USA > Vermont > Windsor County > History of Windsor County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 90
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so much can be said with truthfulness, that wherever in the State he sat for the trial of causes, he completely vindicated the executive action. He remained on the Bench about five years, when on account of pressing private business, he declined a re-election, to the unanimous regret of the Bar and the public. During the term of office he delivered several opinions of uncommon interest and importance. Notable was that of the Rutland Railroad case, an opinion conceded to be an honor to his legal and judicial attainments and ability. After his withdrawal from the Bench he lived in comparative retirement at Hartland, occupied with private business which claimed his immediate and personal attention. He was a member of the Vermont Board of Education, and rendered valuable and efficient service to the cause of common schools. Though not a blind partisan he took a living interest in politics. He was a dele- gate at large from Vermont to the Philadelphia Convention, which re- nominated General Grant, and took a leading part in formulating the platform of the party on that occasion, as a member of the committee on resolutions. Early in the winter of 1873 the Judge was prostrated with a severe attack of cold and inflammation of the throat, on account of which he went to New York city to procure the best medical skill and aid he could command. For a time it was thought he was improving, but in May following, a sudden change for the worse took place, and with a view of finding relief by change of climate, he went to Faribault, Minn., but the change brought no relief, and he died there on Sunday, July 13, 1874. Judge Steele married February 6, 1861, Martha, daughter of David H. and Wealthy (Thomas) Sumner, who was born May 19, 1840. Mary Hinman Steele and David Sumner Steele are the Judge's only children.
S TORY, DR. DYER. Captain Zechariah Story, the second son of Jeremiah Story, was born at Ipswich, Mass., in November, 1741. At an early age he went to sea as a cabin boy, and followed the sea till he be- came a captain of a West India merchantman. Finally, however, he mar- ried Susannah Low of Essex, Mass., and removed to Hopkinton, N. H., where he engaged in farming, and where the following children were born to him: Jemima, Isaac, Zechariah, Susannah, Charlotte, Mary, Asa, Samuel and Dyer. In the autumn of 1789 he removed with his family
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HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.
to Windsor, settling in the part of the town that was erected into the West Parish in 1793. Here he purchased 200 acres of land, twenty acres of which were improved and contained a log- house. This large farm he cleared, and after a time built a brick-house which was his home during .. the remainder of his life. He died May 12, 1831. Of Captain Story's sons, Isaac studied medicine in Westmoreland, N. H., practiced his pro- fession for two years in Windsor, Vt., and died of consumption Novem- ber 12, 1801. Zechariah died at the age of twenty-one years. Asa set- tled upon a portion of the home farm and died there at an advanced age. Samuel removed to the State of New York, where he died at the age of fifty-five years. Dr. Dyer Story, his youngest son, was born May 17, 1789. He received such common school education as the first settlers were enabled to give their children. He determined upon the study of medicine, and as a means to that end engaged in school teaching through the winter months. In the autumn of 1813 he completed his medical studies at Hanover, N. H., and in the following spring went to Bridge- water, Pa., where he practiced briefly in company with Dr. Dennison. Not liking the country, he soon went to Rushford, N. Y., where he re- mained for three years, having a large practice. In 1817 he was pros- trated by a severe illness which lasted three months, and upon recover- ing sufficiently to endure the journey, he determined upon a visit to his friends in Windsor. Here he was induced to settle permanently, living with his father upon the home farm for many years. In 1847 he built a house nearer Brownsville, which was his home during the remainder of his life. He died November 13, 1868, aged seventy-nine years, fifty of which had been in the practice of his profession. Dr. Story held various public offices, delivered addresses on public occasions and in 1846 and 1847 was a member of the Legislature.
He married, October 22, 1818, Susan, daughter of Martin and Sarah (Puffer) Lawrence, who was born August 17, 1797, and died October 29, 1878. Their children, all born in West Windsor, were Darwin R., Henry L., Susan L. and Charlotte M. Darwin R., born August 17, 1819, studied medicine with his father in 1854, settled at Proctorsville, Vt., where he has practiced his profession ever since; Henry L., born August 28, 1820, is a farmer in Windsor; an infant son born April 5, 1823, died the same day; Susan L., born September 8, 1824, married,
A LITTLE.
E Fallistors
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September 1, 1870, Royal L. Bayley; and Charlotte M., born April 5, 1832. The two latter reside in the village of Brownsville.
F ULLERTON, FREDERICK EUGENE, the youngest son of Na-
thaniel and Susannah (Norton) Fullerton, was born in Chester March 21, 1817. He obtained his education at the district schools of his native town and also attended Chester Academy and a school at Bel- lows Falls. On arriving at the age of twenty-one years he engaged in mercantile business in Chester and during his life was connected with the manufacture of cotton goods at Springfield, Vt., and of woolen goods at Cavendish, Vt. In politics he was originally a Whig, but affiliated with the Republican party upon its organization. He married Miss P. A. Wentworth, who was a native of Hancock, N. H., but at the time of her marriage a resident of Bellows Falls, Vt., and they had four children, viz. : Emma Maria, wife of Frederick W. Childs, of Brattleboro, Vt .; Grace Wentworth, wife of George F. Hadley, of Chester; Frederick Harvey, born April 25, 1855, died of heart disease March 28, 1864; and Susan Norton, wife of Henry G. Wiley, of Kearney, Neb. Mr. Ful- lerton died of pneumonia February 1, 1869, loved and respected by all that knew him.
S UMNER, DAVID HUBBARD. The principal family of the name. of Sumner in this country is traced back to I. Roger Sumner, of Bicester, Oxfordshire, England. He married Joanne Franklin and died in Bicester, December 3, 1608. II. William, his only son, born in Bi- cester, in 1605, married October 22, 1625, Mary West. He came to New England in 1636, and settled at Dorchester, Mass., and died there De- cember 9, 1688; his wife June 7, 1676. III. William, eldest of seven chil- dren of William and Mary, born in Bicester, married Elizabeth, daugh- ter of Augustine Clements, of Dorchester; was a mariner, moved to Bos- ton, and died there February, 1675. IV. Clement, the ninth child in a family of ten children born in Boston September 6, 1671, married May 18, 1698, Margaret Harris. V. Of their seven children, William was the eld- est, born at Boston March 18, 1699, married October 11, 1721, Hannah, daughter of Thomas Hunt, of Lebanon, Conn. He was a physician, and moved from Boston to Hebron, Conn., and in 1767 to Claremont, N. H.,
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where he died March 4, 1778; his wife April 2, 1781. VI. Benjamin, the ninth of eleven children of the above, born in Hebron February 5, 1737, married May 7, 1758, Prudence, daughter of David Hubbard, of Glaston- bury, Conn .; lived first at Hebron, moved to Claremont, N. H., where he died May 9, 1815 ; his wife died September 7, 1821.
Colonel Benjamin Sumner was a land surveyor, and a man of consid- erable wealth and prominent in the early history of Claremont. He took an active part in the controversy respecting the New Hampshire Grants. Of his thirteen children, David Hubbard was the ninth. He was born in Claremont, N. H., December 7, 1776. Having given a number of his sons a liberal education, it was the purpose of his father that he also should take a collegiate course, but after fitting for entrance to college he expressed a decided preference for mercantile life, and was accordingly placed in the store kept by the Lymans at White River, Vt., as a clerk. After some service there he commenced business for himself. In 1805 he married Martha Brandon Foxcroft, daughter of Dr. Francis Foxcroft, of Brookfield, Mass. She died in March, 1824, and left no children. Soon after this marriage Mr. Sumner removed from Claremont to Hart- land, Vt., and engaged in trade at that place. This business he contin- ued for many years, and with considerable success. During the War of 1812 a militia. company formed at Hartland, and much to his surprise Mr. Sumner was elected as their captain. In 1813 and 1814 he repre- sented Hartland in the State Legislature. He also served many years as justice of the peace. About 1814 he was appointed postmaster of Hartland, which office he retained for nearly twenty years. He was a Democrat during his entire life, but in the War of 1812 imbibed such a dislike of any factional opposition to an administration engaged in carry- ing on a war and upholding the national honor, that he could not oppose the war to suppress the rebellion, although he never confessed to any sym- pathy with the Republican party in respect to the matters out of which the rebellion sprang. Soon after coming to Hartland Mr. Sumner inter- ested himself in the development of the town by building roads, some of them at his own expense, also in bridging the Connecticut River between Hartland and Plainfield, and in establishing mills. The first bridge built by the company of which he was one of the incorporators, having been swept away by a freshet, Mr. Sumner, who had become its sole survivor,
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in 1841 completed another bridge which was destroyed in a freshet March 1859, after which time he maintained a ferry at that point. Mr. Sumner was one of the original incorporators of a company organized for the pur- pose of rendering the Connecticut River navigable at Water Quechee Falls, where canals and through locks were put in. Extensive mills were main- tained at the same point by Mr. Sumner for many years. The mills were lost by freshets, and a small portion of the old canal walls is nearly all that is now left to indicate what was once one of the busiest parts of the town. Mr. Sumner was largely interested in a company organized for the pur- pose of carrying on an extensive lumber and timber trade on the Con- necticut, the company owning for that purpose whole townships of land in New Hampshire and Vermont. In 1817 he purchased of the widow and heirs of the Royal Governor Benning Wentworth all the unsold lots of land in Vermont and New Hampshire known as the Governor's Rights. These lands were the 500 acre lots reserved by the governor to his own right in each charter of his New Hampshire grants. These lands being widely scattered, the purchase threw upon Mr. Sumner considerable labor, and the defence of them involved him in some litigation.
As a business man Mr. Sumner had great grasp of mind, was hope- ful, progressive, and quick to avail himself of all improved methods. He was strong in his personal attachment to his friends, and would never suffer them to be misrepresented in his presence. In personal address he was a gentleman of the old school, somewhat formal, dignified and precise, but at the same time affable, hospitable, and possessed of a keen relish for wit and humor. Thongh earnest in his business, and active in every legitimate effort to win success, he was still scrupulously consci- entious, and not only so lived as to preserve to himself the consciousness of rectitude but also so as to inspire others with entire confidence in his integrity. He was married to his second wife, Wealthy Thomas of Wind- sor, April 25, 1839. There were two children of this marriage, Martha, born May 19, 1840, widow of the late Judge Benjamin H. Steele, who owns and occupies the old homestead, and David H., jr., born Novem- ber 8, 1842. The son, after a brief illness, died August 18, 1867, but a short time before the death of his father, which occurred August 29, 1867. The death of his only son, who had already taken upon himself the responsibility of his father's affairs, and whose loss was deeply felt, not
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only by his relatives, but also by the public, undoubtedly hastened the death of the father. A few days after the funeral of the son the remains of the father were carried to the grave by the Masonic Fraternity of the vicinity, to whom he had been warmly attached in life, and among whom he had long stood as a senior member. The memory of Mr. Sumner is still green and fresh in the hearts of many with whom he labored, and whom his generous and hopeful energy encouraged in later life. His wife, Wealthy, died at her home in Hartland, February 7, 1887, a de- voted mother, a faithful friend, kind to the poor, unsparing in sympathy, whereby she attached to herself a large and delightful circle of friends. Her heart and hand were given to every good work.
D OWNER, CHESTER, was a very prominent and successful busi- ness man. No one probably was better known than he among the many people throughout the entire White River Valley, and no one more enterprising, or more closely connected with the financial and prop- erty interests of the community. His business transactions were largely connected with real estate, and it can safely be said that he owned in his life time more real estate than any other person in the county. Mr. Downer was one of the charterers of the Royalton National Bank; was one of the principal holders of the stock, and as president and director, was closely connected with the financial policy of the bank under the skilful and conservative managment of its several cashiers, William H. Baxter and Asa W. Kenney. Mr. Downer was also largely interested in the Gaysville Manufacturing Company at Gaysville, Vt. The busi- ness transactions of Mr. Downer were confined neither to the county or the State, for at an early day he was attracted to the State of Michigan by the chances offered for lucrative investment, and at a later day be- came largely interested in real estate in the city of Lansing. Mr. Dow- ner with his family removed to Boston, Mass., about 1880, where he made his home till the time of his death.
Joseph and Robert were the original settlers in America of the Dow- ner family. They were the sons of Robert Downer, of Wiltshire, Eng- land, by his wife, Hannah Vincent. These brothers settled at Newbury, Mass., about 1650, Robert removing soon after to Salisbury, Mass., where he married Sarah Eaton. They were both men of considerable
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
property, and were much respected by their fellow colonists, with whom they bravely shared the trials and hardships of the early colonial life.
Joseph married Mary, daughter of Deacon John Knight, July 9, 1660. Their children were Mary, born March 18, 1662; Joseph, born March 25, 1666; Andrew, July 25, 1672.
Joseph, son of Joseph and Mary Downer, married Hannah Grafton, about 1692. He died November 23, 1756, at Norwich, Conn., where he had moved with his family about 1706. She died at Norwich, Conn., Oc- tober 12, 1741. Their children were Joseph, born September 29, 1693 ; John, born March 15, 1695; Andrew, May 14, 1697; Samuel, born April 12, 1699; Richard, February 1I, 1702; Hannah, born Febru- ary 16, 1704; Benjamin, born February 24, 1706; Caleb, Edmond, John, Stephen, Mary, Elizabeth.
Andrew, son of Joseph and Hannah (Grafton) Downer, married Sarah Laselle, daughter of Joshua Laselle, of Windham, Conn, son of Thomas Laselle, and grandson of John Laselle, a descendant of an old Huguenot family. Their children were Sarah, born March 26, 1721; Hannah, born January 5, 1722; Eunice, born January 16, 1724; Andrew, born Janu- ary 30, 1726; Anne, born March 18, 1729; Benjamin, born May 12, 1731 ; Martha, born June 5, 1733; Joshua, born August 6, 1735 ; Zach- eus, born June 7, 1737; Mary, born November 20, 1739.
Andrew, of Norwich, Conn., son of Andrew and Sarah (Laselle) Dow- ner, married Mary Brown, of Windham, Conn., March 10, 1754. He and his family moved to Lebanon, N. H., about 1665, and not long there- after settled in Sharon, Vt. Their children were Zacheus, born Novem- ber 13, 1755 ; Jason, born December 21, 1756; Thomas, John, Frederic, Susan and Clara. Zacheus Downer resided for some time after remov- ing from Connecticut at Lebanon, N. H., but later removed to Utica, N. Y., with his family, where descendants of his are now living. Thomas Downer was a doctor and resided at Stowe, Vt., where some of his de- scendants are still living.
Jason, son of Andrew and Mary (Brown) Downer, married Esther West, daughter of Solomon West and Abigail Strong. He died at Leb- anon, N. H., September 15, 1841. Their children are Solomon, born June 13, 1784, died October 18, 1860; Anne, born August 18, 1782, married Ephraim Partridge; Erastus, born December 17, 1790, married
113
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HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.
Margaret Evans, died November 30, 1869. Erastus, by his wife Mar- garet, had three children : Esther, born May 7, 1814; Stephen West, born August 19, 1815; Ziba Alden, born December 4, 1825; all of whom, with their families, are living at Lansing, Mich.
Solomon, son of Jason and Esther (West) Downer, married December, 1 808, Martha, daughter of Asa and Martha (Hibbard) Huntington. She was born January 15, 1790, and was a descendant of Simon and Marga- ret (Barret) Huntington, who came from England in 1633, and settled at Norwich, Conn. Their children were Wooster, born December 2, 1809, died at Berlin, Vt., March 18, 1863; Jason, born September 9, 1813, died at Milwaukee, Wis., September 1, 1883 ; Chester, born June 29, 1819; Susan, who now resides at Lebanon, N. H .; Franklin, born Sep- tember 26, 1826, now living at Hixton, Wis .; Albert, born November 7, 1830, now living at River Falls, Wis .; Alice, born November 7, 1830, now living at Sharon, Vt. Jason Downer was a graduate of Dartmouth College. He settled at Milwaukee, Wis., in 1842, where he began the practice of law. In 1845 he became proprietor and editor of the Mil- waukee Sentinel. In 1864 he was elected to the bench of the Supreme Court for a term of six years. He had a large and lucrative practice, and accumulated a large fortune, which, on his death, he bequeathed mostly to charities.
Chester, son of Solomon and Martha (Huntington) Downer, was born at Sharon, Vt, June 29, 1819, and died at Brookline, Mass, February 18, 1890. He married, in 1863, Frances Elizabeth Shepard, daughter of Horace Shepard and Statira Baxter. Horace Shepard was a grandson of Squire Shepard, who came to Sharon in 1782, from Canterbury, Conn., and was a descendant of Ralph Shepard, who settled at Concord, Mass., about 1640. Statira Baxter was a daughter of Elihu Baxter and Triphena Taylor, who came to Norwich, Vt., from Norwich, Conn., about 1780, and was a descendant of Gregory Baxter, who came from England about 1635, and settled in Roxbury, Mass. The children of Chester and Frances Elizabeth Downer are Harriet Jenette, born Octo- ber 26, 1864, and Charles, born May 24, 1866.
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B UTLER, REV. FRANKLIN, eldest son of Bille Bishop and Sarah (Castle) Butler, was born in Essex, Vt., October 3, 1814. L. C. But- ler, M.D., and Stephen G. and A. M. Butler, Esqs., of Essex, and Rev. Henry E. Butler, of Keeseville, N. Y., were his brothers. Franklin Butler prepared for college at Jericho Center, entered the University of Ver- mont, and graduated in the class of 1836. After his graduation he be- came principal of Bradford Academy, where he remained three years. From Bradford he went to the Theological Seminary, Andover, from which he graduated in 1842. Upon his graduation he was invited to become pastor of the " Old South " Congregational Church, at Windsor, in 1842. He accepted the position and was pastor of that church until 1858, when he resigned. Shortly after this he became the New England agent of the American Colonization Society, in which position he continued for a number of years, when upon the sale of the Vermont Chronicle to L. J. McIndoe, and the termination of Rev. Nelson Bishop's connection with it in 1868, he became its editor, which position he held till the removal of the Chronicle to Montpelier in 1875. After the death of Mr. McIndoe he became one of the incorporators of the Journal Com- pany, and assisted in its editorial management, and at the time of his death was editor-in-chief of the Vermont Journal. Mr. Butler was for many years chaplain of the State Prison at Windsor. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1870. As an editor, Mr. Butler was impressed with the wide influence and great power of the press. He tried earnestly and successfully to contribute to the purity, the dignity, and the power of this potent agency. His grasp of the numerous ques- tions and topics of the day was clear and fine, his style of presenting them facile, terse and logical, his judgment carefully formed and conclusive. As a pastor, Mr. Butler was discreet, devoted and faithful, as a preacher discriminating and able ; and as a man and citizen unostentatious, and public spirited. He was regarded as a wise counsellor, and known to be a steadfast friend. He died at Windsor, May 23, 1880. He married, first, January 27, 1845, Mary, only daughter of ex-Governor Charles Cool- idge, of Windsor'; she died March 13, 1875. He married, second, Mrs. Abbie, widow of Lyman J. McIndoe, June 1, 1876. By his first wife one child, Carlos Coolidge Butler, was born, January 18, 1849, who married, first, January, 1875, Annie, daughter of Stephen G. and Sarah
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Butler of Essex, Vt. She died July 3, 1876. The only child by this union, Carlos Coolidge, was born March 9, 1876, died August, 1876. He married, second, November, 1877, Jennie, daughter of Edward H. and Percis C. (Stephens) Perkins, who was born in Windsor, Septem- ber 13, 1860. Carlos Coolidge Butler died in Atlanta, Ga., of consump- tion, March 29, 1883. The children of Carlos Coolidge and Jennie But- ler are the only descendants of Governor Coolidge. They are Alice Coolidge, born October 27, 1878; Walter Franklin, born October 15, 1879 ; and Annie Perkins, born August 8, 1881, died December, 1885.
OOLIDGE, GOVERNOR CARLOS, was born in Windsor, Vt., June 25,
C 1792. His genealogy is as follows: Richard, born in 1666, died October 23, 1732. His wife's name was Susanna. She died October 20, 1736, aged sixty-six years. Nathaniel, born in 1700, died 1766, married Grace, daughter of Nathaniel and Anne Bowman, and had five children, of whom Nathaniel, their eldest son, born December 7, 1728, married Dorothy Whitney, who died July 29, 1818, aged eighty-five years. He died December 24, 1773. They had six children, viz .: Susanna, Mary, Daniel, Nathaniel, Grace, and Nathan, father of Carlos, born December 6, 1766, married Betsey Curtis March 20, 1791; the latter was born May 2, 1760, died December 27, 1822. They had three children : Carlos, Mary, born October 15, 1793, died November 30, 1814, and Betsey, born No- vember 17, 1801, died October 26, 1874. Governor Carlos Coolidge was graduated from Middlebury College with honor, in a class that contained such men as the late Hon. Charles Davis, judge of the Supreme Court of Vermont, Judge Jacob Lansing of Albany, N. Y., Rev. Joel H. Linsley, D.D., of Greenwich, Conn., and others equally prominent. He read law at the outset with the Hon. Peter Starr of Middlebury, and completed his studies, preparatory to admission to the bar in Windsor county, with the late Hon. Jonathan H. Hubbard of Windsor. He commenced the practice of his profession in Windsor in 1814 and continued it for a period of more than fifty years. He was the recipient of many tokens of popular favor from citizens of his own county and State. He was State's attorney for the county of Windsor from 1831 to 1836, and representative from Wind- sor to the General Assembly from 1834 to 1837, and from 1839 to 1843. He was elected speaker of the House of Representatives in 1836 and from
LYMAN J. MCINDOE.
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1839 to 1842, in which capacity he presided with unsurpassed dignity and urbanity. He was elected governor of Vermont in 1848, and re- elected in 1849. He was Senator from Windsor county in 1854 and re- elected in 1855. He was one of the electors at large from Vermont ill 1844, who indicated their preference for Henry Clay as President of the United States. In 1849 he received from his alma mater, Middlebury College, the well earned compliment of the degree of LL. D. This brief recital of some of the responsible posts to which Governor Coolidge at- tained without solicitation on his part, gives a faint idea of the character and attainments of the man. Governor Coolidge was, par excellence, a Christian gentleman. In his private and public life he bore himself with - out ostentation, with remarkable urbanity towards all, and discharged every public and private trust with thoroughness and ability. He died in Windsor, August 15, 1866. The Governor married September 22, 1817. Harriet, daughter of Walter and Sarah (Gilbert) Bingham, born in Clare- mont. N. H., April 6, 1796, died June 6, 1877. They had two children, Mary and Harriet. The latter died June 5, 1831, aged five years. Mary, born June 29, 1818, married January 27, 1845, the Rev. Franklin Butler.
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