USA > Vermont > Chittenden County > Gazetteer and business directory of Chittenden County, Vermont, for 1882-83 > Part 18
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Mr. Johnson was ever ready to extend his counsel and assistance to young men who were qualifying themselves for mechanical pursuits, and it was his endeavor to impress upon them the great benefits of study and thorough observation to qualify them for success in their chosen profession.
In his death, which-occurred April 30, 1842, at the age of seventy-one years, Vermont lost a man widely known and highly esteemed, and Burlington a citizen who will long be remembered, both for his professional skill and many virtues. Of Mr. Johnson's family representatives, were his eldest son, Hon. Edwin F. Johnson, an eminent civil engineer, and author of many valuable scien- tific papers, the pioneer of the Northern Pacific Railroad route, and subsequently the engineer-in-chief of that road, and at the time of his death, in 1872, its consulting engineer. His third son, Anson S. Johnson, still living, a leading and successful farmer in South Burlington, and his son-in-law, Joseph D. Allen, whose reputation as a civil engineer was among the first of his profes- sion, and who, at the time of his death, in 1878, had been a resident of Bur- lington for thirty-six years.
Henry Baldwin Stacy, long known as one of Vermont's successful journal- ists, was born in Orange, Vt., August 23, 1804, the youngest, save one, of a family of twelve children. His father was a farmer of limited means, and his early training was in a school where the practice of industry and economy was not theoretical, but a matter of stern necessity ; and this training, where the labor of the head and the hands must necessarily unite to obtain food and clothing for the body, as well as development and growth to the mind, was his capital with which to start life.
At the age of fourteen he left the farm and went to Bennington to learn the printer's trade in the office of the Vermont Gazette. He had previously only a common school education, but was a ready scholar, possessing a quick, penetrating mind, rare powers of investigation, and had within him the germ of self-culture, which developed itself more and more through his life. He subsequently worked at his trade in Middlebury and Montreal, and came to Burlington, July 27, 1827, to be a journeyman for Luman Foote, who had just started the Burlington Free Press in the interest of the "National Republican Party," and in support of the administration of John Quincy Adams. He took sole charge of the mechanical work until January 28, 1828, when he became associated with Mr. Foote as editor and publisher
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In 1832, Mr. Stacy purchased and took entire control of the establishment, the first issue of the paper in his name alone being on the 20th of July, and he shortly after erected the present Free Press building, the upper stories being occupied as his residence. He conducted the paper until 1846, when he sold the establishment to D. W. C. Clarke, devoting himself afterwards to agricultural pursuits. He was an earnest politician of the old Whig party, and afterwards an equally earnest Republican. Being a strong and ready writer, the Free Press, under his control, was always influential and respected.
He represented the town in the legislature during the years 1843, '44, '51, and '56, the last time with special reference to the rebuilding of the State House. He was an influential legislator, having a strong working influence without the House, as well as legislative influence within. His speaking was nervous and often eloquent, his sentences being usually short, animating, and full of life. He was also a selectman of Burlington six years, from 1847 to 1852, and as such was always a friend of improvement and a careful guardian of the interests of the town. In 1861, he accepted an appointment as United States consul at Revel, Russia. As a consul, his reports showed him to be an observant student of affairs, and a patriotic and faithful public servant. He remained abroad until November, 1868, when he returned to visit his family and home. Meanwhile, under the new administration, another consul having been appointed to Revel, Mr. Stacy returned to close up the affairs of his consulate as well as his own private affairs, sailing from New York direct to Hamburg, May 4, 1869, intending to return home in August. He arrived in Revel May 27th, and was suffering from the effects of a cold con- tracted while crossing the Baltic Sea, which resulted in an inflammation of the lungs, from which he died after an illness of nine days, on June 18, 1869.
Cornelius Peter Van Ness, the third son of Peter Van Ness, was born at Kinderhook, N. Y., January 26, 1782, and immigrated to Vermont in 1806, locating at St. Albans, and subsequently, in 1809, removed to Burlington, where, with occasional intermissions, while engaged in public affairs, he con- tinued the practice of his profession, the law, for twenty years. The same year of his removal to Burlington, he was appointed by President Madison to the office of U. S. district attorney for the district of Vermont. He subse- quently held the offices of collector for the port of Burlington, and commis- sioner to settle the national boundaries after the treaty of Ghent. In 1818, he was elected representative to the general assembly, and re-elected during the three following years.
During the last year of his legislative term, in 1821, his office of commis- sioner having ceased by the disagreement of the British and American com- missioners, he was appointed chief justice of the State, which office he held until two years later, when he withdrew from it to be placed in the executive chair of the State. He held the office of governor three years, having been twice re-elected without opposition, and declining further service in 1826. All of these offices he filled with distinguished ability and eminent success.
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On the accession of General Jackson to the Presidential chair, in 1829, Mr. VanNess received the distinguished appointment of minister to Spain, a post which he continued for ten years, and the duties of which he fulfilled with his accustomed ability and success. He returned to Burlington in 1840, and in 1841, took up his residence in New York city. He died at the Girard House, in Philadelphia, while on a journey from New York to Washington, Decem- ber 15, 1852.
Nathan B. Haswell, a son of Anthony Haswell who was well known as one of the first journalists and printers in Vermont, at Bennington, was born at that place January 20, 1786. He entered the law office of Jonathan Robin- son, in 1800, and continued his studies until 1804, when he came to Bur- lington to attend the University. Soon after, while contemplating a thorough collegiate course, news came of the destruction of his father's house and printing office, by fire, causing young Haswell to leave the University and engage in active business at once. In 1805, he received from Jabez Penni- man, collector of customs, the office of inspector at Burlington, which office he held, honorably discharging its duties during the embargo, until 1809, when he resigned.
In 1812 and 1813, Mr. Haswell was the issuing commissary for distributing army rations. He was also a portion of the time the public store keeper, and also superintended an inventory of the public property in Burlington. He was appointed orderly sergeant in the corps of exempts formed at Bur- lington during the war of 1812. When the British, under Col. Murray, made an incursion into this section, and from their galleys fired several shots into the town, he was active in assisting Capt. Chappell to meet the enemy. In 1814, he forwarded troops, provisions, etc., to the army at Plattsburgh. From 1818 to 1836, he held the offices of clerk of the county and supreme court, notary public, master in chancery, etc. In 1836 and '37, he represented the town in the legislature, and during the same year was appointed U. S. agent to build the breakwater and to superintend the cleaning of the channel between the island of North and South Hero. He was also a Mason of high degree. During the last few years of Mr. Haswell's life, his constitution became enfeebled by frequent and severe attacks of illness. A last and fatal one occurred during an absence to the West on business. He died at Quincy, IlL, June 6, 1855.
Timothy Follett, who did so much for the Rutland Branch of the C. V. R. R., and who was its first president, was born at Bennington, January 5, 1793. At the age of ten years, by the death of his father, he was left with two sisters to the care of a widowed mother with but slender means, who, to educate her children, removed to Burlington. In 1806, he entered the University, and was admitted to a baccalaureate degree, August 1, 1810, and immediately afterward entered the law office of his brother-in-law, Hon. William A. Gris- wold, of Danville, where he remained until June, 1812, when he entered up- on a course of law lectures at the school of Judges Reeves and Gould, at
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Litchfield, Conn., and was admitted to the bar of Chittenden County in Feb- ruary, 1814. Ardently devoted to the profession he had chosen, he pursued it diligently, securing a success quite equal to his expectation, and a reputa- tion satisfactory to his friends. In December, 1819, he was appointed, by Judges Doolittle and Brayton, of the supreme court, to the office of State's attorney, then vacant by the death of Sanford Gadcomb, Esq., and elected to the same office by the legislatures of 1820, '21 and'22. In 1823, he was elected judge of the county court, and his professional life continued until a pulmonary complaint threatening him, he abandoned the practice of the law to engage in merchantile pursuits, where he was quite successful. In 1830, he was elected to represent the town in the legislature, and again in 1831 and 1832. He died October 12, 1857.
Zadock Thompson was the second son of Capt. Barnabas Thompson, of Bridgewater, Vt., where he was born, May 23, 1796. His father was a farmer of limited means, and as young Thompson showed an ability for study, the Rev. Walter Chapin, of Woodstock, took notice of his studious nature, received him into his own family, and assisted him in procuring an education. In 1819, he entered the University of Vermont, and was graduated with honor in 1823, at the age of twenty-seven years. The following year, September 4th, he was married to Phoebe Boyce. His career as an author commenced in 1819. In 1824, he published his Gazetteer of Vermont, a duodecimo of 312 pages. In 1825, he was chosen a tutor in the University of Vermont, and during the same year published the Youth's Assistant in Theoretical and Practical Arithmetic. In 1828, he edited a magazine entitled The Iris and Burlington Literary Gazette, and in 1832, The Green Mountain Repository, both of which were published at Burlington. In 1838, he removed from Burlington to Hatley, C. E., and there continued his literary labors until 1837, when he returned to this town. In the meantime, having been pursu- ing theological studies, he was admitted to the pastorate of the Protestant Episcopal Church, May 27, 1835. After his return to Burlington he engaged in teaching in the Vermont Episcopal Institute, and in preparing his National, Civil, and Statistical History of Vermont, which was published in 1843. In 1845, and for the three succeeding years, he was assistant State geologist. In 1851, he was appointed to the professorship of chemistry and natural history in the University of Vermont. In 1853, he published an appendix to his history of Vermont, containing the results of his later investigations, and during the same year, was appointed State naturalist, continuing in that office until his death, which was occasioned by ossification of the heart, January 19, 1856.
George T. Edmonds, born in Richmond, Vt., February 1, 1828, came to Burlington to reside in 1851. He received a common school education and enjoyed the instruction of a private tutor, but never graduated from college. Turning his attention to the study of law, he was admitted to the barin 1849, and for a long time devoted himself exclusively to the legal profession. In
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1854-'55, and in 1857, 1858, and 1859, he was elected to the legislature, serving three years as speaker. In 1861 and '62, he was elected to the State senate, officiating as president pro tem. of that body during three years. On the breaking out of the war he was chosen a member of the convention which met to form a coalition between the Republicans and War Democrats, and drew up the resolutions which were adopted in that convention as the basis of union for the country. On the death of Solomon Foote he was ap- pointed in his place in the United States senate, taking his seat in April, 1866, and the appointment was confirmed by the legislature. Since that time he has been constantly in that body. His honorable and successful course during these years is too well known to require special comment here. By reason of his great sagacity in discovering frauds and jobbery concealed in bills brought before congress, and which he has unhesitatingly denounced, he has well earned the title of "The Watch Dog of the Senate."
Phineas Loomis, from Sheffield, Mass., first came to Burlington in 1787. He shortly after returned to Massachusetts, and brought his family here, consisting of three sons and three daughters, in 1789. He first built a log house about where Henry Loomis's residence now stands, and in 1790, built the old "Phineas Loomis house," on Pearl street. He carried on the tanning business in the old stone building just opposite Mr. H. Loomis's, on Pearl street, and continued the same until the early part of this century, when his son Horace succeeded him, carrying on the business until 1832, when it was taken by his cousin, Edward Loomis, now of Burlington. Phineas died in 1811, and Horace in 1865. Warren Loomis became a lawyer of marked ability, a graduate of the University, and died here in 1828. Luther Loomis, the last of the sons of Phineas, was for many years a merchant in Burlington, his old store having stood about one hundred feet west of the Henry Loomis house, and was torn down in 1868. He died in 1844, aged sixty-three years. Luther had two sons, both of whom are now living, one in Chicago, and Mr. Henry Loomis, a well-known citizen of Burlington.
Benjamin Taft came to Burlington about the year 1800, immigrating thither from Providence, R. I., in the winter of that year, occupying six weeks on the journey. There were then but few houses in the town, and no bridge over the Winooski. Mr. Taft located upon the bank of this stream, building his dwelling where Mrs. Joseph Harrington now resides. Here he engaged in the foundry business, and also manufactured plows, agricultural implements, edged tools, etc., using the first trip-hammer ever introduced into the county. He reared a family of five children, and died early in the present century. His widow subsequently became Mrs. Eldridge Washburn, and lived to the advanced age of eighty-six years.
Eleazer H. Deming, born at Litchfield, Conn., in 1785, came to Burling- ton about the year 1800, and here married Miss Fanny Follett, in 1808. He early engaged in mercantile pursuits, locating where his daughter, Mrs. Tucker, now resides, on Pearl street, and where he continued in business
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until his death, in 1828, aged forty-three years. He was an active, energetic business man, and influential in all the improvements of the town. He was emphatically a self-made man. his mother having died at his birth, and his- father when he was a mere child. From that time forward, without means or family influence, young Deming worked his way to affluence, winning the highest esteem of his townsmen and friends. Of his eight children, one daughter only, Mrs. Tucker, is now living.
John B. Hollenbeck, one of Burlington's oldest citizens, and a veteran of the war of 1812, was born at Richmond, Vt., February 11, 1792. Removing to Charlotte when fifteen years of age, he entered a store as clerk, and re- mained there in that capacity and in business for himself until 1824, when he came to Burlington, and has since resided here. Owing to an accident, in December, 1878, by which his hip was broken, he has since been unable to walk. Possessed of energy and integrity, Mr. Hollenbeck won a warm place in the hearts of his townsmen, whom he served as justice of the peace for a period of over forty years. He now resides on George street, enjoying good bodily health, except the lameness mentioned, at the advanced age of ninety years.
Ebenezer Brown, or Major Brown, as he is more familiarly remembered, a genial, whole-souled gentleman, was born at Old Stamford, Conn., September II, 1770, and came to Burlington in 1792, with his wife, Parmelia Ferris, whom he married in 1788. A carpenter and joiner by trade, he built most of the early houses in Burlington, and when the old church at the head of Church street was erected, subscribed $100.00 and worked it out. Subse- quently he bought a farm and erected a hotel, becoming a popular landlord, continuing the business until his death, January 19, 1839.
Frederick Smith, now seventy years of age, is one of the old residents of the town, having come here from Williston, in 1827, to act as an accountant in the office of the glass company, and subsequently became an owner. He has always taken an active part in promoting the improvements of the town, having been a prominent business man, though now retired. In 1866, he married Miss Mary A. Foot, of St. Albans, and has had a family of eight children,-four sons and four daughters,-of whom three daughters and one son are now living, the latter, Charles, a merchant of Burlington.
John Van Sicklen, Sr., came to Burlington when there was but one house where the city now is, owned by Gideon King. He reared a family of ten children, seven daughters and three sons. Charlotte, the ninth and only liv- ing child, was born April 12, 1805, married Amasa Isham in 1825, and now resides in Shelburne.
Ira Shattuck, from Winsor, Vt., came to Burlington in 1836. He at first engaged in hotel keeping, as proprietor of the American Hotel, and followed that business with fair success for six years, when he, with others, established a line of stages from Montreal to Boston. The completion of the railroad, however, ended this business, leaving him and his partner, Mahlon Cottrill,
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with their entire outfit, including 200 horses, on their hands. He then assisted his son in the hardware business, without any direct interest in the concern until the death of the son, about seven years since.
Captain William Anderson, one of the oldest steamboat captains on the lake, was born at Cazenovia, N. Y., March 13, 1805. In 1831, he commenced his life work as captain of the McDonough. In 1836, he removed to Bur- lington, and has since resided there, only giving up the lake when obliged to, on account of rheumatism, in 1877. He is now, at the age of seventy-seven years, enjoying excellent health except for that affliction. He was married in 1835, and has reared a family of ten children, four of whom, three daughters and a son, are now living.
Dr. B. S. Nichols, one of the principal owners of the Pioneer Shops, occu- pies the homestead of Timothy Follett, built by Mr. Follett in 1840, on the corner of College and Champlain streets. Mr. Nichols was a practicing phy- sician for nine years subsequent to 1845, when he engaged in the manufac- ture of iron at Fair Haven and Middlebury, and is still interested in the works at East Middlebury. In 1865, he came to Burlington and engaged, with the Burlington Manufacturing Co., in the same business, and, in 1868, commenced his present enterprise.
Edwin Hard, another old citizen of Burlington, was born at Salisbury, Vt., in 1796. In 1818, he married Miss Eleanor Butler, with whom he has lived a happy married life of sixty-four years.
Nathan Smith, one of the early settlers of Burlington, was a veteran of the Revolution. In 1785, he came up the lake in a canoe, and assisted in sur- veying Moretown, Middlesex, and other towns, and in 1786, located in Bur- lington, upon the farm now owned by D. Fisk, corner road 21 and 22. He was a captain of militia, and kept one of the first hotels opened in the town. He had a family of six children, two sons and four daughters. One of his sons, Pierpont E., now resides on road 20, at the age of eighty-one years. He has held many of the town trusts. John E., a grandson of Nathan, has been clerk and treasurer of South Burlington ever since it was divided from the city.
Abijah Warner, a distant relative to Col Seth Warner of Revolutionary fame, came to Burlington in 1808, from Fitzwilliam, N. H., locating on road 29, upon the farm now owned by A. S. Warner. There is now standing upon the farm an apple tree planted by him the year he settled here, and is conse- quently seventy-three years of age.
Moses Farnsworth, from Dorset, Vt., came to Burlington in 1800, and located upon the farm now owned by George Wheeler. He had a family of five children, only one of whom now lives in the town.
James A. Thacher, residing on road 33, is a grandson of Amasa Thacher, an early settler in Williston. His great-grandmother, the mother of Amasa, was Polly VanSicklen, the second child of John VanSicklen, born at Castle- ton, Vt., while the family were on their journey from Long Island to Bur- lington, in 1788. They located upon the farm now owned by Edward Van-
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Sicklen, and which has never since passed out of the possession of the Van- Sicklen family.
Jason Comstock settled in Burlington at an early date, and his son, George Comstock, was born in 1797, in a log house near the present site of J. A. Thacher's residence. His son, A. B. Comstock, now resides on a portion of the old homestead, and has held many of the town offices.
Sarah H. Hathaway, the only woman in Chittenden County who shared the fortunes of war during the late Rebellion, was born in 1840. In 1861, she was married to A. B. Fay, then a volunteer in Co. G, 2d Regt., Vt. Vols., and soon after left with him for the seat of war, and for two years shared her husband's hardships and dangers, doing a noble work in the hospitals. She was present at the first and second battles of Bull Run, and was in the midst of the shelling at White Oak Swamps, was at Fair Oaks, Malvern Hill, and other battles. During three months of the two years she saw the face of no white woman.
The Stuart family, of Burlington, are of Scotch descent, their ancestors having come to America at an early day in its history. Of those who came to the United States, one settled in Maine, and another located in the town of Norwalk, Conn. The latter, Mr. Nathan Stuart, was the father of four sons, one of whom was killed by lightning at the age of thirteen, while the other three removed with their father to the town of Lanesboro, Mass., where father and sons were proprietors of an extensive mercantile business, in con- nection with a large farming interest. The youngest son, Thaddeus, married in Lanesboro, where his only child, Eleazar, was born, March 15, 1786. In 1787, the entire family came to Hinesburgh, where Thaddeus opened the first store in town, and was also extensively engaged in the cattle trade. About the year 1798, while in the city of New York to buy goods, Mr. Stewart at- tended a session of the Methodist conference, which was then being held there, and for the first time in his life heard the gospel of a free and a full salvation preached. As it appeared to him in accordance with the Bible dictrine of salvation, he immediately presented to the conference the claims of Vermont, and invited the preachers to visit the State.
In compliance with his request, two preachers, Michael and Samuel Coat, came, residing at his house for a month, and arranged for preaching in various places, thus sowing the first seeds of Methodism in the Green Mountain State. Mr. Stuart was one of the six persons who formed the first Methodist class in Vermont. He died in Hinesburgh, January 30, 1809.
After the decease of his father, Eleazer removed to Burlington, in March, 1816. He cleared the timber from a space of land large enough upon which to set a house and barn, and commenced life in the woods, toiling to reclaim and improve what is now know as the Stuart farm. As his father was the instrument of introducing Methodism into Hinesburgh, so Eleazer Stuart was the means of planting a Methodist church in Burlington. There was a Methodist class formed at the house now owned by Mr. John S. Hefflon, in 1816. Mr. Stuart was chosen its leader, and he and his wife formed two of
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its seven members. Eleazer died September 4, 1849, his wife surviving him until May 28, 1868.
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