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 70
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three pounds and twelve shillings for his ser vices in this connection, and later drew as his share of the grant lot I in range of. After this we find no further mention of him. None of the original grantees of Cavendish, as far as can be learned, ever made actual settlement. The town was rechartered by Governor Tryon under New York authority, June 16, 1772, and granted to other parties, and it would now be difficult to es- tablish the identity of the lots as laid out under the original charter.
While the history of this Captain Benjamin Whetcomb is shrouded in more or less mystery. he traced his descent, as do all of the name in America, to one Symon Whetcomb, or Whit- comb, of Dorsetshire, England, who in 1627 was granted a large tract of land lying between the Merrimac and Charles rivers. This Symon, May 13, 1628, was elected or appointed assistant gov- ernor, or assistant deputy governor of the prov- ince. There is no evidence that he ever visited America, but in 1633 his son John (I) came over and settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts, where he lived until 1640, when he removed to Scituate, and thence, in 1654, to Lancaster. He was born in 1588 and died September 24, 1662, and with his son John was an original owner of the town of Lancaster. He had eight children, one of them, Jonathan (2), sharing with a brother the home farm in Lancaster. This Jonathan's wife, Hannah, was killed by the Indians, July 18, 1692, about six months after the death of her husband. They had nine children. The youngest, John (3) was born May 12, 1684, and died in 1720, and to him and his wife were born four children, John, Abigail, Hannah and Asa.
John (4), who was perhaps the most noted in the military line-and the Whitcombs of that day were essentially a fighting family, sixteen of them serving in the Revolution from Lancaster alone,-was born in 1714 or 1715 (baptized Feb- ruary 20, 1714-15, record indefinite). ) He served in the old French war as colonel, at Crown Point in 1755 and Ticonderoga in 1758, and represented Bolton in the Massachusetts legislature in 1773. He was brigadier general in 1775, appointed ma- jor-general in 1776 by act of Congress, and served on Long Island with success in the latter year. General John died November 17, 1785. He was twice married and had at least twelve children.
One of them, Asa (5), was a colonel and per- haps brigadier general of militia, and his son Asa (6) was also a colonel, born in 1800 and buried in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1868.
Asa (4), youngest son of John (3) and brother of General John, was left with the latter an orphan at an early age. He was born in 1719 (baptized August 16, 1719) and his father died the following year. But little is known of his boyhood. He married, first, Eunice Sawyer, probably daughter of his guardian, December 26, 1744, and by her had seven children. Eunice, baptized January 18, 1747, married a Mr. Hos- mer ; Ephraim, baptized September 6, 1747, lived some time in St. Albans, Vermont, and died in 1829 ; Abigail, born June 19, 1749, married Colo- nel Ephraim Richardson ; Rebecca, born January 17, 1751, married Jonas Beaman, died December 1838; Katharine, born June 12, 1753, baptized July I, 1753 ; Hannah, baptized March 30, 1755 ; Mary, baptized April 16, 1758. He married, second, Betty Sawyer, sister of his first wife, in Lancaster, second precinct (now Sterling), Jan- uary 26, 1762, and by her had eight children : Asa, born February 18, 1764, in Sterling ; Cate, baptized March 2, 1766; Betsey, baptized May 22, 1768, married a sea captain in Canada ; John, baptized May 27, 1770, drowned at West Boylston, Massachusetts, 1820; Sarah or Sally, baptized June 14, 1772, married Thomas Jones, of Princeton; Thomas, born in 1774, physician, died at Lexington, Massachusetts, March 3, 1829; Cornelius, born March 5, 1779, died in Oxford, New York, December 12, 1845; James (date of birth unknown and no further record of him).
Asa (4) appears to have been a captain in the French war at Crown Point in 1755 (where also Joseph Whitcomb was a captain and John a colonel), and at Ticonderoga in 1758. He was selectman about 1760, represented Lancaster in the general court from 1766 to 1774, with the exception of one year (1767) ; was on committee of correspondence in 1774 and delegate to pro- vincial congress at Concord in 1775. In the lat- ter year he raised a regiment, was commissioned colonel and commanded at Prospect Hill during the siege of Boston. In 1776 his regiment was ordered to Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and he had two of his sons (some records say three)
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in service with him while there. Sparks, in his "Life of Washington," says that when the army was reorganized Colonel Whitcomb was left without a command. His men would not serve under any one else, and refused to re-enlist, whereupon he volunteered as a private, and Washington re-instated him in command of a regiment (Sixth Massachusetts foot), to which Colonel Jonathan Brewer had been assigned. Brewer readily gave up command and was at once appointed barrack master. The "History of Sterling, Massachusetts," says: "At the com- mencement of the war he was one of our wealth- iest citizens. He was for many years entrusted with the most important and responsible offices. He was deacon of the church from 1760, repre- sentative from Lancaster before the division (of the town), and justice of the peace, besides his various military stations. Such was his zeal in the cause of liberty, and so great his confidence in the patriotism and integrity of his country- men that he pledged his whole fortune upon the faith of the paper currency and consequently be- came bankrupt. He removed to Princeton, where he died at an advanced age in a state of abject poverty, sustained by a conscious integ- rity that never departed from him and by an exalted piety that elevated him above the ills of life."
Asa (5) Whitcomb, son of Colonel Asa (4), born February 8, 1764, was probably with his father and brother Ephraim at Ticonderago in 1776, although then only twelve years of age. In the Lancaster records Ephraim and Asa were rated as corporals. November 9, 1788, Asa mar- ried Rebecca Ball, of Rutland, Massachusetts. They removed to Alstead, New Hampshire, where they lived nearly thirty years and had ten children :
I. Thomas, born November 7, 1789.
2. Betsey, born September 13, 1791, died July 6, 1874; married Dr. Isaiah Parker, of Cavendish, and had two children, Betsey Miranda Parker, born March 17, 1823, died January 22, 1882, married Samuel Lawrence Adams; and Isaiah Whitcomb Parker, born February 4, 1832, died July 28, 1864, married Lucia E. Barton.
3. Asa, born May 27, 1793, died June 30, 1869, married, first, Olive Vickery and had two
children, Abigail, born March 12, 1819, died September 16, 1822 ; and Julia Ann, born October 17, 1823, and married J. Harvey Huntley. Asa married, second, Phoebe Beckwith, who died in September, 1876.
4. Rebecca, born October 13, 1796, died No- vember 27, 1863, married Luther Ballard, who died June 12, 1874. They lived in Ohio and had eleven children.
5. Abigail Sawyer, born September 7, 1798, died December 6, 1852; married Rev. Samuel Mason, who died in Newburyport, Massachu- setts. They had seven children.
6 John Adams, born July 22, 1801, died February 10, 1881 ; married, first Abigail Mason, of Cavendish, who died December 5, 1831. They had two daughters: Elizabeth R., born July 28, 1828, died April 13, 1876, and she married Will- iam B. Davis, of Cavendish, where they lived until after her death and had five children : Charles William, Helen Elizabeth, Herbert Fran- cis, Hattie Edna and Flora Ann. Of these last named, Helen Elizabeth married Artemas Ran- dall, of Chester, Vermont, and died there Sep- tember 17, 1889, leaving three children. The others went to Kansas and married, and are all now living there with their families. John Adams Whitcomb's second daughter, Abigail Almira, born June 10, 1831, married Francis Foote and had four children. She is now living in Newport, New Hampshire. John Adams mar- ried, second, Mrs. Sarah Lull, and had eight chil- dren: John Bridane (supposed to have been killed in New Mexico by Indians) ; Frances Ro- setta; Benjamin Franklin; Harriet Augusta ; Mary Antoinette; Catherine Parker; George Frank; and Manette. John Adams settled in Kansas, where several of his children married and now reside with their families.
7. Benjamin Franklin died in infancy, March 29, 1805.
8. Eunice died in infancy.
9. Ephraim died in infancy.
IO. Hannah, born May 5, 1812, died in 1839 : married Jesse Sawyer and had one daughter, Helen Miranda, born April 1, 1838, died Jan- uary 3, 1870, and she married Henry Howard and had three children.
Asa (5) was a farmer while in Alstead, New Hampshire, but little can be learned of his life
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there, save that he again served his country in the war of 1812 and retired with the rank of lieu- tenant. In the fall of 1816 he removed from Alsted with his son Thomas, and they partially cleared a tract of land in Cavendish, which the latter had bought of Ephraim Beaman, of Prince- ton, Massachusetts, at whose house Asa's father, the colonel, died. They went back to Alstead for the winter and returned to Cavendish with the rest of the family March 17, 1817. The follow- ing summer Thomas erected, on the site of the dwelling now owned by Henry J. Belcher, the house which was the home of the Whitcombs for forty years, and which was destroyed by fire in 1879. Lieutenant Asa lived on the Wheeler farm adjoining. He died January 5, 1835; his wife Rebecca, August II, 1831. They were buried on the home farm as a better security against grave robbery, which was practiced to some extent in those days, and years afterwards were removed to Mount Union cemetery in Cavendish.
Thomas' (6) eldest child of Lieutenant Asa, was born in Alstead, November 7, 1789. He married, first, in IS10, Nabby Harding, by whom he had one son, James Harding, born July 23, 18II; and, second, Anna Wentworth, June 27, 1813, who bore him seven children: Anna Abi- gail, Rosilla Calista, Willard Franklin, Asa Wentworth, Victoria Maria, Merrick Warren and Victor Orlando. Thomas was by trade a carpenter, but it may be added, by profession a teacher, as he acted in that capacity for twenty- six winters in various districts in his own and adjoining towns, including several terms in the old Cavendish Academy. He was clerk and treas- urer of the First Universalist Society when it organized, March II, 1837, and was town auditor for some time, but never sought office. In the old cavalry troop of that day he rode with three of his sons, but held no commisison. After a sojourn of forty years on the old farm he re- moved to Cavendish village, where he spent most of the remainder of his life. He died in St. Charles, Illinois, where he had gone to visit his daughter, April 13, 1869. His body was brought back to Cavendish and buried in Mt. Union cem- etery. His second wife, Anna Wentworth, was a descendant of that royalist family which furnished three colonial governors for New
Hampshire, and included in its genealogy King Edward VI of England. She was born Feb- ruary 20, 1793, and died in Cavendish, July 24, 1860.
James Harding (7) Whitcomb, eldest son of Thomas (6), born in Alstead, July 23, 1811, lived in Cavendish and the adjoining town of Reading and was a shoemaker. He was also bugler for the old cavalry troop. He married Louisa M. Philbrick, of Reading, May 17, 1835, and they had five children: Loretta C., born June 22, 1836, died January 22, 1837; Marciene Hamilton, Abbie Louise, Volney Orlando and Victoria Miranda. He died in Cavendish June 7, 1884, and his wife Louisa October 15, 1882.
Marciene Hamilton (8) Whitcomb was born October 25, 1837, in Reading, Vermont. After re- ceiving a common school education he worked in the woolen mills in Cavendish and Springfield. He served in the war of the rebellion as a musi- cian and after that resumed the woolen business in Newport, New Hampshire, and Otter River, Massachusetts. He was of an inventive nature and made various improvements in the machin- ery then used, whereby its efficiency was greatly increased. In 1875 he went to Holyoke, Massa- chusetts, and occupied for ten years the posi- tion of superintendent of the Springfield Blanket Company, one of the largest manufacturers of horse blankets in the conutry. He was appointed chief of police of the city of Holyoke in January, 1886, and served six years in that capacity. He was mayor of Holyoke in 1893 and 1894, and in November of the latter year was elected state senator for the second Hamp- den district, which position he filled with credit to himself and his constituents. He has been for years a member of the school board, and is now serving his fourth term as president of the Holyoke Business Men's Association. He is a prominent Mason and one of the best known men in his section.
He married Jane H. Weber, August 8, 1856, and they have one son, Eugene H. Whitcomb, born October 6, 1857. The latter marired Carrie Davis, of Keene, New Hampshire, in September, 1882, and their only child, Marciene E., was born in June, 1889. They all reside in Holyoke, Massachusetts.
Abbie Louise (8) Whitcomb, daughter of
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James Harding (7), born May 26, 1839, married Clark A. Spencer, of Middlebury, Vermont, June 6, 1857. He died in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1902. They had two children, Harry H. Spen- cer, born February 25, 1859; and Homer A. Spencer, born December 19, 1861, both of whom are now living, as is their mother, in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Volney Orlando (8) Whitcomb, son of James Harding (7), born October 19, 1841, now lives on the home place in Cavendish. He married, first, Lizzie B. Edwards, of Portland, Maine, March 15, 1871. She died July 15, 1876. They had two children, Harold Volney, born April 12, 1875, now stenographer in the Rutland Railroad office at Rutland, and Lizzie Louise, born July 10, 1876, who lives with her parents. Volney O. married, second, Abbie J. Allen, December II, 1887.
Victoria Miranda (8) Whitcomb, daughter of James Harding (7), born March II, 1846, married Collins Norton, of Ohio. He is now dead, and she resides in Worcester, Massachu- setts.
Anna Abigail (7), first daughter of Thomas Whitcomb (6) and Anna Wentworth, was born in Alstead, October 7, 1814, and died in St. Charles, Illinois, February 6, 1886. She married Timothy Adams Wheeler, of Cavendish, Novem- ber 1, 1838, and went to Illinois. They had six children, Emeroy (daughter), born Septem- ber 3, 1839, died August 14, 1862; Elizabeth Forrest, born July 21, 1844; Willard Wentworth, born September 6, 1847; Rhoda E., born No- vember 2, 1848, died November 22, 1898; Flora Ann, born March 6, 1850; and Charles, born July 19, 1855. These children all married and had families, and those now living are in Illinois, Minnesota and California.
Rosilla Calista (7), daughter of Thomas (6) and Anna, born in Cavendish, May 25, 1817, married Friend Chapman, July 5, 1836. He died September 27, 1889. They had no chil- dren. She is now living in Cavendish, having passed her eighty-sixth birthday.
William Franklin (7) Whitcomb, son of Thomas (6) and Anna, was born in Cavendish, March 29, 1819. He lived in town nearly all his life and was a carpenter. He was prom- inently identified with the old cavalry troop, serv-
ing successively as coronet, lieutenant and cap- tain. He married Lutheria F. Nutting, of Rock- ingham, April 28, 1845, and by her had one son, Frederick Franklin, born October 14, 1850. The latter married Fannie L. Bridges, of Springfield, January 26, 1881, and they had one child, Fred Perry Whitcomb, born October 26, 1887, who now lives with his mother in Winchendon, Mas- sachusetts. Frederick Franklin died in Holyoke, Massachusetts, where he was in business as a druggist, March 24, 1890, and his body was buried with Masonic ceremonies in Cavendish cemetery. Willard Franklin (7) died in Caven- dish November 18, 1898, and his wife, Lutheria, February 8, 1902.
Asa Wentworth (7) Whitcomb, fourth child of Thomas (6) and Anna (Wentworth) was born in Cavendish September II, 1822. He was educated in the common schools and at Tilden Academy, was coronet in the cavalry troop, and at an early age started in life as clerk in a coun- try store. In 1849, during the construction of the Rutland & Burlington Railroad, he was the first station agent at Cavendish, and the first mail agent on the road when there were no mail cars and the bags were handled on any kind of car-passenger, box or flat-that was available. In December, 1849, the road was completed from Rutland to Burlington, and he ran for a time as conductor of the old "lightning express" be- tween those points. Afterwards he was ticket agent at Rutland, and in succeeding years he served in various other capacities in railroad, hotel and mercantile life. November 28, 1852, he married Elizabeth Warren Hill (born March 5, 1829), of Cavendish, and they had four children : Charles Warren ; a daughter who died in infancy, August 8, 1857; George Wentworth; and Anna Wentworth, born December 14, 1862, died Au- gust 3, 1864. Asa Wentworth (7) died in Cavendish April 13, 1890.
Charles Warren (S) Whitcomb was born in Rutland, Vermont, October 15, 1854. In 1858 his parents moved back to Cavendish, where he gained such education as the district schools af- forded, which was supplemented by a term or two at the Green Mountain Institute, South Woodstock, and the Rutland high school. At the age of seventeen he began work in the Na- tional Black River Bank in Proctorsville, leaving,
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however, after a vat's service to take a position with the Vermont Central Railroad at Cavendish. This he held for a year, and then went to Bur- lington as billing clerk for the National and United States and Canada Express Companies. In isz he returned to Proctorsville and resumed service at the National Black River Bank, and in 1878 was appointed cashier thereof, which posi- tion he still holds. On attaining his majority he became identified with the Masonic fraternity and was master of LaFayette Lodge, F. and A. M., in 1881 and 1882, and served the same as secretary eighteen years. He was high priest of Skitchewaug Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, Lud- low, Vermont, four years. He is a member of Springfield Council, R. & S. M., Springfield, Ver- mont ; Vermont Commandery, K. T .; and Wind- sor Lodge of Perfection, Windsor, Vermont ; and Vermont Consistory, A. A. S. R., of Burling- ton. He has been grand treasurer of the Grand Lodge and of the grand chapter of Vermont since 1887, of the council of deliberation, A. A. S. R., since 1890. and the grand commandery of Ver- mont, Knights Templar since 1901. He is a member of the Knights of the Red Cross of Con- stantine, and of Mt. Sinai Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, Montpelier, and is an honorary member of the supreme council, A. A. Scottish Rite, thirty-third degree. He was elected from Cavendish representative to the general as- sembly in 1898 and served on the committee on ways and means and the committee on banks. Re-elected in 1900, he served again on the latter committee. He is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution and of the Vermont His- torical Society ; is a Democrat in politics and a Universalist in religion and at present is treas- urer of the town of Cavendish and of the Dut- tonsville common school district. March 16, 1887, he married Nellie E. Ward, of Cavendish. They have no children, their only daughter dying at birth, February 25, 1888.
George Wentworth (8) Whitcomb, born Sep- tember 30, 1859, married, first, Lula Wilder, who died January 28, 1888. They had two children, Charles Dana, born in Bellows Falls, Vermont, October 3, 1885; and Lula Marion, born Jan- uary 5, 1888. He married, second, Clara C. Bar- lett, of Cavendish, and they live in Bellows Falls,
where George Wentworth is a locomotive en- gineer.
Victoria Maria (7) daughter of Thomas (6) and Anna Whitcomb, was born January 25, 1825. January 2, 1850, she married Jackson Spaulding, who died June 24, 1888, in Cavendish, where she now lives with her sister, Rosilla C. Chapman. They had no children.
Merrick Warren (7) Whitcomb, son of Thomas (6) and Anna, was born May 25, 1827, and died February 2, 1856. He never married.
Victor Orlando (7) Whitcomb, last child of Thomas (6) and Anna was born January 18, 1830, and died January 4, 1837.
The foregoing is a record, more or less com- plete, of that branch of the Whitcomb family that settled in Cavendish. No attempt can here be made to follow out the lines of the various members of the family who located elsewhere throughout the state. One of the early residents of Ludlow, an adjoining town, was Jonathan Whitcomb, a Revolutionary soldier, who came from Westminster, Massachusetts, and had seventeen children. Barnard, Rochester and Stockbridge each had an Asa Whitcomb for a grantee or first settler, and in Bethel and Spring- field, Whitcombs have been numerous. In Wind- ham county, Cyrus Whitcomb, Jr., was one of the first inhabitants of Brookline, and in Chitten- den, Rutland and Washington counties, the fam- ily has always been represented. In the colonial struggles and the Revolution the Whitcombs bore their full share. They were not found wanting in our later conflicts. And while the family, perhaps, has not been noted for its great men, many of its members have made, in various lines of life, records of which neither they nor their posterity have any reason to be ashamed.
THE HILL FAMILY OF CAVENDISH.
At the outbreak of the Revolution, Aaron Hill was a well-to-do resident of Sudbury, Mas- sachusetts. In common with hundreds of others he left his family and went to the war, at the close of which he came out broken down phys- ically and financially, and was compelled by stress of circumstances to let his children, in a great measure, shift for themselves. He had married
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Catharine Hall, whose father was a royalist and, the latter's property having been confiscated by the Americans, he had gone back to England, whence he came. Aaron and Catherine had born to them a brood of children unusually numerous even in those prolific times. The exact number has been lost to the world, but a tradition exists in the family that when, late in the day, and Nature seeming well nigh exhausted, a daughter made her appearance, whom no one thought could by any possibility be other than the last, she was named Finis. And when, through some unaccountable providence, another came on the scene in due process of time therafter, it was at first decided to call her Renew. Wiser counsel prevailed, however, and the child was christened Candace, probably to fill the vacancy occasioned by the loss of an earlier Candace, who died at the age of fourteen.
Of the children of Aaron and Catharine Hill whose records are known, Joseph was impressed and carried away to sea. Timothy married, had quite a large family, and finally went south. Ann married a Clark. Mary married a Bacon, lived in Natick and had three children. Martha mar- ried George Domett, and some of their descend- ants now live in Boston. Hannah married a McConly, went to Whitehall, New York, and thence west. Nancy married John Irving, lived in Boston and had two sons. Sally married a Chickering and had at least six children. Can- dance married Jonathan Greenwood, of Fram- ington, and had six daughters. Samuel married and had seven children, one of his sons, Joseph, being for years a well known resident of Wor- cester, Massachusetts; a daughter, Harriet N., married a Billings and is now living with her daughter, Mrs. W. H. Blanchard, in Worcester, and George A. Billings, her son, lives in Cali- fornia.
Abel Hill, the son with whom we have mostly to deal in this record, was born in Sudbury, Mas- sachusetts, July 25, 1787, and was "bound out" at a very early age to a man named Frost, in Framingham. In this vicinity he lived during his younger days and was at length taken by his uncle Tim, who was a wheelwright, to Alstead, New Hampshire, where he met Nancy Fisher, who was born in Stowe, Massachusetts, March II, 1793, and who subsequently became his wife.
Abel was a natural mechanic, and while living in Alstead built a small thread mill complete from the dam to the machinery, mostly with his own hands, and then operated it for a time. In order to market his goods he had to employ peddlers on the road, and one of these, one Page, after disposing of a large quantity of thread, was un- able to settle his indebtedness otherwise than by turning over to his creditor a lot of land in the town of Mooers, New York. Abel, on his way to inspect his new possessions, stopped over night at the old Dutton tavern in Cavendish, Ver- mont. He pursued his journey on foot and by stage until he reached his destination, only to find that his property was a howling wilderness and so infested with wild animals that he turned about and hurried home, and never afterward at- tempted to take possession of the land, which was years later sold for taxes.
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