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 74

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 74

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Among the descendants of this pair were many of the best families of Delaware and Maryland. Their eldest son, Samuel, a man of public importance in Rhode Island, mar- ried Anne, daughter of Captain Ed- ward Hutchinson, a granddaughter of the famous Anne Hutchinson, and a grand- niece of the great poet, John Dryden. Their son Edward, born in 1670, was father of his namesake, Edward, who was father of another Edward, born in 1725. Henry, son of Edward last named, was born in 1759, in North Kingston.

He and all of his brothers were Revolutionary war soldiers. He married Sarah Coy, and they removed to Shaftsbury, Vermont, where they reared a family.

Heman Dyer, son of Henry and Sarah Dyer (to which form the family name had been changed), was born in Shaftsbury, Vermont, September 10, 1810. When six years of age his parents removed to Manchester, and here his early youth was passed. He was a diligent stu- dent, and when fifteen years of age began the

DOUGLASS HENRY DYER.

study of Latin. He taught school and pursued his studies during the same time. He subse- quently went to Ohio, where he became a student in Kenyon College, and took his literary degree. Having studied for the Protestant Episcopal min- istry, he was ordained by Bishop McIlvaine. In

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1840 he established a classical school in Pitts- burg, Pennsylvania, which he conducted for three years, when he was called to a professorship in the Western University of Pennsylvania, and subsequently became its chancellor. About this time, when thirty-four years of age, he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Trinity College, Hartford. In 1849 he left the university, and until 1854 was connected with the American Sunday School Union in Philadelphia. In the latter vear he was elected manager of the Prot- estant Episcopal Society for the Promotion of Evangelical Knowledge. In 1861 .and subse- quently he was editor of the publications of the society and corresponding secretary of the Ameri- can Church Missionary Society. In 1862 he de- clined election as the first bishop of Kansas. During the Civil war he was industrious in Christian Commission work, and aided in found- ing the Philadelphia Divinity School. In 1869 he was the victim of a railroad accident, his train going into the Hoosick river during a flood, and he was badly bruised, while his nervous system received permanent injury. Yet in the succeed- ing years he was prominent in church affairs, in directing missions and as a member of various conventional bodies and committees, and was for some years engaged in ministerial work in va- rious important parishes in New York city and vicinity. In 1832 he was married to Miss Almira Douglass, of Gambier, Ohio, a daughter of Arch- ibald Douglass, who was in charge of business affairs about Kenyon College while he was a student there. Dr. Dyer has written his auto- biography in a remarkably interesting volume of more than four hundred pages, entitled, "Records of an Active Life," 1886.

Douglass H. Dyer, son of Dr. Heman and Almira (Douglass) Dyer, was born August 26, 1842, in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. When a boy of twelve he came to Manchester, where he at- tended Burr and Burton's Seminary, while a member of the family of his father's brother, David Dyer. On his nineteenth birthday, August 26, 1861, his patriotic fervor led him to enlist in Company E, Fifth Vermont Infantry, which was attached to the Sixth Corps. He participated in the battles of Young's Mills, April 5; Lee's Mills, April 16; Williamsburg, May 5, all in 1862, and in August following he was discharged

for disability. Having recovered in April, 1864, he re-enlisted in the Seventeenth Regiment of Vermont Infantry, and, with the rank of sergeant, took part in the battles of Cold Harbor and the Wilderness. On September 16, 1864, he was commissioned captain and quartermaster, and was assigned to duty in New York city to take charge of the transportation of the Department of the East. He was honorably mustered out of service January 8, 1866.

On leaving the army Captain Dyer returned to Manchester, Vermont, where he followed farm- ing until 1901, when he bought an elegant resi- dence on upper Main street, retaining the owner- ship of a one-hundred-and-fifty-acre farm, which was bought by his grandfather more than a cen- tury ago. A man of broad intelligence and high moral principle, he is held in great esteem in the community. With his family he attends the Protestant Episcopal church. He is a Republican in politics, and has served as lister and as grand- juryman, and, by the election of 1902, became justice of the peace. Commendable pride in his own honorable military record and in that of his comrades has moved him to zealous interest in Grand Army affairs. He is a member of Spencer Post No. 24, and has served as commander, and he was among the organizers of the Association of Survivors of Company E, Fifth Vermont Reg- iment. He is secretary of the body and has com- piled a voluminous record, containing the names of all who were ever members of the regiment, together with the story of the forty engagements in which it bore a part, and much other valuable historical matter. He is also a leading spirit in the annual association reunion, which is one of the most important affairs of the community. He is also a member of Adoniram Lodge No. 42, F. & A. M.

Captain Dyer was married February 22, 1869, to Miss Inez Hill, daugter of Jerome and Laura (Lathrop) Hill. Mr. Hill was a farmer and a man of high character; his death occurred in 1868, and his widow is yet living in Sunderland. Mr. and Mrs. Hill were the parents of four chil- dren, of whom Mrs. Dyer was the eldest; the others were Laura, living in Manchester ; Julius, living in Sunderland ; and Harriet, living in South Dakota. Five children were born to Captain and Mrs. Dyer, of whom Harry D., Lena A. and

SIDNEY E. RUSSELL.

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THE STATE OF VERMONT.

an infant are deceased. Those living are Heman J., who married Miss Nellie M. Felt, and Frank Dyer.

SIDNEY ELIHU RUSSELL.

For many years one of the prominent fac- tors in connection with the industrial activities of the town of Charlotte, Chittenden county, and one who held prestige as an able, honorable and progressive business man was Mr. Russell, who for twenty years was successfully engaged in mercantile pursuits in the village of Charlotte and who was one of the representative citizens of this locality.

Sidney E. Russell claimed the old Empire state as the place of his nativity, having been born in Massena, New York, on the 29th of Jan- uary, 1845. His father, Abraham Russell, was born at White Creek, that state, being a son of Henry Russell, who was likewise born in White Creek, where he was reared on a farm and where he was identified with agricultural pursuits for a number of years after attaining maturity. He eventually removed to Fort Covington, New York, where he continued farming operations until his death, at the age of fifty years. In the locality last mentioned, Abraham Russell grew up under the invigorating discipline of the farm, re- ceiving a common school education. He contin- ued farming for a number of years and his life was cut short in its prime, since he died at the age of forty-nine years, at Potsdam, New York, where he had been engaged in agriculture. His wife, whose maiden name was Lutheria Russell, (no relative), was born in Shelburne, Chittenden county, Vermont, a daughter of Elihu Russell, one of the early settlers of this section. She survived her husband, entering into eternal rest in 1889, at the age of seventy-three years and having passed the evening of life in Charlotte. Both she and her husband were consistent and zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal church. They became the parents of five chil- dren, of whom three are living, namely: Ira, who is a resident of Burlington, and who is in- dividually mentioned elsewhere in this work; George, a prominent physician of Massena, New York, and Clara, the wife of Charles T. Holmes, of Charlotte.

The youthful days of Sidney E. Russell were passed in his native town, to whose public schools he was indebted for his early educational train- ing. He there continued his residence until he had attained the age of nineteen years, when, in 1864, he came to Burlington, Vermont, where he was employed as a clerk in a mercantile estab- lishment until 1877, when he came to Charlotte, where he effected the purchase of his store and business, and here, through his enterprise, energy, discrimination and liberal dealing, he built up an excellent business, gaining the confidence and esteem of the community and being known as a progressive and public-spirited citizen. His store was well arranged and equipped and the stock of general merchandise very select and comprehensive, so that he was able to success- fully cater to a large and representative patron- age, controlling a trade which extended through- out the territory normally tributary to the town and giving employment to a corps of four clerks. In politics he gave his allegiance to the Repub- lican party, and though never an aspirant for of- ficial preferment, he at all times showed a loyal and active interest in public affairs of a local na- ture. Fraternally he was identified with Bur- tington Lodge, No. 100, F. and A. M., and he was one of the leading members of the Congre- gational church of Charlotte, being president of its board of trustees.

In 1868 Mr. Russell was united in marriage to Miss Mary D. Blethen, who was born July 30, 1850, in Burlington, and they became the parents of three children, namely: Stella, who is the wife of George H. Root, of Burlington, and has two children, Marjorie and June; Maude, wife of Stanton Williams, successor of Mr. Rus- sell in business; and Mary, wife of Frank R. Falby, of Charlotte. Both the latter were edu- cated in the high school at Burlington. For over twenty years, Mr. Russell was connected with the business interests of this town, and was al- ways ready to lend his aid, both personally and financially, to the people's good. Chosen by the people to represent them at the coming legisla- ture, he had given intelligent study to the im- portant questions that would have come before him for action, and it is safe to say that he would have been an influential member of the house of representatives had he survived to fill his du-

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ties. He was quiet and retiring in his inter- course with the people, but was a man of de- cided opinions and tenacity of purpose, and in his death, which occurred on the 21st of September, 1902, the town of Charlotte lost an excellent citizen.

MARTIN S. VILAS.

This gentleman, a prominent member of the Chittenden county bar, is a representative of an old and honored Vermont family. His paternal grandfather, Moses Vilas, was a native of Graf- ton, Massachusetts, born there March 19, 1771, from which place he removed to Randolph, Ver- mont, and about 1800 came to Sterling, now a part of the town of Johnson. He was thus one of the early settlers of Lamoille county, and his journey thither was made through dense forests, the pathway marked by blazed trees, and his young wife, with her babe in her arms, rode the horse, while he walked and led the animal. He located in the heart of the wilderness and there cleared a spot for cultivation and built a rude house. His industry was rewarded, and he eventually acquired a property of eight hundred acres. He was a man of unblemished character and almost unerring judgment, and was regarded with utmost confidence throughout the com- munity. He was the first town clerk in Sterling, and was also a trial justice of the peace, and in this capacity his striking personality, his shrewd judgment and ready wit found expression in quaint and forceful phraseology, and to this day utterances of "Squire" Vilas are often repeated in the neighborhood where was his home. His wife was Mercy Flint, daughter of Samuel Flint and a sister of General Martin Flint, of Randolph, and her birth occurred on March 25, 1777, in either Randolph, Vermont, or Connecticut, from which state her parents came. She bore her husband ten children, and died in Colchester March 9, 1861, at the age of eighty-four, while her husband died in Johnson March 7, 1849, aged seventy-eight.

Those of the children of these parents who came to maturity were endowed with the same strong mental characteristics which marked their father, and they played useful and honorable parts in life. William R. was an early settler in Bur-

lington, where he became prominent in public and business affairs. The firm of W. R. and F. C. Vilas, later Vilas, Loomis & Company, was established by him, did an extensive business for many years and was always synonymous with business integrity and progress. At the time of his death he was the president of the Burlington Savings Bank.

Samuel F. Vilas entered upon a mercantile career and conducted a large business in tinware, eniployed a number of traveling salesmen ; he was the founder of the Vilas National Bank at Platts- burg, New York, where he removed in 1836, be- came a millionaire, and at his death in 1886 had been for forty-five years one of the leading busi- ness men of northern New York.

Levi B. Vilas was born February 25, 1811, was admitted to the bar at St. Albans in 1833, appointed the first postmaster of Morrisville in 1834, and from this town was elected a member of the constitutional convention in 1835, repre- sented Johnson in the state legislature in 1836 and 1837, removed to Chelsea in 1838, which town he represented in 1840-41-42-43, and was the Democratic candidate for speaker during these years, was the Democratic candidate for Congress in 1844, was state senator from Orange county in 1845-46 and president pro tem. of the senate during these years, was judge of probate in Orange county for three years, was Democratic candidate for United States senator in 1848 against Hon. William Upham and was a member of the constitutional convention of Vermont in 1850. In 1851 he removed to Madison, Wiscon- sin, represented the Madison district in the as- sembly in 1855, 1868 and 1873, was mayor of Madison in 1861, was Democratic candidate for secretary of the state in 1865, speaker of the as- sembly in 1873, was regent of the state university for twelve years, and several times the Demo- cratic candidate for United States senator in the Wisconsin legislature ; his son, William F., made a splendid record during the Civil war, was post- master general and secretary of the interior under President Cleveland, and in 1891 had the honor of being the only Democratic United States sen- ator ever elected from Wisconsin.

The only living child of Moses and Mercy Vilas is Harrison M. Vilas, who is a native of Sterling, Vermont. He completed his education

Martin S. Vlas

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in Johnson Academy and was then a school teach- er for a short time. In 1834 he went to Burling- ton, where he was clerk for his brother and in the general store of Sion E. Howard. He subse- quently engaged in mercantile business in Platts- burg, New York, whence he returned to Johnson, where for a number of years he was located as a merchant, and in December, 1854, came to Col- chester, where he purchased a farm and some years later added another farm to his property, which from that time till 1895 he continued to supervise, and was known as one of the most ex- tensive farmers in the town. He is now living retired at the venerable age of eighty-five, with mental and physical faculties unimpaired. In his younger life he served in various offices in La- moille county, and in 1845 was elected major of the Thirteenth Regiment of Vermont Infantry, which office he held till the organization was dis- continued, at which time he was in command of the regiment. He was closely associated in a personal and political way with Judge Russell S. Page, father of Ex-Governor Carroll S. Page (Sketch elsewhere in this volume.) and was prominent in politics before his removal to Col- chester.

Major Vilas married Mary J. Hathaway, daughter of Samuel and Harriet ( Barker) Hath- away. Her father was a native of Savoy, near North Adams, Massachusetts, where he was born of good old Puritan stock on March 4, 1801, came as a pioneer to Fairfax, Vermont, where he was a prominent farmer, and died at the age of eighty- three in Fairfax, October 2, 1884. His wife was the daughter of Pitman Barker, one of the early settlers of Tinmouth, Vermont, and a descendant of an early English emigrant to the new world. Harriet Barker was married to Samuel Hathaway at Tinmouth, December 3, 1821. She was born in Tinmouth, Vermont, March 22, 1806, and died in Fairfax, Vermont, February 11, 1886, within less than a month of eighty years of age. The children of Samuel and Harriet Hathaway were Eliza B. Fairbanks, of Georgia ; P. V. Hathaway, of Middlebury, Vermont, a consistent member of the Episcopal church ; and Mary J. To the union of the last named and Major Vilas were born eight children, of whom four are now living: Homer E., ticket agent for the New York Central

Railroad at Albany, New York; Walter F., en- gaged in the real estate business at Seattle, Wash- ington ; Martin S .; and Frank H., who is with. his brother in Seattle. The mother of these chil- dren died at the age of sixty-five years; she was a most exemplary woman and an attendant at the Congregational church.

This brings us to the consideration of the life of the third living child of the last named parents, Martin S. Vilas. He passed his boyhood in Col- chester, Vermont, and early was earnestly de- voted to study, obtaining his preliminary educa- tion in Winooski and in the Burlington high school. Entering the University of Vermont in 1890, he was graduated from there in 1894 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. . Having taught for a while as principal of the Williston Academy to defray the expenses of his college course. he was appointed, immediately after graduation, to the principalship of the Lamoille Central Acad- emy in Hyde Park, Vermont, where he served most acceptably for two years. He also gave his services as a tutor to private pupils, and later was principal of the high school in Montpelier, Ver- mont, and principal and superintendent of the schools in Randolph. He then took a post gradu- ate course in political science at Harvard College, at the same time assisting as a teacher, and in 1899 received the degree of Master of Arts from the University of Vermont for post-graduate work done in English and Greek.

He was thus admirably equipped for the higher departments of educational work, but his- ambition led him into a different field. Return- ing to Burlington, he entered the law office of Judge J. W. Russell, where he read law and also conducted a real estate business. On the death of Judge Russell he completed his studies with Hon. Henry Ballard, and was admitted to the bar in 1901. He at once began practice, opening an office at the corner of Main and Church streets,. and also expanding the scope of his real estate transactions.

Mr. Vilas is a believer and an exponent of hard, systematic work, and he attributes whatever of success has come to him largely to such work. A reader of books and a life-long student. he re- tains a deep interest in education and its advance- ment, and endeavors to carry into business and

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professional life the attention to detail and ana- lytical research which are essential to the pure student striving to get the truthi.

But he is an examiner of practice as well as of precept, of values and prices as well as of the- ories, capable of managing a farm or a business, a schoolroom or a law office.

An advocate of the strenuous and the strong, Mr. Vilas is fond of atliletics and given to abundant exercise and a vigorous form of life.

In the legal profession, while his experience has not been of great length, it has been wide enough to indicate a decided preference and apti- tude for the work of the courtroom and particu- larly for criminal practice. He carns his suc- cess, and will earn, by the devotion to duty and to the public which has marked his past, all that shall come to him in the future.

GEORGE ALEXANDER FOOTE.

The subject of this sketch is of the third gen- eration of his family in Chittenden county, Ver- mont, where he holds marked prestige as a suc- cessful farmer and merchant of the town of Charlotte, which is the place of his birth, the date of his nativity being July 24, 1839. His fa- ther, Johnson H. Foote, was likewise a native of Charlotte, having been born on the old pa- rental homestead, in the year 1802, a son of Sim- eon Foote, who located here in the pioneer days, having come hither from Connecticut, where he was born and where the family had been estab- lished for several generations. He continued to be engaged in agricultural pursuits during the entire course of his active business career and retained his home here until within a few years prior to his death, when he removed to Sandusky, Ohio, where he died at the age of nearly seventy years. His wife, whose maiden name was Phebe Beach, was born in Charlotte, and she lived- to attain the' patriarchal age of ninety years, her death occurring at Freeport, Illinois. Both she and her husband were consistent and zealous members of the Congregational church. They became the parents of seven children, all of whom are now deceased, the father of our subject hav- ing been the eldest in order of birth.

Johnson H. Foote was reared on the old homestead farm, where he was born, and received

a common school education. He continued his identification with agricultural enterprise throughout the entire course of his long and sig- nally useful and honorable life, passing away May 30, 1875.

In politics he accorded an uncompromising support to the Republican party, having identi- fied himself with the same at the time of its or- ganization, and he served in various offices of local trust and responsibility, ever ordering his course in such a way as to retain the respect and good will of his fellow men. In carly manhood he was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Alex- ander, who likewise was a native of Charlotte, where she was born on the 17th of May, 1803, a daughter of Elisha Alexander, who also was numbered among the honored pioneers of this county. Johnson H. and Sarah (Alexander) Foote became the parents of two sons and three daughters, and of the number our subject is now the only survivor. His mother, who was a birthright member of the Society of Friends, re- mained stanch in that simple and noble faith until the silver cord of life was loosed and she was called to her eternal rest, April 13, 1875, at the age of seventy-three years.

George Alexander Foote, whose name ini- tiates this sketch, grew up under the invig- orating discipline of the old homestead farm and his educational advantages were such as were afforded in the public schools maintained in the vicinity of his home. He continued to be as- sociated with his father in his farming enterprise, and in 1867 they purchased a tract of two hun- dred acres, located in the eastern part of the town, and here they established themselves in a very successful dairying business, being progres- sive in their methods and carrying forward op- erations with marked discrimination and ability. They continued to be actively concerned in the management of this fine farm estate, of which he became sole owner at the time of his father's death, up to the year of 1889, when his son as- sumed the supervision and management of the place and Mr. Foote then engaged in the mer- cantile business at Alexander's Corners, where he conducted a general store and built up an excellent business, continuing opera- ations in the line until 1896, when he leased his house and store and removed to

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the village of Charlotte. In 1898 he took up his abode on his present attractive little farm, known as the Strong place, the same being eligibly lo- cated and comprising three acres, devoted prin- cipally to the raising of fruits and vegetables, so Mr. Foote' finds ample scope for his efforts while he is still relieved of the heavier work and responsibilities which have devolved upon him for so many years. He is thus living in ideal semi-retirement, retaining a general super- vision of his extensive and varied interests in the county and enjoying the esteem and friend- ship of a wide circle of acquaintances in his na- tive locality where he has lived and labored to goodly ends and where he has ever maintained a high reputation as a sincere and upright citi- zen and as one deeply interested in all that goes to conserve the general welfare and advance the material prosperity of the community. In poli- tics Mr. Foote gives an unequivocal support to the Republican party, though he has never been unduly partisan in local affairs, where no issue is involved. For three years he served as a mem- ber of the board of selectmen, having been chair- man of the same for one year, while for the long period of fourteen years he has been incumbent of the office of lister of the township, of which he is in tenure at the time of this writing and in which he has the distinction of having served for the longest consecutive period of any man ever elected to the office in the town, while he was chairman of the board of listers for several years. In 1898 Mr. Foote was elected to represent Char- lotte in the state legislature, in which connection he rendered effective service and amply justified the suffrage of the constituency who had hon- ored him with the preferment. He has taken an active part in the work of his party, having been a delegate to the county, district and state con- ventions and having been one of the influential members of the town committee. In 1902 he was appointed a justice of the peace, to fill a vacancy and was elected for the full term in 1903. Fra- ternally Mr. Foote is identified with the time- horored order of Freemasonry, being identified with Friendship Lodge, No. 24, Free and Ac- cepted Masons, in Charlotte, of which he has been a member for fifteen years and in which he held the office of treasurer for four years. He is one of the leading members of the Methodist

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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 74

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