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 122
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John Barron Peckett, son of John Barron
and Caroline Peckett, in his infancy re- ceived the name of Barron Le Roy, but when a lad of twelve years, at the request of his paternal grandfather, his name was legally changed to John Barron Peckett. Beginning his early edu- cation under the wise instruction of his mother, he soon evinced a decided liking for good and useful reading, which, with the lessons in in- dustry and integrity that he received from his first teacher, has been of inestimable value to him ever since. After leaving the district school he pursued a course of study at the Bradford Acad- emy, then, in 1875, entered Dartmouth College, but on account of an injury was unable to com- plete the entire course. While a student in the latter named institution he won an honorable posi- tion among his fellow students as a brilliant scholar, and has now in his possession letters of commendation from his professors, all of whom. speak well of his standing in the college. He was elected prize speaker of his class, and of the so- ciety of the college, winning much praise and honor in both positions. He was also a noted athlete, leading his class in all sports and exer- cises, winning prizes in various contests and be- coming a general favorite.
After leaving college Mr. Peckett read law in the office of Gambell & Watson, in Bradford, Vermont, afterwards in the office of John H. Wat- son, now Judge Watson, and completing his stid- ies with E. W. Smith, Esq., of Wells River. Ver- mont. Being admitted to the bar of Orange county in June, 1882, he began the practice of his profession in Bradford, meeting with such success that on October 29, 1885. he was ad- mitted to the supreme court as a practitioner, and on May 19, 1891, was admitted to practice in the United States court at Windsor, Vermont. A forcible and convincing speaker, honorable and just in all business matters, he has won a large and lucrative patronage and an enviable position in the legal world by his wise and judicious man- ner of conducting cases before the court. In 1890 he was elected state's attorney, and served two years, during this time having charge of many very interesting and important cases, and being very active in the prosecution of illegal traffic in intoxicating liquors.
Mr. Peckett is a Republican in politics, work- ing for the good of his party, and for the highest
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interests of the community, comty and state, be- ing for several years chairman of the town com- mittee of his party. In June, 1893, he was ap- pointed chairman of the board of county road commissioners, and in 1898 he was elected to the senate, in which he rendered excellent service as chairman of the committee on corporations, and as a member of several other committees, in- cluding the general, the judiciary, and the library committee, also being called, at different times, to the chair in the senate. He is especially inter- ested in educational matters, and has served as chairman of the board of school directors, and has been repeatedly elected superintendent of schools. He is active in the Patriarchs Militant, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and served as adjutant of the First New Hampshire Regiment, his commission bearing date of August 15, 1889, and was captain of Canton of Bradford. He is a member of Champion Lodge No. 17, I. O. O. F., in which he has filled most of the chairs, has filled the principal chairs of Trotter Encampment No. 14, and also belongs to grand lodge.
On May 28, 1885, Mr. Peckett married Miss Cora Elizabeth Adams, a native of Hanover, New Hampshire. Mrs. Peckett has been active in the social life of the town, being identified with the Village Hall Association, Women's Relief Corps, Daughters of Rebekah, and a member of the Fortnightly Club, a literary organization. She is also a worker in the interests of Wood's Li- brary, of which her husband serves in the capac- ity of president.
CHARLES W. PECK, M. D.
Dr. Charles W. Peck, an eminent medicai practitioner of Brandon, Vermont, was born at Clarendon, Vermont, February 23, 1843, and is a descendant on both the paternal and maternal side of a highly respected and influential family, who resided for many years in Rhode Island. Ex-Governor Asahel Peck, a sketch of whom ap- pears elsewhere in this work, who made a splen- did judicial as well as gubernatorial record, de- scended from the same ancestry.
Noah Peck, grandfather of Dr. Charles W. Peck, removed from Rhode Island and settled in the town of Ira, Rutland county, Vermont, where he erected a log cabin; subsequently he
built a frame house, which is still standing in a fair state of preservation. Mr. Peck was twice married, and the children born of his first mar- riage were: David, Noah, and two daughters, who died in early childhood. His second wife bore him three sons: Lewis, Daniel and Al- phonso, the last named being blind for forty years prior to his death, which occurred at the old homestead in Ira, when he had attained the age of eighty-three years. Mr. Peck died in 1839, at the age of seventy-eight years, and his remains were interred in the old burial ground at Clarendon, Vermont.
Lewis Peck, father of Dr. Charles W. Peck, was born in 1813, at the old homestead in Ira, Vermont, where he spent his entire life engaged in the occupation of farming. In 1836 he was united in marriage to Harriet Brown, who was born near Chippenhook, Vermont, in 1817, and the following named children were born to them : Harrison J., a prominent attorney at law of Shako- pee, Minnesota ; Charles W .; Simon L .; Gemont G. ; and Amy A., wife of Henry Flint, of Brandon, Vermont. The father of these children died July 24, 1896, survived by his widow, who took up her residence with her daughter, Mrs. Henry Flint, of Brandon, Vermont, where her death occurred in 1901. Both Mr. Peck and his wife were active members of the Baptist church.
Dr. Charles W. Peck, second son of Lewis and Harriet Peck, attended the Fairfax and Barre Academies, where he acquired an excel- lent literary education. Having chosen the pro- fession of medicine for his vocation in life, he matriculated in the Long Island College Hospi- tal in Brooklyn, New York, from which insti- tution he was graduated in 1866, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He then located at Bran- don, Vermont, where he engaged in a general practice of medicine and surgery, and as a result of continuous study and a superior natural in- tellect he has achieved a wide reputation in the profession, and is classed among the foremost practitioners of Brandon, Vermont. At the be- ginning of the Civil war, Dr. Peck enlisted in Company F, Berdan's Sharpshooters, and was mustered into the service of the United States at West Randolph; he participated in the battle at Fort Magruder, and on April 5, 1862, while en- gaged in the battle which was fought in front
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of Yorktown, a ball passed through his leg, lodg- ing on the other side, from which it was subse- quently extracted. He returned home on sick leave, and while there recruited fifty men for Company F, and returned to service the day after the battle of Antietam. He was with the company on their march through Pleasant Val- ley to the battle of Falmouth, where he received his discharge the night before orders came to cross the river under command of General Burn- side.
After his return from the war he entered Barre Academy, and after his graduation from that institution he resumed the practice of his profession, continuing at the same up to the pres- ent time (1903). He is a prominent member of the American Medical Association, the Rutland County Medical Society and the Vermont State Medical Society, and is the author of a number of valuable professional articles which have been presented before the various societies. Politi- cally he is a Republican, represented the town in the state legislature of 1902, and having made a study of the various questions that come before the house he was able to enter into all discussions. He also served on various committees, among them being the committee on insane, of which he was chairman. He aided in the formation of a number of measures that tended toward good legislation, was a strong high-license advocate, being one of the so-called bolters of the Republi- can party at the convention in 1902 which nomi- nated P. W. Clement as candidate for tlie gov- ernorship. Dr. Peck took an active part in the campaign, even consenting to become a candidate to promote his sentiments in the legislature on the license question. He has been chairman of the board of health of Brandon, Vermont, since the law was passed, taking an active interest in all its work and introducing two bills petition- ing the government to appoint a tuberculosis commission ; after a large amount of energetic work he succeeded in having five men appointed to perform the work. He has also taken an active interest in the public schools of his town, striving to keep the standard of merit as high as possi- ble. He has been affiliated with the Masonic fraternity for many years, holding membership in St. Paul's Lodge No. 25. He is also identified with the Grand Army of the Republic, having
organized the C. J. Ormsbee Post, of which he was the second commander.
Dr. Peck was married twice, his first wife having been Mary Jackson, and his second wife Mrs. Helen McLeod. No children were born of either marriage.
Harrison J. Peck, brother of Dr. Charles W. Peck, served in Company F, Berdan's Sharp- shooters, and participated in the following named battles: Yorktown, Seven Oaks, Malvern Hill, second battle of Bull Run, and in various engage- ments under General Mcclellan in the Peninsula. He was shot in the foot at the second battle of Bull Run, and was honorably discharged from the service of the United States government on account of his wounds. At the present time (1903) he is engaged as a lawyer at Shakopee, Minnesota, where he was united in marriage to Miss Brown, a native of Minnesota, and three children have been born to them.
HON. HORACE HENRY POWERS ..
As lawyer, legislator and eminent judicial au- thority, the name of the Hon. Horace Henry Powers is closely allied with some of the most important legislation, and with the public and civic interests of the state of Vermont.
Judge Horace H. Powers, son of Horace and Love E. (Gilman) Powers, was born May 29, 1835, in Morristown, Vermont, and is a descend- ant of Walter Powers, who emigrated to this country in the early part of the seventeenth cen- tury. His preparation for college and the study of law was made at the People's Academy at Morristown, and the University of Vermont, from which he graduated in 1855. For a period of two years after his graduation from the Uni- versity he taught school at Huntingdon, Canada East, and in Hyde Park; beginning the study of law under the direction of Thomas Gleed. of Morristown, and, continuing under that of Child and Ferrin, of Hyde Park. in 1858 he was admitted to the bar of Lamoille county, and im- mediately thereafter settled in Hyde Park, and entered upon the practice of his profession. con- tinuing until March, 1862. He then formed a law partnership with P. K. Gleed, at Morrisville, his present place of residence, continuing the partnership until his elevation to the supreme
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court, in December, 1874. At this time his pro- fessional standing was noted as being equal to that of the best in northern Vermont.
Judge Powers has filled with peculiar dis- tinction many public offices and public trusts. He represented Hyde Park in the Vermont legis- lature of 1855, and was known as the youngest member of the house. In 1872 he represented Lamoille county in the state senate, served on the judiciary committee, and officiated as chair- man of the committee on railroads. In 1861- 62, he was state's attorney from Lamoille county, and in 1869, was member of the last council of censors. In 1870, as chairman in committee of the whole, his personal influence was powerfully felt in the state constitutional convention which effected the change from annual to biennial ses- ' sions of the legislature. In 1874 he represented Morristown, was chosen speaker of the house and received his first election to the bench; an office which he filled with distinction and honor until his election to the fifty-second Congress from the first Vermont district. In 1892 he was chairman of the Vermont delegation to the Re- publican national convention at Minneapolis, and was elected to the fifty-third Congress.
Judge Powers served on the judiciary com- mittee in the fifty-second and fifty-third Con- gress of the United States, was chairman of the committee on Pacific railroads in the fifty-fourth and fifty-fifth Congress, and reported and ably advocated during the fifty-sixth session of Con- gress the bill for the refunding and extension of the liabilities of the Pacific-railroads, a bill which created wide attention, and met with strong opposition. Judge Powers also repre- sented the district of Middlebury in the fifty- sixth Congress ; took a prominent part in the dis- cussion of the tariff and the Wilson Bill in 1893, and was recognized as one of the strongest men in the house. Judge Powers was a member of the United States house of representatives for a period of eleven years; a term exceeded in length in only one or two instances in the history of representatives from the state of Vermont.
The public career of the Hon. Horace Henry Powers is one which has been filled with many honors, and the high esteem and trust of his fellow citizens. Able and eminent as a judge and jurist, as state senator, speaker of the house in
the state legislature, and for eleven years repre- sentative from the first district of Vermont in the Congress of the United States, he has filled each succeeding office and fulfilled every obligation with unfailing integrity, and an energy directed toward the advancement and betterment of af- fairs both state and national. Since his retire- ment from Congress Judge Powers has been actively engaged in the practice of law; is chief counsel for the Rutland Railroad in Vermont, private counsel to W. Seward Webb, president of the road, and is regarded as one of the keen- est and most able trial lawyers in the state. He has been for a number of years prominently iden- tified with the banking interests of the section, having been director of the Lamoille county bank for twenty-five years. He is. also director of the Merchant's National Bank of St. Johnsbury, and of the Union Savings and Trust Company of Morrisville. A man of wide experience and scholarship, and possessed of an' original and forceful personality, Judge Powers has always commanded the admiration and esteem of his professional colleagues, his friends and his fel- low citizens.
Judge Powers was married October 11, 1858, to Caroline E., daughter of V. W. and Adeline Waterman, of Morristown. Two children are the issue, Carrie L. and George M.
A son worthy of his father, George M. Pow- ers is a man of ability and a lawyer of parts. He was born at Hyde Park, December 19, 1861, and graduated from the University of Vermont. in 1883. He was a messenger in the senate in 1872-74, assistant clerk of the house in 1884, 1886 and 1888, secretary of the senate in 1890, 1892 and 1894, and held the office of state's at- torney for the county of Lamoille, 1888-90. Mr. Powers was also appointed reporter of decisions, March, 1902. He is a Universalist, and, like his father, Judge Powers, is broad and liberal in his .. religious views. He is a Republican.
JOHN R. TAGGART.
Success is methodical and consecutive. It is not a condition of spontaneous production and is not gained by chance, but rather must it be sought for with diligence and by the bringing of one's best abilities toward the accomplishment
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of desired ends Thus is enlisted in the pursuit of this almost indefinable but much desired ob- ject not only the best of the mental powers of the individual, but also, in the majority of cases, the strength of his entire being, so that aside from the direct end in view there is a con- comitant gain in the development of the innate talents of the individual thus engrossed, bring- ing him to the front in the maximum of accom- plishment and thus enabling him to be of great- est value to himself and to the world. It is a well attested maxim that the greatness of the state lies not in its machinery of government or even in its institutions, but rather in the sterling quali- ties of its individual citizens, in their capacity for high and unselfish effort and their devotion to the public good. One of the world's grand army of workers is the gentleman whose name initiates this paragraph and who is regarded as one of the representative citizens of Charlotte, Chittenden county, where he not only has charge of the extensive and well equipped nurseries of F. H. Hosford, of whom individual mention is made on other pages of this work, but also is successfully engaged in general farming, bring- ing to bear a most progressive spirit. marked business sagacity and an energy and persistence that never waver. He has passed practically his entire life in the county, where he is a representa- tive of the third generation of a family that has been held in the highest honor and esteem in this section of the state, so that it becomes the more consistent that in this work be accorded at least a brief review of his life history.
John R. Taggart was born on the parental farm in the town of Charlotte, Chittenden county, Vermont, on the 8th of July, 1849, and that place also figures as the locality in which his father, John Taggart, was born, the latter being a son of John Taggart, who was born in the state of Vermont, being a worthy representative of a family whose history has been linked with the annals .of New England from an early epoch. John Taggart was reared to maturity in his na- tive township, and there received such educational advantages as were afforded by the common schools of the day. In his youth he learned the carpenter's trade, and to this line of industry he continued to devote his attention during the greater portion of his active business career, hav-
ing become one of the leading contractors and builders in this section, where the remainder of his long and signally useful life was passed, his death occurring on the 18th of September, 1901, at which time he had attained the venerable age of eighty-two years. His wife, whose marlen name was Betsy Skiff, was born in Bridport, Vermont, and she is now living with her daugh- ter in Bristol. Of her four children, we record that William is deceased, having passed away at the age of sixteen years; Benjamin died at the age of forty years; Sarah is the wife of Julian J. Dumas, of Bristol; and John R. is the imme- diate subject of this review. The parents early became members of the Baptist church in East Charlotte and were numbered among its most zealous and devoted workers for many years, the mother still retaining her membership in the same, while her honored husband was for many years incumbent of the office of sexton of the church, being well known throughout the community and commanding the sincere esteem of all its people.
In the public schools of Charlotte John R. Taggart received his early educational training, and here he was reared to years of maturity. As a youth he began to learn the carpenter's trade under the effective direction of his father, becoming a skilled workman and continuing to follow this vocation for a number of years, meet- ing with excellent success in his efforts. There- after he became identified with the manufactur- ing of cheese, in which he continued for about ten years, having been connected with factories in various sections of the county and building up a good business in the line. Upon returning to Charlotte he assumed the position of manager of a general merchandise store here conducted by S. E. Russell, the same being located in East Charlotte. This incumbency Mr. Taggart re- tained for a decade and the ensuing two years he gave his attention to the operation of a cream- ery in East Charlotte, until 1893, when he ac- cepted his present responsible position as assistant superintendent of the Hosford nurseries. He has at all times been mindful of the duties of citizenship, and has given an unfaltering sup- port to the principles and policies advanced by the Republican party, while he and his wife have been prominent members and most devoted workers in the Baptist church at Charlotte, of
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which he served as deacon for a number of years and for a long period as sexton, ever doing all in his power to vitalize and aid in its spiritual growth and further its material prosperity.
On the 11th of April, 1871, Mr. Taggart was united in marriage to Miss Mary D. Waddell, who was born in Dundee, Scotland, and of the four children of this union we incorporate the follow- ing brief data : Charles W., who is an electrician, resides in Middletown, Connecticut, where he is assistant superintendent for the Middletown Electric Light Company ; he married Miss Julia L. Kelly, of New Haven, Connecticut, and they have one son, Earle. Fenwick G. is attending medical college in Burlington, Vermont, being a member of the class of 1903, and is preparing himself for the practice of medicine, being at the' present time a registered pharmacist. Roy E. is in New York city, where he holds a position in the offices of the Vermont Marble Company. Ken- neth, the youngest son, is in Middletown, Con- necticut, where he is engaged as an assistant electrician for the Middletown Electric Light Company.
CLAYTON N. NORTH.
Clayton Nelson North, for many years act- ively occupied in business in Shoreham, Vermont, and frequently called to positions of honor and trust, is a native of the town which has been the field of his usefulness during the greater part of his life. He is eighth in descent from John North, founder of the family of his name in America, who came from London in the ship Susan and Ellen, in 1635, when twenty years old. He came to Wethersfield, Connecticut, and married Susannah, whose family name is un- known. He was an original settler at Farming- ton, where he died in 1691.
Thomas (2), fifth child and fourth son of John, was born in 1649, and died in 1712, at Farmington, or Avon. He was a soldier in the Indian war, and received a land grant for his services. He married Hannah Newell, daughter of Thomas Newell, and Rebeckah Olmstead, emi- grants of that time, and of this marriage were born ten children.
Nathaniel (3), fourth child and third son of Thomas, was born in 1688 and died in 1777. He
married Margaret Holcomb, of Simsbury, and five children were born to them.
John (4), son of Nathaniel, was born at Farmington, March 13, 1711. He moved to Goshen, Connecticut, in 1745, and died there October 22, 1785. He married Hester (or Esther) Stanley, who bore him ten children, and of these, four sons, Abijah, Seth, Stephen and Gad, served in the Revolutionary war.
Abijah (5), second child of John, was born in Farmington or Goshen in 1743, and died May 3, 1785, in Bridport, Vermont. He married, September 6, 1764, Triphenia Grant, who died in 1783, in Shorehanı. Abijah came in 1774 to Shoreham, Vermont, probably from Farming- ton, to which place he returned on the breaking out of the war. In 1783, after peace was de- clared, he returned to Shoreham with his wife and six children. His military record is given in "Connecticut men in the Revolution," pp. 295 and 620, and makes all his descendants eligible to membership in the Revolutionary patriotic societies.
Nathaniel (6), second son of Abijah, was born in 1774. He lived where the Congregational parsonage in Shoreham now stands (1903), and he built the present parsonage in 1818. He moved in 1831 to Ticonderoga, New York, where he died in 1838. He was commissioned cornet of the troop of cavalry, in the Third Regiment, First Brigade, Third Division, by Governor Tichenor, of Vermont, May 24, 1803. He was twice married; his first wife was Sally Bate- man, who died in 1810, a daughter of Thomas Bateman, of Shoreham, and she bore him four children, and his second wife was Persis Need- ham, who bore him eight children.
Marvin (7), eldest child of Nathaniel, by his first marriage, was born June 13, 1800, at Shore- ham, Vermont, where he died, January 12, 1883. A leading journal summed up his character in the following feeling tribute :
"In the death of Marvin North, the town of Shoreham has lost one of its most honorable citizens, and the church and society of which he was a member one of its warmest friends and supporters. A landmark of the early type has gone, as he was one of the pioneers of the town and had always lived in it. He was marked for his good sense and sound judgment, and in his
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