USA > Vermont > Chittenden County > History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 92
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building of the Cumberland and Oxford Canal, to communicate between the lumber re- gion of Maine and the sea at Portland. In 1830 Mr. Allen's services were demanded by the New York Canal Board, to aid in planning and perfecting the elaborate system then under consideration to connect the new West with the seaboard. As chief engi- neer he constructed the Black River and Chemung Canals, after which he took charge of the building of the northern division of the Chenango Canal, between Binghamton and Utica. In 1836 the construction of railroads began to be considered, and, by rea- son of his recognized ability, Mr. Allen was chosen to determine the route and plan the construction of the first road leading out of New York city, connecting with the junction of canal and river at Albany, and now known as the New York and Harlem Railroad. He also directed the laying out of the Utica and Oswego Railroad, the comple- tion of which was prevented by the financial panic of 1837. In 1838 he was appointed engineer of the Erie Railroad from Binghamton westward, then under the presidency of the eminent banker Jonas G. King, of New York, and directed the course of con- struction of that line. Notwithstanding the fact that railroad construction was then in its infancy, Mr. Allen's methods in his work at this early day have since been adopted throughout the country, a fact which abundantly testifies to his skill and efficiency.
He subsequently directed the course and construction of the Chenango Canal from Binghamton to Tioga Point, N. Y., and also the Chemung Canal from Elmira to the same place. During the four years then following he was in charge as engineer-in-chief of the enlargement of the Erie Canal west from Little Falls; but his incessant and responsible labors for a period of about sixteen years had greatly impaired his health, and, in the hope that a change of occupation might be a benefit to him, he purchased an inter- est in the Onondaga salt works at Syracuse, N. Y. Disappointed in the hope for health, he sought his end by an entire abandonment of business for a time, and removed to Bur- , lington, Vt., where he ever after lived. In 1845 he organized the Winooski Cotton Mill Company, and for two years was its president. This office he relinquished in the be- lief that his improved health would permit him to renew the practice of his profession. He accordingly accepted the position of consulting engineer of the Chicago and North- western Railroad, and directed the laying out of that line in Wisconsin. He was at the same time appointed chief engineer of the Erie Canal; but ill health again overtook him, and he practically retired permanently from the active duties of the profession. He af- terward, in the capacity of chief engineer of the Albany and Northern Railroad, directed its plan and construction, and still later laid out the northern extension of the Rutland Railroad line. He prepared the complete and accurate surveys of the city of Burling- ton, together with the maps and data, upon which was based the system of street im- provements afterward carried into effect. In 1856, at the request of the government of the United States, he took charge of the erection of the government buildings, post- office, custom-house and marine hospital, in Burlington, and completed them with his usual skill and painstaking. He was for a long time director of the Merchants' Bank at Burlington, and was frequently in requisition to perform other private and public trusts.
As has been said, his active life in his chosen pursuit covered a period of but little more than sixteen years, and yet few have accomplished such prodigious and gratifying results in a much longer lifetime. His enforced retirement from activity was especially irksome to his energetic nature, which sought and found a partial alleviation in those lib- eral studies which enlighten and elevate the character. He was a man of modest and
755
JOHN JOHNSON.
retiring disposition, of a liberal culture, and of rare moral qualities and sterling sense and judgment. His integrity and purity of character were particularly marked. In all that he did he was conscientious to a remarkable degree, and the minutest details of his public and official work, as well as of the minor and personal concerns of his life, invite the most critical scrutiny. His mind was a storehouse of facts and principles always ready for use, while his systematic thoroughness and clear perceptions of the questions with which he had to do, made his advice often sought and highly valued. He was for many years a consistent communicant of the Episcopal Church.
Mr. Allen died on the 12th of October, 1878, leaving his survivors, his widow and two sons, Charles E. Allen, of Burlington, Vt., and John J. Allen, of Brooklyn, N. Y., all now living, the former at the advanced age of eighty-six years.
Charles Edwin Allen was born in Burlington, Vt., on the 28th of November, 1838, fitted for college at the Burlington High School, and was graduated from the University of Vermont in the class of 1859. He studied law with Hon. Isaac F. Redfield, of Windsor, Vt., and subsequently with Hon. Milo L. Bennett, of Burlington, and was graduated from the Albany Law School in 1864. After practicing in New York city for three years he returned to Burlington, where on the 31st of October, 1867, he mar- ried Ellen C., only daughter of Elias Lyman, esq., of Burlington. Mr. and Mrs. Allen have three children, Joseph Dana, Lyman and Florence Lyman. His residence in Bur- lington is the old homestead of his grandfather, John Johnson, afterwards owned by his father.
Mr. Allen has ably sustained the reputation of the family for thoroughness and effi- ciency in his life work, for elevation of character and liberality of culture. In 1862-63 he was assistant secretary of the State Senate; from 1878 to 1882 he was alderman from his ward; in 1882, was city assessor. In 1883 he was elected a member of the board of school commissioners of the city, to which office he has since been twice re-elected, and has in other positions of trust and honor received evidence of the confidence and esteem of his fellow-citizens. He is an active member of the Protestant Episcopal Church. In the practice of his profession, although he is not confined in the scope of his labors, he has made a specialty of patent law, in which department of practice he is deservedly eminent.
His brother, John Johnson Allen, was born at Utica, N. Y., August 4, 1842. He was graduated at the Burlington High School in 1848, and at the University of Vermont in 1862. Receiving an appointment on the staff of the provost marshal of the fourth district of New York, he removed to that city and succeeded to the charge of the office during the last year of the bureau. In 1866 he graduated from Columbia Law School, and soon after was appointed assistant United States district attorney for the eastern district of New York, which position he continued to hold until his resignation in March, 1873, since which time he has been actively engaged in the duties of his profession, in which he has acquired a high reputation. In 1874 he represented his district in the Legislature of New York. For several years he has held the office of United States supervisor for the city of Brooklyn, and also that of United States com- missioner.
His summers are spent in Burlington, where he owns a residence on College Hill. He married in 1870 Louisa A., youngest daughter of the Hon. Charles Shaler, of Pitts- burgh, Pa., and has three children, Marion Shaler, Eliza, and Marguerite Louisa.
756
HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.
L YMAN, EDWARD, was born at Woodstock, Vt., on the 21st day of January, 1826. He was the second child and only son of Job and Mary P. Lyman, and is in the seventh generation from Richard Lyman, who was born in High Ongar, Essex county, England, in 1580, and, emigrating to the New World in the summer of r631, became one of the proprietors and a leading citizen of Hartford, Conn. Job Lyman was born at Northampton, Mass., was graduated from Darmouth College in 1804, studied law, and settled for the practice of his profession at Woodstock. There he be- came identified with a number of important public interests ; was cashier of the old Vermont State Bank throughout its existence, and served many years as president of the Woodstock Bank. For a long period he was court auditor of Windsor county, and a member of the Governor's Council. In 1850 he relinquished all business pursuits and came to Burlington, where he died on the 10th of September, 1870.
Edward Lyman, the subject of this sketch, was educated at the schools of Wood- stock and at the widely-known Kimball Union Academy, of Meriden, N. H., and at the early age of fifteen years entered upon his business career as clerk in a dry goods store at Woodstock. He continued to act in that capacity in several stores until 1848, when, deeming his apprenticeship concluded, he came to Burlington and became the junior partner of the firm of E. & E. Lyman. After the lapse of three years he pur- chased his partner's interest and continued sole proprietor until August, 1868, when he rewarded the fidelity and ability of one of his clerks by admitting him to an interest in the firm. The clerk was Heman W. Allen, his present partner, who has united with Mr. Lyman in sustaining and furthering the enviable reputation of the house for the highest integrity and unquestioned credit. In 1862 Mr. Lyman added a wholesale and jobbing department to his business, which has grown to large proportions.
In 1855, when the institution now known at the Merchants' National Bank was chartered, he was chosen one of its directors, and has remained in that position without interruption to the present time, being in the mean time elected vice-president and president, respectively. After serving in the capacity of president for a number of years he resigned the position in January, 1885.
On the 25th of October, 1853, he married Minerva B., daughter of the late George Lyman, of White River Junction. Of their two children, a daughter, Minnie Elizabeth, is living. The first-born, Mary Louise, died on the 14th of March, 1862, in the fifth year of her age.
To the unyielding strength of moral principle which Mr. Lyman has inherited from his ancestors, he has added the qualities that soften the stern outlines of the Puritan character and a spirit of charity that widens the influence of the Puritan faith. He and his family are attendants at the College Street Congregational Church. In politics he is an ardent Republican, but he steadily refuses to accept public office.
M' EECH, HON. EZRA, was born in Norwich, Conn., in 1773, and came to Hines- burg, Vt., with his father, Elisha Meech, in 1785. The country being new at this time, he was obliged to fight innumerable obstacles; but by remarkable perseverance and energy he attained prominence and became one of the wealthiest men in his county.
He entered first into the fur trade between the United States and Canada. Sub- sequently he kept a store at Charlotte, Vt., and in 1810 was extensively engaged in ship- ping timber to Quebec. At the breaking out of the war in 1812 they gave him thirty days to close out his business and leave the Dominion. During the war he furnished
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HON. EZRA MEECH. - SEYMOUR JEREMIAH PARKER.
provisions for the soldiers of the American army. At the close of the war he again entered the lumber business.
He was also during his business career interested in railroads, marble business near Rutland, and several other enterprises, nearly always making a success of whatever he undertook.
He was at one time Democratic candidate for governor, but defeated by the Repub- lican nominee.
He represented his State in Congress three terms at the time Daniel Webster and Henry Clay were in the Senate. He was also judge of his county.
He married for his first wife Mary McNiel, daughter of John McNiel, of Charlotte, and they had ten children, five of whom lived to maturity, Mary, Jane, James, Ezra and Edgar. Mary (McNiel) Meech died in 1827. The following year he married his second wife, Mrs. Asahel Clark, in 1828, and she died in Burlington, Vt., September, 1874.
Ezra Meech was a man of stanch principles and great executive ability. In phys- ical stature he was gigantic, being six feet four inches tall, and weighing 360 pounds.
He died in Shelburne, Vt., September, 1856, leaving two sons, Ezra and Edgar.
Edgar Meech was born in Shelburne, Vt., June 20, 1818. He was a son of the Hon. Ezra Meech and Mary (McNiel) Meech, and the youngest of ten children. At the age of fifteen he went to Chambly, Canada, and studied French, afterwards entering the University of Vermont and graduating in the class of 1841. He then returned to his father's home in Shelburne, and there, with his brother Ezra, managed the farm, which consisted of 3,500 acres of land, situated on the border of Lake Champlain. He was married June 9, 1850, to Mary Jane Field, daughter of Salthiel and Lydia (Bragg) Field, of Springfield, Vt. In 1851 he settled on a farm in Charlotte adjoining his father's, and there lived the remainder of his life.
They had five children-Charles E., who graduated at the University of Vermont in 1874 and who is in business in Portland, Oregon ; William F., who died in 1874 ; Mary E., Abbie J., married to William K. Sheldon, of West Rutland, Vt., and Sarah S.
Mr. Meech was a man of rare qualities, retiring and modest in disposition, but deeply interested in all the political and social movements of his time. He was a man of strong integrity, gentle and loving in manner, so that all who knew him loved and respected him from childhood up. On February 19, 1885, he died at the age of sixty- six years.
PARKER, SEYMOUR JEREMIAH, was born in Milton, Vt., on the 8th of Feb- ruary, 1820. The first of his ancestors to come to Vermont was his grandfather, Edward Parker, who emigrated from Deerfield, Conn., to Richford, in this State, shortly before the year r800, and died there in 1812. His son, John Parker, father of Seymour J., was born in Connecticut in 1796, and was brought to Richford by his parents, where he attended school and helped his father about his work until he had attained the age of sixteen years. Then, at the outbreak of the second war with Great Britain, he en- listed as a musician, young as he was, and in that capacity participated in the battle of Plattsburgh. After serving out his time he went to Milton and settled on the farm now occupied by Allen Caswell, about a mile east from Milton village. While there he was made captain of a company of riflemen, and was promoted to the colonelcy, which he remained until the company was disbanded. In 1837 he removed to the farm in West-
758
HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.
ford now owned and occupied by his son, the subject of this sketch. When he first removed to Milton he married Letty, daughter of Solomon Caswell, of that town. His wife was born in 1799, and died May 26, 1883. They reared a family of four girls and two boys, of whom Seymour J. was the eldest. John Parker died June 13, 1876. He was deservedly a prominent man; served one term in the State Senate, and held all the highest offices in the town of Westford.
Seymour J. Parker was educated in the district schools of Milton and accompanied his father to Westford in 1837. After his marriage in 1839 he purchased a part of his father's farm, to the west of the paternal residence, and for a number of years carried it on separately. About 1855 he purchased the rest of his father's property, and returned to the house which he now occupies, and which John Parker built in 1845. The life of a farmer is not usually prolific of thrilling events; its days are passed in fruitful toil, and its nights in peaceful rest. Mr. Parker manifested his ability by steady industry. The farm which he received from his father contained 325 acres-an extent of territory which in Vermont will tax the energy of the most laborious to manage-but he has in- creased it to 375 acres, and has kept the numerous buildings in good repair, has main- tained sufficient fences, and has made the property pay. Like most of the farmers in Northern Vermont, he has paid the greatest attention to dairying, and now keeps usually not fewer than thirty cows, besides the other kinds of necessary stock.
Mr. Parker is a tried member of the Democratic party, with which he is generally in accord on all questions of governmental and international affairs. He is no office- Seeker, but has been placed in a number of the town offices, the several duties of which he has successfully discharged. His religious preference is Congregational, and he is a stated attendant and supporter of the church of that denomination in his town.
In December, 1839, Mr. Parker married Marcia, daughter of Martin Bates, of West- ford, who has been his companion for nearly half a century, and with him has had a family of eleven children, three girls and eight boys, two of the latter being deceased. The names and dates of births are as follows :
John C., born May 5, 1841, now a farmer in Colchester ; George Edgar, born April If, 1843, died in the service of the Union army, of typhoid fever, in New Orleans, 1864 ; Martin B., born July 4, 1845, now a farmer in Milton ; Charles S., born June 4, 1847, resides in Milton ; Francis H., born July 4, 1849, now a carpenter and joiner in Westford; Edwin C., born September 12, 1851, became a member of Ethan Allen En- gine Company of Burlington, and was killed in service in the winter of 1884-85 by the falling of a brick wall; Rollin J., born November 23, 1853, now living with his parents; Ida J., born June 18, 1856, wife of Amos Partridge, of Westford ; Willie J., born Feb- ruary 4, 1858, now a farmer in Colchester; Mary A., born March 29, 1860, wife of Philo Irish, of Westford ; and Nellie H., born August 29, 1862, wife of Edward J. Moseley, of Burlington.
POMEROY, JOHN N. John Norton Pomeroy was born in a log cabin on the north side of Pearl street, Burlington, just below the present residence of Henry Loomis, on the 29th day of September, 1792, and at the time of his death, on the 19th of July, 1881, was the oldest native inhabitant of the city. He was the youngest of three children of Dr. John Pomeroy, a sketch of whose life appears in the history of the Medical Profession, having one older brother, Cassius F. Pomeroy, and one sister, Rosa- mond P. His mother, Mary Porter, was born in Abbington, Mass. The childhood of
759
JOHN N. POMEROY.
Mr. Pomeroy was passed in attendance at the old district schools of his native place, and in August, 1805, he entered the University of Vermont, from which he was gradu- ated four years later. Although then not quite seventeen years of age, he delivered at commencement a poem and an oration, both of which were remarkable for youthful productions; and from the time of his graduation to the day of his death he was an active friend of his alma mater, which he frequently aided by liberal donations. At college he evinced a wonderful aptitude for scientific study and research, becoming thoroughly conversant with the discoveries of all times ; and this predilection for studies in this department of learning he never relinquished. He delivered the master's ora- tion at the university in 1812. In the winter and spring of 1814 he attended two courses of lectures on chemistry in New York city, and in the following fall delivered a ·course of fourteen lectures on that subject to a class of medical students and a number of ladies and gentlemen residing in Burlington. His native independence of character, however, together with his enthusiastic and practical love of learning, impelled him to one of the learned professions as a means of earning his livelihood, and he chose the practice of law. He entered the office of Judge Daniel Farrand, with whom he remained during the greater part of his apprenticeship, but finished his course with Hon. Charles Adams. He was admitted to the bar of Chittenden county in 1816. He continued to practice successfully until the decease of his father in 1844, when, by the inheritance of an ample fortune, he was enabled to retire and devote his time exclusively to those learned and elevating pursuits of which he was so fond. His professional labors were chiefly those of a collecting lawyer, in which he was very successful ; but among other important litigated cases he was prominent in defeating the claims of a number of men who had taken possession of portions of the city hall under leases from the town of Burlington, and thus vindicated the exclusive right and duty of the public to keep and use the same for the erection of public buildings and for a public park.
At the commencement exercises of the University of Vermont, in 1816, he delivered another oration, as did also his intimate friend, Henry Hitchcock. He was then but twenty-four years of age. He was deeply interested in the question of the feasibility of crossing the ocean by steam, which was then in process of agitation, and in 1816 wrote to Cadwallader C. Colden, of New York city, for a position on his new steamship, which was then supposed to be about to make the attempt. The places were all en- gaged, however, and this enterprise soon after failed for want of funds.
Mr. Pomeroy's love for learning did not, however, unfit him for the practical duties of citizenship, or for the more weighty responsibilities of statesmanship. He was elected a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1836, which established the State Sen- ate in the place of the old Council, and took an active part in bringing about this most desirable measure. He also aided in securing the coalition of the old anti-Masonic party with the National Republicans, "the success of which," as he afterward said, " has kept the State right side up ever since." In 1848 he was elected a member of the Council of Censors, and was made secretary of the board. In this position he advo- cated with great vehemence and well-directed power a reform in the vicious method of representation, by which towns with their thousands of inhabitants have no more voice in the House of Representatives than towns whose population could be counted on the fingers. Upon this subject he made a report which the Council ordered published. He was chosen a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1849, and performed his full
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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.
share of the labors of that body, particularly in his reiterated advocacy of a more nearly equal representation.
In 1850 he was appointed by the president a member of the board of examiners at West Point, to which place he repaired, and acted with his usual efficiency in that ca- pacity. In the same year he was appointed by Governor Williams chairman of a com- mittee, of which Lieutenant-Governor Ranney and Hon. T. F. Redfield were the other members, to examine and report upon the finances of the State under a resolution of the Legislature. In this capacity he drew up a report in which he expressed the views of himself and his coadjutors in vigorous and well-chosen language, which was not flat- tering to the Legislature; and for that reason, and because its independence was in favor of a worthy cause, it was deserving of the highest commendation.
These are, however, but a few of the many prominent offices which Mr. Pomeroy filled during his long and eminently useful life, it being one of the best of his charac- teristics that he never refused to perform a public service when called upon to act. From his earliest manhood to the time of his old age he made it a principle to attend all the town meetings and freemen's meetings held in his town, excepting in the rare cases of enforced absence. From the time of his admission as a freeman in 1814 to the year 1874 he was absent from only one freemen's meeting in Burlington, and during that long period of sixty years voted successively the Federal, National Republican, Whig and Republican tickets. During the anti-slavery agitation he freely expressed his sympathy with the movement, and upon one occasion publicly and successfully protested against the attempt of some of his social and even political friends to prevent by force an anti- slavery lecturer from speaking. He was at various times made overseer of the poor, town treasurer, selectman, State's attorney, etc., and acted for many years as justice of the peace. He was a warm friend of Hon. George P. Marsh, and was with him alone associated on a committee of two for the erection of the statue of Ethan Allen. Mr .. Marsh selected the marble and other material in Italy, while Mr. Pomeroy directed the modeling and erection of the statue.
He was trained in childhood to attend regularly divine worship, and continued the habit during his life, from both principle and pleasure. He was one of the original mem- bers of the Unitarian Church in Burlington, formed in r816, and continued his intimate association with that organization to the time of his death. In his church as in all his affairs he was always ready to give generously, but in his own way, to aid any cause- which commended itself to his better judgment. It is this wise and sensible discrimin- ation which is the grandest charity, infusing energy and courage in all enterprises that are practicable as well as benevolent, and discouraging the birth and prosecution of visionary and Utopian schemes which must ever end in ridiculous failure.
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