USA > Vermont > Chittenden County > Gazetteer and business directory of Chittenden County, Vermont, for 1882-83 > Part 17
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 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65
Samuel Hickok was a stoutly built man about five feet eight inches in height, with a high, broad forehead and a large and piercing blue eye, which could read, with great accuracy, the purposes of people with whom he had to do ; indeed, until he thought he could do this, he would rarely make a move of impor- tance. He was energetic and prompt in action, of sound judgment and great decision of character, so much so that to casual observers he seemed stern and severe, but under this outer crust he carried a warm and kindly heart. His leading characteristic, however, was integrity and love of justice. These traits attached his customers to him, and it was a common saying among his rivals in trade, that if any dealer about the county was about to fail and run away, he would be sure to come to Burlington the night before and settle with " Uncle Sam." In the exercise of these sterling qualities he was for many years the leading merchant in Burlington, and accumulated an estate of over $200,000, which is believed to be the largest ever accumulated by any indi- vidual in Chittenden County prior to 1849, the year of his decease.
The Vermont State Bank was chartered in 1806, and a branch established at Burlington. Samuel Hickok was its cashier, and transacted its business in his brick store referred to, until its removal from Burlington to Woodstock, in 1812. He was one of the original corporators, and a director of the old Bank of Burlington, chartered in 1818, until the establishment of a branch of the United States Bank here in 1830, when he left the Bank of Burlington, to become one of its directors.
He was a firm and liberal supporter, and for many years a deacon of "the Ist Church of Christ in Burlington, under the Congregational order," organized in 1805, under that title, in the house in which he so long lived, on the south- west corner of the square. He presented that church a fine organ, which was burned with the original church in 1836, and was also the largest contributor
142
TOWN AND CITY OF BURLINGTON.
towards the erection of the present edifice, now called the Winooski Avenue Church. Every worthy object had his countenance and support. The Uni- versity of Vermont found him ever a firm friend and liberal contributor to its funds. When its first building was erected, when after the fire it was rebuilt, and, indeed, at every stage of its early progress, his name stood prominent on all the old subscription papers, which served to keep alive the institution until the coming of its now more prosperous days.
Samuel Hickok was one of Nature's noblemen. Though living after the stirring times of the Revolution and the New York controversy, he mingled with the actors in those scenes and with them pursued in generous rivalry the arts of peace. The Chittendens and Allens were his neighbors and friends, and he was worthy of their companionship. A fine portrait of the old gentleman, by that eminent American painter, Huntington, is now to be seen at the residence of his son, J. W. Hickok, Esq.
Three sons survive him in Burlington. Wm. C. Hickok, M. D., who prac- ticed medicine successfully in New York City for twenty-five years, but has resided for many years in the south ward of Burlington, devoting himself to agriculture, astronomy, and conchology. The revolving dome on the top of his fine stone house covers the most powerful telescope in the State, and he also possesses a very valuable and extensive collection of shells.
Henry P. Hickok, the second son, has been for more than thirty years, and is still (1882) the president of the Merchants' National Bank, and also of the Farmers' & Mechanics' Savings Institution and Trust Company. He has been for many years prominent as a corporator and secretary of the University of Vermont, and is now one of the trustees of the Mary Fletcher Hospital. In the erection of the Pioneer Mechanics' Shop, in 1852, he took the lead in introducing manufacturing industry into Burlington. He also took the lead in building that fine stone edifice, the College Street Church, and together with his sister, Eliza W. Buell, contributed three-fourth of the needed funds.
James W. Hickok, the only other surviving son, was educated to the law, and practised it a few years, but was diverted from it by business affairs. He was for two and one-half years treasurer of the University of Vermont, and five years a director of the old Bank of Burlington ; was one of the founders of the Burlington Savings Bank, and served it as treasurer for the first five years of its existence without salary. He was for fifteen years (1868 to 1875) treasurer and principal contributor to the support of what is now the Winooski Avenue Congregational Church. He passed four years in New York (1854 to 1858), associated with the late Wm. B. Ogden and Charles Butler, Esq., in laying the foundation of what is now the Chicago North- western Railroad Company, and has been for the last ten years one of the directors and managers of the Rutland Railroad Company, in its successful efforts to relieve itself of a heavy floating debt and get on to a dividend-pay- ing basis.
.
143
TOWN AND CITY OF BURLINGTON.
In town affairs, he was, in 1852, the chairman of the committee that planned and erected the City Hall, against a strenuous opposition, which main- tained that the building was too large and extravagant. He opposed and de- feated the adoption of the first city charter, in 1853, mainly on the ground of its unwise division of the town, and also opposed the present charter for the same reason, although he considers the division is less objectionable. He was prominent in the minority which opposed the vote of $160,000.00 of the city bonds to the Burlington & Lamoille Railroad Co., as he believed the city would thereby lose that large sum and receive no benefit.
Samuel Hickok had four daughters: Ist, Eliza Whelpley, born in 1801, married Frederick Buell, and resided on Pearl street until her death, in 1874. She was a benevolent woman, giving to a great variety of charitable objects in a quiet way, and aiding many young men, by advances of money, to obtain an education. It was she, who, with her brother Henry, gave so liberally for the erection of the College Street church. A daughter, Maria, survives her, occupying the homestead, the wife of Prof. Edward Hungerford.
2d, Jane Ann, the wife of Henry Leavenworth, Esq., died in 1836, aged twenty-seven years.
3d, Mary Hickok, the wife of the Rev. James T. Dickenson, who died at Norwich Conn., in 1834.
4th, Frances, who died unmarried, in 1845, aged twenty-eight years. She was a person of rare intellectual gifts, and strongly marked benevolent and Christian character. Through her liberality and energetic efforts the " Ragged" or "Charity School," both of which names were applied to it, was established and maintained, first in the old Pattee Building on White street, and after wards on Battery street. This was the first distinctively Christian effort to improve the moral condition of the poor and outcast children of the town, and was rendered necessary by the then bad condition of the public schools. She raised, by subscription, the money to pay the teacher, and other expenses of the school. After her death this charity school was continued some twenty years in all. Among its teachers the names of Miss Blatchley, Miss Cody and Miss Adams are well remembered. The board of the teachers, during the whole period, was given by her brother, Henry P. Hickok, Esq. As the town grew, the need of better provision for its destitute and homeless children, and for those of the State as well, became manifest, and, in 1865, through the perse- vering efforts of Miss Lucia T. Wheeler, " The Home " was opened and estab- lished, and has since developed into one of the most important and best endowed charities of the State. In this work, Miss Wheeler found in Mrs. Laura A. Hickok, wife of Dr. William C. Hickok, a most efficient coadjutor. The complete success of this institution has been largely attributable to the zeal and fidelity with which all its interests have been watched over by Mrs. Hickok, who has been for thirteen years past, and still is, its president.
John Howard, the patriarch of the Burlington family of Howards, was born at Providence, Rhode Island, in 1770. He came of an honorable line, as he
144
TOWN AND CITY OF BURLINGTON.
could trace his ancestry directly back to the celebrated Roger Williams, famous as one of the founders of Rhode Island, in 1637. His father was lost at sea while John was quite young, and he himself, in his youth, made several sea voyages. He afterwards resided a few years at Pittstown, N. Y., and then six or more years at Addison, Vt., as a farmer. In 1812, he came to Bur- lington and established the Howard Hotel, located on the north side of the (then called) Court House Square, which he kept for the next thirty-five years of his life.
He was on board the steamboat "Phoenix" when it was burned on Lake Champlain, on the night of September 5, 1819, and there distinguished him- self by his energetic efforts in arousing the passengers and aiding to save their lives, and in preserving property entrusted to his care. He himself was saved by the aid of a plank, after having been in the water several hours. The books of the old Bank of Burlington contain the following record with reference to the affair :-
"At a meeting of the directors of the Bank of Burlington, September 16, 1819, C. P. Van Ness, the president, William White, Ozias Buell, Luther Loomis, and Samuel Hickok, being present, it was
" Resolved, That the cashier do, and is hereby authorized and required. to present to Mr. John Howard the sum of one hundred dollars, for, and on behalf of the president, directors, and company of this institution, as a testi- mony of the obligation they feel themselves under, for his unyielding exertions at the time and after the conflagration of the late steamboat "Phoenix." in preserving that portion of their property, $8,500, committed to his care, from destruction and loss, under all its various circumstances of exposure."
Under his care the Howard Hotel acquired an enviable reputation, and be- came extremely popular with travelers. Possessed of a stalwart, upright character, he was the terror of thieves and impostors of every description. Few of them escaped, who came within the scope of his shrewd observation and keen sagacity ; indeed, to such an extent was he interested in the public welfare, that he was often up all night looking after suspicious persons who had attracted his attention, and if any rascal was caught, as many were, it was sure to be through his instrumentality. He was also, possibly on account of his rough experience on the ill-fated " Phoenix," noted for his great vigilance in guarding against fire on his own premises or in his vicinity, and for his advocacy of every measure for the common protection against this dire foe. His enterprise and public spirit, as shown in these and other respects, was remarkable, and he at the same time possessed a most kindly heart. No man was more prompt, or would go farther to do a kindly act to a neighbor, or to any person in distress, than " Uncle John," as he was familiarly and affection- ately called by the many who knew his good qualities. One incident, related by a person who was long acquainted with Mr. Howard, fully illustrates the kindly phase of his character: One morning, in the winter of 1833, or thereabouts, when an ice bridge covered the lake, a party of young people drove across it to Essex, N. Y., to dine there and return in the evening. At
٣٠
InMisturard
145
TOWN AND CITY OF BURLINGTON.
that time, Burlington was not so large but that such an excursion would attract some attention. In the afternoon, a furious snow-storm came on, and "Uncle John," fearing that the party would be lost in it on their return, started out upon the lake, in the blinding storm, with his team, taking a com- pass to guide him, resolved to find the party, and pilot them safely home- which he did. Few men, over sixty years of age, would volunteer such an arduous service on behalf of persons in whom they were not especially inter- ested.
It may with truth be said of him, that he was one of the best, most useful and public spirited citizens that Burlington ever had. He retired from business about seven years before his death, which occurred February 24, 1854, at the ripe age of eighty-four years. The Free Press, in noticing his death, said :-
" During a long residence in Burlington, Mr. Howard was found ever ready, by his counsel, advice, and purse, to contribute to its prosperity, as well as to the happiness of all around him; and his demise, even at his advanced age, leaves a gloom upon many who were familiarly and intimately acquainted with him."
His wife, Hannah Earl, born at Dartmouth, Mass., came of a sturdy and vigorous New England stock, and was the fourth in lineal descent from Philip Sherman, who settled in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, in 1637. A grant of 200 acres of land to him in that township bears date December 10, 1639. She was a very estimable lady, and lived to the age of ninety-three years, retaining, to a remarkable degree, her faculties, both of mind and body. She died in 1865, bearing to her grave the love and esteem of all who knew her. An aunt of hers, the mother of the late Benjamin Sherman, of Peru, N. Y., attained the great age of 104 years.
Mr. Howard left two daughters. The youngest, Catharine, is the wife of Mr. Amos C. Spear, and mother of Mrs. Julia Howard Spear. The eldest, Miss Hannah Louisa, has recently become well-known by her liberality in giving $5,000 to the Home for Destitute Children, to pay off debts which were pressing upon that institution, and for the erection, very recently, of a beautiful gothic chapel, of stone, in Lake View Cemetery, for public use.
He had four sons, the eldest of whom, Sion Earl, was long known in Bur- lington as a merchant, and who accumulated a handsome fortune, and died in 1866. The third son, Sidney Smith, died June 30, 1839, aged thirty-three years. The other two sons, Daniel Dyer and John Purple, in early life went. to New York city to seek their fortune, depending on their brains and hands. alone. After various smaller undertakings, they had the foresight and bold- ness to lease for a term of twenty years, a block of buildings on the west side of Broadway, a little above the City Hall Park, and to transform it into an extensive hotel, fitted up and furnished with an elegance extraordinary for that time. This was the first up-town hotel of the first-rate, and in this respect these brothers were enterprising pioneers, and by their liberal management, 10.
-
146
TOWN AND CITY OF BURLINGTON.
careful and courteous attention to every want of their guests, made the Irving Hotel for many years the most popular in New York, and they retired there- from with over half a million dollars.
The character of the brothers differed widely,-Daniel D. contributed to the foundation of this fortune by his enterprising spirit, which doubtless led to the establishment of the "Irving House," and by his genial nature, which made him a great favorite with all who frequented the hotel. John Purple was more conservative, inheriting, with his father's strong good sense, his keen insight into impostures and shams of whatever sort. He never could be entrapped into visionary and worthless speculation, and was, for these reasons, a safe and successful financier, and to him was wisely entrusted, by his brother Daniel, the management of their joint fortune. It is said of him that he never made a mistake in investing money, and for about thirty years this fortune has been rolling up under his wise care until it is now counted by millions.
Daniel D. died at Geneva, Switzerland, in 1871, aged seventy years, leav- ing a daughter, Fanny, the wife of Dr. Theodore Evans, of Paris.
John Purple Howard never married, nor had he in youth a college education ; but this deficiency his quick intelligence has fully remedied, by his long resi- dence in New York. his intercourse with cultivated people, and his extensive travel in all parts of the world. He visits Burlington frequently, and cher- ishes an affectionate interest in the town where he was born, June 3, IS14, and where he passed his early years. This interest is proven by the great liberality with which he has disbursed, and is still disbursing, his fortune here. Passing over many smaller gifts to Burlington, such as ornamental fountains in its parks, improvements in Lake View Cemetery, and liberal subscriptions to its charitable and public enterprises, it is worthy of note that he erected the beautiful gothic chapel attached to the Episcopal church, at a cost of over $10,000; that, in ISSI, he gave to the Home for Destitute Children the splendid Opera House Block, erected at a cost of over $100,000; and that he is now engaged in the patriotic work of erecting a statue of Gen. La Fayette, by that eminent artist, J. Q. A. Ward, upon the grounds of the University. whose corner stone was laid by LaFayette, in 1825, which will cost about $30,000, and confer upon his native town the honor of having the only statue in this country erected to the memory of the noble Frenchman ; that he gave his check for $50,000.00 to the University, in 1881, to found a professorship. and for other purposes ; and that he is now rebuilding and enlarging the University buildings, at a cost of about $50,000.00 more. By such benefac- tions, he has entitled himself to the esteem and gratitude of the city and State, and has earned for his name an honorable immortality by associating it indissolubly with the history and prosperity of the University of Vermont. whose foundations were laid with the organization of the State, by the Allens, the Chittendens, and their compatriots, upon the fundamental truth that education and intelligence go hand and hand with liberty and good
147
TOWN AND CITY OF BURLINGTON.
government ; and until this truth is forgotten, the University will ever stand as the crowning glory of the city and of Vermont.
John N. Pomeroy, who died in July, 1881. was, at the time of his death, the oldest native resident of Burlington, having lived here since his birth, Septem- ber 29, 1792. He was born in a log house on the north side of Pearl street, just below the sight of the present residence of Mr. Henry Loomis. He was the son of Dr. John Pomeroy, an early settler of Burlington, and a phy- sician of wide practice and repute. Dr. Pomeroy built and for many years occupied the large brick house on Battery street, between Main and King streets, now owned by the estate of Patrick Cavanagh, and there the late Mr. Pomeroy spent the greater part of his childhood.
He entered the University of Vermont as a student, in August, 1805, when not quite thirteen years of age, and graduated there in 1809, delivering both an oration and a poem at commencement, and ever after, during his long life, was an active friend of that institution, and frequently aided it by liberal donations. He studied law in Burlington from 1810 to 1816, with occasional interruptions, beginning with Judge Farrand and closing with Charles Adams, Esq. In 1816, he was admitted to the Chittenden County bar, practiced law till the death of his father, in 1844, when, having thereby inherited an ample fortune, he retired from practice. His professional labors were mainly those of a collecting lawyer, in which he was active and successful, but among other important disputable cases, he was prominent in defeating the claims of cer- tain private individuals who had taken possession of portions of the City Hall Park, under leases from the town of Burlington, and he thus vindicated the sole right of the public to keep and use the same for the erection of public buildings and for a public park.
Until about 1857, Mr. Pomeroy took an active part in the municipal affairs of Burlington, always attending town meetings and participating in the debates, and exercising a large influence about public matters. He was at various times selectman, town treasurer, overseer of the poor, State's attorney, and justice of the peace for many years, and faithfullly discharged the duties of all public trusts conferred upon him ; exercising a sound and discriminating economy, with no illiberality, however, in regard to reasonable public improve- ments, and rigidly accounting for everything which came into his hands, and stoutly demanding similar action on the part of others in like positions.
He was the member from Burlington of the Constitutional Convention of 1836, which abolished the old council and established the senate, and was a prominent leader in all the actions of that body.
Elected to the council of censors, in 1848, he became secretary of the council. He there advocated, with great power and spirit, a reforin in the system of representation in the house of representatives, to correct the injustice which gives to the eleven thousand citizens of Burlington no more voice or vote in the lower House than to the one hundred inhabitants of St. George. He lived to see the principle he thus advocated adopted by every State in the ' U'nion except Vermont.
148
TOWN AND CITY OF BURLINGTON.
In 1850, Mr. Pomeroy was appointed by the President one of the board of examiners at West Point, and attended and acted in that capacity. In the same year he was appointed, by Gov. Williams, chairman of a committee of which Lieut .- Gov. Ranney and Hon. T. P. Redfield were the other members, to examine and report upon the finances of the State under a resolution of the legislature. He drew up the report of this committee, in which, as was his custom, he expressed to the legislature in earnest and vig- orous language his views, which in many respects were by no means flattering to that body. Indeed, to the very last of his long life, he was deeply inter- ested in the political affairs of the nation, preserving, to a remarkable degree, his intellectual activity on these subjects.
He was one of the original members of the Unitarian church in Burling- ton, formed in 1816, and continued such to his death. That society is greatly indebted to him, not only for wise counsel for more than sixty years, but also for many generous gifts, and he gave to that church, and the cause of religion generally, the testimony of unfailing and attentive attendance upon public worship. He was brought up to "go to meeting," as they used to call it, and it grew to be a matter of pleasure as well as principle with him to do so.
In March, 1819, he was married to Lucia Loomis, daughter of Horace Loomis, with whom he led a long and happy married life, till her death, in De- cember, 1877. They had no children of their own, but have left an adopted daughter, Mrs. Lewis Wheeler, of this city.
John Johnson was among the earliest and best known citizens of Burling- ton. He was a great-grandson of Capt. Timothy Johnson, one of the largest land-owners of Andover, Mass., who, in 1677, commanded the mounted corps organized to drive the Indians from that vicinity. Benjamin Johnson, the father of John, moved to Canterbury, N. H., where John was born, December 2, 1771. In 1790, following the example of other young men of that day, young Johnson determined to seek new fields of enterprise, and, coming to Northern Vermont, he finally located at Burlington, and entered upon the business of a land surveyor. This pursuit was at that time particularly arduous. The country was wild, hilly, unsettled and covered with dense forests, in which the snow lay in great depths late in the season, and the surveying was prosecuted often during the winter months. Mr Johnson laid out most of the town- ships of the northern part of the State, and the accuracy of the records pre- pared by him, have proved of great value in determining lines and boundaries, and adjusting disputed titles.
He was appointed, in 1812, surveyor-general of Vermont, and was select- ed by the commissioners, under the treaty of Ghent, to take charge, on the part of the United States, of the surveys of our northern boundary. At the conclusion of the last war with England, he was appointed a government com- missioner to examine and adjust claims of citizens for transportation, forage, etc., furnished to the United States army on our northern frontier.
Besides his acknowledged skill as a land surveyor, his aptness for mathe-
149
TOWN AND CITY OF BURLINGTON.
matical and mechanical studies led him to give attention to civil and mechan- ical engineering, and although his conclusions were the result of his own unaided studies and investigations, his manuscripts upon building, bridge con- struction, hydraulics, etc., evince great care, intelligent study, careful observa- tion, judgment, and engineering skill. He furnished, or revised, the plans for nearly all the mechanical structures of any magnitude in Northern Ver- mont during this period, and his superior skill in the planning and erection of flouring and saw-mills and bridges, gave him a wide and favorable reputa- tion not confined to his own State.
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.