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 132

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 132

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bers of the Episcopal church, Mr. Ross frequently representing his parish as delegate in the diocesan convention, and occupying various positions in his home parish.

MARVIN WRIGHT CHAPMAN.

Marvin Wright Chapman, one of the noted agriculturists of North Williston, Vermont, was born in Jericho, Vermont, September 14, 1846, a son of George Adams and Mary Chapman. Jonathan Chapman, grandfather of Marvin Wright Chapman, was born September 26, 1776. He attended the district schools of his native town, and upon reaching young manhood en- gaged in agricultural pursuits, and was also a carpenter and joiner. On February 8, 1801, he married Miss Hulda Peck, and one daughter was born of this union, Alona, born January 14, 1802, died June 11, 1872. Mrs. Chapman died August IO, 1803, and Mr. Chapman married for his sec- ond wife Miss Polly Adams, on August 20, 1806; she was born October 12, 1786, and died Au- gust 17, 1827. Four children were born to them, namely : Julian Daphne, born December 25, 1807, died November 23, 1812; Mary, born De- cember 24, 1808, died November 6, 1812 ; George Adams, born February 18, 1811, died December 27, 1894; Friend, born February 22, 1813, died September 27, 1882. These children were all born in Cavendish, Vermont. On August 31, 1828, Mr. Chapman married Miss Patty Adams, who was born May 12, 1784, and was a sister of his second wife; she died August 2, 1838. On February 26, 1840, Mr. Chapman married for his fourth wife Miss Betsy Parkhurst, who was born August 3, 1782, and died March 6, 1880. All of these marriages were solemnized in Caven- dish, Vermont.

George Adams Chapman, father of Marvin Wright Chapman, was born in Cavendish, Ver- mont, February 18, 1811. His educational ad- vantages were obtained in the common schools of his native town. He then turned his atten- tion to the occupation of farming, making a spe- cialty of dairy products. He was very success- ful in this enterprise, and was considered one of the most prominent and progressive farmers in that section of the country. Politically he was a staunch supporter of the principles of the Repub-

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lican party. He was an ardent Universalist, and was instrumental in the building of the church of that denomination in Jericho, Vermont. He removed from Cavendish to Jericho, and after remaining there for some time finally located in Williston ; here he remained three years, then was in Jericho twenty years, and in 1865 came to our subject's present farm, where he died in 1894.

On March 17, 1836, Mr. Chapman married Miss Mary Wright, who was born at Williston, Vermont, December 22, 1814, Three children were born of this union: Marvin Wright, born September 14, 1846; Olive M., born April II, 1844; and a boy born in 1842, who died in in- fancy. Olive M. Chapman was united in mar- riage to Whitney J. Marshall, and her death oc- curred April 25, 1870. Mr. Chapman died De- cember 27, 1894, and his wife died at Williston, Vermont, September 17, 1895.

Marvin Wright Chapman acquired his ele- mentary education in the common schools of Jericho, Vermont, and later attended the Willis- ton Academy, it being at that time under the supervision of the competent, respected and be- loved Professor Cilley. After his graduation from the latter institution he, like his father, followed agricultural pursuits, and now gives most of his attention to the butter-making busi- ness. He has an extensive dairy farm of three hundred and thirty-six acres, a part of the old Governor Chittenden farm, with the old Chit- tenden house. He has one of the largest dairies in Williston, of fifty cows and also keeps eighty head of cattle, thirty sheep and a number of horses. He is considered one of the prominent, progressive farmers of that section of the country.

In his political views Mr. Chapman is a firm believer in the principles of the Republican party, and in his religious opinions is a prominent and welll known Universalist, being a member of the Champlain Association district.

On March 27, 1870, Mr. Chapman was united in marriage to Miss Lucy A. Thompson, who was born October 12, 1853. Her death occurred January 31, 1873. Mr. Chapman then married, April 14, 1875, Miss Lucia B. Johnson, who was born July 4, 1853, and died October 31, 1884. He subsequently married, September 16, 1897, Miss Dora M. Reed, who was born in Shelburne,

Vermont, August 6, 1866, a daughter of Horace S. and Ann E. (Fish) Reed.

Mrs. Chapman's father was a farmer in Shel- burne, later in Essex Junction, and died at the age of seventy-two. He was born in Shelburne, the son of Joshua, also born in that town. The great-great-grandfather was one of the earliest pioneers of Shelburne. Mrs. Chapman's mother Ann E. Fish, was born in Ferrisburg, the daugh- ter of David Fish ; her grandfather was a pioneer, and a son of Stephen, who migrated from Rhode Island and died at Ferrisburg. Her grandfather, who was a farmer, died in South Burlington. His wife was Ann Brown, of South Kingston, Rhode Island, and she died young, the mother of two children; her husband married again. Mr. Chapman has one child, Lucian Paul Chap- man, who was born October 30, 1884, and is now receiving his education in the Essex Junction high school.

JOHN B. BACON.

John B. Bacon, of Chelsea, Vermont, a vener- able and honored citizen, who has received from his neighbors repeated proofs of their confidence in his ability to serve them in an official capacity, and for many years was intrusted by the federal government with an office of great responsibility, is descended from ancestors of the sturdy pioneer stock, who, in the settlement and upbuilding of what were, in their day, the outlaying regions of the county, were heralds of civilization.

Ezenezer Bacon, grandfather of John B. Bacon, was a resident of Woodstock, Connecti- cut, and served six years in the patriot army of the Revolution. He was the leader of a colony composed of thirteen families that settled in Ot- sego county, New York, where he received a grant of four hundred acres of land, and became an extensive lumber manufacturer and dealer, owning and operating five or six mills. Later he removed to Illinois, where he was largely in- terested in real estate, owning large tracts of land. He was twice married, his first wife hav- ing been Mary Chandler, and his second, wife Desire Huff. His one child by the first marriage. was Mary, wife of William Sumner, who resided in Southbridge, Massachusetts ; their children are :

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THE STATE OF VERMONT.

Mrs. Hopkins, who had a son Theodore, a grad- uate of Cornell University; Henrietta Roland, who had a son William. Those born of the sec- ond marriage were as follows: Marcus De Lafayette, who was owner and captain of a ship, and who died or was wrecked on a voyage to the South Seas; Milton Huff, a practicing physi- cian of Philipstown, Illinois; Ebenezer, a resi- dent of Illinois ; and Lement Bacon.

Lement Bacon, father of John B. Bacon, was born August 19, 1789, at Woodstock, Connecti- cut, and in May, 1825, came to Chelsea, Ver- mont, where for nearly a decade he was the pro- prietor of the village hotel, which stood on the site of the Orange County Hotel, and was after- ward destroyed by fire. He married Lucy E. Bentley for his first wife, who was born October 12, 1794, and their children were: (1) Christo- pher Bently was born August 8, 1815, and prior to the Civil war, resided in Mississippi, where he owned large plantations and over one hundred slaves. Later he removed to the town of Over- ton, Texas, and subsequently became a merchant at Alto, Cherokee county, Texas. He was three times married. By his second wife was born one daughter, Ida M., who became the wife of Mr. Spain, a resident of Texas, now deceased ; they had two children. Mr. Bacon, after the death of his second wife, married Fannie Meyers. (2) Lement, born April 13, 1817, became a resi- dent of the state of Texas, where his death oc- curred. He married and reared four children, John L .; Henry, who resided in Indian Territory ; Dana, a resident of Overton; and a daughter. (3)Lucy Elizabeth, born October 16, 1818, died unmarried in 1834. After the death of the mother of these children, Lement Bacon married Celia Butler, daughter of John Butler, of Oxford, Mas- sachusetts, who during the Revolutionary war enlisted in the Continental army, and in 1794, set- tled in Rutland, Vermont; he also served in the war of 1812, was a second lieutenant the follow- ing year, and in 1817 was first lieutenant in the Twenty-fourth Regiment, United States troops, stationed at Fort Orange, Missouri, near the pres- ent Kansas City, where he saw sharp service; he led an expedition which destroyed several British posts of supplies in Kentucky, thus mak- ing important seizures. The children born of

this second marriage were: (1) Sarah, born July 22, 1821, married George S. Harris, a land commissioner in the employ of the Burlington & Quincy Railroad, and resided in Lincoln, Ne- braska; their children were: Celia, wife of Nathan S. Harwood; George B., born in 1848, a resident of Chicago, and president of the Chi- cago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, married Mary Hunt, of Boston, Massachusetts; Susan Ellen; Charles Leonard; Mary Germaine; Frederick Leonard; Edward Kirk; Sarah But- ler; John Francis; and Agnes Butler Harris. (2) Mary, born September 4, 1823, was the wife of Royal Hatch, a prominent citizen of Strafford, Vermont; their children were Ed- ward L., Kate, Gertrude, Joseph and Celia. (3) John B. is mentioned at length hereinafter. (4) Dana, was born April 13, 1829, at Chelsea. where he became a merchant. Later he was con- nected with real estate interests and with the drug business in Iowa, and for several years was engaged in private banking in various towns in the west; he is unmarried, and at the present time (1903) is a resident of Chadron, Nebraska, where he is engaged in the real estate business. (5) Charles, born August 7, 1834, died unmar- ried, in Boston, November 10, 1891. Mr. Bacon, the father of the family, died November 19, 1872, at the age of eighty-three, and the death of his widow occurred February 22, 1879, in the eighty- third year of her age.

John B. Bacon, son of Lement and Celia Bacon, was born August 8, 1825, in Chelsea, Ver- mont, and in 1844 engaged as a clerk with Nathan G. Hale, with whom he remained two years, and later was employed in the same capacity in Bos- ton, Massachusetts, for two years. His experi- ence enables him to note some interesting changes in the methods of trade during the last half cen- tury. The merchants, in 1844, used to employ the farmers during the winter to draw barter produce to Boston, and to return with groceries. They also brought fresh fish, which they ex- changed in Canada for herdsgrass seed. In 1848 Mr. Bacon opened a general country store at Chelsea, Vermont, and, as the railroad had then reached Concord, New Hampshire, Mr. Bacon was forced to pay ninety cents per hundred pounds from that town to Chelsea. He conducted

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this store for thirty-eight years, and during about one-third of the time had successively as partners Alden Speare, J. Dana Bacon, his broth- er, and W. P. Townsend. In 1855, while asso- ciated with his brother, Mr. Bacon made a trip of observation to the West Indies on board the schooner Flash, a submarine diving expedition, in the course of which he stopped at Turks Island and saw the process of making salt. The water of the ocean is let in by dikes on what are called salt pans, basins of hard ground, and the hot trade winds evaporate the water and the salt is raked into heaps by the darkies. Mr. Bacon was formerly a director of the Orange County National Bank, at different times has filled the offices of vice president and president of the First National Bank, and is now president of the National Bank of Orange County. In 1860, 1861 and 1862 he was first selectman and also enrolling officer of the town. For two years he held the office of county treasurer, and from 1851 to 1895, forty- four years of continuous service, was town treas- urer. He served three years as postmaster under President Fillmore as a Whig, and nineteen years under Republican administrations, retiring from office upon the accession of President Cleveland. In September, 1894 he was elected a member of the legislature. He has been a member of the Congregational church for more than half a cen- tury, and for eighteen years served as deacon. For thirty-five years he was chorister of the choir connected with the church.

Mr. Bacon married, in 1858, Sarah Persis Morey, born August 1, 1839, daughter of Macy H. and Persis (Austin) Morey. Three children were born to them: Sarah Fiske, born January 18, 1860, died March 20, 1860. John Lement, born June 18, 1862, a prominent resident of White River Junction, Vermont, cashier of the national bank of that town, and state treasurer of Ver- mont, married Elizabeth P. Davis, and their chil- dren are: Sarah Helen, born October 22, 1890, died March 24, 1903, aged thirteen; Mary ; and John Davis Bacon. Mary Sigourney, born April 23, 1865, died February 1, 1883. Mrs. Bacon possessed fine musical talent, and for many years was-organist of the Congregational church. Her death occurred July 26, 1893. Mr. Bacon was then united in marriage, September 26, 1894, to Sarah Ada Hall, who was born February 14,

1858, daughter of Captain William H. H. and Sarah A. (Foster) Hall. They were the parents of one child, Edward Hall Bacon, born June 2, 1896, and died November 23, 1902.

COLONEL HERBERT F. BRIGHAM.

The legal fraternity of Bakersfield, Vermont, numbers among its members Herbert F. Brig- ham, attorney at law, a man of splendid intel- lectual attainments and nobility of character, who was born at Bakersfield, Vermont, July 13, 1852. Josiah Brigham, father of Colonel Brigham, was also born in Bakersfield, Vermont, where his en- tire life was passed in the occupation of tilling the soil. He was the owner of over' one thousand acres of well cultivated ground, this being one of the largest farms in the town. Mr. Brigham always manifested a keen interest in political issues, on which he was well informed, being the incumbent for many years of the vari- ous local offices, besides being chosen to repre- sent the town in the state legislature three terms. Over his life record there was no shadow of wrong, his public services were most exemplary, and his private life was marked by the utmost fidelity to duty. He was united in marriage to Jane F. Fay, who was born in St. Armonds, province of Quebec, and four children were born of this union, three of whom are living at the present time (1903) : Mrs. Francis T. Brigham, of New York city; Herbert F .; and Mary F., wife of A. O. Weeks, of St. Albans, Vermont. Mr. Brigham's death occurred when he had at- tained the age of seventy-seven years, and his wife passed away at the age of seventy-six years ; she was a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Bakersfield, Vermont.

Herbert F. Brigham spent the early years of his life in his native town, was a student at the Bakersfield Academy, later attended the New- hampton Institute at Fairfax, Vermont, where he was prepared to enter the University of Michi- gan at Ann Arbor, and after pursuing the usual course in the legal department graduated from that institution in 1875. Immediately after his graduation he began the practice of law, and shortly afterwards entered the office of Judge R. Messick, remaining one year. He then returned to Bakersfield, Vermont, engaged in active prac-

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tice, and during all these years he has been a careful, conscientious worker in behalf of his clients' interests. He is also a special master in chancery, and in this capacity acts as referee in a large number of cases where claims have to be settled. In addition to the duties of his pro- fession, Colonel Brigham is one of the most prominent business men of Franklin county, hav- ing been one of the incorporators of the Enos- burgh Falls Savings Bank & Investment Com- pany, of which he is now vice president ; he also fills a similar position in the Vermont Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Montpelier, and serves as director of the Lamoille County Na- tional Bank of Hyde Park, Vermont.

In politics he has always been zealously identi- fied with the Democratic party, being repeatedly nominated for all the various offices of county, district and state. He served as selectman, town agent and trustee of the funds, represented the town in the state legislature for two terms, from 1882 to 1884. He was selected as a candidate for state's attorney; and later for state senator and United States congressman; he was also a can- didate for speaker while serving in the house at Washington, D. C. He was a delegate to the na- tional convention in 1894, which nominated Grover Cleveland for president of the United States, and received an appointment in the con- sular -service during his administration, with headquarters at Stanbridge, Canada. In 1896 he was a candidate for the office of secretary of state, on the Democratic ticket, and in 1900 received the nomination for governor of Vermont, running against Carroll S. Page, of Hyde Park. He re- ceived the largest number of votes of any candi- date ever nominated by the Democrats for this office, and reduced Mr. Page's majority to the smallest of any candidate ever elected to this im- portant office. On account of the extreme popu- larity enjoyed by Colonel Brigham, and also to demonstrate the good feeling and fellowship which exists between the two great political factions, Governor Page appointed him as aide-de-camp on his staff. This was the first case in the history of the state of Vermont where a Democrat has had this honor conferred upon him. The con- duct of Colonel Brigham throughout his profes- sional and political career has been character- ized by those qualifications which command suc-

cess and establish reputation-clear conception of the questions at issue, care in preparation, lucidity and vigor in presentation, and absolute fidelity to the trusts committed to him.

GEORGE BERKELEY, M. D.

Dr. George Berkeley, an accomplished medi- cal practitioner of St. Albans, Vermont, is a de- scendant of an ancestry who came from the town of Berkeley, county of Gloucester, and from New- castle-on-Tyne, Northumberland county, Eng- land. Michael Berkeley, great-grandfather of Dr. Berkeley, came to this country about the year 1820 by the way of Quebec, Canada, and settled in Milton, Chittenden county, Vermont, where he learned the trade of wheelwright and followed this occupation with success for many years. He was a musician of considerable repute, an excellent violinist, and was instrumental in organizing an orchestra which afterward became quite celebrated and had a flourishing existence for many years in that county. He was united in marriage to Eliza Powell, a native of Chitten- den county, and the following named children were born to them : George P. ; Jane, wife of Mr. Graves; Thomas, William, Mary and Jacob Berkeley. Mr. Berkeley's death occurred in Mil- ton about the year 1868.

George P. Berkeley, grandfather of Dr. Berke- ley, was born in Milton, Chittenden county, Ver- mont, where his educational advantages were ob- tained in the common schools. He then chose the profession of music for his life work, became a violinist under the excellent tutorship of his. father, and subsequently organized the Berkeley Battalion Band at Burlington, Vermont, whither. he had removed and where he resided for the greater part of his life. This band continued in existence for twenty years, maintaining a reputa- tion second to none in the county. Mr. Berkeley married Mary Jane Hill, a daughter of Roderick and Esther Bradley Hill, former residents of Cheshire, Connecticut. Their children were : Roderick Hill; John Bradley, born December 25, 1851, who was an architect by profession and was killed in Boston, August 5, 1872, by a fall from a building while engaged at work; Jennie G., born March 22, 1849, and resided at Malden, Massachusetts.

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THE STATE OF VERMONT.

Roderick Hill Berkeley, father of Dr. Berke- Jev, was born December 31. 1844, acquired his education at the Milton district school, and later engaged in agricultural pursuits in the town of Milton, where he resided until he attained the age of twenty years, when he removed to Min- neapolis, Minnesota, where he resided up to the time of his decease. Mr. Berkeley served in Com- pany D, Thirteenth Regiment, Vermont Infantry, in the Civil war and among other engagements participated in the battle of Gettysburg ; after the termination of his first term of enlistment he joined the Third Vermont Battery under Captain Start, and served until the close of the war. He took an active part in many engagements, includ- ing the battles about Petersburg. After peace was declared, Mr. Berkeley engaged in the con- fectionery business in Boston, Massachusetts, where he conducted a successful trade for a num- ber of years. He was prominently identified with the Grand Army of the Republic at Minneapolis, and took a keen interest in all matters pertain- ing to that organization. Mr. Berkeley was united in marriage to Ella Moostic, of Platts- burg, New York, who is now deceased.

Dr. George Berkeley, second child of Roder- ick Hill and Hannah Berkeley, was born in Mil- ton, Chittenden county, Vermont, July 10, 1870. His early education was obtained at the Milton high school, and later he was a pupil at Goddard Seminary, from which he was graduated in 1890. He then entered Mills Training School at Belle- vue Hospital, New York, where he remained for two years, after which he completed his medical training in the University of Vermont, from which he was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1894. Dr. Berkeley then received an appointment to the Mary Fletcher Hospital at Burlington, Vermont, and during the eighteen months of his service there he gained a wide and varied experience in hospital work. He then located in St. Albans, Vermont, where for a short period of time he was associated with Dr. James Jenne, having been appointed surgeon during the Spanish-American war. Dr. Berkeley then en- gaged in a general practice of his profession,

making a specialty of the eye, nose and throat, and in the performance of numerous difficult operations he has met with marked success. One operation was of an extraordinary nature, such as seldom occurs in a physician's practice-it was the removal of the subdorsal base of the skull of the temporal sphenoidal region. Dr. Berkeley wrote an article on the subject, which was read before the Medical Society. In addition to his extensive private practice, he acts in the capacity of visiting surgeon to St. Albans Hospital, and also county physician and examining surgeon for seventeen of the leading life insurance companies. He is a member of the faculty of the Training School for Nurses at St. Albans Hospital, where he is also a lecturer on gynecology ; he was presi- dent of the Franklin County Medical Society in 1899, secretary of the St. Albans Medical So- ciety from 1895 to 1900, a member of the Ver- mont State Medical Society and overseer of mili- tary surgeons of the United States. Dr. Berkeley was appointed a member of the St. Albans school board of the second ward in 1896, was elected captain of Company B, First Regiment, Ver- mont National Guard, in 1890, promoted major and surgeon of the regiment, and is still acting in the position of surgeon in the National Guard. He was chief of staff with the rank of captain of the first civil division of the inaugural parade on the occasion of the inauguration of President McKinley's second term, Congressman J. T. Mc- Cleary, of Minnesota, being marshal. He was also appointed official delegate of Vermont to the convention of the Society of Military Surgeons which convened at Washington, D. C. Dr. Berkeley is a member of the Improved Order of Foresters, a member of the Sons of Veterans, a charter member of the Campaign at Milton, and. eligible to membership in the Sons of the Ameri- can Revolution and the Society of Colonial Wars through Captain John Bradley, his great-great- grandfather.

On September 3, 1896, Dr. Berkeley was united in marriage to Mabel L. Hopkins, a daugh- ter of George W. Hopkins, of Burlington, Ver- mont.

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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 132

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