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 109

Author: Carleton, Hiram, 1838- ed
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: New York, Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1032

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 109

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Charles A. Tinker, eldest child of Almerin and Sophronia Tinker, was born at Chelsea, Ver- mont, January 8, 1838, but was taken by his parents, in infancy, to Michigan, where he had only the advantage of a common school educa- tion. Returning to his native state in 1851, he entered Newbury Seminary, but owing to sick- ness did not complete his course. In 1852 he obtained a position as clerk in the postoffice at Northfield, Vermont, where he acquired the Bain system of telegraphy ; three years later he secured the position of operator with the Vermont and Boston Telegraph Company at Boston, and soon after with the Cape Cod Telegraph Company in the Merchants' Exchange, having in the mean- time acquired a knowledge of the Morse system. In January, 1857, Mr. Tinker went to Chicago, Illinois, accepting a position there in the office of the Caton lines, and soon afterward he was appointed manager of the Illinois ,& Mississippi Telegraph Company's office at Pekin, Illinois. During this period he made the acquaintance of Abraham Lincoln, at whose request he explained to him the methods of the telegraph system, and later, when Mr. Lincoln became the president of the United States, Mr. Tinker was appointed tele- graph operator in the war department at Wash- ington. President Lincoln was a frequent visitor at Mr. Tinker's office during the war, and re- ceived from him the first news of his renomina- tion as president. In the summer of 1857 Mr. Tinker returned to Chicago and entered the ser- vice of the Chicago & Rock Island Railroad Company, and two years later was engaged as bookkeeper and telegraph operator for the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad Company. During this period he joined the Chicago Light Guard and served with his company as escort to Stephen A. Douglas to the Wigwam, where he made his last great speech for the Union, and two weeks later he acted as guard of honor in the procession

615

THE STATE OF VERMONT.

which laid the remains of Stephen A. Douglas away to rest on the banks of Lake Michigan, where since has been erected the Douglas monu- ment.

At the outbreak of the war Mr. Tinker was offered the lieutenant colonelcy of a regiment, but declined the proffered honor. Subsequently he entered the United States military service in the war department at Washington, and was ordered to service in the field under General Banks. He opened the military telegraph office at Pooles- ville, Maryland, and served as its operator dur- ing and after the battle of Ball's Bluff, and per- formed similar services under General Wards- worth at Upton Hill, Virginia, where he was selected as one of the eight operators to serve under General Mcclellan on the steamer Com- modore, and afterwards in the army headquarters in front of Yorktown and before Richmond. Mr. Tinker was present at the evacuation of York- town, and at the battle of Williamsburg, and finally at General Heintzelman's headquarters at Savage Station after the battle of Fair Oaks. He was also associated with General T. T. Eckert, who appointed him to the responsible position of cipher operator in the war department at Washington, where he remained until the close of the war. He was then appointed manager of the United States Military Telegraph, con- tinuing until it was closed up and its lines turned over to the telegraph companies. Mr. Tinker then became manager of the Western Union Tele- graph Company's offices at Washington, where he served until January, 1872, when he became superintendent of telegraph and general train dispatcher of the Vermont Central Railroad at St. Albans, with jurisdiction over the lines of the Western Union and Montreal Telegraph com- panies on that railway system. In 1875 he was appointed general superintendent of the Pacific division of the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company, with headquarters at Chicago. In 1879, this company having fallen under control of the Western Union Company, he resigned and accepted the position of manager of the tele- graph lines of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company. While holding this position he be- came one of the incorporators, with Jay Gould. of the American Union Telegraph Company, and he received from Gould a check for two and a

half millions of dollars to pay for his subscrip- tion to its capital stock ; he was also superintend- ent of a division of that company. In 1881, after the consolidation of the Western Union and American Union Telegraph Companies, he was recalled to the service of the Western Union, and on February 1, 1882, he was appointed general superintendent of the eastern division, compris- ing all the territory from Washington, D. C., north to the Canada line, west to the Ohio river and east to Cape Breton; this position he re- signed on May 1, 1902, in fulfillment of a long contemplated purpose to retire at the end of his fiftieth year in the service. Mr. Tinker was the vice president of the American District Tele- graph Company of New York city, a director and vice president of the Vermont and Boston Telegraph Company and an officer of numerous other companies. He was one of the organizers and vice president of the Brooklyn Society of Vermonters, and a member of the Illinois So- ciety of the Sons of Vermont.

On June 11, 1863, Mr. Tinker married Eliza- beth Ann Simkins at Oxford, Pennsylvania, and her death occurred at Brooklyn, New York. April I, 1890. Their children were: Flora Emma, born June 18, 1864, at Washington, D. C., mar- ried Worthington Tracy Smith, of St. Albans. Vermont, April 24, 1895, and to them has been born one child, Worthington Charles Smith. born March 17, 1896. Arthur Lincoln, born July 10, 1866, at Washington, D. C., married Ida Conklin Ireland, of Brooklyn, New York. November 20, 1889, and their two children are Ruth, born June 6. 1892, and Almerin, born May 28, 1895; he is foreign agent for the Gamewell Fire Alarm Telegraph Company, and resides at Berlin, Germany. Charles Grant, born at Wash- ington, D. C., September 11, 1876. married. March 27. 1891, Nellie Pearl Pierce, of St. Albans, Vermont, and his death occurred in that city immediately after his return from his wed- ding trip; he had just completed arrangements to leave for Japan with his bride to take charge of the business at Kobe for the American Trad- ing Company of New York. Cora Alice, born at Washington, D. C .. October 6. 1860. died June 28, 1870. Stanton, born at St. Albans, Ver- mont. September 23, 1873. died January 8. 1875. On October 10. 1894, Mr. Tinker married for

616

THE STATE OF VERMONT.

his second wife Stella Fredericka Jewell, who was born at Groton, Tompkins county, New York, August 6, 1841; the ceremony was per- formed at Kirkwood, Missouri. Mrs. Tinker died January 30, 1901, in Brooklyn, New York. Mr. Tinker resides with his daughter at St. Al- bans, Vermont.

THE PARKER FAMILY.

The Parker family of New England, which in its varions generations has been represented by men of surpassing ability and moral worth, is de- scended from Thomas Parker (1), who was born in England in 1605 and came to America in the ship Susan Ellen, in 1638. He lived for a short time in Lynn, Massachusetts, whence he removed to Reading, Massachusetts, where he was select- man in 1652. 1653 and 1657. He was known as Deacon Thomas Parker. He died in 1698, and his wife Amy died in 1690.

Sergeant John Parker (2), one of the eight children of Thomas, married, in 1667, Hannah, daughter of Deacon Thomas and Rebecca Ken- dall. She died in 1689, and Sergeant John Par- ker married Thankful (name unknown). He lived on Cowdry's Hill, Reading (now Wake- field ), Massachusetts. He was the father of thir- teen children, and he died in 1698. His son John (3), born in 1668, married, in 1691 or 1694, Elizabeth (name unknown), who bore him eleven children. Of these, Benjamin (4), born in 1703, married (1726) Sarah Foster, who died in 1741, and he married Sarah, a daughter of Jonathan Parker. Reuben (5). son of Benjamin Parker, was born in Reading in 1732 and died January 20. 1825. He married, June 19, 1759, Sarah, daughter of Thomas Wooley ; she died December 20. 1779, and. he married Esther Townsend, of Townsend, Massachusetts, who died October 20, 18IT.

Silas (6), son of Reuben and Sarah (Wooley) Parker, was born in Richmond, New Hampshire, in August, 1765. He was a farmer, tanner and shoemaker. In 1796 he removed to Lisbon, New Hampshire, and settled on Sugar Hill, where it is said that he erected the first tannery in New Hampshire, north of Haverhill, and there for many years he carried on a tanning business which, after him, came to his son and grandson.

Hle was called "lawyer," and was moderator of the town for twenty-five years. He was an ex- cellent type of the old-time New England pioneer, and his wife, whom he married in 1788, was a model helpmeet, a woman of amiable disposition, with always a pleasant and cheering word for those about her. She was Lydia, born May 14, 1770, a daughter of Rufus Whipple .* Silas and 1.ydia Parker lived in that period of our country's history when it had hardly recovered from the long Revolutionary struggle, when the people were chiefly farmers with limited means, and few were able to afford their children educational advantages, even those of the district school. The devoted couple reared their family of six sons and one daughter in a school of stern virtue, care- ful frugality and that unflagging industry always required in the home life of the plain farm houses, supplemented by that limited but intensely prac- tical learning which has produced for many gen- erations men and women of sound, clear and vig- orous minds. The husband died in Lisbon, Oc- tober 16, 1834, and his wife survived him nearly thirty years, dying August 30, 1863, aged ninety- three years.

HON. LEVI PARKER.

Hon. Levi Parker (7) was a man of far more than ordinary ability and strength of character,

*In the Richmond Company of Colonel Doo- little's regiment, which was enrolled June 12, 1775, are the names of Sergeant Rufus Whipple, Azariah Cumstock and John Wooley. This com- pany took part in the battle of Bunker Hill. In Captain Oliver Capron's company in Colonel Samuel Ashley's regiment, which marched to the relief of Ticonderoga in 1777, were Ensign Rufus Whipple, Drummer John Wooley, Reuben Par- ker and Israel Whipple. Reuben Parker and John Wooley were in a Winchester company at the battle of Bennington. Israel Whipple was a member of the committee of safety, inspection and correspondence in 1777. Thomas Wooley was the father of Sarah, who married Reuben Parker. John Wooley was a brother of Sarah Wooley Parker. Azariah Cumstock was the ma- ternal grandfather of Lydia Whipple, who mar- ried Silas Parker, son of Reuben Parker. Rufus Whipple was the father of Lydia Whipple Par- ker. Israel Whipple was the brother of Lydia Whipple Parker.

617

THE STATE OF VERMONT.

whose life was devoted in large part to the ser- vice of the community and state. He was the eld- est son of Silas and Lydia (Whipple) Parker, and was born in Richmond, New Hampshire, No- vember 2, 1792. When he was four years old his parents removed to Lisbon. In due time he suc- ceeded to the tanning business which his father had established, and which he conducted with great ability throughout his life. He took a deep and intelligent interest in public affairs and ex- erted a great influence for good in the community, his words and counsels ever being regarded with respect and confidence. He was elected to and served in every office in the gift of his townsmen, and his duties were ever performed with that strict fidelity and great ability which character- ized his whole life's conduct. When first called to official position he was a comparatively young man, and his public career covered the long period of forty years. He was selectman in 1823 and a member of the board for eighteen years, town clerk in 1830-31, and treasurer in 1856. He rep- resented Lisbon in the legislature in 1836, 1839, 1840, 1851 and 1852, and proved himself a most capable member of that body, aiding in the formu- lation and enactment of many salutary laws tend- ing to promote the development of the industrial resources of the state. He was chosen councilor for his district to serve with Governor Gilmore (Republican ) at the time of the Civil war ( 1862- 63), when men of responsibility, discretion and sagacity were sorely needed. and the governor said of him that "no one in his council was more ready to assist by word and deed in subduing the rebellion or to render aid to the families of those who periled their lives for the safety of the coun- try." He was a life-long Democrat, and believed with Jefferson that "a strict adherence to the con- stitution was the one thing needful to the perpe- tuity of the Union."

Mr. Parker was a man of great piety. The religious element in his character imbued his acts. In early life he was a Free Will Baptist, in later years an Adventist, but his house was always open to ail ministers of the gospel of Christ. The poor and needy always found in him a friend, the stranger and wanderer was never turned empty from his door: his roof sheltered and his fire warmed many a poor wayfarer : and of such as he the Lord spoke when he said: "For I was an

hungered, and ye gave me meat ; thirsty, and ye gave me drink ; I was a stranger and ye took me in : naked and ye clothed me. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." The memory of this noble, patriotic, generous-hearted, whole- souled man, who was ever ready to promote and further any movement for the good of his fellow- men, is cherished and honored by his townsmen, and his Christian character and counsel have left a strong impress upon his descendants.

Mr. Parker married, in March, 1814, Phebe Ball, a very devoted Christian woman, well edu- cated and efficient, ever ready to attend the sick and suffering, and to sympathize with the afflicted, and heartily seconded the generous hospitality of her husband. She was a model wife, mother, friend and neighbor, and a saintly Christian, with pronounced gifts as a religious exhorter. The children of Levi and Phebe ( Ball) Parker were Silas, Eleazer B., Levi Pratt, Charles, Chandler B .. and Phebe Ann, who married Lindsey Ald- rich. Mr. Parker died at Sugar Hill, February 6, 1865. aged nearly seventy-three years, and his wife died in February, 1872, in the eightieth year of her age.

IION. CHARLES PARKER.

Charles Parker, whose active career extend- ed over more than a half century, and who was one of the most conspicuously useful men of Grafton county. New Hampshire, and who dis- played in his character all the excellent traits which were becoming to his splendid ancestry, was a son of Hon. Levi and Phebe ( Ball) Parker, and was born in Sugar Hill, New Hampshire, May 21, 1826.

He was educated in the public schools of Lis- bon, New Hampshire, Newbury (Vermont ) Sem- inary and Phillips Academy at Danville, Ver- mont, but his larger education was self-acquired through his innate love of reading. tenacious memory and ability to grasp the ever new ques- tions of the day as they arose. Almost to the last he kept himself thoroughly informed in all mat- ters affecting the material, political, religious and social welfare of the community and state.

Soon after attaining his majority (in 1847) he married, and the same year he entered upon a

618

THE STATE OF VERMONT.

mercantile and manufacturing career in partner- ship with James R. Young, in Lyman, New Hampshire, Mr. Young soon after opening a store at Lisbon, the firm being Parker & Young. He was so occupied until 186.1, when the business at Lyman was disposed of, and Mr. Parker re- moved to Lisbon, where they greatly increased their mercantile business. The partnership was terminated by the death of Mr. Young, in 1884, when the manufacturing business was incorpo- rated under the name of the Parker & Young Manufacturing Company, of which Mr. Parker became treasurer and general manager, and he acted in that capacity until the time of his death, August 25, 1895, in his seventieth year.

The business of this company was primarily founded by Mr. Parker, and to its development he gave the best of his great capability and stir- ring enterprise, bringing it to a foremost place among the manufacturing interests of New Hampshire. From a small beginning it became the largest manufactory of piano sounding-boards in the world, now using nearly twenty-five mil- lions of feet of lumber annually, employing five hundred operatives, and its product reaching every market in the United States and Canada. Its success was achieved in face of what would have been, to a man of less determination, in- superable difficulties. The establishment was three times destroyed by fire, involving great financial loss and temporary cessation of busi- ness, but each time, through Mr. Parker's indom- itable resolution, it was immediately rebuilt and upon a larger scale, with more modern and ample equipment. Following each disaster, and at other times, Mr. Parker received flattering inducements to re-establish his factory in other towns, but his loyalty to his village and his personal interest in its people would not permit of his listening to such overtures. He conducted his large affairs in no mean, sordid spirit, but with a genuine en- thusiasm. taking pride in the excellence of his manufactures and in being able to afford means of livelihood to a large number of families in whose welfare he ever took a warm personal in- terest. So alive was he to the latter consideration, that he was never known to have difficulties with his employes, who regarded him as a friend and benefactor as well as an employer. In all his wide range of dealing, he was known in com-

mercial circles as the soul of honor, and his word went unimpeached, no matter how great the mag- nitude of the occasion. He had a large faculty for properly estimating conditions, and his judg- ment was unerring in planning for the future, where a feebler or less resolute mind would have hesitated and lost opportunity. He gave himself diligently to his business affairs almost to the last and signed the business checks of the com- pany up to the very day before his deccase.

While Mr. Parker was thus a public bene- factor in the conduct of a great business, he was also a prominent figure in every other department of the life of the community. He was con- stantly tlfe foremost one in conceiving and carrying out objects for its moral or material advancement, and his words of counsel and encouragement were always accompanied with his means. Educational institutions had in him an earnest advocate, and he was liberal in his aid to churches, though he was not a mem- ber until the year previous to his death, when he was received into the First Congregational church of Lisbon. Yet his nature was ever deep- ly religious, and for many years he had been a member of the choir of the church with which he became connected thus late in life. He possessed a powerful yet very sweet baritone voice, which was always heard with pleasure in church or so- cial gatherings, and he was also an excellent musical critic and passionately fond of instru- mental as well as vocal music. He had a genuine affection for children : his home was the constant visiting place of his neighbors' children and in his driving about he was seldom unaccompanied by some little one. He was the personification of be- nevolence ; the friendless, the poor and the needy found in him a benefactor and helper, and no one hungry or athirst ever went away from his door unrefreshed. He was gentle and considerate in all his intercourse with men, and he endeared him- self to all. He was a Republican in politics. For more than thirty years he served as a justice of the peace, and was a member of the New Hampshire legislature in 1862 and 1863 and again in 1887.

Mr. Parker married in 1847 to Miss Amelia Emmeline Bennett, a lady of rare personal at- tractions, culture and refinement. She was born October 24, 1827, in Dummerston, Vermont, a daughter of Adin and Angeline (Houghton) Ben-

H& Parker.)

619

THE STATE OF VERMONT.

nett .* Four children were born of this marriage, three of whom, with the mother, are now living, Mrs. Albert B. Woodworth, of Concord, New Hampshire; Mrs. Thomas J. Walker, of Man- chester, New Hampshire, and Colonel Harry E. Parker, of Bradford Vermont.

Mr. Parker died at his home in Lisbon, Au- . gust 25, 1895. The sad event was distressful to the entire community, and the scenes at the fu- neral were touchingly significant of its deep affection for the lamented dead. Mr. Parker's former pastor, the Rev. Mr. Lees, paid a fervent tribute to his memory, and the Rev. J. M. Wathen followed with brief but appreciative remarks.

COLONEL HARRY ELWOOD PARKER.

Harry Elwood Parker, son of Charles and Amelia (Bennett) Parker, was born June II, 1853, in Lyman, Grafton county, New Hamp- shire. He began his education in the schools of his native town and afterwards attended the Lis- bon Academy. He commenced in the printing business when sixteen years of age in an office at Lisbon, New Hampshire, which came into

*Adin Bennett was born in 1800 and died in 1830. His parents were Samuel Bennett, Jr., son of Samuel and Sally Bennett, and Hepzibah Foster, whose children were Adin and So- phrona. Adin Bennett married Angeline Hough- ton, born August 26, 1801, and died May 6, 1891, and their children were Milo Gettibone, Emery Seymour (died in fifth year), Edwin Oscar, born December 13, 1824, died October 30, 1902, and Amelia, who became the wife of Charles Parker. Angeline Houghton was a daughter of Solomon and Martha (White) Houghton, whose children were Henry, Nahum, Luther. Calvin, Calvin (2) (both of whom died in infancy), Rufus and Orison (twins), Polly, Dorothy, Patty and Angeline. Solomon Hough- ton had brothers, Nahum and Philip, and four sisters, three of whom married three Whitneys, two being brothers and one a cousin, and they lived at or near Marlboro, Vermont. Martha White was a daughter of Jane White, who came from Ireland. The name of Jane White is reg- istered in the Houghton Family Bible, which is in the possession of a great-granddaughter resid- ing in Franconia, New Hampshire. There is quite a romantic story attending her coming to Amer- ica in the early history of our country.

the possession of his father by the foreclosure of a mortgage, and he worked at this occupation at intervals until the summer of 1871, when he entered into the printing business permanently.

In 1870, being in southwestern Virginia with his parents, who were there for the benefit of his mother's health, he was the leader of a military band which he resuscitated from the remnants of an old Confederate regimental band, and gained a wide reputation for this organization. During the season it furnished music for the week of the commencement exercises at Emery and Henry College. Young Parker, the leader, had the au- dacity, in response to the "fire-eating" secession and state-rights orations, to play "Yankee- Doodle" to the three thousand people assembled in this huge pavilion. . As this was a compli- ment to the Union, the leader had anticipated the furor it would cause (it being so shortly after the. close of the rebellion) among the audience, and had arranged so that the offend- ing strains of this old air could be run into the popular and elaborate variations of "Dixie" with- out interruption. This was done so quickly that the audience (which was furious over the playing of "Yankee Doodle"), when they heard their old favorite air of the war days, to whose strains many of them had marched to battle, rose and, led by the president of the college, made the pavilion ring with cheers for the old song and for the audacious young leader of the band. He was the lion of the occasion after this incident.

In 1877, after six years spent in the job print- ing business, Mr. Parker launched the Lisbon Globe, a five-column folio, which was devoted wholly to the local news of Lisbon and vicinity. This sheet was continued until 1881.

He served as engrossing clerk of the New Hampshire legislature in 1878-9. In 1880 he was the president of the Garfield and Arthur Repub- lican Club of Lisbon. New Hampshire. , In No- vember, 1881, he moved to Bradford, Orange county, Vermont, purchasing Stauton's Bradford Obinion and The Bradford Opinion, the two opposition papers, which he consolidated under the name of The United Opinion, and has con- ducted it for twenty-two years. increasing its in- terest as a newspaper, considerably increasing its circulation. and adding continually to its value and influence. The job printing plant, which is

620

THE STATE OF VERMONT.

the largest in eastern Vermont and is located in a building of its own, comprises the latest and most improved machinery and material, and enjoys a large and lucrative patronage which extends over a large section of New Hampshire as well as nearly the whole state of Vermont.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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 109

Author: Carleton, Hiram, 1838- ed Publication date: 1903 Publisher: New York, Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1032

Author: Carleton, Hiram, 1838- ed
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: New York, Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1032