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 79
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Abel Edgar Leavenworth, eldest child of Abel, Jr., and Anna (Hickok) Leavenworth, was born September 3, 1828, in Charlotte, Vermont. In his fourth year his father moved to Madrid, New York, where he remained upon a farm twelve years. The son attended the district school, and also worked upon the farm. In 1844 his father returned to Charlotte, and there until reaching the age of twenty-one, the son worked upon the farm during the spring and autumn. In the winter he
taught school: in Charlotte, 1846-7; Hinesburg, 1847-8; St. George, 1848-50; Monkton, 1850-51 ; and Burlington, 1851-2. He was fitted for college at Hinesburg Academy, entering the University of Vermont in 1849, and became one of the founders of the Delta Psi fraternity of that institution, a member of the Society for Religious Inquiry, and of the Phi Sigma Nu Literary Society. While in college he continued to teach during the win- ters. On account of an injury to his head he was advised to go south, and became principal of the Bolivar Female Academy, in Polk county, Missouri, which greatly prospered under his tui- tion. Owing to the "border ruffian" trouble con- nected with the settlement of Kansas, he returned east in 1855, his very high testimonials from President Worthington Smith, D. D., endorsed by ex-Governor William Slade, of Vermont, hav- ing been supplemented by flattering inducements to remain in Missouri. In September, 1855, he became principal of Hinesburg Academy, succeed- ing his preceptor, George Lee Lyman, and having declined the presidency of a new college in Iowa. In 1856 he took the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and in 1860 that of Master of Arts. In 1859, as chairman of a committee of the State Teachers Association, he established in connection with Dr. J. S. Spaulding, of Barre, the Vermont School Journal. In 1860 he became principal and pro- prietor of Brattleboro Academy, a boarding and day school for boys. These were organized into a military company, from whose ranks many vol- unteers entered the army for the preservation of the Union, either as privates or under warrants or commissions. One lost his life as color-bearer at the first battle of Bull Run, and another was brigadier general of the Vermont National Guard, General Estey, deceased.
Having decided to exchange, temporarily, the life of an educator for that of a soldier, Professor Leavenworth resigned the principalship of the school, at great pecuniary loss, transferred the ownership of the School Journal to Hiram Or- cutt, LL. D., and enlisted, May 24, 1862, as a pri- vate, in Company K, Ninth Vermont Infantry, the earliest date of enlistment in the state under President Lincoln's call for three hundred thou- sand volunteers Great care was taken in recruit- ing this company, only strong, healthy men being accepted. It was mustered in as the last and small-
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est company of the regiment, but throughout its service it was always one of the largest in num- bers when called upon for any duty, and at the end of three years was mustered out at Burlington. thirty three strong, as the largest company. July 0, 1802. Professor Leavenworth was appointed first sergeant of his company, preferring this po- sition to the second lieutenancy, that he might be nearer in his relations to the men of his company, and the better learn the rudiments of the military service. At the riot in Chicago in the autumn of 1862, he was asked from post headquarters if he could furnish thirty men who would obey orders in the face of a howling mob. "Yes," he replied, "and fifty, if you desire so many." Only thirty were required for the service desired, and his de- tail won great credit for their coolness and brav- ery in the trying ordeal. November 17, 1862, he was advanced to the position of first lieutenant of his company, his first service as a commissioned officer being the difficult duty of patrolling the streets of Chicago with a detail in search of strag- glers, deserters, and government property, espe- cially clothing, in the possession of citizens. The previous night the officer on this duty had been attacked by ruffians of the city, and beaten until left for dead. The new lieutenant performed this duty with prudence and skill, and brought out his detail entire the next morning, with prisoners and spoils, having fearlessly searched the most dan- gerous places of the city. April 1, 1863, his com- pany, with a few men from Company L, marched through the streets of Chicago, under command of Captain Lewis, in two lines, guarding five hun- dred Confederate prisoners, enroute to City Point for exchange. Each man wore in his cap a sprig of evergreen in honor of his state. Passing up the James river it was Lieutenant Leavenworth's lot to parole the prisoners, many of whom were inoculated with smallpox, and nearly every one of whom had to make his mark. In May, 1864, at the siege of Suffolk, Lieutenant Leavenworth was selected to hold, with his picket detail, an advanced post which was attacked every night, and whose officer had been slain the night before. The position was held in the face of a mounted picket force under orders not to bring on an en- gagement, and at daylight the detail were among the first to enter General Longstreet's evacuated works. June 10 Lieutenant Leavenworth was
appointed inspector general of Wistar's brigade, under a new order of the war department for monthly inspection of all troops, by assignment of Major General John A. Dix. In July he became inspector of all the United States forces and forti- fications at Yorktown, Fort Magruder, Gloucester Point, Newport News and the intermediate sta- tions. He was continued in this position by Major Generals J. G. Foster and B. F. Butler, until the organization of the 18 A. C., in May, 1864, under "Baldy" Smith, by whom he was as- signed to duty as inspector of Third Brigade, Sec- ond division, at the battle of Drury's Bluff, May 2. During the last day of the fight General Wistar lent Lieutenant Leavenworth to General Weit- zell, the latter having come into command of the division without any staff officers. Lieutenant Leavenworth was afterward offered the position permanently, but declined. When orders came from General Grant to General Butler, who was closing in rapidly on Petersburg, to send fifteen thousand of his best troops to General Grant's aid at Cold Harbor, Lieutenant Leavenworth, under orders to inspect four regiments in one day, under a hot sun, was overcome by the excessive heat, but kept with his command until they reached the White House, whence he was sent to the officers' guard hospital at Hampton, Virginia. In Septem- ber he returned to duty as inspector general of the provisional brigade at Bermuda Hundred, under command of Colonel J. W. Potter. He inspected one regiment per day to be sent either to the Army of the Potomac or the Army of the James, until Butler's forces moved north of the James river, when Colonel Potter took command of the de- fenses between the James and Appomattox rivers. In a few days the adjutant general of the troops was ordered to another field, and Lieutenant Leavenworth was assigned to duty as both ad- jutant and inspector general of the forces. The arduous duties of these two offices he performed well until December, when, on the organization of the Twenty-fourth Army Corps, he was ap- pointed adjutant general of the Second Brigade, Third Division. In February his health again gave way, and he was sent north to recruit. April I he reported for duty with his command, after an absence from it of nearly two years, and took command as captain. April 2 he was in command of the picket line of his division, under orders to
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charge the Confederate works in front at a mo- ment's notice. General Grant, by breaking Lee's line before Petersburg, rendered this unnecessary, and in the morning of April 3 Captain Leaven- worth led his forces of skirmishers, in lead of General Devens' command, into Richmond, they being the first United States troops to go into the city. April 4 he returned to his company, and on the morning of April 5 was summoned to Richmond by General Weitzell, and ordered to re- port to the provost marshal general of the Army of the James "as his assistant and confidential as- sociate." This position he held until General Pat- rick, provost marshal of the Army of the Poto- mac, took charge of the police of the city. At his request Captain Leavenworth remained with him a week, and, April 29, was ordered by Gen- eral Ord to report for duty as adjutant general of the district of the Appomattox, comprising the seven counties lying between the James and Ap- pomattox rivers. June 7 he was ordered to re- join his regiment, which he did on June 13, was mustered out of service on that date at Richmond, and was discharged at Burlington about ten days later.
After this long and arduous experience of mili- tary life, Professor Leavenworth again took up his educational work as principal of Hinesburg Academy, where he remained for three years, re- storing the efficiency of the institution as a train- ing school for teachers, many of whom became very successful in their calling. He also fitted young men for the State University, and received in trust for that institution several who had been 'rusticated" for misdemeanors until such time as they could be re-instated at college. In 1868 he accepted the charge of the New Haven Academy in Addison county, with fixed salary and a fixed residence, which were pledged by several financial men of the town. Under his management the academy was re-organized, with three distinct courses of study. He also secured a fund of eleven thousand dollars and the school was in- corporated and chartered as Beaman Academy, being námed in honor of the largest donor. Dur- ing his connection with this institution he gradu- ated from it eighty students, some of whom have since become prominent in the various occupations of life. He resigned his position as head of this school in order to accept that of principal of the
State Normal School at Randolph, Vermont, with which he became connected in December, 1874. Under his administration the attendance steadily increased, the buildings were doubled in capacity, and a permanent fund of twelve thousand dollars was secured. During the period of his connection with the institution Professor Leavenworth signed certificates of ten graduating classes, com- prising about two hundred and thirty-nine grad- uates. From 1879 to 1881 he was engaged in general educational interests, and in May of the latter year he purchased, by authority of legis- lative enactment, the real estate and personal property held by the corporation of Rutland coun- ty grammar school, and in August following en- tered upon his duties as principal of the Castle- ton Normal School. This institution had been, during its early years, the "foster child" of the grammar school, which in 1876 had ceased to exist, aithough the corporation was still main- tained, its members serving as trustees of the normal school. For sixteen years Professor Leavenworth was principal of that school, which he conducted by authority of the legislature, and was the proprietor of the property. During his administration he graduated thirty-one classes, numbering four hundred and four from the lower course of study, and forty-five from the higher course. He raised the standard of efficiency, im- proved in every way possible the school buildings and surroundings, placed them in almost perfect sanitary condition, beautified the grounds in a manner never before attempted, and placed the school in the very front rank of the educational institutions of the state. This institution was es- tablished October 15, 1787, and in 1887 celebrated its centennial. About six hundred former stu- dents were present, and were banqueted in a royal manner in the elegant park of sugar maple and elm trees.
For twenty-five years Professor Leavenworth was an active member of the Chittenden County Teachers' Association, and filled every office. in- cluding the presidency. From 1859 until his re- tirement he was an active member of the Vermont State Teachers' Association, and was its president for two years. He also belonged to the Otter Creek Valley Teachers' Association, the Vermont Teachers' Club, and its successor, the Vermont College of Teachers, serving each in different
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offices. He was one of the six teachers selected In the state to examine and select text books for the public schools. He was a charter member of the Vermont Commandery of the Loyal Legion.
Professor Leavenworth married, September 1.4. 1853, Mary Evelina Griggs, of Corning, New York. Their children were : Anna Maria, born at Bolivar, Missouri, August 7, 1854, died at Hines- burg, Vermont, February 6, 1859; Francis Abel, born at Hinesburg, May 20, 1856, died at Middle- bury, Vermont, October 15, 1876 ; Samuel Edgar, born March 6, 1858, was educated at Beaman Academy and Randolph State Normal School, and is now the owner of a sheep ranch at Wood River, Nebraska; Charles Greenman, born Feb- ruary 28, 1860, in Hinesburg, Vermont, grad- uated at Middlebury College, and is manager of the Cleveland Branch of the Vermont Marble Company ; William Stowell, born July 28, 1862, in Brattleboro, Vermont, was educated at the Randolph State Normal School, Castleton Normal School, and Hamilton College, Clinton, New York, and is now professor of physics and chem- istry in Ripon College, Wisconsin; Emily Rey- nolds died November II, 1866, aged sixteen months; and Philip Reynolds, mentioned at length hereinafter. Mrs. Leavenworth died at Randolph, July 30, 1877, and Professor Leaven- worth married, August 12, 1889, Lucy Wads- worth, of Oswego, New York. Mrs. Leaven- worth is a daughter of Marcus North and Julia (Burt) Wadsworth, granddaughter of Thomas and Sarah (North) Wadsworth, of Farmington, Connecticut, and great-granddaughter of Will- iam and Ruth (Hart) Wadsworth. Six genera- tions of Wadsworths were born in Farmington, Connecticut, in the same house. The first of the name to seek a home in America was William Wadsworth, who was born in England about 1600, and was one of the Hooker colony to emi- grate to Hartford, Connecticut, being one of the founders of that city, and a man high in the com- munity, holding many positions of trust. His son John removed from Hartford to Farmington, Connecticut. He was one of the most wealthy and influential men of his day, served in the state senate of Connecticut, and was on duty there when his brother Joseph seized the charter and placed it in the oak. He married Sarah Stanley, of Hartford, in 1662, and his death occurred in
Farmington in 1689. His son William was the next in line of descent. Mrs. Leavenworth's ma- ternai ancestors, the Burt family, were founders of Springfield, Massachusetts. Henry Burt emi- grated from England in 1635 on the ship James, lived four years in Roxbury, Massachusetts, and then removed to Agawam, now Springfield. He was a prominent public man and a perfect type of a Puritan. In cases of emergency he conducted religious services. He died April 30, 1662, at Springfield. His son David born in England, was the first white man in Northampton. Benjamin Burt and his wife were among the ninety captives taken to Canada from Deerfield, Massachusetts, when that place was attacked by the Indians. Mrs. Leavenworth, previous to her marriage, was a teacher. She belongs to the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Colonial Dames of Vermont.
In the spring of 1892 Professor Leavenworth was stricken with paralysis, but he continued, with the help of his son Philip Reynolds Leaven- worth, who at that time became his assistant, and with the aid of his teachers, to direct the work of the school. His health, however, continued to de- cline, and after some years he resigned his posi- tion and retired wholly from active labor. He died in June, 1901. The funeral services were held at the Congregational church at Castleton, and were conducted by the Rev. F. B. Hyde, as- sisted by the Rev. S. A. Barrett, of Gilbertville, Massachusetts, who delivered a touching and weil merited eulogy on the life, character and work of his deceased friend. The casket was covered with flowers and draped with the United States flag. The church was filled, all portions of the state being represented, and throughout the city busi- ness was generally suspended. The services at the grave were conducted according to the ritual of the Grand Army. All classes of the community united in honoring the memory of a man who, during a life of distinguished ability, usefulness and devotion, had earnestly and faithfully served his country, his state, and humanity.
Philip Reynolds Leavenworth, youngest child of Abel Edgar and Mary Evelina (Griggs) Leavenworth, was born in Hinesburg, Vermont, February 18, 1867, and attended the Randolph Normal School, and later the Castleton Normal School, graduating from the first course of study
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in 1884, and from the second in 1892. He was prepared for college at St. Johnsbury Academy and the Woodstock (Vermont) high school. He pursued the classical course at Yale University for four years, graduating in the class of 1892, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Immediately upon graduating he became associated with his father as assistant principal and business manager of the Castleton Normal School, remaining in that capacity until 1897, when he was appointed prin- cipal. The wisdom of his selection has been demonstrated by the work of the school. Pro- fessor Leavenworth served for ten years as a member of Company D, Vermont National Guard, at St. Johnsbury, and later belonged to Company A, at Rutland. In 1902 he was elected senator from Rutland county. He has attended as delegate nearly all the state and congressional conventions of the Republican party for the last decade. Professor Leavenworth is a member of the National Educators' Association, the Ameri- can Institute of Education, the New England School Superintendents' Association, the New. England Normal School Council of the National Educational Association, and the Schoolmaster's Club. He belongs to the Vermont Historical So- ciety. He is a member of Lee Lodge No. 30, F. & A. M., Poultney Chapter No. 10, R. A. M., Poultney Council No 10, Killington Commandery, K. T., and the Order of the Mystic Shrine. He served as district deputy grand master of the fourth Masonic district in the Grand Lodge of Vermont. He is eligible for membership in the Sons of the Revolution. He is a member of the Congregational church and chairman of the exec- utive committee of the society.
Professor Leavenworth married October 6, 1897, Sarah Theodosia, daughter of George Al- len, of Hadley, Massachusetts. Mrs. Leaven- worth was a graduate of Smith College in the class of 1894, afterward taught in the Castleton Normal School, and later in Fitchburg and North Adams high schools. She is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
COLONEL JOSEPH HIRAM GOULDING.
Colonel Joseph Hiram Goulding in a worthy descendant of an old and honored English fam- ily, who spelled their name Goolding. This is 29X
an English name and pronounced Goolding in distinction from Golding, a name common to the Celtic Irish. It was originally located and bor- rowed from Goulding on the borders of Wales, anciently Gouldingham, derived from goal (a bound) and ham (a hamlet or town), but re-
COLONEL JOSEPH HIRAM GOULDING.
lieved of the last syllable before the first publica- tion of a catalogue of English towns. It is not to be found in Doomsday Book, but occurs in Rehemier's "Foedera." in Burke's "History of the Peerage" and on the early roll of Parliament. Alanus de Gouldingham is mentioned in 1302: John Goldynton (Borderingtown) in 1327, and Thomas Goldyng in 1345. In 1514 John Guldon was a member of Parliament from Cornwall. and must have been a knight. In 1519 Thomas Goulding, clerk, with the bishop of Norwich, was appointed executor to the will of Lord Corn- wallis, and September 27, 1641, Edward Goulding was created a baronet.
Of the Gouldings who appeared early in this
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country was Rev. William, minister of Bernd., who attended the Thursday lecture in Boston. No vember 5, 1016. Peter Goulding was of Boston in 1665. Captain Roger Goulding, master of a vessel, was of Rhode Island in 1676, and rendered eminent services in King Philip's war, in ac- knowledgment of which the court of Plymouth granted him one hundred acres of land at Pocas- set, east of Mount Hope bay. John Golldin was of Huntington, Long Island, 1683. Joseph and William Goulding were the same year of Graves End, Long Island, and owners of land and stock. Jacob Goulding and wife, Elizabeth, had Jacob, born at Boston January II, 1699, and are no far- there reported. George Goulding was of Wes- terly, Rhode Island, 1738-9.
Circumstances favor the belief that Peter Goulding, born in England in 1635 and who died October II, 1703, was the brother of the valiant Captain Roger, and originally from Shepham, six miles from Norwich, England, and a descendant of Rev. Thomas Goulding, co-executor with the bishop of Norwich ; yet nothing reliable on either point has been ascertained. He settled in Boston as a saddier, and he often acted as an attorney in the court of sessions. No record exists of his admission to either of the churches, or to his taking the oath of fidelity, and he must be ex- cepted in the list of Puritans, not more for his non-profession and late arrival, than from his will and failure to impress traits of Puritanism upon his descendants.
He must have been, however, a man of moral- ity and talent, and of rare enterprise and courage, and by his marriage connected with the aristoc- racy of the colony. In 1667 he was in Virginia. October 21, 1670, he acted as attorney to Joseph Deakin, of Boston, in a suit against Thomas Jen- ner, mariner, for the recovery of a negro slave, to the sale of whom, three years before in Vir- ginia, he testified, and again, September 10, 1672, to Henry Harris and Richard Travis in an action against Thomas Edsell.
In 1675 he was engaged for Edward Nichel- son and Mathew Bridge, who as his assignees, had sued Thomas Edsell. (Rec. of court of sessi- ons.) September, 1671, in the court of assistants, he acted as sub-attorney for Thomas Bullock and wife, of Shepham, Norfolk county, England, in a suit against John Checkley, of Boston, which
was carried before the general court at their ses- sion October, 1672, and decided in favor of the plaintiffs (Suffolk Deeds.)
From his admission to these several courts and the standing of some of his employers, it is evident that he was for his day a real lawyer and an advocate of ability. His chirography was without vanity, plain and most beautiful, and must have been acquired in some favored school of England, for in style it was more than a gen- eration in advance of his New England contem- poraries. But the proceedings of the courts were not always to his mind, and he was too independ- ent to avoid collision with their honors. He was prosecuted and fined for charges that he had di- vulged against the court and clerk of Suffolk county. In consequence of this he, October 18, 1681, addressed a complaint and petition to the general court, who, instead of affording him re- lief, hastily sentenced him to make a public ac- knowledgment of his fault to the satisfaction of the court or to pay a fine of twenty pounds to the treasurer of the colony, and to stand committed until the sentence should be performed. The court, however, as if conscious of rashness, sud- denly bacame more tolerant and so far satisfied with an ambiguous acknowledgment, if it was any at all, as to resolve that "at the petitioner's request this sentence, as to the fine and the peti- tioner's acknowledgment, respited till the next general court of sessions that comes first." We hear nothing more of the case. The occur- rence not improbably caused him to remove from Boston, for on the 11th of April following, before the next session of the general court, he bought of Isaac Negus, of Taunton, two hundred acres north of Merrimack river on a branch of Bever creek. It is not known that he attempted a settle- ment here, yet it is highly probable; and if so, that he was again induced to remove by the prev- alence of witchcraft at that time among his neighbors.
A second attempt to settle Quinsigamond (Worcester) was undertaken in 1683, and he purchased a town right of Thomas Ball and prob- ably took up his residence there until the settle- ment was a second time broken up. By this right he, at the first division of lands, drew five plant- ing lots of ten acres each for a homestead where the city of Worcester now stands, and at the sec.
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ond division seventy-nine acres and at the third time the same, one hundred and fifty-seven acres, to which his son Palmer, in behalf of himself and two brothers, revived a claim in 1713, which was allowed. Besides this town right he became the owner of three thousand and twenty acres at As- sanamesset (Grafton), which seems to have been included in the south part of Worcester. About 1694 the settlers of Worcester were again dis- persed, and Peter Goulding appeared at Sudbury, where he died October II, 1703, aged sixty-eight years. He was born in England about 1635.
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