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 82

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 82

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these children died in the year 1888, aged forty- four years. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hill were active members of the Congregational church.

The grandfather of Mrs. Seth C. 1lill was born in 1812 and after completing his education, followed the vocation of a veterinary surgeon in Wolcott, Vermont, where the remainder of his life was spent. His wife, who was born in 1812, reared a family of eight children, three of whom are living at the present time ( 1902) : Francis E., a resident of Wolcott, Vermont; Orrin, a prominent citizen of Cabot, Vermont; and Horace, also a resident of the same city. The mother of these children died in 1895, at the age of eighty-three years.

Dr. S. C. Hill acquired his literary education in the common schools of Johnson, Vermont, the People's Academy at Morrisville, Vermont, and subsequently graduated from the State Nor- mal School at Johnson, Vermont. Shortly after his graduation he accepted a position as teacher in a reform school at Troy, New York, where he remained for a short period of time ; he then filled a similar position in the reform school at Vergennes, Vermont, after which he went to Min- nesota and taught in a reform school there. De- siring to devote his life to the practice of medi- cine, he matriculated in, the medical department of the University of Vermont, from which he was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Med- icine in 1898. Dr. Hill then established an office in Jericho, Vermont, where he remained until February, 1902, when he removed to Winooski, Vermont, and since then he has been constantly engaged in attending to a large consulting prac- tice. In addition to his medical course, Dr. Hill pursued a special course of study in the treatment of disease by electricity, and the results he has obtained from this method have been very satis- factory and encouraging. Although one of the younger members of the medical profession in the city, Dr. Hill is regarded as a prominent and promising practitioner. Dr. Hill is a member of the Vermont Medical Society, the Burlington Clinical Society and the Chittenden County Clinical Society : he is also affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, being a member of Webster Lodge, of Winooski, a member of the Society of Vermont, and also of S. C. Hill Post No. 77, Grand Army of the Republic.

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THE STATE OF VERMONT.

On June 19, 1899, Dr. Hill married Miss Delia A. Morgan, of Burlington, Vermont, a daughter of Joseph S. Morgan, a prominent con- tractor and builder of that city. One child has been born to Dr. and Mrs. Hill, Aymer Morgan Hill. The family are active and consistent mem- bers of the Congregational church at Winooski, Vermont.

VERNON A. BULLARD.

The name of Vernon A. Bullard is one well known, on account of the distinction which he has won in connection with the practice of law and in social and official life, in the towns of Hyde Park, Underhill and in the city of Burlington, Vermont.

His paternal ancestry may be traced back to William Bullard, who, with three brothers, came to America in 1630, from Kent, England. Will- iam was assigned land in Dedham, Massachusetts, about 1635, where he ever after remained, hold- ing the office of selectman and other positions of prominence. Following is the lineage : (I) William, (2) Isaac, (3) William, (4) Edward, Sr .. (5) Edward, Jr .. (6) Daniel, (7) Edwin, and (8) Vernon A. Edward, Jr., was a private in Captain William Bullard's company, which marched at the alarm of April 19, 1775. He was also, later, a member of Captain Joseph Guild's company, Colonel William Heath's regi- ment. Daniel, the grandfather of Vernon, was the son of Edward, Jr., and Elizabeth Crowley, and was born at Lyndeboro, New Hampshire, in 1793. He removed from Amherst, New Hamp- shire, to North Hyde Park, Vermont, which was then a wilderness. He purchased a tract of land, which consisted of one hundred and fifty acres, and this he cleared by his own exertions and cul- tivated to a high state of perfection, meeting with the success which invariably attends industry. perseverance and close application to the duties of life. He married Abigail Mills, of Amherst, New Hampshire, and the following children were born to them: (I) Hiram, (2) Naham, (3) Mahala, (4) Ezekiel, (5) unnamed baby, (6) Hannah, (7) Salome, died at seven or eight years of age. (8) John, (9) Daniel, (10) Salome, (II and 12) Edwin and Ellen, twins, the latter dying in infancy, (13) Augusta, and (14) Harriet. All

of these were born in Hyde Park, except Hiram, who was born in Amherst, New Hampshire, and all are now deceased, except Ezekiel, of Man- chester, New Hampshire, Salome, widow of Alonzo J. Howard, of Milford, Massachusetts, and Edwin, of Hyde Park, Vermont.

The latter, who is the father of the subject of this sketch, was born May 1, 1837. He en- joyed the privileges only of the common schools in the vicinity of his birthplace. Later in life he learned the trade of carpenter and joiner, which he followed for many years, and he was also in- terested in the lumber business. He was a man of energy and enterprise, and by his thrift, indus- try and evident business qualifications soon at- tained a prominent position among the repre- sentative men of the town. He held a number of local offices, among them being that of lister, he being the incumbent of that office for several years. He also was prominently connected with the Masonic fraternity. He married Olive Har- rington, who was born in Eden, Vermont, Janu- ary 24, 1840, and who was the eldest of a family of four girls and two boys born to Ephraim and Lucinda (Adams) Harrington, both also born at Eden. Ephraim was a farmer and blacksmith at the latter place for many years. His death occurred at Cambridge, Vermont, at the age of eighty years ; the death of his wife also occurred at the same place, at the age of eighty-one. They were both members of families who were pioneers in their native town. The following named chil- dren were born to Edwin and Olive (Harring- ton) Bullard: Vernon A. : Bertrand E., a mem- ber of the legal profession in Hardwick, Vermont ; Abigail Lucinda, wife of C. L. Gates, of Morris- ville, Vermont ; and Vivian D., a resident of Hyde Park. Vermont. Both Mr. Bullard and his wife are attendants at the Congregational church in Hyde Park, Vermont, where they reside on a farm.

Vernon A., the eldest of the last named family, was born October 14. 1858, at Hyde Park. Ver- mont, where his preliminary education was ac- quired in the common schools, and this was sup- plemented by a course in the Vermont Normal School at Johnson, Vermont, from which he was graduated in 1880. From 1878 to 1884 he was engaged in the occupation of teaching, in various portions of the state, twenty terms in all, and in

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the meantime he was pursuing a course of sttidy in the law department of the University of Michi- gan, at Ann Arbor, from which institution he graduated in the year 1884. Mr. Bullard com- meneed the active practice of his profession at Underhill, Vermont, where he continued for ten years : he then removed to Burlington, Vermont, where his practice has been of a general character, but he has handled some important cases as attor- ney for and against railroad companies and other corporations. He was the counsel for respondent in State vs. Pooler, who was indicted for murder and escaped with life imprisonment ; he also con- tested the Warner will case in Lamoille county, the trial continuing for two weeks; he was also counsel for defendant in an alleged surgical mal- practice, the case of Mullins vs. Flanders, in which, after a verdict against defendant in the Rutland county court of seven thousand dollars, there was a reversal in the supreme court, and Mr. Bullard was ultimately able to save his client from this large and malevolent verdict of a preju- diced jury rendered at the home of plaintiff and her counsel and beyond the borders of his own county and that of his client. He is leading counsel for plaintiff in the case of Wilkins vs. Brock, now pending in the Chittenden county court, wherein the plaintiff seeks to recover ten thousand dollars of defendant for having caused the death of his wife, by alleged osteopathic mal- practice. This is a case of unusual importance, not only because it calls for large damages and involves the death of a human being, but because it puts upon trial the new medical cult known as "Osteopathy." He has pitted against him in this case the most eminent lawyers of the state, backed by a client of great means, while his client is poor. This is but a very few of his long list of success- ful cases, and which in its entirety can hardly be excelled by any lawyer of his age. He is pos- sessed of an unusually quick and keen perception, ready, decisive and correct judgment, lightning repartee, unexcelled oratorical powers and cour- age that knows no defeat. Thus it will be seen that his experience has been broad and varied, his forensic qualifications unsurpassed, demon- strating his comprehensive knowledge of the law and his ability to successfully cope with the intri- , cate problems of jurisprudence. In politics he has been prominently and actively connected with

the Democratic party, served as member of the general assembly of Vermont from Underhill in 1890, where liis influence was felt as a ready and powerful debater, fine parliamentarian, as one possessed of the courage of his convictions, be- tween which and his integrity there could be 110 compromise ; in short, was a leader and solidifier of his own political party and a demoralizer of the ranks of the opposition. He has served as justice of the peace for a number of years ; he was appointed special inspector of the treasury de- partment at Washington, District of Columbia, under President Cleveland from 1892 to 1896; was Democratic candidate for state's attorney in a county hopelessly Republican, and ran far ahead of his ticket ; chairman of the county committee and delegate to the county and state conventions. He is a very prominent member of the Free and Accepted Masons, also of Modern Woodmen of America, Knights of Pythias and actively associ- ated with the Bar Association of his county and state.

Mr. Bullard was united in marriage, in 1885, to Fluella R. Stowe, who was born in 1858, a daughter of Haven P. Stowe, a prominent agri- culturist and capitalist of Morrisville, Vermont ; he was also director of the Lamoille County Na- tional Bank of Hyde Park, Vermont, and his death occurred in Burlington, Vermont, when he had attained the age of seventy-nine years. Two children were born of this marriage: Haven Stowe and Augusta Ruth. The mother of these children died in 1894, at the age of thirty-seven years. and Mr. Bullard then contracted an alli- ance with Anniebel Stowe, a sister of his first wife. Mr. Bullard and his, family are regular attendants of the College Street Congregational church at Burlington, Vermont.

COLONEL LEGRAND B. CANNON.

Colonel LeGrand Bouton Cannon, who has during a long and unusually active life been one of the most conspicuous and useful originators and managers of the great transportation inter- ests of Vermont, and who rendered valuable service to the national government during the Civil war, derives his descent from a distin- guished family of Huguenots, whose seat was

Le S. A. Commun

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THE STATE OF VERMONT.

at Dijon, France. One of the name, Jean Canon, which was the original form of the name, in order to escape from the religious persecutions which afflicted his own unhappy country, took refuge in England, whence he came in 1632 to Westchester county, New York, and subsequently established himself in New York city, where he conducted a foreign shipping trade. His son, John Can- non, married a daughter of Pierre LeGrand, who was also a Huguenot, and from them descended LeGrand Cannon, the father of Colonel LeGrand B. Cannon.

LeGrand Cannon was in his day one of the foremost citizens of New York, his activities ex- tending to many important lines of enterprise. He was the founder of the great iron rolling mills in Troy and the builder of the Cannon Place Block, named for himself, in that city. He mar- ried Esther Bouton, who like himself, descended from Huguenot stock, her family having been hereditary scneschals of the fortresses of Dole in France. The American ancestors of himself and wife were the founders of the New Rochelle settlement in the state of New York.

Colonel LeGrand Bouton Cannon, son of Le- Grand and Esther (Bouton) Cannon, was born in New York city, November 1, 1815. He com- pleted his education at the Rensselaer, afterward known as the Polytechnic Institute, in Troy, and immediately after his graduation, at the age of nineteen years, engaged in a wholesale dry goods business in Troy, pursuing the same with marked success for twelve years. He then removed to New York city, which has since been his residence during one half of each year, the remainder of his time being passed at his elegant home near Burlington. This fine estate, known as "Over- lake," overlooks Lake Champlain and is one of the largest and most beautiful private residences in all New England. In his home are jealously guarded family relics of great antiquity, compris- ing its records and the family plate, known to be three and one-half centuries old. Colonel Cannon is also the owner of an extensive farm in Shelburne, Vermont, and he has taken a deep interest in its oversight and in promoting the agricultural and stock-breeding interests of the community and state.

When the Colonel retired from mercantile

pursuits in 1846 it was only to devote his ener- gies to larger concerns which were of benefit to the entire commonwealth. In 1854 he took an active part in the re-organization of the com. 'pany owning the railroad between Whitehall and Saratoga, in which he already held a large financial interest, and was placed in charge of the property and brought the corporation to a healthy condition. He also became interested in the Champlain Transportation Company, and dur- ing the nearly forty years of his service as presi- dent and the master spirit in all its concerns, its career was most prosperous, beneficial to business interests and remunerative to its owners. At a later day, when the control of the Champlain Transportation Company passed to the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company, Colonel Cannon be- came the vice president of the latter corpora- tion. At times the management of the company concerns devolved upon him, and his conduct was characterized by the most masterly ability, par- ticularly during the great strike of 1887. He was also for many years president of the Lake George Steamboat Company, of the Crown Point Iron Company and a director in numerous banking and industrial corporations, and in all he displayed the supreme qualities of the well equipped and re- sourceful man of affairs.

Colonel Cannon has been a zealous Republican from the formation of the party, and his serv- ices in its behalf have been so conspicuous that a prominent political career was open to him had he had aspirations in such direction. He was one of the founders of the famous Union League Club of New York and became vice president of that body. He persistently declined all overtures looking to his candidacy for office, but in the face of his absolute refusal to accept was nominated for Congress in the eighth con- gressional district of New York in 1866, and as a result the Democratic majority was reduced one half. In 1885 he positively refused urgent and influential demands that he should allow his name to be used as a candidate for governor, and in 1880 he served as presidential elector, a posi- tion of honor, but one carrying with it no emol- uments. He has. however, at various times oc- cupied public stations which were important, and where public interests were well subserved

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by his service, and among these was that of chief provisional commissioner to the international exposition at Vienna.

During the Civil war period, Colonel Cannon accorded to the nation services of the utmost value, in which he was brought into confidential relations with President Lincoln, and with his most trusted advisers. When the conflict dawned he took an active part in the organization of the Union Defense Committee of New York, a body which in that critical time was as a garrison holding a post where were stored all the muni- tions of war. During the Canadian rebellion of 1838 he had served upon the staff of Major Gen- eral John E. Wool, then commanding on the fron- tier. In April, 1861, that officer was in command of the Department of the East, with headquar- ters in New York city, and when President Lin- coln made his initial call for troops, General Wool again called Colonel Cannon to his side. As aide-de-camp of the staff he aided General Wool in the organization and equipment of troops for the defense of the metropolis, and when Gen- eral Wool was attached to the command of the Department of Virginia, with headquarters at Fortress Monroe, Colonel Cannon, then a major, accompanied him, and as chief of staff, was his confidential aid and adviser. While so serving, he visited the iron-clad Monitor just previous to its encounter with the Rebel ram Merrimac, while the decks were being cleared for action. He witnessed the famous engagement, which revo- lutionized sea warfare, and then again went on board the vessel. At the request of the navy de- partment he wrote an account of the engagement, which was so favorably received that it was printed in pamphlet form as a department docu- ment and was reproduced in Appleton's Cyclope- dia. He was a member of the military commis- sion appointed to investigate and; report upon the conditions at Fortress Monroe consequent upon the great incoming of refugee slaves in the second year of the war. and the report which he drafted and upon which was founded the military orders of General Wool with reference to the mat- ter, was practically the enunciation of an eman- cipation proclamation, nearly a year before the issuance of President Lincoln's famous edict.

Colonel Cannon, despite all his large accom- plishments in many important affairs, was a man

who affected no superiority, but discharged his varied duties with simplicity and quiet poise. In his personal relations he is known as a modest Christian gentleman regarding all men well and bearing his full share of the burdens of citizen and neighbor. In religion he is a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church and has long been a vestryman in the parish of Burlington. He has ever been warmly interested in educational matters, and has served as a trustee of the Uni- versity of Vermont. In company with Miss Field and others he has purchased the farm containing the grave of John Brown at North Elba, and in 1895 donated the farm to the state of New York to perpetuate the memory of the famous martyr to liberty. The farm contains two hundred and fifty acres, and a beautiful and enduring monu- ment was erected thercon.

Colonel Cannon was married in early man- hood to Miss Mary A. DeForest, and of this union were born four children, Grace, who be- came the wife of Chester Griswold; Esther Edith, the wife of Horace J. Brooks; Marie, who became the wife of Louis Crawford Clark; and Henry LeGrand Cannon. The mother of these children died in 1872.

Henry LeGrand Cannon, youngest child and only son of Colonel LeGrand B. and Mary A. (DeForest) Cannon, became known during an all too brief life and while yet in the flush of youth, as one of the most brilliant and promising American sculptors of his day. He was born in New York City in 1856. Deriving artistic ill- stincts and tastes from his mother, he gave his early attention to various branches of art, and before he was twenty-two years of age had produced many beautiful water-colors and had done much meritorious wood-carving. From the first, his brush and chisel were means to gratify his artistic desires, and were never prostituted to the demands of commercialism. With ample fortune, necessity imposed no obligations. He was free to pursue his own sweet will in pursuit of the beautiful, and its delineation had its in- spiration in his poetic temperament. But sculp- ture appealed to him most strongly, and to it he turned to accomplish in his short career some of the most exquisite results ever achieved by an American artist. In this, his chosen field, where he was capable of so many diverse accom-

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plishments, he turned eagerly, and became a scru- pulously industrious and conscientious student un- der Hartley and St. Gaudens, who marked his high capability and gave him hearty welcome to their studios. In 1884, when twenty-seven years of age, Mr. Cannon made his debut in the National Academy of Design, displaying a beautiful me- dallion portrait which commanded admiring at- tention on the instant. His subsequent exhibits at the academy were "Portrait Bust of Miss K.," in 1885, a most beautiful piece of modeling ; "Fig- ure of an East India Coolie," 1888, remarkable for the strength of the figure and vigor of ex- pression, and two notable portrait busts-"Miss W.," in 1888, and "Miss H.," in 1889. In 1890 Mr. Cannon won the plaudits of the Society of American Artists for his bronze bas-relief por- trait of Miss Gladys Vanderbilt, daughter of Mr. Cornelius Vanderbilt. This was followed by numerous pieces of portraiture which were re- markable at once for artistic taste, accuracy of portraiture and clearness of execution. At Chi- cago, at the Columbia Exposition of 1893, he was represented by an exquisite bronze bas-relief por- trait of Mrs. Cannon, and this evoked admira- tion from artists from every nation. At more recent exhibitions he displayed other and not less meritorious productions. At the exhibition held at the Union League Club in March of 1895, shortly previous to his death, he placed on exhi- bition three buests-"Portrait of a Lady," "A Portrait," and "Portrait of a Boy," the last in bronze. Among other fine specimens of his bas- relief work were busts of the children of Mrs. Seward Webb and medallion panels of the chil- dren of the late Elliott Shepard, all of New York.

His panel work, of which there are several splendid examples in existence, are of peculiar excellence. To them artists of world-wide fame acord the highest meed of praise, asserting that at none of the recent exhibitions of American sculptors where there works with which Mr. Cannon's efforts might not confidently challenge comparison. If foreign critics stopped here, con- fining their comparisons to the works of American artists, it was evidently because of want of sym- pathy with that which his countrymen most strongly admired-his idealism, which moved him to turn his back upon his sensuousness of foreign

schools and create that which is pure and naural, after the fashion which the poet, George E. Woodward, might have had in view when he wrote :

"Ay yon marble god, we know

Is only marble, yet from that grand form

White as the Cyprian foam whence Venus rose,

There springs the beautiful thought which en- tereth swift

The soul of every man who passes by-

Refines his life unto a new ideal

For others with a more transcendant power

Than Phidias dreamed of when he wrought the stone.

'Tis more than marble-and Life's more than Life."

Certainly none who ever gazed upon Mr. Cannon's various portraits of children and his female figures in panel work could fail to recog- nize the delicacy of the artist in his avoidance of the oversensuous and his devotion to the religion of the soul in modeling what was nearest to his heart, the angels of his home-the delicate beauty of his wife, the soft curves of his children and those of his kinsfolk, and those ideal figures which might have come to him in dreams, which had for their begetting a never ceasing affection for those in whom he delighted, who entered into his life and charmed him with their presence.

JOSEPH AULD.

Joseph Auld, of Burlington, Vermont, was born in Prince Edward Island, May 28, 1848. His father, Robert Auld, was of Scotch origin, and was a ship-builder by trade. He had a ship- yard at Cove Head, Prince Edward Island, from which point he established an extensive European trade. He disposed of this business in 1850 and went to California, where he lived on a ranch for two years. Returning east, he engaged in farming at Freetown, Prince Edward Island, where he remained until his death. His wife, Mary A. Boughton, was born in Charlottetown, the capital of Prince Edward Island. She was of English descent, and her father followed the occupation of cabinet-maker. The children of Robert and Mary (Boughton) Auld were as fol-

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lows: Damel B., now in California; Elizabeth who married Peter Stavert, of Prince Edward Island. Margaret, who married John D. Schur- mian, of Prince Edward Island ; Lydia, who mar- ried Frank Lawson, a merchant of Chelsea, Massachusetts ; Robert, who has always lived on the old homestead in Freetown, Prince Edward Island, and who succeeds his father and brother as postmaster of the town, still filling the position which has been held by some member of the family for more than forty years; and Josepli Auld.

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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 82

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