History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 53

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 53

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TOWN AND CITY OF BURLINGTON.

owners of the property till it was purchased by the Hardings, shortly before the late war. Mr. Barlow's capacity for work, in his prime, may be inferred from the fact that he at the same time conducted the business of the woolen mills, as its agent, and carried on three stores, doing a general mercantile trade in as many towns. Mr. Barlow remained in business at Winooski till April 1, 1850, when he retired. He was for a number of years one of the directors of the old Bank of Burlington. He was one of the founders of the Merchants' Bank, and a large stockholder in it. In his day he held various minor town offices, and did his share of public and political work in the community. He was a constant attendant at the Unitarian Church from his first residence in Burlington, and one of the liberal supporters of the church and society. He was thrice married, to Miss Harriet Reed, to Miss Caroline White, and to Miss Mary Pope. He left six children, Frances, Ellen, and Harriet by his first mar- riage, and Edward, Horace, and Mary by the last. Mr. Barlow suffered from the usual infirmities of declining years, to which was added in latter years a disease (cataract) of the eyes, for which he underwent an operation three years before his death ; but he was about his house and often out on the streets, till two weeks before, when his powers of body and mind began to fail, and gradu- ally sank until in May, 1882, he passed away. He was a man of simple tastes, strong will and thorough honesty. " His word was as good as his bond." He was a good neighbor and a worthy citizen, and possessed the trust and respect of all who knew him.

Timothy Follett was born at Bennington on the 5th of January, 1793, and was a grandson, on the maternal side, of John Fay, who was killed at the battle of Bennington on the 16th of August, 1777. When but ten years of age, he, with two sisters, was left by the death of his father to the care of his mother, who came to Burlington to educate her children. He received a bac- calaureate degree from the University of Vermont on the Ist of August, 1810; after passing several years in preparatory work, was admitted to the Chittenden county bar in February, 1814. After nine years of practice he was obliged to abandon his professional labors by a pulmonary complaint, and at once became a partner with Henry Mayo, at South Wharf. From 1832 to 184I he was actively engaged in the settlement of an insolvent estate at Mon- treal, at the end of which time he became the senior partner in the large mer- cantile house of Follett & Bradley. His subsequent connection with the Rut- land and Burlington Railroad is incidentally noticed in the excellent sketch of the life of Thomas H. Canfield. In December, 1819, he was appointed State's attorney in the place of Sanford Gadcomb, deceased, and was elected to the same office by the Legislatures of 1820, '21, and '22. He received the elec- tion of judge of the County Court in 1823, which office he was forced to re- linquish by the difficulty before mentioned. In 1830, '31, and '32 he was chosen to represent Burlington in the Legislature. He died on the 12th of October, 1857.

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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

Harry Bradley, eldest son and third child of Lemuel and Mercy Bradley, was born at Sunderland, Vt., March 23, 1793. His father died when he was but seven years of age, leaving a young and helpless family. At the age of fourteen he came to Burlington and commenced work under Horace Loomis, to learn the business of tanner and currier. He remained with Mr. Loomis until he was twenty years of age, when he formed a partnership with Luther Loomis, his brother-in-law, and removed to Williston, where he carried on the same business ten years. He married, in 1817, Maria Miller, youngest child of Judge Solomon Miller. In 1827 he gave up business in Williston and re- turned to Burlington, again entering into partnership with Luther Loomis. While at Williston he took an active part in public affairs, twice representing the town in the Legislature. On his removal to Burlington he was active in both town and State affairs, representing the town a number of times, after which he was elected to the State Senate. He was one of the originators of the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank, and afterwards of the Commercial Bank, of which he was the first president. He was long a director in the United States Branch Bank at Burlington, and president of the Rutland and Burlington Rail- road for two years. He was for many years engaged in a wholesale mercan- tile business at the lake, also carrying on a large lumber business at Essex, and was one of the greatest sufferers in the losses which befell our business com- munity in the woolen factory at Winooski Falls. He died at Burlington April 7, 1857, aged sixty-four years.

Philo Doolittle was born in Wallingford, Conn., on the Ist of October, 1793. He was the son of Theophilus Doolittle and was descended from Abraham Doolittle, who came to America from England in 1640, settled in New Haven, Conn., and removed to Wallingford in 1669. When three or four years of age he came to Vermont, and soon after reaching his tenth birth- day lost, by death, his father. He found a home with Judge Lemuel Bot- tom, of Williston, Vt., with whom he lived until 1808, when he had received what schooling he could, and during which year he began a clerkship in the store of E. T. Englesby, in Burlington, remaining six years. In 1815 he entered into partnership with Henry Mayo in the mercantile business, and continued those relations until 1822. From that time until the close of his mercantile life, in 1852, he remained without a partner, with the single excep- tion of the years from 1843 to 1847, when his son, H. H. Doolittle, was asso- ciated with him. He was one of the corporators of the Champlain Ferry Company, which was chartered on the 18th of November, 1824, and upon the subsequent organization of that company (November 29) he was chosen one of the first directors. In 1825 he was elected clerk and treasurer of this com- pany, holding all these appointments until the ferry company was incorpor- ated with the Champlain Transportation Company of January 24, 1825. He was one of the original stockholders of the Champlain Transportation Com-

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TOWN AND CITY OF BURLINGTON.

pany which was organized on the 26th of October, 1826, and on the 10th of November following was chosen a director and appointed clerk and treasurer of the company. When the books of the company were removed to St. Al- bans, in February, 1827, he resigned his position as clerk and treasurer. On the 3 1st of January, 1828, the books were brought back to Burlington and Mr. Doolittle was reinstated in these offices, which he held during the re- mainder of his life. On the 22d of March, 1827, he was chosen one of the board of directors of the Bank of Burlington, and on the 29th of January, 1849, was unanimously elected president of that board in place of E. T. Englesby, resigned, and was in this manner connected with the institution during the entire thirty-five remaining years of his life.

On the IIth of July, 1820, Mr. Doolittle married Harriet E., daughter of Newton Hayes, then of Burlington. She died August 1, 1837, and on the 10th of July, 1839, Mr. Doolittle married her sister, Eliza C. Hayes, who died November II, 1843. On the 16th of September, 1846, he married Cath- erine Esther, daughter of Reuben Brush, of Vergennes. Mr. Doolittle's char- acter was marked by a confiding frankness and an unaffected kindness in all his intercourse with his friends. He was an earnest and consistent Christian, and an active member of the Episcopal Church. He died on the 19th of Jan- uary, 1862, from the effects of a stroke of paralysis.

John Howard, the progenitor of the Burlington family of Howards, who have done so much for the city, was born at Providence, R. I., in 1770, and traced his ancestry back to Roger Williams, the sturdy refugee from religious persecution, and the founder, practically, of the colony of Rhode Island, in 1637. John Howard made several sea voyages in his early youth, and on that treacherous element lost his father. He resided then a few years at Pittstown, N. Y., and afterward six years or more at Addison, Vt., and came to Burling- ton in 1812, to assume the proprietorship of what was ever after known as Howard's Hotel. He retired from this business about 1847, and died on the 24th of February, 1854. He was on board the steamer Phenix when it was burned, on the night of September 5, 1819, and distinguished himself by his energetic efforts to save the passengers. Possessed of a stalwart, upright char- acter, he became the terror of thieves and impostors of every description ; be- ing so interested in the public weal that he not infrequently sat up all night watching for some suspicious character who had attracted his attention.

He had four sons, the eldest of whom, Sion Earl, was long known in Bur- lington as a merchant, and who accumulated a handsome fortune, and died in 1866. The third son, Sidney Smith, died June 30, 1839, aged thirty- three years. The other two sons, Daniel Dyer and John Purple, in early life went to New York city to seek their fortune, depending on their brains and hands alone. After various smaller undertakings, they had the foresight and bold- ness to lease for a term of twenty years a block of buildings on the west side

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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

of Broadway, a little above the City Hall Park, and to transform it into an extensive hotel, fitted up and furnished with an elegance extraordinary for that time. This was the first up-town hotel of the first rate, and in this respect these brothers were enterprising pioneers, and by their liberal management, careful and courteous attention to every want of their guests, made the Irving Hotel for many years the most popular in New York; and they retired there- from with over a half a million dollars.

John P. Howard crowned his later years with honor by his munificent gifts to several of the educational and eleemosynary institutions in this city ; which have received particular mention in other pages of this chapter, and in the chapter prepared by Professor John E. Goodrich, relating the history of the educational institutions of the county.

Henry Baldwin Stacy, long known as one of the most successful journal- ists, was born at Orange, Vt., on the 23d of August, 1804, the youngest, save one, of a family of twelve children. His father was a farmer of limited means, and the training which resulted from the practice of a rigid economy was the sole capital with which he began life for himself.

At the age of fourteen he left the farm and went to Bennington to learn the printer's trade in the office of the Vermont Gazette. He had previously only a common school education, but was a ready scholar, possessing a quick, penetrating mind, rare powers of investigation, and had within him the germ of self-culture, which developed itself more and more through his life. He subsequently worked at his trade in Middlebury and Montreal, and came to Burlington July 27, 1827, to be a journeyman for Luman Foote, who had just started the Burlington Free Press in the interest of the " National Repub- lican Party," and in support of the administration of John Quincy Adams. He took sole charge of the mechanical work until January 28, 1828, when he became associated with Mr. Foote as editor and publisher.

In 1832 Mr. Stacy purchased and took entire control of the establishment, the first issue of the paper in his name alone being on the 20th of July, and he shortly after erected the present Free Press building, the upper stories be- ing occupied as his residence. He conducted the paper until 1846, when he sold the establishment to D. W. C. Clarke, devoting himself afterwards to agricultural pursuits. He was an earnest politician of the old Whig party, and afterwards an equally earnest Republican. Being a strong and ready writer, the Free Press, under his control, was always influential and respected.

He represented the town in the Legislature during the years 1843, '44, '51, and '56, the last time with special reference to the rebuilding of the State- house. He was an influential legislator, having a strong working influence without the House, as well as legislative influence within. His speaking was nervous and often eloquent, his sentences being usually short, animating, and full of life. He was also a selectman of Burlington six years, from 1847 to

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1852, and as such was always a friend of improvement and a careful guardian of the interests of the town. In 1861 he accepted an appointment as United States consul at Revel, Russia. As a consul, his reports showed him to be an observant student of affairs, and a patriotic and faithful public servant. He remained abroad until November, 1868, when he returned to visit his family and home. Meanwhile, under the new administration, another consul having been appointed to Revel, Mr. Stacy returned to close up the affairs of his consulate as well as his own private affairs, sailing from New York direct to Hamburg May 4, 1869, intending to return home in August. He arrived in Revel May 27, and was suffering from the effects of a cold contracted while crossing the Baltic Sea, which resulted in an inflammation of the lungs, from which he died after an illness of nine days, on June 18, 1869.

Zadock Thompson was the second son of Captain Barnabas Thompson, of Bridgewater, Vt., where he was born May 23, 1796. His father was a farmer of limited means, and as young Thompson showed an ability for study, the Rev. Walter Chapin, of Woodstock, took notice of his studious nature, received him into his own family, and assisted him in procuring an education. In 1819 he entered the University of Vermont, and was graduated with honor in 1823, at the age of twenty-seven years. The following year, September 4, he was married to Phobe Boyce. His career as an author commenced in 1819. In 1824 he published his Gazetteer of Vermont, a duodecimo of 312 pages. In 1825 he was chosen a tutor in the University of Vermont, and during the same year published the Youth's Assistant in Theoretical and Practical Arithmetic. In 1828 he edited a magazine entitled The Iris and Burlington Literary Ga- zette, and in 1832 The Green Mountain Repository, both of which were pub- lished at Burlington. In 1838 he removed from Burlington to Hatley, C. E., and there continued his literary labors until 1837, when he returned to this town. In the mean time having been pursuing theological studies, he was admitted to the pastorate of the Protestant Episcopal Church May 27, 1835. After his return to Burlington he engaged in teaching in the Vermont Epis- copal Institute, and preparing his National, Civil, and Statistical History of Vermont, which was published in 1842. In 1845, and for three succeeding years, he was assistant State geologist. In 1851 he was appointed to the pro- fessorship of chemistry and natural history in the University of Vermont. In 1853 he published an appendix to his history of Vermont, containing the re- sults of his later investigations, and during the same year was appointed State naturalist, continuing in that office until his death, which was occasioned by ossification of the heart, January 10, 1856.

Horace Loomis was born in Sheffield, Mass., on the 15th of January, 1775, and came with his father's family to reside in Burlington on the 17th of Feb- ruary, 1790, from which time he resided for seventy-five years on Pearl street, within speaking distance, it has been said, of where the family first located.

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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

During forty years of that time he was actively engaged in the leather busi- ness, either in the employment of his father or on his own account. He was twice married and at his death left a widow, three children, seven grandchil- dren and one great-granddaughter. He celebrated his golden wedding in 1855, and died (April 6, 1865) within a month of the sixtieth anniversary of his second marriage. He was a remarkable man, over six feet in height, with a large, well-built frame, and, by reason of his thoroughly practical na- ture, was well fitted to perform a leading part in the clearing and settlement of a new country, and in the organization of methods of town organization. He was distinguished by a wonderful memory, strong judgment, an intuitive knowledge of human nature, and a high regard for integrity, truth and exact justice. He began his political life as a Democrat, but afterward joined the Federal party and became a great admirer of Hamilton. He was a personal friend of Henry Clay, whom he entertained at his home, and had unwavering faith in Abraham Lincoln. Notwithstanding his lively interest in politics, he persistently refused to become a candidate for any public office, and never held one.

The City of Burlington Incorporated .- Previous to the incorporation of the city of Burlington its civil affairs were not, as would be supposed, man- aged by a village government, but was always under the jurisdiction of the town. An attempt was made in the fall of 1852 to bring the village portion of the town and that part lying north of the village under either a village or city charter; but the citizens voted against both, and the civil government remained what it was at the beginning. On the 22d of No- vember, 1864, however, the Legislature passed another act, incorporating the northern portion of the town of Burlington into a city. The corporation is embraced in the following limits :-

" Beginning at the east shore of Lake Champlain, at the northwest corner of one-hundred-acre lot number 163, thence easterly in the north line of said lot to the northeast corner thereof; thence northerly in the west line of one- hundred-acre lot number 155, to the northwest corner of said lot number 155, thence running easterly in the north line of said lot number 155, to the east line of the stage road from Burlington to Shelburne; thence northerly in the east line of said stage road, to the northwest corner of one-hundred-acre lot number 165 ; thence easterly in the north line of one-hundred-acre lots num- bers 165 and 183, to the east line of Spear street ; thence northerly in the east line of Spear street, to the south line of Winooski turnpike ; thence easterly in the southerly line of said turnpike, to a point opposite the angle formed by the north line of said turnpike and the east line of the road leading northerly front said turnpike to Colchester avenue, east of the residence of Henry W. Catlin ; thence crossing said turnpike northerly to said angle; thence from said angle in a straight line to the center of Winooski River, at the northern

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TOWN AND CITY OF BURLINGTON.

termination of the east line of one-hundred-acre lot number 18; thence, in the center of Winooski River, down said river to Lake Champlain; thence southerly on the lake shore, at low water mark, to the most western point of Appletree Point ; thence in a straight line to place of beginning."

On the 18th of January, 1865, a town meeting was held in the town hall to vote by ballot on the acceptance or rejection of this act, and William G. Shaw was chosen moderator. Albert L. Catlin, James A. Shedd, Russell S. Taft and Nathaniel Parker were appointed tellers to assort and count the bal- lots. The result was the acceptance of the charter by a majority of 233 votes, 671 votes being cast. The first city election was held on the 20th of the fol- lowing month, in pursuance of the charter. At first the city was divided into three wards - the north, center and south wards, but in 1873 it was re-divided into five wards, designated by numbers.

During the first ten years of the city's history many changes took place, in the increase of population, in the grading and curbing of streets, the beautify- ing of lawns, the extension of thoroughfares, and especially in the removal of old buildings and rookeries, and the erection in all parts of the city of new, substantial and tasteful structures. Along the lake front the wharfing was greatly extended and acres of land made by filling along the shore. In the place of tangled ravines and disused brickyards appeared extensive lumber- yards. During that period the Central Vermont depot was completed at the foot of College street, which wrought an unimaginable change in the appear- ance of that part of the city. The city market was also erected, at a cost of $10,000 ; and three of the finest church edifices in the State - the Cathedral Church of St. Mary's, the Third Congregational Church, and the First Meth- odist Episcopal Church, were built, adding greatly to the beauty of the city as a whole. The improvement did not cease, however, at the close of the first decade of years of the city's experience, but has continued in all departments, and promises to continue indefinitely.

Water Works .- At the time of the organization of the city the water sup- ply was anything but satisfactory. An official statement, made in 1865, showed that " there were 650 who depended upon the lake for their entire supply of water, which is mostly hauled in casks ; 1,828 persons who depended entirely upon cisterns ; 1,214 upon cisterns and wells, fifty-seven upon springs and the lake; forty-eight were entirely dependent on their neighbors, and 1,000 persons received water from the Aqueduct Company." The cause of this deficient supply was the great difficulty of sinking wells deep enough to strike a water vein. Though the lake and river afforded an abundant supply, little had been done towards distributing pipes through the village for the accom- modation of the inhabitants. In 1827 the Champlain Glass Company laid a line of log pipes from springs that were near the site of the residence of Henry Loomis, on Pearl street, to their factory near the Battery. This line

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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

was in use until 1850. On the 7th of November, 1849, Frederick Smith and his associate proprietors procured the incorporation of the Burlington Aque- duct Company, the incorporators being Frederick Smith, William H. Wilkins, jr., Ralph Landon and John McDonald, jr., for the "purpose of constructing, laying, repairing and maintaining " an aqueduct to supply the inhabitants of the village of Burlington with pure water for culinary and domestic uses, and for extinguishing fires ; the water to be taken from the lake or " Onion " River. The village was granted the power of buying stock in the company at any time after the lapse of ten years at an advance of ten per cent. on the stock paid in. The old log pipes were superseded by those of iron, of which about three miles were laid during the first year. A reservoir forty feet square and twelve feet deep was constructed in Pearl, near Williams street, which is still in existence. It was supplied by four springs, two being situated on the lot now owned and occupied by George L. Linsley, at that time owned by War- ren Root, and two just above him, one in the center of the street. About 1855 an arrangement was made with the old Pioneer Shop Company, by which water was pumped from the lake. But even then the growth of the community had made the supply wholly inadequate to the demand ; conse- quently, the city took the affair in hand and issued bonds to the amount of $150,000 for the construction of new works, bought the property of the Aque- duct Company for $24,000, and came into possession October 1, 1866. A resolution for the construction of new works was adopted by the City Council on the 2d day of April, 1867, and the city now has one of the finest supplies in the State. The reservoir is situated at the junction of the old Winooski turnpike and University Place, a distance from the pump-house of 8,362 feet, with a head of 289 feet and a capacity of 2,236,000 gallons. The pump-house and machinery are situated at the foot of Pearl street, and were first put into operation December 25, 1867.

According to the last report of the superintendent of the water department there are now a little more than twenty-eight miles of pipe in use, over a third of which are iron, and the remainder cement. Through these during the year 1885 was pumped 209,026,325 gallons of water, the smallest amount pumped in the past six years. This diminution is accounted for partly by the number of frozen services during the winter, and the frequent rains during the summer, but more to the use of meters and the care taken to prevent the reservoir from overflowing. There are 239 meters now in use, of which forty-nine are the property of the city; 162 hydrants, of which 142 are public. The disburse- ments of the Burlington City Water Works in 1885 were $19,663.28.

Gas Works. - The Burlington Gaslight Company was incorporated on the 5th of November, 1852, with John Peck for president; Charles F. Ward, treas- urer ; and Salmon Wires, secretary. The construction of the works at the cor- ner of Bank and Battery streets was begun in the following year, and completed

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History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 53

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