Men of Vermont : an illustrated biographical history of Vermonters and sons of Vermont, Part 15

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 15

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He represented his town 1826 to 1831, was assistant justice of the county court six years, 1829-'35, councilor, Lieutenant-Gov- ernor in 1835, acting also as Governor, as there was no choice by the people or in the Legislature, as explained in the sketch of Governor Palmer. He was then elected Governor in 1836 as a whig, by a vote of 20,471 over William C. Bradley, who had 16,124. He issued a proclamation this year, during the rebellion in Canada, warning against any violation of the neutrality laws, as there was much sympathy among our people with the rebels.

The proclamation affected his popularity for the time being, but in the end only in- creased it, as his firmness and good judg- ment came to be appreciated. The Demo- crats, however, took advantage of the feeling to make a sharp canvass against him in 1837, but he was re-elected with an increase of 187 in his majority. In 1838 it was in- creased 1,024 more, though so able and strong a man had been his competitor each year. The next year the Democratic fight was made under the cry of "Simlie and Bank Reform," with Nathan Simlie as the candi- date, and Jennison's majority was cut to 2,354. But in the Harrison log-cabin year, 1840, he got a majority of 10,798, after the most exciting canvass he ever had. In the

PAINE.

Legislature, and as Governor, he interested himself largely in the subject of the grand list and problems of taxation. At the close of his term in 1841 he declined re-election. But he served for six years after this as judge of probate, 1841-'47, and was a dele- gate to the Constitutional Convention of 1843, and he died in September, 1849, after a protracted illness.

Governor Jennison, who was of tall, stately build, and unaffected, cordial manners, was a man of cultivated tastes, clear-viewed on public questions, and prudent and correct in administration. As a political leader he was a man of uncommon shrewdness and percep- tion, of winning lines of argument, and he was one of the half-dozen leaders to whom it was due that out of the Anti-Masonic shake- up the Whigs brought such growingly secure control of the state, to hand down to the Republicans after them.

PAINE, CHARLES .- Governor of the state in 1841-'43, the youngest man who had ever held the office, one of the leading projectors of the Vermont Central R. R., and its first president, was the son of Judge Elijah Paine, and was born April 15, 1799. He inherited his father's executive ability and bold con- ceptions of mind and enterprise of spirit, with even more than his benevolence, be- cause of the easier lines on which his life was cast. His last work, where he lost his life, fitly supplementing what he had done in Vermont, was exploring a route in Texas for a Pacific railroad.

He was well educated, graduated from Harvard, and was intended for a profession, but instead took hold of his father's business matters, showing such an efficiency and grasp of affairs as pointed out the proper career for him. The great ambition of his young manhood was the building of the Vermont Central R. R. He interested foreign capital in it, and Oct. 11, 1848, he rode on the first train into Northfield, where he had settled. He built and conducted for years the large hotel at Depot Village, and was all his days engaged in important enterprises. Like his father, he was interested in agriculture, and imported a full-blooded Durham into town to improve the breeding of the cattle there. He was elected Governor in 1841 as a whig, being re-elected the next year. He had for several years been prominent in his party, and had been its candidate as far back as 1835, when its resurrection began from the ruins of Anti-Masonry, as explained in the sketch of Governor Palmer. There were no great feat- ures to his administration, though it was busi- ness-like in its conduct, and his messages gave considerable prominence to topics of education.

MATTOCKS.

He donated the land on which the North- field Academy was built, giving, besides, an excellent apparatus and $500 in cash. He built entirely with his own funds the Con- gregational church at Depot Village. He bequeathed to the Catholic church the land for its church and cemetery, and he also gave the land for the beautiful Elmwood cemetery at that place. He was a man of too broad mind to be sectarian in his gen- erous impulses, and his charities always ex- tended to the most diverse objects. His views were epitomized in his will, which, leaving all details to the trustees, required them, after "assisting such persons as they may think have any claim arising from con- sanguinity, friendship or obligation" in- curred by him, "to use and appropriate what- ever property I may die possessed of for the best good and welfare of my fellowmen, to assist in the improvement of mankind, re- commending that they do it without sec- tarianism or bigotry according to the inten- tion of that God whose will is found in the law of the Christian religion in which I be- lieve and trust."

This will is not lawyer-like, could not stand under the law of trusts as expounded by the courts nowadays, and notably in the Tilden case, but it is noteworthy as showing the character of the man.

His career was cut short by his death in Texas, as above stated, after only twenty-six days' illness, July 6, 1853, when he had reached the age of only fifty-four.

In personal appearance he is described by a friend, Rev. E. Gannett, D. D., as of "erect form, open face, and princely de- meanor, always with words of cordial greet- ing."

MATTOCKS, JOHN .- A distinguished lawyer, briefly a judge of the Supreme Court in 1832, Governor in 1843, and three times a representative in Congress, was born at Hart- ford, Conn., March 4, 1777, the son of Samuel Mattocks, a captain in the Revolutionary army who afterwards came to Vermont, be- came prominent in the early days, represent- ing Tinmouth in the Legislature for four years, being judge and chief justice of the Rutland county court for five years, serving in the ninth council, succeeding Ira Allen as state treasurer, and holding the position fourteen years, from 1786 to 1800.

John Mattocks was only a year old when his father moved from Connecticut to Tin- mouth, and at the age of fifteen went to live with his sister, Rebecca Miller, at Middle- bury for two or three years, where he began the study of law in the office of Samuel Miller, completing it, however, at Fairfield, under Judge Bates Turner, and being ad- mitted to the bar in February, 1797. He

WATTOCKS.

SLADE.

commenced practice at Danville, but soon after moved to Peacham, where he carved ont his successtul career. He was Peacham's representative in the General Assembly in (807 '15 '16-'23-'24, was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1836, and was first elected to Congress in 1820, then in 1824, and again in 1840. He joined the Whig party as soon as it was formed, and was an unyielding adherent of that organiza

tion to the day of his death. He was chosen judge of the Supreme Court in 1832, but declined a re-election the following year. He devoted himself to his professional prac- tice for the next four years, until in 1843 the Whigs nominated him for Governor and elected him by a vote of 24,465 to 21,982 for Judge Daniel Kellogg, Democrat, and 3,766 for Charles K. Williams.

He was in 1806 one of the thirteen direc- tors of the Vermont State Bank, and a brig- adier-general of the state militia in 1812.

As a lawyer Governor Mattocks was often likened to the great Jeremiah Mason of New Hampshire. He was especially strong before a jury, with a concentration of mind, a power of analysis and illustration, a capacious mem- ory that was a storehouse of argument, and a clear and convincing way of statement that were apt to make him irresistible. He was keen and searching on cross-examination, and his knowledge of practical life and his quickness of judgment of human nature, made him a very shrewd and adroit mana- ger of cases. In Congress his most notable

speech accompanied the presentation of a petition for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. His personal de- meanor was always that of the utmost cour- tesy, and his kindliness to young lawyers has been the subject of anecdote for generations. Hle was deeply religious, Calvinistie in belief, and in his later years a member of the Con- gregational church at Peacham. A severe domestic affliction in the death of a son caused him to refuse re-election as Gov- ernor and to retire to private life.

Governor Mattocks wedded, Sept. 4, 1810, Esther Newell, of Peacham, who died on her fifty-second birthday, July 21, 1844, leaving a daughter and three sons living. Two daughters died in infancy. Governor Mat- tocks died August 14, 1847. Of the three sons who survived, one filled an honorable position as a clergyman, another as a lawyer, and the other as a physician.

SLADE, WILLIAM .- Congressman, Gov- ernor, secretary of state, secretary of the National Board of Education, political edi- tor, compiler of "Slade's State Papers," and who probably held a greater variety of civil trusts than any other citizen of the state, was born at Cornwall in 1786. His father was Col. William Slade, a Revolutionary vet- eran, who came from Washington, Conn., in 1786, was sheriff of Addison county for sev- eral years, an active Republican politician, and a staunch supporter of Madison and the war of 1812. Young Slade graduated from Middlebury College in 1807, .studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1810. But his attention was soon absorbed in journal- ism and politics, and in historical and liter- ary studies. In 1814-'15-'16 he edited the Columbian Patriot, a political paper at Mid- dlebury, where he also kept a book store. In. 1816 he was made secretary of state, and held the position for eight years. He was a Madison presidential elector in 1812. From 1817 to 1823 he was also judge of the Addi- son county court, and was afterwards state's attorney. Before the close of the Monroe administration he was appointed clerk in the state department in Washington, and served until 1829, when he had to "go" under Jack- son. But he had improved the opportunity in the meantime to equip himself intellectually for the larger usefulness of later years, and was one of the few men who ever rose from departmental service to anything higher.

In 1830 he was elected representative to Congress and served continuously for twelve years. On his retirement, such was the versatility he had shown, that he was ap- pointed reporter of the decisions of the Supreme Court of Vermont. But he held this position only one year, because in 1844 he was chosen Governor, and re-elected the

SLADE.

next year. Subsequently he was for nearly fifteen years secretary of the national board of popular education, having for its object the furnishing of the West with teachers from the East, and gave himself to the duties of the position with the thoroughness and the zest that always characterized him, and with an effect for good that it is not easy to measure. These labors ceased only with his death, Jan. 18, 1859.

His best title to historical rank will rest on his speech, Dec. 20, 1837, on a petition for the abolition of the slave trade in the Dis- trict of Columbia, and though the speech was suppressed by vote of the House, the pluck with which he presented the case and the skill and coolness with which he prodded the slavocracy to desperation, were well worthy of admiration. In arguing for the removal of the disgrace of this traffic from the National Capital, he naturally branched off into a discussion of the wicked and brutalizing character of the traffic every- where. Quoted Franklin, Jefferson and Madison in reprobation of it, and when points of order were fired at him to the effect that " slavery in the United States " could not be discussed, he was ready with quotations from these great southern statesmen them- selves to show that they were ready to dis- cuss and consider, but never to throttle debate on the subject. He finally got the southerners into a corner where they ob- jected to quotations from the Declaration of Independence itself, and driving them re- morselessly in their dilemma, extorted a call from the leaders for the southern delegations to leave the hall in a body. When they attempted the gag rule to suppress him he said : " You may indeed silence the voice of truth in this hall, but it will be only to give it louder and deeper tones elsewhere"-words that were prophetic. His speech on the tariff bill of 1842 was also regarded as a strong one for the protectionist side of the argument, especially for its wool schedule, and it was widely published and circulated by the Whigs.

One of the interesting episodes of Ver- mont politics in those days was the "war of pamphlets" between him and Senator Phelps in 1845 and 1846, growing.out of the charges made against the senator before his re-election in 1844, that he had been inclined to kick out of the party traces and to refuse to vote for the tariff bill of 1842 and against the land distribution bill, and that he had impaired his usefulness by excessive intemperance, violence of temper, and coarseness of lan- guage. Slade was at the time Governor and claimed that Phelps had got him nominated to silence these accusations. He had been an aspirant for the senator's seat, as also had Hiland Hall, and these two with Ezra Meech

EATON.

and Charles Adams fathered the reports, as Phelps claimed. The thing was fought out in the Whig convention and in the Legisla- ture, which appointed a committee of inves- tigation. Phelps won at both points, and then in the following winter published an "Appeal " to the people of Vermont in his vindication, reviewing the charges, produc- ing letters from a large number of his col- leagues and associates to show the baseless- ness of the charges. Slade followed with a "reply," then Phelps with a "rejoinder" and Slade with another address "To the People of Vermont," in which they handled each other severely and with a personal bitterness that would be irreparably damaging to the author in these days.

EATON, HORACE, Governor of the state in 1846-8, Lieutenant-Governor for the three years preceding, physician, college professor and writer, was a man of modest but wide merit. The accessible biographical facts about him, however, are meagre. He was a son of Dr. Eliphoz and Polly ( Barnes) Eaton, born at Barnard, June 22, 1804, but remov- ing with his parents to Enosburg two years later. He attended the district schools until he was fifteen, when he was sent to St. Albans Academy to fit for college, entered Middle- bury in 1821, and graduated in 1825, having taught school every winter to help pay his expenses, but keeping up with his class with- out difficulty. He taught the academy school in Middlebury for two years after graduation, and then returned to Enosburg and studied medicine with his father, and also attended medical lectures at Castleton, where he received his diploma. He contin- ued at Enosburg in the practice of his pro- fession in company with his father, until the latter's retirement, then alone, and still later in company with his brother, Dr. Rollin Eaton. He was town clerk for a number of years, representative in the Legislature six different times, and once in the Constitu- tional Council. In 1837 he was elected state senator, and again in 1839, being re-elected three times. Though unpretentious, he was so diligent and useful a legislator that he made a reputation which resulted in his nomination by the Whigs for Lieutenant- Governor, in 1843, on the ticket with Gov- ernor Mattocks, and he was re-elected on the ticket with Governor Slade for his two terms. In 1846 he was the party nominee for Governor, and was elected by a plurality of 5,763, the largest the Whigs had up to this time obtained, except in presidential years, and he was re-elected the next year. On his retirement from the Governor's chair he was called to Middlebury College to take the post of professor of natural history and chemistry, which he held for about six years

W11.LIAMS.

until his death, July 4, 1855, in his sixty-first year. Ile had for several years been in feeble health, the victim of wasting and ex- hansting disease contracted in the care of a professional brother, Doctor Bard, of Troy.

He was a man of clear and well-balanced mind, Madison like in the simple, convincing fairness of his arguments, and the comprehen- siveness of his understanding of the subjects he handled, just and kindly towards others, of great delicacy of feeling, and always exceed- ingly careful not to wound, always a gentleman in his deportment. It was a combination of qualities that when bottomed on real intellee- tual strength and extensive learning, as was the case with him, make a strong man, a con- trolling one in deliberative assemblies and an authoritative on executive duties. He wrote much in the way of public addresses and lectures, reports and newspaper articles, not much of which, however, was of an enduring character. His last address delivered but a few weeks before his death was before the "Enosburg Young Men's Temperance So- ciety." He was much interested in temper- ance work all through his later years, taking an active part in the agitation that finally led to the enactment of our prohibitory law. Besides all his other services to the state he was for five years the state superintendent of common schools.

Governor Eaton was twice married, first, August 14, 1821, to Cordelia L. Fuller, who died Feb. 7, 1841 ; and second, December, 1841, to Miss Edna Palmer. There were two children, but only one, Mrs. R. D. Ross of Missouri, lived to reach maturity.

COOLIDGE, CARLOS .- Speaker, sen- ator, and Governor, son of Nathan and Elizabeth (Curtis) Coolidge, was born in Windsor, June 25, 1792. He fitted for col- lege with Rev. James Converse of Weathers- field, and entered Dartmouth in the fall of 1807, but transferred to Middlebury in the spring of 1809, and was graduated in 1811. After graduation he commenced the study of law with Peter Starr, Esq., of Middlebury, with whom he remained about two years, and then returning to Windsor completed his legal studies with Hon. Jonathan H. Hubbard, and was admitted to the Windsor county bar at the September term, 1814, and established himself in practice in his native town. In 1831 he was elected state's at- torney for the county of Windsor, and was successively re-elected for five terms. He was a member of the first board of bank commissioners, appointed under a statute enacted in 1831. In 1834 he' was elected to represent Windsor in the Legislature, and re-elected during the two succeeding years, being speaker in 1836, and was also repre- sentative for another term of three years,

1839-'440-'41, and speaker during the whole term, and distinguished himself by the dig- nity and impartiality with which he dis- charged the duties of that station.

In 1845 he was presidential elector and assisted in giving the vote of Vermont to Henry C'lay. He was the candidate of the Whig party for Governor in 1848, and, no election being made by the people, was chosen by the Legislature. In the same way he was re-elected in 1849. He was a sena- tor from Windsor county in 1853-'54-'55, and was frequently called upon to act as president pro tempore of the Senate and Joint .Assembly.

He married Harriet Bingham of Clare- mont, N. H., by whom he had one son, who died in early childhood, and one daughter : Mary, who married Rev. Franklin Butler.

He received the honorary degree of A. M. from the University of Vermont in 1835, and that of L.L. D. from his alma mater in 1849. He died at Windsor, August 14, 1866, aged sixty-nine.

WILLIAMS, CHARLES KILBORN .- Governor, an eminent jurist and one of the most widely use- ful of our states- men, was born at Cambridge, Mass., Jan. 24, 1782. Youngest son of that emi- nent philosopher and historian, Rev. Samuel Wil- liams, LL. D., by Jane, daughter of Elphialet Kil- born. He came to Vermont with his father in 1790, gradua- ted at Williams in 1800, and locating at Rutland, continued to reside there until his death. He studied law with Cephas Smith, Esq., of Rutland, then clerk of the U. S. courts for the district of Vermont ; was ad- mitted to the bar in March, 1803; was appointed a tutor in Williams College in 1802, and about the same time received a similar appointment from Middlebury College, both of which he declined. He served one cam- paign on the north frontier in the war of 1812. Represented Rutland 1809-'11-'14-'15-'20- '21 and '49. After his retirement from the bench, by the general concurrence of all po- litical parties in town, he was state's attorney of Rutland county in 1815 ; was elected judge of the Supreme Court of Vermont, in 1822- '23-'24, declining the last election ; was ap- pointed collector of customs for Vermont in 1 825 and held the position until October, 1829,

FARBANKS.

when he resigned, being again elected one of the judges of the Vermont Supreme Court ; to this office he received seventeen successive annual elections. He retired from the bench in 1849, declining a re-election. In 1850-'5 1 he was elected Governor by a majority of the popular vote. In 1827 he was appointed one of the state commissioners for common schools, a board to select and recommend suitable text books and to have general super- vision over educational affairs of the state ; was a member of the corporation of Middle- bury College from 1827 to 1843, and, at the time of his death, was president of the society of the Alumni of Williams College. He re- ceived the degree of Master of Arts from Middlebury and Williams Colleges in 1803, and that of Doctor of Laws from the former in 1834.

Governor Williams died very suddenly at his residence in Rutland, March 9, 1853.

FAIRBANKS, ERASTUS .- Twice Gover- nor of the state, the signer of its prohibitory law, which defeated him for re-election, but eight years later elected the first of our three war Governors, the founder, with his brother Thaddeus, of the great firm of scale manufacturers at St. Johnsbury, one of the fathers of the Passumpsic R. R., and its first president, was born in Brimfield, Mass., Oct. 28, 1792.

The early American ancestors of the Fair- banks family, Jonathan and Grace Fair- banks, came from Yorkshire, England, in 1633 and settled in Dedham, Mass., where the family mansion there erected still stands. In Erastus Fairbanks, the sixth generation in the line of descent, was seen the junc- tion of the qualities of character in the early New England settlers, energy, public spirit, and clear religious convictions. Joseph Fair- banks, a farmer, carpenter, and mill owner, was the father of the subject of this sketch, and he came to Vermont and St. Johnsbury in 1815, the son having preceded him by a few years. Erastus Fairbanks' early means of edu- cation were very limited and confined wholly to the common school of which he made un- common use. In referring to this period of his early history he himself said of the school where he studied: "I went thor- oughly through all the stages of the fresh- man, sophomore, junior, and senior classes of this institution, and graduated at the age of seventeen with a knowledge of the branches there taught as a foundation. 1 ever considered myself a student at large, capable of acquiring, and bound to acquire, a knowledge of other sciences more or less thoroughly, and an acquaintance with what- ever is requisite to qualify myself for any calling or station which in the providence of God I may be called upon to occupy." For

FAIRBANKS.

a little while after leaving school he con- tinued his education by teaching for two terms. Soon after, in 1812, he accepted an invitation from his uncle, Judge Ephriam Paddock of St. Johnsbury to enter his office as a student of law. A serious affection of the eyes soon compelled him to abandon his legal studies and engage in other pursuits. He entered mercantile life as represented in a country store, and continued in this for eleven years in Wheelock, East St. Johns-' bury, and Barnet. In these years he estab- lished a reputation for absolute integrity and for interest in everything that concerned the public welfare.

On the settlement of his affairs in Barnet, he returned to St. Johnsbury and entered into business with his next younger brother, Thaddeus Fairbanks, as manufacturers of stoves, plows, etc. In 1829 the brothers added to their business the purchase and preparation of hemp for market. The rude and inaccurate mode of weighing their pur- chases led to the invention of the platform scale by them. This invention, like most of the discoveries that have revolutionized methods of industry, was simple and easily understood. The demand for the new scale compelled the brothers to relinquish other business interests. 'The two men were fitted for partnership in the work and growth of a great manufacturing establishment. Thad- deus gave the strength of his inventive genius to the improvement and manufacture of the scale, while Erastus with his genius for business, by original and far seeing methods, secured a wide and solid financial success, though they had their full share of struggles and misfortunes. A fire and a freshet in 1828 compelled them to ask for a two years extension from their creditors, which was cordially granted.

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Men of Vermont : an illustrated biographical history of Vermonters and sons of Vermont, Part 15

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