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 16

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 16

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THE STATE OF VERMONT.

received the degree of Master of Science. Politi- cally he is a Republican, and in 1902 represented his town in the legislature, in which body he served on the judiciary and insurance comunit- tees. He is a member of the Lakota Club of Woodstock. He married, January 19, 1869, Anna Frances, daughter of Erasmus B. Metcalf, of Bos- ton, and to them were born five children : Alice, who married Gilbert D. Kingman, and resides at New Bedford, Massachusetts; Ida Gertrude ; Anna M., who married George E. Mann, of Quechee, connected with the Dewey mills, and to them were born three children, William Dewey, Elizabeth and Richard Dewey; Mary M .; Emily Strong Dewey.

JOHN BOARDMAN PAGE.

The Page family of Vermont has been con- spicuous in the commercial, financial and political history of the commonwealth through several generations past. The grandfather of John Boardman Page was Dr. William Page, son of John and Hannah (Robbins) Page, of New Fair- field, Connecticut, who lived in Charlestown, New Hampshire. He was a prominent citizen of that town, having twice represented it in the Vermont assembly, when Charlestown was a part of Ver- mont, and four times in the New Hampshire legislature. He served as surgeon of the New Hampshire regiment of the Revolutionary army, of which Daniel Reynolds was colonel. He built the canal at Bellows Falls. He married Chloe Todd, to whom was born, September 2, 1779, William Page.

The latter entered Yale College at the age of thirteen years, graduated in due course, and assisted his father as assistant engineer in the construction of the Bellows Falls canal. He re- moved thence to Rutland, where he resided from 1806 to his death, in 1850. He was cashier of the first bank of Rutland organized under the state laws. He was also deacon of the Congregrational church, and a public-spirited citizen, and he had to a remarkable degree the confidence and respect of his fellow townsmen. He married Cynthia Amanda Hickok.

John Boardman Page, son of William and Cynthia Amanda (Hickok) Page, was born Feb-

ruary 25, 1826, at Rutland, Vermont. 3 He was educated in the public schools in Rutland and at Burr and Burton Seminary, Manchester, Ver- mont. At the age of sixteen years he entered the employ of the Bank of Rutland, and when his father resigned the cashiership on account of advancing years, Jolm B. Page was appointed cashier. He was elected president of the bank in 1861, and continued as such after its reorgani- zation as the National Bank of Rutland. Mr. Page's remarkable business capacity was carly recognized, and he became prominently connected with various important railroad and business en- terprises. He was trustee of the Rutland & Burlington Railroad Company till he resigned this position in 1867, to become president of the Rut- land Railroad Company at the date of its or- ganization in July of that year. He remained president of the Rutland Railroad Company un- til August 1, 1883. Front 1873 to 1881 he was president of the Continental Railway and Trust Company, organized to build the New York, West Shore & Chicago Railroad, afterwards known as the West Shore Railroad. He was for many years a director in the Champlain Transportation Company, which controlled the steam navigation of Lake Champlain, and was identified with the project to connect the waters of the St. Law- rence and Lake Champlain by the Caughnawauga ship canal. He was a director of the Howe Scale Company from 1869 to 1885, and, having ac- quired a controlling interest in that corporation, he removed the shops from Brandon to Rutland in 1878. He was treasurer of the Howe Scale Company from 1876 to 1885, and a director of the Dorset Marble Company, 1871 to 1885.

Mr. Page was called to many civil offices of responsibility and trust. Few men, if any, in the history of Vermont, have held more or more important offices in civil life. He was the first treasurer of the village of Rutland, 1848 to 1850, and a trustee of the village in the years 1849,- 1860, 1869, 1876 and 1877. He was treasurer of the town of Rutland from 1849 to 1856. He was elected to the legislature in 1852, when he was twenty-six years of age, and subsequently represented Rutland in the house of representa- tives in the years 1853, 1854 and 1880. During his last term in that body he prepared and intro-

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THE STATE OF VERMONT.

duced a bill reforming the tax laws of Vermont (then much needing amendment), the main prin- ciples of which were subsequently incorporated in the state statutes. He was nominated for state treasurer, on the Republican ticket, in 1860, and held the office by successive re-elections for seven years, covering the Civil war and the most im- portant period in the financial history of the state. He disbursed during this period, on state account, four million six hundred and thirty-five thousand one hundred and fifty dollars, principally for mili- tary expenses. He favored and promoted much of the important military legislation of that time, including the laws for adding the state pay of seven dollars a month to the government pay of the soldiers, and the law permitting soldiers to allot their pay so that it could be drawn by the selectmen of their respective towns for the sup- port of their family during their absence in the field. He was appointed allotment commissioner for Vermont by President Lincoln. His arduous and responsible services as treasurer were recog- nized by the people in a call to the chief magis- tracy of the state. He was elected governor of Vermont in 1867, re-elected in 1868, by a larger majority than had been given to any other candi- date for that office up to that time. He was then forty-one years of age, and the youngest man that ever held that office, being a few days younger than Governor Van Ness was when the latter was inaugurated. His administration was a successful and honorable one. After retiring from the governorship he declined further politi- cal office, with the exception of a term in the legislature. During the maturer years of his life Governor Page had an important place in the religious life of the community. Joining the Con- gregational church in 1858, he served on several important committees of the church and society. He was chairman of the building committee for the new Congregational church on Court street, Rutland. He was a deacon of the church for the last fourteen years of his life, and superin- tendent of the Sunday-school for twelve years. He served as a member of the prudential com- mittee, and as the moderator of the society. He was strongly interested in Christian missions in foreign lands. He was a corporate member of the American board of commissioners for foreign

missions, and through his instrumentality the annual meeting of the board in 1874 was held in Rutland, the only meeting of the board ever held in Vermont. The arrangements for this meeting and for the accommodation of the large numbers of persons from many states who attend- ed it, were conducted by Governor Page with extraordinary energy and success. Moved by the appeal of Joseph Neesima, he led the move- ment at that meeting which culminated in the establishment of the Christian college in Japan, of which Neesima became the president. The power of his personality was again strikingly shown at a meeting of the board of Providence. Rhode Island, in 1877, when he led a movement to raise the debt of the board. The officers of the board deemed the effort inexpedient at that time, but he persisted and in a couple of hours succeeded in raising forty-eight thousand dollars, which covered the entire debt. One-fourth of this amount was pledged by Vermonters, the larg- est single pledge being Governor Page's, for five thousand dollars. The scene during the progress of the effort and upon the announcement that the debt of the board had been wiped out, was one of the most impressive in the history of the Amer- ican board, and Governor Page held thereafter a high place in the regard of all friends of Con- gregational missions.

Mr. Page married, June 14, IS4S, in Boston, Mary Ann Reynolds. She died May 15. 1872, at Nice, France. Of this marriage were born four children : Susan Reynolds, who died in in- fancy ; William Reynolds, Edward Dimmock and Helen Louisa Page, all now living. He was mar- ried a second time, June 9, 1875, to Harriet Ellen Smith, of Winchester, New Hampshire. Their children are: Catherine Rebecca, John Hickok, Henrietta Richardson and Margaret Ellen Page, all living. Governor Page died October 24, 1885, and was buried in Evergreen cemetery, Rutland, which he had largely helped to establish and adorn. As will be seen from the facts stated, Governor Page was a man of marked personality, of remarkable energy and executive ability, and of high traits of personal character. He had the power of making and holding many friends, and his name has an honored place in the history of his state.

THE STATE OF VERMONT.

HON. EBENEZER JOLLS ORMSBEE.

Ebenezer J. Ormsbee, ex-governor, of Ver- mont, an eminent lawyer of the city of Brandon, Vermont, and veteran of the Civil war, was born in Shoreham, Vermont, June 8, 1834, a son of John Mason and Polly ( Wilson) Ormsbee. The educational advantages enjoyed by Mr. Orms- bee were obtained in the common schools of the vicinity and the academies of Brandon and South Woodstock, his time being divided equally be- tween the farm and the schools until he attained his majority, after which he taught school for a number of winters. Desiring to become a member of the legal profession, he began the study of law in the office of Briggs & Nicholson, at Brandon, in 1857, and four years later was admitted to the bar of Rut- land county at the March term of court. Instead of entering upon the practice of his profession, however, he enlisted in the "Allen Grays," a mili- tary company of Brandon, in April, 1861. Sub- sequently this company was known as Company G, First Regiment, Vermont Volunteers, and on April 25, 1861, he was elected second lientenant and was with his company in the service of the United States during the term of its enlistment, which covered a period of four months. After his return home he again enlisted, this time with Company G, Twelfth Regiment, Vermont, Vol- unteers, and on September 22, 1862, was com- missioned captain of the company. This regi- ment was attached to the Second Vermont Bri- gade, commanded by General Stannard, which became the Third Brigade in the Third Division of the First Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, and taking a most prominent part in the Gettys- burg campaign. Captain Ormsbee was mustered out of service July 14, 1863, having shared the dangers and hardships with his men during the entire term of enlistment.

Upon his return to Brandon, Vermont, Captain Ormsbee associated himself with Anson A. Nicholson in the practice of law, and a few years later he entered into partnership with Hon. Ebenezer N. Briggs, with whose son he was subsequently interested in a business relation at Brandon for many years. In politics he has al- ways been an ardent advocate of the principles and policy of the Republican party, and was

elected a member of the state Republican con- mittce. £ In 1868 he was appointed assistant United States internal revenue assessor, serving as such until 1872; was state's attorney for Rut- land county from 1870 to 1874; town representa- tive from Brandon in the general assembly of the state in- 1872, and senator from Rutland county in that body in 1878. He received the appoint- ment, and served from 1880 to 1884, as a trustee of the Vermont Reform School, and resigned from this position to accept the office of lieutenant- governor of the state, and in 1886 he was chosen to serve in the capacity of governor. He dis- charged the onerous duties of this office with dignity and great diplomatic skill. In August, 1891, he was appointed by President Harrison to treat with the Piute Indians at Pyramid Lake, Nevada ; the object being to secure by payment of a consideration their relinquishment of claim on a part of this reservation. After spending one month there Mr. Ormsbee succeeded in negotiat- ing satisfactory terms for purchase, but his task was a difficult one and required considerable tact and diplomacy in dealing with the chiefs. He performed this work so satisfactorily that Presi- dent Harrison appointed him a United States land commissioner at Samoa, in company with a representative of the English and German gov- ernments to adjust private claims of citizens of these governments, the claims aggregating three thousand six hundred, and representing many millions of dollars. This commission was created in accordance with the Burton Act, and the com- missioners were engaged from November, 1891, to November, 1893, when he returned to this country and resumed the practice of his pro- fession. Mr. Ormsbee is a member of St. Paul's' Lodge, F. & A. M., of Brandon, and for many years has been a comrade of the C. J. Ormsbee Post No. 18, G. A. R., at whose annual memorial services he has been speaker and participant for a number of years. In his religion he is a firm believer in the tenets of the Protestant Episcopal church.

In 1862 Mr. Ormsbee was united in marriage to Jennie L. Briggs, a daughter of the Hon. E. N. Briggs, of Brandon, Vermont. After the death of his wife he married Frances (Wadhams) Dav- enport, a daughter of William L. Wadhams, of Westport, New York, in 1867.

Ebenezer j Omneshave.

THE STATE OF VERMONT.

HON. JUSTIN S. MORRILL.

Justin S. Morrill, United States senator from Vermont, was born in Strafford, April 14, 1810. His family in the United States had for its foun- der and Englishman, whose three sons settled in or near Salisbury, Massachusetts, and from the third of whom Senator Morrill was in the line of direct descent. Joseph, his ancestor, moved from Salisbury, Massachusetts, to Chichester, New Hampshire, where he died. His son, Smith Morrill, moved about 1795 to Strafford, where he was one of the earliest settlers. Nathaniel, son of Smith Morrill, known as Colonel Nathan- iel, from his rank in the militia, was the father of Senator Morrill. He was a farmer, and he also made scythes and farming tools, carrying on an extensive business for the times. He was a man of much force of character, and greatly respected by all who knew him.

Justin S. Morrill received an academical edu- cation, and at the age of fifteen entered a country store, where his compensation was forty-five dol- lars for a year's service. With his meagre sav- ings he went to Portland, where he found em- ployment with a shipping merchant, and next in a large dry-goods store, where his more liberal wages enabled him to purchase books, which he studied out of business hours. He thus finished a liberal course of classical reading, and also read Blackstone's Commentaries, but without any intention of becoming a lawyer. After three years of mercantile experience in Portland, he returned to his native town and formed a part- nership with Judge Harris, a connection which only ended with the death of Judge Harris in 1855. Mr. Morrill, however, had ceased his act- ive effort as a merchant in 1848 to engage in farming.

In 1854 Mr. Morrill received the unanimous Republican nomination of his district to a seat in Congress, and was elected by 8,380 votes, against 5,848 for Parker, his Democratic com- petitor, and 2,473 for O. L. Shafter and other minor candidates. For the thirty-fifth Congress he received 13,695 votes, against 4,358 cast for Chase, the nominee of the Democrats: for the thirty-sixth Congress, 11,576 votes, against 4,806 in favor of Chase, his former competitor; for the thirty-seventh Congress, 12,555 votes, against

3,295 for Davenport, the Democratic candidate ; for the thirty-eighth Congress, 11,538 votes, 4,785 recorded for the same contestant; and for the thirty-ninth Congress, 12,409 votes, against 4,793 cast for Ormsby, the new Democratic aspirant. The remarkable uniformity of the returns serves to indicate the unshaken hold of Mr. Morrill on the regard of his fellow citizens. Twelve consecutive years of legislative labor were in- cluded between December 3, 1855. when he took his seat in the hall of the house of representatives, and March 3, 1867, when he left it to enter the senate.

Mr. Morrill was elected to the United States senate in 1866 by the legislature of Vermont, re- ceiving two hundred and thirteen votes in the house, against sixteen cast for T. P. Redfield, and a unanimous vote from the senate. He was re- elected for six successive terms, and, at the last election, he had reached his eighty-seventh year. When he died his congressional service had ex- ceeded that of any living colleague, and had cov- ered the long period of nearly forty-four years, thirty-two years of which were in the senate.

In the house of representatives Mr. Morrill served upon the committee on agriculture and territories, and also upon the committee on ways and means. During the thirty-ninth Congress he was chairman of the latter body, and thus became what is technically termed the leader of the house. The bill granting public lands to agricul- tural colleges was introduced by him in 1858. but was vetoed by President Buchanan after it had obtained the sanction of both houses. It was re-introduced in 1862 by Mr. Morrill, who ably advocated it in a speech on June 6, 1862, and its enactment was secured mainly through his in- strumentality. To all the projects of pro-slavery propagandism he opposed an inflexible antagon- ism. In 1856 he opposed the admission of Kan- sas to the national Union under the terms then proposed, and, as a member of the select commit- tee of fifteen (of which Mr. Stephens of Georgia was chairman) appointed to investigate all mat- ters in connection with the applicant territory, he presented a minority report, prepared by himself, against the Lecompton Constitution.

Mr. Morrill's fame rests chiefly on the basis of sound political economy. His first speech on the tariff was delivered in the house February

THE STATE OF VERMONT.

6, 1857, when he opposed a measure introduced by Mr. Campbell of Ohio, mainly on the ground that it unduly favored the interests of manufac- turers, and was not sufficiently considerate of the welfare of agriculturists. He was even then pre- paring a system of import duties intended to con- serve and promote the interests of all classes, which he introduced April 23, 1860, and which became the law of the United States in 1861. It is only truth to remark that the "Morrill Tariff" was, under the then existent circumstances, a masterpiece of political wisdom. It imparted a beneficent stimulus to Anierican manufacturers, inciting inventors and capitalists to embark in new and untried enterprises, and it went far in providing means for carrying on the war for the preservation of the Union, placing his name beside that of Alexander Hamilton, of whom it was said, "He smote the rock of the public credit, and streams of revenue gushed forth." With old fashioned notions respecting a proper currency, Senator Morrill opposed and voted against the issue of greenbacks in 1862, but after their incorporation into the currency he deprecated any attempt to suddenly retire them.

Senator Morrill performed the principal part of the labor in preparing the first and several subsequent internal tax bills of the Civil war period, and was chairman of the sub-committee charged with the duty of formulating their pro- visions. March 12, 1862, he explained and gave a forecast of the operations of what was the initial measure of the vast internal-revenue sys- tem. Mr. Boutwell, commissioner of internal revenue, afterward affirmed that it was "the most perfect system ever devised by any nation."

In the senate, Senator Morrill made able speeches on different subjects related to the na- tional finances and the public debt. One of the most important of these was that delivered May 9, 1870, on "the Reduction of Taxation." He assumed that, owing to the policy of our present administration, we shall soon be able to part with all direct taxation, or all internal taxes; and the only subject that will tlien remain for serious con- sideration will be the subject of the tariff," and he thoroughly explained the principles of the Re- publican party as related to the question in hand.

Senator Morrill opposed the passage of the bill making eight hours the length of a legal

day's work for all laborers, workmen and me- chanics in the employ of the United States, stat- ing, among other reasons, that it applied only to those employed by the general government, and was therefore anti-Republican and offensive to all other laboring men. While advocating a modification of the civil tenure act, he opposed its repeal or suspension. In his judgment the law was not intended to be a restraint upon the power of one president only, but to be a part of the permanent policy of the country, and was in entire harmony with the spirit and letter of the national organic law. In the debate on the aboli- tion of the franking privilege of members of Congress, he spoke in favor of that measure, not on the grounds of economy, but for other reasons, which, to him, was valid and satisfactory.

Senator Morrill did not favor an extension. of the national domain, and the annexation of St. Domingo was a project of which he could not approve. He performed admirable service as a member of the committee on finance and of the committee on education and labor, and as chair- man of the committee on public buildings and grounds. In the forty-seventh Congress he held the position of chairman of the committee on finance, and a member of the committees on edu- cation and labor, public buildings and grounds. He was also a member of the select commit- tees on the census and on library accommodations, but was excused from service on the two last named because of the exacting nature of his duties as chairman of the committee on finance, to which position he was called in 1877, succeeding Hon. John Sherman, who then entered the cabinet of President Hayes. Among the public bills intro- duced by Mr. Morrill were those related to the entry and withdrawal of distilled spirits, to the application of the net proceeds of public lands and patents to educational purposes, to the amend- ment of the law relative to the circulation of national banks, and to the appointment of a tariff commission, and the passage of the latter bill was in great measure due to his personal influence and effort.

The Public services of Senator Morrill were summarized in the following pregnant utterances of Hon. George F. Hoar, of Massachusetts, in a memorial address delivered in the senate of the United States, on February 22, 1899:

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Hiram learleton

THE STATE OF VERMONT.

It would be impossible, even by a most careful study of the history of the country for the last forty years, to determine with exactness what was due to Mr. Morrill's personal influence. Many of the great policies to which we owe the suc- cessful result of the Civil war-the abolition of slavery; the restoration of peace; the new and enlarged definition of citizenship; the restoration of order ; the establishment of public credit; the homestead system : the foundation and admission of new states : the exaction of apology and repara- tion from Great Britain ; the establishment of the doctrine of expatriation ; the achievement of our manufacturing independence; the taking by the United States of its place as the foremost nation in the world in manufacture and in wealth, as it was alreay foremost in agriculture; the creation of our vast domestic commerce; the extension of our railroad system from one ocean to the other- were carried into effect by narrow majorities, and would have failed but for the wisest counsel. When all these matters were before Congress, there may have been men more brilliant or more powerful in debate, but I can not think of any wiser in counsel than Mr. Morrill. Many of them must have been lost, but for his powerful sup- port. Many owed to him the shape they finally took.

But he has left many a personal monument in our legislation, in the glory of which no others can rightfully claim to rival him. To him is due the great tariff, that of 1861, which will always pass by his name, of which every protective tariff since has been but a modification and adjustment to conditions somewhat changed, conditions which, in general, so far as they were favorable, were the result of that measure. To him is due the first anti-Polygamy bill, which inaugurated the policy under which, as we hope and believe, that great biot on our national life has been for- ever expunged. The public buildings which or- nament Washington, the extension of the Capitol grounds, the great building where the state, war and navy departments have their home, the Na- tional Museum buildings, are the result of stat- utes of which he was the author, and which he conducted from their introduction to their enact- ment. He was the leader, as Mr. Winthrop in his noble oration bears witness, of the action of Congress which resulted in the completion of the Washington monument after so many years' delay. He conceived and accomplished the idea of consecrating the beautiful chamber of the old house of representatives as a memorial hall where should stand forever the statues of the great men of the states. So far, of late, as the prosperity

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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 16

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