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 70

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 70

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loads being a heterogeneous collection of mer- chandise.

David Goodell, father of Tyler D., grew to manhood on the parental homestead in Monroe, Massachusetts, receiving his education in the district schools. When a young man he entered

TYLER DAVID GOODELL.

upon a mercantile career, traveling on the road as a peddler of "Yankee notions" for several years, after which he established himself in busi- ness in Readsboro, Vermont. Going from there to North Adams, Massachusetts, he was clerk in a store until his removal to Whitingham, where he had charge of the local hotel for awhile. Subsequently removing to South Readsboro, he carried on an extensive business as a dealer in cattle, horses, sheep and wool until 1884, when he located in Whitingham, Vermont, where he resided until his death, November II, 1894. He was active in politics, at one time being promi- nent in the Know-Nothing party, and never shirked the responsibilities of office, serving as

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selectman, justice of the peace, and as a member of the school committee, both in Monroe and in Whitingham. Fraternally he was a member of Wilmington Lodge Free and Accepted Masons. He married Sabrina Hicks, a native of Monroe, who died at the age of fifty-eight years. She was a daughter of Rev. Jonathan Hicks, a pioneer Reformed Methodist minister and cir- cuit rider, who preached in Monroe and vicinity for over forty years. Mrs. Goodell was a not- able housewife and was equal to any emergency. During the Civil war, when cotton goods were at fabulous prices, she, with an old-fashioned loom, wove over twelve hundred yards of linen and flannels. Four children were born into the pa- rental household, two of whom survive, namely : Charles H., of Adams, Massachusetts, and Tyler D., the special subject of these memoirs.

Tyler D. Goodell was reared beneath the pa- rental roof-tree, and received his early educa- tion in the common schools, remaining at home until twenty-five years old. Then with his brother, Charles, he adjusted his father's affairs, after which, in 1875, he settled in Readsboro, Ver- mont. From that time until 1885 he had the con- tract to carry the mail from here to Hoosac Tun- nel, Massachusetts, likewise driving a stage be- tween the two places, a distance of eleven miles. Purchasing his present hotel property in 1884 Mr. Goodell has rebuilt and enlarged the house until it accommodates fifty guests with comfort, and has managed it most successfully, winning the kindly regard and good will of his numerous patrons by his genial courtesy and prompt atten- tion to their needs. In politics Mr. Goodell is a staunch and steadfast Republican and an active worker in the interests of his party. He served as a member of the house in the state legislature in 1880, 1886, 1892 and 1894, and as a member of the state senate in 1900. He has filled sev- eral of the local offices. In 1880, when he was first chosen as a representative, he was the first Republican that had been elected to that position for twenty years. He was again elected in 1886, when he served on the general committee that passed four-fifths of all the bills brought before the house, in 1892 was one of the committee on elections, and in 1894 served on the committee on banks. In 1900 he served as chairman of the

joint committee of the house of correction in the state senate.

Mr. Goodell has been twice married. He married, June 25, 1871, Flora A., second daugh- ter of Rev. Jeremiah Gifford, a well-known min- ister of Readsboro, who preached for a number of years in this and adjoining towns. She died three years later at the early age of twenty-one years, leaving two children, namely: Hallie T., a prosperous and popular merchant of Monroe Bridge, Massachusetts, and Readsboro, Vermont. In the former place he has been town clerk since reaching his majority, and has also served as town treasurer and. tax collector. Flora Ellen, the second child, married, Septem- ber 26, 1895, Clifford G. Brown, a grain merchant of Readsboro, by whom she has two children, Mabel and Eveline. Mr. Goodell married, February 12, 1879, Ida M. Robertson. Of this union four children have been born, of whom are: Earl W., manager of his brother's store in Reads- boro and Harvey E., who assists his father in the management of the hotel, and an infant son, Richard Hicks Goodell.

ORION M. BARBER.

Orion M. Barber, a prominent member of the Vermont bar, and the present state auditor, who has at various times also rendered highly useful public service in other important posi- tions, is a native of the state, born in Jamaica, Windham county, July 13, 1857. He comes from an old and honored New England family, many members of which were conspicuous in the higher walks of life. His paternal grand- father, Daniel M. Barber, was born in Massa- chusetts, July 2, 1777, and died in June. 1843, at the age of sixty-six years. He was a farmer by occupation and a man of much force of charac- ter, and his mental vigor was inherited by his descendants. He married Rhoda Cushing. who was born March 23, 1781, and died December 9, 1833. She was a daughter of Solomon and Polly (Burr) Cushing, and her mother traced her ancestry to a Boston family of 1638. among whose descendants were many who became noted figures in the history of Massachusetts-judges in the state courts and upon the supreme bench

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THE STATE OF VERMONT.

of the United States, and one as a congressman from 1830 to 1837, and one of the number was a Harvard graduate in 1825.

David M. and Rhoda (Cushing) Barber were the parents of Eunons D. Barber, who was born in Townshend, Vermont, where he spent a use- ful life and died in Wardsboro, in 1898, at the age of sixty-three years. He was a farmer by occupation, a man of intelligence and sterling character. He was married to Lucia A. Pierce, a daughter of Abijah Pierce, who was born in Jamaica, May 29, 1792; her death occurred March 19, 1885.

Orion M. Barber, son of Emmons and Lucia A. (Picrce) Barber, began his education in. the common schools and pursued advanced courses in Bernardston (Massachusetts) Academy and the Institute of South Woodstock and subse- quently took a classical course at Leland and Gray Seminary at Townshend, Vermont. With this ample preparation and after teaching school for several terms and holding the position of school superintendent in Arlington, he entered upon the study of law under the masterly pre- ceptorship of J. K. Batchelder, in Arlington. He afterward entered the Albany (New York) Law School and was graduated from that institution in 1882. Immediately afterward he entered upon practice in association with his law preceptor be- fore named, and the partnership was maintained for six years. During the eight succeeding years Mr. Barber practiced alone, and in 1896 became a law partner of Judge Darling, of Bennington. This relationship has been profitably continued to the present time, in the interests of a clientele fairly representative of the largest personal and corporate concerns in the state. The principal burden of labor has devolved upon Mr. Barber since the beginning of the Roosevelt ad- ministration, when Judge Darling was called to the position of assistant secretary of the navy, necessitating his presence in Washington city during the larger part of the time. The firm maintains offices in Arlington as well as in Ben- nington, and their law library is famed as the most extensive in the state.

Mr. Barber, in addition to caring for his large practice, has at various times given atten- tion to important official duties committed to him. In 1886-87 he served as state's attorney

for Bennington county. In 1892 he was made a member of a committee appointed to revise the Vermont statutes, and two years later was made chairman of a committee charged with the editing and publication of the same. While he was thus employed, he was also, in 1894, ap- pointed by Governor Woodbury and confirmed by the senate, to the office of railroad commis- sioner for a term of two years. In 1898 he was elected state auditor and lie occupies that position at the present time, having been re-elected in 1900 for a two years' term.

Mr. Barber holds high rank in the State Bar Association, in which he maintains a deep inter- est. In politics he is a Republican, and he is favorably known throughout the state as a most carnest and capable exponent of the principles and policies of that party. He has taken an active part in every local and county convention since attaining his majority. He has also figured prominently in the various state conventions; in 1896 he was one of the delegates to the national convention which nominated Mckinley for the presidency ; in 1902 he performed yeoman service as state manager of the campaign for General Mccullough, the regular Republican nominee for governor, in the most severe contest that was ever waged for the gubernatorial chair in Ver- mont, and the success of his candidate before the legislature attests the value of his services in this connection. Mr. Barber was married June 30, 1898, to Miss Alice Norton, a daughter of Luman P. Norton, and a native of Bennington. Of this union were born twin daughters, Lucia P. and Mab N. Barber. Mr. Barber has been a member of the Masonic order since attaining his majority and has taken the degrees of the coun- cil, chapter and commandery, and is a Noble of the Mystic Shrine.

THOMAS HAWLEY CANFIELD.

The first arrival in America of this branch of the Canfield family was Thomas, who settled in Milford, Connecticut in 1646, coming from Yorkshire county, England. His grandson Na- than, removed to Arlington, Vermont in 1768 and Nathan's son Samuel was the father of the sub- ject of this sketch, Thomas Hawley Canfield, born March 29, 1822 in Arlington, Vermont. His

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mother, Mary Ann Hawley, was also of English descent, her ancestor, Joseph Hawley, of Derby- shire, England, migrated to Stratford, Connecti- cut early in the seventeenth century.

Vermont west of the Green Mountains, was chiefly settled about 1760 by people from Con- necticut, who received titles to their lands by charter from Benning Wentworth, the colonial governor of New Hampshire. Several families came to Arlington to make it their home, prom- inent amongst whom were the Canfields, Haw- leys, Wards, Allens and Bakers, who, during the early troubles arising from disputes concerning the New Hampshire grants, were most active leaders in the struggle.

Thomas H. Canfield was brought up on a farm and received his early education in the com- mon school of his native town. He was after- wards sent to Burr and Burton Seminary in Man- chester, where he was fitted for college at four- teen years of age. Not desiring to enter college so early, he worked for two years on his father's farm, after which he became a student in the Troy Episcopal Institute.

He was inclined to pursue a scientific course, but Bishop Alonzo Potter, then acting president of Union College, Schenectady, persuaded him to abandon his idea of becoming a civil engineer and he entered Union College as a junior in the fall of 1839. Before the completion of his col- lege course, he was summoned to Vermont by the sudden death of his father, to care for his wid- owed mother and only sister, and again took up the burden of farm life. Finding agricultural labor too severe for his slender constitution, he removed in 1844 to Williston, where he became a merchant.

In the same year he married Elizabeth Ann, only daughter of Eli Chittenden, a grandson of the first governor of Vermont. She died in 1848 and he subsequently married, in 1860, Caroline Amelia, daughter of the Right Reverend John Henry Hopkins, first bishop of . Vermont, by whom he had three daughters and two sons : Emily, John Henry Hopkins, Marion, Flora and Thomas Hawley Canfield, Jr.

In 1847 Mr. Canfield moved to Burlington and became, at twenty-five, junior partner in the then well known firm of Follett & Bradley, thenceforth Bradley & Canfield, wholesale mer-

chants and forwarders in northern Vermont. He felt he was too young and inexperienced for such a responsible position, but soon his talents and ability found full scope in developing the large transportation interests of the firm. There were no railroads in those days in Vermont, and all kinds of merchandise had to be transported by this line of boats. Bradley and Canfield had extensive wharves and warehouses, as well as a line of boats to New York and Boston for transportation ; their wharves were also the reg- ular landing place for passenger steamers and other vessels. This was a business requiring capital and care and executive ability. Here Mr. Canfield first developed those powers of man- agement of men and affairs that accomplished so much for the public good during all his after life.

About this time Professor Morse brought his telegraph into practical operation. Mr. Can- field, in connection with other public minded cit- izens, by visiting towns all along the route, suc- ceeded in getting stockholders and organizing a company for the first telegraph line from Mon- treal to Troy, New York, on which was sent the first message, February 2, 1848.

His next enterprise was in connection with the introduction of railroads into Vermont. His firm, Bradley & Canfield, with others, engaged in building one from Bellows Falls by way of Rutland, to Burlington, which was completed in December, 1849.

At the same time they built the Rutland and Washington Railroad from Rutland to Eagle Bridge, New York, connecting at that point with a railroad to Troy and Albany and thus opened the first line of railroad to New York, as well as to Boston from northwestern Vermont. While these roads were being built, this same firm, in connection with T. F. Strong and Joseph and Selah Chamberlain, built the Ogdensburg Rail- road from Rouses Point to Ogdensburg, as well as other railroads in New York and Pennsyl- vania.

Mr. Canfield had now a large fleet of boats engaged in the transportation business. . Here- tofore two days were required for mails and passengers to between Burlington, Montreal and New York. Mr. Canfield first pro- posed to make a day line between these cities. . He endeavored to enlist Governor Morgan, pres-

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THE STATE OF VERMONT.

ident of the Hudson River Railroad, in the plan, but was coldly received, for the governor believed it was simply impossible. After several inter- views, however, he consented to make the trial on condition that Mr. Canfield would guarantee his company from any loss. From New York to Montreal, the distance is about four hundred miles, requiring an average speed of forty miles an hour to accomplish the trip in one day. Ac- cordingly, May 15, 1852, at six a. m., a train left Chambers Street depot, New York, carrying as passengers the superintendents of the Hudson River and Troy and Boston Railroads, who, with Mr. Canfield and several reporters, alone dared risk their lives upen such a crazy enterprise. Had not the New York papers for that morning been on board, the public could not have believed that such a quick passage had been made. Since then there has been no further trouble on that point, and two daily trains from New York to Montreal have been a matter of course.

Mr. Canfield next established a line of pro- pellers between Ogdensburg and the upper Great Lakes, which opened a route by the lakes and the St. Lawrence for all western products, which hitherto had formed their outlet only through the Erie canal and the roads from Al- bany.

While engaged in this enterprise, he formed the acquaintance of Mr. Edwin F. Johnson, an experienced engineer, whose full and accurate information regarding the unexplored country lying between the Great Lakes and the Pacific Ocean impressed him with the importance of a railroad across the continent by the northern route, and determined him in the resolve to devote his life to the accomplishment of that vast under- taking. As an initial step he contracted with others in 1852, before there was any railroad into Chicago from the east, to build what is now known as the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, from Chicago to St. Paul, Minnesota, and to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. In those days railroad building was slow, materials difficult to get, cap- ital timid, contractors inexperienced, and before the railroad was finished to Fond du Lac, the panic of 1857 stopped all work, embarrassing the company and contractors. Before the com- pany could be reorganized, the war of the rebel- lion came on, when the urgent necessity of a rail-

road to the Pacific cansed the government to se- lect the middle route, granting it lands and a money subsidy, with the understanding that the same money subsidy should at some future day be given to both the northern and southern routes. But this was never carried out by Con- gress and the railroads by both these routes had to be built by private enterprise, with the land grant, but without any money subsidy from the United States government.

Soon after the war broke out the govern- ment assumed control of the railroads of the country. Colonel Thomas S. Scott, of the Penn- sylvania Railroad, was made assistant secretary of war and general manager, having for his spe- cial duty the collecting of the armies of the United States. He sent for Mr. Canfield and placed him in charge of all the railroads about Washing- ton as assistant manager.

At this time Washington was surounded by the Confederates, and all communication cut off by land and water, except by the Balti- more & Ohio Railroad, with a single track. On this line all passengers and troops, all supplies for army and citizens, everything had to be taken. Thirty to forty trains of about thirty-five cars each, were run daily in the constant fear that the enemy might intercept them at any time. With the honorable exception of the superintendent, William Prescott Smith, the enemy controlled the western end of this road, while between Bal- timore and Washington it was guarded, especially at the culverts and bridges, by a regiment under the command of Colonel John H. Robinson, of Binghamton, New York.

Naturally President Lincoln and cabinet were fearfully anxious. Only after repeated inter- views and frequent assurances could Mr. Can- field satisfy the president that he could keep open communication with Washington on this single track (by adding eighteen miles of side tracks) over which three hundred thousand soldiers were to be transported, besides all supplies for the city and the soldiers in and around Washington, pro- vided the government would furnish troops enough to protect the line from destruction.

This rigid system of guarding the railroad from Baltimore to Washington, by day and by night, the employment of experienced, loyal rail- road officers whom he knew he could rely on and

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the implicit obedience of all his employes, enabled Mr. Canfield to carry out his contract without an accident of any kind or the loss of a single life.

On leaving Washington in April, 1862, Mr. Canfield took charge of the steamers on Lake Champlain as superintendent and treasurer. He remained for about three years in Burlington, but his mind and thoughts were still absorbed with his favorite pro- ject, and in 1866 he conceived and organized the syndicate to construct the Northern Pacific Railroad, the magnificent enterprise, in connec- tion with which he was most widely known. The space of this article forbids more than a bare men- tion of his indefatigable labors for many years in its behalf. When the contract with Messrs. Jay Cooke & Company was under consideration for . negotiating the bonds of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, Mr. Cooke required that that his own engineers should first examine the country through which the road was to be built, before signing the contract, and if their report was favorable, he would execute it. Mr. Canfield was selected by the directors of the Northern Pacific to conduct Mr. Cooke's party from the Pacific coast east and to show them a practicable route for a railroad. He met them at Salt Lake City, June 9, 1869, took them to Sacramento by rail, thence by stage nine hundred miles to Olympia, Washington territory. After exploring the bays and harbors of Puget Sound, he returned to Portland, ascend- ed the Columbia river to Walla Walla, then the end of the settlements. Here he procured four- teen horses for the trip of five hundred miles across the mountains to Helena, Montana. All the provisions from Walla Walla through the In- dian territory, had to be carried on horseback, for there were neither roads nor settlers, and his party slept on the ground at night without a tent or other covering than a blanket. From Helena he came on to the Yellowstone river, where Liv- ingston now is, one thousand miles east from Puget Sound, which was about as far as Sitting Bull, then in command of that country, would allow him to come. In this trip he had to cross the two main ridges of the Rocky mountains sev- eral times, back and forth, to examine different passes in order to satisfy Mr. Cooke's engineers

that a line across them was feasible. Once he encountered an Indian outbreak, when nearly all his horses were stolen by the Indians; had this occurred at an earlier stage of the journey the party might all have perished for want of food and transportation. After four months' absence, and traveling about eight thousand miles, Mr. Canfield was able to show to the entire satisfac- tion of the engineers a practical route, and their report being favorable, Mr. Cooke executed the contract for negotiating one hundred million dol- lars of the bonds of the company, and the work of construction was at last commenced.

Mr. Canfield was both director of the road, and, later, president of the Lake Superior & Puget Sound Land Company. In this last office his duties consisted largely in buying lands all along the surveyed route for the Northern Pacific Railroad, and laying out and platting and adver- tising cities for the future millions that were to come and settle in them. Of these no less than twenty-three towns from Lake Superior to Puget Sound were made ready for occupation through his labors, some of which have developed into large and prosperous cities.

The bankruptcy of Mr. Cooke in 1873 once more caused a change in Mr. Canfield's plans. From this time on he devoted himself mainly to his wheat farm, Lake Park, Minnesota, which at- tracted great interest as one of the first to show what crops might be produced on the rich prairie lands under careful, intelligent management. Here he labored with untiring zeal and varying success, always intending, as age drew on, to return to his home in Burlington, Vermont, where his family had resided in quiet comfort while he was traveling, toiling and working out his endless schemes for public welfare.

CAUGHNAWAGA CANAL.

.While engaged in transportation on Lake Champlain about 1849, Mr. Canfield was very positive that a ship canal from Caughnawaga, above the Lachine rapids, in the St. Lawrence river, to Lake Champlain, was imperatively nec- essary to the full development of the country. He had frequent interviews in Montreal with the Hon. John Young, Benjamin Holmes, Harrison Stephens, Peter McGill, Messrs. Holton and Mc-

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Pherson, forwarders, all men of broad views and extended knowledge of the vast west on both sides of the line. Mr. Young had already agi- tated the subject in Canada, and there was no man in the States or Dominion who was better informed upon the subject, or who could present it in a more convincing and magnetic manner. Meetings were arranged for by Mr. Canfield to bring this matter before the public in Burlington, August 14, 1849, and Saratoga, August 21, which were addressed by Mr. Young, Judge Follett, Charles Adams, Esq., and many other prominent men from Montreal, Troy, Albany, Whitehall and other cities. A committee was appointed of prominent citizens in the States and Canada, to devise measures to carry on the enterprise. A survey was made, and it looked as if the project 'was about to be accomplished. But when the charter was granted by the parliament of Can- ada, unexpected opposition arose, the result being so impracticable, Mr. Young and his friends con- cluded not to proceed with the undertaking.

In 1897 the project was again agitated. Mr. Canfield, as earnest as ever, exerted himself to the utmost to bring forward his convictions re- garding his chosen route. At a large meeting of prominent business men brought together in Cleveland, September, 1897, for consultation on the question of canals in the east, he made his maiden speech ( for he had always avoided speak- ing in public), which was received with great enthusiasm. He showed clearly that the only practicabie outlet from the great lakes to the ocean, for large vessels, was through the Caugh- nawaga ship canal, Lake Champlain, the Lake Champlain canal enlarged and the Hudson river. Through this outlet it would be possible for west- ern producers to send east without breaking bulk, and through this alone. Much interest was awakened by the facts he brought forward to sus- tain his argument. As the importance of the subject grew, commissioners were afterwards ap- pointed by the government of the United States and Canada, and Congress appropriated two hun- dred and fifty thousand dollars towards surveys to be made. Mr. Canfield was in close connec- tion with the commissioners, who gladly con- sulted him, relying greatly on his judgment and practical knowledge of the whole subject, from beginning to end, from New York to Duluth. On

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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 70

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