Gazetteer of Orange County, Vt., 1762-1888, Part 21

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836- comp. cn
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., The Syracuse journal company, printers
Number of Pages: 836

USA > Vermont > Orange County > Gazetteer of Orange County, Vt., 1762-1888 > Part 21

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Judge Niles was elected a judge of the Supreme Court in October, 1784, and received two subsequent elections, under the law providing for a Supreme Court of five judges. In 1787 he was elected one of the three judges of the Supreme Court under the act of that year reducing the number of the judges from five to three. He was one of the first two representatives to Congress from Vermont, commencing his first term of service in December, 1791, and ending his second term March 3, 1795. His only colleague was Hon. Israel Smith, of Rutland, who was afterwards governor of the state in 1807 and '08. He represented his town in the General Assembly of the state in the years 1784, '85, 1800, '01, '02, '12, '13 and '14; was speaker of the House of Rep- resentatives in 1784 and '85; was a member of the Council of Censors in 1799; in 1791 and 1814 he was an active member of the Constitutional con- vention ; in 1785, 1803, '04, '05, '06 and '07, he was a member of the Council, and in 1803 and 1813 was presidential elector from this state. In 1794 he received some votes for governor. He was elected a member of the board of trustees of Dartmouth college in 1793, and was an active and influential mem- ber as long as he remained in the board.

It will be seen that Judge Niles was a very busy man, yet he found time to attend to his practice as a lawyer, and for twelve years he preached on the Sabbath in his own house or in other private dwellings.

He married for his first wife a daughter of the Rev. Dr. Joseph Lathrop, of West Springfield, Mass., and for his second wife Elizabeth Watson, daugh- ter of William Watson, Esq., of Plymouth, Mass., a lady who corresponded with the most eminent philosophers and theologians of England. He had three children by each wife. The first born of the second wife was the Hon. Nathaniel Niles, who was long in the service of the United States as charge

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d'affairs at Sardinia, secretary of legation under Gen. Cass at the court of France, and acting plenipotentiary at the court of Austria.

William Niles was a son of Hon. Nathaniel Niles, and graduated at Dart- mouth college. He was by profession a lawyer, and was admitted to the Orange county bar at the June term, 1800, but he did not follow his profes- sion for any great length of time, as he did not seem adapted to it. He was register of probate from 1806 to 1822, and member of the Constitutional con- vention in 1836.

James H. Smith appears in Walton's Register for the year 1850 as an attorney in West Fairlee.

Charles Collins was a young man of quick perception and a logical mind. As a student at the academy he was a ready scholar and a good writer. He was born in Corinth, in December, 1832, and was the third in a family of five children. His parents were Amos P. and Ruth Collins. His father was a farmer and lived at West Corinth. In the summer of 1839 or 1840 Amos P. Collins, while assisting in raising the frame of a grist-mill at that place, fell from the higher timbers of the frame to the rocks below, and was taken up insensible, his scull having been fractured. He lived only two or three days. Charles was at this time six or seven years old. Soon after this sad event he went to live with his uncle, for whom he was named, Charles Collins, Esq., of Corinth, in whose family he remained two or three years attending school summer and winter. During the next few years, and until he was fourteen years old, he was with his mother most of the time, attending district school winters and employed on the farm summers. He was then apprenticed to a furniture manufac- turer in Chelsea, of the name of Tinker, for four years, to learn that trade. He remained there through his term of apprenticeship, working in the shop nine months in the year and attending school three months in the winter. It was doubtless while at Chelsea, the county seat of Orange county, with the occasional opportunities he enjoyed of visiting the court-room during the trial of causes, that his mind was turned toward the law as the field of his life work. At all events, from the time of the expiration of his apprenticeship, his ener- gies were bent upon securing an education sufficient to enable him to enter upon the study of law. He was almost entirely dependent upon his own exertions for securing the means to prosecute his studies, having inherited but a small amount of property from his father. Consequently the next few years were spent alternately at school and working as a journeyman at his trade. He attended school at Bradford academy in 1850 and'51 and in 1855 and '56. In 1853 he went to North Craftsbury, Vt., and worked in the furni- ture shops of Alvah French and J. W. Stevens for nearly or quite two years. He had already commenced the study of law, and pursued it as he found opportunity, in the intervals between his labors and his schools. When he was at Bradford, the last time, he taught district school one or two winters. He studied law with Robert McK. Ormsby, Esq., in Bradford, and with the firm

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of Ormsby & Farnham after that co-partnership was formed, and was admit- ted to the Orange county bar as a resident of Newbury, June 25, 1857. He soon after took up his abode in West Fairlee and practiced his profes- sion there until his death, which occurred December 23, 1861. He was to have had an appointment under General Stephen Thomas in the Eighth Vermont Regiment, but he died before the regiment was mustered, in Feb- ruary, 1862. His death was quite sudden. The circumstances of his demise as related by his mother are as follows: He was attending a justice trial somewhere in Vershire as counsel for one of the parties to the case, and some- time between supper and the close of the trial, near midnight, he had an at- tack of bilious cholic, a trouble to which he had been subject from boyhood, but which usually yielded to such simple remedies as his mother administered. He rode home to the hotel at West Fairlee in the cold, suffering severe pain. A young physician, an intimate friend of his, was called to attend him. After administering such remedies as he thought the case demanded without bring - ing relief, the doctor commenced to bathe his bowels in chloroform to relieve the intense pain. The patient soon became unconscious and remained so until death ensued about ten o'clock the next forenoon. In the meantime, early in the morning, his mother had been sent for and other physicians called in, and every effort made to arouse him, but without avail. A post mor- tem examination disclosed the seat of the pain to have been in the bowels, a small portion of which was somewhat inflamed, but this was not thought sufficient to have caused death. It was believed he died from the effects of the chloroform, though no blame was attached to the attending physician. Mr. Collins was a young man of unusual promise, and had he lived would have stood high in his chosen profession.

Edward V. R. Evans was born in Piermont, N. H., November 23, 1837. His early years were spent at home in the midst of a large family circle. At the age of sixteen he entered the academy at Bradford, with a love for and a habit of study already formed, and with the purpose of making the law his profession. He fitted for college at Bradford and entered Dartmouth in 1857. He did not complete his college course, but resolved to enter upon the study of his chosen profession at once, and accordingly entered the law office of Messrs. Ormsby & Farnham in Bradford, with whom he remained until 1859, when he entered the Albany Law school and graduated in May, 1860, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He returned to Ver- mont and immediately commenced practice in Groton, in Caledonia county,. but soon removed to East Corinth for a time and thence to West Fairlee, where he reniained as long as he continued to practice. For reasons satis- factory to himself Mr. Evans abandoned the practice of law in 1864 and entered the wholesale grocery store of Birchard & Torrey, State street, Bos- ton, as a salesman, where he very soon commanded a good salary. He re- mained with them until 1871, when he became connected with the whole- sale grocery and importing firm of Thomas Dana & Co., as traveling salesman,

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with whom he remained for fourteen years, or until the day of his death. Mr. Evans died suddenly at his home in Chelsea, Mass., on the morning of February 23, 1885.

He left surviving him a widow and three sons, the eldest of whom is a graduate of the United States Naval academy at Annapolis, Md., and is now an officer in the naval service of the United States. Mr. Evans's widow was Lucy Emeline, eldest daughter of Hon. George P. Baldwin, of Bradford, and they were married September 5, 1861.

In character and spirit he was a christain, forgiving, honest and true, fond of home and family to a very marked degree, simple in his tastes, strictly moral in his habits, and benevolent in his disposition. He made many friends.

WILLIAMSTOWN.

James Lynde was the oldest but one of a family of ten children, while his brother, Hon. John Lynde, still living (1887) at Williamstown, is the youngest but one and the only survivor of the family. James was born April 21, 1791, and died at Williamstown, June 25, 1834, unmarried. He graduatedat Dart- mouth college in 1810, and studied law with Judge Prentiss, of Montpelier. He settled in practice at Williamstown about 1818, and continued to live there until his death. Mr. Lynde was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court at the August ter n, 1821, held at Chelsea. " He was a man of power- ful intellect, but suffered greatly from a lingering illness that frustrated all of his business efforts." He was at one time town clerk of Williamstown, but what other places of trust or honor he held cannot here be stated.

Daniel Durkee was admitted to the Orange county bar at the June term, 1818, and remained in Williamstown the next year.

John J. Mornahan was admitted to the Orange county bar as of Williams- town, July 12, 1866.

Dana Miller was born in Dummerston, Windham county, Vt., practiced law for a time in Williamstown about 1818, then removed to Bellows Falls, Vt., and there practiced his profession, finally removing to Ohio, where he died.

Robbins Dinsmore studied law with Father Nutting, at Randolph, succeeded Mr. James Lynde as an attorney in Williamstown, and remained there as late as 1839. He represented the town in 1838, and was clerk of Orange County Court in 1841. Mr. Dinsmore removed from Williamstown, after living there about five years, to Snowsville, a village in the township of Braintree, in Orange county, and thence to Lowell, Mass. He was admitted to the Su- , preme Court at its session in Orange county, February 27, 1844.

Elijah Paine* was born in Brooklyn, Conn., January 21, 1757, was son of Seth Paine, of Brooklyn, and grandson of Seth Paine, of Pomfret, Conn. While fitting

* From the " Governor and Council," edited by Hon. E. P. Walton.

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for college he abandoned his studies to serve for several months in the army of the Revolution. He was graduated at Harvard university in 1781, and after studying the law for three years he came to Vermont in 1784, purchasing first a cultivated farm in Windsor, but in June of that year he commenced the opening of a large farm in Williamstown, which soon became, and through his life remained, his homestead. Notwithstanding his services in public offices from 1786 until his death in 1842, the most of his time, talents and money were given to his farm, manufactures, various public improvements, and educational and benevolent institutions, in all which he was foremost in Central Vermont, and an example for like-minded men everywhere. He was honored with the degree of Doctor of Laws by two universities, Harvard and Vermont, and was a member of several societies for the advancement of arts and sciences. He was an exemplary christian of the orthodox faith, rarely failing to attend public worship at the church in East Williamstown, four miles from his dwelling. He represented Williamstown in the General Assembly in 1787 and until 1791 ; was one of the commissioners to settle the controversy with New York in 1789-90 ; delegate and secretary in the Con- stitutional convention of 1786; member of the Council of Censors in 1792 ; judge of the Supreme Court in 1791, '92 and '93 ; and United States senator from 1795 until 1801, to which office he was re-elected, but he declined it for the purpose of accepting from President Washington the office of judge for the United States district of Vermont. This office he held from 1801 until a few weeks before his death, which occurred on the 28th of April, 1842. The writer remembers him as a tall and well-proportioned gentleman, dressed in the style of President Washington, of grave countenance and dignified bear- ing, scornful to none, but affable to all. In June, 1824, he delivered the ad- dress of welcome to Gen. LaFayette, at Montpelier, to which the General re- sponded. These venerable and patriotic men were born in the same year, and both were associates of Washington. Judge Paine married Sarah Porter, daughter of John Porter, of Plymouth, N. H., and had four sons and four daughters. All of the sons, who reached middle age, were distinguished for abilities and public usefulness. Hon. Charles Paine, who was governor of Vermont from 1841 to 1843, was one of his sons.

Roger Griswold Bulkley came into this state from Colchester, Conn., where he was born May 6, 1786. After being in Yale college a while he com- menced the study of law in his native state, but completed his studies in the office of Charles Bulkley at Montpelier. He was admitted to the bar in Orleans county, August 8, 1809, and came immediately to Williamstown and opened an office, where he remained until the War of 1812, when he enlisted and served through the war, holding at last the warrant of a non-commis- sioned officer. His home a part of the time during the war was in Washing- ton and until 1817. After that date he moved on to a farm in Duxbury, but practiced law some in Moretown, into which town he finally moved and re-

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mained until his death, February 2, 1872. He was an active member of the Constitutional convention of 1857.

The following gentlemen do not appear to have lived or practiced in the county, although they were admitted to the bar in Orange county at the dates set opposite their names, viz .:-

Titus Hutchinson, Woodstock, June term, 1798; Jeduthan Wilson, Or- ford, N. H., December term, 1806 ; Aaron Lovel to Supreme Court, August term, 1807; Denison Smith, Barre (then of Orange county), December term, 1808; John Rogers, Orford, N. H., December term, 1813 ; George M. Phelps, December term, 1816; Peter Severance, June term, 1817 ; Ninean Bolton, Hanover, N. H., December term, 1820; Leonard Wilcox, Orford, N. H., December term, 1821 ; Barzillai Davenport, june term, 1822 ; Enos Fletcher, June term, 1822 ; Josiah Q. Gallop, Woodstock, December term, 1823 ; Samuel Cortland, Haverhill, N. H., June term, 1824 ; Samuel Mann, Orford, December term, 1824; Benjamin F. Adams, Randolph (?), June term, 1838; Isaac T. Morgan, June term, 1848.

THE POOR.

Those who from age, infirmity or otherwise become unable to support themselves, and are so unfortunate as to be obliged to rely upon public charity for support, are cared for, in conformity with the laws of the state, by the inhabitants of the town wherein they reside.

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

From time immemorial Connecticut river was the favorite pathway of Indian travel, and later became the great highway of the white settlers in its valley. But with the increase of population came the increase of commerce and travel, and it soon became apparent that some more convenient mode of transpor- tation must be devised than was afforded by the rude flat-boats of the Con- necticut, or by the stage lines which traversed the several turnpike systems. Accordingly, October 29, 1829, the legislatures of New Hampshire and Ver- mont passed an act incorporating the " Connecticut River Steamboat Com- pany," the charter being given to "Jonathan H. Hubbard, Frederick Peters, George D. Dalton, Isaac W. Hubbard, Edward R. Campbell, Albert G. Hatch, David H. Sumner, William Hall, James I. Cutler, Alexander Fleming, and their associates." This charter was altered, however, November 5, 1830, to the " Connecticut River Valley Steamboat Company," allowing the corpora- tion to " purchase, hold and convey real estate to the value of $20,000.00." Canals and locks were built where rapids or falls occurred, so that the Con- necticut navigation became very convenient from Hartford, Conn., to the " Fifteen Mile " falls at Dalton, N. H .. One of the canals and locks was built at Bellows Falls, one at Sumner's falls, and another at Olcott's falls. Between

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these falls, except between Sumner's and Olcott's, were located steamers, which were plied until the canal was reached, when the passengers and freight had to be transferred to the steamer waiting at the other end of the canal, though the flat-boats, rafts, etc., made through trips, using the locks.

Athough steam navigation on the Connecticut was never brought to a point of practical utility, its history begins with the history of the steamboat itself, briefly as follows: About the beginning of the century there lived two brothers Morey, Samuel and Ithamar, the former at Orford, N. H., and the latter at Fairlee,-Samuel with a remarkable genius for invention, and Ithamar a skill- ful mechanic. The universal application of steam had already been demon- strated, and among those who undertook its application to navigation was Samuel Morey. Under his direction Ithamar built a steamboat, which actu- ally navigated the waters of the Connecticut between Orford and Fairlee. Of this steamboat, which had its machinery in its bow, Samuel took a model to New York and showed it to Fulton, who was experimenting to the same end. Fulton was pleased with the work, and suggested to Morey to change the machinery to the middle of the boat, and offered him a large sum of money for his patent if he were successful. He returned to Fairlee and made the improvements suggested, and again took his model to New York, to find that Fulton had made use of his ideas and was ahead of him in getting out a pat- ent. He returned home disappointed and with a sense of injury.

The first real attempt at steamboat navigation on the Connecticut, however, was made in 1827, when the " Barnet," a strong boat, was built, and suc- ceeded, with some help, in ascending the river as far as Bellows Falls. This was her first and last trip, however, for she was taken back to Hartford, laid up, and finally broken to pieces. In 1829 a Mr. Blanchard built a boat called the " Blanchard," and another eighty feet long and fourteen feet wide, drawing only twelve or fifteen inches of water, called the "Vermont." The stroke of its piston was horizontal, and its engine of 120 horse-power. A few experimental trips were made between Bellows Falls and Barnet, but the obstacles were such that the undertaking was relinquished. The navigation company also built a steamer called the "Williams Holmes," plying from Montague to Bellows Falls, where it connected with one called the " Barnet," while one other, the " John Ledyard," came up as far as Wells River. Finally, in 1832, a boat 100 feet long, called the "Adam Duncan," was built on the banks of the Connecticut just above the mouth of Wells river. Its trial trip, widely advertised, was to occur July 4th, of that year, and a great crowd gathered to participate in the excursion to Hanover, N. H. When about a mile north of Haverhill, N. H., however, a steam pipe was broken, and the escaping steam caused a panic, in the midst of which Dr. Joseph Dean, of Bath, N. H., stepped or fell overboard and was drowned. The excursion was terminated, and the boat, being disabled, drifted aground and soon floated down to " Bailey's eddy," and sunk in deep water ; but it was after- wards raised and made the trip to Hanover, though its powers were found

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unequal to making the return trip, and it was tied up and abandoned to its fate. The remains of its hull, up to a recent date, were visible in the river above Olcott's falls. A steamer run by Captain Nutt, of White River Junction, was built in 1830, so as to be locked through the entire distance, but it did not prove a success.

More than fifty years ago aged men claimed that when they were young, long before dams and locks were known here, flat-bottomed boats were used for conveying freight on the levels between the several falls of the streams. Each succession of falls necessitated the transportation of freight to other boats waiting at their foot or head, as the case might be, until Hartford, Conn., was reached, which was then, as now, the head of sea navigation, situated about sixty miles inland. The boats used then were small, eight tons being considered a good load for one ; but after the canals and locks were completed they were made much larger. The farther up the river one passed, however, the smaller he would find the locks and boats, the "up country boats " being capable of carrying about twenty-five tons.

As the country was cleared up and one farm after another was reclaimed from the wilderness, and manufactures of different kinds increased, it became necessary to have better facilities for transportation than could be afforded by the old turnpikes, and the cumbersome flat-boats upon the river. The want of a railroad was sadly felt. And when the desired result was obtained it gave a great impetus to the growth of the country, opening up new enter- prises and stimulating agriculture to a vigor to which it owes its present pro- portions.

On November 10, 1835, the Connecticut & Passumpsic Rivers railroad was chartered by the legislature ; but owing to the difficulty experienced in securing subscription to stock, nothing was done toward building the road, so the charter became void. It was revived, however, October 31, 1843, and the time for the beginning of its construction limited to three years. As originally chartered, the road was to run from some point near the Connecti- cut river on the Massachusetts line, up the Connecticut and Passumpsic valleys, reaching Canada at some point in Newport or Derby, as might be feasible. By an act of 1845, the right to " divide the route at the White river, near its mouth," was granted, recognizing the northren half as the Con- necticut & Passumpsic Rivers railroad, and allowing that portion to retain all subscriptions to the stock already received.

The company was organized in January, 1846, with Erastus Fairbanks, president. The survey was begun in April, and grading commenced soon after. October 10, 1848, the road was formally opened to Bradford, a dis- tance of 28.37 miles from White River Junction, and November 6th, of the same year, was opened through to Wells River, 40.17 miles. St. Johnsbury was reached in 1852, and Barton became the terminus in 1858-59. Thus the work proceeded gradually, as stock was taken and funds procured. New- port became a railroad town in 1863, during which year the grading was com-

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pleted to the Canada line. This point gained, another halt occurred until the connecting link from the Grand Trunk line, at Lenoxville, Canada, 33.75 miles, should be assured. On the first of July, 1870, this link, under the title of the Massawippi Valley railroad, was ready for trains, and has since been operated by the C. & P. R. R. R., under contract for 999 years. Prac- tically, however, the terminus of this road is at Sherbrook, three miles further north, where its round-house is located, using the Grand Trunk road this dis- tance. The total mileage of the road is thus 145 miles, with connections as follows: At White River Junction with the Central Vermont and Northern railroads ; at Wells River with the Boston, Concord & Montreal, and Wells River & Montpelier lines ; at St. Johnsbury with the St. Johnsbury & Lake Champlain division of the Portland & Ogdensburg road ; at Newport with the South Eastern railway ; and at Sherbrook, P. Q., with the Grand Trunk road.

The portion of the road south of White River Junction, as originally chartered, was given over to another corporation, when the division was made, to be known as the Connecticut River railroad, and is now leased and oper- ated by the Central Vermont Railroad Co. The handsome steamer, " Lady of the Lake," plying on Lake Memphremagog, is leased by the C.& P. R. R. R., and is run as an excursion boat, making regular trips during the summer. The company also owns the Missisquoi & Clyde Rivers railroad, extending. from Newport to Richfield, it having come into their possession by mortgage. It is operated under lease by the South Eastern railway.

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Gazetteer of Orange County, Vt., 1762-1888, Part 21

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836- comp. cn Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., The Syracuse journal company, printers Number of Pages: 836

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836- comp. cn
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., The Syracuse journal company, printers
Number of Pages: 836