USA > Vermont > Orange County > Bradford > A history of Bradford, Vermont : containing some account of the place of its first settlement in 1765, and the principal improvements made, and events which have occurred down to 1874--a period of one hundred and nine years. With various genealogical records, and biographical sketches of families and individuals, some deceased, and others still living > Part 28
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CALVIN P. CLARK.
Was a native of Newbury, Vt., born March 5, 1826. His parents, Jonathan and Martha F. Clark, came from Hopkinton, N. H., to Newbury, about the year 1816, and, after a residence of more than fifty years, died there, the father in 1867, aged eighty years, and the mother in 1871, at the same age. Their family consisted of eight chil- dren, seven of whom are now living. Calvin spent his minority mostly in Newbury, working on the farm sum- mers, and, after he was fifteen, teaching district schools winters. In 1847 he went to Boston, and, after working three years in the brewery of Dea. John Simonds, in the . year 1850 went into business for himself. In January, 1851, he married Miss Sarah E. Martin, daughter of Peter
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and Catharine Martin, of Newbury. In 1857, by reason of his wife's failing health, and with hope that a change of location and atmosphere might prove beneficial to her, he sold out his business in Boston, and for a year or two resided in Newbury, their native place. The result was favorable, and in 1859 he moved to Bradford, and in Au- gust of that year purchased the store and goods owned by S. T. George, in this village, and formed a partnership in trade with Mr. John Bascom, under the name of Bas- com & Clark. Mr. Bascom has since deceased. In Oc- tober, 1862, Mr. Clark was called to part with his wife, a pious and very estimable lady, who died of consumption, after long feebleness and suffering. December 25, 1863, Mr. Clark was united in marriage with Miss Julia A. Winship, a daughter of Mr. Joseph Winship, formerly of Bradford. In March, 1868, he purchased Mr. Bascom's interest in the store, and thence to this date has contin- ued business there, under his own name. In 1871 he built a nice house, on elevated ground, on the west side of Main street, near the north end of the village, where he has since resided. But his pleasant home was again made desolate by the presence of death; his second wife dying January 8, 1873, of consumption, as did the first. She left an only child, Mason Bowditch, four years of age. Since then, Mr. Clark has done business still at the old stand, to the extent his health would allow, enjoying the esteem and confidence of his fellow citizens.
The following notice of Mrs. Clark, which appeared in our village paper, soon after her decease, is thought wor- thy of insertion here :
Died, in Bradford, Vt., January 8, 1873, Mrs. Julia A., wife of Mr. Calvin P. Clark, lacking but ten days of being forty-two years of age. Her maiden name was Julia A. Winship. She was the only daughter of Joseph Winship and wife, persons of excellent Christian character, who for many years lived and finally died in this place. This
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daughter remembered her Creator in the days of her youth; and, being blessed with health and strength, and a kind heart, at the same time wishing to earn for herself a competent support, while doing as much good as possi- ble to others, she accepted heartily of the position of a nurse in the female department of the Massachusetts General Hospital, in Boston, where, greatly to the satis- faction of all concerned, she continued ministering to the sick and suffering for some ten or a dozen years. The managers gave substantial evidence of their high appre- ciation of her worth, not only by their kindness to her while with them, but by a permanent liberality, alike honorable to themselves and to her.
As a wife and mother, and manager of her domestic affairs, Mrs. Clark was the light and joy of her household. Of fine personal appearance and pleasing address, pru- dence, and kindness towards all, she had no lack of admir- ing and steadfast friends.
But the crowning excellency of her character was her decided piety. When young, she devoted herself to her Saviour, and confessed Him publicly, by uniting with an evangelical church in Boston, but for nine or ten of the last years of her life had been a beloved member of the Congregational church in Bradford.
For several months immediately preceding her decease, her health had been in a precarious condition. Still she hoped to live, and assist her husband in training up their little son in the way he should go. The thought of being taken away in the midst of her days and usefulness was unwelcome to her.
But when convinced that the time by infinite wisdom and goodness appointed for her departure was evidently near, the blessed Saviour gave her light, faith, grace and strength, equal to the exigency, and enabled her to de- part rejoicing in the God of her salvation. Dearly as she loved those whom she was leaving, she felt that to her
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death would prove unspeakable and eternal gain. With perfect composure she expressed her wishes in regard to her funeral services, which were accordingly performed, in the presence of a large circle of loving friends, when her precious remains were laid down to rest till called forth by the voice of Him who is the resurrection and the life, to a glorious immortality. Surely, blessed are the dead who thus die in the Lord. S. M'K.
I add in this connection a brief notice of Mrs. Winship, the mother of Mrs. Clark, for such a woman as she was ought to be held in affectionate remembrance.
Mrs. Nancy Winship, whose maiden name was Nancy Keyes, was born at Mason, N. H., September 30, 1784, but spent her youthful days in Milton, Mass. She there enjoyed the ministry of Rev. Joseph McKeen, D. D., sub- sequently Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory at Harvard. For that eloquent and good man she retained an affection- ate remembrance and high respect to the day of her death. Impressions deeply fixed in the youthful mind are apt to be enduring. At the early age of about thir- teen years she was divinely led to receive Christ Jesus as the Lord her righteousness, and to consecrate herself most heartily to His service. That the change was genu- ine her subsequent life abundantly proved. The princi- ple of faith and love then implanted in her young heart was indeed a fountain of living water springing up into life everlasting.
At the age of about twenty she was married to Mr. Joseph Winship, then a young farmer, with whom she came to Bradford, Vt., ånd settled down on a wilderness place, in the deep valley of Waits River, through which, for a long time after, no road passed, though now inter- sected by a great thoroughfare. In that solitude they cheerfully lived and walked with God, until many years after he finished his course with joy, and triumphantly passed away, leaving one son, Mr. Warren Winship, now
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of Barnet, and one daughter, Mrs. C. P. Clark, of Brad- ford, both partakers of the same precious faith. At the house of Mr. Clark, enjoying the tender care of himself and her daughter, Mrs. Winship, full of sweet content- ment, with every want bountifully supplied, passed the evening of her mortal life. That religion which amid the various changes and trials of life had sustained and comforted her and made her a blessing to all who came within her influence, in nature's last extremity, amid the infirmities of age and great bodily sufferings which pre- ceded her final prostration, appeared in its strength and glory.
Her victory over death and the grave was complete, and most admirable. Surely such a religion is of price- less value. God grant that we may all possess it. On the 4th of January, 1867, in the eighty-third year of her age, this excellent woman passed thus sweetly away from the sorrows and joys of life, to her everlasting rest.
BARRON HAY was born in Bradford, Vt .. September 26, 1828, and lived here till ten years of age, when he went to Orford, N. H., and lived with Levi D. Corliss, Esq., working on the farm summers and attending district school three months each winter, for seven years, when he return- ed to Bradford, where he has since remained, with the ex- ception of the autumn of 1850 and the next winter, which he spent in Boston as porter in a hotel. In November, 1851, he entered the store of George and Edward Prichard as clerk, and at this writing has been in the same store ever since, a period of twenty-three consecutive years, the last five, however, as partner with John B. W. Prichard, under the style of Prichard & Hay.
On the 16th of October, 1854, Mr. Hay married Miss Janette C. Smith, youngest daughter of Levi and Almira A. Smith, of Middlebury, Vt., where she was born Sep- tember 6, 1830. They have two sons, Fred E., born August 14, 1855, and John Barron, born May 4, 1861.
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Mrs. Hay, and her husband's mother, who lives with them, are highly esteemed members of the Congregation- al church in this place. Mr. Barron Hay, in addition to the honor of being considered a capable and upright man in his mercantile transactions, has been called once and again to represent his native town State in the Legisla- ture namely, in the sessions of 1866 and 67.
ADELBERT OSBORN, merchant, son of Cyrus Osborn, of Piermont, N. H., was born there January 15, 1835. He married Miss Lizzie R. Towle, also a native of Piermont, a daughter of Mr. F. M. Towle, born Oct. 26, 1838, a lady highly esteemed for her intelligence and good influence. They have one son, Walter T., born September 18, 1864. Mr. Osborn commenced mercantile business here in No- vember, 1856, and since May 1, 1871, has held the office here of Agent of the U. S. and Canada Express Compa- ny, and performed its duties to public satisfaction. In 1871 he built a commodious and nice house in the north- ern part of the village, in which he and his family have a pleasant home.
JACOB DAVIS AND FAMILY.
Jacob Davis was a native of Amesbury, Mass., a man of decidedly good moral and religious character, by occu- pation a farmer. In the year 1818 he removed with his family to this town, and settled on a farm, which he had purchased, on the South road, about two miles west of the village, where he passed in comfort the remainder of his days. He died in April, 1842, at the age of sixty- four years.
That he was a man of decision, may be illustrated by the following little incident : It had been common for farmers to furnish rum to their laborers, in the time of haying and harvest, and to unite with them in the moder- ate use of it. But on one occasion Mr. Davis' hired men,
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under the influence of intoxicating liquor, became some- what noisy and disorderly. This led him to reflect more seriously than ever before on the evil consequences of the common use of such liquor, and he determined then and there never to furnish another drop to his men, but thenceforth to act on the principle of total abstinence, however singular or inexpedient his course to his neigh- bors might appear, and ever after firmly adhered to his resolution. To do so then was by no means so easy and popular as to pursue a similar course at the present time. Mr. Davis and his then second wife were both substan- tial members of the Congregational church in Bradford.
The first wife of Mr. Davis, Polly Sargeant, was, like himself, a native of Amesbury, Mass., where she died in 1817, at the age of about thirty-six years. She left at her decease two sons and two daughters, who came with their father and his second wife to Bradford, in 1818, namely :
1. Hezekiah. He lived with his father until about thirty years of age. He was a well esteemed teacher of common schools ; taught for nine winters in two districts. He married Jerusha Davis, of West Fairlee, Vt., and re- moved to Northfield, in this State, and settled on a farm so distant from any school house that he educated his children at home, in quite a methodical manner, having regular hours for study, as well as for other exercises. In 1863 he removed to Vineland, N. J., where he died the next year, at the age of fifty-nine. His death is said to be the first which occurred in that remarkable settlement. After his decease, his family came to Lowell, Mass., and at this date are there pleasantly located. He had nine children. His second wife was Eliza Leonard, of North- field.
2. Gilman Davis was also a farmer, and accustomed in winter to school teaching. He married Mary Ann Dodge, of Fairlee, and in 1842 removed to Northfield, where he
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died in 1873, leaving his second wife in widowhood, with one child, a daughter.
3. Martha Davis died in 1834, in her youth.
4. Mary Davis married Enos Taylor, of this town, where she died, leaving one son, George H., who became a patriotic young man; served with honor in the late war, returned home in safety, but immediately after was taken sick and died. His father, thus bereaved, has re- mained solitary.
Mr. Jacob Davis, after the decease of his first wife, in 1817, married, the same year, Sally Kelley, a native of Amesbury, and sister of Rev. John Kelley, who was for more than forty years the faithful pastor of the Congre- gational church in Hampstead, N. H. She came with him and his children to this town in 1818. She was a truly good woman, lived to have four children of her own, and died in October, 1860, at the age of eighty years, having remained in widowhood for about eighteen years and six months.
Two of the children by this marriage died in early childhood.
Elizabeth, the eldest, died in 1835, at the age of sixteen years.
Jacob K. Davis, at this date the only surviving member of his father's family, owns and occupies the farm on which he was born and brought up. Though by occupa- tion a farmer, he has for some years been engaged in dif- ferent agencies, especially in behalf of book publishers, which have taken him much of the time from home. In December, 1850, he married Clara L. Morrison, of this town, and they have at this date five children still with them ; namely, Millard F., George M., Clara A., Arthur L. and Henry E.
Mr. J. K. Davis and wife, and second son, are members of the Congregational church in Bradford. Indeed all the children of Mr. Jacob Davis who lived to become men
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and women, are believed to have become also joint par- takers with their pious parents in the same precious faith and promises.
ISRAEL CUMMINGS.
Deacon Israel Cummings was a native of Woodstock, Vt., born March 14, 1791. His father removed with his family into the south-east part of Thetford, in the year 1798, and made a permanent settlement there as a farmer. His son remained with him, and at the age of about twenty-three married Miss Ruth Kinney, a daughter of Deacon Kinney, of Thetford. In the course of the last war with England he offered himself to his country's service, and for months stood with a com- pany of others as a volunteer minute man; but was not called into the army. When about thirty years of age he became deeply impressed by religious considerations, ob- tained hope of an interest in the great salvation, and made a public profession of his faith by uniting with the Bap- tist church at Post Mills, in Thetford, and was for years a deacon in the same.
In 1848 he sold his farm in Thetford, and bought a good farm on the Upper Plain in Bradford, long known as the May place, and there continues, in 1874, to reside, with his eldest son, who is devoted to agricultural pur- suits. Mrs. Cummings died June 26, 1861, at the age of sixty-six years.
These parents were blessed with two sons and one daughter, who lived to marry and have families. The eld- est son, David Kinney Cummings, married Maria Jewell (rightly named), of Norwich, Vt. They had a daughter, Ellen Maria, who married Mr. James Sawyer, of this vil- lage, and died in the Autumn of 1873. Also a son, Wil- liam Frederick Cummings, who was married by Rev. S. McKeen, April 2, 1874, with Miss Ada Lillie Barrett, daughter of Mr. S. C. Barrett, of Bradford.
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Lovel Cummings, second son of the deacon and wife, married Sarah Arnold, of Boston, kept the Vermont House here for some time, and at this date is engaged in mer- cantile business in Brooklyn, N. Y.
Harriet Cummings, the only sister of the above named, married Mr. George Wright, of Bradford, and with her husband occupies the pleasant homestead next north of her father's.
Mr. D. K. Cummings and wife are members of the Methodist church in this village. The venerable deacon, at the age of eighty-three, retains his intellectual and physical powers very well, and still feels deeply interested in the prosperity of the Redeemer's kingdom.
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CHAPTER XIX.
Physicians-Aubrey, Andross, Stebbins, Whitney, Whipple, Put- nam, Colby, Poole, Martin, Carter, Cushing, Carpenter, Doty, Warden, and Others.
PRACTICING PHYSICIANS IN BRADFORD.
It is proposed to give in this chapter some account of the several physicians who have been established in their professional business here, with such notices of their fam- ilies as may be considered of general interest. The ar- rangement will be with reference to the various dates of their commencing medical practice among this people. Pursuing this order, we notice, first,
DOCTOR AUBRY.
Dr. Frederick Aubry, one of the early physicians in this town, a German by birth and education, claimed to have been a surgeon in the British army during the " Old French war," and to have dressed the wounds of the brave General Wolfe, who in 1759 fell at the siege of Quebec. He was an expert fencer, and took pride in displaying his skill in the use of the sword. It is said he could with his sword strike out a pin from a man's shirt collar without injury to his throat. His temper was hasty and violent, but in its paroxysms not lasting. At one time, when he was having an arch laid, his wife came out to give her advice, which led to a violent altercation between them. In his anger he caught up a brick and threw it at her, exclaiming as it went from his hand, "Dodge, Sally, my dear !" Being slack in regard to paying his debts, one of the traders at the village went to him with his store account for collection, when the Doctor bitterly said, " You traders, when we go to your stores, are all aingels, but when ye want your pay ye are very deevils." Of his
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professional skill there was quite a diversity of opinions, some thinking him a wonderful doctor, and others unwilling to employ him. He was severe in his condemnation of our native doctors, as men without knowledge or skill in their profession, which, of course, set them against him. He was sometimes unreasonably exacting in his charges, as well as needlessly persevering in his visits; but now and then in his dealing with his Yankee employers found that he had " caught a Tartar." Some instances, quite amusing, are still remembered. The doctor having been once called in to see a sick man in the south part of the town, came of his own accord many times more. The patient having after a considerable time recovered, the doctor presented his bill for " visits, medicines and sun- dries," running up to an amount far beyond the man's ex- pectation. He, however, taking it coolly, sat down and made out an account of various things which he had let the doctor have ; but finding himself far in the rear, he made up the deficiency with " sundries," and thus brought out an amount equivalent to the charge against him. The doctor, on looking at this account, instead of flying into a passion, as might have been expected, said, "Let's pass receipts ! let's pass receipts !" and so the matter was easily adjusted.
On another occasion the doctor was called to attend to the case of a boy in a very suffering condition; a fly some time before having got into one of his ears and de- posited there its eggs, a hateful progeny, giving the suf- ferer great distress, had been the result. The doctor, having ascertained the cause of the trouble, by a simple remedy, directly applied, effected a cure. The boy was soon well again, to the great joy of himself and family. The father, on inquiring what would be the doctor's charge for this service, was told to his great astonishment that it would be one hundred dollars ! which the old physician attempted to justify on the ground that the boy's life was 26
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worth more than a hundred dollars, and that he would have died if he had not thus by his medical skill saved him. Remonstrance' was of no avail. The father of the boy subsequently brought in his account, proposing to the doctor to look over and come to a settlement. This ac- count was a very short one, for two bushels of wheat at fifty dollars a bushel, amounting to one hundred dollars. The doctor on looking at it gravely, said, " I will dispute no man's account. We will pass receipts."
Dr. Aubry first settled in the part of the town called Goshen, but subsequently on a farm West of Wright's Mountain. He afterwards, about the year 1813, removed with his children to Pennsylvania, and died there at an advanced age.
The above is from the recollection of several gentle- men who personally knew him.
DOCTOR ANDROSS.
Of him and his family see some account under the title, The Andross Family.
DOCTOR STEBBINS.
Dr. Arad Stebbins was born at Hinsdale, N. H., March 21, 1760. He studied medicine with Dr. Dickermond, of Brattleboro, Vt., and surgery with Dr. Goodhue, of Put- ney. Nathan Smith, subsequently Professor of the The- ory and Practice of Medicine at Dartmouth College, was his fellow student. We have not the date of his com- mencing business in Bradford, but it was some time be- fore 1790, as a town meeting was held that year at his house, and it is known that for some time after his coming here he boarded in the family of Dr. Andross, whose wife was his aunt. Dr. Stebbins was a sensible, affable, wide- awake, energetic man, and had an extensive medical practice here, for about thirty years. He married Mary
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S. Kent, of Newbury, and had a family of one son and eight daughters. The doctor built a large, and for those days fine, house near the north end of this village, to be occupied, not only as a family residence, but for the ac- commodation of travelers and boarders, which after his ·decease was known as the Vermont House, and by suc- cessive proprietors kept as a hotel, till June 18, 1871, when, in the ownership of R. W. Chamberlin, it accident- ally took fire and was consumed. A fine residence on the same spot is at this writing in progress of erection, under the care and at the expense of Mr. Harvey Nourse, of this place. Dr. Stebbins represented this town in the State Legislature of 1805. In the course of the first year of the writer's ministry here the doctor and his wife, on profession, became members of the Congregational church, and so continued during the remainder of their lives. One dark evening, while the doctor was walking homeward and alone, from the house of his father, where he had been attending a Library Society meeting, he had the misfortune to step off the side of a bridge across a ravine, since filled with earth, near the residence of J. A. Hardy, by which fall he received a concussion of the brain which put an end to his medical practice, and from which he never entirely recovered. He lived, however, in a state of quiet feebleness, both of body and mind, for some ten or eleven years longer, and died April 30, 1828, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. Mrs. Stebbins died October 29, 1835, in her sixty-ninth year.
CHILDREN OF DR. STEBBINS AND WIFE.
Their first daughter, Polly, died young, but all the others lived to years of maturity. Mary married Alfred Corliss, for many years a harness maker, and also Postmas- ter in this village, and had three sons and two daughters. Lucy married Theodore Dame, of Orford, N. H., and had
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a son and two daughters. Betsey married Nicholas W. Ayer, of this town, and in her widowhood, when drawing nigh to death, made several valuable bequests to various individuals and religious societies, one of five hundred dollars to the Congregational church here, the annual in- terest to be applied towards the support of public wor- ship. Sophia remained and died single. The four sis- ters last named, and also their youngest sister, Harriet, were all members of the same church here to which their parents had belonged. Louisa married a Mr. Moulton, and Harriet, Mr. Ward, of Plymouth, N. H. All these have deceased, with the exception of Mrs. Dame, who, in widowhood, is living (1874) with her son in Newbury, Vt.
Arad Stebbins, Jr., the doctor's only son, married Eliza Stoddard, of Fairlee, remained in this village, and had a family of several children. He was esteemed an intelli- gent, capable, and honest man, and as such was much em- ployed in public business. He had been Overseer of the Poor and a Justice of the Peace, in Bradford, for several years ; had represented the town in the State Legislature for five years ; had filled the office of Judge of Probate for this district for one term; and had been much em- ployed in the settlement of estates, and as guardian of orphan children, in which capacities he seems to have given general satisfaction. He had a competency, loved his family, was free from pecuniary or other embarrass- ments from without ; but his health at length began to fail, his mental powers also, a melancholy gloom came over him, and he seems to have been overwhelmed with the fear that he might become permanently insane ! and in this state of mind he, on a certain sad day, retired to his barn and terminated his life by deliberately hanging himself. This mournful event occurred January, 1862, he then being a little over fifty-nine years of age, and cast a deep gloom over this entire community. His pas-
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