USA > Vermont > Washington County > Gazetteer of Washington County, Vt., 1783-1889 > Part 46
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"CENTER RUTLAND, VT., Feb. 3, 1885.
" M. Wright & Son.
"Gents : We purchased sometime since two of your polishing machines and have found them in every respect satisfactory, and fully up to what you recommended them for. They do most excellent work on all varieties of our marble, and are by far the best machines we know of for the purpose. " Respectfully yours, "VERMONT MARBLE CO.
"F. D. Proctor, supt."
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" CINCINNATI, OHIO, Feb. 4, 1885. " M. Wright & Son.
" Dear Sirs: The polishing machine is in operation and gives entire satisfaction, and I would not be without it for double the cost.
" Very respectfully,
" JAMES MCDONOUGH."
These are but samples of the scores of recommendations received.
Mr. Wright, now three-score and fifteen years of age, is active, and gives his personal attention to all the details of his manufacturing interests. From the foregoing sketch will be seen that his has been an active and industrious life. Few have accomplished as much. In the long stretch of time in which he has been a manufacturer and producer, his employees are a host in num- bers, and the amounts paid them enormous. Thus he has been a benefactor in helping others to help themselves. Although so much engaged he has found time to give his aid and support to the benevolent, educational, and religious interests of his town, and has taken his share of service for his towns- men by discharging acceptably numerous offices of trust received at their hands. In politics he is a Republican ; in religion he is liberal, and by his influence and aid the neat Union church at his little hamlet was built, and open to all Christian denominations. Mr. and Mrs. Wright have bad born to them three daughters and two sons, three of whom are now living, viz .: Maria (Mrs. Capt. Washburne) resides in Boston; Janie is the wife of C. C. Putnam, Esq., of the firm of C. C. Putnam & Son ; and Prentice C., of the firm of M. Wright & Son, efficiently assists in the management of the firm's business, has ably taught the school of his district, and has held several of the offices in his town.
Luther Newcomb, son of Dr. Luther Newcomb, was born in Derby, April 10, 1826, and died from Bright's disease at his home in Montpelier, January 2, 1876. Dr. Newcomb died when Luther was but five years old, and he re- mained with his mother six years after. The family was intimate with Hon. Isaac F. Redfield, and Luther, at the age of eleven years, became the same as a member of Judge Redfield's family. He studied under the the direction of the Judge, and entered Washington County Grammar School, where he was prepared to enter college. He then read law under the direction of Judge Redfield, and was for some time a student in the office of H. O. Smith, Esq. Though fitted for admission to the bar he did not apply for it. He received an appointment in the customs service, and was two years a revenue officer on Lake Champlain. January 1, 1849, he was appointed deputy clerk of Wash- ington County Court under ShubaeljWheeler. In December, 1857, he was appointed clerk and held the position during the rest of his life. He was a model officer, and had not only the respect and affection of the Washington county bar and the court, but also that of the members of the bar in the whole state. June 25, 1857, Mr. Newcomb married Miss Amanda Thomas, only daughter of Gen. Stephen Thomas. His wife and three sons, Charles, Luther, and Stephen Thomas, survive him.
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Hon. Joseph Poland, son of the late Luther and Nancy (Potter) Poland, was born in Underhill, Vt., March 14, 1818. In early life he removed with his parents to what was then Coit's Gore, but was soon thereafter organized as the town of Waterville, in Lamoille county, where he was reared upon his father's farm, acquiring such education as was afforded by the common schools and academies of that day. In 1835 he entered the office of the Vermont Watchman, at Montpelier, to acquire what has been called the "art of all arts." The last few months of his apprenticeship he purchased of his employers, in order to enter upon the publication of the Voice of Freedom, the first destructive anti-slavery periodical of the state-which he did Jan- uary 1, 1839. In the fall of the same year failing health compelled him to. retire from the enterprise, but in June, 1840, his health became sufficiently restored to enable him to establish the Lamoille Whig at Johnson, which publication he continued for three years, during which period, largely through the instrumentality of the paper, Lamoille county, hitherto so overwhelmingly Democratic as to have acquired the title of "Spunky Lamoille," wheeled very decidedly into the opposition column, where it has ever since remained. In. 1844 Mr. Poland returned to Montpelier and established the Green Mount- ain Freeman, as the organ of the newly-formed Liberty party, which he con- ducted with great success until the close of the presidential campaign of 1848. During this period Mr. Poland also served as chairman of the state committee and general organizer of the then despised and traduced party-a nobler or purer than which the world never saw. These were the days that tried men's. souls,-the days when, at the cost of reputation, social and business stand- ing, and in not a few instances of even life itself, the "small stone was cut out of the mountain," which has since become a great mountain and filled the whole land. When Mr. Poland retired from the Freeman, in 1848, it had a circulation unequalled by any other paper in the state. In 1852-53. he served as judge of the Probate Court for Washington county, and in 1858- 60 represented the county in the state Senate. In 1849 he was chosen a director and secretary of the Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company, which position he held for more than thirty years, and during the entire life of the company. In 1870-71 Judge Poland represented the town of Montpelier in the state legislature. In 1861 he was commissioned by President Lincoln as. collector of internal revenue for the First district of Vermont, and discharged its responsible duties to universal acceptance until 1868. During the second year of the war, under the act of Congress providing for allotment commis- sioners, President Lincoln appointed Judge Poland, Ex-Gov. John B. Page, and Hon. John Howe as such commissioners, whose duty it was to visit the Vermont regiments in the field and procure from each soldier an allotment of such portion of his monthly pay as he could spare during his term of enlist- ment, to be appropriated for the support of his family, or for investment, as he should direct. The benefits resulting from this measure were simply incal- culable, as it not only brought hundreds of thousands of dollars directly into
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the state, but it also saved the soldiers themselves from demoralization, their families from suffering, and the state from largely increased taxation. In March, 1868, Judge Poland, in connection with his son, J. Monroe, purchased the Vermont Watchman, which he continued until 1882, when he perma- nently retired from active business. This was a position of great labor and responsibility. The paper had been for sixty years under the able manage- ment of the Waltons, father and son, and was the leading journal of the state. It may with truth be said that Judge Poland left the paper with far more than double the circulation it had when he assumed it. His aim in editorial life and labors is well summed up in a single sentence contained in his valedic- tory address to his patrons: "The extent of our boasting is this, that we have earnestly and conscientiously striven to furnish a periodical visitor in the homes of our people, which should be pure and healthful in its influence, and prove useful as an educator in all the best things in every relation of life."
Since early life Judge Poland has been an active member of the Congre- gational church, and was for many years the publisher of the Vermont Chronicle, the organ of the denomination in the state; as he was also the founder and publisher for several years of the New Hampshire Journal, for the Congregational churches of that state. For nearly twenty years he has served as one of the deacons of Bethany church in Montpelier, and for an extended period as superintendent of its Sabbath-school. Simple justice re- quires that we add one or two brief testimonials to Judge Poland from his brother editors of the state on his final retirement :-
"The Hon. Joseph Poland has retired from the Watchman and Journal, whose editorial columns he has conducted with excellent ability and remark- able discretion for nearly twenty years. He has always hewed straight to the line on all great questions of deep public concern in morals and politics. One of the old anti-slavery men in days when it cost a man something to embrace that despised faith, Mr. Poland has always been an editor without fear, with- out malice, and without reproach. He has acted well his part in Vermont journalism ; his influence has been large, and it has been uprightly exerted." -Rutland Herald.
" But it is not so much in his relation to the public as an able and con- scientious journalist, a strong and graceful writer, that we feel moved to write, but rather of his relation to the editors and publishers of the state. In these relations Mr. Poland has been almost exceptionally free from the petty jeal- ousies, the spirit of detraction and disparagement, the rancor and unwar- ranted personal abuse, which have prevailed too generally among the editors of the state. He has been uniformly courteous and just, and even generous in his treatment of other editors, and in this respect he leaves to his profes- sional brethren a very worthy example." -- St. Albans Messenger.
" From our earliest childhood we knew Mr. Poland as an active business man, of unimpeachable character, of warm sympathies, and as engaged with his whole soul in what was then an unpopular cause-the cause of the slaves in the South. As a public writer, and as editor of several influential news- papers, Mr. Poland has waged a long warfare against all the public evils which worked shame to the nation, detriment to society, and weakness to the church.
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It was our personal knowledge of his honorable character, his noble work, and his business capacity, that induced those in our state who were project- ing the idea of establishing a denominational journal to accept the proposi- tion by Mr. Poland to publish such a journal in connection with the Chron- icle, which he was publishing for the churches of Vermont. To this plan he has devoted his energies and fine judgment. The first year's history of the New Hampshire Journal is filled with fears and hopes, and labors, and sac- rifices, the full share of which he has borne. The success which has already come to the enterprise, and which will increase with the years, will stand as- sociated with Mr. Poland's name."-New Hampshire Journal.
" As the Hon. Joseph Poland has been for years past the trusted publisher of the Vermont Chronicle, as well as the experienced editor and publisher of the Vermont Watchman and State Journal, we transfer to the Chronicle the Parting Word which he has prepared and published in the Watchman of this week. We do this for the history and reminiscences which it contains, and more for the large hope and charity, and the clear Christian spirit of the ex- perienced journalist and gentleman which breathes through it, and the tried words in which all this is expressed. We speak not for ourselves only, but for the churches and patrons of the paper. We know that they sorrow with us that he is no longer to sustain the relation of confidence and love in which he has hitherto stood. Yet while we sorrow for this we are comforted by the remembrance that his faithfulness and wisdom will still remain with us as an example and a guide."- Vermont Chronicle.
Dr. Frederick W. Adams was born in Pawlet, in 1786, and came to Mont- pelier from Barton in 1836, where he had acquired a high reputation as a physician and surgeon. His reputation soon followed him if it had not pre- ceded him. He was soon a leading practitioner in town and the surround- ing country, although at first shunned by many on account of his reputed skepticism in religion. He was benevolent, generous, and kind hearted, and it was said of him : " He lived more practical Christianity daily than any other man in town." Of the rich he took a full professional bill, but forgave the debts of the poor and sometimes added a donation from his purse of five dollars, and sometimes slyly handed in at the back door of some very poor family a web of calico or cotton cloth. He died as he had lived, saying, " If there is a Christian's God, I am not afraid to trust myself in his hands." His death occurred December 17, 1858.
Gen. James Stevens Peck was born in Montpelier, December 6, 1838, be- ing the oldest of the four children born to William Nelson and Julia Clark Peck. The three surviving brothers, all living in Montpelier, are George A., Roswell K., and John W. Gen. Peck entered the University of Vermont in 1856, and graduated with the class of 1860. He immediately commenced the study of law with Lucius B. Peck and Stoddard B. Colby, but two years later, after the war broke out, joned Co. I, 13th Vt. Vols., as second lieu- tenant, October 10, 1862. He was promoted to be adjutant of this regiment, and remained with it until mustered out, January 22, 1863. He fought with his regiment at Gettysburg, and distinguished himself by his coolness and efficiency. On April 12, 1864, he was commissioned adjutant of the 17th
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Regiment, and later as major, remaining with it to the close of the war, until it was mustered out #July 14, 1865. During this time it was engaged in the Wilderness, at Cold Harbor, Petersburg, and others of the most bloody bat- tles of the war, in all of which Gen. Peck " knew no fear," and faithfully dis- charged the dangerous duties assigned him. Returning home unscathed by wounds, but broken in health, he continued his law studies, and was admitted to the bar of Washington county in 1866. " Although a good office-lawyer," says a contemporary, "he was suited neither by natural temperament of mind or strength of body for the ruder experience of the public courts. He was a scholar and a soldier, but, better than that, he was a man of brave yet gentle spirit ; faithful and gallant in war, he was tender and true in peace." In 1868 he was appointed assistant adjutant and inspector-general, and in 1872 succeeded Gen. William Wells to that office, which he held with effi- ciency and credit for nearly ten years. In 188t he resigned, having been appointed postmaster at Montpelier, by President Garfield, which office he held at his death. Previous to his acceptance of it, from the spring of 1869 until the fall of 1880, he was assistant United States district attorney under Hon. Benjamin F. Fifield. Gen. Peck was assistant secretary of the state Senate for four years prior to 1872 ; also one of the original members of the Reunion Society of Vermont officers, and for the last seventeen years its
secretary. He was president of that organization at the time of his death. He married, in 1869, at Montpelier, Miss Mary E., daughter of Amplius Blake, thirty years ago a prominent citizen of Chelsea and president of the bank at that place. Gen. Peck was made a Mason in Aurora Lodge, No. 22, in 1863, and was Master of this lodge from December, 1869, to 1872. He received the degree in King Solomon Royal Arch Chapter, No. 7, in 1868, and was its High Priest for two years. He was also a member of Montpelier Council, No. 4, Royal and Select Masters, and of Mount Zion Commandery, No. 9, Knights Templar, in both of which he had held import- ant offices. " He was christened ' Hero' when he stood on the crest of Cemetery hill at Gettysburg, under that fire of death from Lee's artillery, which was the prelude to Longstreet's famous charge. * He came home unscathed by wounds, although he was always in the front of the fight, but he did not come home untouched by disease ; for a severe attack of ty- phoid pneumonia before Petersburg had left his lungs so impaired in strength that his regimental surgeon and warm personal friend, Dr. Edson, now of Boston, warned him that nothing but the most vigilant care would save him
from an early death. * Originally of a slender frame, he was never strong again, and some eight years ago he broke down with an attack of bleeding from the lungs. He rallied and preserved a fair show of health un- til about four years ago, when he had a second attack, so terrible that his life was for many days despaired of by his friends. He rallied again, however, and during the last four years had by constant care and vigilance made a successful fight for life, until his last fatal hemorrhage came on. Though hit
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by no ball or shell, scared by no sabre or bayonet, he received his death wound upon the battle-field, and died a soldier's death, far from the din of battle, long after the clangor of war had ceased. He will be mourned long and tenderly by those who are clear-eyed enough to see, and humane enough to feel that the state suffers when a man of exceptional patriotism and hu- manity dies." Gen. Peck died May 28, 1884, at Loon lake, Franklin county, N. Y.
The name of Dewey was originally De Ewes. They went from French Flanders into England in the reign of Henry VIII., when the name was called Dewes, and Simeon Dewes was erected a Baronet of Stow Hall about 1629. The first of the name who came to America was Thomas Dewey1, who came from Sandwich, Kent, England, on the ship Lion's Whelp, and landed in Boston, Mass., in May, 1630, and settled in Dorchester, Mass., in 1633. He removed to Windsor, Conn., about 1638. March 22, 1638 or '39, he mar- ried widow Francis Clark. He held various positions, such as juror and deputy to the General Court. He died and was buried at Windsor, Conn., April 27, 1648, leaving five children.
Josiah Dewey2, second son of Thomas and Frances (Clark), born October 10, 1641, settled in Northampton, Mass., removed to Westfield in 1672, and to Lebanon, Conn., in 1696. November 6, 1662, he married Hepzibah Lyman, and, after her death, a second wife about 1672. The time of his death is not known, but he was living as late as 1731. He had eleven children by his first wife. In the year 1672 a company was formed at Westfield to build a grist and saw mill. Joseph Whitney and Thomas, Josiah, and Jedediah Dewey composed the company. They were granted forty acres of land for the use of the mill. Other grants were made to Josiah Dewey ; one was a lot to re-imburse him for expense in building the minister's house. He was one of the garrison of the fort for March 14, 1682-83. He held many of the offices of the Congregational church, and also of the town. Josiah Dewey, Jr3., the third son of Josiah and Hepzibah (Lyman), was born December 24, 1666. January 15, 1690 or '91, he married Mehitable Miller, and lived some time at Northampton, Mass., but removed to Lebanon, Conn., about 1699. They had six children. Their son William4 married, about 1713, Mercy Bailey. He died November 10, 1759. He was father of five children. Simeon Dewey5, son of William and Mercy (Bailey) Dewey, was born in Lebanon, Conn., May 12, 1718. March 29, 1739, he married Anna Phelps. He died at Lebanon, Conn., March 2, 1750 or '51. His widow and their six children moved to Hanover, N. H., where she died September 25, 1807. William‘, son of Simeon and Anna (Phelps) Dewey, was born at Bolton, Conn., Jan- uary 11, 1746, and died at Hanover, N. H., June 10, 1813. He married Rebecca Corwin in 1768, and removed from Lebanon or Colchester, Conn., to Hanover, N. H., in 1776, and located on the Connecticut river, four miles above Dartmouth College. In his youth he was bound out to Joel Cham- berlin, of Lebanon, Conn., to learn the "art, trade, or mystery" of house
25*
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and shop joiner. They were parents of fourteen children, of whom Capt. Simeon Dewey7 was the second child. He was born in Lebanon or Colchester, Conn., August 20, 1770, and died at the house of his son, Dr. Julius Y. Dewey, in Montpelier, January 11, 1863. Capt. Simeon Dewey married Prudence Yemans, of Norwich, Vt., February 27, 1794, and resided in Berlin from that time until his wife died, April 1, 1844. He then moved to Mont- pelier. He was many years a justice of the peace, and held other positions in public life. Mr. and Mrs. Simeon Dewey were parents of seven children.
Dr. Julius Yemans Dewey8, son of Simeon and Prudence (Yemans) Dewey, was born at Berlin, Vt., August 22, 1801. He was educated at the Wash- ington County Grammar School, and then read medicine with Dr. Edward Lamb. He took his degree at the University of Vermont in 1823, and com- menced the practice of medicine at Montpelier. In 1850 he retired from active practice, and became the general agent of the National Life Insurance Co. of Vermont. In 1851 he was elected president of the company, and held that office for over a quarter of a century. He marrried, for his first wife, June 9, 1825, Mary Perrin, daughter of Zachariah and Mary Tolcott Perrin, who came from Gilead, Conn., and settled in Berlin, Vt., in 1789. She died in Montpelier, September 3, 1843, leaving four children, viz .: Charles9, Edward9, George9, and Mary9. August 3, 1845, Dr. Dewey mar- ried for his second wife Susan Edson Tarbox, of Randolph, Vt., widow of Lund Tarbox. She was born July 15, 1799, and died September 11, 1854. For his third wife he married Susan E. G. Lilley, widow of Gibbs Lilly, of Worcester, Mass. Dr. Dewey always took a great interest in the Episcopal church, became a vestryman in 1841, and served as such for about thirty-three years. He also held the offices of junior and senior warden of the parish, and represented the same repeatedly to the diocesan convention. There never was a man more outspoken in praise of a good deed, or more ready to denounce a wrong, even though it lost him a former friend. He was a warm friend, loved his home, his children, and grandchildren, and they in turn loved and honored him. He died Tuesday morning, May 29, 1877.
Charles Dewey9, oldest son of Dr. Julius Yemans Dewey and Mary Perrin, his first wife, was born in Montpelier, March 27, 1826. He was educated at the Washington County Grammar School, and graduated at the University of Vermont in 1845. He immediately commenced work as assistant secretary of the Vermont Mutual Fire Insurance Co., was elected its secretary in January, 1850, and held that office until November 1, 1871, and was a director of the company for over thirty years. He also became a director of the National Life Insurance Co. in 1851, vice-president in 1871, and presi- dent of the company after his father's death, in 1877, and has served as such ever since. In 1864 he became a director, and in 1878 was elected vice- president. He was for many years a trustee and one of the prudential com- mittee of the Washington County Grammar School, and has been president of the board of trustees since 1880. Among the various other positions of
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trust are county senator in 1867, '68, and '69; state inspector of finance in 1882-83; and for over a quarter of a century one of the vestry of Christ church, and for many years its senior warden. He married, May 3, 1848, Betsey Tarbox, daughter of Lund and Susan Edson Tarbox. Their chil- dren are : Frances Isabella10, born February 3, 1849, at Montpelier, and mar- ried, October 25, 1871, Henry E., son of Orange Fifield and Melissa Nelson ; Ella Lutheria10, born October 29, 1850, and married, November 19, 1873, Carol P., son of Parley P. Pitkin and Caroline Templeton, and died May 30, 1879 ; William Tarbox10, born September 30, 1852, and married, November 9, 1881, Alice Elmore, daughter of James G. French and Orlantha Goulds- bury ; Jennie10, born May 29, 1854, married, in June, 1881, Edward Dickin- son, son of Edward R. Blackwell and Persis J. Dickinson ; Mary Grace1º, born January 20, 1858; George Perrin1º, born August 18, 1860, resides at Portland, Me., and is general agent for the National Life Insurance Co .; Gertrude May10, born September 18, 1862; Kate10, born August 31, 1864, married, December 27, 1888, Ernest Langdon Squires, and resides at Omaha, Neb .; and Charles Robert10, born October 27, 1867, resides at Boston, Mass.
Edward Dewey9, son of Dr. Julius Yemans Dewey and Mary Perrin, was born at Montpelier, March 27, 1829, and married, in 1856, Susan G. Lilley, daughter of Gibbs and Susan E. G. Lilley, of Worcester, Mass. He, like his father, has been for many years a member of the vestry of Christ church. He was educated at the Washington County Grammar School, and after a few years of office work, as assistant secretary of the Vermont Mutual Fire Insurance Co., he left the company's employ to engage in mercantile business. He was a quartermaster during the war of the Rebellion, with the rank of captain. Since he returned from the war he has been actuary, and for many years a director, and vice-president since 1877, of the National Life Insur- ance Co. The children of Edward Dewey9 and Susan G. Lilley are Thomas1º, born May 22, 1857 ; Theodore10, born February 10, 1859, is an ensign in U. S. navy ; Jessie10, born February 17, 1862, married, January 11, 1884, Hon. James Loren Martin, of Brattleboro, Vt .; Helen1º, born February 27, 1867 ; Margaret Louise10, born April 2, 1875 ; and Julius Edward10, born January 14, 1878.
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