who had represented
some old Hartford companies with indifferent
success. Mr. Hopkins developed their busi-
ness at once to large proportions. Finding
a great opportunity to establish a marine in-
surance business he withdrew from the firm,
and consummated his favorite plan by organ-
izing the California Mutual Marine Insurance
Co., in February, 1861, with a capital of
$200,000, of which he was secretary. Suc-
cess came from the start, and in 1864 the re-
incorporation as the California Insurance Co.,
adding fire business to its risks, took place.
In 1866 Mr. Hopkins became the president
of the company, retaining this business until
his retirement from active business life in
1885. He was now in a position where his
natural energies and varied education were
directly brought to bear not only upon the
interests of his company, but on those of
Pacific coast underwriting generally.
His good judgment brought large profits
to his stockholders, and his persistent refusal
of F^astern business doubtless saved an im-
mense loss in the conflagrations of Chicago
and Boston in 1871, which ruined so many
companies. Mr. Hopkins was a moving
spirit in the organization, in 1864, of the
Board of Marine Underwriters, and wrote
the "iron-clad" constitution of the Board of
Fire Underwriters.
In 1868 and 1869 he was secretary of the
chamber of commerce and worked out its
reorganization on the present basis. His
efforts were instrumental in securing light-
houses and signals on the Pacific coast. He
advocated and drafted the law creating the
office of insurance commissioner in 1866,
and for many years he worked unceasingly
to establish the insurance business of the
Pacific coast on a firm basis. He promoted
the Merchants and .Ship Owners Steam Tug
Co., which destroyed the towage monopoly.
He wrote the pamphlet entitled " Sugges-
tions to Masters of Vessels in Distress "
which was reprinted by the .\ustralian un-
derwriters, and by Lloyds committee in Lon-
don. Mr. Hopkins found time for numer-
ous tasks in the broader field of general
good, and wrote in 187 1 a "Manual of
American Ideas." He was also the presi-
dent of the California Immigrant LTnion in
1870 and 1 87 1, the precursor of the efficient
Immigration Society. He promoted and
was president of the Pacific Social Science
Association. He was a prominent member
of the famous committee of one hundred
which undertook to curb the power of the
Southern Pacific R. R. He was a valued
contributor to local periodicals on serious
subjects. Throughout his life in California
he was an ardent member and worker for
the L'nitarian Church, and helped to organ-
ize and establish the now flourishing church
of that denomination in Oakland. He raised
$20,000 for this church, and his personal
influence secured also a fine organ for it,
which he played gratuitously for five years.
The above is but a faint outline of Mr.
Hopkins' labors for public good and far from
complete. His disposition was to be useful
without other motive than to be a power for
good in the community where he lived. He
never pointed out evil except for the sake of
abating it. C)n his retirement from business
and from San Francisco to Pasadena in July,
1S85, both branches of the insurance pro-
fession tendered him a handsome acknowl-
edgement of his great services, at a com-
plimentary luncheon, and presented him
with an elegant service of plate. At Pasa-
dena he soon recuperated his waning
strength and became actively engaged in
building operations and the culture of fruits
and in town matters. He contributed large
numbers of volumes to the Library Asso-
ciation, as well as a large amount of money
for its building.
Mr. Hopkins married, in 1S53, .\lmira
Burnett, daughter of Daniel Burnett, a New
York capitalist. Mrs. Hopkins died in 1875,
leaving six children. In 1877 Mr. Hopkins
married Mrs. Jane E. Taylor, of Glaston-
bury, Conn.
He was indebted for his success to his
own native abilities, assiduous self culture,
indomitable persistence and commendable
self-reliance.
He knew how and when to say "No."
In early life he made his choice between
popularity and usefulness, and armed and
equipped with innate honesty and integrity he
fought for his principles with good courage.
It was this characteristic above all others
which made him a marked man in a com-
munity where wealth was God — and where
the pubilic did not question methods, so
long as wealth was attained. Mr. Hopkins
died at Pasadena, Cal., Oct. 4, 1893. Mrs.
Hopkins, three daughters and a son survive
him.
HOPKINS, George Wesley, of San
Francisco, Cal., son of Enos Daniel and
Sally Knight (Titus) Hopkins, was born in
Bethel, Oct. 18, 1852.
He was educated in the common schools
of his native town and the St. Johnsbury
Academy. At the age of eighteen he be-
came bookkeeper for E. & T. Fairbanks &
87
Co., which position he held four years. He
then engaged as bookkeeper in the Frst
National Bank at St. Johnsbury, remaining
there one year. In 1875 he moved to Cali-
fornia and for two years was an accountant
in the general office of the Southern Pacific
R. R. Co. Subsequently mercantile and fire
insurance business occupied his attention
until 1883, when his health failed and he
was compelled to leave San Francisco. Mov-
ing to Los Gatos, he engaged in fruit grow-
ing, and after two years regained his health.
He then returned to San Francisco to take
charge of the wholesale produce and coni-
GEORGE WESLEY
mission business of Getz Brothers & Co.,
occupying this position for two years. He
ne.xt formed a partnership with Nathan C.
Carnall in the real estate business, known as
the Carnall-Hopkins Company, a corpora-
tion of which .Mr. Hopkins was \ice-presi-
dent. He has been instrumental in effecting
some of the most important transfers in both
city and country real estate known in the
history of California. F^arly in 1894 Mr.
Hopkins withdrew from this firm and has
since engaged in the same line of business
without partners.
In December, 1878, he conceived the idea
of forming a society of the sons of his nati\ e
state, and with that end in view, inserted
notices in the daily papers inviting native
Vermonters to meet at the Palace Hotel.
This movement resulted in the organization,
Jan. 6, 1879, of the " Pacific Coast Associa-
tion, Native Sons of Vermont," which is
to-day one of the most nourishing social
societies on the Pacific coast. Mr. Hopkins
was the first secretary of this association,
and held that ofifice until he left the city, on
account of illness, in 1883. He is now one
of its vice-presidents. Much of the success
of this association during its early history
was due to the indefatigable exertions and
good management of Mr. Hopkins.
October 18, 1877, Mr. Hopkins was mar-
ried to Miss Francisea Amelia Schafer,
daughter of John F. and Annie M. Schafer.
They have had four children : Lillian \'ida,
Florence Pearl, George Wesley, Jr., and
-Annie F"rancisca (deceased).
HORR, ROSWELL G., of East Saginaw,
Mich., was born at Waitsfield, Nov. 26,
1830 ; removed with his parents, when four
years of age, to Lorain county, O., where he
passed his early years ; graduated at Antioch
College, the fall after his graduation was
elected clerk of the court of common pleas
of Lorain county, and was re-elected in
i860 ; at the close of his si.K years' clerkship
he was admitted to the bar, and practiced
law two years at Elyria, O. ; in the spring of
1866 removed to Southeastern Alissouri,
where he was engaged in mining for six
years: removed in the spring of 1872 to
East Saginaw, Mich., where he now resides ;
is at present a lumberman and has been
engaged in that business a large portion of
his time since his residence in Michigan ;
was elected to the Forty-sixth Congress as a
Republican and received other elections to
Congress.
MORTON, Valentine b., was born at
Windsor, Jan. 29, 1802 ; was educated at
Partridge's Military Academy, and after that
institution was removed to Middletown,
Conn., he became a teacher therein. He
studied law at Middletown, and was admitted
to the bar in 1830, after which he removed
to and practiced his profession in Pittsburg.
He removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1833,
where he followed his profession for two
years, and in 1835 removed to Pomeroy,
Ohio. He was a member of the Ohio Con-
stitutional Convention of 1850, and in 1854
he was elected a representative to the Thirty-
fourth Congress, and was re-elected to the
Thirty-fifth and Thirty-seventh Congresses.
In 1 86 1 he was a member of the peace con-
gress held in Washington.
HOSFORD, JEDEDIAH, was born in
\'ermont, and having removed to New York,
was elected a Representative in Congress
from that state from 1851 to 1853.
HOUGHTON, Henry Oscar, of Cam-
bridge, Mass., son of William and Marilla
HOUGHTON.
(Clay) Houghton, was born at Sutton,
April 30, 1823.
At the age of thirteen he became an ap-
prentice in the office of the Burlington Free
Press, and laid the foundation of his future
career as the head of America's greatest
publishing house, the Riverside Press, of
Houghton, Mifflin & Co. His brother at
this time (1836) was in college at Burling-
ton, and, listening to his advice, he deter-
mined to acquire a thorough education. At
the age of nineteen he entered the Univer-
sity of Vermont, possessed only of a sub-
stantial preparation and dauntless resolu-
tion. Graduating after four years, he spent
some time in proof-reading and reporting
on the Evening Traveler of Boston, before
he discovered his life work as a master
printer. In 1849 he joined Mr. Bolles in
establishing a printing office in Cambridge,
Mass. The business was soon removed to
the present site of the Riverside Press, on
the banks of the Charles river, and from
/ X .■»?*^
■'"'$
the first Mr. Houghton was its controlling
spirit. The business continued an uninter-
rupted career of success, characterized by
the publication of works that satisfied artis-
tic feeling as well as literary sense, and be-
came by various alliances possessed of valu-
able plates and the literary accumulations
and franchises of a half a century, collected
by leading firms. Among these treasures
were privileges covering the works of an un-
equalled galaxy of the "fixed stars" of
American literature.
A record of the publications of the River-
side Press will show a greater proportion of
the works which make up the best literature
of .America, than can be found in the publi-
cations of other publishers.
" Do it well or not at all," has long been
the motto of Mr. Houghton, and that senti-
ment is built into the very corner stone of
the Riverside Press. It is hard to exaggerate
the influence for good which this establish-
ment has exerted upon the world of letters
and consequently upon the world of men.
A high purpose, followed through a series of
years, does not fail to accomplish high re-
sults.
Mr. Houghton's social life, from the fact
that by necessity he is thrown into con-
fidential relations with many of the bright-
est men and women of the era, is most
charming.
He was president of the Boston Vermont
.Association for eight years.
Mr. Houghton was married, Sept. 12,
1854. His children are : Henry Oscar, Jr.,
Elizabeth Honis, Alberta Manning, and
Justine Frances.
HOWARD, Charles Webb, was bom
in Cabot, Jan. 23, 1831. His father, The-
ron Howard, was a lawyer of good repute
and for some time district attorney. His
mother was Calista Webster.
Mr. Howard had the usual experience of
a New England boy of that period, who be-
longed to an intelligent, well-to-do family,
good opportimities at school, high school
and academy, with genial care and sym-
pathy at home. His early inclination to af-
fairs and business was manifest. Before he
was of age he had a more than common ex-
perience of clerkship, partnership and man-
agement, and in 1852 he was in Galveston,
Texas, for the repair of broken health, hav-
ing given tip business. Health restored, the
spirit of enterprise awakened, California
offered a brilliant field. On the 2 2d of
lanuary, 1853, he sailed from New Orleans
for San Francisco via Grey-Town, the San
Juan River and San Juan, Nicaragua. On
the western coast he was washed ashore
from a burning ship, in which catastrophe
more than two hundred lives were lost.
After tedious delays and hardships he ar-
rived in San Francisco on the ist of April,
Circumstances brought him into intimate
relations with the late Oscar L. Shafter, a
nati\e of Vermont, and judge of the Supreme
Court of California. He married Judge
Shafter's eldest daughter, Emma, in 1862.
The Shafters (the Judge and his brother,
lames McM. Shafter) owned the Point Reyes
ranch, a domain of about 70,000 acres, in
Marin county, Cal. Mr. Howard's rela-
90
tions with Judge Shatter (luickened his mind
and kindled his ambition, and in 1865 he re-
tired from trade and became part owner and
manager of the ranch. His administration
of that property involved many interests
public and private, from leasing lands to the
building of railroads. It was a field for or-
ganizing and executive ability. During this
period Mr. Howard traveled in Europe. On
his return in 1874, he was associated with
the purchase and management of the Spring
Valley water works, which supplies the city
of San Francisco. Upon the transfer of this
property to the new owners in January, 1874,
he was elected president of the corporation
and has held that office continuously since.
The administration of its affairs and property,
valued at §25,000,000, requires accurate
knowledge, a faculty for general oversight,
careful deliberation, quick decision, patience,
firmness and courtesy. Mr. Howard, by
natural endowment and experience, unites
these qualities in an unusual degree.
More than is common among men of busi-
ness, he retains that flexibility and teachable-
ness, that can receive suggestions, modify
opinions and carry acquired knowledge and
experience into new circumstances without
that rigidity of mind that in so many men
becomes a conceit of knowing and cannot be
taught.
The public and private relations of the
corporation of which he is president are con-
tinuously increasing, affording a school of
wisdom, discretion and honor, and a theatre
for their display. In the first Mr. Howard
has been an apt learner, and upon the last
a successful actor.
Mr. Howard was united in marriage, Jan-
uary, 1862, to Emma, daughter of Judge
Oscar L. and Sarah R. Shaffer. Their
children are : Oscar Shaffer, Theron, Maud,
Charles Webb, Jr., Frederick Paxson, and
Harold Shafter.
HOWARD, Jacob M., was born in
Shaftsbury, July 10, 1805 ; was educated at
the academies at Bennington and Brattle-
boro, and at Williams College where he
graduated in 1S50 ; studied law, and taught
in an academy in Massachusetts for a time ;
removed to Michigan in 1832, and came to
the bar of that territory in 1833; in 1S38
he was a member of the Legislature of that
state ; from 1841 to 1843 he was a represen-
tative in Congress from Michigan; in 1854
he was elected attorney-general of the state,
twice re-elected and serving in all six years :
and in 1862 he was elected a senator in
Congress ; was re-elected a senator in Con-
gress for the term commencing in 1865.
HOWARD, William a., was born in
Vermont, and having taken up his residence
in Michigan, was elected a representative
from that state, to the Thirty-fourth and
Thirty-fifth Congresses. Having contested
the seat of G. B. Cooper in i860, he became
a member of the Thirty-sixth Congress. In
1 86 1 he was appointed by President Lincoln
postmaster at Detroit.
HOWE, Charles M., of Mellette, So.
Dak., son of Benjamin C. and Sabra (Wash-
burn) Howe, was born August 4, 1S28, at
\Voodstock.
His education was received in the common
schools. His parents died when he was
about sixteen, and he was thrown upon his
own resources. In 1846 he left Vermont
and passed two years in Massachusetts. In
1848 he went to sea, and for five years made
several voyages in the Atlantic and Indian
Oceans, and in the Arctic upon whaling
ships.
He left the sea- in 1855 and went west,
locating in Rock county. Wis., where he en-
gaged in farming for a few years. He then
engaged in trade at Fulton, Wis., and from
there went to Stoughton in 1863. He again
sold out in 1876, and went into business at
Maze Manie, Wis., as a general trader. In
1881 he went to Dakota, then a territory,
becoming one of the first settlers in what
was afterward the town of Mellette. Here
he opened up a general store and lumber
yard, and has accumulated a large property,
including a farm of four thousand acres, upon
which last year's wheat crop amounted to
thirty-five thousand bushels. At the present
time his business is that of a farmer and
grain dealer. He also owns an elevator of
large capacity and a coal yard. Mr. Howe
has become a leading citizen, though not a
politician. He is a Democrat, and has held
the office of chairman of the board of sup-
ervisors since the organization of the town
in 1884.
In social organizations Mr. Howe is prom-
inent. He was the treasurer of the I. O. O.
F. until elected N. G., and is a Past Grand.
He is also a member of the A. O. U. W.,
and is a Past Master of L'nity Lodge No. 22
of Wisconsin jurisdiction. He is also a
member of the Daughters of Rebecca.
In charitable work Mr. Howe is a leading
worker, and was appointed a member of the
Board of Charities and Correction upon its
organization, and in 189 1 was elected its
president. This most important position he
still holds, the board having charge of the
hospital for insane at Yankton, the peniten-
tiary at Sioux Falls, the reform school at
Plankinton, and the school for deaf mutes at
Sioiix Falls.
Mr. Howe was married in Cabot, Feb. 5,
1855, to iVfary J. Bickford, and has had two.
children, but one of whom is now living.
91
HOWE, Thomas M., was born in Ver-
mont, and, having settled in Pennsyixania,
was elected a representatixe in Congress
from 185 I to 1855.
HUNT, Richard Morris, of New
York City, was born in I'.rattleboro in 1828,
the son of Hon. Jonathan Himt, M. C, and
Jane Maria Leavitt. After his father's
death his mother moved to New Haven and
his education was commenced at French's
School and was continued at the Boston
high school and latin school. In 1843 he
■ WH
'^
RICHARD MORRIS
went to Europe with his family and en-
tered a school at Geneva, commencing the
study of architecture with Alphonse iJarier.
From there he went to Paris and studied
under Hector Lefuel, entering the Ecole des
Beaux Arts in 1845 ^nd remaining until
1S55, with intervals of travel over Europe,
Egypt and Asia Minor. In 1854 and 1S55
he had an appointment from the French
government as Inspecteur aux Travaux de
la Reunion des Tuileries au Louvre.
He returned to America in 1855, and
commenced the practice of his profession by
spending six months with the late Thomas
U. Walter on the capitol at Washington. He
then opened an office in New York with an
architectural course for students on the prin-
ciple of the Paris Ateliers. Messrs. George
B. Post, Professor William R. Ware, Frank
Furniss, Henry Van Brunt, Charles Gam-
brill and others were members of his studio
at this time.
In 1867 he served as a member of the art
jury at the Paris Exposition and in 1876 he
held the same office at the Centennial Ex-
hibition in Philadelphia. Received the
decoration of the Legion of Honor from the
French Government in 1882 and was made
corresponding member of the Institute of
France the following year.
In New York and through the country
generally Mr. Hunt ranks among the first
architects. He is a prominent member of
the Architectural League of New ^'ork, the
New York Chapter of the .American Institute
of Architects and other similar .American
associations. He is one of the three foreign
architects belonging to the Society of St.
Luke, an Italian body of artists which has
the distinction of being the oldest society of
its kind in the world. He is a member of
the Institute of British Architects, the Cen-
tral Society of French Architects, and the
Architects and Engineers' Society of Vienna.
He recently received the gold medal of the
Institute of British .Architects, conferred by
Queen Victoria, being one of seventeen
foreigners to be so honored. He was several
years president of the New York Chapter of
the .American Institute of Architects, and
was elected to the presidency of the Insti-
tute on the death of the late Thomas V.
Walter in 1887.
Among Mr. Hunt's principal works are :
Lenox Library building, New York City ;
Presbyterian Hospital, New York City ;
Delaware & Hudson Canal building, New
York City ; Tribune building. New York
City ; residences for William K. Vanderbilt,
Esq., New York City and Newport, R. I. ;
residence for Ogden Goelet, Esq., Newport,
R. I. : residence for C. O. D. Iselin, Esq.,
New York City ; residence for Henry G.
Marquand, Esq., New York City ; chateau
at Baltimore, N. C, for George W. Vander-
bilt : U. S. Academic building, West Point,
N. Y. ; U. S. Gymnasium building. West
Point, N. Y. ; U. S. Naval Observatory,
Washington, D. C. ; Yorktown monument,
Yorktown, ^'a. ; Liberty monument. New
York harbor and Soldiers and Sailors monu-
ment, Portland, Me.
He received the degree of LL. 1). from
Harvard LTniversity in 1892.
The New York Sun, in a recent editorial,
says of him : "We congratulate our dis-
tinguished fellow-citizen, Richard Morris
Hunt, the architect, upon his election as a
foreign associate member of the most illus-
trious body of artists, the .Academic des
Beaux-.Arts, of the Institute of France. It is
a merited honor. He is a worthy member.
Mr Hunt is a man of genius, and his works
bear the seal of it. He has devoted his life
to the noblest of all the fine arts, that art
which, sufficient unto itsell", takes both
HUNTINGTON.
HUNTINGTON.
sculpture and painting as its adjuvants. I'"or
forty years he has stood foremost among
American architects. He has rendered
matchless service to the art of architecture
in our country, an art, which, at the time he,
when but fifteen years old, began to study it,
had hardly an existence among us. We need
not sound the praises of the artist who left
the Green Mountain state in his boyhood,
and within the past half century has won a
name of pre-eminent rank among the archi-
tects of the world, and now modestly wears
the honors that belong to a member of the
Institute of France, as well as those that ap-
pertain to the membership of British, Aus-
trian and Italian associations of artists.
Long live our accomplished and amiable
friend, and may yet other honors be his."
HUNTINGTON, De Witt Clinton,
of Lincoln, Neb., son of Ebenezer and
Lydia (Peck) Huntington, was born in
Townshend, April 27, 1830. His parents
were from Connecticut. His father was a
member of the Windham countv bar, but
owned a farm, and gave each of his sons a
practical education in that useful industry.
Dr. Huntington was educated in the schools
of his native town, and afterward in a course
in ancient and modern languages at Roches-
ter, N. Y.
In early life he connected himself with
the Methodist Episcopal church, and in 1853
was received into its ministry. During his
residence in \'ermont he served churches of
that denomination in Thetford, Proctorsville,
and Brattleboro. At the close of his pastor-
ate at Brattleboro he was transferred to the
conference which included the western part
of New York and a portion of Pennsylvania.
Within this territory he has spent three years
in Syracuse, N. Y., five in Bradford, Pa., four
in Buffalo, N. Y., and thirteen in Rochester.
In 1868 the Genesee College conferred ipon
him the degree of D. D. He has twice
filled the office of presiding elder, and has
represented his annual conference in the
legislative body of the church at six success-
ive quadrennial sessions. In 1881 he was
appointed a delegate to the Ecumenical
Methodist Conference held in London, dur-
ing which year he made a somewhat ex-
tended tour through the different countries
of Europe. In 1891 he accepted the invi-
tation of Trinity Church, in Lincoln, Neb.,
to become its pastor, which church is his
field of labor at the present time.
Dr. Huntington has written largely for the
religious journals of his denomination and
frequently for the secular press. Quite a
number of his sermons ha^e been published
in pamphlet form, chiefly upon questions of
the day. Those upon "The Death of Presi-
dent Lincoln," "The Wrongs of the Liquor
Traffic," "The Cotton King and the Rum
King," "Hell Not Reformatory," and "Selfish
Religion," have been widely circulated and
extensively quoted. He has practiced the
theory which he avows : that the pulpit is an
educating force, and that all subjects which
concern vitally the well-being of man belong
to its discussions. This view has led him not
only to a wide range of topics in his own
pulpit, but frequently to address meetings
upon political and other public questions.
He began his citizen life by voting for a
Free Soil candidate for President, and from
its organization to 1876 was a firm adherent
of the Republican party. At that time he
severed his connection with the Republican
and ga\e his influence to the Prohibition
party believing, as he said, that the Republi-
can party would never take up the temper-
ance reform. For the success of the Pro-
hibition party he has since labored with pen
and voice. In 1886 he was placed in nom-
ination for Congress by the Prohibitionists of
the Thirty-fourth Congressional district of
New York, and received the unprecedented
support of something more than 5,500 votes.
In the following year his name was placed at
the head of the Prohibition state ticket as
secretary of state and received nearly 42,000
\otes. Both these nominations were, how-
ever, against his ad\ice, and the latter in the
face of his positive declinature.
Mr. Huntington has been twice married.
His first wife was Miss Mary E. Moore, daugh-
HUTCHINSON.
HCn HINSON.
93
ter of Salmon J. and l-',lisabeth ^[oore, of
Chelsea, by whom he has two living children :
Thomas M., cashier of the Maverick iiank,
Gordon, Neb., and Horace 1)., a merchant
in the same town. His second wife was
Miss Frances H. Davis, daughter of Hiram
and Harriet F. Davis, of Rochester, N. V.,
by whom he has one daughter : Mary
Frances.
HUTCHINSON, HENRY E., of Brooklyn,
N. Y., was born at Windsor in 1S37. He is
the son of Rev. Elijah Hutchinson and
Laura Manning Skinner. The Rev. Elijah
Hutchinson was pastor of the Baptist church
at Windsor for many years, and held the
offices of president of the Vermont Baptist
Convention, chaplain of the state prison,
trustee of the public schools, and was widely
known in the state. Rev. Elisha Hutchin-
son, the grandfather of H. E. Hutchinson,
was a member of the first class which took
the full course at Dartmouth College, grad-
uated in 1775, was a chaplain in the war of
m m^.
HUTCHINSON.
1812, and preached through an active minis-
terial life in the states of New Hampshire,
Connecticut and New York. Mr. Hutchin-
son's grandfather on his maternal side, John
Payson Skinner, was one of the prominent
citizens of \Mndsor in the first half of the
century, owning stage lines before the days
of railroads.
Henry E. Hutchinson, the subject of this
sketch, fitted for college at the Windsor
high school, entered Dartmouth where he
remained two years, and was transferred to
Amherst where he graduated with honor in
1858. He went to .-Mabama and taught for
a time in the Franklin .Academy at Mont-
gomery, read law and was admitted to the
bar. Returning to the North he entered the
law office of Rufus F. Andrews, in New
York, and was admitted to the New York
bar on examination, in 1862. Meanwhile
he had been made assistant to the notary of
the Broadway Bank, and was soon after ap-
pointed assistant assessor of United States
Interna! Revenue for the fourth district of
the state of New York. Mr. Hutchinson's
residence has been in Brooklyn since he
came from Alabama, and a few years after
he went to that city he became secretary of
the Mechanics' Savings Bank, a position
which he filled until 1877, when the bank
closed its business, going into voluntary lii|-
uidation and paying all claims in full. On
Good Friday, 1877, Mr. Hutchinson was ap-
pointed cashier of the Brooklyn Bank and
remaining in this position until elected
president in 1S90, upon the retirement of
Elias Lewis, Jr. During his connection with
the bank it has greatly prospered. He is
also a trustee of the Hamilton Trust Co.,
and of the Long Island Safe Deposit Co.
Mr. Hutchinson has long been prominent
in the social and musical life of Brooklyn.
In 1S63 he was married to Miss Ella Staf-
ford, a daughter of J. R. Stafford of Brook-
lyn. Of this marriage two sons and two
daughters are living and four children have
died.
Mrs. Hutchinson is a trustee of the Brook-
lyn nursery and is active in the charitable
work of the city. Mr. and Mrs. Hutchinson
are communicants in the Protestant Episco-
pal church and for thirteen years Mr. Hutch-
inson was organist and choir-master of St.
Peter's Church. He was also one of the or-
ganizers and first musical director of the
Brooklyn Amateur Opera Society, organized
in 1875, whose performances have achieved
a metropolitan re])utation. Mr. Hutchinson
has been treasurer and president of the
Brooklyn Choral Society, one of the largest
musical societies in the country, and owing
its honorable position largely to his efforts.
He is a member of the L'nion League Club
of Brooklyn ; joined the .Alpha Delta Phi
secret society in college and is a member of
the Alpha Delta Phi Club in New York ; is a
member of the New England Society of
Brooklyn ; of the Brooklyn Society of \'er-
monters : a trustee of the Brooklyn Dispen-
sary, and is a trustee of the Union Church at
Arveme-by-the-Sea, Long Island, his summer
home.
94
IDE, George Henry, of Milwaukee,
Wis., son of Joseph A. and Lucretia Ann
(Fairbanks) Ide, was born Jan. 21, 1839, at
St. Johnsbury.
Mr. Ide was a farmer's boy and li\ed at
his birthplace until eleven years of age when
the family moved to Newport, where they
lived eight years. In the meantime he at-
tended the district school and Derby Acad-
emy. The family again returned to St.
Johnsbury, and he was fitted for Dartmouth
College, where he was graduated, and in iS6g
graduated from the Andover Theological
Seminary.
dren were born to them : Carrie Sanborn,
and Charles Edward.
In 1876 Mr. Ide was again married to
Kate Emma, daughter of Chandler C. and
Hannah (Cogswell) Bowles of Newport.
The following from the Chicago Inter-
Ocean gives an insight into the character
and personality of Mr. Ide : " Rev. Dr. Ide,
the pastor, is extremely popular out of his
church as well as in it. He is a scholar, an
orator, an all-round athlete, a conscientious,
hard-working pastor, and a genial gentleman
— a fortunate and unusual combination. He
is reasonably proud of his church and people,
as his people are of him. Mr. Ide may be
described as a tolerant theologian rather than
a liberal theologian. He is considered to be
rather conservative in a doctrinal way, but
there is none of the intolerance about him
which distinguishes many who are more lib-
eral as to doctrine."
INGALLS, Daniel Bowman, of Clin-
ton, Mass., son of James and Mary (Cass)
Ingalls, was born in Sutton, May 25, 1829.
GEORGE HENRY
His first pastorate was in Hopkinton,
Mass., where he remained seven years. At
the close of this period he was called to the
Central Church in Lawrence, Mass., and
labored there four years, when he was called
to the Grand Avenue Congregational Church
of Milwaukee, Wis., his present pastorate,
and where he has won more than local fame.
Mr. Ide enlisted in 1862 and was orderly
sergeant of Company K, isth Vt. Regt.,
Col. Proctor commanding. The service of
this regiment was mostly confined to Vir-
ginia. He is a member of Wolcott Post, G.
A. R., of Milwaukee. He is a trustee of
Beloit College and a corporate member of
the American board.
Mr. Ide was married March 16, 1871, to
Mary J., daughter of Dr. Thomas and Har-
riet Sanborn, at New])ort, N. H. Two chil-
DANIEL BOWMAN INGALLS.
He received his education in the common
schools, and upon his father's removal to
Connecticut, when he was sixteen years of
age, he was apprenticed to learn the trade of
machinist, but at the end of two years his
employers failed and he removed to Clinton,
Mass., where Horatio and E. B. Bigelow were
starting the manufacture of ginghams and
inckaha.m.
95
carpets, and in these mills, Mr. Ingalls wiirked
on machinery until 1849, when he again
changed his locality to \\'indsor, \'t., where
he found similar employment in the gun
factory of Messrs. Robbins & Lawrence.
While here he was impressed with the won-
derful stories of the California gold dis-
coveries and went to the Pacific coast and
for two years he labored in that region,
partly in the mines and partly at his trade in
Sacramento.
On his return to Clinton, he commenced
the study of dentistry and later graduated at
the Boston Dental College. His profession
has engaged his attention since 1S59, and as
a proof of his success may be mentioned the
fact that he has been president of the Massa-
chusetts Dental Society and also of the Mer-
rimac Valley Dental Association. He had the
honor of being a member of the state World's
Fair committee, which prepared for the great
dental congress held in Chicago Sept. 10,
1893.
Mr. Ingalls was married in Newbury, Oct.
22, 1850, to Rebecca Nelson, daughter of
Mason and iNIary (Nelson) Randall. They
have had six children, all of whom have
passed into the silent land.
A staunch Republican, Mr. Ingalls was a
member of his town committee when Abra-
ham Lincoln was first elected. He was sent
to the Massachusetts House of Representa-
tives in 1880 and to the Senate in 1 881 -'8 2,
serving upon the public health committee
and was chairman of the committee on
claims.
For a number of years he was a member
of the investment committee of the Clinton
Savings Bank, and was a director in the
Lancaster National Bank, Clinton, to within
one year of the time that bank was wrecked
by its president, and at the time of his re-
tirement from office he made a written state-
ment to the stockholders in relation to the
irregularities of that officer, who at the time
held the office of cashier. Mr. Ingalls is now
president of the Clinton Co-operative Bank.
For thirty years Mr. Ingalls has been a
member of the Baptist church in Clinton,
and for more than that period a Free and
Accepted Mason, having served as Master
ofTMnity Lodge of that town and twice ap-
pointed D. D. O. M. under the Crand
Lodge of Massachusetts.
Though an adopted citizen of the old l!ay
state, Mr. Ingalls still retains an ardent affec-
tion for his native hills and this motive led
him more than a decade ago to take an ac-
tive part in the organization of a Vermont
society, of which for many years he was the
honored president.
INGRAHAM, William H., of Water-
town, Mass., was born in Peacham in iSiS,
the son of Paul and 'I'hankful (Sears) Ingra-
ham. His father came from New Bedford,
where the Ingrahams are well-known settlers.
He received his education at the Cale-
donia county grammar school, where he
was fitted for college. Instead of continuing
a collegiate course he went to Framingham,
Mass., to work for his older brother, who
owned a store. Here he remained until he
was twenty-one years of age. Six months
later, in company with his second brother,
he bought out the store, and they carried on
the business for several years. Later they
branched out in the manufacture of shoes,
and at one time employed fifty men. The
firm prospered until the well-remembered
financial difficulties in 1848, when, with
numerous other small houses, they were
crippled and obliged to sell out. Mr. In-
graham then went to \\'atertown, where he
has since lived, and was engaged in various
pursuits until 1879, when he opened an
insurance office in W'atertown, which he still
conducts.
Mr. Ingraham is a highly respected citizen
of Watertown, and as such has been honored
by nearly every office in the gift of the
people. In i848-'i852 and i88o-'93 he
served as one of the assessors ; 1874, 1875
and 1879 as selectman ; town clerk, 184S-
'62 and i88o-'9o; he was a representative
from his town for two terms, 1879 and 1880,
in the General Assembly ; a justice of the
peace for a quarter of a century and a trus-
tee of the Watertown Savings Bank, being at
the present time a member of its board of
investment.
Mr. Ingraham was married at Wayland,
Mass., in 1S43, to Caroline C, daughter of
F^phraim and Caroline (Hubbard) Brigham.
Their children are : Ralph \\'aldo, Francis,
and .-Mice Choate.
Socially Mr. Ingraham has been very
prominent. He is a member of the Water-
town L'nitarian Club connected with the
First Parish Church, was its treasurer in
1 88 1 and is at present a trustee of the
ministerial fund ; is a member of the Water-
town Historical Society and has been a
prominent member of the I. O. O. F. for
forty years. A recent article in the Boston
Herald says of him : " He is kind and
generous and never fails to act when charity
so demands. He is one of the most re-
spected and honored men in the vicinity."
96
JOHNSON, Harvey A., was bom in
Vermont, and having removed to Ohio was
elected a representative in Congress from
that state from 1S53 to 1855.
JONES, Gamaliel Leonard, of Audu-
bon, Minn., son of Norman and Elizabeth
(Gibbs) Jones, was born April 11, 1S43, in
Hubbardton.
LEONARD JONES-
Mr. Jones was educated in the common
schools, Castleton Seminary, and Middlebury
College, graduating from college in 1868, at
the age of twenty-five. Since that time he
has almost constantly been occupied in
teaching, passing many years in the vicin-
ity of Dayton, Ohio, and becoming principal
of Winchester (Ohio) Union School in 1873.
Upon the death of his father in 1S74 he
went to Lake Eunice, Minn., purchasing a
large tract of land, which he carried on while
attending to his great work as a teacher in
the vicinity. For four years he was princi-
pal of Lake Park graded school, and was
afterwards principal of the Audubon graded
school, at the same time doing much work of
a public nature as town clerk and justice of
the peace, county superintendent of schools,
member of a committee for selecting text-
books for the schools of his county, and as
president of the temperance association, and
secretary of his church for the Northern
Minnesota district.
Social and political organizations have also
taken his attention to some extent and his
work for the grange in its early days was
prominent. In 1882 he was made an honor-
ary member of Lake Park Literary Society,
and has contributed many articles to the press,
and often by request has delivered public
addresses of a political, religious, educational
or scientific nature. It has ever been the
aim of his life to aid in giving liberty and re-
lief to the oppressed, establishing equal rights
and impartial justice for all ; promoting every
measure which tends to the prosperity of his
country as a whole, and elevating the masses,
morallv and intellectually.
Mr. Jones was married August 19, 1868, to
.Mthea Maria Pike, in Weston, daughter of
Josiah Wooster and Nancy Maria (Har-
mon) Pike. They have five children : Joseph
Charles, Mary Caroline, Edward Harrison
(deceased in infancy), Earl Grant, and Lulu
Althea Julia.
KASSON, JOHN ADAM, of Des Moines,
Iowa, was born at Charlotte, Jan. 11, 1822 ;
graduated at the University of Vermont ;
studied law in Massachusetts, and practiced
the profession in St. Louis, Mo., until 1857,
when he removed to Iowa. In 1858 he was
appointed a commissioner to report upon
the condition of the executive departments
of Iowa; assisted in 1859 in organizing the
State Bank of Iowa, and became director for
that state. In 1S61 he was appointed As-
sistant Postmaster-Cieneral, which office he
resigned in 1862, when he was selected a
representative from Iowa to the Thirty-
eighth Congress, serving on the committee
of ways and means. During the summer of
1S63 he was appointed by President Lincoln
a commissioner to the International Postal
Congress at Paris, returning in .August. Re-
elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress ; in
1867 again a V. S. postal commissioner to
Europe, where he made postal treaties with
seven European go\ernments ; six times a
member of the Iowa Legislature ; again
elected to Congress in 1872 and re-elected
in 1874 ; he declined a renomination and in
1877 was appointed envoy to negotiate treat-
ies with Servia and Roumania ; was again
elected to Congress in 1880 and 1882 ; re-
signed in 1884 to accept the appointment of
Minister Plenipotentiary to Germany ; rep-
resented the L'nited States at the Congo
KELLOGG.
Conference in Berlin : was chief of the Sa-
moan Commission at Berlin. He now de-
votes his time to literary pursuits.
KELLOGG, William Pitt, of New
Orleans, La., was born at Orwell, Dec. 8,
1831. His grandfather, Saxton Kellogg,
married Sallie Fuller, a descendant of Ben-
jamin Franklin, and when a comparatively
young man removed from Connecticut to
Vermont. His father was the Rev. Sherman
Kellogg, a well-known Congregational cler-
gyman, located for many years at Montpelier.
Many of his relati\es now reside in Vermont
and have since an early day been identified
with this state.
PITT KELLOGG.
He was educated at the Norwich Military
University. In 1850 he removed to Peoria,
111., where he read law with E. G. Johnson,
a prominent lawyer formerly of Vermont ;
was admitted to the bar in 1853 and prac-
ticed law until March, i86i,when President
Lincoln appointed him chief justice of Ne-
braska.
On the breaking out of the war, at the
request of Governor Yates, he returned to
Illinois and raised the 7th Regt. of 111. Cav-
alry, President Lincoln, at the request of
Governor Yates, having given him six
months' leave of absence for this purpose.
In July, 186 r. Governor Yates having com-
missioned him colonel, his regiment was
mustered into service and ordered to report
to General Grant at Cairo. Mr. Kellogg
KELLOGG. 97
was soon after ordered by ( leneral Grant to
take command of Cape Girardeau, Mo. He
was in command of that ])ost until (leneral
Pope moved on Fort Thompson, when Mr.
Kellogg with his regiment joined him, tak-
ing part in the operations resulting in the
capttire of Fort Thompson and New Mad-
rid until ordered to Pittsburg Landing im-
mediately after the battle of Shiloh. Hecom-
manded a cavalry brigade under General
Granger, composed in part of his own regi-
ment, in the operations about Farmington,
Corinth, and Grand Junction. In the sum-
mer of 1862, his health having completely
failed, he became so much of an invalid that
he was compelled to resign.
President Lincoln having allowed the
position of chief justice to remain open Mr.
Kellogg returned to Nebraska and remained
until January, 1863, discharging the duties
of chief justice, when he was requested by
Governor Yates to return to Illinois and
accompany the Governor on a tour of inspec-
tion of the Illinois soldiers in the field.
They visited General Grant's headquarters,
and on Feb. 15, 1863, Mr. Kellogg was re-
quested by General (Jrant to proceed im-
mediately to Washington with important
papers, from General Grant to President
Lincoln. He accepted the mission, and
armed with the following pass, written by
General Grant, which Mr. Kellogg still re-
tains, he went to Washington and delivered
the papers :
Headquarters Department of
Tennessee before Vicksburg,
Feb. 15, 1863.
The bearer hereof. Colonel Kellogg, is
permitted to pass through all parts of this
department, stopping at such military posts
as he may desire, and travelling free on
chartered steamers and military railroads.
Good until countermanded.
[Signed] IT. S. Grant,
Major-General Commanding.
Mr. Kellogg held the office of chief justice
of Nebraska until .April, 1865, when Presi-
dent Lincoln tendered him the appointment
of collector of New Orleans. Mr. Kellogg
continued to serve as collector until July,
1868, when a Republican State Legislature
having been chosen, he was elected LI. S.
Senator from Louisiana, taking his seat July
17, 1868. He served on the committee on
commerce and Pacific railroads, was chair-
man of the committee on levees of the Mis-
sissippi river, the first committee on the sub-
ject appointed by the Senate under a reso-
lution introduced by Mr. Kellogg. He was
the author of the Texas Pacific railroad act,
having introduced that bill and was foremost
in securing its passage. He remained in
the \J. S. Senate until the fall of 1872, when
having been nominated for Crovernor bv the
Republican party, he resigned. 'Ihe long
and notable struggle that followed as a con-
sequence of that gubernatorial contest, re-
sulting in Mr. Kellogg's recognition as Gov-
ernor of Louisiana by both houses of Con-
gress, is a matter of general history.
Mr. Kellogg served as Governor of Louis-
iana until June, 1877, when he was again
elected to the L'. S. Senate, and served as
senator until 1883. He ser\ed on the com-
mittees on commerce and territories, and
was chairman of the committee on Pacific
railroads. At the end of his second term as
U. S. Senator he was elected to the House of
Representatives from the great sugar district
of Louisiana, receiving nearly the entire vote
of the planting interests of that district. In
1884, at the expiration of his term in the
House, Mr. Blaine having been defeated for
President, Mr. Kellogg retired from active
politics.
Mr. Kellogg was a delegate in the conven-
tion that organized the Republican party in
Illinois in 185 J. He was a delegate at the
convention in Bloomington which nominated
Governor Bissell, the first Republican Gov-
ernor elected in Illinois. He also led the
delegation from Fulton county in the Repub-
lican state convention in i860, which nomi-
nated Governor Yates, the war Governor, and
he was himself chosen by the same conven-
tion as one of Mr. Lincoln's presidential
electors. He was a delegate-at-large to the
Chicago national convention in 1868, which
nominated General Grant the first time. He
has since been a delegate and chairman of
the Louisiana delegation at every Republican
national convention, including the last con-
vention of June, 1892, at Minneapolis.
He was one of the 306 delegates who
voted for General Grant to the last in the
national convention of 1S80.
He was married, June 6, 1865, to Mary E.,
daughter of Andrew Wills, who emigrated at
an early age to Illinois from Pennsylvania,
and who was a member of the famous Wills
family connected with the history of Gettys-
burg, Pa. They have no children. Mr.
Kellogg has four sisters residing in Iowa
and one sister and a brother residing in
Kansas — they all have children.
Mr. Kellogg now resides a portion of the
year in Louisiana, where he is connected
with sugar planting, and the remainder of
the year in Washington, D. C, where he has
large real estate interests.
KIDDER, JEFFERSON P., was born at
Braintree, was trained to agricultural pursuits,
taught school, received a classical education,
graduating at the Norwich LIniversity, and
was a tutor therein : received in 1848 the de-
gree of M. .A. from the L'niversity of Ver-
mont ; studied and practiced law ; was a
member of the state Constitutional Conven-
tion in 1847 : was a member of the state
Senate of \'ermont in 1847 to 1848; was
Lieutenant-Governor of \'ermont in 1853-
1854 ; removed to St. Paul, Minn., in 1857;
was elected a provisional delegate from Da-
kota Territory while visiting there in 1859;
was a member of the Minnesota House of
Representatives in )86i, 1863,-1864; was
appointed in 1865 an associate justice of the
Supreme Court for Dakota Territory, and re-
moved there, and was re-appointed in 1869
and again in 1873, and resigned after having
discharged the duties of that office for ten
years ; and was elected a delegate from Da-
kota in the Forty-fourth Congress as a Repub-
lican : was re-elected to the Forty-fifth Con-
gress.
KNAPP, CHAUNCY L., was born in Ber-
lin, Feb. 26, 1S09. He commenced life by
serving an apprenticeship in a printing office
in Montpelier ; was elected reporter for the
Legislature in 1833 ; was co-proprietor and
editor for some years of the State Journal ;
was elected secretary of the state in 1836,
in which capacity he served four years ; and
removing to Massachusetts, he was elected
secretary of the Massachusetts Senate in
1851 ; and was elected to the Thirty-fourth
and re-elected to the Thirty-fifth Congress.
To him was awarded the credit, while edit-
ing the Journal, of first nominating General
Harrison for the presidency, which resulted
in his obtaining the electoral votes of Ver-
mont four years before he was really elected.
KNAPP, Dexter J., of Sioux Falls,
South Dakota, son of Gardner and Fanny
(Alton) Knapp, was born in Dummerston,
Nov. 30, 1844.
Availing himself of the ordinary school
advantages of his native place, and with an
inherent high sense of honor and integrity
such as has placed many Green Mountain
boys in eminent positions in life, Mr. Knapp
began his business career as a dealer in silks
at New Haven, Conn., in i860. Prospering
in this he went westward in 1867 and locat-
ed at Minneapolis, Minn., and engaged in
the loan and lumber business. Profiting by
his experience in the past and his connec-
tion with large business transactions, he
remained here until 1877 when he went to
Sioux Falls, Dakota Territory, and began ac-
tive operations in real estate. This town, at
the time but a mere hamlet, afforded a fine
field for his business sagacity and he began
buying large tracts of lands adjacent to
Sioux Falls, also building dwellings on the
plateaux overlooking the Big Sioux river,
which a rapidly increasing population made
necessary. January i, 1894, Sioux Falls had
a population of 15,000, and is located in one
99
of the finest wheat and corn behs hi the
world.
Mr. Knapp was married, Dec. 24, 1S77,
DEXTER J. KNAPP.
to Fanny M. Harmon, of Sioux Falls, South
Dakota, and has two daughters : Bessy, and
Helen.
KNAPP, Lyman E., of Sitka, Alaska,
son of Hiram and Elvira (Stearns) Kna])p,
was born in Somerset, Nov. 5, 1837. He
was the fourth in direct line of descent from
Capt. Joseph Knapp, of Taunton, Mass.,
who commanded a company in Colonel Tit-
comb's regiment, war of the Revolution.
His grandfather, Cyrus Knapp, remoxed to
Dover about the beginning of the nineteenth
century. His first ancestor in this country
came from Yorkshire, England, and settled at
Brighton, Mass., in 1640.
The subject of this sketch prepared for
college at Burr Seminary, Manchester, and
graduated with honors from Middlebury
College in 1862. Directly after graduation
he enlisted as a private in Co. I, i6th Regt.
Vt. \'ols., for nine months, but was elected
and commissioned captain of the company
before mustered into the United States ser-
vice. He received his baptism of fire in the
battle of Gettysburg and was wounded in his
right shoulder by a bullet from a spherical
case shot during the famous bayonet charge of
the 1 6th Vt. Regt., to meet the rebel charge
under Pickett. The wound proved not to
be serious, and after discharge from his
first service he re-enlisted, raised a company
of volunteers at Townshend, which was
assigned as Co. F, to the 1 7th Regt. Vt.
Vols., and in command of that company he
served in Grant's famous Wilderness cam-
paign of 1864. The 17th saw very severe
service, was engaged in fourteen of the
historic battles of the war and suffered
greater losses in killed and wounded, during
its si.xteen months service, than most of the
regiments which put in their full terms of
three and four years. Captain Knapp was
engaged with his regiment in all these bat-
tles and was wounded in two of them,
Spottsylvania and the capture of Petersburg,
though not severely. He was promoted
major, Oct. 25, 1864, and lieutenant-colonel
a few days later. He also received a brevet
commission from the President "for gallant
and meritorious action " in the battle of
Petersburg, April 2, 1865.
At the close of the war he engaged for
a short time in teaching at Burr & Burton
seminary, Manchester, then assumed the
control and management of the Middlebury
Register, and he was editor of that journal
for thirteen years. During his work in con-
nection with that paper, he read law, was
admitted to practice in the Vermont courts
in 1876, which practice he continued, resid-
ing in Middlebury, until his removal to
Alaska to assume the duties of Governor of
that territory, to which he was appointed on
the 1 2th day of April, 1889.
In i872-'73 he was oneof theclerks of the
Vermont House of Representatives. In
i886-'87 he was an influential member of
the same body. For twenty years, from
1869 to 1889, he was the trial justice of the
peace of his county, before whom the more
important and difficult cases were brought
for adjudication. He was register of pro-
bate for two years and became judge of the
same court in 1879, which office he held by
successive elections until he resigned in
1889, to accept the office of Governor of
.•\laska.
He was chairman of the Republican com-
mittee of his county eight years, and has
served as member of the school board for his
district ; chairman of the county temperance
society ; vice-president of the Western Ver-
mont Congregational Club ; town clerk for a
number of years ; treasurer of the .Addison
county grammar school ; chairman of the
business committee of the Middlebury Con-
gregational Religious Society ; town assessor
of taxes ; chairman of the county evangeliza-
tion committee, and connected with every
movement for the promotion of morals and
philanthropy which came within his reach.
Sometimes he made addresses on occasions
like the Fourth of Tuly, Memorial Day, relig-
ious conventions, temperance meetings and
KNOWLTON.
KXOWLTON.
society anniversaries, and wrote editorial
articles and communications for periodicals
and newspapers other than his own. These
articles were highly appreciated and much
sought after.
In college he was a member of the Delta
Upsilon fraternity and belonged to the hon-
orary Alumni society, Phi Beta Kappa, after
graduation, and has held the ofifice of presi-
dent of the local chapter. Soon after the
war he became a member of the G. A. R.
and served several terms as commander of
his post. His interest in the work of the
learned societies never flagged. He is still
a member of four historical societies, includ-
ing the Alaska Historical Society of which
he is president, of the National Geographic
Society, of one ethnological society, of the
American Institute of Civics of New York,
whose object is to promote a higher and
purer citizenship ; and has made geology and
mineralogy the special study of many of his
summer vacations.
In addition to his professional and official
work he had an extensive loan business of
which he conducted the eastern and western
agencies in Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Da-
kota, and Washington, and he had the man-
agement of several trust estates. All these
business connections he laid aside in 18S9
on leaving for Alaska.
He became Governor of Alaska on taking
the oath of office, April 20, 1S89, since
which time he has conducted the business
of the executive of that territory. The
duties of that ofifice have been exceedingly
onerous, and the responsibilities heavy and
wearing. He has made four extended
annual reports, w-hich have been published
and have become the authority on matters
embraced therein.
Politically his sympathies were ever with
the Republican party. His first vote for
President was cast for Abraham Lincoln in
i860.
He became a member of the Congrega-
tional church at the age of fifteen, and he
ever remained devotedly attached to the
principles of that faith.
He was united in marriage, Jan. 23, 1865,
at Washington, D. C, with Martha A.,
daughter of Ebenezer and Corcina (Jones)
Severance. .'Vs the fruit of this marriage
they have : George E., Frances A., Lyman
Edwin, and May A.
KNOWLTON, Frank Hall, of Wash-
ington, D. C, son of Julius A. and Mary
Ellen (Blackmer) Knowlton, was born Sept.
2, i860, at Brandon.
He was educated in the public schools of
Brandon and Middlebury College, graduating
from the latter institution in July, 1884, with
the degree of B. S., the first conferred by
this college, and in 1887 received the de-
gree of M. S. from the same college. In
1894 he obtained the degree of Ph. D. from
the Columbian L^niversity in Washington,
D. C. This degree was the first one of the
kind granted by the university as represent-
ing a course of study accomplished.
Immediately after graduation in August,
1884, he went to Washington, D. C, to be-
come an assistant in the department of bot-
any in the U. S. National Museum, a posi-
tion which he held until July, 1887, when he
was made assistant curator of the depart-
ment. He continued in this position until
.April, 1889, when he resigned to assume
charge of the botany of the Century Diction-
ary, but his health failed and the following
six months from July, 1889, were spent in
active field work in New Mexico, Arizona
and California as assistant paleontologist of
the U. S. geological survey. In 1887 he was
elected professor of botany in Columbian
University, Washington, D. C, w-hich posi-
tion he now holds. He was also engaged in
preparing the botanical definitions for the
Standard Dictionary, a work now approach-
ing completion, and has written over 20,000
definitions for it. He is one of the editors of
the American Geologist, and has written many
valuable scientific papers, notably, " Fossil
Wood and Lignite of the Potomac Forma-
tion," " Fossil \\ood of Arkansas," " Addi-
tions to the Flora of Washington," " Birds of
Brandon, Vt.," " Flora of Nushagak, Alaska" ;
a complete bibliography of his works would
number 125 articles, including papers and
reviews. His contributions to leading scien-
tific journals have been extensive and include
the American Journal of Science ; American
Geologist, geological survey bulletin ; Journal
of Geology ; The Auk ; Proceedings LI. S.
National Museum: Smithsonian Reports;
The Botanical Gazette ; Forest and Stream ;
Garden and Forest, etc.
At college he was a D. K. E. and has since
been elected to membership in the following
named societies : American Association for
the Advancement of Science, American
Geological Society, American Ornithologists'
Union, Society of Naturalists of Eastern
L'nited States, Sons of the American Revolu-
tion, Philosophical, Biological, Geological,
Botanical and Ornithological societies of
Washington, D. C.
Prof. Knowlton was married at Kingman,
Kan., Sept. 27, 1887, to Annie Sterling,
daughter of William A. and Lydia Moorhead.
She died Jan. 26, 1890, leaving one child:
Margaret. He was married a second time
at Laurel, Md., Oct. 3, 1893, to Rena Geni-
veve, daughter of Isaac B. and Lizzie W.
Ruff.
LADl), Charles Douglass, of san
Francisco, Cal., son of Seneca and Mary S.
(Varnuni) Ladd, was born in Danville, Sept.
3, 1849.
He was educated at the publfc schools of
Danville during the years of his minority,
and learned the blacksmith's and gunsmith's
trades. In 1869 he went to California, and
for several years worked as gunsmith and
blacksmith, until in 1877 he established him-
self in business at San Francisco as a dealer
in firearms and sporting goods. In 1881 he
removed to his present large establishment
at 529 Kearney street, where he still con-
ducts the same business in connection with
the fur business, which he has added during
the last few years. Mr. Ladd is the owner of
several schooners which are engaged prin-
cipally in the fur trade.
He is independent and liberal in regard
to politics, and votes with the party having
the best candidate for otifice ; hence, he says,
" I am both Democrat and Republican."
Mr. Ladd married Mary S. Lyon of Wood-
stock, Conn.
LANGDON, William Chauncy,
grandson of the late Hon. Chauncy Langdon
of Castleton, and son of John Jay and Har-
riette Curtis (Woodward) Langdon, being
descended on the mother's side from the
Wheelocks and Woodwards of Dartmouth
College, N. H., w-as born in Burlington,
August 19, 1 83 1.
His childhood and youth were almost
wholly passed at the South, chiefly in New
Orleans, where he was educated by his moth-
er. He fitted for college at Castleton (Vt.)
Seminary and in 1850 graduated at Transyl-
vania L'niversity, Le.xington, Ky.
Giving his early manhood to scientific pur-
suits, he was for a few months instructor in
astronomy and chemistry at Shelby College,
Ky., from which post he was appointed in
1851, asaistant examiner, and, afterwards,
chief examiner, in the V. S. Patent Office.
He resigned this office in 1856 ; practiced as
a councilor in patent law for two years ; and,
in 1858, was ordained to the ministry of the
Protestant Episcopal Church.
During his residence in Washington, Mr.
Langdon was actively interested in the
Voung Men's Christian Associations, of which
he was one of the earliest American pioneers
and the leader in the organization of these
societies in a national confederation, as well
as in securing international relations between
them and European bodies.
In the ministry, after a year as an assis-
tant in a Philadelphia church, Mr. Lang-
don went in 1859 to Rome, Italy, and as
chaplain of the V. S. Legation near the
Holv See founded and was first rector of
the American Episcopal Church in that city ;
also about the same time starting a similar
church in Florence. Returning to the
Ignited States at the outbreak of the civil
war, he accepted in 1862 the rectorship of
St. John's Church, Havre de (Irace, Md.
.\t the close of the war he was sent back to
Italy as secretary of a joint committee of
the Ceneral Convention of the Episcopal
Church, charged to inquire into the religious
and ecclesiastical aspects and results of the
Italian Revolution then in progress. In this
charge, he made his residence in Florence,
coming into intimate personal relations with
the principal leaders of the Liberal Catholic
CHAUNCY LANGDON
party in the Italian church, before and dur-
ing the period of the Vatican Council, as well
as with some of the early leaders of liberal
Catholicism in (lermany. In i873Mr. Lang-
don was transferred to C.eneva, Switzerland,
where he founded Emmanuel Episcopal
Church, and co-operated in German, French
and Swiss religious movements. He was
present at the Old Catholic Congress of
religious movements, of Cologne, 1872 ; of
Constance, 1873 ; of Friburg, 1874; and he
was a participant member of the re-union
conferences of Bonn in 1874 and 1875. He
received the degree of Doctor in Divinity
from Kenyon College, Gambler, O., in 1874,
"in recognition of his distinguished services
in Italy."
Towards the close of 1875, Dr. Langdon
returned again to the United States ; was
rector of Christ Church, Cambridge, Mass.,
in iSyC-'yS ; and of St. James' Church, Bed-
ford, Pa., from 1883 to 1890; since which
year, in consequence of impaired health, he
has withdrawn from parish duty and has
been living with his eldest son. Prof. Court-
ney Langdon, of Brown University, Provi-
dence, R. I.
Mr. Langdon married, in 1858, Hannah
Agnes, daughter of E. S. Courtney of Balti-
more, Md., and has had five children, all
still living : Prof. Courtney Langdon, George
W. Langdon of Nevvburyport, Mass., William
C. Langdon, Jr., an instructor in Brown
L^niversity, and two daughters.
Dr. Langdon has so far published but two
small volumes '' Some Account of the Catho-
lic Reform Movement in the Italian Church,"
London 1868; and "Seven Letters to the
Baron Ricasoli," in Italian, Florence, 1S74.
He has, however, for some years been
engaged upon a work of some magnitude —
" The Modern Crisis of Latin Christianity."
But he has published a succession of reports
during his residence in Europe, a number
of pamphlets on religious and ecclesiastical
subjects, and a few sermons ; and he has
also been, of later years, a frequent contrib-
utor to the Church Quarterly and the Politi-
cal Science (Quarterly, to the International
and Andover Reviews, to the Church, At-
lantic, Century and L'niversity Magazines,
and to other periodicals.
LAWRENCE, CHARLES B., late of Chi-
cago, was the son of Villa Lawrence, a mer-
chant of Vergennes, and was born in that
city about 1819 to 1820.
After the proper preparation he entered
jNIiddlebury College, where he continued till
the end of the junior year, when he entered
the senior class in Llnion College, Schenec-
tady, N. Y., from which he graduated in
1840, and in the winter following he com-
menced teaching an academy in either Dal-
las or Lowndes county, Ala., and remained
so employed until 184.2, when he entered
the law office of Hon. Alphonso Taft, an
eminent lawyer of Cincinnati, Ohio, after-
ward attorney-general of the L'nited States
under President (Irant.
In the fall of 1843 he went to St. Louis,
Mo., and studied in the law office of ( leyer
& Dayton, till his admission to the bar in
St. Louis in the beginning of the year 1844.
Henry S. Geyer of the firm of Geyer & Day-
ton, stood at the front of the St. Louis and
Missouri bar, and succeeded Thomas H.
Benton in the ignited States Senate. In
February, 1844, Mr. Lawrence formed a part-
nership with Melvin L. Gray, from Vermont,
just then beginning practice. As both mem-
bers of this firm were young and inexper-
ienced and had few acquaintances and their
practice was mostly waiting and seeking em-
ployment, Mr. Lawrence was induced to go
to Quincy, 111., and form a partnership with
David L. Hough, son of Prof. John Hough,
for many years of the faculty of Middlebury
College. This partnership was soon termin-
ated by the appointment of Mr. Hough to
the land agency of the Michigan and Illinois
canal. Then Mr. Lawrence became the part-
ner of the Hon. Archie Williams, one of the
leading attorneys of northwestern Illinois,
with whom he continued until iSs6. Dur-
ARLES B. LAWRENCE,
ing this period the firm did a large and
profitable business and Mr. Lawrence at-
tained a high rank for learning, professional
skill and ability, and for integrity and up-
rightness of character.
In the meantime he had married Miss
iMargaret Marston, a young English lady,
whose parents had become residents of
Quincy. Being in poor health — a life-long
sufferer with asthma— in 1856 he closed his
business, and after attending as a delegate to
the national convention that nominated John
C. Fremont for the presidency, he spent a
winter in Cuba and the two years following
in Europe, and on his return to this
country settled on a farm in Warren county,
111., but was soon elected circuit judge of his
circuit, in which position he showed such
marked judicial qualities that he was soon
elected one of the supreme judges of the
I03
state and served in that capacity for many
years. As a judge his standing was one of
the highest, for great powers of analysis, in-
tegrity, uprightness and legal attainments.
His opinions are characterized by clearness,
close logic, perspicuity and force, and are
models of their kind. He was regarded, both
in and out of the state, as one of the strong-
est and ablest jurists that ever sat on the
Supreme Court bench of Illinois. On the
closing of his judicial career, he resumed
practice in Chicago, where it became large
and profitable.
In the controversy for the presidency be-
tween Tilden and Hayes, he was sent as one
of the commissioners to Louisiana to investi-
gate the results of the election in that state,
and subsequently was much talked of as U.
S. Senator from Illinois. He was originally
a Democrat, but his residence in the South
had convinced him of the e\ils and dangers
of slavery, and he became thereafter a
Republican.
In February, 1SS5, to avoid the inclem-
ency of the weather on the lake, he started
on a trip to reach the more genial climate of
the South, but was overtaken by death at
Decatur, Ala.
He had three children, two sons and a
daughter. The eldest son and daughter
died on reaching adult years, and in his life-
time. The youngest son survived him, but
died soon after his father's death, while a
student in Yale College. His wife alone sur-
vives, and is now residing in England.
LEE, JOHN StEBBINS, of Canton, N. V.,
son of Eli and Rebekah (Stebbins) Lee, was
born Sept. 23, 1820, at Yernon.
He was educated in the common schools
and fitted for college in Deerfield, Shelburne
Falls and Brattleboro ; entering Amherst Col-
lege in 1 84 1, he graduated with honors in
1845. He taught his first school when
eighteen years of age at Guilford. From
1845 to 1847 he was principal of Mount
Caesar Seminary at Svvanzey, N. H., and for
two years principal of Melrose Seminary at
West Brattleboro, and at the laiter place was
ordained to the Universalist ministry June
23, 1847. He held brief pastorates in \Vest
Brattleboro, Lebanon, N. H., and Mont-
pelier, where be became assistant editor of
the Christian Repository, associated with 1 )r.
Eli Ballou.
In March, 1S52, he took charge of the
Oreen Mountain Institute at South Wood-
stock and labored there twenty-one terms in
succession until 1857, when wearied with
constant work he removed to Woodstock
village. He served as pastor of South Wood-
stock, Bridgewater and Woodstock parishes
for seven years, and in April, 1859, he was
called to take charge of the St. Lawrence
L'niversity at Canton, N. Y., where he has
since resided. For nine years he was act-
ing president of the collegiate department
and college and in .April, 1869, he was trans-
ferred to the theological department and
appointed professor of ecclesiastical history
and biblical archaeology which position he
now holds ( 1894). For nearly fifty-five years
he has been an able and successful teacher,
passing through all grades from common
schools to college.
JOHN STEBBINS LEE.
In July, 1 868, seeking rest from his ardu-
ous labors he obtained leave of absence and
travelled extensively in England and on the
Continent, Egypt and the Holy Land. His
work and varied historical reading had pre-
pared him to study intelligently classical
scenes and Bible lands, historic and anti-
quarian relics, and the results of his obser-
vations were written out for several publi-
cations while abroad. L'pon his return,
improved in health and mind, stored with
valuable knowledge, he lectured upon his
travels to large audiences in many states.
In 1 87 1 he published a work entitled,
"Nature and .\rt in the Old World," and in
1877 another volume entitled, "Sacred
Cities," devoted to biblical scenes. In ad-
dition to these he has written many articles
for the Ladies' Repository, the L^niversalist
Quarterly and other journals.
In 1848 the degree of A. M. was conferred
upon him by Amherst College, and in 1875
104
the honorary degree of D. D., by Buchtel
College, Akron, O.
Mr. Lee was married, Feb. 22, 1848, to
Elmina Bennett, of Westmoreland, N. H.
Six children have been born to them : the
eldest, Ida Elmine, died in infancy : the
other five, Leslie Alexander, John Clarence,
Frederic Schiller, Florence Josephine and
Lulu Gertrude Lottie are living and all have
taken up the profession of their father and
occupy prominent positions.
LYON, Lucius, was born in Vermont,
but emigrated to Michigan when quite a
young man ; devoted himself for several
years to the business of surveying the wild
lands of the territory ; was a delegate in
Congress from that territory during the years
1833, -'34, -'35, and a senator in Congress'
from Michigan from 1836 to 1840, and a
representative in Congress from 1843 to
1845. His last public position was that of
surveyor-general in the Northwest. Died at
Detroit, September 25, 185 i.
MARTIN, Moses MELLEN, of .AUegan,
Mich., son of Deacon Moses and Almira
(Dana) Martin, was born in Peacham, .April
8, 1834. He inherits sterling qualities and
sound judgment from a good stock of ances-
tors, counting among them the Chamber-
lains and Mellens of Hopkinton, Mass., his
MOSES MELLEN MARTIN.
great-grandfather, Samuel Chamberlain, hav-
ing married Martha Mellen, daughter of
Deacon Henry Mellen of that town. His
grandparents, .\shbel and Lydia (Chamber-
lain) ^lartin, were among the first settlers
of Peacham, having built one of the first
frame farm houses in the town.
Mr. Martin received the rudiments of
his education in the country district where
his father lived : he fitted for college at
Peacham .\cademy and graduated from Mid-
dlebury College in 1 86 1 , and from the Prince-
ton Theological Seminary in 1864. He was
licensed to preach at Peacham by the Minis-
terial Association of Caledonia county in
May, 1864, and was ordained at Middletown
where was his first pastorate in 1S65. He
entered upon home missionary work in Wis-
consin the following year and has held pas-
torates over Congregational churches in
Prescott, and Mazomanie, Wis., and in I'hree
Oaks, and Allegan, Mich., where now he is
pastor of the First Congregational Church.
He has always taken a deep interest in
educational matters, serving for many years
as school inspector and in this capacity visit-
ing schools, advising teachers and stimulat-
ing pupils to make the most of themselves,
to desire above everything good character.
Through his influence the town library of
Three Oaks grew to be one of the best in
southwestern Michigan. In college he was
from the first opposed to secret societies and
allied himself with the Delta L'psilon frater-
nitity the highest offices of which he held.
He is an honorary member of the A. B. C. F.
M. His Princeton classmates made him a
life member of the Bible Society ; he received
the title of Doctor of Divinity from Olivet
College, Mich.
In the ministry his labors have been marked
by great earnestness and excellent judgment
so that although in every instance his charges,
though at the outset unpromising, became,
under his wise and able leadership, strong
and flourishing churches ; and as an instance
of the regard of his people, one of his
churches, in rebuilding fifteen years after he
left it, called him back to preach the dedica-
tory sermon and surprised him with their
beautiful " Martin memorial window." One
of his most striking characteristics is extreme
modesty, and every pastorate and every
honor have been unsought. .An honor which
he greatly prizes was his election by ballot
by the state association composed of between
three and four hundred churches, to preach
in .Ann .Arbor the opening sermon at one of
the most important conventions during the
I05
fifty years of Congregationalism in Michigan
when the subject of state self-support was
to be introduced and acted upon. One of
the members of the body said the sermon,
the subject of which was " Opportunity,"
presented the initial of all the intense and
able discussions which followed. He was
also appointed by the church at I'eacham to
deliver the historical address at its centen-
nial celebration.
His great kindliness, geniality and ready
wit make him a favorite in all social circles.
His popularity, like that of Lord Mansfield,
is "that which follows, not that which is run
after."
Mr. Martin was married Jan. ig, 1865, to
Miss Laura A. Kellogg, who tiled in August,
1S70. Mary Louise, the only child of this
union, died in infancy. He was again mar-
ried in October, 1871, to Margaret Johnston,
daughter of Joseph Johnston, one of the pio-
neers of Chicago, who died in 1878. He
was married to his present wife, Mary,
daughter of Alva W. and Lydia (.Atwood)
Pierce, of Londonderry, in June, 1880. Of
this union are four children : Pauline,
Persis Lydia, Mellen Chamberlain, and
Blanche Elizabeth.
MASON, George, of Washington,
D. C, son of Ephraim Hubbard and Pru-
dence (Hills) Mason, was born in Putney,
Dec. 31, 1 83 1. His parents removed to
Brookline in 1832, where they resided for
more than thirty years, and where his father
died, having been a prominent man in the
town which he represented in the Legisla-
tures of 1835 and 1S36. His grandfather.
Anthony Mason, moved to P^rookline from
Warren, R. I., in 1796. He married Elizabeth
Temple, of Dummerston, and raised a large
family, of whom F^phraim Hubbard was the
eldest. The maternal grandfather of George
Mason, Samuel Hills, was a soldier in the
Continental army in the war of the Revolu-
tion. He was taken prisoner at (^)uebec and
paroled, but never exchanged. His two
brothers, Nathaniel and William, were al.so
sodiers during the Re\olution. Their father,
Nathaniel, li\ ed in Swanzey, N. H., where he
and his wife were much esteemed, 'i'he
Mason family were of English descent.
George Alason grew up very much like
other Vermont boys of fifty years ago, at-
tending school a few months in summer and
in winter, and working on his father's farm
in spring and autumn. He thus, in boy-
hood, acquired some knowledge of the ele-
ments of an English education and of farming.
As he grew older he became ambitious of
obtaining a more liberal education, and he
succeeded without assistance in mastering
the principles of algebra and surveying, while
with assistance of Prof. L. F. Ward, at
Saxton's Ri\er and at Westminster, he ac-
quired such knowledge of other branches as
was necessary for admission to Vermont
University. He graduated from the univer-
sity in the class of 1858, and has since
received the honorary degree of A. M. from
his alma mater. During his four years at
the university and even before that time he
earned a great part of the means to pay his
bills by teaching for a part of each year,
and after graduation he continued to teach
for several years, principally in Worcester
county, Mass.
GEORGE MASON.
In 1862, June 11, he married Josephine
Augusta, daughter of Col. Moses and Louisa
(Pkts) Buffum of Oxford, Mass. Of this
marriage he has two sons : H. Harry Buffum,
and George Ernest.
In 1S59 he was made a Master Mason, in
Putney. In i860 he became a charter mem-
ber of the Oxford Lodge in Massachusetts,
and its first worshipful master. He was sub-
sequendy re-elected and installed by the
Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. In 1863
he removed to Washington, D. C, where he
received an appointment in the office of the
paymaster general of the army, and served
for five years, reading law meanwhile, and
graduating from the law department of Col-
umbia College with the degree of LL. B.
He was admitted, on graduation, to the bar
of the District Supreme Court, and practiced
his profession for some years, making a
specialty of bankruptcy law. He subse-
io6
quently withdrew from practice and engaged
in the real estate business. In 1869 he was
elected a member of the school board of
Washington, L). C, serving one year.
In 1889 he visited Europe with his family,
and spent the summer of that year in Paris
at the P.xposition. He afterwards traveled
in Great Britain and on the Continent, visit-
ing several European countries, witnessing
the celebrated passion play at Ober Ammer-
gau, and spending some time in Munich,
Vienna and other capital cities, viewing
their treasures of art and relics of antiquity,
and studying the social and industrial con-
ditions of the people as developed under
their various political institutions. In the
winter of 1S90 he returned to his native
land, a more ap]5reciative and ardent lover
of its free institutions.
Republican in politics, his sympathies are
with and for the race which owes its en-
franchisement to that party, and with the
struggling masses rather than with the fa-
vored few.
MEIGS, Henry B., of Baltimore, Md.,
son of Captain Luther, and grandson of
Benjamin (pioneers of that town), was born
in Highgate, Nov. 23, 1844.
Remote from the district schools of the
locality, his education was very limited, but
upon attaining the years of manhood he
became a great reader of current literature
and substantial standard works almost ex-
clusively of history, biography and travel,
and has pursued all through life a self-
directed course of study and reading of
standard and classical authors. Thus stor-
ing his memory with facts that have uncon-
sciously but admirably fitted him for a life
of usefulness.
In 1862 he enlisted as a private soldier in
Co. K, 13th Vt. Vols., Col. F. V. Randall
commanding, and was with his command
and in the ranks until the mustering out of
the regiment, and participated in all of the
varying experiences of his regiment during
its service, including the march to and the
battle of Cettysburg.
Upon the conclusion of the war. Captain
Meigs emigrated to the wilds of the far West
and for six years was engaged in ranching,
merchandising, gold-mining and freighting
across the plains in the days when Indians
were numerous and railroads were unknown
in that country. In 187 1 he returned east
and engaged in the manufacture of lime, and
merchandising until 1874 in northern New
York.
In politics Captain Meigs has never been
interested as an active partisan, with the
single exception of having been a member
of the city council of Julesburg, Col., in
1867. While residing in northern New
York, Captain Meigs organized the first G.
A. R. Post (William D. Brennan) at Malone,
in Franklin county, and was its commander
five successive terms, during which time the
post grew to be the largest in all northern
New York. While in command of his own
post, he was continuously serving in some
capacity upon the staff of the department
commander, or of the commander-in-chief,
and during those years organized nine posts
and personally mustered into the Grand
■Army more than one thousand members.
When a young man he became identified
with the Baptist denomination and has
always been actively interested in the church
of his choice.
Special work in life requires special pre-
paration, and sometimes the training begins
very early. It would seem so in the case of
Captain Meigs, whose early life and sur-
roundings admirably fitted him for the work
he was to accomplish in the general field of
life insurance. In 1876 Captain Meigs
adopted life insurance as his life's work, and
has since followed it with increasing success,
first in New \'ork and later in Baltimore
until the present time.
He went to Baltimore to take charge of
the Southeastern department of the .E'tna
Life Insurance Co., in 18S8, and the success
of this department has been phenomenal.
From a small beginning he has built up one
of the largest general agencies on the con-
tinent, the territorv comprising the states of
MERRIFIELU.
107
Maryland, \'irgii"iia, West \'irginia, Delaware
and 1 )istri(:t of Columbia. By his own
endeavors he has steadily pushed to the
front and now stands among the foremost in
his chosen profession. Is a member of the
e.xecutive committee, Baltimore Life Under-
writers Association, and is vice-president of
the National .'\ssociation of Life Under-
writers.
It is a treat to be in company with Cap-
tain Meigs when he is in a reminiscent
mood ; from his memory flows a stream of
humorous stories and interesting personal
history which entertain, instruct and benefit.
In 1872 Captain Meigs was married to
Alvira, daughter of .-Xbijah Stanley of Ban-
gor, N. Y.
MERRIFIELD, WEBSTER, of Grand
Forks, N. D., son of John A. and Louisa \V.
Merrifield, was born at Newfane, luly 27,
1852.
He attended the common schools at Will-
iamsville, the Powers Institute at Bernards-
ton, Mass., the Wilbraham (Mass.) Aca-
demy and graduated with the degree of B. .\.
at Vale College in class of 1877. From
1877 to 1879 he was a teacher in a private
school atNewburgh, N. Y. In 1879 he went
to Xorth [Dakota with expectation of remain-
ing there permanently and opened up a
farm, while reading law in the office of a
local attorney, but in the fall returned to
New Haven and accepted a position on the
faculty of Yale College.
In the early days of the territory he served
as postmaster and justice of the peace. The
State University of North Dakota, at Grand
Forks, has been the scene of his great work
There he was professor of Greek and Latin
from 1 884 to 1 89 1, and subsequently, pro-
fessor of political and social science. In
1 89 1 he became president of the University.
By nature, by his literary attainments and by
practical business experience. President Mer-
rifield is eminently qualified for the duties
of this responsible position. He is naturally
keen, active and earnest and broadened by
collegiate training and years of study and
foreign travel. He has been connected with
the University from its start and has always
been an influential member of the faculty.
The uniform success of the pupils in his
classes long since demonstrated his posses-
sion of rare faculties as an instructor, while his
active engagement in business pursuits in-
sures him the possession of practical ideas,
well adapted to the needs of the University.
President Merrifield is a member of the
Phi Beta Kappa Society ; the .American
Oriental Society, as well as various other
learned societies. Yale College conferred
the honorary degree of ^L A. upon him in
1892.
MILLARD, Stephen C, of Bingham-
ton, N. Y., was born at Stamford, Jan. 14,
1841 ; was educated at Williams College,
graduating in the class of 1865 ; read law at
Harvard Law School, and in the office of
Pingree & Baker, Pittsfield, Mass., and was
admitted to the bar of the state of New
York in May, 1867, at Binghamton : has
been in constant practice of the law at Bing-
hamton from date of his admission to the
bar to the present time ; was chairman of
the Republican county commission 1872-
'79, and was elected to the Forty-eighth
Congress as a Republican ; was re-elected
to the Forty-ninth Congress.
MOORE, HEMAN Allen, was born in
Plainfield in 18 10 ; studied law in Rochester,
N. Y. ; removed to Columbus, (). ; obtained
distinction as a lawyer : was appointed ad-
jutant-general of the state militia, and was a
representative in Congress from that state
from 1843 to the time of his death, which
occurred in Columbus, April 3, 1844.
MORTON. LEVI Parsons, ll. d.,
ex-Yice President of the L^nited States, the
youngest son of the late Rev. Daniel Oliver
.Morton, was born at Shoreham, May i6,
1824. He is a direct descendant of George
Morton, of Bavvtry, Yorkshire, Eng., one of
the Pilgrim Fathers who landed at Plymouth,
^Iass., from the ship Ann, in 1623. The
Rev. Mr. Morton, his father, was one of
those noble, old-fashioned, deep-thinking
New England clergymen, who did God's
work as it came to his hand in pious earnest-
ness ; and, although he had a salary of only
six hundred a year, he managed to give all
his children, six in number, a good education.
The subject of this sketch was named after
his motiier's brother, the Re\-. Levi Parsons,
a man of strong intellectual ability, who was
the first -American missionary that went to
Palestine, where he served with great zeal.
Mr. Morton's early life differed little from
that of most .American boys who ha\e risen
to fame and fortune. Having finished his
education at the academy in his native place,
he decided on adopting a mercantile career,
and at the age of twenty he engaged in busi-
ness at Hano\er, N. H., where he remained
about five years. In 1849 he removed to
P)oston and entered the house of James
M. Beebe & Co., as a clerk. He was ad-
mitted to partnership at the same time that
Mr. Morgan, the successor of George Pea-
body & Co. of London, joined the firm. In
1854 he removed to New York and established
the dry goods commission house of Morton
& Grinnell. In 1863 he engaged in the
banking business, founding the now well-
known house of Morton, lUiss & Co., of New
\'ork, and in company with Sir John Rose,
7^^-^^^^^^^^<^
formerly finance minister of Canada, that of
Morton, Rose & Co., of London, I'^ngland.
After engaging in the business of banking,
Mr. Morton carefully studied the financial
transactions of the government, and his firm
was one of the several syndicates which so
successfully funded the national debt and
made resumption of specie payment possible
at the date fixed by law. Morton, Rose &
Co., of London, were the first fiscal agents of
the United States government from 1873 un-
til 1 884, and reappointed in i88g. Mr.
Morton's firms were also active in the syndi-
cates that negotiated the United States bonds,
and in the payment of the Geneva award of
^15,500,000 and the Halifax fishery award
of 55,500,000.
Mr. Morton was appointed by President
Hayes, honorary commissioner of the United
States to the Paris Exhibition in 1878,
and in the same year was elected to the
Forty-sixth Congress from "Murray Hill"
(eleventh) L^istrict, in New York, as a Re-
publican, receiving 14,078 votes against
7,060 votes for his opponent, a Tammany
Democrat. He was again returned in 1880,
from the same district, by a largely increased
vote. Mr. Morton entered Congress, it is
said, as a diversion, but he found the office
to be one of dignity and responsibility
if conscientiously administered. He was
elected from the wealthiest district in the
United States, and devoted himself with
scrupulous attention to the interests of his
constituents and to the affairs of the nation
at large. No man in Congress led a busier
life. His special aptitude for finance natur-
ally led him to pay particular attention to
this department of legislation, and his
speeches in the House on this subject were
notable for their straightforward, plain, busi-
nesslike presentation of facts and for the
speaker's logical inferences based thereon.
Personally he was one of the most popular
men in Congress. Among its members,
comprising men of all parties and profes-
sions and from every walk in life, he had no
personal enemies. No suspicion of jobbery
e\er attached to his name. Possessed of
ample means and culture, he stood in our
halls of legislation a typical American, the
blending of the patriot, the gentleman, and
the business man.
Fond of society and the good things and
pleasures of life, he yet faithfully devoted
himself to his duties first, attaching no less
importance to his public demands than to
his private business. Indeed, he labored as
diligently in Congress as if his sup])ort de-
pended upon it. At the time of the present-
ation of the so-called " Warner Silver Bill "
in Congress, when the bullion value of the
silver dollar was about eighty-five cents, he
took strong grounds against its vmlimited
coinage and the unlimited issue of silver cer-
tificates against silver bullion, and in a
speech delivered on May 15, 1879, declared
that he regarded the measure as a \irtual
repudiation of one-sixth part of all indebted-
ness, public and private, and could only
designate it as a "bill for the relief of the
owners of silver mines and silver bullion of
the United States and Europe." He advo-
cated in a subsequent speech a suspension of
the coinage of silver until some action could
be taken joindy with European governments,
which, in his opinion, would alone enable the
United States to maintain a double, or gold
and silver standard. Notable among his
other Congressional speeches was one on
" Fish and Fish Culture, Its Importance to
the Industries and Wealth of the Nation," and
also on " Immigration, Its National Char-
acter and Importance to the Industries and
Development of the Country." In the latter
he took strong ground in favor of the en-
couragement of immigration, and advocated
the ])assage of a uniform national law for the
protection of immigrants coming to our
shores.
He took a deep interest in international
politics and in the relations of the L'nited
States with foreign countries, which fact
doubtless led to his appointment as a mem-
ber of the committee of foreign affairs in
the Forty-sixth Congress. At the Chicago
convention in 1880, after the nomination of
General Garfield, Mr. Morton was tendered
the nomination for Vice-President by dele-
gations from Ohio and other states but
declined to accept on the ground that he
preferred the more active duties of a mem-
ber of Congress. Shortly after the election
of General Ciarfield to the presidency, a
large number of the newspapers of the
country favored his selection as Secretary of
the Treasury. When the cabinet was being
made up, Mr. Morton was offered his choice
of a seat in it as Secretary of the Na\y or
the French mission. He chose the latter,
and his name being sent to the Senate by
the President, his appointment as envoy ex-
traordinary and minister plenipotentiary of
the United States to France was unanimous-
ly confirmed on March 17, 1881. Resign-
ing his seat in the Forty-seventh Congress he
proceeded to France and presented his cre-
dentials to President Grevy, on .-Xugust i,
1 88 1. To the duties of that important mis-
sion Mr. Morton brought conceded abilities
and qualities which peculiarly fitted him for
the position. These, together with his
wealth and hospitatity, speedily endeared
him to the I^rench people and government,
to whom he proved acceptable in every par-
ticular. Through his intercessions the re-
strictions upon the importation of American
pork were removed by the French govern-
ment in an official decree published Nov.
27, 1883, but the prohibitory decree was
subsequently renewed by the legislative
body. He secured also the recognition of
American corporations in France. Mr.
Morton drove the first rivet in the Bartholdi
statue "Liberty Enlightening the World,"
and accepted the completed statue for his
government on July 4, 1884. He was .Amer-
ican commissioner general to the Paris
Electrical Exposition, and the representa-
ti\e of the United States at the Sub-Marine
Cable Convention. Mr. [Morton resigned
the mission to France after the inaugura-
tion of President Cleveland, in 1885, and
returned to the United States in July of
that year.
He was nominated for the vice-presidency
by the Republican convention at Chicago in
1888, receiving 581 votes against 234 votes
for other candidates. He was elected in
November, 188S, and inaugurated as Vice-
President on March 4, 1889. He proved a
model presiding officer, discharging the du-
ties of the exalted position with an ability,
impartiality, and dignity which gained the
praises of all without regard to party dis-
tinctions, even at a time when party spirit
ran high over most important measures com-
ing before the United States Senate. At the
great encampment of the Grand Army of
the Republic at \\'ashington in September,
1882, in the name of the United States ; like-
wise at the dedicatory service of the World's
Columbian Exposition at Chicago, Oct. 21,
1S92, he made the address of welcome, ac-
cepting the buildings "in the name of the
government of the United States" and dedi-
cating them to "humanity." Mr. Morton is
noted for his hospitality, and his historic resi-
dence in Washington and his home, Ellerslie,
at Rhinecliff on the Hudson, are all appointed
and conducted with taste and elegance. He
has been likewise prominent in works of
charity.
When Congress placed the United States
ship Constellation at the disposal of those de-
siring to send stores for the relief of starving
Ireland during the great famine there, and
when the project of forwarding the bread-
stuffs and provisions seemed likely to fail,
Mr. Morton came forward and offered to pay
for one-fourth of the cargo, although his inti-
mate friends knew it was his intention to pay
the entire cost rather than have the project
miscarry. .Another well remembered case in
which Mr. Morton's bounty was timely and
of great ser\ice to a large number of work-
ingmen was that of the Rockaway Beach
Improvement Co. The originators of that
organization became involved in financial
ruin. .At least five hundred workingmen
were unable to obtain their wages and
were experiencing all the sad consequences
of such deprivation. Certificates of indebt-
edness were issued instead of money, but
these were of no value to the men who
needed food for the suffering families. .At
this critical juncture Mr. Morton's banking
house joined that of Messrs. Drexel, Morgan
& Co., and the two houses contributed
Si 00,000 for the immediate relief of the
workingmen.
The degree of LL. D. was conferred upon
Mr. Morton by Dartmouth College July 14,
1881, and by Middlebury College in 1882.
Mr. Morton was married in 1873 to .Anna
L. Street, and has five children, viz : Edith,
Lina K., Helen, .Alice, and Mary.
NASH, Henry H., was born at Benson,
August 19, 1821, the son of Levi and Abigail
(Howard) Nash. His boyhood was passed
on his father's farm, and his education was
received in the public schools.
-At the age of eighteen he began life for
himself as clerk in a dry goods store at
Whitehall, N. V., afterwards serving as teller
in the Whitehall Bank. Having accumulated
a small capital, he became interested in the
operation of a line of boats on the Hudson
River Canal and Lake Champlain, under
the firm name of Stark, Nash & Tisdale.
Great prosperity for a time followed this
enterprise, but disaster overtook it, and Mr.
Nash found the accumulation of years sud-
denly swept away and was obliged to begin
life anew.
-After an experience of two years in the
manufacturing business at Owego, N. V., he
determined to move West, and in 1857
located in Chicago, his judgment convinc-
ing him that it was destined to become the
metropolis of the West. His first employ-
ment was in the land department of the
Illinois Central Railroad Co. He made
good use of his opportunities, and by close
attention soon established a reputation as a
careful and reliable man, and held a high
place in the confidence and esteem of his
employers. In 1864 he severed his connec-
tion with the railroad company to accept
the position of cashier at the L'nited States
sub-treasury, which had been recently estab-
lished at Chicago. This office, with the
sub-treasuries at Cincinnati and St. Louis,
were the principal offices for the disburse-
ment of Government funds in the NN'est and
Northwest. .After the commencement of
the war, the citv of Chicago was made a
point for the purchase and distribution of
supplies for the army, and the office became
one of much importance, the receipts and
disbursements during the term of Mr. Nash's
service amounting to upward of forty million
dollars. He resigned his position in the
sub-treasury to accept the cashiership of the
National Bank of Illinois, a position which
he held for eight vears.
Association of the Sons of \'ermont, in the
growth and success of which he took a deej)
interest.
Mr. Nash was well versed in literary mat-
ters ; kept himself in touch with the trend of
current thought, and this, combined with his
clear knowledge of men and things, gained
from travel and observation, made him a
most engaging and instructive con\ersation-
alist. He made friends easily, and in all his
varied relations sustained the character of a
high-minded, genial gentleman. He was
reared under Congregational influences, but
his religious views were untrammeled by nar-
rowness. He regularly attended the Third
Presbyterian Church of Chicago. In politics
he was an ardent Republican.
C)n Sept. 6, 184S, he married Miss Lydia,
a daughter of Mr. Floras I). Meacham, of
Whitehall, N. V., who survives him.
Henry H. Nash attained to an honorable
jilace among Chicago's successful business
men, by energy, enterprise and a strict
adherence to correct business principles.
In his decease, which occured in Novem-
lier, 1S92, Chicago lost an honored citizen,
and those in close relation with him, a
trusted friend.
NEWELL, Henry Albert, of New
York City, son of Oliver Porter and Orilla
M. (Perkins) Newell, was born April 26,
1841, at Londonderry.
He was one of the founders of the Chicago
National Bank, which began business in 1882.
He served as cashier of this institution for
five years, when he was chosen vice-presi-
dent and held that office at the time of his
decease. During his connection with the
bank he was president of the Chicago Clear-
ing House for two terms.
Mr. Nash was always a busy man and in-
terested himself in all matters of public im-
portance. In commercial circles he was re-
garded as one of the shrewdest and safest of
financiers. His word was as good as gold.
He was a man of retiring disposition, but
genial, kind-hearted and charitable almost to
a fault. He took the keenest interest in all
that related to Chicago, its history, growth
and development, and was for many years an
active member of the Chicago Historical So-
ciety, of which he was treasurer up to the
time of his death. He was a member of the
Sons of the Re\olution, and L'nion League
and Illinois Clubs. In early life he belonged
to the Masonic and Odd Fellows orders. He
was a devoted son of the Green Mountain
state, was one of the founders of the Illinois
Mr. Newell was brought up on a farm
until fifteen years of age, and recei\ed the
advantages of the district schools and acad-
emies, when he went to Boston to enter the
employ of an uncle in the milk business.
After three years' service, he was employed
by the Metropolitan Railroad Co. of that
city, and remained two years. He then, in
1 86 1, joined the R. Sands Great American
Circus, and eight years later became super-
intendent of the Broadway and Seventh Ave-
nue R. R. of New York, which position he
held until the acquisition of that property by
the Metropolitan Street Railroad Co., which
operates the Broadway cable road, as well as
the Seventh Avenue, University Place, Twen-
ty-third Street, Thirty-fourth Street, Fulton
Ferry, Brooklyn Bridge, Bleecker Street, Sixth
Avenue, Vesey Street, Desbrosses Street
Ferry, Amsterdam Avenue, and South Ferry,
and of which roads he has been the superin-
tendent since they came under this com-
pany's control. He is also a director in the
South Ferry R. R.
Mr. Newell is a prominent Mason, and
member of the Hope Lodge, 244, of which
he has for many years been treasurer and a
trustee. He is also an Odd Fellow and
member of Lodge No. 119. In religious
preference he is a Presbyterian.
He was married in Granville, N. Y., June
23, 1870, to Mattie R. Manley, daughter of
R. F. and Nancy J. Manley. They have five
children.
NEWTON, Charles Marshall, of
Middletown, Conn., son of Marshall and
Nancy (Tufts) New-ton, was born Oct. 31,
1846, at Newfane.
Mr. Newton's father, grandfather, and his
uncle, Rev. E. H. Newton, I). I)., are promi-
nently mentioned in the history of Newfane.
The Rev. James Tufts, his grandfather, for
forty years the pastor of the Congregational
church at ^Yardsboro, was "a strong man of
wise influence" says the History of Wards-
boro. The patriotism of the family is shown
by the service of Marshall Newton, Sr., his
great-grandfather, an officer in the French
and Indian war ; the seven years service of
his grandfather, Marshall Newton, Jr., in the
war of the Revolution ; the service of his
brothers, John — four years in the i8th U. S.
Inft., and James Holland — two enlistments,
at eighteen and twenty, in the 9th and 1 7th
Vt. \'ols., who was killed while leading his
company in the last grand charge at Sjiott-
sylvania. May 12,1864.
The subject of this sketch attended the
district and select schools until the age of
sixteen, when (July i, 1S63) he enlisted in
Co. L, ist Vt. Heavy Artillery. Mr. Newton's
company was ordered to Rutland to enforce
the draft, thence to Ft. Slocum, Md., and in
the spring of 1864 his regiment was assigned
to the I St \'t. Brigade, Sixth Corps, Armv of
the Potomac, in whose battles and hardships
he participated to the close of the war. He
was mustered out as sergeant August 23, 1 865.
June 23, 1864, while before Petersburg,
Sergeant Newton, though disabled and on
hospital roll, insisted on going into action
with his company. During the action
Major Fleming, noticing his condition, or-
dered him to the rear with his horse, to
which circumstance he owes his escape from
capture and imprisonment in Andersonville,
being the only man of his company who
went into the action who was not taken
prisoner. In August following, being dis-
abled, he narrowly escaped capture by Mos-
by's men in the Shenandoah Valley. He
was picked up by an ambulance and con-
veyed to Harwood Hospital, Washington,
and on the ist of January following, with his
ARLES MARSH
wound unhealed, he voluntarily joined his
company before Petersburg, to share its
hardships and participate in the closing
scenes and final victory at Appomattox.
These incidents are referred to and highly
commended by his commanding officer,
Lieutenant-Colonel D. J. Safford, in his en-
dorsement of Mr. Newton's army record,
filed at Washington, but now in Mr. New-
ton's possession. .^ pension, to date from
his discharge, was issued to Mr. Newton
April 24, 1885.
Since 1872 Mr. Newton has conducted a
clothing business in Middletown, Conn., and
enjoys the confidence of his townsmen as
"3
shown by his service for several terms in the
court of common council. In 1890 he re-
ceived a strong endorsement for postmaster,
but accepted the appointment of United
States postal card agent, which office he
held from Feb. 10, 1890, to June 15, 1893.
In 1 8 70 and 1S71 he was appointed
assistant inspector G. A. R., Department of
Massachusetts. He was a charter member
of Dexter Post, No. 38, Brookfield, Mass.,
and is now a charter member of Mansfield
Post, No. 53, Middletown, Conn. He is
also a member of the Society of the Army of
the Potomac, the /\rmy and Navy Club of
Connecticut, Vermont Officers' Society, and
First Vermont Heavy Artillery. Mr. New-
ton is a prominent member of the Republi-
can Club and is also a member of McDon-
ough Lodge Knights of Honor.
He was married, March 26, 1874, to Mary
C, daughter of Timothy and Julia (Stratton)
Boardman, and has one son, James Holland
Newton.
NEWTON, WILLIAM HENRY, of Wall-
ingford, Conn., son of Marshall and Nancy
(Tufts) Newton, was born June 25, 1850, at
Newfane and received his education there
and at Rev. James Tufts's school at Monson,
Mass.
In 1869 Mr. Newton began his business
life with Winslow & Park and remained there
and with their successors, J. D. Holbrook &
Co., until 1872. He then mo\ed to Middle-
town, Conn., and became a clerk for his
brother, C. M. Newton, until 1875, when he
was appointed to a clerkship in the First
National Bank, a position he had desired
since boyhood. His sterling qualities w^ere
rewarded in the fall of 1881 by his present
position of cashier of the First National Bank
of VVallingford, which institution began busi-
ness Jan. I, 1882.
Mr. Newton is an ardent Republican and
takes an active part in local, state and national
campaigns. He was elected town treasurer
in 1885, receiving a flattering majority, al-
though the normal vote is usually strongly
Democratic. He also served as treasurer of
the Borough in 1889, was elected to the court
of Burgesses, and the following year was made
warden of the Borough of Wallingford. To
this office he was re-elected in 1891 and again
in 1892. In the 1894 elections Mr. Newton
was again elected to this important position,
and the following is from the Meriden Repub-
lican :
"The result of Saturday's election is a fine
tribute to the high regard the people of the
borough have for its warden. Mr. Newton
has now held the office three terms success-
ively, and, although his personal wishes are
and ha\e been to drop the responsibilities of
the chief office of the borough, his fellow citi-
zens have been unwilling to permit him to
do so. His administration of the office has
been characterized by the utmost fairness and
respect for everybody's rights. Possessed
of rare business qualifications they have been
exercised for the welfare of the borough, the
result being seen in the showing made in the
annual reports. The fact that his adminis-
tration of the municipal government is so
overwhelmingly endorsed by so large a ma-
jority of the residents of the borough, not-
withstanding an organized effort to defeat
him, is certainly a cause for congratulation,
in which the Republican heartily joins. Mr.
Newton is a staunch Republican in politics,
and the borough is overwhelmingly Demo-
cratic. But in his administration of affairs
JAM HENRY NEWTON.
he has known neither Republican nor Demo-
crat, and this with his personal popularity
gave him a majority hever before exceeded."
Mr. Newton has also taken an active part
in the military service of his state. In 1887
he was appointed paymaster of the 2d Regt.
C. N. G., by Colonel Leavenworth, and
served on the latter's staff with rank of
second lieutenant for two years and received
a re-appointment by Colonel Leavenworth's
successor, Col. John B. Doherty, and re-
signed his commission in 1892.
Mr. Newton is a member of the First
Congregational Church, and in social organ-
izations he is prominent, being a Past Mas-
ter of Compass Lodge, F. & A. M., and
member of Keystone Chapter, of Meriden,
114
and of the Republican League Club, of New-
Haven, and Arcanum Club, of Wallingford.
Mr. Newton was married, Oct. 13, 1881,
to Alice E. Dickenson, daughter of Dana
D. and Eliza A. Dickenson, of Williamsville.
They had two children : Elsie M., and
Mabel S. (deceased).
NEWTON, Daniel H., of Holyoke,
Mass., son of James and Esther (Hale)
Newton, was born in Hubbardston, Mass.,
Tune 22, 1827.
He removed to Greenfield, Mass., in 1835,
and to Holyoke in December, 1873. Mr.
Newton was educated at Goodale Academy
and Williston Seminary, and is one of the
successful firm of Newton Bros., who have
done so much toward the development of
the Deerfield Valley. Mr. Newton was first
engaged in the lumber business with his
father from 1848 to 1871, and then for ten
years was a member of the firm of D. H. &
J. C. Newton, mill engineers, builders, and
contractors at Holyoke, and in this connec-
tion did much toward the upbuilding of that
city. But the greatest work of Mr. Newton
was performed in connection with his two
brothers, John C. and Moses Newton, in the
development of the Deerfield Valley, in the
business enterprises of which he has been a
leading proprietor and owner.
Mr. Newton was a member of the Green-
field school committee in 1855, and the
treasurer of Franklin county, Mass., from
1 86 1 to 1864. He was elected representa-
tive in 1S69 to the Great and General Court
at Boston, and was chairman of Holyoke
Board of Health from 18S0 to 1883.
Mr. Newton is president of the Hoosac
Tunnel & Wilmington R. R., director in the
Massachusetts Screw Co., the Chemical Paper
Co., and the Home National Bank of Hol-
yoke. Mr. Newton is also a director of the
Holyoke Board of Trade, and a fellow of the
American Geographical Society.
NEWTON, John C, of Holyoke,
Mass., son of James and Esther (Hale)
Newton, is, by adoption at least, a Vermon-
ter. His identification with the interests of
our state and the great work of development
which the Newton brothers have pursued in
the southern part of the state entitles them
to recognition in this work. Mr. Newton
was educated at Westminster, Vt., and the
State Normal School at Westfield, Mass.
The great building and lumber operations of
the firm of James Newton & .Sons in Hol-
yoke, Mass., resulted in the construction of
the Hampden Paper Mills, among other ex-
tensive works, of which Mr. ]. C. Newton
was the projector. Of this corporation he
was the treasurer until the mill was sold in
1871. In 1S73, in order to supply the great
needs of the firm for spruce lumber, the ex-
tensive steam saw mill at Newport, Vt., was
purchased. Mr. Newton's activity and busi-
ness sagacity have been leading factors in
the great enterprises carried on in this state.
The scene of their principal operations in
the state to-day is on the Deerfield River,
where just below the junction of East Branch
and two miles west of the village of Wil-
mington, a large dam is being erected to
furnish power for a wood pulp and saw mill
which the Newtons are about to build.
Mr. Newton is president of the Massachu-
setts Screw Co. ; president of the Chemical
Paper Co. ; director in the Norman Paper
Co. ; director of the Home National Bank of
Holyoke ; director in the Hoosac Tunnel &:
Wilmington R. R. Co. ; director in the Peer-
field River Co. : the National Metal Edge
Box Co., of Readsboro, Vt. ; president of the
Wilmington Grain and Lumber Co., and is
vice-president and general manager of the
Des Moines & Kansas City R. R. Co., of
Iowa.
NEWTON, Moses, of Holyoke, Mass.,
son of James and Esther (Hale) Newton, was
born in Hubbardston, Mass., Oct. 27, 1833.
^OSES NEWTON.
Mr. Newton was educated at Deerfield,
Mass., and at Westminster, and was asso-
ciated with his father and brothers in the
manufacture of lumber from 1848 to 1867,
and in 1868 first engaged in making paper
in Holyoke, Mass.
Mr. Newton became interested in the en-
terprises of his brothers in the Deerfield
Valley in 1S82 and the great dam at Reads-
boro, having a fall of eighty feet, and the
pulp mill at this jioint were built the same
year. The narrow gauge railroad from
Readsboro to Hoosac Tunnel Station on the
Eitchburg railroad was opened in 1S85 and
the steam saw mill at Readsboro built. In
1887 the Readsboro Chair Company was
organized. In connection with the state of
\'ermont and the town of Readsboro the
railroad constructed the high iron bridge,
375 feet long, and the railroad extended
though the village of Readsboro in 1890. In
1888 finding a storage of water necessary for
the use of the mills upon the stream, the
overflow of the Sadawga Pond was raised
six feet, at a large expense. In 1888 the
\\'ilmington Grain and Lumber Co. was or-
ganized.
In 1889 the Hotel Raponda was built. This
was enlarged in 1892 to accommodate one
hundred guests, and Hosea Mann, Jr., was
the principal owner and manager. The rail-
road was extended to Wilmington in 1891.
Mr. Newton was a member of the Board
of Holyoke \\'ater Commissioners from 1S86
to 1892, and is at the present time president
of the Newton Paper Co., of the George C.
Gill Paper Co., treasurer of the Chemical
Paper Co., and director of the Home Na-
tional Bank, of Holyoke, and president of
the Deerfield River Co., the National Metal
Edge Box Co., and the Readsboro Chair Co.,
director in the Hoosac Tunnel & Wilmington
R. R., and the \Mlmington Grain and Lum-
ber Co.
NOBLE Henry Smith, of Middletown,
Conn., son of A. Smith and Susan (Patrick)
Noble, was born Oct. 8, 1845, ^t Hinesburgh.
Dr. Noble made full use of the common
schools and the academy of his native town
in beginnitig his education and also the Green
Mountain Institute at South ^Voodstock,
where he was a teacher, at the same time fit-
ting himself for matriculation at Tufts Col-
lege. At this college he received the degree
of A. B., graduating second in the class of
1869. He then began the study of medicine
with Dr. D. W. Hazleton of Cavendish, and
took the first course of lectures at Vermont
L'niversity, Burlington, and the second course
and degree of M. D. at the College of Physi-
cians and Surgeons in New Vork City in
1871.
Following graduation he passed a year at
the Hartford, Conn., City Hospital and began
the practice of his profession at Chester in
1872, where he remained until the fall of
1879. In 1880 he was appointed second as-
sistant physician at Hartford retreat and in
1880 became assistant at the Connecticut
Hospital for Insane and occupied the same
position in the Michigan Asylum for Insane
in 1882, returning to the Connecticut Hos-
pital in 1884.
Dr. Noble passed the summer of 1886 in
study and recreation in Europe and while
abroad received his present appointment of
first assistant physician of the Connecticut
Hospital for the Insane.
He is a member of Olive Branch Lodge,
F. & A. M., Chester, and of the Middlesex
County Medical Society, and Connecticut
State Medical Society, the .•\merican Acad-
emy of Medicine, and of the American
Medico-Psychological Association.
Dr. Noble was married March 14, 187 1,
at Rochester, to Edna J. Chaffee, daughter
of John and Rose Lowell Chaffee.
NORTON, Jesse O., was born in
Vermont ; graduated at Williams College ;
emigrated to Illinois in 1839 : studied law
and came to the bar in 1840; was a mem-
ber, in 1847, of the state constitutional con-
vention ; was a member of the state Legis-
lature in 185 1 and 1852; was elected a
representative from Illinois to the Thirty-
third and Thirty-fourth Congresses; in 1857
was elected judge of the eleventh judicial
district of Illinois, holding the office until
1862 ; and in 1863 was re-elected a repre-
sentative to Congress.
OLDS, EDSON B., was born in Vermont,
and a representative in Congress from Ohio,
from 1849 to 1855. In 1862 he was for a
short time imprisoned in Fort Lafayette for
supposed disloyalty, and while there con-
fined, he was elected a member of the
Assembly of Ohio, having previously served
six years in the state Legislature, and has
been speaker of the Senate.
OTIS, JOHN Grant, of Topeka, Kan.,
was born in Danby, Feb. 10, 1838, took an
academic course at Burr Seminary, attended
one year at Williams College, and one year
at Harvard Law School ; was admitted to the
bar of Rutland county in the spring of 1859 ;
removed to Kansas in May, same year, and
located at Topeka, where he has since re-
sided : took an active part in recruiting the
first colored regiment of Kansas in 1862 ;
was a member of infantry company in 2d
Regt. of Vols, at the time of Price raid ; was
an ardent supporter of Abraham Lincoln ;
since the war closed has been a most un-
compromising Greenbacker and advocate of
a new American monetary system in the inter-
est of the industrial classes ; for over twenty
years has been engaged in dairy business
near Topeka ; has been a member of the
Grange for eighteen years ; is also a member
of the Farmer's Alliance and Industrial
LTnion ; was state agent for the Grange from
1873 to 187s, and the state lecturer from
1889 to 1 89 1 ; has always supported prohi-
bition and equal suffrage ; was elected to the
Fifty-second Congress as a People's Party
candidate.
OLIN, Abraham B., was born in Shafts-
bury in 181 2 ; graduated at \Villiams College
in 1S35 ; commenced the practice of law at
Troy, N. V., in 1838 ; was for three years
recorder of the city of Troy, and was elected
a representative to the Thirty-fifth Congress
from New York ; re-elected to the Thirty-
seventh Congress also. In 1863 he was ap-
pointed by President Lincoln a judge of the
Supreme Court of the District of Columbia.
His father, Gideon Olin, was in Congress
from Vermont during the administration of
President Jefferson. [See Part I for a sketch
of Gideon Olin. I
PAGE, Frank Wilfred, of Boston,
Mass., son of Lemuel W. and Susan G.
(Saunders) Page, was born in East A\'ilton,
N. H., August 24, 1843.
His father being a native of Burlington, he
returned with his parents to Burlington when
two years of age, after having also lived with
them a short time in Boston, Mass. He was
educated in the private schools of Burling-
ton and at the L'nion high school or Bur-
lington Academy, entering the I'niversity of
Vermont in i860, and graduated therefrom
in the class of 1864, receiving the degree of
A. B. and that of A. M. in 1869. He began
the study of medicine during his junior year
in college, and after graduation continued
the study of medicine in the office and under
the tutelage of the late Dr. Samuel ^\'hite
Thayer. He attended lectures in the medi-
cal department of the I'niversity, and at the
College of Physicians and Surgeons, New
York City, graduating from the former in
June, 1866.
He began the practice of his profession
in St. Peter, Minn., where he remained one
year. Returning in the fall of 1S67 he
associated himself in partnership with Dr.
Olin G. Dyer, of Brandon. For nearly
eleven years he continued in the active
duties of his profession in Brandon. While
a resident of Brandon he became interested
in educational and kindred matters, and for
several years was chairman of the town
school board. Becoming interested in ner-
vous and mental diseases, on May i, 1878,
he gave up private practice to accept the
117
position of first assistant physician on the
medical staff of McLean Asylum for the
Insane, at Somerville, Mass. On retirement
of the medical officer in charge, June i,
1S79, he became superintendent, a position
he relinquished in December to open for the
managers, Feb. i, 1880, the new .Adams
Nervine .Asylum, an institution situated at
Jamaica Plains, Mass., and founded by the
late Seth Adams, a wealthy sugar refiner, for
the benefit of nervous people not insane.
He remained in charge as superintendent
and resident physician until May 13, 1885,
when, after making the institution a great
LFRED PAGE.
success, he declined a re-election. The
managers m their report for 1855 said of
him : "He has had charge of the asylum
during the whole period of its active exis-
tence, more than five years, and its useful-
ness and great success are largely due to his
professional skill and his faithfulness, energy
and administrative capacity. The managers
desire to acknowledge the indebtedness of
the institution to him for his valuable ser-
vices, and to wish him a prosperous and
successful future."
On his retirement from the superintend-
ency of the .Adams Asylum he was elected
one of the board of consulting physicians,
a position he still holds. Since May, 1885,
he has been engaged in the practice of his
specialty, that of nervous and mental dis-
eases, in the city of Boston. In 1889 he
was elected bv the trustees of Darners Hos-
])ital for the Insane a member of the board
of consulting physicians.
Dr. Page was married, in August, 1S70, to
Annah .Amelia, daughter of Dr. Olin G.
Dyer, of Brandon. .She died in FJoston,
Sept. 1 1, 1892.
He is a member of various medical socie-
ties, and in politcs is naturally a staunch
Republican.
PARKER, A. X., of Potsdam, N. V., was
born in .Addison county in 1831; removed
to Potsdam, N. V., at an early age ; gradu-
ated from St. Lawrence .Academy ; read law
and commenced practice at Potsdam in 1856 ;
was a member of the New York .Assembly in
1863; was postmaster under President Lin-
coln ; was state senator in 186 7, -'69, and the
first elector-at-large upon the Republican
ticket in 1876; was a member of Congress
in 18S3. He still practices his profession at
Potsdam.
PARKER, George H., of Watertown,
South Dakota, son of Orrin C. and Julia
(Dickinson) Parker, was born at Montgom-
ery, .April 5, 1841.
He was educated in the common schools
and at Black River .Academy at Ludlow, and
the New Hampton Institute at Fairfax where
he studied for the ministry.
Mr. Parker was ordained to the Baptist
ministry at Montgomery Center, Jan. 1 31,
1866. He served as pastor for varying pe-
ii8
riods of one to five years at Berkshire Center,
Pamton, Felchville, Grafton, and North Troy,
at the latter place serving two pastorates cov-
ering a period of seven years. During these
long terms he did much active and valuable
work organizing churches and securing need-
ed accommodations and members. At East
Franklin and South Jay he organized churches
and at the latter place assisted in the erec-
tion of a church edifice. In 1886 he settled
in Watertown, South Dakota, and served
with marked success for three years.
In 1876-7 he was a member of the Legis-
lature from the town of Reading, Vt., and
served on the committee on state prison.
Again from the town of Troy he was elected
in 1884, serving on the committee on educa-
tion and took an active part in all work. In
1890 he was elected county superintendent
of schools, for Codington county. South Da-
kota. He was again elected on the Repub-
lican ticket in 1892, receiving the largest
vote ever cast.
Mr. Parker enlisted at Bakersfield, August
26, 1861, as corporal of Company A, 5th
Regt. Vt. Vols., and was with the charge at
Lees Mills, in the battle of Williamsburg and
the Peninsula campaign ; was severely wound-
ed in the Seven Days fight before Richmond
at Goldens Farm. He was a prisoner at
Belle Isle and released August 3 and dis-
charged by reason of his wounds in 1863.
Mr. Parker was twice commander of
Bailey Post, G. A. R., North Troy, and of
Freeman Thayer Post, Watertown, S. D.
He was married at East Enosburg, Au-
gust 14, 1864, to Arvilla E. Davis, daughter
of Talmon K. and Emma J. Davis, who died
April 23, 1873, leaving three children. He
was again married Nov. 14, 1874, at Wethers-
field to Minerva E. Mitchfell, daughter of
James and Dolly Mitchell.
PARKER, Isaac Augustus, of Gales-
burg, 111., son of Isaac and Lucia (Wood)
Parker, was born in South Woodstock, Dec.
31, 1825.
His early life was spent upon the farm and
in acquiring such an education as the dis-
trict schools of the time afforded, and at sev-
enteen he was a teacher in the common
schools in the vicinity of his native place.
Fitting for college at the Black River Acad-
emy, Hancock (N. H.) Scientific and
Literary Institute (in which he taught
mathematics at the same time), and the
Green Mountain Liberal Institute, he entered
Dartmouth College in 1849 and graduated
with the class of 1853. Mr. Parker while in
college was a member of the Alpha Delta
Phi Society and at graduation was elected a
member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society.
Soon after his graduation he accepted the
principalship of the Orleans Liberal Institute
at ( ;iover, which he successfully filled for five
years. Hon. W. W. Grout, S. C. Shurtleff, O.
L. French, and others, who have attained posi-
tions of influence, were students in the institute
under his instruction. In 1858 Mr. Parker re-
signed his position to accept a larger field of
activity and became professor of ancient lan-
guages in Lombard University and held this
position for ten years, when he was elected
Williamson professor of Greek in the same in-
stitution and still holds this position. Profes-
sor Parker has been for more than thirty-fi\e
years connected with Lombard University
and is recognized on all sides as one of the
leading instructors of the country, always
striving to inculcate habits of industry and
teaching young people to depend upon
their own resources for that success in life
which is the aim of every young man.
ISAAC AUGUSTUS PARKER.
Dr. Parker is a member of the board of
trustees of the Galesburgh Public Library and
was honored with the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy from Buchtel College, Akron, O.,
in 1S92.
February 18, 1856, Mr. Parker was married
to Sarah A., daughter of \Villiam and Par-
thena (Whitmore) Labaree of Hartland. Of
this union were two children : Izah T., de-
ceased, and William A., a civil engineer in
Chicago. Mrs. Parker deceased in June,
1889.
PARKER, M^'RON M., of Washington,
D. C, was born in Fairfax, in 1843, son of
119
Melvin V. and Eineline (Story) Parker;
grandson of Robert and Sophia Cross
Parker ; great-grandson of Robert Parker, a
private in the Revolutionary army ; grandson
of Elija and Cressy Story ; great-grandson
of Elija Story of Fairfax, a soldier of the
Revolution : great-grandson of Joseph and
Persis Wheeler Cross (Joseph Cross who
died in 1850, at the age of 103, served at
Lexington and Bunker Hill) ; great-grand-
son of John Cressy, a native of Connecticut,
who served with the Continental army at
lirooklyn. White Plains, Brandywine, Ger-
mantown, and Vorktown.
MYRON M. PARKER.
Young Parker was preparing for college at
the breaking out of the war, when he left
school and enlisted in the ist Vt. Cavalry,
with which command he served until the
■close of the war, and his record as a soldier
is one of the most brilliant. He located in
Washington, and in 1865 he received an ap-
pointment in the War Department, where he
served several years.
In 1876 he graduated from the law depart-
ment of the Columbian L'niversity, and has
ever since taken a lively interest in that in-
stitution, donating annually to the post-
graduate class the "Myron M. Parker"
prize. In 1879 he was appointed assistant
postmaster of the city of Washington. He
was secretary of the Washington committee
on the ceremonies incident to the laying of
the corner stone of the Yorktown monument.
He was grand master of Masons in i884-'85
and officiated as such at the dedication of
the Washington monument. He was chair-
man of the triennial committee to receive
and entertain the (Irand Encampment
Knights Templar of the United States at its
twenty-fourth conclave held in Washington.
He is the grand representative of the Grand
Lodge of Ireland and the Grand Lodges of
Pennsylvania, Virginia and Delaware. He
was a member of the executive committee
having in charge the inauguration of Presi-
dent Garfield, and was \ice chairman of the
inaugural committee for President Harrison ;
he was also chairman of the committee on
civic organizations, and was marshal of the
fifth division in the inaugural parade. At
the second inauguration of President Cleve-
land he was a member of the citizens' com-
mittee, and was a special aid on the staff of
General McMahon, the chief marshal.
Like nearly all Vermonters Mr. Parker is
a Republican, and during the second cam-
paign of President Harrison was appointed
on the advisory committee of the national
committee.
He has always been interested in the ad-
\'ancement of Washington and has taken a
leading part in all public enterprises, con-
tributing largely of his time and means. He
was one of the promoters of the proposed
constitutional convention in 1889, the World's
Columbian Exposition in 1892, and was one
of the three selected to present the claims of
Washington before the committee of Con-
gress. He is secretary of the Washington
Memorial Association.
Mr. Parker has been an enthusiastic ex-
ponent and belie\er in the future greatness
of Washington, and has been closely identi-
fied with her growth. In 1880 he actively
engaged in the real estate business, meeting
with great success, his annual transactions
running into the millions, and in which he
has massed a fortune. He has been identi-
fied with many of the financial institutions.
He is also a director in the Columbia Na-
tional Bank, the American Security and
Trust Co., the Columbia Fire Insurance Co.,
the Columbia Title Insurance Co., the Eck-
ington and Soldiers Home R. R., the Atlantic
Building Co. and the Ignited States Electric
Light Co. He was vice-president of the
Brightwood R. R., and in charitable insti-
tutions is a director in the Washington
Hospital for Foundlings, the Training School
for Nurses, and the Emergency Hospital.
He was one of the organizers of the Wash-
ington Board of Trade, and for several years
was its president.
In 1876 he married Miss Nellie L. (Jris-
wold. They have four children, three girls
and one boy, and reside on Vermont avenue.
Mr. Parker retains all his old time affec-
tion and loyalty to his native state, has
PARWELEE.
PARTRIDGE.
always retained interests there, and pays
annual visits to his home in Cambridge,
where his mother and only brother and
sister reside.
Mr. Parker was appointed by Governor
Fuller a delegate at large to the National
Ship Canal Convention in 1893.
Mr. Parker was appointed by President
Harrison commissioner of the District of
Columbia on Feb. 14, 1S93, and is at present
serving his term of office.
to carry the undertaking, he arranged its
printing in Hartford, Conn., with an edition
at both places. It was edited by D. W.
Bartlett, since noted in journalism, and \V.
H. Burleigh. It was a beautiful monthly
quarto, its writers eminent in literature, and
had a large circulation, but lived only one
year, ending 1850. This interesting period
of his life is narrated to make a record of
the press of Randolph.
PARMELEE, EDWARD CARROLL, of
Denver, Colo., son of Lucius and Ann \V'al-
lace Parmelee, was born at Waterbury, May
16, 1835.
Mr. Parmelee was educated at the public
schools of his native town and at Johnson
Academy and during his younger days was a
clerk in the village store. Seeking to widen
the field of his operations he went West in
the spring of 1853 and for the past thirty
years has been extensively engaged in mining
and in abstract business.
The esteem in which Mr. Parmelee is held
by his fellow'-citizens is shown by the import-
ant positions given him at various times. In
1872 he was a member of the Territorial
Legislature from Clear Creek county ; and
from 1878 to 1882 he held the office of post-
master at (Georgetown.
Mr. Parmelee is prominent in Masonic
circles, holding the title of Grand Secretary,
F. & A. M., from 1866 up to the present, and
also of the Royal .'\rch Masons since 1875.
He is also (irand Recorder of the Knights
Templar, holding the office since 1876, and
has received the 33d degree, Scottish Rite.
PARTRIDGE, GEORGE, of San Fran-
cisco, son of Oramel and Lucy (Capron)
Partridge, was born in Randolph Centre,
August 22, 1829. His father was a native of
Norwich, and a relative of Capt. Alden Part-
ridge, first superintendent of \\"est Point,
and founder of Norwich L^niversity. His
mother was born in Williamstown.
In his boyhood he learned the trade of his
father, a leading manufacturer of furniture
and sleighs. His mechanical tastes led him
into an adventure, when seventeen years old,
which proved a serious episode in his life,
and changed his future plans. For diversion
he made a printing press, though he had
never seen one, and printed a paper called
the Autumn Leaf. After three issues he made
a larger press, got more type, and launched
the Enterprise, with the help of a few boys.
The editors were the late Rev. G. V. Max-
ham and Prof. Truman H. Safford, then in
their teens, the latter then a prodigy in
mathematics. This was printed one year,
about one thousand circulation. It was suc-
ceeded by The Nonpareil, but unable alone
GEORGE PARTRIDGE.
During this play with type and papers,
which proved very serious work, Mr. Part-
ridge fitted for college at the village academy,
impro\ing vacations with the profound law-
yer and scholar, William Nutting, and in 1850
entered Amherst College, graduating in 1854.
He went at once to Alabama as a private tutor.
The next year he was professor in Tuskegea
Female College, and then principal of Hous-
ton (Tex.) Academy, the first graded high
school of that city. In 1859 he settled in
St. Louis as a lawyer, having qualified mean-
time and been admitted to the bar. When
the war began, it was his fortune to be ap-
pointed by General Fremont as attorney of the
first military commissions organized by him
for the trial of some two hundred rebel pris-
oners. This done he was appointed to sim-
ilar duty in the department of the provost
marshal general for Missouri, being promoted
to assistant. He had special charge of the
cases of the prisoners in the famous Gratiot
prison. This position he held under Fre-
PEARSONS.
PEARSONS.
mont, Halleck, Schofield, Curtis and Keti h-
um, retiring in 1S63.
During liis residence in the South he wrote
letters for the Springfield Republican on
Southern life and politics, and also in St.
Louis a current history of the war in Mis-
souri, in all eight years connected with that
paper as correspondent. In 1872 he was
nominated by the Republicans of St. Louis
for the Legislature.
In 1865 he became interested in the
petroleum industry, desiring a more active
life, and put down nine wells in Kentucky
and Ohio, only one yielding oil and that the
heavy grade practically worthless for want
of market. At this juncture he visited Ran-
dolph, in 1866, and placed a few barrels
with mills and notably induced the incredu-
lous Vermont Central R. R. to risk ten gal-
lons. This was the first petroleum lubricat-
ing oil ever used in Vermont. In a few
months it became universal. He returned
to St. Louis, introduced it there, and also
the first high test burning oil, erecting the
third refinery west of Cleveland, and built
up a large wholesale trade. \Vhen, in 1877,
the Standard Oil Co. secured nearly all the
refineries in the United States he sold his
refinery to that company, and soon after
retired from the oil business. He then en-
gaged in silver mining in Leadville, Col.,
erected a smelter and became as proficient
in mining as he had been in oil. He is now
engaged in oil and mining business in San
Francisco. He is vice-president of the
Pacific Coast Vermont Association.
In i860 he was married to A. Augusta
Thompson, of West xAvon, Conn., who
became widely known for her Sunday school
writings and work. They have four daugh-
ters : Jennie, Alice and Grace (twins), the
latter now Mrs. Ira C. Hays, and Nellie, all
residing in San Francisco.
able financial condition, and thus restored
the credit of Chicago.
Dr. Pearsons is one of the shrewdest busi-
ness men in that city and a man of great
benevolence as well, devoting the same at-
tention to his benevolence as to his business ;
in all he has given over S 1,000,000. His first
great gifts to educational institutions were in
recognition of the Christian ministry of the
primitive New England stamp, the founders
of academies and colleges, and the leaders of
elevated public opinion. His career of
giving began in 1887 when he gave the
McCormick Theological Seminary $50,000
to establish a permanent fund in aid of
PEARSONS, Daniel Kia\ball, of
Chicago, 111., was born in Bradford in 1820.
His mother was a descendant of Israel Put-
nam.
He was educated in the common schools
and at sixteen years of age began his career
as a school teacher, which he continued five
years. With the funds saved he took a
medical course at Woodstock, Vt., and he
practiced medicine in Chicopee, Mass.,
until 1853. In 1857 he went to Illinois and
engaged in farming, but removed to C'hicago
and engaged in real estate business and soon
acquired a reputation as a financier.
He was elected alderman of the first ward
in Chicago. While in this capacity through
pledges on behalf of the city and himself he
secured a large loan at the East, much
needed by the city, which was in a deplor-
young men studying for the ministry. To
the Presbyterian Hospital he donated $60,-
000, besides superintending the construction
of the building. He gave $100,000 to Lake
Forest and §100,000 to Beloit College, and
at an expense of $25,000, built Chapin Hall,
afterwards giving the college Si 00,000 as a
single gift. He has since erected Pearsons'
Science Hall for the same institution at a
cost of over S6o,ooo. Taking into account
the rise in value of real estate donated by
him to Beloit, his benefactions may be esti-
mated at §200,000. Dr. Pearsons gave
Knox College $50,000, and at last com-
mencement offered a like amount on con-
dition that the directors should raise S200,-
000 in two years. In the spring of 1892 Dr.
Pearsons became interested in the life and
labors of the late 1 )r. Ward of Nankton Col-
lege, South Dakota, and offered the trustees
of that college ^50,000 with which to con-
struct a hall to bear the name of Dr. \\'ard,
on a condition which they easily fulfilled ; a
similar offer of 550,000 was made to Colo-
rado College, and still another of ^50,000 to
Drury College.
Dr. Pearsons has been an extensive tra\-
eler within his own and in foreign lands.
He has visited Europe three times and but
recently returned from Egypt.
Dr. Pearsons is a director of the Chicago
City Railway Co., the American Exchange
National Bank and other financial institu-
tions of Chicago. His favorite investments
have been in real property. He purchased
large tracts of timber lands in Michigan
which yielded immense profits. Dr. Pear-
.sons is the original founder of the society
Sons of Vermont in Chicago. He was the
fourth president of the society, always a prom-
inent advocate and influential adviser in mat-
ters of interest to \'ermonters and the Vermont
society. A quotation or two from Dr. Pear-
sons' speech, at the fourteenth annual ban-
quet of the society, might serve as an illustra-
tion of what his experience has been : "The
successful men of the country are not those
whose cradles were rocked by hired nurses,
and who never knew an ungratified wish as
children ; they are those who as boys did
chores for their keep, and were glad to get
the job ; laid stone wall, ploughed rough
fields and fought their way through school
and college poorly clad, fed and housed."
Speaking of some of the successful men of
Vermont, Dr. Pearsons said : "They went
from the hills and from the meadows of Ver-
mont with muscles toughened, not by the
use of the oar, but that of axe and plow, and
with wits sharpened by the privations of
their boyhood." In closing. Dr. Pearsons
made the following characteristic remarks :
"Grit makes the man, the want of it the
chump ; the men who win lay hold, hang on
and hump."
Dr. Pearsons was married in 1847 to Miss
Marietta Chapin, of Massachusetts, a woman
of the true New England type, who enters
heartily into her husband's method of bene\-
olent work. She presides with womanly
grace over his elegant and happy home in
Hinsdale, one of Chicago's beautiful suburbs.
PERRY, Aaron F., was born at Leicester,
Jan. I, I Si 5 ; received a common school and
academic education ; studied law at the Vale
Law School ; practiced at Columbus, and af-
terwards at Cincinnati ; was a member of the
state House of Representatives of Ohio in
1847 and 1848 ; and was elected a represen-
tative from Ohio in the Forty-second Con-
gress as a Republican.
PERRY, Daniel, of Maysville, Mo., was.
born in Wardsboro, Nov. 8, 1839, the son of
James T. and .\my (^\'illis) Perry.
Daniel was reared on the farm of his par-
ents, and attended the district schools, se-
curing a good education when a boy. He
afterward attended the Westminster Acad-
emy and Powers Institute at Bernardston,
Mass., and later the Albany Law School at
.•\lbany N. Y., graduating in 1868.
In September, 1861, he enlisted in the
Federal army, joining Co. F, Vt. company
of Berdan's Sharpshooters of the Army of
the Potomac, and served in many of the
principal battles in which his regiment par-
ticipated. He became a favorite of Colonel
Berdan and other officers of his regiment,,
and was well known as the "Tall Corporal
on the Right." He is six feet four inches
tall and is said to have been one of the best
marksmen in the army. He returned to
Vermont in the winter of 1863, and taught
as the principal of the high school at Jack-
sonville and North Bennington.
He went \\'est in 1872 and was connected
with school work in the higher graded schools
until about 1880, then entered the law,
abstracting, real estate and loan business in
Maysville. He has been very successful in
business, being recognized as one of the best
real estate lawyers in the West, and a very
successful dealer in real estate. His business
has amounted to hundreds of thousands of
dollars, and it is his pride, that he has never
lost a dollar to a client in investments, dur-
ing his business experience. At present he
is employed extensively in examining securi-
ties and titles for capitalists residing in the
East, and in loaning money.
In October, 18S5, he was united in mar-
riage, with a daughter of Mr. J. L. Darden,
of Southern Georgia. She is a grand-niece
of Commodore Nicholson, the first com-
mander of the old "Constitution." One
daughter has blessed this union.
Mr. Perry has held many important offices,
among them, county superintendent of
schools, public administrator and mayor of
Maysville, Mo., his home, where he is attend-
ing to his business interests, enjoying the
fruits of long and faithful service in civil life.
PETTEE, Lyman P., son of Anson I,,
and Lucy (Bartlett) Pettee, was born in Wil-
mington .August 14, 1849. Both his grand-
fathers were for many years active officers in
the old state militia, and his father, Dr. A. L.
Pettee, was one of the most prominent phy-
sicians in Windham county.
Young Pettee received his early education
in the public schools of Wilmington and later
on attended the Burnside Military School at
Brattleboro. He, early in life, came to the
conclusion that he preferred to finish his edu-
cation in the more practical channels of busi-
ness experience and accordingly became
engaged in several minor enterprises long
before he had arri\ed at his majority. .At
the age of twenty-three he left Vermont to
accept a position with the New York Pie Co.,
of New York City, and remained with them
one year, after which he embarked in the
baking business on his own account in the
city of Brooklyn. This venture was for a
time successful, but a universal panic in bus-
iness so discouraged him that he finally, in
1S80, sold out. Mr. Pettee entered the em-
ploy of Crandall & (lodley. New York, in
1 88 1, the firm enjoyining the distinction of
being the largest dealers in bakers' and con-
fectioners' supplies in the world. From this
time his strides along the pathway of success
were rapid. He soon became superinten-
dent of the business, and within two years
was admitted as a partner with a modest in-
terest. He accepted every opportunity to
prove his value to the firm, so that when the
senior member, Mr. .A. B. Crandall, died,
Mr. Pettee found his opportunity. Since
then, 1887, the firm has more than doubled
its business. In 1892 they were succeeded
by the Crandall & Codley Co., and Mr.
Pettee was at once elected vice-president and
treasurer, which position he now holds.
Mr. Pettee has engaged in many other
large and important enterprises, being presi-
dent of the Geysers Natural Carbonate
Acid Gas Co., operating at Saratoga .Springs,
N. V'., and New York City, which shi])s its
product to all parts of the world. He is
also president of the Supply World Publish-
ing Co., which issues the recognized leading
trade paper in the interests of bakers and
confectioners.
Mr. Pettee is proprietor of the Deerfield
stock farm at West Brattleboro, now one of
the recognized institutions of Windham
county, on which are some of the most
highly bred horses in this country, and where
he spends the time he has at his command
for recreation. He is also the inventor and
patentee of several useful articles of recog-
nized merit.
He is a Mason and in politics is a staunch
1 )emocrat but has never permitted partisan
principle to blind his eyes to the mistakes of
his own party.
Mr. Pettee was united in marriage in
1871 to Imogene S., daughter of Frank and
Sophia Prouty, who died, 1880. She bore
him two children : Harry E., and L. Grace.
The latter met an accidental death, being
drowned while on a visit to Wilmington. In
1883 he was again united to Mary E.,
daughter of William and Elizabeth Thresher.
Four children have blessed this marriage :
W'illie C, Lyman E., Elmo C, and George
Mortimer.
PETTIGREW, Richard Pranklin, of
Sioux Falls, S. D., was born at Ludlow, July,
1848; removed with his parents to Evans-
ville, \Ms., in 1854 ; was prepared for college
at the Evansville Academy, and entered Be-
loit College in 1866, where he remained two
years ; was a member of the law class of
1869, LTniversity of Wisconsin ; went to
Dakota in July, 1869, in the employ of a
LTnited States deputy surveyor as a laborer ;
located in Sioux Falls, where he engaged in
the surveying and real estate business ;
opened a law office in 1875, and has been in
the practice of his profession since ; was
elected to the Dakota I-egislature as a mem-
ber of the Council in 1877, and re-elected in
1879 ; was elected to the Forty-seventh and
Forty-eighth Congresses as delegate from
Dakota Territory ; was elected to the Terri-
torial Council in i884-'85 ; was elected
LTnited States Senator Oct. 16, 1889, under
the provisions of the act of Congress admit-
ting South Dakota into the Union ; took his
seat Dec. 2, 1889. His term of service will
expire March 3, 1895. He is president of
the Sioux Falls Terminal Railroad Co. : the
Sioux Falls Street Railway Co., and of the
Sioux Falls, Yankton & Southwestern Rail-
way Co.
PHELPS, Charles E., was born in
(luilford. May 1, 1S33 : removed with his
parents to Pennsylvania in 183S, and to
124
Maryland in 1841 ; graduated at Princeton
College in 1853; studied law, and came to
the Maryland bar in 1855 ; admitted to
practice in the United States Supreme Court
in 1859. In i860 he was a member of the
city council of Baltimore. In 1861 he was
commissioned a major of the Marj'land
Guard, which post he resigned. In 1862 he
was made Lieut. -Col. of the 7th Md. Vols.,
and honorably discharged on account of
wounds in 1864, and was soon afterwards
elected a representative from Maryland to
the Thirty-ninth Congress. He was subse-
quently commissioned brevet brigadier-gen-
eral for gallant conduct at the battle of
Spottsylvania.
PHELPS, George HOVEY, of Fargo,
N. D., son of Simonds Fowler Phelps and
Susan Critchett Phelps, was born July 17,
1862, at Lowell. His education was received
in the district schools of his native town,
Albany Academy, Johnson State Normal
School, and St Johnsbury Academy.
GEORGE HOVE
The years from 1883 to 1885 were spent
in teaching in New Hampshire and Vermont,
and in the fall of 1885 he entered the law
office of Hon. L. H. Thompson at Irasburg,
and commenced the study of law. In 1887
he became deputy clerk of court at St. Johns-
bury and remained in that position until he
removed to Fargo, North Dakota, in 1888,
where he took charge of the loan and collec-
tion department in the office of Burleigh
F. Spalding. During the year 1890 he
held the position of deputy clerk of the dis-
trict court of Cass county and, in 1891,
formed a law partnership with Burleigh F.
Spalding, which firm was succeeded in June,
1893, by the present firm of Newman, Spald-
ing & Phelps. Mr. Phelps has confined him-
self strictly to business, paying particular at-
tention to commercial and real estate law, and
through his energy and fidelity to his partic-
ular line has earned for himself a foremost
rank, and holds for his firm a large clientage
among the leading wholesale houses through-
out the country.
He is a member of Shiloh Lodge, No. i,
F. & A. M. ; Keystone Chapter, No. 5, R. A.
M. : Casselton Council, No. i, R. S. M. ;
Auvergne Commandery, No. 2, K. T. ; El
ZagarTemple, A. A. O. N. M. S. : Mecca
Chapter, No. 5, O. E. S., and Fargo Consis-
tory, 32d degree A. A., Scottish Rite. He
is past high priest of Keystone Chapter, has
served three years as deputy grand secretary
of the Grand Lodge, F. & A. M., and Grand
Chapter of R. A. M. of North Dakota and is
the grand representative of the Grand Lodge
and Grand Chapter of \'ermont, near the
like Grand bodies of North Dakota.
Mr. Phelps was married at Irasburg, Oct.
12, 1 88 7, to Julia Lucy, daughter of Ethan
Allen and Abigail Jane Leach. They have
one child : Kenneth Allen.
Mr. and Mrs. Phelps keep open house for
all natives of Vermont and retain at all
times their loyalty to the state of their birth.
PHELPS, James T., of Boston, Mass., son
of James T. and Lucy J. (Mitchell) Phelps,
was born May 24, 1845, at Chittenden.
He was educated in the public schools of
Burlington, and of Chelsea, Mass. In 1857
Mr. Phelps entered the Boston office of the
National Life Insurance Co. of Montpelier,
which was then conducted by his father, and
pursued his studies under paternal direction.
During the years of 1861 to 1863 he was a
clerk in a country store at Fair Haven, then
returned to Boston, and, with the exception
of a year or two in the West, has been in the
service of the National Life Insurance Co.
contiuously since. L'nder the firm name of
James T. Phelps & Son, he formed a partner-
ship with his father in 1869, and in 1870, at
the death of his father, assumed and has since
had entire control of the Massachusetts bus-
iness of the company, with great success.
In 1870 he was made a director of the com-
pany, and is now on the board.
Mr. Phelps has been in the insurance busi-
ness practically during the entire period of
its history in America and has acquired a
considerable distinction as a writer on the
subject and is an acknowledged authority on
life insurance matters.
Mr. I'helps has served in the city council
of Chelsea, Mass., two years in each branch,
as councilman and aklerman, with honor to
himself and his constituents.
-jsal^^**'
JAMES T. PHELPS.
He was married Oct. 19, 1879, at Fair
Haven, to Juliza A., daughter of the late Otis
Hamilton, and has two living children, both
daughters.
PIERCE, Leroy Matthew, of Hlack-
stone, Mass., son of Alvah \^"arren and J.ydia
(.Atwood) Pierce, was born at Olney, 111.,
Jan. 14, 1842, and became a Vermonter by
adoption. The removal of his parents from
Londonderry to Illinois and their subsequent
return a few years later when their son was
three or four years of age, explains the situ-
ation.
His education began at the old time acad-
emies in Londonderry and Springfield and
he entered Middlebury College in 1861 but
did not graduate until 1S66, for while a
student he passed some time away as a dele-
gate of the Christian commission in the
hospitals of Washington, D. C, City Point,
Va., and in the .Army of the Potomac. Re-
turning to Middlebury he resumed his
studies in a succeeding class. At college he
was prominent in society work and was
president of the fraternity of the various
chapters in the different colleges of Delta
LTpsilon and a member of the Phi Beta
Kappa. He was the salutatorian of his
class and also received the U'aldo prize for
scholarship and good behavior.
Shortly after graduation at .\ndo\er 'i'heo-
iogical Seminary of .Massacusetts, where he
had passed the years from 1866 to 1869, he
went to (Henwood, Mo., where he was ordain-
ed Feb. 4, 1870, and labored as a home mis-
sionary for about two years. In 1871 he re-
turned East and received a call to preach in
the Congregational church at Provincetown,
Mass., which he accepted and served there
until failing health caused an interruption of
his ministry after about a year's occupancy
of the pastorate. He resumed the work of
the ministry at Bernardston, Mass., becom-
ing pastor of the Congregational church,
and remained there for ten years, from 1873
to 1883. In the summer and autumn of
1883 he visited Europe in company with
Mrs. Pierce. In the spring of 1884 he be-
gan his present connection as the pastor of
the Coneresrational church in Bkickstone,
'."•i^?*
LEROY MATTHEW PIERCE.
Mass. While a busy minister, Mr. Pierce
has devoted considerable time to private
study, especially botany, and the Hebrew
Bible, in both of which he has attained pro-
ficiency for one who is not a teacher of those
branches.
Mr. Pierce was married, May 24, 1876, to
Catherine, daughter of the late Hon. William
and Abbie Hard Billings of .Arlington.
PIERCE, WiLLARD Henry, of Creen-
field, .Mass., son of Nathan G. and Roxana
(Reach) Pierce, was born in Westminster,
Nov. 2 I, 1864.
126
The early educational advantages of .Mr.
Pierce were received at the district schools
of his native town and from private instruc-
tion, as well as a course at Sa.xtons River
(Vt.) Academy. He entered the University
of Vermont, medical department, with the
class of 18S3, and graduated M. D. in 18S5.
Dr. Pierce commenced the active practice
of his profession at the age of twenty- one, at
Bernardston, Mass., and on Jan. i, 1893, he
removed to Greenfield, Mass., where he has
since resided and built up an excellent
practice. Although a general practitioner,
J)r. Pierce has a special aptitude for surgical
work, and receives many calls from the pro-
fession in Vermont, New Hampshire and
Massachusetts. A\'hen twentv-five vears of
i^
age he had performed a large number of the
most difficult operations, including the suc-
cessful removal of one kidney. Dr. Pierce
enjoys the distinction of having performed
the first operation known as laparotomy,
done by a resident of Franklin county.
.\lthough a staunch Republican, he has
been too busily engaged with his profes-
sional duties to devote much time to politics.
While in Bernardston he was a member of
the town committee, and was frequently sent
as delegate to state and other conventions.
He became a Free Mason in 1886, and is
now a member of all the bodies of that
order. \Vas president of the Library .Asso-
ciation and trustee of Powers Institute while
in Bernardston. He is a member of the
Connecticut Valley Medical .Association, of
the Massachusetts Medical Society, and for
two years president of the Franklin county
district of the latter. During the time of
his membership he has contributed a large
number of essays to these societies.
Dr. Pierce was married at Bernardston,
Mass., Sept. 5, 1888, to Nellie May, daughter
of Ormando \V. and Roxcena (.Arnold) (Iray.
They have one daughter : Roxy.
POLLARD, Henry M., was born at
Plymouth, June 14, 1836; received a com-
mon school and academic education, gradu-
ating in 1857 at the scientific department of
Dartmouth College : ser\ed in Union army
during the war as major of the Sth Regt. Vt.
Vols. ; located in Chillicothe, Mo., in the fall
of 1865, and has since resided there, prac-
ticing law ; was elected a representative from
Missouri in the Forty-fifth Congress as a
Republican.
PROCTOR, William Henry, son of
Asa and Lorena (Proctor) Proctor, was born
in Cavendish, Oct. 19, 1827. Both the
paternal and maternal grandfathers of Mr.
Proctor served in the Revolutionary war, and
the latter was present at the skirmish on the
village green at Lexington, and later partici-
]iated in the battle of Bunker Hill.
^^'hen he was eight years of age, the
parents of Mr. Proctor removed to Kalama-
zoo county, Mich., and eight years later to
Columbia county. Wis. He attended the
schools of his native town, and afterwards
studied m Schoolcraft, Mich., and Azatlan,
Wis.
Mr. Proctor has always followed the voca-
tion of a general farmer, and to this has
given the greater part of his time and atten-
tion. He has settled in the town of Foun-
tain Prairie, a locality which is much admired
by all who visit this charming spot.
He was married Nov. 8, 1857, to.Angeiine
E., daughter of the late Samuel and Mary S.
(Durfee) Lashier. Nine children are the
issue of this marriage : Nettie .\. (deceased),
I'lUen Lorena, John S., William R., Mary E.,
Walter A., Clara M., Alfred H., and Ade-
laide L.
For several years Mr. Proctor held the
office of town supervisor and was also chair-
man of the town board and for eight years a
member of the county board of supervisors.
In 18S2 he was elected to the state Legisla-
ture of Wisconsin, representing the second
assembly district of Columbia county.
127
RAMSDELL, William Martin, of
Brooklyn, N. Y., son of Horac;e 1). and
Lucretia (Holt) Ramsdell, was born Nov.
14, 1851, at Montpelier.
He receiv'ed his early education at the
public schools of his native town, and began
early in life to exhibit a strong liking for
mechanics. At the age of eighteen he en-
tered the establishment of Fisher & Colton,
manufacturers of saddlery hardware, at Mont-
pelier, and served an ai^prentii^eship in the
WILLIAM MARTIN RAMSDELL.
silver plating department. Immediately
afterward he went to Portland, Me., and
entered the employ of A. H. Atwood, manu-
facturing dealer in silver plated ware, and
remained three years, spending such time as
could be spared in preparing himself for a
professional career which he had decided
upon entering.
In 1875 he returned to Montpelier and
began the systematic study of dentistry under
the tuition of the late Dr. O. P. Forbush.
After two years Dr. Ramsdell located in
West Randolph and remained three years in
successful practice, when, desiring a larger
field, he formed, in 1880, a partnership with
Dr. Charles D. Cook, a prominent dentist of
Brooklyn, N. V., with whom he remained in
pleasant business relations two years, a part
of which time was spent in pursuing a course
of study in the Indiana Dental College at
Indianapolis from which he graduated with
honors.
Dr. Ramsdell at this time entered busi-
ness upon his own account in Brooklyn,
where he has developed a successful practice.
He is a member of the Brooklyn Dental
Society, the First District Dental Society of
the state of New York : the Brooklyn Kthical
Association ; and of the Brooklyn Society of
\'ermonters.
Dr. Ramsdell was married at Montpelier,
Sept. 2, T879, to Ida, daughter of Lorenzo
I), and Nancy Frost Hill.
RANNEW Ambrose A., son of Wait-
still R. and Phcebe (Atwood) Ranney, was
born in Townshend, April 16, 1821.
He fitted for college at Townshend Acad-
emy and was graduated from Dartmouth Col-
lege in the class of 1844. His early life was
spent on the home farm until he was nineteen
years of age. His father was the leading
physician of his native place, and was for two
years Lieutenant-Governor of the state of
Vermont.
After graduation he studied law with Hon.
Andrew Tracy in Woodstock, and was admit-
ted to the bar of ^"ermont in December,
1847. He immediately removed to Boston
and was admitted to the Suffolk bar in June,
1848.
Mr. Ranney was married in (_'avendish,
Dec. 4, 1850, to Maria I)., daughter of Addi-
son and Maria (Ingalls) Fletcher. Of this
union were four children : Fletcher Ranney,
now a partner in his father's law firm ; Maria
v., Helen M., and Alice Ranney, now Mrs.
Thomas Allen.
He was city solicitor for Boston, 1855 and
'56; member of the House of Representa-
tives 1857, '63 and '64 ; elected to Congress
in 1880, as a Republican, from the third
congressional district, and twice re-elected,
serving through the Forty-seventh, Forty-
eighth and Forty-ninth Congresses. He
joined the Republican party at its organiza-
tion, and has since remained a staunch and
active worker in its ranks. While in Con-
gress he served two terms on the committee
on elections, investigating frauds and render-
ing most valuable service in the interests of
fair elections and the integrity of the ballot-
box. During the last term he was a mem-
ber of the judiciary committee, and the head
of a special committee on the Republican
side of the house to investigate the famous
pan-electric scheme, involving the reputation
and conduct of high government officials
and exciting great public interest. His ser-
vices on this committee are a matter of hon-
orable record.
His absorbing aim and ambition was,
however, in the profession of the law, where-
in, previous to his congressional career he
had achieved eminent success. He had been
only a few years at the bar when the office of
city solicitor was conferred upon him, and
his duties therein were most creditably dis-
128
REDIXGTDN.
charged. He had little taste for politics, and
political honors ha\'e at all times been thrust
upon him, rather than sought for. But during
his legislative service, both state and national,
he won the respect and esteem of all parties,
and impressed the public generally by his
manly bearing, his fidelity to duty, as he un-
derstood it, and his great ability as a profound
lawyer, and a successful legislator. He may
be said to have achieved a national reputa-
tion. While his return to private life, and
his chosen profession, may have been more
congenial to him, the loss to the public ser-
vice was the cause of deep regret among all
who knew his virtues.
Lieut, of Co. I until mustered out, July 14,
1863. President Lincoln appointed him
additional paymaster U. S. Vols, with the
rank of major, Feb. 24, 1S64, and he re-
mained on duty with the .\rmy of the Poto-
mac until June 24, 1865, when he was
ordered to Springfield, 111., to pay mustered-
out troops. He served there until Nov. 30,
1865, and was mustered out at the close of
the war. From 1866 to 187 1 he was em-
ployed by the Kansas Pacific Railway Co. as
RAY, OSSIAN, of Lancaster, N. H., was
born at Hinesburgh, Dec. 13, 1835. Here-
moved to Irasburgh in early childhood, and
there and at Derby received an academic
education. He studied law, was admitted
to the bar in 1857, and has since practiced
at Lancaster, N. H., where he removed soon
after his admission to the bar. In 1868 he
was a member of the state Legislature, and
also in 1869. From 1862 to 1872 he was
solicitor for Coos county, and was L^nited
States attorney for the district of New
Hampshire from Feb. 22, 1879, to the fol-
lowing December, when he resigned, upon
his nomination to fill vacancy on the Forty-
sixth Congress consequent upon the death
of Hon. Evarts W. Farr. He was elected to
that Congress, and was re-elected to the
Forty-seventh Congress as a Republican.
READ, ALMON H., was born in Shel-
burne, June 12, 1790; graduated at Williams
College ; studied law and removed to Penn-
sylvania ; was frequently elected to the state
Legislature ; also to the Senate ; in 1 840 was
appointed treasurer of the state, and in
1 84 1 was elected to fill a vacancy in the
National House of Representatives, and re-
elected to the succeeding Congress. He
died at Montrose, Penn., June 3, 1S44.
REDINGTON, EDWARD Dana, of
Evanston, 111., son of Edward C. and Caro-
line D. (Stearns) Redington, was born Nov.
12, 1839, at Chelsea.
Mr. Redington was educated in the schools
of Chelsea, and at the St. Johnsbury Acad-
emy, and graduated with the class of 1861
at Dartmouth College. After graduating, he
became a teacher in St. johnsbury Academy
for a year. In the winter of i863-'64 he
served as assistant cashier of the Passumpsic
Bank.
From 1862 to the close of 1865 Mr. Red-
ington was actively engaged in the defense
of the Union. He enlisted in the 12th Vt.
Vols., August 23, 1862, and was sergeant-
major to Feb. 23, 1863, and afterwards 2d
ARD DANA REDINGTON.
cashier and paymaster, residing at Wyan-
dotte, Leavenw'orth, and Lawrence, Kan.
From 1 87 1 to 1875 ^^ "^^^^ engaged in the
lumber business in Lawrence, Kan., and
from 1875 to 1887 in Chicago, 111. Since
1 888 he has been connected with the Provi-
dent Life and Trust Co. of Philadelphia, Pa.,
in their Chicago agency.
Mr. Redington is a Repubhcan in pohtics,
though while in Kansas he was the Pro-
hibition candidate for mayor of Lawrence in
1873. In the same city he was a member
of the school board from 1872 to 1875.
In the G. A. R. Mr. Redington has been
prominent, serving as aid on Commander
Veazey's staff in 1891. He is a member of
the Illinois Commandery, Loyal Legion, of
the \\'estern Society of the Army of the Po-
tomac, and of the Sons of the American
Revolution. He has been president of the
Chicago Alumni Association of Dartmouth
College ; is president of the Chicago Associ-
ation Sons of ^'ermont for 1894, and Jan.
REDINGTON.
129
22, 1894, he was elected president of the
Chicago Congregational Club for the ensu-
ing year.
Mr. Redington was married twice, his
first wife being Mary Ann, daughter of F.ph-
raim and Mary Ann Chamberlain of St.
Johnsbury, whom he married Nov. 15, 1864.
From this union there are three children
living : Lizzie Stearns, John Chase and
Paul Goodwin (twins). Mrs. Redington
died in April, 1880. May 18, 1882, he mar-
ried Mary Julia, daughter of Ezra and Julia
R. Towne of Topsfield, Mass., by whom he
has one child ; Theodore Towne.
RICE, Edmund, of St. Paul, Minn., was
born in Waitsfield, Feb. 14, 1819; received
a common school education ; went to Kala-
mazoo, Mich., November, 1838 ; read law ;
was appointed register of the court of chan-
cery in 1S41 for the third circuit; was
appointed master in chancery ; was appoint-
ed clerk of the Supreme Court, third circuit ;
served as register and master until 1S45,
when the court was abolished, and clerk
until 1849 ; in 1S47 enlisted to serve in the
Mexican war ; was commissioned ist Lieut.
Co. .A, ist Regt. Mich. Vols. ; was detailed
as acting assistant commissary subsistence,
and acting assistant quartermaster : was
mustered out in August, 1848; removed to
St. Paul, in July, 1849, and practiced law
until 1856 ; was president of the Minnesota
& Pacific Railroad Co., from 1857 to 1863,
St. Paul & Pacific R. R., 1S63 till 1872, and
trustee till 1879 ; president St. Paul & Chi-
cago, 1863 till 1877 ; was a member of the
territorial Legislature 185 1 ; was state sena-
tor 1864-66, 1874-76 ; was a member of the
state House of Representatives 1867, 1872,
1877 and 1878 ; was mayor of St. Paul
1881-83, re-elected in 1885 and resigned in
February, 1887 ; and was elected to the
Fiftieth Congress as a Democrat.
RICE, Henry M., was born in Vermont ;
emigrated to Pennsylvania when it was a ter-
ritory, and after that time lived in three other
territories, viz., Iowa, Wisconsin and Minne-
sota, much of his life having been spent
among the Indian tribes of the Northwest ;
in 1840 he was appointed a sutler in the
army ; has been employed as commissioner
in making many Indian treaties of great im-
portance : in 1853 he was elected a delegate
to Congress from Minnesota ; re-elected in
1855, having secured the passage of the act
authorizing the people of Minnesota to form
a state constitution: and in 1857 he was
elected a senator in Congress from Minne-
sota for the term of six years.
REDINGTON, LYMAN W. , of New York
City, son of George and Loraine W. (Shel-
don) Redington, was born at Waddington,
N. v., ^L'lrch 14, 1849, and is a direct
descendant on his father's side of John
Redington, who came from the vicinity of
Hemel-Hempstead, near Windsor, England,
prior to 1640, and located in Topsfield,
Mass. He died there in 1690, and his
descendants lived there and in the adjoining
town of Boxford, and in Windsor and Rich-
mond, Mass., for many years. Lyman W.
Redington's grandfather, Jacob Redington,
was a Revolutionary soldier. He lived for
some years in Vergennes, and held a number
of local offices in the early history of that
city, being a member of the first common
council of the first city government of Ver-
gennes in 1 794. He emigrated from Ver-
gennes in iSoo to ^\'addington, N. Y., where
with his family he lived and died. Mr.
Redington, on his mother's side, was a
great-great-grandson of Capt. .Amasa Shel-
don, of the Revolutionary war, and a direct
descendant of Samuel IJass, of Plymouth,
Mass., whose wife was a daughter of the
historical John Alden. The father of the
subject of this sketch was an able lawyer and
judge of the Court of Common Pleas of St.
Lawrence county, and for several terms a
member of the New York Legislature, where
he wielded considerable influence. He aided
very materially in the construction of the
Northern R. R., from Ogdensburg to Rouse's
Point, and was one of its directors. He
was an energetic business man of large
capacity, and highly respected for his sound
judgment and upright, straightforward deal-
ing. He was a staunch Democrat. Lyman
W. Reddington's mother was a daughter of
Medad Sheldon, of Rutland, and a sister of
Charles Sheldon, deceased, of Rutland, head
of the firm of Sheldon & Sons, marble
dealers.
L. W. Redington prepared for college at
Williston Seminary, Easthampton, Mass.,
and entered Vale College in 1866, but ill-
health prevented him from completing the
collegiate course. He attended law school
at Columbia College, New York City, and
concluded his professional studies in the
office of the late L'nited States Senator
Matthew H. Carpenter, in Milwaukee, Wis.
He was admitted to the Milwaukee bar in
1 8 7 1 , and for some time afterward made an
extensive tour of Europe, to regain his
health and round out his education, remain-
a year abroad. In 1875 he located in
Rutland. In 1876 he was elected to the
oflice of grand juror, which position he
held for five years, and then refused to stand
longer. He was the nominee of the Demo-
cracy for representative at Rutland in 1876,
'78, '80 and '82. In 1878 he was elected to
the Legislature, and was the Democratic
nominee of the House for speaker. He was
RICHARDSON.
RICHAKUSON.
a delegate-at-large for Vermont to the Dem-
ocratic national convention in 1880, and was
the nominee of the Democracy in Congress
in 1882. He was chairman of the Demo-
cratic state convention in 1882, and on
the 17th of March, 18S4, was appointed
municipal judge for Rutland, to fill the
vacancy occasioned by the death of Martin
G. Everts, and re-elected in 1885. He was
corporation attorney for Rutland for the
year iS83-'84, and was president of the New
England Fire Insurance Co., of Rutland,
which was organized under a Vermont char-
ter in 1881. In 1884 he was the Demo-
cratic candidate for Governor, and made a
spirited canvass, cutting down by several
thousand the normal Republican majority in
the state. He was appointed postmaster of
Rutland July 17, 1885, by President Cleve-
land.
Mr. Redington was married Oct. 6, 1875,
to Catherine Russell Merrill, daughter of Col.
George .\. Merrill, of Rutland, and has three
children : Mary Patterson, Thomas (iregory,
and Paul Merrill.
He is a man of many scholarly attainments,
with a broad and healthy sympathy, with
democratic ideas, a powerful speaker, an in-
dependent and progressive thinker. In the
Legislature of 1878 he was the author of the
•" Redington Bill," so called, for a local op-
tion law to apply to the liquor traffic ; of
course the bill was defeated, but his speech
in its advocacy was most masterly.
In 1889 he resigned the office of post-
master, and moved to New York City to prac-
tice his profession. He is a member of the
Tammany Hall general committee ; of the N.
V. Society of the Sons of the Revolution ; of
Kane Lodge and Coeur de Lion Command-
ery, Knights Templar, and is president of the
Powhatan Club.
RICHARDSON, David NELSON, of
Davenport, Iowa, son of Christopher and
Achsah Richardson, was born March 19,
1832, at East Orange.
The common schools and three terms at
the Franklin Academy, Malone, N. V., were
his early educational advantages, while farm
life, teaching, and a printing office filled his
life until the age of twenty-three, when he
became editor and co-proprietor of the ]iaper
which he still continues to edit and own.
Iowa people say of him : " Nowadays in
Iowa when it becomes necessary to give con-
sideration of matters of literature and art,
whenever the opinion is needed of an expert
of good judgment, who has knowledge and
practical common sense, the thought of all
instinctively turn towards Mr. D. N. Rich-
ardson. In the broad range of acquaintance
with books, with architecture, with art, with
traveled knowledge and with the many
things that go to make up the culture of life,
he is easily the first citizen of the state.
]'-ver ready to interest himself in these mat-
ters where the good of the state is concerned
and in his charming, modest manner, to
give the public the benefit of his learning
acquired bv travel all over the world, with its
accompanying personal investigation, be-
sides by the more ordinary method of study,
no undertaking of statewide scope is deemed
to be on its best footing unless his co-opera-
tion is secured. He has interested himself
in the State University for the past eighteen
years, and had done as much as many others
together to put that splendid institution on a
firm basis, and to bring it out of difficulties.
When it was decided to erect a monument
to the soldiers of Iowa that would be a credit
to the state as a work of art, Mr. Richardson
DAVID NELSON RICHARDSON.
was naturally selected as a member of the
commission to have charge. More than any
other member has he interested himself, and
given the project the benefit of his learning
and investigation of memorial structures the
world over. .So, too, when an association
was formed to further the progress of art in
Iowa, he was made its president. We have
writers in Iowa who, perhaps, have made
more of a name among the reading public of
the nation : artists who in their specialties
have acquired more renown ; but, taken all
together, in literature, university extension,
monumental architecture, art and other forms
of culture, no man in Iowa surpasses Mr.
132
Richardson. He is a citizen of whioni the
state is proud."
Mr. Richardson has been a busy man. He
is editor and co-proprietor of the Daven-
port Daily Democrat, and president of the
Northwestern Associated Press : also of the
Richardson Land and Timber Co. ; of the
Iowa Art Association. For twenty-five years
he has been a director of the Citizens Na-
tional Bank; also of the Lindsay Land and
Lumber Co.; the Davenport Water Co., and
of the Davenport & Rock Lsland Ferry Co.,
and is interested in five banks, and many
other commercial institutions. For eighteen
years he has been regent of the State L^ni-
versity of Iowa.
In Masonic circles he has reached high
honors, was master of Trinity lodge No. 20S,
and in Scottish Rite Masonry has reached
the 32d degree.
Mr. Richardson was married April 15,
1858, in Groton, to Jennette, daughter of John
and Janet Darling, and is blessed with a
family of four children, both of his sons be-
ing engaged with him in business.
ROBBIE, Reuben, was born in Ver-
mont, and, having settled in New York, was
elected a representative in Congress from
that state from 1S51 to 1853.
ROBINSON, George Stewart, of
Sycamore, 111., son of (leorge and Harriet
(Stewart) Robinson, was born at Derby,
June 24, 1824.
Judge Robinson received his early train-
ing in the schools and academy of Derby,
and worked on a farm until about twenty
years of age except when teaching. He
studied law with Hon. S. B. Colby and Hon.
Lucius B. Peck, and was admitted to the
bar at Montpelier, in 1846. Failing health
compelled him to go south in 1847, where
he became a teacher in Hamilton, Ga. He
was admitted to the bar in Cuthbert, Ga., in
1852 and practiced until 1866. During the
civil war he maintained his pronounced
L^nion principles and openly opposed seces-
sion, and at a great pecuniary sacrifice kept
out of the Confederate service.
In July, 1866, he took up his residence in
Sycamore and engaged in the practice of his
profession, occupying a leading position and
Isecoming city attorney and drafting many
important ordinances. In 1873 he was ap-
pointed to the office of master in chancery,
which he held until he was elected judge of
the county court in 1877. In 1869 he be-
came a member of the board of state com-
missioners of public charities and served
nearly fifteen years, and was for eight years
president of the board, spending two to
three months annually in its service without
compensation.
Judge Robinson has taken the Blue Lodge,
Chapter and Knights Templar degrees in
Masonry and has been master, high priest of
the chapter and is now prelate' fin the
Knights Templar Lodge.
GEORGE STEWART ROBINSON.
He was married Oct. 13, 1853, at Derby
to Olive A. Colby, daughter of Nehemiah
and Malinda L. Colby. None of their three
children survive.
ROLFE, Herbert Percy, of Great
Falls, Mont., son of Gustavus and E. L.
(Martston) Rolfe, was born at Tunbridge,
August 30, 1849.
Judge Rolfe as a youth worked his way
through the best institutions of learning that
his means could reach. He attended Essex
Academy, and graduated from the State Nor-
mal School at Randolph in 186S, and from
Kimball LTnion Academy (N. H.) in 1870.
At Dartmouth College he was graduated from
the classical department in 1874, and in
1877 received the degree of A. M. He then
began his legal education in the ofifice of
Henry Noble, Esq., at Columbus, Ohio. He
afterwards studied with ex-Governor Edger-
ton of .\kron, Ohio, in 1875 and 1876, and
with Senator Sanders of Helena, Mont., in
1877, and was admitted to practice at Helena
in 1878.
As a teacher Judge Rolfe passed much
time while working his way along, and at-
tained much proficiency both in the East
and \Yest. He was principal of Lancaster
133
(N. H.) Academy in 1S73, and senior
teacher of the Institute for the HHnd at Col-
umbus, Ohio, from 1874 to 1876. He served
as superintendent of the city schools of
Helena, Mont., from 1876 to 1879.
As a journalist he edited the Butte (Mont.)
Daily Miner in 1879. From 1880 to 1884
he practiced law at i'ort Benton, Mont., and
was first judge of Cascade county from 18S7
to 1 888. In 1888 he became interested in
journalism again and has since been editor
and proprietor of the Great Falls (Mont.)
Daily and U'eekly Leader. He is also a
director of a national bank.
Sidney Edgerton and .Mary (Wright) I'^dger-
ton, and has seven children.
ROY, JOHN ALEXANDER, of San Fran-
cisco, Cal., son of Nathaniel and Margarfet
(Gilfillman) Roy, was born in Barnet, July
I, 1832.
He received his education in the public
schools of his native town, and at intervals
worked on his father's farm during the
years of his minority. On Jan. 2, 1854, he
left the home of his boyhood to seek his
fortune in the gold fields of California, going
there via the isthmus. Having reached his
destination he at once engaged in mining in
Tuolumne and Calaveras counties, until
June, 1858, when he went to Eraser's River,
where he followed the same occupation
until July, 1S59, when he returned to San
Francisco and purchased a "water route."
This was at a time in the history of the city
when the greater part of it was supplied by
Judge Rolfe has always been active in
politics and was first to organize the Repub-
licans of Choteau county, Mont., in 18S0.
He was the secretary of the first county com-
mittee and is frequently a delegate to county
and state conventions, and has been many
times chairman of the conventions. In
social organizations he is a leader. He was
W. M. of Cascade Lodge, F. & A. M. during
the years 1887 and 1888, and H. P. of (Ireat
Falls Chapter No. 9 R. A. M. in 1892 ; emi-
nent commander of Black Eagle Command-
ery No. 8, K. T., in 1894. In i888 he was
M. W. of Great Falls Lodge, A. O. U. W. He
built the first house at Great Falls in 1884,
which now has 1 2,000 population, and is the
owner of the Black Eagle F"alls addition.
judge Rolfe was married at Akron, O.,
August 8, 1876, to the daughter of ex-Gov.
watermen who conveyed the aqueous fluid
from house to house in barrels. Mr. Roy
found this to be a lucrative Imsiness and fol-
lowed it until 1863, when on account of ill-
ness, he returned to Vermont. In 1865 he
returned to San Francisco and established a
milk dairy in the southern part of the city,
and after several years formed a partnership
with C. W. Taber, L. A. Hayward, Frank H.
Johnson and Oliver Crook. This company
was incorporated and is known as the
Guadaloupe Dairy Co. J. A. Roy was
134
elected its first president, which office he has
since held.
Mr. Roy owns besides his interest in the
Guadaloupe Valley, property in San Mateo
county, and a dairy ranch of 985 acres in
Marin county.
He has always been a member of the Re-
publican party, but has never held any
office, except to serve as one of the county
committee.
For many years he has been a member of
the Pacific Coast Association Native Sons of
Vermont ; also an Odd Fellow, a Mason and
he belongs to the A. O. U. W.
Mr. Roy has been married twice. His
first wife was Rebekah, daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. Andrew Lackey, a native of Vermont,
who died in San Francisco many years ago ;
and in 1878 he was united to Barbara,
daughter of John Walker and Barbara Hun-
ter, of Rothesay Island, of Bute, Scotland.
Of this latter union is one son : Allan J.
RUSSELL, William Augustus, of
Lawrence, Mass., son of U'illiam and Almira
(Heath) Russell, was born in Wells River,
April 22, 1 83 1. The Russell family is of
pure English blood, and allied to a family
honored in Anglo-Saxon history.
Mr. Russell, while at his home in Frank-
lin, N. H., to which town his father had
removed, attended the public schools and
the Franklin Academy, occupying his vaca-
tions at work in the paper mills of Peabody
&: 1 )aniels until the age of sixteen. He
subsequently attended a private school in
Lowell, w'hich completed his early educa-
tional training. In 184S he commenced
work in his father's paper mill, where he
remained until 1851. Two years later the
father and son formed a copartnership and
moved their works to Lawrence. The senior
Mr. Russell's health failing, he was compelled
to retire from active business, leaving the
entire interests in the hands of his son, who
proved equal to the task, and began to meet
the growing demands of the business by
leasing, in 1S56, two mills in Belfast, Maine.
In 1 86 1 he purchased a mill in Lawrence of
a firm that had failed in business, and later
on two mills fell into his hands, having pre-
viously been overtaken by misfortune.
Having found by costly experiments that
wood-pulp was the fibre needed for improv-
ed machinery and rapid work, he established
a wood-pulp mill in Franklin, N. H., in
1869, for the production of this new fibre.
He succeeded in this where many had failed,
and instituted an entirely new department of
industrial art in this country. He began to
convert the product of his pulp mills into
paper by the purchase, in 1879, of the
Fisher & Aiken mills in Franklin. He also
erected one the same year at Bellows Falls.
To carry out his scheme successfully, he
was obliged to purchase the entire water
power here, build a new dam and enlarge
the canal. Through his enterprise, this
small town grew into one of the thrifty
towns of the state, ranking third in valua-
tion. Mr. Russell's principal works are at
Bellows Falls and Lawrence. He has also
large interests in other mills at several
points in Maine.
JAM AUGUSTUS BUSSEL
Politically, Mr. Russell began life as a
Whig. At the dissolution of that party he
allied himself with the Republican party and
has unwaveringly supported it since. He
uniformly declined to accept any public
office until 1867, when he was elected alder-
man in the city of Lawrence. The follow-
ing year he was chosen a member of the
state Legislature. In 1868 he was also
chosen a delegate to the national Republi-
can convention in Cincinnati.
He was elected to the Forty- sixth Congress
from the seventh Massachusetts district ;
served on the committee on commerce, and
was a member of a sub-committee to investi-
gate the cause for the decline of American
commerce. His report showed a thorough
knowledge of the subject, and resulted in
Massachusetts leading off in a change of the
laws in relation to the taxation of property
in ships. He was re-elected to the Forty-
seventh Congress, serving on the committee
of ways and means, a position he was amply
'35
■qualified to fill. Here he achieved distinc-
tion during the discussion of the tariff issues
from the protection standpoint. Yielding to
the demands of his constituents, he was
again nominated by acclamation and elected
to the Forty-eighth Congress. In his church
connections ^lr. Russell is a Congrega-
tionalist.
He was married in Bradford Feb. i, 1859,
to Elizabeth Haven, daughter of William
Hall. Of this union were three children :
Mary Frances, .-^nnie Elizabeth, and Grace
Dunton Russell, deceased. Mrs. Russell
died at St. Paul, Minn., Dec. 18, 1866.
June 25, 1872, Mr. Russell married Frances
Spafford, sister of his first wife. Their chil-
dren are : William Augustus, Jr., Elizabeth
Haven, and Richard Spafford.
SANBORN, Benjamin Hyde, of Bos-
ton, Mass., son of Seth C. and Sarah C. San-
born, was born at Morristown, May 11, 185 i.
Mr. Sanborn graduated at the academy of his
native town, began preparation for the law,
and had passed some time in its study when
he entered Dartmouth College.
In 1872 he became connected, as he sup-
posed temporarily, with the publishing house
of Robert S. Davis & Co., Boston. Meeting
with a business life most congenial to his
tastes and making therein rapid and success-
ful promotion, he decided to abandon his
plan of a college course and the uncertain-
ties of a profession and continued with this
publishing house for eleven years.
In 1883 he became a member of the firm
of Leach, Shewell & Sanborn, publishers of
school and college text books. The firm
have houses in Boston, Xew York, and Chi-
cago, and control an extensive list of nearly
two hundred standard works, devoted to
nearly all departments of education, from the
primary school to the university, and edited
or written by educators connected with
many of the leading educational institutions
of the United States and Europe.
Mr. Sanborn has always closely devoted
himself to business, and while he has served
for several years upon the school committee
of his town and upon the visiting board of
a leading educational institution, he sought
no political or public honors. He is a
Mason, and a member of the Wellesley and
Congregational Clubs ; the Aldine Club,
New York ; of the American Philological
Association ; the American Educational
Association ; and the National Institute of
Instruction.
Mr. Sanborn married, Nov. 24, 1875, Ida
A., daughter of Hiram and Hannah A.
Doty, of Elmore. They have one child :
Alice D.
SARGENT, Ja.WES, of Rochester, N. Y.,
son of William and Hannah Sargent, was
born Dec. 5, 1824, in Chester.
He remained upon the farm, having the
usual district educational facilities, until
eighteen years of age. His mind was of a
mechanical turn and he went into a woolen
factory in Ashuelot, N. H., where he was
placed in charge of a weaving room and re-
mained until 1848. He then became a
traveling daguerreotypist with marked suc-
cess, which occupation he followed four
years and then engaged in manufacturing at
Shelburne Falls, Mass., in the firm of Sar-
gent & Foster, making apple parers. His
mechanical skill and business sagacity re-
sulted in a highly successful prosperity until
1857, when he became associated with the
Yale & Greenleaf Lock Co., selling Yale
locks. His peculiar genius had found a
congenial field. He soon became the mas-
ter of the most intricate devices and saw his
golden opportunity to invent a lock which
should be proof against his own skill, as well
as that of others. After years of work he de-
veloped the Sargent automatic bank lock,
the prevailing lock in use today. In 1873
he perfected his first time lock, famous the
1.^,6
world over and universally used in financial
institutions. The factories of his firm are
located at Rochester, N. V. Other intricate
and valuable devices have been invented by
Mr. Sargent, among them a smoke preventer.
The practical side of Mr. Sargent's life
shows what strict integrity, inflexible deter-
mination, persistent industry and high pur-
pose will accomplish. His personal charac-
teristics show an irrepressible individuality,
aggressive, practical, versatile and generous.
Burlington, there attending the public
schools until 1S78.
At this period he was engaged as clerk in
a general store at North Ferrisburgh and
lived with his grandfather Newell, attending
school in winter at Charlotte Seminary.
In 1880 he entered the employ of the
Sutherland Falls Marble Co., which is largely
owned by Hon. Redfield Proctor, at Suther-
land Falls (now Proctor) . After two years
in Governor Proctor's employ at this point
and at Rutland he left to pursue his further
education, this time at the well-known
Phillips Exeter Academy, at Exeter, N. H.
He remained here two years, and in 1884
removed to Chicago, 111., and entered the
employ of the Chicago & Northwestern
R. R. Co., in the freight auditor's office. In
1885 he removed to Cavvker City, Kan., and
entered the employ of H. P. Churchill & Co.,
JAMES SARGENT.
Mr. Sargent has never been in politics.
While living in Shelburne Falls, Mass., he
became an Odd Fellow ; though maintaining
high respect for the order he withdrew
therefrom, upon removing to Rochester. He
is a member of the F. & A. M., joining a
lodge in Greenfield, Mass., in Rochester
identifying himself with the Monroe Com-
mandery ; receiving his 32d degree as a
Knight Templar.
Mr. Sargent was married at Ashuelot, N.
H., April 29, 1847, to Angelina M., daugh-
ter of Job and Hannah Foster. They have
one adopted daughter : Josephine.
SATTLEY, Elmer C, of Kansas City,
Mo., son of Robert P. and Harriet Foot
(Newell) Sattley, was born Feb. 3, 1863, at
Ferrisburgh.
His parents were Vermonters and of New
England lineage and remote English ances-
try. He attended the district schools until
1873 when he remo\ed with his parents to
/lER C. SATTLEY
negotiators of farm loans, as private secre-
tary to the manager, but after a few months
was himself made manager. In 1886 he
removed to Kansas City to take the manage-
ment of the safe deposit department of the
Kansas City Safe Deposit and Savings Bank.
The following summer he was promoted to
the position of assistant cashier of the bank
in addition to his position as safe deposit
manager. .\t this time the bank had a cap-
ital of $50,000 and deposits aggregating
§400,000. In the fall of the same year he
was made cashier, having in the meantime
resigned the position of safe deposit man-
ager, because of the rapidly increasing busi-
ness of the savings department requiring his
full time and services. The Kansas City
Safe Deposit and Savings Bank grew to be
one of the best known and most ]3opular in-
stitutions in Kansas City. Its business in-
creased steadily until it enjoyed the distinc-
tion of being the largest savings bank in
Missouri, having a capital of $300,000, de-
posits aggregating S2, 000,000 and depositors
numbering over eight thousand. The bank,
however, was forced to close its doors during
the panic of 1893 and Mr. Sattley is still in
Kansas City engaged in straightening out
the affairs of the bank. The subject of this
sketch is well-known for his gentlemanly
bearing, his high manly qualities, his accur-
ate methods of business and his strict atten-
tion to its details, and to him in great
part much of the success of the bank was
due. There can be no doubt, moreover,
that his future will be one of prominence and
distinction and real usefulness.
In social organizations Mr. Sattley is prom-
inent. In Masonic orders he takes great
interest, and is a member of the Oriental
Commandery, No. 35, the Ararat Temple, as
well as of the lower orders. He also belongs
to the B. P. O. Elks, No. 26, and has hetd
various ofifices in these orders.
He is a member of the Commercial Club
and the Kansas City Club. With his three
brothers he operates the large farm known
as Sattley Brothers' Stock Farm at Ferris-
burgh, Vt., under the charge of his father.
Mr. Sattley was married, Nov. 23, 1S92, at
Sedalia, Mo., to Ida Belle Nevvkirk, daughter
of Hon. Cyrus and Rebecca Newkirk of that
place.
SATTLEY, WINFIELD NEWELL, of Chi-
cago, 111., son of Robert Preston and Harriet
Foot Sattley, was born June 19, 1859, at
Ferrisburgh.
Mr. Sattley began his education in the old
red schoolhouse in Ferrisburgh which stood
near the old homestead, that for more than
a century has been the ancestral home.
Later he attended the graded school at Bur-
lington and graduated from the business col-
lege in that city in 1877. He then began
to read law in Julius W. Russel's office, and
in December, 1878, entered the office of the
Vermont Life Insurance Co. and became its
chief clerk. In 1881 he became the super-
intendent of the company's western depart-
ment, with ofifices in Chicago ; this position
he held until February, 18S4, when he ac-
cepted the appointment of general agent of
the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance
Co. In April, 1887, he became the Illinois
superintendent of agents for the New York
Life Insurance Co. of New York. In 1889
he became manager of the western depart-
SAWVKK. 137
ment of the Manhattan Life Insurance Co.
of New York, which ])Osition he still holds.
During this wide experience in business life
Mr. Sattley has acquired the reputation of a
skillful financier and successful man, and
has large real estate interests in Chicago,
Kansas City and Thousand Islands.
WINFIELD NEWELL SATTLEY.
He is a Republican in politics and is
prominent in social organizations being first
vice-president of the Hamilton Club. He is
also a member of the Washington Park Club,
the Chicago Athletic Association and Mil-
tona Club, the Oriental Lodge, Palestine
Council, the Lafayette Chapter, the Apollo
Commandery, the Oriental Consistory, and
Medina Temple, and also Chicago Lodge
and Club of Elks.
Mr. Sattley was married to May Eva
Kelly in June, 1884, and has two young
children : Ethelwyn May, and Winfield New-
ell, Jr.
'^SAWYER, JOHN GILBERT, of Albion,
N. Y., was born at Brandon, June 5, 1825 ;
was educated at the common schools and at
Millville Academy : studied law, was admitted
to the bar, and has since practiced : was a
justice of the peace from Jan. i, 1852, to
.\pril, 1858 : was district attorney of Orleans
county from Jan. i, 1863, to Jan. i, 1866;
was judge and surrogate of Orleans county
from Jan. i, 186S, to" Jan. i, 1S84, and was
elected to the Forty-ninth Congress as a
Republican : was re-elected.
i-,8
SAWYHR, Philetus, of Oshkosh, Wis.,
was born Sept. 22, 1S16. His father was a
farmer and blacksmith, a man of scanty
means and humble ambition.
Prominent among the class of men who
have worked their way from lowly and hum-
ble beginnings to places of leadership in the
commerce, the great industries, and manage-
ment of the traffic and exchanges of the
country and who are found among the
trusted leaders and representatives in the
councils of the state and nation, is Philetus
Sawyer.
" Choring " around the farm, lumbering
in a primitive way in the Adirondacks, until
at the age of seventeen he purchased his
time of his father, and a few terms at the
district school, were the early experience of
the man. Soon in business for himself
running a saw mill, and fourteen years after
purchasing his majority, and thirty-one
years of age, he joined the tide of emigration
flowing westward, having a capital of about
two thousand dollars, and an education ob-
tained by observation and experience, he
located on a farm in Fond du Lac county.
Wis. Two years here satisfied him, and he
removed to .\lgonea, now in Oshkosh, and
began operating a saw mill. In 1853 he
formed the partnership of Brand & ( )lcott, in
Fond du Lac, for the manufacture of lum-
ber, with marked success, becoming sole
owner of the business in 1862, and a year
later taking his only surviving son into the
business.
He had developed a character of far-reach-
ing sagacity, and was called into public
service, and repeatedly served on the city
council, acting with the Republican party.
In 1857 he became a representative in the
Legislature, where the same sound judgment
which made his private business so success-
ful was applied to affairs of state, and in 1861
he became again the choice of his party,
rendering great service in electing Judge
Howe to the Senate. In 1863 and 1864 he
served as mayor of Oshkosh, during the try-
ing period of the civil war. In 1864 he was
elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress, and
sat in the House of Representatives the ten
following years, with constantly increasing
influence ; as the late James G. Blaine said
of him, "honest, industrious, generous, true
to every tie, and every obligation of life."
In the House he served on important
committees, notably that of commerce, and
of Pacific railroads, and voluntarily retired
from Congress in 1875. In 1876 he became
interested in the \\'est Wisconsin R. R ,
which, acquiring four other lines, was con-
solidated into the Chicago, St. Paul, Minne-
apolis & Omaha Railroad Co., of which Mr.
Sawyer was vice-president and director until
18S0. In iS8r his friends and leading Re-
publicans in the Legislature elected him to
the L'nited States Senate, succeeding Hon.
Angus Cameron. In 1887 he was re-elected.
He was chairman of the Senate committee
on railroads in the Forty-seventh and Forty-
eighth Congresses. In the Forty-ninth Con-
gress he was chairman of the committee on
pensions, and has been an active member
since 1886, reporting over a thousand special
bills and claims, and in the Fiftieth, Fifty-
first, and Fifty-second Congresses was chair-
man of the committee on postofifices and
post roads.
Mr. Sawyer's liberality as a citizen has been
conspicuous in many ways. His contribu-
tions to churches and educational institutions
and deserving objects have marked his ca-
reer.
His private life was a singularly happy one,
marred only by the loss of his wife in 1888,
forty-seven years after marriage. Mrs. Saw-
yer was a woman whose memory will live long
in the hearts of the poor ; of a kind and
benevolent nature ; a good woman — a lady
in every sense, by every impulse of her na-
ture. Air. Sawyer was married before he was
twenty-five years of age, in 1841, to Melvina
M. Hadley. Their family consisted of one
son, Edgar P., the senator's partner ; and
two daughters : Mrs. Howard G. White, of
Syracuse, N. V., and Mrs. W. O. Goodwin, of
Chicago, 111.
SCOTT, Oscar D.,of Texarkana, .\rk.,
son of \\'alter and .Aurilla (\\'hite) Scott was
born August 30, 1843, at Townshend.
Mr. Scott was educated at Leland Semi-
nary of Townshend and entered Middlebury
College in 1S58 and remained through the
freshman year. In 1865 he returned and
graduated with honor in the class of 1868.
After graduation he read law in the office of
Hill & Safford of St. .Albans and was ad-
mitted to the bar in October, 1868. Dur-
ing these years of study he taught school in
Londonderry, Townshend, Middlebury, Bris-
tol, Wallingford and St. .-Mbans.
In 1868 he entered the law office of Hon.
C. Mutzner of Aurora, Ills., and after a short
time went to Magnolia, Ark., where he re-
mained until the fall of 1873. He then re-
moved to Lewisville, .Ark., and practiced law
until May, 1875, when a new county being
formed, Texarkana was selected the county
seat, and to this place he moved and has
since been engaged in practice.
In 1871 and 1872 he was the attorney for
Columbia county, and has often been special
judge of the circuit court. In 1S86 he was
Republican nominee for justice of the
Supreme Court and in 188S was on the joint
ticket of the Republican and Union Labor
party as the nominee for chief justice of the
SKVERANCE.
'39
Supreme Court, but in both cases was
" snowed under."
In 1863 he enlisted in Co. F, lyth Regt.
Vt. Vols., and mustered in as corporal, .April
12, 1S64. He was with his regiment at the
Wilderness when 23 per cent, of its men
were killed and wounded ; again at Spott-
sylvania when the loss was 25 per cent. He
was severely injured at Cold Harbor, losing
his right foot, and remained in the hospital
until May, 1865.
In social matters Mr. Scott is a member
of the Chi Psi college fraternity. He has
been W. M. of Texarkana Lodge, A. F. &
A. M., and H. P. in Texarkana Council, R. A.
M., and E. C. of Cceur de Leon Com-
mandery, No. 6, at Texarkana. He has
also been N. G. of Gate City Lodge, I. O.
O. F., and is a member of the Elks. He
has also been post commander of Dick
Yates Post, G. A. R.
He was married at Wallingford, Jan. 27,
1875, to Cornelia F., daughter of Dr. E. G.
Hulett, and has four children living : (Irace
A., Hulett, Carrie A., and Walter E.
SESSIONS, Walter L., was born in
Brandon ; received a common school and
academic education ; studied law and has
practiced the profession ; was commissioner
of schools for several years ; was a member
of the Assembly of the state of New York in
1853 and 1854 ; was a member of the state
Senate of New York in 1859, and in 1865 ;
was elected a representative from New York
in the Forty-second Congress as a Uepubli-
can ; was re-elected to the Forty-third Con-
gress.
SEVERANCE, CLAUDIUS MiLTON, of
Keyoto, Japan, son of Milton Leonard and
Emily Augusta (Spencer) Severance, was
born in West Salisbury, Nov. 3, 1861. Born
of good old New England stock, and the son
of a clergyman and an accomplished mother,
it was natural that his education should be-
gin at home. .At the age of nine he began
the study of Latin with his mother and when
thirteen was nearly fitted for college in that
language. .As the opportunity of taking ad-
vantage of a teacher of special ability in the
select school at Orwell occurred, Claude was
sent hither. With work on the farm, a term
as a page in the House of Representatives at
Montpelier, and a short period as clerk in a
store, were the early years of approaching
manhood passed. In June, 1879, he gradu-
ated from Berman Academy and entered
Middlebury College in the fall. Obtaining
a scholarship from general proficiency, and
leading the class in Greek and Latin, were
the features of his university life u]) to
graduation, in 1883.
Mr. Severance now began the earnest work
of life and found his special ability in Greek
and modern languages, recognized by a posi-
tion as professor thereof at Burr & Burton
Seminary at Manchester. .After two years
here, during which he completely reviewed
his previous course of education, a trip to
I'Airope was arranged. Matriculating at the
I'niversiiv of Goettingen, and visiting Ber-
CLAUDIUS MILTON SEVERANCE.
lin, Dresden and Leipzig, six weeks were
spent at I3onne. .After further sight-seeing,
and passing some lime in Paris, the return
home via London and Liverpool was accom-
plished.
In 1 886 Professor Se\erance received a
call from Oahu College, Honolulu, taking the
chair of French, ancient history and elocu-
tion. The influences which since childhood
to lead him into the ministry, here seemed
to culminate, and at the end of a delightful
year of teaching his resignation was handed
in and he entered the Yale Divinity School
as a student in 1887. .After a year's study,
and during vacation, he preached at various
places in Nebraska, and April 9, 1889, the
Centri? .Association of Congregational Pas-
tors of New Haven, Conn., granted Mr.
Severance a license to preach upon a full
examination of his theological beliefs. In
the early part of 1890 he was commissioned
a missionary of the American Board of Com-
missioners for Foreign ^Missions, to Japan.
In May of this year his graduation took
place at the Divinity School, and he was or-
dained in September at Eliot Church, New-
ton, Mass., and sailed for Japan.
\\"hile in Japan his marriage to .\lmona
Gill, daughter of Kdward and Esther Gill, of
North Monroeville, Ohio, took place July 12,
1892. Mrs. Severance is an accomplished
and charming woman, a graduate of Ober-
lin ((Jhio) College, and herself a missionary
at this time. The sturdy and aggressive
character of the Vermonter still manifests
itself in his character and his work in
Japan, where his rapid acquirement of the
language and his earnest work have earned
for him a remarkable reputation, and he is
greatly endeared.
SHAW Henry, was born in Windham
county ; studied law with Judge Foote, in
Albany, N. \'., and settled in practice in
I^anesborough, Mass., at the age of twenty-
two ; he was nominated for Congress before
he was eligible, and was subsequently elected,
in 18 1 6, to the Sixteenth Congress, and voted
for the Missouri compromise, which pre-
■ vented his re-election. He was a member of
the Massachusetts Legislature for eighteen
years, also a member of the (Governor's coun-
cil, and was the pioneer in the manufacturing
prosperity of Western Massachusetts. In
1833 he was also a presidential elector. In
1848 he removed to New York, and resided
at Fort ^^"ashington, on the Hudson ; was a
member of the board of education in New
York City, and two years in the common
council, and in 1853 was a member of the
.Assembly. He removed to Newburg in 1854,
where he resided until within a few months of
his death which occurred at Peekskill, Oct.
17) i8S7> aged seventy-nine years.
SHERMAN, Elijah B., of Chicago, was
born in Fairfield, June 18, 1832. His father,
Elias H. Sherman, was of English descent
and his mother, Clarissa (Wilmarth) Sher-
man, of .Anglo- Welsh ancestry.
Until twenty-one years of age he had the
usual experience of a farmer's boy in Ver-
mont, hard work and plenty of it, tempered
by the luxury of attending the district
schools in the winter. In 1854 Mr. Sher-
man became a clerk in a drug store in Bran-
don, and in 1855 began fitting for college in
Brandon Seminary, afterwards continued his
studies at FJurr Seminary, Manchester. He
entered Middlebury College in 1856, and
was graduated with honors in 1S60. »
.'^fter teaching in South Woodstock and
Brandon Seminary, he enlisted, in May,
1862, a private in Co. C, 9th Vt. Infantry,
was soon after elected lieutenant, and served
with his regiment until January, 1S63, when
he resigned, the regiment having been cap-
tured at Harper's Ferry, being then in en-
forced idleness at Camp Douglass, Chicago.
Entering immediately upon the study of
law, he graduated from the law department
of the University of Chicago in 1864 and
entered upon the successful practice of his
profession. In 1876 he was elected repre-
sentative to the Illinois Legislature and re-
elected in 1878. His thorough training and
ripe scholarship, coupled with his experience
at the bar and profound knowledge of the
law, gave him a high rank as a legislator. In
1877 he was commissioned by Governor
CuUom as judge advocate of the first brigade
of the Illinois National (juards, with rank of
lieutenant-colonel and performed the duties
of that office for several years. In 1879 Mr.
Sherman was appointed one of the masters in
chancery of the circuit court of the L'nited
States for the northern district of Illinois, a
position he still holds. His thorough famil-
iarity with the principles and procedure
of chancery courts, coupled with unusual
habits of industry, application and accuracy,
enabled him to achieve eminence in this im-
portant branch of judicial labor. In 1882
he became president of the Illinois State Bar
.-Association, and delivered the annual ad-
dresses before that body. For several years
Mr. Sherman has been a member and an
officer of the .American Bar Association, and
has taken an active part in the deliberations
of that national body.
In 1885 he received from Middlebury Col-
lege the honorary degree of LL. D., a recog-
nition prized the more highly because that
conservati\e institution confers the degree
upon very few of its many distinguished
sons. Mr. Sherman, not content with being
a lawyer and jurist, has taken deUght in
scientific research and Belles Lettres. Pos-
sessed of a fine literary taste and being mas-
ter of a style at once incisive, perspicuous
and pleasing, his literary productions and
public addresses have given him high rank as
a literateur, orator and critic.
In TS74 Mr. Sherman was elected grand
master of the Grand Lodge of Odd Fellows
of Illinois, and in 1875 a representative to
the Sovereign Grand I,odge. He is a mem-
ber of the linion League Club, a 3 2d degree
Mason, a member of the Military Order of
the Loyal Legion, and of the Grand Army.
He has been president of the Illinois Asso-
ciation of the Sons of Vermont, and has de-
livered several addresses at their banquets,
full of tender pathos and genial humor.
In 1866 he married Miss Hattie G. Lov-
ering of Iowa Falls, Iowa. His only son,
Bernis W. Sherman, following his father's
example, graduated at Middlebury College
in 1890, from the Union College of Law,
Chicago, in 1892, was immediately admitted
to the bar, and entered upon the practice of
the law-.
SHERMAN, Edgar Jay, of Lawrence,
Mass., son of David and Fanny (Kendall)
Sherman, was born in Weathersfield, Nov.
28, 1834. About 1632 Edmund Sherman
and wife emigrated to America from Dedham,
E^ngland, and setded in Watertown ; removed
to Weathersfield, Conn., and finally fixed
their abode in New Haven, where they died.
There are two distinct branches of the Sher-
man family in this country. From the branch
whose ancestor is recorded above sprang the
paternal ancestry of Gen. William T. Sher-
man and United States Senator John Sherman
of Ohio, as well as that of the subject of this
sketch.
Mr. Sherman attended the district schools
of Weathersfield until he had attained his six-
teenth year, and was then sent to study in the
AVesleyan Seminary in Springfield. Here he
remained until his parents removed to Law-
rence, Mass. There he entered upon a
course of private study under the tuition of
Professor Pike, which he prosecuted for
several years, teaching school during the
winter months in Barnstable county, Mass.
He began the study of law in 1855, and in
March, :858, was admitted to the bar. He
immediately began legal practice and formed
a copartnership with Hon. Daniel Saun-
ders. These relations lasted until 1864.
He was subsequently associated with John
K. Tarbox (member of Congress and in-
surance commissioner of Massachusetts),
until 1870, after which he was in ])ractice
alone until 1878, when he formed a partner-
ship with Charles U. Bell, which terminated
in 1887. Mr. Sherman was clerk of the
Lawrence police court from 1859 to 1861,
when he resigned.
. iln 1862 he enlisted as a private in the
48th Regt. Mass. Vols., and was soon elected
and commissioned captain of Co. F. He
was sent to the department of the Gulf, do-
ing excellent service, notably at the second
assault on Port Hudson, for which he was
breveted major for gallant and meritorious
conduct. At the expiration of his term of
service, he returned home, and when the
enemy attempted a raid on Washington, he
organized a military company at two days
EDGAR JAY SHERMAN.
notice, and again went to the front as rap-
tain in the famous 6th Mass. Regt. With it
he completed the required term of service
and then returned once more to civil life.
In 1865 Mr. Sherman received his first
election to the House of Representatives.
In 1866 he was re-elected; and was ap-
pointed judge advocate the same year upon
the division staff, state militia, with the rank
of major. In 1867 he was promoted to the
position of assistant adjutant-general and
chief of Major General B. F. Buder's staff,
with the rank of colonel. This office he
held until 1876.
In 1868 Colonel Sherman was elected dis-
trict attorney for the eastern district of
Massachusetts, and received the honor of
five consecutive re-elections. He resigned
14 =
this office to accept that of attorney-general
of the commonwealth, to which office he had
been nominated and elected in 1882 on the
Republican state ticket, and was re-elected
to this office five consecutive times. This
office he resigned Oct. i, 18S7, to accept
the appoinment of associate justice of the
superior court, which position he now holds.
In 1884 he received from Dartmouth Col-
lege the honorary degree of A. M. He was
appointed by Chief Justice Chase a register
in bankruptcy under the U. S. bankrupt law,
and held that office from 1867 to 1876.
For many years he was a member of the
standing committee of the Essex Bar Asso-
ciation. He was a director in the Lawrence
National Bank from 1872 to 1888; and a
trustee of the Broadway Savings Bank sev-
eral years.
Judge Sherman is indebted for his brilliant
success to his own native abilities, assiduous
self-culture, indomitable persistence and com-
mendable self-reliance.
Mr. Sherman was married, Nov. 24, 1868,
to Abbie Louise, daughter of Stephen P.
and Fanny B. Simmons of Lawrence. Of
this union were six children : Fred Francis
(now chaplain in the navy), Fannie May,
Elizabeth (now Mrs Henry Souther), Mal-
vina (now Mrs. Frank D. Carney), Roland
Henry, and Abbie Maude.
SHERMAN, LINUS E., of Colorado
Springs, Col., son of Elias H. and Clarissa
(\\'ilmarth) Sherman, was born in Fairfield,
June 30, 1835.
His early education was acquired by at-
tending the district schools and at twenty
he prepared for college at Bakersfield Acad-
emy and Burr & Burton Seminary ; entered
Middlebury College and graduated with the
class of '61, taking the degree of A. yi. in
course.
Mr. Sherman was principal of Black River
Academy in 1866, and in 1S67 engaged in
the drug business in which he successfully
continued until 1876, when he removed to
Colorado where he followed mercantile pur-
suits for several years, and afterward en-
gaged in legal practice before the L^nited
States Land Office at Denver, and was ad-
mitted as an attorney before the interior de-
partment, and now enjoys an extensive and
lucrative practice as a mineral land attorney
and pension lawyer.
Mr. Sherman has always been too fully
occupied with business affairs to devote
much time to politics, although he has al-
ways performed his duties as a citizen. He
was a member of the Vermont constitutional
convention in 1869, and was a member of
the city council at Colorado Springs, Col.,
in 1879.
Mr. Sherman married, May 16, 1866, at
Dunham, 1^ Q., Jennie C, daughter of R.
L. and Pamelia Galer. Of this union were
three children : Clarence G., Agnes ^L, and
Gertrude C. JSIrs. Sherman died Nov. 1 7,
1877. He was again married, Jan. 20, 1881,
to Louise B., daughter of Charles P. ancl
Naomi P. Gould of Salem, Mass. Of this
union is one daughter : Marian H.
LINUS E. SHERMAN.
Mr. Sherman was the first man in Franklin
county to respond when the call of May,
1862, was made for troops. He enlisted in
Co. A, 9th Vt. Vols., was elected lieutentant
and subsequently promoted to captain, in
which capacity he served until the surrender
of Lee. He was in all the battles in which
his regiment engaged except that of Harper's
Ferry, when he was sick and a prisoner at
Winchester, Va. ; was detailed upon staff
duty and was provost marshal at Newport
Barracks, N. C. A member of the G. A. R.
since 1868, he has been a member of the
department council of administration and is
at present past post commander of the Colo-
racio Springs Post. He is a member of the
First Baptist Church of Colorado Springs and
has served as deacon for twelve years.
SHERMAN, Socrates N., was born in
Vermont, and elected a representative from
New York to the Thirty-seventh Congress,
serving on the committee on expenditures
in the Interior Department.
143
SMITH, Emerson Hall, of Fargo,
North Dakota, son of Major Richard and
Frances (Hall) Smith, was born in Tun-
bridge, April 8, 1854. His grandfather,
Eben Smith, Esq., was English, an e.\tensi\ e
land holder and one of the early settlers in
Cabot. His grandmother, .Abigail (Steele)
Smith, was a niece of Dr. Shurtleff who was
for so many years connected with Dart-
mouth College, and was aunt to the late
Judge Benjamin H. Steele. She was of
Scotch and English descent. Her ancestors
located the present city of Hartford, Conn.
His mother was a sister of the Hon. Emerson
Hall of St. Johnsbury, whose parents were
English and Scotch.
€-
.* mBt
During Mr. Smith's boyhood he worked
on his father's farm and attended the public
schools. Later he attended the Randolph
Normal School, St. Johnsbury Academy, and
graduated from the Meriden (N. H.) .Acad-
emy. In 1882 he graduated from Dartmouth
College.
He was principal of the Newmarket (N.
H.) high school from 1882 to 1884; from
1884 to 1 89 1 he was superintendent of the
public schools of the city of Fargo, North
Dakota. With characteristic energy and
ability he raised these schools to a standard
unsurpassed by the best New England
schools. In 1890 he was offered the state
superintendency of public instruction for
North Dakota, but declined the appointment.
In T892 he was elected a trustee and a mem-
ber of the executive committee of Fargo
College. During the same year he was
elected mayor of the city of Fargo, in which
election he carried every ward in the city.
This office he still holds. In politics he is
a Republican.
Mr. Smith was married, .August 16, 1882,
to Ella, daughter of .Aldice E. and Elizabeth
( Drew) Knight of Irasburgh. Of this union
there is one daughter : Helen Eliza.
SMITH, H. BOARDMAN, was born at
W'hitingham, August 18, 1826 ; graduated at
Williams College in 1847 ; studied law, and
practiced ; was appointed by the Cio\ernor
of New York judge of the Chemung county
courts, September, 1859, and in the following
November was elected to the same office ;
was elected a representative from New York
in the Forty- second Congress as a Repub-
lican ; was re-elected to the Forty-third
Congress ; Liberal and Democrat.
SMITH, Hezekiah B., of Smithville, N.
J., was born at Bridgewater July 26, 1816 ;
received a common school education ;
learned the trade of a cabinet maker : for
many years has been engaged in perfecting
woodworking machinery ; is the inventor of
a number of wood-working machines; since
1865 has been largely engaged in the manu-
facture of wood machinery at Smithville, N.
J. ; never has held any public position pre-
vious to his election to the Forty-sixth Con-
gress as a Democrat and Greenbacker.
SMITH, JOHN BUTLER, of Hillsborough,
N. H., was born in Rockingham, .April 12,
1838, and was the son of Ammi and Lydia
(Butler) Smith. His paternal ancestor was
Lieut. Thomas Smith, a sturdy representa-
ti\e of the race known as Scotch-Irish.
His parents removing to Hillsborough,
N. H., when he was nine years of age, he
received his educational training at the pub-
lic schools of that town, and subsequently
entered Francestown .Academy, where he
graduated in 1S54. He first obtained em-
ployment at Henniker, then at Manchester,
and later at New Boston. In 1863 he began
his business career by the purchase of a
drug store in Manchester, which he success-
fully conducted for a year, when he estab-
lished in the town of Washington a factory
for the production of knit goods. A year
later he leased the Sawyer woolen mill at
North Weare, and in 1866 he built at Hills-
borough Bridge a small mill, which was the
beginning of the extensive knit goods factory
now owned and operated by the Contoocook
Mills Co., of which he is the president and
])rincipal owner. For seventeen years, from
1863, Mr. Smith resided in Manchester,
although his business was elsewhere, and he
is now largely interested in the real estate
144
of that city and otherwise identified with its
people. Since iS8o he has been a resident
of Hillsborough, and has also been engaged
in the commission business (knit goods) in
Boston and New York since 1884.
Mr Smith was united in marriage, Nov. i,
1883, to Emma K., daughter of Stephen
Lavender, of Boston, Mass. Of this union
were three children : Butler Lavender
(deceased), Archibald Lavender, and Nor-
man.
In politics Mr. Smith is a Republican,
earnest, uncomjiromising, ready and willing.
He was one of the Republican electors of
the state in 1884; a member of Governor
Sawyer's council in i887-'89 ; and chair-
man of the Republican state committee in
the early part of the campaign of 1S90.
September 6, 1892, he was nominated by
acclamation in full convention the candidate
of his party for the gubernatorial seat of
the state of New Hampshire, and was elect-
ed in the following November by a majority
of the votes of the people, without recourse
to the Legislature, as had been the case for
ten years past. Governor Smith has now
held the exalted position for over a year
and has served to popular acceptance, con-
ducting the affairs of state in a manner in
which all Vermonters may lake a just pride.
.\ member of the Congregational church.
Governor Smith takes a deep interest in
matters religious and gives liberally of his
means for the upholding and upbuilding of
mankind. He is affiliated with the Masonic
body of his town.
Of a bright and genial personality, Gov-
ernor Smith not only commands the respect,
but wins the love of all who come in con-
tact with him.
SMITH, John Sabine, of New York,
son of John S. and Caroline (Sabine) Smith,
was born April 24, 1843, at Randolph. His
father was a practicing physician in that
town for over fifty years.
His early education was received at the
Orange county school and he was graduated
at Trinity College in 1S63, at the head of his
class.
.After graduation he taught school at Troy,
N. Y., and studied law with Hon. George
Gould, e.x-judge of the Supreme Court, and
was admitted to the bar at Poughkeepsie in
1868. He located in the practice of law in
JOHN SABINE SMITH.
New York City in 1S69, at first as associate
with Hon. William E. Curtis, who afterward
became chief justice of the Superior Court.
He has since been engaged in general im-
]3ortant cases and representing large financial
interests.
Mr. Smith has always been a Republican.
He had charge as chairman of the Repub-
lican League of the state of New York in the
campaign of 1888. He was chairman of
the campaign committee of the Republican
Club of the city of New York in 1S92 and
was a candidate for the office of surrogate of
sou'inwdkrii.
145
the city and county of New York the same
year, receiving the highest vote of any can-
didate, national, state or local, on the ticket.
He is now (1893) president of the Repub-
lican Club of the city of New York and of
the Republican county committee of the city
and county of New York. In the Reisub-
lican state convention of 1S93, he receiveil
the almost unanimous vote of the great dele-
gation of New York county for candidate for
judge of the Court of Appeals of the state of
New York.
Mr. Smith is a member of the L'ni\ersity
Club, the Lawyers' Club, the Church Club
and several other social institutions. He is
president of the Association of the Alumni of
Trinity College and a member of the Phi
Betta Kappa Alumni Society of New York
City. He is also president of the Society of
Medical [urisprudence.
Subsequently he received the appointment
of assistant melter and refiner in the United
States Mint, which position he held for about
fifteen years, through various changes of ad-
ministration. His health compelled him to
retire, however, and he spent nearly two
years in the company of his family, traveling
in various parts of the United States. L'pon
his return to San F"rancisco he was solicited
to assume his old position for the purpose of
fff- flSkt'
SOMERS, Harvey C, of San Fran-
cisco, Cal., son of James and Elizabeth
(Hall) Somers, was born in Danville, Jan.
24, 1841.
He was educated in the district schools
and at Phillips Academy. In 185S, when
but seventeen years old, he went to Califor-
nia, and was engaged in the water business
for two years, and was in the employ of the
United States for one year. Subsequently
he went to Arizona on a mining e.\i)edition.
He returned to San Francisco, and in March,
1864, established the hay and grain business
under the firm name of Rider, Somers & Co.,
which firm continued for twenty-two years.
He is now engaged in the same business
under the firm name of Somers & Co. The
firm are members of the San Francisco Pro-
duce Exchange Board and do an extensive
business in their line, having large ware-
houses at 534 and 536 Sixth street and
Pier 22, Stewart street.
Mr. Somers was married to Miss Eliza F.
Waterman, ofThomaston, Me., in 1866, and
they have three children — a daughter and
two sons.
SOMERS, William James, of San
Francisco, Cal., son of James and Elizabeth
(Hall) Somers, was born Dec. 21, 1830, at
Danville.
He received his education in his native
town, and on the day he attained his majority
started for California by way of Panama.
On arriving in San Francisco he immediately
made arrangements to go to the mines in
Sonora county, where he spent one season in
mining, and then returned to San Fancisco.
Here he acquired an interest in the water
business, the supply at that time being con-
fined to a few wells, from which consumers
were supplied by carts.
AM JAMES SOMERS.
organizing the melting and refining depart-
ment in the new mint. He accepted the
position, stipulating that he might employ
his old associates. When the department
was thoroughly organized he retired from
that position, and has since devoted himself
to real estate interests.
SOUTHWORTH,, HILAND, of Abilene,
Kan., son of Seymour W . and Rachael (Sher-
man) Southworth, was born Sept. 26, 1849,
at Clarendon.
Mr. Southworth's parents removed to Mid-
dletown when he was quite young, and in the
district schools of the town and the Fort Ed-
ward (N. Y. ) Collegiate Institute, he prepared
to enter Middlebury College, and graduated
from the latter institution with the class of
i«75-
Shortly after graduation he removed to
Rosendale, Wis., and taught school, and in
1876 he went to Kansas. Taking up the law,
he successfully pursued its study and was ad-
mitted to practice in the spring of 1878, and
continued in active business imtil 18S5. He
146
then became financial correspondent for East-
ern capitalists and is now engaged in that
business.
Mr. Sotithworth is prominent in social or-
ganizations and a member of the Presby-
terian church.
^ SBit.
He was married to P^lla E. Walker, the
eldest daughter of Noah S. and Sarah A. Walk-
er, of Chi]3penhook, Vt., June 14, 1882.
SPARROW, BRADFORD P., of Hart-
wood, son of .\bner Doty and .\lmira I\[.
(Shepard) Sparrow, was born April S, 1843,
at Calais.
Mr. Sparrow received his education in the
common schools until twenty years of age.
At twenty-three he continued study at the
Washington county grammar school, under
Prof. D. D. Gorham, at the same time teach-
ing in the vicinity and acting as messenger
at the state library during two sessions of
the Legislature, to obtain the means. Hav-
ing been drafted from the town of Elmore,
July 17, 1863, military service postponed a
continuance of his studies during the inter-
vening period. .At Middlebury College he
obtained a scholarship and graduated with
the class of 1S74. In the same year he en-
tered Columbian Law School, graduating in
1876.
Mr. Sparrow's experience in the army and
southern prisons greatly injured his health
and interfered with his life's plan. Joining
Co. K, 4th ^'t. Vols., at the age of twenty
years, he passed two years in the field and
was discharged from McDougall Hospital in
New York harbor June 17, 1865, as unfit for
service. He participated in all the engage-
ments of his regiment while a member of it,
including the battles of the Wilderness ; and
on the 23d of June, 1864, with 2,000 of his
comrades was captured near Petersburg, Va.,
and hurried through Richmond and Belle
Isle to .Andersonville prison in Georgia.
Here he remained until .April 1 8, 1865, when
he was e.xchanged and delivered to Union
officers near Jacksonville, Fla., so emaciated
and weak as to be unable to march, barely
escaping with his life after a captixitv of
o\er ten months.
In July, 1876, he became the assistant
clerk of the Supreme Court of the District
of Columbia, performing the duties of
clerk for the criminal department of the
court until 1880, when considerations of
health made it advisable to exchange city
for country life. In 1882 he purchased a
tract of land in Caroline county, Virginia,
and engaged in lumbering and farming
operations. He is now an enthusiastic Vir-
ginian, in love with its climate and re-
sources.
SPALDING, Burleigh F., of Fargo,
North Dakota, was born to Rev. Benjamin
P. and Ann (Folsom) Spalding, in Crafts-
bury, Dec. 3, 1S53. His ancestors, both
paternal and maternal, came to America
from England about the year 1630, settling
in the Massachusetts colony. His mother
died when he was but eight years of age,
but so tender, yet potential, had been her
home training during those brief years that
the early sorrow served but to intensify in
the mind of the lad the earnest longing to
sometime accomplish the fulfillment of the
lofty ideal of which her life had been to him
the living example.
Ambitious of acquiring something more
than a common school education — all that
the family circumstances afforded — he reso-
lutely set himself to the task of procuring,
by his own efforts, not only the means but
the preparatory fitting to enable him to
enter upon a collegiate course, and he grad-
uated from Norwich LTniversity in 1 87 7. In
the same year he became principal of
.Albany .Academy, resigning his position in
1878 to enter the law office of Gleason &
Field, Montpelier.
.Admitted to the Washington county bar
in 1S80, and much impressed with the rapid
development of the far West, he at once
removed to Fargo, a small but growing town
on the Red River of the North, in the then
territory of Dakota.
In November, 1S80, he was united in
marriage to .Alida Baker, daughter of David
'47
and I'hiiils' (Cutler) ISaker, of (Hover. Of
this union are four children : Deane Baker,
Frances Folsom, Roscoe Conkling and Bur-
leigh Mason.
In 1 88 1 he formed a law partnership with
Charles F. Templeton, a young Vermonter,
and this relationship continued until the
latter's appointment to the Supreme Bench
of the territory by President Cleveland.
Then followed a partnership with George H.
Phelps, also from Vermont, and later on
association with Hon. Seth Newman in the
present legal firm of Newman, Spalding &
Phelps, recognized as one of the leading law
firms in the Northwest.
much to secure the adoption of tliis measure ;
served as a member and chairman of many
important committees, the judicial depart-
ment, school and public lands and the joint
commission provided by Congress to divide
the archives and property of the Territory
between the new states. He is now chair-
man of the Republican state central com-
mittee and is credited with being one of the
most skillful organizers in the state. Mr.
Spalding is a clear, concise and convincing
speaker, both at the bar and in debate, and
is a man of strong individuality e.xerting a
marked influence in all proceedings, in which
he participates. He is a genuine Yankee
and has never been ashamed of the place of
his nativity.
In 1890 he organized the Merchants State
Bank of Fargo and became its president and
attorney.
In politics Mr. Spalding has always been
a Republican and is among the leaders of
that party in the Northwest. He has never
sought office, bu4 has been elected to several
of importance. He was superintendent of
public instruction of Cass county in 18S2-
'83 ; a member of the commission to re-
locate the capital of the territory and con-
struct capitol buildings in 1883, to which
office he was elected by the Legislature with-
out his knowledge ; a member of the Con-
stitutional Convention in 1889, where he was
commended for his opposition to many of
the extreme measures proposed, and was one
of the originators of the movement to locate
the public institutions by constitution, doing
SPRING, Leverett Wilson, of WiU-
iamstovvn, Mass., son of Edward and Martha
(Atwood) Spring, was born in Grafton, Jan.
5, 1840.
Doctor Spring received his theological
education at Hartford Theological Seminary.
His early education was received at Burr &
Burton Seminary at Manchester, where he
fitted for Williams College, receiving his de-
gree at the latter institution with the class of
1 863. He was a graduate student at Andover
Theological Seminary during most of the year
i866-'67, at the same time supplying for a
period the pulpit of the Congregational church
in Castleton. In the winter of 186S he sup-
plied the church in Middlebury when a call
was accepted to a projected church in Fitch-
burg, Mass. A church was soon organized
and a fine house of worship erected and a
large congregation gathered under the name
of the Rollstone Church.
Dr. Spring, in consequence of ill-health,
resigned in 1875, and in the summer of 1876
removed to Lawrence, Kan., and became
pastor of Plymouth Church, the oldest, and
for many years the largest church in the
state. He resigned this pastorate in 1881
to accept the chair of English literature in
the University of Kansas. In 1885 he pub-
lished a history of Kansas, a book in which
the writer endeavored to set down the truth,
although aware that it might not be accept-
able to various e.vcitable factions of the pop-
ulation. On resigning, in 1886, to accept
the chair of English literature in Williams
College, he received from the Cnixersity the
degree of D. D.
Dr. Spring's literary work is quite exten-
si\'e. In 1888 he ])ublished a monograph
entitled "Mark Hopkins' Teacher," and has
contributed various magazine articles.
September 25, 1867, Dr. Spring married
Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of Prof. Will-
iam Thompson of Hartford Theological
Seminarv.
148
SQUIRE.
SQUIRE.
SQUIRH, John Peter, late of Boston,
Mass., was the son of Peter and Esther
Squire and was born in the town of Weath-
ersfield, May 8, 18 19.
The years of his boyhood were spent at
his home, attending the public schools and
working on the farm. May i, 1835, he went
to work for Mr. Orvis, who kept the \illage
store at West Windsor. He left this posi-
tion in the fall of 1837 and attended the
academy at Unity, N. H. He tanght school
at Cavendish during a part of the winter of
%
PETER SQUIRE.
March 19, 1838, he went to Boston and
entered the employment of Nathan Robbins
in Faneuil Hall market. He left Mr. Rob-
bins April 30, 1842, and formed a copart-
nership with Francis Russell and carried on
the provision business under the style of
Russell & Squire until 1847, when the firm
was dissolved, and Mr. Squire continued
alone at the same place until the year 1855,
when he formed a copartnership with
Hiland Lockwood and Edward D. Kimball
under the name of John P. Squire & Co. At
this time Mr. Squire bought a tract of land
situated on Miller's river in East Cambridge,
and built a slaughter house where the hogs
were slaughtered for the firm of John P.
Squire & Co. .Additional pieces of land
were bought from time to time adjoining
this first parcel and situated in Somerville on
the other side of Miller's river, which are
now included in the tract of land covered by
the large refrigerator, packing house and
other buildings used in connection with the
business of John P. Squire & Co. Several
men were associated with Mr. Squire in the
pork packing business as his partners up to
the 30th of .-April, 1892, when the business
was transferred to John P. Squire & Co.
Corporation ; the other members of the cor-
poration at the time of his death were two of
Mr. Squire's sons, Frank ( ). and Fred F.
Squire.
Mr. .Squire was always a man abreast of the
times and from a small and modest begin-
ning built up a pork-packing business, which
now ranks the third in the United States.
If it is any credit to have brought things to
pass, surely to have developed the business
from its small beginning to its present pro-
portion reflects lasting credit on Air. Squire,
the founder and late senior member. The
same energy and ability which Mr. Squire
showed in his business would have been
likely to bring him success in nearly any
other walk in life, but Mr. Squire seemed to
have been born for a business life, for, when
he returned to his native state early in life to
resume his studies, the allurements of a busi-
ness life, of which he had had a slight taste
in his sojourn at Boston, seriously interfered
with his ability to apply his mind to his
studies again and resulted finally in calling
him away therefrom to the metropolis of
New England again to take up that occupa-
tion, which finally resulted in placing him in
the position which he occupied in financial
and commercial circles at the time of his
death.
He was always a firm believer in real es-
tate and had large interests in Revere, Som-
erville, Cambridge, Boston, Arlington and
Belmont. He was a man of strong will and
great tenacity of purpose and of very modest
and unassuming demeanor. He joined the
Mercantile Library Association when he
first went to Boston and spent a good deal of
his spare time in reading, of which he was
always very fond.
In 1843 he married Kate Green Orvis,
the daughter of his old employer. Eleven
children were born of this marriage, nine of
whom are living : George W., Jennie C,
Frank O., Minnie E., John^A., Kate I., Fred
F., and Bessie E. Charles G. died in in-
fancy and Nellie G. died Oct. 13, 1S91.
Mr. Squire in 1848 moved to West Cam-
bridge (now called Arlington), and built
one of the most beautiful homes in the town,
where he lived surrounded by his charming
family up to the time of his death which
occurred Jan. 7, 1893.
A man of great intellect, unassuming,
modest and courteous to all, he won the re-
spect and friendship of all with whom he
came in contact.
STANbiSH, John Van Ness, of
(lalesburg, 111., son of John W. and Caroline
W. (Myrick) Standish, was born at Wood-
stock, Feb. 26, 1825.
Mr. Standish attended the Liberal Insti-
tute of Lebanon, N. H., and was for several
years under the instruction of Prof. }. C. C.
Hoskins, and graduated from Norwich LTni-
versity, then under the management of Gen.
T. B. Ransom, in July, 1847. During his
college course, he obtained the means there-
for bv teaching in the winter months-.
STETSON. 149
1893, the degree of LL. I), by St. Lawrence
I'niversity.
President Standish was married March
24, 1859, to Harriet .\ugusta, daughter of
Francis and Rebecca (Stowe) Kendall.
STETSON, Emrie Benjamin, of
Charlestown, Mass., son of P^zra and Clarissa
(Adams) Stetson, was born Jan. 2, 1825, at
Wilmington.
Mr. Stetson's career is in many ways typi-
cal ; possessed of the training of the common
schools of his home, a long career, character-
ized by integrity and energy has brought him
to the honored consideration of his fellows.
Remaining on the farm until of age, he
sought for advancement in Boston. His first
employment was in driving a bread-cart for
Orin Gilmore, of Charlestown. He passed
two years at this occupation and then worked
a few months in various cai)acities at the
Perkins Institution for the Blind and at the
The profession of a teacher Mr. Standish
has followed with success and enthusiasm
for more than half a century. In 1854 he
commenced his work at Lombard as pro-
fessor of mathematics and astronomy, a po-
sition he filled with credit and usefulness for
nearly forty years. Since 1892 he has been
president of Lombard University.
President Standish has thrice visited Eu-
rope, in 1879, 1S83, and 1892, and during
his second visit he traveled over forty thous-
and miles, visiting interesting and historic
points in nearly every European country.
Northern Africa, Egypt and Palestine.
President Standish is a Republican. He
has a very fine and extensive library and has
given much thought to political subjects, but
has never sought or accepted office, devot-
ing all his energies to a comprehensive prep-
aration for the duties of his profession
which he has made a life work. In June,
1883, the degree of Ph. D. was conferred
upon him by Knox College, and in June,
EMRIE BENJAMIN STETSON.
hotels of Boston, finally returning home, to
the town of Dover, and engaged in black-
smithing. After four years he sold out and
returned to Boston and became a partner
with his first employer in the baking business.
Success attended him in this and after ten
years he went into business upon his own ac-
count and has carried it on for thirty years,
acquiring fortune and the esteem of his asso-
ciates. For many years he has been a
director and one of the committee of in-
vestment of the Charlestown Five Cent Sav-
ings Hank. He is also a director of the
Charlestown Mutual Fire Insurance Co., and
was president of the Odd Fellows Mutual
Benefit Society in iS9i,-'92, and '93.
In politics he was a Whig during the life
of the party, and then a Republican ; to-day
he votes for the best man, regardless of his
affiliation.
In social organizations he has long been
prominent, having occupied the chairs in
the Bunker Hill Lodge, I. O. O. F., and
Bunker Hill Encampment ; in the Knights
of Honor, Daughters of Rebeckah and other
organizations.
Mr. Stetson was married, Feb. 3, 1852, at
West Dover, to Mirriam Owen, and has four
children : Florence Adelaide Bickford, Clara
.\della Howard, Eva .\ngelea (deceased),
Walter Emrie, and Gertrude Miriam Fitch.
" will be so good to me, and bear me in their
strong arms, when you two mighty men are
gone?" Such a question implied nothing
short of a sense of intellectual immortality.
When he had taken to his bed for the last
time, a visitor told him he was looking well.
" Oh, John," was the quick reply, " It's not
my appearance, but my disappearance that
troubles me ! "
One day a member of the House of Rep-
resentatives, who was noted for his uncertain
course on all questions, and who confessed
that he never investigated a point under
discussion without finding himself a neutral,
asked for leave of absence. " Mr. Speaker,"
said Stevens, " I do not rise to object, but to
suggest that the honorable member need not
ask this favor, for he can easily pair oft' with
himself ! "
STEVENS, HIRAM S., was born at
Weston in 1S32 ; received a common school
education there ; remo\ed to New Mexico in
1 85 1 and in 1S56 located in that part of
Mexico now known as Arizona ; was a mem-
ber of the territorial Legislature from Arizona
1868-1873 : was elected a delegate from
Arizona in the Forty-fourth Congress as an
independent candidate ; was re-elected to the
Forty-fifth Congress.
STEVENS, THADDEUS, was born in
Caledonia county, April 4, 1 793 ; graduated
at Dartmouth College in 18 14; during
that year he removed to Pennsylvania, stud-
ied law and taught in an academy at the
same time ; in t8i6 was admitted to the
bar in Adams county ; in 1833 was elected
to the state Legislature, and also in 1S34,
1835, 1837 and 1841 ; in 1836 was elected
a member of the convention to revise the
state constitution ; in 1838 was appointed a
canal commissioner; in 1842 he removed
to Lancaster ; and in 1848 was elected a
representative from Pennsylvania to the
Thirty-first Congress, also to the Thirty-
second ; and in 1858 was re-elected to the
Thirty-sixth Congress, and also to the
Thirty-seventh ; in 1862 he was re-elected
to the Thirty-eighth Congress ; he was also
a delegate to the Baltimore convention of
1864; and re-elected to the Thirty-ninth
Congress.
Many a joke, good and bad, is credited to
Thaddeus Stevens. One of the very keenest
of his jests, which is undoubtedly authentic,
is so commonplace in sound that one might
easily be forgiven for failing to take in its
meaning. In his last days David Reese and
John Chauncey, two employes of the House
of Representatives, used to carry him in a
large arm chair, from his lodging across the
public grounds, up the broad steps of the
capitol. "Who," he said to them one day.
STONE, ASHLEY, late of Hinsdale, N.
H., son of Ebenezer and Lydia (Streeter)
Stone, was born in Hinsdale, July 7, 1816.
He attended the district schools of his
native town until fifteen years of age. Leav-
ing home in August, 1S31, he walked to Mil-
ford, Mass., where he learned the painter's
trade. By working at his trade he earned
means to study at the Milford Academy, but
was not able to take a college course. Mr.
Stone was endowed with a keen, logical
mind, a good memory, and a desire for
knowledge. Throughout his busy life he
made study his recreation and so supple-
151
merited his scanty early advantages that few
college graduates were so thoroughly well
read as he.
For several years he worked at his trade
in Milford and Dorchester, Mass. ; the win-
ter of 1836-37 was spent in Virgina and
the city of \\"ashington for a publishing
house in placing "A Magazine of Lseful and
Entertaining Knowledge." In the spring
of 1837 he went to Searsburg to care for his
father's family and he carried on his trade
in that and neighboring towns until the fall
of 1S43. He then went to JSoston to assist
J. M. Dexter in taking account of a stock of
merchandise and subsequenriy closed out a
bankrupt stock of goods at Cambridge, N.
\'., as agent for Boston creditors.
In the spring of 1844 Mr. Stone bought
out the general store of Flavins T. and Vol-
ney Forbes in Wilmington, and he continued
an interest in mercantile business in WW-
mington for over thirty years. In 1850 he
went to California for a company who
shipped spruce lumber around Cape Horn.
While there he engaged successfully in
mining and general trade. Returning to
Wilmington in May, 185 t, he became ex-
tensively interested in real estate operations.
He erected many of Wilmington's best build-
ings, improved • a number of surrounding
farms, and for many years was a buyer or
seller in a large majority of the real estate
transactions of that town. In 1864 and
1S65 he carried on an extensive and pros-
perous baking business in Baltimore, Md.
He was guardian and administrator of many
large and intricate estates, and frequently
held positions of trust. In 1877 he left
Wilmington and returned to his native town
of Hinsdale, where he bought land and
erected houses to rent. Mr. -Stone was
always an exceedingly active man, and he
also read extensively. Although he had
remarkable physical endurance, his health
at last failed from the great strain, and his
eyes began to trouble him. He consulted
the best medical authority in this country,
submitted to three difficult surgical opera-
tions, but became totally blind in 18S4.
This forced him to abandon active business
life. He kept his home in Hinsdale, N. H.,
but spent the last few winters in Washington,
Philadelphia, Mohawk, N. Y., and New York
City.
Mr. Stone was stricken with paralysis July
28, 1893, from which he never recovered, and
died at Hinsdale Dec. 15, 1893.
i\Ir. Stone had been a Free Soiler, a Whig
and a Republican. He cast his first presi-
dential vote for \\'illiam Henry Harrison in
1 840 and voted for every U'hig and Repub-
lican presidential candidate, including Ben-
jamin Harrison in 1892, except voting for
Horace Creeley in 1872. He represented
tlie town of Searsburg as a \\ hig in the
Legislature of 1840 and was re-elected in
1 84 1, being the youngest member of each
House when serving, and was probably the
only surviving member of the Legislature at
the time of his death. He was elected by
the Whigs state senator from Windham
county in 1S52, and re-elected in 1853,
serving on the committee of education in
both sessions and being chairman of this
committee in 1853. .^t the time of his death
there were only six ex-members of the Ver-
mont Senate who had served earlier than
Mr. Stone and only two who served with
him in i852-'53. He was for several years
deputy sheriff for Windham county and for
many years town superintendent of schools
and held other town offices in Searsburg and.
Wilmington.
Mr. Stone united with the Baptist church
of \\'ilmington in 1850, just before leaving
for California, having been baptized in the
Deerfield river by Rev. Mr. Chase. He was
for many years clerk of the church and super-
intendent of its Sunday school, and one of its
oldest members when he died.
He was philanthropic and self-sacrificing,
and had always been an active supporter of
education, morality, and temperance. His
funeral was held in his home church at \\'i\-
mington, and very fully attended by his old
neighbors and friends, the sermon being
preached by his old pastor. Rev. A. \\.
Goodnow, the text being from Job 23-10:
"When he hath tried me, I shall come forth
as gold."
Mr. Stone was married in \\'ilmington,
June 6, 1844, to Harriet Ann, daughter of
Lewis and Eleanor (Dexter) Lamb. They
had six children : Lewis Porter, Byron Ash-
ley, and Dexter Lyman (who are now active
business men), Harriet Louisa, Albert Eben,
and Lydia Eleanor, all three of whom died
young. Mr. Stone afforded his three oldest
sons the means for a liberal education.
STONE, Byron Ashley, of Mohawk,
N. v., son of Ashley and Harriet A. (Lamb)
Stone, was born June 15, 184S, at ^^'il-
mington.
He attended the schools of his native
town and later the Wesleyan L^niversity at
Wilbraham, Mass., and Eastman's Business
College at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., where he
graduated with highest honors in 1868.
Mr. Stone's business life began in the store
of \y. iNI. Harris at South Deerfield, Mass.,
Sept. 22, 1868, but possessing an active dis-
position he sought more stirring employment,
and on March 22, 1869, entered tfie employ
of Pease & Ruddock of the same town, man-
ufacturers of pocket books, and began trav-
eling to sell their products. In 1871 Mr.
Ruddock died and the business was con-
152 STONE.
ducted un<ler the firm name of Pease &
Stone until bought out, with the services of
the partners, by the Charles Arms Manufact-
uring Co. Mr. Stone was steadily progress-
ing and in December, 1S80, a wider oppor-
tunity offering in the same business, he ac-
cepted an offer from Langfeld Bros. & Co.,
of Philadelphia, where he is still connected.
During twenty-five years of constant travel
Mr. Stone has visited nearly all the cities of
this country, and has occupied a lucrative
position of responsibility. In March, 1887,
a corporation known as the Mohawk Valley
Knitting Mills (limited), was organized by
himself and associates, and he became vice-
president of the company. Great success
following this business, it led to the organi-
V
BYRON ASHLEY STON
zation of a second company called the Knit-
ting Company of Mohawk (limited), and
Mr. Stone was elected president of this
company. Both mills have been prosperous,
their business being exclusively knitting
children's underwear. Mr. Stone is also a
director of the National Mohawk Valley Bank.
In church work Mr. Stone is an active
member of the Reformed church, and has
been an elder in the same for twelve years.
He was also a member of the board of edu-
cation for three years and a trustee of the
graded school, and did much toward secur-
ing the present elegant school building.
"He married, at Mohawk, N. Y., Feb. 14,
1872, Ella E., daughter of Justus S. F. and
H arriet.'X. (Talcott) Crim. He then selected
M ohawk as his permanent home, and has
since built his residence there. He has had
four children : Ross Byron, Louis Talcott,
Marjorie Dexter, Bertha Douglas, all living
except the oldest, Ross B., who died August
21, 1886. Mr. Stone has had a busy, happy,
and successful life.
STOWELL, William H. H., was born
at Windsor, July 26, 1840; was educated at
the grammar and high schools of Boston ;
engaged in mercantile business ; .settled in
Virginia in May, 1865, and was appointed
collector of internal revenue for the fourth
district in May, 1869 ; was elected a repre-
sentative from Virginia in the Forty-second
Congress as a Republican : was re-elected to
the Forty-third and Forty-fourth Congresses.
STOWELL Walter Lester, of San
Francisco, Cal.. son of Palmer Franklin and
Clara (Goodell) Stowell, was born in North
Tunbridge, July 10, 1852.
His education was commenced in the
public schools of his native place and com-
pleted in the Oakland Military .Academy of
California, having moved to that state in
February, i860. Soon after finishing his
studies at school young Stowell received an
appointment in the Custom House at San
Francisco, which position he held for two
years, until a change of the administration,
when he eagaged in buying, storing, selling
and shipping grain, also farming, until 1883,
when he received an appointment in the
postoffice at San Francisco, which place he
has held, with the exception of brief inter-
vals, to the present time and still holds.
Mr. Stowell has taken much interest in
agricultural and horticultural pursuits and
owns a fruit and grain farm of four hundred
and eighty acres in the Sacramento valley.
He has been a member of the Pacific
Coast Association Native Sons of Vermont
for several years.
STRATTON, CHARLES C, of Fitch-
burg, Mass., was born in Fairlee, August 22,
1829, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Stur-
tevant) Stratton. His father was a leading
citizen of the town, which he represented in
the Legislature.
The early education of Charles C. was
obtained in the district schools, supple-
mented by a course at Thetford Academy.
In the fall of 1846 he started out in life, and
secured his first employment in the office of
the Democratic-Republican of Haverhill, N.
H., where he acquired a thorough knowledge
of the art preservative. Later he was em-
ployed as a printer in Newbury, Boston, and
New York until 1854, when he connected
himself with the Fitchburg (Mass.) Sentinel,
and has since been connected with that estab-
lishment, with the exception of three months,
when he was with the 2d Mass. Ca\alry, and in
the Christian Commission at City Point, \'a.
In March, 1867, he purchased a half inter-
est in the office, and a few years later he rec-
ognized and urged the importance of publish-
ing a daily paper in Fitchburg. With this
object in view the ]:)artnership with John E.
Kellogg was formed in the spring of 1873,
CHARLES C. STRATTON
and the first number of the Daily Sentinel
was issued on the 6th of the following May.
Results proved that the time had come for
such a \enture. The Daily Sentinel was
started May 6, 1873, as a four page paper,
and was several times enlarged until in De-
cember, 1892, it had become an eight page
se\en-column sheet with all the accessories of
the regular metropolitan journal. The Senti-
nel has proved an important factor in the de-
velopment of Fitchburg, and was never more
prosperous than at the present time. The
office is in one of the finest buildings in the
city.
He is prominently identified with the re-
ligious and social elements of his adopted
city, and is a member of the local Independ-
ent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights
of Honor.
Mr. Stratton married at Fitchburg, Mass.,
June II, 1873, Maria S., daughter of John
and Sophronia C. Putnam. Of this union is
one daughter : Louise S.
A man of sterling qualities, Mr. Stratton is
one of the leading citizens of Fitchburg, and
enjoys the confidence and respect of a large
acquaintance.
SWEET, Willis, of Moscow, Idaho,
was born at Alburgh Springs, Jan. i, 1856 :
was educated in the common schools, and
attended the Nebraska State University
three years : learned the printer's trade at
Lincoln, Neb. : located at Moscow, Idaho,
in September, 1881, where he engaged in
the practice of law ; was appointed United
States attorney for Idaho, in May, 1888;
was appointed associate justice of the Su-
preme Court of Idaho, Nov. 25, 1889, which
position he held until the admission of
Idaho into the I'nion ; was elected to an
un-expired term of the Fifty-first Congress
as a Republican.
TABOR, H. A. W., of Denver, Col., son
of Cornelius D. and Sarah (Terrin) Tabor,
was born in Orleans county, Nov. 26, 1830.
Educated only at the public schools he re-
moved to Quincy, Mass., and learned the
trade of a stone cutter, and after acquiring
sufficient means, took up the study of the
law and removed to Kansas, taking active
part in the stirring events of the times when
Kansas was agitated over the anti-slavery
■question. Here he became a member of
the state Legislature, and in 1859 removed
to Colorado, where he has since resided.
He was the first mayor of Leadville, and has
been the treasurer of Lake county ; was the
first Lieutenant-Governor of the state in
1878, and in 1883 was chosen by the Col-
orado Legislature as a United States senator.
TAYLOR, Henry W., of Washington,
D. C, son of Daniel \V. and Almyra (Tyr-
rell) Taylor, was born in Sherburne, May
20,1855.
He was educated in the schools of his
native town and at Black River Academy ;
taught school two years in Windsor county.
Selecting the trade of machinist, he com-
pleted the apjarenticeship, and in 1S78 took
charge of the machine sho]5 of the Suther-
land Falls Marble Co., which place he re-
tained when that company was merged into
the Vermont Marble Co. In 1881 he re-
signed to accept an appointment in the
Bureau of Engraving and Printing, where
he remained until the following year, when
he was appointed by Speaker Keifer, assist-
ant engineer of the House of Representa-
tives, and has since held this i)osition.
154
Mr. Taylor's services are in demand as an
expert machinist. He was employed to
conduct secret tests of plate printing of bank
notes before a committee of the Treasury
Department, and also by the engineer, James
B. Eads, to operate and repair the costly
model of the Tehuantepec Ship Railway,
while on exhibition at the U. S. Capitol. He
superintended the construction of the exten-
sive terraces on the west front of the capitol,
for the Vermont Marble Co., during which
his gallant rescue of a workman's life ex-
cited much comment.
Mr. Taylor was married at Pittsford, in
1884, to ^Iary E., daughter of Joseph B. and
Caroline (Hall) Tottingham." Their chil-
dren are : Caroline K., and Florence M.
TEMPLE, EDALBERT J., of Hinsdale, N.
H., son of Willis Haynes Temple and Dolly
Ann (Merchant) Temple, was born June 3,
1856, at Wilmington.
Mr. Temple received his early education
in the common schools of his native town
and at Brattleboro Academy, where he was
graduated in 1877. He then entered Will-
iams College, but soon left to engage in
teaching. He began the reading of law with
Hosea W. Brigham, Esq., then of \Vhiting-
ham, and afterward entered the office of Hon.
Oscar E. Butterfield of ^\'ilmington, and
there pursued his labors until he became a
member of the bar, in March, 188 1. In the
following year he opened a law and insur-
ance office at Hinsdale, N. H., and has since
remained there, actively and successfully en-
gaged in his business.
As a citizen of Wilmington he was enter-
prising and public-spirited, and in educa-
tional matters took great interest and became
superintendent of schools in 18S0. In his
adopted home Mr. Temple has been active
in public matters and the evidence of the
esteem of his fellow townsmen is to be noted
in the various offices bestowed upon him.
In 1891 he was elected moderator and again
in 1892, the first moderator elected in Hins-
dale under the Australian system of ballot-
ing, and still holds that office. In 1893 he
was made a member of the board of educa-
tion for three years and is chairman of
the board. He is also one of the auditors
of Cheshire county and is a strong Repub-
lican and president of the Republican club
of Hinsdale.
In religious preference he is a Universal-
ist, and is treasurer of that society. Mr.
Temple is a prominent member of Golden
Rule Lodge, F. & A. M., No. 77, and was
its representative to the Grand Lodge of the
state in 1889.
Mr. Temple was married, at \\hitingham,
March 22, 1881, to Eva C, daughter of
Hon. Hosea W. and Flora R. (Farnham)
Brigham. The family consists of three
children : Charles Hosea, Mabel Eva, and
Madelion Merchant.
THOMAS, ORMSBY B., of Prairie du
Chien, ^^'is., was born in Sandgate, .August
21, 1832; went to Wisconsin in 1836; re-
ceived a common-school education : studied
law, and graduated at the National Law
School of Poughkeepsie, N. V. ; was admit-
ted to the bar at .-Mbany, N. V., in 1856;
has been district attorney of Crawford county.
Wis., several times : was a member of the
Wisconsin .Assembly in 1862, 1865, anct' 1867,
and of the Wisconsin state Senate in 1880
and 1881 ; was presidential elector in 1872 ;
was in the L^nion army, and served as cap-
tain of Co. D, 3 1 St Regt. Wis. Vol. Inft. ; was
elected to the Forty-ninth, and re- elected to
the Fiftieth Congress as a Republican.
THURSTON, JOHN Mellen, of
Omaha, Neb., son of Daniel Sylvester and
Ruth (Jilellen) Thurston, was born in Mont-
pelier, .August 2r, 1847. His father's fam-
ily removed from Montpelier to W'isconsin
in 1854. In 1861 his father volunteered in
the 17th Wisconsin Infantry, and died in
the service of his country in the spring of
1863. .At this time young Thurston was
compelled to undertake almost any kind of
employment in order to assist in the sup-
port of his family and to secure an educa-
tion for himself. In 1865 he went to Chi-
IHlTRSrON.
TIURSTON.
•55
cago and spent a year as driver of a grocery
wagon. At the end of this period he re-
turned to his mother at Beaver Dam, \Vis.,
and engaged in fishing and trapping, em-
ploying a nimiber of boys to help him, and
shipping his wares to Chicago for sale. This
venture proved successful and resulted in
the accumulation of enough money to en-
able him to attend school.
JOHN MELLEN THURSTON.
In 1866 he entered Wayland University
at Beaver Dam, and remained until the
institution closed in i868. He now deter-
mined to study law, and entered the office of
E. P. Smith, an eminent attorney of Wis-
consin, then a member of the bar at Beaver
Dam. On the 21st of May, 1869, after an
examination by the Hon. Alva Stuart, circuit
judge at Portage, Wis., Mr. Thurston was ad-
mitted to the bar. His necessities compelled
him, however, to again engage in farming
and manual labor until the end of the season
when, in company with another young attor-
ney, he determined to locate at Omaha, Neb.,
where he arrived Oct. 5, 1869, and began bus-
iness in the office of \Villiam H. Morris, then
a lawyer and trial justice. The new firm
found insufficient business for their support,
and Mr. Luthe, who was married, went to
Denver. Mr. Thurston, true to his charac-
teristics, stuck to his office, and during his
novitiate was reduced to the necessity of
sleeping upon a buffalo robe in his office and
eked out a bare subsistence. Varying suc-
cess attended his struggles. In 1 87 i, upon
the resignation of Judge Morris, Mr. Thurs-
ton was ap])ointed to fill the \acancy, and
removed to larger offices. He then con-
tinued his efforts until the spring of 1873
when he resigned his office of justice to form
a law partnership with Hon. Charles H.
Brown. The previous spring Mr. Thurston
hafi been elected a member of the city coun-
cil in Omaha, which office he filled two con-
secutive years, acting as president of that
body and chirman of the judiciary committee.
In the spring of 1874, upon the expiration of
his term as alderman, he was ajjpointed city
attorney by Mayor C. S. Chase, which posi-
tion he filled three years, resigning finally to
accept the assistant attorneyship of the Union
Pacific R. R. under the Hon. A. J. Popple-
ton, general solicitor of the corporation. Mr.
Thurston was also elected a member of the
Nebraska Legislature of 1875, ^f'd served in
that body as chairman of the judicial com-
mittee and acting speaker. In the fall of
1885 he was the Republican candidate for
judge of the Third Judicial District of the
state of Nebraska and was defeated.
For fifteen years Mr. Thurston has been
identified with a majority of leading cases
in the courts of Nebraska. While Mr.
Thurston has not devoted himself to crimi-
nal practice, but has rather avoided than
sought employment in criminal cases, yet he
has been called upon to defend fourteen
persons charged with murder and has the
almost unprecedented record of final ac-
quittal in every case.
\Vhen he became general solicitor of the
Union Pacific R. R., he had perhaps the
largest general practice of any lawyer in this
section. .Since accepting this position, the
responsible duties of which office he assum-
ed on the first of February, x888, he has
retired from general practice, as the business
of the railway system which is now all under
his supervision occupies his entire time and
attention.
In 1880 Mr. Thurston was one of the
presidential electors for Nebraska and
electoral messenger. In 1884 he was dele-
gate-at-large to the Republican national
convention at Chicago, and chairman of his
state delegation. In 188S he was also tem-
porary chairman of the national Republi-
can convention which nominated deneral
Harrison for President. His speech in
opening the convention was pronounced a
masterpiece by the press of the country,
and at its conclusion he received such an
ovation as few men have ever been accorded,
and in a single hour he acquired a great
national reputation as an orator.
Mr. Thur*on has delivered many memor-
able addresses in different parts of the coim-
try. His oration on the Centennial Anni-
versary of Constitutional Indejaendence at
156
Chicago in 1889, his eulogy on General
Grant before the Union League Club, his
address on Abraham Lincoln, in 1890, and
his tribute to the "man who wears the
button," are among the most remarkable.
The press of the whole country has seemed
to unite in commendation of his abiUties as
a powerful and eloquent public speaker. _ He
was urged by the greater portion of the entire
\\est for appointment as Secretary of the
Interior in the cabinet of President Harri-
son, and, although he made no effort to se-
cure the position, it was at one time believed
that his selection was certain. He has twice
been a leading candidate for L'nited States
Senator from Nebraska. On one occasion
he almost secured the Republican nomina-
tion, which would have been equivalent to
an election, and again, in 1893, he received
the nomination of the Republican caucus
and came within one vote of an election. It
is belie\ed that as soon as another oppor-
tunity presents itself the people of Nebraska
will insist upon his going to the United
States Senate, and he has been urged by
many for a still higher place.
The record Mr. Thurston has made thus
early in life is one not often met. He has at-
tained his legal eminence as the result only
of natural ability and close application to
his profession. Manly, loyal and affection-
ate, he enjoys in a remarkable degree the de-
voted love of his friends. There are many
who are willing to administer to his fortunes.
Besides these multitudes there are some who
are nearer to him, whom circumstances or
personal relations have brought into the in-
ner circle of his affections, whose devotion
is never weary or relaxed.
On Christmas, 1872, Mr. Thurston was
married to Miss Martha Poland, daughter of
Col. Luther Poland, of Omaha, a most
estimable lady whose family were, like her
husband's, originally from Vermont. Her
uncle was the honorable and venerable Luke
P. Poland, for many years chief justice of the
Green Mountain state, a representative in
Congress for several terms and United States
Senator. Of six children born of this mar-
riage, four were sons and two daughters. Two
of the sons died of diphtheria, leaving two
sons and two daughters, who now, with his
estimable wife, compri.se Mr. Thurston's
family.
TINKER, Charles AL.MERIN, of Brook-
lyn, N. Y., descended from John Tinker, one
of the early settlers of Windsor, Conn. His
grandfather removed to Vermont previous
to the Revolution and was one^of the volun-
teers'who went to the defense of Bennington.
His father and mother, Almerin Tinker and
Sophronia B. Gilchrist, lived for many years
at Chelsea, where Charles A. Tinker, their
oldest son, was born Jan. 8, 1838.
Mr. Tinker was taken by his parents, in
infancy, to Michigan, where he had only the
advantage of a common school education,
but returning to his native state in 1S51,
established their residence in Northfield.
He subsequently attended school at New-
bury Seminary, but owing to sickness did
not complete his course. In 1852 he ob-
tained a position as clerk in the postoffice
at Northfield, and was there taught the Bain
system of telegraphy. In 1S55 he obtained
a position as operator with the Vermont &
Boston Telegraph Co. at Boston, and soon
after with the Cape Cod Telegraph Co. in the
Merchants' lixchange, having in the mean-
time acquired a knowledge of the Morse
system. In January, 1S57, he went to Chi-
cago, accepting a position there in the office
of the Caton lines, and soon after became
manager of the Illinois & Mississippi Tele-
graph Co.'s office at Pekin, 111.
During this period he made the acquain-
tance of Abraham Lincoln. At Mr. Lin-
coln's request, Mr. Tinker explained to him
the methods of the telegraph system, and an
intimacy thus begun was renewed later
when Mr. Lincoln was President, and Mr.
Tinker was employed as telegraph operator
in the War Department at Washington. Mr.
Lincoln was a frequent visitor at Mr. Tin-
ker's office during the war, and received
from him the first news of his re-nomination
as President and that of .Andrew Johnson as
Vice-President. A word uttered by Mr.
Lincoln on this occasion, intimating his
preference for Mr. Hamlin was recalled in
later years by Mr. Tinker, and was the means
of settling the important controversy that
arose after Mr. Hamlin's death.
In the summer of 1S57 Mr. Tinker re-
turned to Chicago from Pekin, 111., and en-
tered the service of the Chicago & Rock Island
R. R. Co., and two years later that of the Ga-
lena & Chicago LTnion R. R. Co., as book-
keeper and telegraph operator. During this
period he joined the Chicago Light Guard,
and served with his company as escort to
Stephen A. Douglas to the Wigwam where he
made his last great speech for the Union,
and two weeks later as guard of honor in
the procession which laid his remains away
to rest on the banks of Lake Michigan.
At the breaking out of the war he was
offered the lieutenant-colonelcy of a regi-
ment, but declined the proffered honor. He
soon after entered the United States military
service in the War Department at Washing-
ton, and was almost immediately ordered to
service in the field under General Banks, and
opened the military telegraph office at
Poolesville, Md. He performed similar ser-
\ices under General U'ardsworth at Upton
c
f^/f^^L^
Hill, where he was selected as one of the
eight operators to serve under General Mc-
Clellan on the steamer Commodore, and
afterwards in the army headquarters in front
of Vorktown, and before Richmond. He
was present at the evacuation of Vorktown,
and at the battle of \\'illiamsburg, and finally
at General Heintzelman's headquarters at
Savage Station after the battle of Fair Oaks.
During his services at the front he lost his
health, and returned to Vermont for one
month, when he had regained health, and
was then appointed by Major Kckert to the
responsible position of cipher operator in
the War Department at Washington, having
for one of his associates A. B. Chandler of
West Randolph. Here he remained until
the close of the war, when he was appointed
manager of the U. S. Military Telegraph,
continuing until it was closed up and its lines
turned over to the telegraph companies.
He was then appointed manager of the
Western Cnion Washington office, serving
therein until January, 1872, when he became
superintendent of telegraph and general train
dispatcher of the Vermont Central R. R., at
St. Albans, with jurisdiction over the lines of
the Western Union and Montreal Telegraph
Cos. on that railway system. In 1S75 he was
appointed general superintendent of the
Pacific Division of the Atlantic and Pacific
Telegraph Co., with headquarters at Chicago.
In 1879 this company having fallen under the
control of the Western Union company, he
resigned and accepted the management of the
telegraph lines of the Baltimore & Ohio
Railroad Co. While holding this position
he became one of the incorporators with Jay
Gould, of the American Union Telegraph
Co., and received from Mr. Gould a check
for two and a half millions of dollars to pay
for his subscription to its capital stock. He
was also superintendent of a division of that
company. In 1881, after the consolidation
of the Western Union and American Union
Telegraph Cos., he was recalled to the service
of the Western Union Telegraph Co., and on
Feb. I, 1882, he was made general superin-
tendent of the Eastern division, comprising
all the territory from Washington, D. C,
north to the Canada line, west to the Ohio
river and east to Cape Breton. This posi-
tion he still holds.
He is vice-president of the .-Xmerican Dis-
trict Telegraph Co., of New Vork City, and
a director and vice-president of the Ver-
mont and Boston Telegraph Co., and an
officer of numerous other telegraph and
telephone companies.
He has for some years been prominent in
the religious and social circles of Brooklyn.
He was one of the organizers and is now
vice-president of the Brooklyn Society of
Vermonters ; he is a member of the Illinois
Society of the Sons of Vermont, and has
been for several years an officer and trustee
of the ^Vashington Avenue Baptist Church
and of the Lincoln Club of Brooklyn.
He was married, in 1863, to Miss Lizzie
A. Simkins, of Ohio, who deceased in .\pril,
T890, leaving three grown children, two
others having died in infancy.
He is a man of fine physique, still in the
prime of manhood, capable of great endur-
ance, and fully equal to the arduous and re-
sponsible duties connected with his position.
TOWLE, Allen, of Towle, Cal., eldest
son of Ira and Annis (Doe) Towle, was
born in Corinth, July 26, 1833.
He was educated in the district schools,
and in Corinth Academy. At the age of
nineteen he went to New York where rela-
tives of his mother were engaged in the ice
business and with whom he remained some
two years. In the meantime his father had
made the discovery of copper in Corinth,
and in 1853 a start was made with outside
capital to develop the mine, and he was sent
to Vermont by a New Vork company to look
after their interests in that locality. He
took kindly to the pursuit of mining but the
scope was hardly broad enough, when com-
pared with the Munchausen-like tales which
were at that time being sent home by his
fellow townsmen, many of whom were
among the first to seek gold in California,
and in December, 1855, he sailed from New
Vork, via Panama, arriving in San Fancisco
•JOWNSKNl)-
159
in lanuary, 1856. Here he lost no time but
proceeded at once to the mines and com-
menced operations at Steep Hollow, Placer
county, where he cleaned up a few hundred
dollars which he used to run a tunnel into
a gravel claim at Thompsons Hill near
Dutch t'lat. For this business he seemed
to have a natural bent, and although in
those early days it was rather rough sailing
he was prosperous. In the mean time a
wagon road was built from Dutch Flat to Don-
ner Lake, by which to reach the Comstock
mines, which were then in the height of their
success — and he built another mill near
Blue Canyon. This wagon road was but the
forerunner of the trans-continental railroad,
the Central Pacific line passing through
Dutch Flat, Blue Canyon, and on to the
summit, and the Towle saw-mills became
veritable mints. They supplied lumber to
the railroad for ties, snow sheds, culverts
and camps, and literally turned their lumber
into gold. Their receipts from the railroad
amounting at times to twenty-five thousand
dollars per month.
Mr. Towle was followed to California at dif-
ferent dates by his two brothers, who became
his partners, but he has retained the man-
agement. He has built at different times
fifteen saw mills ; he has also built thirty
miles of narrow gauge railroad, supplied with
five locomotives and eighty-five cars with
which to handle lumber from the mills off
the line of the Central Pacific. He has five
lumber yards in different localities in Cali-
fornia and another in Tucson, Arizona ; also
a box factory in Sacramento, which is chiefly
employed in making orange boxes.
At Towle are situated a planing mill,
sash, door, blind and box factory, and a
pulp mill. This mill runs day and night and
is lighted by electricity, the dynamo for
which also furnishes lights for the town. 'I he
Towles own 24,000 acres of land in Cali-
fornia, including the town, which has a town
hall, hotel, boarding houses, one store, shops
for car building and blacksmithing, and
numerous dwelling houses. Has one hun-
dred and eighty voters, with a school of
seventy-five pupils. They decline to sell a
foot of land lest a saloon should be located ;
no liquor can be bought or sold on land
owned by them. They employ in the busy
season four hundred men, some of whom
have been in their employ for over a quarter
of a century, and who are independent as
far as money is concerned. For many years
Towle has been a sure place of employment
for any young man from Vermont, and scores
of well-to-do men on the Pacific coast date
their prosperity from the start they got here.
'Mr. Towle is a member of the Olive Lodge,
L O. O. F., No. 81, of Dutch Flat, and of
.•\uburn p]ncampment.
He is a Re])ublican and has been delegate
to both county and state con\entions many
times, but has never aspired to any office. He
was appointed by the Governor a delegate
to the Irrigation Congress which met in Salt
Lake City in September, 1891 ; he was also
appointed by the Ciovernor a member of the
\'iticultural Commission for Fl Dorado dis-
trict, and elected by the commissioners as
their treasurer. He is also president of the
Gold Run Ditch and Minirig Co. and of the
Feather River Canal Co., incorporated for
furnishing water for irrigation in Butte county.
Mr. Towle was married at Dutch Flat, Cal.,
March 3, 1869, to Ella W., daughter of
Stephen Young and Lydia K. (Richey)
Halsey, and has four children : George G.
(who was married in 1892 to Miss Kate
Meister, of Sacramento) and is bookkeeper
for his father, Orra H., .AUeen L., and Sadie
The family have a beautiful home in Sac-
ramento where they spend most of the year
on account of schools, but retain their resi-
dence at Towle where they go for the sum-
mer and where they entertain troops of
friends.
It has been a marvel to many how Mr.
Towle has stood the care of such large and
varied enterprises. The secret seems to his
biographer (who has known him from child-
hood), to lie in his ability to lay aside care.
When he goes to his home he leaves his
business in the office. The Towle family (a
brother and two sisters) are all settled in
California, but the old farm in Corinth where
he and his father before him, first saw light
(although it has like many another in ^'er-
mont, ceased to be a source of income ) is
still one of the cherished possessions of the
Towle family. Great executive ability and
integrity, coupled with a kindly and charit-
able nature, have placed him in the foremost
rank of California's adopted sons.
TOWNSEND, JOHN, of San Francisco,
Cal., son of Moses and Azubah W. ( Hatha-
way) Townsend, was born Nov. 17, 1857, at
Pittsfield.
His education was begun in the common
and high schools of his native town, and his
technical training acquired in the Massachu-
setts College of Pharmacy, the California
Medical College, the Hahnemann Medical
College of San Francisco, and the Post
Graduate Medical College of Chicago.
Until seventeen years of age he worked
upon his father's farm and attended school,
and then engaged as attendant at the Mc-
Lean .Asylum for Insane at Somerville, Mass.,
where he remained a year. He then entered
the employ of Dr. J. D. Mansfield, of Wake-
field, Mass., and by close devotion to his
duties he became a druggist, and was soon
head clerk and general manager of the store.
i6o
TWITCHELL.
TWITCHELL.
\\hile here he attended lectures at the Massa-
chusetts College of Pharmacy. After three
years' service in Wakefield, he practiced his
profession in leading establishments of Bos-
ton, and continued his course of instruction
at the college.
In 1876 Mr. I'ovvnsend established a phar-
macy at Weymouth, Mass., and in a short
time built up a large and successful business.
In 1877 he graduated at the head of the
class from the Massachusetts College of
Pharmacy. In 1881 he removed to San
Francisco, and visited Oregon and Washing-
ton, and the following spring again took up
the study of medicine and in October, 1S84,
graduated from the Hahnemann Medical
College, and received the first diploma
granted from a homcepathic college on the
Pacific coast. He was then appointed resi-
dent physician and surgeon of the San
Francisco Homeopathic Hospital, and the
next year received the same appointment at
the St. Luke Hospital, and the further dis-
tinction of professor of chemistry and
demonstrator of anatomy at the Hahne-
mann Medical College. After two years of
hospital service he engaged in private prac-
tice and now has a large and increasing
business among the best people of San
Francisco.
Dr. Townsend has always taken an active
part in fraternal and social orders ; is an
Odd Fellow and Knight of Honor, and a
member of various other organizations, and
is vice-president of the Pacific Coast Asso-
ciation of Sons of Vermont.
In his professional labors he has invented
several valuable instruments for use in treat-
ment of diseases of the throat and lungs,
and the application of electricity both in
therapeutics and surgery.
TWITCHELL, MARSHALL HARVEY, of
Newfane, resident of Kingston, Canada, son
of Harvey and Elizabeth (Scott) Twitchell,
was born in Townshend, Feb. 28, 1840.
He was educated in the common schools
and Leland Seminary. Like many young
men of Vermont he taught school winters,
worked on the farm and attended the semi-
nary the other portions of the year.
In 1 86 1 he enlisted with Co. I, 4th Regt.
Vt. Vols. He was in fourteen battles with
the old Vermont Brigade and was severely
wounded at the battle of the Wilderness, be-
ing at the time in command of the com-
pany. In the winter of 1863-64 he made
application and was appointed captain in
the 109 LL S. C. T. and was in the column
which broke Lee's line at Petersburg and
finally surrounded his army at .Appomattox
court house. In October, 1865, he was ap-
pointed provost marshal and agent of Freed-
man's Bureau with head(]uarters at Sparta,
North Louisiana. Here, twenty-fi\e miles
from the nearest post, with no experience in
civil government, he was legislator, judge,
jury and sheriff. His government was so
satisfactory that he was elected almost with-
out opposition to represent the parish
(county) of Bienville in the constitutional
convention of 1868. He was appointed
judge of the parish of Bienville in 1868.
Elected to the state Senate for a term of four
years in 1870 and re-elected for a second
term in 1874. During his eight years in the
Senate he was the principal agent in the
creation of the parish (county) of Red
River, building of the town of Couchatta
and the organization of the public schools
in the parishes of Bienville, Red River and
De Sota.
He protected colored schools by the threat
that as president of the school board he
should refuse to sign the warrant for the
pay of the teachers. The 2d of May, 1876,
an' attempt was made to assassinate him,
from which he received six bullets, necessi-
tating the amputation of both arms just above
the elbow ; his brother-in-law, George A.
King, was killed at that time. His only
brother, Homer, and his other two brothers-
in-law, Willis and Holland, had been pre-
\iously murdered in what is known as the
Couchatta Massacre of 1874, Had the as-
sassination been successful the result would
have been to change the majority in the
state Senate, which would have recognized
i6i
a different House of Representatives, de-
clared a different ("lovernor and elected a
different L'nited States Senator. April, 1878,
he was appointed Consul of the l'nited States
at Kingston, Canada.
In 1868 he purchased a cotton ])lantation
on Lake Risteneau. In 1869 took the
direction of two plantations belonging to his
father-in-law. In 1870 he purchased "Star-
light " plantation on Red river, every year
adding to his business, either by lease or
purchase. He directed as principal owner
two stores, two sets of mills, the hotel and
the only newspaper established in the parish.
His large property interests were partially
abandoned after his attempted assassination
in 1876, and entirely abandoned after the
murder of John W. Harrison, his last agent,
at " Starlight," in the fall of 1875.
In 1864 he joined Blazing Star Lodge, F.
& .A. M., at Townshend. After the war
he was J. W. of Silent Brotherhood Lodge,
scribe of Chapter No. 35, and member of
Jacques De Molay Commandery, all of
Louisiana ; he is also a member of Burchard
Post, G. A. R., and Loyal Legion of Ver-
mont.
In 1866 he married .Adele, daughter of
Colonel Coleman, one of the large cotton
planters of North Louisiana. By this wife
he has one son : Marshall Coleman. In
1876 he married Henrietta Day of Hamp-
den, Mass., by whom he has one son :
Emmus G.
TYLER, George Washington, of
Alameda, Cal., son of William B. and Mary
(Hall) Tyler, was born in Warren, Jan. 16,
1827.
He attended the public schools of his na-
tive town until he wentto Kalamazoo, Mich.,
in the fall of 1844, and prepared for college
at a branch of the University of Michigan,
under the auspices and at the expense of the
Baptist Association of that state. In 1847,
when prepared to enter the sophomore
class, finding that he could not consistently
preach the doctrines of that church, he re-
paid the Association and returned to Ver-
mont. He taught school in \\'arren during
the winter that followed and in the spring of
1848 commenced the study of law in the
office of O. H. Smith of Montpelier.
He went to California in 1849, sailing
from Boston on the ship Leonore, in the
spring of that year, and arriving in the Gold-
en state on the 5th day of July, his course
having been around Cape Horn.
In April, 1850, upon the organization of
the state of California, he was elected sheriff
of Volo county, but in the fall of that year re-
signed that office and went to Vreka, Syski-
you county, where he held the office of dis-
trict attorney for one and one-half years, after
which he practiced criminal law as a spe-
cialty until May, 1856, when he returned to
Vermont, and in September of that year he
entered the law school of Cambridge, Mass.,
and graduated in July, 185 8, returning
shortly after to Vreka.
He was county judge of San Joaquin
county, from 1861 to '63, and was a member
of the Assembly from Alameda county in
iSSo.
GEORGE WASHINGTON TYLER.
He was mustered into the service of the
United States by Captain Alden (formerly in
charge of Military Academy at West Point),
in Rogue River Valley, Oregon, as one of the
staff of Gen. Joseph Lane, with the rank of
lieutenant ; fought during the Rogue River
Indian war of 1853, having gone there from
Vreka, Cal., at the first outbreak. He was
in command of a company that fought the
battle of "Bloody Point" at which one-half of
his command were killed or wounded, he re-
ceiving two slight wounds.
Judge Tyler is a Master Mason in good
standing, and ranks high as a lawyer in his
adopted state.
In August, 185 1, Mr. Tyler married Miss
.Alia Jane, daughter of \Villiam and Anna
(Lovett) Frazier, in Cambridge, Mass. Of
this union there are four living children :
William B., George Norton, Alia Frazier, and
Maud G.
\AN \'LIET.
VAN VLIET, Stewart, of Washington,
D. C., son of Christian and Rachael Van
VHet, was born July 21, 1815, at Ferrisburg.
General Van Vliet, as he is everywhere
known, received the educational advantages
of the home of his youth, Fishkill, N. Y., and
entered the United States Military Academy
at West Point in 1836, graduating in 1840,
in the class in which was Cieneral Sherman
and other famous men whose names have
become prominent in history. He was ap-
STEWART
pointed second lieutenant in the third artil-
lery, then in Florida, and served there two
years during the Seminole war. He was in
several engagements, in one of which he
killed an Indian chief in a hand to hand
tight. Subsequently he was engaged in the
Mexican war and was with Cieneral Taylor at
Monterey, where he led the final charge and
received the flag of surrender. At Vera
Cruz he commanded a battery under Gen-
eral Scott. From Mexico he was ordered to
Fort Leavenworth and built forts Kearney
and Laramie on the Platte river. He was in
the Sioux expedition and in the batde of the
Blue Water. Under Sydney Johnson he
organized the expedition to Utah, and went
to Salt Lake. Gen. Stewart Van Vliet served
with distinction in the civil war. He was
chief quartermaster of the Army of the Poto-
mac, and was with McClellan in all the bat-
tles of the Peninsula ; and was afterwards
stationed in several of the large cities of the
country. He was retired at the age of sixty-
four, and received the brevets of brigadier-
general and major-general in the regular
army and in the \'olunteers. He now lives
with his family in N\'ashington, D. C, and
during the summer months at Shrewsburv,
N. J.
General ^'an Miet is fond of society. His
genial and hearty manner makes companion-
ship with him most enjoyable. He is a
member of many clubs and organizations,
among them the Aztec Club, of which he is
Ijresident ; the Holland Society, of which he
is vice-president ; the St. Nicholas Society ;
the Loyal I^egion ; and the G. A. R.
General Van Vliet was married at Fort
Laramie, March 6, 1851, to Sarah Jane
Brown, the daughter of Maj., Jacob Brown
(who was killed by the Mexicans while de-
fending a fort opposite Matamoras. The
fort and city. Fort Brown and Brownsville,
were named after him). He has two sons :
Dr. Frederick C, and Lieut. Robert C. of
the loth \J. S. Infantry.
VILAS, William P., of Madison, Wis.,
was born at Chelsea July 9, 1840 ; removed
with his father's family to Wisconsin and
settled at Madison June 4, 185 1 ; was grad-
uated at the State L^niversiiy in T858, and
from the law department of the L'niversity of
Albany, N. Y., in i860; was admitted to the
bar by the Supreme Court of New York and
by the Supreme Court of Wisconsin in the
same year, and began the practice of law
July 9, i860 ; was captain of Co. A, 23d Regt.
Wis. Inf. Vols., and afterwards major and
lieutenant-colonel of the regiment ; has been
one of the professors of law of the law de-
partment of the State L'niversity since 1868,
omitting four years, 1885 to 1889; was one
of the regents of the university from 1880 to
1885 ; was one of the three revisers ap-
pointed by the Supreme Court of \Visconsin
in 1875 ^^ho prepared the existing revised
body of the statute law adopted in 1878;
was a member of Assembly in the Wisconsin
Legislature in 18S5 : was a delegate to the
Democratic national conventions of 1S76-
'8o-'84, and permanent chairman of the
latter : was postmaster-general from March
7, 1885, to Jan. 16, 1888, and Secretary of
the Interior from the latter date to March 6,
1889 ; received the unanimous nomination
of the Democratic legislative caucus and was
elected Jan. 28,1891, L'nited States Senator
to succeed John C. Spooner, Republican.
WAKEMAN.
163
WAKEMAN, SETH, was born at Frank-
lin, Jan. 5, 18 1 1 ; studied law, and practiced
at Batavia, N. V. ; was district attorney of
Genesee county, N. V., from 1851 to 1857 ;
was a member of the Assembly of the state
of New York, 1S56-57 ; was a member of
the state constitutional convention of New
York in 1807-68, and was elected a repre-
sentative from New York in the Forty-sec-
ond Congress as a Republican.
WALBRIDGE, David S., was born in
Bennington, July 30, 1802 ; received his
education from the common schools of the
vicinity ; has devoted himself to the various
employments of the farmer, the merchant,
and the miller ; he removed to Michigan in
1842, and was elected a representative in
Congress from that state in 1854 and ser\ed
until 1859.
WALDEN, Hiram, was born in Rutland
Co., Aug. 29, t8oo ; received a limited educa-
tion, and having removed with his father to
New York, devoted himself to the business
of cloth dressing and wool carding ; he took
an interest in military affairs, and attained
the office of major-general of militia ; in
1836 he was elected to the state Legislature ;
in 1842 he was elected a supervisor in the
county of Schoharie ; and was a representa-
tive in Congress from New York from 1849
to 185 I.
WALKER, George H., of Boston, Mass.,
son of Ralph S. and Jane (Long) Walker,
was born at Springfield, Jan. 24, 1852.
Mr. \Valker received his early training in
the district schools of Yermont and also at-
tended the Stevens high school of Clare-
mont, N. H. He began his business life in
a dry goods establishment in Brooklyn, N. Y.,
but in the fall of 1873 he became interested
in the publishing business, contracted with a
New York firm and was engaged with them
in various works until 1878, when he went
into business for himself in Boston. The firm
of George H. Walker & Co. was established
at 61 Hanover street, for the publication of
real estate atlases. In 1880 he extended his
business by establishing a lithographic branch
at 81 Milk street, but soon outgrowing their
quarters, they removed to 1 60 'Fremont street,
where they have since remained, adding new
floors and presses, until 1888, when the build-
ing was enlarged for their benefit. The es-
tablishment is one of the finest of its sort
in New England, employing only the best
artists. In addition to their other works the
State .\tlas of Massachusetts is pronounced as
fine a work of its class as was ever ]niblished.
In 1891 Mr \Valker established, with head-
quarters in Boston, opposite Trinity Church,
the \Valker-Gordon Milk Laboratory for the
scientific feeding of infants, which has proved
a remarkable success and many thousand in-
fants have been fed. The milk is supplied
only upon physicians' prescriptions. A similar
laboratory has been established at 626 Madi-
son avenue, New York, and others are to be
established in all large cities.
Mr. Walker was married in 1885, to Irene
L., daughter of Robert K. and Irene (White)
Loud, of Weymouth, Mass.
WALKER, ALDACE p.. of Chicago, 111.,
son of Aldace Walker, L). I)., and Mary .\.
(Baker) Walker, was born May 11, 1S42, in
West Rutland.
He was educated at Kimball Union Acad-
emy, Meriden, N. H., and at Middlebury
College, graduating in 1862. His legal
training was acquired after the war, at
Columbia Law School in New York City.
In July, 1862, the year of his graduation
from Middlebury College, Mr. Walker en-
listed in Co. B, 1st Artillery, nth Yt. \'ols.,
and was elected first lieutenant. He after-
wards became captain of Co. C and Co. D ;
and subsequently was major and lieutenant-
colonel of the regiment. In 1S64 he was
breveted lieutenant-colonel for gallantry at
the battles of the Opiquan, Fisher's Hill and
Cedar Creek, and was mustered out in June,
1864, with his regiment upon its return to
Burlington after the conclusion of the war.
In 1S69 he published a book of war remi-
niscences entitled " The \'ermont Brigade in
the Shenandoah Valley."
He is a member of the Illinois Com-
mandery of the Loyal Legion, and has been
president of the Vermont Officers .'Associa-
tion.
Mr. Walker's legal career has made him a
national reputation. He was admitted to
practice in 1867, in the city of New York
and at first was managing clerk for the law
firm of Strong & Shepard, having their office
at 90 Broadway. He was afterwards ad-
mitted to partnership and became a member
of the firm in 1870. They were engaged in
a general practice and did a considerable
business, largely connected with railways.
Important work was done by Mr. \\'alker in
obtaining land titles for the .Spuyten I )uvvil i\:
Port Morris railway, connecting the Hudson
River R. R. with the Harlem R. R., from
Spuyten Duyvil to Mott Haven. In 1873
the firm was broken up by the death of the
senior partner, Hon. Theron R. Strong ; and
Mr. Walker removed to Rutland, becoming
a member of the law firm of Prout, Simons
& Walker. 'I'hey transacted a general busi-
ness and were the counsel of some impor-
tant corporations, including many banks and
insurance companies and the Rutland R. R.,
WASIiRUKN.
i6:
the Delaware & Hudson Canal Co., the \'er-
montiS: Canada R. R., the bondholders of the
Vermont Central R. R., etc. In 1884 Mr.
N. P. Simons withdrew from the firm and the
name was changed to Prout &: Walker and
so remained until Mr. \\'alker removed to
Washington in .April, 1887.
In politics Mr. Walker is a Republican,
and he was a member of the state Senate
from Rutland county in 1882-3, being chair-
man of the judiciary committee. In 1887
Mr. Walker was appointed by President
Cleveland a member of the Interstate Com-
merce Commission on the organization of
that body, being one of the two Republican
members. His associates upon the commis-
sion were Hons. T. M. Cooley, William R.
Morrison, .Augustus Schoonmaker and W.
L. Bragg. Mr. Walker resigned in 1889,
and became chairman of the Interstate
Commerce Railway Association composed of
various railroad lines west of Chicago, with
headquarters in that city. Subsequently he
became chairman of the Western Traffic
.Association, a similar organization. He was
afterward chairman of the joint committee
composed of all roads north of the Ohio
and between the Mississippi river and the
seaboard. He resigned the latter office in
December, 1893, and is now practicing law in
Chicago. In addition to his opinions report-
ed in the first two volumes of the Interstate
Commerce Commission Reports he has writ-
ten largely for publication in the Forum and
other periodicals, chiefly on railway legisla-
tion and other kindred topics.
Mr. Walker was married at Wallingford,
Sept. 6, 187 1, to Katherine, daughter of
Hudson and Diantha Roberts Shaw. They
have had four children : Richard (deceased),
Roberts, Harold, and Ruth.
Mr. Walker was married at Orwell, July 16,
1851, to Miss Kllen (i., daughter of Reuben
and Zylpha Herbert.
WASHBURN, HENRY D., was born in
\Vindsor, March 28, 1832, and during that
year was removed by his father to Ohio, was
early apprenticed to the trade of a tanner,
but not liking the business, became a school
teacher, which occupation he followed until
his twentieth year, studied law, and gradu-
ated at the New York State and National Law
School in 1853. He subsequently settled in
Indiana, and in 1854 he was appointed
auditor of Vermillion county ; elected to the
same position in 1856, serving as such until
1 86 1. In July of that year he raised a com-
pany for ser\ice in the war ; was promoted
to the command as colonel of the iSth Ind.
Vols, in 1862 ; and in 1864 was bre\etted to
a brigadier-general, and was mustered out of
the service in 1865 ; and was elected a rep-
resentative from Indiana to the Thirty-ninth
Congress.
WATERMAN, ARBA N., of Chicago, 111.,
son of Loring F. and Mary (Stevens) Water-
man, was born Feb. 5, 1836, at Greensboro.
^^ «Pf
WALKER, Lucius W., of Chicago,
111., son of Whitfield and Martha (Hall)
Walker, was born at Whiting, Sept. 4, 1823.
For many years and up to 1852 Mr.
Walker was a builder, when he removed to
Chicago. His early training having been
that of a civil engineer, he was engaged by
the Illinois Railroad Co., and was located at
Champaign, 111., until 1863, in the com-
pany's employ. He then became a manu-
facturer of furniture and continued in the
business until 1880, which he then closed
out and became connected with the Pullman
company at Pullman, III., where he remained
two years as foreman of the wood working
machine shop. From February, 1883, to
1 89 1 he has been engaged in superintending
the construction of fine residences in Chicago.
Mr. Walker became an inspector of pub-
lic buildings for the United States govern-
ment in 1 89 1.
\--
W-
-^■^sn^^yf^l^**' \
At the academies and schools in Peacham,
Johnson, Montpelier and (leorgia, Judge
Waterman began his education and gradu-
ated in the class of 1853 from Norwich L"ni-
versity. Determining upon a legal career he
selected the .Albany school and after pursu-
1 66
ing his studies there was admitted to the
bar in Albany, X. Y., in 1861. He soon
went west and the year of his admission to
practice located at Joliet, Ills.
Upon the breaking out of the war he en-
tered the army, enlisting in Co. G, looth
111. Vols, as a private, in 1862. He was en-
gaged in the campaign against Bragg in the
fall of 1862 and was in the battles of Chica-
mauga, Dalton, Altoona and Houston. At
Chicamauga he was sexereh' wounded and
had his horse killed under him. Judge
Waterman's military career was full of honor
and his services received recognition by pro-
motion to captain of his company and later
as lieutenant-colonel of the regiment.
Returning west at the close of the war, in
1865 he began the practice of his profession
in Chicago, which he continued with success
and distinction. In 1S86 he was elected
judge of the circuit court, and in 1890 re-
ceived the appointment of judge of the
apellate court.
In politics he is a Republican. In social
life his varied tastes and broad acquirement
are indicated by his membership in various
societies. He was in the Philosophical, Law,
and Social Science congresses of the World's
Columbian Exposition. He is a member of
the Psychical Research, and the Philosophical
societies, and of the Union League, Liter-
ary, Alliance, and Irving clubs. He is a
comrade in U. S. Grant Post, G. A. R., in
the Loyal Legion, and the Veteran Associa-
tion.
Judge Waterman was married, in Chicago,
in December, 1862, to Ella Hall, daughter
of Samuel and Rebecca Hall.
WATSON, AUSTIN H., of Stamford,
Conn., son of Patrick J. and Caroline La-
throp \\"atson, was born April 24, 1842, at
Wilmington.
After attending the public schools he
passed his early life about his father's mills,
and one year in the army. In 1864 he
secured a junior clerkship with the Western
L^nion Telegraph Co., at Rochester, N. V.,
and in 1S66 was appointed storekeeper in
charge of main supply depots of the com-
pany at New York. Continued advance in
his salary made this an agreeable position,
which he retained until he resigned in 1879,
to become junior member of the firm of
James E. Vail, Jr., & Co., dry goods commis-
sion merchants and manufacturers' agents.
Worth street, New York. Six years later he
purchased Mr. Vail's interest and became
senior member of the present firm of Wat-
son, Bull & Co., who have largely extended
the business dealings with leading wholesale
houses throughout the country. He is also
president of the Connecticut Witch Hazel
Co., whose production will equal three
thousand barrels yearly.
In August, 1862, he enlisted as private in
Co. F, 1 8th Regt. Vt. Vols. Upon the pro-
motion of one of his comrades he became
the clerk of the regiment, and was thereby
relieved of all equipment and company duty.
.\t Gettysburg he selected one of the many
abandoned muskets on the field, and with a
handful of cartridges sought out his company
at the front, where he remained throughout
the battle. His conspicuous bravery was
known to all the officers of the regiment,
and Colonel Veazey, recognizing that this
youth was the only detailed man who volun-
tarily exposed himself on this sanguinary
field, appointed him quartermaster-sergeant
of the regiment, the highest honor at his
command.
^*%s
Mr. Watson enjoys the genial, social side
of life, and in this way has had many duties to
perform connected with various associations.
He was the first treasurer of the well
known Apollo Glee Club, of Brooklyn, N. Y. ;
secretary of the Oxford Club of Brooklyn,
1883 to '85, and of the Telegraphers Mutual
Benefit Association, 1876 to '79 ; a director
of Stamford Social Club, 1889 to 1892, and
is now its president (1893). He is vice-
president of the Forest and Stream Club, of
Wilmington, and also a director of the Stam-
ford Yacht Club : he is also president of the
Clover Club in New York City.
He w-as singularly fortunate in his marriage,
Oct. 28, 1879, to Julia Brainerd ^'ail, a very
167
attractive and noble woman, daughter of
James Everett and Ridel ia Kenyon \'ail, of
Brooklyn, N. V., where they resided till i<SS6,
removing thence to Stamford, Conn. Their
home, "Oakdale," on the banks of Rippa-
wanna river, while unpretentious, is noted for
the cordial, hearty welcome and kindly good
cheer extended to all.
WATSON, Benjamin Franklin, of
Cambridge, Mass., son of David and Mary
(Wilder) Watson, was born at W'oodstock,
April 8, 1S23.
He attended the Woodstock village school,
and for three winters an evening school for
apprentices, established by the Massachu-
setts Charitable Mechanic Association at
Boston. David Watson, the father of Ben-
jamin, was born at Kennebunk, Me., was
educated in the public schools of Boston,
where he obtained a Franklin medal in 1801.
After serving an apprenticeship at the
printer's trade, he established an office at
Hanover, N. H., in 1815, but removed three
years later to Woodstock, where he started
the Weekly Observer, which he published
for several years. He returned to Boston in
1834, and in 1840 removed to Concord, N.
H., where he was city clerk for many years,
and died there March 25, 1867, at the age
of seventy-eight. He married, in 1820,
Mary, the daughter of Capt. Jacob Wilder,
a Revolutionary soldier, a native of Lancas-
ter, Mass., who settled in \\'oodstock in
1790 and died there July 19, 1848, aged
ninety-one years.
Benjamin Franklin \Vatson went to Boston
in 1836, and learned the printer's trade in
the Boston Type and Stereotype Foundry,
where his father was proof-reader. In 1840
the family moved to Concord, N. H. Ben-
jamin worked in the New Hampshire Patriot
office fifteen years, and then in 1855 re-
turned to Boston and entered the office of
the Boston Journal, where he has been em-
ployed as proof-reader for thirty-nine years.
He was at one time captain of the ist Co.,
nth Regt. N. H. Mihtia.
Mr. W'atson was married, Nov. 16, 1848,
to Mary A. Whipple of Hebron, N. H., who
died Nov. 24, 1872, leaving three children :
Frank I.., Alice F., and Edward P.
WEAVER, George Sumner, of Can-
ton, N. Y., son of John and Asenath (Wiley)
Weaver, was born Dec. 24, 181S, at Rock-
ingham.
Mr. Weaver passed through the schools of
his vicinity and studied law, yet after seven
years of study and teaching he took up the
ministry. He was early interested in science
and joined the American Geological Associa-
tion in Albany, N. V., and has ever since
■ continued his scientific studies.
At the age of twenty-seven he entered the
ministry of the Cniversalist church at Spring-
field, Ohio. Two years later he settled in
Marietta, Ohio, and built an academy, out
of which grew Lombard University at Cales-
burg, 111., and Buchtel College at Akron, O.,
at both of which places he was for a time
settled as pastor. While at Marietta, Mr.
Weaver began publishing. His first two
books were first given as lectures to his
students. The first work was entided " Lec-
tures on Mental Science," the second was
" Hopes and Helps for the Young." These
were followed in after years by " Ways of
Life," " Christian Household," " Moses and
Modern Science," "Aims and Aids for Girls
and Young Women," " The Open Way,"
"The Heart of the ^^'orld," "The Lives and
(Iraves of the Presidents," "Looking F"or-
ward," "Heaven," "The Life of J. H. Chapin,"
besides a number of pamphlets.
Mr. Weaver has had pastoral settlements
in St. Louis, Mo., Lawrence, Mass., Canton,
N. Y., East Providence, R. I., in addition to
the places already mentioned. He has
labored earnestly for temperance, education,
woman's suffrage, legal and prison reform
in which he has stood in advanced move-
ments for humanity.
In politics, Mr. Weaver was raised a Dem-
ocrat, was borne into Republicanism by con-
versation, and into prohibition by necessity.
A life-long peace-man he gave himself to
the support and prosecution of the war for
the Union. Three times was his congrega-
tion thinned out by enlistments, and from
it was lost the first man killed in the war —
Sumner H. Needham — and Mr. Weaver
preached the first sermon over the body of
a rebel-slaughtered soldier.
Mr. Weaver is an Odd Fellow, and a
Mason, and a member of the Sons of Tem-
perance.
He was married, in 1848, to Susan Stay-
man, of Ohio, who lived but a few months.
Three years after his loss he married Sarah
Jane Kendall, of Massachusetts. They had
two children : Clara, and Earnest K. The
latter, a young lawyer in Buffalo, died by
accident, Feb. 5, 1894.
WEBBER, George W., of lonia,
Mich., was born in Newbury, Nov. 25, 1825 ;
removed at an early age to New ^■ork state,
and in 1S52 to Michigan, and located in
Ionia county in 1S58, and identified him-
self to the development of the Grand River
\"alley ; has large interests in manufacturing,
banking, and lumbering concerns ; has twice
been mayor of Ionia, and a member of the
Forty-seventh C'ongress.
WHITCOMB, James ARTHUR, oflSal-
timore, Md., son of Robert McKavand Dor-
i68
WHITCOME.
WHITCOIIB.
cas Ann (McDole) Whitcomb, was born
March 26, 1854, at Underbill.
His early education was received in the
common school in Jeffersonville, the semin-
ar}' at Underbill, but with indomitable per-
severance and application he passed through
the Spencerian Business College and the Law-
Department of the National University at
Washington, D. C, where he graduated. He
also graduated from the Department of Min-
eralogy of the Smithsonian Institute, and,
learning shorthand, became the principal
and proprietor of the School of Phonography
and Typewriting at Washington. Mr. Whit-
comb's tastes have ever been studious as is
evinced by his Icnowledge of the French and
Spanish languages and of the study of medi-
cine, to which he has devoted much of his
leisure time.
JAMES ARTHUR
As a boy he deserted the parental roof
and worked at farming, then as a weaver and
then learned a trade. In 1874 he entered
the citv post office at Washington, D. C, and
rose gradually to a clerkship, which, through
the courtesy of Chief Clerk Bell of the Inte-
rior Department, he exchanged for that of
night watchman in order that he might have
time to pursue his law studies. He was
shortly transferred to the Pension Bureau
to perform clerical duties and rated as mes-
senger. In this bureau he faithfully served
the government for nine and one-half years,
retiring by resignation from the position of
acting chief clerk of Board of Pension Ap-
peals under Secretary Lamar, to enter into
business. This change was forced upon him
from disease of eyes brought on by work at
night.
Mr. Whitcomb's honorable progress in the
department, aside from his first appointment,
was entirely without political influence though
his faithful abilities were known and recog-
nized by Senators Edmunds, Morrill, Blair,
Logan, and many others.
He has served in the militia of the r)istrict
of Columbia, Maryland and elsewhere, about
eighteen years. Is a veteran of the 5 th Regt.
Md. National Guards, and is at present a
member of the Fifth Maryland Veteran Corps,
and attached to the Gattling Gun as an active.
In social organizations he is an I. O. O. F.
of Lodge No. i, L^. C, and a member of
Harmony Lodge, F. & A. M.
Mr. Whitcomb was married at Washington,
April 23, 18S2, to Virginia Hunter, daughter
of John J. Commack, of Washington, and
Margaret Hunter, of Fairfax, Va. They
have three young children.
WHITCOMB, JONADAB Baker, of
Berkeley, Cal., son of Col. Carter and Lucy
(Baker) Whitcomb, was born Get. 2, 1823,
at Saxtons River.
Mr. Whitcomb received his early educa-
tion till twelve years of age in his native
village : later at Swanzey, N. H. ; later, up
to age of seventeen, at the Keene Academy.
In 1840 he was a hotel clerk at Fitchburg ;
m 1S42 he was in the same vocation at
Cambridgeport, Mass.; in 1843 ^^ Provi-
dence, R. I., and in 1844 he was in the
calling in New Vork City, making headway
all the time. He was head clerk at the
famous New York Hotel in 1848 when he
heard of the discoveries of California and
resolved to go. In company with others, he
organized the New Vork Mining Co., with
one hundred members, and bought and
equipped the barque Strafferd, which sailed
from New York Feb. 4, 1849, for San Fran-
cisco, Cal. Mr. Whitcomb, however, trans-
ferred his share to his brother Byron, and
secured for himself passage on the Portland
brig Columbus, and sailed Feb. 3, 1849, for
Vera Cruz, Mexico. He became one of a
party and arrived at San Diego .August 4,
after a terrible trip by sea. He secured
passage for himself and others on the
steamer Panama, and arrived at San Fran-
cisco .'\ugust 18. (Full account of the voy-
age was published in a volume by Dr. J. B.
Stillman, published by .A. Raman & Co.,
1877, entitled "Seeking the Golden Fleece
and Voyage of the Schooner Dolphin.")
In company with C. W. Dannals he left for
the Yuba River, via Sacramento City and
arrived at Rases Bar September i, secured a
location and mined for six weeks clearing
.69
^2,ooo, returned to Sacramento in Novem-
ber, all mining on the river being stopped
by reason of freshets and rainy season.
Here he found his New York Mining Co.,
and brother Byron, who, with Mr. Dannals
and himself concluded to purchase the lot,
corner of K and 2d streets and go into trade ;
but again high water flooding the city Jan.
2, 1S50, he decided then to go back again
to the mountains and mines, arriving at
Fosters Bar, Yuba River, in February, 1850,
where they engaged in mining and trading.
Late that fall he had put in a wing dam in
the canyon, one mile up stream, which
promised well, and in the spring of 185 1,
after many months of hard labor by whip
sawing made sufficient lumber to flume the
river five hundred feet and turned it from
its bed in August and after eight weeks of
])rodigious work, secured for himself and
others ^90,000, in gold dust ; his brother
returned to the states, he alone remaining.
Much money was lost and won that season.
In 1853 he was impressed by a blind man
in Marysville with an idea how to bring
water to the high bar at Fosters, which was
to go down the river a few miles to the
mouth of Oregon Creek and by a ditch take
the water up the river ; he did this work by
assistance of miners who promised, and did
take their pay in water ; this project was
unique at the time and profitable for a num-
ber of years. In i860 we find him in Marys-
ville with his family comfortably situated in
his home, yet in 1862 he joined the throng
going to Oregon and Idaho on a mining
expedition. In 1864 he removed to San
Franci.sco and engaged in the business of
real estate, residing in Berkeley with his
daughter, Mrs. W. S. Wattes.
He married Cynthia A. Cutter of Grafton,
April 5, 1855. She was the daughter of
Capt. James and Harriet (Goodridge) Cut-
ter. Their children are : Alice Harriet,
Frank Randolph, Caroline Goodridge, Hat-
tie Demming, and Ralston.
WHITE, MlLO, of Chatfield, Minn., was
born in Fletcher, August 17, 1830; was ed-
ucated at common schools ; is a merchant :
was elected to the state Senate of Minnesota,
1872, 1876, and i88i-'82, and was elected
to the Forty-eighth Congress as a Republi-
can ; was re-elected to the Forty-ninth
Congress.
WHITE, Nehe.MIAH, of Galesburg, 111.,
son of Justin Morgan and I.ydia (F.ddy)
White, was born Jan. 25, 18:55, at Walling-
ford.
Professor White's career as an instructor,
remarkable as it is, was made possible by the
most thorough and extended preparation in
the schools of the state. In 1857 he gradu-
ated at Middlebury College with the degree
of A. B., and immediately began his work as
associate principal of the Green Mountain
Perkins .Academy, and continued there dur-
ing iS57-'58. The year i859-'6o was passed
as principal of the Clinton (N. Y.) Liberal
Institute, and from 1864 to 1865 as principal
of the Pulaski (N. Y.) .'\cademy. The St.
Lawrence Uni\ersity at Canton, N. Y., ob-
tained his services from 1865 to 1871, as
professor of mathematics and natural science
and from 1873 to 1875 he served the Buchtel
College at .Akron, Ohio, as professor of
ancient languages. In 1876 he received the
degree of Ph. I), from St. Lawrence Univer-
sity. As president of the Lombard Univer-
sity at (jalesburg. 111., he passed the years
from 1875 to 1892 and resigned his office
only at the last commencement to take
charge of another department of the I'nixer-
sity, the Ryder I)i\inity School.
Professor \\'hite has given special attention
to comparative philology, and in addition
to a knowledge of the classic tongues, has
made acquaintance with the Sanscrit, He-
brew and Anglo-Saxon, as well as most of
the cultivated languages of modern Europe.
Besides sermons and lectures Professor
White has written very little for the press.
The most that has been published in a more
permanent form consists of articles in the
interests of denominational literature. Among
them may be cited : " Greek Synonyms of the
New Testament" (L^niversalist Quarterly,
April, 1882), and "Love the Basis of Educa-
tion," one of a series of addresses published
in a volume entitled, " The Columbian Con-
gress of the Universalist Church."
Mr. White was ordained to the ministry of
the Universalist church in 1875. In 1889
there was conferred upon him by Tufts Col-
lege the degree of D. D. This is the outline
of a busy, earnest life, reflecting at all times
honor and credit, and affording an example
for emulation.
Mr. White was married, May 11, 1858, at
South Woodstock, to Frances M., the daugh-
ter of Orsamus and Eluthera (Sumner)
White, of Huntington. She died .April 29,
1864, leaving one daughter, who died Jan.
I, 1882. Mr. White was again married, in
187 1, to Inez Ling, daughter of Lorenzo
Ling, of Pulaski, N. V. They have two
children : ^Villard Justin (a graduate of
Lombard University of the class of 1S91),
and Frances Cora.
WHITE, Welcome, of Baltimore, Md.,
was born in Wardsboro, Dec. 22, 1826, the
son of Daniel and Mary (Durant) White.
Mr. White spent the years of his minority
on the farm of his father, and in acquiring
such an education as the district schools
aftbrded. Being of a mechanical turn of
mind he became a carpenter and followed
this vocation for five years, and then, in 1852,
removed to Baltimore where he engaged in
the baking business. This business was
successfully continued for six years, when
Mr. White returned to his native place where
he resided for four years. Returning to
Baltimore in 1862 he once more embarked
in business at his old stand, where he re-
mained until 1865. The growth of the
business then necessitated a change which
resulted in removal to the large and commo-
dious establishment he still occupies. Con-
tinued additions and improvements have
rendered it a most convenient and well
equipped plant. A Baltimore paper sums
up his business career there as follows :
"Thirty-four years of unbroken prosperity
marks the history of the well-known and
popular baking establishment of Welcome
White."
A Republican in belief, he has never
sought office or devoted much time to poli-
tics. He has, however, been twice a candi-
date for a seat in the city council.
Mr. White married, at Baltimore, Oct. 20,
1857, Marietta F., daughter of Davis and
Lucinda (Davis) Read of Wardsboro. Their
children were : Clara M., Flora E., Jennie I.,
\Vilbur H. (deceased), Minnie M., Wallace
D., and Lelia M.
A Universalist by faith, Mr. ^\■hite was for
several years an active worker in the Third
Church, being a trustee and its treasurer.
and has become a standard on the subject
of Tennessee land laws.
In the fall of 1893 Mr. Whitney accepted
the position of general agent for Connecti-
cut for placing the investments of the Cum-
berland Building Loan Association of Chat-
tanooga, making Bridgeport his home.
^
•W
WHITNEY, HENRY DOUGLAS, of
Bridgeport, Conn., son of Henry and .Almira
J. (Bowker) Whitney, was born in Wilming-
ton, Sept. 13, i865.
His education was obtained in the com-
mon schools, at C.lenwood Seminary, ^Vest
Brattleboro, and at the St. Johnsburv Acad-
emy, graduating from the latter institution
in 1886. His preparation was for Harvard
College, but the course was abandoned in
order that he might earlier engage himself
in the study of his profession. He taught
school for three years successfully, being
principal of the high school at ^V'ells River,
and later principal of the grammar school at
East Dennis, Mass.
Mr. \\'hitney began the study of law in
1888 in the office of FJates cNcMay of St.
Johnsbury and went to Chattanooga, Tenn.,
in the fall of 1 88g, there entering the office of
Russell & Daniels, a leading law firm of that
city. The following year he was admitted
to the bar, and has since pursued an active
and successful career. Mr. Whitney's liter-
ary abilities and tastes have found expres-
sion in a legal work, " \\'hitney's Land Laws
of Tennesee." This work has received the
highest endorsement of both bench and bar
HENRY DOUGLAS WHITNEY.
In politics Mr. Whitney is an independent
Democrat, and in religion a free thinker.
He was married in Wilmington, June 6,
1890, to Kale J., daughter of Judge George
C. and Rebecca Todd Harrison of ^^'est
Cornwall, Conn. To her large helpfulness
and encouragement he owes much of his
success. One son, Burke Emerson, born
Feb. I, 1894, has come to their home.
WHITNEY, Samuel BRENTON, of Bos-
ton, Mass., son of Samuel and Amelia (Hyde)
Whitnev, was born in Woodstock, lune 4,
1842.
His early education was obtained in the
public schools. He afterwards attended the
Vermont Episcopal Institute, studied music
first with local teachers, afterwards with Carl
Wels and later still with John K. Paine, tak-
ing lessons on the organ, pianoforte, com-
position and instrumentation.
Mr. Whitney has been organist and director
of music of Christ Church, Montpelier : St.
Peter's, Albany, N. V., and St. Paul's Church,
Burlington ; is at present and has been for the
past twenty-two years, organist of the Church
of the Advent, Boston, the choir of which
church has become quite celebrated under
his direction. He lias frequently been en-
gaged as conductor of choir festival asso-
ciations in Massachusetts and Vermont ; is
first vice-president and one of the organ ex-
aminers of the American College of Musi-
cians ; has written church music quite exten-
sively, also piano and miscellaneous music.
He has been conductor of many choral
societies in and around Boston, and has the
reputation of being very successful in train-
ing and developing boys' voices. In this
position he has heen identified with liturgi-
cal music, vested choirs, and a reverent per-
formance of church music.
The late Dr. J. H. Wilcox once said in
this connection, after hearing Mr. \\'hitney
play a very small organ : "It takes a much
more gifted organist to play a small organ
than it does to play a large one, where every
resource is at hand." Another musical au-
thority in Boston has said : "Mr. Whitney, by
his wonderful mastery of the preludes, fugues
and toccatas of Bach, most of which are so
impressed upon his remarkable memory
that he rarely uses notes ; by his style so
brilliant and pleasing, and his improvisations
so solid and rich, has won much credit in
and beyond professional circles." Mr.
Whitney was for a time teacher of the organ
in ihe New England Conservatory of .Music.
He also established in this institution for
the first time, a church music class, in which
not onlv were the \ocal jnipils taught how to
properly interjiret sacred music, but the or-
gan pupils as well were instructed as to the
management of the organ in church.
Among Mr. Whitney's compositions are a
trio for piano and string, many solos and
arrangements for both piano and organ, as
well as several church services, Te Deums
and miscellaneous anthems and songs, both
sacred and secular. Some of Mr. Whitney's
organ compositions have been reprinted in
England, by London publishers.
WILLARD, George, was born at Bol-
ton, March 20, 1824 ; received a liberal edu-
cation and was a professor for two years in
Kalamazoo College ; was editor and pub-
lisher of the Battle Creek Journal ; was a
member of the Michigan State Board of
Education from 1857 to 1863; was elected
regent of the Universitr of Michigan in
1863, and re-elected for eight years in 1865 ;
was elected to the state Legislature in 1866
and the following year a member of the state
constitutional convention, serving in both
bodies as chairman of the committee on
education ; was a delegate at large from
Michigan to the national Republican con-
vention in 1872 ; was elected a representa-
tive from Michigan for the Forty-third Con-
gress as a Republican ; was re-elected to the
Forty-fourth Congress.
WIN SLOW, HORACE SPENCER, of
Newton, Iowa, son of Elhanan S. and Elmina
(Kingsley) Winslow, was born July 18, 1837,
at Pittsford.
Judge Winslow received such advantages
.!> were offered at the common schools and
■-eminaries in Rutland county, and began his
legal education at the Poughkeepsie Law
School, and graduated July, 1856, from the
Polan (Ohio) Law School.
Immediately upon graduation, he went to
Newton, Iowa, where he opened a law oflfice,
Sept, I, 1856, having just passed his nine-
teenth birthday. Since that time, for thirty-
seven years, he has enjoyed a successful and
lucrative practice, owning, probably, the lar-
gest private law library in the state. During
the exciting years of the civil war, he was
district attorney of the sixth judicial dis-
trict of Iowa, then com]irised of the counties
of Jasper, Poweshiek, Marion, \\'ashington,
Mahaska, and Jefferson, ha\ ing been elected
to that office in the fall of 1862. In 1868
he received further distinction by election as
judge of the second circuit of the sixth judi-
cial district of Iowa, which was then com-
posed of the counties of Jasper, Marion, and
Mahaska. At the end of one year's service
he resigned and resumed his ])ractice. In
1874 he was elected judge of the sixth dis-
trict and remained in the service four years.
Judge Winslow became a Mason, and a
member of Newton Lodge, No. 59, A. F. &
172
WOODRL'FF.
A. M., in 1858; later he became a Royal
Arch Mason, Knight Templar, and has re-
ceived the Scottish Rite degrees. In 1876
he was elected M. E. Grand Priest of the
Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of
Iowa, and was elected grand commander of
the Grand Commandery of Knights Templar
of Iowa in 18S0.
HORACE SPENCER WINSLOW.
Judge ^\'inslow was married, Nov. 7, 1858,
to Sarah E. Dunklee of Pittsford. They
have two children : Kate E., and Jessie L.
He is a member of the First Congrega-
tional Church, one of its trustees, and at
present writing superintendent of its Sunday
school.
WOOD, Thomas Waterman, of New
York, son of John and Mary (Waterman)
Wood, was born Nov. 12, 1823, at Mont-
pelier.
His early education was obtained in the
schools of Washington county, while his art
training was acquired in the great cities of
Boston, London, Paris, Florence and Rome.
Mr. Wood's fame as an artist and a por-
trait painter has been exercised in many of
the principal cities of America, notably in
Quebec and Toronto in 1855 ; in \Vashing-
ton in 1856; in Baltimore in 1857 and
1858; and in Nashville and Louisville sev-
eral years, up to 1865 ; two years, from 1S58
to i860, being spent in study abroad.
In 1866 he located in New York City,
and in 1869 was elected an associate of the
National .Academy of Design, and academi-
cian in 1871. From 1879 to 1890 he was
vice-president of the academy, and is now
president of that institution. From 1S78
to 1887 he was president of the American
Water Color Society.
Mr. Wood is a member of many of New
York's social institutions ; among them the
Aldine Club, of which he is an e.x-president ;
the Salamagundi and Country Clubs ; he is
also an honorary member of the .\pollo
Club, of Montpelier.
He was married in Burlington, Sept. 24,
1850, to Minerva Robinson, of \Vaterbury,
daughter of Rev. Sylvanus Rpbinson, of
Northfield. Mrs. Wood died in New York,
May 15, 1859.
WOODRUFF, Charles Albert, of
Ignited States Army, son of Erastus (de-
scendant in seventh degree, from Matthew
Woodruff, one of the original proprietors of
the town of Farmington, Conn., where he
settled in 1640), was born in Burke, April 26,
184s.
^^i^ts;:;
ARLES ALBERT WOODRUFF.
He was educated in the district schools of
Burke, the academies at Lyndon and St.
Johnsbury and graduated at Bryant & Strat-
ton's Business College, Burlington, and at
the L'nited States Military Academy, West
Point, N. Y. He first enlisted, June 5,
1862, in Co. A, loth Vt. Yols., and became
corporal June 3, 1863, and was promoted
second lieutenant 1 1 7th L^. S. C. T., but was
not mustered on account of wounds received
WOODKCI'K.
WOODWARD.
173
while serving in tiie y\ and 6th corps of the
Army of the Potomac ; was slightly wounded
three times at Cold Harbor, Va., June i,
1864 ; he was captured and escaped same
night. He was severely wounded June 3,
1864, and never rejoined his company, but
was discharged for disability caused by
wounds, August 18, 1865.
Passed a competitive e.xamination and
entered U. S. Academy, West Point, July i,
1867; graduated number eleven, June 12,
187 I ; promoted same date 2d Lieut. 7th U.
S. Inft. ; served on frontier duty in Montana ;
in command of mounted detachment from
May, 1S72, to August, 1S73 ; in command
of reconnoissance to Washington Territory
August to October, 1873; acting assistant
adjutant-general District of Montana, and
acting regimental adjutant July, August, and
September, 1874; in command of company,
Judith Basin, Mont., June to October, 1875 ;
adjutant of battalion in Indian campaigns of
1876 and 1877; with General Gibbon's
command that rescued survivors of Custer's
command ; severely wounded three times at
Big Hale, Mont., August 9, 1877 ; on sick
leave; promoted first lieutenant August 9,
1877 ; appointed captain and commissary of
subsistence March 28, 1878 ; in office of
commissary general to August, 1878; depot
commissary. Fort Leavenworth, Kan., to
October, 1S79, and acting chief commissary,
and acting assistant adjutant-general Depart-
ment of Missouri summer 1879 ; chief com-
missary District New Mexico, Santa Fe, N.
M., to November, 1884, and acting assistant
adjutant-general and acting engineer officer
at different times ; chief commissary depart-
ment of Columbia and depot and purchasing
commissary Vancouver Barracks, Wash., to
August, 1889, and acting assistant adjutant-
general, acting judge advocate of department,
acting ordnance officer, and acting signal
officer for several months ; in the field with
General Gibbon, suppressing riots against
Chinese ; purchasing and depot commissary,
San Francisco, CaL, to March, 1894: pro-
moted major and commissary of subsistence
Dec. 27, 1892; assistant to commissary gen-
eral, Washington, D. C, since March, 1894.
Major Woodruff, as the foregoing record
shows, is a valiant soldier, is no less an
orator and accomplished gentleman. His
orations, delivered upon Memorial days and
other occasions, have drawn the highest
encomiums from the press. By unanimous
resolution of George H. Thomas Post, No. 2,
Dept. of California, G. A. R.., ten thousand
copies of Captain \\'oodruff's address, on
"American Patriotism," were ordered printed
for general distribution, " as an incentive to
patriotism, and as inculcating a spirit of
reverence for our country's flag, and respect
for our countrv's laws." Commander of the
Commandery of the State of California,
Military (Jrder of the Loyal Legion of the
Ignited States.
WOODWARD, Tyler, of Portland,
Oregon, son of Krastus and Sarah (Gilson)
Woodward, was born Ian. 19, 1835, at Hart-
land.
He attended school at Kimball L'nion
-Academy at Meriden N. H., and at Chelsea
and Newbury. Mr. Woodward's family is of
Puritan origin and his grandfather, Gideon
Woodward, served in the Revolutionary war.
Mr. Woodward was born and raised on a
farm and when twenty-one years of age
taught school at Hartland Three Corners,
near his home. He remained on the farm
until the spring of i860, when he sold out
TYLER WOODWARD.
his stock and set sail for California, from
New York, with his youngest sister and
together they went to Marysville, CaL, to the
home of their brother, keeping the Western
Hotel at that place. For a few months Mr.
Woodward remained with his brother, acting
as clerk in the hotel, when the latter removed
to San Francisco, and Mr. \\'oodward was
employed in tlie ice business, superintending
the harvest in the mountains near the town
of Laporte, where snows often fell to the
depth of twenty feet. Thus ^[r. ^^■oodward
began one of the most interesting, exciting
and fairly successful careers in the far west
and northwestern country, trading. His ad-
ventures and hairbreadth escapes from
174
whites during a long residence in the moun-
tains would fill a book. Success attended
his efforts everywhere and after nearly ten
years of this life he sold out his mercantile
business near Missoula, Mont., and went to
Portland, Ore., in 1869, and engaged in the
real estate business, where he already had
considerable interests. He purchased an in-
terest in the firm of Parrish & Atkinson, the
firm becoming Parrish, Atkinson & Wood-
ward. In this firm he remained three
years.
In 1872 he married Marv, the daughter
of Sherry Ross, a pioneer who crossed the
plains and settled in Oregon in 1845. He
has now one daughter fifteen years of age.
In the spring of 1873 Mr. Woodward went
to Walla Walla, and became interested with
Dr. D. S. Baker, in a railroad from that point
to AVallaula, which afterwards became a por-
tion of the Union Pacific system. Again re-
turning to Portland he speculated in real
estate and became interested in the passen-
ger transfer business, operating a large number
of carriages, the firm name being Woodward
& Magoon. Later, in connection with others,
he organized a company and constructed and
operated the street railways known as the
Third Street line. Mr. Woodward was presi-
dent of th€ company and its manager for
several years. About 1890 he with his asso-
ciates organized the City & Suburban Railway
Co., of which he is a director and vice-presi-
dent and purchased the East and West side
lines which were converted into electric lines
and constitute a system of fifty miles of elec-
tric and steam roads.
In the spring of 1891, upon the organiza-
tion of the United States National Bank, Mr.
Woodward became a director thereof and was
elected vice-president with an active position,
to which he is now devoting his attention.
During his residence in Portland, Mr. Wood-
ward has served as county commissioner and
two terms in the city council of which he was
elected president.
WRIGHT, Cyrus Smith, of San Fran-
cisco, Cal., son of John and Irene (Smith)
Wright, was born in Norwich, Oct. 3, 1836.
He was educated in the scientific depart-
ment of Dartmouth College, graduating in
1857 as a surveyor and civil engineer. In
the fall of 1859 he went to Boliver county.
Miss., as assistant engineer on the Mississippi
levees. In 1S62 he was forced to join the
28th Miss. Cavalry. He was injured in 1864
and driven to the U. S. gunboat for medical
treatment, and was taken to Memphis, Tenn.,
and then sent North.
In 1865 he went to California, and finding
no other employment engaged with his old
friend and classmate, Henry M. Gray, in
the undertaking business, which he has fol-
lowed ever since, becoming a partner in the
firm in 1876, and sole proprietor in 1886,
and still conducts the business under the
old firm name of N. Gray & Co.
Mr. \\'right belongs to the Republican
party ; is a past grand of Cosmopolitan
Lodge, No. 194, I. O. O. F. ; a life member
of California Lodge, No. i, F. & A. M. : a
member of California Chapter, No. 5 ;
Golden Gate Commandery, No. 16 ; Knights
Templar, Mystic Shrine (Islam Temple),
Pacific Coast Association Native Sons of
Vermont, First Presbyterian Church, San
Francisco Theological Seminary, Y. M. C.
A., and the California Bible Society. He
holds the office of trustee in the last four
organizations, and is highly esteemed by all.
In business he is energetic, prompt, and
reliable.
Mr. Wright was married, in San Francisco,
on Thanksgiving Day, 1874, to Emma A.,
daughter of Nathaniel and Emeline A. Gray.
Thev have two children : Helen Edith, and
Harold Lincoln.
WRIGHT, Riley E., of Baltimore, Md.,
son of Erastus and Mary A. (Fairbrother)
Wright, was born July 24, 1839, in Westmin-
ster.
Mr. \\'right was educated in the common
schools and academy of Derby, and at Glover
and Coventry. He fitted for college at Pow-
ers' Institute, Bernardston, Mass., where he
was both student and French instructor.
having perfected himself in that language by
residence and study at St. Hyacinth and St.
Rosalie, Canada, in 1859. He was admitted
to Dartmouth College, expecting to pursue a
course there, but afterwards decided to go to
Middlebury College, where he remained until
the fall of 1862, and during his sophomore
year he felt it to be his duty to enlist in the
army, and left college for that purpose.
During the years he was attending the acade-
my and college, at the age of seventeen and
after, he taught school in winter.
Upon his return home from the army he
entered upon the study of the law in the of-
fice of the late Judge Benjamin H. Steele, at
Derby Line, and was admitted to Orleans
county bar Dec. 31, 1864. He soon r re-
moved to Baltimore, and entered upon the
practice of law, which he has continued to
the present day with success. He is con-
nected with several corporations as counsel,
and defended Gen. E. B. Tyler in the investi-
gation of charges against him while post-
master at Baltimore, during President Hayes'
administration, which lasted many weeks
and attracted general attention throughout
the country. The President personally re-
viewed the testimony, and General Tyler was
completely exonerated.
voi'NG. 175
In jjolitics he is a Republican, and takes a
lively interest in the political fpiestions of
the day, occasionally going on the stump.
He was in 1893 the candidate of his party
for judge of the supreme bench of Baltimore
city.
He left college in 1862 and returning to
his home at Coventry, in a week's time he
recruited a company of volunteers known as
Co. H, 15th \'t. Vols., of which he was unan-
imously elected a captain and served until
mustered out June 16, 1863. After the St.
Albans raid, under order from the Governor
of Vermont, he enlisted and commanded a
company of militia to protect the banks and
other property from apprehended danger.
Mr. \\right is a Mason. He is also Past
Commander Custer Post, G. A. R., and was
at one time judge advocate general of the
department. For many years he has been a
member of the board of managers of the
Society for Protection of Children ; likewi.se
the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals.
He was married at Newport, Sept. 1 1,
1866, to Mary E., daughter of Isaac and Abi-
gail (Stevens) Collier. Their only child
died in infancy.
YOUNG, John, was born in Chelsea in
1802 ; when quite a boy he removed with his
father to New York state and received a
common school education at Conesus ;
studied law and was admitted to the bar in
1829 ; was in the state Legislature in 1831,
1844 and 1845 ; was a representative in
Congress, from New York, from 1841 to
1S43; Governor of the state from 1847 to
1849, and assistant treasurer of the United
States in New York City, at the time of his
death, which occurred April 23, 1852.
INDEX TO BIOGRAPHIES.
PART 1.
THE FATHERS.
PAGE
Allen , Eth,all 20
Allen, Eben^zer 53
Allen, Irii 43
Allen, Heraan 53
A Group of Tories, 69
Breakenridge, Jaraes 50
Baker, Remember 51
Bowker, .Joseph Gl
Bayley, Gen. Jacob 61
Chittenden, Tfhomas 39
Cochran, RoBen .52
Clark, Nathail 61
Carpenter, Beiijamin 63
PAGE
Chandler, Thomas 65
Dewey, Rev. Jedediah 58
Enos, Gen. Roger 69
Fay, Dr. .lonas 50
Fay, Col. Joseph 51
Fassett, Capt. John 59
Fletcher, Gen. Samuel 66
Herrick, Col. Samuel 49
Haewell, Anthony 64
Hazeltine, John 66
.Tones, Dr. Reuben 67
Know Hon, Luke 59
Marsh, Joseph 62
PAGE
Payne, Elisha 64
Phelps, Charles 68
Robinson, Samuel '. 54
Robinson, Gov. Moses 55
3obiusou, rjonathau 57
Robinson, John .* 57
Rowlev , Thomas 58
Safford, Gen. Samuel 66
Spaulding, I.ieut. Leonard 68
Townshend, Micah 67
Warner, Seth ,35
Walbridge, E benezer 52
THE GOVERNORS.
Brieham.Paul 71
Butler, Ezra SO
Chittenden, Martin 76
Crafts, Samuel C SI
Converse, Julius 100
Coolidge, Carlos SS
Dillinffbam, Paul 96
Eaton, Horace 87
Fairbanks. Erastus 89
Fletcher, Ryland 92
Fairbanks, Horace 101 I Royce, Stephen 01
Galusha, Jonas 74 | Sla'de, William S6
Hall. HiKind 03 Smith,. John Gregorv 96
.Jcnnison, Silas H S4 ' Smith, Israel ." 73
Mattocks, John S5 Skinner, Richard 77
Palmer, William .A S2 Tichenor, Isa.ac 72
Paine, Charles S5 i Van Ness, Cornelius P 78
PaBe,,IohnB OS I Willi.ams, Charles Kilborn 88
Peck, Asahel 100 Washburn, Peter T 99
SENATORS IN CONGRESS.
Bradley, Stephen R 104 Fisk, .James
Brainerd, Lawrence 120 Foot, Solomon
Ohipman, Nathaniel 108 Paine, Elijah 107
Chase, Dudley Ill Prentiss, Samuel 114 | Uphi
Collamer, Jacob 121 Phelps, Samuel S 116
land, LukeP 124
lis I Seymour, Horatio 113
"" ~ ift, Benjamin 115
William 117
REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS.
Allen, Heman 144
Allen, Heman, of M ilton 147
Buck, Daniel 129
Buck, D. Azro 129
Bradley, William V 136
Bartlett, Thomas, Jr 1-53
Baxter, Portus 156
Barlow, Brjidley loS
Cahoon, William 14S
Chamberlain, William 133
Chipmau, Daniel 140
Deming, Benjamin F 149
Denison, Dudley C I5S
Everett, Horace 14S
Elliot, James 13.1
Fletcher, Geu. Isaac 140
Hunt, Jonathan 14s
Henry, William 151
Hebard, William 152
Hubbard, Jonathau H 1.35 l
Hunter, William 144
Hodges, George T 154
•Janes, Henry F 149
Jewett, Luther 141
Keyes, Elias 146
Lyon, Matthew 130
Laugdon, Chauucy 141
Lvou,A6a 142
Morris, Lewis R 132
Mecch,Ezra 146
Mallory,Roliin Carlos 145
Marsh, Charles 143
Merrill, Orsamus C 144
Marsh, George Perkins l.'.O
Muecbara, James 152
Miner, Ahiman L 1.52
Nile>. Nathaniel 127
Noyes, John 143
Olin, Gideon 134
Oliu, Uenrv 139
I'cck, Lucius B 151
Rich, Charles 139
Richards, Mark 144
Royce, Homer E 155
Shaw, Samuel 135
Strong, William 135
Smith, John 149
Sabiu, Alvah 1,54
Smith, Worthingtou C 1,57
Tracy, Andrew 153
Withorell, James 134
White, Pbineas 146
Wales, George E 140
Walton, Eliakim P 154
Woodbridge, Frederick E 156
Willard, Charles W 1.57
Young, Augustus 160
rnnGR-\PHiEs.
JUDGES OF THE SUPREME COURT.
Aldi.
Ai kens, Asa 1
Aldis, Asa Owen 1
Bravton, William 1
Baylies, Nicholai
Bennett, Mili
18-2
Hutchinson, Titus ....
Isham, Piernoint,
Jacob, Stephen
Ivnigbt, Saniuel
Kellogg, Daniel
Ivittredge, William C.
Barrett, James 1S4 Kellogg, Loyal Case
1N4
Beardsley, Herma
Doolittle, Joel •-'•••
Ravis, Charles 1S2
Dunton, Walter C 18S
Fay, David 1''^
Farrand, Daniel 178
Hall, Lot 1"S
Herrinton, Thcopliilus ITS
Moseley, Increase.
Olcott, Simeon i^
Olcott, Peter 174
Porter, Thomas 174
Paddock, Ephraiiu ISi]
Pierpoint, Robert 183
Pierpoiut, Joh n 183
Prout, John
Iledtield, Isaac Fletcher. .
Redrteld, Timothy Parker.
Spooner, Paul
Smith, Noah
-I I I' , I;. uj..rain Hinman.
- h, John
I .1. !. K.iv.ill!!'.'.!!".. .'.'.'.'.
TuruiT, Bates
Thompson, John C
L^nderwood, Abel
Woodbridge, Enoch
Wilson, William U
PART II.
BIOGRAPHIES OF VERMONTERS, A. D. i892-'94.
Ad.ams, Bailey F 1
Adams, Edward P.ay8on 1
Adams, Joseph -
Adams, Andrew N 3
Albee, John Mead 4
Alexander, John K 4
Allen, Charles Edwin o
Allen, Ira R -J
Amsden, Charles ?
Atwood, John Andrews ^
Andrews, Sumner A. i
AndroBs, Dudley Kimball '
Archibald, Henry t< »
Arnold, Fenelon ■'
Arnold, Fred «
Atkins, Hiram ^
Atwood. Frank O W
Austin, Orlo Henry 1"
Bailey, Alden Lee JJ
Bailey, Hor.ice Ward 11
Bailey, John J-
Bailey, Myron W Ij
Baker, Austin S 13
Baker, Joel Clarke ]■>
Balch, William Everard 14
Baldwin, Charles 14
Baldwin, A. T W
Baldwin, Frederick W 1'
Ball, Fanklin P 17
Ballard, Henry 1»
Ballou, Hosea Berthler 19
Barney, Herbert R 19
Barrett, Byron Simeon 19
Barstow, John L -0
Barron, Lyman P --
Bates, Edward L -•
Baxter, Edward K -
Bean, Cromwell Phelps J I
Beckett, George -'
Bedell, Henry Edson ■-■:■
Benedict, Cieorge Granville '^o
Benton, Josiah H -6
Bennett, Edward Dewey 26
Billings, Frederick 27
Bisbee, Edward W 28
Bingham, William H. H 28
Bixby, ArmentuB Boyden 30
Bishop, William H "■-
Bissell, Edgar N
Bissell, William H. A -
Bixby, Hira L -
Blaisdell, Edson G. 33
Bliss, Joshua Isham 33
Black, Henry Fayette 34
Bogue. Homer A 34
Bond, George Herbert 34
Bolton, Plynn 35
Booth, Isaac Phillips 3.i
Booth, William W 36
Bosworth, David 36
Boyce, Osmore Baker 37
Boyce, William A 37
Boyden, Nelson L 38
Boynton, Thomas Jefferson 3S
Boynton, William Seward 39
Brady, Charles N 39
Bradford, Philander D 39
Bragg, Azro D 40
Branch, Charles F 40
Brewster. George Benjamin 41
Bri,I-ii-ni I> :iri, Jr 42
Bri.'l > ' ' I Orson 42
BriL'l .1 I, I.ncian 43
Briin,, w iMiM, w alhice 44
Brookui*. Ilarvi-v S 44
Brown, Adna...'. 44
Brown, Albert L 45
Brown, Curtis 4ri
Brown. Williiim A 4i-.
Browiirll, l'lianiir<.v Wells Hi
Brouiirll. ch.niiH'ei Wells 4T
Brui-.-, (;,o,-e .\s:,' l^
Bugh,.,.., Herman 4''
Buckham, Matthew Henry 4'
Bulklev, George c
Bullock, Elmer J 4','
Bunker, Charles Albert 6ii
Burdett, Jesse 51
Burnell, Milo 8 51
Butler, Fred Mason 51
Butterlicld, Alfred Harvey 52
Butterlield, Ezra Turner '. 52
Buttertield, A. Augustine 53
Bntterfleld, Frederick David 54
Bntterdeld, Franklin George 64
Camp, Erastus C 67
Camp, Lyman L 57
Campbell, Alfred H 57
Campbell, Wallace H 58
Cantield, Thomas Hawlev 68
Carleton, Hiram ". 63
Carnev. John Vose 64
r.uiiMi'ii, Nr. W 64
1. : I.I, Amos Bugbee 65
' I . ::i ' liiirles Solomon 66
' 1--1I . ' i.i.rge 66
Cellev, William E. S 66
Chafey, Martin Beard 67
Chamberlin, Preston S 67
Ch.andler, Frank 67
Chapin, William 68
Chase, Charles Sumner 68
Chase, Charles M 69
Chase, Edgar Merritt 69
('111., Willlard 70
' 1 I 'I , Goldthwait 70
' liii '■• -iL;e Edward 71
I I II I., 1. 1.1 Warren 71
I'liirk, .l.ihn Galvin 72
Clement, Percival W 72
Clarke, Kanslure Weld 74
Cleveland, James P.. Jr 74
Clifford, Newell E 7.5
Cobb, Nathan Bryant 75
Coburn, James Allen 76
Coffee, Robert John 76
Colburn, Robert M 77
Colton, Eben Pomeroy 78
Conaut, Edward 78
Conway, John 79
Cook, John Bray 79
Coolidge, John C 80
Cooper, Alanson Lawrence 80
Cotton, Joshua Franklin 81
Cowles, Asahel Read 81
Cowles, Elmer Eugene 82
Craraton, John Willey 82
Coyne, Peter M 84
Crane, .Joseph Adolphus 84
Croft, Leonard F 84
Crossett, Janus 85
Cudworth, Addison Edward 85
Cummings, Harlan P 85
Currier, John Winnick 86
Curtis, John 87
I'li-liiriL'. Daniel L 87
iii-lnii_., Haves Porter 88
Cii~liii..in, Henry T., 2d 89
Ciitl. I. llriirv Ralph 89
<nluii-, Hiram Adolphus 90
I litliii-, iMiver B 91
I ultiiiL... William B 91
1)1.1... iie..rge N 92
Damon, Charles 92
Dana, Charles S 93
Dana, M.arvin Hill 93
Darling, Joseph Kimball 94
Darling, J. R 94
Davenport, Charles Newton 95
Davison, Amory 96
Davidson, Milton 96
Davis, Dennison 97
Davis, Frank E 97
Diivis, Frank William 98
Davis, George 98
Davis, Gilbert A 99
Davis, Samuel Ray 99
Deavitt, John James 100
Deming, Franklin 101
Dewev, Charles 101
Dewey, Charles Edward 102
Dewey, Hiram Einne 103
Dexter, Avery J 103
Dexter, Charles D 104
Dexter, Eleazer 104
Dickey, Asa .M 105
Dickenson, Albert Joyce 105
Dillingham, William Paul 106
Dillon, John W 106
Diraick, George Washington 107
Dix, Samuel Nevins 107
Dodge, Andrew Jackson 108
Dodge Harvey 108
Dodge, John Locke 109
Dodge, Prentiss Cutler 109
Donnelly, John H 110
Doty, George W 110
Dowley, George .S "ill
Draper, Joseph Ill
Drew, Luman Augustus 112
DuBois, William Henry 112
Dunlap, Thomas Hiram 113
Dunnett, Alexander 114
Dunton, Charles H 114
Dwinell, Frank A 115
Dwinell, Joseph Elmer 116
Eaton, Fred Laurine 117
Eayres, George Nelson 117
Edson, Ezra 118
Edmunds, George Franklin US
Eldredgc, Loyal D 120
INDEX ']'0 lilOGKAI'llli:S.
179
Eldridee, Lovell JiickhOii 120
Elliot. Lester Hall 121
Ellis, Edward Dyer 121
Ellsworth, John Clark 122
Emery, Curtis Stauton 123
Enright, Joseph Coruelhis 123
Enright. .lohu J 124
Estey, Jacob 124
Estey, Julius J 12ii
Fairbanks, Franklin I"-7
Fairbanks, Henry 12S
Fairbanks, Thaddeus 129
Farman, Marcellus Winslow 13:;
Faulkner, Shepherd D 134
Farnham, Koswell 134
Farrell, Patrick Joseph 13i;
Field. Frederick Griswold 137
I'-i.-hl. \lrnv\ iM-aiicia 137
Ki-h, Iniiik l,.>lie 138
Fi-I>. r. 11 ill r.itchelder 13S
l-l lUL' t -. W 139
Fl !■ - \\ .iii;.m Daua 140
F II 1 Addison 140
I- 1: i \l.iam 141
F i -. 'I . _._- Spoouer 141
Ford, SiiuiiRl W 142
Foss, James M 142
Foster, Alonzo M 143
Foster, Austin Theophilus 143
Foster, Wells A 144
Francisco, M. Judson 144
Frary, Solon Frauklin 146
French, Warren Converse 14T
Fuller. Henry 147
Fuller, Levi K 148
Fuller, Jonathan KiuKi-lev 1.50
Fullington, Frederick H." 151
Fulton, Robert Reed 131
Furmau, Daniel G l.o2
Gallup, O. M l.W
Oage, Sydney 153
Gardner, Abraham Brooks 153
Gates, Amasa 0 1.54
Giddings, William H 155
Gill, Daniel Oscar 156
Gleasou, Carlisle Joyslin 155
Gleaeon, Henry Clay 156
Gleason, Joseph Thomas 156
Gleaeon, Richardson J 157
Gleason, Samuel Mills 158
Goodell, Jerome Winthrop 159
Goodell, Tyler D 159
Goodhue, Homer 160
Goodenough, Jonas Eli 160
Goodwin, Elam Marsh 161
Goss, l^tory N 161
Gove, Moses B 162
Granger, Plinv Nye 162
Greene. Olin D 163
Grout, Don D 163
Griffin, Benoni 164
Grout, Josiah 165
Grout, Selim E 163
Grout, William W 166
•Grout, Theophilus 168
Hailc, Benjamin Harrison 169
Hale, Harry 169
HaU,Mark". 171
Hale, Thomas 171
Hale, Henry 171
Hale, Safford Eddy 171
Hale, Robert Safford 172
Hale, Rev. John Gardner 172
Hale, William Bainbridge 172
Hale, Matthew 173
Hale, Franklin D 173
Hale, James Buchanan 174
Hall, Alfred Allen !74
Hall, Charles Taylor 174
Hall, Emerson 175
Hall, Isaac N 175
Hall, Samuel Baker 176
Hamilton, Joseph 177
Hamilton, Merrill Thomas 177
Hammond, Fred Burton 178
Harahau, John David 178
Hammond, Lowell G. 180
Harmau, George Washington ISO
Hardie, Robert Gordon LSI
Harris, Broughton Davi,, 181
Harris, Charles A 183
Harris, John Edward 183
Hartshorn, John Willard 184
Harvey, Roney M 184
Haselton, Seneca 185
Hapkins, Kittredge 186
Hastings, Jonathan Hammond 186
Hastings, Stephen J 187
Hatch, Royal A 1^7
Hay, Barron 188
Havward, Henry R 188
Haieu, Lucius Downer 189
Heath, Charles Henry
Hcaton, Homer Wallace
Hendec, George Whitman
Hebard, Salmon B
Henry, William Wirt
Hewitt, Ale.vis B
Hill, George W
Hiil, Harlan Heurv
Hitchcock, AaronCharlcs
Hobart, John White
Hobson, Samuel Decatur
Holbrook. Arthur T
Holbrook,.lohn
ll"i!'I'-i,, l-l-.l.Tick
Il'i ■!'■ , \V .li;iUl C
11 ;.i. ,, . I , , , Heed
II. '1.1. 11, .1,1... - Henry
lloldcu, SylvanUB Marsh
Holden, Orsemor S.
Holden, John Stedman
Holland, Emerson
Holton, Charles O
Holton, Henry Dwight
Holton, Joel Huntington
Hooker, George White
Hooper, Marco B
Horlon, Edwin
Howard, Charles W
Howard, Seymour
Howard, Roger S
Howard Walter E
Howard, William Sumner
Howe, Elhanan Winchester
Howe, Luther I'roctor
Howe. Miirshall Olis
How laud, Frank George
Hubbard, George A
Huhliard. Lorenzo W
Hulihcll. .Mvrun 14
Hudson, ;?olMniun .■J
Humphrey. Charles Timothy Allen
Humphrey, Julius Augustus
Hunter, Ellsworth M
Huntley, Eber W
Huse, Hiram Augustus
Hutchinson, .James
Ide, Henry Clay
Jackm.an, A. M
Jackman, Henry A
James, John A
Janes, Arthur Lee
Jenne, James Nathaniel
Jennings, Cyrus
Jennings, Rev. Isaac
Jennings, Frederic B
Johnson, Leonard
Johnson, Russell Thaver
Johnson, William Edvvard
Jones, Edwin Kent
Jones, Henrv R
Jones, Rollin J
Jones, Walter Alouzo
Jones, Walter Krank
Joyce, Charles H
Judevine, Harvev
Kelton, Francis "p
Keltuu, Truman Chittenden
Kemp, Deau G ustavus
Kenlield, F'rank
Keniston, Nathan
Keyes, Thomas C
Kimball, Robert Jackson
King, Aaron N
King, Charles W
King, Charles M
King, Royal Daniel
Kingsley, Jerome Orlando
Ladd, Chester M
Landon, Miles .1
Landon , O . B
Lane, Edwin
Lane, Henry Clark
Lane, Henrj' James
Lathrop, Cyrus U
Lavignc, Joseph
Lawtou Shailer Emery
Leach, Chester K
Leach Moses J
Leavenworth, Abel Edgar
LeHarou, Isaac Newton
Leland, George Farnham
Lewis, Frank W
Lewis, L. Halsey
Lewis, Uodne}* M
Lincoln, Benjamin Frauklin
Livingston, Fred B
Lockwood, Albert H
Lvford, lloriicc W
Lyman, Charles A
Lynde, George W
Lynde, .John
Lyon, John Stanley
PAGE
Lund, Henrv W 251
McFarland, Henry .Moses 261
Mackie, (ieorge C 252
Macoy, Byron Grafton 252
Manchester, Hiram Levi 253
Manley, Joseph E 253
Mann, Charles David 254
Mann, Hosea, Jr 255
Marsh, Charles Phelps 255
Marsh, Piatt T 256
Marshall, Jesse 256
Marshall, Oscar Azor 257
Martin, .lor-eph (Jrav 057
-M:'i"". F..i,iK J....: 557
\l ,:t;,i, .1 ,,iM - Loreu 258
\l .""'. Mill.." W 259
M .111". » ■ili.iru 239
M."l'". Will.Hd S 259
M-'-"".'l-il..,~ W 260
M,.lil...v, -,, h.irlcs \V.-: 280
.\l.in,H,.„, wmi.uuP 260
Matlison, Fred Lelaud 261
May. Elisha 262
McCullough, John Griflith «6"
MeDnfl.e. Heurv Clav 21*4
M..(M.UM, k. Felix William -2C3
M' 1."". .1.'""- K 266
Mil—". -\l'-il 266
M.M.ii. . , \\ dliam l> -iB-
M'V" ■•■ ■-. Al-onN 567
\l. i.i. ]..i I , l-erguBon 26S
M" I I ..Vr::;;;;:;.;:":::: 273
\1 .....I I II. .than Washburn ....273
M. I 1 III. li, -l.ihu Hastings 274
Miles, Lorenzo Dow or.
Miles, Willard Wcsbery 275
Miller, Crosby o'o
Miller, Joseph " o-,;
Miller, Joseph Arms ..Th-
inner, Harris M '>■;-
Miller, Nurris Robinson '78
Miller, Adiii Franklin 278
Morrill, Justin t^inith 279
Morse, George A 281
Moultou, Clarence F 282
Munson, Loveland 283
Needham, Lewis Cass 284
Nelson, Wilmot G 034
Newell, Lyman MerriHeld '.'.'.'. 285
Newton, William S .505
Nichols, William Henry '.'.'.'..' 286
Nimblelt, Oscar L 287
Nortou. Luman Preston •>87
Olmstead, AIner Allyn -jss
Orvis, Frauklin Henry 289
Osgood. Charles W -^90
Owen, Clarence Philander 290
Owen, Joseph -'oi
Owen, Oscar Daniel •".'11
Ormsbee, El.euezer Jolls ■':,->
Paine, .Milton Kendall -1^4
Page, Oirroll .■^malley, 294
Park, Trenor William ■^^6
Parker, Charles S 298
Parker, Harry Klwood 298
Parker, Henry J 29^
Parker, Luther Fletcher 30O
Partridge, Frank Charles 300
Partridge, Heurv V 301
Pearl, Isaac! 302
Pease, Allen Luther .3112
Peck, Cicero Goddard 303
Peck, Marcus 304
Peck, Theodore Safford 304
Peckett, John Barron -Mb
Pember, Eiumett K :iU6
Perkins, Marsh Olin 306
Perry, Elbridge 307
Perry, James M 307
Phelps, BrighamThoma, 305
Phelps, Edward John 30s
Phelps, Frederick B 310
Philbrick, Jonathan 311
Phillips, George Henry 311
Phillips, WiDlield Scott 312
Phinney, Truman C 312
Pier, Frederick Baldwiu 313
Pierce, Charles .\lexander 313
IMerce, George W 313
Pierson, .fames Smith 314
I'ierpoint. Evelvu 314
Pike, Paphro U" 315
Pingree, Saiuuel K 315
Pitkin, Perlev Peabodv 316
Pitkin, John G ' :ils
Piatt, .Mvron 319
Pluiidev. Frank 319
Plumlev. Frank il 320
Poland, Joseph 321
INDEX TO BI0C.R.4PHIES.
Porter, Charles Wiilcott.
Powers, Heman A
Powers, Horace Henry..
Pralt, Daniel Stewart
Pray, Uufus M.
Ml'
lM.>tlM-.
.Iiilin i:, \V.
RanO. ■■ . >> oi-1
llaiiL-. w - I --.-ne 333
Kav"! ■ ' 3S3
lU-;..!, l.-..'>il MMii:,y 334
Read, Carkli.ii W 334
J{eed, MarcUB L 33.i
Roberts, Daniel 33a
Roberts, Ellis G 337
Roberts, Elbert James 33S
Robertson, John 338
Robertson, William 338
Robinson. Ileorar Wardsworth. . . . 339
Robiii-t', .I'liii ' 3411
Roi;.i- - 'i- '>:ill 34U
Ro.ji.r \l I,.. 1 341
Root, 11.-.; -" 341
Ropes, .\rtlun- 34J
Ross, Jonathan ■'■■>-
Rowell, George Barker :;4 :
RoweU,John W .34:;
Royce, George Edmund 344
Rugg, David Fleicher 345
Russell, Chandler Miller 345
Russell, George Kendal 34i>
Russell, Julius \V 34o
Rutherford, Joseph C 34:
Ryther,Fred E ^s
Sanborn, Isaac Wheeler -4^
Sargent, Caleb Cushing 34 -
Sawyer, Edward Bertrand ; '■
Scarff, Charles Wayland 3-!
Scott, Olin "
Seuter, .John Henry '■-■^
Shattuck, Martin 3..
Shaw, Albert J : ■
Shaw. Henry Hatsic :;
Willr.'il <■ - '
^kinntr, Richard Baxter
-ii; ill. \ . Htadley Barlow
- : , , \l.h die Earl
- M I . ' ,,rli-s Carroll
- . 'Ii, ' .iiient F
-M. :l ■ li.ulfSF
-:.,■ I. > . IU> H
^iiiitli. Ki.MuVic Elijah'.-!.'.".!
Smith. Mvion W
Smitli. Walter Ferrin
Spaffor.l, Henry W
Spear, Victor I
Stanley, Albert E
Stanton, Zed S
Start, Henry R
Start, Simeon Gould
Stearns, Charles H
Stearns, John C
Stevens, Alonzo Jackson
Stevens, Charles
Stevens, Charles Phelps
Stevens, Jonas T
Stevi'ns, .TaiucK V
stri. ■ \ ! .■,, i;i;,Hding, ...
siiri : J. Washington
-tirl,ii> \ , .Ii.-riili I'rcadway . .
-lilr-, iM.nii, W
-:i!l-..ii, II. I, M I lard
St..iM/. ClLillr- Mal>liall
Stone, Arthur Fairbanks
Ston e. Mason Serene
Stowell, John Wesley
Stranahan, F.arrand Stewart .,
stun, Nam. Wilber R
~:ill.iw:a , Lorenzo
, Natha
vey.
Sha
Shed, I, Wilh.i
Sht'l.l.ili, <li:il
She|.anl,.IM,
Shep.M.i-. II. ■
Shi^r ' '-
Shi-nii III - .
ShilHii;i:i. l-,lii
Shores. Ethan I'n-suott ..
Shumway, John (iuincy
Shurtleff, .lohn Taylor...
Shurtleff, Stephen Curriei
Stilsby, Wendell
Silver, William Riley ....
Siraonds, David Kendall.
Skinner, Eliab Reed
.i-u Edri.-k
:•"
"is I'age
396
362 T.iwie, Edwin Ruthve
363 I Truax, Albert B
363 I Trull, Daniel N
363 Trnsaell, Jacob
PAGE
I Tucker, Melvin Ellis 403
1 Turner, Edwin R 404
Tuttle, Albert Henry 404
Tyler, Erastus 40.i
Tyler, James M 405
Tyler, Royall 406
Valentine, A. B 406
Veazey, Wheelock Graves 408
Vail. Homer W 410
Viall, George Marcius 411
Viall, William B 412
Vincent, Walter H 412
Wadleieh, Benjamin F 413
Waite, Horace 413
Wakefield, William Wallace 414
Walbridae, John Hill 414
! Wales, Torre.y Englesby 415
i Walker, Daniel C 416
Walker, Franklin William 416
I Walker, William Harris 417
i WalLace, James B 418
Ward, Hiram Owen 418
Wardwell, George Jdffords, 419
I Warren, Charles Carleton 421
Waterman, Eleazer L 421
Watrrniiui, llnuan ,V 422
Wil-.ih. .Ii.liii llnirv 422
Wrt.li, .li.liii W . ,'. 423
W.il.st,!-, Il;iii Trask-e 423
Weeks, John E 424
Wellman, Leigh Richmond 424
Wells, Edward 425
Weston, Eugene Sydney 425
Wheeler, Charles Frederick 426
Wheeler, Charles Wiilard 42B
Wheeler, Hoyt Henry 427
Wheelock. Edwin 428
Wli.'cl.Hk. Martin W 428
\Vlii|.|.l.. Kdward O 429
\\ Intiiiiiili, Ervin Jackson 429
Aliiiu, 1 lli.it G 430
Willi,-, IKmau Allen 430
Wliitr.H.C 431
WiloiX. Henry Clay 431
Wilkin-, i^forge 432
Wi.lii I \iulrew Jackson 432
,\ 1. I,, urge F. B 433
\ II I' rank Clifton 434
,\ . i,,i,,rge Aimer 434
\\-||i,iiii-, .l.iiiK- I'l'to- 435
W ll-iill, ,l:ill|r- IhM.L,!, 435
Wilhiin, \I.-lMii \ 435
Will-, ll.-.il;;,- \\:.-l.il.L't..ll 436
Winslow, Don Averv 436
Winslow, Samuel Dutton 437
Withered, John H 438
Woodbury, Urban Andrian 438
Woodworth, Arthur Wellington ... 439
Woolson , Amasa 439
Wooster, Jay 440
Wyman, Andrew A 440
Wvman, Cyrus Warren 441
Wyman, Martin L 441
Young, John Stillraan 442
P^RT III.
SONS OF VERMONT.
Albee, Burton H 1
Abbott, George B 1
Alford, Alonzo 3
Alford, Albert Gallatin 4
Allen, John Clayton 4
A Hen , John Clarence 5
Annis, Jere Wright 6
Arthur, Chester A 6
Arnold, Lemuel H 9
Atwood, Harrison Henry 9
Babcock, Joseph Weeks 10
Baldwin, Melvin R 10
Barber, J.Allen 10
Barto, Alphonso
Batcbelder, George W 11
Baxter, Luther Loren
Beaman, Fernando C 13
Belcher, Isaac Sawyer
Belcher, William C'. 13
Beard, Alanson Wilder 14
Bell, Hiram
Benedict, Robert D
Benjamin, Chauncey E
Benton , Jacob
Benton, Reuben Clark
Blshee, Lewis H
Blanchard, Charles
Blanchard, John
Blinn, Charles Henry
Bliss, Neziah W. . . .'
Boardman, Henry Eldcrkin Jewett.
Boardman, Halsev J
Boutin, Charles W
Bradford, James Henry
Brigham, Hosea Wheeler
Brown, Orlando J
Bruce, Eli Mansfield
Butterfield. L. Alonzo
Carpenter, Matthew Hale
Camp, Isaac N
Carter, Edmund H
Caswell, Lucien B
Gate, George W
Chamberiaiu, Edsou J
Ch,andle
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Chandler, William Wallace 34
Chase, Lucien B 36
Cheever, Dustin Grow 26
Cheever, Silas Grow 37
Chipman, John S 38
Chittenden, L. E 38
Cristy, Austin Phelps 38
Clark, Chester Ward 38
Clark, Ezra, Jr -39
Clark, Frank G 39
Clark, Jefferson 39
Clark, William Bullock 40
Clarke, Albert 40
Clement, Austin 41
Cotton, Alric Oswy 42
Craein. Aaron H 42
Croiby, Henry B 42
Culver, Marshall Lyman 43
Curtis, Edward 44
Cushman, Sylvester 44
Cutts, Marseua E 44
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Glazier, Nelson Newto
Gleaeon, James Mellon
Goodnough, Algernon !
Gos8, Ezra C
Gould, Charles Gilbert.
Gould, WillD
Gray, Andrew Jackson,
Gray, E.lL'ar H
Gray, Mcivin I,,
Gray, ll,.|ii v U iiliiuii.!!
GreeQi', Kh-.t S
Greeuleaf, Hall.ert Stevi
Griuuell, Josiah B
Griswold, William D.','!
Hall, Alfred Stevens
Hall, Christopher W ...
Hatch, Egbert Benson.,
Hawley, JJavid
Hayward,I.ewi8A
■Herbert.
Higley, Edwin" Half
Hoard, Charles H,,.
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fi? ^''?«'''°n.- ^'""'k Hall .
62 Ladd, Charles Douglas.
62 Landon, William Cham
62 Lawrence, ( harles V,
63 I Lee, John .Stcbbii
Molten. .
veil, Hen,yAII,o,t.".'."
^Newton, Charles Jlarsl,;,ll
■vton, William Hoiirv
.. I ..^.vton, Daniel U
6a Newton, John C
"0 Newton, Moses..
Noble, Henry Smith..';.";;:
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.0 , Parker, A. X
76 I Parker, George H . .
77 Parker, Isaac Auguslus
rs Parker, Myron M .....
rs Parmelee, Edwai-d Cai'roli
9 Partridge, George..
iO Pearsons, Daniel Kimba'l',;;
lO Perry, Aaron F
'1 Perry, Daniel
!1 Pettee, Lyman F
i2 Pettigrew, Richard i'Vankii,
3 Phelps, Charles E
a Phelps, George llovey. ; ; ; ; ;
l"n, David Nelson.
l>''-"il)en
:i <;,.<, ,■,_,,, Stewart,
Stovons, Thaddeus....
Stone, Ashley
Stone, Bvron .Ashley
f^towoll. William H ii"
~i -«. II, Walter Lester
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Henry D.
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".-tin H, . .
■eorge W
, James Arthur.
. Jonadab Baker
Wintlou , iU,r.,ci: ,Suei
I Wood, Thomas W
Woodruff, Charles .\ '
Woodward, Tyler,
Wright, Cyrus Smith ;
Wright, Riley E. , . ,
Young, John
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