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 90

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 90

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Samuel Appleton was born in Little Walding- field in 1586, came to Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 1635, and from him have sprung all the Ap- pletons in this country. He was a man of con- siderable importance in his day, owning large tracts of land in Ipswich, portions of which are now in the possessions of his descendants. He very ably served his town as deputy to the gen- ·eral court, and held other positions of rank and honor. He married Mary Everard, a most es- timable woman, and they had five children.

Captain John Appleton, eldest son of Samuel and Mary, was likewise an important person in the colony of Massachusetts. He came to New England with his parents when about thirteen years old. Upon reaching manhood he was sent as deputy to the general court, and was later honored with the title of captain, for valiant serv- ice rendered the colony. He died in 1699, at the age of seventy-six. In early life he married Pricilla Glover, and they became the parents of seven children.

Colonel John Appleton, eldest son of Captain John and Pricilla, born in 1652, was even more prominent in public affairs than his predecessors. As a man of marked military ability, he was first made lieutenant, and later colonel. With rare efficiency he served his community as town clerk, as judge of probate, as a member of the council, and in 1697 was chosen deputy to the general court. Being a man of great integrity, he won the esteem of all who knew him. He married Eliza- beth Rogers, by whom he had five children.

Rev. Nathanael Appleton, D. D., their eldest son, lacked none of the force or manly vigor of his forefathers, and became a power, not only in the state, but also in his church and college.

Born in Ipswich, December 9, 1693, he was given the best educational advantages that the country afforded at that time, and at an early age entered Harvard College, where he graduated in 1712. Deciding to enter the ministry, he thoroughly prepared himself for his work, and five years later, in 1717, received his ordination at Cam- bridge. He became one of the most forceful and eloquent preachers of his day, wielding a wide influence in his church and college, as well as in the more ordinary performances of his pastoral duties.

He continued in the ministry for sixty-six years. For a large part of that time he was a fellow of the college, and in 1771 he received from that institution a diploma of D. D., an honor which it had never conferred, except on Increase Mather, eighty years before. As a strong Whig, he exercised a powerful influence in the state for his party, during the strenuous times preceding the Revolution. In early life he married Mar- garet Gibbs, by whom he had six children.

Nathanael Appleton, son of Nathanael Apple- ton and Margaret Gibbs, born in 1731, was one of the influential business men of Boston, and also actively engaged in public affairs. He was a member of the first Committee of Correspond- ence, and a zealous patriot during the Revolu- tionary struggle. From an early period of the contest until his death, he held the office of com- missioner of loans. He corresponded with most of the eminent men of his day, and distinguished himself in writing against the slave trade, from 1766 to 1773. His first wife was Mary Walker, his second, Rachel Henderson. He died in 1798.

Dr. Nathanael Walker Appleton, great-grand- father of Colonel Miles, was born in 1775. After graduating at Harvard College he studied medi- cine, and became a practicing physician in Bos- ton. He won for himself much distinction in his professional work, and his early death was the subject of general regret. He married Sarah Greenleaf, and died in 1795. By this marriage there were three children, Nathanael W., who married Sarah Tilden; Charles H. and William Greenleaf.

Nathanael Walker Appleton, second son of the above, was a well known and affluent merchant in the city of Boston, and at the time of his death was the treasurer of a great manufacturing cor-

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portation in the city of Lowell. His eldest daugh- ter, Sarah Elizabeth, married Solomon Pierson Miles. Their children were: Charles Appleton Miles, the subject of the present sketch; Sarah Elizabeth Miles, who died in early youth; Jane Pierson Miles, who married the Hon. James M. Tyler, judge of the supreme court of Vermont ; and Katharine Miles.

WILLIAM ROBERTSON.

William Robertson, of Putney, is a veteran paper manufacturer, and an enterprising and pro- gressive business man. He was born June 15, 1822, in Hartford, Connecticut, a son of the late George Robertson. He is of Scotch ancestry, his paternal grandfather having spent his entire life in Scotland. His widow, however, came here in 1821, joining her son, who had preceded her to this country. George Robertson emigrated from Scotland to America when a young man, and after his marriage to Margaret Benson, in 1821, settled in Hartford, Connecticut. The following year he started for Canada, taking with him his family: On reaching St. Johnsbury, Vermont, the mother died, and he gave up the trip to Canada, settling instead in Putney, this state, where he formed a partnership with his brother and began the manu- facture of paper, continuing until 1828. He then built a mill in the village, in which paper was made by hand, but a freshet destroyed his fac- tory a few years after operation had been com- menced. Nothing daunted, however, he erected another mill, which he operated until 1837, when he added to his productions a line of straw paper. In 1840 he met with financial reverses and was forced to give up business, his son William pur- chasing the entire plant.

William Robertson was an infant when he came with his parents to Putney, where he has since resided. On leaving school he learned the trade of a paper-maker under his father's instruc- tion, and at the age of eighteen years, without a dollar that he could call his own, he started in business on his own account, after his father's failure purchasing the mill and continuing in the same line of manufacturing until 1865. Estab- lishing then a new mill, with machinery of the most approved pattern, he began the manufacture of tissue paper, which he continued with con-

stantly increasing success up to the time of the recent destruction of the plant by fire, May 10, 1903. In the management of this plant, known as "The Owl Mills," he was assisted by his sons, who had charge of the daily output of the factory, amounting on an average product to about a ton and a half per day. The paper was made of wood fibre and was shipped in rolls to all parts of the country.

Mr. Robertson was formerly an officer in the state militia, which was organized soon after the St. Albans raid, being commissioned captain of Company B, Twelfth Regiment, by Peter T.

WILLIAM ROBERTSON.

Washburn, and serving eight years. He is iden- tified in politics with the Republican party, and has served as a representative to the state legis- lature. He is a Mason, belonging to Golden Rule Lodge No. 32, F. & A. M., of Burlington ; to Fort Dummer Chapter No. 12, R. A. M .; to Connecti- cut Valley Council No. 16, R. & S. M .; and to

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Reautant Commandery, K. T., of Brattleboro. He is one of the stockholders of the Vermont Na- Tonal Bank.

Captun Robertson married, in 1854, Abbie A. Benson, daughter of Doctor Amora and Abigail Benson, of Landgrove, Vermont. - Ulice children have been born of their union, namely : Fred E., in business with his father, married Margaret Ann Towle, and they have one child, Ruth; Frank M., who attended the Stan- ford Military Institute and was graduated from Eastinan's Business College in 1876, is associated in business with his father and brother, being bookkeeper for the firm; and Helen M., who was educated at St. Agnes School, in Bellows Falls, Vermont.

ELIHU BARBER TAFT.

Elihu Barber Taft, of Burlington, Vermont, well and favorably known as a lawyer and also in political and scientific circles throughout the country, was born in Williston, Vermont, March 25, 1847. His great-grandfather, a native of Connecticut, was an active participant in the Con- tinental army and was with General Washington at Valley Forge, where the army went through such a terrible siege of exposure and suffering. After his discharge he removed to Shaftsbury, Vermont. His grandfather, Elijah Taft, was a native of Shaftsbury, Bennington county, but in 1818 located in Williston, Chittenden county ; he died at South Burlington, Vermont, January 4, 1881, at the age of eighty-four years.

Eleazer Taft, father of Elihu B. Taft, is a farmer who has always lived an honest and tem- perate life, and whose religion is the Golden Rule, and he now lives in retirement at Essex Junction, Vermont. He has attained the ripe old age of eighty years, and still enjoys excellent health. For many years he served in the capacity of se- lectman for South Burlington, Vermont. He married Ellen Barber, who was born in Willis- ton, Vermont, and the following named children were born to them: Enos W., of Jericho Center ; Elihu Barber; and George K. Taft, of Underhill, Vermont. The mother of these children died at the age of fifty-six years.

Elihu B. Taft was educated in the common schools and Williston Academy, and this was sup- plemented by a classical course in the University

of Vermont, which he entered in 1867, graduating therefrom in 1871. Four years afterward he re- ceived the degree of Master of Arts from his alma mater. He entered his name as a law stu- dent, in 1870, with the well known attorneys, Messrs. Wales & Taft, at Burlington, and pur- sued his legal studies with them during his last year in the university. On April 1, 1873, he was admitted to practice at the bar of Chittenden county court, and soon after the supreme court of the state, and on the motion of Hon. E. J. Phelps, at the February term, 1879, was admitted as an attorney in the United States district and circuit courts. Mr. Taft has been a successful lawyer for over thirty years in Burlington, and during all that long period of time his profes- sional integrity and ability have never been ques- tioned, and he has ever maintained the character of an upright man, an honest and able lawyer, and a good citizen.

Mr. Taft has been a most extensive traveler, not only in the new but also in the old world. He visited the Centennial at Philadelphia, the region of the great lakes and copper mines of Michigan, is familiar with the scenery on the western side of the Rocky Mountains, the Yo- semite Valley, the Yellowstone National Park, and the Pacific coast from San Francisco to Puget Sound. Nor has he neglected places of inter- est nearer his native state, having made extensive tours through Canada, sailing down the St. Law- rence and up the gloomy Saguenay. The winter and spring of 1887 he spent in the south and southwest, visiting New Orleans, Galveston, and the city of Mexico; he also made a trip to the top of the volcano Popocatapetl, went down into the crater, being one of two persons to do this. He visited the petrified forest of Arizona, and the Grand Canyon of the Colorado; his last and most extended journey was in 1889, when he visited the most important cities and countries of the eastern hemisphere, including Paris, Rome, Bom- bay, Calcutta, Benares, Cairo, Jerusalem, Smyr- na, Athens, Constantinople, Vienna, Cologne and cities of Denmark, Russia, Sweden, Norway, North Cape, Land of the Midnight Sun, Scot- land, England, Ireland and Holland, concluding with a visit to Paris, where ten days were occu- pied at the great exposition before he turned his steps homeward.

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THE STATE OF VERMONT.

Politically Mr. Taft is a Republican, and has been honorably recognized by his party and the people. He has served several terms as school commisisoner ; was one of the board of alder- men, being president of the board for four out of five years; in 1888 was elected senator from Chittenden county, and during the session of that year was made chairman of the general com- mittee, one of the most important in the legisla- ture. He has been city attorney for two years ; chairman of the Republican city committee many terms ; chairman of the Republican county com- mittee, and is the fourteenth oldest in point of service in the city council. Mr. Taft has ever been a zealous Freemason, and as soon as he ar- rived at man's estate received the obligations of Ancient Craft Masonry in Webster Lodge No. 61, of Winooski. He was a charter member of Burlington Lodge No. 100, at Burlington, of which he is. a past master. He is past grand recorder and past grand treasurer and past grand senior warden of the Grand Commandery of Ver- mont; a member of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine and has attained the thirty-third degree in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite; in all of the different bodies of this last order he has worthily presided. He is a life member of the American Society for the Advancement of Science, and his life-long study of natural his- tory entitles him to rank among the foremost of amateur naturalists, to which fact his large private cabinet of birds, fossils, shells and min- erals will bear ample testimony. In 1874 he was appointed United States deputy collector of in- ternal revenue of the Third district of Vermont, serving in that capacity until his resignation in 1881. On April 1, 1875, Mr. Taft married Lucia A. Johnson, daughter of Anson S. and Agnes (Stuart) Johnson, and her death occurred De- cember 15, 1875.

DR. FRANK LAMB.

Dr. Frank Lamb, an enterprising citizen of Bradford, Vermont, is the son of Joseph Lamb, who settled on Lake Fairlee, in the town of Fairlee, where he engaged in farming, subse- quently removing to Ryegate, and later to Mc- Indoe. His politics were those of the Demo- cratic party. He married Mary Woodbury. Fol-

lowing are the names of their children, all of whom reached maturity: Mary; John, who died in 1903; Charles; Louisa; Alvira; Arthur; Frank, mentioned at length hereinafter; Joseph, deceased; Asa; Lydia: Mrs. Maggie Baldwin ; and Frederick. Mr. Lamb's death took place at Monroe, New Hampshire, when he was sev- enty-two years old, and his wife passed away at the age of seventy-six. During the latter part of his life Mr. Lamb was a resident of Mon- roe, New Hampshire.

Frank Lamb, son of Joseph and Mary ( Wood- bury) Lamb, was born October 5, 1858, at Rye- gate, Vermont, and received his education in the schools of his native place, and also at McIn- doe Academy. After leaving school he followed various pursuits, and learned the carpenter's trade. This occupation, combined with the busi- ness of a builder, he followed for many years in Bradford, where a large number of houses were erected under his supervision. Meanwhile he pursued the study of veterinary science, and for the last sixteen years has devoted the greater part of his time to the practice of his profession, having all the practice he is able to handle. Politically he is a Democrat, and his personal . popularity is sufficiently attested by the fact that he has held various local offices, having served as trustee of the village and mayor for two years, and being now deputy sheriff, a position which he has held for eight years. He affiliates with Mi- nerva Lodge, F. & A. M .; belongs to the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows ; and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.

Dr. Lamb married Mrs. Lizzie A. Coffrin, daughter of Joseph Eastman, of Lawrence, Mass- achusetts, but later of Topsham, Vermont. They have had one son, Nelson Frank, born March 9, 1888. By her first marriage Mrs. Lamb had one son, Kirk Joseph, who married Ruby Bixby, and who is engaged in the insurance business at Brad- ford. Mrs. Lamb is also a member of the Meth- odist church, and Naoma Rebekah Lodge, I. O. O. F.

The Eastman family is an ancient and honor- able one, having been founded in this country by Roger Eastman and his brothers, who settled respectively in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut. Isaac Eastman, the grand- father of Mrs. Lamb, was born in Henniker, New

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Hampshire, where he passed the greater part of his life, removing subsequently to Topsham, Vermont. He was a wheelwright and held vari- ous town offices. He married Lovisa Loveland, and they had the following children: Joseph, mentioned hereinafter; and Mary, who married William Mace, of California, where they resided. Isaac Eastman died at Topsham, Vermont, at the age of eighty-two.

Joseph Eastman, son of Isaac and Lovisa (Loveland) Eastman, was born at Pittsford, and was for many years overseer in the cotton mill at Methuen, Massachusetts. While a resident of Topsham, Vermont, he held many town offices, and has always been a zealous member of the Congregational church. He married Mary E. Emerson, a member of the same fam- ily to which the poet Ralph Waldo Emer- son belonged, and they were the parents of the following children: Kirk N., who served in the Civil war: Josephine, who married James Coffrin ; Elizabeth, who married James Coffrin, and is now the wife of Dr. Lamb; Charlotte, who became the wife of C. A. Morgan; Ida E., who married Edward P. Stearns; and Nellie L., who became the wife of Frederick Bradford. Mrs. Eastman died in 1888, and Mr. Eastman is still living, in Providence, Rhode Island, at the age of eighty-four.

ANDREW HARTLAND JUDSON.

One of the representative farmers and stock- raisers of Arlington is Andrew H. Judson, who throughout his active business life has been prom- inently identified with the agricultural interests of this section of the state. He is a native of Bennington county, his birth having occurred in Sunderland, May 7, 1838, and he belonged to an old and honored family of this state. The first to locate in Vermont was his grandfather, Mica Judson, a native of Stratford, Connecticut, who came to Arlington at an early day but later re- moved to Sunderland and from there to Willis- ton, where his death occurred. He was promi- nently identified with public affairs and served as selectman and in other town offices.

Andrew Judson, the grandfather of Andrew H. Judson, was also born in Stratford, Connecti- cut, in 1771, and accompanied his father on his

removal to Vermont. After living in Arlington for some years he removed to Sunderland, and there spent the remainder of his life, dying at the age of sixty-nine years. He also took an im- portant part in town politics and filled several offices, including that of selectman. He married Deborah Harris, whose father was killed near Lake George during the Revolutionary war, while fighting for the freedom of the colonies; she died at the age of seventy years, and all of her eight children are now deceased.

Andrew Judson, Jr., son of these parents, was born and reared in Sunderland, and spent his en- tire life on his father's farm, where he died at the ripe old age of seventy-four years. He held such town offices as selectman and lister, and was highly respected and estemed by all who knew him. In early manhood he wedded Miss Mary Lytle, who was born in Salem, Vermont, in 1814, and still survives her husband. Her father, Da- vid Lytle, was a native of Ireland, and on his emigration to America settled in Salem, Vermont, becoming one of the pioneer farmers of that re- gion. Later he removed to Sunderland, where his death occurred. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Margaret Rowan, was born in Salem and was a daughter of John Rowan, who was also a native of Ireland and came to the new world in 1773, participating in the Revolutionary war, and taking part in the battle of Bennington ; he died in 1846 at the extreme old age of one hundred and one years. To David Lytle and wife were born five children, and the family all held membership in the Presbyterian church. Andrew and Mary (Lytle) Judson had two children, Andrew H., and Eugene M., who lives with his brother.

Andrew H. Judson spent his early years in Sunderland, and is indebted to its common schools for his preliminary education, which was supple- mented by a course at Mt. Anthony Seminary in Bennington. During his boyhood he became thor- oughly familiar with all the duties which fall to the lot of the agriculturist, and continued to aid his father in the work of the home farm until the latter's death. In 1882 he removed to his pres- ent farm in Arlington, and has since successfully engaged in its operation in connection with his brother, carrying on business under the firm name of A. H. & E. M. Judson, Like his ancestors, he has been prominently identified with local pol-

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itics, and has been called upon to fill all of the town offices, including those of selectman, town clerk and lister, the duties of which he has most ably and satisfactorily discharged.

Eugene M. Judson was educated at the same seminary which his brother attended, and throughout life they have followed farming together. He was married February II, 1874, to Miss Lucy Boardman, who was born in Francestown, New Hampshire, and they have one daughter, Nellie, now the

wife of Horace R. Lawrence, of East Arling- ton. Mrs. Judson's father, Micah Boardman, was born December 21, 1806, and spent his early life in Francestown, New Hampshire, whence he removed to Northfield, Vermont, and in 1862 to Arlington, where he died September 6, 1875; by trade he was a shoemaker ; he married Elizabeth P. Wilcox, who was born May 4, 1819, and died January 25, 1851, and their only child was Lucy.

COLONEL AMASA SAWYER TRACY.

Colonel Amasa S. Tracy, a veteran of the Civil war, and well known in many important places in Vermont, owing to his long connection with the custom service, was born March 16, 1829, at Dover, Maine, the third child of David and Sarah Fowler (Sawyer) Tracy. The family descended from Lieutenant Thomas Tracy, who came to New England from England in 1636, and about 1640 settled in Wethersfield, Connecti- cut. He was one of the first proprietors of Nor- wich, Connecticut, in 1657.

Colonel Tracy's education was acquired at the academy in Farmington, Maine. When in his sixteenth year he left his home in Farmington, where his father had resided for several years, and took up his residence in Uxbridge, Massa- chusetts, where he found employment, and later became interested in a cotton factory. After a short period he returned to Vermont, and worked at the carpenter trade until the breaking out of the Civil war, when Colonel Tracy, then thirty- two years old, enlisted in a company organized in Vergennes, Vermont, of which he was elected first lieutenant, and assigned to the Second Regi- ment, Vermont Volunteer Infantry ; he was mus- tered into the United States service on June 20, 33

1861, and immediately left with his regiment for Washington, D. C. In July his regiment was brigaded with the third, fourth and fifth Maine regiments under command of Colonel O. O. Howard, and Lieutenant Tracy was detailed as provost marshal on Colonel Howard's staff. The first battle in which he participated was that of Bull Run on July 21, 1861. After this battle the Second Regiment was brigaded with the third and fourth Vermont regiments, that had been raised and sent to the front under the com- mand of General W. F. (Baldy) Smith. In 1861 the fifth and sixth Vermont regiments were as- signed to the brigade, forming the famous Ver- mont Brigade, and in 1864 the Eleventh Regi- ment was added to the brigade. In February, 1862, Lieutenant Tracy was promoted to be cap- tain of Company H, and on April 21, 1864, was commissioned major of the regiment, and in the same year was commissioned lieutenant colonel,. and commanded the regiment until the end of the war. Colonel Tracy was breveted colonel of volunteers for gallantry in the final attack on the rebel line at Petersburg, Virginia, April 2, 1865, and he was commissioned colonel of the Second Vermont Regiment from that date. He com- manded the old Vermont Brigade at the battle of Cedar Creek in the Shenandoah valley, and he was the first officer to greet General Sheridan on his arrival from Winchester at the end of his spirited ride so splendidly described in T. Bu- chanan Reid's excellent poem. General Sheri- dan's line of battle was re-formed on his (Tracy's) brigade at Cedar Creek, and Colonel Tracy was awarded a medal of honor for his brave and gallant service in that engagement. He was severely wounded in the charge on Marye's Heights, May 3, 1863, and at Cedar Creek October 19, 1864. Colonel Tracy was en- gaged in the following battles: Young's Mills, Bull Run, Lee's Mills, Williamsburg, Golding's Farm, Savage Station, White Oak Swamp, Crampton's Gap, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Marye's Heights, Charleston, Opequan, Winches- ter, Fisher's Hill, Mount Jackson, Cedar Creek, Petersburg, March 25, 1865, and Petersburg, April 2, 1865, and Sailor's Creek, which took place on April 6, 1865. This record was ob- tained from "Officers of the Army and Navy," L. R. Hamersly & Company, Philadelphia, 1893.

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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 90

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