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 11

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

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Governor Smith was honored by the degree of LL.D., conferred upon him by his alma mater. He married December 27, 1843, Ann Eliza Brainerd, eldest daughter of Hon. Lawrence Brainerd, of St. Albans, one of the incorporators of the Central Vermont Railroad, one of the founders of the national Republican party in 1856 and some time United States senator from Ver- mont. Mrs. Smith, a lady by birth and instinct, is a well known figure in the world of letters. Possessing a remarkable mind and brilliant lit- erary finish, she has been called the Corelli of America ; aside from her fictional works, she has contributed to our literature, scientific research and poetry of great strength. The palatial home of the late Governor and Mrs. Smith, a now

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Safmith

THE STATE OF VERMONT.

venerated but still active factor in St. Albans' so- ciety, has been the rendezvous of a delightful social element for many years. Governor Smith's death occurred November 6, 1891.

Governor and Mrs. Smith have been the pa- rents of the following children : George Gregory Smith, now a resident of Italy, occupying an his- toric villa near Florence; he married Mrs. Mary (St. Gem) Ebert, of St. Louis. Lawrence Brainerd Smith died in infancy. Annie Brain- erd Smith, who resides with her mother. Edward Curtis Smith, (8) noticed hereinafter. Julia Burnett Smith, the wife of Oliver Crocker Ste- vens, Esq., an attorney of Boston, ·Massachu- setts, residence, 365 Beacon street. Helen Lawrence Smith, the wife of the Rev. Dr. Donald Sage Mackay, pastor of the Collegiate church (Dutch Reformed), Fifth avenue, New York.

HON. EDWARD CURTIS SMITH, (8) ex-gov- ernor of Vermont and man of affairs, the son of Hon. John Gregory (7) and Ann Eliza (Brainerd) Smith, was born in St. Albans, Ver- mont, January 5, 1854. After attending the schools of his native town, he was fitted for col- lege at Phillip's Andover Academy, and was grad- uated from Yale University in the class of 1875, and was a member of Skull and Bones Society at Yale and received his degree of LL.B. two years later from the Columbia Law School, New York. In 1877 he was admitted to the bar of Vermont and became the junior partner in the law firm of Noble & Smith, where he enjoyed a remunerative practice and established his rep- utation as a lawyer.

In 1886 Governor Smith was elected second vice president of the Central Vermont Railroad, and assumed the duties of general manager of the road. He continued as such till the death of his father, the elder Governor Smith, in 1891, when he succeeded to the presidency of the com- pany, which position he occupied for several years, and at the reorganization of the road in 1899, became director and president, retiring from the latter in 1902. Governor Smith exhib- ited rare executive ability in the management of the Central Vermont, the third largest railroad in New England : it was his fixed policy to oper- ate the road in the interests of Vermont people. From his youth he was imbued with the progressive spirit of the day and has possessed

a practical knowledge of the material interests of the state.

Governor Smith's name comes naturally under the head of "Men of Progress," the man- tle of his distinguished father fell fittingly upon the shoulders of the son. Rarely do we find the main incidents of the life of one man so minutely repeated in the life of another as in the case the Governors Smith, father and son.

Governor Smith (the second) organized the Ogdensburg Transit Company, with a line of boats plying between Chicago and Ogdensburg, and became the president of the same. He is a director and officer in twenty-eight different companies, and has probably organized more corporations than any other man of his years in Vermont. He is president of the Welden Na- tional Bank, president of the People's Trust Company of St. Albans and of the St. Albans Messenger Company, and he is an ex-president of the New London Steamboat Company. As ex- ecutor of his father's estate, he manages one of the finest farm properties in the state, the "Point Farm," at St. Albans Bay, containing over eleven hundred acres. He is an ex-president of Lake Champlain Yacht Club, a vice president of the Vermont Fish and Game League, ex-governor of the Vermont Society of Colonial Wars, and past-president of the Vermont Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. In early life, Governor Smith was a private in Company D, Ransom Guards, Vermont National Guard, and in 1884 was appointed colonel and aid-de-camp on the military staff of Governor Pingree. In 1896 he served as delegate-at-large to the national Republican convention which nominated William McKinley for president.

In September, 1890, he was practically unan- imously elected representative from the town of St. Albans to the Vermont legislature, receiving nine hundred and three out of the nine hundred and five votes cast. This vote speaks for itself of Governor Smith's popularity at home, and this same popularity he enjoys all over Vermont and in other states where his many and varied business interests call him.

He was made chairman of the ways and means committee of the house, which committee was entrusted with the important duty of form- ulating a new corporation tax law. In 1892 he

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THE STATE OF VERMONT.

declined the nomination of state senator from Franklin county. In 1898 he was elected, by an unusually large majority, the chief executive of the state, and served with marked distinction till his successor, William W. Stickney, was elected to the office of governor in 1900. During Governor Smith's term of office, he and his charming wife occupied the Colonel E. P. Jewett residence at Montpelier, and dispensed a gracious and elegant hospitality never before equaled at the capital. It was his honor to be the host of the returning hero, Admiral George Dewey, at the close of the Spanish-American war, October 12, 1800. The elaborate reception tendered Ad- miral Dewey at that time belongs to the history of the state. Governor Smith married, October 3, 1888, Miss Anna B. James, the eldest daughter of the late Hon. Henry Ripley James, one of the most influential residents of Ogdensburg, New York, and granddaughter of the late Hon. Ama- ziah Bailey James, successively a member of Congress and justice of the supreme court of New York.

Mrs. Smith is a woman of exceptional love- liness, possessing the rarest feminine graces in abundance, of distinguished personal appearance, brilliant conversational powers and charm of manner, her social influence as the first lady of the state, during Governor Smith's term of of- fice, was incomparable. The domesticity of Gov- ernor and Mrs. Smith is supreme.

Their elegant residence, "Seven Acres," one of the finest estates in Vermont, overlooking the Champlain valley, has long been noted as a seat of generous hospitality. Mrs. Smith is the au- thor of several exceedingly clever stories and short plays which have won her secure fame as an amateur in the literary field. She is one of the Daughters of the American Revolution and is a charter member of the Vermont Society of Colonial Dames, her ancestors including Gov- ernor Bradford, of Mayflower fame and other distinguished men in the early history of this country. Governor and Mrs. Smith are the pa- rents of a most interesting family of children ; they are three sons and one daughter, James Gregory Smith, Edward Fairchild Smith, Curtis Ripley Smith, and Anna Dorothea Bradford Smith.

CHARLES DEWEY.

Hon. Charles Dewey, president of the First National Bank of Montpelier, was born in this city, March 27, 1826, a son of the late Dr. Julius Yemans Dewey. He comes of English ancestry on both sides of the house, being a descendant on the paternal side of Thomas Dewey, the immi- grant ancestor, and on the maternal side of Gov- ernor William Pynchon, the founder of Spring- field, Massachusetts. The line from Thomas Dewey is thus traced: Thomas, Josiah, Josiah, William, Simeon, William, Captain Simeon, Dr. Julius Yemans, Charles.

Thomas Dewey emigrated from Sandwich, county of Kent, England, to America in 1633, settling first in Dorchester, Massachusetts. In 1636 he became one of the original settlers of Windsor, Connecticut, and is mentioned in "Green's History of Springfield" as an associate of Captain John Mason on a mission to Spring- field in 1636, in behalf of the Connecticut settlers. He died in Windsor, Connecticut, April 27, 1648. He married, March 22, 1638-9, Mrs. Frances Clark, widow of Joseph Clark. She died at Westfield, Massachusetts, September 27, 1690.

Josiah Dewey, baptized at Windsor, Connec- ticut, October 10, 1641, died September 7, 1732, at Lebanon, Connecticut. He was sergeant of the guard at Westfield, Massachusetts, where he re- sided several years, during King Philip's war. On November 6, 1662, at Northampton, Massa- chusetts, he married Hebsibah Lyman, who was born at Windsor, Connecticut, in 1644, a daughter of Richard and Hebsibah (Ford) Lyman. She died at Lebanon, Connecticut, June 4, 1732. Her grandfather, Richard Lyman, Sr., was one of the original settlers of Hartford, Connecticut.

Josiah Dewey, born at Northampton, Massa- chusetts, December 24, 1666, died at Lebanon, Connecticut, in 1750. He married, January 15, 1690-I, at Northampton, Mehitable Miller, who was born at Northampton, Massachusetts, July 10, 1666, a daughter of William and Patience Miller.

William Dewey, born at Northampton, Mas- sachusetts, in January, 1692, died at Albany, New York, November 10, 1759. He served in the Revolution, being a corporal from Hebron,

THE STATE OF VERMONT.

Connecticut, in Lexington "alarm list." He mar- ried, at Lebanon, Connecticut, July 2, 1713, Mrs. Mercy Bailey, widow of Isaac Bailey, and daugh- ter of Joseph and Hannah (Dennison) Sexton. Her father, Captain Sexton, was a member of Captain Moseley's company, in 1675, and served as a captain in the militia during King Philip's war, and her maternal grandfather, Captain George Dennison, was a soldier under Oliver Cromwell, and was one of the captors of Canon- chet in King Philip's war.

Simeon Dewey, a life-long resident of Leb- anon, Connecticut, was born May I, 1718, and died March 2, 1751. He married, March 29, 1739, Anna Phelps, who was born at Mansfield, Connecticut, August 7, 1719, and died at Han- over, New Hampshire, September 25, 1807; she was a daughter of Benjamin and Deborah (Tem- ple) Phelps.

Corporal William Dewey, born at Lebanon, Connecticut, January II, 1746, died at Hanover, New Hampshire, June 10, 1813. In 1768 he married Rebecca Carrier, who was born in Col- chester, Connecticut, March 19, 1747, and died July 6, 1837. She was a daughter of Andrew and Rebecca (Rockwell) Carrier, and great-grand -. daughter of Thomas Carrier, one of the earlier settlers of Andover, Massachusetts, and later a pioneer of Colchester, Connecticut.

Captain Simeon Dewey, born at Hebron, Con- necticut, August 20, 1770, died at Montpelier, Vermont, January II, 1863. On February 27, 1794, he married Prudence Yemans, who was born at Tolland, Connecticut, March 29, 1772, and died at Berlin, Vermont, April 1, 1844.

Dr. Julius Yemans Dewey, born at Berlin, Vermont, August 22, 1801, died at Montpelier, Vermont, May 29, 1877. He was fitted for col- lege in the Washington county grammar school, was graduated from the medical department of the University of Vermont in 1824. After his graduation he formed a partnership with Dr. Edward Lamb, of Montpelier, with whom he had previously studied medicine, remaining with him a few years, and building up a large practice. In 1850, in company with Governor Paul Dilling- ham, Judge Timothy P. Redfield and others, he founded the National Life Insurance Company, and was made its general manager. In 1851 he was elected president of the company, and for a

number of years served as medical examiner for the organization. He was an Episcopalian in religion, and one of the founders of Christ church, toward the support of which he always contributed generously, likewise materially as- sisting in the building of both the old and the new churches. He gave freely to advance the cause of education, and was interested in mili- tary affairs, being appointed a surgeon in the militia by Governor Grafts.

Dr. Dewey maried, first, at Berlin, Vermont, June 9, 1825, Mary Perrin, who was born at Gilead, Connecticut, January 30, 1799, and died at Montpelier, Vermont, September 3, 1843. She was a daughter of Zachariah Perrin, who served in the Revolution as a member of the Eighth Company, Twelfth Regiment, Connecticut Mili- tia, under Captain John H. Wells. Her mother, whose maiden name was Mary Talcott, born June 17, 1758, was a daughter of Captain Sam- uel Talcott, born February 12, 1708, great-grand- daughter of Captain Samuel Talcott, who was born in 1634-5, and married Hannah Holyoke. She was also a lineal descendant of William Pyn- chon, the founder of Springfield, Massachusetts, and one of the most noted men of his day. Dr. Dewey married, again, August 3, 1845, Mrs. Susan (Edson) Tarbox, widow of Lund Tarbox ; she died at Montpelier, Vermont, September II, 1854. He married for his third wife, Mrs. Susan Elizabeth (Griggs) Lilley, of Worcester, Massa- chusetts, widow of Gibbs Lilley; she died at Brattleboro, Vermont, September 5, 1886. All of the children of Dr. Dewey were born of his first marriage.

Hon. Charles Dewey was educated in the Washington county grammar school, and at the University of Vermont, receiving his diploma from the latter institution in 1845. Immediately after his graduation, he became connected with the Vermont Mutual Fire Insurance Company as its assistant secretary, and served in that capac- ity until January, 1850, when he was advanced to the position of secretary, an office which he filled until November, 1871, and for thirty con- secutive years was also one of the directors of the company. In January, 1851, Mr. Dewey was elected a director of the National Life Insurance Company, with the management of which he was actively associated for nearly half a century, be-

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ing made vice president in January, 1871, and in June, 1877, succeeding his father, Dr. Julius Y. Dewey, as president, retaining that position until 1900. In January, 1865, he assisted in or . ganizing the First National Bank of Montpelier, was one of its first directors, served as vice pres. ident from 1878 until 1891, and has since been its president.

Mr. Dewey has long occupied a place of prom- inence in political, educational, religious and fra- ternal organizations, and is considered an au- thority on financial questions. In 1867, 1868 and 1869, he was state senator : in 1882 and 1883, he served as inspector of finance and savings bank examiner, being appointed by the governor, but declined reappointment ; he has been one of the trustees of the Washington county grammar school since 1864, and has served as president of the board since 1879. He belongs to the Vermont Society of the Sons of the Revolution, and to the Society of Colonial Wars, in which he served as governor for one year; and is a member of the Alumni Association of the University of Ver- mont, of which he was president two successive years. He is an active member of Christ church of Montpelier, which he served as vestryman fifty years; was six years junior warden; and for the past twenty-two years has been senior warden; he was a lay delegate from that church to the Episcopal diocesan convention for forty- three years, and a lay delegate from the diocesan convention to the general convention of the Epis- copal church in 1883, but declined a re-election ; for more than forty-eight years he was a member of the board of agents of the Society for the Propogation of the Gospel in Foreign Lands; and for a number of years was a trustee and vice president of the board of trustees of the Episco- pal Fund, and chairman of the investment com- mittee.

On May 3, 1848, at Montpelier, Vermont, Mr. Dewey married Betsey Tarbox, who was born at Randolph, Vermont, May 22, 1829, a daugh- ter of Lund and Susan (Edson) Tarbox, and granddaughter of James and Betsey (Lund) Tarbox, the former of whom was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, enlisting from the town of Dunstable, New Hampshire; she is a lineal de- scendant in the sixth generation from one of the first settlers of Lynn, Massachusetts, John Tar-

box, who was living there on or before April 4, 1639. Mr. and Mrs. Dewey are the parents of nine children, namely: Frances, wife of Henry E. Fifield, of Montpelier; Ella L., who married C. P. Pitkin, died in 1879; William T. married Alice Elmore French, daughter of James Gale and Orlantha (Goldsbury) French; Jennie, wife of E. D. Blackwell, of Brandon; George P., of Portland, Maine ; Gertrude M., wife of Frederick J. McCuen, of Montpelier ; Mary G., of Mont- pelier ; Mrs. Kate D. Squire, of Montpelier ; and Charles Robert, of New York city.

ADMIRAL GEORGE DEWEY, U. S. N.

This distinguished naval officer, who crowned a life of stirring activity with the brilliant vic- tory of Manila Bay, one of the most remarka- ble accomplishments in the annals of warfare on the sea, is a native of Vermont, born in Montpelier, December 26, 1837. His parents were Dr. Julius Y. and Mary (Perrin) Dewey, and he is in the eighth generation in descent

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BIRTHPLACE OF ADMIRAL DEWEY, MONTPELIER.

from Thomas Dewey, who came from Sandwich, Kent, England, in 1633, and settled in Dorches- ter, Massachusetts. The family genealogy is written at greater length in connection with that of Hon. Charles Dewey, a brother of Admiral Dewey, in this work.

George Dewey received his early education in the local schools in his native town, at the Academy in Johnson, Vermont, and at Norwich

ADMIRAL DEWEY. HERO OF MANILA BAY

THE STATE OF VERMONT.

University. At the close of his first year in the latter institution, he was appointed a cadet in the United States Naval Academy, and grad- uated in 1858, with high rank in his class. He saw his first sea service as passed midshipman on the steam frigate Wabash, attached to the Mediterranean squadron. April 19, 1861, he was commissioned lieutenant, and from 1861 to 1863 he served on the steam sloop Mississippi, of the West Gulf squadron, under Farragut. He took part in the capture of New Orleans in 1862, and particularly distinguished himself in the passage of Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip, and in the duel with the Confederate ram Ma- nassas and also in the capture of Port Royal in 1863. In the attack on Port Hudson, March 14, 1863, he was with his vessel, the Missis- sippi, when she grounded under the fire of the enemy's batteries and was fired and blown up by her commander to prevent her capture. He served on board a gunboat during the attack on Donaldsonville, Louisiana. Subsequently he served on the Agawam, of the North Atlantic squadron, and participated in the two naval at- tacks on Fort Fisher, in 1864-65. He. was pro- moted to lieutenant commander, March 3, 1865, and a year later became executive officer of the Kearsarge, which had won world-wide fame by destroying the Confederate cruiser Alabama, and which was now on the European station, and later he served on the frigate Colorado, flag- ship in the same waters. In 1868 he was detailed for duty at the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, where he remained two years. In 1870 he was assigned to his first vessel, the Nar- ragansett, which he commanded for five years. April 13, 1872, he was commissioned commander. He became a lighthouse inspector in 1876, and was secretary of the lighthouse board from 1877 to 1882. In the latter year he was assigned to the command of the Juanita, of the Asiatic squadron. In 1884 he was promoted to cap- tain and given command of the Dolphin, and from 1885 to 1888 he commanded the Pensa- cola, flagship of the European squadron. Dur- ing the following eight years he served as chief of the bureau of equipment and recruiting, and, for the second time, on the lighthouse board. He was commissioned commodore February 28,

1896. In 1896 and 1897 he was president of the inspection and survey board.

On November 30, 1897, Commodore Dewey was assigned to the Asiatic station and assumed command January 3, 1898. The war with Spain was then impending, and the selection of Commo- dore Dewey for this important distant command was significant as showing the confidence of the navy department in his capacity, courage, reso- lution and discretion, and in the exhibition of these qualities he equalled the highest expecta- tions. On April 18, 1898, he wrote in a private letter : "We are waiting for the declaration of war. I have seven ships ready for action. If war is the word, I believe we will make short work of the Spanish rule in the Philippines." Soon after the declaration of war, he was noti- fied by the Chinese government that under the neutrality rules his fleet could not remain in Chinese waters. His nearest available coaling station was Honolulu, and it was necessary to capture a harbor and coaling station, or suffer disaster. He was equal to the emergency and the opportunity. He sailed from Hong Kong with his flagship, the Olympia, the Boston, Baltimore, Concord, Raleigh and Petrel, and the McCulloch, a revenue cutter used as a dispatch boat, and the Zafiro, supply vessel. In the early morning of May I he took his squadron past the batteries and over the submarine mines in the Bay of Manila, engaged and utterly destroyed the Span- ish fleet of eleven vessels, and silenced the Cavite batteries, with the wounding of seven of his men as the only casualties, and without damage to a single vessel. That the attack of his fleet was but feebly contested, detracts nothing from the honor due to Commodore Dewey for his gallant and determined conduct. Immediately upon the re- ceipt of Commodore Dewey's dispatch announc- ing his victory, President Mckinley telegraphed his thanks and congratulations, and notified him of his appointment as acting rear-admiral in recognition of his splendid achievement. Two days later the president sent to Congress a mes- sage recommending that the thanks of that body be given to "Acting Rear-Admiral George Dewey for highly distinguished conduct in conflict with the enemy, and to the officers and men under his command." The same day (May 9) Congress

THE STATE OF VERMONT.

complied with this recommendation, and passed a joint resolution of thanks to Admiral Dewey, and voted to him a sword of honor, and to the members of his fleet medals commemorative of the victory. It also passed a bill increasing the number of rear admirals from six to seven, in order to provide for the promotion of the gal- lant sailor.

During the trying period which followed, the position of Admiral Dewey required the exercise of constant alertness and coolness, owing to the presence of a German fleet in almost open sym- pathy with Spain, and the peculiar relations with the Philippine insurgents. In all he displayed rare sagacity, and held his mastery of the situa- tion until the closing act of the war, the capture of the city of Manila by the combined naval, and military forces of the United States, on August 13, 1898. His courage, dignity, tact and wise judgment won for him universal praise, from friends and foes alike, on both sides of the At- lantic. He was showered with honors which took form in honorary degrees from American col- leges, resolutions of thanks by various legislative and municipal bodies, and honorary membership in numerous societies and clubs.

Rear Admiral Dewey is a member of the Ar- my and Navy and Metropolitan clubs of Washing- ton city, and of the University Club of New York. October 24, 1867, he was married to Miss Susan Goodwin, daughter of Governor Goodwin, of New Hampshire, and she died December 28, . 1872, five days after the birth of a son, George Goodwin Dewey, who graduated at Princeton College, and is a commission merchant in New York city.

GEORGE FRANKLIN DANIELS.

George Franklin Daniels, proprietor of Hard- wick Inn, at Hardwick, is well known to the traveling public as a genial and accommodating host. He was born at Grafton, Massachusetts, June 6, 1859. His father, Elisha Daniels, was a shoemaker during his early life, later becoming a stationary engineer, but is now living retired from active pursuits. He married Hannah P. Wood.

George F. Daniels was reared and educated in Grafton, and began life for himself as a com-

mercial salesman, traveling through Illinois, In- diana and the southern states. In 1884 he em- barked in the hotel business at Phillips, Maine, going from there to Lewiston, Maine, where he had charge of a leading hotel for awhile. Going from there to Greenfield, Massachusetts, he was connected with the Mansion House, and later with the United States Hotel at Hartford, Con- necticut. He subsequently accepted the position of steward on the City of Hartford, running be- tween Hartford and New York. Returning, how- ever, to his former employment, he was associated for a time with the management of the Elm Tree Inn, at Farmington, Connecticut, one of the most noted hotels of the Union. In roof he bought of Mr. Grokin the Hardwick Inn, which he has since conducted with good success. This hotel, erected in 1876, has recently been entirely reno- vated and improved, adding greatly to the inter- ior conveniences and comforts. It contains thirty guest chambers, is heated by steam, lighted by electricity, and is one of the finest in its furnish- ings and equipments of any public house in this part of the state. Mr. Daniels is a popular land- lord, and his house is well patronized. He has given much attention to the game of checkers, and has the largest library upon the subject in the United States.

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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 11

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