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 87

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 87

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EDMUND G. HUNT.

Edmund Goodrich Hunt, for many years a prominent member of the legal profession, and now successfully engaged in agricultural pur- suits in New Haven, Vermont, was born in Bel- mont, New York, May 6, 1837, a descendant of Gideon C. Hunt, who was born in Connecticut, and spent his life in that state. The latter's son, Daniel Hunt, enlisted as a private in the war of 1812 and participated in the battle of Plattsburg. Upon his return from the service of his country he stopped to visit his son in Georgia, Vermont, where his death occurred in March, 1814, at the age of about fifty years. His wife's name was Esther Goodrich.

Harry Hunt, his son, was born November 19, 1791, in Roxbury, Litchfield county, Connecticut, but the early years of his life were spent in Georgia, Vermont, where he resided with an uncle, Edmund Goodrich. His education was ac- quired in the common schools of that town, and after completing his studies he was engaged in the occupation of farming until he was forty years of age. He then removed to Belmont, New York. later to Cornwall, Vermont, where he remained for two years, and in 1840 he took up his residence in New Haven, Vermont, in the same house in which his son Edmund G. now resides. August 27, 1817, he was united in marriage to Miss Mary Staples, who was born in Stamford, Connecticut,

a daughter of Captain Staples, who commanded a vessel which plied between New York and Liv- erpool. This was in the palmy days of sailing, be- fore steamboats were introduced for the transpor- tation of passengers and freight, and on one of the voyages Captain Staples and his vessel were lost. Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Hunt, three at one birth, and the following named are still living: Jefferson, judge of the probate court of Dodge county, Minnesota ; Washington, a physician at Cornish Flat, New Hampshire ; Hester, widow of Cyrus O. Poole, residing at Metuchen, New Jersey; Edmund G. Hunt ; and Abbie, widow of Dr. E. D. Warner, who resides with her brother Edmund G. The father of these children died April 29, 1887, at the extreme old age of ninety-five years, and his wife passed away at the age of eighty-four years.

Edmund G. Hunt, youngest son of Harry and Mary Hunt, acquired his primary education in the select schools of New Haven, and Castleton Seminary, and, subsequently, pursued a course of study in Middlebury College, from which he was graduated in 1857. He then studied law in Jack- son, California, was admitted to the bar in 1862, and practiced there until 1870, having acquired an extensive clientage. Mr. Hunt is a lawyer of erudite knowledge. endowed by nature with strong mentality, and well equipped for his chosen profession by thorough study and wide research. Subsequently he removed to Vicksburg, Missis- sippi, where, in addition to his legal duties, he acted in the capacity of editor of the Vicksburg Daily Times and Republican for two years: he also served as deputy clerk of the chancery court until 1877, when he removed to Middlebury, Ver- mont, and was associated in the law business with A. P. Tupper for one year. He then purchased his father's farm, which consisted of three hun- dred acres, and he now resides there, engaged in the cultivation of the soil. Mr. Hunt is a Re- publican in politics, and served as United States commissioner both in California and Mississippi ; he also acted as justice of the peace and notary public in Vicksburg, and has served in the former capacity in Vermont.

May 28, 1862, Mr. Hunt married Miss Eliza A. Lawrence, who was born in Weybridge, Ver- mont, a member of an old family which traces its history back to Sir Robert Lawrence, of Ashton

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Hall, Lancashire, England, born in 1150. Six chil- dren have been born to Edmund G. Hunt and wife ; llarry L., the eldest, is engaged in farming in Middlebury ; he married Miss Nellie Taylor, and their children are: Bessie, Kathleen, Hester, and Mildred Hunt. Amelia M., the second, resides at home. Leighi, a graduate of Vermont Universi- ty, from the agricultural department, is now in charge of the Proctor farms at Proctor, Vermont ; he was married in 1896 to Miss May Martin, and their children are: Lawrence, Irene, Leigh and Eliza. George Edwin, who had charge of the greenhouse and grounds of the State Industrial School of Vergennes, is now proprietor of a greenhouse at Rutland. Edmund G., Jr., is a well known florist of Middlebury ; he married Miss Edna Woolley. Walter P. resides near his parents ; he was married in February, 1903, to Emily Keesc.

GENERAL THEODORE S. PECK.

General Theodore Safford Peck, of Burling- ton, Vermont, is widely and favorably known in the domain of insurance underwriting, his busi- ness in this line ramifying throughout New Eng- land, New York and Canada. He is a repre- sentative of distinguished ancestry, the family name having been conspicuously identified with the annals of American history from the early colonial epoch, while it has ever stood exponent of the loftiest patriotism and loyalty and the most unbending integrity and honor, the stock of which the General is a scion having been numer- ously represented in the early colonial wars and in the great conflict which secured to our nation the boon of independence.

Theodore Safford Peck is a native son of the old Green Mountain state, having been born in the city of Burlington, Chittenden county, Ver- mont, on the 22d of March, 1843, a son of The- odore Augustus and Delia Horton (Safford) Peck. The lineage is traced directly through many generations to one John Peck, Esq., gentle- man, who resided in Belton, Yorkshire, England, and records still extant establish beyond per- adventure that the original American ancestor was Joseph Peck, who emigrated to the new world in the early part of the seventeenth century, and who settled in New Haven, Connecticut,

prior to 1643, in which year his name first ap- pears in the town records. From him the line of direct descent to the subject of this sketch is traced through seven generations, with respective heads as follows : Joseph, Jeremiah, John, Joseph, John, Theodore Angustus and Theodore Safford.

In 1649 the original ancestor removed from New Haven to Milford, Connecticut, which was the home of his immediate descendants for sev- cral years, and there his death occurred in the vear 1700 or 1701. He was twice married, his first amnion having been with Mrs. Alice Burwell, widow of John Burwell (2), and after her death he married a Miss Richards.

Joseph Peck (2) was born in Milford, Con- necticut, in 1653, and was prominent in civic affairs and in the colonial militia, in which he served as lieutenant from the time of receiving his commission until 1709. His wife bore the maiden name of Mary Camp, and their marriage was celebrated on the 27th of January, 1678-9. Their son Jeremiah (3), born in Milford in 1687, was an officer in the colonial service, hav- ing been first commissioned as ensign and later as lieutenant. On the 20th of August, 1713, he was united in marriage to Hannah, daughter of Dr. John Fisk, of Rhode Island. Their son John (4), the next in line of descent, was a life- long resident of Milford, Connecticut, where he was born on the 9th of December, 1718, and where he married Sarah Platt on the 15th of February, 1750-I.

Their son Joseph (5) was born in Milford on the 26th of August, 1757, and his marriage to Hannah Lambert was solemnized on the 16th · of February, 1778, soon after which event they located in Woodbury, Connecticut, where they made their home until 1814, when they removed to Onondago county, New York, where his death occurred on the 5th of March, 1829.

His son John (6), grandfather of General Peck, was born in Woodbury, Connecticut, on the Ist of May, 1785, and was there reared and educated. Settling in Burlington, Vermont, when a young man, he became prominently identified with the leading interests of the city and state, being, in connection with his son, Col- onel John Henry Peck, actively concerned in the projecting and constructing of railroads, while at the head of the progressive and enterprising

Theodore Steek

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THE STATE OF VERMONT.

firm of J. & J. H. Peck, wholesale grocers, he established the largest mercantile house of the sort between Troy, New York, and the Do- minion of Canada. In 1808 he was united in marriage to Almira Catherine Keyes, who was born in 1785, being the youngest daughter of General John Keyes and a descendant in the sixth generation from Solomon and Frances (Grant) Keyes, founders of the family in America. Solo- mon Keyes (2) was born June 24, 1665, and his son Elias (3), through whom the line is contin- ued, was born October 17, 1692, and was one of the original proprietors of the town of London- derry, New Hampshire. His son Sampson (4) was born November 21, 1719, and the latter's son was John (5), who was born in Ashford, Connect- icut, in 1744. He served with distinction as a soldier and officer of the Continental line during the war of the Revolution, having been a lieu- tenant at the battle of Bunker Hill, and later was captain and major, while subsequently he became the first adjutant general of Connecticut. On the 28th of September, 1767, he married Mary Wales, and their daughter, Almira Catherine (6), became the wife of John Peck, to whom she bore ten children.

Theodore Augustus Peck, the father of Gen- eral Peck, was born in Burlington, Vermont, on the 8th of August, 1817, and his death occurred on the 18th of May, 1872. Establishing himself as a druggist in his native city, he here carried on a very successful business until 1862, when he disposed of his interests in the line and removed to Watertown, Jefferson county, New York. In 1842 he was united in marriage to Miss Delia Horton Safford, a daughter of Rev. Hiram Saf- ford, pastor of the First Baptist church of Bur- lington, and granddaughter of Captain Josiah and Deborah Safford. Rev. Hiram Safford served with marked distinction as a soldier in the war of 1812, having been a lieutenant and captain of a troop of the First Squadron, Sev- enth Regiment of New York Cavalry, and hav- ing been in command of his troop in the battles of Plattsburg, New York, on the IIth of Sep- tember, 1814, while on the 6th of September Cap- tain Safford with his troop of cavalry was on picket duty near Dead Creek bridge, north of Plattsburg, where he was attacked by the ad- vancing columns of the English troops under

command of Sir George Prevost. Major General Samuel Safford, an ancestor of Hiram Safford, as lieutenant colonel, commanded Colonel Seth Warner's regiment at the battle of Bennington, August 16, 1777, where the New England troops and the Green Mountain boys under Major Gen- eral John Stark, defeated and captured the Brit- ish and Hessian troops under Colonel Baum. General Safford's youngest son, Samuel Safford, Jr., a boy of sixteen years of age, was the first American soldier over the Tory breastworks in this engagement. Captain Safford's mother, whose maiden name was Lydia Danforth, was born in Weston (or Western), Massachusetts, on the 17th of December, 1762, a daughter of Jonathan and Lydia (Read) Danforth, the for- mer of whom is supposed to have been born in Concord, Massachusetts, the date of his nativity being July 14, 1737, while the latter was born in Weston (or Western), Massachusetts, on the 26th of November, 1759. William Woodward, whose daughter became the wife of Hiram Saf- ford, was a son of Jonathan and Delight (Will- iams) Woodward, the former of whom was born in Plainfield, Connecticut, on the 4th of June, 1726, while the latter was born in the same city on the 15th of January, 1735, their marriage hav- ing been solemnized in that town on the 5th of December, 1759. In the war of the Revolution William Woodward enlisted at the age of fifteen years as a drummer boy in the "Second Canadian Regiment," Colonel and Brevet Brigadier Gen- eral Moses Hazen commanding. This regiment, which was known as the "Lost Children," saw much service, and was one of the best in the con- tinental army. William Woodward served six years and eleven months, and was promoted to the grade of sergeant. He was present with a battalion of his regiment, which led the grand assault commanded by General Alexander Ham- ilton upon the redoubt of Lord Conwallis' works at Yorktown, Virginia, in the night of October 17, 1781, and which resulted in the sur- render of the British army. At the close of the war he was appointed captain in the Sixteenth United States Infantry.

Theodore Augustus and Delia Horton (Saf- ford) Peck became the parents of five children, namely : Theodore Safford, whose name initi- ates this sketch; Edward Sprague, A. B., M. D.,

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who is a leading oculist in New York city ; Char- lotte Almira, the widow of the late Hon. William V. S. Woodward, of Plattsburg, New York, who was for many years assistant United States dis- trict attorney of the northern district of New York : Hiram, who died in infancy ; and Mary, who died at the age of fifteen years.

Theodore Safford Peck was prepared for ·college in the public schools of Burlington, his native city, but when the dark cloud of the Civil war obscured the national horizon and the in- tegrity of the Union was menaced by armed re- bellion, he showed the intrinsic patriotism and loyalty of his nature by setting aside all personal considerations and tendering his services in sup- port of his country's honor, deferring the further prosecution of his studies. On the Ist of Sep- tember, 1861, when eighteen years of age, he ·enlisted as a private in Company F, First Ver- mont Volunteer Cavalry, but prior to this he had five times sought to enlist, but was rejected on account of his youth. He served most gallantly until the close of the most desperate and san- guinary fratracidal conflict known in the annals of history. He saw much of the most strenuous part of army life, and participated in many of the most noted engagements incidental to the prog- ress of the war. He took an active part in the engagements at Middletown and Winchester, Virginia, on May 24-25, 1862, and on the 25th of the following month was made regimental quartermaster sergeant of the Ninth Vermont Volunteer Infantry, Colonel George J. Stannard ·commanding, to which he had been transferred. At the battle of Harper's Ferry, in September, 1862. he, with his regiment, was captured, but soon afterward was paroled. The Ninth Ver- mont Regiment was sent to Chicago, Illinois, and exchanged about the Ist of January, 1863, after which it guarded rebel prisoners until the. fol- lowing March. when the command returned to the Army of the Potomac, and later was hurried to the siege of Suffolk, Virginia. On the 7th of January, 1863, Mr. Peck received his com- mission as second lieutenant. His next important engagement was at the siege of Suffolk and Blackwater. in May, 1863, while in July and Au- gust of that year he was in action at Yorktown and Gloucester Court House, and in the following December was in the fight at Young's Cross-

roads, North Carolina. On the 2d of February, 1864, Lieutenant Peck took part in the engage- ment at Newport Barracks, where he received a medal of honor from Congress for distinguished gallantry in action. He was in the engagements of Swansboro and Jacksonville, North Carolina, in May, 1864, and on the 7th of the following month was promoted to the rank of first lieu- tenant. From July to the last of September, 1864, his command was on duty in the trenches of Petersburg, Virginia, with the Army of the Potomac, and on the Bermuda Hundred Front, Virginia, with the Army of the James. In the severe engagements at Fort Harrison, Virginia, on the 29th and 30th of September, 1864, he was wounded, but his injuries were not sufficiently serious to deter him from taking part in the bat- tle of Fair Oaks, Virginia, on the 28th of Oc- tober, and in the following month was assigned to special duty, having command of a battalion of the Ninth Vermont Volunteer Infantry. This was during the movement of the Second Division, Eighteenth Army Corps, from the lines in front of Richmond, Virginia, Major General Joseph R. Hawley commanding, to the city of New York, during the time of the second election of Abra- ham Lincoln as president of the United States. Lieutenant Peck was subsequently acting regi- mental quartermaster and adjutant, and also served in various other official positions, includ- ing those of acting assistant adjutant general, aide-de-camp and brigadier quartermaster of the Second Brigade, Second Division, Eighteenth Army Corps, while on the IIth of March, 1865, he was appointed captain and assistant quarter- master of the United States Volunteers, being assigned to the First Brigade, Third Division, Twenty-fourth Army Corps. In this capacity he was present at the siege and capture of Rich- mond, Virginia, and was among the first to enter the capital of the Confederacy with the victorious army at the time of the surrender, on the 3d of April, 1865. He was mustered out of the ser- vice on the 23d of the following month, and shortly afterward was twice offered commissions in the regular army, but both were declined.

After victory had thus crowned the Union arms, Captain Peck returned to his home in Bur- lington, and shortly afterward Governor John W. Stewart appointed him chief of his staff, with

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the rank of colonel, and during the ensuing eight years he served as colonel of the First Regiment Infantry of the National Guard of Vermont. He has since taken a conspicuous part in military af- fairs, having served as adjutant general from the time of his appointment, in 1881, for a consecu- tive period of more than twenty years, having been subsequently elected and re-elected each two years by the state legislature, but in 1900 he re- tired from the office. In 1895 in recognition of his continuous, faithful and meritorious service as a member and officer in the National Guard of Vermont during a period of more than three de- cades, the brevet rank of major general was con- ferred upon him.

General Peck vitalizes the kindlier associa- tions of his army days and keeps in sympathetic touch with his old army comrades in arms by retaining membership in that noble organization, the Grand Army of the Republic, whose ranks are fast being decimated by the one implacable foe, death. He has been prominent and influ- ential in the organization, and has held the high- est offices in the gift of his comrades in the de- partment of Vermont, having been chosen ad- jutant general of the department of Vermont, Grand Army of the Republic, in 1869, while in 1872 he was elected senior vice commander and in 1876 was made department commander and was chosen as his own successor at the annual 'encampment in the following year. The General likewise holds membership in several other patri- otic organizations, being a charter member of the Vermont Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion and its commander for 1902; a member of the Society of the Army of the Po- tomac and past commander of the Medal of Honor Legion of the United States ; a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, of which he was vice president general in 1893; and a member of the Vermont Society of Colonial Wars, of which he was the first governor. In the time-honored Masonic fraternity he is also prominent, and for ten years held the office of grand marshal of the Grand Lodge of the state. He is also identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, and in a more purely social way is an honored mem- ber of the Ethan Allen Club, the Algonquin Club of Burlington, and the Lake Champlain Yacht

Club. In 1891 General Peck was appointed by President Harrison as a member of the board of visitors to the military academy at West Point. In politics he has ever given an unequivocal al- legiance to the Republican party, and his re- ligious faith is indicated by his membership in the College Street Congregational church, to whose specific work and collateral benevolences he has been a liberal contributor of both influ- ence and means. In 1896 the honorary degree of Master of Arts was conferred upon him by Norwich University, the state military college of Vermont.

The General is a man of broad and compre- hensive knowledge and scholarly tastes, having been a careful and discriminating reader of the best literature, and being known for his high intellectuality and his generous nature and un- failing courtesy in all the relations of life. He enjoys the friendship of many who are prominent in the public and civil life of the state and nation, and he has ever shown facility in gaining and retaining stanch friends, for with him friend- ship is inviolable. He established himself in the insurance business in 1869, with headquarters in his native city, and he is the representative of a large number of the leading fire and life compan- ies of the United States, and also of several of the most important foreign companies doing busi- ness in America. His fine business and admin- istrative abilities have been brought to bear in such a way as to make his agency one of wide scope and importance, and he stands high in in- surance circles.

On the 29th of October, 1879, General Peck was united in marriage to Miss Agnes Louise Lesslie, who was born in the city of Toronto, Canada, a daughter of William Lesslie, who, in company with his brother James, emigrated from Dundee, Scotland, to America, and located in the city of Toronto, where he founded the Toronto Examiner, now known as the Toronto Globe, the great liberal paper of Canada. He married Louisa Webb, who was born at Rouse Point, Clinton county, New York, being a daughter of Nathan Webb, a native of Connecticut and a rep- resentative of an old and honored New England family, which was ably represented in the early wars of the colonies, the French and Indian war, and the war of the American Revolution. Gen-

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eral and Mrs. Peck have one child, Theodora Agnes, who is a young woman of talent and gen- tle refinement.

The following resolution was made at the thirty-second annual reunion of the Army of the Potemac held at Utica, New York, May 23, 1901 : Resolved, That the thanks of the society be ex- tended to Miss Theodora A. Peck for the poem which she delivered before them, and resolved, further, that she be made an honorary member of the society. She became a member when eight- cen years of age, being the only lady thus hon- ored, while the medal of honor conferred upon her is No. I of the second class of the Medal of Honor Legion. After the music Chairman Proc- tor introduced her, and she delivered the follow- ing poem before the vast assembly :

THE BIVOUAC.

Night spreads her tent o'er the hills of Virginia, Drum-beat and bugle-note echo and die; Thousands will sleep on the shores of the river, Watched by the stars in the enemy's sky.

Through the long day when the gray lines, ad- vancing,

Swept like the crest of an on-coming wave; Bright as the sun on the blue waters dancing, Thundered our squadrons to conquer and save.

All the day long they swept over the meadows; Cannon and caisson in woodland and glade ;

But when the night had come, curtained with shadows,

Cold grew the bullet and still lay the blade.

Scarcely a mile to the enemy's pickets,

Through the chill night when the dew fell like rain, Brightly as fire-flies dance in the thickets, Leaped their flames skyward from valley and plain.

Where the red campfire's weird light was gleam- ing

Through the thick darkness on knapsack and gun, There the long lines of the army lay dreaming, E'en in their slumbers their battles begun.

Ghostlike the mist through the silence went steal- ing,

Over the valley the stars wheeled and burned, Merciful sleep, with her balm and her healing, Reigned until daylight and sunshine returned.

On the cold ground a young soldier lay sleeping, Wrapped in his blanket so faded and torn ; O'er him the stars their long vigils were keep- ing -- Sentries of night on their watch for the morn.

Fair was his face in his innocent dreaming, Not cighteen summers had passed over his head; Where 'neath his lashes the hot tears were gleam- ing

Scarcely the sweet smile of childhood had fled.

Faded and worn the blue cap that was lying On the brown head pillowed low on his arm; When the wild shells and the bullets were flying, Oft had it shielded its wearer from harm.

Not yet had innocence' sweet look departed ; White was his forehead beneath its dark curls; Rosy his mouth, with the red lips half parted, Tender as that of the sweetest of girls.

Tender yet brave with a patriot's passion, Sweet and yet firm in the pride of his youth ; Nature had moulded in warrior's fashion, This boyish blossom of freedom and truth.

When through the land by the star-folds o'er- shadowed

Rang the wild echoes of Sumter's first guns, Thrilled his young heart for his country's best honor, Wielding the sword of her patriot sons.

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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 87

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