USA > Vermont > Genealogical and family history of the state of Vermont; a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation, Vol I > Part 10
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Redfield (6), youngest child of Jabez and Betsey (Parker) Proctor, was born in Proctors- ville, June 1, 1831. He was graduated in 1851 from Dartmouth College, and three years later received the degree of Master of Arts from the same institution. He studied in the Albany (New York) Law School, from which he was graduated in 1859, and he was admitted to the bar at Al- bany, and also at Woodstock, Vermont. Dur-
ing a portion of the years 1860 and 1861 he prac- ticed with his cousin Judge Isaac F. Redfield, at Boston, Massachusetts. In June, 1861, Mr. Proctor enlisted in the Third Regiment, Ver- mont Volunteers, in which he was commis- sioned as lieutenant and quartermaster, and his command at once went to the front. In July he was assigned to duty on the staff of General "Baldy" Smith, and in October he was promoted to the rank of major of the Fifth Regiment, Ver- mont Volunteers, with which he served about twelve months in front of Washington and upon the Peninsula. In October, 1862, Major Proctor was promoted to the colonelcy of the Fifteenth Regiment, Vermont Volunteers, an organization recruited for nine months' service, which per- formed much arduous campaigning. In the me- morable and decisive engagement at Gettysburg, the regiment was posted on the famous Cemetery Hill during a part of the second day's struggle. In August, 1863, it was mustered out of service, and Colonel Proctor returned to civil life. He faithfully performed his duty, and was recognized as a most efficient officer. Speaking of his ser- vices, a Vermont newspaper stated that "none but those who served with him and were in a position to know, can ever understand or appreciate his untiring zeal for the welfare of his men, his un- swerving honesty in dealings with the govern- ment, and his fearless execution of every trust his position demanded."
Colonel Proctor now established himself in Rutland, and entered into partnership for the practice of law with W. G. Veazey, afterwards associate judge of the supreme court.
In 1869 Colonel Proctor, preferring an active business life, accepted the position of manager of the Sutherland Falls Marble Company, near Rutland. The quarries had been opened in 1836 by a company which failed the following year. In 1853 a new company was formed, which operated the quarries for three years, when the property came into the possession of the Suther- land Falls Company. When Colonel Proctor took charge, ten gangs of saws were in operation. Under his supervision the business was greatly enlarged, and in 1880 his company united with the old Rutland Marble Company, formed in 1863. This consolidation was perfected through the organization, on September 30, 1880, of the
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Vermont Marble Company, with Redfield Proctor as president. Since its organization in 1880, the Vermont Marble Company has steadily grown until to-day it is by far the largest industry in the state, and much the largest marble concern in the world.
Its principal producing plants are located at Proctor, Center Rutland, West Rutland and Pittsford, and the town of Proctor from a small handlet has grown to a prosperous village of some twenty-five hundred people, all actively identified with the marble business. When Col- onel Proctor first took hold of the marble busi- ness it was comparatively a small affair, but, ow- ing to his business sagacity, foresight and energy, it has grown to large proportions. In its num- erous quarries thousands of blocks are quarried each year, and under its huge piling derricks there are kept constantly on hand from ten to fifteen thousand quarry blocks from which a se- lection can always be made of different varieties of marble. In its mills something over two hun- dred and fifty gangs of saws are operated contin- uously from Monday morning to Saturday night, sawing out the rough material from the block that later is sent to the shop to come out as a finished product.
While the marble business was started pri- marily for the purpose of supplying the monu- mental trade, to-day it caters to every use to which marble can be put, and, while the monu- mental business is still its principal output, it now has large shops devoted entirely to the fin- ishing of exterior and interior building work. Senator Proctor early conceived the idea of es- tablishing branch yards at convenient points over the country for the distribution of marble, and the company now has branches in Boston, New York. Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago, St. Louis and San Francisco.
Believing that the best results can be obtained only when friendly relations exist between the employer and the employe, efforts have been made all the time to improve the condition of the labor- ing men employed in this business. For many years model tenement houses have-been furnished to the men at low rentals. A garden patch has been given to everyone for the asking. A well equipped hospital and a system of district nurs- ing free to the employes and their families has
been of great benefit. The twenty-five lumdred men employed by the company are covered by an accident insurance at the expense of the company and without cost to them, which in case of acci- dent insures them one-half their weekly wages and doctor's care, and, in case of death, five litin- dred dollars to their families. A well equipped library and a Young Men's Christian Association building have been furnished for the enjoyment of the people. Its stores, from which anything can be supplied, are upon a co-operative basis, a committee from the men taking an active part in the management of the same and the entire profits being distributed to the employes. In 1889, when Governor Proctor went into President Harrison's cabinet as secretary of war, he turned the presi- dency and the active management of the company to his son, Fletcher D. Proctor, who has held that position since that time.
The public career of Senator Proctor, which has been as honorable to himself as it has been useful to the people, began with his election as a selectman of the town of Rutland in 1866. In 1867 he was elected to the lower house of the state legislature, in which he served as chairman of the committee on elections. Again a member of the house in 1868, he served upon the com- mittee on ways and means. Returned to the state senate from Rutland county in 1874, he was elected president pro tem., and discharged the du- ties of the position most capably. In 1876 he was elected lieutenant governor on the same ticket with Governor Fairbanks, receiving a majority of 23,825 votes over his Democratic competitor. In 1878 he was elected governor, receiving 37,312 votes against 17,247 cast for W. H. H. Bingham, the Democratic candidate; 2625 for C. C. Mar- tin, Greenbacker: 750 for C. W. Willard, Re- former ; and thirty-two scattering.
His familiarity with questions of state was illustrated by the skillful and thorough manner in which they were discussed in his inaugural ad- dress. He made a strong appeal for a reduction of state expenses, calling particular attention to the great increase in court costs, which had doubled between 1860 and 1876, and recommend- ing the appointment of a special committee to con- sider the subject. This was the begining of the great reduction which has since been made in this the largest item of state expenses. His sugges-
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tions in regard to a law requiring each taxpayer to make return under oath, and in regard to the di- rect payment of special taxes to the state, were afterwards adopted, and have proved important provisions of the present very satisfactory tax law. During the term of Governor Proctor, the first general savings bank law was passed, in accord- ance with his recommendation, the savings banks having been previously under no uniform law. His suggestion in regard to divorce was also acted upon, and a law was enacted which has proved salutary and in harmony with enlightened public sentiment. His recommendation that special legislation should be avoided where the object sought could be obtained under the general law has now become the settled policy of the state. It is also of interest to note that the present gen- eral law authorizing the formation of corporations was drawn and introduced by him while he was a member of the senate, and has since been in gen- eral use in the organization of business corpora- tions.
Governor Proctor also recommended a re- vision of the statutes, and a law was passed au- thorizing him to appoint commissioners for that purpose. Under this act he appointed the late Hon. Charles W. Willard and Judge Veazey. His discussion of the use of the pardoning power and his allusions to national affairs also deserved and received particular attention.
Governor Proctor delivered a retiring message in which he again forcibly discussed the question of court expenses, and illustrated the evils which had crept in and which had led to the great in- crease. He also argued the question of state tax- ation, and again urged the payment of special cor- poration taxes direct to the state, and the general system of taxation which is now the law of the state. His foresight and ability for constructive legislation was shown by the unusual number of important measures recommended by him and enacted into law during his term or since that have stood the test of time and are still the law of the state.
March 4, 1889, Governor Proctor was called to the cabinet of President Harrison as sec- retary of war. His conduct of that high office was characterized by the loftiest patriotism, and his influence permeated every portion of his great department. The inauguration of our pres-
ent system of seacoast defenses was work to which he gave special attention. The first of our modern high-power guns for coast defense were manufactured and mounted during his term of office, and the first appropriation for the pur- chase of sites for these defenses was made through his urgent appeals to Congress. Al- though it was a time of peace, his work in the department for the general improvement and effi- ciency of the army was of lasting value. Among other measures inaugurated by him were the abolition of the post trader system, which had led to much corruption and dissipation at army posts, the abolition of Sunday inspections, which had made Sunday the hardest working day of the week, and the inauguration of the system of effi- ciency reports, and of examinations for promo- tions, which are still continued, and have proved very effective in stimulating the officers of the army to diligent work.
One incident during his service in the war de- partment attracted very general attention. It is the custom to put the flag which floats over the war department at half-mast for thirty days on the death of any former secretary of war. Jeffer- son Davis dicd while Senator Proctor was secre- tary of war, and the mayor of New Orleans offi- cially notified him of Mr. Davis' death for the evident purpose of compelling a public expression from the secretary of his purpose. Senator Proc- tor replied to the telegram as follows :
War Department, Washington, Dec. 7, 1889. To the Hon. James A. Shakespeare, Mayor of New Orleans, La. :
Your telegram informing me of the death of Mr. Davis is received. In refraining from any official action thereon I would not, and hope I do not, add to the great sorrow of his family and many friends. It seems to me the right course and the best one for all. You will, I am sure, understand that its adoption is prompted also by a sincere wish and purpose to act in that spirit of peace and good will which should fill the hearts of all our people.
REDFIELD PROCTOR. Secretary of War.
This reply met with universal approval from the northern press and from the leading papers through the south, but by some of the minor
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southern papers he was bitterly attacked. He was hanged in effigy at Tupelo, Mississippi.
After nearly three years' service in the war de- partment he resigned, December 7, 1891, to ac- cept the appointment of United States senator from Vermont. In October, 1892, he was elected to the same position for the remainder of the term, ending March 4, 1893, and for the full term, ending March 4, 1899, and in 1898 was re-elected for another full term, ending March 4, 1905.
A single incident will illustrate his character and the deep conscientiousness which govern his actions and utterances. During the session of Congress in 1897-8, as in the preceding session, there was much carnest discussion concerning affairs in Cuba, where a revolution was in prog- ress. Among senators, as among the people at large, there existed wide differences of opinion as to the character, condition and prospects of the insurgents and the treatment of the people by the Spanish troops. Recognition of the independence of Cuba was strongly and persistently opposed. It was impossible to learn the truth from news- paper reports or partisan speeches. Under these circumstances, in February, 1898, Senator Proc- tor visited Cuba, going at his own expense and on his own responsibility, in order that he might be able from personal observation to speak and act wisely in reference to this important matter. He spent considerable time on the island, traveled quite extensively, conversed with American con- suls, Spanish officers, business men of various na- tionalities, and visited hospitals and places where reconcentrados were herded together. March 17th he gave to the senate an account of his observa- tions. This specch, by reason of its calm and dis- passionate style, as well as on account of the un- questioned sincerity and ability of its author, was accepted by all parties as a final and authori- tative statement of the conditions in Cuba and had a powerful influence in determining the ac- tion of the nation with reference to those condi- tions. It was translated wholly or in part into most of the languages of the civilized world. Senator Hoar said in a public address that in his opinion "the resolutions of congress demanding the evacuation of Cuba by Spain, which brought on the war, were the result, not of the destruction of the Maine, but of Senator Proctor's report that a half million people were being starved to death
at our very doors," and ex-President Harrison, in taking the chair at a meeting of the Red Cross Society at Elberon, New Jersey, said: "That quiet recital made by Senator Proctor in the United States senate aroused the nation. I do not think there has been made in any legislative assembly of the world in fifty years a speech that so powerfully affected public sentiment. And yet there was not a lurid adjective in the speech."
Senator Proctor has been three times a dele- gate to the Republican national convention, and in 1888 and 1896, at the conventions that nomi- nated Harrison and Mckinley the first time, he was chairman of the delegation. The action of Vermont in the convention of 1888, where the chairman announced on every ballot "Vermont casts her eight votes for Benjamin Harrison," was a leading factor in determining the result. Vermont was the only state which gave her entire vote on every ballot. President Harrison evinced his personal regard for Mr. Proctor, departing from precedent by taking two of his cabinet from New England, the selection of Mr. Blaine being a foregone conclusion.
In the convention of 1896 Senator Proctor was asked by Governor McKinley's friends to serve as permanent chairman of the convention, but declined in favor of another Vermonter, Sen- ator Thurston. At that convention the present postmaster general, the Hon. Henry C. Payne, of Wisconsin, with four or five other prominent western men, with Senator Proctor as the only eastern representative, framed the gold plank of the platform of 1896 several days before the con- vention met, and there was not a word changed in it except to add after the clause in regard to international silver coinage the words,-"which we pledge ourselves to promote."
At the urgent request of the national commit- tee Senator Proctor took charge of the campaign on the Pacific coast in 1896, and the result of it in California and Oregon, where the party was badly divided by personal and local antagonisms, gave evidence of his ability to bring together dis- cordant elements to work enthusiastically in har- mony for the general result. His work was ac- knowledged by both the national and state com- mittees in very strong letters and telegrams, some of which were published at the time.
The Senator has been honored to a marked
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degree by the personal friendship of Presidents Harrison, Mckinley and Roosevelt, all of whom made him visits at his home in Vermont. Presi- dent Mckinley invited him to a seat in his cabi- net, but he preferred to remain in the senate. His long service, strong common sense and good judgment give him a high standing, and his opin- ion is much esteemed by his colleagues and by the administration, as well as in the national coun- cils of his party, where his work has been notable. His long service has brought him to good places on committees, and he is now a member of the committtees on agriculture, military affairs, the Philippines and postoffices. He has the unique position of being at the head of two committees, being chairman of the committee on agriculture and acting chairman of the committee on military affairs.
Senator Proctor was married May 26, 1858, to Emily J., daughter of Hon. Salmon F. Dutton, of Cavendish, Vermont. Five children, four of whom are living, are the issue of their union,- Arabella G., wife of Frederick G. Holden ; Fletcher D., who became superintendent of the Vermont Marble Company in 1884 and its presi- dent in 1889: Fanny G., who died at the age of twenty years ; Emily D., and Redfield Proctor, Jr.
GENERAL GRENVILLE M. DODGE.
Grenville Mellen Dodge, civil engineer, Coun- cil Bluffs, Iowa, and who rendered conspicuous military service during the Civil war, was born in Putnamville, Danvers, Massachusetts, April 12, 1831, son of Sylvanus and Julia T. (Phillips) Dodge. He attended the public school in winter, meanwhile working industriously in various em- ployments. He devoted his leisure hours to study, and in 1845 was able to enter Durham (New Hampshire) Academy. The following year he entered Norwich (Vermont) University, a military college, and graduated from the college as a civil engineer in 1850, and from Captain Partridge's Military School in 1851, taking his diploma in the scientific course.
He began his active career at Peru, Illinois, where he engaged in surveying. In the winter of 1851 he entered the service of the Illinois Central Railroad Company and made surveys for that road between Dixon and Bloomington, Illinois.
He then became connected with the engineer corps of the Rock Island Railroad, and soon after- ward was commissioned to survey its Peoria branch. While thus engaged he wrote a letter home, which was published, prophesying the building of the first Pacific Railroad, and indicat- ing its general line across the continent, a line which in later years he constructed. Under the direction of Mr. Dey he made the surveys of the Mississippi & Missouri, now the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, from Davenport, Iowa, to Council Bluffs, and he was assistant engineer during the construction of the road from Daven- port to Iowa City. In 1853 he made a reconnais- sance west of the Mississippi river with a view of determining the location of a Pacific railroad, and the bill authorizing the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad, which was adopted by Congress in 1862, was largely based upon his sur- veys and reports. November II, 1854, he re- moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa, and engaged in mercantile pursuits. Later he established the banking house of Baldwin & Dodge, which was finally merged in the Pacific National Bank, with Mr. Dodge as president, and this institution be- came the present Council Bluffs Savings Bank, of which his brother, N. P. Dodge, is president. From 1853 to 1860 he continued his surveys for the Union Pacific Railroad under the patronage of Henry Farnham and Thomas C. Durant, and was connected with all the railroad interests in Iowa and Nebraska.
In 1856 he organized and equipped the Coun- cil Bluffs Guards, of which he was elected cap- tain, and in 1861 he tendered its services to the Governor of Iowa, it being one of the first com- panies in the state to offer under the call for troops for the suppression of the rebellion. This proffer was declined, it being deemed inexpedient to withdraw troops from the western border of Iowa. Early in 1861 Captain Dodge was ap- pointed on the staff of Governor Kirkwood, who sent him to Washington, where he obtained six thousand stands of arms, with ammunition, for the use of Iowa troops. While engaged upon this errand the Secretary of War offered him a cap- taincy in the regular army, but this he declined, whereupon Secretary of War Cameron tele- graphed Governor Kirkwood recommending that Captain Dodge be made colonel of an Iowa regi-
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ment. Governor Kirkwood at once commissioned him as colonel of the Fourth Regiment, lowa In- fautry, and authorized him to recruit and coul- plate it's organization at Council Bluffs, A fortnight later Colonel Dodge, with his regiment, was in active service in northern Missouri. When the Army of the Southwest was organized under General S. R. Curtis, Colonel Dodge was assigned to the command of the Fourth Brigade, Fourth Division, and he led the advance in the capture of Springfield, Missouri. He was en- gaged in the battle of Pea Ridge, where he was wounded, and where his gallant conduct brought him promotion to the rank of brigadier general. November 15, 1862, he was assigned to command of the Second Division of the Army of the Ten- nessee, and actively engaged thereafter against the Confederate forces under Forrest and Roddy in West Tennessee and Mississippi. With two divisions of the Sixteen Army Corps he joined General Sherman at Chattanooga May 4, 1864. He was commissioned major general May 22, on the recommendation of General Grant, in recog- nition of his services during the operations about Corinth and in the Vicksburg campaign. He took part in all the operations of General Sher- man which culminated in the fall of Atlanta, and on August 19th fell dangerously wounded, and was sent home as soon as he was able to be moved. While exhibiting all the traits which mark the accomplished soldier and general, in conduct in campaign and battle, General Dodge's engineering skill was also of vast advantage to Generals Grant and Sherman who relied upon him in large degree for the rebuilding of many large railroad bridges which had been destroyed by the Con- federates, and which were necessary for provid- ing subsistence and munitions of war to the army. This splendid service was never forgotten by Generals Grant and Sherman, and they paid fer- vent tribute to General Dodge in their "Memoirs" as well as by word of mouth in presence of mili- tary assemblages subsequent to the war. Return- ing to duty he was assigned to the command of the Department of Missouri, relieving General Rosecrans December 2, 1864. General Dodge subsequently took command of all the United States forces serving in Kansas, Colorado, Ne- braska, Utalı, Montana and Dakota west of the Missouri river, and conducted an aggressive and
successful campaign against the Indians. At the conclusion of these operations, at his own earnest request, he was relieved, and May 30, 1866, his resignation was accepted.
In Juiy, 1866, the Republicans of the Fifth Congressional District of lowa nominated Gen- eral Dodge for Congress, an honor which was en- tirely unsought. In Congress he was recognized as an authority on all questions relating to the army, and he was active in formulating and pro- moting the bill to reduce the army to a peace foot- ing, and in other important military legislation. He declined a re-election to Congress in order to give his sole attention to his duties as chief en- gineer of the Union Pacific Railroad. He planned the iron bridge across the Missouri river between Council Bluffs and Omaha, and in one year directed the locating, building and equipment of five hundred and sixty-eight miles of road. May 10, 1869, he witnessed the consummation of his great purpose, the uniting of the Union Pacific with the Central Pacific at Promontory Point, Utah, eleven hundred and eighty-six miles from the eastern terminus on the Missouri river. In 1871 General Dodge was appointed chief e11- gineer of the California & Texas Railway Cor .- struction Company, and he built the Texas & Pa- cific railroad from Shreveport, Louisiana, to Dal- las, Texas, and from Marshall via Texarkana to Sherman. He also made the preliminary surveys to determine the thirty-fifth parallel route, and partially built eastward some two hundred miles of road.
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