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 17

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 17

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and wise administration of the Smithsonian In- stitution has depended upon the action of Con- gress, it has been due to him. Above all, the beautiful National Library building, unequaled among buildings of its class in the world, was in a large measure the result of his persistent effort anw powerful influence, and stands as an endur- ing monument to his fame. There can be no more beautiful and enviable memorial to any man than a portrait upon the walls of a great college in the gallery where the likenesses of its benefac- tors are collected. Mr. Morrill deserves this ex- pression of honor and gratitude at the hands of at least one great institution of learning in every American state. To his wise foresight is due the ample endowment of agricultural or technical col- leges in every state in the Union.

Senator Morrill was for many years a mem- ber of the board of regents of the Smithsonian Institution at Washington city, and a trustee of the University of Vermont and of the State Agri- cultural College. He was married September 17, 1851, to Ruth B. Swan, daughter of Dr. Caleb and Ruth (Barrill) Swan, of Easton, Mass- achusetts. Two children were born of this mar- riage: Justin Harris Morrill, who died in child- hood; and James Swan Morrill, who became a lawyer, and now resides in Strafford, Vermont. Mrs. Morrill died May 13, 1898, and her husband survived her but a few months, his death oc- curring December 28, following.

HIRAM CARLETON.

Hiram Carleton, of Montpelier, Vermont, prominent as a lawyer, in public affairs and as an authority on the history of the state. is of early Colonial lineage. Edward Carleton. the immigrant ancestor of the family in the United States, was the sixteenth in descent from Bald- win de Carleton, of Carleton Hall, near Penrith, Cumberland county, England, where he and his descendants had their residence for more than six hundred years from about the time of the con- quest, A. D. 1066. Edward Carleton was a mem- ber of the company which, under the Rev. Eze- kiel Rogers, settled in Rowley, Massachusetts. in 1639. This company arrived at Boston from England in 1638, and it is a notable fact that the ship which bore them brought over the first printing press introduced into the English-speak-

THE STATE OF VERMONT.

ing colonies of North America. This press was set up in the house of Henry Dunstor, the first president of Harvard College. Edward Carleton was selected to make the surveys for the com- pany, and was for five successive years the dep- uty from Rowley to the general court of Massa- chusetts Bay. During his service in that body he was selected to execute important commiss- ions. Hle returned about 1651 to England, where he died. His wife was Eleanor Denton. Their son,

Lientenant John Carleton (1), was born in England about 1636, and died in Haverhill, Mass- achusetts, March, 1668. He married (probably in England) Hannah Jewett, of Rowley. During his brief residence in Rowley he held several offices of trust. He left at his death four young sons, Jolin, Josepli, Edward and Thomas, from whom have descended nearly all of the name of Carleton in New England.

Joseph (2) was born in Haverhill, March 2, 1662, and died in 1742. He married Abigail. daughter of Captain Christopher Osgood, of Andover, Massachusetts, August 2, 1694. Jere- miah (3), born March 3, 1715, married Eunice Taylor.

Lieutenant Jeremiah Carleton (4), born in 1743, lived in Lyndeboro, New Hampshire. His wife was Lois Hoyt. On the alarm occasioned by the invasion of Burgoyne in 1777, with nine- teen others of his townsmen, he enlisted and marched to the defense of Ticonderoga. Of Lieu- tenant Carleton's brothers, David was killed at Bunker Hill ; Ebenezer was a member of General Washington's Life Guard : and Captain Osgood Carleton, afterwards a noted teacher of mathe- matics in Boston, at various times during the war was employed by the government in the trans- portation of money between Philadelphia and New England. His responsibility was for many millions of dollars, and was faithfully and success- fully discharged.

Jeremiah (5), born May 10, 1777, died in Barre, Vermont, in 1840. His wife was Deborah Edwards, of Montpelier, Vermont.

David Carleton (6) was born September 2, 1809, in Barre, where he died April 11, 1888. He succeeded his father, Jeremiah (5), in the occupancy of the homestead farm upon which he was born, and there lived until his death. He

was a man of unblemished Christian character, of rare intelligence and extensive information, and was especially interested in educational mat- ters. He was one of the projectors of Barre Academy, served as one of its trustees, and was a member of the prudential committee of the in- stitution from its inception. He married, Septem- ber 30, 1837, Marv, daughter of Benjamin I. and Hulda (French) Wheeler, who died May 9, 1902.

Hiram Carleton (7), son of David and Ilul- dah (Wheeler) Carleton, was born August 28, 1838, at Barre, Vermont. He prepared for col- lege at Barre Academy, when Dr. J. S. Spaulding was its principal, and graduated from the Uni- versity of Vermont in 1860, at the age of twenty- two. After his graduation he was for a time principal of the Hinesburg Academy, and after- wards of Keeseville Academy, in New York. He studied law with Ephraim E. French, Esq., of Barre, and was admitted to the Washington coun- ty bar in 1865. In 1866 he located in Waits- field, where he began, and continued for ien years, the practice of his profession. He then changed his residence to Montpelier, in order to- become a member of the firm of Heath & Carle- ton, which was maintained until 1883, when he was appointed judge of probate for the district of Washington, by Governor Barstow. This- office he has since continuously held, re- ceiving at several elections the vote of all parties. During his residence in Waits- field he was the representative from that town to the general assembly in 1869 and 1870. At the session of 1869 he was a member of the house committee on education, and in 1870 its chairman. During his chairmanship of this com- mittee the law permitting the establishment of the town system of schools was passed. This law met with much opposition in the house, and it was largely due to his prudent management that the act passed this branch of the legislature. This- law was the foundation on which, in 1892, the state built its present system of schools. Mr. Carleton was for two years state's attorney for Washington county, receiving his election in 1870. In the same year he was the delegate from Waitsfield to the last constitutional convention.

Judge Carleton was for six years president of the Vermont Historical Society. He is a mem- ber of the Vermont Bar Association, and has

THE STATE OF VERMONT.

been its treasurer for the last twenty years. He is also a member of the Vermont Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and of Aurora Lodge No. 22, F. & A. M. He is one of the trus- tees of the Washington county grammar school, and for the last twenty-three years has been its treasurer. He is a member of the Congregational church, and is a Republican in politics.

Judge Carleton was married in Chesterfield, New York, October 26, 1865, to Miss Mary Elizabeth, daughter of Lothrop Pope and his wife, Mary Ball, of that town. She was educated at the Keeseville Academy. Her father was the seventh in descent from Thomas Pope, who was of Plymouth, Massachusetts, born in 1608. Her mother, Mary Ball, was the great-granddaughter of the Rev. Eliphalet Ball, the founder of Ball- ston, New York, and the granddaughter of Col- onel John Ball, a Revolutionary officer. Two children, Frederick Pope Carleton and Mary Ball Carleton, were born to Judge and Mrs. Carleton.

Frederick Pope Carleton was born November 3, 1866, and was educated in the public schools of Montpelier. He is a lawyer, and has been for six years eity attorney. He married, June 10, 1897, Miss Molly Roekwell Brisbin, and to them was born a daughter, Frederica Brisbin, Sep- tember 29, 1898.

Mary Ball Carleton was born September 14, 1876, and was educated in the public schools of Montpelier. She was married October 10, 1900, to Mr. Harris Hard Walker, of Burlington, Ver- mont, where they now reside. They are the parents of a daughter, Elizabeth, born November I, 1901. Mr. Walker is general agent of the New York Life Insurance Company.

ESTEY:

In three successive generations, representatives of the Estey family of Vermont have made the name familiar wherever American eommeree has spread, as manufacturers of a musical in- strument of approved value. Its ancestry dates to the earliest colonial times.

The American branches of the family were presumably planted by three brothers who came from England. Jeffrey Estey (or Easty, as the name frequently appears) was an early settler at Salem and Beverly, Massachusetts. He was

probably a Quaker. His wife, Elizabeth, pore him two children, Edward and Isaac. Isaac, known as Sergeant Fastey, lived in Topsfield, Massachusetts, and was selectman from 1681 to 1687. His wife Mary, born in Yarmouth, Eng- land, who came with her parents. William and Joanna (Blessing) Towne, was a victim of the Salem witchcraft persecutions, and was executed September 22, 1692, as had been her sister, Re- becca Nourse, previously. Jacob, son of Isaac and Mary Eastey, the fifth son in the family of nine children, inherited the homestead and lived in Topsfield. He was seleetman in 1725, and died in 1732. His wife, Lydia Elliott, bore him five children. Of these, Isaae, born in 1715, lived in Topsfield, Massachusetts, until 1740, when he removed to Sutton, Massachusetts. He subsequently settled in Royalston, Massachusetts, and his mother was the first adult female who died in that town, between 1767 and 1769. He was selectman in 1768-69, and died in 1792. His wife, Sarah Gould, bore him two children, Jacob and Hepsibah. Jacob, born August 10. 1744, removed to Royalston with his father and in- herited the homestead. He was a man of im- portance, serving as seleetman for several years, and also as assessor. He married Sarah Chan- berlain, and they both died in 1829, aged, re- spectively, eighty-five and eighty years. Their children were Isaae, Sarah, Israel. John. Joseph and Polly. The first-born of these, Isaac, born April 7, 1773, died December 26, 1834, in Hins- dale, New Hampshire, where, with his brother, Israel, he set up and operated a sawmill, but the venture proved disastrous, and was his finan- cial ruin. His wife was Patty Forbes, who bore him eight children.

Jacob, sixth child of Isaae and Patty (Forbes) Estey, was adopted when four years old by a wealthy family of Hinsdale. When thirteen years old he walked to Worcester, Massachusetts, and joined an elder brother. For four years he labored upon farms, and when seventeen appren- ticed himself to a plumber. He became an ex- pert workman, and before he came of age he established a business of his own in Brattleboro, Vermont, with his hard-earned savings of two hundred dollars as his sole capital. He was suc- cessful from the beginning, and in 1848 he erected a large building on Main street for workshop

THE STATE OF VERMONT.

purposes. This proved the beginning of his for- tune and the foundation of the family fame.

He had rented the upper story of his building to Hubbard & Carpenter, who there began the manufacture of a small melodeon. The firm was unfortunate, and Mr. Estey took an interest in the business in liquidation of his claim for rent, and two years later he bought out their interest and took personal charge of the business, which was so small that six men constituted the entire working force. Abandoning his plumbing busi- ness, he gave himself with enthusiasm to the new enterprise, and soon had an increased num- ber of men engaged in producing instruments of his own devising. The fame of his melodeon spread rapidly, and he erected a second and larger factory, but in 1857 both his establish- ments were destroyed by fire. Undeterred by this disaster, Mr. Estey at once rebuilt them, but in 186.1 they were again burned down, and these were also speedily replaced, and a larger building was erected near Whetstone for the storing of the immense stocks of fine lumber which were constantly needed.

In 1866 Mr. Estey brought into partnership with himself his son, Julius J. Estey, and his son-in-law, Levi K. Fuller, and the combined abilities of the three were of great advantage to the business, increasing its volume and enhancing the value of the product. But this success was achieved at great cost. In 1869 the sudden over- flow of a nearby stream brought death to one of the workmen, swept away thousands of dol- lars' worth of valuable material, and threatened the safety of the factory itself. To provide against such danger in the future, the company resorted to higher ground, upon which were erected nine large buildings, each three stories in height, with large dry houses, immense packing and storage departments, engine rooms, etc. The interests of this great business, which he had developed from a merely experimental condition until it had be- come one of the most important establishments for the manufacture of musical instruments in the world, claimed the attention of Mr. Estey until almost the moment of his death, April 15, 1890. It was his fortune, through his own earnest endeavor, to make himself a real benefactor to humanity. To his home city he gave its princi- pal industry, affording support to hundreds of

families. To the world at large he gave, as the fruit of his skill and industry, an instrument which has brought exquisite pleasure to hundreds of thousands, not only in America, but throughout all the civilized world, and even to the islands of the sea.

Mr. Estey was a man of great nobility of char- acter. Benevolent, educational and religious in- stitutions in many portions of the country were continually aided through his generosity, and the afflicted and deserving poor in his own town and neighborhood were ever the recipients of his bounty. He was one of the first and most ener- getic and liberal movers in the establishment of the Baptist church in Brattleboro in 1840, and from that day until his death he was one of its most liberal supporters. Destitute of political ambition, yet he was prominent in civil affairs, called to nearly all elective offices by a people who valued him for his great ability and sterling integrity, and he accepted every trust as an im- perative duty. Besides filling nearly all local posi- tions, at various times, he represented Brattle- boro in the legislature in 1868-69, and was a member of the state senate in 1872-73, in both positions acquitting himself with great credit, and recognized as a most industrious and sa- gacious legislator. In 1876 he was brought into favorable prominence by being named for the gubernatorial office, in the Republican state con- vention, and received the fine compliment of one hundred and forty-four votes on the first ballot, and without any effort upon his own part.

Mr. Estey was married May 2, 1837, to Des- demona, daughter of David and Anna (Kendal) Wood, of Brattleboro. Three children were born of this union : Abby E. is the widow of ex-Gov- ernor Levi K. Fuller, deceased, and Julius J. Estey is mentioned below.

Julius J. Estey, son of Jacob and Desdemona (Wood) Estey, was born in Brattleboro in Jan- uary, 1845, and died March 7, 1902. He re- ceived his education in the public schools of his native city and at the Norwich Military Institute. On attaining his majority he became associated with his father as junior member of the firm of J. Estey & Company. By disposition, tastes and training he was in all ways fitted to become, in course of time, the manager of the great business which his sire had founded. When. the Estey

THE STATE OF VERMONT.

Organ Company was incorporated, he became the ·treasurer, and occupied that position until 1896, when he became president, with his sons, J. Gray Estey and J. Harry Estey, respectively, as vice president and treasurer. Besides directing in a masterly way the business of the corporation, Mr. Estey was also actively interested in various other commercial and financial institutions, and was president of the People's Bank of Brattleboro, president of the Estey Piano Company of New York city, and a director in the Estey Manufac- turing Company of Owosso, Michigan.

He was zealously interested in the mainte- nance of the military establishment of the state, to which he unstintingly afforded his personal efforts and means. His connection with the Na- tional Guard dates from 1874, when he organized the Estey Guards of Brattleboro, of which he was chosen captain. In 1876 he was appointed as aide-de-camp, with the rank of colonel, on the staff of Governor Horace Fairbanks. In 1881 'he was elected lieutenant colonel of the Vermont National Guard, and served with that rank until 1886, when he was elected colonel. In 1892 he was made brigadier general. It has been said of him, upon the highest authority, that he was an excellent tactician and disciplinarian, and that the troops under his command came to be among the most soldierly in all the New England states. At the same time he commanded the affection as well as the respect of his men in a far higher degree than is common in military life.

General Estey was an active Republican, and was repeatedly a delegate to state conventions, and in 1888 was a delegate-at-large to the national · convention. He was elected to the legislature in 1876, and to the state senate in 1882, serving in both positions with credit to himself and usefulness to his constituency and to the commonwealth, affording his aid to the forma- tion and enactment of various salutory laws re- lating to the National Guard and to educational and industrial interests. He was deeply inter- ested in education, and was for many years a trustee of Mount Hermon ( Massachusetts) School for young men, and of Northfield ( Massa- chusetts) Seminary for young ladies, both found- ed by Mr. D. L. Moody, the evangelist, as well as treasurer of the latter named institution and of Vermont Academy at Saxton's River. In religion

he was a Baptist, exemplary in life, and earnest and liberal in support of his church and its allied interests. He was for a number of years president of the board of managers of the Vermont Bap- tist state convention, and president of the Baptist State Sunday-school Association. He was also deeply interested in the work of the Young Men's Christian Association; he was president of the Brattleboro body from its organization, also serv- ing as chairman of the state executive committee and presiding at various state gatherings. In his personal character he was a model of Christian manhood, and every act of his life reflected his gentleness, sympathy and broad charity.

General Estey married, October 29, 1867. Miss Florence Gray, who was born in Cambridge, New York, August 24, 1848, a daughter of Dr. Henry C. Gray, and a descendant in the seventh genera- tion from Matthew (I) and Joan Gray, who were among the Scotch-Irish immigratns that landed in Boston, August 4, 1718. They removed to Wor- cester, where they acquired large tracts of land and where they lived the remainder of their lives. The line was continued through their son, Mat- thew, who received a deed. of the Worcester homestead in 1735. Reuben, next in descent, succeeded to the possession of the home farm. Joseph Gray, his eighth child, settled in Pelham, New Hampshire. He served as a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and subsequently became one of the leading physicians of liis county, practicing until his death in 1812. He married Lucy, daugh- ter of Samuel Bancroft, and they became the par- ents of nine children, of whom Henry Gray, born in Hudson, New Hampshire, May 27, 1783, suc- ceeded to the profession of his father. He mar- ried, November 23, 1808, Margaret Carpenter, who died August 24, 1863, at an advanced age. She bore him ten children. Dr. Henry C. Gray, the eldest child, was born January 7, 1810, and settled as a physician in Cambridge, New York, where he died February 10, 1877. March 31, 1834, he married Jeannette Bullions, of Cambridge, New York, and they reared several children, among them being Florence C. Gray, who became the wife of Julius J. Estey. General and Mrs. Estey became the parents of three children : Ja- cob Gray, Julius Harry and Guy Carpenter Estey ; the last named died in 1897.

J. Gray Estey, eldest son of General Estey,

THE STATE OF VERMONT.

was born August 2. 1871. He began his educa- tion in the public schools of Brattleboro, and pursued advanced studies at Vermont Academy and the Massachusetts School of Technology. At the age of twenty he entered the Estey Organ Company's factory and worked his way through all of its various departments, acquainting himself intimately with all the details of the business, mechanical as well as administrative. He served for a time as superintendent of the manufactur- ing department, later became vice president, and succeeded to the presidency after the death of his father. In lineal descent the third of his family to be identified with the mammoth institution of which he is the head, he brings to its management all the excellent qualities inherited from his sire and grandsire, together with an artistic apprecia- tion of his great opportunity to contribute to the happiness of mankind, and that commendable sentiment which moves him to perpetuate the es- tablishment as one of the most eloquent memorials of the highly useful lives of those who have pre- ceded him in the duties now devolved upon him- self.

He early became connected with the National Guard of Vermont, in which he enlisted as a private, and the Estey Guards, of which he after- wards became captain, eventually rising (in 1899) to the rank of colonel commanding the regiment. During the Spanish-American war he served with his regiment, which was stationed at Chickamau- ga, Tennessee. Colonel Estey was married to Miss Mattie Poor, a daughter of Leverett Poor, a prominent leather manufacturer of Peabody, Massachusetts. Of this marriage were born two children, Jacob Poor and Joseph Gray Estey.

J. Harry Estey, second son of General Estey, was born in Brattleboro, July 9, 1874. He was educated in the high school in the city named, and then entered the office of the Estey Organ Company, of which he has been treasurer for several years past. He has been connected with the National Guard of Vermont for several years, having enlisted as a private in the Estey Guards. During the Spanish-American war he served as lieutenant, and he is at present the adjutant of the regiment. He is a member of Brattleboro Lodge, F. & A. M. He married, June 19, 1895, Miss Allethaire Chase, daughter of the late E.

H. Chase, of Louisville, Kentucky, and to them have been born two children, Paul Chase and Allethaire Gray.

EDWARD WELLS.

The well known firm of Wells, Richardson & Company, of Burlington, has at its head, in the person of Edward Wells, one who is a descendant from one of the oldest and most honored families of Normandy, a house which played a conspicuous part in the government of that province previous to the conquest of England. As early as 794 a branch of the Vaux family (from which the name of Wells is derived ) inhabited the Provence Nor- mandy, and were allied by marriage to most of the sovereign princes of Europe. In 1140 they disputed the sovereignty of Provence with the house of Barcelona, and in 1173 acquired the principality of Orange by marriage with Tiburze, heiress of Crange. In 1214 William, Prince of Vaux and Orange, assumed the title of King of. Arles and Vienna, which dignity was confirmed to him by Frederick II. A branch of the family was founded in England after the conquest by Harold De Vaux, a near connection of William the Conqueror. At this time was adopted the surname of De Vallibus.

The Wells family of Vermont runs back to. Hugh Wells, of Essex, England. Hugh Wells was born in, or about, the year 1590, emigrated to New England in 1635 and settled cither in Salem or in Bister. In the following year he re- moved to where is now the city of Hartford, Connecticut, and he was included among the earliest settlers of that locality, and was subse- quently known as a citizen of considerable local influence. Thomas Wells, eldest son of Hugh Wells, was born in 1620 at Colchester, England, and came with his parents to America in 1635. He finally settled at Hadley, Massachusetts, in 1659, and was a resident of that place until his death in 1676. Ebenezer Wells, the eleventh child of Thomas Wells, was born in Hadley, July 4, 1668, removed to Hatfield, and died there. Thomas Wells, the second child of Ebenezer Wells, was born in Greenfield, Massachusetts, September 23, 1693. He was the first physician and surgeon in this branch of the family, and died at Deerfield,

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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 17

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