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 107
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The marriage of Mr. Clark was celebrated at South Hero, Vermont, on the 27th of December, 1899, when Miss Cora L. Ferris became his wife. She is a daughter of Hiram E. and Lutica (Lord) Ferris, the father being a prominent farmer. Mr. Clark has devoted many years of his life to the work of instructing men in the higher things of life, and his labors have been followed by excel- lent results, while his own career, in perfect har- mony with his teachings, has won him the love and respect of all.
WILLIAM ZEBINA PRATT.
William Zebina Pratt, of Williamstown, is an enterprising, energetic business man, actively identified with the agricultural and granite inter- ests of the town, and has been largely instru- mental in developing its industrial resources. A. native of Washington, Vermont, he was born April 13, 1843, a son of William and Keziah (Taylor) Pratt, early settlers of that town.
Mr. Pratt located in Williamstown in 1862, coming here when the land was heavily timbered, the settlers being very few in this part of the county, even the district school boasting of not more than seven pupils. In the twoscore years that have since elapsed he has witnessed the trans- formation of the wilderness into a flourishing and populous village, containing many productive farms and a large number of granite quarries, in
which many people are employed, while the in- habitants now number about five hundred per- sons, one hundred and forty being of school age in Mr. Pratt's district. Mr. Pratt purchased a large tract of land for agricultural purposes, but finding a ledge of fine granite underlying parts of it, he has sold several acres from which quar- ries rich in granite have been developed. The first, opened in 1883, he sold to Collins, Williams & Wallie, of Barre, it being one of the first quar- ries worked in this part of Vermont, and this is now owned by Jones Brothers, of Montpelier and Boston, who are carrying on an extensive busi- ness. He subsequently sold a tract of land to Carrick Brothers, of St. Johnsbury, who de- veloped a profitable business, which is now owned by C. M. Painter, of New York city. In 1885 he sold the quarry now owned by the Grearson- Beckett Company to the Williamstown Granite Company, with which he was actively identified as a large stockholder until it was sold to its pres- ent proprietors. Mr. Pratt now owns one hundred and thirty acres of land, which, on account of the fine grade of granite beneath its surface, is of al- mast inestimable value. He has also disposed of land for building purposes, selling thirty or more house lots, and has erected several houses for tenement uses, nearly all of them being occupied at the present time. In addition to general farm- ing. Mr. Pratt has worked at quarrying, but now confines liis attention to agriculture. While pay- ing strict attention to the details of his own busi- ness, he has not been unmindful of the welfare of the town in which he resides, ever doing all that lies in his power to advance its material, political and social interests. For eight years he served as selectman, and in 1898 and 1899 represented Williamstown in the state legislature, being the nominee of the Republican party, with which he is identified. He is a Universalist in religious faith.
Mr. Pratt married, first, in November, 1865, Mary Parsons, who was born on the farm now owned by Mr. Pratt. She lived but a short time, dying in November, 1866. He married, second, in 1869, Ellen Watterson, of Chelsea. There is one child of the first marriage, Luella May, now the wife of Frank Jeffords, of Williamstown. A son, named Norman J., now seventeen years old, is the fruit of the second union.
60.4
THE STATE OF VERMONT.
COLONEL ZOPHAR M. MANSUR.
The life and services of Colonel Zophiar M. Mansur, collector of customs for the district of Memphiremagog, Vermont, and who has occu- pied many other important public positions, was written of in the following excellent article from the pen of liis law preceptor and personal friend, Hon. George N. Dale, which article appeared in July, 1901, in The Vermonter:
A man of humble and economic parentage and reared amid simple, clean and rural condi- tions as Colonel Mansur was, will either gauge his efforts contentedly to correspond with those ·conditions, or he will begin busily to make steps to more favorable conditions of the simple . material within his reach, as the subject of this sketch did. He was born at Morgan, Ver- mont, November 23, 1843; educated in con- mon schools and at Derby Academy; taught school in 1861; enlisted in Company K, Tenth Vermont, in 1862; discharged in 1865; was in campaign of 1864, in battles of Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House, Cold Harbor, around Petersburg, Monocacy, Maryland, Charleston, Virginia, and Opequon Creek, Virginia; lost his right arm at Opequon Creek, September 19, 1864. On being discharged he attended school at Derby Academy, fall of 1865; taught school at Derby winter of 1866; settled in Island Pond, spring of 1866; appointed postmaster at Island Pond in February, 1867, and held office for quite a number of years; studied law with George N. Dale, admitted to practice in March term of Essex county court in 1879. Elected representative to the legislature in 1886; on committee on judiciary and military affairs, and chairman house commit- tee on bills to charter towns of Proctor and West Rutland; state's attorney for Essex county '86 to '88; appointed by Governor Ormsbce in 1886 on commission with Governor Dillingham and Major A. B. Valentine to contract on part of state for text books to be used in common schools treating on stimulants and narcotics. Elected senator from Essex county in 1888, on commit- tee on judiciary and chairman committee on mil- itary affairs. Elected president Vermont Offi- cers' Reunion Society in 1889, and also in 1898; elected department commander G. A. R. 1890, elected president Society Sons of American Revolution in 1894, also lieutenant governor in 1894; deputy collector of customs in charge of port of Island Pond for four years under Col- lector Benedict. One of the trustees Methodist
Seminary, Montpelier, Vermont ; trustee of Ver- mont Soldiers' Home at Bennington; elected director of National Bank of Derby Line in 1884, and now president of the same; appointed col- lector of customs for the district of Memphrema- gog October 1, 1897.
The foregoing is but an abstract of the prom- inent acts or events in a busy life, the details of which would draw this simple brief beyond the limits of an article like this, for Colonel Mansur is by nature aggressive, expansive, and actively touches all his surroundings in gross and in detail.
Alertness and persistency are his leading traits. Quick and bold to seize opportunities, yet capable of working patiently and industriously in unfavorable conditions and making the most of them until something better should turn up. His whole life exhibits a sharp lookout for situa- tions with reference to future designs and pur- poses. He seems to have had designs, purpose, and a definite conception of the practical uses and purposes of his acts. In the beginning while teaching school, he was looking ahead for something better, and for which teach- ing would fit him. Going into the army, he exhibited the same ardor and desire to do something for himself, his friends and his country, which is fully attested by the loss of his right arm. Relieved from military service, he went back to the schools and teaching to com- plete original designs. Appointed postmaster, he saw at a glance the temporary nature of the position, and the disadvantages he would be under on account of a disability to perform man- ual labor, and did not rest content with a meager salary, but occupied his liesure time in the study of law so as not to be without both salary and occu- pation, let what would happen. As a lawyer he was enterprising, bold, inquisitive and effective. As state's attorney he prosecuted offenders with vigor, and almost always with a conviction that they were guilty. As a legislator he entered heartily into legislative designs and actively par- ticipated in all matters relating to the interests of the state. Taking charge of the customs port at Island Pond, he conducted the business of the office in such a manner as to leave it in a condi- tion excelled by no other port in the country. During all this time he was active in military circles, ocupying the highest position in their social organizations, besides being actively en- gaged in a variety of business enterprises. At the age of forty years he had so widened his ac- quaintance, and was so favorably known among
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THE STATE OF VERMONT.
men of financial pursuits as to enjoy the reputa- tion of being one of the best business men of his age in the country. With a wide business repu- tation, good common school and academical edu- cation, legal attainments, and experience in the customs business, he had strong support for the office of collector of customs for the district of Vermont, and in 1897 he was appointed by Presi- dent Mckinley collector of the district of Mem- phremagog, the state having been divided into two districts.
It is enough to say concerning the manner in which he has performed the duties of that position, that he is being reappointed to fill the office for the next coming four years by com- mon consent.
A backward glance at this writing shows that it simply represents the warp of the Colonel's life work without the woof. The filling has been various. In church, society, business, politics, education, and in every conceivable way he has been actively engaged, and always with positive partisan confidence, followed by success. Starting in life with an intuitive perception of the under- lying springs that influence men's actions, he soon began to ingeniously knit into his surround- ings, and with many dependent upon him, and often without firm health, he never flinched or hesitated until overcoming all obstacles he came out at the beautiful and enterprising village of Newport into a home supplied with everything that comfort or taste could suggest, with most favorable and harmonious marital relations, his children and grandchildren hard by, and sur- rounded by friends and pleasant business and public relations.
And now, having endeavored to narrate in plain, simple form some of the events of his career, without sentiment or laudation, we look upon him in his fortunate situation as a man born with no advantages except sparse and re- spectable surroundings; a man before whom neither chance or accident have thrust any for- tunate condition, but as a man who has wooed success with all the ardor and zest of a life burn- ing with energy and enthusiasm, and won it by devoted and watchful achievement.
Colonel Mansur was married August 16, 1868, to Miss Ellen L. Newhall, of Norway, Maine, and they became the parents of two chil- dren, a son and a daughter. Mabel S. Mansur became the wife of Carl R. Storrs, who resides in Newport, Vermont, and is deputy collector of customs; two children were born to them, Sal- lie L. and John David Storrs. Arthur G. Mansur
is a jeweler residing and doing business in Bur- lington, Vermont.
Colonel Mansur is descended from an excel- lent New England lineage. His earliest ancestor in America of whom there is authentic record was Robert (I), whose surname appears in the various forms of Mansir, Manser and Mansur. He was in Charlestown, Massachusetts, in 1678, and married Elizabeth Brooks, a widow, January 6, 1670. She died January 3, 1694-5, having borne children : Elizabeth, who married Thomas Pope, in 1687; Robert, born February 15, 1674: John (2), direct ancestor of Colonel Mansur, who- married Mary Mirick, of Boston, April 24, 1695 ; their son John (3) married, July 26, 1713, Sarah Bradish, at Malden, Massachusetts, and they were the parents of William, great-grandfather of Colonel Mansur.
William Mansur (4) came from Dracut, Massachusetts, and was one of the pioneer set- tlers on the Souhegan river in New Hampshire, September 14, 1762, when the forests were alive with wolves, panthers and bears, and many thrill- ing stories are related, handed down through his descendants, of his encounters with these ani- mals. He was at Wilton (now Temple), New Hampshire, prior to 1772, and is supposed to have been one of the first settlers in the south- east corner of the town, then a wilderness. He had a splendid Revolutionary war record. His name appears on a list of those who marched from Temple to Cambridge at the alarm of April 19, 1775, to the battles of Lexington and Con- cord. The records show that he served for one year in the continental service in Captain Ezra Towne's company of Colonel Reed's regiment, from January 7, 1776, for which service he re- ceived from the town of Temple seven pounds and four pence in addition to his military pay. His name appears on the minutes of the board of selectmen of Temple colony of New Hamp- shire in the committee of safety, April 12. 1776, pursuant to order, to carry into execution the un- written resolutions of the continental congress requiring a declaration of their allegiance to the united colonies. He was one of thirty-seven men who marched to Ticonderoga in Captain Drury's company of Lieutenant-Colonel P. Heald's reigment, Sunday, June 29, 1777. In July of the same year he was one of seventeen
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THE STATE OF VERMONT.
men who marched from Temple to Bennington, Vermont, in Captain S. Parker's company of Colonel M. Nickol's regiment of General John Stark's brigade, and participated in the memora- ble engagement of September 16th. He was at Ticonderoga when General Burgoyne compelled the evacuation of the fort on the night of July 5, 1777, and retreat into Vermont.
William Mansur married Isabella Harvey, of Dracut. On one occasion, to visit her old home at that plece, Mrs. Mansur made the jour- ney of forty miles on horseback, with her babe in her arms, in one day, fording the Merrimac river, the water rising to the pommel of her saddle. William Mansur died about 1814, aged seventy-one years, and his widow died December 27, 1826, aged eighty-seven years. At the time of her death her descendants numbered more than eighty persons. All her children, named as follows, were born in Temple, New Hampshire : William, born August 23, 1763; John, born March 16, 1765, married Polly Kimball, of Wil- ton, New Hampshire, resided at Andover, Ver- mont, and died there December 24, 1851; Eliza- beth, born November 4, 1767, married Joseph Carrollton, and they resided at Andover, where he died in 1858; Joseph, of whom more herein- after; Ezra, born April 19, 1771, married, in 1803, Susan Treadwell, of Peterboro, New Hampshire, and he lived in Temple, and died June 15, 1834; Stephen, born December 18, 1773, lived at Wilton, and. married Hannah Felt ; Aaron, born March 7, 1776, married Rebecca Warren, of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, resided in Lowell, and died there in June, 1859; Jeremy, born April 16, 1778, died young; Hannah, born October 13, 1779, married Charles Hawkins, of Temple, and died in Springfield, Vermont, in February, 1850; Harvey, born July II, 1784, died young.
Joseph Mansur (5), third son and fourth child of William, and the grandfather of Colonel Mansur, was born March 23, 1769. He lived in Troy, New York, where he was a brickmaker, and afterwards at Danville and Morgan, Ver- mont, where he followed shoemaking, and where he died in September, 1860. He held various town offices, served in the militia, and was a member of the Methodist church. He married
Abiah Elliott, and to them were born two sons, William and Warren.
Warren (6), youngest son of Joseph Mansur, was born at Danville, June 23, 1800. He received liis education in the public schools. He was a man of more than ordinary natural ability, of superior judgment, and of a legal turn of mind, and would doubtless have become a good law- yer had he directed his attention to the profes- sion. He was an influential man in the com- munity, and was called to various local offices. He was for more than fifty years a member of the Methodist church. He died January 15, 1884, at Island Pond, Vermont. He married Jane A. Morse, who was born in Barnett, Ver- mont, daughter of John Morse, a well-to-do farmer, and they became the parents of the fol- lowing children: Susan; Joseph, who was for many years sheriff of Essex county; Warren, who became a teacher, and who, with brilliant prospects before him, died in 1859, at the age of twenty-eight: Eliza Jane: Abiah; Jacob, who served for two years and nine months during the Civil war in Company K, Tenth Regiment Ver- mont Volunteers; Sarah; Mary Ann; Zophar M .; Orange L., a merchant at Island Pond, Ver- mont ; John K .; Emma. The mother of these children died in October, 190I.
Zophar M. Mansur (7) was the eleventh child and fifth son of Warren (6) and Jane A. (Morse) Mansur.
EDWARD CONANT, A. M.
It is not an easy task to describe adequately a man who has led an eminently active and busy life, and who has attained to a position of high relative distinction in one of the more important and exacting fields of human endeavor. But biography finds its most perfect justification in the tracing and recording of such a life history, and in the case at hand we have to do with one who played an important part in connection with educational affairs in his native state of Vermont, attaining marked prestige and contributing in a large degree to the advancement of the interests of popular education. The name which he bore is one that has been conspicuously identified with the annals of the old Green Mountain state from
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THE STATE OF VERMONT.
the early colonial epoch in our national history, as is evident when we revert to the fact that his grandfather Jeremiah Conant was a native of Vermont, as a representative of which he served as sergeant in the continental line in the war of the Revolution, while he was also a member of the general assembly of the state in 1801-2, and held many other positions of public trust and respon- sibility. He participated in the battle of Bunker Hill, being sixteen years of age at the time, His son Seth, father of Professor Conant, was born in Pomfret, Windsor county, Vermont, and there passed his long and useful life, commanding the confidence and high regard of all who knew him. He lived to attain the age of nearly eighty-eight years, was a captain in the state militia for several years, and was also incumbent of many important town offices. He was a man of alert mentality, and his integrity was impregnable in all the rela- tions of life. He married Melvina Perkins, like- wise a representative of stanch old Vermont stock, and of their two adult children one is living at the present time.
Edward Conant, late principal of the Vermont State Normal School at Randolph Center, Orange county, was born in the old town of Pomfret, Windsor county, on the 10th of May, 1829, and was known and honored as one of the veteran and distinguished educators of the state. His pre- liminary educational discipline was received in the common schools of his native place and Bar- nard, and he thereafter took a preparatory course of study at South Woodstock and at Thetford Academy, thus fitting himself for matriculation in Dartmouth College, which institution he entered in 1852. He left college in his junior year to en- gage in pedagogic work, though he had previous- ly given inception to his independent career, hav- ing worked for six years as a machinist, prior to preparing himself for college, the first fifteen years of his life having been passed upon the old homestead farm owned by his father. He thus became dependent upon his own resources at an early age, and he ever retained the highest ap- preciation for the dignity of honest toil and en- deavor. in whatever field of activity. Of his early years of assiduous labor it has been well said that he "was always a great reader and an ardent student, and while in the machine shop he
made a special study of machinery and me- chanics."
After two years devoted to teaching in the public schools, Professor Conant was chosen, in December, 1854, principal of the academy at Woodstock, Connecticut, where he remained one and one-half years, devoting close attention to the study of educational literature and investigat- ing methods of pedagogy, in which connection he lost no opportunity of attending educational meet- ings, visiting different schools and noting the re- sults of the various systems employed. In May, 1856, he became principal of the academy at Royalton, Vermont, and in the fall of that year he organized a teachers' institute, the sequel of which was the organization of the White River Valley Teachers' Association, which did most effective and valuable work. He retained his in- cumbency as principal, of the academy for a pe- riod of three years, and from 1857 to 1859 the work in Royalton Academy was principally of the normal order, in the preparation of teachers for the public schools, while for more than three dec- ades, beginning with the year 1857, Professor Conant was very prominently identified with the conducting of teachers' institutes in divers sec- tions of the state. In 1859-60 he was principal of the high school at Burlington, Vermont, and in February of the succeeding year, after having made a practical test and application of certain of his original theories and methods in a district school, he became principal of the Orange county grammar school at Randolph Center. In August, 1866. he amplified the functions of this institu- tion by making it a normal school, while in the autumn of that year it became a state normal school, by special act of the legislature, its pre- cedence being enhanced, as a matter of course, when it was thus placed under state auspices. Professor Conant was continued in the office of principal, his well directed and effective efforts having been duly appreciated in educational cir- cles and his ability recognized by the legislative body. The prestige given by the state in the early years was more nominal than material, since the commonwealth made but slight contribution to the support of the institution. In 1866, having realized to the full the disadvantages under which the school was conducted and his maximum use-
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THE STATE OF VERMONT.
fulness thereby curtailed, the principal prevailed upon the board of trustees to attempt the raising by subscription of a permanent endowment fund of ten thousand dollars. He himself headed the list with a contribution of five hundred dollars, and still it was not mitil 1875 that his desires were fully realized in this connection, that year mark- ing the final accumulation and investment of the amount designated. From 1874 until 1880 Pro- fessor Conant was incumbent of the responsible office of state superintendent of education, and in this capacity his labors were indefatigable and en- thusiastic. During his tenure of the office he visited every town in the state two or more times, and through his inspiring efforts much was done to further the interests of public education in his important field. He advocated the town system of schools, town high schools, a state school tax and a complete adoption and fostering of the nor- mal schools by the state. In 1881 he was installed as principal of the normal school at Johnson, and here he instituted valuable reforms, amplifying the curriculum and considerably extending the course, while he also arranged for a training school as an adjunct of the normal. He remained at Johnson for a period of three years, at the ex- piration of which time he again assumed the prin- cipalship of the Randolph Normal School, as the executive head of which he continued until his death, January 5, 1903, a period of nearly a score of years.
Of his work in his chosen profession a pre- viously published review of his career speaks as follows: "In his connection with the normal schools Mr. Conant has advocated the highest practical standards for admission and graduation ; his was the first normal school to make singing and such nature studies às botany, mineralogy and physics required parts of the course of study. He has been town superintendent of schools at various times ; was a delegate from Randolph to the state constitutional convention in 1870; a member of the Vermont board of education, 1866- 67; and state superintendent of education from 1874 to 1880. He is a member of the state teach- ers' association and was twice president of that body; was a director of the American Institute of Instruction for many years; belonged to the New England Normal Council and was its presi- dent in 1888; member of the Vermont School-
masters' Club and its president in 1897. Mr. Conant has prepared three text books, namely : 'A Drill Book in English;' 'Conant's Vermont -- Geography, History, Civil Government'; and the 'Vermont Historical Reader.' He received the honorary degree of Master of Arts from Middle- bury College in 1866, and from the University of Vermont in 1867."
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