History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 52

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 52

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On the 5th of March, 1850, at the "town room " under the court-house, the following officers were chosen for the year ensuing: C. F. Davey, town clerk; Henry B. Stacy, Seth Morse, William Weston, selectmen; Isaac Sher- wood, constable ; Alvan Foote, treasurer ; John B. Hollenbeck, Samuel B. Isham, Bostwick Towsley, listers ; John N. Pomeroy, Philo Doolittle, Nathan B. Haswell, auditors ; Joseph D. Allen, Burrell Lane, John W. Pattridge, fence viewers ; Charles Adams, grand juror ; D. M. Varney, sealer of weights and measures ; Samuel H. Peaslee, sealer of leather ; Edward Parady, pound keeper ; Charles Adams, town agent; D. K. Pangburn, Nahum Shattuck, - Doxey, William Seymour, sextons; George B. Shaw, Carlos Baxter, Joseph Hatch, trustees of the surplus revenue deposited in Burlington ; John K. Converse, H. I. Parker, and Solon W. Bush, town superintendents of schools.

Business Interests in 1850 .- Following is a list of the more prominent business houses of Burlington and their location. To the kind assistance of Samuel Huntington the writer is greatly indebted for many of the following facts :

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TOWN AND CITY OF BURLINGTON.

The oldest dry goods establishment was that of Sion E. Howard, who oc- cupied the same wooden building on the site of the " Beehive," on Church street, that he did twenty years earlier. North of this store was a garden, and on the corner was the Bank of Burlington. E. & E. Lyman had a dry goods and carpet store on the southeast corner of Church and College streets, where A. N. Percy & Co. now are. The firm of Lyman, Allen & Co. is a lineal descendant from E. & E. Lyman. I. D. Bixby conducted a dry goods store in the Strong block; J. H. Robinson in the store now occupied by George I. Hagar ; C. F. Staniford & Co. in a brick building on Church street, just north from the present store of Roberts & Perkins; Nichol's cash store was on Church street across from the jewelry store of Brinsmaid & Hildreth ; and M. Noyes & Co., at an earlier day at the head of Pearl street, but in 1850 on Water street between the Lake House, then kept by Moses L. Hart, and the stone store of Walker, Smith & Co. One of the two largest groceries in town was the wholesale store of J. & J. H. Peck & Co., in the Peck building, where Walker Brothers now are. The other wholesale store was that of Walker, Smith & Co., at the south wharf, in the stone store erected by Timothy Fol- lett. S. B. Rockwell & Co. were grocers at the " old post-office building," two doors east of the American Hotel. A. S. Dewey carried on a grocery on the west side of the square; R. Lillie, on the east side of Champlain street, at the corner of Peru ; H. S. Moore, on the north side of Pearl street, two or three doors below the corner of Prospect, in a building long since torn down ; and Pierce & Davey, on College street. The hardware merchants were Strong, Doolittle & Co., on the east side of the square in the Strong block; Hagar & Arthur, on the corner east of where George I. Hagar, son of the senior member of that firm, now carries on the hardware business; and Evarts & Brownson, in the Blodgett building. Belyca & Brown dealt chiefly in crockery in the Leavenworth block on College street. The three principal dealers in boots and shoes were E. J. Fay & Co., where Roberts & Perkins now are ; L. A. Edgell, on the site of the Y. M. C. A. rooms on Church street; and R. Batchelder, in the building now occupied by the hardware store of Ripley & Holton. Merchant tailors were M. G. Rathbun & Co. (C. F. Ward), on the north side of the square, in what is now the office of E. W. Peck ; Daniel Kern, just north of the present store of F. W. Burritt, on Church street; James Mitchell, in the building now occupied by the Powell Manufacturing Company, on College street ; and Joel H. Dix, on Church street. T. A. Peck carried on a drug store one door west of George I. Hagar's, on the north side of the square.

There were three book stores in the place, that of Samuel Huntington, in the same room which he now occupies ; of E. Smith & Co., successors to G. B. Edwards, where the Merchants' Bank now is; and of C. Goodrich, in the Leavenworth block. Brinsmaid & Brothers were proprietors of the principal

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jewelry store, about on the site of the Chinese laundry, on the west side of Church street. J. V. Randall also dealt in jewelry, and repaired watches and clocks in a little apartment set off in the northeast corner of Mr. Huntington's store. On the west side of the square, just north of the present burnt district, was the furniture store of N. Parker. In addition to these establishments were the general stores of Harry Bradley, on the corner next west of the Medical College, and his house, on the site of that building ; George Peterson, on the southwest corner of College and St. Paul streets; G. S. Warner, in the building on Church street now occupied by H. E. Adams & Son, jewelers; and Catlin & Spear, opposite the Lake House, on Water street. At this time Salmon Wires was the one prominent insurance agent in town, in the office now occupied by General T. S. Peck. He advertised himself as agent for the Northwestern Insurance Company. Two express companies had offices here, Virgil & Rice, predecessors of the National Express Company, having their office in the same building now occupied by the latter company, and Bigelow's Boston & Bur- lington Daily Express, represented by S. M. Pope, on the same side of the square.

Among the manufacturing interests, great and small, may be mentioned the Burlington foundry, H. Wheeler, proprietor, on the west side of Water street, at the foot of Main; Russell & Spaulding, wagon manufacturers, just south of the site of the Van Ness house, and John K. Gray, the same, on the southwest corner of Champlain and King streets ; manufacturers of furniture, S. Nichols, on the west side of Center street, then Catlin's Lane ; Charles L. Nelson, on St. Paul street, near the corner of Pearl, a few doors north of the Catholic Church; Jacob Green was an undertaker on College street, on the site of the grocery store of Dolan Brothers ; S. & W. Pattee were builders, the first building east of the Catholic school on Cherry street; J. S. Munson made pianos on the corner of Champlain and King streets, in the building now occu- pied as a dwelling house by S. Beach; Warren Hatch, gun manufacturer, had his office one door south of the jail ; S. S. Skinner carried on the manufacture of saddles and harnesses on College street, a few yards east of the present Free Press office ; Samuel H. Peaslee occupied the same building in which we found him in 1827, on the site of the store now occupied by James B. Scully & Co .; R. D. Cornwall was a saddler on the east side of Church street, opposite the present Y. M. C. A. rooms, and J. H. Walton was what may be termed a sad- dler itinerant. Ballard & Brothers carried on the pottery on Pearl street, now in the hands of Frank Woodworth ; C. S. Adkins was a book- binder, occu- pying the site of the confectionery of Kent & Brother, on Church street ; E. C. Loomis manufactured leather extensively, in the old leather store west of his present residence on Pearl street, his competitors being Johonott & Blanchard, on the west side of Church street, near Pearl; J. A. Kinsman made cigars on Church street, about where Fletcher & Boynton's shoe store is; and Moody

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TOWN AND CITY OF BURLINGTON.

Haskell manufactured clocks in the same building now occupied by Belrose & Grant. The largest tin shop was that of James A. Shedd & Co., which occu- pied the site of Vincent's drug store.

Attorneys and Physicians in 1850. - At this period the legal fraternity was ably represented in Burlington, as it has always been. They may be enumerated as follows, though a few of those named were not in active prac- tice.

Alvan Foote had his office at his house, the first building above the site of the Medical College ; Timothy Follett lived in the building now occupied by Dr. Nichols, which he built; John N. Pomeroy lived on the site of the post- office building, and of the old cottage of his uncle, Seth Pomeroy ; Asahel Peck, a former partner of A. W. Hyde, had his office on Main street, one door west of the present Clipper office; W. W. Peck's office was on the second floor of the Peck block; Henry Leavenworth's office was on the second floor of the building now occupied by Ferguson & Adsit, on College street ; Lyman Cum- mings practiced over the store of Samuel Huntington; S. M. Parsons, in the office with Asahel Peck; George B. Shaw, over the Commercial Bank ; Will- iam Weston, on the second floor of the Strong block; Wyllys Lyman, on the second floor of the Peck block; L. E. Chittenden, over the Commercial Bank ; Salmon Wires, in the office now occupied by General T. S. Peck ; Charles D. Kasson, on the second floor of the Peck block ; L. B. Englesby, in the upper story of the building now occupied as a shirt factory ; Charles Adams, then retired from practice and living on a farm near Rock Point, with his son Sulli- van ; Charles Russell, one door east of the residence of Henry Loomis, on Pearl street ; Torrey E. Wales, over Johonott & Blanchard's leather store, at the head of Church street ; M. L. Bennett, at the corner of Pine and Bank streets. Other attorneys who though already prominent were hardly settled perma- nently in any office, were David A. Smalley, Levi Underwood, E. J. Phelps, C. F. Davey and E. A. Stansbury.

The practicing physicians were William Atwater, who lived and practiced on the corner of St. Paul and Cherry streets, opposite the Catholic Cathedral ; Horace Hatch, at the head of Bank street, in the building now occupied by G. S. Blodgett ; Nathan Ward, in a little old building on the northeast corner of Main and Church streets, on the site of E. P. Shaw's clothing store; Thomas Chamberlain, at the corner of Maple and St. Paul streets; Leonard Marsh, at the extreme southwest corner of Prospect street and College Green ; A. S. Pit- kin, at the corner of George and Pearl streets; and Dr. Barber, on Main street, in the house now occupied by Hon. Daniel Roberts.

The postmaster was Luther P. Blodgett, and the office in the present shirt factory building.

Among the gentlemen who have been of great service to the editor in the compilation of the early descriptions of Burlington are Captain Dan Lyon, John

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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

B. Hollenbeck, Captain Henry Mayo, Frederick W. Smith and E. C. Loomis; the eldest of them, Judge Hollenbeck, is the oldest man in Burlington. He was born on land now embraced within the limits of the town of Richmond, but originally a part of Jericho, on the 11th of February, 1792, and is conse- quently at the present writing more than ninety-four years of age. He resided at his birth-place until 1807, when he removed to Charlotte with his father, and remained there until his removal to Burlington, in 1824. He was, however, a volunteer from Burlington in the War of 1812, and took an active part in the engagement on land at the battle of Plattsburgh. Notwithstanding his extreme age and the infirmity superinduced by an injury recently disabling his hip, he has a clear and distinct recollection of the events of that memorable battle and of the whole war ; he was personally acquainted with Commodore MacDonough, whom he first saw while that officer was constructing his fleet at Vergennes. He remembers the execution of Dean, which is described briefly in a note in the chapter relating to the Bench and Bar, and, what is of greater interest, he affirms a distinct recollection of having seen two men in the pillory near the old pine tree whipping-post on the Court-House Square in 1808, one receiving thirty-nine stripes for blasphemy, and the other a proportionate number for counterfeiting money.

Captain Dan Lyon was born in the town of Shelburne, Vt., on the 10th of May, 1803. He received a common school education, and when his father, Timothy, died of the epidemic of 1813, in March of that year, he went to live with his uncle, Robert White, of Shelburne Harbor, and afterwards in Burling- ton village. He served in various capacities on a sailing vessel until 1825, when he became captain of the steamer General Green. He remained on this steamer until 1835, when he became captain of the Phenix, the trip extending the entire length of the lake. From 1836 to 1839 he commanded the Winoo- ski, of the same line, and at the latter date began to command the new (500- ton) steamer Whitehall, which he retained for five years. He then left the lake permanently and retired to his present residence, where he has ever since re- mained, with the exception of two years as proprietor of a hotel in Detroit, Mich. (1855-56), and about a year in partnership with Daniel Howard in charge of a hotel in New York city. He has had an interest in a number of Burling- ton enterprises, notably the old Commercial Bank, of which he was director eight years and president four. He has been twice married, the first time to Elvirah H. Lyman, who died in 1837, and the second time to Mary G. Grant, of New Hampshire, who is still living. They have one daughter, an only child, Lucia E., wife of George I. Hagar. In accuracy and grasp of detail Captain Lyon's memory is most remarkable, and he has the ability to tell what he knows in an interesting manner.

Nathaniel Mayo, father of Captain Henry Mayo, came from Orwell, Vt., to Burlington in February, 1812, and with his brother successfully undertook

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to do all the baking for the American forces stationed at Burlington during the War of 1812. He died about 1864. He had relinquished the mercantile busi- ness in 1818, and directed his attention to farming. His brother Henry was here some time before him, and was by trade a hatter, in company with one Hosea Catlin, with a shop on Pearl street near the present Winooski avenue. In 1813, as has been stated, he went in with Nathaniel. Captain Henry Mayo was born at Orwell, Vt., on the 15th of December, 1802, and came to Burlington with his father, Nathaniel. He began steamboating in 1825, as steward of the Phenix, retaining that position until 1828. He commanded the Congress from 1832 to 1834 inclusive, and from 1847 to 1849 inclusive, served as clerk of the Burling- ton. Nearly all the time from 1852 until 1883 he was captain of either the Sherman, Montreal, or Williams. He was married on the 18th of October, 1837, to Elizabeth Eldredge, of Bridport, Vt. They have nine children, all living.

Frederick Smith was born in Williston on the 3d of June, 1812. He lived there until the fall of 1812, receiving a common school education in his native town. He then entered the employment of Arabart Forbes, a merchant at the head of Pearl street, in Burlington, with whom he remained nearly a year. He first became connected with the glass factory in 1827, as office boy, and, with the exception of two years, remained with it until it wound up. He was pro- prietor from 1834. On the 30th of October, 1836, he married Mary Curtiss Foote, of St. Albans. She died in the spring of 1883, three only of her eight children surviving her. Frederick Smith is a grandson of Caleb Smith, a prominent early settler in both Shelburne and Williston.

Edward C. Loomis, son of Horace Loomis, was born in Burlington on the 7th of August, 1810; was married on the 2d of August, 1832, to Serotia, daughter of Solomon and Sarah Weatherby, and passed his business career in the tannery which his father operated before him. Mr. and Mrs. Loomis have occupied their present dwelling house ever since their marriage - a period of more than half a century.

ADDITIONAL SKETCHES.

In the paragraphs immediately following it is proposed to give brief sketches of the more prominent men of the town or city in the past, who have not been mentioned elsewhere. Sketches of greater length would un- doubtedly be of interest, but cannot be included in the plan of a work of this nature.

Ethan Allen .- The history of the last twenty years of this hero's life may be said to form almost the warp and woof of the history of Vermont during that period. His father, Joseph Allen, was a resident of Litchfield, Conn., as early as 1728, and on the 11th day of March, 1736, married Mary Baker. Succeeding this time the town records of Litchfield contain the following

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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

statement : " Ethan Allen ye son of Joseph Allen and Mary his wife was born January ye 10th, 1737." Joseph Allen removed to Cornwall, Conn., about the year 1740, in which town were most of his children born, and there he died on the 4th of April, 1755. Soon after his death his son Heman engaged in the mercantile business in Salisbury, and his house became the home of the family. Joseph Allen had eight children - six sons and two daughters, their names being as follows in the order of their birth : Ethan, Heman, Lydia, He- ber, Levi, Lucy, Zimri and Ira. Ethan Allen's educational advantages were quite limited, his whole attendance at school not exceeding three months. It is supposed, however, with reason, that he at one time contemplated fitting for college, and may have studied a short time with the Rev. Mr. Lee, of Salis- bury, with that object. This opinion is corroborated by the frequent occur- rence of Latin phrases in his numerous writings. His infidel penchant was probably derived from an intimate acquaintance with the noted infidel and his- torical writer, Dr. Thomas Young. From the few facts which have been pre- served in memory respecting the early life of Ethan Allen, it may be supposed that he was always looked upon as a bold, spirited, reckless young man, a natural leader, who never for a moment seemed to consider the possibility of remaining in a subordinate position, and who by his dauntless mettle became an acknowledged leader in all his undertakings. He was, therefore, just the man to be opposed to the rapacious New York "land jobbers," and to de- fend the independence of Vermont against the calculating and vacillating res- olutions of the early Congress.

About the year 1762 he was married to Miss Mary Bronson, of Wood- bury, Conn., and first resided with his family at Salisbury, Conn., and after- terward at Sheffield, Mass. He came to Vermont, then the New Hampshire Grants, about 1766, leaving his family at Sheffield, and from that time regarded this State as his home. His activity and effective courage in opposition to the claims of the royal government of New York have been sufficiently detailed in the chapter devoted to the history of the controversy, in a previous part of this volume. During this same period he was also active in patriotic efforts against the exorbitant claims of the mother country. An outline of his gallant services has also been given in the chapter entitled "The War of the Revolu- tion." After his capture on the 25th of September, 1775, he was a prisoner in the hands of the British for two years and eight months, and suffered the most inhuman cruelties and indignities. But his thorough independence and his native wit never permitted him to be humiliated, and his persecutors always came out second best. On the 6th of May, 1778, he was exchanged for Lieutenant John Campbell, and after waiting upon General Washington at Valley Forge he returned to his friends in Vermont, where he was everywhere greeted with ovations. In reward for his services Congress conferred upon him the rank and emoluments of lieutenant-colonel in the service of the United

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States, though he never after rejoined the Continental army. He continued to engage in the support of Vermont against her enemies, and in carrying on the negotiations with the British in Canada, by which the operations of their powerful army were for three years made harmless. He was brigadier-general of the State militia. His family removed from Sheffield, Mass., to Sunder- land, Vt., in 1777, and ten years later took up their residence in Burlington. Ethan Allen came to Burlington in the spring of 1787, with the intention of devoting himself to farming, having selected for his home the beautiful tract of land north of the present city, still generally known as the Van Ness farm. At this time there was a distressing scarcity of food in the community, due to a partial failure of crops and a numerous immigration of settlers. Colonel Ebenezer Allen, who commanded a company of rangers during the Revolu- tion, and made himself famous by his daring exploits, then lived at the south end of South Hero, and became an intimate friend of Ethan Allen. On the Ioth of February, 1789, he and his man drove over the ice to South Hero, upon the urgent invitation of his friend, in whose house he passed that after- noon and evening, recalling, with a number of old acquaintances, past events and in telling stories. He had intended to return that evening, and a load of hay, which he was to take back with him, was in readiness for their return, but upon the urgency of Colonel Ebenezer Allen he remained until nearly morning, when he and his black man started for home. The negro called to him several times during the journey and received no answer, but suspected nothing unusual until he arrived at Ethan's residence on the intervale. He then found him dead, or, as it is thought by some, in a fit in which he soon died. Apoplexy was probably the proximate cause of his death. On the 16th of February his remains were interred, with the honors of war, in the graveyard at Winooski Falls, not far, probably, from the present site of the splendid monument which tersely recites his characteristics.

Ethan Allen was twice married. By his first wife he had five children - one son and four daughters, all of whom were born before the family came to Vermont. His first wife, an excellent and pious woman, died in Sunderland early in 1783. He married his second wife, Mrs. Fanny Buchanan, on the 9th of February, 1784, and by her had two sons and a daughter. After his death his widow became the wife of Jabez Penniman, of Colchester. The subject of this sketch was not only a military hero, but a prolific and inde- pendent writer.

Eleazer Hubbell Deming was one of the most successful among the early merchants of Burlington. His father was Pownall Deming, of Litchfield, Conn., a captain in the United States navy, and his mother Miss Abby Hub- bell, of Bridgeport, Conn., who at the early age of eighteen years died in Bridgeport, February 13, 1785, in giving birth to the subject of our notice. The child was thrown upon the care of his mother's parents, who, when he

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was twelve years of age, removed to Jericho, Vt. There he received a limited common school education, and at an early age came to Burlington, residing for a time with the family of the distinguished surveyor, John Johnson, from whom he took lessons in mathematics, surveying, etc. For some time he was also clerk in the store of Samuel Hickok, and afterwards, 1804 and 1805, received a valuable experience in a store in New York city. He then returned to Bur- lington, where, on the 5th of September, 1805, he began trading in a small way. He died of consumption on the 5th of May, 1828, two years after his retirement from business. His success was largely owing to his unerring method in doing everything. He was a man of untiring energy and perseverance, al- ways persistently carrying out what he had undertaken ; plain and simple in his tastes, having a marked dislike to display ; unobtrusive in manner, of quiet humor, and " fond of a good joke ;" of great exactness in business, and of sterling honesty and uprightness in its transactions. Mr. Deming was married to Miss Fanny Follett, daughter of Timothy Follett, of Bennington, and a sis- ter of the Hon. Timothy Follett, of Burlington, on the 18th of October, 1807. He had eight children, five of whom were living at the time of his death ; one of these, however, an infant daughter, died soon after his decease. He left but one son, his eldest child, Charles Follett Deming, who, after having received every advantage of a finished education, and entered upon the practice of the legal profession with a bright promise of success, was cut off at the early age of twenty-four years, by the same fell disease which had terminated the life of his honored father.

Sidney Barlowe, the son of David Barlow, was born in Fairfield, Vt., May 12, 1801. In 1817 he came to Burlington, a boy of sixteen, to be clerk in the store of E. H. Deming. In 1822, at the age of twenty-one, he went into busi- ness for himself, in a small building near the head of Pearl street, on the north side of the street. The upper half of Pearl street was then one of the chief business centers of this region ; and in the stores (all of which have long since disappeared) of E. H. Deming, Luther Loomis, Luther and George Moore, Vilas & Noyes, and Harry Bradley, on Pearl streets, between the streets now known as Willard and Prospect streets, a large and widely extended busi- ness was transacted, and not a little money made, in those days. After the death of Mr. Deming, in 1828, Mr. Barlow bought the Deming store at the head of Willard street, in which he had his first business training, and suc- ceeded to the business. In the year 1828 he married and began housekeeping in the house on Willard street occupied by him for the remainder of his long life. His business grew and thrived under his enterprise and care, and at successive times he established branch stores in Winooski, Westford and Grand Isle. He was one of the organizers and stockholders of the Burlington Woolen Mills at Winooski, and was the agent of the company when it built the large factory and the dam, and for several years after, and he remained one of the larger

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History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 52

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