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 119
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Rodney F. Carter served an apprenticeship at the trade of a machinist and mechanical en- gineer, and during the Civil war was an engineer in the United States navy, serving from 1861 until 1865. He enlisted as third assistant engineer, and was promoted to first assistant engineer. At the close of the war he embarked in the merchant marine service, having charge of a vessel running to South America, and visting all of the more important ports of that continent. In 1867 he accepted the charge of a steamship running be- tween Baltimore and New Orleans, later having an interest in a line of boats plying between Balti- more and New York city. Locating in Mont- pelier, Vermont, in 1876, he engaged in the gran- ite business there with Sumner Kimball, and soon after opened quarries at Ryegate. He continued there twelve years, buying out his partner after two years, and conducted a prosperous business. In 1888 he removed to Hardwick, and here he has developed a fine business, the quarries pro- ducing one of the finest grades of granite in the world, for which he has ready sale, supplying material for monumental and building purposes to leading firms at home and abroad. He has put up over one hundred thousand dollars' worth ·of monumental work on the field of Gettysburg.
He is a man of great energy and enterprise, pos- sessing rare business ability, and is sure of suc- cess in almost any undertaking.
In April, 1867, he was married at Baltimore to Miss Emma C. Zastrow, a daughter of Fred- erick and Charlotte (Emrich) Zastrow, natives of Stettin and Frankfort-on-the-Main, respective- ly. Mrs. Carter was born in Baltimore, and has borne twelve children, six of whom are living. Of these, three sons are prosperously engaged in the monumental business in Hardwick. There are three daughters, Naomi, Emma B. and Ruth. The eldest is the wife of Elton Darden, of Balti- more.
BENTON HAYNES, M. D.
Dr. Benton Haynes, who has been known for many years as one of the most enterprising citi- zens of Grand Isle, Vermont, is a native of the state, and his ancestors for three generations were identified with the region from the time when it was an unknown wilderness. His great-grand- father, Aaron" Haynes, lived upon the ground now occupied by the village of North Hero, in Grand Isle county, and here was born, in 1770, Moses, who was the father of Elijah Haynes.
Elijah Haynes was born in North Hero, May 23, 1804. He began his education in the neigh- borhood schools of his day. They were poorly equipped, but he had an avidity for learning, and he became so excellent a scholar that he was capa- ble of teaching, and he busied himself in that calling in order to procure means for his subse- quent entrance to the University of Vermont. After leaving that institution, he became a sttt- dent in Clinton Medical College, at Plattsburg, New York. He entered upon practice in his native village, and was for many years the best known and most trusted physician throughout a large scope of country. He was one of the lead- ing men of the county, and served as selectman, member of the circuit court, judge of probate, and member of the legislature. He was an ex- emplary man, and a consistent attendant at the Methodist Episcopal church. He died in 1864, at the age of sixty years. He was twice married. His first wife was Harriet Darrow, born in North Hero in 1814. She died at the age of twenty- four, having borne to her husband two children, of whom Benton Haynes alone came to maturity.
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Elijah Haynes married for his second wife Polly Ann Darrow, and she was the mother of four children : Moses, Mary, who married Orris P. Knight; William, who became judge of probate at North Hero; and Luman E., who resides in Springfield, Vermont. The mother of these chil- dren long outlived her husband, and died at an extreme age.
Benton Haynes, son of Elijah and Harriet (Darrow) Hayes, was born in North Hero, De- cember 4, 1836, and was but two years old when his mother died. He began his education in the common schools, gave one term to academical studies, and then entered the University of Ver- mont, from which he was graduated in due course. He then took up the study of medicine under the preceptorship of his father, and after- wards under that of Dr. J. Hyde, in Isle LaMotte. In 1863 he attended lectures, and in the follow- ing year entered Bellevue (New York) Medical College, from which he was graduated with high honors in 1865. He subsequently attended a course of lectures, taking post-graduate instruc- tion, and in 1866 began practice in North Hero. The same year he removed to Grand Isle and took up pursuits which he found more congenial and profitable than professional work, and which gradually led to his partial retirement from prac- tice. He first erected a building for the manu- facture of cider vinegar, and made this business a gratifying success, from time to time increas- ing his facilities, and producing so superior a quality as to command the best markets in the east. He also set out on a portion of his one hundred acre tract an orchard of some four thou- sand trees of various species of fruit. Apicul- ture also engaged his intelligent attention. Be- ginning with a single hive of bees, given him by a friend, he now cares for one hundred fifty swarms. A part of his farm he gives to grazing uses far a large flock of finely bred sheep, and the remainder he devotes to general farming. Dr. Haynes is in all respects progressive and enter- prising, and bears a full share in the advance- men of all community interests, moral and ma- terial. In religion he is a Seventh Day Adventist and is a foremost supporter of the church of his preference. He is an ardent temperance ad- vocate, and is widely known as an influential member of the Order of Good Templars.
MURRAY OSCAR HICKS.
Murray O. Hicks, proprietor of the livery stable at Readsboro, and truckman, was born in Readsboro, May 9, 1862, a son of the late Daniel J. Hicks. His paternal grandfather, Rev. Jona- than Hicks, was a Universalist minister, and one of the pioneer preachers of this section of the country, coming here when it was almost a wil-
MURRAY OSCAR HICKS.
derness, and making his home chiefly in Monroe, Massachusetts. He became well known and was held in high esteem, his death, at the age of eighty-two years, being mourned by the many people to whom he had ministered. Of the eight children born to him and his wife, Abigail, all lived more than half a century, their names being as follows: Lydia, Mary Ann, Maria, Joseph, Gailey, Sabrina, Daniel J. and Albert.
Daniel J. Hicks lived in Monroe, Massachu- setts, until twenty years old, when he settled in Readsboro, where he resided until his death, in
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1901, at the age of seventy-nine years. He fol- lowed farming and lumbering, and also operated a sawmill, carrying on an exensive business for many years. A man of upright principles and a true Christian, he was one of the representative men of the town. He married Vedee Bishop, who was born in Readsboro, a daughter of Dea- con Jay Bishop, who came here at an early day from Connecticut, and was engaged in farming. Deacon Bishop had the following named chil- dren: Jay, Jr., a Universalist minister; Seth; Chauncey ; Phebe ; and Vedee, who married Dan- iel J. Hicks. Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. D. J. Hicks six children were born, two of whom are dead, namely : Francelia, who died at the age of twenty-two years; and Alma, who died at the age of twenty-three years. Those now living are as follows: Cordelia, wife of Philander Rice, of Kansas ; Enos, a resident of Pownal, Vermont ; Emma, wife of Addison Goldthwaite, of Rowe, Massachusetts; and Murray O., with whom this brief sketch is chiefly concerned. Both parents were members of the Universalist church, the father for a number of years being superinten- dent of the Sunday-school.
Murray O. Hicks acquired his early education in the public schools of Readsboro, and until twenty-two years old assisted his father in farm- ing and lumbering. Entering then the service of the Hoosac Tunnel & Wilmington Railway Com- pany, he was conductor on the road for five years. Giving up that position he established himself in the livery business in Readsboro, soon after in- augurating a general system of trucking, and has since carried on both with marked success, having the only livery stable in the town, and doing a large amount of trucking for the various mills in the place. Mr. Hicks is a firm supporter of the principles promulgated by the Republican party, and has served his fellow townsmen in many official capacities. He was first elected as lister in 1884, and has since served eight years, though not continuously, and is now, in 1902, filling this office. He has served on the town and county committee ; was school director two terms ; has been road commissioner and village trustee ; and was elected representative in 1900 by the largest majority ever given a candidate for this office in this town, serving on the committee on grand lists. Fraternally he is an Odd Fellow.
Mr. Hicks married, first, in 1883, Miss Alta B. Scott, who was born in Stamford, Vermont, a daughter of Walter Scott, a teamster and express agent at North Adams, Massachusetts. She died at the age of twenty-one years, leaving one child, Florence V. Mr. Hicks married, second, June 21, 1893, Miss Bertha Mason, a native of Harts- ville, Massachusetts, being a daughter of the late Silas Mason. Silas Mason was born and brought up in Princeton, Massachusetts, where he engaged in farming for a few years. Coming then to Reads- boro, Vermont, with his brother, Joel, he started a chair factory, of which he was manager for a time. He subsequently embarked in the lumber business, which he conducted up to the time of his death, which occurred October 6, 1901, at Readsboro. He was a man of prominence, well known throughout the state, and filled many offices of importance to the public. He served as representative to the state legislature three terms, and as state senator one term. For twenty years he was selectman, serving eleven consecu- tive years, and during the Civil war was very active, assisting in drafting men for service. He was an honorary member of the North Adams Post, G. A. R .; was a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to the blue lodge, council, chapter and commandery ; and was also an Odd Fellow. Mr. Mason married Clementina Ballou, who was born in Whitingham, a daugh- ter of Rev. Hosea Ballou, one of the founders of Universalism. She was one of a family of eight children: Casedana; Mandana; Almira; Al- dona ; Hosea; Lascena ; Clementina, who became the wife of Silas Mason ; and Phyducia. Mr. and Mrs. Mason had eight children, of whom three survive, namely: Mrs. Eugene Blake, of Green- field, Massachusetts ; Mrs. Hicks; and Mrs. Ma- bel Van Vechten. Mrs. Hicks is a talented mu- sician, and after her graduation from the Boston Conservatory of Music gave instruction on the pipe organ in Greenfield, Massachusetts, and at Bellows Falls, Vermont, for a number of years. Mr. and Mrs. Hicks have five children : Gladys M., Silas, Isabella, Donald and Fannie.
CHARLES A. GALE, M. D.
Dr. Charles A. Gale, an able and experienced physician of Rutland, Vermont, belongs to a family which has been for three generations num-
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bered among the honored citizens of the Green Mountain state. Elisha Gale, grandfather of Dr. Charles A. Gale, was one of that sturdy company of pioneers who, even as late as a century ago, prepared the way for civilization by penetrating into what was, at that comparatively recent period, a wilderness. Elisha Gale was of Mas- sachusetts stock, and went from Springfield, in that state, to Williamstown, Orange county, Ver- mont. There he made in the forest a clearing on which he settled, redeeming from the wilder- ness, in the course of time, no fewer than five hundred acres of land. He built a log house, then a frame house, and, after the marriage of his son David, they both erected a brick house which is yet standing and is now occupied by the grand- son, Lester D. Gale. He was highly success- ful, accumulating a handsome property, and he contributed largely to the prosperity of the region by improved farm methods and by aiding in the breeding of a superior strain of horses, and was a contemporary of Day, the noted hotel and stage line proprietor of that day. A man of strong character and sterling integrity, he was highly respected, and was at one time or other called to every town office of any consequence. He married and was the father of two children, David and Dolly.
David Gale was born on the ancestral home- stead, where he spent his entire life in following the occupation of a farmer. In politics he was an enthusiastic Democrat, of the type known as Jacksonian. He held various local offices, among them those of selectman and justice of the peace. For years he was a member of and served as captain of a rifle company of the Vermont mili- tia. He was a zealous member of the Univer- salist church, to the financial needs of which he was a liberal contributor. He married Laura Burnham, daughter of Elijah and Maria (Simons) Burnham, of Northfield, Vermont, and they were the parents of the following named children : Elisha, who was a farmer and merchant, was twice married, and is now de- ceased ; his first wife was Susan Simons, and his second wife Ann Ellis, by whom there was one son, David C. Gale. Ellen, the second child of Mr. and Mrs. Gale, married Ezekiel Olds, a farmer and large real estate owner of South Barre, was the mother of two children, Burn-
ham and Laura, both of whom are deceased. The other children of Mr. and Mrs. Gale were as follows: Julia, who died in infancy; Henry, who died at the age of nineteen; George, who died at thirteen; Charles A., mentioned at length hereinafter ; Leslie, who is a farmer, residing on the homestead, and who married Anna McKee. David Gale died December 19, 1890, at the age of seventy-eight years, on the ancestral home- stead, and his wife passed away at the age of seventy-five years.
Charles A. Gale, son of David and Laura (Burnham) Gale, was born August 31, 1853, at Williamstown, Vermont. He was fitted for college at Goddard Seminary, at Barre, and be- gan the study of medicine at Dartmouth College, where he took two courses of lectures. He sub- sequently studied during one term in the Uni- versity of Vermont, and for two years in the Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia, from which he was graduated in 1880. In Au- gust of the same year he entered upon the prac- tice of his profession in Rutland, Vermont, which has been to the present time his place of residence and his field of effort. One who keeps thor- oughly abreast with the advancement of medical science, he practices in all its departments, and is known as a capable surgeon as well as a gen- eral practitioner. He has written numerous papers upon professional topics, which he has read before leading societies and which have been published in their proceedings and in medical journals. He is a prominent member of various professional bodies-the American Institute of Homeopathy, in which he has occupied the chair- manship of the bureau of pedology, the Vermont State Homeopathic Medical Society, the Massa- chusetts Surgical and Gynecological Society, and others, and he represented the Vermont State Homeopathic Medical Society in the American Institute of Homeopathy at Saratoga in 1885, and again in 1886, and in the conventions in Washington city, Atlantic City, Denver and Boston. He was vice president of the Hahne- mann Medical College Alumni Association, and, in 1901, president, when he delivered an address in the annual meeting in May, in Philadelphia. He had, besides, the distinguished honor of being one of the two alumni chosen as delegates to the national convention of alumni of medical col-
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leges in Cleveland. He has been a member of the board of trustees of the Rutland Hospital from the foundation of the institution, and has long been a member of its attending medical staff. He has also been for some years a mem- ber of the United States pension examining board for Rutland county.
While thus industriously engaged in his pro- fession and its allied interests, Dr. Gale has con- stantly devoted a generous share of his attention to public affairs. An earnest advocate of educa- tion, he has given intelligent aid to local school affairs, and has served for six years as a mem- ber of the school board, and is now serving his third term of three years as school commis- sioner. He has long been a trustee of his alma mater, Goddard Seminary. He was for five years a member of the local company (A) of the Vermont militia. He is prom- inent in Masonic circles, holding member- ship in Rutland Lodge No. 79, F. & A. M., Davenport Chapter, R. A. M., Davenport Coun- cil No. 12, R. & S. M., and Killington Com- mandery No. 6, K. T. He is also a member of Rutland Lodge, I. O. O. F. He is a Republican in politics, having left the Democratic party when it gave its support to Mr. Bryan as the repre- sentative of free silver and Populism. His re- ligious affiliations are with the Universalist church, in which he is a member of the board of trustees. He finds his recreation in the driving of fine horses, and he is also an enthusiastic sportsman, with an abiding love for dog, rod and gun.
Dr. Gale was married June 1, 1886, to Alice, daughter of Edwin and Susan (Edgerton) Aiken, of Rutland. A woman of education and refinement, Mrs. Gale is prominent in social affairs, and is a sharer in many beneficent works.
JESSE EUGENE THOMSON, M. D.
Dr. Jesse Eugene Thomson, M. D., physi- cian and surgeon of Rutland, Vermont, was born in Jericho, Chittenden county, Vermont, Novem- ber 22, 1853, a son of Jesse and Mary S. (Wheelock) Thomson, descendants of a Scotch- English ancestry who came to this country from England in the early colonial days.
The early educational advantages enjoyed by
Dr. Thomson were obtained in the public schools and Lamoille County Academy at Morrisville, Vermont. Deciding to become a member of the medical profession, he matriculated in the medi- cal department of the University of New York, from which institution he was graduated in 1878 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine., Im- mediately after his graduation Dr. Thomson en- tered into partnership with Dr. S. L. Wiswell, of Cabot, Vermont, and this partnership con- tinued for three years. In 1883 he removed to the flourishing city of Rutland, and from the be- ginning his success as a skillful practitioner was assured, and in addition to his extensive private practice he was appointed a member of the ad- visory board of the Rutland City Hospital.
Dr. Thomson has been frequently chosen by his fellow citizens to serve in positions of prom- inence and responsibilty ; he was superntendent of schools in Cabot in 1880, served two terms as health officer in the city of Rutland, represented the city in the general assembly of the state in 1896 and 1897, and he also received the unani- mous nomination for senator from Rutland county in the legislature of 1898 and 1899. He has taken an active interest in the several fraternal organiza- tions with which he has been connected, and has attained high positions in the Masonic order. He has been grand dictotor of the Knights of Honor, state medical examiner for a period of five years, and grand representative three years to the su- preme lodge, the highest tribunal of the order. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, a past chancellor commander ; is companion of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He has attained to high rank in the Masonic order, and is affiliated with the following bodies: Rut- land Lodge No. 79, F. & A. M., of which he was for two years master; Davenport Chapter No. 17, R. A. M .; Davenport Council, R. & S. M .: Killington Commandery No. 6, K. T., of which he was eminent commander for three terms; Delta Lodge of Perfection, and Vermont Con- sistory. He is a Knight of the Red Cross of Constantine, sovereign grand inspector general of the Supreme Council of the thirty-third de- gree, and a member of the Royal Order of Scot- land. He was for two terms grand commander of Knights Templar and Appendant Orders in the state, and has been first lieutenant commander
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of the Vermont Council of Deliberation, A. A. S. R., and is a past potentate of Mt. Sinai Tem- ple. Mystic Shrine. He served on the staff of Governor Mccullough as surgeon general, with the rank of brigadier general. On May 17, 1879, Dr. Thomson married Miss Flora S. Rich, and one child has been born to them, Rena May Thomson.
JAMES MARSON RYDER, M. D.
Dr. James M. Ryder, a skillful and experi- enced physician of Bellows Falls, Windham county, Vermont, belongs to a family dis- tinguished in the annals of the medical profession. James C. Ryder, his father, was born in Middle- boro, Massachusetts, where he was educated in the common schools. Subsequently he removed to Randolph, Vermont, where he engaged in business as a drug clerk, and also became known as a manufacturer of medical preparations. He was active in public affairs, filling the office of selectman and serving in the Vermont militia. He married Mrs. Elmira E. (Chase) Chilson, widow of Dr. Daniel S. Chilson, who had been a prominent practitioner at Woodstock, Vermont ; she was the mother, by Dr. Chilson, of three children : Van Rensselaer; Lucetta; and Madi- son. Van Rensselaer, who was a farmer and ex-soldier residing at White River Junction, mar- ried and had three children; Lucetta married Joseph York, and, after his death, Joseph Stan- ley, a California miner and ranchman, by whom she had two children. Mrs. Dr. Chilson, by her second marriage to James C. Ryder, became the mother of three children: James M., mentioned at length hereinafter; Elmira, who became the wife of George Elmore, of Montpelier, Vermont, a musician and dancing master ; and Cassius M., who married Gertrude Mansfield, daughter of a banker of Hopper, California, and is now in the insurance business at San Francisco, California. Mrs. James C. Ryder had been educated in the Woodstock Medical College, a celebrated insti- tution in its day, and became a successful prac- titioner in the specialty of the treatment of dislo- cations and fractures. She continued in active practice at Randolph, Vermont, from 1851, and was one of the earliest women physicians in the country. Her death took place when she was
fifty-nine years old, and Mr. Ryder died at the age of seventy-one.
Dr. James M. Ryder, son of James C. and El- mira E. (Chase) Ryder, was born October 5, 1852, in Randolph, Vermont, and was educated in the grammar and normal schools of his native town. He graduated from the latter in 1872, re- turning later in order to take a special scientific course, and was graduated from the medical de- partment of the University of Pennsylvania with: the class of 1874. He was on the house staff of Bellevue Hospital, New York, in 1875. and the same year established himself at Randolph in the active discharge of the duties of his calling, al- though his career of practice might be said to have begun at the age of sixteen, when he assist- ed his mother in her professional labors. Follow- ing the example of his mother, Dr. Ryder makes a specialty of the treatment of dislocations and fractures, in which he has achieved some remark- able successes, having treated more than fifteen hundred cases, with results of the most satisfac- tory nature. In 1883 Dr. Ryder went to New York city, where he entered the Fifteenth Street Hospital, at the corner of Fifth avenue and Fif- teenth street, remaining there one year. At the end of that time he returned to Randolph, and in 1895 removed to Hornellsville, thence to Wood- stock, and finally, in 1901, settled at Bellows Falls. In all the places where Dr. Ryder has practiced his profession he has established the reputation of a skillful and conscientious phy- sician.
Dr. Ryder is a member of the Eclectic Medi- cal Society of Vermont, and is active in Masonic affairs, affiliating with Phoenix Lodge No. 28, F. and A. M., at Randolph, Vermont. Dr. Ryder married Sarah, daughter of William Perkins, a prominent politician of Barnard, Vermont. Dr. Ryder's family consisted of six children : Bertha M., who became the wife of William V. Clay, and is the mother of two children, Benjamin and George; William J., who is a merchant in Bos- ton ; Ione, who married, first, Benjamin B. Chase, a grandson of the celebrated Benjamin Chase (a descendant of the pioneer settler, Aquila Chase), of Randolph, an old pioneer of that place, and later became the wife of J. W. H. Myrick, a banker and broker of Boston, and Mrs. Myrick now owns and operates an extensive printing es-
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