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 75
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Episcopal church at Charlotte, being a member of its board of trustees and also its treasurer, while both he and his wife take an active part in forwarding the spiritual and temporal . work of the church.
On the 15th of January, 1862, Mr. Foote was united in marriage to Miss Martha A. Clark, who was born in this township, being a daughter of Homer Clark and a representative of one of the prominent pioneer families of the county. Mr. and Mrs. Foote have one son, Darwin, who was born on the 20th of May, 1863, and who now has · charge of the homestead farm, as has already been noted. He married Miss Florence Gove, a daughter of Franklin F. Gove, of Lincoln, Ad- dison county, and they have three children,- Stella, Floyd and Ruth.
JOSIAH COWLES.
The bard of Avon has most truly said: "The purest treasure mortal times afford is spotless reputation ; that away, men are but gilded loam or painted clay." The life and career of the hon- ored subject of this sketch have been such as to gain to him a justly merited reputation for integ- rity and honor in all the relations of life, and as a native son of Addison county, Vermont, where he has consecutively maintained his home for a period of nearly four score of years, he is well entitled to consideration in this compilation, be- ing one of the venerable citizens and prominent agriculturists of the township of New Haven, where he has passed his entire life, ever main- taining the prestige of an honored name.
Josiah Cowles was born on a farm about three miles to the south of his present homestead, the date of his nativity being June 6, 1823. His father, John Cowles, was born in Amherst, Mas- sachusetts, December 20, 1779, and was there reared to maturity. 'From his native state he came to Vermont in 1802, settling in the town of New Haven as one of its pioneers, and here be- coming the owner of a farm of one hundred and fifty acres, which he developed and improved and upon which he continued to reside until his death, July 27, 1839, in his sixtieth year, our sub- ject having been a lad of but sixteen years when thus deprived of the father's solicitous care and guidance. The original representative of the
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Cowke's family in America enngrated hither from England in the carly colonial epoch, and his de- scendants are now to be found in the most di- verse sections of our great national domain, while the name has continued to be consecutively iden- tified with the annals of New England, the orig- inal progemtor having settled in Massachusetts in the early or middle part of the seventeenth cen- tury. Our subject's mother, whose maiden name was Deboralı Warner, was likewise born in Am- herst, Massachusetts, May 11, 1782, as was also her father, Josiah, who there passed his entire life, lie also being a representative of an early col- onial family. Deboralı (Warner) Cowles was a woman of noble character, devoted to her chil- dren and her home, and exemplifying in her daily life her deep Christian faith, having been a mem- ber of the Congregational church, as was also her husband, whom she survived by many years, having attained the venerable age of eighty-six and having entered into eternal rest August 12, 1863. Of her seven children the subject of this sketch is the youngest and the only one now liv- ing, the names of the others, in order of birth, having been as follows: Mary, Martin, Martha, Oliver, Polly, Elvira and Parthenia.
Josiah Cowles was reared on the old home- stead farm where his birth occurred, and his early educational discipline was such as was afforded in the common schools of the locality and period. He continued to remain at the parental home until the death of his father, shortly after which, when sixteen years of age, he entered the home of his brother-in-law, Julius Eldridge, a successful far- mer of this town, and there remained until he had attained his legal majority, having assisted in the work of the farm and continued his edu- cational discipline as opportunity presented. At the age of twenty-one years Mr. Cowles inau- gurated his independent career by purchasing a farm of sixty acres, lying contiguous to the old homestead where he was born, and there he put forth his best energies in carrying on general farming until 1853, when he disposed of his place and effected the purchase of his present fine homestead farm, which comprises one hundred and twenty acres of exceptionally fertile land and upon which he has made the best of improvements Diligence, good judgment and well directed effort
brought to Mr. Cowles a due measure of success in connection with his operations as a farmer, and lie gained prestige as one of the substantial and progressive agriculturists of this county and his course has ever been such as to commend him to the confidence and esteem of all who know him. He has been a witness of and aided ma- terially in the development and progress of this section, ever showing a lively interest in all that touches the general welfare and standing ready to lend his aid and influence in the promotion of worthy objects. The years rest lightly upon him and he is enjoying that repose and comfort which constitute the just reward for years of assiduous toil and endeavor.
In politics Mr. Cowles has given an unfalter- ing allegiance to the Republican party from the time of its formation, and he took an active part in local affairs of a public nature in former days, while distinctive evidence of popular confidence and esteem were accorded him in his election to offices of trust and responsibility. He was in- cumbent of the office of selectman for four years, and during most of this period was honored with the position of chairman of the board. He served as lister of the town for three years,-1852-4. -and in all the relations of life he has ever shown himself to be animated by a spirit of sincerity, justice and impregnable integrity. For the last fifteen years he has held the office of poormaster. and in this capacity he did most effective and faithful work in caring for the unfortunate poor who required the aid of the town. Mr. Cowles is a man who has read extensively and with good judgment, and he has thus most effectively sup- plemented the somewhat limited educational training of his youth, while he has been deeply appreciative of the value of educational advan- tages and has taken marked interest in the cause. He is one of the original trustees of Beeman Ac- ademy, at New Haven, and one of only two sur- viving members of the board appointed when the institution was established, while it should be a matter of record in this connection that from the time of the first meeting of the original board down to the present,-a period of more than thirty-five years,-he has never yet failed to be in attendance at a meeting of the trustees. He was one of those prominently concerned in the
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THE STATE OF VERMONT.
organization of the Addison County Agricul- tural Society, and for many years was actively identified with its affairs, and he was also iden- tified, as an original member, with the New Eng- land Agricultural Society. He has been a mem- ber of the Congregational church from his early manhood and, in addition to contributing liber- ally to the support of the local organization, he also took an active part in the various depart- ments of church work, having been a teacher in the Sunday-school and having also served for a time as superintendent of the same. His wife also was a devoted and zealous worker in the church. That Mr. Cowles is honored as one of the pioneers of New Haven town needs scarcely be said, but it may consistently be mentioned that there are living in the town at the present time only three persons older than himself.
On the 8th of April, 1845, Mr. Cowles was united in marriage to Miss Betsy Champlin, who was born in this town on the 14th of May, 1821, being one of a large family of children. Her father, Thomas Champlin, was born on the IIth of December, 1776, and died on the 26th of De- cember, 1828. Thomas Champlin was twice married, and Mrs. Cowles was one of the two children of the second union. Her mother was Sophia Henman, born September 16, 1785. Mrs. Cowles proved a devoted wife and mother, and the loving companionship continued for nearly half a century, her death occurring on the 14th of September, 1888. Her life was one of signal gentleness and beauty and her memory is en- shrined in the hearts of all who came within the sphere of her gracious influence. Mr. and Mrs. Cowles became the parents of four children, con- cerning whom the following brief record is made : Julius E., who was born June 16, 1846, and who now has charge of the old homestead farm of his father, married Miss Emma Thompson, and they have two daughters, Belle and Helen. Silas B., who was born February 13, 1849, and who is a successful merchant in the city of Tacoma, Washington, married Miss Fannie Applegarth, and they had one son, Leland. She died Feb- ruary 4, 1891, and he subsequently married Mary Hopper, who bore him a son, Silas Hopper. Deb- orah S., born in 1853. is the wife of Benjamin J. Fisher, a prominent farmer of New Haven. Al-
ma B., who was born in 1855, is the wife of Al- mer B. Bull, of Ferrisburg, this county, having one child, Allie.
JUDGE WARREN PECK.
Back to the old Charter Oak state must we turn for the ancestors of the Peck family, for its members were long identified with the interests of Connecticut, and in its progress and develop- ment they ever bore their part. The line of de- scent is traced to Paul Peck, the great-great- great-grandfather of our subject, who was a resident of Hartford, Connecticut, and later his sons, one of whom was Ebenezer, settled in Mil- ford, that state. The latter's son, William, was born in Kent, Connecticut, in 1759. About 1785 he came with his brother Abel to the town of New Haven, Vermont, and there they spent the remainder of their lives. Both were brave and intrepid soldiers in the war for independence. William Peck married Rebecca Spooner, who was born on the 25th of January, 1761, and died in the year 1839. Her father, Ebenezer Spooner, was born on the 29th of May, 1724, and died in 1800. He was a son of William and Alice (Blackwell) Spooner, the former of whom was born May II, 1680, and the latter on the 8th of May, 1681. Alice (Blackwell) Spooner was a daughter of John S. and Sarah (Warren) Blackwell, and the latter was a daughter of Nathaniel Warren, whose father, Richard Warren, was a member of the heroic little band that came to this country on the Mayflower.
The paternal grandfather of our subject was Warren Peck, and he was born in New Haven, Vermont, on the 19th of October. 1789. He was killed by an accidental fall at the early age of thirty-three years, on the IIth of February, 1822. His wife, Fannie Carter, was born in Warren, Connecticut, a granddaughter of Captain Joseph Carter, a Revolutionary soldier. His son. Eras- tus C. Peck, was born March 20, 1810, in Monk- ton, Vermont, and was reared near the old farm which for six generations had been the family home, his death there occurring May 1, IS87, when he had reached the seventy-seventh mile- stone on the journey of life. For his wife he chose Nancy Middlebrook, whose father. Theo-
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philus Middlebrook, was born in Trumbull, Con- nectient, in 1763, and his death occurred in 1854, in Ferrisburg, Vermont. He was a son of Stephen Middlebrook, who was born June 30, 1731, was captain of a company from Fairfield in the Revolutionary war and died in 1795. The lat- ter was a son of Joli, a grandson of Joseph and a great-grandson of Joseph Middlebrook, the lat- ter being one of the first settlers in this country. Mrs. Peck made her home with her daughter, Mrs. A. D. Hayward in Weybridge, Vermont, where she died April 23, 1903. She was born August 16, 1812, in Ferrisburg.
Judge Warren Peck, the immediate subject of this review, was reared on the old home farm and received his education in Ben Allen school at Vergennes. He chose farming as his life occu- pation, and in his agricultural labors he has met with a high and well merited degree of success. He formerly owned and operated a tract of one hundred acres, but his landed possessions now consist of one hundred and eighty acres, which is divided into two farms. By his ballot he sup- ports the men and measures of the Republican party, and his fellow townsmen have elected him to many positions of honor and trust. For four years he held the position of selectman; was a lister for many years, being for a part of the time chairman of the board; in 1892 he represented his district in the legislature, during which time he was a member of the committee on agricul- ture ; and in 1898 he was elected to the important office of assistant judge of Addison county, in which he served for two years ; and for the past twenty years he has served as justice of the peace. He was at one time a director of the Vergennes Agricultural Society, is now a member of the Ad- dison County Agricultural Association and is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution.
The marriage of Mr. Peck was celebrated in 1867, when Miss Susan E. Lattin became his wife. She was born March 15, 1837, in Newtown, Connecticut, and is a daughter of Granville Lat- tin, who was born in 1810, and died in 1880. He was a son of Nathan, who was born in Septem- ber, 1773, and died in 1845. The latter's father Benjamin, was born in 1736, and died in 1802. The first Lattin in America was Richard, who came from England in 1638, landing at Boston. He went to Long Island in 1654, and died at
Hempstead in 1672 or 1673. The union of our subject aud wife has been blessed with two chil- dren, Mark C., who married Rena C. Partch, by whom he has one son, George W., and resides in New Haven ; and Lewis C., a farmer of this lo- cality. The latter married Clara Bisbee, and lives on the original Peck homestead. The fam- ily are held in the highest regard by all who have the pleasure of their acquaintance.
PHEBE HOLMES ROGERS.
The Rogers family is one of the oldest in this part of the Green Mountain state, and was founded on American soil as carly as 1635, when the first of the name, John Rogers, crossed the Atlantic from England. The paternal grand- father of our subject, Joseph Rogers, was born in North Adams, Massachusetts, April 2, 1773, a son of Stephen Rogers, of Marshfield, Massa- chusetts, born June 25, 1748. Joseph Rogers sub- sequently came to Addison county, Vermont, where he followed agricultural pursuits, and in 18II erected the present Rogers home- stead. His death occurred September 30, 1866, when he had reached the good old age of ninety- three years. His wife, who was born in Dutchess county, New York, May 10, 1772, bore the maiden name of Jemima Holmes. By her mar- riage, she became the mother of four children, and her death occurred at the age of seventy- seven years. She attended the Friends' meet- ings.
Henry Rogers, son of Joseph, was born in Granville, New York, on the 14th of February, 1804, and in the primitive schools of those times he received his early educational training. He was early inured to the work of the farm, which continued to be his vocation for a number of years, and for a short time thereafter he devoted his attention to mercantile pursuits. Later, how- ever, he returned to the old home farm, and on an extensive scale, engaged in the purchase and sale of butter and cheese, having in 1835 pur- chased as high as fifty thousand dollars' worth of that commodity. This continued to be his occupation for a number of years, and at one time he owned six hundred acres of land, on which he kept about sixty cows. His life's labors were ended in death, September 16, 1875, in his
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seventy-second year. He was a public-spirited and progressive man, and it was owing to his un- tiring efforts that the depot and postoffice at Fer- risburg were established. He held all the local offices within the gift of his fellow townsmen, and his influence was far-reaching and effective. March 31, 1834, Mr. Rogers was united in mar- riage to Susan Martin, who was born April 22, 1814, and was a daughter of Edward and Eliz- abeth (Chase) Martin, who settled in Ferris- burg, Vermont, in 1794. Edward Martin was the proprietor of the first hotel established in this town, and his father was also a well known hotel man, owning and conducting a hostelry at Danby, Vermont. Elizabeth Chase was an own cousin of the celebrated Ethan Allen. Her death oc- curred at the age of eighty-four years. Mrs. Rogers was the youngest of her parents' thirteen children, and she reached the age of eighty-three years ere she was summoned to her final rest. She attended the Congregational church, and throughout the locality in which she made her home, she was loved and esteemed for her many noble characteristics.
Miss Phebe Holmes Rogers is now the only survivor of the family. She received her edu- cation in the Burlington Seminary and in the Packer Institute in New York, and since her fa- ther's death, she has given her supervision to the farm of one hundred and eighteen acres, which is devoted to general farming. This is one of the old ancestral homes of Addison county.
EUGENE SIDNEY WESTON, M. D.
Greater than that of almost any other field of endeavor to which a man may devote his atten- tion is the responsibility which rests upon the physician and surgeon, since the very issues of life and death are in his hands and upon his dis- crimination and nicety of judgment frequently depends the retention of that which is prized above all else,-the boon of life. Thus none should enter this noble profession lightly or with- out a thorough technical preparation and a full comprehension of the self-abnegation and the re- sponsibilities involved. The attractive little town of New Haven, Addison county, Vermont, has in Dr. Weston an able and honored representa- tive of the medical profession, and his prestige
in the same offers the most conclusive evidence of his discernment and discretion in the diagnos- ing and treatment of disease and in the handling of delicate surgical cases, 'while his broad human sympathy and unvarying kindliness have gained to him the high regard of those to whom he has so ably ministered during the long years of his active professional work.
Dr. Weston is a native son of the old Green Mountain state, having been born in the town of Cavendish, Windsor county, on the 14th of Au- gust, 1847, being a son of Freeman F. Weston, who was born at Sandy Hill, New York, in Feb- ruary, 1822, a son of Jacob Weston, who was likewise a native of the state and a representa- tive of a family established in America in the early colonial epoch. Jacob Weston chose as a companion and helpmeet on the journey of life Miss Polly Russell, who was born in Cavendish, Vermont, where her father, Noadiah Russell, had the distinction of being the second settler, de- veloping a farm in the midst of the sylvan wilds, planting the first apple orchard and becoming a man of prominence and distinctive influence in the pioneer community. He rendered yeoman service in the Continental army during the war of the Revolution, having been a clerk in the com- pany commanded by Daniel Comstock and hav- ing served from the initiation of the grent conflict until the 30th of June, 1781. He died in Caven- dish at a good old age. The great-grandmother of Dr. Weston in the agnatic line bore the name of Weston prior to her marriage and was a daughter of Dr. Weston, who was the original settler in the town of Springfield, Vermont, and one of the first physicians in that section of the state. Jacob Weston died in New York and his wife lived in Vermont until her death, at the age of seventy-five years. Of their children is en- tered the following brief record : Freeman is men- tioned below; Adeline died unmarried; Daniel and Morris each died at the age of twenty-one years; Hiram, who was one of the California argonauts of 1849, having made the voyage by way of Cape Horn, was murdered in that state about the beginning of the Civil war : and Len- ora died in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, having been the wife of Judge George Weeden, who occupied a position on the probate bench there.
Freeman Weston was reared in Cavendish
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and his early mental discipline was secured in the somewhat primitive district schools of the place and period. As a young man he was en- ployed for several years in a woolen mill, but later turned his attention once more to the great basic industry to which he had been reared, be- coming one of the successful and representative farmers of Chester, Windsor county, where he continued his agricultural operations until his ad- vanced age led to his retirement, the closing years of his life being passed in the home of his daughter, Mrs. Sawyer, in Andover, where he died on the 10th of January, 1897, at the age of almost seventy-five years. In May, 1846, Free- man Weston was united in marriage to Miss Sarah J. Evans, who was born in Rockingham, Vermont, a daughter of Jesse Evans, a prominent farmer and cattle drover of that section, where he died at a great age. He married Dolly Bixby, who was born in Rockingham and who died at the age of sixty-five years. They became the par- ents of two children, both of whom are now de- ccased. Freeman and Sarah J. Weston were the parents of six children, of whom four are living at the present time, namely : Flora E., who is the wife of James O. Sawyer, a farmer of Andover ; Edgar W., a farmer in the vicinity of Charles City, Iowa; Adeline M., the wife of John E. Hancock, a farmer of East Hardwick, Vermont ; and Eugene S., who is the eldest of the surviving children and who figures as the immediate sub- ject of this sketch. Their mother died at the age of forty-seven years, having been a devoted mem- ber of the Congregational church, as was also her honored husband, who survived her many years.
Dr. Eugene S. Weston was reared to the age of twelve years in Cavendish, where he attended the district schools, and at the age noted he ac- companied his parents on their removal to Ches- ter, where he continued his studies in the local academy until his intrinsic loyalty and patriotism led him to respond to the call of a higher duty and to go forth in defense of his country, whose integrity was now menaced by armed rebellion. At the outbreak of the war, when he was but fourteen years of age, he ran away from home for the purpose of enlisting, but was unable to ac- complish his design, on account of insufficient age, and was summarily taken back to his home,
where he recalls the fact that he received paren- tal discipline of that strenuous sort which is prone to leave certain anatomical traces. His patriotic ardor, however, was not dampened by either chastisement or delay, and on the 27th of August, 1864, when seventeen years of age, he enlisted as a member of Company C, Seventh Vermont Volunteer Infantry, with which he re- mained in active service as a private for one year, or until the close of the war. His regiment was attached to the Thirteenth Army Corps, under General Canby, and for thirteen days was under fire in and about the city of Mobile, Alabama, a number of his regiment having been killed in these various skermishes. At the close of the war he was mustered out as a youthful veteran who had faithfully performed his assigned duties, and he received his honorable discharge on the 14th of July, 1865. He then returned to his home and resumed his studies in the Chester Academy, so thoroughly improving his opportunities in the line as to become eligible for pedagogic honors, engaging in teaching at intervals and thus earn- ing the funds with which to defray his academic expenses. After completing his prescribed course in the academy Dr. Weston began the work of specific preparations for that profession to which he had determined to devote his life and in which he was destined to attain so marked success. He began reading medicine under the preceptorship of Dr. Z. G. Harrington, of Chester, devoting himself to his study with marked energy and ready assimilation. In 1870 he attended a course of lectures in the medical department of the Uni- versity of Vermont and later at Dartmouth, and in 1871 was graduated in the medical department of the university, receiving his coveted degree of Doctor of Medicine and being thoroughly well equipped for the work of his profession. He en- tered upon the practice of medicine at Heath, Massachusetts, later removing to Colrain, Massa- chusetts, where he remained until 1875, then go- in to Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where he was engaged in professional work until 1877, passing the ensuing year at Jamaica, Vermont, and then locating at Newfane, where he built up a large and representative prac- tice and where he continued to maintain his home until 1896, when he came to New Haven. Here he controls a large and important general prac-
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