USA > Vermont > Windsor County > Norwich > A history of Norwich, Vermont > Part 20
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After a short illness, Captain Partridge died, January 16, 1854, in the sixty-ninth year of his age, followed by his widow. Oct. 11, 1902, in her ninety-second year,
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CAPTAIN PARTRIDGE AS AN EDUCATOR
The influence of Captain Partridge in this direction was important and far reaching. He was one of the first to point out the vices and defects of the higher education of his time. It is a well-known fact that the physical development of the literary and student class has been improved within the last half century. Captain Partridge wrought out in his own mind a scheme of education, mental, moral, and physical, that was thoroughly practical and American. He then set himself to establish schools wherein his ideas could be carried into operation. These schools proved a great success, and in them were trained many young men whose services to the country have proved to be of the highest value. His capital maxim in education was, mens sana in corpore sano-a sound mind in a sound body. In his system of education he combined the physical training of the Old Greeks with the ardent patriotism of the Old Romans, and added thereto other elements original with himself, and then Americanized and mod- ernized the whole. His contribution to modern education was import- ant, and for his labors in this direction, Captain Partridge well de- serves the gratitude of his countrymen and of posterity. We have lived to see the defects of a college education as pointed out by Captain Partridge two generations ago in a large measure corrected. The gymnasium is now an essential part of every well-appointed institution of learning. Manly sports and games everywhere receive large and constant attention.
A wide option of elective studies is now offered to every college stu- dent in place of the old inflexible curriculum of strictly scholastic training. Industrial education is everywhere coming into use. The natural and political sciences are assiduously cultivated with largely endowed professional chairs in all the universities, and every facility given for acquiring a practical education.
Indeed it is doubtful if the idea of the Agricultural College was not original with Captain Partridge rather than with our Vermont Senator. From a lecture given by Captain Partridge before the es- tablishment of his Military Academy at Norwich, in 1820, I quote the following: "In a country like ours, which is emphatically agri- cultural, I presume it will not be doubted that a practical, scientific
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knowledge of agriculture would constitute an important appendage to the education of every American citizen. Indeed the most certain mode of improving the agriculture of the country will be to make it a branch of elementary education. By these means it will not only be improved, but a knowledge of improvements generally disseminated among the great mass of the people After outlining a suitable course of advanced studies, he adds : "To the institution should be attached a range of mechanic shops, where those who possess an aptitude and inclination might occasionally employ a leisure hour in learning the use of tools and the knowledge of some useful mechanic art."
What is this but Mr. Morrill's College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts antedated by forty years ?
General Lewis S. Partridge, son of Abel and Alpa (Lewis) Par- tridge, was born in Norwich, Vt., in 1818, a year prolific in the birth of sons in town.
In early life he served in clerkships in mercantile business in Nor- wich, and in Hanover and Claremont, N. H. He became a cadet at Nor- wich University in 1833, remaining there until 1836. Later on he en- tered into mercantile business on his own account in his native town. He was at one time proprietor of the "Union Hotel," at Norwich. From early life Mr. Partridge took an active part in politics and was a prom- inent factor in his political party, both in town and State. He repre- sented his town in the General Assembly in 1852 and the following year; was Adjutant General of Vermont, 1852-1854; postmaster at Norwich, 1833, 1861, and 1885; delegate to the Democratic National Convention of 1854.
He married (first) Harriet Baxter (youngest child of Ira Baxter, of Norwich), June 16, 1846. They had three children. He married (second) Elizabeth Woodruff of Tinmouth, Vt., and to them were born six children, now living, all of whom and their mother reside at Man- chester, N. H.
General Partridge was a man of fine physique and pleasing address. He died at Norwich, May 22, 1885.
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REVEREND LYMAN POTTER
Was born at Salisbury, Conn .; graduated at Yale College in 1772, and three years later (August 31, 1775) was settled over the Congre- gational Church at Norwich, Vt. As the first settled minister in town he received the grant of land provided in all the New Hampshire town charters for this purpose. This consisted of between three hundred and four hundred acres. Upon this land, then presumably a wilder- ness, Mr. Potter at once began to carve out a farm and a home. The location of his home was pleasant, it being the present farm of Mr. Stillman Armstrong, still familiarly called the "Potter place." About one year subsequent to his settlement in Norwich, Mr. Potter married (September 1, 1776) Abagail Payne, daughter of Colonel Elisha Payne of Lebanon, N. H. The fruits of this marriage were nine chil- dren, three sons and six daughters, born in town. The ministry of Mr. Potter covers a period of twenty-six years (1775-1801). After the vear 1783, his salary, which was usually £75, was raised by direct tax upon the polls and rateable estate of all the taxpayers in town, and collected by a special officer chosen for that purpose in town meeting. This tax was called the "priest rate" and was rigidly enforced against all who did not produce a written certificate from the minister or clerk of some other religious sect setting forth the fact of their mein- bership in such sect or denomination.
The professional labors of the first minister, it is believed, were generally acceptable to the townspeople. He preached long expository sermons, made long prayers, and used many long metric hymns in his services. He dressed in the clerical garb of his day with loose and flowing coatskirts, powdered hair, and wore a three-cornered cocked hat of the continental pattern. Being a man of large size and com- manding appearance, he was an object of considerable awe, especially to children and young people, who on his coming into their presence were expected to show especial attention and courtesies, which he would reward with a pleasant smile and a few kindly words. He is said to have been very punctual in visiting the schools and catechising the children.
Aside from his professional duties, Mr. Potter was a practical and successful farmer and a thrifty manager of property. He reared a
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large family of children, two of his sons receiving a collegiate educa- tion at Dartmouth College, where one (Lyman Potter, Jr.) graduated in 1799, the other in 1802.
In the capacity of chaplain, he accompanied the regiment or half regiment of militia that was called out to meet the invasion of Bur- goyne's army in the autumn of 1777, from this and neighboring towns. On the convening of the Vermont legislature at Norwich in June, 1785, the "election sermon," as it was called, was preached by Mr. Potter, as also at Newbury on a similar occasion in the fall of 1787. In his pulpit efforts he does not appear to have been especially happy. his delivery being marred by a slight impediment in speech, and by a harsh, shrill voice. He was, however, considered a man of strong mind. and won the respect and affection of his parishioners, from whom he received many tokens of their regard. Toward the last of his min- istry, it is hinted that he allowed his farming and his family and sec- ular affairs to encroach too much upon his time, to the neglect of spiritual duties. However that may be, at the annual town meeting in March, 1801, Mr. Potter resigned his office and requested a dismission, which, after reference to a committee consisting of Governor Brigham, Elisha Burton, and Governor Olcott, and after due negotiations, was readily granted and the official connection of the town with its first minister was formally severed in July following.
During the same year, Mr. Potter and family, with the family of Colonel Jasper Murdock, who had married Martha Potter the Febru- ary preceding, removed from town and performed the long and la- borious journey to the Connecticut lands of northeastern Ohio, then a part of the Northwestern Territory and since known as the Western Reserve. Thither one of his sons had already preceded him, and there Colonel Murdock was already engaged in extensive land speculations. But little has been gathered concerning the later history of the Potter family in their new home, where they must have encountered afresh the hardships of a pioneer life in a new country. Colonel Murdock, who was undoubtedly the leading spirit in effecting their removal, died early in 1803. Of the two sons who graduated at Dartmouth, Lyman Potter, Jr., settled as a farmer in Trumbull County, Ohio; Elderkin Potter was a successful lawyer in New Lisbon, Columbiana County, Ohio. Both were subsequently members of the Ohio legislature. Mr. Pot-
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ter continued to preach to some extent, but did not afterwards have a permanent settlement. He died at Steubenville, Ohio, in 1826, at the ripe age of eighty years. He received the degree of A. M. from Dart- mouth College in 1780, and was elected one of the trustees of that institution in 1800. He was brother of Reverend Isaiah Potter, settled over the church in Lebanon, N. H.
THE RICHARDS FAMILY
Jonas Richards, born at Killingly, Conn., in 1744, married Hannah Wheeler of Plainfield, that state, and settled in Norwich in 1767.
He was one of the pioneer settlers of the town, locating on the farm lately owned by Rufus Cloud, on the hill northwest of Norwich village. He became an enterprising and thrifty farmer.
He was one of the early members of the Congregational church and a man of stern Puritan morality.
He had a family of seven children, the eldest of whom, Joel Rich- ards, born Nov. 26, 1767, was the second male child born in Norwich, according to the Richards Genealogy.
He married Merian Smith, of Hartford, Vt., in which town (in the Jericho neighborhood) he settled in early life, and there raised a large family of children, among them Cyrus Richards, A. M., for many years the well known principal of Meriden Academy, and the Rev. DeForest Richards.
Mr. Jonas Richards died in 1800, at the age of fifty-six years, and his wife died in 1826, aged eighty-seven years.
One of his sisters married (at Preston, Conn., in 1748) John Hatch, Esq., one of the early settlers in Norwich.
Three other sons of Jonas Richards early removed from town. Wheeler settled on a farm in Derby, Vt., but afterwards removed to Ohio. Alvin went west early in life in quest of his fortune, and was never after heard from. Bela lived and died a farmer at Benton, N. Y. He married Sarah Slade of Hanover, N. H.
Levi, born July 15, 1777, inherited the paternal home and passed his life in Norwich, where he raised quite a large family, and here he died in 1846, aged sixty-nine years.
COL. TRUMAN B, RANSOM
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All these sons of Jonas Richards, like their father, were large, ath- letic men, remarkable for great physical strength and power of en- durance. Levi, especially, was princely in form and appearance, and was said to be the strongest man in Norwich in his day.
They were also highly respected for their intelligence, integrity and purity.
Levi's son, Harry, entered Dartmouth College, but did not grad- uate.
He settled as a mechanic in Norwich; was a great reader, and much esteemed as a citizen, holding important town offices. He died at the age of thirty-five years.
Chandler, another son of Levi Richards, graduated at Dartmouth College, 1855; studied law, went to Wisconsin and died there.
Sarah Helen, daughter of Levi, married Rev. Thomas Hall, in 1852, as his second wife.
TRUMAN BISHOP RANSOM
Truman Bishop Ransom was born in Woodstock, Vt., December. 1802. He was the son of Amasa Ransom, and was named after a Methodist minister, Truman Bishop. His mother's maiden name was Root. But little is known of his early life. His father died when he was but ten years old, leaving him no patrimony, but superior natural abilities, an ardent, hopeful temperament, and great ambition.
Young Ransom obtained by his unaided efforts a good academical education. He became a cadet at the A. L. S. & M. Academy at Nor- wich, in 1820, and there found a friend and benefactor in the person of Capt. Alden Partridge.
Completing a course of scientific and liberal studies at Norwich, where he imbibed in full measure the military spirit and enthusiasm of his preceptor, he was for several years employed as teacher of math- ematics and military science in different military schools in Connecti- cut, New Jersey, and Fayetteville, N. C., and finally as professor of mathematics in the U. S. Navy. When Norwich University was estab- lished in 1835, under the Presidency of Captain Partridge, Ransom
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was elected vice-president, and upon Captain Partridge resigning his position in the institution Colonel Ransom became his successor.
Colonel Ransom took much interest in the State militia, and in 1836 he was made General of Division and re-elected to that office until 1844. He was the candidate of the Democratic party for Congress in 1840, and for Lieutenant Governor in 1846. He was commissioned Colonel of the Ninth U. S. Infantry, soon to start for the theatre of war in Mexico.
In his campaigning in Mexico Colonel Ransom proved himself a gallant officer, and while leading his command he was killed at the storming of Chapultepec, Sept. 13, 1847. .
The following touching and appropriate lines were written by .J. H. Warland, of New Hampshire, a member of Colonel Ransom's military staff, shortly after the Colonel's death :
RANSOM He fell as the hero falls, With his good sword by his side, As he led the way through the thick of the fray, In all a warrior's pride.
And his be the hero's fame ! It shall ring o'er land and sea ; As the hills that rise in his native skies, Ever-green his name shall be.
He died as the hero dies, On the field his sword hath won, 'Mid the cannon's flame and the shot that came Like hail from the deadly gun.
Col. Ransom's body was placed in a leaden coffin and temporarily interred in the Protestant burying ground near the city of Mexico. During the following winter it was removed and brought back to his home in Vermont, where it was consigned to its final resting place in the old cemetery at Norwich village, on the 22d day of February, 1848.
The day was the occasion for a public funeral attended by many leading men of his own and adjoining states, and by a concourse of citizens, larger, probably, than had ever before been assembled in Norwich on any occasion. Rev. J. D. Butler, of Wells River, preached the funeral discourse, which was followed by a brief eulogy (after- wards printed) by F. W. Hopkins, Adj .- Gen. of Vermont.
The remains were then consigned to the grave with appropriate
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military honors; two companies of light infantry from Hanover and Lebanon, N. H., with a brass band from Claremont, and the West Fairlee Rifle Corps, besides the Norwich Company, forming the escort ; the whole under the command of Gen. W. E. Lewis of Norwich.
Col. Ransom married, about 1830, Margaret M. Greenfield, of Mid- dletown, Conn., to whom were born seven children, three of them dying when quite young. Dunbar R. Ransom (his eldest son) was a cadet at the U. S. Military Academy, and served with distinction in the army during the late Civil War, being brevetted several times for gallant and meritorious service in the field. He left the army in 1872, and for several years was in the employ of the Southern Pacific Rail- road Company. He died at Fort Worth, Texas, July 11, 1897, Other children were Thomas Edward Greenfield, Frederick Eugene, the youngest son, and Catharine Harriet, who married James O'Hara, U. S. A., and became the mother of a large family of children. She passed away within the present year, leaving her brother, Frederick Eugene, the sole survivor of Col. Ransom's family.
The following action by the Legislature of Vermont was taken at the session of that body in the fall of 1848 :
"Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives,
"That in the recent death of Col. Truman B. Ransom, who fell while gallantly leading his men at the storming of the heights of Cha- pultepec, in Mexico, on the 13th of September last, the State of Ver- mont is called to deplore the loss of one of her best citizens, and one of her most brave and accomplished soldiers.
"Resolved. that the firmness and brave bearing displayed by Col. Ransom in the several battles in which he participated, which have been recently fought between the American and Mexican troops near the walls of the City of Mexico, will not only perpetuate forever his own memory, but will impart a deeper and more abiding lustre to the already well earned martial fame of his native state.
"Resolved, that his Excellency, the Governor, as a token of the re- spect of the General Assembly of this State for the memory of Colonel Ransom, is hereby authorized and empowered to present at such time and manner as he may deem proper, to the son of Colonel Ransom, now a cadet at West Point, an appropriate sword, with such devices and inscriptions thereon as will best perpetuate the memory of the de-
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ceased, and most effectually awaken in the bosom of the son those sen- timents of lofty and fervent patriotism for which the father was so eminently distinguished."
GENERAL 'THOMAS EDWARD GREENFIELD RANSOM
General Ransom was the second son of Colonel Truman Ransom, and was born in Norwich, November 29, 1834. He entered Norwich University in 1848, where he remained three years, then went to Illinois, where he practised his profession of civil engineering and entered into real estate transactions.
At the breaking out of the Civil War he was in the employ of the Illinois Central Railroad, with his residence in Fayette County, that State.
In response to President Lincoln's call for 75,000 troops in 1861, he raised a body of soldiers that became Company E of the Eleventh Illinois Volunteers, and was elected its Captain, his commission bear- ing date, April 6, 1861. He was commissioned Lieutenant Colonel of the regiment July 30, 1861, and Colonel of the same February 15, 1862. In January, 1863, he was appointed a Brigadier General and placed in command of a brigade in General Logan's division of the Seventeenth Army Corps.
General Ransom was severely wounded in the head during the battle of Shiloh, April 6, 1862; and received other wounds at Charleston, Mo .; at Fort Donelson, in 1862; and at Pleasant Hill, La. The last wound was a serious one and caused him to be brought to Chicago for care and treatment.
In the early part of October, 1864, General Ransom was taken severely ill with dysentery, while on active duty in the field. Al-
NOTE-The sword was presented to Colonel Ransom's son by Colonel J. P. Kidder, of .West Randolph, Vt., by request of the Governor.
It will be of interest to the people of Norwich, and of the state at large, to learn that the Ninth Regiment was not only commanded by Colonel Ransom, but at a later date by Gen. George Wright, a native born son of Norwich, [a notice of General Wright will be found under "Graduates of the U. S. Military Academy," in a previous chapter in this book], and still later by Colonel Liscomb, a Vermonter, who lost his life in China, when the allied forces were storming the walls around Pekin.
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though advised by surgeons and superior officers to go upon sick leave, he firmly refused to heed their advice, but continued with his com- mand, and when too weak to ride on horseback he rode in an ambu- lance.
All this time the disease was making rapid progress towards a fatal termination, then near at hand. General Ransom died October 29, 1864. And thus passed away the young, brave, and handsome soldier, whose reply to friends when urged by them to leave his command, in search of health, was: "I will stay with my command until I am car- ried away in my coffin"; and when told that he had but a few hours to live, answered : "I am not afraid to die, I have met death too often to be afraid of it now."
THE SEAVER FAMILY
The first representatives of this family in Norwich were two brothers, Calvin and Nathaniel, who removed to town from Petersham, Mass., but in what year we have no record.
Capt. Nathaniel was a voter here as early as 1777.
He married Mary Bush and to them were born four children. Mr. Seaver removed from Norwich prior to 1806, since which time we have no record of him.
Captain Calvin appears as a voter in town in 1787. He married Molly Hovey in 1786, by whom he had seven children. He was fre- quently elected to offices in town. He died in 1841, aged eighty-two years, and his wife in 1857, aged ninety-three years.
Luther, son of Capt. Calvin Seaver, first voted in town in 1801. He died at New Orleans, La., in 1829.
Calvin Seaver, Jr., married for his first wife Cylinda Waterman, in 1809; and for his second wife, Sophia - ( ?). He died in 1853, aged sixty-six years, and his wife, Cylinda, in 1832, forty-five years of age.
Josiah Hillis Seaver was a son of Capt. Nathaniel Seaver. [A further record of him appears in the list of graduates of Dartmouth College, in another chapter.]
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Otis, son of Captain Calvin, was born at Norwich, in 1801. He mar- ried Amanda Kimball, who died in 1871, aged sixty-six years. Mr. Seaver died in 1874, aged seventy-three years.
Polly Seaver married Dyer Waterman at Norwich in 1809, and four children were born to them.
SARGENT FAMILY
John Sargent, (progenitor), came to Norwich from Mansfield, Conn., He was a settler in Norwich as early as 1770; was chosen assessor in that year. He was a subscriber to the Dartmouth College fund, to which he contributed forty acres of land and £2 10s in money.
In December, 1778, Mr. Sargent lived in his house near the Ferry place leading to Dresden (now Hanover).
August 15, 1780, he was chosen one of a committee "to look into and adjust the amount of service performed in the war by all the able bodied men in town." Two days later, at an adjourned meeting, Mr. Nathaniel Brown was chosen in Mr. Sargent's place, it being found that the latter was absent from town.
Mr. Sargent was engaged in the lumber business upon the Con- necticut river, but lost most of his property by a freshet, and by bad debts (by one Baxter), and returned to Mansfield before 1790.
He died at Pawlet or Dorset ( ?), Vt., in 1826, where he went in 1811 to live with his son, John, Jr.
In the summer of 1871 John Sargent, Jr., was on frontier service, being stationed in the town of Corinth, where a fort had been built by two companies under Captain Abner Seeley and Captain Nelson. On the 16th of October following he was on a scout in the town of Jericho near Winooski river, with four others from the fort. They were here fired upon by a party of tories, one of them being killed, and two wounded, including Mr. Sargent. Those not killed were taken prisoners and carried to Quebec, where they were kept until the next spring, when they were allowed to return home.
At a town meeting held November 19, 1782, it was "voted that John Sargent, Jr., be entitled to receive out of the town treasury his pay as a soldier from the time he enlisted until the time of the last
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town meeting (September 20, 1782), and that the consideration of his other wages and the pay-roll la'd in by Capt. Seeley, be proposed," etc.
Mr. Sargent married Delight Bell at Norwich, and they had ten children. He was a physician, and removed to Dorset or Pawlet ( ?), Vt., in 1786. He was the father of Honorable Leonard Sargent of Manchester, Vt., and of Doctor Warren B. Sargent of Pawlet, Vt.
Royal Sargent (supposed to be a son of John Sargent, Sr.) married Grace Benton, in 1775. He removed to Irasburg, Vt.
Elizabeth Sargent married Joel Benton, in 1785, and they had two sons.
Lois Sargent married Ebenezer Broughton, in 1786, and they had three children.
SAWYER FAMILY
The first of this name to come to Norwich, of whom we have any record, was Conant B. Sawyer (son of Isaac Sawyer), who removed here from Hebron, Conn., his native town, during the early years of the settlement of Norwich, for a temporary sojourn, then returned to He- bron, from which place he became a soldier during the War of the Revolution. We are unable to determine the year when Mr. Sawyer returned to Norwich for a permanent residence, but we find that he was in town as early as 1780.
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