History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 91

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 91

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Captain Galusha, it is stated, continued in active military service until the surrender of Burgoyne, and at several other times he with his company was temporarily under arms. In October, 1778, he married Mary Chittenden. In March, 1781, he was elected sheriff of the county of Bennington, which office in the spring of 1787 he re- signed. In 1792 he was elected a member of the second Council of Censors. In 1793 he was chosen a member of the Governor's Council, and by successive elections held the office six years. He also held the office of assistant judge of Bennington County Court for three years, beginning with 1795 ; and in 1800 was again elected, holding the office this time seven years. In 1800, too, he was elected representative from Shafts- bury, and took his seat in the House; but on the morning of the second day resigned his seat, on the ground that he had been elected councilor and had accepted the office. He remained a member of the council seven successive years. He was elected judge of the Supreme Court in 1807, and again in 1808. In 1809 he was chosen an elector of president and vice-president, and again in 1821, 1825 and 1829. He was elected governor of the State of Vermont in 1809, and was re-elected in 1810, 1811 and 1812. To this important office he was again called in 1815, and was re-elected year by year by constantly increasing majorities until 1819, when his competing candidate had only a few more than a thousand votes. He then announced his determination to remain no longer in public life, and in this he persisted, though urged to the contrary not only by

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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

his political friends, but by many of the adverse party. The Legislature presented an address in which they said : " In discharging the duties of councilor, judge and gover- nor you have ever merited and received the approbation of your fellow citizens."

According to printed accounts Jonas Galusha was physically, constitutionally strong and active to an advanced period of life. A good observer of men and things, he im- proved his opportunities for special and general reading, and aptly availed himself of the advantages of his varied life. He was characterized by discernment, and by firm- ness and steadiness in his pursuits ; but after the attainment of favorable results he was inclined to be conciliatory, and allay the excessive heat of party strife. He was not much addicted to public speaking, but when occasion required he could express himself clearly and forcibly. He and his first wife had four sons and three daughters, who ar- rived at maturity. By another wife he had one daughter.

His elder sons, one of whom was Truman Galusha, passed most of the time of their minority, except when at school, at the home of their father, and as he was to a consid- erable extent withdrawn by official engagements from direct attention to his home affairs, they had a greater charge and responsibility in regard to those affairs, the experience de- rived from which was probably favorable to them in after life. Truman Galusha mar- ried Lydia Loomis September 17, 1809, who died June 27, 1818, and again, Decem- ber 23, 1819, Hannah Chittenden, daughter of Hon. Noah Chittenden. She died May 29, 1828. By his first wife he had two sons and one daughter, and by the second one son and three daughters. He commenced business with a moderate patrimony, on a farm of limited extent in Shaftsbury, Vt., and occasionally practiced, as he had calls from neighbors and other persons, the art of surveying.

In February, 1823 or 1824, he and his family, then comprising two sons by his first wife, his second wife, their son and daughter, and attendant, moved from Shaftsbury to the southwesterly part of Jericho, Vt., and after their arrival first occupied the some- what noted and conspicuous brick house erected, and for a number of years owned and occupied, by the Hon. Noah Chittenden, of whom Truman Galusha purchased the same, together with a considerable farm connected with it, and bordering in part on Onion or Winooski River. This house, last owned by Ellery Fay, was consumed by fire on the 22d of December, 1885. Another noted and conspicuous brick house, in the near vi- cinity of the one first named, was built by Governor Martin Chittenden, and owned and occupied by him a number of years before he removed to Williston, and is now owned and occupied by Daniel Bishop. In 1832 or 1833 he purchased and removed to the G. O. Dixon farm at Jericho, on Brown's River, and five or six years later removed to a more elevated tract in the more easterly part of the village of Jericho (which is now occupied by his son, Russell L. Galusha), where he died on the 12th of June, 1859. He held the office of selectman, and other town offices for a number of years, repre- senting Jericho in the General Assembly in 1827, 1828 and 1830, and took a leading interest in the management of the affairs of the town. He was a member of the Con- stitutional Conventions of 1836 and 1843, and a judge of Chittenden County Court in 1849 and 1850. He was assiduous in his business affiairs, and gradually acquired what was considered in his town and vicinity a considerable property. He was also atten- tive to his duties and offices in the Baptist Church in Jericho, to which he belonged, and to the interests of which, as well as to the general interests of religion, he was devoted. He was never wanting in energy and attention in the discharge of his duties and obliga- tions as a citizen and civil officer. In meetings and public assemblies he could express

749

TRUMAN GALUSHA. - BLOSSOM GOODRICH.

his views and opinions distinctly and with effect. He was a person of excellent phy- sique, especially in his youth and prime. At an advanced period of his life he was af- fected by a femoral ailment attended with a lameness which in a measure disabled him and crippled his active energies.

Two sons and one daughter of Truman Galusha now reside in Jericho. The elder, Truman C., was born in Shaftsbury December 19, 1810, first married Miss Beulah C. Butts, and is now living with his second wife, who was Miss A. O. Bishop. He has four children. Russell L. Galusha, the second son of Truman, was born in Shaftsbury on the IIth of October, 1812, and now occupies the place last occupied by his father. Another son of Truman, Rollin Mallary Galusha, was born in Shaftsbury on the 30th of September, 1820, and came to Jericho with the rest of the family, where he spent the remainder of his life. In him flowed two currents of influential and energetic blood under different names, and he was worthy of such ancestry. He was always held in the highest esteem by his fellow citizens of the town where he lived and died. Few men have been more universally beloved among relatives, and as a man of general intelli- gence, of sterling integrity, and of kindly sympathies, he will be long and affectionately remembered. His generous feeling and cordial Christian fellowship was attractive, and in him every man found a friend and every Christian a brother. He died in Jericho on the 14th of May, 1886, leaving a widow nee Carrie McEwen, and three daughters.

Clara J., wife of L. B. Howe, of Jericho, is a daughter of Truman Galusha. They have three sons living. Another daughter, Mrs. Ellen Maria Howe, widow of George P. Howe, resides at Loon Lake, Franklin county, N. Y., and has two daughters.

OODRICH, BLOSSOM. The subject of this sketch was born in Richmond, Vt., G T on the Irth of January, 1812. The first of his ancestors to come to Vermont was his grandfather, Daniel, who died in Wells. His father, also named Daniel, came to Richmond about the year 1811, and settled on the farm now occupied by his grandson 1 and the son of Blossom, Jerome Goodrich. He died in Forestville, N. Y., September 21, 1852, leaving three daughters and four sons.

Blossom Goodrich was educated in the district schools of Richmond, and deter- mined to follow the occupation of his father, that of farming. He accordingly came upon the farm which he still owns in Richmond, and by virtue of diligence and calcu- lation has increased the original limits of a small farm until the acres now number four hundred and fifty.

In politics Mr. Goodrich is Republican. It is his habit to abstain from office, though he votes whenever it is his duty to do so, and votes with an intelligent and definite pur- pose. He is by preference of creed a member of the Universalist faith, and to that church contributes the benefit of his financial support.

Blossom Goodrich was joined in marriage on the 2d of January, 1834, with Naomi, daughter of Zebulon Morton. She was born on the 22d of January, 1809, near Hart- ford, Conn., and accompanied her parents to Williston in 18IT. Mr. and Mrs. Good- rich have had nine children, of whom six are living. Their names are as follows:

Cornelia, born October 31, 1834, became the wife of Lorenzo D. Whitcomb, of Essex Junction (of whom a sketch appears in this volume), and died December 17, 188r, leaving three children, Laura F., Edgar W., and James W. The second child of Blossom Goodrich and wife is Eleanor, born June 30, 1836, and now living in Henry, Ill. The others are Harriet, born December 7, 1837, now living in Lincoln, Neb .; 48

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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

Frederick Jerome, born September 5, 1839, now occupying the farm first settled by his grandfather ; Eugene, born October 6, 1841, now of Burlington; Morton B., born Au- gust 21, 1843, died September 30, 1849; George, born June 13, 1845, now living in Williston, near the farm of his father and near the town line between Williston and Rich- mond; Laura F., born September 21, 1850, died May 19, 1863; and Charles, born September 21, 1852, now living with his parents. At this date (August, 1886) Mr. Goodrich is living at Norwood, Mich. He has eight grandsons of his surname: Ar- thur, Raymond, Fred, Harry, Morton, Blossom, Clifford and Clarence; and ten grand- daughters of his surname : Mary, Naomi, May, Bell, Dora, Georgia, Flora, Daisy, Maud, and Laura.

ILLETT, HENRY, was born in Richmond on the 13th of January, 1818. He G

was educated at the Hinesburg and Montpelier Academies, after which he returned to his father's farm in Richmond. His grandfather, Asa Gillett, sen., the first of the family to come to Vermont, left Pittsfield, Mass., before the town of Richmond was in- corporated, and settled on the strip of land which then formed a part of Huntington, and was afterwards annexed to Richmond. His son, Asa, jr., father of the subject of this sketch, was born in July, 1790, on the farm called the Captain Russell place, about one-half mile north from Richmond village, and died in August, 1869, at his home in Jonesville. He had five children, as follows: Maria, the eldest, now Mrs. Safford Colby, of Richmond ; Marilla, now Mrs. John Williams, of South Burlington ; Henry ; Malinda, who died many years ago, the wife of J. B. Nichols ; and Hiram A., now a resident of Valparaiso, Ind. Asa Gillett's wife, whom he married in 1814, was Lucia, daughter of Edward Jones, a sketch of whose life appears in the history of Richmond.

Henry Gillett remained upon the farm with his father until 1842, when he pur- chased the property and began to conduct the business on his own account. In 1878 he removed to his present residence - the place where his father died - and with his usual enterprise thoroughly repaired the buildings. In 1886 he purchased the old hotel property formerly belonging to Ransom Jones, and is at the present writing engaged in repairing the buildings for the reception of guests.

Mr. Gillett is an out-spoken Democrat in politics, notwithstanding which he has been frequently elected to important offices in a town, county and State which are over- whelmingly Republican. As early as 1843, and for several years succeeding, he was chosen lister. He has been selectman many times, among the periods being 1857 and 1858, and from 1864 to 1873. He represented Richmond in the Legislature in 1874, and the county of Chittenden in the State Equalizing Board in 1874, and again in 1882. His popularity is based wholly upon his catholic and intelligent public enter- prise and spirit. He is always foremost in movements looking to the improvement of his town and county, and contributes without stint to the success of all beneficent pub- lic undertakings. His religion is founded on a belief in universal redemption, and he is a regular attendant at the church of that denomination in Richmond.

On the 20th of September, 1842, he married Orpha, daughter of Rev. Thomas Browning, at that time pastor of the Universalist Church in Richmond. They have had two children, Melinda, born on the 8th of May, 1844, who became the wife of Dr. A. H. Chessmore, of Huntington, and died on the 8th of August, 1874; and Frank B., born on the 10th of November, 1850, married in November, 1876, to Anna Pelton in Plattsburgh, N. Y., and now resides in Jonesville.

75I

JOHN JOHNSON.

OHNSON, JOHN, who died in Burlington of erysipelas fever, on the 30th of April, 1842, was one of the most skillful land surveyors of New England in his time. He was born in Canterbury, N. H., on the 2d day of December, 1771, his parents having just previously removed thither from Andover, Mass. He was descended from a fam- ily of the same patronymic who were among the earliest settlers of Andover, where several branches of the family still reside. His father, Benjamin Johnson, was a grand- son of Captain Timothy Johnson, an extensive land owner in Andover, who, in 1677, at the head of a corps of mounted men, defeated the Indians in several fierce en- counters.

Benjamin Johnson married Elizabeth Boardman, of Preston, Conn., and removed to Canterbury, N. H. He was a farmer, and took an active part in the War of the Revolution, rendering distinguished service at the battle of Bennington under General Stark, and receiving the commendation of that officer. He died at the advanced age of eighty-eight years, having through life sustained a character above reproach. His son John, then nineteen years of age, determined to seek his fortune in a newer country, and repaired at once to the northwestern part of Vermont, residing for short periods at several places, until the year 1808, when he settled permanently on the hill near the university in Burlington. By the time of his settlement in Burlington he had acquired a thorough knowledge of his chosen occupation of land surveying, and had already made surveys and resurveys of many of the towns in Northern Vermont. It will be re- membered that the duties of a surveyor in this early day were of a severe and arduous nature. The population of the country was scanty, money was scarce, there were few roads, and they of the rudest description, the extremely rugged surface of the coun- try presented in many cases almost insurmountable barriers to progress, while the snow lay at a great depth in the dense forests late in the season. In conducting these sur- veys it was Mr. Johnson's practice to encamp with his party wherever night overtook him. The town of Westmore, in which Willoughby Lake is situated, was surveyed by him in the months of February and March, 1800, when the snow covered the ground to a mean depth of five or six feet. His eminent services in his pursuit brought him a wide and enviable reputation throughout the State, and in 1812 he was appointed sur- veyor-general of Vermont. He was also chosen by the commissioners under the treaty of Ghent to superintend the surveys on behalf of the United States of our northeastern boundary. With Colonel Bouchette, the English surveyor, he undertook the work in 1817, and traced the north line from the source of St. Croix River in the eastern part of Maine, to St. John's River. In the following year, with Colonel Odell for the En- glish commission, he continued this line to the Highlands designated in the treaty, and explored the country lying to the west of the due [north line, the geography of which had been previously unknown. At this point the English commission objected to the extension of the due north line across St. John's River, and the surveys were interrupted. Mr. Johnson's final report was made in 1819 or 1820. Upon the resumption of the sur- veys by the government some years later, when the line was directed to be run more ac- curately than was possible in an original exploration, it was found to differ so little from the line traced by Mr. Johnson that the latter was adopted in the treaty of 1842 as the boundary to St. John's River, whence by a liberal concession on the part of this govern- ment, it was permitted to follow the channel of that stream "for some distance west, be- fore again verging to the Highlands. After concluding this service Mr. Johnson was again appointed surveyor-general of Vermont, and at various times during the remain-

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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

ing years of his life he filled several important offices of trust. During the War of 1812- 15 his intimate acquaintance with the topography of Northern Vermont and New York enabled him to furnish invaluable information to the military department, which was suitably acknowledged, but for which he received no compensation. He was also ap- pointed one of a commission to examine and adjust the claims of citizens on the north- ern frontier, upon whom the army had at times been obliged to make forced demands for transportation, forage, etc. He was chosen to this position by virtue of his high reputation for probity, and of his excellent private and public character. These quali- ties also commanded the universal attention of his townsmen, by whom he was fre- quently made the arbitrator of some disputed question, which was determined by his wisdom and keen sense of justice, without the delay and expense of a trial and judg- ment in the regularly constituted courts. In the division and settlement of estates his services were almost constantly brought into requisition.

It has already been made apparent that Mr. Johnson was not merely a surveyor, but a man of broad general information, of great native abilities, and of an unerring judgment. He possessed a degree of mathematical and mechanical knowledge and skill rarely at- tained by those whose education, like his, did not emanate from the schools and col- leges, but was rather built up by his own unaided efforts. It was his habit to investi- gate all questions on which his mind was brought to bear, carefully and closely, guard- ing his judgments from the influence of any improper prejudice or bias. The many manuscripts which he left on the subjects of carpentry, bridge building, hydraulics, etc., display great care and patient research in the collection of facts, and very unusual me- chanical skill in the arrangement of plans. Most of the mechanical structures of any magnitude erected in Northern Vermont during his residence in Burlington, either em- anated from him or received the benefit of his sanction. In 1815 he furnished the plans for the structure, then the largest of the kind in that part of the country, that was placed over the frame of the large government vessel, then unfinished, at Sackett's Harbor. He had no superior in the planning and construction of bridges, dams, and mills, and many so-called improvements, since patented by others, and used in other parts of the country, may be discerned in structures planned by him in Northern Vermont. He gave particular attention to the subject of saw-mills and flouring-mills, and through his instrumentality, aided by one or two others chiefly, the flouring-mills of Northern Ver- mont and New York were rendered especially superior to all others.

Mr. Johnson become a partner in 1822 in the first establishment erected in Ausable Valley, N. Y., for the manufacture of chain cables, and he retained his interest in the manufacturing industries of that valley for a number of years. In addition to his manu- scripts on saw-mills and flouring-mills, mentioned above, he left others equally valuable on the construction of fulling-mills, oil-mills, rolling-mills, forges, etc., which manifest in their preparation extreme diligence and careful observation. The celebrated Oliver Evans met Mr. Johnson while on a visit to Vermont to collect his dues on the improve- ments in the use of machinery which he had originated, and was surprised and delighted to find in his new acquaintance so thorough an adept in the branches of practical learn- ing in which he himself had become famous.

It was early a conviction with Mr. Johnson that theoretical knowledge in any de- partment of science was valuable chiefly in proportion to its contribution to the general welfare and prosperity, and he viewed with pain the divergence in thought and senti- ment between the scientific men of his day, who made little effort to render their studies

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JOHN JOHNSON.

practical in result, and the practical men who refused to believe that their professions could be advanced by any labors outside of the field or workshop. With the latter he had great influence, and was eminently successful in his efforts to elevate the several me- chanical professions by proving that a knowledge of general principles and theories was important, because to a man's personal experience it added much of the recorded ex- perience and observation of others, which could be learned only by reading and study.

Mr. Johnson originated many valuable improvements in the mechanical arts; not- withstanding which, he never sought to benefit himself by obtaining letters patent, as he might have been justified in doing. The results of his studies, researches, and all his la- bors were generously devoted to the public benefit. The success of his son, Edwin F. Johnson, who afterwards attained a position in the first rank of the profession of civil engineering, was in no small degree due to the instruction received in the office of his father on the subjects immediately connected with his pursuit. Mr. Johnson usually had with him several young men who were qualifying themselves as land surveyors and me- chanics, many of whom afterward became prominent as such in other parts of the coun- try. These young men always retained for their instructor the kindest regard and affec- tion. His sympathies on behalf of the poor and suffering were easily excited. His hospitality was well understood, and his home was always open to the reception of his many friends. He was generous almost to a fault.

Although he never took a very active part in political matters, he entertained de- cided opinions in harmony with the Jeffersonian school, and never neglected his duties as a citizen, nor hesitated to express his opinions of men and principles. He was con- scious, however, of the readiness with which human nature is swayed by partisan and sectarian influences, and carefully avoided exposing himself to their action, or censuring others who had been thus exposed. He was a great favorite socially, having the rare and happy faculty of making himself agreeable to all alike. Though not what would be termed a learned man, he had read extensively, and stood upon a footing of equality and friendship with men who ranked high for their scientific attainments.

Mr. Johnson first married, in 1799, Rachel Ferry, of Granby. After her death he married, in 1807, Lurinda Smith, of Richmond, Vt., who died March 21, 1866.

JOSEPH DANA ALLEN. On the 22d of January, 1836, the eldest daughter of Mr. Johnson, Eliza R. Johnson, became the wife of a man who in his profession had attained as high a rank as had been accorded to her father. Joseph Dana Allen was born , at Burlington, Otsego county, N. Y., on the 16th of October, 1799. He was early thrown upon his own resources, and after a thorough preparation entered Norwich Military Uni- versity in 182 r, then presided over by Captain Alden Partridge, late commandant at West Point, and an able instructor in civil engineering, the profession which Mr. Allen had adopted. For two years after his graduation in r825 he was assistant professor of civil engineering in the university, and then resigned to accept the position of engineer of the Connecticut River Navigation Company, a corporation organized for the improve- ment of the navigation of that river from Barnet, Vt., to Hartford, Conn. In the year following he entered into an engagement with a company of New York capitalists to prepare a plan for a system of public works, then projected, by which the waters on the south shore of Long Island were to be connected so as to form an unbroken inland channel for ocean vessels from the eastern end of Long Island to New York Harbor. After completing these surveys and making his report thereon, he took charge of the Worcester division of the Blackstone Canal, then constructing, to connect the interior of Massachusetts with Long Island Sound. His next work was the laying out and

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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

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History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 91

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