Men of Vermont : an illustrated biographical history of Vermonters and sons of Vermont, Part 106

Author: Ullery, Jacob G., comp; Davenport, Charles H; Huse, Hiram Augustus, 1843-1902; Fuller, Levi Knight, 1841-1896
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Brattleboro, Vt. : Transcript Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 842

USA > Vermont > Men of Vermont : an illustrated biographical history of Vermonters and sons of Vermont > Part 106

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).

Lastly, we may state that Mr. Dodge was selected as one of the trustees of the Leland Stanford Jr. University. This mag- nificent endowment, involving property to the value of several million dollars, is one of the most splendid gifts ever bestowed on a people, and its administration will require not only great earnestness and ripe judg- ment, but also eminent executive ability and more than ordinary familiarity with the varied demands of an educational institution of such extraordinary character.

Since the organization of that party, Mr. Dodge has ever been a staunch Republican.

With a moderate taste for art and litera- ture he has accumulated some treasures in each. Of a quiet and unassuming demean- or, he follows the light of his own conscience with an inflexibility that no influence can swerve. His spotless integrity has gained a reputation for him in the community, of wich any man might well be proud, but which few can rival.

DODGE, LUTHER C., of San Francisco, Cal., son of Nathan and Hannah (Phinney) Dodge, was born in Montpelier Sept. 7, 1821.

He was educated in the common and private schools of his native town, and fol- lowed farming until July, 1841, when he entered the employ of J. & J. H. Peck & Co. of Burlington, as a clerk. In 1847 he was employed by the Troy & Canada Junc- tion Telegraph Co. at Burlington as operator.

DORSEY.

A year later he was elected superintendent of the company, remaining in this position till 1853. In September, 1855, he went to California, where he was engaged in trade ( wholesale provisions) in connection with his brother, Henry L. Dodge, till 1868, when he returned to Burlington, remaining there till April, 1877, serving three terms as mayor of that city in the meantime. He then re- turned to California, engaging in business with E. W. Forsaith under the firm name of Forsaith & Dodge. In 1882 he disposed of his interests in San Francisco and engaged in the manufacture of lumber, sash, doors, etc., in northern Idaho with his two brothers, O. A. and N. P. Dodge. In the winter of 1883-'84 the mill and factory, together with a large stock of lumber, sash, doors, glass, etc., were destroyed by fire. The following November he, with his wife, returned to San Francisco, where they still reside.

Mr. Dodge has held the office of cashier in the U. S. internal revenue office at San Francisco since March, 1890.

He is a life member of the Pacific Coast Association Native Sons of Vermont, and was a member of the first lodge of Odd Fellows organized in Vermont.

October 4, 1849, he married Lucia Pome- roy, a native of Burlington, and daughter of George and Oliva (Sanger) Moore. One son, George Moore, now a resident of San Rafad, Cal., is the result of this marriage.

DODGE, WILLIS EDWARD, of Minne- apolis, Minn., son of William B. and Harriet N. (Baldwin) Dodge, was born in Lowell, May 11, 1857.

The education of the district schools of Lowell was supplemented by academical training at St. Johnsbury Academy, where he graduated from the college preparatory course, class of 1879. Entering the law of- fice of his uncle, Hon. F. W. Baldwin, of Barton, he was admitted to the bar in Iras- burg, in September, 1880. He immediately went to Fargo, Dak., and was employed in the law office of Roberts & Spaulding until January 1, when he entered upon the prac- tice of his profession at Jamestown, law firm of Allen & Dodge, afterward Dodge & Camp, where he remained until July 1, 1887. During this time he was attorney for the Northern Pacific R. R. Co. and secretary and attorney for Northern Dakota Elevator Co. July 1, 1887, he became attorney for St. Paul, M. & M. R. R. Co. for Dakota,

and moved to Fargo. September 1, 1892, he moved to Minneapolis, Minn., as attorney for the Great Northern R. R. Co., which po- sition he now holds, doing exclusively a cor- poration business.

Mr. Dodge is a stalwart Republican. In 1886 he was elected to the Dakota Senate

from the Jamestown district with a plurality of 1,270, ont of a total of 4,800 votes, over both the Democratic and Farmers' Alliance candidates. He was also district attorney for Stulsman county in 1882 and city attor- ney for Jamestown in 1884, '85 and '86.

WILLIS EDWARD DODGE.

Mr. Dodge was a member of the Knights of the Red Cross in Jamestown, Dakota, and is now a member of the Minneapolis Club, a social organization of a high order.

He was married March 27, 1882, to Hat- tie M., daughter of Daniel and Mary Crist, of Vinton, Iowa. They have two children : Dora May, and William Edward.

DORSEY, STEPHEN W., was born at Benson, Feb. 28, 1842 ; received an academ- ical education ; removed, when a boy, to Oberlin, Ohio, was one of the first volun- teers in the Union army, in which he served at Shiloh, Perryville, Stone River, Chat- tanooga, and Mission Ridge in 1864, and was transferred to the Army of the Potomac and took part in the battles of the Wilder- ness and of Cold Harbor, serving until the close of the war ; returning to Ohio he re- sumed business with the Sandusky Tool Co., was soon chosen its president, and on the same day he was elected without his knowledge, president of the Arkansas Central Railway Co. Removing to Ar- kansas he was chosen chairman of the Re- publican county and state committee, was. offered a seat in Congress by the Republi-

DOUGLASS.

cans of the first district, but declined and was elected almost unanimously United States senator from Arkansas, as a Republican, and took his seat March 4, 1873.

DOUGLASS, STEPHEN A., was born at Brandon, April 23, 1813. He lost his father while in infancy, and his mother be- ing left in destitute circumstances, he en- tered a cabinet shop at Middlebury for the purpose of learning the trade. After re- maining there several months he returned to Brandon, where he continued for a year at the same calling, but his health obliged him to abandon it, and he became a student in the academy. His mother having married a second time, he followed her to Canan- daigua, N. Y. Here he pursued the study of the law, until his removal to Ohio in 1831. From Cleveland he went still further west, and finally settled in Jacksonville, Ill. He was first employed as a clerk to an auction- eer, and afterwards kept school, devoting all the time he could spare to the study of law. In 1834 he was admitted to the bar, soon obtained a lucrative practice, and was elected attorney-general of the state. In 1837 he was appointed by President Van Buren register of the land office at Spring- field, Ill. He afterwards practiced his pro- fession, and in 1840 was elected secretary of state, and the following year judge of the Supreme Court. This office he resigned, after sitting upon the bench for two years, in consequence of ill-health. In 1843 he was elected to Congress, and continued a mem- ber of the lower House for four years. In December, 1847, he was elected to the United States Senate for the term ending in 1853, was re-elected for the term ending 1859, and re-elected for another term, but died in Chicago, June 3, 1861. In 1860 he was the candidate of his party for President but was defeated.

DREW, CHARLES AARON, of Clarinda, Iowa, was born in Kinsea Falls, Canada, Jan. 13, 1859, son of Joseph and Emeline (Ken- nedy) Drew.

His education was begun at Troy, con- tinued in Westfield grammar school, and completed at Derby Academy. In the win- ter of 1877-'78 he taught his first school at Morgan Center ; later he taught in Westfield, Coventry and Troy. An acquaintance was formed with Rev. Jacob Evans, pastor of the M. E. church of Troy, into which church later young Drew was received and of its Sunday school was superintendent. This acquaintance was especially helpful to Mr. Drew ; it helped to inspire him with a de- sire for a broader and more useful life. When not engaged in teaching he worked for the lumber firm of C. P. Stevens & Co. In the

DREW.

spring of 1880 he entered Eastman's Busi- ness College at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., gradu- ating in June of that year. After a short experience as bookkeeper and salesman at Springfield he returned to the firm of C. P. Stevens & Co. In the winter of 1881-'82 he taught in Coventry and became ac- quainted with Dr. C. F. Branch of Newport, superintendent of schools. He began the study of medicine with Dr. Branch and graduated from the medical department of the University of Vermont in June, 1884. He immediately went as apothecary to the state hospital for the insane at Taunton, Mass .; here he was made third assistant physician, and, excepting a six weeks' ab- sence to attend the Berlitz summer school of languages, remained in continuous service until the fall of 1887.

CHARLES AARON DREW.

In September of 1887 he went to New York to pursue a six months course of spec- ial study in the post graduate medical schools and hospitals. There he gave special atten- tion to the eye and ear. In 1888 he returned to the Taunton hospital, resigning in 1890 to accept the position of assistant physician in the government hospital for the insane at Washington, D. C. Since 1888, besides gen- eral hospital work, he has done much ophthal- mic work for the patients, who, gratuitously, have had the benefit of his skill. In the American Journal of Insanity for October, 1892, was published his article, "A Plea for Ophthalmic Work in Institutions for the In- sane," which met the approbation of judges.

DUNN.

In February, 1893, he became first assistant physician of the lowa hospital for the insane at Clarinda, lowa.

In; May, 1890, he married Carrie, daugh- ter of Clandins B. and Agnes Somers.

DUNN, CHARLES C., of Minneapolis, Min., was born at Ryegate, Feb. 20, 1841. lle is of direct Scotish descent on his father's side, his grandfather having been born across the water. His father, John Dunn, was a Vermont farmer, one of the sturdy class who clung to the old state through all the excitement and temptations of Western emigration, and lived and died in the same house which he built when a young man. The life of the father was in striking contrast to that of the son. Charles was the youngest of five sons ( there were also two daughters) and was brought up on the farm with limited opportunities for schooling.

CHARLES C. DUNN.

When the war broke out he was twenty years old. He wished to enter the army and enlisted promptly, but was rejected on ac- count of his health. Trying another locality Mr. Dunn enlisted again, but was again re- jected by the medical examiner, and after a third failure gave it up and engaged with the firm Cramton & Dunn of Rutland. For four years he drove a tin cart, selling tin and japan ware from house to house, taking barter in exchange. In 1865 he went into the wholesale and retail stationery business under the firm name of Sawyer & Dunn, his

part of the enterprise being to drive a whole- sale cart through northern New York and Vermont, supplying the trade. After two years the business had greatly increased, and sales were made only by samples, after the more modern style. A little later the firm was consolidated with Cramton & Dunn, dealers in stoves and hardware, the concern becoming Doun, Sawyer & Co.

Mr. Dunn maintained a very prosperous business connection in the new firm until 1871, when, his health having failed, he went West and invested in timber lands in Wis- consin. This was the beginning of his suc- cess as a manager of Western investment properties. He organized the Jackson County Bank of Black River Falls, Wis., and became one of the directors. Ex-Senator W. T. Price was president.

In 1878 Mr. Dunn went to St. Paul, founded a company under the name of Dunn, Thompson & Co., and built the first refrigerator and cold storage house in that city. Within a year it was burned out with heavy loss. Mr. Dunn returned to Rutland and engaged in farming and the merchant tailoring business, but the attraction of the West and its broader field for his abilities led him to dispose of his interests, and in 1885 he became a citizen of Minneapolis. Entering the real estate business, Mr. Dunn at once became an enthusiastic " hustler " and promoter of the interests of the city. He has always been loyal and hopeful. One of his manifest abilities is a talent for organ- ization. In 1885 and 1886 he engaged in the mining business at Neguanee, Mich., and was one of the organizers of the Buffalo Mining Co., of which concern he was a director and vice-president ; the mine was sold in 1888. Mr. Dunn then organized the Midland Lumber and Manufacturing Co. of Wisconsin, of which he is still vice-president, and in 1892 formed the Minneapolis Disin- fecting Co., and the Northwestern Fuel and Kindling Mfg. Co., of both of which com- panies he is general manager. During his business career he has organized some twenty different companies.

On account of ill-health and in the course of his business ventures, Mr. Dunn has been an extensive traveler. Soon after the war he spent some time traveling through the South, penetrating on horse-back as far as the ever- glades of Florida, and having numerous ad- ventures incident to the unsettled political conditions during the Ku Klux times. A few years later he joined a party of explor- ers in the Black Hills, and saw some exciting Indian campaigning.

In 1869, Mr. Dunn was married at Bran- don, to Miss Anna E. Jones. They have one daughter : Oce J.

DURKEE.

Mr. Dunn was one of the organizers of the Vermont Association of Minneapolis. At the time of the census troubles with St. Paul he proposed the famous indignation meet- ing, and was largely responsible for the successful arrangements for the occasion.

DURKEE, CHARLES, was born in Royalton, Dec. 5, 1807. Was a merchant ;

ELLIS.

removed to Wisconsin, was elected to the Legislature of that state in 1837 and 1838; a Representative in Congress in 1848-'50 from Indiana, and a United States senator for six years, commencing March, 1855. He was a delegate also to the peace con- gress of 1861, and in 1865 was appointed, by President Johnson, Governor of Utah.

EDGERTON, JOSEPH KETCHUM, was born in Vergennes, Feb. 16, 1818; spent his youth in Clinton county, N. Y., and re- ceived a common school education, chiefly at Plattsburg. Read law, settled in New York City in 1835 and came to the bar in 1839, and removed to Fort Wayne, Ind., in 1844. In 1855 he was president of the Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad Co., and subsequently financial agent of the same when consoli- dated with the Pittsburg road, and in 1862 he was elected a representative from Indiana to the Thirty-eighth Congress.

ELDRIDGE, CHARLES A., was born in Bridport, Feb. 27, 1821. When a child he removed with his parents to New York ; studied law in that state and came to the bar in 1846. In 1848, he removed to Fon du Lac, Wis. ; in 1854 and 1855 he was a member of the state Senate; and in 1862 he was elected a representative from Wisconsin to the Thirty-eighth Congress ; re-elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress.

ELLIS, GEORGE WILLIAMS, of New York City, son of Zenas C. and Sarah B. (Dyer) Ellis, was born in Fair Haven, Nov. 27, 1848.

- His education was acquired at the Rut- land high school and Middlebury College, where he was graduated in 1868, and Col- umbia College (N. Y.) Law School, which he attended from 1868 to 1870, when he was admitted to the bar.

The early years of his professional life were passed as a student and clerk in the office of ex-Judge Theron R. Strong, and ex- Judge John W. Edmunds, and with Tracy, Olmstead & Tracy in New York City, em- bracing a period from 1868 to 1874. He then began practice of the law at 119 Broad- way, and later at 155 with John S. Lawrence. This association continued until the death of Mr. Lawrence in 1880, since which time Mr. Ellis has maintained the business, which is one of the oldest in the city, numbering among its clients representatives of all classes of business.

While politics have never actively inter- ested Mr. Ellis, his membership in social organizations indicate his taste and varied

acquirements. Among the societies who claim his membership are the New York state and city bar associations, the Univer- sity Club, the D. K. E. Society and Club, the Washington Heights Century Club, the New York Athletic Club, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Geographical Society, and the American Academy of Polit- ical and Social Science.

ELLIS, WILLIAM H., late of Greenfield, Ill., son of Barnabas and Belinda (Kidder) Ellis, was born in Fair Haven, June 6, 1818.

WILLIAM H. ELLIS.

Educated in the district schools and the Castleton Seminary, he went at the age of eighteen to Whitehall, Ill., making the trip by the usual conveyances of that time, by canal from Whitehall to Buffalo and by lake to Cleveland, thence by canal to Portsmouth on the Ohio river, thence steamboat to St. Louis and from there by stage to his desti- nation, taking six weeks to make the trip.

i A

11.1SWORTH.

For several seasons Captain Ellis taught school in the neighboring towns, and drove cattle to Chicago and horses to St. Louis and New Orleans, and later made entry of some government land in Greene county, Il., and since 1844 has lived on his farm now comprising over one thousand acres.

His sterling business qualities met with public recognition in the election for two successive terms to the office of county sur veyor in 18449, and the appointment by the county to survey and classify lands acquired from the government by the state, and 25,- 000 acres were surveyed by him. Governor French commissioned him captain of the 18th Regt. Ills. Vols. Captain Ellis did active work in obtaining a large subscription to the stock of the Rock Island, Alton & St. Louis Railroad Co., and in securing the right of way for the line, and was afterwards elected a director, and was chairman of the committee to make arrangements for the transfer of the road with Judge Green, pres- ident of the Rock Island, Rockford & St. Louis Railroad Co. In acquiring the right of way, and building the Litchfield, Carroll- ton & Western R. R., of which he was a director, vice-president, and member of the finance committee, Captain Ellis was promi- nently engaged. He was also trustee of the Central Hospital at Jacksonville, receiving his appointment from Governor Beveridge.

He was a member of Greenfield Lodge, No. 129, F. & A. M.

Captain Ellis was married Nov. 6, 1844, to Maria, daughter of David and Laura Wooley. His family consists of four chil- dren : Julia, Arthur, Amy M., and Flora L., all of whom are married.

Captain Ellis died May 27, 1893, at his home at Greenfield, Ill. Through a long life he had won and held the respect and love of a large circle of friends and acquaintances.

ELLSWORTH, CHARLES C., was born at Berkshire, Jan. 29, 1824; received a common school and academic education ; is a lawyer by profession and practice ; was appointed by Governor Barry prosecuting attorney of Livingston county, Mich., in 1850 ; removed to Montcalm county, Mich., in 1851 ; was a member of the state House of Representatives in 1852 and '54 ; was elected prosecuting attorney of Montcalm county at two successive elections ; was appointed by the President of the United States a pay- master in the Union army in 1862 and served until the close of the war and was elected to the Forty-fifth Congress as a Re- publican.

ELLSWORTH, SAMUEL S., was born in Vermont ; was a member of the New York

EMERSON.

Assembly in 18440, and a representative in Congress from that state from 18.45 to 1847.

EMERSON, CHARLES WESLEY, of Bos- ton, Mass., was born on Nov. 30, 1837, in Pittsfickl. His parents were Thomas and Mary F. ( Hewitt) Emerson. His boyhood was passed amid the picturesque scenery of his native place, and his education was much better than boys of his day commonly received. He enjoyed the most excellent instruction of a father whose taste, culture and strong intellectual powers developed in the youth that habit of independent thinking and original research which have so marked

CHARLES WESLEY EMERSON.

his life, and so contributed to his success. His paternal grandfather was a man of un- usual attainments in history and mighty in the Scriptures. His maternal grandfather was a Methodist minister. It is of interest to know that he came from the same stock as Ralph Waldo Emerson, the Sage of Con- cord. Their common ancestry goes back to one Thomas Emerson, who was of a family knighted by King Henry VIII, and who emigrated from England to settle in Ipswich, Mass., in 1638, to become the progenitor of a famous race. .

After leaving the tutelage of his sturdy father, Wesley took courses in medicine, law, oratory and theology and was ordained to the ministry in the Orthodox Congregational church. He had a tremendous power as a preacher, and his churches were crowded

EMERSON.

with eager listeners. He made hundreds of converts, raised church societies from a con- dition of decay to one of flourishing life. But the stock of vitality which he had in- herited from his sturdy ancestors was ex- hausted under the strain which was put upon him, he was compelled to resign for rest and recuperation, and he spent the time in travel on the continent. Upon his return, with health much restored, he was elected lecturer on physiology and hygiene of the voice in Boston University School of Oratory.

Upon the death of Professor Monroe, Mr. Emerson opened an independent school of oratory. This was the beginning of what proved a most remarkable career in educa- tional work. Under the genius of its presi- dent the school has grown, until today it is the largest of its kind in the world. It is a chartered college incorporated under the laws of Massachusetts. Among its lecturers are names well known in the highest literary and educational circles. Its course embraces a thorough system of physical culture devel- oped by President Emerson, the results of which have been almost miraculous in re- storing the health of many students; a sys- tem of voice culture, largely the result of his personal study and investigations in the field of vocal physiology ; literary and scientific studies, training in expression, studies in classical art, etc., making the course a com- plete education, physical, mental and æsthe- tic. President Emerson's work has become of the greatest interest to leading educators here and in England.

He is a broad scholar, acquainted with the best of ancient and modern learning. He is an advanced thinker, bold and independent and yet withal conservative to a remarkable degree, testing every theory by actual work before announcing it. His success is the result of a mind thoroughly imbued with the profoundest principles of philosophy, reaching from old Plato to the modern Sage of Concord ; acquainted with the largest at- tainments of modern science ; saturated with the spirit of the world's best art and literature ; illumined with a lofty faith and throbbing with a great love for mankind ; and pulsing with a tireless energy, which knows no obsta- cle to success. His power is that of a great personality, from which all elements of mere individualism have vanished in the light of universal truth. He is beloved by all his pupils, in every one of whom he takes the deepest personal interest. His aim is to de- velop not merely readers, but men and women, who shall give to the public not simply their acquirements, but themselves, enriched by all the culture and consecration which they achieve.

EWER.

In his college work President Emerson is most ably assisted by his wife, formerly Miss Susie Rogers, of Danvers, Mass. She is hardly second to himself in zeal and energy, and stands by his side in the affections of the pupils.

EWER, WARREN BAXTER, son of Rev. Seth and Eliza (Bourne) Ewer, was born April 22, 1814, in Windsor. His father was a Baptist minister and a native of Barn- stable, Mass. His mother was a native of Falmouth, Mass. The Ewer family is of Norman descent, and originated on the Ure river in the north of France, where the ruins of the "Eure Castle" are still to be seen. The head of the family was a par- ticipant in the Norman invasion of England, and after the conquest settled there. Dur- ing the Cromwellian war, the family became divided, one portion following Cromwell,

WARREN BAXTER EWER.

the other the King. So bitter was this polit- ical estrangement that the former changed the spelling of the family name, adopting the Scotch name "Ewer." Fourteen years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, two brothers, "Ewer," landed with a colony on the north shore of Cape Cod, and founded the town of Barnstable. From those two brothers all the Ewers of the United States have descended.

Of six children born to the father of the subject of this sketch, four were born in Vermont. Warren, the eldest, attended the

T. 10

KWIK.

common schools until ten years of age, after which he was sent to the high schools, and finally finished his preparatory studies for college at South Reading, Mass. He entered Brown University at Providence, in the stummer of 1835. At the close of his first year his health compelled him to leave his studies, and chance led him to Dedham, Mass., where he connected himself with the Dedham Patriot newpaper. The opening of the Harrison political campaign in 1840 found him sole proprietor of that journal, and under the advice and patronage of Samuel G. Goodrich, better known as "Peter Parley," he removed his paper to Roxbury, changed its name and entered the campaign as a supporter of Harrison. He also started a campaign paper which he called "The Harrison Democrat," taking for his motto, "Things by their right names," claiming that Harrison, rather than his opponent, Van Buren, represented the true Democratic principles.

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.

Men of Vermont : an illustrated biographical history of Vermonters and sons of Vermont, Part 106

Author: Ullery, Jacob G., comp; Davenport, Charles H; Huse, Hiram Augustus, 1843-1902; Fuller, Levi Knight, 1841-1896 Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Brattleboro, Vt. : Transcript Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 842

Author: Ullery, Jacob G., comp; Davenport, Charles H; Huse, Hiram Augustus, 1843-1902; Fuller, Levi Knight, 1841-1896
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Brattleboro, Vt. : Transcript Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 842