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 II, Part 103

Author: Carleton, Hiram, 1838- ed
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: New York, Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1044

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 II > Part 103

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GEORGE WILLIAM GRANGER.

George William Granger, an extensive agri- culturist of West Milton, Vermont, is a descend- ant of William Granger, who was born in Massa- chusetts, March 15, 1778. After receiving the limited education that was afforded by the dis- trict schools of that period, William Granger learned the blacksmith trade and followed that line of business for many years in Greenfield, Massachusetts. Being an honest, industrious and energetic man, he won the respect and esteem of his fellow citizens. He was united in marirage at Bernardston, Massachusetts, December 16, 1804, to Miss Nancy A. Cushman, who was born May 21, 1782. She was a direct descendant of Robert Cushman, the Puritan who came over in the celebrated Mayflower and landed on Plym- outh Rock, Massachusetts. Their children were : Pherona A., born October 30, 1805, died in Col- chester, Vermont, December 7, 1828, the wife of a Mr. Allen ; William A., born June 10, 1808; Ar- temus C., born January 12, 1812, died in Napa- nee, Upper Canada; George L., born June II, 1814, died in Jonesville, Michigan ; Chloe A., born May 20, 1817, died in Napanee, Upper Canada; John W., born March 3, 1821, died in West Milton, Vermont, March 12, 1857; and Sarah E., born December 23, 1824, died in West Milton, Vermont. The father of these children died in Rupert, Vermont, January 16, 1825, and his wife died at Milton, Vermont, December 19, 1872.

William A. Granger, father of George W. Granger, was born June 10, 1808. He acquired his education in the common schools of his na- tive town, and after completing his studies de- cided to follow the same vocation that his father chose, that of blacksmith. He worked at this trade for many years, and having thoroughly mas- tered every detail of the business, he was enabled to lay aside quite a goodly competence. Subse- quently he turned his attention to farming, and followed this occupation very successfully for the remainder of his life. He was very promi-

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nent in the political affairs of the town, being elected on the Republican ticket to serve in many of the local offices. He always acted in an hon- orable and upright manner in his conduct of these positions. He was an carnest and con- sistent member of the Congregational church of West Milton, Vermont.

On September 6, 1835, Mr. Granger married Miss Lucy McNall, who was born in Colchester, Vermont, January 16, 1816, a daughter of John McNall, of Colchester, Vermont. The follow- ing named children were born to them: Pherona, born March 20, 1838, married Daniel Gorton, a farmer of Huntington, Vermont; Harrison A., born January 20, 1841, married Isabella Bren- ner, of Manchester, Iowa; Frances C., born July 13, 1843, married A. H. Blake of West Milton, Vermont, and they removed to Manchester, Iowa, where he is engaged in the dry-goods business ; and George William Granger. Mr. Granger died in West Milton, Vermont, April 24, 1887, and his wife died September 19, 1890.

George William Granger, the youngest child of William A. and Lucy Granger, was born in West Milton, Vermont, October 7, 1849. He was reared upon his father's farm, dividing his time between an attendance at the common school and labor upon the paternal homestead. He has followed farming as an occupation ever since, and by his careful management and by taking advantage of all the resources in his power, he is now the possessor of one of the very best farms in that section of the country, well supplied with every modern appliance and finely stocked. Mr. Granger is a Republican in his political views, and has served the town in the capacity of select- man. He is a member and attendant of the Con- gregational church of West Milton, Vermont.

Mr. Granger was united in marriage, Decem- ber 19, 1876, to Miss Lucy Maria Ashley, who was born in Milton, Vermont, July 5, 1854, a daughter of Sanford and Caroline (Haight) Ash- ley, of Milton, Vermont. Six children have been born to them: William Dixon, born September 28, 1877, married Miss Belle Blake, of West Mil- ton, Vermont; Harrison Ashley, born August 3, 1879 ; Dan Gorton, born March 20, 1883 ; Johnnie Alton, born January 13, 1886; Roa Caroline, born September 20, 1890 ; and Rosalie, born April 23, 1895.

EDGAR MEECH.

This gentleman was one of the honored citi- zens of Charlotte, Vermont, was born in Shel- burne, Vermont, on the 20th of June, 1818, and was a member of an old and prominent east- ern family. His grandfather, Elisha Meech, claimed Connecticut as the state of his nativity, his birth occurring there in 1750, and he was one of a family of nine children. In 1785 he came from Bennington, Vermont, to Hinesburg, Ver- mont, and died there.

Ezra Meech, Elisha's son, was also a native of Connecticut, his birth occurring in Norwich, in 1773. In 1795 he located in Shelburne, Ver- mont, there making his home until his death, which occurred September 23, 1856. In 1800 he was united in marriage to Mary McNeil, the daughter of John McNeil, a prominent citizen of Charlotte, Vermont. For many years Mr. McNeil served as the town clerk in Charlotte, was also its first representative, and about 1790 he established the first ferry across Lake Cham- plain to Essex, New York, which still bears his name. In 1806 Mr. Meech purchased a farm near the lake, to which he later added until he became the owner of four thousand acres. He followed the fur trade for a time and was also engaged in the manufacture of potash. Later, however, he embarked in the lumber trade, in Canada, to which he gave his attention until 1812, and during the subsequent time also sup- plied provisions to the American army stationed at Plattsburg. He was interested in Rutland marble quarries, railroads and other enterprises. A man of much executive ability, an extensive farmer, he owned at one time four thousand sheep and fifty pair of oxen, and employed fifty men. His success in life was the result of his own energy and ability, as he started with no means or influential associations. For two terms he was a member of Congress, and was a friend of Daniel Webster and Henry Clay. He was a man of excellent business judgment, and was many times elected by his fellow citizens to posi- tions of honor and trust. In 1819 he was called upon to represent his town in the legislature, was three times the Democratic candidate for the high office of governor, and for many years was the probate judge of his county. His re-

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ligious views connected him with the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he was a member up to the time of his death. He was a man of fine physique and weighed three hundred and sixty-five pounds. The family were among the most aristocratic and honored residents of their locality, and in those early days Mr. Meech drove a four-in-hand. His first wife died in 1826, and he subsequently married Lydia C. Clark. Two sons and two daughters of his ten children by his first wife grew to maturity. Mary, the eldest, became the wife of Dr. Rob- ert Moody, and lived in Burlington, dying of consumption at St. Augustine, Florida. Jane married Joseph Warner, of Middlebury, where she died, also of consumption. Ezra Meech, Jr., lived most of his life in Shelburne, on a farm two miles from his brother. He was a prominent member of the Methodist church, and lived to the age of seventy-eight years, dying at Nor- wood, Michigan.

Edgar Meech, youngest son of Ezra Meech, received his primary education in the schools of Shelburne, and studied French two years at Chambley, Canada. He fitted for college at Castleton Seminary and matriculated in the Uni- versity of Vermont at Burlington, from which he was graduated with the class of 1841. After leaving college he engaged in farming, locating on what was then known as the Russell farm, and at the time of his death was the owner of one thousand acres. He was a man of scholarly attainments, and was a fine Greek and French scholar. . He strove to provide his children with superior educational advantages. The cause of Christianity found in him a warm friend, and he was active in the work of the local Sunday- school, being teacher or superintendent for a period of thirty years. In all life's relations he commanded the respect and confidence of those with whom he came in contact, and the memory of his upright life should serve as an inspiration to those who come after him.

On the 9th of May, 1850, Mr. Meech was united in marriage to Mary J. Field, who was born in Springfield, Vermont, a daughter of Salathiel Field, a native of Rhode Island, and a granddaughter of Daniel Field. The latter was also born in the state of Rhode Island, and from there came to Springfield, Vermont. He

served as captain during the Revolutionary war, and to him was accorded the pleasure of shaking hands with George Washington. Mr. Field was a Quaker in religious belief. The father of Mrs. Meech was reared and received his education in the town of Springfield, Vermont, and there spent his entire life, following the occupation of farming. The old Field homestead in which the grandfather lived is still standing, and the family have long been one of prominence in the locality. The mother of Mrs. Meech bore the maiden name of Lydia Bragg, and by her mar- riage to Mr. Field she became the mother of ten children, of whom three still survive. She died at the age of forty-two years. She was his sec- ond wife, the first being Sally Howe. He was a third time married, when Susan Merritt be- came his wife, and fifteen of his seventeen chil- dren grew to maturity. Mr. Field died at the age of eighty-eight years.

Edgar Meech and his wife were the parents of five children: Charles E., the eldest, is a resident of Providence, Rhode Island. He grad- uated in 1874, at the University of Vermont, and is engaged in the publishing business. He mar- ried Marion Elizabeth Woodward, of Philadel- phia, and they have one child, Edgar Meech. William F. died in 1874 at the age of twenty- one years, Mary Elizabeth is at home. Abigail Jennie married William K. Sheldon, of Rut- land. They reside in Seattle, Washington, and have three children, Abby (now Mrs. Henry D. Brooks, of Westfield, Massachusetts) ; Sarah M. and William K., Jr. Sarah Spalding, the young- est daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Meech, married Charles Anthony Austin, of Burlington, Ver- mont, and now resides in Orange, New Jersey, and they have two children, Helen Meech and Charles Anthony, Jr. Mr. Meech was called to his final rest on the 19th of February, 1885.

HON. SENECA M. DORR.

Judge Seneca M. Dorr, for many years a prominent citizen of Rutland, Vermont, was born August 14, 1820, at Chatham Center, New York, the son of Dr. Russel Dorr, a noted physician. Owing to the death of his father he was thrown upon his own resources at an early age, and pur- sued his legal studies under difficulties. Yet at

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the age of twenty one he passed his examination for the bar with honor, was admitted to practice in the superior court and was made a solicitor in chancery. Later he acquired a beautiful es- tate in Ghent, Columbia county, New York, where he lived until his removal to Rutland in 1857. There he became associated with William Y. Ripley in the marble business. In 1865 he leased the Sutherland Falls marble property, which was developed mainly through his energy and untiring industry. Later he became interested in business at Appleton, Wisconsin, and was also engaged in the sale of investment securities in Rutland. He was for many years a trustee of the Rutland Savings Bank.

Judge Dorr was in early life a Democrat, and was an intimate friend and neighbor of Presi- dent Van Buren. When, however, political issues changed, he became an earnest Free-soiler and drafted the famous document known as "The Address of the Radical One Hundred," a paper which had wide influence at the time and stated the position of the Democrats who left that party on the free-soil issue. He was one of the foun- ders of the Republican party, and took the stump for Fremont.

Judge Dorr's public life was of great useful- ness to his fellow citizens and to the state of his adoption. In 1863 he was elected a member of the council of censors of Vermont, and imme- diately began to work for the establishment of biennial sessions of the legislature. Despite the fact that the movement met with strong opposi- tion, it was ultimately successful. He represented the town of Rutland in the legislature in 1863 and 1864, and was a senator from Rutland county in 1865 and 1866. His position as a legislator was always commanding and powerful, and he rendered special service to the state by securing the taxation of railroads, and the establishment of the State Reform School. He was a Lincoln elector in 1864. In 1876 and 1877 he was county judge, and he served with conspicuous ability. He was a member of the Congregational church, at once liberal and conservative.

Judge Dorr married, February 22, 1847, Julia Caroline, daughter of William Y. Ripley, of Rut- land, and they were the parents of the following children : Russell Ripley, who now resides in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he was for many years

president of the Bankers' Life Association, which he founded. He is now engaged in developing newly discovered oil fields in San Mateo county, California. He is a man of fine literary tastes, a graduate of Union College. He married Louise Bryan, and four children have been born to them : Roy Bryan, deceased; Bryan Ripley, a recent graduate of Williams College; Henry Bryan; and James Bryan. William Ripley, who was graduated from Norwich University, was for ten years a prominent business man in St. Paul, Minnesota, has been president of the St. Paul chamber of commerce, and is a director of the Capital Bank of that place. He also has ex- tensive interests in the east, where he now re- sides, at Englewood, New Jersey. He mar- ried Helen Thurston, and they have three chil- dren: William Ripley, Jr .; Cyrus Thurston ; and Julia Caroline, who bears the name endeared by her grandmother to many thousands of read- ers. Zulma De Lacy, who married William H. Steele, who is engaged in the copper business in New York city, and resides in Brooklyn. Of their children, Frederic Dorr is illustrator for the leading magazines of the country, Joseph Dorr is the New York manager of the Carter's Inks Company of Boston, and Zulma Ripley is an art student in Brooklyn. Mrs. Steele is also an artist of note in charcoal, oil and water color. Henry Ripley, who is a graduate of Mid- dlebury College, and has written much verse of a notably fine quality. He served as a private in Company A, First Regiment, Vermont Volun- teers, in the Spanish-American war, and went with the regiment to Chickamauga camp, where they were stationed for four months. He was commissioned captain of his company on its re- turn to the National Guard. He is at the pres- ent time devoting his attention to the developing of a new fuel, for which he holds a number of patents recently obtained. His invention is a pro- cess by which coal dust and waste from the hard and bituminous coal mines is converted into- a fuel which answers all the purposes to which the anthracite coal of commerce is put. The invention and discovery promise to be among the most important and valuable of the century. Vari- ous expert chemists and also fuel experts, rep- resenting the large coal companies, have pro- nounced "carbon fuel," as it is designated by its

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inventor, a complete fuel. Mr. Dorr married Janet W., daughter of General W. Y. W. Ripley, and they have one son, Thomas Ripley.

The death of Judge Dorr, which occurred December 3, 1884, removed from Rutland a man distinguished alike for intelligence, ability, integ- rity, benevolence, literary culture and commercial enterprise. He possessed solid intellectual acquire- ments, sound taste and culture, was an able, ac- curate, and careful writer, and a man of digni- fied but genial manners. He was an excellent representative of a man of business who was not a fanatical utilitarian. He believed in knowledge which helps to hake its possessor a wiser, better, more useful citizen, even though it may return no dividend in the shape of cash. His influence in Rutland was always upright, elevating and inspiring, and so greatly was he beloved as well as respected, that the news of his death caused a wide-spread feeling of sorrow.

MRS. JULIA C. R. DORR.

Julia Caroline Ripley Dorr, daughter of Will- iam Y. Ripley and Zulma De Lacy Thomas, was born in Charleston, South Carolina, February 13, 1825. Her paternal ancestry in the Ripley family is too well known to need repeating here. Her mother was the daughter of Jean Jacques Thomas and Susanne De Lacy, both natives of France, but for some time residents of San Do- mingo, where Mons. Thomas was a merchant, planter and ship-owner. During the insurrec- tion of the slaves under Toussaint L'Ouverture he fled to Charleston with his family, and soon afterward his daughter was born.

Mr. Ripley was a merchant in Charleston, and there met and married Mrs. Dorr's mother. When the subject of this sketch was eighteen months old her mother's frail health made a change of climate imperative, and the family re- turned to her father's native town of Weybridge, Vermont, but the mother died the day after reach- ing there. Until she was ten years old Julia Caroline Ripley lived part of the time in New York and part in Middlebury. When she was twelve years old her father moved to Rutland. In 1847 she was married to the Hon. Seneca M. Dorr, of Columbia county, New York, and they made their home at Ghent in that county until

1857, when they located in Rutland. Judge Dorr built upon the banks of the Otter a beautiful home, which has long been known as "The Ma- ples," and there Mrs. Dorr has lived continuous- ly, and there most of the work which has placed her name high among the builders of American literature has been done. Her published books are as follows : "Farmingdale," a novel (1854) ; "Lanmere," a novel (1856) ; "Sybil Huntington," a novel (1869) ; Poems (1871) ; "Expiation," a novel (1872); "Daybreak," an Easter poem (1882) ; "Bermuda" (1884); "Afternoon Songs" (1885); "Poems: Complete Edition" (1892) ; "Afterglow," poems (1900) ; "The Flower of England's Face" (1895) ; "A Cathedral Pilgrim- age" (1896) ; "In Kings' Houses" (1898).

Her first novel, "Farmingdale," appeared un- der the pen name "Caroline Thomas." It was among the most successful novels of the period, reaching a tenth edition ; and the author's identity could not long be hidden. All her work there- after appeared under her own name. Mrs. Dorr's novels are marked by simplicity of diction, sustained interest and skillful management of her theme. She does not attempt the grotesque nor strive after lurid effects; but she deals with the delineation of life and character in the environ- ment with which she is familiar. This is as true of her latest story, "In Kings' Houses," as it is of her first success, the rare, sweet novel "Farmingdale." "In Kings' Houses" is a ro- mance of the days of Queen Ann ; but Mrs. Dorr is as much at home in English history as she is in New England lore. Few scholars at home or abroad know England's story as well as she; and Mrs. Dorr's visits to England rendered her familiar with the scenes and the places which form the field of the story.

Two other novels, "Eaglescliff" and "Rachel Dilloway's Son," appeared as serials, but have never been issued in book form. All of Mrs. Dorr's novels except "In Kings' Houses" are out of print ; but there are still frequent calls for them, and they are among the treasures of book collectors.

Her books of travel are unique in the field of descriptive literature. "Bermuda," a charm- ing picture of the wonderful Summer Isles. first called general attention to the beauties of the islands, though they were old in story; and the

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bool sent hosts of tourists thither. "The Flower of England's Face" and "A Cathedral Pilgrim- age" are distinguished by ripe scholarship, by singular felicity of description, by diction which is at times superb, by a fidelity to accepted his- tory which gives permanent value to the books, and by a poetic quality which beautifies and brightens.

While Mrs. Dorr's place among prose writers is one of prominence and honor, she is more widely known as the poet. She began to write in verse while yet a child; and as she developed her poetic gift she wrote constantly. She did not, however, make the error of most young writers by rushing into print with her earlier work, and none of her poems were published until she was a woman grown. Her first published work was a story which her husband sent without her knowledge to the Union Magazine, where it promptly won a prize offered by that periodical ; and from this beginning her public career as a writer is dated.

The complete edition of Mrs. Dorr's poems, published in 1892, contains all the poems written up to that date which the poet wished to see pre- served in permanent form; but many of her readers protested at the absence of poems which had been household favorites for many years. These poems were omitted, said Mrs. Dorr, be- cause they were defective in construction and ·could not well be rewritten.

A study of this volume shows work of a sin- gularly even quality, and the poet's wide range embraces the lyric, the ballad, the ode and the sonnet ; and in each she shows conspicuous mas- tery of her art. It is not enough to say that her genius places her in the front rank of women poets ; for her more ambitious poems possess the strength, the power, the beauty, the force and the imaginative quality which marks the greatest among her fellow craftsmen.

"The Dead Century," "Vermont," "Gettys- burg," are notable examples of the loftiest in- spiration which has produced heroic verse; and the sustained power of these odes has given them a permanent place among the highest poems of their class in all literature. "The Dead Century" was written for the centennial celebration of Rutland; and among the many treasures of lit-

crary flavor which Mrs. Dorr possesses is a letter from Longfellow written the day after the poem was published in the newspapers, asking Mrs. Dorr why she had not reserved it for the national Centennial in Philadelphia.

"The Armorer's Errand," "The Parson's Daughter," "Rena" and other less ambitious bal- lads have a quality which is distinctively their own and in the noble sonnets "At Rest," "Day and Night," "Mercedes," "The Place," and "Recognition," is seen the highest perfection of this most difficult form of verse. There is not a modern work upon the sonnet, of recognized authority, which does not give to Mrs. Dorr the first rank among sonneteers.

Among the most familiar of the writer's minor poems, meaning not minor in quality but in volume, are "Outgrown," which Emerson, a life-long friend of Mrs. Dorr's, placed in his "Parnassus ;" "The Old Fashioned Garden," "Somewhere," "O Wind That Blows Out of the West," "My Lovers," and "The Fallow Field." These are lyrics of surpassing beauty, perfect in execution and conception and rich in the musical quality which characterizes all the poet's work.

As a purely imaginative effort, "A Dream of Songs Unsung" stands almost alone among the poems of modern authors, and is remarkable for its beauty and imagery.

The author's patriotic poems, those inspired by the Civil war, are treasured in compilations of the poems of that period, "The Last of Six," "From Baton Rouge," "In the Wilderness," Supplicamus," and that indignant protest and spirit-stirring appeal "Our Flags at the Capitol."

If one visits "The Maples" he may see in Mrs. Dorr's study shelves of gift books and man- uscripts of her fellow authors who have helped to make American literature what it is to-day, and if he is one of the chosen few, he may read letters from many famous men and women of letters whom Mrs. Dorr numbers among her friends. Many of them-most of them, in fact- are writers who worked and wrought among lit- erary people, and were inspired by contact with their fellow workers and by the literary atmos- phere in hich they lived. But in the case of Mrs. Dorr her high place in literature was won by sheer force of genius and devotion to her

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art, without the aid of any literary atmosphere aside from that of her own creation. She would say, perhaps, that this had been a disadvantage; but her readers will contend that in solitude she has found inspiration ; and that the high char- acter and the perfect finish of her work is all the more conspicuous because she wrought unaided and alone.

The late Dr. Francis M. Underwood described the poet as follows: "In personal appearance Mrs. Dorr is a woman of more than average stature, with snow-white hair and with strong, sweet features, on which her friends see the ex- pression of the calm, sedate New England face, lightened and brightened by the spirit of the dramatic, art-loving French."

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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 II, Part 103

Author: Carleton, Hiram, 1838- ed Publication date: 1903 Publisher: New York, Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1044

Author: Carleton, Hiram, 1838- ed
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: New York, Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1044