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 80
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September 4, 1694, he was appointed guardian of Mary Eagins (or Higgins), daughter of John Eagins (or Higgins), late of Boston. This indi- cates that he had been restored to his civil rights by the court.
COPY OF HIS WILL.
I, Peter Goulding, of Sudbury, in the county of Middlesex, in the province of the Massachu- setts bay, in northeast, gentlemen, being in good health and sound memory and understanding, do make and publish, and declare this instrument to be my last will and testament, as first followeth : I freely and willingly yield and give up my soul to God, who gave it, trusting, hoping and pray- ing that it may be saved in, by and through the meritorious death and passion of Jesus Christ, who died for the same and in hopes of my resur- rection unto life with Him. And my body I com- mit unto the earth from whence it came, therein to be decently buried by my executrix herein named, the expense thereof not amounting to more than forty shillings.
And my small estate that God has given me I do give and bequeath as followeth :
Unto my loving daughter, Martha Smith, the wife of John Smith, of Hadley, I do give one piece of eight, and do entreat her and her good husband to accept of the same (God having given them a good estate), who never displeased me worth the remembrance.
Unto Elizabeth, ye wife of William Jenison, of Sudbury, I give one shilling, or the value thereof, and no more, she having had higher keeping than the rest, and much out of my little at her marriage; and I believe and partly know from her own mouth she hath sought the ruin of me and my poor family in this life.
Unto my eldest son, Windsor, I do give and forgive and acquit him of all that he oweth me
and do request him to be contented therewith and with what my executrix will give him.
Unto my son, John Goulding, I give one piece of eight as a token of my love and do en- treat him to accept of the same unto full content- ment and with what more his mother will give him. And God hath already given him by honest labor and means an estate surmounting mine.
Unto my sons Thomas, Peter and Palmer I give all the real estate I shall die legally possessed of after the decease of my executrix, unto them, each one, an equal proportion for quantity and quality consideration being had, and unto each of their heirs forever.
Unto my daughters Sarah, Jane, Mercy, Abi- gale and Arabella I do give unto each of them one good cow, not above six years old, as each of them shall attain the age of twenty-one years, or are married sooner with the approbation of their mother, Sarah, my executrix.
All the remainder of my estate (my just debts being first paid or secured to be paid) I give unto my loving and beloved wife, Sarah Goulding, during her natural life, and afterward unto all or any of my sons and daughters as unto her shall seem best to bequeath the same by will. And, lastly, I do make and appoint my said wife sole executrix of this, my last will and testament. In witness whereof I have hereunto put my hand and seal on the 27th day of April, in the 2nd year of the reign of our sovereign lady of England, Queen Anne (April, 1703).
(SEAL) PETER GOULDING.
Witnessed by Thomas and Hopestill Brown, Samuel King and Thomas Brintwall, and pro- bated November 8, 1703.
His estate consisted of lands at Grafton and Worcester, and the usual personal property of a farmer at Sudbury was appraised at 265 pounds seventeen shillings. His pewter and brass furni- ture was valued at ten pounds. His stock con- sisted of twenty-three swine, three cows, one heifer, one yoke of oxen and eight steers.
He seems to have been living in Sudbury, waiting an opportunity to reoccupy his homestead at Worcester, and had already waited nine years. During this time he probably returned to his trade, uniting therewith shoemaker, for one of his sons, who must have grown up in the interim, was early styled cordwainer, and others saddler, and his youngest lived in Sudbury as a cord- wainer twenty years after the death of his father. The line of descent is as follows :
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Palmer, fifteenth child of Peter, born 1095, died February 11, 1814; Ignatius, seventh child of Palmer, born September 6, 1734, died Novem- ber 5, 1814: John Rice, third child of Ignatius, born November 12, 1762, died December 13, 1812, married Ruth Webb, of Worcester, daugh- ter of Captain Webb, who lived in Cape Cod about the time of the Revolution. "History of Cape Cod, Massachusetts," volume I, contains the fol- lowing: "George Webb with others being sum- moned to court to give reason for not taking the oath of fidelity to the government, professed 'that they held it unlawful to take the oath.'" George Webb engaged to depart the government, and we find in the history of Holden, Massachusetts, that he came to that town with his family about the time the war began or a short time afterwards.
Captain Webb was the only commissioned officer in the continental service from the town. He was a fearless soldier and a high-spirited offi- cer. Whenever an enterprise requiring bravery and skill was to be undertaken Washington and Lafayette knew him to be a man to their minds. The following letter from Lafayette to Captain Webb was found among his papers :
MILTON, May 15, 1781.
My Dear Sir-Your successful scarmish has afforded me the greatest pleasure, and I request you will receive yourself and present your com- pany my best thanks on the occasion. Major Jicks is requested to exert himself in finding out the position, size and number of long boat Helen -lie either at City Point or in the Appamattox river. The taking of these boats is a more desir- able object and would produce good effects of a very extensive nature. But I cannot give orders as the capture depends upon the uncertain situa- tion of local circumstances. Should you think it advisable to undertake, precaution must be taken to have your retreat secured at all events. In case the enterprise is not executed to-night, I wish you will return with your company in the cool of the evening, and if you have any object in view you will repair here to-morrow with the boats. With the most sincere esteem, yours,
LAFAYETTE.
Tradition says that General Lafayette saw and recognized Captain Webb in Worcester when he made his second visit to this country.
Joseph Goulding, grandfather of Colonel Goulding, was the first child of John Rice
and Ruth ( Webb) Goulding, and was born in Phillipston, Massachusetts, June 8, 1785. After acquiring his education in the common schools he learned the trade of millwright, and was a thorough and efficient mechanic; he was one of three brothers who were mechanics and builders, and removed to Potsdam, New York, where he remained some years, subsequently locating in Keeseville, where he built a foundry which he operated successfully up to the time of his death, which occurred July 18, 1852. His wife, whose maiden name was Lydia Millen, was born in the state of Massachusetts and was the mother of six children.
James Marshall Goulding, father of Colonel Goulding, second child of Joseph and Lydia Goulding, was born August 25, 1805, at Phil- lipston, Massachusetts; he was indebted to the common schools of Potsdam and Keeseville, New York, for his education, learned the trade of machinist, which he followed for a number of years. He was for some time in Canada as a millwright. Afterwards he became an iron- molder or foundryman, working in Troy, New York, and later in Potsdam for many years. Having accumulated a comfortable competence he was enabled to retire from the active duties of commercial life, and the last years of his life were spent in the home of Colonel Goulding in Rutland, where he died March 9, 1878.
While a resident of Troy, Mr. Goulding was a member of a crack artillery company, in which he took an active interest; after his removal to. Potsdam he took charge of the cannon of the town, which he fired upon all public occasions for many years. His skill with a muzzle-load- ing field-piece was frequently shown by his- firing salutes with a single gun at twenty-second intervals, or three times per minute. Mr. Gould- ing married Miss Amanda Sanford, born in. Hinesburg. Vermont, March 12, 1807, died Au- gust 13, 1876, daughter of Solomon Noble and Anna Lockwood Sanford, who were the parents of ten children. The brothers of Mrs. Goulding were excellent marksmen, and in company with their neighbors volunteered in 1812 and served with distinction in the battle of Plattsburg as sharpshooters. Mrs. Goulding was then but seven years old, and accompanied her mother and other women neighbors, whose sons and
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husbands were engaged in the battle, to a hill where they listened all day to the roar of the can- non, as the tide of conflict ebbed and flowed, apprehensive of the results to those so dear to them.
Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Goulding: Charles Noble, who followed the vocation of clerk, going west and in 1861, en- listing in the famous twenty-third Ohio Regi- ment, which bore upon its rolls the names of so many distinguished men. He was early pro- moted and commissioned upon the staff of Gen- eral W. S. Rosecrans, and finally became a lieu- tenant colonel and chief quartermaster on the staff of General Pope; he was captured and con- fined in Libby Prison and after his release was honorably discharged from the army. He was then appointed United States consul to Hong Kong, China, subsequently returned to Cali- fornia, where his death occurred at the age of sixty years. His widow is still living at Colum- bus, Ohio.
Colonel Joseph Hiram Goulding, second son of James Marshall and Amanda (Sanford) Goulding, was born at Potsdam, St. Lawrence county, New York, June 8, 1842; educated at St. Lawrence Academy, New York, and Willis- ton (Vermont) Academy and Norwich Uni- versity, Vermont, being ordered, while a cadet at the latter institution in August, 1863, for ex- amination before a board in Washington of which General Silas Casey was president, with a view to being appointed into the military serv- ice of the United States. On the twelfth day of September, 1863, he was appointed by Presi- dent Lincoln, a second lieutenant in the Sixth Regiment, United States Colored Troops, In- fantry, reporting for duty at Camp William Penn, near Philadelphia, to General Louis Wag- ner, now past commander in chief Grand Army of the Republic. Lieutenant Goulding served with his regiment on the Peninsula during the winter of 1863-4, nominally camped at York- town, but actually marching and raiding nearly all the time.
In May, 1864, when the Eighteenth Army Corps was organized and officers were selected for staff duty, he was detailed by orders emanat- ing from the headquarters of the Department of Virginia and North Carolina, Fort Monroe, Vir-
ginia, General Benjamin F. Butler, commanding, as ambulance officer and acting assistant quarter- master, and served continuously thereafter as such in the Eighteenth, Twenty-fifth and Tenth (Terry's) Army Corps, in the armies of the James and the Ohio. While in the Eighteenth Corps he acted as ambulance corps adjutant, and although repeated requests were made for his return for duty to his regiment, they were in- variably refused on account of his usefulness in this staff duty.
At one time, while absent on a southern ex- pedition, he was relieved and ordered to his regiment, but upon his return, and General Terry being made cognizant of the order, he was im- mediately re-detailed, General Terry's adjutant general dictating the order while in the saddle, that Lieutenant Goulding might continue in this particular service. His command was engaged at Petersburg, June 15, 1864, again at Peters- burg, the Mine, July 30, 1864, New Market Heights, Virginia, September 29, 1864, Fair Oaks, Virginia, October 27, 1864, the expeditions against Fort Fisher, North Carolina, December, 1864, and January, 1865, Sugar Loaf Hill, North Carolina, January, 1865, Sherman's march on Raleigh and General Joe Johnston's surrender, 1865.
He was promoted to first lieutenant, May 6, 1865, and mustered out of service with his regiment at Philadelphia, September 20, 1865.
The engagements in which his command par- ticipated were among the most sanguinary, in comparison to the numbers engaged, of the war. That of New Market Heights was a brilliant charge upon earth works occupied by the enemy, and the brigade and especially his own regiment, the Sixth United States Colored Infantry, made one of the largest recorded percentages in killed and wounded ever suffered by any command, particularly as to officers lost.
At Fair Oaks, Colonel, then Lieutenant Gould- ing had, with his ambulance corps, charge of the removal of the wounded from the field, and pursued his work regardless of the fact that our forces had been withdrawn and night was at hand. His stretcher men, working under his per- sonal supervision, were some of them captured by the enemy, and only after a peremptory order, sent by General Weitzel, whose messenger found
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the rescuing party far outside our lines, and under heavy fire, did he recall his men and rejoin the command already on their retreat. This was held by his fellow officers at the time to be one of the pluckiest endeavors of that campaign, and it resulted in saving from prison and death many of the men who wore the bluc.
The night marches under Sherman in the Carolinas called for all the bravery, skill and en- durance imaginable, fighting fire in the pitch pine forests, bridging the quicksand quagmires and dodging the raiders of the enemy, being common occurrences.
Returning to Vermont, he settled in Rutland, where he joined Roberts Post, Department of Vermont, Grand Army of the Republic, in 1868, when it was organized ; was post adjutant to Post Commander W. G. Veazey in 1869, 1870 and 1871, served as assistant adjutant general of the department two terms, 1872 and 1873, when Com- rade Veazey was the department commander ; was on the department council of administration 1875-6-7 ; was elected department commander in 1880 and again in 1881, repeatedly represented the department in the national encampment, at one of which he and one other only from Ver- mont were present ; was a member of the national council of administration in 1872 and 1873. On August 14, 1890, at the national encampment held in Boston, he was appointed adjutant general of the order by Commander-in-Chief Veazey, and was sworn in by Past Commander-in-Chief Devens. His administration of the affairs of the adjutant general's department of this great order has been very widely commended, and to his untiring efforts, zeal and intelligence, in no small degree, was the splendid record of Com- mander-in-Chief Veazey's administration made one of the notable features of the history of the order.
He is a member of C. B. Lawton Post No. 44, G. A. R., of ·Wilmington, Vermont, a member by virtue of being a past department commander, of the department and national encampments, a very large number of which he has attended, in all parts of the country. He has for years been appointed aide in charge of military and patriotic instruction in the public schools of Vermont, by successive commanders-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic.
He designed the stained glass window in the Soldiers' Memorial Hall at Rutland, Vermont, a marble structure that is one of the most unique memorials of the war of the rebellion.
In August, 1873, he acted as adjutant general of the First Vermont Soldiers' reunion at Rut- land-an occasion which was the largest gather- ing of its kind ever held in the state, the men numbering several thousand and coming all or- ganized into companies, battalions and brigades, properly officered, and enlisted for three days. This is claimed to have been the first soldiers' reunion, as distinguished from officers' reunions, held after the war; the thought, organization and details were all worked out by him. In Au- gust, 1876, he was the adjutant general of the Bennington Centennial Celebration, in which the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Vermont joined, all sending militia as well as civil representatives and many citizens, and the whole forming what the press of the day called "A quart procession in a pint town." He pre- pared special maps of the route, the grounds and the town for the use of the officers connected with the parade, and fully sustained his reputa- tion for ability in such matters.
He has also for many years been a companion of the military order of the Loyal Legion, an or- ganization composed wholly of commissioned of- ficers serving during the war of the rebellion, and which was founded before the close of that war, upon about the same lines as the Revolu- tionary war society of the Cincinnati eldest sons being eligible to membership of the second class and succeeding their fathers in the first class by inheritance as deaths occur. Colonel Goulding was junior vice-commander of the Vermont Com- mandery in 1899 and senior vice-commander in 1900.
He is also a member of Social Lodge No. 38, Free and Accepted Masons, of Wilmington, Ver- mont, of which he has been for years secretary ; he is a Royal Arch Mason in Fort Dummer Chap- ter No. 12. and a Knight Templar in Beausant Commandery No. 7, of Brattleboro, Vermont, and a noble of Mt. Sinai Temple of the Mystic Shrine of Montpelier.
Governor John L. Barstow, of Vermont, in 1882 appointed him colonel and chief of staff for
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the years 1882 and 1883. He was chosen by the town of Rutland in 1869 compiler of its military records, covering the service rendered by the meu going from what are now the towns of Rutland, West Rutland and Proctor and the city of Rut- land. This work was published at the joint ex- pense of the three towns and was characterized as a most valuable as well as creditable publica- tion.
He was appointed by Governor Levi K. Ful- ler in October, 1892, secretary of civil and mili- tary affairs of the state of Vermont for two years, for which office his previous training had admir- ably fitted him, and in which he scored another marked success. The administration of Governor Fuller in many respects is rated as one of the best the state has ever had, in late years at least, and the services of his secretary have been justly called, by many, one of the most important factors therein.
At commencement in June, 1893, Norwich University, his college, conferred upon Colonel Goulding the degree of Master of Arts, the trus- tees of the institution holding that his leaving his class to graduate at the front in time of war ought not to bar him from a place among the alumni of that institution.
His business career may be briefly summar- ized as follows: After settling in Rutland in the fall of 1865 he entered the employ of the Rut- land Railroad in the general freight and transpor- tation department, having charge of the settle- ment of the accounts of the road with the quar- termaster's department of the United States gov- ernment for some time; he afterwards became secretary to the president of the company, a place he held for years. He audited the vouchers of United States Pension Agent Barstow at Bur- lington and drew the checks for the payment of the same for many periodical terms, thousands in number and millions of dollars in the aggre- gate. In 1881 he was made secretary and treas- urer of the Dorset Marble Company and so con- tinued till its amalgamation into the Producers' Marble Company ; was in the employ of the Rut- land Savings Bank, and later was appointed as- sistant postmaster of the city of Rutland, having entire charge of its financial matters and business, which position he resigned in the summer of 1892
to enter the service of Colonel (soon afterwards Governor) Levi K. Fuller. Upon the termina- tion of that term of office he came to Wilming- ton, where he was elected treasurer of the Wil- mington Savings Bank in January, 1895, which place he has held by repeated unanimous elec- tions since. The business of the bank has largely increased since he became connected with it, and it ranks high among the safe, conservative insti- tutions of the kind in the state. While, of course, not among the largest, yet, in point of safety and stability, it is called second to none.
August 18, 1863, Colonel Goulding married Miss Frances E. Pease at Norwich, Vermont. She was born in Pittsford, Vermont, August 13, 1843, a daughter of Rev. Aaron G. Pease and a niece of President Calvin Pease, of the University of Vermont, at Burlington. Her mother was Anne Page, a sister of Governor John B. Page, of Rutland, Vermont. The Rev. A. G. Pease was largely instrumental in establishing the Ver- mont Reform School, being a member of the State Legislature at the time, and was its first superintendent.
Four children were born to Colonel and Mrs. Goulding: Matilda Pease, born August 2, 1867 ; Anne Page, born April 27, 1871, married Willis M. Ross, at Rutland, Vermont, July 18, 1894, and their children are Carroll Goulding, born May 26, 1895, Frances Adeline, born March 12, 1897, died May 7, 1897, and Malcolm, born February 25, 1899; James Marshall, the third child of Colonel Goulding, born November 16, 1874, married Julia L. Beebe, December 28, 1896, who died February 13, 1901, and their children were: Joseph Hiram, born March 1, 1898, and Alfred Beebe, born January 27, 1899, died January 28, 1899. James Marshall Goulding is engaged with the Vermont Marble Company at Proctor, Ver- mont, one of the largest marble companies in the world ; he has also been town clerk and superin- tendent of the Sunday school. Philip Sanford, the fourth child of Colonel Goulding, born Sep- tember 6, 1876, is a graduate of Phillips' Andover Academy, Massachusetts, and of Yale University, class of 1898. He has catalogued in the state li- brary at Concord, New Hampshire; the library of the University of Missouri at Columbia : the library of the University of the South at Sewanee,
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Tennessee, and is now in the library of Congress
The mother of these children, France (l'avez Goulding, died at Wilmington, Vermont, M. 5. 1902. She bore her long suffering with the greatest patience and cheerfulness to the end, keeping her interest in affairs and people, espe- cially the large circle of relatives and friends who loved her so much. She was a life-long member of the Congregational church, transferring her relation to that church at Wilmington, in which Colonel Goulding served as deacon some years. She will be deeply missed by that little church as well as by the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, while the Ladies' Aid and Missionary Societies have lost in Mrs. Goulding one of their most faithful and inspiring members.
Always of a progressive and forceful mind there was never a lack of interested endeavor when she was present, for it needed but a few trenchant words from her to take a whole meet- ing out of the worn ruts, while her prayers had for years been a marked feature of the meetings of the Woman's Board of Missions of Vermont, and which she attended as long as able to do so. Especially gifted in this her influence was ex- ceptionally strong and uplifting and partook of the nature almost of inspiration. The memorial prepared by the ladies of that organization was a touching tribute to her sainted memory. The ties of kinship were strong with her, and the family was united in a rare way and manner, her strong, loving nature taking them all in and en- listing her warmest thought while life was hers. Truly "her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband and he praiseth her."
She was interred in Evergreen cemetery at Rutland, Vermont, in the family lot, where also rest her father and mother and Colonel Gould- ing's father and mother, the last years of whose lives on earth it was hers to make peaceful and happy.
HON. FRANK J. NELSON.
The strength of character, unfaltering per- severance and competent business methods which have made the career of Frank J. Nelson a suc- cess, were inherited, in a large degree, from his ancestors. who were active and influential resi-
dents of the town of Hebron, Washington coun- ty, New York, where Moses Nelson, grand- father of Frank J. Nelson, was born and reared and died.
Harley Nelson, father of Frank J. Nelson, was born in the town of Hebron, Washington county, New York, in 1819, and his educational advantages were obtained in the public schools of that vicinity. His business career, which was very successful, was devoted to agricultural pur- suits 'and speculation, and these enterprises he conducted in his native state. He was actively interested in the local affairs of the various towns in which he resided. He was a very conscien- tious and liberal minded man, a prominent mem- ber of the Baptist church, in which he served as deacon for many years. Mr. Nelson married Fannie Herron, a daughter of James Herron, and the following named children were born to them : Roumeyn, a wholesale produce dealer of New York city, married Rebecca Gammon, and his death occurred in 1902 at the age of sixty-two years. Annette is the wife of Alfred Bray- mer, an agriculturist of Hebron, New York; their children are Albert, Charles, Harley, Dan- iel and Leonora Braymer. Camillus was en- gaged as a slate manufacturer at West Pawlet, Vermont, until his death in 1887; he married Mary Beebe, of Rupert, Vermont, and their chil- dren were Hermon and Thomas Nelson. Bray- ton died in infancy. Leonora is the wife of James Stearns, an agriculturist of Rutland coun- ty, Vermont; their children are Jay, Myra and Mabei Stearns. Bernice married Myra Warner, and up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1889, aged forty-two years, was engaged in farming at Granville, New York; they were the parents of one child, Mark Nelson. Frank J. is our subject. Moses J. Nelson is the eighth of the family. Harley Nelson, father of these chil- dren, died at his home in New York, in 1889, aged eighty-four years; his wife passed away in the year 1885, at the age of sixty-eight years.
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