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 42

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 42

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He married, March 1, 1842, Harriet Cone, daughter of Morris Cone, who died in March, 1888. Luther Pease died in 1876. To them were born the following children :

Allen L., born September 8, 1843, died Aug- ust 4, 1899. He received his education in the public school and at Kimball Union Academy of Meriden, New Hampshire. Later he graduated from Eastman's Business College, of Poughkeep- sie, New York. In early manhood he went to Lawrence, Kansas, where he engaged in mer- cantile pursuits. While there, January 28, 1869, he married Sophia M., daughter of Chandler H. and Roxana (Huntting) Ward. After six years he returned to Hartford, Vermont, in 1870, and became a member of the firm of L. Pease & Son, dealers in hardware and agricultural implements, and was largely interested in real estate. He was a life-long student and lover of books, and pos- sessed a mind well stored with general informa- tion. He had been a director of the White River Savings Bank, and was one of the incorporators of the Capital Savings Bank & Trust Company of Montpelier, Vermont. He held the appoint- ment of postmaster from 1881 to 1884. An ardent Republican, he represented Hartford in the legis- lature in 1884, and was senator from Windsor county in 1890. He was an honored member of

the Masonic fraternity for thirty-four years, and had attained the thirty-second degree.

Charles W., the youngest son of Luther, was born October 1, 1849, and received his education at Newbury Seminary and at the Commercial College in New Haven, Connecticut. He entered the service of his father as clerk and manager of the Pease Hotel, and, with the exception of a short time, was a most successful manager of this noted hostelry until its destruction by fire in 1889. He was a charter member of the Knights of Honor, and a Knight Templar. He was married in 1870 to Mary, daughter of Orren Morse, of Brookfield, Vermont. He died February 17, 1890. A son, Orren Luther, is in business in Hartford, Connecticut.

Horace C., second son of Luther and Harriet (Cone) Pease, was born in Hartford, Vermont, December II, 1844. He received his education at Kimball Union and Newbury academies, and took a business course at Eastman's College, Poughkeepsie, New York, where he became a skilled and business penman, and graduated in 1865, playing the cornet in the college band as an equivalent for his tuition. The following four years he was manager of his father's farm connected with the hotel. In 1871 Mr. Pease bought one-fourth interest in the French-Watson Company. In 1885 he purchased the French in- terest, and in 1889 the Watson interest, thus in twenty-five years becoming sole proprietor of the firm, which position he held till 1902, when the business was sold to the American Fork & Hoe Company, of Cleveland, Ohio.

He was a charter member of the Hartford Cornet Band, being its leader and manager for many years. He is a member and liberal sup- porter of the Congregational church, at whose services he has played the cornet for twenty-five consecutive years. Mr. Pease is a staunch Re- publican, always supporting what makes for the best citizenship. He was town treasurer for four- teen years, and a justice of the peace twelve years. He is a charter member of Hartford Lodge No. IO. F. & A. M., and has held the office of secre- tary in the Masonic order for twenty-two years, resigning at his re-election in April, 1903.

Though actively devoted to his business, his public spirit has found expression in the thrift of his native village. He was instrumental in the

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THE STATE OF VERMONT.

laving of concrete walks in 1883, and in the electric lighting and other improvements of the town of Hartford, in 1895. In 1892 he gave the site for the Hartford Library, and was made one of its trustees. September 5, 1877, he was mar- ried to Seraph E. Spalding. In 1902 the quarter century mark of their married life was joyously celebrated at "Sunnyacre' by friends old and new.

GEORGE OREN STRATTON.

George Oren Stratton, a prominent citizen of Montpelier, was born in Greenwich, Massachu- setts, June 4. 1851, a son of Nathaniel Hapgood Stratton, and grandson of Samuel Stratton, of Paxton, Massachusetts. Nathaniel Hapgood Stratton was born in 1818, in Paxton, Massa- chusetts. He served an apprenticeship at the sil- ver-plating trade in Greenwich, Massachusetts, becoming an expert workman. Removing to Montpelier, Vermont, in 1847, he located on Court street, and in company with Joseph Fisher, established the first silver-plating industry in Ver- mont. In 1861 he disposed of his interest in the firm to H. C. Colton, now president of the Col- ton Manufacturing Company, and offered his services to the government. Enlisting in the Sixth Vermont Volunteer Infantry, he served as sutler of his regiment until 1864, when, in Wash- ington, D. C., he established a restaurant for army officers, and conducted it successfully until the close of the war. Returning then to Mont- pelier, he opened a restaurant there, managing it for awhile, when he engaged in the fruit busi- ness, which he followed until failing health com- pelled him to retire from active pursuits, about four years prior to his death, which occurred October 10, 1883. Fraternally he was a member of Aurora Lodge, F. & A. M.

On September 25, 1839, Nathaniel H. Strat- ton married Susan Howes Legg, who was born at South Orange, Massachusetts, November 22, 1816, a daughter of Luther and Susan (Lane) Legg. Her mother died when she was about five years old, leaving four children, who found homes with relatives. and her father married a second time, and settled in Upton, Massachusetts, where he died at the advanced age of ninety-one years. Three children were born of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Stratton, namely : Susan Emeline, born

July 26, 18440, married, in 1865, Henry Barnes, now residing in Elliott, Iowa, and they have had two children, Frank Stratton Barnes, of Creston, lowa, a conductor on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway ; and Nellie B., who died at the age of twelve; Isadore Frances, born July 1, 1846, died at the age of three years, and was laid to rest in the rural cemetery at Greenwich, Massachusetts; and George O., the special sub- ject of this brief sketch. Mrs. Stratton resides in Montpelier with her son. She is a woman of remarkable activity for one of her years, retain- ing in a large degree the mental and physical vigor of her youthful days, and is a devoted mem- ber of the Congregational church. Of a cheerful disposition, kind and charitable, the poor and needy ever find in her a friend and helper.

George O. Stratton received his early educa- tion in the Union and Washington county gram- mar schools of Montpelier, and began his active career as an employe in Cheney's express and telegraph office, remaining there three years. Then accepting a position in the postoffice under Postmasters James G. French and John W. Clark, he retained it until November 6, 1871, when he entered the office of the Vermont Mutual Fire Insurance Company as a clerk. He has since continued with the organization, being now as- sitant treasurer and a director of the company. He has taken a prominent part in town, village and municipal affairs, serving with efficiency in the various offices within the gift of his fellow men. He has served as bailiff, as selectman, as village trustee, was president of the first board of aldermen of the city of Montpelier, and served as the second mayor of the municipality. He is now a member of the Montpelier school board, and, socially, belongs to the Apollo Club.

On September 25, 1873, Mr. Stratton married Marion Estelle Baker, who was born in Hart- land, Vermont, September 28, 1855, a daughter of Jabez and Louisa (Gove) Baker. Three chil- dren have blessed their union : Arthur Nathaniel, born October 25, 1875, a farmer by occupation ; he married, January 7, 1899, Addie May Spear. of Montpelier. Bertha Louisa, born June 17. 1879, married, September 7, 1899, Joseph Vian. William Bingham, born September 4, 1881, is a clerk in the First National Bank. Mrs. Stratton is a member of the Congregational church.

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SHAILOR EMORY LAWTON.

Shailor Emory Lawton, M. D., of Brattle- boro, specialist in nervous and mental diseases, and superintendent of the Brattleboro Retreat, was born October 3, 1853, at Goshen, Connecti- cut, a son of Benjamin Lawton and grandson of Acors Wells Lawton. Joseph Lawton, the Doc- tor's great-grandfather, was born July 4, 1754, and married Anna Rathbun, who was born July 30, 1760. They reared nine children, as follows : Joseph, Mary, Nancy, Dorcas, Susanna, Joshua R., Acors Wells (the Doctor's grandfather), Giles M. and Sarah.

Acors Wells Lawton was born in Hopkinton, Rhode Island, May 1, 1797. He married, first, at Stonington, Connecticut, December 2, 1821, Mary Cheseboro, a niece of the noted Elder Chese- boro and soon afterwards removed to Hartland, Connecticut, where his wife died, in June, 1823, leaving twin sons. He married, second, May 18, 1825, in Hartford, Connecticut, Elizabeth Clark, by whom he had five sons. His second wife died in 1862, at Goshen, Connecticut, and he married, third, Mrs. Jane (Cheseboro) Bar- tholomew, a sister of his first wife. In 1827 he settled in Goshen, Connecticut, where he resided until his death, in 1881. He was a man of deep religious convictions, active in denominational work and one of the chief organizers of the Bap- tist church at Cornwall Hollow, in which he served for thirty-eight years as deacon. Spending a large part of his active life in Goshen, he la- bored faithfully to advance its best interests, at various times holding important local offices and representing the town in the state legislature in 1853.

Benjamin Lawton was born May 27, 1826, in Hartland, Connecticut, and spent his early life beneath the parental roof-tree. On January 12, 1848, at North Cornwall, Connecticut, he mar- ried Jane E. Nettleton, a daughter of Elijah Net- tleton, who was born September 1, 1792, and she was a direct descendant in the eighth genera- tion, through her mother, Rhoda Ann Fuller, of Edward Fuller, the immigrant who came over on the Mayflower, the line of descent being as fol- lows: Edward (1), Samuel (2), John (3), Jos- eph (4), Abraham (5), Isaac (6), Rhoda Ann (7), and Jane E. Nettleton (8).

Edward Fuller (I), his wife, and his brother Samuel, the Pilgrim physician and the first practitioner of medicine in Massachusetts, came from England to Plymouth, Massachusetts, in the Mayflower. Both he and his wife died early in 1621, leaving two sons, Matthew, who re- mained in England, and Samuel. Samuel Fuller, (2) came to America with his parents, and lived in Plymouth until after the division of the land among the colonists when he removed to Scitu- ate, Massachusetts, where he married, April 18, 1635. Jane Lothrop, daughter of Rev. John Lothrop. He subsequently settled in Barnstable, Massachusetts, where his death occurred Novem- ber 10, 1683, being one of the last survivors of the Mayflower passengers. John Fuller (3) married Mehitable Rowley, a granddaughter of his uncle, Matthew Fuller, and resided for a number of years in Barnstable, Massachusetts, where five of his children were born. He subse- quently removed with his family to East Had- dam, Connecticut, where four more children were added to his household. Joseph Fuller (4), born March 1, 1700, was one of the original pro- prietors of the town of Kent, Connecticut, and one of the founders of the Congregational church of that place, in which he was serving as deacon in 174I. He married Lydia Dorry, of Col- chester, Connecticut, by whom he had six sons. Captain Abraham Fuller (5) was a captain in the Fifteenth Regiment, Connecticut militia, and served in the Continental army after June I. 1774. He died in September, 1808, aged seventy- one years. His wife, whose maiden name was Lydia Gillett, was born in October, 1738, and died in January, 1801. They were residents of Kent, Connecticut, where he inherited land from his father, who was a large landholder. In 1773 Abraham Fuller was appointed guardian of the Seatacook Indians, a tribe of which some mem- bers are still to be found near the old Fuller homestead. A man of powerful and imposing physique, he had no fear of the Indians, some- times allowing them to come into his kitchen and lie upon the floor at night, throwing them out of doors if they did not behave well. He reared nine children, as follows: Esborn, Ashbel. Olive. Zueriah, Abraham and Isaac, twins. Roswell. Lydia and Jeremiah. Isaac Fuller (6) was born at Kent, Connecticut, April 17, 1772, but subse-

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granth readed for many years in Roxbury. Connectient. Rev. Isaac Fuller married Mary Hawley, of Farmington, Connecticut, a cousin of General Hawley, and they became the parents of nine children, namely : Joseph, Rhoda Ann, Abraham, Esther Root, Mehitable, Mary Hart, Lucinda, Lucha and Sarah Ann.

Rhoda An Fuller (7), was born October 4, 1800. Of her mion with Elijah Nettleton, men- tioned above, eight children were born as follows: Caroline M., Sarah A., Jane E., Isaac F., George C., Alfred H., Lydia M. and Ellen L. Jane E. Net- tleton (8) married Benjamin Lawton, and they became the parents of the following named, chil- dren: Benjamin Franklin, born June 26, 1850; Ralph B .. born February 25, 1852; Shailor Emory, the special subject of this biographical sketch: Francis Henry, born July 25, 1855 ; and Idella Jane, who was born May 29, 1857, and is the widow of the late William Platt Fitch. Mr. Fitch was for many years a well known lawyer of Yonkers, New York, but later became famous as manager of the Grand Union Hotel in New York city, a position which he was forced to resign on account of ill health in 1897. Retiring then to Brattleboro. Vermont, he resided there until his death on the 13th of February, 1900.

WINTER H. HOLLEY.

Winter Hewitt Holley (deceased) was born in Bristol. Vermont, June 15, 1798. He was a son of Robert and Hannah (Hewitt) Holley. His father, one of the early settlers, was a native of New London. Connecticut, and later removed to Hebron, New York. About 1795 he located at Bristol Vermont. Robert Holley served in the war of the Revolution, was a man of prominence, and represented his town in the general assembly of the state. Winter H. Holley was one of the influential business men of Bristol and promi- nently identified with its interests. He was a merchant, his store formerly standing on the site now occupied by the town hall. He represented his town in the state legislature, and was a direc- tor of the bank at Vergennes for a period of forty years, holding the office of vice-president for sev- eral years prior to his death.

Mr. Holley was married October 26, 1820, to Mary Seymour, a daughter of William and Susan

( Kubilee) Seymour, of New Haven, Vermont, and four children were born to them: George S., who died in infancy ; Horatio S., who died at Madrid, New York, April 15, 1863, aged thirty- three years; Mary A., who married Oren Moses and died at Malone, New York, February 23. 1800 : and Cornelia H., widow of Colonel Oliver Smith. The last named is the sole survivor of the family, and resides in Bristol. When the

subject of building a town hall was under con- sideration, Mrs. Smith donated to the town the land where the town hall now stands, in memory of her father, and in recognition of the gift the building afterwards erected was named Holley Hall. Mr. Holley died June 10, 1877, and his wife survived him about nine years.

CHARLES H. DUNTON, D. D.

Dr. Charles H. Dunton, of Poultney. Ver- mont, clergyman and educator, is a native of the state, born in Underhill, January 24, 1844, son of Elijah and Mary Ann (French) Dunton. Elijah Dunton, whose father fought in the battle of Plattsburg, was born in Westport, New York, in 18II. His mother was a descendant of Nehemiah How, who was captured by the Indians at Great Meadow Fort, 1745. Elijah Dunton received only a common school education, but his native ability enabled him to become a broadly informed man. He was a man of extensive reading, and acquired an unusually large private library, and he was much given to travel. In 1839 he took up his residence in Underhill, Vermont, residing upon a farm, which he managed until the time of his death, at the age of seventy years. He was highly respected, and was an active and con- sistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church. His wife was a daughter of Deacon Jona- than French, whose ancestors were among the Massachusetts Bay colonists of 1639. Jonathan French was a pioneer emigrant from Hollis, New Hampshire, to Westford, Vermont, where he fol- lowed farming; he died at the advanced age of eighty-eight years. His wife was Martha Palmer of Underhill, Vermont.

Elijah and Mary Ann ( French) Dunton were the parents of seven children, of whom two sur- vive: George C., a prosperous farmer, and Charles H., further written of below. Martha,

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Chass. Aunton

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THE STATE OF VERMONT.

a daughter in the same family, was an accom- plished and widely known teacher. She was ed- ucated in the New Hampton Institute of Fairfax, Vermont, and was for many years a teacher of the English branches in the Troy Conference Academy, where her work was phenomenally successful, while her graces of character endeared her not only to her pupils but to the community. She was devoted to missionary and temperance work, and exercised a most salutary influence in advancing religious and moral agencies. She died September 1, 1902.

Charles H. Dunton received his preparatory education at the New Hampton Institute, at Fair- fax, and was graduated from the University of Vermont in the class of 1870. He then for a year supplied the Methodist church at Johnson, and in 1871-72 took a post-graduate course at the Boston University. Having been admitted to the Troy Conference of the Methodist Episcopal church, for two years he discharged the duties of pastor at manchester and East Dorset, In 1874 he was elected a teacher of mathematics in the Troy Conference Academy, at Poultney, an in- stitution which, after some years of suspension, was at that time reopened. After serving three years in this subordinate capacity he was elected principal of the institution in 1877, and this po- sition he occupied until 1897, when ill health necessitated his resignation. Three years later, in 1900, he was sufficiently recovered to resume his connection with the school, and was per- suaded to return to the principalship. His ser- vice with the Troy' Conference Academy has been conspiciously useful. Having aided in the re-establishment of the institution at a time when the task seemed hopeless, he was afterwards the prime factor in its advancement to a place in the front rank of high-grade schools in the state, and its importance may be discerned in the fact that at the present time the corps of teachers numbers thirteen, and one hundred and ninety-six students are borne upon the rolls.

Dr. Dunton has also exerted a salutary in- fluence in behalf of higher education throughout the state and nation. In 1883 he was a dele- gate to the Inter-State Educational Convention at Louisville, Kentucky, and was among the ad- vocates of the Blair educational bill. In 1897-99

he was county examiner and was for a long period by successive re-appointments, state examiner of normal schools. In 1889 he was a member of the state legislature, and in that body he labored earnestly and capably in the capacity of chair- man of the committee on education. His untir- ing energy and high educational abilities have been crowned with well merited success, and it is to be said in all truthfulness that he is one of the ablest educators known in the history of the state. He is recognized as having given longer continued service to the same institution than any other secondary school principal in the state. It has long been his custom to spend his vacation in travel, in Europe as well as in the United States, and in such absences he has devoted his time largely to the acquisition of knowledge along educational lines.

Dr. Dunton is also known as a scholarly divine, and would doubtless have attracted wide attention as a pulpiteer had he not conceived it to be his highest duty to devote his life effort to educational concerns. His abilities found rec- ognition in 1886 by Syracuse University, which conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity, and in 1892 he was chosen a delegate to the general conference of the Methodist Epis- copal church.

During the Civil war period Dr. Dunton man- ifested his patriotism by enlisting in Company F. Thirteenth Regiment, Vermont Volunteers, but after six months of creditable service he was obliged to accept a discharge on account of phy- sical inability. Throughout the great struggle for national existence he was a zealous supporter of the government. His political affiliations have always been with the Republican party.

Dr. Dunton was married at Johnson, Vermont. June 26, 1872, to Miss Nettie W. Belding, a daughter of Judge Samuel and Flavilla (Water- man) Belding. A woman of excellent literary education, she is also an accomplished musician, having had the benefit of instruction from the best instructors in London and Paris, as well as in the United States. For many years she has been an efficient aid to her husband as an instruc- tor in the Troy Conference Academy. She takes a deep interest in American history, and is an ac- tive member of the Society of Colonial Dames.

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THE STATE OF VERMONT.

MARY ML. FLETCHER.

WRITTEN PY PRESIDENT M. N. BECKHAM.

A life of simple and quiet benevolence, such as Miss Fletcher's, furnishes but few events for biography. She was born to Thaddeus and Mary 1 .. (l'easlee) Fletcher on September 19, 1830, in Jericho, Vermont, where her father was a mer- chant, and whence he removed to Essex, where he was engaged in similar business for several years. In 1850 Mr. Fletcher came with his fam- ily to Burlington. Mary Fletcher and her younger sister, Ellen, the only children, received their education in the Burlington Female Semi- nary, conducted by Rev. J. K. Converse. Both girls were extremely delicate in health, and are re- membered by their associates as being unusually shy and reserved. Ellen, though apparently the more vigorous of the two, died of consumption after a short illness in 1855.

Mr. Fletcher, having by prudence in mercan- tile business and fortunate investments at the west amassed a large property, and foreseeing that his family would be short-lived turned his thoughts to the question of a charitable endow- ment for the public benefit. Among the plans which he considered, were projects for a public library and a hospital. Death, however, came to him in 1873, before he had fully matured any of the plans which lay before him. The only con- siderable gifts made by Mr. Fletcher himself were an endowment fund of ten thousand dollars, given to the Essex Classical Institute, and a be- quest of ten thousand dollars to the Home for Destitute Children, Burlington, Vermont. Short- ly after his death Mrs. Mary L. and Miss Mary M. Fletcher, his wife and daughter, to whom he had bequeathed all his property, founded and endowed the "Fletcher Free Library" of Bur- lington, Vermont, with gifts aggregating twenty-four thousand dollars. Of this sum, by the deed of gift, ten thousand dollars was devoted to the immediate purchase of books ; ten thousand dollars was to be invested as a fund, the proceeds of which should be expended in pur- chasing books, and four thousand dollars was afterwards added for the publishing of the cata- logue and for procuring books for the reference department. The cost of maintenance, including building, furnishing salaries of librarians, and

current expenses, is borne by the city. This has proved a most wise and beneficent gift. The present librarian, Miss Sarah Hagar, has had charge of the library since 1885. h appears by the last annual report of the trustees that the li- brary has now on its shelves between forty thou- sand and fifty thousand volumes, that the yearly additions are about one thousand volumes, and the number of volumes annually drawn out for reading for the last ten years has been an average of fifty thousand. Multiply these figures by the future decades of years which will inherit the ever-accumulating proceeds of this gift, and the gain to the intelligence of the community is seen to be beyond calculation.

The sudden death of Mrs. Fletcher in the sum- mer of 1875 frustrated for a time the plan for the endowment of a hospital in which both Mrs. and Miss Fletcher had taken a warm interest and which seemed to be approaching maturity. But as soon as Miss Fletcher recovered from the shock caused by her mother's death she set her- self resolutely, and under a profound sense of the responsibility placed upon her, to accomplish the project twice arrested by death, the founding of a hospital. In this act, or series of acts, by which, on her part. this plan was carried into execution, Miss Fletcher manifested a remarkable business and executive ability. It has almost become a proverb that nowhere do persons of wealth show so much weakness as in their projects for bestow- ing their wealth upon the public. But this quiet, resolute lady, having sought advice where she thought she could get the best, matured her plans thoughtfully, and then, waving aside opposition, announced and proceeded to carry out her design with a wisdom and firmness which, almost equally with her generosity, entitle her to admiration.

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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 42

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