USA > Vermont > Windsor County > History of Windsor County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 93
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To the present time, March 1, 1891, the Rebellion records are pub- lished to include operations in Kentucky, Southwest Virginia, Tennes- see, Mississippi, Alabama and North Georgia. In those already pub- lished he is mentioned as follows :
I
Series I. Report of Brigadier-General W. T. H. Brooks, U. S. A.,
Vol. XIX. Commanding Second Brigade of the battles of Cramp- ton's Pass and Antietam.
Page 408.
Headquarters Second Brigade, Smith's Division, Hagarstown, September -, 1862.
The conduct of the troops on this occasion is worthy of commenda- tion. Exposed to a plunging fire of artillery while passing over a space of a mile and more, and afterward to that of the enemy's sharpshooters,
924
HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.
not the least hesitancy was observed. It gives me pleasure to call es- pecial notice to the good conduct of Lieutenant-Colonel C. B. Stough- ton, commanding Fourth Vermont, and Major Walbridge, commanding Second Vermont; also Lieutenants Parsons and Wheeler of my personal staff, who were active in the discharge of their respective duties.
2
Series I. Report of Brigadier-General W. T. H. Brooks, U. S. A.,
Vol. XXI. Commanding First Division.
Page 527. Headquarters First Division Sixth Army Corps, December 23, 1862.
The officers of my personal staff are entitled to my thanks for their activity, gallantry and general good conduct throughout those critical days. They are Captain Theodore Read, assistant adjutant-general, Lieutenants A. K. Parsons and D. D. Wheeler, Fourth Vermont Volun- teers, and Lieutenant Tyler, Twenty-seventh New York.
3
Series I. Report of Brigadier-General W. T. H. Brooks, U. S. A.,
Vol. XXV. Commanding First Division.
Page 569.
Near White Oak Church, Va., May -, 1863.
To the members of my personal staff my thanks are due and I re- spectfully commend their services to the notice of the government. Their faithfulness, zeal and intelligence have been exhibited on many fields. They are Captain Theodore Read, assistant adjutant-general, severely wounded; Lieutenants A. K. Parsons and D. D. Wheeler, Fourth Vermont Volunteers, aids-de-camp.
4
Series I Report of Major-General W. T. H. Brooks, U. S. A., Com - Vol. XXIII. manding Department of the Monongahela.
Page 675. Headquarters Department of the Monongahela, Pittsburgh, Pa., August 2, 1863.
My thanks are due to Captain W. R. Howe, assistant adjutant-gen- eral volunteer service, and Lieutenant D. D. Wheeler, aid-de-camp,
Charles Smith.
925
BIOGRAPHICAL.
Fourth Vermont Volunteers, the only officers of my staff with me, for the energy and zeal displayed in the discharge of their respective du- ties.
Pursuant to the act of Congress of March 2, 1867, which authorized brevet rank to be conferred on officers of the army for gallant and meritorious conduct in the volunteer service in the War of the Rebel- lion, prior to appointment in the regular army, he was nominated by the President, and confirmed by the Senate March 1, 1869, for the bre- vets of major and lieutenant-colonel, U. S. Army, to rank from March 2, 1867. The passage, however, by Congress on March 1, 1869, of an act limiting the date of conferring brevet rank to time of actual war, prevented the issuance of these commissions.
MITH, CHARLES CARROLL, A. M., M. D., was born in Sharon, S
Conn., June 11, 1830, the sixth in a family of eight children of Ran- som and Lydia (Burtch) Smith. After attending the common school in his native district, he taught several winters in the public schools of his State, working on the farm for his father during the other seasons, till he became of age, when he attended the State Normal School at New Brit- ain, at intervals, for about a year, but during that period teaching and farming a portion of the time. About the last of August, 1855, he en- tered the Green Mountain Liberal Institute, at South Woodstock, Vt., for a more thorough education, and remained there till May, 1858. It was his purpose to commence the study of medicine the following au- tumn, but desiring to go on with his associates, he entered Middlebury College the following spring, and was graduated from that institution in August, 1862. On the 30th of the same month he enlisted from Mid- dlebury, as a private in Company E, Fourteenth Regiment Vermont Volunteers, and was mustered out July 30, 1863, by reason of expira- tion of his term of enlistment, but being prostrated by typhoid fever, was carried on a bed to the home of his wife in Hancock. After a long sickness, he regained a good degree of health, but receives a pension on account of disabilities resulting from the fever and from other sickness and injuries incurred while in the service. He studied medicine with Professor Walter Carpenter, M. D., of Burlington, and received his di- ploma from the medical department of the University of Vermont in
926
HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.
June, 1865. He then entered, as one of its staff of physicians, the Citi- zens' Hospital at Flatbush, L. I., where he remained nearly a year. May 24, 1866, he settled in the village of Gaysville, in Stockbridge, where he has since continued in the practice of his profession. He is a member of the Vermont Medical Society, and is president of the White River Medical Association. He belongs to the G. A. R., being a mem- ber of Daniel Lillie Post, located at Bethel, was its first commander, and had several re-elections to that office. He has held various town offices in the town where he resides, and was its repsesentative in the years 1872 and 1884. In 1890 he was one of the senators from Wind- sor county, serving on several important committees, one being the committee on education. October 17, 1862, he married Mary L. Perry, daughter of Bela R. Perry, of Hancock. Their children are Ransom Perry (deceased), Mabel Gertrude and Leda Florian.
H EALD, DANIEL ADDISON, was born in Chester, Vt., May 4, 1818, and is of English descent. The emigrant ancestor of his family was John Heald, who came from Berwick-on-Tweed, England, to Concord, Mass., in 1635, and was admitted a freeman of that county June 2, 1641. His wife's name was Dorothy, and they had thirteen chil- dren, eight of whom were sons. John died May 24, 1662. Of this family John, the eldest, was probably born in England, married June 10, 1661, Sarah, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Dean, of Concord. He be- came a resident of Chelmsford, Mass., and had four children, viz .: John, Gershom, Elizabeth and Sarah. The John last mentioned was born in 1666, and in 1690 married Mary, daughter of Roger and Mary (Si- monds) Chandler. She was born March 3, 1672. They had nine children. John died November 25, 1721. Amos, the seventh child of the above family, married Elizabeth, daughter of Daniel Billings, of Concord, Mass., and their son Daniel, born in 1737, was the pioneer settler in Chester, Vt. He was at the battles of Concord Bridge and Bunker Hill and afterwards stationed at Ticonderoga. He came to Chester during the Revolutionary War. His son Amos married Lydia, daughter of Captain Ebenezer Edwards, formerly of Acton, Mass., who was also at the battle of Concord Bridge, and was a soldier in the Continental Army during the greater part of the war.
acult. Heald
927
BIOGRAPHICAL .-
Daniel A., the youngest son of Amos and Lydia (Edwards) Heald, spent the first sixteen years of his life on the paternal farm, sharing in every labor of the field. He was naturally studious, and neglected no opportunity for mental improvement. Under the circumstances that surrounded him it was not an easy task for him to obtain a classical edu- cation. After spending two years at preparatory school at Meriden, N. H., he entered Yale College, where he took the full academic course, graduating in 1841. During his senior year he commenced the study of law with Judge Daggett, of New Haven, Conn., which he subse- quently continued in the office of Judge Washburn till May, 1843, when he was admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of his profes- sion. At this time he also became agent for the Ætna and other Hart- ford fire insurance companies. His business both in law and insurance became very extensive, and he became widely known throughout his native and other States. In 1856 he accepted an invitation from the Home Insurance Company of New York to become its general agent and in that year removed from Vermont to New York city. After twelve years of service in this capacity he was chosen second vice-presi- dent of the company, which position he filled till January, 1883, when he was promoted to the office of first vice-president. He filled the latter po- sition till April 13, 1888, when he was elected president of the company to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of President Charles J. Martin. During Mr. Heald's residence in Vermont he represented the town of Ludlow in 1850 in the House of Representatives, and was one of Wind- sor county's senators in 1854. He married in 1843 Miss Sarah E. Wash- burn, a daughter of Judge Reuben Washburn of Ludlow. Of their five children three are living.
Mr. Heald has always retained an active interest in his native State, and is a large contributor to the erection of a new and beautiful house of worship for the Congregational church at Ludlow, of which he was an ac- tive member during his residence in that town. Fire insurance has been for almost half a century the life work of Mr. Heald, and by his energy, industry and perseverance he has raised himself to become the leading fire underwriter of the United States. Soon after his removal to New York city he saw the necessity of a more united action on the part of the different fire insurance companies in order to give better protection
928
HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.
to the insured, and more profit to the insurers. Having this prin- ciple in mind, in 1866 he became conspicuous in the organization of the National Board of Fire Underwriters, which has done much toward placing fire insurance on an equal and paying basis. He has served with ability since the organization of that body either as chair- man of the executive committee or as its president. His annual reports form a storehouse of fire insurance literature, and his addresses deliv- ered before different conventions, among which we mention " Fire Un- derwriting as a Profession," delivered at Chicago, September, 1880, and his speech on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the National Board at New York in 1881, have never been equalled. It is now thirty-five years since Mr. Heald first became connected with the Home Insurance Company, and with due deference to others, it has been mainly through his energy, tact and business qualifications that the company holds to-day the foremost position among the fire insurance companies of this country. In 1856, the year Mr. Heald was first em- ployed by the company, its capital stock was $500,000, and it had assets aggregating $872,823. To day the capital stock is $3,000,000, the assets over $9,000,000, has an annual income of $4,750,000, and its policies cover property valued at over $700,000,000. The Home is one of the four largest fire insurance companies of the world, and has passed through all the great conflagrations of the country, paying all its indebt- edness in full. Success like the above is due to men's brains and ener- gies under the control and guidance of one having the ability to pro- duce practical results. That Mr. Heald has been the one to whom the success of the Home Insurance Company is mainly due, is acknowledged, not only by his associates, but by the whole of the fire insurance fraternity. It is only another case of one of the sons of the " Old Green Mountain State," who, having inherited a good constitution, clear head, energy and perseverance among her hills, has been able to make his name prominent, and obtain a position second to none among his business associates.
W ASHBURN, HON. REUBEN. The English ancestor of the Washburn family in this country was John Washburn, who was secretary of the Massachusetts Company in 1628 in England, came from Eversham, England, as early as 1632, and was a resident of Dux-
929
BIOGRAPHICAL.
bury, Mass. The line of descent from the original settler to Judge Washburn, who was of the sixth generation, was as follows : John had a son John, who had a son Joseph. The latter also had a son Joseph, whose son Seth, was born in Bridgewater, Mass., May 19, 1723, and was the father of Asa, who was born in Leicester, Mass., July 25, 1757, and was the father of Judge Washburn. Hon. Reuben Washburn was born in Leicester, Mass., December 30, 1781, and at the age of four years his father removed to Putney, Vt., where until he reached the age of twenty years he aided in subduing the roughness of a farm in a new country. He afterwards fitted himself for and supported himself through college, graduating at Dartmouth College in 1808, being one of the first scholars of his class. For several years after finishing his educa- tion he was engaged as a teacher in several of the principal institutions in New England, and was at one time connected with Exeter Academy with Professor Ebenezer Adams, afterwards of Dartmouth College. Judge Washburn commenced the study of law under the able instruction of Judge Jackson of Boston, and became a member of the Suffolk County Bar. The practice of his profession was commenced at Lynn, Mass., but in 1817 he removed with his family to Chester, Vt .; remaining there but a short time, he came to Cavendish, Vt., and was a resident of the latter place until 1825, when he removed to Ludlow, and three years afterwards built the old homestead that still stands in the village. From the time of his locating in Ludlow till his death, April 23, 1860, Judge Washburn continued to practice his profession, taking an important part in all matters pertaining to the political and religious interests of the town. He was an accomplished lawyer in the broadest sense. He was long regarded as the best read lawyer in the State, and as holding the first place in the law relating to real estate. Thoroughly grounded in the principles of the English Common Law, his conclusions were easily arrived at and were held in high esteem by the courts of the State. His mind was of a strong, analytical cast, and his briefs clear and concise, while in the branch of special pleading, then the practice of the courts, he had no superior in the State. He was tall and com- manding in his person, gentle and affable in his manners, of sterling in- tegrity, and in all respects a fine example of the educated Christian gentleman of the golden age of New England history. Judge Wash-
117
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HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.
burn was united in marriage October 10, 1813, to Miss Hannah Blaney Thatcher, a daughter of Rev. Thomas C. Thatcher, of Lynn, Mass. The issue of this marriage was Peter Thatcher; Sarah Elizabeth, wife of Daniel A. Heald, president of the Home Insurance Company of New York ; Reuben Hubbard, member of the Windsor County Bar, who died at Hartford, Conn. ; Hannah M., now residing at the old home- stead; and John Seth, who died in New York city, where he had for twenty-three years practiced law.
D URKEE, WILLIAM H., was born in Stockbridge, September 2, 1822. John, his grandfather, came from Connecticut in 1785, and settled in Stockbridge on the farm now owned and occupied by J. M. Ranney. He took up about five hundred acres in Tweed River Valley, in part now owned by his grandson, William H. He married, first, Sarah Holt, December 11, 1783. All his children, seven in number, were by this marriage. They were John, Orrin, Harvey, Sally, Mary, Elizabeth and Fisk. Orrin, born in Stockbridge, November 5, 1786, married, first, Rebecca Hunt. Nelson Durkee was their only son. He died in the hospital at New Orleans during the war. He married, sec- ond, Philena Rich, a native of Bethel, Vt., by whom he had eight chil- dren, viz .: Lyman, died in Winthrop, Ia .; Luther, died in Rochester, Vt .; Seneca, lives with his brother; William H .; Harris, merchant in Geneva, Wis .; Josiah P., killed in a saw-mill at Gaysville ; Charles O., farmer, living in Stockbridge; Mary E., wife of Anson Tucker, farmer in Tunbridge, Vt. Orrin the father, was the first child born in Stock- bridge after the settlement, served as captain in the War of 1812, and afterwards was colonel in the home militia. He died in Stockbridge, October 14, 1862, and his wife also died there in March, 1848. Will- iam H. married April 10, 1851, Harriet, daughter of John and Lois (White) Leonard. Mrs. Durkee was born in Stockbridge, September 26, 1829. They have no children.
HASE, DR. ROLLA MINER, was born September 4, 1854, in C Royalton, Vt. His great-grandfather, Moses Chase, born in Sutton, N. H., removed from Sutton and settled in Williamstown, Vt., and from thence to Rochester, Vt., where he died. He had two children, Simeon
M. Chase, M. D.
931
BIOGRAPHICAL.
and Abner. The latter, grandfather of the Doctor, born in Sutton, mar- ried, first, Susan Slade, daughter of John Slade, of Brookfield, Vt. He married, second, Hannah Slade, sister of his first wife. The children by the first marriage were, Lovina, wife of Oliver Smith, died in Rochester ; Joel, died in infancy; and Joel, second, also died in infancy. The children by the second marriage were Mary, wife of Hiram Thurston, died in Palatine, Ill .; Moses, father of the Doctor; Fanny, is the wife of Lester Gay and lives in Oregon; Lyman, died aged sixteen. Abner Chase died in Rochester, his first wife in Ohio and his second in Rochester. Moses Chase, father of the Doctor, born in Rochester, April 30, 1821, married November 15, 1846, Rosina, daughter of Benjamin and Sarah (Scales) Hill, born in Sharon, Vt., April 4, 1823. He passed his minor- ity in Rochester. After marriage he resided two years in Lowell, Mass., two years in Pomfret, Vt., seven years in Royalton, Vt., and in 1857 set- tled in Bethel, Vt., where he has since resided-a carpenter and joiner by trade, but for the last thirty years has followed farming. He has four children, viz .: Dr. Moses Roscoe, born in Pomfret, May 10, 1849, mar- ried Eva Graves and has one child, Hervey. He is a dentist living in Ludlow, Vt. Flora Rosina, born July 17, 1850, is the wife of Wallace Keyes living in Riverdale, Neb. She has two children, Jessie R. and Na- than Moses. Fanny, born October 25, 1851, is the wife of Henry C. Dunham, farmer, living in the Indian Territory. She has one child, Leon C. Dr. Rolla Miner Chase received his primary education in the public schools of Bethel. When eighteen years of age he commenced the study of dentistry with Dr. F. M. Celley at Bethel, and continued study with him two years. In November, 1874, he entered the Boston Den- tal College, from which he was graduated in 1876, receiving the degree of D. D S. The same year he opened an office in Bethel for the prac- tice of his profession. While practicing his profession he took up the study of medicine and entered the Baltimore Medical College in 1890, and was graduated from that institution April 15, 1891, receiving the degree of Doctor of Medicine. The object of the Doctor's study of med- icine was not with the intent of practicing the profession, but the more fully to equip himself in the practice of his chosen profession of dentistry. The inventive faculty, early developed, has been utilized by the Doctor in his profession. He is the patentee of a number of useful inventions in
932
HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.
dentistry, prominent among which are Chase's Wedge Forcep, Chase's Combination Plate, and a Rubber Heater, patents of recognized utility and used generally by the profession throughout the country. Chase's Portable Fire Escape is another of the Doctor's inventions. Dr. Chase was one of the organizers of the State Dental Society in 1876, was its president one year, and on its executive committee several years. After the State Dental Law was enacted in 1882 he was appointed, by the governor of the State, one of five, constituting the Examining Board, a position he has held since, being secretary and treasurer of the Board since its organization. The Doctor is State editor of the Archives of Dentistry, a dental journal published in St. Louis, Mo., is a member of the New England Dental Society also a member of the Vermont Medical Society. He was a member of the International Medical Congress held at Washington, D. C., in 1888. He married June 18, 1879, Susan Eliz- abeth, daughter of Cornelius and Mary (Berry) Newell. Mrs. Chase was born June 14, 1855. They have two children : George Berry, born June 19, 1881; Susie Newell, born April 15, 1882.
933
OLD FAMILIES.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
OLD FAMILIES.
TO TO enumerate all of the old and prominent families in Windsor county would in itself make a large and pretentious volume, while it would be practically impossible to give a genealogical sketch of all. We have been compelled, owing to lack of space, to limit these sketches to only those who have felt and manifested an interest in preserving the records of their ancestors. A large portion of these sketches will be found in connection with the chapters containing the history of the respective towns, while in this chapter we print those received too late for insertion elsewhere.
ANDOVER.
Feltt, Abner, son of Moses and Mary (Pette) Feltt, was born in Dedham, Mass., No- vember 9, 1756, and came from Wilton, N. H., to Andover in 1790. He married Mary Heald, and they had the following family : Polly, married James Barnes; Edward, died in New York; Abner; Sally, married Ira Heald ; Peter and Chloe, died young ; William, died in New York; Rachel, married John Boynton; Betsey, died at the age of twenty years; Olive, married Henry Kelley ; Amasa, died in New York ; and Reuben, died in Indiana. Abner died February 26, 1832.
Feltt, Abner, son of Abner, was born in Wilton, N. H., October 3, 1785, and married Hannah French. Their children were: Hannah, wife of Ashby Morgan, lives at Peru, N. Y .; Abner ; Sophia, died single ; Mary (deceased), married William Dunspaugh; Will- iam, died young, and William Franklin, born September 28, 1829, died April, 1887. His second wife was Bridget French, and their children were Andrew Augustus, who died single at the age of twenty-nine years; Caroline, died at the age of seventeen years, and Ellen Frances, died at the age of eighteen years. Abner died April 4, 1871.
Feltt, Abner, son of Abner, was born at Andover, January 1, 1818, and marrie ] Caro- line A., daughter of Joseph Eaton. They had four children, viz .: William A., Fred E., single, resides in Andover, Ella C., died young, and Carrie M.
Feltt, William A., son of Abner, was born in Plattsburgh, N. Y., October 31, 1844, and married Emma J. Gutterson. Their children were Mabel S., and Willie A., who died young.
BALTIMORE.
Leland Family .- The descendants of this family that settled in Baltimore were of English origin, and their progenitor in this country was Henry Leland, who was born in England in 1625, and emigrated to America in 1652, locating in Dorchester, Mass., but afterwards removed to the town of Sherburne, Mass., where he died in 1680. His son Ebenezer had a son James, who married Hannah Larned and removed to Grafton, Mass., in 1723, and died there in 1768. Their son, Phineas, was twice married, and had eleven children, and settled on the paternal estate. His son, Caleb, born in Grafton, Mass., in 1765, removed, about 1800, to Chester, Vt., and soon after to the adjoining town of Bal-
934
HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.
timore, where he died in 1843. He married Lakin Willard, and had ten children, viz .: Nancy (deceased), married William Wells; Otis, died in Weathersfield ; Joshua; Maria (deceased), married Henry Smith; Caleb, died at the age of twenty years; Lakin (de- ceased), married Levi M. Parkhurst; Joseph W., died in Baltimore; Hannah R. (de- ceased), married Thomas Gilman ; Charles, died in Minneapolis, Minn .; James A., resides in Brooklyn, N. Y.
Leland, Joshua, son of Caleb, was born in Grafton, Mass., May 22, 1794, married Betsey Boynton, and had three children: Oscar H., resides in Texas; Marcella D., wife of Thomas L. Jenkins, of Chester, Vt .; and Charles A. Joshua died May 27, 1866.
Leland, Charles A., son of Joshua, was born in Baltimore, November 15, 1832, married Susan, daughter of John Farnham, and has one child, George F., born in Baltimore, Jan- uary 25, 1858, who married Nellie A. Pierce and has two children, Arthur F. and Mary A. Charles A. has been a resident of Springfield since 1866.
Martin, Ephraim, who was an officer in the Revolutionary War, came to Baltimore from Lunenburg, Mass., about 1795. His first wife's name we cannot give, but the issue of the marriage, none of whom are living, was as follows: Sally, married Jonathan Boynton ; Dorcas, married Luther Graves; Polly, married Amos Piper ; Ephraim S .; Lucy, married Paul Haywood ; Mary, married James Works; John, emigrated West. Ephraim's second wife was Jerusha Lyons, by whom he had no children. He died in 1835.
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