USA > Vermont > Washington County > Gazetteer of Washington County, Vt., 1783-1889 > Part 43
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family to Burlington, where he was restrained within the limits of Chittenden county jail-yard, by the execution taken out against his person. He re- mained in Burlington until he died, in 1814. In the winter preceding his death the matter was amicably settled between the parties, by a relinquish- ment of nearly the whole claim, and a virtual admission of its injustice. But before he could complete arrangements to remove to Montpelier he was at- tacked with an acute disease and died April 9, 1814. Col. Davis was a man of fine physique, six feet high, broad shouldered, and very strong. He was. energetic, sagacious, enterprising, honest, and benevolent.
The Puritan James Cutler emigrated to the colony of Massachusetts Bay about 1634. Jonathan Cutler, his descendant, came to Montpelier from Oxford, Mass., soon after 1786, and was the first town treasurer, in 1792. His son David died November 21, 1840, and David, son of David, married Mona Marshall, of Montpelier, December 28, 1843, and died July 13, 1854. All lived on the old homestead, and were farmers. The children of David, Jr., were Charles F., who died in the Union army at New Orleans, September 2, 1862; George D., who married Laura J. West, December 3, 1872, is a farmer, and resides near North Montpelier ; Sarah M. (Mrs. E. V. Duke), of Plainfield ; and Alonzo J., a member of the board of trade in Chicago.
Elder Ziba Woodworth, a Revolutionary soldier, and the first town clerk of Montpelier, was born in Bozrah, Conn., in April, 1759, and came to Montpelier about 1790. The gallant Col. Ledyard had married his aunt, and was a martyr to the cause of liberty at Fort Griswold during the Revolutionary war. At the age of seventeen Mr. Woodworth, with his brothers Joseph and Asahel, enlisted into Col. Ledyard's regiment, and Ziba and Asahel were with their uncle, who was in command of Fort Griswold when the traitor Benedict Arnold led the British against New London. While he was devas- tating that town he sent a detachment of several hundred soldiers under Col .. Eyre to reduce Fort Griswold. The fort was in a dilapidated condition, but was heroically defended by Col. Ledyard ; the British colonel was disabled, and the second in command, Maj. Montgomery, was slain, but in about an hour Col. Ledyard was obliged to surrender, and while he was in the act of presenting his sword hilt first to the British officer, that officer seized it and ran it through the colonel's body. On the instant two exasperated American soldiers rushed upon his murderer, impaled him on their weapons, and threw him over the parapet. Then the British commenced the butchery of the American garrison. Ziba was prostrated by a bullet that shattered his knee, and Asahel received a wound that rendered him insensible at the first onset .. Ziba next received a wound from a bayonet and a blow on his head from the butt of a musket, which laid him senseless. After a long illness Mr. Wood- worth recovered, with the loss of the joint of his knee, and some years later he and his brothers settled in Montpelier. His permanent location was on the Branch about a mile and a half from the village. He was a religious man, of the Free Baptist denomination, began to preach about 1800, and was or-
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dained in January, 1806. He continued a farmer, did not preach statedly, but divided his spare time between religion and politics. He was im- pulsive, but kind, sympathetic, benevolent, and charitable. He had some faults but many virtues. He died at his home November 27, 1826.
Hon. David Wing, Jr., was born in Rochester, Mass., June 24, 1766, re- moved with his father and family to Montpelier (now East Montpelier), and settled on a farm in the eastern part of the town, and adjoining the old Clark Stevens place, about 1790. He taught the second school in town, and in about two years after was elected town clerk. He represented the town in the state legislature in 1797, 1798, 1800, and 1801. He was judge of his county, then Caledonia, from 1797 to 1807, ten years ; and was secretary of state from 1802 to 1806. Judge Wing was not only a man of marked and acknowledged ability, but was genial and affable, and very popular. He died September 13, 1806, while an incumbent of the office of secretary of state, in the midst of his usefulness. Had he lived his prospects were for filling the highest office in the gift of the people of his state. In 1792 he married Hannah, second daughter of Col. Jacob Davis. This marriage was blessed with eight children, to whom were given the following historical names : Debby Daphne, Christopher Columbus, Algernon Sidney, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Maria Theresa, David Davis, Caroline Augusta, and Maximus Fabius.
Hon. Daniel Baldwin was born in Norwich, Vt., July 21, 1792. He was the youngest of seven children, and son of Daniel and Sally (Havens) Bald- win. His mother was a daughter of Robert Havens, of Royalton, whose house was entered first by the Indians when they burned Royalton. He was orphaned at the age of two years, and passed the remaining years of his minority in the home and under the guardianship of his prominent and able older brother, Sylvanus, in Montpelier. He spent this time in attendance at school and in learning the carpenters' trade of his brother. He spent many years after he attained his majority in a very successful mercantile career, and only abandoned it in 1848, to give his whole time to the Vermont Mut- ual Life Insurance Co., which he projected, and in which he took the first policy. He held the position of president of this company from 1841 to 1874. In 1874 he was active in the enterprise of boring for salt, on the bank of the Winooski near the grist-mill. He was a director of the Bank of Montpelier and of the Montpelier National bank. He advocated and aided the building of the Central Vermont and Montpelier railroads, and was one of the originators and the general manager of the Montpelier Gas Light Co. in its early existence. He was treasurer of Montpelier a dozen years, and associate judge of Washington County Court in 1846 and 1847. He was a Democrat in politics, and a war Democrat in the late civil war. He was lib- eral in religion and an able co-worker in the organization of the Independent Meeting-House society, and was chairman of its board of trustees from the time it was organized, in 1866, until his death, in 1881. He did not forget
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Montpelier in his will, but bequeathed $2,000 to be used for a suitable water supply for the village if the corporation complied with certain conditions. He possessed a vigorous intellect and clear head ; what he deliberately planned and clearly saw he pursued with energy. Judge Baldwin was extensively known, and universally esteemed for his sterling integrity, good common sense, public spirit, and benevolence. He married, in 1820, Emily Wheelock, a granddaughter of the first president of Dartmouth College. She died in 1872. He died August 3, 1881.
Dr. Edward Lamb was born in Leicester, Mass., in 1771. He received his education in the common schools and at the academy of his native town, where he gained a substantial English education and some knowledge in Latin and Greek. He decided upon the profession of medicine and entered the office of Dr. Fisk, in the adjacent town of Southbridge (then Sturbridge), as his student. He remained until he had acquired a knowledge of his profes- sion, then attended a course of lectures in Boston and Cambridge, and in about 1795 or '96 he came to Montpelier and settled for life. In 1803 he united in marriage with Miss Polly Witherell, of Montpelier, who died with- out issue in 1822. He represented Montpelier in the legislature of 1804, and again in 1814 and 1815, and was one of the Presidential electors for Gen. Harrison in 1840. He was not a frequent public speaker, but acquitted him- self well on the two efforts he is known to have made,-one at the first Fourth of July celebration held in Montpelier, when he delivered an oration, and again before the Vermont Medical society, when he delivered a valuable dis- course. In his profession he became eminent, and his advice and counsel were constantly and widely sought. He was skillful in treating all diseases, but especially excelled in the management of fevers. At the time of that terrible scourge, the spotted fever, he had seventy cases, and brought all but three of them successfully through. While as a physician he was ranked with the ablest in Vermont. As a financier he was a failure, and died com- paratively poor, but rich in the esteem and appreciation of his large acquaint- ance. In stature he was of medium height, rather stout and moderate in motion, limped in walking,-the effect of a fever-sore in his youth,-and was decidedly neglectful in dress, but had a noble, massive head and manly feat- ures. Socially he was cordial and courteous, liked a good story, possessed a fund of amusing anecdotes, and knew how to relate them. In his practice he made no distinction in his attendance of the richest or poorest, or scarcely ever asked pay for his services. He died of one of the fevers that he had so successfully managed for others, November 4, 1845, at the age of seventy- four years.
James Templeton, son of John the pioneer of East Montpelier, was born in 1798, and reared on his father's farm. In early manhood he joined the New Hampshire Methodist Episcopal conference, which included New Hampshire and Vermont, and was an itinerant preacher of the gospel for about twenty years, until he had exhausted the little fortune of about $1,000 left
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him by his father, and had broken down his health. About this time he was chosen to represent his conference in the general conference of the M. E. church, to be held in Philadelphia. That city was then the metropolis of medical science, and the residence of physicians of marked and acknowledged ability. He accordingly visited Philadelphia, not only for the purpose of representing his conference, but also to obtain the advice of one of the leading physicians. This physician advised him to procure some medical books, and, on consulting them, to treat himself. In doing this he became acquainted with the science of medicine, and on a further investigation and study of the subject he comnienced to practice the "healing art," in his native town, East Montpelier, and continued in practice until the infirmities of old age com- pelled him to retire. He died in Montpelier, at the home of his daughter Caroline (Mrs. P. P. Pitkin), December 14, 1875, aged seventy-seven years. R'ev. Dr. James Templeton possessed fine natural abilities, and had a seat in the legislature as a representative two terms. In early life he married Adaline West, of East Montpelier. Their children were Caroline (Mrs. P. P. Pitkin), who died December 11, 1883 ; Hiram Edwin, born August 6, 1829; James M., born May 27, 1832; Wilbur Fisk, born in 1837; and Alma I., who died at the home of her sister, Mrs. Pitkin, January 23, 1875, aged thirty-five years.
Dr. Hiram Edwin Templeton, son of James, received his education at the common schools in the towns where his father was stationed, and at the Newbury Methodist Seminary while his father was stationed there as. pastor. Before commencing other professional duties he taught common schools seven winters. He studied medicine under the tutorship of his father, and began practice with him. In 1862 he was engaged by the government as contract surgeon in the Union army, where he remained nearly three years, and where he had a general and varied practice. At the close of this engage- ment he returned to East Montpelier and resumed practice. In 187[ or '72 he located in the village of Montpelier, where he is now in successful prac- tice. He is a disciple of the eclectic school, and laboring in concert with his brother, Dr. James M. Templeton. He united in marriage with Malvina L. Ormsby, of East Montpelier.
James M. Templeton, M. D., son of James, married Miss Adaline Bullard, daughter of Rev. M. Bullard, a Methodist clergyman. Dr. Templeton grad- uated at the Eclectic Medical College of Philadelphia, and commenced the practice of his profession in East Montpelier, about 1853, where he continued until 1863. He then engaged to take the post of contract surgeon in the Union army, and went to the front. During most of the ensuing year he was in charge of a post-hospital. His health failed and he returned home. In 1864 he removed to Montpelier, where he is now engaged in an extensive and lucrative practice. Dr. Templeton has continued here and in East Montpelier since he graduated and began practice, while other physicians. have come and gone. This is a gratifying tribute to his skill, and proof that
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he has the confidence of his numerous patrons. Dr. Templeton is one of the pioneers of the eclectic school in Vermont. Through his efforts, and after encountering some opposition, the charter of the Eclectic Society of Physi- cians of the state of Vermont was obtained. He is repeating himself in several places at the same time, by a corps of young physicians who have lived with him, read his library, and have been taught by him.
Capt. Timothy Hubbard was born in Windsor, Parish of Winterbury, Conn., August 17, 1776. He was raised on his father's farm, and like other farmers' boys had only a common school education. In June, 1799, he came to Montpelier with his brothers Roger and Chester. They were all enter- prising and active business men, and contributed to the prosperity and wealth of Montpelier. Capt. Hubbard commenced in mercantile business with Wyllis J. Cadwell, a relative of the Lymans of Hartford, Conn., and Hartford, Vt. In 1801 he married Lucy, daughter of Col. Jacob Davis. In 1803 his brother-in-law, Hon. David Wing, became his business partner in place of Mr. Cadwell. Judge Wing died in 1806, and his brother Roger became his partner, which continued until about 1816, when Capt. Hubbard retired from mercantile business. When he was but fifty years old he formed the sensible conclusion that he had money enough, and judiciously distributed about one- third of his fine property among his most needy relatives. In 1810 he was elected captain of the Governor's Guards, of which Israel Putnam was the first captain. Capt. Hubbard soon proved himself a most efficient military officer. When the news of the British invasion of Plattsburgh reached Mont- pelier, in September, 1814, Capt. Hubbard mustered a fifer and drummer and paraded the streets all day marshaling volunteers to go at once to the seat of war. He infused them with some of his own energy and patriotism, and before he closed his labors for the day he had enlisted a large company, who had elected him their captain by acclamation. He gave orders for his company to he ready to march early next morning, and accordingly they came forward and reached Burlington in the evening, and next day were embarked on sloops for Plattsburgh, which place they reached in time to take a place in line of battle. Capt. Hubbard was an efficient civil officer, and was often selected to settle conflicting financial affairs which others, with less independ- ence, were unwilling to touch. In these instances he dealt out justice with- out fear or favor. He was liberal to the poor, and a generous supporter of educational, religious, and benevolent objects. He died October 28, 1850.
Dr. Charles Clark, son of Nathaniel and Lucy (Perry) Clark, was born in Montpelier, now East Montpelier, January 31, 1800. His parents were from Rochester, Mass., and early settlers of the town. Charles was so unfortunate as to receive an injury of his left knee, which, to save his life, made amputa- tion necessary three years after. His father died when he was but ten years old, leaving his family in indigent circumstances, and from that time onward this one-legged boy, with that indomitable courage and industry that was ever characteristic of him, supported himself. He received only a common school
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education with a few terms at the Washington County Grammar School, and then commenced the study of his profession with Dr. Edward Lamb, of Montpelier, and in 1819 attended lectures at Castleton Medical School. In 1821 he commenced the practice of medicine with Dr. N. C. King, of North Montpelier. Two years later he removed to Calais and began practice alone, where he resided fourteen years. In 1823 he married Clarissa Boyden, of Montpelier. In 1837 he purchased the Boyden homestead, removed to it, where he resided the ensuing twelve years, and had an extensive practice in Montpelier and the surrounding towns. In 1849 Dr. Clark settled in the village of Montpelier, for the double purpose of the practice of medicine and for the better opportunity for the education of his children. He died of paralysis, June 21, 1874, after five years of prostration and suffering. Dr. Clark possessed no ordinary native abilities to accomplish what he did. He was of fine physique, six feet high, and possessed an animated, pleasant countenance. He was warm, genial, sympathetic, and communicative, which, with his fund of anecdotes, made him a welcome visitor to his patients, and contributed to his great popularity and success. He was a constant student in his profession, kept pace with the progress of the science, and had little time for political matters, but by the wishes of his friends he consented to represent Montpelier in the legislature of 1846-47. He was an ardent ad- vocate of temperance and education, and served twelve years as the president of the board of trustees of Washington County Grammar School, and was for many years treasurer of Vermont Medical society.
The Taplin family in America are unmistakably of Huguenot descent, and all sprang from the French emigrants, of the name, who settled in Over- ton, Hampshire, in England, after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
John Taplin, Esq., as he was called in Montpelier, was born in Marlboro, Mass., July 14, 1748, and died in Montpelier, November 20, 1835. His father, Col. John Taplin, resided in Marlboro until about 1764, when he re- moved to Newbury, Vt., and was one of the first settlers of that town. "He was one of the most noted men of his times, had been a colonel in the Brit- ish American army under Gen. Amherst, and actively engaged with Rogers, Putnam, Stark, and other distinguished American officers in reducing the fortresses of the French on Lake Champlain, and fighting their red allies then prowling through the entire wilderness territory of Vermont." Col. John Taplin was the chief judge of the first court ever held within the territory now called Orange county. His court was held in the New York county of Glou- cester, and he received his commission from King George III., from the governor of New York, March 17, 1770, and again April 10, 1772. His first term of court was held at Kingsland, as appears upon the original records of the courts held in Kingsland, which are preserved in the county clerk's office at Chelsea. Kingsland, now Washington, was made the county seat, although there was not a house nor an inhabitant within its limits. A village, or, as
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our western people would say in these days, a city, was plotted upon paper, near its center, but it has never yet been built.
Judge Taplin probably held his last court in Kingsland on Tuesday, May 25, 1773, when he adjourned to meet in Newbury. The last record of any court at either Kingsland or Newbury, held by Judge Taplin, commonly called Col. Taplin, was in Newbury, February 25, 1774. Judge Taplin was not a lawyer. He probably resided at Newbury while he was judge, but la- ter he removed to Corinth, of which town he was an original proprietor. His sympathies were undoubtedly with the colonies in their efforts to throw off the British yoke, for July 15, 1775, he wrote a letter from Newbury to Peter V. B. Livingston, Esq., president of the Provincial Congress at the city of New York, in which he uses these words : "The country seems to be very well united, and firm to one another, and also in the cause of liberty ; and I make no doubt but they will cheerfully join in whatever measures and direc- tions the honorable Congress may point out from time to time." But D. P. Thompson, in his history of Montpelier, says that " on the opening of the Revolution, Colonel Taplin, declining to take sides against the king who had distinguished him, retired during the war into Canada, leaving his son, John Taplin, Jr., on the paternal property in Corinth, Vermont." Col. Taplin married Hepsiba Brigham, presumably in the year 1746, as we are informed by Mrs. H. N. Taplin, widow of his grandson now aged eighty-two years, re- siding in Montpelier, that his wife (Hepsiba Brigham) was but fifteen years. old when her first son was born, or when she was married. As she was born in 1731, and fifteen when she was married, that event must have occurred in 1746. She died December 27, 1815. Col. John Taplin died November 9, 1803. We are unable to gain any information of his birth or age. Their children were John, Jr., born July 14, 1848, Johnson, Brigham, Elisha, Mans- field, William, Nathan, Gouldsburn, Polly, and Hepsa.
John Taplin, Jr., was the first high sheriff under his father in Gloucester county, Vt., removed to Corinth with his father, and from there came to Ber- lin in 1787, and settled near the mouth of Dog river. He was the first representative of Berlin, and the first justice of the peace. When twenty years old he married Catherine Lovewell, of Newbury, who was born July 10, 1748, and died July 16, 1794. She was the mother of twelve children, viz .: Caty (Catherine), born December 30, 1770 ; Augustus, born June 30, 1773 ; Susan, born April 28, 1775 ; John, born July 31, 1777 ; Henry, born May 27, 1780 ; Robert, born April 24, 1782 ; Ira, born June 14, 1784; Hannah,. born May 21, 1786 ; Walter, born May 14, 1788; Chittenden, born June 14,. 1789 ; Thomas Chittenden, born April 30, 1792 ; and William, born June 16, 1794. He married his second wife, Lydia Gove, says Thompson, some time in the year 1795, who bore him nine children more, namely, Ebenezer,. born March 2, 1796 ; Hazen, born April 5, 1797 ; Edward Langdon, born May 5, 1798 ; Harriet, born September 2, 1799 ; Horatio Nelson, born April 15, 1801 ; Sidney Smith, born February 5, 1803 ; Guy Carlton, born April:
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29, 1804; John Adams, born October 4, 1805; and Susan, born May 30, 1807. Only the last named of this large family is now living. H. N. Taplin, son of H. N., and George E. Taplin are the only male descendants of this branch of the Taplin family now residing in Montpelier.
Samuel Goss, the pioneer journalist of Montpelier, was born in Hollis, N. H., in November, 1776. He served an apprenticeship in the office of "Isaiah Thomas, the father of printers," at Worcester, Mass. He had for fellow-apprentices Amos Farley and Rev. Leonard Worcester. At the age of twenty-one he went to Boston and purchased a second-hand press and printers' materials to set up business for himself. Peacham, Vt., was his objective point, where he arrived in January, 1798, and in company with Mr. Farley set up this scanty outfit in a very small school-house, and in eight days issued the first number of The Green Mountain Patriot, which the firm of Farley & Goss continued to issue regularly the ensuing nine years. In 1807 Mr. Goss came to Montpelier and bought The Vermout Precursor of Rev. Clark Brown, which had had an existence of only a few months, and consolidated the two papers in the Vermont Watchman, which he conducted until 1810. He then sold the Watchman to his apprentices, Gen. E. P. Walton, and his younger brother, Mark Goss, and engaged in the manufacture of paper, which he con- tinued for many years. Mr. Goss was a zealous worker in the church and Sunday-school, and in the latter he served more years than any other in Montpelier except Col. Asahel Washburn. Next to his religion he loved his country best, and George Washington was his model statesman. Although an octogenarian, five years before the Rebellion his heart was with his country, and he visited the office of the Watchman twice daily during the war to get the latest news.
Judge Thompson, in his history of Montpelier, says : "It was the good fortune of Montpelier, for the first twenty years after the place could lay claim to the dignity of a village, to have the right kind of a man for her min- ister and the right kind of a man for an editor, in the persons of Chester Wright and Ezekiel P. Walton."
Ezekiel Parker Walton was born in Canterbury, N. H., in 1789. His father, George Walton, removed to Peacham, Vt., where there was a good academy which young Walton attended a few terms previous to reaching the age of fifteen years. This completed all the school education he ever received. Samuel Goss was then editor of his paper, The Green Mountain Patriot, and. the boy Walton entered his office as an apprentice. After three years he came to Montpelier with Mr. Goss, and served out his apprenticeship, which expired in 1810, when he was twenty-one years old. Then with his fellow- apprentice, Mark Goss, the brother of the editor, they bought the interest of Samuel Goss, and for the next six years the paper was issued by the firm of Walton & Goss, with Mr. Walton chief editor. In 1816 Mark Goss retired from the firm and Mr. Walton conducted the paper alone for nearly twenty years, when as his sons became of age they entered the business as partners,
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