History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 101

Author: Rann, W. S. (William S.)
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 1054

USA > Vermont > Chittenden County > History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 101

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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

for almost any agricultural purpose, and by virtue of careful cultivation producing uni- formly good crops. Mr. Whitcomb's attention, however, has been devoted principally to dairying. His cows, about sixty in number, are of a mixed breed of Ayreshire and Durham, with a slight intermixture of the Jersey stock. The milk is taken to the cream- ery in Jericho, which uses the milk from most of the cows in this vicinity. Mr. Whit- comb in past days has raised a great many sheep and horses, but the decline in the former led him to discontinue his interest in them. He now keeps four horses, chiefly for work on the farm.

Owing to his close attention to his private affairs, Mr. Whitcomb has refrained from engaging very zealously in the disturbing pursuits of political office seekers, and has never displayed that feverish thirst for official position which is the bane of American politics. He has a clear understanding, however, of current political events, and shapes his course in harmony with the principles of the Republican party. His religious belief is in universal redemption, and he attends the Universalist Church and aids in its sup- port.

On the 18th day of April, 1848, he married Diantha, daughter of Benjamin Willey, of Middlesex, Vt. She was born on the 22d of April, 1825, and died on the 15th of October, 1885. They had five children : Mira, now the wife of William Mackintosh, of Boston, born September 22, 1849; Ella, wife of J. E. Rugg, of Cheyenne City, Wyoming, born May 5, 1853 ; Demis, wife of L. B. Abbott, of Boston, born October 24, 1856 ; Willie, born April 15, 1858, and now living with his father-after an experi- ence of four years following 1879 in work on railroads and in mining camps in South- ern Utah, Leadville, and other parts of the West; and Caira, who was born on the 9th of June, 1861, and died on the 3d of February, 1883.

W HITCOMB, LORENZO DOW, was the third son and fifth child of Thomas Whitcomb, of Richmond, of whom we have spoken in the second preceding sketch. He was born in Richmond on the 30th of January, 1815, and in that town received his education in the district schools. When his father came to Essex in 1835 Lorenzo ac- companied him, and afterwards removed successively to Richmond, Jericho, Bolton, Richmond again, and in 1867 to the farm which is now in the possession of his chil- dren in Essex, known as the old Stanton farm. From the original moderate dimensions of this farm Mr. Whitcomb enlarged the tract to its present size, a piece of more than 570 acres. It has been for many years and is now a dairy farm, which in the winter of 1885-6 supported 110 cows, besides eighteen horses and about twenty head of young cattle. The milk from these cows goes to supply the wants of the people in Burlington.

Such are a few of the undramatic but greatly significant events in the life of one of the most respected citizens of Chittenden county. The motto that awards a blessing to that country which has no history may well be applied to the quiet and industrious life of men like Mr. Whitcomb. They are the nerve and sinew of the land in which they live, at once the source and bulwark of its prosperity. After more than half a century of peaceful and productive toil, on the 16th day of January, 1886, the subject of this sketch passed away. What his neighbors and acquaintances thought of him may be gathered from the following obituary notice, which appeared in the columns of the Burlington Free Press for January 22, 1886 :

" Died in Essex, January 16, Lorenzo D. Whitcomb, aged seventy-one years. Mr. Whitcomb was born in Richmond, named after the celebrated Lorenzo Dow, and

Lorenzo Whitcornh

ALITTLE. PHILA.

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LORENZO DOW WHITCOMB. - GEORGE H. MORSE.

spent his minority in the town of his birth. After his majority he lived there and in the neighboring towns for several years, working at farming with good success, single-handed, until he had accumulated enough to warrant him in taking a wife and making a home of his own. At the age of forty-two he married Miss Cornelia, daughter of Blossom Goodrich, of Richmond, and lived there and in Bolton and Jericho respectively for a few years, and then bought and moved on to the River farm, about a mile from Essex Junction. There he lived for the last nineteen years, accumulating a handsome prop- erty, his dairy of 110 cows furnishing in part milk for the city of Burlington. He was a good man, an able financier, sound in counsel, and will be greatly missed by his neigh- bors and a large circle of relatives and friends. His wife died four years ago, and since that time and for some time previous his health has been on the decline, and for the last year he has expected death at any time. But he was ready and prepared, and arranged all his worldly affairs to that end. He leaves three children, two sons and a daughter. His funeral was attended Tuesday from his late home, whence a large procession fol- lowed him to the place and monument he had himself prepared in the beautiful cem- etery at Essex Junction." Among other observations made by The Gospel Banner and Family Visitant, published at Augusta, in the issue of February 11, were the following :

" He was a good man, in Christian faith a Universalist, and an active member of our parish at the center of the town. He loved the gospel, and it was his delight to attend upon the preached word and contribute for its support.

" At the closing scene he called his family, brothers and sisters, to his bedside, bade them . good-bye,' and then peacefully closed his eyes in death to open them in heaven. And may the mantle of wise counsel, of faith and confiding trust, of Gospel love, of patience and resignation have fallen upon them !" [his children].

Mr. Whitcomb was married on the 24th of May, 1857, and had four children, Wes- ley, Laura F., Edward M., and James H., all but one of whom, Wesley, are now liv- ing on their father's farm. Wesley, who was born in 1860, died at the age of nine months. Mrs. Whitcomb's death occurred on the 17th of December, 1881.

Mr. Whitcomb's political preference was decidedly Republican, but, like the other members of his father's family, he was too much absorbed in the management of his private affairs to seek office.

M ORSE, GEORGE H. The subject of this sketch is the second of three children of Aaron Morse, jr., and Eliza (Bradley) Morse, and was born in Boston, Mass., on the 3d day of January, 1839. His father was a native of Boston, and his grand- father, Aaron Morse, sr., was the first of the family to settle in Boston, where he went in the latter part of the last century from Sherburne, Mass. Mr. Morse's mother was a native of New York city.

Mr. Morse received his education in the public schools of Boston and at the North- field Academy, and on his return to Boston from Northfield, with characteristic self- reliance and energy, he made application at the office of Flint & Hall, without consult- ing any one, and with them began his life as a lumber merchant. Mr. Morse passed three years with this firm, during which time he became familiar with all branches of the lumber business.

In 1862 he left Boston for San Francisco, where he was engaged by the firm of Pope & Talbot, the most extensive lumber company on the Pacific coast ; he remained with those gentlemen until 1866, when he returned to Boston, and in the following year

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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

he came to Burlington as agent for his former employers, Flint & Hall, who were estab- lishing a branch office in this city. This undertaking proved successful, and in 1867 they sold out to Otis Shepard & Co. By purchase from Lawrence Barnes & Co., in the following year, the new firm then formed became the founders of the present company known as the Shepard & Morse Lumber Co. Mr. Morse and Mr. W. A. Crombie then became managers of the business in Burlington, and since the organization of the stock company they have been stockholders and directors in this company. Mr. Morse is a director in the Saginaw (Mich.) Lumber and Salt Co., the American Milk Sugar Co., the Vermont Life Insurance Co., and the Vermont Shade Roller Co. He is also a stock- holder in several other companies.

In politics Mr. Morse is an unswerving Republican, but, far from being an office- seeker, has a positive dislike for public office. Notwithstanding his desire to confine himself to his business life, he has been several times elected to fill public positions, from which he has retired in opposition to the wishes of those citizens who were best acquainted with his official conduct.

He was first elected mayor of Burlington in 1883, and in 1884 was nominated for the same position by both political parties. His election, of course, followed without contest. Previous to his election as mayor he served three years as alderman of the Fourth ward, from which office he resigned.

Mr. Morse attends the Unitarian Church, and is heartily interested in the welfare of the society. He married in 1867 Miss Kate Russell, of New Bedford, Mass., and has two children, Harold Russell, born on the roth of December, 1872, and Herbert Will- iam, born on the 6th of June, 1876.

W THITNEY, EDMUND, was born in Williston Vt., on the 5th day of November,

1818. His father's family lived in Massachusetts, and many of the members of it still remain residents of that State. His grandfather Whitney lived in Conway and was there killed by a falling tree when his son Otis was a small boy.

Otis Whitney, father of the subject of this notice, was born in Conway on the 24th day of May, 1781, and came to Waterbury, Vt., in the year 1803. On the 4th day of March, 1805, he married Sarah, daughter of Joseph and and Rosamond (Barton) Ed- munds, of Waterbury, but natives of Rhode Island. Joseph Edmunds, son of John Edmunds (who was a Quaker preacher), led an eventful life as a privateer during the War of the Revolution.

Sarah (Edmunds) Whitney was born in Providence, R. I., on the 7th of April, 1782, and died at Williston, Vt., on the Ist of September, 1868. Otis Whitney continued his residence in Waterbury until 1812, when, with his wife and three children, he removed to Jericho, Vt. Two years later he again moved, this time to North Williston, whence he came to the town of Williston in 1822 and there passed the remainder of his days, dying November 14, 1857. Although not a public man, he was well informed and con- scientious in the performance of all his duties as a citizen and Christian, being a mem- ber and one of the founders of the Baptist Church of Williston. He was the father of seven children, two daughters and five sons, none of whom are now living except the subject of this sketch.

Edmund Whitney received his education in the old Williston Academy, and was for a time a pupil of Rev. William Arthur, the father of ex-President Chester A. Arthur, who came to Williston mainly through the influence of Otis Whitney. Mr. Arthur is

Edmund Whiney

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EDMUND WHITNEY. - HENRY BALLARD.

remembered by him not only as an excellent teacher but as an eloquent preacher, a genuine Irish wit, and a perfect Christian gentleman.

Like his father, Mr. Whitney has never taken a conspicuous part in public affairs, but has been undeviating in his course as a citizen, keeping himself informed on matters of public interest at all times, and forming decided opinions concerning methods which should be adopted upon all measures of importance. He was one of the first to join in the crusade against slavery, and since its formation has always acted in harmony with the Republican party, exercising independence and discrimination, however, in all his political acts. He was a member of the Baptist Church, which in former days existed in Williston, and since its dissolution has not joined any other, although he is a regular attendant and supporter of the Congregational Church in his native town.

He has been twice married. His first wife, with whom he was united in marriage on the Ist of May, 1839, was Esther Flagg, of Burlington, where she was born on the roth of September, 1820. She died June 14, 1862, leaving five children, all but one of whom are now living. Their names in the order of their births are as follows : Henry Otis, born December 26, 1840, died March 1, 1870, at Elks, Nevada, whither he had gone as a minister of the gospel under the direction of the Presbyterian Home Mission Board ; William Flagg, born October 27, 1842, now living in Williston; Ellen Josephine, born January 4, 1845, wife of Dr. Isaac D. Alger, of Minneapolis, Minn .; Edmund Barton, born June 19, 1848; and Zenas Blinn, born December 25, 1853, both living at Glovers- ville, N. Y., where they are engaged in the manufacture of gloves.

Mr. Whitney was again married on the 29th of May, 1866, his second wife being Mary Elizabeth Seaton, of Charlotte, Vt., who was born in Norfolk, N. Y., on the 12th of April, 1834.

Like the great majority of Vermonters Mr. Whitney has always pursued the voca- tion of farming, deeming it not only an honorable calling, but one affording more of real independence, both of body and mind, than any other, and also giving the surest claim to an honest living. But above all he believes a farm to be the safest and best place on which to rear boys and girls and make of them such men and women as the world has at the present time so much need of. How well he has succeeded in that respect those who know his children can best judge.

BALLARD, HENRY, is the fourth son of Jeffrey Ballard, who lived in Tinmouth, Vt., and whose father was of English descent, and one of the earliest settlers of that town. Jeffrey Ballard was a tanner by trade, and a farmer. He was an energetic, industrious man, of good habits and of an upright character. He died at the early age of thirty-six years.

Henry Ballard was born at Tinmouth April 20, 1839. He was but three years old at the time of his father's death, and at the age of ten years was obliged to earn his own living. Adapted by his natural abilities and tastes for a professional or public life, he early determined to obtain for himself a liberal education. Accordingly he prepared himself for college at Castleton Seminary, from which he was graduated in July, 1857. He entered the University of Vermont at Burlington the following September, and four years later was graduated with honor from that institution. Three years after he deliv- ered the master's oration at the annual college commencement, an honor conferred only upon meritorious graduates.

In August, 1861, the same month of his graduation from college, in response to the

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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

nation's call for soldiers he enlisted as a private, and soon after was mustered into the service as a lieutenant of Company I, of the Fifth Vermont Infantry. He served in that capacity with his regiment in the Army of the Potomac through the celebrated Peninsula campaign of 1862, until he was obliged to resign by reason of ill health.

In the fall of 1862 he entered the law department of the University of Albany, at Alba- ny, N. Y., and in January, 1863, was graduated from that institution. The Hon. Amos Dean, dean of the faculty, said of him at the time of his graduation, that he was one of the best students that ever was graduated from that institution. Attracted by the prospects then offered by the city of Burlington, he immediately went there and continued his study of the law in the law office of the Hon. Daniel Roberts, a leading member of the bar of the State. After spending a few months in the office of Mr. Roberts, he was admitted to the bar in September, 1863, and at once commenced the practice of his profession at that place. Since that time Mr. Ballard's life has been constantly before the public. He has been usually to be seen either in the court-room or on the political or lecture platform, and almost always as a prominent figure in some exciting occasion or controversy.

His professional life has been a remarkably successful one. He began the practice of his profession at a time fortunate for the obtaining of an immediate practice, and especially favorable to the attracting of public attention to his efforts.

At the close of the war Burlington was the rendezvous for the Vermont soldiers as they were brought home to be mustered out. Many of the soldiers showed the effects that history teaches always follows in the train of any great war. Crimes of all kinds were for a time quite frequent. The discharged soldiers were familiar with arms and used to the sight of blood. Assaults and affrays of a brutal character were quite com- mon, and these often resulted in bloodshed and homicide. The courts of criminal juris- diction were necessarily much occupied, and it was but natural that the services of a law- yer, brilliant, and gifted with all the resources that make the successful jury practitioner, should be in great demand. At the first term of court at which Mr. Ballard was ad- mitted to the bar - it was his first case - he was employed to defend one Burns, a sol- dier who was prosecuted for murder. The case showed that the crime was premeditated, with scarcely any circumstances in mitigation ; yet the defense was so skillfully managed that Burns was convicted only of the crime of manslaughter. The ability which Mr Ballard displayed in this, his first case, was the subject of much comment among the older members of the bar, and his future brilliant career was at that time freely pre- dicted.

Another early case in which he was engaged was the prosecution of the notorious Charles H. Potter, for the murder of his wife's mother, Mrs. Ephraim Griswold. This crime was attended with the most aggravating circumstances, and there was great ex- citement in the community when it occurred. The public were unmeasured in their de- nunciations of the supposed criminal, and even his counsel was to a certain extent, though unjustly, made the object of this feeling; yet the defense was conducted with such skill and ability that in spite of strong evidence, and against intensely hostile public opinion, Potter was acquitted. From this time Mr. Ballard's reputation as one of the best criminal lawyers in the State was established. In fact, it may be said that since that time, as a criminal lawyer he has been the acknowledged head of the bar of Ver- mont. Among the more prominent cases in which he has been engaged may be men- tioned the prosecution of John Ring for murder; in this case the Hon. E. J. Phelps was associated with him in the defense; the prosecution of Deacon Ezra P. Smith for the

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HENRY BALLARD.

murder of his wife by poison ; this case attracted great attention on account of the prominent standing of the respondent. The evidence against him was strong and con- vincing; public feeling called loudly for his conviction. ; The prosecution was conducted by the Hon. F. E. Woodbridge, the Hon. John W. Stewart and the Hon. W. G. Veazey. Under the circumstances of this case the securing of a verdict of acquittal was one of the most remarkable of forensic triumphs. Among other notable cases may be men- tioned the prosecutions of William Falkland, of Michael McDonald, of Mrs. Alma Smith, and of Dr. James P. Smith, all for murder; of Edward T. Paige, for the em- bezzlement of $17,000 from the Central Vermont Railroad Company; of Mary Ann Woodruff, for arson ; and of A. H. Scott and W. J. Selfridge, for the burglary of the Bellows Falls post-office. In all of these cases Mr. Ballard secured the acquittal of his clients. Unlike many lawyers who are successful in the management of criminal cases, Mr. Ballard has always been equally successful as a trial lawyer in civil cases. This is especially true in jury trials. He is emphatically a jury lawyer. It is in this line that his greatest power lies. As a jury advocate he has few equals. In the preparation of a case he is painstaking and thorough, and in the introduction of evidence and in the ex- amination of witnesses he is remarkably skillful. In the trial of a case he always watches closely and judges accurately of the effect of the evidence upon the jury. His mind is both analytical and logical, and his presentation of a case in argument is always clear, forcible and convincing. His manner of speaking is always attractive, impassioned, and at times, eloquent ; jurors always listen to him with pleasure, and almost always to be convinced.

Among the many important civil cases in which he has been engaged, may be men- tioned the following : the celebrated crim. con. case of Shacket against Hammond, cele- brated on account of the prominence of the parties ; the great chancery case of the Na- tional Bank of Brandon against John A. Conant and his associate directors, to recover over $100,000 loss by reason of the alleged forgeries of James Batchelder ; the famous Meech will case ; the case of Mrs. Jacob Greene against the Hahneman Life Insurance Company ; the Rutland Railroad Company against John B. Page, the longest jury trial ever had in New England; the famous chancery case of Laura W. Burton against her husband, Oscar A. Burton, to compel him to provide her with her support, and the suit for divorce between the same parties.

But Mr. Ballard is not alone a lawyer. His services have always been in demand and have been often given as a speaker in political campaigns. As a stump orator he has few equals. In every presidential campaign since 1868 his services have been in constant requisition, not only in Vermont, but in other States. He has often delivered as many as seventy-five speeches in a single campaign.

As a popular lecturer and speaker upon miscellaneous occasions he is constantly called upon, and his ability to make an apt speech upon all occasions is remarkable. In 1878 he was elected a member of the Vermont State Senate, and during his term of office distinguished himself as a hard-working member, and by his readiness and force in debate. He has held the office of city attorney for the city of Burlington.

In politics Mr. Ballard has always been a Republican of the "Stalwart" kind. In 1884 he was a delegate from Vermont to the National Republican Convention at Chi- cago. In that convention he was made the chairman of the committee on credentials, and distinguished himself by the manner in which he discharged the duties of that im- portant and difficult position. There were forty-seven cases of contested delegates' seats

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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

before that committee, and his report upon them, which he as chairman made to the convention, was unanimously accepted, after he had made his speech upon it, without any further debate or question - an occasion almost without precedent in the history of national political conventions.

He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and has held the position of judge advocate for the State, and was a delegate from Vermont to the annual national encampment of that order at San Francisco in 1886. He is a member of the Webster Historical Society of Boston, Mass .; also a member of the American Institute of Civics, in both of which societies he takes an active interest.

Mr. Ballard was married December 15, 1863, to Miss Anna J. Scott, of Burlington, and has four children ; his domestic life has always been as pleasant as his professional career has been successful.

B ARRETT, HORACE W., was born in Hinsdale, N. H., on the 29th day of Oc- tober, 1820. He is of English descent. His grandfather, John Barrett, passed a number of years in boating on St. Lawrence River, and traveled extensively in Canada and the United States. He was a man of vigorous intellect, retentive memory and broad and general information. He died more than thirty years ago in Hinsdale, N. H., many years after the death of his wife, Ruth.

One of his children, Horace, the father of the subject of our sketch, was born in Canada, and was for years engaged in farming in Hinsdale, until his death about twelve years ago. His wife, Lucy Wellman, died several years before, leaving eight children- six daughters and two sons, of whom Horace W. Barrett is the eldest.

After obtaining such education as the not very extended facilities of his native place afforded in those early days, at the age of eighteen years he left home and entered the employment of Samuel Belding, owner and operator of cotton-mills at Winchester, N. H. In the fall of 1844 his employer, who had obtained title to a cotton-mill standing on the present site of the flouring mills at Winooski, Vt., sent young Barrett to that place to superintend the work. Almost immediately thereafter, by the financial failure of Mr. Belding, the property at Winooski changed hands and came under the owner- ship and operation of Joseph D. Allen, of Burlington. Mr. Barrett was retained, how- ever, as the general manager and superintendent of the factory, and in that capacity started the first spindle ever operated in a Winooski factory. Not far from the year 1850 the Winooski Cotton-mill Company was formed, erected a portion of the present cotton-factory, and obtained control of all the privileges at the falls. Mr. Barrett was a stockholder in the new concern, and retained his former position. About twenty years ago this company was succeeded by the Burlington Cotton-mill Company (B. Y. Pippy & Co., of New York city), and the buildings were considerably enlarged. After a continuous operation of about ten years the company failed and the property came under the supervision and control of the Howard National Bank, by its trustees. The present company was formed a year later, and assumed control of the works, as related in the history of Burlington, and Mr. Barrett's wide experience, excellent judgment, and proved integrity continued in requisition as in former years. He is now the superintend- ent of the works of this company.

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History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 101

Author: Rann, W. S. (William S.) Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co. Number of Pages: 1054

Author: Rann, W. S. (William S.)
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 1054