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 109

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 109

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The names of Hezekiah Elmer and Daniel Elmer are on the roll of Captain Willard's Com- pany at Fort Dummer, in 1748. From 1717 to 1814, a period of ninety-seven years, Hezekiah.

Elmer (3), Jacob (4), Reuben (5), Fanny (6) and I. W. Johnson, Jr., (7), his direct descend- ants, have all lived within two miles of Vernon Center. By reason of the different claims and contests Vernon, or some parts of it, has been called Northfield, Massachusetts Bay, Fall Town Gore, Hampshire county, Massachusetts, Hins- dale, Cheshire county, New Hampshire, Hins- dale, Cumberland county, New York, Hinsdale, Cumberland county, Vermont, Hinsdale, Wind- ham county, Vermont, and since 1802 Vernon, Windham county, Vermont.

The Vernon Johnson ancestors had their ori- gin in William Johnson and wife Elizabeth, who came from Hernehill, near Canterbury, Kent county, England, and settled in Charlestown, Massachusetts, in 1634. His style of composi- tion, and his handwriting in the town records of Charlestown, fac similes of which are in print in magazines, show him to have possessed a good education.

Johnathon Johnson (2), born August 14, 1641, a lineal ancestor, settled in Marlboro, Mass- achusetts. The proprietors' records show that his landed estates were very extensive. He was a blacksmith. The town records show that he held almost every position of trust it had to give, and it was voted each year that the school be kept by him, first in his dwelling house, and, until late in life after a schoolhouse was built, in that, and his grandson kept the first school that was opened in Southboro, Massachusetts. Through William (3) and Isaac (4), of Southboro, and Isaac, Jr., (5), of Spencer, we come to Stephen Johnson (6), an early pioneer of Vernon, Vermont, born in Southboro, July 16, 1759, and there in April,. 1783, was married to Elizabeth Jordan, and died in Vernon, April 17, 1837. In June, 1777, he enlisted in the service of his country, at the age of eighteen, in Captain Joseph Sibley's Company and Colonel Key's Regiment in Sutton, Massachusetts, for three months. He re-enlisted in September, 1777, for two months, in Captain Howard's Company, Colonel Holman's Regi- ment. In 1778 he enlisted for two months in Captain Houghton's Company, Colonel Whiting's Regiment, and in 1781 he enlisted in Captain Houghton's Company, Colonel Washburn's Regi- ment. He received a pension the last five years of his life in Vernon. He was present at Sara-

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THE STATE OF VERMONT.

toga, October 17, 1777, at the surrender of Bur- goyne. In April, 1783, the close of hostilities was proclaimed to the army, and that month Stephen Johnson was married. He settled in Vernon, Vermont, seven years before it was ad- mitted to the Union. He reared twelve children, seven of whom settled in Vernon, and had fami- lies, where many of his descendants still live. (Many of his offspring have represented Vernon in the legislature-several in each generation, to the present time. Frederic William (8), Elias P. (8), and T. Webster Johnson (9) all have homes near Vernon Center, while Johnson Broth- ers, proprietors of a grist and saw mill, dealers in feed and grain and meat market, are all at South Vernon. Three of his descendants in this vicin- ity served in the late Spanish-American war, at the age of nineteen : Merton H. Warren (10), of Brattleboro; served in Cuba in Company C, Ninth Massachusetts Infantry ; William Heard, of Ver- non, in Company I, First Regiment, Vermont Volunteers ; and Waldo Johnson, of Greenfield, in the Philippines, in the Twenty-sixth Massa- chusetts Regiment, all descendants of Isaiah Web- ster Johnson and Fanny Elmer, his wife.)

The children of Isaiah W. Johnson, Jr., born October 7, 1814, and died November II, 1884, in Vernon, and Sophia Briggs, born March 6, 1821, in Little Compton, Rhode Island, died August 23, 1897, are: Fanny Sophia, born February 15, 1840, died April 17, 1893, wife of Charles E. Davis, of Vernon; F. Adelaide Warren. born August 24, 1843, wife of Gilman Warren; and Taylor Webster Johnson, born March 18, 1852. Webster owns the fertile farm on the Connecticut river where his parents settled in 1839. He married Martha Cobb, of Wardsboro, Vermont. They have two daughters, Lila B., born October 25, 1883, and Doris M., born August 28, 1889. He represented the town of Vernon at Montpelier in 1898, has served the town as selectinan, and in various capacities, and is a faithful public officer.

They are the direct descendants of the eighth generation, through their grandmother, Philenia Wilborn Briggs, of nine known ancestors, who were Puritans and Pilgrims, and came from Eng- land; the descendants of five of these earliest settlers, uniting in Mary Southworth, wife of Daniel Wilbour, of Little Compton, Rhode Island,

of the fourth generation. She was a lineal de- scendant of Alice Carpenter Southworth, wife of Governor William Bradford of Plymouth. The ancestors who came on the Mayflower are: Will- iam Mullens, with wife Alice, daughter Priscilla, and John Alden. William Mullens died Febru- ary 21, 1621. Mr. Edward Winslow and Mrs. William White, whose companions died soon after landing, were the first couple married in Ply- mouth, May 12, 1621, and John and Priscilla were the second, and were united soon after this date. John Alden was a magistrate in the colony for more than fifty years, and outlived all the other signers of the Mayflower compact. Eliza- beth, called "Betty Alden," their third child, born 1624-25, married William Peabody, December 26, 1644. He was born in England in 1619-20, died in Little Compton, December 3, 1707. He settled at Plymouth with his father, later removed to Duxbury, where he held many offices of trust and responsibility, and was much employed in public affairs. He owned considerable land in Duxbury, was one of those to whom Bridgewater was set off in 1645, was one of the proprietors of Freetown in 1659, and was also one of the original purchasers of Little Compton, in 1675, to which he removed with his family about 1684. Elizabeth Alden Peabody, his wife, was buried in Little Compton. Her monument bears the fol- lowing inscription : "Here lyeth the Body of Eliz- abeth, the wife of William Pabodie, who dyed May ye 31st, 1717, and in the 94th year of her age." (North side.)

"Elizabeth Pabodie, daughter of the Plymouth Pilgrims, John Alden and Priscilla Mullin-The first white woman born in New England." (South side.)

"A bud from Plymouth's Mayflower sprung, Transplanted here to live and bloom ; Her memory ever sweet and young The centuries guard, within this tomb."

Alice, daughter of Alexander Carpenter, of Wrington, sixteen miles from Bath, Somerset- shire, England, married, in Leydon, Holland, May 28, 1613, Edward Southworth, of London, a mer- chant and business agent for the Leyden pilgrims. Edward died in England in 1620, leaving Alice with two sons, Constant (2), who was born in Leyden, in 1614, and Thomas. Alice Southworth

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THE STATE OF VERMONT.

left her children with friends in England, and came with her sister and husband, George Mor- ton (ancestors of Levi P. Morton), to Plymouth in the ship Ann in July, 1623. She was married to Governor William Bradford, August 14, and bore him two sons and a daughter, the oldest of which was Major William Bradford, deputy governor of Plymouth. John (son by first wife, Dorothy, was drowned in Cape Cod Harbor) died child- less, so all of Governor Bradford's descendants are through our Alice Southworth. She died in March, 1670, at the age of eighty. Constant Southworth (2), step-son of Governor Bradford, came to Plymouth in 1628, at the age of four- teen. He married, November 2, 1637, and settled in Duxbury. His wife Elizabeth was a daughter of William Collier, one of the adventurers or partners of the Pilgrims in England. He was held in high repute, and his advice sought in their difficulties. He settled in Duxbury before 1640. Constant Southworth was a volunteer in the Pe- quot war, and was in King Philip's war at the age of sixty-one with his son-in-law, Benjamin ·Church. He was a representative of Duxbury in 1647, and for twenty-two years following, and assistant for ten years, and was commissary gen- eral. He died March 11, 1679. William (3), son of Constant, born in 1659, married, in 1680, Rebecca Peabodie, born October 16, 1660, grand- daughter of John Alden. Their son, Joseph Southworth (4), born February I, 1683, in Little Compton, Rhode Island, was the father of Mary Southworth (5), who married Daniel Wilbour, the great-great-grandfather of Mrs. Gilman War- ren.

Samuel Wilbour, ancestor of Daniel Wilbour, married Ann, daughter of Thomas Bradford, of Doncaster, county York, England. They were. admitted to the church in Boston, December I, 1633. Later he was in sympathy with the major part of his fellow worshippers, under the danger- ous doctrine of Cotton and Wheelwright, so that the body of people at the other places of the col- ony deemed it necessary to disown them, and in March, 1638, he, with Coddington and seventeen others, among the best men of Boston, were ban- ished from the colony. They purchased the Isl- and of Rhode Island, in Narragansett Bay, and formed a corporation, by solemn compact, March 7, 1638. He was held in high esteem. Though

he had removed to Taunton, his name as "Senior" and Samuel, Jr., were retained on the list of free- men in 1655. He had wisdom to hold on to his estate at Portsmouth, Rhode island, and at Taun- ton, and at Boston, where he came again to live, before making his will, April 30, 1656. He died in September, 1656. Samuel (2) is named as one of the patentees of the royal charter of 1663. Samuel (3), grandson of Samuel (1), born April I, 1663, was a large land owner in Little Comp- ton, where his will was made in 1729-30, as were his succeeding heirs, William Wilbour, born in 1695, Daniel, born June 1, 1729, and Daniel .(2), born February 10, 1761, died February 11, 1841, the son of Mary Southworth, and great-grand- father of Mrs. Gilman Warren.

The old colonial house where Mary came as a bride in 1728 is still occupied by her descend- ants, who have proved honorable, self-reliant, and trustworthy, with executive ability. The owner, Franklin Wilbour, was a senator, and filled other places of trust.

· REV. JAMES P. RAND.

The Rev. James P. Rand, rector of St. Ste- phen's (Roman Catholic) church of Winooski, Vermont, is a native of the state, born in Bur- lington, April 8, 1873, son of George B. and Mar- garet (Fox) Rand, who are mentioned at length hereinafter. The name of Rand belongs to a highly respected and honored family. The first record we have of the name in this country is in Charlestown, Massachusetts in 1635, when Rob- ert and Alice Rand were admitted to the church in that, town. Also, in the town book of possesion, dated 1638, mention is made of Robert Rand as a property-holder . having a farm of sixty-six acres on the west side of Windmill Hill, and if space would admit the family name could be traced back many generations. There was also a Doctor Charles Rand, who, when President Lincoln made his call for seventy-five thousand men to suppress the rebellion, was the first to enroll his name.

The Rands throughout the country all came from the same sturdy Scotch ancestry, who re- flected honor upon the name, handing it down from generation to generation without blemish or stain, proving the truth of the utterance of Sir Walter Scott, that "There is no heroic poem in

Pan Passe P. Mand

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the world but at its bottom is the life of a man."

The ancestry of the Rand family is traceable downward through five generations in Vermont to the Rev. Father James P. Rand. Robert Rand, his great-great-grandfather, born in 1750, with his wife Emma, came to Westminster, Windham county, Vermont, and located on a grant of fifty acres, being one of the first settlers in that section. Here their twelve children were born.

The great-grandfather of Rev. J. P. Rand was Benjamin, the first child of Robert and Emma Rand, born January 16, 1775. He was twice married ; first. July 15, 1802, to Cynthia Robinson, born October 30, 1780, and died August 25, 1807. He then married, October 1I, 1807, Sarah Rob- inson, born September 3, 1780. She was a very beautiful woman and was beloved by all who knew her. She died at Bridgewater, Vermont, Septem- ber 8, 1875, at the age of ninety-five, having borne her husband ten children.

Alvinza, tenth child of Benjamin and Sarah (Robinson) Rand, was born in Morrisville, Ver- mont, February 27, 1819. He was educated in the neighborhood schools, and when grown up owned and cultivated a large farm. Little is known of him, for he was a man of modesty and reticence. He was married three times; first, March 21, 1842, to Lucinda F. Small, who died January 26, 1860, leaving five sons. He married, second, October 10, 1861, Fidelia R. Goodell, born July 18, 1826, at Morristown, Vermont, and died October 14, 1875, leaving one son and a daughter, Lucinda. He married, third, April 10, 1876, Lavina (Burke) Barnes, also a resident of Morrisville, Vermont. He died in 1901.

George B. Rand, father of the Rev. James P. Rand, was the second son of Alvinza and Lucinda (Small) Rand, and was born in Stowe, Vermont, December 5, 1845. He was educated in the com- mon school at Morrisville, and was an excellent scholar. He entered upon life with ample prep- aration, and has acquitted himself creditably and honorably in every station. During the Civil war he made an excellent record as a patriot soldier. He enlisted in 1861, when sixteen years old, in the Twelfth Regiment United States Infantry, with which he served until November 29, 1864, when he was honorably discharged at Fort Hamilton, New York. During his term of enlistment he participated in all the momentous campaigns of

the Army of the Potomac, under its various great generals from McClellan to Grant, and bore his part bravely in fourteen different engagements, and was wounded on the second day of the battle of Gettysburg, July 2, 1863. It is of interest to note in this connection that his brother Joseph, equally patriotic, enlisted in Company A, Third Regiment, Vermont Volunteer Infantry, when the rebel attack upon Fort Sumter was made, and served until the close of the war, notwithstand- ing he was twice wounded.

George B. Rand, in his young manhood, learned undertaking, and he followed that calling in Burlington for about twenty years and then engaged in a real estate business which he has prosecuted with gratifying success to the present time. In this calling he has been enabled to aid largely toward the development of the city, and his ability and integrity have drawn to him many friends from the best classes, who have been greatly advantaged by his familiarity with real estate values and general business conditions. He has also capably served the community in various. important positions. He was elected to the board of aldermen in 1895 and was re-elected in 1897, serving four years, and was school commissioner from 1899 to 1902.

He married, in New York city, December 7, 1864, Margaret Fox, who was born in county Donegal, Ireland, March 17, 1842, a daughter of Patrick and Rose (Deary) Fox. Her grandpa- rents were Edward and Margaret (Malloy) Fox, the former a native of England and the latter of Ireland. Margaret Fox came to this country in 1862 and located in New York city, where she lived until 1864, when she married and came direct to Burlington, where she and her husband have since resided.

George B. and Margaret (Fox) Rand were the parents of ten children, of whom only five are living; and all of whom were born in Burling- ton, Vermont: Mary, born April 28, 1867, was educated in the common school and at St. Mary's Academy. She is housekeeper for her brother, the Rev. Father Rand, and in her relations with his parishioners, her culture and amiability of disposition have made her an admirable aid to him in his parochial work. Charles E., born Octo- ber 20, 1869, was educated in the parochial schools and at St. Joseph's College in his native city.

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THE STATE OF VERMONT.

After leaving school he engaged in business as a grover and subsequently engaged in a successful wholesale cigar business in Burlington, which he still continues. He married Mary Elizabeth Scul- Iv. born in Burlington, Vermont, August 29, 1872. daughter of James B. and Margaret (Murry) Scully. Rev. James P. Rand is referred to at length hereinafter. Lizzie, born May 15, 1878, was educated in the common schools and at St. Mary's Academy, Burlington, Vermont, and is now residing with her parents. Vernon George, born April 16, 1880, was educated in the common schools and in the Edmunds high school, from which he graduated in 1899. He has studied medicine for two years and is now in Lebanon, New Hampshire.

The Rev. James P. Rand, third child and sec- ond son of George B. and Margaret (Fox) Rand, was reared in the city of his birth. He early de- veloped a passion for learning, and was a close student from his seventh year. At the early age of thirteen, he entered upon his collegiate course in St. Joseph's College, in Burlington, from which he graduated in the classical course in 1891. He then pursued philosophical studies for three years in the Seminary of St. Sulpice, in Montreal, Canada, subsequently pursued his theological course in St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, Mary- land, from which he was graduated in 1896. Re- turning to Burlington on December 19, of that year, when twenty-three years of age, he was or- dained to the priesthood in the cathedral of that city by the Right Rev. John S. Michaud, bishop of Vermont, and that eminent prelate immediately afterwards appointed him his secretary. Father Rand ocupied that responsible position until Att- gust 10, following, when he was appointed to the charge of the churches at Hyde Park and Hard- wick. After a successful pastorate of three and a half years, he was, in 1901, transferred to St. Stephen's church in Winooski. In this delightful village Father Rand's handsome church and paro- chial home are centers of intelligent and zealous effort for the sacred cause to which he has de- voted himself from his early youth. An accom- plished scholar, he is a clear discerning man of affairs, and commands the affection and confi- dence of the general community as well as of his own parishioners, who recognize in him not only a faithful pastor, but a neighbor and friend to

whom all in sorrow or distress may freely come for that aid which religion and a deeply sympa- thetic heart may afford. Not yet in the meridian of life, what he has already accomplished is but an earnest of a life of higher usefulness as years are given him in which to minister to the trustful souls who hold him in such high regard both as man and priest.

MILTON LEONARD SEVERANCE.

Milton Leonard Severance, of Bennington, one of the most widely known clergymen in west- ern Vermont, son of Ebenezer and Corcina (Jones) Severance, was born in Middlebury, Vermont, October 14, 1830. He traces his an- cestry on the maternal side to Bethia Howard, who came to America on the Mayflower, and on his father's side to John Severans, who was a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston in June, 1638, the year in which it was organized. He is a grandson of Joseph Kirby, who was a captain in the battle of Bennington with two sons serving under him, and a second cousin of Edmund Kirby, who died May 28, 1863, aged twenty-three, and who in spite of his youth was a brigadier general of volunteers. Mr. Severance is also a second cousin of that brilliant Confederate officer, General Kirby Smith.

Mr. Severance fitted for college at Burr and Burton Seminary, Manchester, Vermont, and graduated from Middlebury College in 1859. He spent two years at Union Theological Seminary in New York, and graduated from Andover The- ological Seminary in 1863. He was principal of Ticonderoga Academy in 1859; pastor of the Congregational church in Boscawen, New Hamp- shire, from 1863 to 1868; pastor of the Congre- gational church in Orwell, Vermont, from 1868 to 1880: financial agent of Middlebury College nearly two years ; principal of Burr and Burton Seminary from September, 1882, to 1888, and was then pastor of the Old First church at Ben- nington Center, Vermont, until 1899. While pastor of the church in Boscawen, New Hamp- shire, he was superintendent of schools for two years, and was afterward a trustee of the Burr and Burton Seminary at Manchester. He was elected a member of the Bennington Battle Mon-

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THE STATE OF VERMONT.

ument Association. He is a member of the Delta Upsilon fraternity : of the Congregational Club of Western Vermont; of Tichenor Club, and of the Sons of the American Revolution.

He was joined in marriage with Miss Emily Augusta Spencer, August 16, 1859; and the children born of their union are: Rev. Claude Milton, Wilbert Nathaniel, Carlton Spencer, Maude Emily and Herbert Allen Severance.

Mrs. Emily A. Severance died May 24, 1898, and in the following year Mr. Severance re- signed the pastorate of the Old First church of Bennington, which took effect September, 1899, since which time he has been devoting himself to business pursuits. In the year 1900 he became director in a large lumber and commercial com- pany formed to operate in the Philippine Islands, and has given his time wholly to the interests of the company since its organization. On Novem- ber 12, 1900, he married Miss Ella Barckley Stewart, of Chicago. They have one child, Mil- ton Leonard, Jr., born December 13, 1902. They now reside at 72 North Willard street, Burling- ton, Vermont.

Mr. Severance was one of the most widely known clergymen in western Vermont, where he spent nearly thirty years in the ministry. As a preacher he took high rank. His style is terse and vigorous, while his sermons gave evidence of a scholarship at once ripe and progressive. As an after-dinner speaker he has comparatively few equals. His native wit and readiness at repartee have made him ever welcome at festive gather- ings, and scarcely a year passes in which his serv- ices are not in demand as Memorial Day orator.

JOSEPH TUTTLE STEARNS.

Joseph Tuttle Stearns, of Burlington, Ver- mont, can trace his ancestry to Isaac Stearns, who sailed from England, April 8, 1630, in com- pany with Sir Richard Saltonstall, the Rev. George Phillips, Governor Winthrop and others in the ship Arabella. He settled in Watertown. His son, Corporal Samuel Stearns, born April 24, 1638, married Hannah Manning, and their son John, born June 24, 1677, married, Febru- ary 21, 1701, Abigail Fiske born June 12, 1684. They resided on the old homestead, and reared a family of fifteen children. John died in 1729,

and his son Josiah, born October 14, 1704, set- tled on his father's farm and followed farming as an occupation ; he married, December 31, 1729, Susanna Ball, born March 16, 1708; she died in 1740, and he married Dorothy Prentice, who died October 30, 1750, and on April 23, 1752, he married Mary Bowman, of Cambridge, Massa- chusetts, who was born August 14, 1706. He acted in the capacity of selectman for the years 1754 and 1755. His son Jonas, born February 27, 1738, was a member of Captain Eager's com- pany at Westboro, Massachusetts, in 1757. He was married, May 14, 1758, to Submit Davis, of Lunenburg; she was born in 1742. By occupa- tion he was a cabinet-maker, and officiated as deacon of the Congregational church. About 1768 he removed to Chesterfield, New Hamp- shire, where he died September 13, 1782. His wife died in Marlboro, Vermont, February 24, 1815. His son was Jonas Boardman, born January 25, 1783, and he was united in marriage to Polly Page, of Marlboro, Vermont. Their son Lyman, born May 30, 1814, was a cerpenter by trade, and resided at Bellows Falls; he married Susan Marvin. He died in Grafton, Vermont, August 25, 1874.

His son, Captain Riley Burdett Stearns, was born in Rockingham, Vermont, August 29, 1840. He received a common school education, and in 1858 came to Burlington and engaged as clerk in the drug business until the breaking out of the Civil war. He enlisted, May 9, 1861, in Com- pany H, First Regiment Infantry, and served in the ranks during the entire term of that regiment until August 15, 1861. After a respite of a little more than three months, he re-enlisted, Novem- ber 30, 1861, in Company A, Seventh Regiment, Vermont Infantry, and was made first sergeant. October 15, 1862, he was promoted to be first lieutenant of his company. In July of the next year he received the appointment of acting ad- jutant, and, May 16, 1864, assumed, in addition, the duties of regimental quartermaster. . For a time he acted as assistant adjutant general of the First Brigade of troops in west Florida, and, September 22, 1864, was advanced to the cap- taincy of Company K of his regiment.

He was present at the first siege of Vicks- burg, in June and July of 1862; at the spirited charge at Gonzales station, Florida, July 22,

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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 109

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