History of Rutland County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 111

Author: Smith, H. P. (Henry Perry), 1839-1925. 1n; Rann, William S
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & co.
Number of Pages: 1170

USA > Vermont > Rutland County > History of Rutland County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 111

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Adonijah Rice, son of Jonas and great grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born November 7. 1714 ; was the first white child born in Worcester, Mass., and resided there un- til the latter part of his life, when he removed to Bridport, Vt. He was in several campaigns against the French and Indians and one of the celebrated band of scouts known as Rogers's Rangers ; he died January 20, 1802.

Jonas Rice, son of Adonijah, and grandfather of the subject, was born about 1756 at Wor- cester, Mass. He was a first lieutenant in the regular army under General Washington and served through the Revoluionary War; was in the battles of Trenton and Princeton, and participated in the historical crossing of the Delaware amid floating ice. He settled in Orwell, Vt., directly after the close of the war and married Elizabeth Carver, a direct descendant from John Carver, first governor of Plymouth Colony. He lived on his farm in Orwell and died there Feb- ruary 17, 1839.

Alpheus ( Rice) Royce,' father of the subject, was born in Orwell, Vt., on the 18th of De- cember. 1787. His father had but one other child, a daughter named Harriet. His wife was Harriet Moore, of Putney, Vt., who was born March 15, 1790, and died February 24, 1873. Alpheus was a farmer and occupied the homestead where he was born until his death, which occurred on the 15th of April, 1871. He served as captain of a militia company at the battle of Plattsburgh in the War of 1812. The children of Alpheus Royce were as follows : Charles V., born August 28, 1810, deceased. Louisa A., born April 11, 1812, deceased. Laura E., born July 23, 1814, deceased. Mary E., born June 17, 1816, lives in Omaha, Jane A., born April to, 1820, lives in Orwell. Henry L., born December 23, 1821, died in the service of the country during the late war. William E., born September 10, 1824. now occupies the old homestead in Orwell. Albert F., born October 3, 1826, died in the Mexican War. George

1 Alpheus Rice bore the name of his ancestors until he reached middle life, when he changed it to " Royce, " giving as his reason that the people of the former name were becoming too numerous in the country.

909

GEORGE EDMUND ROYCE.

Edmund, the subject. Erasmus D., born April 9, 1831, lives in St. Lawieno count,, N. Y. Harriet A .. born April 7, 1833. died in infancy. M. Antoinette, born September 2, 1835, lives in Orwell.

George Edmund Royce was born on the ist of January, 1829, as before stated, on the homestead of his father in Orwell, Vt. His younger days were passed in the customary man- ner of boys in this vicinity at that time. He attended the common schools, and two terms at the Troy Conference Academy, and aided in working the farm until he was nineteen years old. He then entered the store of John Simonds, at Watch Point, Shoreham, Vi., as a clerk, and here he acquired the first insight into the business which he afterwards successfully followed. He remained in that store two years, when he repaired to New York city in 1850, and engaged with the firm of Dibble, Frink & Co., in the wholesale dry goods trade. He staid there one year and changed to the firm of Lathrop, Ludington & Co., in the same line of business, and remained with them about seven years. This brought him down to the Ist of January, 1859, and he felt that he was justified in embarking in business on his own account. He accordingly associated himself in the firm of Robbins, Royce & Hard, continuing thus two years, when the firm changed to Robbins, Royce & Acker, and did business in wholesale dry goods three years longer. In this connection the natural mercantile instincts of Mr. Royce, supplemented by his studious experience, contributed largely to the success that followed. But his arduous lahors in the business told upon his health, and on the ist of January, 1864, he felt impelled to withdraw from the firm. He had already purchased a place and transferred his family to Rutland, Vt., and after spending another year in the metropolis, settling up his affairs, he fol- lowed them to the valley among the Green Mountains. Here he became interested very soon after his arrival in the steam stone-cutter of George J. Wardwell (see his biography in these pages), which had then lately begun to develop its great value in the Vermont marble quarries. Colonel W. T. Nichols had purchased an interest in the patent for the purpose of organizing a company for its manufacture. Mr. Royce foresaw its success from the first and with Colonel Nichols proceeded at once to the organization of the Steam Stone-Cutting Com- pany, of which he has ever since been the treasurer. It is notorious that there are in this country a class of unprincipled patent pirates, who thrive by stealing the ideas of others and fighting successfully inventors and manufacturers in the courts. The success of the stone-cut- ter was no sooner fully assured than one of these leeches came down upon it with all the re- sources of his wealth and long experience in that peculiar line of business. The de- tails of the struggle that followed in ten years of the most persistent and sleepless litigation would be out of place here, but it will suffice to state that the company, with Mr. Royce and Mr. John W. Cramton, the present president of the company, at its back, fought the piratical onslaught until nearly one hundred thousand dollars had been expended in the protection of their rights, and they were successful ; let that fact be set down to the credit of citizens of Rutland. The persistent tenacity with which Mr. Royce followed this contest exhibits one of the strongest phases of his character ; when he believes himself right he does not entertain the idea of giving up his convictions. The success of the stone-cutter under his direction has been all that its great merit deserves, and it now has the field to itself.

Mr. Royce is also identified with the marble producing interest. A few years since he be- came impressed with the value of a certain deposit on a farm lying about two and a half miles north of West Rutland. He immediately began negotiations which resulted in his purchas- ing three farms, and later (in the spring of 1884) in the organization of the True Blue Marble Company, which secured control of a fourth farm, on which quarrying is now going on. The organization and success of this company is largely due to Mr. Royce, and he has since been one of the directors. An eight gang mill has been erected by the company and marble of the finest and most durable quality is now being largely quarried. (See chapter devoted to the marble industry of the county.)

Although Mr. Royce has political convictions of a well-defined character in the Democratic school, he has never sought to make them a stepping-stone to political office ; he was elected to the office of selectman of the town in 1883 and re-elected twice since, but against his wishes ; an office which he fills, however, with the same efficiency displayed in his own business. He has received numerous nominations for other offices, among them that of State Treasurer, but being a resident of a district which is strongly Republican, his election was an impossibility. He has been one of the directors of the Baxter National Bank since its organization in 1870.

Mr. Royce was married first to Meriam E. Brewer, of Orwell, on the 5th of February, 1857; she died March 2, 1866. He married September 6, 1866, Martha A. Brewer ; and third Ellen C. White, daughter of Albert White, of Orwell, on the 4th of November, 1875. His children are as follows : Fannie E., born February 22, 1858; George B., born August 8, 1860 ; lives at home and is secretary of the Steam Stone-Cutter Company, and also secretary of the True Blue Marble Company. Julia M., born November 4, 1862 ; died in infancy. Kate M., born December 9, 1864. These are children of the first wife. Jane M., born August 18, 1867 :

910

HISTORY OF RUTLAND COUNTY.

Robert S., born August 11, 1869; Julia I., born June 14, 1871 ; children of the second wife. Edmund W., born February 24. 1877. Thomas J., born July 25, 1879. Pauline M., born May 24, 1881. Albert A., born September 13, 1883.

R OGERS, ASA J., who has lived in Poultney since 1831, was born in Mount Holly, Vt., April 23, 1820. He was a son of Stephen and Anna (Emerson) Rogers. Stephen Rog- ers was born in Danby, Vt., November 9, 1784. Anna Emerson was born in New Hampshire on July 9, 1784. Stephen moved from Danby to Mount Holly in the year 1806. He lived in Mount Holly for several years and moved from there to Granville, N. Y., in the year 1827, where he lived for about four years, when he moved to Poultney, Vt., with his family, where he continued to reside until his death, which occurred August 22, 1867. They had a family of nine children : Lydia, Oliver, Aaron, Charles, Samuel, John S., Asa J., David L. and Amos E. Mrs. Stephen Rogers died November 1, 1841. The nine children were all living when the family moved to Poultney, Vt., in 1831. Four have since died, and all have moved from Poultney except Asa J., who is and has been for many years one of the useful and responsible citizens of this town. He was married July 8, 1841, to Lou- isa Horton, of Mount Holly, Vt. She was a daughter of Asa and Susan (Breed) Horton. Her ancestors during the time of the Revolutionary War resided near Boston, Massachusetts, and one was the owner of Breed's Hill, from which that hill took its name at or about the time of the battle of Bunker Hill. Mr. and Mrs. Rogers have had six children born to them, all of whom are now living : Adelia A., Ophelia S., Louisa J., Amos J., Hattie M. and Charles E. All are married and away from home with the exception of Charles, who still remains with his father.

Mr. Rogers for about thirty years after he attained the age of twenty-one was engaged in the carpentering and building business, and gave the most of his time to that trade. He is now and has been for several years a farmer, He owns a large farm and a very good one. It is situated about two miles south of Poultney village, and is so well managed as to give him quite a reputation among his neighbors as being a good farmer. He is enterprising as a farmer and keeps pace with all improvements. He built the first silo in the town of Poultney, large enough to hold a hundred tons, which he filled with green corn fodder ; it proved a suc- cess, and he now regards the silo as no longer an experiment. In 1870 he became aware that there was slate rock on his farm, and called the attention of William Griffith and William Na- thaniel, practical slate workers, to it. They developed it and it proved to be an excellent quality of the sea-green variety, and the result was that quarries were opened there which have proven productive, valuable and profitable to those interested. The rents (or royalty as it is called) from the same have largely increased his income.

Mr. Rogers united with the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1843, and remained a member of that church until 1858, and then embraced the faith of the second personal coming of Christ. About that time a church of that faith was formed in Poultney, Vt., with a membership of 120. Mr. Rogers became a deacon and has since been a leading member ; the church has also been quite prosperous. He has held town offices and places of trust from time to time, which his fellow citizens have imposed upon him without his seeking, the duties of which he has ever faithfully discharged. An unpretentious man, yet he is one of the firm props of society, and one of that class of our fellow citizens who can be relied upon for the preservation of good order, and for work in the advancement of morality and the interests of the community in which he lives.

Y LASON, CHARLES HARMON, was born in West Rutland, Vt., on the 28th of October, S 1827. He came of a family which was very prominent in the history of Rutland county. His father was Francis Slason, who was born at Stamford, Conn., March 23, 1790. He came to West Rutland in 1810, and was married to Mary Gordon on the Ist of July, 1814; they had three children - James L., Anna Maria and William Wallace ; the latter was killed by the cars at Middlebury, in March, 1875. Francis Slason was a leading merchant of West Rut- land for more than fifty years ; was a director of the Rutland National Bank from 1824 until his death, and was in many other ways made to feel that he had gained the esteem and confi- dence of the community. His wife died May 2, 1821. He afterwards married Celia Harmon, on the 26th of August, 1822 ; married at Hardwick, Mass., by Rev. B. Wesson ; they had two children - Francis Henry and Charles Harmon, the subject of this sketch. The former was born October 16, 1835, and died January 8, 1836; Francis Slason died January 14, 1882, at his home in West Rutland, and is buried in the family lot at Evergreen Cemetery at Centre Rut- land. Of the other children, James L. was born at West Rutland October 1, 1814; Anna Maria at the same place April 20, 1816; and William Wallace June 2, 1818, also at West Rut- land.

6+blusaw

911

CHARLES HARMON SLASON. - GEORGE W. STRONG.

Upon the occasion of the death of Francis Slason, the following proceedings were had by the officers of the bank of which he had so long been a trusted director : -

WHEREAS, It has pleased Almighty God to take from among us our deeply venerated for- mer vice-president, Francis Slason, in the fullness of his days, and who has been a director of this bank since its first organization in 1824, and a most punctual attendant on the meetings of the board, and that while we regret that we cannot longer have his company, the recollec- tion of his foresight. independent thought and the interest that he took in all that pertained to the welfare of the bank, will be a bright spot in our memory. Be it, therefore ---

Resolved, That we tender to the widow of our late friend and associate our sincerest sym- pathy with her in her loss of a beloved companion for so great a number of years ; also to the other members of the family, in the rupture of the dearest ties of relationship.

Resolved, That the foregoing be spread upon the records of the bank and that a copy be sent to the family of the deceased.

Charles H. Slason received his education at Castleton, Vt., and later attended Burr Semi- nary, and Burton's Seminary at Manchester, Vt. At the age of sixteen he began work in his father's store at West Rutland, and early developed rare capacity for business. In 1844 he struck the first blow that led to opening the first marble quarry in West Rutland (now owned by Sheldon & Son), in company with Dr. Lorenzo Sheldon, David Morgan, William Barnes and his father, Francis Slason. This firm became in 1850 Sheldon & Slason, remaining such until the fall of 1881, when he sold his interest to the present firm of Sheldon & Sons.

In 1856 Mr. Slason married, at Nashua, N. H., Harriet L. Tilden, of Royalton, Vt., by whom he had three children as follows : Francis Charles, born December 9, 1867, at Jalapa, Mexico (where the family resided one year, he having in his possession a ranch nine miles square). William Tilden, born April 18, 1869, at Brooklyn, N. Y. Harriet E., born April 1, 1872, at Nashua, N. H. Five days after the birth of Harriet E., Mrs. Slason died at Nashua and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery at Centre Rutland.

On the 27th of July, 1880, Mr. Slason was married to Mrs. Sarah F. McKelsey, at Sara- toga, N. Y., the ceremony being performed by Rev. James L. Slason, of Tinmouth, Vt. They had one child, Maria Henrietta, born December 22, 1881.

Mr. Slason died after a short and severe illness on the ioth of April, 1882, and was buried in the family lot in Evergreen Cemetery. Centre Rutland.

Mr. Slason was for many years a conspicuous figure in this community ; was a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity in Rutland, being initiated in Center Lodge, No. 34, on the 6th of July, 1854, and remaining an honored member thereof until 1878 ; then he took his demit for the purpose of forming a new lodge at West Rutland. He was one of the charter mem- bers of Hiram Lodge No. 101, and continued a worthy brother until his death.

TRONG, GEORGE W. The subject of this sketch was a descendant of one of the most notable families of Rutland ; a family possessed of peculiar characteristics that were man- ifested in a spirit of enterprise to which Rutland is greatly indebted for its present position. Hon. Moses Strong, the father, was a man of ability and courage and in the period of his act- ive life was the most progressive man in the community, and whose influence extended beyond State limits ; for he was largely identified in the building of the Champlain Canal from White- hall to Troy, N. Y., and projected a plan for its continuance to Rutland, and until his death advocated the feasibility of the project. He was born in Salisbury, Conn., in 1772. He was educated in his profession in the Litchfield, Conn., Law School, established by Tapping Reeves, LL. D., who was among the first of American lawyers. Mr. Strong was among the early grad- uates of this celebrated institution in 1796. In 1798 he removed to Addison county and was admitted to the bar of that county ; but in 1800 removed to Rutland, began the active prac- tice of his profession and became prominent in the business and social affairs of the com- munity. In 1818 he was a representative in the Legislature ; in 1825 and 1826, chief judge of the Rutland County Court, and was one of the founders of the old Bank of Rutland, remaining a director until his death. He obtained the first charter for a railroad in Vermont. In 1835 he retired from practice to give attention to his private affairs, being at that time the largest land owner in Rutland county, and one-third of the present prosperous village of Rutland stands upon lands once owned by him. He died in 1842 at the age of seventy years.

The eldest son, Moses M. Strong, possessed the strong and progressive characteristics of his father. He was born in 1810; educated in the schools of Rutland and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1829; attended the Litchfield Law School, and was admitted to the Bennington county bar in 1831. After a few years practice in Bennington and Rutland he re- moved to Wisconsin in 1837. A half century ago he staked out a town twelve days west of Lake Michigan which is now the capital of Wisconsin. This is the simple history of one of the foremost and leading families of Rutland, as preliminary to the biography of a member of the family whese life was identified with the industry and promotion of his native town.

912

HISTORY OF RUTLAND COUNTY.

George W. Strong, son of Hon. Moses and Lucy Maria (Smith) Strong, was born in Rut- land February 14, 1818. His mother died when he was of tender age and Judge Strong mar- ried Mrs. Harriet Woodbridge Hopkins, of Vergennes, when the little son was four years old ; to her care and training he was committed. He was graduated from Middlebury College in 1837 in the class with the distinguished poet, John G. Saxe and the eminent divine, Rev. Byron Sunderland, D.D. Soon afterward he entered the office of Phineas Smith and Edgar L. Orms- bee in the study of law and was admitted to the Rutland county bar in April, 1845. He opened an office but did not enter into active practice of his profession, as he had inherited in great degree the energy, public spirit and sterling business qualities of his father ; his tastes, there- fore, led him into business life, which was, in a measure, forced upon him by his having charge of much of the large landed estate of his father. He early identified himself in pushing forward the project of building the Rutland and Burlington railroad and devoted much of his time to procuring subscriptions and awakening public thought and interest in the road ; he engaged in its construction until it was opened in 1849. and was for some time a director of the corpor- ation. He next turned his attention to the feasibility of the construction of the Rutland and Washington railroad, a line connecting Rutland with Troy. He engaged in its construction and after its opening became a director and for two years president of the corporation. After the opening of the home railways in which he was interested he gave his attention mainly to railroad building in the west. He took an active part in building the Cleveland and Pittsburgh railroad, of which he was afterward president for a time. In 1850 he contracted for the relay- ing of a road from Corning, N. Y., through Tioga county and for building the Chester Valley railroad in Pennsylvania. Among his latest enterprises and contracts was the building of a bridge across the Wisconsin River at Kilborn City. These great enterprises show the public spirit, sagacity and energy of the man who spent his life and wore himself ont in the public service and became the benefactor of the generations that are to follow ; he left enduring mon- uments of himself in the railway enterprises which he projected and carried forward to com- pletion.

In the mean time he was not unmindful of promoting the prosperity and upbuilding of the town of his residence, and to him is Rutland indebted largely for its growth. None labored more earnestly to make it the chief town of the State, and his prophecy made in 1855, that Rutland would one day be a city of twenty-five thousand inhabitants, seems probable to be fulfilled. As an example of his faith in the growth of the town it may be stated that he laid out Washington street and erected the residence now occupied by E. Foster Cook. He laid out and gave the names to Madison avenue, Pleasant, Prospect and Hopkins streets and Strong's avenue - gave the lands for those streets to the town - all of them being a part of the old homestead and running through lands owned by him. There are several other streets which are the result of his enterprise and to which he gave names.

In politics he was an uncompromising Whig, and was presidential elector in 1856, with William C. Bradley, Lawrence Brainard, John Porter and Porteus Baxter ; they cast the vote of the State for John C. Fremont for president. Mr. Strong never sought or held public office, because of his time being absorbed in business, although he would many times have been hon- ored with leading positions, had he signified his willingness to accept them. He was always an attendant of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and at his death, October 28, 1858, was a communicant of Trinity Church.

He married, May 14, 1845, Ellen Sophia Ellsworth, of Windsor, Conn., a daughter of Hon. Henry L. Ellsworth, and granddaughter of the distinguished chief justice, Oliver Ellsworth, of that State. One child, Catherine Ellsworth Strong, is living and resides in Rutland. Mrs. Strong a few years since married the Hon. John Prout, a leading lawyer of Rutland. Of Mr. Strong's father's family of eleven children, only two are living, Hon. Moses M. Strong, of Mineral Point, Wis., and John Strong, Washington, D. C.

This is but a brief sketch of a useful life - of a public spirited citizen who sacrificed life and fortune in promoting the interests of the generation in which he lived and labored, and the fruits of his service are being garnered by the generations that follow them.

HELDON, CHARLES, son of Medad Sheldon, was born in Rutland July 24, 1813. His

S father was born on the 16th of December, 1776, at Bernardston, Mass., and was the father of eleven children. He was a blacksmith and farmer, and resided in Rutland from 1808 to 1825, where he was a respected citizen. In 1825 he removed to St. Lawrence county, N. Y., and engaged in farming and manufacturing business, which he continued until his removal to Troy, N. Y. His death occurred on the 27th of July, 1846, at the home of his son-in-law, George Reddington. of Waddington, N. Y., at which place he was buried.

The grandfather of Charles Sheldon was Amasa, the son of Captain Amasa, of the Revo- lutionary army, and Sarah (Bardwell) Sheldon, and married Sybil, daughter of John Holton, of Northfield, Mass., on the 25th of July, 1771 ; he died at Rockingham, Vt., in 1780. John Hol-

913

CHARLES SHELDON. - JOHN ALEXANDER SHELDON.

ton was a descendant in the third generation from Deacon William Holton, the English immi- grant, who settled in Massachusetts in 1634, and who was afterward one of the first settlers in Hartford, Conn.

Charles Sheldon's educational advantages were confined to study in the district school and only until he was twelve years of age. The succeeding two years he spent on his father's farm in Waddington, N. Y., after which he began work at the cabinet-making trade ; but this he found uncongenial to his tastes and he gave it up and began a period of service in a country store. At the age of sixteen he removed to Montreal and engaged in the steamboat business. In two years he was master of a boat on the St. Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers, a position which he held for six years, when he resigned at the age of twenty-four years. In March, 1835, Mr. Sheldon went to Troy, N. Y., and there embarked in the lumber trade. In 1841 he removed to New York city and followed the same business with a fair degree of success until April, 1850. In that year he transferred his activities to another field. Settling in Rutland, his birth- place, he engaged in the marble business of D. Morgan, jr., & Co., and was admitted to a partnership in the firm, whose title was accordingly changed to Sheldon, Morgan & Co. From the time of his advent to this business extensive improvements and additions were rapidly made, among which was the erection of a mill of eight gangs of saws. The firm at that time employed only twenty-five men. The business was temporarily suspended in 1851 and again in 1866 hy the burning of the works ; but in each instance the mills were promptly rebuilt and in greatly extended form. On the occasion of the last fire a mill of twenty-four gangs was erected and in operation within eight weeks after the conflagration. In 1874 another twenty- four gang mill was erected. Since that time new mills and shops have been repeatedly added, comprising all of the departments of marble sawing and finishing, until there are now six dif- ferent buildings in use, all constructed of marble, and covering an area of more than 84,000 square feet. The site of these works was a tamarack and cedar swamp when Mr. Sheldon en- tered the business ; it is now a husy hive of industry. One hundred and forty tenements have been erected for homes for the employees. Three large quarries, all located at West Rutland, are owned by the firm, and the mills are operated by a double engine of 300 horse power, and one single of 125 horse power. The quarrying machinery is mostly operated by a Rand air compressor. The magnitude of this business has been yearly increased.

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History of Rutland County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 111

Author: Smith, H. P. (Henry Perry), 1839-1925. 1n; Rann, William S Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & co. Number of Pages: 1170

Author: Smith, H. P. (Henry Perry), 1839-1925. 1n; Rann, William S
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & co.
Number of Pages: 1170