USA > Vermont > Windham County > Newfane > Centennial proceedings and other historical facts and incidents relating to Newfane, the county seat of Windham County, Vermont > Part 6
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18
IO
74
sheriff' of the county one year, and for six consecutive years was elected and served as first assistant judge of the Windham County Court. At the time of his decease he was county treasurer and deputy county clerk. His neighbors and towns- men reposed great confidence in his integrity and good judgment, and he was largely engaged in the execution of responsible trusts, during the last years of his life, growing out of the settlement of estates, and the discharge of various important commissions that were entrusted to his care. He was greatly beloved by a large circle of friends for his genial social qualities and his simple, childlike, modest and unobtru- sive deportment. Hle possessed a heart full of kindness. and. in the enjoyment of ample means. he dispensed his charities to the poor and suffering with a liberal and open hand. He was greatly respected while living and sincerely mourned at his decease.
JONATHAN ROBINSON. SENIOR.
Born in Milford. Mass., July 12th. 1754. married Sarali Taylor. sister of Rev. Hezekiah Taylor, and removed to Newfane in the early part of 1775. He bought of John Wheeler, November 13th. 1775, a farm in the parish, so called, which he occupied until September. 1796. when he exchanged farms with Lieut. James Lamb. The Lamb farm which he received in exchange embraced an extensive meadow a hundred rods or more below Williamsville, where Sackett's men who were killed in the fight with Hobbs, June 27th, 1748. were buried. In 1796, when Jonathan Robinson took possession of the farm. a large number of graves were distinctly visible near a chimp of chestnut trees standing on the lower portion of the meadow. and they were said to be the graves of those who were killed in the fight with Melvin at the mouth of the South Branch. formerly called the lower fork of the Wantastiquet.
75
But by an examination of the journal of Capt. Melvin, which has been published in the papers of the New Hampshire Ilistorical Society, and the journals of Stevens and Taylor, it is conclusively settled that the fight of Capt. Melvin with the Indians occurred at Jamaica. about four miles below the upper fork of the Wantastiquet, and seventeen miles north of Newfane ; the most reasonable theory is, that those who were killed in the fight which occurred between Sackett and Hobbs were buried here. The fight is fully described in the address which precedes these biographical sketches. It is worthy of notice that the chestnut trees growing on this meadow are the only trees of the kind found in this county outside of the valley of the Connecticut river. This meadow is some ten or twelve miles west of the Connecticut river.
Jonathan Robinson died April 14th, 1819.
Sarah Robinson. his wife, died March 9th, 1So9.
They had ten children, as follows :
Simon T. Robinson, born April 19th, 1779, died in Towns- hend, May 11th, 1813.
Abigail Robinson, born March 25th, 1781, married Win. H. Williams, died July 26th, 1821.
John H. Robinson, born August 3rd, 1783, died September 17th, 1843.
Aaron C. Robinson, born October 3rd, 1785; killed by a fall from his wagon June 4th, 1864.
Jonathan Robinson, born November 5th, 1787, died July 23rd, 1829 at Wardsboro.
Hezekiah Robinson, born March 31st, 1791, died February 7th, 1851, at Waterloo, Canada.
Sally Robinson, born January 12th, 1795, died April 16th. 1871.
Hannah C. Robinson, born July 5th, 1798, married Arad Taylor, January 11th, 1821, died September Ist, 1853.
Mary C. Robinson, born July 29th, 1800, died in infancy.
Hollis T. Robinson, born August 25th, IS03.
76
AARON C. ROBINSON,
The third son of Jonathan Robinson, Senior, succeeded his father in the possession of the farm and occupied the same until his decease, in 1864, and during his possession added to it largely by the purchase of adjoining lands. He possessed more than ordinary ability. His strong sense and excellent judgment gave him great prominence among his townsmen. For thirty years or more before his death, he was uniformly selected and appointed Road Commissioner, at almost every term of the Windham County Court, upon petitions to lay roads and bridges in the several towns in the county.
It is creditable to his superior judgment that there are more or less highways in every town in the county, that were sur- veyed and laid out under his especial direction and super- vision, and since they were built they have greatly subserved the interest and convenience of the public.
He married Betsey Crosby, of Brewster, Mass., June ISth, IS16. She was born July 12th, 1791, died October 20th, IS67.
They had four children, as follows :
Mary C. Robinson, born July 18th, 1817, married Dennis A. Dickinson February 25th, 1845.
Eliza A. Robinson, born August 10th, 1831.
Aaron W. and Betsey C. Robinson, twins, born August 9th. 1833; Aaron W. died December 13th. 1838. Betsey C. married O. L. Sherman, of Newfane. September 10th, IS56.
?
WEbinson
77
JONATHAN ROBINSON, JUNIOR,
The fourth son of Jonathan Robinson, Senior, was educated for a merchant and was largely engaged in mer- cantile business in Wardsboro, where he resided at the time of his decease. He was highly respected and honored by his townsmen ; represented the town in the General Assem- bly, was for a few years a Judge of the Windham County Court, and was highly esteemed for his ability and enter- prize.
HEZEKIAH ROBINSON.
[BY REV. FREDERICK ROBINSON.]
Son of Jonathan Robinson Sr., was born at Newfane, Vt., March 31st, 1791. He received a good elementary English education at the Academy of his native town, where his close application and abilities gave sure promise of the suc- cess which he achieved in after life. From the age of eighteen he was for several years engaged in wool-carding, and the manufacture of woollen goods in the summer, employing the winter in school teaching, in which he was eminently successful.
In 1817 he married Seleucia Knowlton, oldest daughter of Assistant Judge Luke Knowlton, of Windham County.
His father-in-law, whom he always held in great respect and friendship, having removed to Canada, Mr. Robinson followed him in 1821, and settled in Stukely, Shefford County, where he built a carding mill. The following year he purchased a valuable mill site in the adjoining township of Shefford, with small grist and saw mills, and to which he removed his carding mill. A few years later he rebuilt the mills and opened a store. At Judge Knowlton's suggestion he called his new purchase Waterloo.
78
Here, in a new country, with small capital. and by no means robust health, and with a young family dependent on him, his energy and perseverance were called into full exercise. But by prudence. foresight. and untiring industry, he, with God's blessing, acquired a considerable fortune.
His unswerving integrity commanded the respect and confidence of the community. He was repeatedly chosen to municipal and other offices. which he filled with ability and credit. By the Governor of the Province he was, in IS31, appointed Justice of the Peace for the District of Montreal, and in 1836 the first post master of Waterloo. From the time of his appointment to the date of his death. in 1851, he was the leading magistrate in the neighborhood.
In 1815 he became a member of the Congregational Society in his native town, then under the pastorate of the Rev. Jonathan Nye. Shortly after his removal to Canada he became a member of the Church of England (Episcopal) and was ever after warmly attached to her Scriptural Liturgy, a constant attendant upon her worship, and a devout and regular communicant. He contributed liberally towards building the first church (Episcopal) in Waterloo, and gave seventeen acres of valuable land, now comprised within the village limits, towards the endowment of the parish.
The village which he practically founded, is now. in IS76. a thriving town of nearly three thousand inhabitants. the seat of public business of the county, and the commercial centre of a wealthy and enterprising district.
Mr. Robinson's family consisted of five sons and four daughters, all of whom, with the exception of one daughter, who died in childhood, married and settled in Waterloo, or its vicinity.
Children of Hezekiah Robinson :
Charlotte Knowlton Robinson, born at Newfane, Novem- ber 2Sth, ISIS, married in 1839 to Roswell Albert Ellis, Esq., J. P. Merchant.
Jonathan Robinson, born at Newfane, November 4th. 1820. died at Waterloo, Canada, October 26th, 1866. For several years warden of the county of Shefford. Merchant.
Frederick Robinson, born February 20th, 1823. Clergy-
79
man of the Church of England, parish of Abbotsford, Diocese of Montreal.
Seleucia Robinson, born November 2nd, 1824, died May 3rd, 1835.
Hezekiah Luke Robinson, born January ist, 1827. Merchant.
Sarah Melinda Robinson, born December 5th, 1828, died November 23rd, 1873. Married in 1852 to Dr. J. C. Butler, physician and surgeon.
George Canning Robinson, born August 25th, 1831. Clergyman of the Church of England, parish of Aylmer, Diocese of Montreal.
Abigail Knowlton Robinson, born April Ist, 1834, died November 17th, 1860. Married in 1854 to J. D. Parsonage, merchant.
Edward Robinson, born September 6th. 1837, died November 4th, 1864. Merchant.
HOLLIS T. ROBINSON,
The youngest son, was bred a merchant in the store of his brother Jonathan, and for several years was engaged in mercantile business. He represented the town of Newfane in the General Assembly, and for many years he has officiated as trial justice in Newfane. He resided seventeen years in Canada, and for fourteen years was a Sheriff's Bi- liff in one of the eastern counties.
He married Eliza Tufts, daughter of Rev. James Tufts, of Wardsboro, and they had four children, all of whom are now living.
80
HON. LUKE KNOWLTON, JUNIOR.
BY REV. FREDERICK ROBINSON.
Luke Knowlton, Jr., son of the Hon. Judge Luke Knowlton, of the Supreme Court of Vt., and of Sarah Holland, his wife, was born in Newfane, March 24, 1775, and educated first at the elementary school, at Westminster, Vt., then at Chesterfield academy, N. II., and finally as a private pupil and law student of his brother Calvin, a graduate of Dartmouth College, N. H., at Newfane, where he was admitted to the bar about 1796. He was a successful practitioner although he had no special fondness for the profession, and became assistant judge of Windham county, and also represented Newfane for several years in the General Assembly of Vermont.
In 1799 he married Charlotte, daughter of Deacon Moses Kenney, of Newfane, who was then under sixteen years of age. Her father opposed the match on three grounds, viz. :
First-" She is too young." Second-" I cannot spare her." Third-" I can give her no dower."
To this demurrer the young advocate replied :
First-" She will grow older every day, and as fast in my hands as in yours." Second-" You have a wife and other daughters, and can better do without her than I can." Third -" It is your daughter that I want and not a dower."
The man of law was successful in his suit-the demurrer of the Deacon being withdrawn.
This union proved to be fruitful, the issue being ten daughters and five sons, nine of whom still survive. Eight daughters and four sons grew up to man's estate, and all married, except one daughter, whose union with an estimable young man was prevented by her death. All became highly respected members of the community in which they lived.
Previous to his father's death, in ISIo, Mr. Knowlton became interested with him in wild lands in the Province of Lower Canada ; this led to repeated journeys, on horseback,
80
Luketmar thonJe,
RY
HILDESE
L
上
81
to that district, involving journeys of four hundred to five hundred miles each trip, and eventually resulted in his settling, in IS21, in Stukeley, Shefford county, Lower Canada, on the farm on which his brother Silas settled, in 1798. IIere his three youngest children were born, and his youngest child was buried, in 1824, by the side of his brother's wife, who died in ISO1. In 1825 Judge Knowlton removed to Brome, then in Shefford county, and settled upon a farm, where he remained thirty years, till his death, aged eighty, in 1855, having survived his wife twelve years.
Impaired health prevented Judge Knowlton from taking an active part in public affairs after his removal to Canada, but his intelligence and integrity of character made him a valued citizen of the country of his adoption, as they had done in his native country. He was a man of fine personal appearance, of which his portrait, taken when upwards of seventy years of age, and in feeble health, gives an inadequate idea. He died, as he lived, esteemed by all who knew him.
THE HON. COL. P. H. KNOWLTON, M. L. C.
BY
REV. FREDERICK ROBINSON.
Paul Holland Knowlton was the son of Silas Knowlton and of Sarah Holbrook, his wife, and grandson of the Hon. Jud e Luke Knowlton of the Supreme Court of Vt., and one of the first settlers in Newfane. He was born in Newfane in 1787. In March, 1798, his parents moved into Shefford county, Lower Canada, with their two children, Holland, aged eleven and Luke, aged three. Capt. John Whitney and wife, with one child accompanied them. The party stopped at West Shefford till May, when the women and children were placed upon horseback and moved on to Stukeley, some twelve miles distant, by a bridle path through the forest. Here they were left in a rude log cabin, covered and floored with split basswood planks, with no door to close the entrance,
-
II
82
while the two men returned to West Shefford for further supplies and fodder for the horses. Mrs. Knowlton and Mrs. Whitney closed the entrance to the cabin with a blanket, and kept up a brisk fire all night for fear of wild beasts. but sleep they had nonc.
Thus early was Holland Knowlton subjected to the privations familiar to the first settlers of an unbroken forest. His only sister, Samantha, was the first child born in Stukely, in June, 1799. Two years later he suffered an irreparable loss in the death of his mother, at the birth of his youngest brother. Samuel. The same year Holland was sent back to Newfane to attend the academy where he received his education. During this period he boarded in the family of his uncle, Luke Knowlton, then a prominent lawyer, in Windham county, and a valuable friend of a young man. He also had intimate intercourse with his grandfather, Judge Luke Knowlton. Sen. Such companion- ship was invaluable to Holland, and no doubt had much to do with the success which he achieved in after life.
In 1807 he returned to Stukeley, and two years later married Miss Laura Moss, of Bridport, Vt .. then engaged in teaching in Stukeley, and settled upon a farm where he remained six years.
In 1815 Holland Knowlton settled upon a large faim, in Brome township, then forming a part of Shefford county. Here he entered into mercantile business on such a scale as suited the requirements of a new settlement. Some years later he left the farm and moved a short distance to an eligible site, and built mills, store, etc., and procured the erection of a church, and the settlement of a clergyman of the Church of England. Various mechanics and others were induced to establish themselves at the same place, which soon became a thriving village and was called Knowlton.
Holland Knowlton's political life begun in IS27, when he was elected member of the Provincial Parliament of Lower Canada. for Shefford county. In 1837 Mr. Knowlton, who had previously been appointed a Justice of the Peace, took an active part in the support of the government against
2
82
Attraction
83
the Papineau rebellion, and was appointed Lieut. Colonel of the militia.
In 1839 Col. Knowlton was appointed a member of the special council for the government of Lower Canada, after the abolition of the Parliament, consequent upon the rebellion, and in 1841 a member of the Legislative Council of United Canada, which position he held till his death, in 1863.
In 1855 the Hon. Col. Knowlton procured the erection of Brome county, of which Knowlton became the county seat, and is now, 1876, an important village of about fifteen hundred inhabitants, and is a railway station.
Hle was a man of great public spirit, foremost in procuring the opening up of new roads, in encouraging education, municipal institutions and increased facilities for the adminis- tration of justice. The county of Brome is especially indebted to his sagacity and influence, personal and political, for a large share of its progress and prosperity.
Having no children of his own, Col. Knowlton adopted the eldest daughter and youngest son of his brother Luke, to whom he was a kind father, and who inherited his estate. The former succeeded to the homestead and is married to H. S. Foster, Esq., registrar of Brome county ; and the latter is married to a daughter of the Hon. Col. Foster, ex-senator of Canada ; also, a native of Newfane, and a prominent railway contractor and manager.
It may be added that Dr. S. S. Foster, the father of H. S. and the Hon. Col. Foster, was a former resident of Newfane, and an early settler of Shefford county, of which he was twice elected member of Parliament. He was a leading local physician and surgeon, and, for several years previous to his death, a member of the Provincial Board for granting licenses to practice medicine and surgery.
84
HION. AUSTIN BIRCHARD,
Born at Wilmington, Vt., December 5, 1793. ] In June, ISO5, he went to Saratoga Springs with his father, who died there the twenty-second of August following. After the death of his father he lived at Wilmington with his mother, employed on the farm and in the tavern, until her death, which occurred March 3, 1813, with the exception of a few months, when absent at school or attending store.
About the first of May, 1813, he left Wilmington for Paris, Oneida county, N. Y., where he resided about fifteen months engaged mostly at farm work. In the winter of IS13-14 he took a journey to Canandaigua, then considered almost the far west by Vermonters, with his uncle, Mr. Amasa Birchard.
In the fall of IS14 he returned to Vermont, attended the academy at West Brattleboro three months, and taught a district school three months the winter following. In April. 1815, he engaged himself to the late Hon. Samuel Clarke, of Brattleboro, for two years, as clerk in his store. In April, 1817, he entered into partnership for two years with the late Hon. John Noyes in a store in Dummerston as active partner, under the firm of Noves & Birchard. At the end of two years the firm was dissolved, and his brother Roger was received as his partner in trade, under the firm of A. & R. Birchard, and business continued at the same place.
In April, IS19, he married Roxana, eldest daughter of the late John Plummer, Jr., of Brattleboro. Soon after their marriage they visited Saratoga for her health, but she continued to decline and died July 9. 1820.
In April, 1822, he removed to Newfane Hill, the county seat, and continued trade under the firm of A. & R. Birchard.
In September, 1824, he married Mary A., daughter of the late John Putnam of Chesterfield, N. H., by whom he had four children, two sons and two daughters. Sardis,
84
Austin Birchard
85
his youngest son, gave his life for his country in the war of the Rebellion, and died a prisoner at Andersonville, Ga., August 20, 1864.
On the shire being located at Park's flat, now Fayetteville, in 1825, he immediately commenced building a small store at that place and had it finished about the first of May, 1825. and filled with goods. In the fall of 1825 the new county building, having been completed, he was appointed deputy jailor, and was charged with the duty of removing the prisoners and property from the old jail to the new. He served as jailor two years, and in the meantime built his large store and dwelling house.
The subject of this sketch was an early advocate of railroads and other public improvements ; cheerfully labored on the building committee and other committees of the society formed for building the first meeting-house in Fayetteville ; also, on the prudential and other important committees of the Congregational society for many years. He served twenty consecutive years, 1828 to 1848, on the board of auditors of the town of Newfane. He was elected a member of the old council in 1833, at that time a co-ordinate branch of the State Government, and re-elected in 1834. He was elected one of the board of the Council of Censors, in 1841, and proposed an amendment to the constitution, abolishing said board and providing a different mode of amending the organic law of the State, which failed of adoption, but the proposition was renewed in 1870, and adopted by the Constitutional Convention of that year. In 1846 he was elected State Senator. In April, 1850, he retired from trade, his constant occupation for thirty-five years. In January, 1854, he was appointed treasurer of the Windham County Savings Bank, and held the office twenty years.
He was a strenuous opponent of slavery and secret societies, from early manhood. A cheerful contributor to the Mis- sionary and Bible societies, and other public and private charities. In 1864 he united with the Congregational church.
86
REV. LEWIS GROUT.
Rev. Lewis Grout was born in Newfane, Vt., January 28, 1815, attended Brattleboro Academy in IS34, '5, '6 and '7, and Burr Seminary in Manchester, Vt., in 1838 : graduated at Yale College in 1842; taught in a military, classical and mathematical school, at West Point, N. Y., for nearly two years ; studied theology at Yale Divinity College two years, 1844 and 1845, and graduated from Andover Theological Sem- inary in 1846. He was ordained as a missionary and mar- ried to Miss Lydia Bates, in Springfield, Vt., October S, 1846; set sail from Boston for South Africa October 10; stopped for a few weeks in Cape Town, and reached Port Natal, Africa, February 15, 1847. Here, among the Zulus, in the District of Natal, he labored as a missionary in the service of the American Board, for fifteen years, and at the end of that time, with health impaired, he returned to America, and landed in Boston June 7, 1862. Health somewhat restored, he preached a year for the Congrega- tional Church in Saxton's River, and then accepted a call to the church in Feeding Hills, Mass., where he was in- stalled and labored till the first of October, 1865. He then received an appointment from the American Missionary As- sociation as Secretary and Agent of that Society for New Hampshire and Vermont, and in their employ has continued till the present time, now, September 1876, about eleven years, having his home in West Brattleboro.
Hle has had two children, one a son, who died in Natal ; the other a daughter, Annie L. Grout, who graduated at Abbott Female Academy, Andover, Mass., in 1870; had charge of Belair Institute, in West Brattleboro, for four years ; taught in a Ladies' Seminary in Philadelphia a year, and is now teaching in Atlanta University, Atlanta, Ga.
Lewis Grout
William Le Holiany. E.R
87
WILLIAM L. WILLIAMS, .
The third son, was a clerk in his father's store during his early youth, and when he attained to his majority he entered into a copartnership with his father in the mercan- tile business, which he prosecuted. successfully for many years. He removed to Dubuque about 1860, and was ex- tensively engaged in business as a Produce Broker at the time of his decease. He was exceedingly popular in his manners and highly esteemed for his intelligence and sound practical judgment. While residing in Newfane he mani- fested a lively interest in the growth and prosperity of his native town, was munificent in his donations in aid of all the enterprises that would contribute to its progress and ad- vancement. He gave generously to the poor, was kind to the sick and suffering ; he was courteous and affable in his bearing, proverbially honest and upright in all his business relations, modest and familiar in his deportment. His whole life was without reproach and his death at the com- paratively early age of fifty, was a source of great regret to all his friends and associates. He accumulated a handsome property which he bequeathed to the two sons of his de- ceased brother, John W. Williams.
88
CHARLES K. FIELD.
Charles Kellogg Field, oldest son of Martin Field, was born in Newfane April 24. 1803, fitted for college at Am- herst, Mass. ; entered Middlebury College in ISIS, at the age of fifteen, graduated in 1822. After studying law three years in the office of his father, was admitted to the Bar and commenced the practice of his profession in Newfane : remained in that town until IS28, when he removed to Wilmington. Vt. : returned to Newfane in December, IS38, removed to Brattleboro in 1861. Married Julia Ann Kel- logg. of Cooperstown, N. Y., June 29. 1828. Represented the town of Wilmington in the State Legislature during the years 1835, '36, '37 and '38. Was elected Delegate to the State Constitutional Convention in IS36. Represented the town of Newfane in the State Legislature during the years 1853, '54. '55. and '60. and represented the town in the Constitutional Convention for 1843. '50 and '57. IIc was elected a member of the Council of Censors in 1869, and chosen President thereof at its first session in 1869, and in 1870 was chosen a member of the Constitutional Convention for 1870 from the town of Brattleboro.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.