History of Windsor County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 86

Author: Aldrich, Lewis Cass. ed. cn; Holmes, Frank R
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Syracuse, N. Y., D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 1260

USA > Vermont > Windsor County > History of Windsor County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 86

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HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.

Meriden, N. H., the New England Seminary at Windsor, Vt., at Lon- gueuil, and three years in college at St. Hyacinth. He paid especial attention to the study of the languages, having acquired the ability to speak and write in seven different languages. While in Longueuil he wrote his first letter as correspondent of the Vermont Journal, a corres- pondence which he has kept up for forty-five years. At the centen- nial celebration held in Windsor, July 4, 1874, he delivered the poem. He has followed the profession of teaching in the main as an occupa- tion, but at the present time has retired from active work. He resides at Rougemont, Canada. Lorenzo, born June 5, 1827, married Feb. ruary 4, 1850, Adaline L., daughter of Jonathan and Sophia (Lull) Davis, born November 14, 1833. He was educated for the medical pro- fession, but practiced it but a short time. He lives at Windsor with his daughter, Mrs. Roswell Boyd. David, born May 4, 1830, died April 5, 1877, and was twice married, first, to Ellen Blood, born September 13, 1831, died March 6, 1864; second to Sarah D. Towne, born September 4, 1833. David filled positions of trust in Windsor and West Windsor, and was selectman of Windsor at the time of his death. Marquis F. lived till nine years of age on the place of his birth, the farm now owned by A. B .: Blood. In 1834 his father purchased and moved onto the Zimri Kimball farm, and here he has lived ever since. The present farm house and most of the barns were built by him in 1858, and soon after the death of his father he purchased the interest of the heirs in the place, and became its owner. To the original sixty acres he has added, by purchase, ninety acres adjoining. His education was limited to attend- ance upon the common school. Farming has been his life work, but it is speaking within bounds to say that no man in the region about has been oftener called upon to attend to matters of public interest. Between the years of 1858 and 1875 he was selectman, fourteen years, and most of the time first selectman. Eight years of that time he was overseer of the poor, representative of the town in the Legislature in 1864, 1865 and 1880, administrator and executor on many different estates, and for the past forty years has been guardian of more or less minor chil- dren and orphans. He was district clerk and treasurer for more than twenty years, and lister two years. He is a Universalist in religious be-

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BIOGRAPHICAL.

lief He married, December 16, 1847, Caroline S., daughter of Jonathan and Sophia (Lull) Davis, born June 3, 1830. Their children were, Alice L., born April 5, 1849, married, March 15, 1870, John S. Ainsworth, born in Hartland, Vt., February 9, 1844, farmer residing in Reading, and their children were Lena A., born April 5, 1876, and Ethel M., born Sep- tember 1, 1881 ; Alma E., born October 4, 1851, died April 27, 1852; Galo, born June 27, 1853, died September 18, 1859; Lola S., born August 24, 1859, married May 12, 1885, Sidney A. Boyden, farmer living in Wood- stock, and have one child, Mabel, born May 24, 1886; Milo, born July 14, 1860, died July 29, 1860; Isabel, born March 27, 1863, mar- ried April 5, 1889, Frank D. Brannock, she lives at home, and has one child, Verne Clinton, born October 2, 1889; Hattie C, born April 14, 1864, married, March 10, 1885, Dr. George W. Worcester, a practicing physician and surgeon in Newburyport, Mass., they have had two chil- dren, Hazel A., born October 18, 1887, died October 28, 1889, and Ercell C., born August 24, 1890; Etta, born January 18, 1866, died April 2, 1866; Galen H., born August 11, 1869, died December 10, 1869, and Eva F., born November 11, 1870, died February 24, 1871. There have been eleven births and eleven deaths in the house since Mr. Morrison resided there.

DOWERS FAMILY. The first settlers of this family in America were P

Thomas and Walter Power. They were natives of Waterford, Ire- land, and settled in this country about 1680. Their wives were named Bonnie, and were of East India extraction. An additional s was added to the name by these settlers. But little is known of the two generations succeeding these first settlers. Benjamin Powers, of Old Hardwick, Mass., was a farmer. Of his large family of children, Stephen was born in 1735. On his arrival at manhood, with the permission of his father, he decided to study medicine. There were at that time limited facilities for obtain- ing a medical education, but Stephen, by diligent and faithful exertions, fitted himself for his chosen profession. He located in Middleboro, Mass., and there began the practice of his profession. After remaining there a few years, in 1772, he determined to investigate the North West. His course took him directly to Woodstock, Vt., and in that year he made his first purchase of land in that town. It consisted of ninety acres situ-

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HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.

ated between Quechee River and Mount Tom. He subsequently pur- chased other tracts of land, the whole amounting to some three hundred acres. He returned to Middleboro, and in 1774 moved his family, con- sisting of his wife and five children, up into the wilderness. He brought with him a thirteen year old negro boy, named Cato Boston, as a slave, for whom he had paid one hundred dollars, or five pounds. His wife was Lydia, daughter of John and Sarah Drew, of Halifax, Mass. Their children were. Susanna, born December 14, 1760, died of fever December 2, 1777; Mary, born March 2, 1766, married first, Jason Rich- ardson, second, Oliver Williams; Stephen born August 6, 1767, mar- ried Sally Perry, and had a family of nine children, of whom Hiram, the sculptor, was the eighth child, and in 1818 he moved West; John Drew ; Lydia, born March 16, 1772, became the second wife of Robert Paddock and moved to Barre. She died April 23, 1815.

Dr Powers, the pioneer physician in this part of the country, had a large and extensive practice. His name was widely known and his repu- tation stood high among the learned of his own profession. In height he was about six feet, good proportion, black eyes and hair, dark com- plexion, form active and vigorous, and capable of enduring great fatigue. In politics the doctor was a staunch Whig. He died in Woodstock No- vember 27, 1809. His wife died August 29, 1823, aged eighty-eight.

P )OWERS, DR. JOHN D., the youngest son of Dr. Stephen Powers, was born November 17, 1769, in Middleboro, Mass. He received only such an education as could be obtained in a newly settled country. He concluded to follow his father's profession, and began the study of medicine under his care, rode with him, and thus soon picked up ample information to qualify him for a practicing physician. He established himself in his profession as early as 1793, and about the beginning of the century settled on the place at the head of the park, where he lived dur- ing his life. He married, first, Sally, daughter of Sylvanus Raymond, by whom he had four sons, viz .: Casper, died aged two ; Volney, died aged ten ; John Drew, and Thomas E. He married, second, Mrs. Abi- gail Holton, nee Robinson, of Shrewsbury, Vt., by whom he had three children, viz .: Mary, who died, aged twenty-two; Calvin Robinson ; and Susan, widow of Charles G. Eastman, who died January 18, 1891, at

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BIOGRAPHICAL.

Emmetsburgh, Ia. Dr. Powers was a man of medium size, but com- pact frame, complexion light, with lips firmly compressed. During the last few years of his life he mostly gave up the practice of his profession. He died in 1855.

POWERS, JOHN D., the third son of Dr. John D. Powers, was born in Woodstock, January 6, 1806. His education, up to the age of thirteen, was obtained in the district schools of his native town, and was completed at the Randolph Academy in Randolph, at the American Lit- erary Scientific and Military Academy at Norwich, and the Chester Acad- emy at Chester. The object of his education was to fit him for the study of medicine, but becoming satisfied that it was not his calling in life, he decid- ed to engage in agricultural pursuits. His father purchased for him farm- ing implements, and live stock, and placed him on his farm in the spring of 1822. He continued farming until he became of age, when he was obliged to relinquish it on account of ill health. He then learned the comb trade in Woodstock, and followed it for ten years. For the next twenty years he was an employee of the Daniels' Machine Company of Woodstock, and afterwards with A. W. Whitney & Co. for five years. He then again turned his attention to farming, which he followed until his retirement from active business in 1875. He built, in 1829, a brick mansion, which he occupied for thirty years, where the new cemetery of Woodstock is now located. Up to the age of twelve years he attended the Congregational Church and believed in its doctrines. He then heard a Universalist preacher, who changed his views, until he arrived at the age of seventeen years, when he obtained the " Age of Reason," by Thomas Paine, and was for seventeen years a subscriber to the Investigator. In 1850 he be- came a believer in the principles of spiritualism. At this time there were but three adherents of this faith in Woodstock. By spiritual direction. conveyed to him in the following words : " Brother, ere the leaves fall the second time, we ask you to call a convention of Spiritualists at Wood- stock," such a convention was called by him, and was the first of the kind held in Vermont. The convention was addressed by Austin E. Simmons, Mrs. Newton, now Mrs. Wood, and Miss Achsa W. Sprague. He was also a writing medium and clairvoyant for the last thirty years. Politically Mr. Powers was originally a Jacksonian Democrat, but since the organi-

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HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.

zation of the Republican party he has been identified with it. He has not been an aspirant for public honors. He married Jane B., daughter of John Carlton, a native of New Boston, N. H. Of their four children, the two eldest, John and Charles, died in infancy. Susan Eastman is the wife of John M. Currier, M. D., of Newport, Vt., and Laura Carlton is the wife of James Russell Murdock, a jeweler, of Woodstock. Mr. Powers is the last survivor of the large family of Dr. John D. Powers.

POWERS, DR. THOMAS E., the youngest son of Dr. John D. Pow- ers, by his first marriage, was born in Woodstock, November 14, 1808. He received his education in the district schools and at the Roy- alton Academy. Having decided to follow his father's profession he en- tered the Dartmouth Medical School, and was graduated in 1827. He then entered his father's office to further pursue his studies, and soon after as his father's partner, he began the practice of his profession. After a few years he went to Hartland to live, but after about one year he returned to Woodstock, where he continued to reside up to the close of his life.

The practice of medicine was not agreeable to him, and he gradually withdrew from it, till in the latter part of his life he withdrew from it altogether. Other fields of activity suited his temperament better. The stirring scenes of public life he preferred to the quiet of the sick room, and in preference to the management of difficult cases of disease, sought rather the management of public affairs, for the successful conduct of which he in due time proved himself qualified in a high degree. In the year 1850 he was elected representative from the town of Woodstock, to Montpelier, and was re-elected the two following years, and again in 1855 and 1856. Upon becoming a member of the House, he was elected speaker, and justified the choice of his supporters by proving himself one of the best presiding officers the House ever had. During this time also, and indeed for many years previous, he gave all his energies to the cause of temperance in this State; and in connection therewith, in 1852, he took the editorial management of the Vermont Standard. In 1857 he was appointed by the governor to superintend the rebuilding of the State House. In 1862 he was appointed by the United States govern- ment, assessor for the second district of Vermont, and remained in this office nine years. He was endowed with great abilities, that fully made

CALVIN R. POWERS.

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BIOGRAPHICAL.

up for any lack of education, and possessed an intellectual force that was felt wherever he moved, and in whatever department of life he saw fit to exert himself. Few men in the State were so influential in the popular assembly. Here, indeed, was the field in which he most delighted to display his varied energies, and he did not find many among his associ- ates and rivals who cared much to meet him there. Fertile in expedi- ents, swift to see the best point of attack, self-reliant, with physical strength to back up all the forces of his mind, it is no wonder he was so formidable in debate, and held such sway over the popular mind. He married Mary E. Warren, and had one child, Ada, who married Charles Anderson, who died in Woodstock, without issue. Dr. Powers died in Woodstock, December 27, 1876.

P OWERS, CALVIN ROBINSON, the only son of Dr. John D. Pow- ers, by his second marriage, was born in Woodstock, November 14, 1818. His education was limited to attendance upon the district school of his native town, and in an academy of a neighboring town. On reach- ing his majority he apprenticed himself to John H. Witt, of Woodstock, to learn the tailor's trade. He carried on this business during his life, be- ing at one time located on the southeast corner of the public square. He was a Republican in politics, but sought no official positions. He was a life- long resident of Woodstock. He was of medium height and weight, with blue eyes and fair complexion, and a cheerful disposition, He was a good neighbor, true to his friends, very reliable, and respected by all who knew him. He married Elizabeth Frances, daughter of Elisha F. and Mary (Nay) Woods. Her father was one of the original settlers of Bridgewater, of which town she was a native. Mr. Powers died in Woodstock, August 28, 1877, without issue.

B AXTER, EDWARD K., M.D., of Sharon, was born in Barton, Or- leans county, Vt., February 3, 1840, the youngest in a family of seven children of Harry and Deborah (Steele) Baxter. Elihu, his grand- father, born in Norwich, Conn., 1749, died at Norwich, Vt., August 6, 1835. He married Tryphena Taylor, born in Norwich, Conn., 1762, died in Norwich, Vt., March 14, 1825. They had fifteen children, viz .: Will- iam, lawyer, practiced his profession in Brownington, Vt., and died there;

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HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.

Ira, lived and died at Norwich ; Elihu, physician in Portland, Me., where he died ; Chester, a prominent business man of Sharon, where he died ; Tryphena, died in Monroe, Mich .; Lavina first, died in infancy; Erastus, died at Gorham, N. Y .; Lavina second and Climena, twins, the former died in infancy, the latter aged twenty ; James, died at Stanstead, P. Q .; John, died at Lebanon, N. H .; Zilpha, wife of Dr. William Sweatt, of Un- ion village, where she died ; Harry, died at Barton, Vt., March 10, 1852; Hiram, died aged six years; and Statira, died in Sharon. All were born in Norwich, Vt. Harry, above, born September 13, 1799, was twice married. His first wife was Deborah, daughter of Deacon Samuel Steele, of Sharon, and sister of Judge William Steele. Seven children were the issue of this marriage, viz. : William H., died at Burlington, Vt., Janu- ary 4, 1886; Charles D., died in St. Louis, Mo., July 8, 1848; Don Carlos, a graduate of Dartmouth, and one of the editors of the New Or- leans Bee, in which city he died, August 8, 1858 ; Ellen M., wife of J. H. French, living in Beloit, Wis .; Susan F., died aged three years; So- phia S., is Mrs. F. B. Powell, of Woodstock, Vt .; and Edward K. Harry married second, Adaline W. Thompson, by whom he had three children, viz .: Carrie E., Mrs. N. T. Ayers, living in New York City ; Harry G., died October 25, 1877; and Hattie A., living in New York City. Ed- ward K. received an academic education at Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, N. H .; studied medicine with Drs. Dixi and A. B. Crosby, of Hanover, N. H .; attended lectures at Dartmouth Medical College and at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York city, and gradu- ated at Dartmouth Medical College in 1864. He has been assistant physician at the Hartford, Conn., Insane Retreat, and at Sanford Hall, Flushing, L. I. Dr. Baxter has been superintendent of schools in Sha- ron, and also represented the town in the General Assembly of the State in 1886. He married Sarah S., daughter of Colonel Gardner and Susan (Steele) Burbank, who was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., September 4, 1842. . They have no children.

C OLLAMER, JUDGE JACOB, was born in Troy, N. Y., January 8, 1791, one of a family of three sons and five daughters. His father was of colonial English origin, his ancestors being among the earliest settlers of Massachusetts. His mother was colonial Dutch. His father

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BIOGRAPHICAL.

was a house carpenter. He moved from Troy to Burlington, Vt., when Jacob was about four years old, and there he spent the residue of his life. As Jacob advanced in boyhood, his instinctive impulses, encouraged by the faculty of the college (Vermont University), caused him to aspire to a place in those halls of learning, and he prepared for entrance, under the instruction of some members of the faculty, at so early an age as to be admitted in 1806, at the age of about fifteen and a half years. He was the youngest member of his class, save one, the late Hon. Norman Williams, who was about nine months the younger. The class consisting of seven- teen, graduated in 1810. On graduating, he commenced the study of law and pursued it in St. Albans, under Mr. Langworthy and Hon. Benja- min Swift, subsequently a senator from Vermont in Congress, and was admitted to the bar in 1813. In 1812 he was drafted into the detailed militia service, and served during the period of the draft as lieutenant of artillery in the frontier campaign. On being admitted to the bar, he visited Barre, in the hope of arranging a business connection with Den- nison Smith, then already established there as a young lawyer in suc- cessful practice. While there, an incident occurred which he used to re- late with a mirthful relish. Mr. Smith was to attend a justice trial in a neighboring town; young Collamer accompanied him, to avail himself of an opportunity to make his first argument in the trial of a cause. It was in the winter season. He wore a long surtout. In riding to the court they got upset, and Collamer's pants suffered such an unseemly rent that he was compelled to wear the surtout throughout the trial. In due time they left, and on getting to his quarters, he betook himself to his bed, while his friend Smith got the unfortunate breech repaired. With such a debut, he entered upon the career that bore him to the summit of profes- sional and public renown. Not making the proposed arrangement, he went to Randolph Center and opened an office, doing such professional work as he could get to do, and helping his income by collecting what is known as the United States' "war tax." In 1814 he was aide to General French and went forward with him and the forces under his command to join the army at Plattsburgh, arriving however in the evening just after the battle was over. Inducements presented themselves which led Judge Collamer to remove to Royalton, Vt, in 1816, and there he remained till April, 1836, when he removed to Woodstock to reside during the remainder of his

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HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.

life. In the early years of his professional life, he held the office of reg- ister of probate. On the 13th day of July, 1817, he was married at St. Albans, to Miss Mary Stone. He four times represented Royalton in the Legislature in the years 1821, 1822, 1827, and 1828. He was State's Attorney for the county of Windsor for the years 1822, 1823 and 1824. At the Commencement anniversary of his Alma Mater in 1828, he de- livered the oration before the Phi Sigma Nu Society, which was printed by order of the society. He was a member of the Constitutional Con- vention of January, 1836, which amended the constitution by creating the Senate as a branch of the Legislature. That amendment has ever been largely attributed to the ability and zeal with which he urged it. In 1833 he was elected one of the assistant judges of the Supreme Court. The bench was filled by Williams, Chief Judge Royce, Phelps, Collamer, and Mattocks. Judge Collamer remained on the bench till 1842, when he declined a re-election. On leaving the bench he opened an office and resumed the practice of the law in Woodstock, and did not entirely abandon it except while he was postmaster-general and circuit judge of Vermont, though after 1848 he did not hold himself out for general bus- iness, nor keep an open office. In November, 1843, he was elected a representative in Congress. After three elections the judge declined a fourth, closing his membership of the lower house of Congress with the 3d day of March, 1849. He was then selected for postmaster-general in General Taylor's cabinet, and held the office till the death of the presi- dent in July, 1850. In 1849 he was the first of her graduates to be hon- ored by his Alma Mater with the degree of Doctor of Laws. In 1855 he received the like honor from Dartmouth. On the breaking up of the Taylor Cabinet Judge Collamer returned home with his family, and by the Legislature that fall he was elected Circuit Judge, which office he held until he was elected Senator in Congress in October, 1854, to which office he was again elected in October, 1860. He was wearing his sen- atorial robes with ever increasing dignity and grace, till, on the evening of the 9th day of November, 1865, he

" Wrapped the drapery of his couch about him, And lay down to pleasant dreams,"

He died at his home in Woodstock. But few citizens of Vermont have been called to so many positions of trust and honor as was Jacob Colla-

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mer, and few, indeed, have performed such varied duties with stricter fidelity, with more marked ability, or reflected greater honor upon the State than he did. Some of her public men may have shone with a greater brilliancy, but none with a steadier or more enduring light. As lawyer and judge in Vermont, as representative of the State in both houses of the national legislative body, he easily ranked among the fore- most men of his time. In pursuance of an act of the Legislature of Ver- mont in 1872, a statue of Judge Collamer, executed by Preston Powers, son of Hiram Powers, (a native of Windsor county, Vt.) was placed in the National Statuary Hall at Washington, D. C. The only other citizen of Vermont having received a like honor from the State being that of General Ethan Allen. Mary (Stone) Collamer, wife of Judge Collamer, died at her residence in Woodstock. Vt., May 10, 1870. Three children of Judge Collamer are now living, viz .: Mrs. Harriet A. Johnson, widow of Eliakim Johnson ; Mrs. Mary C. Hunt, widow of Horace Hunt; and Frances Collamer. The four children who are deceased were Eliza- beth, twin sister of Mrs. Hunt; William, died unmarried ; Edward, and Ellen C., was the wife of Thomas G. Rice. His grandchildren living are Hon. William E. Johnson, of Woodstock, Mrs. Elizabeth C. Wood- ard, Louise L. Mckenzie, children of Mrs. Johnson ; Mary F. Collamer, daughter of Edward; Henry G. and Mary, children of Ellen C. Rice.

H ARRINGTON, EDWIN, was born in Stockbridge, April 4, 1825, the second in a family of eight children of Enoch and Lucinda (Da- vis) Harrington. His father was born in Pomfret, Vt., and died in Pitts- field, Vt., a farmer by occupation. His mother was the daughter of Joshua and Polly (Smith) Davis. She died in Barnard. They are bur-

ied in the Ranney burial-ground, Stockbridge. Their children were Maria, wife of Alexander Packard, died in Stockbridge; Edwin, Ste- phen, lives in Massachusetts; Martha, wife of Lyman Parmenter, died in Pittsfield, Vt .; Sherman C., farmer, resides in Gaysville; Almira, wife of Philander Packard, died in Stockbridge; Orwell, resides in Gays- ville, and Emma S. Woodard, resides in Bethel. Edwin Harrington passed his minority in Stockbridge, receiving his primary education in the district school, and completing a business education in a business college at Worcester, Mass. At the age of twenty he left home and went

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HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.

to Fitchburg, Mass., where he commenced to learn the machinist trade, remaining there one year. He continued to work at his trade, first at Clinton, Mass., then at Worcester, Mass., up to 1867. He then removed to Philadelphia, where he built up one of the most extensive machine manufactories in the country, employing in its different departments 250 men. A number of the machines manufactured were his own patents, such as portable hoists, overhead tramways, lathes, planes and drills. Mr. Harrington continued at the head of the business until 1889. In August of that year he received a stroke of paralysis, which compelled his withdrawal from active business, and from the effect of which he has not recovered. The business at Philadelphia is now carried on by his sons, under the firm name of Edwin Harrington, Sons & Co. In 1890 Mr. Harrington built a fine residence in Bethel, and makes his home there. He married, October 8, 1848, Mary E., daughter of Elihu and Lucy (Whitcomb) Holland. Mrs. Harrington was born in Stockbridge March 12, 1829. They have four children, viz .: Melvin H., born in Worcester, Mass., September 21, 1849, married, May 16, 1877, Mary E. Hobbs, of Worcester. They have three children, Allen H., Arthur M., and M. Helen. He is a partner in the firm of Edwin Harrington, Sons & Co. Edwin Leroy, born in Worcester, September 12, 1854, married Mary C. Jarden of Philadelphia, November 21, 1883; Mary Ella, born in Worcester, October 12, 1857. died in Philadelphia August 28, 1870, and Nellie Louise, born in Philadelphia, February 10, 1872, living at home.

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History of Windsor County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 86

Author: Aldrich, Lewis Cass. ed. cn; Holmes, Frank R Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Syracuse, N. Y., D. Mason & Co. Number of Pages: 1260

Author: Aldrich, Lewis Cass. ed. cn; Holmes, Frank R
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Syracuse, N. Y., D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 1260