USA > Vermont > Washington County > Waitsfield > History of the town of Waitsfield, Vermont, 1782-1908, with family genealogies > Part 16
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47
Soon after 1880 Lewis R. Joslin erected a store building on his farm at the northerly end of the village and conducted there a general business until his death, since which date the building has been remodeled for other uses. George H. Fuller- ton, who was for some years associated with Mr. Joslin, established a grocery and feed business in the Hastings Block, which had a few years previous furnished quarters for the store of Hastings Stafford Campbell, and the business has been con- tinued since Mr. Fullerton's death in 1906 by George N. Billings. For some years, beginning in 1860, Henry and James K. Fullerton were proprietors of a shoe store.
At the Mill Village or Irasville no store was established until 1852 when Ira Richardson opened the general store later
174
HISTORY OF WAITSFIELD.
owned by Meriden Lee Richardson and now conducted by the latter's sons.
Of manufacturing the story is soon told. The first mills sawed and ground only for local trade, as did all the mills scattered wherever a farmer could find a water power. The same is true of the early fulling-mills, or cloth dressing and carding factory, of Guy C. Nichols on Mill Brook operated later by Daniel and John Kimball, and William McAllister, and of the similar establishment of George F. Kidder in the village, for they dealt only with the homespun of the farmers' wives.
Jesse Carpenter operated a boot and shoe shop on the ledges as we have noted, but that also catered only to local needs, and used the skins tanned in the local tanneries.
With the development of transportation the manufacture of dressed lumber has assumed considerable proportions, and to it the best of the old mills have turned attention. The first mills, built by John Heaton, have for many years been controlled by the Richardsons. The mills erected in the village in 1830 by Roderick Richardson, John Stafford Campbell and Daniel Thayer, were for many years operated by Edwin A. Dumas, later by Oscar G. Eaton, and now by Walter Henry Moriarty. The mills built on Shepherd's Brook by Crowell Matthews about 1850 were for a long time owned by Franklin J. Greene, and have been for some years owned by Levi Seaver. All of these mills, as well as steam mills in the village and at some other points, are constantly engaged in shipping high-grade lumber, although the distance from rail transportation hampers some- what the development of the business.
Nor must we omit to mention the tanneries of William Tell Stoddard and Stephen C. Parker, that for some years turned out considerable quantities of leather, although neither plant has been operated for that purpose for many years. In the same brief manner reference may be made to the starch factory operated for some years after 1850 by Erastus Parker and continued by Franklin J. Greene until 1867.
James S. Newcomb and his son Charles H. Newcomb, have for fifty years or more conducted a carriage shop at the southwesterly end of the village, but the changes of time have of course greatly reduced the actual construction of vehicles. No longer do coopers manufacture butter and sugar firkins for the farmers. In fact, today, aside from lumber, manufacturers might well be omitted from consideration.
175
CHAPTER XVI.
NATIVE AND RESIDENT PROFESSIONAL MEN AND PROMINENT CITIZENS.
Ministry.
Of the ministers of the gospel who have been directly connected with our churches mention has already been made in the chapters devoted to ecclesiastical matters, and it remains to speak here only of those who have been raised up in the town and have gone forth to other fields:
Rev. Perrin Batchelor Fisk, a son of Dea. Moses Fisk, was born July 6, 1792. As a young man he resided in Mont- pelier, Vt., and followed the trade of saddler, but after his conversion he sought the field of the ministry, although his opportunity for acquiring an education had been small. He was licensed to preach by the Baptist Church, and finally settled in Wardsboro, Vt., where he died March 19, 1846. In appearance he was far removed from the accepted ministerial type of his day, being a corpulent and jovial man who delighted to sit around the country store, smoke and tell stories. As a preacher he rose above mediocrity, however, and was successful in his profession.
Rev. Joel Fisk, also a son of Dea. Moses, was born October 26, 1796. After reaching the age of twenty he dedicated himself to the ministry, and at length graduated at Middlebury College in the class of 1825. For a year he studied theology with Rev. Charles Walker, of Pittsford, Vt., and at the age of thirty was ordained a minister of the Congregational Church. His field of labor included New Haven, Vt., Essex, N. Y., Montreal, P. Q., Irasburg and Plainfield, Vt., where he died December 16, 1856.
Rev. Harvey Fisk, a brother of the two preceding, was born April 12, 1799. At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to the elder E. P. Walton, of Montpelier, to learn the printer's trade. He was destined for the ministry, however, and entering Hamilton College, graduated in the class of 1826. Subsequently
176
HISTORY OF WAITSFIELD.
his theological studies were pursued at Princeton Theological Seminary, and he then became a state missionary in New Jersey. He was the compiler, and for a time publisher of the American Sunday School Union, and also compiled and published the Union Question Books for Sunday Schools. It is in connection with this work that he is best remembered, as he died in New York City, March 5, 1831, after less than a year of pastoral work.
Rev. Perrin Batchelor Fisk, son of Dea. Lyman Fisk, and nephew of the preceding, was born July 3, 1837. His education was obtained at Barre, (Vt.) Academy, and Bangor Theological Seminary, where he graduated in 1863. He im- mediately settled as pastor of the Congregational Church in West Dracut, Mass. Thence he went to various charges, chiefly in Vermont, including Peacham, Lyndon, Morrisville and Plainfield, where he now resides. He was the author of the sketch of the history of Waitsfield, which appeared in Hemenway's Vermont Gazetteer, and preached the historical discourse at the centennial of his parent church in 1896.
Henry Jones, son of Ezra Jones, and a half-brother of the early Waitsfield settlers of the name, was born in Claremont, N. H., January 8, 1788. He was a resident of Waitsfield from 1809 to 1829, when he removed to Cabot, Vt., and became a Presbyterian minister. He later identified himself with the Adventist faith and removed to New York City. .
Ezra Jones, jr., son of Ezra Jones of Waitsfield, was born November 16, 1804. He was a graduate of Middlebury College in the class of 1831 and of Andover Theological Seminary in 1834. His first charge was at Greenfield, N. H., and he preached later in Bakersfield, Dorset, Johnson, and Clarendon, Vt. After some years he removed to New York and became a minister of the Presbyterian denomination. In that capacity he labored in Junius, Medina, Canoga, Akron, Somerset, Pendleton, Phelps and other New York towns, and died in Phelps, May 4, 1888.
Matthias Joslin, son of James Joslin, was born August 19, 1807. His education was received in the schools of Waitsfield, and at Royalton, Vt. In 1830 he went as a missionary and teacher among the Choctaw Indians. Upon the removal of that tribe to lands west of the Mississippi River he became the head of the boys' school at Dwight, Cherokee Nation, Mississippi, but died November 21, 1833, in the midst of his work.
க-
177
PROMINENT CITIZENS.
Rev. John Chandler Wilder, son of Daniel Wilder, of Burlington, Vt., and grandson of Daniel W. Wilder of Waitsfield, was born August 1, 1802, and died January 20, 1892. Much of his youth and young manhood was spent in Waitsfield at his grandfather's, and he naturally came much under the influence of his uncle, Rev. Mr. Chandler. He was drawn to the ministry, attended the University of Vermont during the year 1828 and after a course of theological study under Dr. John Todd, was ordained as a Congregational minister in 1836. After preaching at Randolph, Vt., Charlestown, N. H., Enosburg, Jericho and Ferrisburg, Vt., he settled on a farm at Charlotte, Vt.
Rev. Pliny Fisk Barnard, son of Ebenezer Barnard, was born November 9, 1820. He prepared for college at Jericho and Montpelier academies and graduated at Dartmouth College in 1843, and from the Bangor Theological Seminary in 1846. His first pastorate was with the Congregational Church in Richmond, Me., where he was ordained January 14, 1847. In 1856 he removed to Williamstown, Vt., and remained there until 1870. From 1870 to 1873 he was at Westhampton, Mass., 1873-80 at Westminster, Vt., 1880-83, South Royalston, Mass., 1883-90, Wendell, Mass., and finally. 1890-98 at Dummerston, Vt. In his seventy-eighth year he retired from the ministry and made his home at Westminster, Vt., where he died May 28, 1908. A man of the highest character, his work in the ministry was devoted, earnest and successful.
Rev. Pliny Barnard Fisk, son of Anson Fisk, was born May 6, 1850. He graduated at University of Vermont in 1877 and Yale Divinity School in 1881. Ordained to the Congrega- tional ministry, he went at once into home missionary work in South Dakota, where he labored for many years, but is now located at Ceres, Cal.
Rev. Orlo Linfield Barnard, son of Rufus H. Barnard, was born August 19, 1854, and received a common school education. For some years he followed the occupation of a farmer, but feeling that the ministry was his proper field he was at length licensed to preach by the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has been in charge of churches at Middlesex, Wol- cott and Underhill, Vt.
Rev. Henry Carlton Parker, son of Stephen C. Parker, was born August 9, 1852. During his earlier years he was engaged in mercantile pursuits in Warren and Brookfield, Vt.,
178
HISTORY OF WAITSFIELD.
and in Minneapolis, Minn., but in 1875 he entered Meadville College, Pa., and graduated in 1878. He was ordained and installed as pastor of the First Unitarian Church of Nashua, N. H., on December 4, 1878, and remained there until April 15, 1888, when he removed to his present church in Woburn, Mass. He is recognized as a deep thinker and an especially effective preacher in his denomination.
Rev. George W. Alonzo Hitchcock was born March 29, 1814. He studied theology with resident clergymen and was licensed to preach by the Methodist Episcopal Church. He served acceptably in Albany, St. Johnsbury, Bethel, Randolph, Bradford, Plainfield, Proctorsville, Cabot, Middlesex, and other Vermont towns, and spent the declining years of his life at Northfield serving as agent for the Methodist Conference Semi- nary at Montpelier.
Other clergymen who may be claimed as sons of the town are Hiram Freeman, Rufus Childs, Lucius Barnard, Silas Jones and Harvey Bates.
Law.
John Burdick was the first, and for many years the only lawyer in the town, although the word pettifogger, using the word in its old-time sense, would more nearly describe his position. He was born October 29, 1762, and came with his father about 1793 to Moretown, where he was first town clerk in 1795. A year later he came to Waitsfield, and settled on one of the ministry lots, his house having stood on the site of the present residence of Charles E. Jones. He was a man of varied activities, farmer, builder, lawyer, and in personal appear- ance is said to have been stout and somewhat florid. In 1805 he was appointed agent of the town to defend and prosecute suits in which it was interested, and doubtless so continued for many years. In the early years the equally versatile Edmund Rice and Roger Buckley, of Moretown, were often pitted against him, and after the coming of "Squire" Jason Carpenter in 1818 the two were prone to try conclusions before the justice courts, over which Jennison Jones or his brother, "Squire Matt." oftenest presided.
Such a statement means little to one living in the present generation. It is indeed hard to realize that this peaceful little town ever afforded sufficient cases to keep the court machinery from rusting, but an hour spent among the discarded papers
179
PROMINENT CITIZENS.
of a town clerk's office will disclose old writs almost by the bushel, and one soon learns that in the first half of the nineteenth century creditors were less merciful, neighborly disputes went more frequently to law, and small litigation was far more pre- valent than now.
Not until 1832 did a man with regular legal training and duly admitted as a member of the bar settle in the town:
William Morrill Pingry was born in Salisbury, N. H., May 28, 1806. He was admitted to the Vermont bar in 1832, and came immediately to Waitsfield, where he remained nine years. Mr. Pingry was a strong man, and well deserved the confidence which was freely shown him. While in Waitsfield he held numerous town offices, and was assistant judge of the County Court in 1838. After his removal from this town he resided in Springfield and Weathersfield, Vt., and held numerous town, county and state offices, receiving the degree of A. M. from Dartmouth College in 1862.
Benjamin H. Adams was born in Tunbridge, Vt., November 17, 1810. He was admitted to the Orange County bar June 15, 1836, and in January, 1838, settled in Waitsfield, where he died October 13, 1849. Able, but erratic, must be the verdict in his case.
In 1852 came Moses H. Sessions from Randolph, Vt., a tall, portly man who departed to Waupacka, Wis., about 1855. Mr. Sessions was State's Attorney for Washington County and later became a very successful practitioner in Omaha, Neb.
Norman Durant, born in 1820, came to this town about 1835. He was a student at the University of Vermont in 1843 and was soon admitted to the bar. He was a young man of great ability, and represented Waitsfield in the Constitutional Convention of 1843. Soon after this he removed to Orange County, where he was State's Attorney. and in 1848 he received the degree of A. M. from the University, but in 1849 he was drawn to California in the rush for gold, and lost his life at Rattlesnake Bar, November 5, 1850.
His younger brother, Luther Leland Durant, was born in 1827. His education was confined to the public schools, and upon reaching his majority he entered upon the study of law in the office of Benjamin H. Adams, and completed his course with C. W. Upham, of Barre, Vt. In 1850 he was admitted to the Washington County bar and practised in Waitsfield until
180
HISTORY OF WAITSFIELD.
1855, when he removed to Waterbury, where for some years he was associated with Gov. Paul Dillingham. In 1866 he removed to Montpelier, where he practised successfully until his death, February 23, 1888.
From 1857 to 1860 N. A. Taylor was the only attorney in Waitsfield, and beginning in 1860 A. V. Spaulding practised here, but removed in 1863 to Burlington, Vt., where he remained until his death.
After him came Columbus F. Clough, who tarried until 1866, and then removed to Waterbury, where the remainder of his life was spent.
Hiram Carleton was born at Barre, Vt., August 28, 1838. Graduating from the University of Vermont in 1860 he was admitted to the bar in 1865, and in May, 1866, settled in Waits- field, where he at once took a prominent part in town affairs and rendered able service in connection with the schools, of which he was first superintendent under the so-called town system. In December, 1875, he removed to the larger field offered in Montpelier, and in 1883 was elected Judge of Probate for Washington County, which office he has continued to hold since that date.
For some years after Mr. Carleton's removal the town was without legal talent, but in 1879 John W. Gregory settled here. Mr. Gregory was a native of Northfield, Vt., born July 13, 1854, and prepared himself for his profession at the University of Michigan. For nearly thirty years, until his sudden death, September 14, 1907, he was the only practicing attorney in the town. While never obtrusive in his leadership, his influence was always upon the right side, and his earnest efforts to bring parties together and to discourage actual litigation made him an ideal attorney for a country town.
Among the natives of the town who have chosen the law for their profession, but have found their field in other places, a few may be here mentioned:
Chauncey Smith, eldest son of Ithamar Smith, was born January 11, 1819, and inherited the keen mentality of his father. He entered the University of Vermont in 1845, but, after two years spent in work there, took up the study of law with Henry Levenworth, of Burlington. After his admission to the bar in 1848 he practised in Boston, Mass., until his death, April 5, 1895, and for many years was regarded as one of the most eminent
18Y
PROMINENT CITIZENS.
patent lawyers of the country, and without doubt the foremost in New England. He was the editor of Caldwell on Patents and the author of Influence of Inventions upon Civilization. He was an authority upon electrical matters.
George N. Dale, son of James Dale, was born in Fairfax, Vt., February 19, 1834, but came to Waitsfield as an infant, and grew to manhood here. After admission to the bar in 1856 and a year's practice in this town he settled in Guildhall, Vt., but in 1861 removed to Island Pond, Vt., where he became prominent in his profession,-State's Attorney of Essex County, 1857-61; Representative from Guildhall, 1860; Senator, Essex County, 1866-70; Representative from Brighton, Vt., 1892; Lieu- . tenant Governor of Vermont, President Vermont Bar Associa- tion, 1886.
Edwin A. Phelps, son of Alexander S. Phelps, was born October 29, 1841. After graduating from Dartmouth College in 1870 he studied law and practised his profession in Boston until his death in 1904.
Edwin F. Palmer, son of Aaron Palmer, was born January 22, 1836. Graduating from Dartmouth College in 1862, he pursued his legal studies with Hon. Paul Dillingham, of Water- bury. Since his admission to the bar he has practised in that town. He is the author of "Camp Life," a history of the 13th Vermont Volunteers, and has served his state as Superintendent of Schools. His brother William was admitted to the bar, but never engaged in the practice of the profession.
Charles D. Joslyn, eldest son of Ezra Osgood Joslyn, was born in Waitsfield, June 20, 1846. He studied his profession in the office of Governor Paul Dillingham, at Waterbury, Vt., and was admitted to the Washington County, Vt., Bar in 1873. Soon afterward he settled in Detroit, Mich., where he has since practised his profession. He was for eight years one of the legal advisers of the City of Detroit, and is at the present time General Counsel of the Detroit United Railway Company.
Charles W. Waterman, son of John Waterman, was born November 2, 1859, graduating from the University of Vermont in 1885, and pursuing his legal studies in the University of Michigan. Immediately after his admission to the bar he removed to Denver, Col., where he became immediately success- ful in his profession. For many years he was a partner of
182
HISTORY OF WAITSFIELD.
Senator Wolcott of that state, and is counsel for the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad system.
.
Matt Bushnell Jones, son of Walter A. Jones, was born May 15, 1871. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1894, and from the Harvard Law School in 1897, being admitted to the Suffolk County, Mass., bar in August of that year. Residing in Newton, Mass., he engaged in the general practice of law in Boston for six years, and since 1904 has been General Counsel of the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company.
Medicine.
The first physician in Waitsfield was Moses Heaton, who came in 1793 from Charlemont, Mass., where he had practised for many years. He was born in Swanzey, N. H., December 2, 1747, and was a brother of James Heaton. The farm on which he lived is now occupied by Julius I. Palmer. He was the first town clerk of the town, but moved away early in 1796, and of his subsequent history little or nothing is known.
Dr. Simeon Stoddard was born in Saybrook, Conn., De- cember 12, 1761, and settled in Waitsfield in 1794. He was the physician of the southwesterly part of the town, and lived on the farm, now occupied by Robert J. McAllister, until his death, December 15, 1841. Some of our older residents can remember the ancient horse and carriage in which the aged doctor took his daily drive.
The third physician to settle here was Stephen Pierce, a family connection of the Heatons. He came from Charlemont, Mass., in 1795, and took up his abode in the extreme north- westerly corner of the town. Like other professional men of the time he farmed, and his farm lay mostly in Moretown, but his buildings were in Waitsfield, and it was with the latter town that he was identified. Not only was he a successful physician, but few were more prominent in the educational and political life of the community; he was selectman, representative, dele- gate to the Constitutional Convention of 1814, and Assistant Judge of the County Court. About 1822 he removed to Water- bury, and later to Berlin, Vt. He died February 28, 1854, and is buried in Moretown.
Dr. Frederick Richardson was born in Tolland, Conn., March 9, 1781, and came to Waitsfield about 1802, the first of his family to settle here. His home stood at the southwest
183
PROMINENT CITIZENS.
corner of the Common, and was occupied by his descendants until within a few years. Like other early physicians he had a farm, and after some years he acquired the potash works erected by his brother Roderick. On December 25, 1806, at a special town meeting, he and Benjamin Wood were licensed "to set up the Innoculation of the Small Pox," and it was further voted "That the Selectmen and Civil Authority be Instructed to License Physitians therefor, under the restrictions of keeping their Patients Confined to the limits they shall proscribe from the time of the Innoculation till they are per- fectly cured and cleaned."
For some years Dr. Richardson served as Deputy Sheriff, and during that period lived in Waterbury, but soon returned to Waitsfield, where he died December 30, 1860.
Dr. William Joslin, son of Joseph Joslin, was born in Lancaster, Mass., October 27, 1780. He studied medicine with Dr. Corbin of Newport, N. H., and in 1805-6 came to Waitsfield, where several of his brothers had already settled. He lived on a farm that lay in lots 103 and 104, and is now occupied by Daniel H. Skinner. He was reputed a very success- ful physician, and amassed considerable property for the times, but died in the midst of his usefulness, June 23, 1834.
Dr. Frederick T. Minor was a son of Aaron Minor, an early settler, and came hither, as a child, with his father in 1794. The family came from Connecticut by way of Windsor; Vt. He was the first of our physicians to be trained up in the town. His home was in the north district on the small farm now owned by William A. Farr. After a time he went to Williston, Vt., but returned in a few years, and in 1833 removed with several other Waitsfield families to Elk Grove, Cook County, Il1.
About 1812 Dr. Joseph Whitcomb, born in Littleton, Mass., June 28, 1788, settled in town, near the Great Eddy, in the present village. He removed in a few years, however, to New Albany, Ind., and thence to Louisiana and Texas, where he died about 1830.
Dr. Orange Smith was born in Brookfield, Vt., January 27, 1796. He was educated at Randolph Academy, and the Medical Department of the University of Vermont, and also studied with Dr. Daniel Washburn, and attended lectures at Dartmouth. He settled first at Starksboro, Vt., removed thence to Williston, and came about 1824-5 to Waitsfield,
-
L
IS4
HISTORY OF WAITSFIELD.
where he remained until his death, December 6, 1863. He purchased Dr. Minor's house and practice, and lived there many years, but at length moved to the village. He was a much beloved man, and a successful physician, active in town affairs, and in the church, having been clerk of the Congregational Society for about twenty years prior to his death.
Dr. David Carlisle Joyslin was born in Springfield, Vt., May 15, 1799, and received his education at Randolph Grammar School and Castleton Medical College. About 1825 he settled in Waitsfield, and soon acquired a large practice, which he retained until advancing years led him to lay aside the burden for lighter toils. He purchased, and until his death, November 19, 1874, lived in the house erected by William M. Pingry, now occupied by Charles J. Greene.
In 1852 Dr. Gershom N. Brigham, a native of Fayston and a physician of the homeopathic school, opened an office in Waitsfield and remained until 1855 when he removed to Montpelier. Dr. Brigham was a pupil of Dr. David C. Joyslin and a graduate of Woodstock Medical College, but became one of the earliest converts to homeopathy in Vermont. In 1878 he removed to Grand Rapids, Mich.
Dr. Edwin Alonzo Jones, a son of Matthias Stone Jones, was born June 3, 1825. He studied for a time with Dr. Joyslin, (1851-2) took one course of lectures at Woodstock, and obtained his degree at Berkshire Medical College, Pittsfield, Mass. He immediately entered upon the practice of his profession in Vershire, Vt., but soon removed to Strafford, Vt., where he died October 18, 1854, at the very opening of a promising career.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.