USA > Vermont > Windsor County > History of Windsor County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 87
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K ENNEY, ASA W., the youngest son of Zurishaddai and Rachel (Belding) Kenney, was born in Barnard, Vt., September 22, 1819. His father was a farmer, and in early life Asa W. followed that occupa- tion, having only the advantages of a common school till 1836 and two or three years thereafter, when he attended for short periods the acade- mies in Randolph, Royalton, and Montpelier. After this he studied law in Montpelier with George B. Manser and Ferrand F. Merrill, and was admitted to the Washington County Bar in 1840. Governor Paine ap- pointed him state librarian in 1839, which office he held about three years. He did not practice law, but was engaged in mercantile business several years. In August, 1859, he was chosen cashier of the Bank of Royalton, Vt., which position he retained in this bank, and the National
B B. Gillette
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Bank of Royalton, into which this bank was converted in 1867, till the National Bank went into voluntary liquidation in 1882. Since the last date he has been engaged in making loans at the West. He was married in 1873 to Mrs. Cornelia A. Gladding, of Waterbury, Conn. They have no children.
H ILL, GEORGE SPARHAWK, was born in Walpole, N. H., May 1822. He received a common school and academy education. In October, 1835, his father removed to Cavendish, and our subject was first employed in the woolen mills in that town. He afterwards was engaged as a clerk in the general store of Davis & Wheeler, and subsequently was in business for himself. In 1850 he went to California by the way of the Isthmus, but stayed there only a few months. Returning to Cavendish he became a partner in the firm of Carey, Hill & Wheeler, who carried on a general store in Proctorsville. Mr. Hill was elected January 15, 1856, cashier of the Bank of Black River, which office he filled till March 26, 1878, when he was elected president of the National Black River Bank. To the latter position he has been elected continuously. He has held various town offices, and has been town treasurer for the last twenty years.
G ILLETTE, BENNIE BURTON, was born in Hartford July 21, 1865. After attending the local schools of his native town, in 1881 he en- tered St. Johnsbury Academy, St. Johnsbury, Vt., to prepare himself for college. He attended the academy till 1884 and the same year com- menced his collegiate course at Dartmouth College, graduating in 1888. He early showed an interest in musical matters and during his youth re- ceived lessons on the piano and afterwards on the organ. When only fourteen years of age he was organist of the First Congregationalist Church at Norwich, Vt., afterwards at a church of the same denomina- tion at Hartford, Vt. For four years he was organist at St. Thomas Church of Hanover, N. H., and during this last year in college had charge of the organ in the college chapel. Among his instructors in music was Professor S B. Whitney of Boston and on finishing his college course he removed to Boston and still continues his studies under Professor Whit- ney. Mr. Gillette has been for the last two years organist and choir
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master of the Church of the Holy Trinity of Marlborough, Mass. In June, 1890, he passed the initiatory examination of the American Col- lege of Musicians, which meets annually in New York city, thereby ob- taining the degree of Associate of the College of Musicians.
B RUCE, CAPTAIN H. N., was born in Pomfret June 29, 1836. His grandfather, Jesse Bruce, emigrated from Scotland, and settled in Sheldon, Franklin county, Vt., and died in Pomfret. He had three chil- dren who reached adult age, viz .: Selah, went when young to Cumber- land, Me., and it is not known what became of him; Rosamund, married, first, a Mr. Doton, second, Ebenezer Winslow, died in Pomfret, and Mrs. Samuel Weeden, of East Bethel, is her only surviving child; and Harvey, the father of Captain Bruce. Harvey was born in Sheldon, Vt., May 17, 1794. He married January 3, 1819, Betsey Doton, born in Pomfret December 24, 1799. Their children were Adaline, born No- vember 1, 1819, wife of James Winn, died in Windsor, Vt., in 1863; Va- leria, born February 26, 1830, died July 8, 1835; Elmina, born Aug- ust 17, 1831, married, first, Edward M. Patridge, second, Hannibal Tot- man, and died February 3, 1891, in Woodstock, leaving three children by her first husband, Edward Bruce and Lucien Bruce of New England City, N. D., and Herbert A. of Weston, Vt. ; Harvey N., born April 22, 1829, died March 11, 1831; and Harvey N., subject of this sketch. Har- vey, the father, died in Pomfret July 4, 1854; his wife there August 3, 1863. Captain Bruce received his education in the district schools of Pomfret, and at the Green Mountain Liberal Institute at South Woodstock where he fitted for college. He made surveying a special study and prac- ticed under Hosea Doton, the celebrated teacher of Pomfret. The death of his parents and the coming on of the war prevented the carrying out of his design of entering college. He was a member of the Woodstock Light Infantry at the breaking out of the war and he enlisted for three months in that company as corporal, April 20, 1861. He was promoted ser- geant and received his discharge in the August following. He was com- missioned by Governor Frank Holbrook third lieutenant of the same company July 17, 1862. August 27, 1862, he enlisted as private in Company G, Sixteenth Vermont Regiment, and was elected its captain September 4, 1862, and served in that capacity until the expiration of
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his term of enlistment. He received his discharge August 10, 1863. In the fall of the same year he was elected representative in the Legis- lature from Pomfret, and was re-elected in 1864. He was sitting in that body at the time of the St. Albans "raid," and when on receipt of the news a company of one hundred of the members was raised in two hours to go to its relief, Captain Bruce was elected first lieutenant of it. He was wounded by a shell in the left breast, at Berlin, Md., after the battle of Gettysburg. He receives a pension, on account of an injury to the spine, received while employed in the repair of railroad bridges. He
married, first, September 10, 1863, Jane A., daughter of Daniel Tinkham of Pomfret. They had two children, viz .: Mary, wife of Winifred Per- kins, a farmer living in Barnard. They have three children: Robert Bruce, William Henry and J. Neuville. Isadore T., wife of Harry V. Wakefield, a merchant in North Danville, Vt. They have two chil- dren, Helen May and Bruce Varney. Captain Bruce married second, Abbie M., daughter of Paul and Adaline (Gale) Crowell. Mrs. Bruce was born in Barnard. Captain Bruce owns and carries on the Bruce homestead in Pomfret, also the Crowell homestead in Barnard. He has been justice of the peace, selectman and town superintendent of schools in Pomfret. He is an ex-commander of the G. A. R. Sheridan Post at Woodstock and George J. Stannard Post, Vermont City, South Dakota. With the exception of about four years in Vermont City, South Dakota, and New England City, North Dakota, he has been a resident of Vermont. He traveled much in the Northwest as a commit- tee to select a site for a colony of old soldiers, where they could get their government land and found a town. The selection was made in South Dakota, fifty miles east of the Missouri river, and the place was named Vermont City and is now a fine farming and railroad town. Af- terwards, at the solicitation of many other would-be settlers, he selected the site for New England City, on the Cannon Ball river, 110 miles west of the Missouri, in the southwest part of North Dakota. As manager, and in connection with others, he established a thriving colony in that fine valley. The death of Judge Gay and Colonel Mead, of the direc- tors, leaving the majority in the hands of speculative Boston directors, Captain Bruce withdrew and came back to Vermont to reside.
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L EMMEX, WILLIAM HENRY, was born in Demarara, British Gu- iana, South America, September 7, 1805. Henry Elliott Lemmex, his father, a native of Ireland, came to Boston, where he married Eliza- beth Lord, a sister of Captain Robert Lord, who was for many years a res- ident of Windsor, Vt., and died there. Soon after his marriage, Henry El- liott went to South America where he purchased the Hibernia estate, a very extensive property, and here all of his children were born. The follow- ing are the children who reached adult age: Jean, was the wife of James Marsh, of Boston, and died in Windsor ; William Henry; Harriet, was the wife of A. G. Hatch, who was for twenty-four years postmaster of Windsor, Henry Lemmex Hatch, of Chicago, and Mrs. N. P. Lovering, of Boston, are her only surviving children, and her daughter, Mary Ellen, was the wife of James Gardner of Boston, and died in Boston; John, died at New Orleans, during an absence from home, and Mary, died in Bos- ton aged eleven years. Henry Elliott Lemmex died at Halifax, Nova Scotia, while on a journey to the States from South America. His wife survived him about thirty years. She died in Windsor in 1844. As her children reached school age, she brought them from South America to the States to place them in school, making for that purpose fourteen ocean voy- ages in sailing vessels. William Henry was five years old when he was brought to the States and placed in school at South Reading, Mass. When nine years of age, he attended Captain Dunham's school at Wind- sor, Vt. His next school was the Kimball Union Academy, at Meriden, N. H., and finally the Norwich University, at Norwich, Vt. His first business engagement was as clerk in the store of Benjamin Bugbee, of Randolph, Vt., where, in the person of Mr. Bugbee's niece, he first met his future wife. At the age of twenty-one he opened a store in company with a Mr. Bixby, in Windsor, the firm becoming Lemmex & Bixby. After three years he sold his interest and removed to Hartland, where he carried on a store and woolen manufactory for fifteen years. About the year 1844, he purchased the woolen factory at Bridgewater and in 1848 moved there. In 1866 he sold out to L. C. White, and retiring from active business, returned to Windsor. He died there May 17, 1876. Mr. Lemmex was one of the most prominent of the early manufacturers of Vermont, and was respected in business circles alike for his progressive ideas and sound judgment, as well as for his strict honor and integrity.
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He was by nature calculated to be a leader among men, and this trait was well shown by his influence over the men in his employ, whom he managed with the least possible friction. Ever ready to help the poor and unfortunate with counsel and with substantial aid, he raised in their minds a juster estimate of true Christian manhood. Socially, he was a gentleman of the old school. Quiet, dignified and reserved in general society, he was at his best with his near friends and in his home, where the finest qualities of his heart and mind shone forth, rendering him a most entertaining companion, and the home, brightened by his presence and that of his genial and hospitable wife, a delightful place. He was a member of the Hartland Congregational Church, and afterward of the same church in Woodstock, until the Congregational Church in Bridge- water was organized, in the founding of which he was largely instru- mental, and was finally a member of the old South Church in Windsor. A Republican in politics, though not an aspirant for political office, he served one term in the Legislature as representative of the town of Bridgewater. He married, June 28, 1828, Elvira, daughter of William Warner, and grand-daughter of William, who was brother of Colonel Seth Warner, and an officer with the latter under General Ethan Allen. Mrs. Lemmex was born in Hartford, Vt , July 18, 1808, and died February 29, 1876. They had four children, viz .: Harriet Elizabeth, born March 25, 1829, married Jason B. Pierce. She resides in Alleghany, Pa., with her only surviving child, William Lemmex Pierce. Mr. Pierce was gradu- ated from Dartmouth College in 1880, and is now practicing as an attor- ney in patents in Pittsburgh, Pa. He has two children, Elizabeth Denny and William Henry Lemmex. Elvira Jane, died aged two years. Ellen Maria, born July 11, 1833. is the wife of the Rev. Henry M. Morey, a Presbyterian clergyman residing in Ypsilanti, Mich. Mr. Morey was born March 3, 1837, at West Bloomfield, N. Y., and was graduated at Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., in 1861, and at the Theological Seminary at Princeton, N. J., in 1865. They have two children, Alice Elvira and Jean Lemmex. Mary Elliott, born May 5, 1844, married July 26, 1866, first, Silas A. Smith, of Malone, N. Y., who died March 3, 1867. She married, second, Colonel Milton Kendall Paine, who was born in Boston August 15, 1834. Colonel Paine has been one of the leading manufacturing chemists and pharmacists of the State, but at
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present is retired from business. The colonel is well known as a promi- nent member of the Masonic fraternity. Colonel and Mrs. Paine reside at Windsor. They have no children.
F ULLAM, HON. SEWALL, of Ludlow, was descended from Hon. Francis Fullam who, at the age of fourteen years, came from his na- tive place, (Fulham's Place) near London, England, to Watertown, Mass., in the year 1683. He became prominently identified with the interests of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and was for many years Judge of the Superior Colonial Court ; and also Superintendent of the Natick Ind- ians, and for seventeen years occupied a seat in the Colonial Legislature. He had one son, named Jacob, whose son Francis was the father of Timothy, who was one of the early settlers of the town of Cavendish, Vt. Timothy had two sons, one of whom, Sewall, was the father of the subject of this sketch. He was for eleven years a preacher in the Meth- odist Church, and after that period united with the Free Will Baptists. He married Mehitable Harris, who also traced her ancestry to the Hon. Francis Fullam, as the latter's daughter married Nathaniel Harris, who was Mrs. Fullam's , great grandfather. By this marriage there were six children, of whom Sewall was the eldest, and was born in Cavendish, Vt., April 7, 1799. His early life was spent in his native town, and in Reading, Vt., where his father removed, having only the advantages of the local schools in which to obtain an education. For the means of obtaining a livelihood he apprenticed himself to learn the trade of car- penter. Having a fondness for books, he became a great reader, and his leisure hours were spent in study, and being endowed with a reten- tive memory, he thereby accumulated a greater store of practical knowl- edge than the majority of men obtain. Mr. Fullam having a personal acquaintance with Judge Reuben Washburn, he borrowed from him law books, and by diligent study at home, soon made himself so proficient that he was able to meet in legal debate any of the brethren of his chosen profession. He became a resident of Ludlow, April 16, 1828, and besides being engaged at his trade, devoted more or less of his time to legal business until 1836, when he became a member of the Windsor County Bar. From this time until his death, November 26, 1876, he continued to reside in Ludlow, and was one of the most prominent mem-
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bers of the bar of his native county, having as his colleagues such men as Judge Jacob Collamer, Hon. Andrew Tracy, of Woodstock, and Hon. Asa Aiken, of Windsor. Mr. Fullam was a man of imposing appear- ance, being five feet, eleven inches in height, and of average weight of 222 pounds. He represented Ludlow in the State Legislature from 1834 to 1841 inclusive, and a number of sessions was chairman of the Judici- ary Committee; was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1843, State's Attorney in 1842-43, 1847-48. Mr. Fullam was married November 17, 1825, to Miss Eunice Howe Goddard, of Reading, Vt., and their family consisted of five children, viz .: Elizabeth Goddard, wife of Ervin J. Whitcomb, of Ludlow; Candace Lucretia, widow of Rev. J. O. Skinner, a Universalist minister, residing at Waterville, Me .; Volney Sewall, Benoni Buck, and Eunice Victoria, wife of Marcus A. Spaulding, of Ludlow.
S 'LACK, COLONEL WILLIAM H. H., was born in Springfield, Vt., February 21, 1844, and is the eldest child in a family of six children of John A. and Mary A. (McAllister) Slack. After attending the dis- trict schools he finished his education at the Springfield Wesleyan Acad- emy. His father was engaged in farming, and his boyhood was spent on his father's farm. At the age of eighteen he enlisted as a private in Company E, Sixteenth Vermont Regiment, being mustered out of the United States service in the fall of 1863. Previous to his enlistment he had commenced to learn the trade of machinist with his father, who was then engaged with Parks & Woolson. On returning from the seat of war he continued his trade, and remained in the employ of the above company till 1870. In the latter year he commenced, at his present lo- cation, the manufacture of shoddy and flocks; he has also been en- gaged in many of Springfield's successful enterprises. Mr. Slack has al- ways taken great interest in G. A. R. affairs, and was the first commander of the Jarvis Post No. 43, and has been honored by appointments from two commander-in-chiefs of that order ; was appointed aide-de-camp with the rank of colonel on Major William Warner's staff, and assistant inspector-general on Colonel Wheelock Veazey's staff. In politics Mr. Slack has always been a worker in the Republican ranks, and has been called upon by his fellow-citizens to fill positions of trust; was the rep-
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resentative from Springfield in the Legislature of 1888, and was chair- man of the committee on military affairs during that session. He is aide-de-camp on the staff of Governor Carroll S. Page. He has three sons, Harry C., Walter W., and J. Milton.
'REEN, DR. ISAAC, was born in Leicester, Mass, March 11, 1759. UT He descends the sixth generation from Thomas,1 born in England about 1606, emigrated in 1635 or 1636, lived in Ipswich till 1649 or 1650, moved to Malden, Mass., selectman there in 1658, married, first, Elizabeth -, the mother of all his children, second, Mrs. Frances Cook. He died December 19, 1667. Of his ten children, Thomas,2 the second child, born in England about 1630, married Rebecca Hills about 1653, resided in Malden and died February 13, 1671. His widow died June 6, 1674. Of their five children, Captain Samuel,3 born Octo- ber 5, 1670, married about 1692 Elizabeth Upham, resided in Malden till about 1717, when he removed to Leicester, of which town he was one of the original founders. Greenville, a village in the south part of the town, is named in honor of him. He died January 2, 1735, his wife in 1761. Of their eight children, Rev. Thomas,4 only son of Captain Samuel, born in Malden in 1699, married Martha Lynde January 13, 1725. He first studied medicine and practiced with great success. He afterwards became a preacher in the Baptist denomination and was or- dained pastor in 1736 of a church in South Leicester. He died August 19, 1773 ; his wife June 20, 1780. Of their seven children, Thomas,5 their fourth child, born in Leicester in 1733, married, first, Hannah Fox of Woodstock, Conn., second, Anna Hovey of Sutton. Of his ten children, Dr. Isaac,6 the subject of this sketch, was the third child. He was a soldier in the war of the Revolution and in the suppression of Shay's rebellion and received a pension. He moved to Windsor, Vt., in 1788, and nearly or quite one hundred years ago built what is known as the " Green Mansion," one of the best preserved houses in Windsor village. On the same lot and nearer the main street, in 1804 he built the first brick building in Windsor, and occupied it as a store for many years. His trade throughout Vermont and on the New Hampshire side in medi . cines, largely imported, was quite extensive. He had also an extensive practice in his profession as a physician. The Doctor accumulated, for
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his time, a handsome fortune, but lost heavily by the failure of the old Windsor Bank, of which he was a director from its commencement. In his religious belief he was a Unitarian. During the later years of his life he withdrew from the active practice of his profession and from the active conduct of business. Dr. Green was truly a gentleman of the old school, a man of great self-control, industry, prudence and sagacity, shrewd, but honest, in all business matters, and very systematic. He married in Boston, January 1792, Ann, second daughter of Judge Sam- uel and Elizabeth (Salisbury) Barrett, who was born in Boston January 4, I774. He died at the homestead in Windsor April 16, 1842; his wife died there March 19, 1847. They are buried near the homestead in the old South Church burial ground. Their children, born in the old home- stead, were (1) Samuel Barrett, born December 1792, died February 9, 1793 ; (2) Elizabeth Salisbury, born May 17, 1794, died February 18, 1812; (3) Charlotte Eloise, born May 17, 1796, married, August 4, 1818, Robert Emmett Temple of Rutland, Vt., where he died, October 6, 1834. She survived him more than fifty years, a woman remarkable for intelligence and strength of character, widely and familiarly known as Madame Temple, dying May 13, 1887. Their children were George Green, died in Texas June 12, 1848 ; Charles, died in Wisconsin Febru- ary 13, 1858 ; Helen Augusta, died March 2, 1854; Ann E., died in infancy, and William Granville, Admiral U. S. N., now residing in Washington. (4) Dr. George Barrett (see sketch on page 868 of this work) ; (5) Harriet Sophia, born February 1801, died July 31, 1802 ; (6) Charles Gustavus, born September I, 1803, married Susan Bigelow, daughter of Hon. Abijah Bigelow of Worcester, Mass., November 7, 1831. He studied medicine, practiced his profession in Boston from 1826 to 1830, when he returned to Windsor, but 1844 removed again to Boston, where for many years he kept a drug store on Washington street ; he went to the war as surgeon and died while in the service, and is buried in Worcester, Mass. Their children were both born in Windsor, Vt, Charles, September 7, 1833, died the same day, and Eli- zabeth Bigelow, born August 18, 1837, is a well-known artist in Bos- ton. (7) Caroline Frances, born September 26, 1811, married, July 31, 1832, Hon. Moses M. Strong, a lawyer living in Mineral Point, Wis.
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REEN, DR. GEORGE BARRETT, was born in Windsor, Vt., UT April 14, 1798, the fourth in a family of seven children of Dr. Isaac and Ann (Barrett) Green. (For genealogy see article under the name of Dr. Isaac Green, page 866). George Barrett Green was a life-long resident of Windsor, Vt. He fitted for college with the Rev. Mr. Chapin of Woodstock and entered Middlebury College, but did not graduate, though he received the degree of A. M. in 1857. He began the study of medicine with his father, but never entered upon the practice of the profession, though he was always called "Doctor Green." He manu- factured and sold on a large scale the celebrated " Oxygenated Bitters," of which his father, together with himself, were the proprietors. He also carried on a general dry goods trade in company with Joseph D. Hatch, of the firm of Green & Hatch, for a number of years. He married first, November 9, 1829, Mary Hatch, daughter of Darius and Elizabeth B. (Hatch) Jones. She died August 3, 1840, in Manchester, Vt., while on a visit to her sister. He married second, January 3, 1854, Mrs. Hannah Adams Deane, only daughter of the Hon. Chester Baxter, of Sharon, Vt. ; she died August 1860. His children, all by the first marriage and all born in Windsor, were :
(1) Ann Elizabeth, born August 28, 1830, married, September 28, 1879, George Wardner (see biographical sketch on page 871).
(2) Isaac, born May 13, 1832, married, September 22, 1853, Frances Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Joseph Denison and Frances Spooner (Forbes) Hatch, a merchant and at one time mayor of Lacon, Illinois. He was a soldier in the War of the Rebellion, enlisting in Company A, Eighth Regiment of Minnesota Volunteers ; he died suddenly, June 17, 1863, in Red Wing, Minn., and is buried there. His wife died June 17, 1860, in Windsor. Their children were, (a) George Baxter, born and died in Lacon, Ill., April 1855; (b) Frances Hatch, born August 21, 1856, in Lacon, Ill., died there February 1857 ; (c) Mary Hatch, born in Windsor, August 31, 1857, married, September 11, 1879, Dr. William Reid Prime, eldest son of Dr. Thomas Merrill and Amity (Paige) Prime of Knowlton, Quebec, Canada. He was born in Fairfield, Vt., Octo- ber 17, 1857, graduated from McGill Medical College, Montreal, and the University Medical College, New York, in 1859. They now reside in Burlington, Vt., and their children are, Mary Frances, born in Man-
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