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 20

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 20

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In 1851 he entered the General Theological Seminary in New York. During the three years' course he supported himself by private teaching and by traffic in pianos. His fine tenor voice, afterward spoiled in the service of his boys at the Institute, brought him positions in the choirs of three of the principal churches in the city. While in the seminary he joined other students in. con- ducting a large missionary work in the city of New York. At this time he imported from France a valued piano mecanique.

He was graduated in 1854, and ordained dea- con by his father. On invitation of Rev. Dr.

Stephen H. Tyng to begin his ministerial work in New York, he, with others, planted St. George's Mission, on Avenue A, near Nineteenth street, and a church was afterwards built there which proved permanent. In 1884 the Rev. Dr. H. W. Lce, of St. Luke's, Rochester, called the Rev. Mr. Hopkins to be his assistant. Seven weeks later Dr. Lee was consecrated bishop of lowa, and the whole weight of parochial duty fell. at once upon Mr. Hopkins. More than one thou- sand people claimed his pastoral care. Each Sun- day three services were read and three sermons. preached, and for seven months thereafter Mr. Hopkins averaged seven sermons and addresses. a week, also visiting nearly the whole parish at. their homes, as well as the sick and poor, and without assistance.

When St. Luke's called Dr. Watson to its- rectorate, about twenty of the leading families formed a new parish (Christ church) and pur- chased a lot on East avenue and began the build- ing of a chapel. Mr. Hopkins organized the par- ish, and held the first service in May, 1855. The parish has ranked as the most important (next to St. Luke's) of the Episcopal churches in Rochester. Mr. Hopkins accepted the call to St. George's, St. Louis, in July, 1855. He found an attendance of only one hundred and three per- sons, and a debt of $14,500 unpaid for ten years hanging over the edifice, which had been adver- tised for sale. The ladies raised $1700, and then, by request of the vestry, Mr. Hopkins collected money enough to liquidate the debt. He suc- ceeded in five weeks, and felt that he had been the honorable means of restoring to the church a noble edifice that had cost seventy-five thousand dollars. One month after he began his rectorship at St. George's, he went back to Rochester and married Miss Alice L., daughter of Isaac Doo- little, originally from New Haven, Connecticut, his father, Bishop Hopkins, going from Burling- ton to Rochester to perfom the ceremony, which took place before a densely crowded congregation in St. Paul's church, in Rochester, August 8, 1855.

Three weeks later found Rev. Mr. Hopkins in St. Louis, hard at work, but he was still only a deacon. In October, 1855. he requested his father's services in one more sacred relation, that of his ordination to the priesthood of St. George's

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church, before an unusually large congregation. He was instrumental in building that church up, and later the people erected a building at a cost of two hundred thousand dollars, and it is now the leading Episcopal church of St. Louis.

Educational work now claimed the attention of Mr. Hopkins. He went to Lancaster, Penn- sylvania, on invitation of Dr. (afterwards Bish- op) Bowman, in 1858, where he founded the Yeates Institute for boys, thereby securing a four thousand dollar endowment that had been offered by Miss Catherine Yeates. For three years Mr. Hopkins taught this school, at the same time serving as rector of St. John's church (with an assistant) during the first year of his school. The Yeates Institute has continued to prosper.

These years were really a transition period in which he outgrew the crudities of his early min- istry, at the cost of much suffering and mistaken effort, and finally found himself (in 1860) at the beginning of the work of mature manhood, into which he threw the best energies of the twenty- one years of his middle life, the establishment of the Vermont Episcopal Institute, the greatest work of his life.

When he opened the school it had not a cent of endowment. It was, in its ground and equip- ments, in a most crude condition. Up to the very opening day, workmen and teams surrounded the building. There were only five acres of half-civ- ilized grounds, and it was by no means clear who had the real control of these, whether Mr. Hop- kins or certain theological students who claimed the entire freedom of the settlement, and were a puzzling element with which to deal. It was some months before order was evolved out of this chaos of conflicting wills, but Mr. Hopkins mas- tered it at last. One of the first things to con- sider was a suitable play and drill ground for the future cadets. Several hundred drain tiles were laid in the adjacent pasture which was thus made available for the boys' use, while still good pas- turage. In fact, the whole Point proper was at the service of the school, though Mr. Hopkins had not the use of the garden, orchard or fields. For the first year or two he hired his horses and cows from the farm, but gradually escaped from this extreme inconvenience, and provided the

Institute with the full needful equipment, in- cluding pigs and a family dog.

In due time the boys arrived. nearly a score of them, largely collected by the vigorous efforts of Mr. Hopkins' brother-in-law. Hon. T. H. Canfield, who proved his loyal devotion to Bishop Hopkins' plans by putting his time and great powers of persuasion at the service of the new school so dear to the heart of its founder. In this new experience the Bishop's theories of fam- ily training proved themselves mistaken. He had never allowed his boys to learn to skate, holding this to be a useless expenditure of time and strength, and perhaps dangerous. As soon as the first ice formed over the lake, Mr. Hopkins per- ceived that to skate over it was as native to boys as for birds to fly, and that he must learn the art. Most reluctantly he must have dared the slippery plain, and he never became a graceful skater. Perhaps he never enjoyed it, but for speed and daring surpassed all. The excursion of the school across the lake became a regular feature of the winter at Rock Point, but the boys touched no ice not at first tested by the master.

No boy could pass two years at the Institute without acquiring much familiarity with music, both vocal and instrumental. What member of the family could ever forget the famous me- canique? This was a grand piano which Mr. Hopkins had imported for a wealthy citizen of Rochester, New York. It had passed into a vig- orous old age when Mr. Hopkins found himself able to buy it. He took his first trip abroad to purchase for it miany boxes of new excellent music. The mecanique gave the school many an evening of fun and pleasure, and the boys ac- quired unconsciously an accurate acquaintance with at least the surface of this classical music. They were also organized into a chapel choir. This, being a school duty, was not so welcome, but they learned well the chants and hymns. At last the ambition seized them to form an orches- tra. The late Francis E. Camp. then in college, was their instructor in the several instruments. Professor Brenton Whitney taught the piano at the Institute, and he was much amused at one of their programs comprising three overtures !

Every year a class for confirmation was formed. Of course the attendance on this was

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voluntary, but the number that came was always a surprise. No doubt this was greatly due to a relaxation of school duties. Still, as they passed on into life, a large proportion of these boys grew into Christian men.

Mr. Hopkins was above all things a pains- taking teacher. He had his grasp on every lad put under his charge ; his aim was to instill one new idea at every lesson and he would hold his class until this one was mastered. This he would do quite regardless of the lapse of time and the impatience of the assistant teachers. He used to say that he aimed his teaching at the dullest boy in the class, being sure that if he had mas- tered the thought the others must have done so. Certainly the boy's did not enjoy this practice, but they learned. It is safe to say that no one who had gone through this drill in arithmetic, Latin, or Greek, ever forgot it. "Forming the partici- ples on the arrows" was to trace the elusive Greek or Latin verb through all its convolutions until the hopeless tangle grew clear and simple. The master's great delight was to break down the muddle of a boy's brain, and form therein clear- ness, method and a sure procedure.

Mr. Hopkins' rules for writing are a good example of the exactness of his methods. Every boy was required to follow them closely. "Even height ; even slope; even distance apart ; shore heads and tails, and solid columns." The "Rock Point Cadet" was the school paper, published once a year. Every boy had to write a composi- tion for it, and these were all copied in the labori- ous hand just described, corrected by Mr. Hop- kins himself, who shrank from no amount of this arduous labor. Yearly, at the closing of school, the boys were called upon to exhibit their powers of elocution. Every boy was required to speak, and parents and friends were invited, and there was some very fine renderings, long remembered. For the entertainment of the school, Mr. Hop- kins had procured an excellent magic lantern with a collection of beautiful views, and an exhibition of these made many a gala time. The large din- ing room was emptied and prepared, all tasks were called off, and the boys and the neighbors collected for a merry evening. In early days this same basement room served for charades and theatricals, in which the reigning young lady, generally a family guest, was expected to take a

leading part, sometimes helped out by "talent" imported from Burlington. A stage was impro- vised at one end of the room, and all manner of "properties" brought from above, which must all be returned to their places before the family slept. Mr. Hopkins also frequently gave lec- tures upon his travels abroad.

A unique custom should be chronicled here. When the boys were in bed, and the bells signaled "lights out," Mr. Hopkins would take some niche of the long hall whence his voice could reach every dormitory, and, provided with a lamp and a book of familiar songs, with his well worn voice, which never altogether lost its sweet- ness, would give forth song after song till all had sunk into sleep. The boys asked often for these lullabies.

A favorite niece has recorded her recollec- tions of her uncle Theodore as setting off for town in his big rockaway loaded with errands for the boys and for the house, and noting them in his well-worn pocket tablet, chatting pleasantly with the lady sitting behind, who must often take the reins while he interviewed the butcher and the baker and the rest. There was no telephone in those days, nor any trolley. But life there had many compensations for a dear lover of nature. The whirr of the grasshoppers, the croaking of the frogs, the noiseless flight of the bats, the ex- quisite scenery of Rock Point, all delighted him. He laid out the grounds of the Institute in ter- races, fertilizing the reluctant clay soil, as some one has said, by the tablespoonful, till it bore the most luxuriant grass and vegetables. He loved bees and could tell the queen bee in swarming time ; he would pick her out and watch while the busy perilous mass settled about her and then carried her with the swarm to her selected hive. Equal to his love for bees was his hatred for cur- culios and potato beetles. His boyhood's mas- tery of tools availed him here. Tools of the gar- den, the carpenter shop, and even of the plumber, he was skilled in the use of all. But his life was one long series of experiments ; he used to say it could be summed up in the maxim, "Do it over again."

After twenty-one years of this unremitting service Mr. Hopkins resigned his post and retired to private life. He built a house for his family on the five acres now called Apple Grove. On these

Gro. w. Wing

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grounds he expended his gathered wealth of ex- perience, culled from his years at the Institute. They were his very own, and he felt a certain tenderness for every clod and spray. But a few short years were allotted him to enjoy them. On his return from Europe he spent these in the service of the town and of the church, helping vacant parishes, giving lectures with his magic lantern in the villages around, or concerts with the mecanique.

At last, in 1889, he returned home from a Sunday in Randolph, very tired. He said he had come for a few days' entire rest. The end came quickly. One last glimpse of the beauty his soul loved was vouchsafed him. In his delirium a stray sunbeam, coming through the window of the next room, painted rainbow tints on the ceil- ing above him. He called the family to admire them, and passed soon into his last unconscious- ness.

Such was the life of one of the best and most loved citzens of the city of his adoption. All the traits which adorn the devoted husband and kind and indulgent parent, a self-made man of broad intellect, and a cultured Christian gentleman, were manifested in his character and disposition. He left an honored name that will always be cherished by future generations in Burlington.

He was survived by his wife (who has con- tributed many particulars to this article) and three of the children who were born to them : John H., the present rector of the Church of the Ephiphany in Chicago, Illinois ; Richard Austin, a resident of Vermont ; and Edith R., connected with St. Barnabas House, in New York city.

JOSEPH ADDISON WING.

The eminent lawyer and exemplary citizen here sketched, whose professional career extended over the phenomenal period of more than a half- cntury, was a native of the state of Vermont, born in East Montpelier, October 29, 1810. Mr. Wing was a son of Josiah and Polly (Gray) Wing. He was reared on the homestead farm, and his education was acquired in greater part through his own unaided effort. His instruction was limited to that afforded by the ill provided district school during a few brief winter terms, and a short period in the Washington county

grammar school at Montpelier. But he was am- bitious and studious, and he added to his informa- tion by close application to such books as were contained in the little family library or that he could procure by purchase or from friends. When twenty-two years of age he began the study law under the preceptorship of Merrill & Spaulding, in Montpelier, and four years later (in 1836) he was admitted to the bar of Wash- ington county. Shortly before this he had opened an office and entered upon practice at Plain- field, Vermont. On June 9, 1858, he removed to Montpelier and formed a partnership with Rodney Land and N. A. Taylor. Six years later Mr. Taylor retired, and Messrs. Wing and Land continued their professional association until about 1870, when the latter removed to Boston. Thenceforward Mr. Wing practiced alone, with the exception of a period of about two years, when he was associated with his son, George W. Wing.

Mr. Wing's period of practice, as has been noted, covered a period of nearly sixty years, and this long term of service could not be paral- leled, if it can be cqualled in length, in the history of the Vermont bar. He delighted in his calling, and seemed to pursue it for very love of it rather than as a means of mere livelihood. The

fees he exacted were always most moderate, and he never refused his assistance to a worthy client, no matter how faint the prospect of remunera- tion. Among his colleagues he was known as a master of his profession, deepy read in all branches of the law, resourceful in all that honor would admit, scrupulously careful in the prep- aration of his cases and clear and convincing in his pleadings and argument. His counsel was sought from all portions of the state, and his judgment was implicitly depended upon when he pronounced against litigation, as he did in many cases where he felt that the ends of justice would not be subserved or his client would be worsted. He was in his profession what he was in his personal life-honest and upright.

In religion he was identified with the Church of the Messiah. In politics he was a Whig, and when that party passed out of existence and lines werc newly drawn on slavery restriction and the maintainance of the Union. he allied himself with the Republican party.

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Mr. Wing was married January 1, 18440, to Miss Samantha Elizabeth Webster, of Cabot. Six children were born of this marriage: George W. ; Florence A., who became the wife of Collins Blakely ; Ammette, who became the wife of Arthur D. Farwell ; Alice M. ; Elizabeth B. ; and John G. Wing. Mr. Wing died March 28, 1803. The Vermont Bar Association took appropriate action with reference to his death, and an "In Memoriam" paper read before that body by Judge Melville E. Smilie has been freely drawn from in the writing of this sketch.

George W. Wing, eldest son of Mr. Wing and the latter's successor in professional work, was born in Plainfield, Vermont, October 22, 1843. Mr. Wing's line of descent is as follows : Mathew Wing, the emigrant ancestor, was one of four sons who came with their widowed mother from England on the ship William and Francis, leaving England March 9, 1632, and settled in Sandwich, Massachussetts. The de- scent from him is through John, Daniel, John, Samuel, David, Josiah, Joseph A. and George W. He acquired his education in the district schools, in Barre Academy, in the Washington county grammar school in Montpelier and in Dartmouth College, graduating from the last named institu- tion in 1866. He read law under the tutorship of his father, and was admitted to the bar in 1868. He had previously served as assistant state librarian in 1864-6, and was elected secretary and librarian of the state library in November, 1902. From 1867 to 1873 he was a deputy secretary of state, during the later years also serving as a clerk in the state treasury, under State Treasurer John A. Page. He then entered upon the practice of his profession in Montpelier, for which he was amply prepared by hereditary predisposition as well as by training, and in which he has risen to a position of usefulness and prominence.

Various public honors have been conferred upon him, and he has brought to every station abilities of a high order and scrupulous fidelity to the trusts reposed in him. In 1882 he was elected to the legislature, and in that body was appointed upon the ways and means committee and the grand list committee, in both of which positions he acquitted himself most usefully and creditably. He bore a leading part in the fram- ing of the corporation tax law, and formulated

that instrument, a law which is notable for the clearness and precision of its terms and for its beneficial provisions. As a member of the grand list committee he rendered invaluable service in so formulating the measure revising and consoli- dating the tax and grand list statutes that they were absolutely flawless, and his advocacy of the new measure before the house was masterly and convincing. In his connection with various other enactments, whether in support or in opposition, he gave evidence of those qualities of discernment which mark the wise and capable legislator. Toward the close of President Arthur's admin- istration he was appointed postmaster at Mont- pelier, and, while a staunch Republican, his official conduct was so irreproachable that he was permitted to serve out his term under the admin- istration of President Cleveland. In 1890 he was elected a village trustee, in 1892 president of the corporation, and when Montpelier became a city, in 1895, he was elected as the first mayor.

Mr. Wing is an orator of no mean ability, and a fellow lawyer has said of him "He enter- tains and instructs, whether before the jury or court, or upon the stump. He is at once scholarly and practical, and has an enviable power of illus- tration peculiar to himself." He has taken high rank in the Masonic order, having attained to the thirty-third degree, Scottish Rite. Mr. Wing has filled all the offices in the local body of the Masonic fraternity, and has been grand master of the Grand Lodge of the state and grand high priest of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of the state, and grand commander of the Grand Com- mandery of the state; also grand patron of the Order of the Eastern Star. He is treasurer of the Farmers' Trust Company, an Iowa corpora- tion having its eastern office in Montpelier.

Mr. Wing was married, December 1, 1869, to Miss Sarah E. Forbush, a daughter of Dr. Orlando P. and Millie (Hendee) Forbush. Mrs .. Wing died in April, 1871, leaving one child, Sarah F. Wing. October 1, 1882, Mr. Wing was married to Miss Ida I. Jones, daughter of Stephen F. and Caroline C. (Stone) Jones.

HON. TORREY E. WALES.

Hon. Torrey Eglesby Wales, who will long be remembered by the citizens of Burlington

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and vicinity as a prominent lawyer and an hon- ored and highly esteemed citizen, was born in Westford, Chittenden county, Vermont, June 20, 1820. His paternal grandfather, Shubael Wales, was a native of Brimfield, Massachusetts, as was also our subject's father, Danforth Wales, who was born in the year 1785.

Coming to Vermont when a youth, the lat- ter learned the clothier's trade in Pittsford, and after serving his apprenticeship located at West- ford, where he established the first clothing man- ufactory in the county. Beginning in a modest way, he labored with courage and persistency, gradually enlarging his operations, and met with eminent success in his efforts, developing a large business for the time. He was a man of un- bounded energy and unusual business ability, and in addition to attending to his manufacturing interests also carried on a successful trade in gen- eral merchandise, owned and operated a lumber mill and a flour mill and was interested to some extent in other industries. He was also influ- ential in local affairs, serving as selectman and town clerk, and represented Westford in the state legislature, while for a time he was a colonel in the militia. Mr. Wales was first married to Louisa, a daughter of Ebenezer Sibley, of West- ford, Vermont. She died in early womanhood, in 1822, leaving one son, Torrey E. For his second wife Mr. Wales chose Alice Cushman, by whom he had one daughter, Louisa S., the wife of Charles Kimball. Danforth Wales was a typi- cal representative of the self-made men of our country, who have won success in all walks of life by their own perseverence and industry. He was a Freemason, and attended the Congrega- tional church. His death occurred when he had reached the sixty-fifth milestone on the journey of life.

· Torrey E. Wales received his early mental training in the local schools. Determining, how- ever, to secure a liberal education, he entered the University of Vermont in 1837, in which in- stitution he was graduated with the class of 1841. His father having suffered reverses in his busi- ness, the son was thrown chiefly upon his own re- sources, but he managed with industry and energy to pay his own way through college, and graduated with honor. Deciding to become a lawyer, he accordingly entered the office of the

late Archibald Hyde, and later studied under the preceptorship of Asahel Peck, subsequently jus- tice of the supreme court and governor of Ver- mont. Mr. Wales was admitted to the bar of Chittenden county in the spring term of 1845, and in the following year began the practice of his profession in Burlington, but, having inherited a tendency to pulmonary disease, some alarming symptoms forced him to go south. His wife hav- ing some family connections in the state of Mis- sissippi, he went thither and taught for three years in the family of a planter near Holly Springs, there receiving impressions of southern plantation life which never faded from his mem- ory. Returning to Burlington, he opened a law office at the head of Church street and gradually built up a successful practice. He continued alone until about 1857, when he formed a par- tnership with Russell S. Taft, who had been a student in his office and in time became the hon- ored chief justice of the supreme court of Ver- mont. This relationship continued for the un- usual period of twenty-one years, being finally dis- solved in 1878, and in the spring of 1882 Mr. Wales' son, George W. Wales, succeeded Judge Taft, the firm name becoming Wales & Wales, remaining thus until the death of the junior mem- ber in 1890.

Judge Wales' sterling qualities and ability in his profession soon brought him into prominence, and in 1853 he was elected state's attorney, hold- ing that office for three consecutive years. He was a selectman of the town in 1854, before the organization of the city, was the second mayor of Burlington, holding that position for two years, in 1866 and 1867, and again in 1870 he served as acting mayor in the place of D. C. Linsley, re- signed. He was an alderman during the years of 1869, 1870, 1871, resigning in the latter part of the last mentioned year, but was again elected alderman of his ward in 1874. During the years of 1883 and 1884 he was city attorney, while in 1868, 1869, 1876 and 1877 he was a representa- tive to the state legislature. Previous to this time, in 1862, he was elected judge of the pro- bate court, holding that office continuously until 1898. Among the minor offices held by Judge Wales was that of county auditor of Chittenden county and street commissioner, and he was also one of the earliest members of the old Boxer fire

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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 20

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