Gazetteer of Washington County, Vt., 1783-1889, Part 44

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836-, comp; Adams, William, fl. 1893, ed
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Syracuse, N. Y., The Syracuse journal company, printers
Number of Pages: 898

USA > Vermont > Washington County > Gazetteer of Washington County, Vt., 1783-1889 > Part 44

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and books and papermaking were added to the business of E. P. Walton & Sons, which was continued until 1853, when the proprietorship of the paper passed into the hands of his son, Hon. Eliakim Persons Walton ; but Gen. Walton continued to assist in some parts of the editorial work to the last year of his life. As a writer Gen. Walton acquired a style of his own, which with the vein of good common sense that always pervaded it, he ranked with the most pleasing and instructive editorial writers of his day. In the politi- cal world Gen. Walton was always capable of giving advice; he was always a man among men ; in the social circle he was an agreeable companion, al- ways dignified but courteous ; and was an influential officer in the church. He was an ardent and influential politician, but never an office seeker. He was several times the candidate of his party for town representative, but only when his party was in the minority. In 1827 he was elected one of the council of censors, and served with credit to himself and his electors, with such distinguished men for compeers as Judges B. Turner, D. Kellogg, and S. S. Phelps. In 1852 he was one of the electoral college for his state, which cast the vote of Vermont for Gen. Scott. In 1854 he was nominated by a large mass state convention as their candidate for governor ; but to consoli- date the sentiments of all in one controlling organization he patriotically sub- mitted, and advocated the substitution of the name of Judge Stephen Royce by the state committee for his own. The outgrowth was the organization of the Republican party of the state, and for which the credit in a great measure is due to Gen. Walton. Early in life he passed rapidly along the line of mili- tary promotion till he reached the rank of major-general, when he threw aside these glittering offices and thought no more of them. Everywhere, and at all times, he was an admirable type of the Christian gentleman, and in the support of charitable institutions he was unsurpassed by none and equalled by few. Gen. Walton died November 27, 1855.

Job Macomber, a native of England, settled in Wendell, Mass., at a very early date. He was a sea captain, and commanded a merchant vessel. He died at the great age of ninety-nine years, and left a large family, some of whom emigrated to other states. His son Job married Phebe Smith and settled on a farm in Wendell. He (Job) served his country as a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and received a pension from the government which he aided to establish. About 1807 he emigrated to Montpelier and located on a farm in the eastern part of the town. He remained in Montpelier till his death. In early life he was a trader and dealt quite largely in cattle, but met with reverses in unavoidable litigation, which deprived him of much of his fortune. He raised seven children to mature age. His son Job, 3d, educated in the common schools, married Mary Ann Templeton, of East Montpelier, settled on a farm, which was nearly all woodland, only improved with three or four acres of the forest slashed down. On this farm he built a log house, in which he resided a few years. He then built a commodious frame dwelling and barns, planted an orchard, and surrounded himself with the comforts of

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a thrifty farmer's home. He was a man of decided convictions, and when his opinions were once formed they were seldom or never changed. He was- a life-time Democrat, was always at the polls at elections, but refused to ac- cept any office. He was a man of sterling integrity. His motto was : " Pay as you go and owe no man," and at his decease his son, Dr. Job Macomber, who settled his estate, says he had not a single debt.

Dr. Job Macomber, son of Job and Mary Ann (Templeton) Macomber,. was born in Montpelier, now East Montpelier, July 3, 1834. He attended a course of lectures at the medical academy of Woodstock, Vt., graduated at Castleton (Vt.) Medical College in 1856, and almost immediately com- menced practice in Worcester, Vt. He remained in practice in Worcester until 1865, when he removed to Montpelier, where he now resides. Dr. Macomber soon became the physician of many of the best families in Mont- pelier, and by his skill and success almost immediately acquired a large and remunerative practice. He has ably served the public the past thirty-three- years .. Dr. Macomber is a member of the Vermont Medical society, and is now the president of the Montpelier board of United States pension ex- aminers. While at Worcester he held the offices of town clerk, treasurer, and superintendent of schools. He also represented that town in the legislature- of 1864 and '65. In May, 1858, he married Marcella L. Ladd, of Wor- cester. Their children now living are Mary E., Clara A., and George L. They Jost a daughter, aged nineteen, and an infant son.

Col. Elisha Payne Jewett, only son of Capt. Nathan and Ruth (Payne), Jewett, was born in Lebanon, N. H., June 5, 1801. Capt. Nathan Jewett married Ruth, daughter of Hon. Elisha Payne, December 10, 1793, and in 1807 came to Montpelier. He was born in Hopkinton, March 8, 1767. Mrs. Jewett was born in Plainfield, Conn., July 9, 1770. Captain Jewett was well formed, and a dignified gentleman of the old school, honest, and generous beyond his means. He was the captain of the Washington artillery, which was a dignity equal to that of a major-general of militia in our days. His company consisted of picked men and constituted. the governor's guard. Capt. Jewett died in Montpelier, December 29, 1861, in the ninety-fifth year of his age. Col. Elish P. Jewett was the apprenticed clerk of the late Hon. Daniel Baldwin, merchant, for six years. When he was about twenty-one years of age he commenced mercantile business for himself, which he suc- cessfully conducted. Later, when he had left that business, he was engaged in the construction of the Vermont Central railroad, and the Great Western railroad from Suspension Bridge to Hamilton, Canada. Later he became an agriculturist, and owns the fine farm on the Winooski river in the south- western corner of the town, where the pioneer Frizzel made the first settle- ment in Montpelier. Col. Jewett now resides in a beautiful home on the western part of State street. He has made decided improvements on this farm, and also on the other lands in his possession. Col. Jewett has espe- cially distinguished himself by his personal influence and princely donations-

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for the interest of Montpelier. He has not only contributed generously to building the churches, and to all other public interests, but to make the cap- ital permanent he has given the magnificent sum of $25,000 to aid in building the State Houses. He was an efficient co-worker with Messrs. Langdon, Walton, and Baldwin in building the Vermont Central railroad. He has been a bank director nearly half a century, president of one of the banks six years, was state treasurer in 1846-47, represented Montpelier in the legis- lature of 1855, and was Presidential elector at large in 1872. His political affiliations are with the Republican party. Col. Jewett derives his military title from his appointment on the staff of Major-General Ezekiel P. Walton. He is enshrined in the affections of the people, and justly deserves to be. " Men have come and gone," but he has been a "man among men " nearly three-score years and ten, and an octogenarian since 1881. Still he is well preserved, both physically and mentally, and his tall form is seen daily on the streets.

Hon. George Worthington, one of the prominent early citizens of Mont- pelier, married Clarissa, youngest daughter of Col. Jacob Davis, the first child born in the town, and engaged in the manufacture of hats with Erastus Wat. rous. He was sheriff of Washington county in 1814, representative in 1819, councilor from 1827 to 1831, and judge of probate in 1840. He was much of his time engaged in settling estates. About 1860 he removed to Irasburg, and died there.

Hon. Joseph Howes was born in Lebanon, Conn., March 28, 1783. He was a descendant of one of the Puritan families who settled in Plymouth county, Mass. He came to Montpelier with his wife, in 1808, where they both spent the remainder of their lives. They united with Bethany church in 1810, and were consistent members to the 'close of their lives. Judge Howes began in politics a Jeffersonian Republican, supported John Quincy Adams for President in 1824, and entered successively the Whig and Repub- lican parties at their organizations. He served nearly two years as adjutant on the frontier in the War of 1812, and declined a commission which was offered him in the regular army. He started for Plattsburgh in September, 1814, as second lieutenant of the Montpelier volunteer company of 1 18 men. He represented Montpelier in the legislature of 1813, and served as a judge of Washington County Court from 1819 to 1827. He was also a magistrate, selectman, and overseer of his town. Judge' Howes married Patty Wilder, of Norwich, in 1808, who was born in 1786, and died January 20, 1871. He died March 28, 1863. Judge Howes was honest, conscientious, and severe with himself, and in condemning wrong in others, but generous to such as wronged him. He was gentle, mild, and charitable.

Rev. Chester Wright, the fourth of the eight children of Nathaniel and Jemima (Bartlett) Wright, was born in Hanover, N. H., November 6, 1876. His father was a farmer, and his expectation was to continue in his father's occupation. Indeed his resolution to enter the ministry was not formed until

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after he had attained his majority, and had bought a farm and begun to till it. Then he began a course of preparatory study which continued eleven years, during which time he supported himself by teaching, being preceptor of the Addison County Grammar School for two years, and for some time a tutor in Middlebury College, from which he was graduated in 1806. He studied theology with Rev. Asa Burton, D. D., of Thetford, Vt., and later under the direction of Rev. Timothy Dwight, D. D., of New Haven, Conn. Being licensed to preach, in 1808, he was called to Montpelier, and in June of that year he assumed the charge of the newly-organized Congregational society of that place-a relation which continued till his dismissal, by the reluctant consent of a council, December 22, 1830. During his pastorate 428 persons were received into the church, which was for a long time the only church in the village. He retained his home in Montpelier six years after his dismissal, employed in teaching and preaching to churches in the vicinity. In 1836 he became the pastor of the Congregational church in Hardwick, Vt., holding that position at the time of his death, in Montpelier, from con- sumption, in 1840. Intellectually Mr. Wright held high rank among his ministerial brethren, was regarded as a leader in their councils, and was often chosen to represent them in ecclesiastical gatherings beyond the borders of the state ; but he was yet more distinguished for his unselfish consecration, his moral force and intrepidity, and his philanthropic spirit and missionary zeal. In theology he was rather conservative, but in the matter of moral re- forms he was decidedly progressive. He married Charlotte Clapp Whitney, of Royalton, Vt., who survived him nineteen years. Of their six children, four lived to maturity, viz .: Jonathan Edwards, Charlotte Whitney (Mrs. James H. Howe), Julia (Mrs. Joseph W. Howes), and Eliza Maria (Mrs. Ferrand F. Merrill). Of these, Mrs. Howes is now (April, 1888) the only survivor ; but the others have left children, three of whom are living in Montpelier, namely, Miss Charlotte H. Merrill, Miss Mary A. Merrill, and Rev. J. Ed- ward Wright,-one, Chester W. Merrill, Esq., lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, and one, Mrs. Lucy (Howe) Skinner, lives in Lake Forest, Ill.

Rev. James Edward Wright, son of Jonathan Edwards and Fanny Wyman (Houghton) Wright, and grandson of Rev. Chester Wright, was born in. Montpelier, July 9, 1839. He was educated at Washington County Gram- mar School ; Boston Public Latin School, graduating in 1857; Harvard College, graduating in 1861 ; and at Andover Theological Seminary, gradu- ating in 1865. He served as private, corporal, and sergeant in the 44th Mass. Regt., from August, 1862, to June, 1863. He supplied the pulpit of the Christian church, of Eastport, Me., from August, 1865, to February, 1866, and was ordained as a minister of Jesus Christ at Henry, Ill., July 24, 1866. From September, 1866, till January, 1869, he was pastor of a newly-organized church (of the Christian connection) in Jacksonville, Ill. ; and from September, 1869, to the present time he has had charge of the

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Church of the Messiah (Independent, but commonly known as an Unitarian church) in Montpelier.

Erastus Hubbard, son of Roger and Fanny (Burbank) Hubbard, was born in Montpelier, September 8, 1811, and distinctly remembers the mustering in the streets of the militia company preparatory to marching to the battle of Plattsburgh, in September, 1814. He commanded a company of boys as their captain, and was in line, and saluted Gen. LaFayette on his visit to Montpelier. His father first visited Montpelier as a tin peddler. He came to Montpelier some time before 1808, as he was here when the first State House was built. He soon engaged in merchandising with his brother, Capt. Timothy Hubbard. About 1814 he sold his interest in the store and dwell- ing house, and settled on a farm known as " Hubbard's meadow," where he resided the next seven years. He built a store in 1822 and again engaged in merchandising. In 1832 he retired to his farm, and his son Erastus re- sumed the trade that his father left. Roger Hubbard died in 1848, He was captain of Washington artillery several years, and was one of the promi- nent men of the growing village of Montpelier.

Erastus Hubbard married, in 1837, Arabella G., daughter of Amplius Blake, of Chelsea, and has been a merchant and in business most of his life. In 1850 Mr. Hubbard bought of his father's estate his present dwelling house and the farm referred to, and laid it out into streets, and the meadow is now covered with neat dwellings and is one of the prettiest sections of the village. Mr. Hubbard met with a serious accident on election day in the fall of 1848, caused by the explosion of gunpowder, which so much injured his eyes that they have gradually failed until he is now nearly blind. Notwithstanding this misfortune his great energy and courage would not let him rest in idle- ness, and since he has transacted a vast amount of business. He has suffered frequently by fire, but rebuilt again at once. The present fine building known as Union block was commenced the next day after the old one that stood in its place was burned down, and now, with his impaired sight and the weight of nearly seventy-eight years, aided by his son, he gives his personal attention to his financial affairs. Mr. Hubbard is no office seeker and has steadily refused to accept office. He began his political life with the old Whig party, voted for Gen. Harrison in 1840, and for his grandson, Gen. Ben- jamin Harrison, in 1888. Mr. and Mrs. Hubbard have enjoyed a married life of more than fifty-two years, and are parents of a daughter and son, viz .: Lucy, wife of B. F. Fifield, the leading railroad attorney in the state, and John F. Hubbard, who is with his father, superintending their system of spring water works, tenements, and other matters.

Hon. Eliakim Persons Walton, the first born son of Gen. Ezekiel Parker Wal- ton and Prussia Parsons, his wife, was born in Montpelier, February 17, 1812. He received rudimental education in reading and reading the notes of music from his mother, and next be was occasionally instructed in the district school, from which M. D. Gilman, in his Bibliography, informs us he had the habit of

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running away on every possible occasion. He next attended the Washing- ton County Grammar School, until he was fitted for college by that able edu- cator, the late Jonathan Southmayd. Much of his practical education was gained at vacations of school in his father's printing office, where he was placed when he was so young that he had to stand in a chair to reach the printer's case. Mr. Walton relates an incident in his early life with apparent pleasure, when in 1826-27 he was employed in the office of the Essex County Republican, in Essex, N. Y. The editor and publisher was away, and the publication would have been suspended for a week but for the energy of young Walton, then fourteen years old. Without authority from his employ- ers the youthful editor got up a paper, containing a large amount of editorial matter, partly written and partly composed at the case, and took proof-sheets, which he submitted to the examination of Gen. Henry H. Ross, of Essex, then a member of Congress, and asked his advice whether he should or should not print the paper. The General returned the sheets, his face beam- ing with smiles, and placed both his hands on the boy's shoulders and said : "Print it ! boy, print it !" He then printed and issued the edition. This Mr. Walton calls his " first newspaper." After he left the Grammar School he entered the law office of Samuel Prentiss with the intention of entering the legal profession. Here he remained long enough to gain some elemen- tary knowledge of law, and as Judge Prentiss was then in the United States Senate, he also gained a knowledge of national politics from the Judge, and the books and documents which were sent to the Senator. Although he pre- ferred the law, he was born an editor ; and when he was twenty-one years of age he was his father's partner in the publication of the Vermont Watchman and State Gazette. Other business so much absented the attention of the senior editor that the management of the paper and printing were in charge of E. P. Walton, Jr. (This signature he adopted, as the initials of his father and his own were the same.) In 1853 he became sole owner of the paper, and con- tinued its owner until he sold it to Joseph Poland & Son, in 1868. Besides the great amount of labor bestowed on the Watchman in the long list of years that he was connected with it, he has performed a vast amount of other editorial work. Walton's Vermont Register, commenced by his father, has been edited by him all these years, and is still except the business directory. He edited the second volume of the State Historical society's collections wrote mainly the reports for the Vermont Capitol of 1857, and has issued eight carefully written octavo volumes. The Governor and Council of Ver- mont and His Crowning Glory alone would have made him famous. Be- sides all this he has delivered many orations and addresses, and written in- numerable important letters. As a politician he has been active, alert, and brave, but always honorable ; and has generously used his great influence to help other men to high offices, but has never sought "place and position " for himself. In 1853 he consented to represent Montpelier in the legislature. In 1856 he was greatly surprised by being selected by his party as their can-

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didate for representative in the United States Congress, and received three successive elections, and afterward declined further service. In 1874 he was elected to the Senate of Vermont, and served until 1878. In 1870 he was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention.

Mr. Walton has received the honorary degree of Master of Arts from the University of Vermont and from Middlebury College. He was the president of the Publishers' and Editors' association of Vermont from its organization . until 1881, and of the Vermont Historical society since the Rev. Dr. Lord retired. Through his exertions and potent influence Vermont was saved her third member of Congress for twenty years. Mr. Walton was an able cham- pion and advocate of the construction of the Central Vermont railroad, and with James R. Langdon was selected by Gov. Charles Paine as his assistant in raising capital for the road in Boston,-Mr. Walton to write for the press, and Mr. Langdon as an eminent business man. Mr. Walton spent three months on this mission. The result of the united effort of these gentle- men was a subscription to the stock of the road in Boston of $1,500,000. Mr. Walton is a, man of the people, affable, courteous, and communicative, and a Living Encyclopedia of the Green Mountain state.

James R. Langdon, third child of Col. James H. and Nabby (Robins) Langdon, was born in Montpelier, October 3, 1813. His literary education he gained in the Washington County Grammar School. He was born for an active business life, and early gave evidence of this by entering a grist-mill for the purpose of learning the millers' trade. This his father opposed, and in- duced him to leave the mill by offering to furnish the capital and share the profits with him that might be gained by buying Spanish coin, which brought a handsome premium in Canada. Accordingly, at the age of only fifteen years, he traveled over the New England states and New York so long as Spanish specie could be obtained in quantities sufficient to make the business profitable. He was able, as the result of this enterprise, to divide the snug little item of $3,400 with his father. Next we find him a clerk a short time at Derby Line. After the death of his father, January 7, 1831, he was employed to settle his father's estate ; and later he engaged in merchandising at Greensborough, where he had the misfortune to lose his store by fire. He returned to Montpelier and engaged in the manufacture and sale of flour, in which he did an immense business, and for a country merchant accumulated quite an extensive property, which was the nucleus of his large fortune. By his great sagacity and business ability he has handled large amounts of property with uniform success; and in his investments in banks, bonds, and stocks he has displayed the same prudent, far-sighted financial knowledge, which has always been crowned with success. Mr. Langdon was a director of the Bank of Montpelier when he was but twenty years old, and this relation continued until the bank was transformed into the Montpelier National bank, March 5, 1865. Since that time Mr. Langdon has been president of the new organ- ization. In the construction of the Vermont Central railroad Mr. Langdon

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has rendered important service to his state. The results of that enterprise wonderfully developed its resources. He, with Hon. E. P. Walton, was selected to assist the late Gov. Paine to raise funds in Boston, and the result of their efforts was a subscription to the stock of the road of $1,500,000. He has been a director of the Central Vermont railroad since 1873 and its vice-president since 1876. Mr. Langdon has decided opinions on the polit- ical policy of our country, but is in no sense an office seeker. An unwise and protracted division of the Republican party was settled by his election to the legislature in 1868. He was returned to the House of Representatives the ensuing year, and was appointed on the important committees of Ways and Means and Railroads, where, by his superior knowledge of finance, he rendered excellent service to his state. Mr. Langdon was married, in Decem- ber, 1826, to Lucy Pomeroy, daughter of Charles Bowen, of Middlebury, Vt. They had four children, viz .: Lucy, who married, first, Mr. Mansfield, of Nyack, N. Y., and after his death Mr. Schroeder, of New York city, the first superintendent of the Astor library; Harriet, who died young ; Elizabeth W. suffered a calamity, and is the subject of tender and loving care bestowed by her kind father ; and James Henry, who died in infancy. Their mother died some years ago.

Dr. James Spalding was born in Sharon, Vt., March 20, 1792. When he was but seven years old he received a small wound in the knee joint, and acute inflammation set in, followed by suppuration, which was attended with extreme suffering, and confined him more than six months. During his sick- ness the eminent physician and surgeon, Dr. Smith, of Hanover, was called, and under his skillful treatment he was healed, but the knee was partially stiffened, and to recover the full action of this joint required years. While thus confined he resolved to become a physician and surgeon. His education was limited to a common school course. Alone and without instruction he acquired that mental discipline which distinguished him in after life. He commenced'his medical studies at the age of seventeen years, with Dr. Eber Carpenter, of Alstead, N. H., with the stipulation that he should practice one year with the Doctor to recompense him for his education. While he was pursuing his medical course he took private lessons in Latin and Greek. He graduated at the Medical department of Dartmouth College at the age of twenty. After he had practiced two years with Dr. Carpenter, where he had gained a high reputation in the treatment of spotted fever, and was the cele- brated " boy physician," he commenced to practice in Claremont, but his friends in Montpelier induced him to locate there. The distinguishing trait of his mind was sound judgment. His fixed purpose was improvement in his pro- fession ; consequently he was never engaged in other business or in seeking political preferment. He very early gained general confidence as a physician, and as a surgeon he was successful above most others. It was a maxim with him that there should be no guess-work in his profession, and more especially in surgery. In 1820 Dr. Spalding married Miss Eliza Reed, of Montpelier,

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Gazetteer of Washington County, Vt., 1783-1889, Part 44

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836-, comp; Adams, William, fl. 1893, ed Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Syracuse, N. Y., The Syracuse journal company, printers Number of Pages: 898

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836-, comp; Adams, William, fl. 1893, ed
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Syracuse, N. Y., The Syracuse journal company, printers
Number of Pages: 898