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 68

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 68

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At the age of twenty-eight, Mr. Manley was chosen justice of the peace for Rutland county, and he received the high compliment of thirteen consecutive elections. During this long period he tried many hundred cases, both civil and criminal, and his decisions were characterized by such impartiality and excellent knowledge of law that jury trials were resorted to in only two in- stances, and only one appeal from his decision was reversed in the county court. During his term of service he secured a small but well se- lected library, and occupied his leisure hours with the study of the law. In 1874 he entered the office of Hon. C. H. Joyce, of Rutland, and at the March term of the following year he was admitted to the Rutland county bar, since which

time he has been actively engaged in practice, his services having been especially sought in the set- tlement of estates as administrator and commis- sioner. For six years prior to 1892 he held the office of special prosecutor. In 1894 he was clected judge of Rutland county court, and served for six years in a manner entirely credit- able to himself and satisfactory to the public.

Judge Manley has ever been an active and in- telligent laborer in religious, moral and educa- tional fields. He has been a member of the First Congregational church of West Rutland since July 4, 1860, and he was for ten years secretary of the Rutland County Temperance Society, and for a considerable period he also discharged the duties of president. In 1884 he was elected a resident member of the Webster Histor- ical Society of Boston, and, early evincing a taste for literary metaphysical study, has written and published many articles on standard and popular subjects. During a residence of over thirty years in West Rutland, he has taken an active interest in promoting its welfare and prosperity, and has invested to a large extent in real estate, and has erected many structures, both for dwellings and business purposes. His political affiliations are with the Republican party.

Judge Manley married, August 19, 1857, Electa A., daughter of Ebenezer Porter, of Or- well.

Electa A. Manley was born at Orell, Addison county, Vermont, December 29, 1829, and died at her home on Clarendon avenue, West Rutland, Vermont, March 7, 1903. Her early education was gained at the common schools of Orwell and vicinity, and she early became a successful teach- er of the common school. She entered Castleton Seminary in 1853, graduating from said school in 1855, after which she taught a private school at Forest Hill, Mississippi. She was a teacher of pronounced sentiments, especially as regarded slavery, and her northern patriotism led her often into unpleasant fields of discussion, especially as those were the days when secession and rebellion were the constant themes of southern people. She returned east and was married at Castleton, Ver- mont, August 19, 1857. She was for some time after her marriage a teacher of music in the pub- lic schools of West Rutland. She was a woman of more than ordinary ability and education, and

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was fearless in the advocacy of truth and right, and she left her impress and teaching upon the character and minds of her children. She was generous and philanthropic in spirit and practice, always anxious to contribute to the needy and unfortunate. She had been a member of the Congregational church at West Rutland for many years and was teacher in the Sunday school for some time. She died March 7, 1903, at the age of seventy-three years.

Two children were born to Judge and Mrs. Manley : Wilbur P. and Lillian E.

Lillian Eliza Manley has many of the char- acteristics of her mother, is stern and rigid in principle, an extensive reader and is a leader in social reform, an authority in matters of history and general literature, a member of the Congre- gational church at West Rutland and is interested in leading reforms, the better interests of the church and in pursuing the interests of true edu- cation.

Wilbur P. Manley, son of the Hon. Joseph E. and Electa A. (Porter) Manley, was born July 25, 1858, at West Rutland, and was educated in the Rutland high school. He began his business career by entering the old Rutland National Bank as a clerk, later holding for two or three years the office of teller, when he became manager of the telegraph exchange in Rutland for one year. In 1883 he went west, and the following year set- tled at Sioux City, Iowa. He there founded the Security National Bank, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, and was elected cash- ier, serving six years. He was then elected presi- dent, an office which he still holds. Since this connection with the bank, in which he is a half owner, the capital has been increased to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, the depos- its and loans amount to over two million one hundred thousand dollars and fifteen clerks are employed. Mr. Manley is also president of the Wakefield National Bank, at Wakefield, Nebras- ka, and president of the Woodbury County Sav- ings Bank. He is one-half owner of the Wake- field National Bank and also of the Woodbury County Savings Bank. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, prominent in social circles and a man actively identified with all the impor- tant and useful enterprises of his town as well as of the state. He is a liberal supporter of moral

agencies as well as of commercial institutions, and it is characteristic of him that he made a subscription of six thousand dollars to the Young Men's Christian Association, and a little later five thousand dollars for the erection of a packing house. He is a member of the executive com- mittee of the American Bankers' Association.

Mr. Manley married Eva, daughter of Eli Richardson, of Sioux City, Iowa, who died in 1902, leaving half a million dollars to his four children. Mr. and Mrs. Manley are the parents of two children: Leonard Richardson and Mar- garet.

TIMOTHY S. DAILEY.

Timothy S. Dailey, a prominent and prosper- ous citizen of Ludlow, Vermont, was born April 5, 1850, in Ireland, whence his parents removed to Canada a few years later. Timothy Dailey, his father, came to Canada, where he remained only a short time, subsequently removed to Lud- low, Vermont, being one of the first settlers of the town, and soon secured employment with the Rutland Railroad Company. He was the father of the following named children: John, a resi- dent of Ludlow, Vermont, acting in the capacity of baggage master of the Rutland Railroad for twenty-five years, and during the Civil war served in Company H, Tenth Regiment, Vermont Vol- unteers, Army of the Potomac, for three years and was severely wounded at Cedar Creek ; Tim- othy S .; Michael ; William ; Patrick, who was em- ployed for twenty years in the National Bureau of Printing and Engraving at Washington, D. C., but was engaged in the furniture business at the time of his death; Charles, a resident of New Hampshire; Kate, wife of Dennis Gehan, a citi- zen of Ludlow ; Hanora, unmarried ; Mrs. Rich- ard Kneeland; Anna, wife of George Adams, a resident of Ft. Madison, Iowa. The father of these children died at the age of ninety years, and his wife passed away in her eighty-first year.

Timothy S. Dailey, second son of Timothy Dailey, attended the common schools of Ludlow, where he acquired a practical education. After completing his studies he found employment on a farm in Weathersfield, Vermont, where he was engaged when the war broke out. Being too young to join the army, yet having a taste for

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military hie, he organized a company of boys of which he was the captain. While marching past a neighbor's house the company halted, and the young captain was called upon for a speech, and during the course of his remarks he assured his heaters that if the war was prolonged until he and his little company were old enough, they would all enlist, and many of them fulfilled the promise. Mr. Dailey enlisted as a private in Company G, Seventh Regiment, they being or- dered to join the Department of the Gulf at Mo- bile Point, Alabama, where they participated in the capture of Mobile; he received a gunshot wound in the arm, was sent to the St. Louis hos- pital to recuperate, and while an inmate of that institution performed hospital duty.

Soon after his return from the war, Mr. Dailey learned the dyer's trade at J. S. Gill's woolen mills, at Ludlow, and then removed to Stamford, Connecticut, where for eighteen years he followed that occupation, working for the Norwalk Woolen Mills. While a resident of Stamford, he be- came interested in the real estate business, erected twenty-two. houses and still holds considerable interests there; he also loaned money to the poor people of the city, and since his removal from there has frequently been called upon to aid them in a pecuniary way. Owing to the illness of his wife, Mr. Dailey was obliged to remove to California, where he engaged for three years in the fruit business, and after the death of his wife, which occurred in 1890, he returned to his old home at Ludlow, Vermont, where he again resumed his former occupation, which he has followed ever since. For seven years he was the head workman for the Black River Woolen Mills at Ludlow, but at the present time (1903) he occupies a similar position with the Ludlow Woolen Mills. In 1892 Mr. Dailey purchased the Jacob Parker property, and in 1896 erected Dailey's block, a substantial and elegantly finished building, thirty- six by sixty feet and three stories in height. He occupied the second story for his own residence, while the third floor contains the sumptuously furnished rooms of the Masonic order ; he is also the owner of the old Patrick homestead, adjoin- ing, and all this valuable property has been ac- quired through his own industry and persever- ance.

Politically Mr. Dailey is a firm adherent of the principles of the Republican party, being elected to serve in the capacity of trustee of the village and justice of the peace. He is a prominent member of Hobby Post No. 23, G. A. R., of Stam- ford, Connecticut, and has been commander. Mr. Dailey was twice married, his first wife having been Lucy R. Pierce, and their chil- dren were Maud, who died in 1901, and Clare, a telegraph operator in Massachusetts. By his sec- ond marriage, which occurred in 1892, to Lizzie Gilligan, were born two children, Marie and Mar- guerite Dailey.

ZENAS H. ELLIS.

Zenas H. Ellis, vice president of the First National Bank of Fairhaven, Vermont, and a prominent factor in the political and agricultural interests of that town, is a descendant of Barna- bas Ellis, who was a prominent resident of He- bron, Connecticut, in 1767, but removed to Clare- mont, New Hampshire, where he was united in marriage to Elizabeth Spencer, in 1769, this be- ing the first marriage solemnized in that town. Barnabas Ellis served in the capacity of lieu- tenant in the Continental army, was one of the members of the expedition under the command of Ethan Allen against Ticonderoga and Crown Point, in 1775, and served as a lieutenant under the command of General Stark in the battle of Bennington, Vermont, August 16, 1777. His son, Barnabas Ellis, married Belinda Kidder, of Weathersfield, Vermont, a daughter of Lieuten- ant Oliver Kidder. Barnabas Ellis was chosen three times to serve as a member of the Vermont legislature.

Zenas Clark Ellis, a son of the second Barna- bas Ellis, and father of Zenas H. Ellis, was born in Fairhaven, Vermont, July 25, 1820, and en- joyed the educational advantages afforded by the common schools of that day. He accepted and creditably filled numerous positions of trust and usefulness in the affairs of the town, county and community, and in the capacity of selectman and treasurer rendered efficient and patriotic serv- ice during the war. In 1847 he was elected one of the board of listers, for many years acted as justice of the peace, and, in 1876, without his knowledge, his name was presented by his friends

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Lenas H.Ellie

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to the county convention as a candidate for the office of associate judge of the county court .. The members of the bar gave him their cordial en- dorsement and he was elected and held the office for two years. He was a director in the National Bank of Poultney, and one of the original foun- ders of the First National Bank of Fairhaven, in which he served as director until his death, also as president, being elected to that position in 1878 and re-elected each successive year. In September, 1847, he married Sarah Bowman Dyer, a daughter of Edward and Hannah (Hoxie) Dyer, of Rutland, Vermont, and the following named children were born to them: George W., a prominent attorney at law.of New York city; Edward D., a practicing physician of Poultney, Vermont ; Horace B., proprietor of the Prospect House on Lake Bomoseen; and Zenas H. Ellis. Mrs. Ellis died July 7, 1876, and Mr. Ellis chose for his second wife Mrs. Mary Smith, the ceremony being performed December 8, 1880. Mr. Ellis died in 1883. Edward Dyer, father of Mrs. Sarah B. (Dyer) Ellis, was a lineal de- scendant of William Dyer, who was the first incumbent of the office of clerk of Rhode Island, and Mary Dyer, his wife, who, for her adherence to her religious belief, was hanged on Boston Common, June 1, 1660. Edward Dyer was also a descendant of Roger Williams, the first gover- nor of the state of Rhode Island, who was born at Conwyl Cayo, Wales, in 1606, and his death occurred in 1683.

Zenas H. Ellis, youngest son of Zenas C. and Sarah B. (Dyer) Ellis, was born in Fairhaven, Vermont, January 22, 1860. His education was acquired at the Fairhaven graded school and at Phillips Exeter Academy, at Exeter, New Hamp- shire, from which institution he was graduated in 1879, being then qualified to enter the sophomore class of Harvard College. On account of ill health he was forced to relinquish his collegiate course, and for several years he devoted his en- tire time and attention to agricultural pursuits on the old homestead in Fairhaven, Vermont, thus regaining his former strength. In 1882 he entered the employ of the First National Bank of Fairhaven, four years later was elected a di- rector, and, in 1891, after declining the position of cashier which was offered to him, was elected

vice president of the bank, holding the position up to the present time (1903).

In his political sentiments Mr. Ellis firmly advocates the principles of the Republican party, but, having a strong aversion to politics, he never allowed his name to be used as a candidate until the year 1902, when he felt impelled for the good of the state to take an active part in the temper- ance reform agitation. He was chosen chairman of the Republican town committee, and was elect- ed town representative over several competitors. He took a prominent part in the work of the legis- lature from the commencement, was an unsuc- cessful candidate for speaker, a member of the committee on ways and means and of the joint committee on temperance. In the latter named committee, and on the floor of the house, he championed the cause of license local option, fear- lessly and ably, until the prohibitory law of fifty years' standing was overthrown. He has traveled extensively in his own country, Canada, Europe, Mexico and the Indies, visiting all the places of note and interest, and during this period of time he made a comprehensive study of the various languages and of natural history. He is a mem- ber of the Vermont Botanical Club, and the Amer- ican Academy of Political and Social Science. Few lives furnish so striking an example of the wise application of sound principles and safe conservatism as does that of Mr. Ellis. He is energetic and trustworthy in business, genial and kindly in his intercourse with his fellow men, and a champion of all that tends to promote the material, social, intellectual and moral welfare of the community.

ELLIOT BURNHAM WATSON.

Elliot Burnham Watson, M. D., a prominent physician of Williamstown, is a fine representa- tive of the native-born citizens of this place, who have attained success in their chosen vocations. He was born February 18, 1859, a son of Leon- ard Kittredge Watson, and a descendant in the sixth generation from Matthew Watson, the im- migrant, the line of descent being as follows: Mathew, Samuel, John, David, Leonard Kit- tredge, Elliot B.

Mathew Watson was of English parentage,

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and a Presbyterian in his religious beliefs. In 1665 he married Mais Orr, and nearly a quarter " a century later, in 1718, emigrated with his wife and nine children from Coleraine, London dury county, Ireland, to Boston, Massachusetts, He removed from there to Leicester, Massachu- setts, where he died in 1720, and was buried in the old cemetery near where the Congregational church now stands. He was probably the first to introduce the potato into this section of the country. Samuel Watson, the next in line of «lescent, was born in 1698, being the second son of his parents. John Watson, the fourth son of the parental household, born December 8, 1736, married Dinah -Viles, of Waltham, Massachu- setts, by whom he had eight children, their sev- enth son being David, the succeeding ancestor. David Watson, born October 2, 1776, was one of the pioneers of Williamstown, Vermont, com- ing here at an early day, and in the western part of the town erecting the first tannery, near the site of the house afterwards occupied by Judge Payne. On the site of the old Hibbard House he also built the first hotel in Williamstown, and for fifty consecutive years gave generous entertainment to trav- elers. On January 31, 1799, he married Anna Elliot, of Leicester, Massachusetts, who be- longed to the same family which President El- liot of Harvard was sprung, tracing her ancestry directly to one Sir William DeAliot, a Norman knight, who entered England with William the Conquerer in 1066.

Leonard Kittredge Watson, one of a family of twelve children, the eleventh in succession of birth, was born in Williamstown, December 13, 1818. A life-long resident of his native town, he was held in high respect as a man and a citi- zen, holding a position of influence in the commu- nity. He married Rosette Martin, by whom he had two sons, namely: Carey H. and Elliot B. Carey H. Watson received his elementary edu- cation at the Barre Academy, and was afterwards employed as a teacher in the public schools for several years. He subsequently studied theology at the theological seminary in Andover, Massa- chusetts, and is now pastor of the North Parish First Congregational church of Greenfield, Mas- sachusetts, a position that he has held for thir- teen years. He married Martha C. Prentis,

daughter of Comstock and Corinthia (Chandler) Prentis, of Waitsfield, Vermont.

Elliot B. Watson attended first the village schools of Williamstown, then the Barre Acade- my, from which he was graduated with the class of 1879. The next few years he taught school, being for two years principal of the Whitefield, New Hampshire schools. Returning to Will- iamstown, he began the study of medicine with Dr. C. W. McClearn. He attended his first course of lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York city, and was graduated in 1887 from the University of Vermont. Dr. Watson at once began the practice of his pro- fession in Williamstown, and has met with emi- nent success in his work; enjoying at the present time a large and remunerative patronage. He is a member of the Congregational church, a Demo- crat in politics, a member of the Masonic frater- nity, and belongs to the State Medical Society.

On January 25, 1885, Dr. Watson married Abbie Prentis, who was born in Waitsfield, Ver- mont, August 2, 1861, a daughter of Comstock Prentis and a sister of Mrs. Carey H. Watson. The only child of Dr. and Mrs. Watson, Prentis Martin Watson, died at the age of eleven months.

JAMES PAYNE CLEVELAND.

James Payne Cleveland, a retired business man of Randolph, is a representative of old and honored New England families, and a worthy son of noble sires. He was born September 21, 1828, in Bethel, Vermont, where his grandfather was among the early settlers. The Cleveland family was very early planted in Connecticut, and has furnished many prominent citizens of that state, where the name is still held in honor. It originated in America with Moses Cleveland, who was born in Ipswich, county of Suffolk, En- gland, and settled in Woburn, Massachusetts, about 1650. Paine Cleveland, son of Edward (3) and grandson of Edward (2), being of the fourth generation in America, was born August 30, 1731, in Canterbury, Connecticut, where he passed his life and died November 25, 1773. He was three time married; the first time January 8, 1757, to Prudence Buzwell, who died June 30, 1758, sim- ultaneously with her infant; March 10, 1761, he

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married Susannah N. Falkner, who died January 26, 1766-7; his third wife was Sarah Church. The eldest child of the second wife, Edward, was a soldier of the Revolution, was carried cap- tive to England, and after his release, settled in Bethel, Vermont, where he died.

Stephen (5), second child of Paine and Su- sannah N. Cleveland, was born October 9, 1765, in Canterbury, Connecticut, and entered the Rev- olutionary army at the age of sixteen years, rising to the rank of orderly sergeant. April 6, 1789, he married Miss Hannah Huntington, daughter of Sergeant James Huntington, a Revolutionary soldier. In the spring of 1791 he removed to Bethel, Vermont, where he was prominent and influential, and resided until his death, May 17, 1835. His wife died March 21, 1846. About 1802 he was commissioned a justice of the peace, and held the office some thirty years, during which time he officiated at most of the marriages in that section of Vermont. A Masonic lodge was instituted at Bethel about 1816, and he was made master. He was several times elected to the state legislature, and once to the governor's council. Through his efforts a woolen mill was established at Bethel, of which he soon became sole proprietor. Some of the first broadcloth produced in the Unied States was made at this mill, and this was in great demand, commanding a higher price than the imported article.

James Huntington, father of Mrs. Hannah Cleveland, was born October 1, 1743, in Norwich, Connecticut, and married Hannah Curtis May 24, 1767. He served at the Lexington alarm in 1775, and was appointed by Colonel Jedediah Hunting- ton, commanding the Eighth Regiment of Con- necticut troops, as third sergeant in the eighth company (the warrant or commission being still in possession of his descendants), in camp at Roxbury, September 30, 1775. He was in the second company, Captain Experience Stow, in Colonel Israel Putnam's (the Third) regiment, at the battle of Bunker Hill, being credited to Mansfield, and it is probable served for short periods from Colchester and Windham, as the records show the name in that connection. About 1783 he removed to Lebanan, New Hampshire, where Stephen Cleveland met, courted and mar- ried his daughter. Some half-dozen years later he went to Royalton, Vermont, where both he

and his wife died, and were buried on their farm about a mile from that of Mr. Cleveland. The latter and his wife were buried on their farm, but their bodies were removed in 1885 to the cemetery at Bethel. They were the parents of ten children. The seventh of these and third son,

James Payne Cleveland (6), was born March 20, 1803, in Bethel, and died September 14, 1898, at the home of his son and namesake, in Randolph, where he had been a helpless invalid for several years. September 10, 1826, he married Anna P. Huntington, his second cousin, daughter of Mil- ler and Betsey (Miller) Huntington, She was born April 20, 1807, in Randolph, Vermont, and died September 26, 1886, in the same town. They were the parents .of two children. The younger, Elizabeth A., was for more than thirty years principal of the Rincon grammar school of San Francisco, California, where she now lives, with a pension from the city.

After receiving a common school education James P. Cleveland went into business with his father, in the cloth-dressing mill and also worked in flaxseed, making oil and handling the seed. Upon the death of his father, in 1835, he suc- ceeded to the ownership. and continued the busi- ness three years longer, retiring from business in 1838. After short residences in Royalton and Braintree, in 1850 he removed to Randolph, where he continued to reside the balance of his life. In June, 1824, he became a member of Rising Sun Lodge, A. F. & A. M., of Royalton, and for some years was supposed to be the oldest living representative of the order in the state of Vermont.

James P. Cleveland, Jr., (7) acquired his education in the common schools of his native town, of Bethel, and in 1845 removed to Braintree, where he was successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits until 1880, with the exception of three years at East Randolph. At that time he located in West Randolph and devoted his energies to the management of the life, fire and accident insur- ance business. He has had a liberal and con- stantly increasing patronage, which is due to his honorable business methods and uniform courtesy to his customers. He has also engaged in set- tling several estates, and his services have fre- quently been in demand to act in the capacity of guardian.

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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 68

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