USA > Vermont > Addison County > History of Addison county Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 88
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106
Job Lane, father of the judge, was one of the early farmers of Addison county, who took especial pride in the breeding of sheep, and left a good flock to his son. The judge laid the foundation of his present flock of pure blooded Spanish Merino sheep in 1858, and his flock, No. 114 of the Vermont Flock Register, is one of the best of the numerous flocks of sheep which has made Addison county famous in this branch of industry. While sheep-breeding has been the leading business to which he has devoted his farm, Judge Lane has given especial attention to the raising of fruits, vegetable and garden seeds. He developed "Lane's imperial sugar beet," the seed for which has been in great demand for many years in the United States and other countries. While the judge has been eminently practical and successful as a farmer, he has always been a great reader of agricultural works, and has one of the most extensive agricultural and general private libraries to be found in the State.
From early life Judge Lane has taken an active interest in the political affairs of his town, county and State. He has held many of the town offices, and has been called upon probably oftener than any other man to preside over town meetings. Six years, including the period of the War of the Rebellion, he was selectman of the town of Cornwall. When the general gov-
739
JUDGE HENRY LANE. - HON. EDWARD S. DANA.
ernment issued its order making the selectmen of towns legal enlisting officers, the town of Cornwall gave its selectmen discretionary power as to time of procuring enlistments, the num- ber and the amount of bounties to be paid. After being thus authorized Mr. Lane enlisted thirty-five soldiers, and had credited to the town, previous to each and every call for volunteers to the general government, sufficient men to fill the quota and thus avoid a draft. In 1864 he was elected a member of the Legislature of the State, and was re-elected in 1865-66. In 1865 he was elected by the General Assembly one of the directors of the State prison, and in 1866- 67 was re-elected to the same office. In 1869 was elected a member of the Thirteenth Council of Censors. The First Council of Censors was chosen by ballot, by the freemen of the State, on the last Wednesday of March, in the year 1785, and every seven years thereafter thirteen persons were chosen in the same manner and were to meet together the first Wednesday in June next ensuing their election. Their duties were to inquire whether the constitution had been preserved inviolate in every part, and whether the legislative and executive branches of government had performed their duties as guardians of the people, or assumed to themselves greater powers than they were entitled to by the constitution. They were also to inquire whether the public taxes had been justly laid and collected, with what manner the public money had been disposed of, and whether the laws had been duly executed in all parts of the com- monwealth; and for these purposes they had power to order impeachments. The Thirteenth Council of Censors recommended that the constitution of the State be so amended as to abolish Council of Censors, and provided thereafter that the constitution might be amended by the General Assembly in the year 1880 and every ten years thereafter, each proposal of amend- ment recommended by the General Assembly, before becoming a part of the constitution, to be referred to a direct vote of the freemen of the State. The convention ordered by the Thirteenth Council of Censors, which convened on the second Wednesday of June, 1870, adopted the amendment to the constitution abolishing the Council of Censors and adopted the new mode of amending the constitution. In 1880 he was appointed by the governor and con- firmed by the Senate as a member of the Board of Agriculture, and has been re-appointed twice, having served six years. In 1884 he was elected judge of the Addison County Court.
Judge Lane was president of the Addison County Agricultural Society for two years, and has always taken an active part in all efforts to advance the farminginterests of the State. He has been often called upon to deliver addresses at different agricultural meetings in Vermont and other States. He has been a member of the Cornwall Congregational Church since 1837, and was for nine years superintendent of its Sabbath-school, and has been one of the largest contributors to its support. Mrs. Lane has been a member of the same church since 1851. Faithful and conscientious in the discharge of every public trust, honorable in all business transactions, in his social life kindly, genial and hospitable, Judge Lane deservedly commands the respect and esteem of the entire community in which he has passed his whole life.
Judge and Mrs. Lane have had three sons - Charles H., Francis P. and Arthur T. Charles H. was born January 14, 1853; married, December 13, 1876, Sarah, daughter of Horatio and Sarah (Dana) Sanford. Mrs. Lane was born in Cornwall March 29, 1857. They have three children - Estelle D., born March 3, 1878; Jesse A., born July 21, 1880; Sanford H., born September 10, 1882. Charles H. lives near the homestead and assists his father in carrying on the farm. Francis P. died December 25, 1860. Arthur T. was born June 30, 1863; a to- bacco broker, living in Chicago.
D ANA, HON. EDWARD S. It is believed that every person by the name of Dana in the United States entitled to that name by birth, traces descent from Richard Dana, who came to Cambridge, Mass,, from England in the year 1640. Tradition states that Richard's father emigrated from France to England in 1629, on account of religious persecution. We have it on good authority that the name in France was Dunois, and belonged to a noble family. Judge Bell states that in the southern part of New Hampshire there are families bearing the name who do so by authority of an act of the Legislature, changing their former
740
HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
name to Dana. Edward Summers, sixth generation from Richard, was the son of Austin and Susan (Gale) Dana. Austin was born at Amherst, Mass., May 31, 1795. While yet a child he came with his parents, Eleazer and Sarah (Cutter) Dana, to Weybridge, Vt., which was the home of Eleazer until his wife's death, which occurred about 1822. He then resided in Brid- port, Vt., with his son Austin for eight years. They then removed to Cornwall on to the Gen- eral Summers Gale farm, where Eleazer died November 10, 1838, and Austin July 23, 1870. Edward Summers Dana was born on April 27, 1834. He had two sisters: Sarah A. and Eliza M., the former older and the latter younger than himself, who both reside in Cornwall, Vt. At an early age he showed a great fondness for books and study. He received an academic education. His first course was at Newton Academy, Shoreham, Vt .; at the age of thirteen he was two terms at Williston, and three terms was under the instruction of uncle Jacob Spauld- ing at Bakersfield. He taught school there the winter before he was sixteen, and in Bridport the following winter. Here he took a severe cold which resulted in pneumonia, which obliged him to abandon the idea of a collegiate course, for which he was preparing. This was the dis- appointment of his life. He remained on the farm with his father until 1861, with the excep- tion of one term at Fort Edward Institute. He was a page in the House of Representatives in 1853; Colonel C. H. Joyce, afterward member of Congress, was page at the same time. He was assistant clerk of the House in 1855, '60 and '61. In the spring of 1861 he went to Washington as a clerk in the Pension Office. He was examiner of pensions for some years, and in 1866 was appointed assistant clerk of the United States House of Representatives, where he remained until 1871. The death of his father called him home, where, with the ex- ception of the following winter which he spent in Washington, he remained on the farm until 1877. He then removed to New Haven and purchased the home of his wife's parents. He married Mary Howe, daughter of deacon Calvin and Mary (Henry) Squier, on September 11, 1861. They had twoEsons: Charles Summers, born September 13, 1862, and who now resides on the farm; and Marvin Hill, born March 2, 1867, and who is now a senior in Middlebury College. While in Washington Mr. Dana devoted much of his time and labor to improving the condition of soldiers, securing comforts for the sick and wounded, obtaining passes for friends to visit them, etc., and performing a large amount of work for acquaintances in Vermont and elsewhere. At the second inauguration of President Lincoln, Mr. Dana was chosen one of the two marshals from Vermont to act as escort on the line of march. He was a member of the Vermont Legislature in 1874,7and State senator in 1880, serving on the Committee on Railroads, State Prisons, and proposed Amendments to the Constitution. When a member of the House he was chairman of the General Committee, and worked faithfully to secure the removal of the Reform School to Vergennes, and was the originator of and introduced the bill to provide a department for girls in that institution. Mr. Dana was a man of excellent clerical ability, and from his large experience in parliamentary affairs and natural adaptation, a superior presiding officer in public meetings. From boyhood he had been prominent in the political affairs of the State. He was one of the four delegates from this county to the first Republican State Convention held in Vermont. He was chairman of the Republican District Committee four years; president of the Republican County Convention in 1878; was a delegate in many State, District, and County Conventions. He was chairman of the Committee on Resolutions in the State Convention in 1876. The last convention which he attended as a delegate was the District Convention at Burlington in 1882. Better if Vermont had more men of equal in- telligence and probity, who would serve her with the same public spirit and unselfishness. Any scheme for the advancement of education in the town or State received his careful considera- tion, and, if deemed worthy, his hearty support. Broad and liberal in his views, he strove for that which he believed to be for the public good, and once committed to a line of action, its accomplishment became with him a duty. Conscientious and particular in the smallest matters, no work was entrusted to him that did not receive his careful attention. Sympathetic and generous, his charities and advice have benefited many, and his friends were always sure of his assistance in their behalf. Literary in his tastes, his well-stocked library was to him a com-
741
HON. EDWARD S. DANA. - RUFUS HAZARD.
panion; well-read in all the important literature of the day, his knowledge of men and events, his rare social qualities and fine conversational powers, together with his ability and experience, made him the center of every circle in which he was thrown. He took a deep interest in local matters, both educational and town. He was for four years selectman in Cornwall, Vt., and in New Haven was auditor, town clerk, and president of the Board of Trustees of Beeman Academy, at the time of his death. Mr. Dana was a leading member of the Masonic Fraternity ; he was initiated October 6, 1856; he has been honored with the highest offices in the gift of Lodge, Chapter, and Commandery ; he was a member of the Grand Lodge of the United States, and chairman on the Committee of Foreign Correspondence for several years.
In September, 1883, Mr. Dana received a fall which either occasioned or developed internal trouble, which reduced him to extreme feebleness for ten months. During the seasons follow- ing he was much improved in outward appearance and bodily vigor; was occupied with vari- ous literary works, as had been his custom for many years, formerly writing poetry as well as prose. His writings for the press, while in Washington, were instructive and historical. His strength failed alarmingly during the winter of 1885-86, but he courageously hoped that there might be yet many days of life for him; yet he was not deceived, but was ready to meet the messenger who had so often waited, seemingly determined that he should depart with him. That he so calmly waited his coming, is proof that his trust was in God and was well-founded. He was able to use his pen until the morning of February 22; while so doing, his right side was suddenly paralyzed, and although unable to speak, he retained his consciousness until the evening of the 24th, when he suddenly passed away. At all times during his extreme suffer- ing his mind was clear and comprehensive on all subjects; his patience tireless, his sunshine cheering, and his hopefulness contagious.
H AZARD, RUFUS. The origin of names is various; many are taken from trades or pro- fessions ; many are mere nicknames. Probably the best are from places where families resided, and where they possessed property. It seems that the Hassards, or Hazards, took theirs from the places in which they first settled in England. The manor of Haroldesore, in the parish of Ingleborne, in the county of Devon, is in old deeds called the manor of Hardiswardshore, otherwise Hardwardshore, otherwise Hasworth, otherwise Hazard, in Lyons, Magna, Britannia, Devonshire. The family of Hassard, Hazard, or Hassart, is of Norman extraction, and is of considerable antiquity. At the time of the Conquest they were living on the borders of Switz- erland, and distinguished by the ancient but long extinct title of the Duke De Charante. Two bearing this title visited the Holy Land as crusaders. The family emigrated to England in the twelfth century, and thence branched out in Wales and Ireland. In the latter country they took an active part in the sieges of Enniskillen and Londonderry. From the Hazards of Ireland were derived the Rhode Island stock of Hazards, from which is descended the subject of this sketch. The first of the name to settle in Rhode Island was Thomas Hassard, or Hazard, who came directly from England or Wales about the year 1639, settled near Acquidneck, and was one of the committee of three to lay out the town of Newport. His descendants became in time extensive land owners in the State.
Robert Hazard, the grandfather of Rufus, of whom we are writing, was one of the three brothers, the other two being Thomas, who went to New York city, where he now has prom- inent descendants, and Rowland, who died in Poughkeepsie, after accumulating a handsome property there, who were born in Rhode Island and went away to seek their fortunes. He came to Ferrisburgh, Vt., about the year 1800, and soon after purchased the mill property at North Ferrisburgh, Vt., and but for an unfortunate turn of affairs, for which he was in no way responsible, he would undoubtedly have achieved more than a competence. He died at North Ferrisburgh about 1836, aged more than eighty years. He was remarkable for his good sense, thorough honesty, and an unfortunate faith in the honesty of all others. He was well read, and especially excellent in the abundance of his historical information. His wife, Sarah Fish, who came with him from Rhode Island, survived him a year or two. She had the name of being
742
HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
one of the best housekeepers in the neighborhood. The family have, from time immemorial, connected themselves with the Society of Friends, and the descendants have not in this regard departed from the traditions of their ancestors.
Thomas Hazard, father of Rufus, was the eldest of nine children, and was born at South Kingston, R. I., about 1780. In 1804, or 1805, he married Lydia, a daughter of Wing Rogers, of Ferrisburgh, Vt., by whom he had a family of five children. Lydia Hazard died in the fall of 1836. Her husband died in November, 1840. Their children were born as follows : Robert, on the 5th of January, 1806; Rufus, June 15, 1808; Seneca, July 6, 1810; Mary, June 23, 1815; and Dennis, May, 17, 1819.
Rufus, Seneca, and Dennis are the only ones of "the children who are now living; the first two in Ferrisburgh, Vt., and the last in Charlotte, Vt.
Rufus Hazard was given such an education as he could obtain from the district school of his native town, and advanced farther in most of his studies than the average pupil, by reason of his studious habits and keen mathematical turn of mind. He remained under his father's roof until he was about twenty-two years of age. His father, not being a good manager, had permitted a heavy mortgage to settle upon the homestead, which the three sons, Robert, Rufus, and Seneca, deemed it important to remove. They accordingly, in 1835, seven years after its foreclosure, and after effecting laborious but profitable improvements in stocking and managing the property, succeeded in redeeming it from the mortgage, though the first year after they undertook it they were obliged to borrow money to pay the interest which had accumulated on the loan. In 1840 Rufus Hazard erected a good, substantial house and buildings on the place, and subjected the farm to other improvements, and remained there until 1867, in the spring of which year, owing to his wife's failing health, he sold the entire property to Isaac Mosher and Benjamin F. Field, and removed to the house in which he now resides, and which was originally built by Robert B. Hazard, his uncle. Since coming to this part of the town, and for some time before, the principal business of his life has been the settlement of estates of descendants. Among the estates which he has thus settled were the mill property of George Hagan, about 1860; the estate of Joel Batty ; and the estates of David Hazard, Thurston Chase, and Joseph Rogers.
In politics Mr. Hazard was originally a Whig, and left that party only upon its dissolution and the organization of the Republican party, of which he is now a member. He has held a number of the town offices, but has preferred the life of a quiet citizen to the more ambitious and stirring career of an habitual office-seeker. So far back as 1847 and 1848 he was one of the selectmen of the town.
As has been stated, the Hazards have been active members of the Society of Friends from an immemorial past, and in former years Rufus Hazard was one of the main pillars of the society in Ferrisburgh, Vt., relinquishing his active connection at last with it only upon the urgent de- mands for rest made by his failing health.
He has been married twice; first, on the 12th of June, 1835, to Sarah Allen, of Greenfield, Saratoga county, N. Y., whose religious preferences accorded perfectly with her husband's. She died on the 6th of May, 1868. Mr. Hazard was married again on the 17th of May, 1869, to Ruth, a daughter of Dr. William Carey, an eminent physician of Saratoga county, and a minister in the Society of Friends. She was brought up in the same quarterly meeting as his first wife. Mr. Hazard has no children of his own, but he adopted and cared for a niece of his first wife, now Esther, wife of Thomas R. Nooan, of Addison, Vt. She left his house for that of her hus- band on the 14th of February, 1860.
TEVENS, HERRICK. The subject of this sketch was born in Westport, N. Y., on the S 18th day of October, 1820, and in his infancy was brought to Vergennes by his father, Thomas Stevens, who, during the eight or ten years previous to his death, was proprietor of the hotel now known as the Grand Union Hotel, but then called the American House. He died on the 6th day of July, 1835, aged forty-six years. During his boyhood Herrick Stevens at-
44
743
HERRICK STEVENS. - CYRUS WASHBURN WICKER.
tended to the various duties incidental to that period of a young man's life. At the age of twenty years he entered the employment of his elder brothers, C. C. T. and C. O. Stevens, who were the proprietors of the Stevens House at Vergennes, from 1840 to 1853 without intermis- sion. In 1853 he formed the partnership with J. P. Willard, and went to Chicago as the senior member of the firm of Stevens & Willard, proprietors of the Matteson House in that city. There he remained about five and one-half years, when he closed out his affairs in Chicago and returned to Vergennes, Vt. It is impossible for a man with great force of character to eat the bread of idleness contentedly, and Mr. Stevens immediately devoted his energies to the im- provement of the city of his adoption. In 1868 he procured an interest in the Water Power Company, and has since retained the ownership - building and improving the manufacturing property.
Previous to the disintegration of the old Whig party, Mr. Stevens was an active member thereof, and upon the formation of the Republican party he united with it, and has always been an uncompromising advocate of its principles down to the present time. His religious prefer- ence is Congregational, to the church of which denomination he and his family are regular at- tendants and contributors.
On the 15th day of August, 1855, Herrick Stevens married Electa J., a daughter of Hosea Willard, of Vergennes, Vt. They have four children : Mary E., wife of C. L. Hammond, of Chicago; Helen D., Jennie B., and Herrika M. Stevens - the last three of whom are now living with their parents.
W ICKER, CYRUS WASHBURN, son of Lemuel and Sally (Haskell) Wicker, was born in Hardwick, Mass., on the 12th day of August, 1814, and was brought by his parents to Orwell, Vt., when he was two years of age. His grandfather, William Wicker, came with them and with them settled on the shore of Lake Champlain, just south of Mount Independ- ence, farming in early life, until partially disabled by an injury to his hip, after which he pur- sued the calling of a shoemaker. His extraction was a mixture of English and Scotch. He died April, 1813, aged eighty-four years - having survived his wife but a short time. It is probable that he was a native of Hardwick. He was the father of six sons and four daughters. Lemuel Wicker was born in Hardwick in 1783, and was therefore thirty-three years of age when he accompanied his father to Orwell, Vt. He was a farmer and blacksmith. The mother of the subject of this sketch was the second wife of Lemuel Wicker, and was the daughter of George Haskell, a farmer of Hardwick, who died on the 25th of May, 1837, aged seventy-six years, just two months and eight days after the death of his wife, Comfort, who was about the same age as he. Lemuel Wicker, the fourth child of six boys and four girls, died in Orwell, Vt., on the 20th day of July, 1825, leaving his wife, who followed him on the 22d day of July, 1831, aged forty-one.
Cyrus W. Wicker was the eldest of the five children of Lemuel Wicker. He had three sisters-Mary, Abigail, and Eliza, of whom the last named was the widow of the late Colonel Clark Callender, of Shoreham, Vt. He also has one brother, Charles, who is now living in New Haven, Vt. He also has one half-brother, who was the son of his mother by her second hus- band, George H. Rowley, who is now a resident of Essex county, N. Y.
The early life of Mr. Wicker was more eventful than that of most boys in New England. He received a common school education in Orwell, Vt .; but after the death of his father, when he was but eleven years of age, he was compelled by circumstances to take care of himself. His mother hired him out to work on a farm in the vicinity, in which occupation he remained about two years. He then passed two summers on the Champlain Canal, then but recently opened, and was in that brief period promoted from the towpath to the helm. About 1829 he went to Cornwall, Vt., to live with his uncle, Benjamin F. Haskell, a prominent merchant of that town. Here he remained until 1835, dividing his time between the studies of the school-room, where he completed his education, and the duties of his position as clerk in his uncle's store, where he received a very good business education. Immediately upon his obtaining his majority he
744
HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
went to his native town in Massachusetts on a visit, after which he repaired to the home of an- other uncle, Bela B. Haskell (who at the present writing is still living), at Waldoboro, Maine. Mr. Wicker came to Ferrisburgh, Vt., in March, 1836, in pursuance of the advice of a friend of his uncle at Cornwall, Vt., and in the following May, in company with said uncle, opened a store on the hill just east of the bridge, at North Ferrisburgh, Vt., as a branch of the store at Cornwall. In a few years he severed his connection with his uncle and built a store opposite the grist-mill, which he occupied continuously until 1849 (excepting a short time after 1844), when he sold out to a Union Mercantile Company, which soon afterwards gladly sold back to him. From about 1840 to 1843 he was a member of the firm of Sholes, Wicker & Co., his partners being Orrin Sholes and his brother Charles H. Wicker. In 1849 Mr. Wicker removed his business to the west side of the river into the same building now occupied by Joseph L. St. Peters. Here he continued his trade until the spring of 1877, when he sold out to the present occupant of the building, who had for the eight preceding years been in his employment as a clerk. Thus Mr. Wicker achieved more than ordinary success; beginning his business in a very small way, which gradually increased from year to year. Mr. Wicker first occupied his present dwelling house in 1838. It was erected by Rowland T. Robinson, and afterwards occupied by John Van Vliet and others.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.