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 63

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 63

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the mis Wheeler at Berkshire Center, Vermont. lle retired from the firm in 1840, and removed to West Haven, Vermont, where he was in business for two years, subsequently removing to Fairfax, where he established himself in business, and con- tinued to reside there until his decease. In 1865 Mr. Alfred retired, transferring his business to his son, John B. Alfred. Mr. Samuel D. Alfred was one of the prime movers in procuring the removal of the Newhampton Institution from Newhampton, New Hampshire, to Fairfax, Ver- mont. For many years after its removal he gave largely of his means and time to its support. It was one of the leading schools of that time. ; Mr. Alford gave all of his children a good and thor- ough education, and contributed liberally of his wealth to enable them to make a beginning in life. He was a man of the strictest integrity, and had the reputation of being the soul of hon- esty in all his transactions. Mr. Alfred, on No- vember 25, 1832, married for his second wife Miss Polly Smith, who was born in Fairfield, Vermont, August 22, 1812. Ten children were born of this union, namely: Samuel D., Jr., who married Cerepta B. Freeman, and died at the age of forty-eight years; Pamelia Ann, who is still living; Mary Celinda L., wife of Charles E. Fisher; Sarah M., wife of Elbridge D. Richard- son; Cromwell B., who married Jane Roberts, and died at the age of forty years; Elizabeth C., who died at the age of five years; John B., who married Susan A. Bradley ; Almon S., who mar- ried Lucy A. Ives; Chauncey Chapin, who mar- ried Ann Chase Hunt ; and Frank E. Alford.

Frank E. Alfred, of Newport, Vermont, is the youngest of the ten children of Samuel D. and Polly Alfred, seven of whom are now living, four sons and three daughters. He was born in Fairfax, Franklin county, Vermont, February 25, 1853. He acquired his education in the pub- lic schools of his native town, and then completed a course in the Newhampton (Fairfax) Insti- tute. During his boyhood he assisted his father with the duties of his store, and later he began to read law under the preceptorship of Edson & Rand, the leading attorneys of St. Albans. When he reached the age of twenty-one years he entered Harvard Law School, from which he was graduated in June, 1876. While pursuing his studies in the law school he was admitted

to the bar in Boston, Massachusetts, and imme- aidtely after his graduation he was admitted to the bar in his native county at St. Albans. In November of the same year he entered into part- nership at Newport with Walter D. Crane, a prominent lawyer of Orleans county, Vermont, and this association was maintained for the long period of twenty years, only terminating with the death of his partner and closely attached friend in 1898, since which time he has practiced alone.

In 1866 Mr. Alfred was elected state's attorney for Orleans county, and in 1888 was re-elected. Immediately following these two terms of office, he was appointed by Governor Dillingham to the important position of judge advocate general of the state of Vermont, to fill a vacancy, and he was elected by two succeeding legislatures, under Governors Page and Fuller, and after serving for six years he declined a third election. In October, 1893, he was appointed by Governor Fuller to the position of judge of probate for the district of Orleans, to fill a vacancy occasioned by the death of Judge O. H. Austin. At the succeeding election he was returned to the posi- tion, and he has been continuously re-elected, without opposition to the present time. His large personal practice is of the most important character, and he continues to act as counsel for the Canadian Pacific Railroad Company, in continuance of a trust long before reposed in the law firm of Crane & Alfred. He is the possessor of one of the largest and choicest law libraries in the state. Outside the literature of his pro- fession he is an ardent book-lover, and cherishes a hearty interest in all that pertains to history and belles-lettres. He is a highly respected mem- ber of the State Bar Association, and has served upon its board of managers ; he is also an active member of the Society of the American Revolu- tion, and is one of the board of managers of that organization for the state of Vermont.

On June 10, 1879, at Newton, Massachusetts, Mr. Alfred was united in marriage to Miss Mary Louise Edes, daughter of Robert Ball and Pris- cilla R. Edes. Mr. Edes was a prominent mer- chant of Charlestown, Massachusetts. Mrs. Al- fred possessed great literary taste, and was the originator of the University Extension Course, consisting of several branches, and she acted as

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its secretary until her death. From this course of study the library idea was formed, and the members were largely interested in the forma- tion of the present library. Mrs. Alfred died at Newport, Vermont, July 27, 1899.

MARK J. SARGEANT.

Mark J. Sargeant, eldest son of William B. and Mahala (Noyes) Sargeant, was born in the town of Tunbridge, Vermont, March 9, 1838. His educational advantages were obtained in the common schools of his native town, after which he pursued a course of study at Strafford and Thetford, Vermont, which qualified him for the position of teacher. In June, 1861, being then twenty-four years of age, he enlisted at Tun- bridge, Vermont, as a private in Company E, Captain Richard Smith commanding, Second Regiment of Vermont Infantry, under the com- mand of Colonel Whiting. The regiment was forwarded to Washington, D. C., then to Vir- ginia, and participated in the first battle of Bull Run and Lee's Mills ; he was on detached service at regimental headquarters from 1861 to 1865. In this capacity Mr. Sergeant was with the regi- ment during the following battles: First Bull Run, Lee's Mills, Wilderness, Golding's Farm, Savage Station, White Oak Swamp, Crampton Gap, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Mary's Heights, Salem Heights, Yorktown, Rap- pahannock Station, Appomattox, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Charleston, West Virginia, Opequan, Winchester, Fisher's Hill, Mt. Jackson, Cedar Creek and Petersburg. In 1862 the regiment was ordered to New York to quell the riots, and they served in that city for two months. Mr. Sergeant was honorably discharged from the United States service at Brattleboro, Vermont, June 20, 1864, after which he served at headquarters in the Second Division of the Sixth Army Corps as purchasing agent for the staff of General Howe, located at Petersburg, Virginia; this was a civil position and he retained it until the close of the war. For the following two years he was engaged in the manufacture of hoop skirts at South Roy- alton, after which he established a drug business in the same city, and has conducted it with a marked degree of success ever since; he has one of the largest and most complete stocks of drugs

and sundries to be found in Central Vermont, and owing to the courteous manner in which his cus- tomers are treated he receives a large patronage.

Mr. Sargeant has been active in Grand Army of the Republic circles since 1868, having re- cently received an appointment as aide with the rank of colonel on the staff of the national com- mander of the Grand Army of the Republic, Hon. Thomas J. Stewart, of Pennsylvania. He has also held the office of department inspector, department junior vice commander and now commander, of Orville Bixby Post, having served in that capacity three times. Politically he is a Republican, and has served as justice of the peace for fifteen years; fraternally he is a mem- ber of the Masonic order, having attained the commandery degrees. He is affiliated with the Rising Sun Lodge, for which he has acted in the capacity of secretary eighteen years, Whitney Chapter at Randolph, Mt. Zion Commandery, Mt. Sinai Temple, and Eastern Star.

Colonel Sargeant married Miss Maria Hart- well, of Tunbridge, and their son, William M., is associated with his father in the drug business and also holds the office of postmaster at South Royalton; he was united in marriage to Miss Erva M: Martin, of South Royalton, Vermont. After the death of his first wife, in 1874, Colonel Sargeant married Miss Harriet L. Pike, of North field, and her death occurred February 4, 1902. A well merited success has crowned the capably directed business efforts of Mark J. Sargeant, and his advancement financially is due entirely to his own resources and abilty.

Foster Sargeant, grandfather of Mark J. Sar- geant, was a son of William Sargeant, and his birth occurred in New Hampshire; subsequently he removed to Perkinsville. Vermont, where he was engaged in agricultural pursuits and also in making soda from the ash. He served as a private during the war of the Revolu- tion, and while on his way to Bur- lington to join the forces for the en- gagement at Bennington he learned that the bat- tle had already been fought. He was united in marriage to Mary Brown, of Perkinsville, Ver- mont, and their children were: John, William B., Martha, Eldridge, Benjamin, Alamanda and Lemuel.

William B. Sargeant, father of Mark J. Sar-

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geant, was a blacksmith by trade, and followed that vocation in the town of Tunbridge, Ver- mont, where he resided for the greater part of his life. He was a member of the Vermont militia, being connected with a company of mounted troops. In politics he was formerly a Whig, but later cast his vote with the Republican party, and in his religion he was a member of the Universal- ist church. Mr. Sargeant was united in marriage to Mahala Noyes, and the following named chil- dren were born to them: Mark J., Martha J., William Henry, Albert, Abbie, Jennie, George, Jessie, Foster, Marcellus and Nellie Sargeant, all living. The father of these children died at the age of seventy-eight years, and his wife passed away in 1865, at the age of fifty-eight years.

HON. DUDLEY CHASE DENISON.

Dudley Chase Denison, actively associated for many years with the legal profession and also with the political affairs of Royalton, Vermont, is a descendant of Captain George Denison, a native of England, who came to this country in 1631 and settled first in Stonington, Connecticut, whence his descendants removed later to the state of Vermont.

Dr. Joseph Adam Denison, father of Dudley C. Denison, was born in Connecticut, where the early days of his life were spent in acquiring a practical common school education. Later his father moved to Hartland, Vermont, where the son remained until 1797, when he went to Bethel and commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Gallup; after pursuing the regular course of in- struction he established an office in that town and enjoyed a large practice until 1815, when he settled in Royalton, and resided in a house which is still standing in a good state of preservation ; here he had a large practice, which extended over a wide range of country. Dr. Denison was united in marriage, in 1802, to Miss Rachel Chase, a descendant of a family prominent in many ways; one of her brothers was the Right Rev- erend Philander Chase, a resident of Ohio, and who established and built Kenyon College, and another was Hon. Dudley Chase, who acted in the capacity of chief justice of the supreme court of Vermont, and United States senator from

1825 to 1831. Their children were : (1) Dr. Joseph Adam, who practiced with his father at Royal- ton up to the time of his death in 1848; he mar- ried Eliza Skinner, and the following named chil- dren were born to them: Eliza, the widow of Judge Jameson, an eminent lawyer and dis- tinguished, jurist of Chicago, Illinois; George, a lawyer of great prospect, who went to Texas and later became collector of customs for New Orleans during the Civil war, having been ap- pointed by Salmon P. Chase, secretary of state, a relative of his father, but subsequently returned to Texas, and his death occurred at sea while on a trip home to Vermont; Lucy, a teacher, now deceased; Eleanor, who died in childhood; Phil- ander, who died in infancy; Fanny, who died in early youth ; Franklin, a prominent lawyer of Chi- cago; Alice, who is unmarried, and resides at Royalton; James, a teacher in the Deaf Mute College at Washington, D. C., whose eldest son is engaged as a correspondent for the New York Sun, and accompanied President Roosevelt on all his trips, and whose second son is Dr. Ray- mond, a resident of Berlin, New Hampshire ; Mrs. Clara McClellan, who made her residence in Chicago, Illinois, where she is at the present time; and Charles, a celebrated doctor of medi- cine, settled in Denver, Colorado, and well known throughout the entire country and Europe ; Susan, who married Edward M. Gallandet, president of the Deaf Mute College, of Washington, D. C., whose father was the founder of the deaf mute system of teaching in the United States, and one of her sons married Senator Cockrell's daughter, another son is studying for the ministry, and one son is married and is in railroad business in the west. (2) Eunice, the second child of Dr. Jos- eph A. and Rachel Denison, died in infancy. (3) Rachel died in infancy. (4) Eunice died in infancy. (5) Rev. George, an Episcopal clergy- man, who officiated first at Lockport, New York, then at Newark, Ohio, was professor in Kenyon College, and finally rector at Keokuk, Iowa, where he died and was buried ; he married Jean- ette Ralston, and had a large family, of whom Henry H. is a practicing lawyer in St. Louis, Charles, a professor at Ann Arbor, Michigan, Alice Chase resides in Royalton, Vermont, George and several other children who died

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young. (6) James, a graduate of Kenyon, stud- ied law with Judge Collamer at Royalton, Ver- mont, and located at Texas, where he practiced law until his decease; he married Mrs. Forsythe, of Texas, and three children were born to them. (7) Alice married David W. Grant, an agricul- turist of Bloomington, Connecticut, and their children were David D., of Toledo, Ohio, Joseph W., a very wealthy man engaged in the oil business at Franklin, Pennsylvania, and Alice Grant, who resides in Royalton, Vermont. (8) Rachel C. died unmar- ried. (9) Dudley Chase is the subject of this sketch. Dr. Joseph A. Denison died at Royal- ton, at the age of eighty years, December 4, 1855, and his wife passed away in 1858 in her eighty-fifth year.

Dudley Chase Denison, youngest son of Dr. Joseph A. and Rachel Denison, was born in Royalton, Windsor county, Vermont, September 13, 1819, and his preliminary education was ob- tained in the common schools and Royalton Acad- emy. He then pursued the full course in the University of Vermont, situated in Burlington, from which institution he was graduated, stand- ing third in his class, in 1840. Mr. Denison was admitted to the bar in May, 1845, and since that date has practiced continuously in the various courts of the state, and somewhat in the United States courts. He has remarkable powers of con- centration and application and a comprehensive knowledge of the law, which has won for him a high position among his professional brethren. Since the formation of the Republican party he has always advocated its principles, and has been honored by election to many positions, among them being state senator from Windsor county in 1853 and 1854; he represented Royalton in the legislature, serving on the committee of ways and means, and being active in support of the war for the Union, during the years 1860, 1861 and 1862; he has served his county as state's attorney, and was United States district attorney from 1864 to 1869. He was elected to the forty- fourth Congress from the second congressional district of Vermont, in 1874, and two years later was re-elected. Mr. Denison's first vote was cast for William Henry Harrison as president of the United States. In addition to his ex- tensive legal practice, Mr. Denison has acted in

the capacity of director of the National Life In- surance Company of Montpelier, Vermont.

On December 22, 1846, Mr. Denison married Eunice Dunbar, and the following named chil- dren have been born to them: (1) Joseph Dud- ley, born November 1, 1847, married Elizabeth A. Rix, of Royalton, formerly of Mobile, Ala- bama; they have two children, Eunice Dunbar, wife of John Spring, a lawyer of Nashua, New Hampshire, and Katherine Kendall Denison. (2) Catherine Amanda, born March 25, 1850, be- came the wife of Charles H. Woodard, of South Royalton, who now conducts the South Royalton Hotel; they had one son, Denison Borodell Wood- ard, a resident of Royalton; Mrs. Woodard died June 10, 1889. (3) John Henry, born July 5, 1855, was educated in the public schools of Roy- alton and the University of Vermont, later studied law with his father and at Harvard Law School, and is now a prominent lawyer of Denver, Colora- do, having a large practice at the United States Supreme Court ; on October 22, 1884, he married Agnes Hawley, of Chicago, and their children were: Rosamond, a student at Smith College, Rachel Chase, and a son, Dudley Stanton, who died. (4) Gertrude May, born September 22, 1857, is now managing her father's household. (5) Lucy Dunbar, born January 9, 1867, is a teacher of drawing and painting at Denver, Col- orado. (6) Edward, born February 3, 1860, died December 6, 1860. (7) Elizabeth died in infancy. The mother of these children died No- vember 2, 1873, at the age of fifty years.

Although eighty-three years of age, Mr. Deni- son retains his mental faculties to a rare degree. Probably the memory of no man in Windsor county reaches back so far into the early events of the nineteenth century. He well remembers the visit of Lafayette in 1825, and the ovation given him, the procession which was formed, and the men who led it, and the committee who received the distinguished guests, all of whom have long since passed away. He also remembers the early agitation in favor of railroads, and the first rude- ly patterned model of a locomotive, and of at- tending a lecture by a scientist of that time who prophesied that some of the lads who heard him would live to see the ordinary vehicles of travel propelled by that then seemingly inefficient power. These and many other events of import-

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ance which happened in the early days, are as clear to the mind and are related with as much accuracy by Mr. Denison as though only oc- curring a week ago.

THE MORRIS FAMILY.

EPHRAIM MORRIS, SYLVESTER MORRIS AND EPHRAIM MORRIS (2).

In the autumn of 1804 Ephraim Morris, with his wife, Pamela Converse, and their four chil- dren, emigrated from Stafford, Connecticut, to Roxbury, Vermont. He was a tanner by trade, but was attracted to the newly opened lands in Central Vermont by reports of their fertility for raising wheat-sixty bushels to the acre. Two of Pamela Converse's uncles, Israel and Josiah, had previously settled in the neighboring town of Randolph, Vermont, and the leading man in Rox- bury, Samuel Richardson, was a family connec- tion, and had himself come from Stafford, Cen- necticut. Ephraim Morris was one of the fifth generation from Edward Morris, of Roxbury, Massachusetts, who became one of the founders of Woodstock, Connecticut, and Pamela Con- verse belonged to the seventh in the line from Edward Converse, of Woburn, who came to New England with Winthrop in 1630. The fathers of both had fought in the Revolution, while Pa- mela Converse's descent from Major James Con- verse of Storer's Garrison fame renders her de- scendants eligible to the Society of Colonial Wars.

The road which the young couple traveled up the Connecticut and White rivers had been trod- den by many feet since the region was first opened to settlers at the close of the French and Indian wars. As far, no doubt, as Randolph, Vermont, they were able to journey by wagon, their house- hold goods and little ones stowed away after the fashion of emigrants, and they themselves taking turns at driving and walking. From Randolph they proceeded perhaps on horseback or on foot, and so came to the mountain wilderness where their destination was a tract of timberland, pur- chased the aJnuary precious and situated on Roxbury East Hill near the third branch of White river. There Ephraim Morris made a clearing, built a log cabin, and established his family, and there he remained eight years, until 1812, when he removed to Bethel, Vermont,

twenty miles nearer civilization. In Bethel he was a tanner and dealer in boots and shoes, and from Bethel he annually made the trip to Dan- vers, Massachusetts, taking down sheep pelts and returning with leather and family supplies. Like all of his family in the generations before him he took a leading place in community affairs, was one of the founders and builders of the Con- gregational church in Bethel, and kept open house for ministers and friends. He was a Fed- eralist and Whig, of a social nature, proud of his family connections, which he took pains to keep in mind by periodical visits to Connecticut, and was himself a much loved and honored father. He died in 1852 in his eighty-first year, having survived his wife six years.

The nine children of Ephraim and Pamela (Converse) Morris were: Sylvester, born Sep- tember 23, 1797; Amanda, born September 20, 1799 ; Edward, born September 15, 1801 ; Pamela, born October 6, 1803-all in Stafford, Connecti- cut ; Jesse Converse, born August 7, 1805 ; Jesse Converse, born March 7, 1807; Mary, born No- vember 27, 1809; Joseph, born February 4, 1812, all in Roxbury; Julia, born March 11, 1814; Eliza, born December 24, 1816; Joseph, born February 14, 1817-all in Bethel, Vermont. To those of them who reached maturity the parents transmitted strong minds, strong bodies, length of days, business capacity, and public spirit. Of the sons only the two eldest, Sylvester and Ed- ward, lived and died in Vermont, of whom Syl- vester deserves to be remembered for the strength of his moral character and his positions as an anti- slavery and temperance advocate.

He was born in Stafford, Connecticut, Sep- tember 23, 1797, and was but seven years old when he came to Vermont. In the family's pio- neering experiences he was his father's chief as- sistant. He began his education in the log cabin schoolhouse of district No. I in Roxbury, and at twelve years of age, under the influence of some itinerant preacher, holding services in neighbor- hood kitchens and barns, he became a Christian. He wished to become a minister, but was too much needed at home, and so began life as a tan- ner like his father before him. On August I, 1822, he married Susanna Jackson Weston, of Randolph, Vermont. She was a descendant in the sixth genration from Edmund Weston, of

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Duxbury, Massachusetts, and was allied to George Soule and John Howland, of Mayflower fame. Her father, Abner Weston, came to Ran- dolph in 1786 with his bride, Huldah Washburn, of another old Plymouth family, led thither by her desire to accompany her parents, who then removed to Vermont. He had been educated as a lawyer and became Squire Weston in Randolph. Susanna was the seventh child and was twenty years old at the time of her marriage to Syl- vester Morris. She was blue-eyed and fair, deeply religious, and of a strongly aesthetic and intellectual bent.

After his marriage Sylvester Morris lived a short time in West Randolph and Barnard, Ver- mont, then in Strafford ten years, and the rest of his life in Norwich. He also had business re- lations in the neighboring towns of Hanover and Hartford. Beside his original trade of tanner, he was a small farmer, had a shoe shop, dealt in leather, and was a general man of affairs, riding the country far and near, building, moving, trad- ing, and entering unto innumerable details of other people's business, a man of known honesty and integrity of character, and with an unfortu- nate habit of signing notes with his friends.

Wherever he lived he and his wife were leaders in church affairs, and in Norwich he was a deacon of the church for thirty-seven years. At an early period he took a decided stand against slavery and for temperance reform. It became part of his religion to advocate the two causes. "Go preach, go preach, go preach the gospel !" he used to be heard saying to himself, and preach he did in season and out of season, on the street, in the stores, in private and in public. He took the Liberator and National Era, was a member of the underground railway, and held public dis- cussions upon slavery in the church vestry, chal- lenging anyone who would engage with him. In 1840 he voted for James G. Birney when only three hundred and nineteen votes were cast for that candidate in Vermont, and but seven thou- sand in the whole country. In the temperance cause he suffered more personal inconvenience than as an anti-slavery agitator, being brought thereby into direct conflict with social leaders to whom the old time hospitality was dear. The students of Norwich University spoiled his gar- den, cut down his trees, sheared his horse, burned

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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 63

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