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 129

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 129

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Mr. Patterson was again elected to the legis- lature in 1877, and was again called to the chair- manship of the committee on education. In 1881 he was appointed state superintendent of public instruction, and during his term of service, he added largely to the importance of the office, and, in similar degree, to its public usefulness. It was in the fifth year of his activities in behalf of the common schools that he accomplished in New Hampshire what Horace Mann did in Massa- chusetts, and making his commonwealth the sec- ond among the North Atlantic states to enter upon a new order in education. For two years Mr. Patterson was president of the American In- stitute of Instruction, and for ten years his addresses and lectures were valuable contributions to the publications of that body.

These, however, contributed but a small por- tion of his literary work. For nearly a half century his pen was industriously employed in be- half of education, human freedom, national unity, and those questions growing therefrom which claimed the attention of the masterly minds of a virile generation during the most important epoch of the nation. He was also a forceful speaker, and his utterances before educational assemblages and in legislative halls exerted a marked influence which found its fruit in many an effort and legal enactment of radical and enduring worth. The last days of Mr. Patter- son were spent as a professor in Dartmouth Col- lege, and one of the crowning acts of his noble life was his participation in the dedication of one of its new buildings to the higher uses of man and to the service of God.

Mr. Patterson was married, in Henniker, New Hampshire, December 24, 1854, to Miss Sarah P. Wilder, of Laconia, New Hampshire. She was a graduate of New Hampton College, and now resides in Hanover, New Hampshire. Her lamented husband closed his useful life May 4, 1893, aged nearly seventy years.

George Willis Patterson (8), son of James

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THE STATE OF VERMONT.

Willis (7) and Sarah P. (Wilder) Patterson, was born in Hanover, New Hampshire, Decem- ber 16, 1857. He was prepared for college at St. Johnsbury Academy, and entered Dartmouth College, from which he was graduated in 1881, with marks of honor accorded to but few students, Rufus Choate and Walbridge A. Field being among those who were thus distinguished with him. Mr. Patterson then entered the Co- lumbia University Law School, and after com- pleting his studies he was admitted to practice in the courts of New Hampshire and Vermont. For about a year he practiced his profession in Lancaster, New Hampshire, in partnership with Hon. Ossian Ray, and during this period he pre- pared a brief and argued a case which won for him the cordial commendation of Chief Justice . Doe, of New Hampshire.

Mr. Patterson had developed those qualities which insure success at the bar, and a bright professional future was open before him. But he was attracted to the ministry as his more suitable field of labor, and he became a student in the Andover (Massachusetts) Theological Seminary, from which he was graduated in 1888, when more than thirty years of age. In the same year he was ordained to the ministry, and entered upon his first pastorate at Bristol, New Hamp- shire. He subsequently served for various periods in Hamilton, New York, and East Johns- bury, Vermont. He was called to the Congrega- tional church in Randolph Center, Vermont, where his ministerial service has proved both pleasant and useful. As did his talented father, he has ever taken an earnest and intelligent in- terest in educational affairs, and has done much to increase the efficiency of schools in the vil- lages and neighborhoods in which he has resided and now dwells. He is a man of fine literary attainments, and has made many highly meritor- ious conrtibutions, in verse as well as prose, to magazines and journals of the first order.

Mr. Patterson was married September I, 1885, to Miss Lilla Olive Davidson, who was born April 2, 1859 in Salisbury, New Hampshire, and was graduated from Wellesley College in 1880. Her father, Nathaniel Davidson, who was a lay preacher of the Methodist Episcopal church, was a native of Warner, New Hampshire, while her mother, Mary (Gillis) Davidson, was of

Scottish birth. To Rev. and Mrs. Patterson have been born four children, Arthur Willis, Margaret Wilder, Gordon and Donald G. Patterson.

JOHN A. PROUTY.

John A. Prouty, deceased, was during an un- usually long life of incessant activity one of the most useful men of northern Vermont. He was a foremost figure in developing the commercial and manufacturing interests of the region, and he was also prominent in public affairs, wielding an influence which greatly redounded to the ad- vantage of his community and of the state.

The family of Prouty has been identified with Newport from the days of its settlement, when Martin Adams, maternal grandfather of Mr. Prouty, came as the pioneer. John Prouty be- came a settler in 1799, and from him descended Arnold Prouty, who was an early and long-time resident on the Lake road, where he cultivated a farm, and here was born, in 1826, John A. Prouty, son of the last named Arnold Prouty.

John A. Prouty was given only the meagre education afforded by the district schools, but his keen discernment and close observation af- forded him a fund of knowledge which proved an ample equipment for the multifarious duties which came to him. Until near middle life, he occupied himself upon a farm. Stepping aside from this, he took a contract for loading lumber upon the cars from the Stimson & Winn saw- mills, and his was his modest introduction to a business in which he became a master. About 1864 he bought a one-fourth interest in the mill, and acted as business manager until 1873, when the property was purchased by the Newtons, of. Holyoke, Massachusetts. Mr. Prouty then bought a tract of timber land near the lake, com- prising about two thousand acres, and for three years he transacted a large and remunerative business, marketing his product at the Newton mill. It was while thus engaged that he dis- played · his strong traits of character. Giv- ing strict attention to the larger concerns of the business, watching the markets and fos- tering patronage, he lost sight of no de- tail at home. He built substantial and com- fortable camps for his employes, and made himself sufficiently familiar with them to com-

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mand their regard for his personal service. A practical woodsman himself, he would at times fell a tree in so masterly a fashion as to pro- voke admiration and emulation. His abilities commended him so highly to his men that they gave him the title of "colonel," by which he was known during the remainder of his life.

In 1876 he and Oscar C. Miller formed the firm of Prouty & Miller, to which was after- wards admitted Mr. Prouty's son, George H. Prouty. The operations of the firm gradually extended, until it and its individual members controlled some 40,000 acres of timber lands lying near the lake and its tributaries and in Canada, together with various sawmills and ship- ping depots. Among its properties are the New- port sawmills, originally built in 1862, and burned in 1894 and rebuilt in the following year, employing about fifty men and annually sawing about six million feet of lumber. Another of the mills is at Roxton Falls, province of Quebec, Canada, and another at St. Victor, about fifty miles south of Quebec. As his sons grew up Mr. Prouty gradually relinquished to them a large share of his labors in connection with his vast lumbering interests, at the same time maintain- ing an intimate acquaintance with the business and exercising general managerial powers. Dur- ing his later years he found his principal enjoy- ment in superintending his fine home farm, upon which he performed sufficient manual labor to keep himself in excellent physical condition.

While developing the immense business with which his name is inseparably connected, Mr. Prouty was also deeply interested in community affairs, and afforded generous aid of time and means to local development and improvement. He was called to various local offices and was elected to the legislature in 1858 and 1859, and again in 1884. He was a diligent, intel- ligent and honest legislator, and he aided in many important local enterprises, princi- pal among them being to secure to New- port the location of the county buildings. His death was an event deeply deplored by the multitudes who held him in honor for his per- sonal worth, and in gratitude for many services he had rendered to his fellows. His wife was Miss Hannah Lamb, of Newport, and they be- came the parents of six children: Charles A.

Prouty ; Nellie B., who became the wife of Dr. L. M. Palmer, of South Farmingham, Massa- chusetts; Harley H. Prouty, now a resident of Portland, Oregon : George H. Prouty ; and a son and a daughter who are deceased. After the death of the mother of these children, Mr. Prouty married Sarah Wood, who died in 1890, leaving two sons, Edgar John and Willard R. Prouty.

Charles A. Prouty, eldest son of John A. and Hannah (Lamb) Prouty, was born in Newport in 1853. He received an excellent education, be- ginning in the district schools, and fitting for col- lege at the Upton (Massachusetts) high school, and at the Derby and St. Johnsbury Academies. At the age of eighteen he entered Dartmouth Col- lege, from which he was graduated in 1875 at the head of his class. He excelled in mathe- matics and astronomy, and, with the intention of devoting his life to the latter science, entered the Allegheny City (Pennsylvania) Observatory, but ill health obliged him to relinquish this undertak- ing. He then studied law under the preceptor- ship of Theophilus Grout, Esq., of Newport, and was admitted to the bar of Orleans county at the February terni, 1877. For one year he was associated in practice with his old preceptor, and for two years afterwards served acceptably and usefully as principal of the Newport Academy and Graded School. In 1882 he resumed practice in Newport, and has since been busily engaged in his profession, winning reputation as a leader of the bar in the state. He has been entrusted with many of the most important cases belonging to the courts of the commonwealth, representing a large and important clientele, among which are the Rutland Railroad Company, of which he has been general counsel, and the Central Vermont Railroad Company, of which he has been at- torney.

His public career has been conspicuously tise- ful and honorable. In the year in which he actu- ally began his law practice (1882) he was elected state's attorney for Orleans county, and he was re-elected in 1884. In 1888 he was elected to the legislature, and in that body made a splen- did reputation for ability and leadership. As chairman of the committee on education which drafted the school law of that session, he led the deliberations of the committee, was the prime factor in formulating the law, and it was largely

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through his advocacy that it was enacted. In 1888 he was appointed by the supreme court to the position of reporter of decisions, and he dis- charged the duties of the position with signal abil- ity until 1896, when he resigned to become a member of the inter-state commerce commission. His calling to the latter high position was a splen- did tribute. It became necessary to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Judge Veazey, and Senator Redfield Proctor named Mr. Prouty to President Cleveland. Other distinguished men joined in the recommendation. Governor Black, of New York, called upon the president, and warmly endorsed him, as did Representative Grout and Senator Morrill, of Vermont, while E. J. Phelps, ex-minister to Great Britain, and ·others, filed personal letters testifying to Mr. Prouty's great ability and high character. Presi- dent Cleveland sent in the nominattion of Mr. Prouty on December 14, 1896, and the senate confirmed it four days later. In this high posi- tion Mr. Prouty has acquitted himself with great capability, and has added to his reputation for keen discernment, comprehensive grasp of large affairs, and strict devotion to the interests of the people.

Mr. Prouty is also recognized as one of the most progressive men of Newport. He installed the electric light plant in 1891, and was a foremost leader in the organization of the Orleans Trust Company, of which he has been president from the organization, and he has also aided in various other enterprises of public moment. He was married in 1879 to Miss Abbie Davis, of Lyn- don, Vermont, and of this union have been born two children, Ward and John, Jr.

George Herbert Prouty, youngest son of John A. and Hannah (Lamb) Prouty, was born in Newport in 1862. He was educated in the pub- lic schools and St. Johnsbury Academy, and af- terwards completed a course in Bryant & Strat- ton's Business College. In young manhood he became identified with the business which had been established by his father, and subsequently became business manager. Manifesting a real aptitude for business, its direction has fallen in large degree upon him from the time of his father's retirement. He is also among the fore- -most in various other large interests, and takes „an active interest in promoting all measures con-

ducive to the public welfare. In 1896 he was elected to the legislature, in which body he served upon the committees of ways and means and of corporations. He was married in December, 1890, to Miss Henrietta Allen, of Rockville, Connecti- cut.

WILLIAM REID PRIME, M. D.

Dr. William Reid Prime, proprietor of the sanitarium at Burlington, Vermont, is a repre- sentative in the present generation of an ancient Flemish family, the name having been variously spelled Preem, Prum and de la Pryme. The family traces its origin back to 1179, and, from that date down to 1680, furnished sixteen chief magistrates to the cities of Flanders, showing that, during these five centuries, the race had maintained its place in the front ranks of the province. The name also appears frequently among those of the Flemish refugees who found a home in London and Norwich, England. As adherence to the Protestant faith was generally the reason for which these exiles left their na- tive country, it is probable that these ancestors of the Primes were of "the religion," and it is possible that they were among the Flemings in- vited by Queen Elizabeth to make England their home on account of their proficiency in certain arts and manufactures she desired to introduce into her kingdom.

Thomas Merrill Prime, Sr., grandfather of William Reid Prime, was by trade a hatter, this being the only fact in his history which has come down to us, the record being absolutely silent as to all other details, including those of his birth and death.

Thomas Merrill Prime, Jr., son of Thomas Merrill Prime, Sr., was a physician, and was edu- cated in the Castleton Seminary and in Bellevue College, New York, after which he took the practice of Dr. Colton, of Brome, province of Quebec, where he remained fifteen years. He then removed to Knowlton, province of Quebec, where he still resides, having a large and lucra- tive practice. Dr. Prime is a very prominent man, having been a candidate for parliament, and is also very active in Masonic work. He is local editor of the St. John (province of Que- bec) Literary News. Dr. Prime married Amity

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THE STATE OF VERMONT.

Paige, one of eight children, the family of a farmer of Bakersfield, Vermont. Dr. and Mrs. Prime had six children, two of whom died in infancy. The names of those living are: Will- iam Reid, mentioned at length hereinafter; Dr. M. F. Prime, of Boston, Massachusetts; Adele, who married Joseph Everett, of Boston, Massa- chusetts ; and Winifred, who resides at home. Dr. and Mrs. Prime are members of the Episcopal church.

William Reid Prime, son of William Merrill, Jr., and Amity (Paige) Prime, was born in 1857 at Fairfield, Vermont, and was educated at Bishop's College School at Lennoxville, province of Que- bec, and at Knowlton Academy, Knowlton, prov- ince of Quebec. When the time arrived for Dr. Prime to choose a life calling, he selected his father's profession of medicine, and his prepara- tory studies were conducted at Knowlton, by his father, after which he spent two years at McGill Medical College, Montreal, and one year at the University Medical College, New York city, tak- ing three courses of medical lectures, and gradu- ating from the last named institution in 1879. Dr. Prime entered upon active practice of his profession at East Berkshire, Vermont, whence he removed to Manchester, New Hampshire, and then to Richford, Vermont, where he remained five years, being in partnership with Dr. Hamil- ton, of that place. From 1889 to 1892 Dr. Prime was in partnership with Dr. A. P. Grenwell, of Burlington, Vermont, where, in 1895, he pur- chased the residence of H. H. Hickok, which he converted into a sanitarium. This building, which has accommodations for twenty patients, is beautifully fitted up with all modern improve- ments, including a fine operating room for sur- gical cases. The sanitarium maintains a staff of the best trained nurses, and is, in all its de- partments, completely equipped. In this insti- tution, under the scientific direction of Dr. Prime, have been performed some of the most success- ful surgical operations. With all the cares and responsibilities pertaining to the life of an active practitioner, Dr. Prime has never ceased to be a student, having, in 1890, taken a post-graduate course at the New York Post-Graduate Medical School. In his studies Dr. Prime has given par- ticular attention to diseases of women, receiving special practical instruction at Mount Sinai Hos-

pital. New York, from Professor Munde and Professor Tauszky in 1879.

During the smallpox epidemic in 1885, Dr. Prime was sanitary inspector United States Ma- rine Hospital service, and was appointed assistant surgeon of the Vermont National Guards in 1889, attending physician to the Home for Destitute Children, Burlington, Vermont, in 1891, and medical director for the Vermont Life Insurance Company, 1893, holding the last named office for seven years. Dr. Prime was for four years attending surgeon to the Mary Fletcher Hos- pital, of Burlington, Vermont, and is at the pres- ent time attending physician at the Fanny Allen Hospital, in the establishment of which institu- tion he took an active part. The facility which Dr. Prime possesses in speaking the French lan- guage renders his services peculiarly valuable to this hospital, which is to some extent connected with the Catholic church, many of the members of which speak French as their mother tongue. He has been connected with the hospital from its organization, having been the first surgeon. Dr. Prime is a member of the Franklin County Medi- cal Society, the Vermont Medical Society, the American Public Health Association, and the Burlington Clinical Society. In addition to his professional reputation as a skillful practitioner, Dr. Prime is well known as an author, having written extensively on medical topics.

Dr. Prime married, in 1879, Mary Hatch Green, daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth (Hatch) Green, of Windsor, Vermont, and granddaughter of G. and O. D. Hatch, of the same place. Mr. Isaac Green was a merchant and spent his last years in Minnesota. His family consisted of two daughters, of whom Mrs. Prime was the younger, Mrs. F. H. Fisher being the elder. Dr. and Mrs. Prime have three children: Mary Frances, a graduate of the high school, and now studying for the profession of a trained nurse; William Isaac, still a student at the high school ; and Mer- rill Hatch, only two years old. Dr. Prime is an attendant of the Episcopal church.

GEORGE W. FLAGG.

George W. Flagg, a veteran of the Civil war and a prominent resident of Braintree, Vermont, was born in that town April 9, 1839, a son of

Edward Arms,

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THE STATE OF VERMONT.

'Austin and Mary E. (Harwood) Flagg. He acquired his education in the common schools of his native town and Randolph Academy, and after completing his studies assisted his father in the management of his farm until he attained the age of twenty years, after which he was employed as a day laborer until the breaking out of the Civil war, when he enlisted in May, 1861, as a private in Company F, Second Regiment Vermont Vol- unteers, which was organized at Montpelier, and he participated in every engagement in which the old Vermont Brigade bore a part, from Bull Run to Appomattox, and for his bravery on the field of battle he was promoted to the rank of ser- geant, and in the absence of all the superior offi- cers he more than once commanded the com- pany. In the four years of his service he was constantly on duty with the exception of one month, when he was disabled from a wound re- ceived in the battle of the Wilderness. His bri- gade was the first to enter Petersburg, when General Grant advanced on Richmond. He was honorably discharged as first lieutenant, with brevet captain, July 25, 1865, and commanded and took home the only company organized in the capital of the state during the war.

Shortly after the termination of the war he purchased a farm, which consisted of three hun- dred and fifty acres, in the eastern portion of the town of Braintree, and he so improved and culti- vated it that it is now one of the most productive in that section of the state. He devotes much time and attention to the breeding of Cotswold sheep, and he has been awarded many medals and prizes for specimens exhibited at New England state and county fairs. Part of his farm consists of an excellent orchard, from which he derives a goodly income, as there is always a constant de- mand for fine fruit.

Early in life Mr. Flagg showed great aptitude for collar and elbow wrestling, and was wont even when a boy to display this accomplishment at public gatherings ; his skill gradually increased, and he soon became the acknowledged champion of the Army of the Potomac. At the age of eighteen he lost his last fall (for business), and for fifteen years he knew no difference in men, but could throw, in five minutes, any man he ever met. From the age of thirty-five to forty-eight he traveled extensively through most of the states

giving exhibitions of his proficiency, and his only rival was H. M. Dufur, with whom he had many a hard-fought battle. He won many matches in the state of Ohio, and wrestled in almost every town of importance in Michigan, where he defeat- ed the renowned Indian Chief Tipsico at a back hold match. In New England he wrestled for agricultural societies, one of which was the Ver- mont State Fair, also Fourth of July gatherings, where thousands of people viewed his exhibi- tions. In his travels he challenged all comers for any amount with perfect confidence, and in all his matches he always manifested a kindly spirit, never losing his temper, and being strictly honest. After each campaign of travels he re- turned to work on his farm, never training for a match or series of matches. During his career he has doubtless wrestled two hundred matches, and in all his travels he never tasted liquor ; being a firm advocate of the cause of temperance, he has made speeches in the legislature, and none are more zealous in the cause than he.

A Republican in his political preferences, he represented his town in the state legislature in 1886, and was called upon to serve in many minor offices. He received his degrees in Masonry in Phoenix Lodge of Randolph, and he is a member and served as commander of Ulysses S. Grant Post No. 96, G. A. R., of West Randolph, Ver- mont. Mr. Flagg possesses a marked personality, is fully six feet in height, with the figure of a Hercules, and with his excellent characteristics is a representative man of the state of Vermont.

On May 16, 1865, Mr. Flagg was united in marriage to Miss Delia A. Howard, daughter of Whitman and Elmira (Smith) Howard. Two children have been born to them: Lester G. and Bert C. Flagg.

EDWARD ARMIS.

Edward Arms, for many years a prominent citizen of Bellows Falls, was a man of strong per- sonality and a business man of ability and acu- men. He was born May 14, 1843, at Bellows Falls, and died on the ist of January, 1900. He was a son of Otis B. Arms, and a descendant in the seventh generation from William Arms, the immigrant ancestor, the line of descent being traced down from William through Daniel, Daniel, Aaron, Ralph and Otis B. to Edward Arms.

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THE STATE OF VERMONT.

William Arms, born in 1654, was a soldier under Captain Turner, and took part in the noted fight with the Indians at Hadley Falls, on May 10. 1076. He owned large tracts of land in Hart- ford, Connecticut, but in 1698 removed from there to Deerfield. Massachusetts, locating in that part of the town now known as Arms Corner, where he bought land that is now in the possession of his descendants, George A. and Richard C. Arms. He died on the Deerfield homestead in 1731. Of this union with Joanna Hawks, a daughter of John Hawks, of Hadley, Massa- chusetts, the following named children were born : William, John, Sarah, Margaret, Hannah, Daniel, Ebenezer, William and Elizabeth.

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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 129

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