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 108
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rest on the ist of June, 1891. For many years he was numbered among the most distinguished men of the Green Mountain state by reason of his ex- tensive business interests, his prominence in politi- cal affairs and his upright character. In the fam- ily were two children: Samuel H. and Katherine E. The material grandfather of Mrs. Root was Samuel H. Blackmer, a prominent lawyer of Ben- nington, who for many years practiced his pro- fession and was a partner of the late Governor Hyland Hall. Mr. Blackmer gained an enviable position in the rank of his chosen calling and served as state's attorney. He had two children, Catharine L. and Franklin, the latter late of Ben- nington Center. The former became the wife of Henry Green Root and died at the age of sixty years.
The marriage of William A. and Katherine E. Root has been blessed with two children: Mary E., who is now a student in Smith school; and Henry G., who is a student in Lakewood, New Jersey. Mr. Root votes with the Republican party and is thoroughly conversant with the ques- tions and issues of the day. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity in which he has taken the- degrees of the lodge, chapter, council and com- mandery. He is a man of genial and social na- ture and one who has most of the amenities which. go to make up the sum of human happiness. In manner he is courteous and pleasant, winning friends by his amiable disposition and honorable character which commands the respect of all.
JOHN D. HANRAHAN, M. D.
Dr. John D. Hanrahan, whose portrait is. found on the opposite page, and who for more than a quarter of a century has been one of the leading physicians of Rutland, Ver- mont, where he is still engaged in the active. practice of his profession, belongs to that class of our citizens who, although of foreign birth, have thoroughly identified themselves in every particular with the country of their adoption.
John D. Hanrahan, son of James and Ellen (O'Connor) Hanrahan, who was born June 18, 1844, in Rothkeale, county Limerick, Ireland, where he attended the national schools until reaching the age of eleven years, when he came - to the United States, after which he attended
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the public schools and Free Academy of New York city. While scarcely more than a boy he chose for his life work the practice of medicine, and early in 1860 began his preparatory studies with Dr. John K. Wright, who was at that time living in Yorkville, New York. He attended four courses of lectures at the medical depart- ment of the University of the City of New York, from which institution he graduated in March, 1867.
The date of Dr. Hanrahan's graduation would, no doubt, have been much earlier, had not his studies been interrupted by the Civil war, in which he did able and faithful service. In June, 1861, he was, on examination (not having grad- uated), appointed surgeon in the United States navy. The vessels on which he was placed did duty mostly on the rivers of Virginia and North Carolina, where he served with the army as well as the navy, thereby gaining the benefit and ·experience of both branches of the service, es- pecially in the surgical line. In August, 1863, the vessel on which he was serving was captured at the mouth of the Rappahannock river, and all on board were made prisoners. They were taken overland to Richmond, Virginia, where they were confined in Libby prison. At that time the Confederates were greatly in need of surgeons and medical supplies, and Dr. Hanrahan was asked if he would go over to Belle Island and attend the Union prisoners. After consulting with his fellow prisoners, he consented, and for six weeks he attended the sick and wounded prisoners faithfully, under great disadvantages, as the supply of medical and surgical appliances was very limited. At the end of that time he was paroled, having been treated with the greatest courtesy and consideration by the medical staff and officers of the Confederacy.
After the close of the war and the completion of his course of study, Dr. Hanrahan settled in New York city for about one year, spent another in Montreal, province of Quebec, and then re- moved to Rutland, Vermont, where he has since remained. His practice has been very large and successful, especially in the surgical and obstetri- cal line, in which the range of his experience is said to be unsurpassed by any physician of his years. He has performed many surgical opera- tions, and has served through several epidemics
of smallpox and diphtheria. He has been a di- rector and consulting surgeon of the Rutland Hospital, and consulting surgeon to the Fanny Allen Hospital, the leading and largest Catholic hospital in Vermont, at Winooski. For many years he was town and city physician of Rutland, Vermont, and now holds the position of examiner in several accident and life insurance companies. He is the author of a number of medical papers.
Dr. Hanrahan has been an Irish Nationalist all his life, and a member of all the Irish socie- ties, including the Land League, of which he has been president. He has taken an active part in local, state and national politics, has served many years on the Democratic state committee, and was chairman of the Democratic county committee. He was a delegate to the Democratic national conventions of 1884, 1888, and chairman of the Vermont delegation to the national convention of 1892. He was president of the United States pension examining board four years under Presi- dent Cleveland, and treasurer of the same board four years under President Harrison. He was postmaster of Rutland during the second term of President Cleveland, whom he always support- ed until the election of 1896, when he espoused the cause of the Hon. William Jennings Bryan, of whom he was a great admirer. He was president of Rutland village two years, trustee eight years, and county commissioner one year. He was a director of the original Electric Light Company of Rutland, and for several years held a corres- ponding position in the New England Fire In- surance Company.
Dr. Hanrahan is a member of the American Medical Association, the Vermont State Medical Society, and the Rutland Medical Club. He was the first president of the Rutland County Medi- cal and Surgical Society, of which he has been a member since its organization in 1872. He also belongs to the Vermont Sanitary Association, and the Vermont Society for the Prevention of Tuberculosis.
Dr. Hanrahan has been, since its organiza- tion, an active member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and also in state militia. and was ap- pointed by Governor Stewart surgeon of the Third Regiment, Vermont Volunteer Militia. In the Grand Army of the Republic he is a member of the Roberts Post, the largest in Vermont. He
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has served three terms as medical director of the department, has served on the staffs of three commander in chief, Veazey, Palmer and Weis- sert, and is now a member of Commander in Chief Stewart's staff. He is a member of the American Catholic Historical Society, and vice president for Vermont of the American-Irish Ilistorical Society. He was appointed a dele- gate from the diocese of Vermont by Bishop De Goesbriand to the first American Catholic Con- gress and Catholic Centennial celebration held in Baltimore, Maryland, November 10, 1889, and is now financial secretary and treasurer of the Rutland branch of the United Irish League of America. He was formerly a member of the Rutland board of trade, and is a life member of the Rutland County Agricultural Society. He belongs to the Rutland Lodge of Elks; St. Pet- er's Hibernian Benevolent Union, No. I, Ameri- can Order of Foresters, Catholic Order of For- esters ; Rutland Council, Knights of Columbus, Ancient Order of Hibernians, Young Men's Catholic Union; Queen of Vermont Circle, Companion Foresters of America, of which orders he is physician. He belongs to the Reunion Society of Vermont Officers, in which he holds the office of member of the executive committee.
Dr. Hanrahan has been twice married, and is now a widower. His first wife was Mary E. Riley, and his second, Frances M., daughter of Dr. John C. and Mary (Hughes) Keenan, of Rutland. He has five children living: May, Anna, Hugh, Frances and John P. The three daughters are being educated in Mt. St. Mary's Convent at Montreal, where they are receiving a very thorough education.
Probably no physician in the city of Rutland who has been so busy professionally has given so generously of his time and talents to further the best interests of that city as Dr. Hanrahan, and who is universally beloved and respected by all who know him.
LUCIUS EUGENE CHITTENDEN.
Lucius Eugene Chittenden, ex-register of the treasury of the United States, lawyer and author, was born in Williston, Chittenden county, Ver-
mont, on the 24th of May, 1824, the son of Giles, the grandson of Truman, and the great-grand- son of Thomas Chittenden, who was in 1777 elected the first governor of independent Ver- mont, and eighteen times re-elected to that office. He was the eighth in descent from William Chit- tenden, who settled in Guilford, Connecticut, in 1639. Giles, the father of Lucius E., was the eldest son of Truman, who was the youngest of the four sons of the first governor. Giles rep- resented Williston in the state legislature in the year 1803.
Lucius E. Chittenden received his early edu- cation in district schools of Williston, and the academies of Williston, Hinesburg and Cam- bridge, Vermont. By the advice of Norman L. Whittemore, an uncle by marriage and a lawyer of ability in Swanton, Vermont, he selected the law as his profession, pursued his studies in his uncle's office and resided in his family. In the winter of 1842, at the age of seventeen, he was hired to teach the district school on Hog Island, which had been twice broken up by unruly boys, some of whom were older than himself. He had a single encounter with them, after which he taught the school and governed the boys without farther difficulty. He attended the legal lectures of Judge Turner in St. Albans, taught school in the winter, and with John G. Saxe, the poet, and Corydon Beckwith, afterward an eminent cor- poration lawyer in Chicago, was admitted to the bar of Franklin county at St. Albans in Septem- ber, 1844. He opened his law office in Burling- ton in May, 1845, where he practiced with suc- cess, in partnership, successively, with Wyllys Lyman, Edward J. Phelps and Daniel Roberts, all leading citizens and the last two eminent as lawyers. At that time Chittenden county had a very able bar. Asahel Peck, D. A. Smalley, George P. Marsh, Jacob Maeck and Charles Ad- ams were the seniors, and E. J. Phelps, George F. Edmunds, Levi Underwood and others the juniors in the profession.
Mr. Chittenden was never satisfied with his limited education. Before his admission to the bar, he pursued the study of the Latin and sev- eral of the modern languages under private tu- tors, with energy and perseverance. His knowl- edge of the modern languages, which he has
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never ceased to pursue, has no doubt promoted his success and enabled him to study the natural sciences as a recreation and relief from the se- verer labors of his profession. As early as 1846 he became actively interested in politics and public affairs. He was prominent in the anti- slavery and "free-soil" movements, and was the editor of the Free Soil Courier in the campaign which resulted in the election of John S. Rob- inson as governor of Vermont. He was an earn- est Republican from the first organization of the Republican party, and during the long term of his life never failed to give to the candidates of that. party the strong support of his voice and vote. He was a state senator from his native county in 1856-1860 and an influential legislator. In Feb- ruary, 1861, he was appointed by Governor Eras- tus Fairbanks a delegate to the famous Peace Conference which met in Washington to take measures for averting the coming Civil war. He prepared and afterwards published a careful re- port of the debates and proceedings of that con- ference. He was associated with ex-Governor Chase, of Ohio, a leading member of the confer- ence, and when Mr. Chase became secretary of the treasury, in President Lincoln's first cabinet, he tendered to Mr. Chittenden the office of regis- ter of the treasury, which he held during the four years of President Lincoln's first term. It was at that time an office of great responsibility, involving great and continuous labor. The issues of the treasury during the war, in bonds, "green- backs," treasury notes and fractional currency, reached an aggregate far beyond human compre- hension. At the close of the war these issues were represented by a public debt of more than three thousand million dollars. The securities had been placed in the hands of the people and the proceeds received into the treasury through the offices of the register and the treasurer of the United States, General F. E. Spinner. They required the labor of hundreds of male and fe- male clerks from every loyal state and territory, often appointed with no examination except such as the head of the bureau could give them. And yet this enormous amount of money and bonds was, by the employes of these two offices, issued to, and their proceeds received from the people and covered into the treasury without the loss of a dollar hy theft, fraud or errors. No higher
testimonial to the fidelity of these employes could possibly be given.
In the closing year of the century, Mr. Chit- tenden is the only surviving officer of the treas- ury appointed by President Lincoln. His resig- nation was made necessary by his failing health and broken constitution. He left the treasury poor in purse but with a reputation which his de- scendants would not exchange for money. After the close of the war Mr. Chittenden established himself in his profession in New York city, where he has since continued its practice.
Mr. Chittenden has cultivated his scholarly tastes by collecting a library which is especially rich in rare volumes relating to the early history of his native state and to the history of engraving and printing. No state in the Union has an early history of such patriotic and thrilling interest as Vermont. It still remains to be written, and Mr. Chittenden, who believes his books indispensable to its accuracy, has perfected an arrangement by which this valuable collection has been trans- ferred to the library of the University of Ver- mont, where it will be preserved intact for future use. Many of the volumes are very rare. and some of them are believed to be unique.
Mr. Chittenden's publications include an edi- tion of "Reeve's Domestic Relations" with notes ; the "Debates and Proceedings of the Peace Con- ference at Washington in February, 186t :" "A Centennial Address on the Capture of Ticon- deroga, May, 1876:" "An Address on the Dedi- cation of the Monument to Ethan Allen; at Bur- lington in 1878." "Recollections of President Lincoln and his Administration ;" "The Speeches, Addresses and Letters of Abraham Lincoln:" "An Unknown Heroine, A Story of the Civil War ;" "Personal Reminiscences;" and many magazine and historical articles. His "Biography of Thomas Chittenden, the first Governor of Vermont," is in an advanced stage of prepara- tion.
In 1856 Mr. Chittenden married Mary, daughter of Horace Hatch, M. D., of Burlington. They had three children: Horace H., a lawyer in New York city; Mary H., wife of William Bradford : and Bessie B., wife of Rev. Frederick B. Richards, pastor of the Presbyterian church, corner of Fourteenth street and Second avenue, in New York city.
THE STATE OF VERMONT.
GILMAN WARREN.
Gilman Warren, a prominent citizen of Brat- fleboro, Vermont, is a descendant of the seventh generation from John Warren, of Boston, who came to Salem with Governor Winthrop, June 12, 1630. The name of John Warren appears in the first list of those who took the freeman's oath. May 18, 1631. Ebenezer Warren, of Lei- cester, Massachusetts, ancestor of Gilman War- ren, served as minute-man in the Revolutionary
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war, and was a cousin of General Joseph Warren, who was killed at Bunker Hill. Mr. Warren is also a descendant of the seventh generation, through his grandmother, Hepzibah Waite, of Hubbardston, Massachusetts, of Captain George Barber, "a Puritan of distinction," who arrived in this country in 1635, and was one of the first set- tlers in Dedham and Medfield. He was the chief military officer of his district, and a member of the colonial government.
Gilman Warren was born February 20, 1836,
in Hubbardston, Worcester county, Massachu- setts, a son of Ebenezer and Olive G. (Coleman) Warren. He received his education in the coun- try schools of Hubbardston, Massachusetts, Ches- ter (Vermont) Academy, Melrose Academy, West Brattleboro, and at Leland and Gray Sem- inary, Townshend, Vermont. From Townshend he went to Eaton's Commercial College at Wor- cester, Massachusetts, from which he was grad- uated in 1856. After his graduation from the latter named institution he decided to commence his business career in the west, and in March, 1857, he started for California, and upon arriv- ing there located at Laporte, Sierra county, where he engaged in mining and continued in this oc- cupation until 1860, when he returned to Hub- bardston, Massachusetts. In 1861 he settled in Guilford, Vermont, where he purchased the old farm, which was formerly the property of Gov- ernor Carpenter, consisting of one hundred and. sixty acres of valuable and productive land. He remained there for five years, meeting with that success which invariably accompanies intelligent application, perseverance and earnest endeavor. Later he purchased a farm and saw-mill at Hali- fax, where he continued his agricultural pursuits for twenty-five years, and was extensively en- gaged in the manufacture of chair stock and sweet cider jelly, and was a dealer in lumber. Mr. Warren subsequently removed to Brattleboro, Vermont, where, since 1900, he has been asso- ciated with the firm of Smith & Hunt as a me- chanic.
Mr. Warren took an active interest in the political affairs of the several towns where he re- sided. He was elected to serve as lister in the town of Guilford in 1863, and as town grand juror in 1864. In Halifax he served as select- man of the town, overseer of the poor, and town grand juror for nine years, was school district clerk and filled the position of treasurer for nine- teen years. He is a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Green River, Ver- mont, and politically is a Republican.
Mr. Warren was united in marriage, Novem- ber 7, 1860, to Francelia Adelaide Johnson, born August 24, 1843, a daughter of Isaiah Webster and Sophia (Briggs) Johnson, of Vernon, Ver- mont. Four children were born of this union:
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William Barney Warren, born September 15, 1865, received his education in the Leland and Gray Seminary, at Townshend, Vermont; he married, October 3, 1889, Miss Mary Luana Thurber, daughter of Emerson H. and Sarah Ballou Thurber, of West Halifax. Her ancestors were early settlers of Vermont. Her father, Emerson H. Thurber, was a veteran of the Civil war, having served in the Sixteenth Vermont Regiment. He was a descendant of David Thurber, who came from Richmond, New Hampshire, in 1776, and settled in West Guilford, Vermont. Through her mother she is also a granddaughter of Almon Ballou, who was brother-to Hosea Ballou (2), D. D., founder, and first president of Tuft's Col- lege. They were born at Halifax, Vermont, grandsons of Rev. Maturin Ballou, and grand- nephews of Hosea Ballou (1), born in 1771, who was pastor of the Second Universalist church in Boston-called "Father Ballou"- and one of the founders of American Universalism. The follow- ing named children were born to William B. and Luana (Thurber) Warren : Addie Blendena, born August 14, 1892; Clara Marion, born July I, 1894; Mabel, born February 8, 1896; and Bryan Emerson, born September 16, 1900. William Barney Warren is a prominent farmer and manu- facturer of chair stock, and sweet cider jelly at Halifax, Vermont. In politics he is a Bryan Democrat, and was elected to serve as the first selectman of the town, and he has been called upon to fill other positions of trust and responsi- bility. He is a worshipful master of Unity Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, at Jacksonville, Ver- mont, a member of Fort Dummer Chapter; R. A. M., Beauseant Commandery, K. T., and of Mt. Sinai Temple of the Ancient and Arabic Or- der Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.
2. Walter Isaiah Warren, born August 13, 1870, received his initial schooling at Halifax, Vermont, and then attended Glenwood Seminary, West Brattleboro, Vermont. He was in the em- ploy of the West End Street Railway Company, Boston, for several years as conductor. He is now acting in the capacity of manager for the Standard Oil Company at Waterbury, Connecti- cut, which place he has filled for about seven years. He was united in marriage, May 1, 1894, to Miss Lillian Lora Knowlton, daughter of
George F. and Lora Nason Knowlton, born July 13, 1872, of Rochester, Vermont. She is of Puri- tan stock, a descendant of Captain William Knowlton, who sailed from England with his wife and three sons, John, William and Thomas, in the year 1632. Captain William was lost at sea, but his wife and sons settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts. The Knowltons came to Ver- mont in 1773, and located in Newfane. Walter J. and Lillian Lora (Knowlton) Warren are the parents of two children, Grace Evelyn, born July 31, 1895, and Lora Adelaide, born June 2, 1903. 3. Webster Gilman Warren, born June 28, 1873, died April 3, 1887. The fourth child born to Mr. and Mrs. Warren was Merton Horace, born November 3, 1878; he was employed by the Boston Elevated Railroad Company in Boston, Massachusetts, but at the breaking out of the Spanish-American war, at the age of nineteen, he enlisted in Company C, Ninth Massachusetts Regiment, United States Volunteers. He served in Cuba, during the siege of Santiago, and until August 24, strong and in good health, when he! returned to Montauk Point, Long Island, on the transport Alleghany, where with one hundred and forty-five sick .comrades he was taken to the hospital, where he was critically ill until September 19. Merton H. Warren was honor- ably discharged from the United States service at Boston November 26, 1898. He is now in the employ of the Boston and Maine Railroad. He is a member of the Legion of Spanish War Veterans, the Society of the Army of Santiago, Thistle Lodge No. 7470, I. O. O. F., M. U, and the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen.
June 27, 1899, he married Myrtle Miranda Locklin, daughter of Michael and Mary J. (Thompson) Locklin, of Machiasport, Maine. They have one child, William Frank Warren, born June 31, 1900.
MRS. GILMAN WARREN.
Mrs. Gilman Warren traces her descent on the side of her father, Isaiah W. Johnson, Jr., of Vernon, Vermont, to the earliest pioneers of Ver- mont, and through her mother, Sophia A. John- son, by way of several generations of Wilburs, of Littlecompton, Rhode Island ( a copy of whose complete family records and wills she has), to
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their umon with the immediate descendants of four persons who came over in the Mayflower in 1020, of whom their Governor Bradford said : "They were, by the blessing of God, the first beginners, and (in a sort ) the foundation of all the plantations and colonies in New England ; and their families"-their names should have a place on the pages of this book of "the founding of a nation."
Concerning her early Vermont ancestors, Ed- ward Elmer, on the maternal side of her father, came with his wife, Mary, from Braintree, Essex county, England, in June, 1632, and settled in Newtowne (now Cambridge), Massachusetts. In 1636 he went with Rev. Thomas Hooker to the Connecticut river, and Edward Elmer was one of the original proprietors of Hartford, Connecti- cut. He was killed during King Philip's war, at Podunk, in June, 1676.
Hezekiah Elmer, his ·grandson (son of Ed- ward), born June 13, 1686, came from Hartford, Connecticut, to what is now Vernon, Vermont, May 25, 1717, then called Northfield, Massachu- setts Bay, and before 1672, called "Squakheag." This part of Vernon, claims the oldest charter in the state of Vermont, granted May 15, 1672. A deed was also given, covering the grant, August 13, 1687, by Nawelet, chief of the Squakheags, and four of his tribe. This township was called Northfield, and included most of what is now Vernon, Vermont, Hinsdale, and Winchester, New Hampshire, and Northfield, Massachusetts, its northern boundary being Broad Brook, three- fourths of a mile south of the site of Fort Dum- mer, Brattleboro, Vermont. In 1724, at the time of the third Indian war, Hezekiah Elmer was a soldier in Captain Kellogg's Company. He was the owner of Elmer's Island, near Vernon Center, in 1731, and was one of the fourteen original proprietors, of what is now Vernon, Vermont, September 5, 1753. Henry Clay Payne (eighth generation from England), postmaster general of President Roosevelt's cabinet, is a direct descend- ant of Hezekiah Elmer (3), of Vernon, through his grandmother, Laura Elmer (6), the mother of his father, Orrin Pierre Payne.
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