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 102
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iam White, of Chicago, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Horsford have three children,-Cyrus P., Phoebe and Earl Frederick Horsford.
JONATHAN ROSS.
Jonathan Ross, one of the most eminent jur- ists of the state of Vermont, exemplifies in the fullest sense the fact that our strongest men, physically and intellectually, are bred in the rural sections. After a long and unusually busy life, he is nearing the close of his seventy-seventh year, and is still in the possession of the keenest perceptions, is active and industrious in the pur- suit of his accustomed labors. Judge Ross was born April 30, 1826, in the town of Waterford, Caledonia county, Vermont, and is the eldest son and third child of his parents, Royal and Eliza Ross, the former a man of marked indi- viduality and the latter possessed of much in- tellectual force and of most estimable womanly qualities.
Previous to the Revolution Roger Ross, who is held in family tradition to have been a Scotchman, was in Templeton and Phillips- ton, Massachusetts. He was born September 20, 1740, and died October 6, 1817, at Phillipston, Massachusetts. August 21, 1777, he enlisted for service in the colonial army and marched to Bennington, arriving too late to take part in the battle there, and was dis- charged after ten days' service. Again, September 27, following, he was enrolled under the same commanders, Captain Josiah Wil- der and Colonel Nathan Sparhawk, and served twenty-nine days, participating in the battle of Saratoga. If not himself a Scotchman, there is little doubt that his ancestors were Scotch. February 14, 1771, his first wife (whose name is unknown) bore him a son, who was named Jonathan, and she died when the boy was a child. The latter purchased his time before attaining his majority, and subsequently spent some time at Chesterfield, New Hampshire, where he mar- ried Lucy Stoddard. In 1793 he bought one hun- dred acres of wild land in what is now the town of Waterford, Vermont, and in February, 1795, he brought his bride there to make a home. The journey was made on a sled drawn by a pair of steers. Here he cleared up a farm, but was taken
Canathon Ras
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away in the prime of life, November II, 1820, his death resulting from an attack of typhus fever. The same malady had taken away two of his four sons and one of the two daughters in the previous year. His widow survived until July 4, 1851, reaching the good old age of seventy- five years, having been born October 26, 1775. ' Royal, son of Jonathan and Lucy Ross, was born July 22, 1799, on the homestead in Waterford, where he passed his entire life and died Novem- ber 2, 1856. In 1821 he married Eliza, daughter of Rev. Reuben Mason, a pioneer clergyman of the Congregational church. Five of their six sons and all of the six daughters grew to mature years. Two sons and two daughters are now living. The mother lived to the age of ninety-five years, laboring with assiduity beyond her ninetieth year, and passing away May 7, 1898. She was born November 25, 1803, in Lyman, New Hampshire. Rev. Reuben Mason was a lineal descendant of Pelatiah Mason, one of the nine sons of Sampson Mason, who came from England and settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts, where he resided from 1649 to 1657, removing in the latter year to Rehoboth. He had served under Cromwell in the parliamentary army, and his descendants have included statesmen, soldiers, preachers and scholars who have contributed to give the family name an honorable distinction. Besides his sons, he had four daughters.
The boyhood years of Judge Ross were passed upon the farm which had been subdued by his grandfather, and he was early introduced to use- ful labor, where industry, sobriety and sound morality ruled. The first one hundred acres had been paid for and ten acres cleared out of the grandfather's earnings as a farm laborer. His grandfather had brought all his movable posses- sions to this place on a sled, except a cow, which he lead. In the twenty-five years that he lived after that, he added one hundred acres to his domain, fenced it all, mostly with stone walls, and built two frame barns and a frame house, all of which were well stocked and furnished. To this estate Royal Ross succeeded at the age of twenty-one years, upon his father's death (the other surviving son, Abraham, being then only seven years old), and he also practiced the in- dustry and frugality which characterized his parents. Long after the subject of this sketch
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reached manhood, everything consumed upon the farm was, almost without exception, produced there. The flax and wool which grew upon the farm were spun and woven for clothing, and plain fare sufficed for the table. Trolley rides and railway trips were unknown, and no tropical fruits found their way to the rural palate.
In the rude school of his native district the future lawmaker and jurist began to receive in- struction, and here continued winter and sum- mer until he was eleven years old, after which his labors were required upon the home acres during the outdoor season. He continued in the district school in winter until he was seventeen years old, when he had become qualified, through the industrious application of an active mind, to take up the teacher's ferule and lead others in the way of knowledge. For seven successive winter terms, beginning at the age of eighteen years, he taught in Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. By means of his earnings in this way, he was enabled to attend parts of two fall terms in a select school in Waterford and part of a term at Philips Academy, of Danville. In the autumns of 1844-45-46, he was a student under the instruction of that prince of educators in his time, James K. Colby, at St. Johnsbury Academy. From an early age young Ross had manifested a great love for books, and the resolve to enter upon a professional career was more firmly fixed during his association with Professor Colby. The spring and early summer of 1847 were spent at this institution and in the following autumn he matriculated at Dartmouth College. Though not so well prepared as some of his more fortunate fellows. his studious habits and ready grasp of knowledge enabled him to make up his conditions during the first year. His course at college afforded to his fellow students an example of industry and probity and was marked by high scholarship, and he was graduated in IS51. In the meantime most of his expenses had been de- frayed by his own earnings. In the autumn of his junior year he acted as assistant to Mr. Colby in St. Johnsbury Academy, and when his coveted degree was obtained he owed his father two hundred and seventy-four dollars, which had been loaned to him. The Judge has never had cause to regret that he entered up- on this course, instead of taking up farm
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labor at home, as urged by his father. In 1885 his alma mater conferred upon him the well earned degree of LL. D.
During the first year after graduation the young A. B. taught in the academy at Crafts- bury, Vermont, and for the succeeding two years in Cheslsea Academy, same state. The next two years were occupied in reading law in the office of Hon. William Hebard in Chelsea, simultane- ously teaching in the academy there, and he was admitted to the Orange county court in the De- cember term, 1855.
In the spring of 1856 Judge Ross took up his residence at St. Johnsbury, and was assistant at the academy until summer. In May of the same year he formed a partnership with A. J. Willard for the practice of law, which has ever since been his profession. After 1858 he con- tinued alone until his election to the supreme bench in 1870. After twenty years of service on the bench his eminent judicial qualities were recognized by his selection as chief justice, and he continued in this capacity until he resigned, Janu- ary II, 1899, to serve in the United States Sen- ate in the vacancy caused by the death of the lamented Justin S. Morrill. December 1, 1900, he was appointed by the governor as chairman of the state railroad commission and served two years, at the end of which time he was glad to be re- lieved of the cares of the office, to give his entire attention to the legal business demanding his time.
Though never a seeker after preferment, be- ing abundantly able to take care of himself and do good in the community as a private citizen, Judge Ross has gracefully accepted and most efficiently filled many trusts at the request of his fellow citizens. He has acted as trustee of the vilage of St. Johnsbury and was eleven years on the prudential committee of the St. Johnsbury union district. From 1859 to 1869 he was treas- urer of the Passumpsic Savings Bank. He was elected state's attorney for Caledonia county in 1862 and again in 1863; represented St. Johns- bury in the state legislature in 1865-66-67, and was elected to the state senate from Caledonia county in 1870. In both branches of the legis- lature he served on the judiciary and other im- portant committees, and in 1866 was appointed a member of the state board of education, serv-
ing until his elevation to the bench four years later. In 1869 he was a member of the last coun- cil of censors.
November 22, 1852, Jonathan Ross was mar- ricd to Miss Eliza Ann Carpenter, a native of the same town as himself, daughter of Isaiah and Caroline (Bugbee) Carpenter, and sister of the late Alonzo P. Carpenter, chief justice of New Hampshire. Mrs. Ross was educated in New- bury, Lyndonville and St. Johnsbury academies, and was some years a teacher in the public schools of Vermont and New Hampshire and also in the academies at Lyndonville and St. Johnsbury. She was a lady of rare intellectual powers and many graces of character, known as a devoted wife and mother. "Her children rise up to call her blessed." January 15, 1886, she passed to the higher life, having borne six daughters and two sons, all of whom have reflected credit and honor upon a worthy parentage.
July 4, 1887, Judge Ross took for a second mate a most worthy successor of the first, of whom she is a distant relative, in the person of Miss Helen Augusta Daggett, a descendant of an old and honored American family. She is a cultivated and lovable lady, who was educated at St. Johnsbury and at the Tilden Female Semi- nary, at Lebanon, New Hampshire, and spent. twenty-eight years in teaching, chiefly in the west, the last twenty-four in the institutions for the blind at Janesville, Wisconsin, and Indianapolis, Indiana.
Of the children of Judge Ross a brief record" is here appropriate: Caroline C., born Novem- ber 1, 1853, graduated at St. Johnsbury Academy and spent one year each at Vassar College and Chicago University, and was a most capable woman ; after teaching at home, at Independence,. Iowa, and Rochester, Minnesota, she was several years employed at Fargo, South Dakota, and died September 14, 1899, at home, while still' under engagement at the latter point. Eliza Mason, born December 2, 1855, a cultivated and energetic lady, is at present teaching in the insti- tution for the blind at Philadelphia. Helen M., born February 22, 1858, was educated at St. Johnsbury Academy and was a teacher ; she died March 16, 1882. Julia, born September 19, 1860, is the wife of Dr. Albert Clinton Aldrich, of Somer- ville, Massachusetts, and takes rank among the -
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intellectual women of that Boston suburb, being especially active in club affairs. Martha E., born July 16, 1862, is skilled in the use of the pencil and possesses fine taste, and taught drawing some years before becoming the wife of John W. Titcomb, now a member of the United States fish commission. Edward H., born June 18, 1864, graduated in the classical course, with high rank, at Dartmouth College in 1886 and subse- quently took the medical course at the same insti- tution, and is now enjoying a lucrative medical practice in his native place. Jonathan C., born March 22, 1867, graduated at Dartmouth in 1889, and took up the profession of law, in which he had established a strong hold in New York city when he died, of pneumonia, January I, 1900; his career was characterized by aptitude and industry. Edith, born July 18, 1869, gradu- ated at St. Johnsbury Academy and spent two years at Smith's College, and is now the wife of Charles G. Braley, of her native town.
The most fitting and complete summing up of the character of Judge Ross is found in the writings of a contemporary, prepared in 1887, as follows: "Coming to the bench in the maturity of his power, though ripe in learning for his years, he did not abate one jot of zeal or effort to keep himself abreast of the most industri- ous and ambitious of his associates, and to-day he holds rank second to none of his associates in point of legal erudition and thorough knowledge of the fundamental principles of law, or familiar- ity with the established methods of practice.
"As a trier of causes, his eminent practical sense, his strong sense of justice, joined to his varied attainments, secured him at once the re- spect of the bar and the confidence of litigants. Sprung from and reared among the people, and in full sympathy with their mode of life, no pride of position ever removed him from touch with the everyday life of the laboring classes, who ever find him ready to sympathize with and advise them in the troubles and perplexities of life.
"Uniformly courteous and indulgent to the bar, and especially to those whose limited experi- ence leaves them, unaided, at the mercy of more astute and more experienced practitioners ; patient to hear and considerate in expression of opinions to those from whose views he is obliged to dissent, it is both pleasant and easy to practice
in his courts. Diligent in the performance of the functions of his office, there is never in his courts an accumulation of business, and no one ever has occasion to complain that the cases which fall to him in supreme court are not attended to, and his written opinions, always able and often- times exhaustive, are with dispatch placed in the hands of the reporter. The early habit, acquired upon his father's farm, of doing at once and with thoroughness the thing to be done, makes him one of the most efficient and reliable men of his day and generation, in all of the manifold depart- ments of public and private life where he is called to act. Fair and impartial in the trial of issues of fact, questions which would naturally have gone to a jury for determination, are frequently, by mutual consent, submitted to the court. Simple and plain in the statement of issues of cases submitted to the jury, he is enabled easily to assist them to reach just conclusions and further the ends of justice. Few lives, so crowded with responsible duties, have been more admirably lived, and it is to be hoped that the future has for him large store both of usefulness and honors." -
EDWARD PILON, M. D.
Among the honored representatives of the medical profession in Addison county, Vermont, is Dr. Pilon, who is of the younger generation of practitioners and who is located in the attractive city of Virgennes. His ability in his profession has gained him marked prestige, while his genial and gracious personality have secured to him a host of warm friends in the community which he has chosen as the scene of effort in his noble pro- fession.
As the name indicates, Dr. Pilon is of French extraction, the genealogy being traced back through a distinguished line in la belle France, while the name has also been long identified with the annals of American history as pertaining to the Dominion of Canada, where the original rep- resentatives located many generations ago, hav- ing been among the prominent French emigres who initiated the work of development and pro- gress in the province of Quebec and there in- stituted as far as possible the graces of social life
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to which they had been accustomed in their na- tive land. The Doctor himself is a native of Canada, having been born in the parish of St. Jerome, near the city of Montreal, on the 12th of October, 1863. His father, Anthime Pilon, was born in St. Benoit, province of Quebec, being a son of Moses, who was born in the locality known as Lake of the Mountains, in that province, where his ancestors had settled upon their emigration from France. He passed his entire life in that section of the province, having been a successful farmer and a man of influence in his community and having died, in the city of Montreal, at the age of sixty-five years. His wife, whose maiden name was Adelaide LaLande, was likewise born in that province, where she passed her entire life, passing away in 1899, at the patriarchal age of ninety-six years. She is survived by three chil- dren,-Maurice P., Xavier and Olivine. The family have ever been devoted members and communicants of the Catholic church.
Anthime Pilon was reared and educated in his native province, completing his educational training in a church institution in the city of Montreal and early giving inception to his busi- ness career, being but sixteen years of age when he secured a clerkship in a mercantile establish- ment in Montreal. At the age of twenty he be- came associated with his brothers in a mercan- tile enterprise in St. Gerome, and was a partner for a period of six years, at the expiration of which time he disposed of his interests and remov- ed to Montreal, where he was for two years em- ployed as a clerk in a large mercantile establish- ment. He then engaged in business on his own responsibility, opening a general dry goods store, in which he gave employment to ten clerks at the start, while the enterprise developed rapidly in scope and importance under his effective super- vision, and it eventually became the most exten- sive of the sort in the city. From this beginning, St. Catherine's was made a business street. A large department store was the outcome, and at the time of his death he retained a corps of two hundred and fifty clerical. assistants and conducted a business of magnificent scope, being regarded as one of the most progressive, reliable and public- spirited citizens of the fine old Canadian city with whose interests he was thus conspiciously iden- tified. He was a liberal contributor to all pro-
jects for the advancing of public interest and the promotion of material progress. He died in the city of Montreal on the 6th of August, 1897, at the age of fifty-seven years, and secure in the respect and highest esteeem of all who knew him. In 1861 Anthime Pilon was united in mar- riage to Miss Mary J. Marchand, who was born in Quebec, being a daughter of Jeremiah Merch- and, who was a tanner by vocation and who was well known as a skilled musician, having had ex- ceptional talent as a vocalist, possessing a fine- ly cultivated tenor voice. He died at the age of sixty years, and his wife, whose maiden name was Florence Brunelle, pased away at the age of seventy-five years, having become the mother of eighteen children, of whom ten are living at the present time, including the mother of our sub- ject. One of her brothers is a priest of the Catho- church-Rev. Father Majorique Brunelle, whose pastorate is at Gentilly, providence of Que- bec. Anthime and Mary J. Pilon became the parents of nine children, of whom six are living at the present time, namely : Edward, the subject of this sketch ; Jane A., who is the widow of Mal- colm C. Miller of Drummond, providence of Que- bec; Alphonse, who is engaged in the dry goods business at Fall River, Massachusetts ; Mary L., who is the wife of R. Ernest Boisvert, of Mass- achusetts ; Frank, who is a druggist at Brooklyn, New York; and Anthime, who is a resident of Montreal.
Edward Pilon passed his boyhood days in the city of Montreal, and began his education at a very early age, becoming a "student" in a kinder- garten when less than four years of age, while at the age of six he entered a normal school in his home city, where he continued his studies un- til he became eligible for admission to college. When he was eleven years old he was matriculated in Montreal College, and was seventeen years of age at the time when he entered the Jesuit col- lege, where he was graduated as a member of the class of 1883. He then passed a year in study in the Laval University Medical College, in the city of Quebec, after which he continued his technical studies in the medical department of Victoria University, in Montreal, where he was graduated as a member of the class of 1888. In February, 1889, he located in Vergennes where he has ever since been established in the active prac-
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THE STATE OF VERMONT.
tice of his profession, gaining distinctive recogni- tion as an able and discriminating physician and a very skillful surgeon, while he is known to be not only a close student of the best standard and periodical literature pertaining to his prefession, but also to be a man of fine scholastic attainments in a more generic sense. The Doctor is thorough- ly en rapport with his profession, and his fidelity, earnest devotion and unfailing courtesy have all been potent in advancing him in his profession, since he now controls the largest practice of all physicians in this immediate locality. He holds membership in the Vermont State Medical Socie- ty and the Addison County Medical Society, and he has read able papers before the same on impor- tant medical subjects, while he has also contrib- uted to various periodicals published in the inter- ests of medical science. In politics the Doctor is arrayed as a stanch supporter of the Democratic party. He was for four years a member of the board of pension examiners of this county, and has been offered the position of health officer of Vergennes, which he declined. Fraternally he is identified with Woodmen of the World and the Catholic Order of Foresters, being medical ex- aminer for the local organizations of each of these orders, and also holding a similar position in the interest of the New York Mutual Life Insurance Company and the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. The Doctor is a communicant of the Catholic church, in whose faith he was reared, and he is organist of St. Peter's church, being also the choir master and director. He has ex- ceptional talent as a musician, being a fine pianist and organist and having devoted special atten- tion to the mastery of the technical and mechani- cal difficulties of that noble instrument, the pipe organ. He was organist in Montreal College for six years, and has been in active service in the local church for ten years, while his efforts are ac- corded full appreciation in the church and in local musical circles.
On the 4th of October, 1888, Dr. Pilon was united in marriage to Miss Anna Richards, who was born in Vergennes, being a daughter of Au- gustus Richards, a leading mason and contractor of this place. He married Elizabeth Mossey, and they became the parents of four children, namely : George, a resident of Hoopston, Illinois ; Anna, the wife of our subject; Dolard, who re-
mains at the parental home, as does also the youngest son, Frederick. Dr. and Mrs. Pilon have two adopted children, Fanny and Frederick.
HENRY DAVIS HALL.
Henry Davis Hall, the eldest surviving child of the late Governor Hiland Hall, was born May 5, 1823, at Bennington, Vermont. He was edu- cated at Bennington Academy and at Burr &
HENRY DAVIS HALL,
Burton Seminary and at the age of fifteen years entered upon the serious business of life as clerk at Newfane in Austin Birchard's general store. At the close of his service with Mr. Birchard, when eighteen years of age, young Hall was proffered a partnership interest as an induce- ment to him to remain. He declined this offer, however. his energies being directed at the time toward fitting himself for college. In the winter
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of 1841-2 he taught school at Pownal. Failing sight caused his abandonment of a college course. In 1844, having partially recovered from the affliction of his eyes, he engaged with the firm of Norton & Fenton, manufacturers of stoneware (Bennington), in traveling, selling and deliver- ing for the firm within a radius of one hundred miles of the plant. In the fall of 1846 a partner- ship was formed under the firm name of Fenton, Hall & Company, of which Mr. Norton rep- resented the company and a third interest, for the manufacture of white and yellow ware, and many articles of chinaware, the employes being mainly brought from England, as American pottery was then in its infancy. This establishment became one of the leading industries of Bennington. Mr. Hall, however, withdrew from this connection after one year, and in 1847 became associated with his brother-in-law, Trenor W. Park, in the lumber business, operating in connection there- with all of the saw mills of Bennington and Woodford. In connection with it a large store building was erected by the company at Benning- ton and stocked with general merchandise. In 1848 Mr. Hall disposed of his interest in this business and established a clothing, boot and shoe house in Bennington and was engaged therein up to 1866. For twelve years during the latter period Mr. Hall was one of the board of directors of the Vermont Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and acted as agent for many stock insurance companies, transacting a large general insurance business. In 1866 Mr. Hall, in conjunction with his brother Nathaniel, purchased and for two years operated the Estes cotton mill at South Bennington, and subsequently, in 1868, Mr. Henry D. Hall having purchased his brother's interest, he continued to operate the plant until 1878. He_next opened a clothing, boot and shoe and men's furnishing goods house at North Ben- nington, and this he conducted successfully up to 1883, since which time he has lived in retire- ment from active business pursuits, but has for several years filled the office of curator of the Vermont Historical Society, for Bennington county, and that of historian in the Bennington Battle Monument and Historical Association.
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