History of Windsor County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 92

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 92

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HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.

and back on foot, a distance of 300 miles. Soon closing his career as a teacher, he settled down to farming and this continued the chief occupa- tion of his life. He followed the occupation with unwearied industry and zeal, and was amply rewarded in the general success that attended his labors. It was a frequent remark with him that the man who man- aged his own affairs well might be safely intrusted with the management of other people's affairs. This principle the community in which he lived appreciated and they applied it to his own case. Varied and numerous were the duties he was called upon to perform in the public behalf, du- ties he did not shrink from, however thankless the work might be at times. John Porter's motto in all cases was this: "If a thing was worth doing at all it was worth doing well." In living up to this principle, he showed true greatness of mind. The same care and attention he gave to all branches of his work were also exhibited in the transaction of such official and political duties as were intrusted to him. Beginning as an original stockholder in the Bank of Woodstock, organized in 1832, when the old bank gave place to the Woodstock Bank in 1847, he was elected one of the directors. This position he held to the end of his life and dur- ing all the time, he very rarely missed a meeting of the directors. In his political preferences he was a Whig, and was for many years a member of the Whig State Committee. He was elected to represent the town of Hartford in 1840 and for the two succeeding years. For the next two years he was elected one of the Senators from Windsor county, and in 1845 was again sent to Montpelier as representative, and again in 1848 and 1849. In 1850 he was elected Judge of Probate for the district of Hartford, holding this office till the time of his death, which took place the 12th of November, 1886. His duties as Judge of Probate he dis- charged with the same unvarying industry and ability that characterized his work in all other fields of labor to which he was called. When the Republican party was organized he became a zealous member of that party, and in 1856 was appointed one of the presidential electors for Ver- mont. In 1858 he was appointed a commissioner together with Norman Williams and George P. Marsh to prepare a plan for building the present State House and to superintend its construction. A few words in con- clusion may be permitted, though words can add little to the record of such a life as John Porter lived. That record is set down in the acts and

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doings of a long life of faithful work. It is known and read of all men. It exhibits him as a man of remarkable industry, of strict integrity, of sound and discriminating judgment; carefully fulfilling his obligations to others and exacting from others the same measure in return; under prov- ocations manifesting great forbearance; in his speech and general deport- ment bearing a directness and simplicity of manner that comported with his substantial character and solid worth. John Porter was married on the 30th day of May, 1831, to Jane Frances, daughter of Fordyce Foster, of Hartford. Six children were the fruit of this union, of whom two died in infancy. The oldest son, John F., after he was graduated from Dart- mouth College in 1855, moved to Troy, N. Y., where he adopted the legal profession, of which he was an able and honored member. He died at the old homestead at Quechee in the summer of 1885. Three children still survive, namely: Jennie F., widow of the late Charles T. Smith of Colchester, Conn .; Louisa A., wife of John H. Denison of New Bedford, Mass; and Charles W., engaged in the practice of law at Mont- pelier, formerly Secretary of State of Vermont.

T TRACY, HON. ANDREW. Thomas Tracy, the grandfather of An- drew, came from Windham, Conn., to Hartford, Vt., in 1776. He had a sonJames who was born in Windham, January 28, 1760, and on October 22, 1795, married Mercy Richmond, of Barnard. She was born in Taunton, Mass., June 15, 1772. Of their family of five children, An- drew, the second child, was born in Hartford, December 15, 1797. He attended the academies in Royalton and Randolph, and decided to study a profession rather than follow his father's occupation of a farmer. Hav- ing completed the preparatory studies, he entered Dartmouth College, where he remained two years. At this time his intimate friend, Leonard Marsh, who was a classmate, withdrew from the college on account of trouble with his eyes. Mr. Tracy, preferring not to be separated from his friend, left college at the same time. The two went to New York State, where for two years he taught school in Troy. In September, 1822, at the request of his father he returned to Hartford, and became a student in the law office of George E. Wales, and in 1826 was admitted to the bar. He first practiced his profession in Quechee village, but he soon became interested in politics and was elected a member of the Leg-

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Chelmsford, Mass. He began clearing the thick growth of timber and burning it to ashes, which he converted into potash and pearlash, which with the wheat raised on the land, he took to Boston market, in winter, at first with his oxen ; he had been accustomed to the market when a boy. The soil was very productive and he soon added more land to the first, and became noted for raising beef and pork, butter and cheese for market-one pair of fat oxen he would sell with the load and drive one pair back, drawing salt and the necessary equipments for farm work; later he went with horses. He employed a good deal of help; no weeds were suffered to grow. His crops were heavy, especially corn; he would have it hoed three times. Two bears at one time were killed on an ash tree in his cornfield. His farm very nearly supplied his table; he never bought a pound of flour. When the Hessian fly or weavel destroyed the spring wheat he had enough in store to last a year or more until he could raise a crop of winter wheat ahead of the destroyer. The wheel and loom had a place in his home. ] His wife was lame many years from a broken hip, and received the tenderest care. The chaise, for her ease, early took the place of the common wagon. She lived eighty-one years, sixty-two as his companion, a real helpmeet; together they met losses and trials with fortitude and resignation. For himself a physician was never called until his final failure from apoplexy, when past ninety-two years of age. Debts were incurred in buying land, etc., but he never failed to make a payment when due. He could waste nothing, but was liberal to the needy, and as prosperity came he was able to furnish aid to many. Though interested and active for the public welfare, he re- fused office except as lister for many years. He was one of the building committee for the brick meeting-house, a town interest at the center, now standing as an old landmark, pointing its tall spire to the better country, and one of those who paid liberally toward building and salary as a just debt, a personal privilege, and a public benefit. Their record is on high, their example a valuable legacy. Calvin, eldest child of John, born Sep- tember 2, 1792, married Melinda Whipple, of Weathersfield, and settled in Berlin and Montpelier, where he was deacon of the Congregational Church, and both died in old age, one daughter, Mrs. Alida Woodbury, surviving. Sally, eldest daughter of John, married Elisha Swift of Weath- ersfield, and settled in Haverhill, N. H. Luther, third child of John, born

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May 5, 1796, went to Haverhill, N. H., in 1817, purchasing land in the eastern part of the town, and married Martha Niles, daughter of Amasa and Martha (Fairbanks) Niles, of Haverhill. He became engaged in the lumber trade, running several mills at different points, employing many hands and teams conveying the lumber by raft or otherwise from North- ern New Hampshire to Hartford, Conn., where he owned a landing and yard, also one at Saybrook. His purposes were broken off at the age of forty-two, February 22, 1838; his disease was lung and typhus fever. He and his wife were members of the Congregational Church at Haver- hill, where his three children were baptized in infancy. She died in 1830, aged thirty-five. He after that joined the North Church in Hart- ford, Conn. The three children found a home at their grandfather's in Weathersfield. The daughter Martha was there married June 17, 1839, to Rev. T. D. Southworth, and is now a widow living in Springfield, Vt. Nathaniel, fourth child of John, was born March 3, 1799, and always lived in town, in the same house his father first built, who had moved to one on a farm adjoining in 1817. His first wife was Fannie Haskell, of Weathersfield. They had three children : Franklin Haskell Warren, of Rock Island, Ill., and Ellen, who married Henry Knight, of Hancock, N. H., only survived him. His fourth wife had children by a former marriage, and survived him many years. He was a deacon in the church, and died April 7, 1878. George, fifth child of John, born April 26, 1804, married Arathusa Niles, of Haverhill, N. H., where he settled on a farm. They both died in March, 1860. Four daughters are living having chil- dren and grandchildren. Amanda, youngest child of John, (except one named John, who died in infancy,) born February 7, 1809, married Ed- son Chamberlin, a life-long resident of Weathersfield. They had one daughter, who with her husband and two children died before them. They bought her father's farm after his death, where they had lived to take care of the parents in their last days. He was many years one of the selectmen, especially active during the war of the Rebellion. His age was seventy three. She survived him, and died at seventy-six years. Luther Proctor, second child of Luther, was born in Haverhill, N. H., February 12, 1824. At six years of age he came to Weathersfield to live with his grandparents, attending the district school and working on the farm. He has lived in town fifty years in all, sixteen in other places,

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and thirty on the farm he now owns. He keeps twenty cows, patronizes the Springfield creamery, has a herd of young growing cattle, and quite a flock of fine wool sheep. He was married in 1846 to Miss Louise Bar- rett, daughter of Charles Barrett, esq. They had five children: Mar- tha L., wife of Charles F. Whipple, of Weathersfield; Mary, died when fourteen years of age; Charles B., died at eighteen years of age ; Jen- nie A., is a professional nurse in Boston, Mass .; and Hattie F., wife of Frank Ely, of Weathersfield. Mr. Warren married, second, Mary E. Mat- tison, of Springfield. Charles Pinckney, third son of Luther, was born in Haverhill, N. H., March 3, 1829, married Mary Elliott, of Haverhill, where he owned a farm, and seven children were born. His wife died in 1866. One son had died in infancy. He came to Weathersfield to live at last in 1876, on the farm where his grandfather died, it never hav- ing left the family. His second wife, Mrs. Sarah M. Smith, of Haver- hill, died April 25, 1886. Two grown daughters, Mary and Lettie, are with him; the eldest, Roxie L., married Dr. G. E. Davis, of San Fran- cisco, Cal .; M. Alice, is the wife of Dr. F. A. Smith, of Springfield; Hat- tie F., married William B. Page, of Haverhill, N. H .; one son is in Brat- tleboro Asylum.

W ARDNER, ALLEN, son of Frederick and Rebecca (Waldo) Wardner, was born at Alstead, N. H., the 13th of December,

I786. He died at Windsor, Vt., the 29th of August, 1877. When he was about twelve years of age his father moved with his family from Alstead to Reading, Vt., to the farm located on what has since been known as " Wardner Hill." Young Allen did not remain on the farm many months, but soon left home for Windsor, then an important trad- ing-center, to enter business in the employ of Dr. Green. He served Dr. Green for a number of years, until longing for a more ambitious career, he determined to apply for a cadetship at West Point. He ac- cordingly started for Washington. This trip at that time was no ordi- nary undertaking, especially for a lad who was unused to traveling. His was a long and toilsome journey, and disappointing in its result, as, owing to party politics, the friends who had promised to aid him in securing the appointment were unable to do so. Years after, in a de- lightful letter to one of his daughters, Mr. Wardner narrated his advent-

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ures in that arduous expedition. Although he failed in his errand to Washington, he later obtained admission to the academy through the influence of one of the professors. He remained at West Point but a year. His old friend, Dr. Green, had found him a most valuable assist- ant, and was so anxious for him to return to Windsor, and offered him such a good position, that, after much hesitation, he resigned from the academy, and came to make Windsor his permanent home. Dr. Green soon took him into partnership, and the firm of Green & Wardner become well-known as a prosperous concern. After Dr. Green had became an old man and had retired from business Mr. Wardner took his brother Shubael into the establishment, which then took the name of A. & S. Wardner.

Mr. Wardner was one of the promoters of the old State Bank of Windsor, and of its successor the Ascutney National Bank, an institution which long was an honor to the town. He was a leader in the building of the great mill-dam at the south end of the village, and in organizing the Ascutney Mill- dam Company. In fact, in all the enterprises of the town which partook of a public nature, he was one of the foremost workers. He continued in active business until shortly after the death of his wife, which occurred in 1841. The loss of his wife was a terrible blow to him, and he never afterwards seemed to have the heart to en- gage actively in the various pursuits in which he was interested. He left the management of his affairs entirely to his son, the late Henry Wardner, in whom he had unbounded confidence. On retiring to his home he spent the remainder of his life in leisure, devoting much of his time to reading and study. But this last is not true of his old age only, for he was always a great reader from the time he left school. Mr. Wardner was a man of gentlemanly speech and manners. He was very exact in his pronunciation and use of words; he wrote fluently, and the old-fashioned eloquence of his letters to his boys when they were away at boarding-school was truly charming. In his dealings with men he was just and honorable. True, he was very apt to insist in having his own way, and was inclined to be imperious towards those who disagreed with him, but it usually was proven that his way was correct. He com- manded the respect of all with whom he was brought in contact as be- ing a man of sound judgment and the strictest integrity. People in

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Windsor used to say of him and his brothers " as honest as the Ward- ners." What he lacked in early education he made up by constant study. He became especially proficient in mathematics as applied to surveying and architecture. Mr. Wardner was but little in public office. He shrank from politics, and only consented to nominations at the earn- est entreaties of his friends. He was in the State Legislature for a num- ber of years, and was on the committee for adopting plans for the State House at Montpelier, and for superintending its erection. In 1837 he was treasurer of Vermont. Allen Wardner and Minerva Bingham were married at Windsor the 13th of November, 1814. Mrs. Wardner, the daughter of Harris and Phebe (Rogers) Bingham, was born at Lemp- ster, N. H., the 27th of January, 1793. She died at Windsor, January 24, 1841. She was a bright, pretty woman, whose sunny disposition and hospitable manner made her home a very attractive place. The chil- dren of Allen and Minerva Wardner were George, married Anne E. Greene; Henry, married Caroline Paine Steele; Helen, died young ; Helen Minerva, married William Maxwell Evarts; Charles, died young; Charlotte Pettes, married Alexander George Johnson; Edward Allen, unmarried ; Ann Elizabeth, married Thomas Ballard Harring- ton ; William, died young ; Maria Louisa, died unmarried at the age of twenty-five; Caroline Crane, died young; Martha, married Ebenezer Eastburn Lamson.

Philip Wardner, the ancestor of all the Wardners, was born in Ro- thensol, a little town of Wurtemberg, in the northern part of the Black Forest. This town is in the jurisdiction of Neuenburg, and is situated near the boundary line between Wurtemberg and Baden. Philip learned the stone-cutter's trade at Neuenberg, receiving from the Guild of Masons at that place a certificate that he was a master-mason. He came to this country in 1752 with his wife, Katharine Eidel, and landed at Boston. He was first engaged in working on King's Chapel, which was completed in 1754. How long he remained in Boston is uncertain, but it is probable that he removed to Natick, Mass., in the course of a year or two, for the names of his family are found on the Natick records early in the fifties. In a deed executed by Philip and his wife in 1765 he is styled as a yeoman. His children were Jacob, Frederick, Philip, Margaret, Joseph and Lydia. He moved to Alstead, N. H., about 1770

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HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.

Philip died at Reading, Vt., at the home of his son Frederick, the 12th of May, 1819, aged ninety-two years and eleven months. Katharine, his wife, died at Alstead, but the date of her death is unknown. Fred- erick Wardner, son of Philip and Katharine (Eidel) Wardner, was born at Natick, Mass., Ist of April, 1754. He died at Reading, Vt., 17th of December, 1825. He went with his father from Natick to Alstead, and became a farmer. He married at Alstead, 20th of February, 1777, Re- becca, daughter of Shubael and Abigail (Allen) Waldo. About 1776 he purchased a large farm in Reading, Vt., whither he shortly moved with his wife and children. Of his six sons five lived to manhood, and each had a worthy career. The names of his children are as follows: Joseph, Abigail, Polly, Calvin, Luther, Allen, Shubael and James. Joseph, the oldest son, died at Alstead, aged about twenty. The other sons, with the exception of James, settled in Windsor or Reading. James became a practicing physician at Plainfield, N. H.

The name of Wardner is decidedly modern. The real name of the ancestors of the Wardners was Weidner. The change in the spelling was the result of an agreement entered into by all the members of the family at Alstead about 1795. Philip Weidner came from a part of Germany where the people speak a peculiar dialect, and it is not re- markable that the Americans found it impossible to spell the name cor- rectly. On the Natick records he is generally called Philip Woydner, while at Alstead the spelling is Wordner, Wardiner, or Wardner, as suited the fancy of the writer. In adopting Wardner as the correct form the family endeavored to spell the name as nearly as possible in the way that Philip pronounced it.

W HEELER, DANIEL DAVIS, MILITARY HISTORY OF .- Daniel Davis Wheeler, captain and assistant quartermaster, U. S. A., was born in Cavendish, Vt., July 12, 1841, retires, 1905.

Register .- Entered the service as second lieutenant, Company C, Fourth Regiment Vermont Volunteers, September 21, 1861; promoted to first lieutenant Company D, same regiment, April 21, 1862 ; captain and assistant adjutant-general of volunteers, June 30, 1864 ; brevet-ma- jor of volunteers for gallant and meritorious service in the campaign of 1864; major and assistant adjutant-general of volunteers, December 27,

W. W.Wheeler

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1864; lieutenant-colonel and assistant adjutant-general, Twenty-fifth Army Corps, May 26, 1865 ; brevet-colonel of volunteers, December I, 1865, for faithful and meritorious services ; appointed second lieuten- ant, First Artillery, U. S. Army, to date from May 11, 1866; discharged volunteer service October 19, 1866; promoted to first lieutenant, First Artillery, February 12, 1867; brevet captain, U. S. Army, March 2, 1867, for gallant and meritorious services in the battles of Salem Heights and Cold Harbor, Va .; captain and assistant quartermaster, U. S. Army, July 2, 1879.

History of Service .- His volunteer regiment, the Fourth Vermont Volunteers, was one of the regiments of the Vermont Brigade, General W. T. H. Brooks commanding, which served in General William F. (Baldy) Smith's division of the Sixth Army Corps, Army of the Poto- mac. He was in the Virginia Peninsular campaign, taking part in the siege of Yorktown. He volunteered his services for the battle of Lee's Mills, and was recommended and promoted to first lieutenant for that battle. He took part in the battle of Williamsburg, the action of Meadow Bridge, the battle of Golding's Farm, and other actions incident to the investment of Richmond. He was engaged in the battles of Sav- age Station, White Oak Swamp, Malvern Hill and other actions of the Seven Days' campaign. At an inspection of the brigade at Harrison's Landing he was in command of Company C, Fourth Vermont Volun- teers, and was commended by General Brooks at that inspection. The next day he was appointed acting aid-de-camp upon his staff and im- mediately started on a night reconnaissance in the direction of Malvern Hill, General Brooks being in command of the Vermont and New Jersey Brigades. On August 31, 1862, he was appointed aid-de-camp to Gen- eral Brooks, vice Lieutenant Noyes, Third Vermont, deceased. He was in the second battle of Bull Run and in the Maryland campaign, being engaged in the action at Sugar Loaf Mountain and in the battles of Crampton's Gap and Antietam. In October, 1862, he accompanied General Brooks as aid-de-camp to his new command-the First Division of the Sixth Corps-and took part in the march to Falmouth and both Burnside's and Hooker's Rappahannock campaigns, being engaged in the battle of Fredericksburg, the Mud March, the battle of Chancel- lorsville, and was with the advance of the Sixth Corps at the second

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crossing of the Rappahannock River ; as also in the action on the rail- road leading from Fredericksburg to Richmond, the storming of St. Marye's Heights and the battle of Salem Heights, where he had a horse shot under him. He accompanied General Brooks as aid-de- camp to his new command-Department of Monongahela-and later in the same capacity to his new command of the First Division, Eighteenth Army Corps, Army of the James. He was engaged in the first and second attacks and the capture of the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad, the action of Swift Creek, and the battles of Drury's Bluff and Cold Harbor. In the battle of Cold Harbor he was wounded and had a horse shot un- der him. He was with the command that captured the defenses of Petersburg under General Smith. He accompanied General Brooks as aid-de-camp to his new command-Tenth Army Corps. While in command of this corps General Brooks resigned and he was assigned to duty at the headquarters of the Eighteenth Corps, General E. O. C. Ord commanding. At Cold Harbor General Emory Upton made ap- plication for his promotion to captain and assistant adjutant-general. The promotion was received, but on General Ord's application to the War Department he was directed to report to him for duty. At Peters- burg General L. A. Grant, commanding the Vermont Brigade, desired to recommend him for promotion to captain and assistant adjutant-gen- eral of volunteers and ask for his assignment to the Vermont Brigade, but having been recommended at Cold Harbor for that rank by General Upton he had to decline. He was engaged in the battle of Chapin's Farm, where General Ord was wounded, and General Godfrey Weitzel was placed in command of the corps, and he was soon after announced as adjutant-general of the Eighteenth Corps, where he remained until the organization of the Twenty-fifth Corps, when he was transferred to it as its adjutant-general. He was engaged in the repulse of the assault on Fort Harrison, September 30th, and assault of the enemy's lines on the Williamsburg and Nine Mile roads October 30, 1864, the first Fort Fisher expedition, and other actions on the north side of the James River incidental to the investment and capture of Richmond. He was assistant adjutant-general of General Weitzel's command, consisting of all the troops north of the Appomattox River during the final opera- tions against the insurgent army under General R. E. Lee, March-

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April 9, 1865, and as such published the first order issued by a Union general in Richmond after its capture.

In the spring of 1865 he accompanied the Twenty-fifth Army Corps to Texas and soon after was announced as assistant adjutant-general, District of the Rio Grande, the duties of which he performed in addi- tion to those of assistant adjutant-general, Twenty-fifth Corps, until it was disbanded in the spring of 1866, when he became assistant adjutant- general to General George W. Getty and was appointed second lieuten- ant First Artillery to date from May II, 1866, but was not discharged from the volunteer service until the 19th of October of that year. He graduated from the Artillery School, Fort Monroe, Va., in 1873; was military instructor at Indiana Asbury University, Greencastle, Ind , for two years, when he was appointed captain and assistant quartermaster ; stationed at St. Paul, Minn., from October 1, 1879, to May. 1880; de- pot quartermaster at Yankton, D. T., from May, 1880, to December I, 1881 ; depot quartermaster at St. Paul, Minn., from December, 1881, till December 5, 1883; post quartermaster at Fort Monroe, Va., from De- cember 11, 1883, until June, 1885 ; assistant to chief quartermaster, Division of the Pacific, from June, 1885, to December 10, 1889; assist- ant to chief quartermaster, Department of Arizona, from January 6, 1890, to August 2, 1890 ; at general depot of the quartermaster's department New York City from August 9, 1890, to.

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History of Windsor County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 92

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