Illustrated album of biography of the famous valley of the Red River of the North and the park regions of Minnesota and North Dakota : containing biographical sketches of settlers and representative citizens, Part 106

Author: Alden, Ogle & Company
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Alden, Ogle & Company
Number of Pages: 872

USA > Minnesota > Illustrated album of biography of the famous valley of the Red River of the North and the park regions of Minnesota and North Dakota : containing biographical sketches of settlers and representative citizens > Part 106
USA > North Dakota > Illustrated album of biography of the famous valley of the Red River of the North and the park regions of Minnesota and North Dakota : containing biographical sketches of settlers and representative citizens > Part 106

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

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PARK REGIONS OF MINNESOTA.

" Great Jehovah and the Continental Con- gress." Here assembled his companions and associates, Remember Baker, Col. Seth Warner and others, to concoct their plans to resist the New Yorkers and to teach them that the " gods of the valleys were not the gods of the hills."

Capt. Jehiel Hawley and Nathan Canfield, from their well-known sound judgment and common sense, as well as irreproachable pri- vate characters and high moral worth, became the leaders, and for some time man- aged and controlled the chaotic people. After all other attempts had failed to satisfy New York of the justice of the title to their possessions from New Hampshire, at a meet- ing held October 21, 1772, Capt. Jehiel Hawley and James Breckenridge were sent to England to lay before King George III. the state of affairs, and succeeded in getting an order from the king forbidding the governor of New York from interfering with the titles and lands granted by the gov- ernor of New Hampshire. With this decision of the crown in their favor, Hawley and Breckenridge returned, expecting that it would settle all disputes, and the settlers naturally expected to go on in peace and clear up the wilderness. But the order of the king was but little regarded by the gen- eral assembly of New York, which offered a bounty of £50 for the apprehension of either of the leaders. Up to this time the people of this section were substantially one, a common danger compelling all to unite. But this act of the general assembly of New York aroused to action all classes, and was answered by a series of resolutions of a gen- eral meeting " of the committees of the sev- eral townships on the west side of the Green mountains," held at the house of Jehiel Haw- ley on the third Wednesday of March, 1774, counseling resistance to all encroachments of New York. To show how determined these people were to maintain their rights

against great superiority of numbers, in 1774 Dr. Samuel Adams, holding lands under title from New Hampshire, exasperated his neigh- bors by advising them to re-purchase their lands from New York. He was arrested and carried to the Green Mountain Tavern at Ben- nington, where the committee heard his defense and then ordered him to be tied to an arm chair and hoisted up to the sign (a cata- mount skin, stuffed, sitting upon the sign-post, twenty-five feet from the ground, with large teeth grinning toward New York), and there hung two hours in sight of the people, as a punishment merited by his enmity to the rights and liberties of the people. January 26, 1775, Benjamin Hough, of Clarenden, a Baptist minister who had just obtained a commis- sion from New York as justice of the peace, was arrested by General Ethan Allen and tied to an apple tree in front of his house at Sunderland and whipped, in pursuance of a sentence of the committee of safety.

During all this time from 1764, amid all the accessions to this colony from Connecti- cut and elsewhere, there was no minister of any denomination. Captain Jehiel Hawley was the acknowledged leader, to whom all, even the most turbulent spirits, yielded. He built the first frame house in Arlington, and, being a man of high moral character and a devoted and exemplary communicant of the Church of England, to his house, Sun- day after Sunday, the people from all parts of the surrounding country came for public worship. Captain Hawley read the service of the Church of England and a sermon, the "Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States" at this early day not having been regularly organized in America. The diffi- culties of the times delayed the building of a church, although the services were kept up regularly by Captain Hawley, which formed the nucleus of a congregation, and in 1784 a parish was organized. Two shillings on a

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pound were levied on the inhabitants to build the church, now St. James church, Arlington-that building now being replaced by a stone one on the same site - which was the first Episcopal church organized in Vermont. In 1787 this parish was represented in the convention of the Pro- testant Episcopal church, at Stratford, Connecticut, by Nathan Canfield, the first delegate.

Notwithstanding the continued aggres- sions of New York the inhabitants, under the leadership of Captain Hawley, were making rapid improvements, when a new trouble was approaching in 1775. The trouble between the colonies and England had cul- minated and the battle of Lexington opened the War of the Revolution. A convention of the people of Vermont was called in 1776 to draft a constitution, which was done, declaring Vermont an independent State ; but before the constitution could be ratified by the people General Burgoyne, with his splendid army of 10,000 men, had entered Lake Champlain and anchored in Vermont waters. It became necessary, to meet the emergency, to form a provisional govern- ment without an hour's delay, and a " Council of Safety " was appointed, invested with all the powers of government, both civil and military. Its power was unlimited and abso- lute, and, in fact, the urgency was so great that it was necessary to place in the hands of the fourteen men composing the "Council of Safety" the legislative, executive and judicial powers of the State, and intrust them with the life, liberty and property of every individual. It was a dark hour-no money in the treasury, no time for taxation, no credit to borrow; desperate measures were necessary. A commission of sequestra- tion was appointed, "invested with full authority to seize the goods and chattels of . all persons who had or should join the com- mon enemy, sell them at public vendue and

the proceeds to be paid over to the treasurer to be appointed by the council."

The council of safety as well as com- missioners of sequestration made their head- quarters at Arlington. Thomas Chittenden, afterward governor of the State for twenty years, was its president, and Ira Allen, brother of Gen. Ethan Allen, its secretary. This sudden change of affairs compelled the people at once to decide what course to pursue, whether to join the revolutionists or remain loyal to the crown, whence they had received by gift all their lands and possessions. It was a very trying time, especially with the commissioners of sequestration encamped among them, urged on by such tumultuous spirits as Ethan Allen, Seth Warner and Remember Baker, to seize, upon the slightest shadow of loyalty to England, the property of any one and confiscate it. The town was in a critical position. Most of its inhabitants, while feeling grateful for all that had been done for them by the crown, felt that it would be better for the colonies to be an independent nation ; but whether the time had come to throw off the yoke of the mother country was the question; and whether, if over- throwing a good government then existing, they would be assured that the Revolution would succeed and a better one arise out of the wreck, or whether anarchy and chaos would be the result for a long time to come. It was a difficult question to determine, especially after having been several years in conflict with New York, and now, by the order of King George III., sustained in the position they had taken. It was a trying time-there was no time for delay. Families were divided among themselves; neighbors arrayed against each other, some joined the revolutionists, others remained loyal to the king and left for Canada, while others, " who did not think it right to rebel against a king who had done them no harm," remained at

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their homes, submitting to the powers of the government de facto, believing that colonies so far from the mother country ought at some time to be independent, but was this the time ? This was sufficient cause in the eyes of the commissioners of sequestration, backed up by restless spirits, to seize their property and confiscate it. Captain Jehiel Hawley may be said to have belonged to this last class. His high moral worth, peace- ful manners and kind consideration and friendship for all the settlers for so many years long secured him from molestation. His age was such that there was little dan- ger of his going to the enemy and he could not well be a figliting man. But the exten- sive property which he and his family pos- sessed was a strong temptation to the sequestrators. Anonymous letters were sent to him threatening midnight assassination, and there were circumstances that satisfied him that the writers would not shrink from making their words good. Yielding to an emergency, which he regarded necessary to save his life, he abandoned his entire worldly wealth and started for Canada, and died on his way on Lake Champlain, November 2, 1777, and was buried on the shores of the lake in Shelburne, Vermont. It was a sad day to Arlington when Jehiel Hawley left the settlement, mainly of his own planting, to seek safety in Canada. Thus ended the life of this truly great and good man, of whom it may be said his enemies could find no fault.

Nathan Canfield remained at Arlington during the war. He was the leading busi- ness spirit of the town, merchant, landlord, justice of the peace and town representative after Vermont became a State. He built a large saw mill and furnace for smelting iron ore, the first in the State, organized the first church, and at his house the preliminary arrangements for the first convention of the Protestant Episcopal church in Vermont

were made 100 years ago. The house he built is still standing, and in it Samuel Can- field and his son, Thomas Hawley Canfield, were born.

At this distant day it is very difficult to understand the difficulties and dangers of those troublesome times, and the fact that two such men as Jehiel Hawley and Nathan Canfield could have passed through them all, retaining the confidence of the whole com- munity, managing the public business to the satisfaction of all factions, demonstrates that they were men of uncommon judgment and common sense, as well as extraordinary char- acter for integrity and ability.

Samuel Canfield inherited many of the prominent traits of his father, Nathan Can- field, and from 1820 to 1840, the time of his death, was the leading man of Arlington, and during the most of that time was sheriff or deputy sheriff of the county of Benning- ton, an office of prominence and distinction in those days. He became one of the most popular men in that portion of the State, practically controlling the politics of the county. He was a man of fine presence, cheerful and persuasive manners, a good judge of men, upright, reliable, energetic, the soul of honor, and true as steel to his friends. He died September 29, 1840, being at that time representative-elect to the legis- lature of Vermont from Arlington. His wife, Mary Ann Hawley, great-grand- daughter of Capt. Jehiel Hawley, above mentioned, possessed many of the traits of her ancestors. A lady of commanding presence, attractive features, charming man- ners and bright intellect, of rare executive ability, universally respected and the acknowledged leader of every society where she was known. She died July 22, 1825, leaving her only son, at three years of age, Thomas Hawley Canfield.

Such were his ancestors and such the try- ing times in which they lived.

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THOMAS HAWLEY CANFIELD,

whose name heads our present article, was brought up on a farm, rising early and work- ing from morning to night with the men, taking his share in every kind of work until he became familiar with all the details of farm work, which, with the habits of order, economy and management then formed, have been of great service to him in after years. His early education was obtained mostly in the common schools of his native town, although he soon evinced a strong desire for something more advanced than they afforded. Accordingly, he was placed by his father at Burr Seminary, in Man- chester, Vermont, at its opening in May, 1833, under those able professors, the Rev. Dr. Lyman Coleman, the Rev. Dr. John H. Worcester, John Aiken, Esq., and Wm. A. Burnham, where he remained until he was fitted for college at the age of fourteen. Notwithstanding the standard of this semi- nary was very high, and he the youngest pupil among 150, all much older than him- self, yet he acquitted himself very creditably, taking the highest rank in all his classes. Having a decided taste for practical matters, and not desiring to enter college at this early age, he returned home to the work of the farm for two years, when he was transferred to the Troy Episcopal Institute with refer- ence to a scientific course of study, which had a very efficient corps of instructors, among them the present bishop of Vermont.

He was particularly fond of mathematics, and it was while demonstrating a difficult problem at a public examination in the city of Troy, New York, that he, although an entire stranger, arrested the attention of the late Bishop Alonzo Potter, of Pennsylvania, who was one of the examiners, and then the acting president of Union College, Schenec- tady, New York. The principal of the Troy Episcopal Institute subsequently published an arithmetic for schools, based mostly upon

problems and examples which he had pre- pared and which were worked out and solved for him by young Canfield. President Pot- ter became so interested in the promptness and accuracy with which he disposed of all examples presented to him that he determined to insist upon the young man having a higher and broader education, and finally prevailed upon him to abandon his idea of becoming a civil engineer and to enter the junior class in Union College in the fall of 1839. It was a very trying ordeal for him to pass through, being by far the young- est in a class of over eighty, who had had all the advantages of the freshman and soph- omore years, but yet, through the same inde- fatigable energy and perseverance which had characterized his conduct thus far in life in everything which he had undertaken, he was one of the " maximum ten " who came out at the head of the class. Soon after the begin- ning of the senior year he was summoned to Vermont by the sudden death of his father, and although strongly urged by Pres- ident Potter, who, during the junior year, had taken great interest in him and offered to assist him to any position he should want after graduation, as well as by his own rel- atives, to return and complete his college course, he considered the duty he owed to his mother and only sister paramount to everything else, and again took up the bur- den of the farm, and thus, at the early age of eighteen, his business life began, which has continued constant and uninterrupted to the present day.

In addition to the cares and duties of the farm, he was active in all public matters having for their object the improvement and well-being of society. He organized a lyceum, established debating societies, and procured prominent lecturers upon various subjects (among them Colonel Crockett), which, during the winter months, called out crowded houses. About this time a new

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element appeared in the temperance move- ment, the coming out on the stage of "six reformed drunkards from Baltimore," who took the platform throughout the country, and were enabled by their own experience to portray more vividly than had ever been done before the terrible consequences which followed in the trail of intemperance. Mr. Canfield organized a series of meetings in Arlington and adjoining towns, and secured one of these men to address them as well as himself, and soon had enrolled upon the total abstinence pledge large numbers, the result of which was a great improvement in the morals of the community.

Finding the labor of the farm too severe for his slender constitution, he removed, in 1844, to Williston, Vermont, where he became a merchant, having in the meantime mar- ried Elizabeth A., only daughter of Eli Chit- tenden, a grandson of Thomas Chittenden, the first governor of Vermont. She died in 1848, and he subsequently married Caroline A., the youngest daughter of the Rt. Rev. Bishop Hopkins, of Vermont, a charming and accomplished lady, who is still living, and by whom he has two sons and three daughters-Emily, John Henry Hopkins, Marion, Flora and Thomas H., Jr., all now engaged in completing their education in Burlington, Vermont, at the Diocesan Church Schools and the University of Vermont.

In addition to the ordinary business of merchandise, Mr. Canfield added to it the pur- chase of the products of the country, butter, cheese, wool, starch, cattle, sheep, horses and everything which the farm raised, thereby carrying out the idea of home protection and creating a home market for their pro- duce. Here he built up and carried on an extensive business under very pleasant cir- cumstances until April, 1847, when he removed to Burlington, Vermont, where he still resides, to take the place in the firm of Follett & Bradley, the leading wholesale

merchants and forwarders in northern Ver- mont, made vacant by the withdrawal of Judge Follett, who had taken the presidency of the Rutland & Burlington Railroad, then in course of construction. Mr. Canfield for some time resisted this arrangement, believing himself too young and inexperi- enced for the important position tendered him, but finally was induced to yield to the persistent entreaties of Follett & Bradley, who had recognized in his short business career at Williston the peculiar traits in his character which fitted him particularly for the responsible position which they desired him to occupy. Their office and headquarters were at the stone store on Water street, Burling- ton, near the steamer wharf and railroad depot. As there were no railroads in Vermont in those days, all of the pro- duce of every kind of the farm, mine or manufactory came to Burlington for ship- ment to market, and the goods for the mer- chants in the country, from Boston and New York, came here in return. To accom- modate and facilitate this business, Bradley & Canfield had extensive wharves and ware- houses, as well as a line of boats to New York and Boston for the transportation of this property both ways, their wharves also being the regular landing place of the passenger steamers and other vessels, result- ing in an extensive business, requiring not only much capital, but also great care and ability to manage this part of it, which devolved principally upon Mr. Canfield. About this time, Professor Morse having brought his telegraph into practical opera- tion between the principal cities, Mr. Can- field, in connection with Professor Benedict, the Hon. Ezra Cornell, founder of Cornell University, and Colonel John H. Peck, got up a line between Montreal and Troy, New York. Mr. Canfield visited Vergennes, Orwell, Middlebury, Rutland and many other towns along the line, getting stock-

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holders and organizing the company, and on the 2d day of February, 1848, the first message passed:

From the City of Troy to the City of Burlington :

We do sincerely congratulate you as having be- come, at this early day, one of those favored com- munities, united by the life blood of speedy communi- cation, and as sincerely congratulate ourselves on being able to salute, face to face the queen city of Lake Champlain.

But the time had come for Vermont to be invaded by railroads from Boston; one via Concord and Montpelier, and the other via Fitchburg, Bellows Falls and Rutland, were being extended across the Green mountains by two different routes to Bur- lington. His firm, Bradley & Canfield, with two or three other gentlemen, were engaged in building the one from Bellows Falls by the way of Rutland, which was completed in December, 1849. At the same time, in con- nection with George W. Strong, of Rutland, and Merritt Clark, of Poultney, they built the Rutland & Washington Railroad from Rutland to Eagle Bridge, New York, con- necting at that point with a railroad to Troy and another to Albany, thus opening the first line of railroad to New York as well as to Bos- ton from northwestern Vermont. While these were in progress Messrs. Bradley & Canfield, in connection with T. F. Strong and Joseph and Selah Chamberlin, built the Ogdensburgh Railroad from Rouse's Point to Ogdensburgh, as well as other railroads in New York and Pennsylvania. Mr. Canfield was now fairly enlisted with a fleet of boats in the trans- portation business between Montreal, Ver- mont and New York, as well as in mercantile pursuits and in the building of railroads, which at that time but few contractors undertook. In the management of these great interests Mr. Canfield formed an exten- sive acquaintance and gained a knowledge of the resources of the country on both sides of Lake Champlain, which gave him an experience in handling and transporting the

products of the country that attracted the attention of the directors of the Rutland & Washington Railroad, and commended him as a fit man to manage its affairs, and to open and organize it for business. As soon as completed they selected him for superin- tendent, which he declined. But so many of his friends were interested in it, and it being a new departure in the transportation of western Vermont, he yielded to their appeals and accepted the situation, retaining at the same time the management of his former business at Burlington. Mr. Canfield afterward became president of the Rutland & Washington Railroad, and subsequently took a lease of it and operated it on his own account, being probably the first railroad in the country ever leased by a private indi- vidual. It was while Mr. Canfield had this lease that Jay Gould appeared upon the stage, and endeavored at an annual meeting of the stockholders by a coup d'etat to get control of the road, but he found his match in Mr. Canfield, who had anticipated his plans and completely defeated them. Sub- sequently, after the termination of the lease and surrender by Mr. Canfield of the road to the trustees, Mr. Gould acquired an interest and afterward controled which laid the foundation of his subsequent notable and prosperous career.

The operating of railroads was then com- paratively in its infancy, and there were few experienced men to be employed. He at once instituted a rigid system of discipline and accountability, in which at first he met with opposition ; but after a time all became impressed with the justice and importance of it, and he received the hearty co-operation of the employés and directors, and thus established an esprit de corps among all con- nected with it which made the "Eagle Bridge Route " celebrated for its promptness, speed and regularity, its accomodation to the traveling and business public, and its en-

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ployés as among the best railroad men in the country.

Heretofore it required two days for the mails as well as passengers to go between Burlington or Montreal and New York. Mr. Canfield first proposed to make a day line between the cities. He went to New York to enlist Governor Morgan, then president of the Hudson River Railroad, in the plan, but he was coldly received by him, for the reason that the governor believed it was simply impossible. But after several in- terviews the governor consented to make the trial for three months, on condition that Mr. Canfield would guarantee his company from any loss. It is 300 miles from New York to Burlington, and about four hundred to Montreal, which involved an average speed of about forty miles an hour. Accordingly, on the 15th day of May, 1852, at 6 o'clock, A. M., a train left the Chambers' street depot in New York, Mr. French, super- intendent of the Hudson River Railroad, Mr. Johnson, superintendent of the Troy & Boston Railroad, with two or three reporters, being all that would risk their lives upon such a crazy experiment. The train arrived at Rutland on time at 1:25 P. M., hav- ing made the run from Eagle Bridge, sixty- two miles, in eighty-five minutes, making five stops, with Nat. Gooken, engineer, and Amos Story, conductor. Burlington was reached at 3:20 P. M., and Montreal at 7 P. M. But for the fact that it had on board the New York papers of that morning it would have been impossible to have made the public believe that it came from beyond Troy. Thus was settled a question of great impor- tance, the establishing of a daily intercourse between Montreal and New York, since which time two daily trains have been kept up most of the time.

Burlington, previous to the advent of rail- roads, had been the commercial center of northern Vermont, and had been built up

from the trade arising from its being the point of shipment to the New York and Bos- ton markets of the produce of the country, and the receipt and distribution of merchan- dise in return. Large numbers of eight and ten-horse teams from Woodstock, Northfield, Bradford, St. Johnsbury, Hyde Park, Derby Line, Montpelier and other places, with their loads of starch, butter, cheese, wool, scales and manufactured goods, kept up a lively business with the interior, bringing to Bur- lington much money to be exchanged for flour, salt, iron, steel, nails and other mer- chandise. In addition to this the lines of boats running to Troy, Albany, New York, Montreal, and all points on the lake, created an active and prosperous business for Bur- lington, and it became a very thriving and beautiful town.

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Illustrated album of biography of the famous valley of the Red River of the North and the park regions of Minnesota and North Dakota : containing biographical sketches of settlers and representative citizens, Part 106

Author: Alden, Ogle & Company Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Alden, Ogle & Company Number of Pages: 872

Author: Alden, Ogle & Company
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Alden, Ogle & Company
Number of Pages: 872