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 118

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 118

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FRED MASON BUTLER.

Fred Mason Butler, a prominent lawyer of Rutland, Vermont, and one who has been fre- quently honored by his fellow citizens with posi- tions of trust, is a representative of a family which, in the different generations, has rendered important services to the state. His great-grand- father, Aaron Butler, was born August 4, 1755, in Connecticut, settledi at Jamaica, Vermont, when the country was a wilderness, cleared up a large farm, and was one of the pioneers in the community. Before removing to Vermont, he enlisted in the Continental army from Danbury, Connecticut, July 14, 1775, and afterward served as ensign in the Third Regiment, Connecticut Line. He died at Jamaica, Vermont, April 25, 1785, leaving a wife, Thankful Wildman, and four children : John; Zechariah; Aaron, mentioned at length hereinafter ; and Lucy, all of whom set- tled in Jamaica, Vermont, with their father, when that part of the country was still covered by a dense forest.

Aaron Butler, son of Aaron and Thankful (Wildman) Butler, was born July 24, 1783, in Jamaica, Vermont, held several town offices, was a Universalist, and active in the church. He married Lucinda Howard. Their children were: (I) John E., born December 14, 1809. He stud- ied law ith Hon. Dorr Bradley, and practiced at Wilmington and Jamaica, Vermont, was in the senate and house, and was a prominent lawyer in his day, being considered the best examiner of witnesses of his time at the Vermont bar. He married Roxana Brooks, and they were the par- ents of the following children : John A .; Henry and George, deceased. John A. has for many years engaged in foreign exchange business in New York; he has two children, George Muzzey

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and Blanche. (2) Aaron Mason is mentioned at length hereinafter. (3) Nathan L., born July 14. 1818, studied with his brother, John E., and practiced law at Wilmington, Vermont, many years ago. He married Melvina G. Brown. Their chidren were: Herbert, who served in the Civil war, and died in the service, of disease; and Mary, who married Herbert Bartlett, now de- ceased. (4) Miranda married George Adams, a farmer of Windham, Vermont. (5) Diana is unmarried. (6) Manora married John Converse, a merchant of Wardsboro. (7) Vioma married Perley S. Dunton, a merchant at Townshend, Vermont. (8) Emeliza married Massena F. Ballou, a merchant at Townshend, Vermont, and Meriden, Connecticut. Aaron Butler died at Jamaica, February 1, 1877, in the ninety-fourth year of his age.

Aaron Mason Butler, second child of Aaron and Lucinda (Howard) Butler, was born at Ja- maica December 28, 1815, and educated in the common school. He was a farmer, progressive in his methods and very prosperous. He was a man much trusted and esteemed by his fellow citizens, holding, at different times, all the local offices. For many years he was lister and select- man, and for fifteen years justice of the peace. He was a director in the Vermont Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and trustee of the Jamaica Savings Bank, and a zealous and liberal member of the Baptist church. He married Emeline, daughter of Deacon James Muzzey, a farmer of Jamaica. Aaron Mason Butler died at Jamaica, October 3, 1886, and his wife, Emeline Muzzey Butler, died May 8, 1877. Their children were: (1) Wayne M., born at Jamaica, July 23, 1847, was for many years a carpenter and builder at Chicopee and Orange, but later, and up to the present time, engaged in farming in his native town. He has held several local offices. He married Mary Cary, and their son, Albert Wayne, who graduated from the University of Vermont in 1901, is now studying law in the office of his uncle, ex-Judge Fred M. Butler. (2) Fred Ma- son is mentioned at length hereinafter. (3) Ed gar M. was born at Jamaica, October 10, 1857. He is now a merchant and farmer, also a cattle dealer in his native place, has held all the local offices, such as selectman, lister, town representa- tive and justice of the peace. He married Carrie

Prentis, and their family consists of five children : Maud E., Ethel, Lila, Aaron Prentiss and Fred- erick Mason. (4) Cora married Fred P. Jones, who is now deceased.

Fred Mason Butler, second child of Aaron Mason and Emeline (Muzzey) Butler, was born May 28, 1854, at Jamaica, Windham county, Ver- mont, and was educated in the common school and in Leland and Gray Seminary, from which he graduated in 1874. He then entered the office of Jonathan G. Eddy, who, after a short time, went to Brattleboro, Vermont, and Mr. Butler then spent a year and a half in the office of Hoyt H. Wheeler (now United States district judge) and E. L. Waterman, at Jamaica. He was admitted to the bar of Windham county in 1877, at the March term of court, and the following summer went to Rutland, where he has since engaged in practice. He soon became associated with Hon. Joel C. Baker, the leading attorney of the place. He practiced alone for a brief period. In 1879 he became a partner of the Hon. L. W. Red- dington, the firm being known as Reddington & Butler. This partnership extended over a period of six years. In 1885 Mr. Butler became asso- ciated with his present partner, Thomas W. Mo- loney, their firm being to-day the strongest and most extensive in Rutland county, if not in the state. There are few volumes of the Reports of the Supreme Court of Vermont, issued since 1881, that do not contain important cases in which they were actively engaged. Among the most import- ant of the cases prosecuted to a successful con- clusion by the firm was that of John O'Brien and John C. Sheehan against the Rutland Railroad Company ; the Champlain Construction Company, P. W. Clement and W. Seward Webb in the United States circuit court, which resulted. after nearly two years of litigation and the taking of thousands of pages of testimony, in decrees ag- gregating something over two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the plaintiff. This is one of the most important cases in the late history of the bar of the state. There were many counter-suits growing out of the same litigation, in all of which the firm was successful.

Mr. Butler is a Republican in politics, but while he has taken part in the political affairs of his town he has preferred, as a rule, to devote himself to his legal work. He was town grand

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THE STATE OF VERMONT.

juror in 1882-83-84 ; he then held the position of city attorney until he was appointed judge of the city court in 1889, a position to which he was successively appointed by Governors Dillingham, Page and Fuller. At the end of six years he declined a re-appointment in order to devote his time exclusively to his ever increasing law prac- tice, which his sterling qualities, eminent ability and legal learning had made second to none in the country. The preparation and trial of causes in the supreme court has become with him a specialty. He obtained from the legislature a charter for the State Mutual Fire Insurance Com- pany, and has been a director and attorney of that corporation since its organization. He is treasurer and managing director of the Rutland City Electric Campany, which operates all the electric lights in Rutland, and furnishes electric power for many industries in that city, as well as for the electric railroad in Rutland and West Rutland. He is also director in the Baxter Na- tional Bank.

Mr. Butler married, November 24, 1875, Lillian, daughter of Josiah and Octavia (Knight) Holton, of Dummerston, and their children are : Anza Lillian, Helen Maria and Florence Muzzey.

COLONEL EDWARD B .. SAWYER.

Colonel Edward Bertrand Sawyer, of Hyde Park, Vermont, lawyer by profession. and an active, public-spirited citizen, possesses a splendid heritage in an ancestry which was illustrious dur- ing the Revolutionary period, and the best years of his own life were passed in the service of his country during the great Civil war.

The Sawyer family originated in Massachu- setts, where, in 1768, Joshua Sawyer married Ruth Peasley, who was born July 24, 1746, a daughter of Colonel Nathaniel Peasley, of Haver- hill. Their children were Ruth, Nathaniel P., William, Mary, Sarah, Martha, Joseph, Joshua and Sophia.

Joshua Sawyer, next to the youngest child in the family named, was born at Haverhill, Massachusetts, July 23, 1787. Educated in the schools of his native village and Newburyport, he was instructed in the law by Hon. Edward Little, of Newburyport, and, after his removal to Vermont, by Judge Ferrand, of Burlington.

He was a fine type of the old-school lawyer and gentleman. He was precise in his statements, firm in upholding his views, and yet all his in- tercourse with his fellows was marked by great urbanity. His practice was extensive and lu- crative, and extended over the phenomenal period of sixty years, longer, it is believed, than that of any other lawyer in Vermont. He served in the state legislature for -eleven years, and he pro- cured the legislation which established the county of Lamoille. In 1816 he opened a bed of iron ore at Elmore, and set up a forge at Cady's Falls, but fire and flood devastated the property and involved him in great loss.

In 1811 Joshua Sawyer was married to Mary Keeler, daughter of Ensign Aaron and Gloriana (Hubbell) Keeler. Her father was born in Nor- walk, Connecticut, in 1756. At the age of nine- teen (in 1777) he enlisted in the Continental army in the company of Captain (afterwards Major) Samuel Comstock's Fifth Connecticut Regiment, and his service continued until the end of the war. He was corporal April 21, 1777; sergeant major, 1780; and ensign, 1781. He was with Washington at Valley Forge, and he tran- scribed to his journal the infamously famous anonymous circular which urged the dis- bandment of the Patriot army, and also the address issued by Washington in reply there- to. He was engaged in the defense of Fort Mifflin, the battle of Monmouth and other notable engagements. He suffered a sunstroke July 28, 1778, from which he never fully re- covered. The Continental currency with which he was paid for his seven years' service was so greatly depreciated that it was only suffi- cient for the purchase of the yoke of oxen which brought him to Vermont, and he was never pen- sioned, although he received some compensation for the sunstroke received while he was in the service. In 1790 he made a set- tlement at Elmore, Vermont, but two years later he exchanged his land for a two hundred acre tract at Hyde Park, upon which a portion of the village is now located. He was a useful and honored citizen, and occu- pied various positions of honor and trust. Sep- tember 28, 1785, he married Floriana Hubbell, a sister of Seth Hubbell, who was prominent in the settlement of Wolcott. Mr. Keeler died in

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1816, aged sixty years, and his widow died at the age of eighty-four years. Their children were Frederick, Aaron, David, Sarah and Mary, the last named of whom became the wife of Joshua Sawyer. Fourteen of the descendants of Mr. Keeler served in the Civil war.

The children of Joshua and Mary (Keeler) Sawyer were: Maria; Victor Moreau; Lucien Bonaparte ; William Norman; Edward Bertrand ; Joshua Peasley, who was a lieutenant in Company H, Second Regiment, Vermont Volunteers, serv- ing from the first battle of Bull Run until the second-day battle in the Wilderness, when he was shot in the arm; Franklin E., who served in Company I, First Regiment Vermont Cavalry, rising to the rank of commissary sergeant, and is now a farmer at Hyde Park, married Lizzie Wood, and to them was born one child, Law- rence B .; Juliet, who married William Frazier, and their three sons died during the Civil war; Ruth Peasley, who married Dr. Ira Metcalf, and, after his death, Colonel Hodgkins, of New York. Mr. Sawyer died March 16, 1866, in the full possession of his mental faculties, aged nearly eighty years.

Edward Bertrand Sawyer, son of Joshua and Mary (Keeler) Sawyer, was born in Hyde Park, Vermont, April 16, 1828. He received his edu- cation in public and private schools and in the People's Academy. For three years of his youth he was engaged with his brother, Victor, a mer- chant in the village of Pike River, province of Quebec. Stationed here were detachments of the Queen's Light Dragoons and the Montreal Royal Cavalry, and young Sawyer made a friendly ac- quaintance with several of their men and wit- nessed their drills and rode with them, becom- ing an accomplished horseman. This experience was of no little value to him, for it inclined him to the cavalry arm when he entered upon military service, and he was a well drilled man from the first.

Returning home, Mr. Sawyer undertook to remedy his educational defects by close private studies, making Benjamin Franklin his exem- plar and his autobiography one of his favorite text books. At the age of eighteen he began reading law under the tutorship of his father, and he further prosecuted his studies under Hon. W. W. White, of Johnson. In 1849, when twenty-one

years old, he was admitted to the bar, and at once began practice in association with his father. In the same year he was appointed clerk of court, and, two years excepted, he occupied this posi- tion until the Civil war broke out, when he re- signed to enter the army.

Enrolling himself first, on September 14, 1861, he recruited Company D, Fifth Regiment Vermont Volunteers, and he subsequently re- cruited Company I, First Regiment Vermont Cav- alry. He was unanimously elected to the cap- taincy of the latter command, and with it went to the field. Promoted to the rank of major, be accompanied General Banks down the Shenan- doah Valley, and received a severe injury by his horse falling upon him. During his enforced stay at home, he recruited two hundred men for his regiment, and organized an additional squadron. He was promoted to colonel September 16, 1862, and commanded the second brigade of Kilpat- rick's division upon several occasions, the last of which was when that dashing leader made his brilliant raid upon Richmond. In September, 1863, Colonel Sawyer was wounded in the cheek by a rebel sharpshooter, but he remained in serv- ice until April 24, 1864, when he resigned. He had participated in many engagements of more or less importance, frequently commanding a brigade, and having command of independent ex- peditions, and he was often complimented by his- superiors for his courage and officer-like quali- ties. In each instance his promotion came to him unsought, the proper reward of duty well done.

Returning home, Colonel Sawyer gave his attention to the artificial breeding of trout, and he was the first in the state to essay the under- taking. He abandoned it two years later to be- come the owner of the Lamoille Newsdealer, which he edited with marked ability during the next three years, particularly exerting its influ- ence in behalf of the building of the Portland & Ogdensburg Railroad. In 1870 he sold his- newspaper, and for seven years afterwards con- ducted the American Hotel. During a portion of this time (from 1868 to 1875) he was also clerk.of court. In 1877 he resumed the practice of law, which has since been his principal occu- pation.

During his entire mature life Colonel Sawyer has been an important factor in all connected with

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the development and improvement of his home village, and his influence has been felt at every stage of its progress. He has been a life-long politician, using that word in its best sense, for his political activity has been bred of patriotic enthusiasm and not of self-seeking ambition. An ardent Whig in his youth, he sang for "Tippe- canoe and Tyler, too," in the log-cabin campaign of '40. He was in the great meeting which or- ganized the Republican party in Vermont in 1856, and he spoke in behalf of Fremont and Dayton in every town in his county, and he sat in the convention which nominated Ryland Fletcher, the first Republican governor of Vermont. He was a determined opponent of human slavery, and an enthusiastic admirer of Lincoln, whom he heard during the famous debate with Douglas. He was the junior member and secretary of the Vermont delegation in the national convention which nominated Lincoln to the presidency, and he attended both inaugurations of that martyr statesman. In 1870 he was a member of the constitutional convention, and labored industri- ously to bring about the biennial session. His more recent years have been of somewhat less activity than formerly, but he keeps in close touch with the events of the day, and exerts a potent influence in the community, in which he is hon- ored for his personal worth, his life of great use- fulness, and that sunshiny yet philosophical cast of mind which makes his utterance pleasing and persuasive. Cherishing a genuine reverence for his patriotic ancestry, he organized the Grand Army Post and gave it the name of Aaron Keeler, in honor of his maternal grandfather, of Revo- lutionary fame, and of this post he was the first commander.

Colonel Sawyer was married to Susan Almira, born May 3, 1831, daughter of Hon. Isaac and Dorcas (Titus) Pennock. The children born of this marriage were as follows: Myra Ellen, wife of Fred Keeler, proprietor of the St. Johnsbury Hotel, and to whom were born two children, Myra Ellen and Nelson Bertrand; Myra Ellen became the wife of John Hardy, Jr., son of Judge John Hardy, of the supreme court of Massa- chusetts, and of this marirage were born two sons, John and Sherman. (2) Edward B. Sawyer, a civil engineer located at Montrose, Colorado, for- merly county and city engineer and assistant en-

gineer of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad; he married a daughter of Colonel Peters, and they have a son, Joshua. (3) Martha Helen Sawyer is unmarried, and resides in Boston. (4) Ber- tha Mary is deceased.

In August, 1866, Colonel Sawyer took for his second wife Helen M., a sister of his deceased wife. The children born of this marriage were: Alma Dorcas ; Clarence Parsons Sawyer, who is editor of the Hardwick Gasette, married Frances Warner, and to them was born a daughter, Helen Frances ; Lucy E. Sawyer, a teacher in the high school at St. Johnsbury.

ELEAZER HUBBELL DEMING.

Eleazer Hubbell Deming, deceased, could trace his ancestry back to the fifth generation, to John Deming, who married Miss Honor. He was the patentee of the charter of Connecticut, which was made in 1632. His son David was the father of the Rev. David Deming, a graduate of Yale College, and a minister of the Congregational de- nomination. His son David was the father of Pownel Deming. Pownel Deming was born in Lyme, Connecticut, September 30, 1749, and died at Hartford, Connecticut, in 1795. He was an officer, and served in the Revolutionary war, par- ticipating in the battles of Lexington and Bunker Hill. He was also a member of the Society of the Cincinnati. He married Abigail Hubbell, daugh- ter of Ann Noble and Eleazer Hubbell, of Weth - ersfield, Connecticut. His only child was Eleazer Hubbell Deming.

Eleazer Hubbell Deming was born February 13, 1785, in Wethersfield, Connecticut, where he received his education, and moved with his mother's family to Vermont. His active life was passed in Burlington, where he became promi- nently identified with the business and social life of the town. It was largely through his efforts that the foundations were laid which made that city the great metropolis of Vermont. He was also instrumental in the building up of the Uni- tarian church, in which he was a firm believer, and his wife, being of the Episcopal faith, aided in the support of that church. In 1816 he erected a residence known as the old Deming Home- stead, on Pearl street, which is now owned by his grandson, Mr. Charles A. Hoyt.

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Eleazer HI. Deming was united in marriage to Miss Fanny Follett, daugliter of Timothy Fol- lett and Susanna Fay, of Bennington, Vermont, and eight children were born to them, four of whom lived to maturity; Charles Follett, who was a graduate of Harvard Law School, and died at the age of twenty-two years; Caroline, wife of Carlos Baxter; Maria, widow of Colonel N. A. Tucker; and Anne, who married the Rev. William Henry Hoyt. At the time of their mar- riage Rev. Hoyt was the rector of the Episcopal church at St. Albans, Vermont. Later he be- came a clergyman in the Catholic church. He was born in New Hampshire, practiced law for some years, and was the proprietor and editor of the Burlington Sentinel. Their children are: Charles Albert, of New York city; William Henry, of New York city; Francis Dem- ing; Anna; Mary Elizabeth; Julia Cath- erine; Jennie F .; George A .; Edward Vincent, of New York city; Frederick A., of New York city ; and Henrianna M. Hoyt. The Rev. William Henry Hoyt died December II, 1883, and his wife died January 16, 1875. Mr. Deming died at Burlington, Vermont, May 18, 1828, and his wife passed away in 1878, at the extreme age of ninety years.

JOHN P. WEBSTER.

John P. Webster, for many years prominent in public affairs in Lyndonville, Vermont, and pres- ent postmaster of that village, is of Welsh an- cestry. James Webster, his paternal great-grand- father, came from Wales and settled in Connecti- cut, and died October 10, 1807, aged sixty -seven years ; his wife Hannah died December 14, 1813, at the same age.

Alanson, son of James and Hannah Webster, was born March 6, 1787, in Connecticut. When a young man he rode on horseback from his native state to the town of Sheldon, in Franklin county, Vermont, where he settled and made a home. After several years he removed to Fairfax, in the same county, whence he removed in 1852 to Lowell, Orleans county, where he died Feb- ruary 21, 1881. His wife, Lucy Reed, was born in Sheldon, Vermont, October 20, 1795, and sur- vived her husband less than five months, dying August 8, 1881, in Lowell, Vermont.

Alonzo Webster, son of Alanson and Lucy (Reed) Webster, was born in Sheldon, Vermont, January 15, 1817, and died in Lyndonville, April 14, 1896. He was a farmer by occupation. In religion he was a Methodist. His political affilia- tions were with the Whig party until its disso- lution, when he became a Republican. He was a man of exemplary life, industrious, energetic and frugal. He married Sophronia E. Purmort, a daughter of John Purmort, who was of French descent; she was born in Georgia, Franklin county, Vermont, in October, 1820, and died in Sutton, Vermont; October 2, 1889.

John Purmort Webster, son of Alonzo and Sophronia (Purmort) Webster, was born in Fair- fax, Franklin county, Vermont, August 8, 1844. He remained upon the homestead farm, obtain- ing his education in the neighborhood schools and assisting in the cultivation of the farm, until his twenty-fourth year. He then went to Dor- chester, Massachusetts, where he found employ- ment with Thomas Payson, a merchant and con- tractor, with whom he remained in the capacity of a store clerk for five years. At the end of that time he entered upon a similar engagement in Somerville, Massachusetts, in which he remained for three years, when failing health warned him to seek a change of climate. In May, 1876, he went to Colorado, and thence to Minnesota, where he remained for four years. Having regained his health, he returned in the spring of 188c to Lyn- donville, Vermont, primarily to care for his aged parents. For seven years he worked in mercan- tile establishments, and from 1887 to 1897 he conducted a small farm, much of his time during this period being occupied with his duties as con- stable and collector, to which positions he was elected by the people. A man of excellent busi- ness qualifications and unimpeachable character, he was appointed postmaster by President Mc- Kinley, in January, 1902, and acquitted himself in the position so creditably that he was re-ap- pointed for a term of four years by President Roosevelt. His political affiliations have been with the Republican party from his coming of age, and his first presidential vote was cast for General Ulysses Grant, when that distinguished soldier was elected for his first term ..

Mr. Webster takes a deep interest in political affairs, and has frequently served as a delegate

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in local and state conventions. In 1870 he be- came a member of Norfolk Lodge No. 48, I. O. O. F., at Dorchester, Massachusetts, and con- tintes his connection with that body. In 1884 he was made a Master Mason in Crescent Lodge No. 66, Lyndonville, Vermont, with which he is yet affiliated. Mr. Webster was married July 27, 1880, to Miss Clementine E. Foss, daughter of Mr. Seldon Foss, of Barton, Vermont.

RODNEY FORSYTH CARTER.

Rodney Forsyth Carter, of Hardwick, is car- rying on a very large and satisfactory business as proprietor of the Standard Granite Company's quarries, which are located about one and one- half miles southeast of the village. He was born February 20, 1838, in Deering, Hillsboro county, New Hampshire, which was also the native place ·of his parents, Rev. David S. and Naomi (For- syth) Carter. The father was a Methodist cler- gyman, who did most of his work in New Hamp- shire.

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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 118

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