USA > Vermont > Encyclopedia, Vermont biography; a series of authentic biographical sketches of the representative men of Vermont and sons of Vermont in other states. 1912 > Part 7
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were given to the trustees for the bond- holders under the mortgages; and later the Vermont & Canada began the first of its several unsuccessful suits for the re- covery of its property. The roads ran down so, that in 1865 trust bonds began to be issued to provide for repairs, and from this Governor Smith, the president, advanced to a large policy of "develop- ment," forming by leases and purchases a great "through system of roads, all under the authority" of the court of chan- cery, and as an extension of the policy of repairs. The emissions of "trust" bonds continued until 1872, when $4,356,- 600 were out. When the financial panic struck the country, these structures tum- bled, the rent payment to the Vermont & Canada was defaulted, notes went to pro- test, a legislative investigation was held, and a long and complicated litigation en- sued. Governor Smith and his manage- ment, generally speaking, came out of the courts successful, but before the end was reached a compromise was effected by which new securities were issued to the different interests and the "Consolidated Railway of Vermont" formed, the present Central Vermont Railway, still under Smith's management. He was one of the originators of the Northern Pacific rail- road enterprise and was the president of the corporation from 1866 to 1872, when he retired amid the troubles that were thickening about both companies. Under his lead 555 miles of the road were built. He married in 1842 Ann Eliza, daughter of the Hon. Lawrence Brainerd.
DILLINGHAM, PAUL. Governor 1865- 7. Born Shutesbury, Mass., Aug. 10, 1799; son of Paul and Hannah (Smith) Dillingham; died Waterbury, July 26, 1891. Came to Vermont with his family when six years old; was educated in the Washington County grammar school ; studied law at Middlebury in the office of Dan Carpenter; was admitted to the Bar in March, 1823; and formed a partnership with his preceptor, which lasted until the latter's elevation to the bench. For fifty- two years, until his retirement in 1875. he was in the constant practice of his profes- sion, except for the interruptions by his public service, and as a jury advocate he was at the head of a Bar that for a full generation was among the ablest the state ever contained. and ranked perhaps as the
first in the state. He was town clerk of Waterbury from 1829 to 1844; represen- tative to the Legislature in 1833, 1834, 1837, 1838, and 1839; states attorney for Washington County in 1835, 1836. and 1837; a member of the constitutional con- ventions of 1836, 1857, and 1870; state senator Washington County in 1841, 1842, and 1861; and in 1843 was elected mem- ber of Congress, where he served two terms, and was on the committee on the judiciary. He was one of the leaders of the state Democracy, in what may be called its golden era intellectually, though it was a hopeless minority; and when a state convention met with Saxe, Eastman, Dillingham, Smalley. Kellogg, Stoughton, Thomas, Field, Chittenden, Poland, Red- field, Davenport and others, to flash their wit and eloquence aeross it, and with Hawthorne frequently coming up from Massachusetts to partake of the commun- ion, there was apt to be a "feast of rea- son and flow of soul," such as no other politieal organization in the state before or sinee has witnessed. While in Congress Mr. Dillingham was the only Democrat on the delegation. He strongly favored the admission of Texas, and the policy that led to the Mexican war. But the fir- ing on Sumter shattered in a moment the political affiliations of a life-time. He wanted party lines obliterated entirely and the whole North to stand solid in support of the national administration; received a warm welcome into the Republican ranks ; was a leader in the state Senate in the war measures of 1861, and the next year his services were recognized with the nomi- nation for lieutenant-governor, and after three years' serviee in this position with that for governor in the years 1865 and 1866. The candidate against him both years was his old political friend, Charles N. Davenport. Governor Dillingham's majority in 1865 was 16,714 and in 1866 22,822. The great monument of his admin- istration is the establishment of the re- form school, which he recommended in his first message. In 1872 he was the first lay delegate ever elected by the Vermont Conference of the M. E. Church to the General Conference. His first wife was Sarah P. Carpenter, daughter of his law partner, Dan Carpenter ; she died in 1831; and in 1832 he married her younger sister, Julia.
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ENCYCLOPEDIA VERMONT BIOGRAPHY
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PAGE, JOHN B. Governor 1867-69. Born Rutland. Feb. 25, 1826; son of Wil- liam and Cynthia (Hickok) Page; died Oct. 24. 1885. Educated in the public schools, and at Burr and Burton Acad- emy. Manchester. Entered the old bank at Rutland at the age of 16; was many years president of the National Bank of Rutland, the reorganized form of the old state bank; became interested in the Rut- land & Burlington R. R., by being ap- pointed one of the trustees of the second mortgage bond-holders, and upon the re- organization of the property as the Rut- land Railroad Co., was made president; was for a time trustee of the Bennington & Rutland R. R .; later was associated with Gov. J. Gregory Smith as vice-president of the Central Vermont; was a director of the Champlain Transportation Co., and various other railroad enterprises, and also in the Caughnawauga Ship Canal project for connecting Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence. etc .; was instrumental in the transfer of the shops of the Howe Scale Co. from Brandon to Rutland, and was treasurer of the company. He was in 1852 elected a representative to the General Assembly of Vermont, and re- elected for the sessions of 1853 and 1854; in 1860 elected state treasurer, and re- ceived successive re-elections annually till 1866, and was during this time allotment commissioner by appointment of President Lincoln; originated the plan for the pay- ment of the extra state pay voted by Ver- mont to her soldiers, $7 per month, and disbursed during his term as treasurer a total of $4,635,150.80 for military ex- penses ; in 1867 elected governor, and re- elected in 1868, serving with judgment and ability through the critical period after the war; was again elected represen- tative from Rutland in 1880. He was a member of the Congregational Church, for many years a deacon and superintendent of the Sunday school, a corporate member of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and was instrumen- tal in having the meeting of that society, the only one ever convened in the state, held at Rutland in 1874.
WASHBURN, PETER T. Governor 1869 until his death. Feb. 7, 1870. Born I.vnn. Mass .. Sept. 7. 1814; son of Reu- ben and Hannah B. (Thacher) Washburn. In 1817 his father moved to Vermont, first
settling at Chester, then at Cavendish, and finally at Ludlow. Peter graduated at Dartmouth in 1835; studied law first under the direction of his father, then for a time in the office of Senator Upham at Montpelier; was admitted to the Bar in 1838; and began practice at Ludlow, mov- ing in 1844 to Woodstock, where he form- ed a partnership with Charles P. Marsh which continued until the death of the lat- ter in 1870. Was in 1844 elected reporter of the decisions of the supreme court of Vermont, holding the position for eight years; represented Woodstock in the Leg- islatures of 1853 and 1854; chairman of the Vermont delegation to the Republican national convention that in 1860 nomi- nated Lincoln and Hamlin; was in com- mand of the Woodstock Light Infantry, a company of citizen soldiers who at once proffered their services to their country, and on the 1st of May marched to Rut- land, where it was incorporated with the First Vermont Regiment ; was commission- ed lieutenant-colonel, but acted as colonel during its entire period of service; in Oc- tober, 1861, was elected adjutant and in- spector-general of Vermont, and until the war closed devoted himself to its arduous duties, bringing order and system out of chaos and making it the model adjutant's office of the country; was in 1869 elected governor by a majority of 22,822 over Homer W. Heaton, the Democratic candi- date, and died in office Feb. 7, 1870. He had simply worn himself into the grave by overwork in the excess of his faithful- ness to duty. No trace of disease, organic or functional, could be found by the physi- cians after his death. His first wife was Almira E. Ferris of Swanton; his second, Almira P. Hopkins of Glens Falls, N. Y.
HENDEE, GEORGE WIIITMAN. Gov- ernor from Feb. 7, 1870, till the close of the term. Born Stowe, Nov. 30, 1832; son of Jchial P. and Rebecca (Ferrin) Hendee; died Morrisville, Dec. 6, 1906. Educated in the public schools, and at People's Academy, Morrisville; studied law in the office of W. G. Ferrin of John- son; admitted to the Lamoille County Bar 1855. In 1855 married Millissa Red- ding, who died 1861; in 1863 married Viola S. Bundy. Engaged in the prac- tice of law at Morrisville; was for many years a director of the Portland & Ogdens- burg R. R .; at one time president of the
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THE GOVERNORS
CONVERSE]
Montreal, Portland & Boston R. R. of Canada; was a director and vice-president of the Union Savings Bank and Trust Co. of Morrisville; was receiver of the Na- tional Bank of Poultney, and of the Ver- mont National Bank of St. Albans; and was national bank examiner from 1879 to 1885. Governor Hendee was always a Republican. When he was twenty-one years old, was elected superintendent of schools, a position he repeatedly filled ; there was hardly a year in which he was not ealled by the public to discharge some official trust; many times acted by order of eourt as auditor, trustee, and special master ; was a member. of the Ver- mont House of Representatives for Mor- ristown two sessions, 1861-62; states at- torney for Lamoille County in 1858-59; deputy provost marshal during the war; senator for Lamoille County 1866, 1867, and 1868, and lieutenant-governor in 1869. Sworn in as governor by Judge Steele on the death of Gov. P. T. Washburn, he served the remainder of the term; he was a member of the Forty-third, Forty-fourth, and Forty-fifth Congresses, and there served on the committee on private land claims, and on the District of Columbia; was largely instrumental in drafting and securing the passage of the law which made an entire ehange of the form of gov- ernment of the District.
STEWART, JOHN WOLCOTT, Middle- bury. Governor 1870-2. Born Middle- bury, Nov. 24, 1825 ; son of Ira and Eliza- beth (Hubbell) Stewart. Edueated at Middlebury Aeademy, and Middlebury College, graduating in the class of 1864. In 1860 married Emma, daughter of Phil- ip Battell, and granddaughter of Hon. Horatio Seymour. They had five ehil- dren, of whom three survive, Elga, Phillip B. of Colorado (nominated for governor, but deelined the office), and Jessiea (Mrs. J. W. Sylvester). Read law in office of Hon. Horatio Seymour in Middlebury un- til January, 1850, when he was admitted to Vermont Bar; began practice at Mid- dlebury and condueted it alone until 1854, when he formed a partnership with ex- U. S. Senator Phelps, continuing until the death of the latter in 1855; director Middlebury Bank 1858, and for several years prior to 1881 was its president. A Republican; states attorney for Addison County 1852-3-4 ; represented Middlebury
in the Legislature 1856, '57, '61, '65, '66, '67, serving as speaker the last three terms, and as chairman of committee on railroads in 1856; senator from Addison County 1861 and 1862, serving as chair- man of judiciary committee; governor of Vermont 1870-2, the first to be elected for a two-year term; returned as member of the house in 1876; representative to Congress from the 1st congressional dis- triet 1882, '84, '86 and '88, and on the death of U. S. Senator Redfield Proctor was appointed by Governor Fletcher D. Proctor to fill out the unexpired term. He received this appointment while at Colo- rado Springs, and left immediately for Washington. In the fall of 1876, Gover- nor Stewart was in New York until the day before the Legislature convened, ar- riving in Montpelier after the flag had been raised on the state house; the roll of the house was being called; Governor Stewart found his way to a vacant seat which had been reserved by a friend; in ten minutes after his arrival he had been ehosen speaker of the house on the first ballot, his Republiean opponent having only a few votes. As state senator, Gov- ernor Stewart and Senator George F. Ed- munds were elected a committee to revise the statutes. In religious preference a Congregationalist.
CONVERSE, JULIUS. Governor 1872- 4. Born Stafford, Conn., Dec. 17, 1798; son of Joseph and Mary (Johnson) Con- verse; died Dixville Notch, N. H., Aug. 16, 1885. Came to Vermont 1801; edu- eated in common sehools and Randolph Academy ; studied law in the office of Wil- liam Nutting at Randolph; admitted to the Orange County Bar 1826. In 1827 mar- ried Melissa Arnold, who died 1872; in 1873 married Jane E. Martin. Settled first at Bethel, whenee he removed in 1840 to Woodstock; at Bethel he was for several years in partnership with A. P. Hunton, afterward speaker of the lower House of the Legislature in 1860-62; at Woodstock he formed a partnership with Andrew Traey, and later with James Bar- rett, the firms being Traey & Converse, Tracy, Converse & Barrett, and after Mr. Traey's election to Congress, Traey & Bar- rett; after Mr. Barrett's elevation to the supreme court, Mr. Converse formed a partnership with W. C. French which con- tinued until 1865; after that praetieed
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ENCYCLOPEDIA VERMONT BIOGRAPHY
[PROCTOR
alone; he several times represented Bethel in the Legislature; was a member from Windsor County of the first Senate in 1836. and three times re-elected to that body; also represented Woodstock several times; was states attorney for Windsor County from 1844 to 1847; in 1850 and 1851 he was elected lieutenant-governor on the ticket with Gov. Charles K. Wil- liams; for the next twenty years he was out of public life until in 1872, when near- ly 74 years old, he was suddenly and un- expectedly nominated for governor, being taken up to defeat Frederick Billings, a purpose that was accomplished by a nar- row majority of one after a hard fight in the Republican state convention. Mr. Con- verse was traveling outside of the state at the time, and the first he knew of his candidacy was when he read about the nomination in the morning papers. He was elected by a majority of 25,319 over A. B. Gardner, ex-lieutenant-governor, who had joined the Liberal Republican movement of that year, and whom the Greeleyites and Democrats had nominated in high hopes of cutting the Republican majority down to 10,000. His adminis- tration was without notable incident.
PECK, ASAHEL. Governor 1874-6. Born Royalston, Mass., September, 1803; son of Squire and Elizabeth (Goddard) Peck; died May 18, 1879. Came to Ver- mont with his father when three years old; educated in the common schools and Washington County Grammar School; en- tered the sophomore class of University of Vermont 1824; left college in his senior year to study French at a Frenel college in Canada. He studied law in the office of his oldest brother, Nathan Peek, at Hinesburgh, and afterward for a year or two in the office of Bailey & Marsh at Burlington; was admitted to the Bar in March, 1832; practiced alone for a while and afterward in partnership with Arehi- bald Hyde, and later with D. A. Smalley; was judge of the circuit court from 1851 till it ecased in 1857; in 1860 was elected judge of the supreme court under the present system, and held the position eon- tinnously, though desiring toward the end to retire, until his election as governor in 1874. He was nominated then in response to a strong demand from the people and against the calenlations of the old line of managing politicians; did not, however,
make such radieal recommendations on the questions of the day as some of his sup- porters had expected. On his retirement from the gubernatorial chair Judge Peck retired to his farm in Jericho, where he died. He was never married.
FAIRBANKS, HORACE. Governor. 1876- 8. Born Barnet, March 21, 1820; son of Gov. Erastus and Lois (Crossman) Fairbanks; died New York, March 17, 1888. Educated in the common schools and at the academies in Peacham and Lyndon, Meriden, N. H., and Andover, Mass. At the age of eighteen he took a elerkship in the firm of E. and T. Fair- banks and Co .; became active partner in 1843, and finally the financial manager of its extensive business, whose annual prod- uet he saw grow from $50,000 to $3,000,- 000, and force of workmen from 40 to 600 ;. was from the beginning identified with the construction of the Portland & Ogdensburg R. R., the piloter of the char- ter through the New Hampshire Legisla- ture, and the baeker of the enterprise with the utmost of his means and credit. Built and presented to St. Johnsbury the public library and art gallery known as the St. Johnsbury Athenaum, dedicated in 1871. Delegate to the Republican national con- ventions 1864 and 1872; presidential elee- tor 1868; state senator from Caledonia County 1869; nominated for governor after a bitter pre-convention fight in the Repub- lican party over the candidacy of Deacon Jacob Estey of Brattleboro on the third ballot, though he had declined to be con- sidered a candidate and was out of his state at the time; was elected by a vote of 44,723 to 20,988 for W. H. H. Bingham, the Democratic candidate. He was mar- ried in 1849 to Mary E. Taylor of Derry, N. H.
PROCTOR, REDFIELD. Governor 1878- 80. Born Proctorsville, June 1, 1831; son of Jabez and Betsy (Parker) Proetor; died Washington, D. C., March 4, 1908. Graduated from Dartmouth College 1851, degree of A. M. 1854, and from the Al- bany, N. Y., Law School. In 1858 mar- ried Emily J. Dutton of Cavendish. Ad- mitted to the New York Bar at Albany, and to the Vermont Bar at Woodstock; during a portion of the years 1860 and 1861 practiced his profession in the office of his cousin, Judge Isaae F. Redfield,
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THE GOVERNORS
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at Boston, Mass. Upon the outbreak of the Rebellion in 1861 he immediately re- turned to Vermont and enlisted in the 3rd Vermont Regiment; commissioned lieuten- ant and quartermaster, and repaired to the front; in July of the same year was appointed on the staff of Gen. William F. ("Baldy") Smith, and in October was pro- moted and transferred to the 5th Vermont Volunteers, of which he was commissioned major; with this regiment he served near- ly a year in the neighborhood of Wash- ington and on the Peninsula; in October, 1862, was promoted to the colonelcy of the 15th Vermont Volunteers, and in the memorable and decisive engagement at Gettysburg was stationed on the famous Cemetery Ridge during a part of the sec- ond day's struggle. After the war formed law partnership in Rutland with Col. W. G. Veazey; in 1869 he became manager for the Sutherland Falls Marble Co. In 1880 the Sutherland Falls and Rutland Marble companies were consolidated under the name of The Vermont Marble Co., with Governor Proctor as its president. Under his management this company en- larged and so increased its business as to become the largest concern of the kind in the world. A Republican; selectman in Rutland 1866; represented Rutland in the Legislature 1867, and was chairman of the committee on elections; again a mem- ber of the House 1868, and member of the committee on ways and means; state sena- tor from Rutland County 1874, and was chosen president pro tem .; lieutenant-gov- ernor 1876-8; governor of the state 1878- 80; delegate to the Republican national conventions 1884, 1888, and 1896; ap- pointed secretary of war in the cabinet of President Benjamin Harrison March 4, 1889, and served until Dec. 7, 1891, hav- ing been appointed U. S. senator by Gov. Carroll S. Page to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Senator George F. Edmunds; elected U. S. senator to suc- ceed himself by the Legislature 1892, 1898, and 1904, and served until his death; in February, 1898, visited Cuba at his own expense and on his own responsi- bility to investigate the conditions there under the insurrection against Spanish rule; March 17, made a speech in the Sen- ate which was accepted as a true and au- thoritative statement of the conditions on the island. Senator Hoar said in an ad- dress, "The resolutions of Congress de-
manding the evacuation of Cuba by Spain, which brought on the war, were the result not of the destruction of the Maine, but of Senator Proctor's report that a half million people were being starved to death at our very doors."
FARNHAM, ROSWELL. Governor 1880- 2. Born Boston, Mass., July 23, 1827; son of Roswell and Nancy (Bixby) Farn- ham; died Bradford, Jan. 5, 1903. Came to Vermont with his father 1840, settling at Bradford. Educated at the academy at Bradford; entered the junior class Uni- versity of Vermont; graduate 1849, de- gree of A. M. 1852. In 1849 married Mary Elizabeth Johnson of Bradford. Taught school at Dunham, Lower Canada ; was principal of Franklin Academical In- stitution. Franklin; later taught at the Bradford Academy; admitted to the Or- ange County Bar 1857; formed partner- ship with Robert Mck. Ormsby; began practicing independently 1859; elected states attorney 1859, and twice re-elected. Second lieutenant Bradford Guards in the Ist Regiment Vermont Volunteers; cap- tain and lieutenant-colonel 12th Regiment Vermont Volunteers, and for nearly half the term of his service in command of the regiment. After the war resumed prac- tice of law at Bradford; Republican can- didate for representative in the Legisla- ture, but was defeated; state senator from Orange County 1868 and 1869; delegate to the Republican national convention and presidential elector 1876; elected governor of the state in 1880 by a majority of over 25,000.
BARSTOW, JOHN LESTER, Shelburne. Governor 1882-4. Born Shelburne, Feb. 21. 1832; son of Heman and Loraine (Lyon) Barstow. Educated in the public schools; began to teach in the district schools at the age of 15; received degree of LL. D. from Norwich University 1909. In 1858 married Laura Maeck, grand- daughter of Dr. Frederick Maeck. the first physician to settle in Shelburne; she died in 1885; they had two sons, Frederick M. (University of Vermont 1880), a civil en- gineer who died in government service during the Spanish war from typhoid fever, and Charles L .. a graduate of Union College. now living in New York. Went west at an early age; engaged in business in Detroit. Mich .; returned to Shelburne
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ENCYCLOPEDIA VERMONT BIOGRAPHY
[BARSTOW
1857 and assumed charge of his father's farm. In the fall of 1861, while assistant clerk of the House of Representatives at Montpelier, was appointed on the noncom- missioned staff of the 8th Vermont Volun- teers, later being promoted to the ranks of adjutant, captain, and major ; participated ir all the engagements in which his regi- ment took part; was complimented for eminent service in the field, for gallantry in the assault on Port Hudson, and honor- ably mentioned for his personal services; served as acting adjutant-general under Generals Thomas and Weitzel; was dis- charged at the expiration of his term of service June 22, 1864. When promoted major, his old company gave him a beau- tiful sword; and when he left the service, the men who were mustered out with him presented him with another still more beautiful. The historian of his regiment says (Irwin's History of the 19th Army Corps, p. 505) : "When, after the bloody fight of June 14, 1863, in front of Port Hudson, General Banks called for volun- teers to head a strong column for a final attack, Captain Barstow was one of the brave men who stepped forward to form the forlorn hope." He had entered the army with robust health and a vigorous constitution, but nearly three years in the swamps and miasmatic climate of Louisi- ana had shattered both, and for many years malarial diseases prevented active business pursuits. On his return to Ver- mont, he declined a responsible position in the recruiting service offered him by Adjutant-General Peter T. Washburn. In the fall of 1864, while serving his first term in the Vermont Legislature, the St. Albans raid occurred; in consequence of that raid, and at General Washburn's re- quest, Major Barstow was sent on a spe- cial mission to Canada; was subsequently appointed brigadier-general to command one of the three brigades into which the home militia companies of the state were divided; remained in command of the northwestern frontier of the state until relieved by General Stannard in June, 1865. Since 1886 he has been a trustee of the Burlington Savings Bank, during which time the deposits have risen from two to more than thirteen million dollars; was for some years a trustee of the Uni- versity of Vermont and State Agricultural College. He is a Republican; has held various elective town offices; represented
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