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 84

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 84

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Mr. Ayers was united in marriage, January 4, 1863, to Miss Adaline Mansfield, who was born April 11, 1839, a daughter of Royal and Lydia Eliza (Dewey) Mansfield. The following named children have been born to them: Myron L., born November 26, 1863 ; he married Miss Alice Kenney, and their children are: Dorothy H., born December 1, 1896, and Esther, born Feb- ruary 5, 1898 ; he and his family reside in Dick- inson, North Dakota. Addie Elizabeth, born Sep- tember 15, 1866, wife of Albert H. Cole, and they reside in the town of Berlin, Vermont. George Elmer, born May 26, 1872 ; he married Miss Grace Dewey, June 29, 1897. who is the daughter of A. C. and Fannie (Wright) Dewey, and their children are: Alberta Adaline, born May 10. 1809 : and Dorris E., born January 3, 1901 ; they are residents of the town of Berlin, Vermont.

HERBERT G. PORTER.

Herbert G. Porter, of Jacksonville, Vermont, was born April 21, 1851, in Whitingham. His father, George Porter, a native of Whitingham, learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed in conjunction with other occupations. Opposite the hotel he built a mill, which he operated sev-

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eral yeus, then sold, and invested in a farm, which he carried on ten years. Returning to the village, he again engaged in milling, continuing until 1886. He is a man of considerable prom- inence in public affairs, and has served as lister and selectman, in the latter office being chairman of the board. Of his union with Fannie Kings- bury, two children were born, namely : Herbert G., the subject of this sketch, and Eli H., a grain merchant in Wilmington. The mother died in 1873, aged fifty-nine years.

Herbert G. Porter was educated in the com- mon schools, and having learned the trade of a carpenter under his father's instructions, he fol- lowed it in Massachusetts two years, then re- turned to Vermont, settling in Jacksonville, where he operated a grist mill from 1876 until 1886. He has since continued his residence here, serving for eight years of the time as postmaster. He is a Democrat in politics, has been lister a number of terms, superintendent of schools, and chairman of the board of selectmen.

Mr. Porter married, in 1876, Mary Luana Starr, who was born in Jacksonville, Vermont, January II, 1853, a daughter of Edwin C. Starr, and a lineal descendant in the eighth generation from Dr. Comfort Starr, the immigrant ances- tor, the line of descent being as follows : Dr. Com- fort, John, Comfort, Captain Comfort, Comfort, Parley, Edwin C., Mary Luana.

HENRY G. THOMAS.

Henry G. Thomas, state fish and game com- missioner, to whose patriotism, public-spirited and stirring enterprise his native village of Stowe is in large degree indebted for its splendid Sol- diers' Memorial Building, and who has in various other ways been a potent factor in promoting the interests of the community and the common- wealth, came of honored Revolutionary ancestry, in both paternal lines.

His paternal great-grandfather, Andrew Thomas, was a brother of David Thomas, who was among the "Mohawks" of Boston Tea Party Fame in early Revolutionary days. Andrew Thomas (I) was first lieutenant and captain in the war for freedom. In 1810 or 1812 he re- moved from Middlebury, Massachusetts, to

Woodstock, Vermont, where he passed his re- mailing days as a farmer.

Lemuel (2), son of Andrew Thomas, was born in Middlebury, Massachusetts, came about 1815 from Woodstock to Stowe, where he built a woolen mill and sawmill, which he operated for many years. He was the leading business man of his day in the village, and served as selectman and in the legislature ; in politics he was a Whig. He was twice married. His first wife was a Miss Rhoda Mendell, of Bridgewater, Vermont, who bore him children : Jones ; Weston L .; Rhoda, who married Jerome B. Slayton, and both of whom are deceased ; and Henry, who died aged twenty-one years. Lemuel Thomas married, second, Betsey Butler, a daughter of ex-Govenrnor Butler, and of this marriage was born a son, Ahijah, who married and became the father of five children.

Jones (3), eldest child of Lemuel Thomas, was born June 5, 1815, in Woodstock. He re- ceived a common school education, and learned shoemaking and followed his trade for several years at Stowe. He subsequently engaged in farming, in which he has continued to the present time. He was originally a Whig, and became a Republican at the organization of that party. He married Julia Ann Harris, daughter of Captain Joel Harris, Jr., and to them were born: Milton, who was accidentally drowned when two and a half years old; Henry George, who appears la- ter in this narrative; and Julia Ann. The latter named married Henry B. Oakes, now deceased, who was a merchant at Stowe, afterwards a farm- er, and who served as town collector ; of this mar- riage were born two children, Asa and Bertha .. Jones Thomas is now living at the age of eighty- eight years ; his wife died in 1885, aged sixty-six. years.

Henry George Thomas (4), second child and only surviving son of Jones and Julia Ann (Har- ris) Thomas, was born March 6, 1844. He was. reared on the paternal farm and received his edu- cation in the common schools. He was but a boy of seventeen when the Civil war broke out, but in his veins flowed the blood of Revolutionary ances- tors, and his patriotic spirit moved him to enlist in the Third Regiment, Vermont Volunteers. Under the lawful age for service in the ranks, he was mustered in as a drummer, but he performed other duties, and shared in all the hardships and

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dangers of the march and battlefield. Whenever his regiment was in action, he was with it at the front, succoring the wounded, and in camp he acted as regimental postmaster. During his three years' term of service he participated in all the momentous campaigns of the Army of the Po- tomac, and in many of its hardest fought battles, among them those of Lunensville, Lee's Mills, Williamsburg, Golden Farm, Savage Station, White Oak Swamp, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg (both engagements), Mary's Heights, Salem Church, Banks ford, Gettysburg, Rappahannock Station and Orange Grove. He also served in the Petersburg campaign until July 16, 1864, and he was with the forces which drove back the rebel General Early in his attempt to capture Washington city. An incident of his service was his being slightly wounded in the left arm in the battle of Lee's Mills, while assist- ing across Warwick creek a wounded comrade, John Bacon, who was shot through the lung. In this affair young Thomas's company sustained a loss of sixteen men killed and wounded, and scarcely a man escaped unwounded.

After his honorable discharge from the army in 1864, Mr. Thomas re-entered school for a few months, and then took employment as a clerk in a general store in Stowe. In the spring of 1867 he relinquished his position and went to Grand Haven, Michigan, where he engaged in the hard- ware business in partnership with Healey C. Akeley. Mr. Thomas retired from this partner- ship in 1869 and removed to Clinton, Iowa, where he conducted a boot and shoe store for a number of years. He then moved back to his native town in 1872. In 1876 he removed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he conducted the leading music store for a number of years. He was also for some years a director in the leading Masonic In- surance Company of the northwest. He was in- terested in the laying out of the flourishing village of Hope, in Steele county, North Dakota, having participated in the organization of the county. He subsequently disposed of these interests, tak- ing Minneapolis property i:1 exchange.

In 1896 Mr. Thomas returned to his native town. Stowe, Vermont, and gave himself actively to the promotion of its interests. In 1900 he was unanimously elected commander of H. H. Smith

Post No. 19, G. A. R., and continued to hold the cominandership for three consecutive years. His first effort was to procure funds wherewith to provide a monument to the heroes who had gone from the village to aid in the maintenance of the Union, and who had given their lives to the cause. He had personally collected for this purpose two hundred and seventy-five dollars, and when he made his plans known to his personal friend, Mr. Healey C. Akeley, that gentleman replied : "Would it not be better to put up something for the living instead of the dead? You and your sister Julia talk it over and put up what you think for the best; such an edifice as would be a suitable memorial to those whose memories were worthy of perpetuation, and, at the same time, of usefulness to the community." Mr. Thomas con- ceived the idea of the erection of a memorial building of such construction as to afford rooms for public and official uses, so suggested by the inscriptions "Pro Bono Publico" and "In Me- moram" which appear under the front windows, the rents from which building would provide for its maintenance, and with munificent liberality Mr. Akeley gave to Mr. Thomas authority to procure the necessary site and expend whatsoever sum would be necessary for its purpose.

The task could not have been committed to more capable hands. Mr. Thomas had entered upon his original project as a labor of love, and he engaged in the larger enterprise in the same spirit. He practically planned the edifice, making it the embodiment of his own lofty conception of beauty and utility, and gratuitously gave almost his en- tire time to the superintendence of its building. Careful and methodical at every stage, he has dis- posed of the means at his command with such sa- gacity that while the total expenditure upon the edifice will not exceed fifty thousand dollars, ex- perts have ventured the opinion that it might have cost twice that amount, while the general concensus of opinion of architects is that there is probably not another building in the state so complete, so beautiful and so well adapted to the purposes for which it was designed, and that, while its memorial character can never be lost sight of, the names of its munificent donor, Mr. Akeley, and of the one who carried his purpose forward to a successful consummation, Mr.

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Thomas, will ever be indissolubly associated with it. The following appears on the bronze tablet placed there by the citizens of Stowe:

"In recognition of the munificent gift of this building, by Healey C. Akeley, and in apprecia- tion of the efforts of Henry G. Thomas in its ac- complishment, this tablet is placed in commemora- tion by the citizens of Stowe."

Stowe Soldiers' Memorial Building, the con- struction of which was begun in 1901, is of red face brick and granite, beautiful in appearance, and of the most thorough workmanship within and without. The front presents a most pleasing effect, and the portal is guarded by four massive columns, the structure being old colonial in archi- tecture. The interior finish is in native red birch. The upper floor contains rooms for the assembling ·of informal social gatherings, with a spacious auditorium suitable for concerts, lectures and dra- matic entertainments, with necessary stage equip- ment, dressing rooms, toilet rooms, etc. A fine banquet hall occupies the basement, with ample kitchen room, a parlor, a sitting room and toilet rooms. On the first floor are the postoffice, sav- ings bank, public reading room and library, town clerk's office with fire-proof record rooms, select- men's office, ladies' toilet and Memorial Hall. Hot and cold water is distributed throughout the building. The dedication of Soldiers' Memorial Building took place on the 19th day of August, 1903, and was, perhaps, the most memorable event in the history of the village.

Mr. Thomas has long been recognized as an expert in scientific pisciculture, and to him is due the inception of the enterprise which now exists in the Lake Mansfield Trout Preserve, of which he is secretary and treasurer, and he is also secretary of the Fish and Game League. He found high recognition of his interest in these lines, at the hands of Governor Stickney, who appointed him chairman of the board of the state fish and game commission, and he was reappointed to the posi- tion by Governor Mccullough for four years. Mr. Thomas is a member of Mystic Lodge, F. & A. M., of Stowe, and of Ark Chapter, R. A. M., of Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was formerly a member of Morgan Post, G. A. R., in the last named city, having joined it when its member- ship (1900) gave it rank as next to the largest post in the United States; he is now affiliated

with H. H. Smith Post No. 19, of Stowe. In in- dependent circumstances, possessed of fine social qualities, and, withal, enterprising and' public- spirited, Mr. Thomas exerts a strong influence in the community and neighborhood, and is hon- ored as one who is at all times a public benefactor. While the Soldiers' Memorial Building is the most important enterprise with which he has been associated, he has aided in all other salutary movements.

Mr. Thomas was married January 12, 1868, to Miss Alice G. Raymond, of Stowe. Two chil- dren have been born of this marriage. Luna J. Whitcomb, the elder, is now the wife of J. S. Whitcomb, of Castleton, North Dakota, and they have a daughter, Frances. The second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas, Mary A., is the wife of William P. Cooper, of the firm of R. L. Polk & Company, publishers, Salt Lake City, Utah, to whom have been born two children, Ruth and Ralph.

HEALEY C. AKELEY.

Healey C. Akeley, whose name will be held in honor in Stowe through the coming generations for his splendid liberality in the founding of the Soldiers' Memorial Building, is a native of the vil- lage named, born March 16, 1836. His father, George Akeley, an industrious farmer and honor- able man, died when the son was only nine years old, and the youth was thus early thrown upon his own resources. Taking up a man's burden, he aided to earn a livelihood for the family by his labors on the farm, and also worked his way through the public school and an academy at Barre. He then spent two summers with a sur- veying corps, and also read law. He completed his professional studies in the Poughkeepsie (New York) Law School, and was admitted to the bar in 1857, the year of his attaining his majority.

In 1858 Mr. Akeley went to Michigan and engaged in the practice of law in Grand Haven. At the outbreak of the rebellion he sought to enter the army, but was rejected on account of an asth- matic affection, but later, in October, 1863, was accepted and mustered into service in the Second Regiment, Michigan Cavalry, with which he served with fidelity and gallantry until the close of the war. During his term of service his regi-

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ment was attached to the cavalry corps command- ed by General J. H. Wilson, and he participated in all the stirring operations of that splendid body, including the desperately fought battles of Franklin and Nashville, serving as first lieutenant and adjutant, to which position he was promoted from the ranks.

Returning to Grand Haven, Mr. Akeley re- sumed the practice of his profession, and became prominently identified with public affairs. The year after his coming, he was appointed collector of customs for the district of Michigan, by Pres- ident Grant, by whom he was reappointed, and also by President Hayes, his official term being thus extended to the long period of fifteen years. Mr. Akeley was also twice elected to the mayor- alty of the city.

In 1871 Mr. Akeley entered upon that larger career which eventually made him a dominating figure in the vast lumber interests of the central north. Becoming associated with Charles Boyden in the manufacture of shingles, they developed the business until theirs was recognized as the largest shingle mill in the world. They subse- quently organized the Grand Haven Lumber Company, purchased three sawmills and manu- factured lumber and shingles. Meantime the exac- tions of his rapidly expanding business necessi- tated the abandonment of his law practice by Mr. Akeley, in 1880. In 1882 he sold his interest in the Grand Haven Lumber Company and organ- ized the Roscommon Lumber Company to op- erate on the Muskegon river, the company con- trolling a large body of pine lands in the region tributary to the headwaters of the stream, and floating its logs to Muskegon, there to be sawed by contract. The diminishing lumber supply ad- monishing Mr. Akeley that it would be necessary to open a new field elsewhere, in 1886 he organ- ized the Itasca Lumber Company, with general offices in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to which place he removed in the year following. A natural outgrowth of previous operations, was the or- ganization of the H. C. Akeley Lumber Company, of Minneapolis, with Mr. Akeley at its head, and their mill came to be known as the "fastest" in the world, its output during the seven months' sawing season each year being the enormous quantity of one hundred and ten million feet. This was the first mill in which the double cutting band

was introduced. Mr. Akeley was the executive head of this great company, as well as of the Itas- ca Lumber Company, with its annual output of seventy-five million feet a year, until February I, 1903, when the H. C. Akeley Lumber Company, transferred its property and business to the Itasca Lumber Company with W. T. Joyce, of Chicago, as president. Mr. Akeley re- tiained his large interests as a stockholder, but was desirous of being relieved from much of the detail which had claimed his attention, in order to properly oversee his other large inter- ests, among them the saw mills of Akeley & Sprague, at Washburn, Wisconsin, the northern holdings of Walker & Akeley, in which Mr. Akeley is associated with T. B. Walker, of Minneapolis, and the Minneapolis Threshing Machine Com- pany, of which he is president. Mr. Akeley is also a director in the Security Bank of Minnesota at Minneapolis, and president of the Lumber Ex- change Company, a corporation which owns the Lumber Exchange building in Minneapolis. In all these large concerns, Mr. Akeley has shown. all the resourcefulness and ability of a master mind, and he has conducted all his extensive op- erations with singular ease and skill, and is, withal mild-mannered and modest. His business ca- reer, in which he began without adventitious aid, was carved out by his own effort, and the high success which has crowned his labors fully justi- fies the remark with which he answered an in- quiry : "What success I have had, I think I owe mostly to tenacity of purpose." And, he might have added to that absolute and unyielding in- tegrity which commands the respect and confi- dence of the army of men among whom his op- erations were extended.

Amid all the exactions of his extremely ac- tive business career, he never allowed his affec- tion for his native village to grow cold, and he long cherished the idea of devoting some part of his means to its improvement and beautification. Opportunity came in the year 1901, shortly after he had a visit to the home of his childhood. Henry G. Thomas, between whom and himself had long existed the most intimate personal friendship, had projected the erection of a soldiers' monu- ment. Mr. Akeley replied that he would prefer to erect some structure which would be not only a memorial to the heroic dead but would be highly

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serviceable to the living as well, and out of this grew the Soldiers' Memorial Building, the story of which is told upon other pages of this work. The munificent gift of Mr. Akeley has forever en- deared him to the people of Stowe, and his name will be honored by its people so long as the splen- did edifice which was his gift shall endure.

The philanthropy of Mr. Akeley has moved him to various other good works, and he is known as a liberal and frequent contributor to charitable organizations. One of his largest gifts, aside from that to his native village of Stowe, was his former residence in Grand Haven, Michigan, which he made the home of the Blanche Hall Akeley Institute for Girls, vesting the title and management in the Protestant Episcopal church. This institution has performed a highly useful work, and has steadily grown in favor with the parents who wish their daughters to be trained for the practical duties of life. Among other generous benefactions made by Mr. Akeley was twenty thousand dollars to the Salvation Army in Min- neapolis. On returning to Minneapolis, Mr. Akeley became a member of the Westminster Presbyterian church, in which he is a trustee, and he is a member of the Minneapolis Club, the Minnetonka Club and the Minnikahda Club.

Mr. Akeley was married in 1869 to Miss Hat- tie E. Smith, of Grand Haven, Michigan. Two children were born to them, of whom Florence H. Akeley is living. The name of the one de- ceased is perpetuated in the Blanche Hall Akeley Institute for Girls.

ARTHUR LEE HEWITT.

Arthur Lee Hewitt, a useful and respected resident of Berlin, Washington county, Vermont, is descended from Daniel Hewitt, who was born in Massachusetts in 1773. Daniel Hewitt mar- ried Rachel Cummings, who was born in 1775 and died November 8, 1817. He died April 29, 1845. Daniel Hewitt, their son, was born in Ward, Massachusetts, April 4, 1799. He married Betsey Edwards, who was born April 2, 1794, and died December 23, 1883. He died April 26, 1826.

Daniel Hewitt, son of Daniel and Betsey (Ed- wards) Hewitt, was born in the town of East Montpelier, Washington county, Vermont, June

14, 1826. His education was received at the dis- trict schools of Barre, Vermont. He learned the trade of stone-cutter, and in 1857 located in the town of Waterbury, Vermont, where he resided until 1863, when he removed to the town of Ber- lin. He followed his trade of stone-cutter for sixty-one years, and was known as one of the most masterly workmen in his calling. In poli- tics he is a Republican. He married, December 30, 1848, Mary Wentworth, daughter of William and Beulah (Hatch) Wentworth, who was born in the town of Middlesex, Vermont, July 29, 1826. The Wentworth family is of Saxon an- cestry, and dates back to the year 1066. Micah Hatch, father of Beulah Hatch, was an early set- tler in the town of Middlesex, Washington coun- ty, Vermont, and a soldier in the Revolutionary war. The children of Daniel and Mary (Went- worth) Hewitt are, Henry Jay, born February 7, 1850, who died May 21, 1901 ; and Arthur Lee, born November 24, 1851. The parents reside on the farm occupied by their son Arthur Lee.

Arthur Lee Hewitt, only surviving child in the' family last named, was born in the town of Barre, Washington county, Vermont, November 24, 1851. His education was received at the pub- lic schools and the seminary at Montpelier, Ver- mont. His early years were passed upon the farm, and he bore a full share in its cultivation. He then taught school for a period of nineteen years, excepting three years which he spent in Colorado. He taught at Berlin Corners and at West Berlin, and made a most successful career as a teacher. In 1889 he located on his present farm near West Berlin, where he has followed farming to the present time. In politics he is a Democrat, and has held the offices of selectman, lister, superintendent of schools and other offices of the town. In 1884 and 1892 he represented the town of Berlin in the state legislature, in which body he acquitted himself most creditably. In March, 1902, he was elected to the offices of town clerk and town treasurer. He has held the office of justice of the peace for many years.

Mr. Hewitt was married December 1, 1878, to Miss Florence Eddy, daughter of Joel S. and Emeline (Cummings) Eddy, of the town of Ber- lin. She was born June 23, 1859. The children born of this marriage are Daniel D., born Febru- ary 2, 1881 ; Arthur Wentworth, born June 22,

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1883: Harold Rupert, born November 6, 1888; Joel Eddy, born January 14, 1892; and Ethel Julia, born July 23, 1896.

Arthur Wentworth Hewitt, second son of Arthur Lee and Florence (Eddy) Hewitt, was born in the town of Berlin, Washington county, Vermont. His early education was obtained in the public schools of his native town, and he then entered the seminary at Montpelier, Vermont, where he is now a student, preparing himself for the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church. At the early age of seventeen years he was li- censed by the church to preach, and now fills a charge at South Barre, Vermont, beloved by the congregation to which he ministers, and regarded as one who is destined for a most useful living in his high calling.

HIRAM BARTLETT AYERS.

The history of individuals and personal ef- forts is more fascinating and worthy of study than all the annals of glorious achievement on the fields of battle, and especial interest attaches to the career of a family through several genera- tions : and few are the families which keep the even tenor of their way throughout the years without varying in the degrees of success and prosperity. An exception is found in the case of the Ayers family, whose members have been prominent and respected men in their communi- ties for generations. This family is of English stock. Thomas Ayers was a resident of Green- land, New Hampshire, and had a son Thomas, who married Lydia Bartlett; the Bartletts have long been honored citizens of the New England states. John Ayers, the son of Thomas and Lydia (Bartlett) Ayers, was born in Cornish, New Hampshire, February 21, 1797. After receiving his education in the district school he remained on his father's farm until he arrived at manhood, and on February II, 1823, he married Lovisa True, who was born December 17, 1798. Soon after his marriage he removed to the town of Middlesex, Vermont, where he purchased a farm and remained about twelve years; on a farm on Jones brook in the town of Berlin he lived for nearly fifteen years, and then located on a farm west of Berlin Corners, where he spent the bal- ance of his days. His politics were Republican,

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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 84

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