Men of Vermont : an illustrated biographical history of Vermonters and sons of Vermont, Part 27

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 27

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Mr. Allen wedded, Dec. 4, 1804, Sarah, daughter of Dr. John Prentiss of St Albans. There were nine children, of whom five lived to maturity. Of these George became pro- fessor of Latin and Greek in the University of Pensylvania, Joseph W. became a lawyer of some prominence, and Sarah was the wife of Rev. J. R. Converse.

His son George describes his personal appearance as "of lofty stature, over six feet high, and of commanding presence. His strongly marked countenance indicated that combination of massive strength of intellect with inflexible adherence to principle in private and public life, which formed the salient points of his character. His feat- ures, in repose, wore a slight expression of severity, which belied the real kindness of his disposition. The dignified simplicity of

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his manners was perfectly expressive of his habitual absence of all personal pretension."

HUNT, JONATHAN. Congressman, 1827-'32, and dying in the service, a man of remarkable popular strength in his day, came from a notable Vermont family. His father was Jonathan Hunt, Sr., who was Lieutenant-Governor of the state in 1794- '96, a native of Northfield, Mass., a leader in the early troubles of the settlers, first a " Yorker " and afterward appointed a sheriff under New York authority, then an advocate of the division of the "Grants" between New York and New Hampshire, and one of the committee of thirteen, with Luke Knowl- ton, Charles Phelps and Micah Townshend, to prepare a plan to establish still another new government out of parts of Vermont and New Hampshire, and only joining the " new state" men, as did Knowlton and Townshend, when they saw that these schemes were hopeless. He was one of four brothers, who were all men of superior abilities and large influence in the affairs of this part of the country. Among them was Gen. Arad Hunt, of Vernon, who got his title in the command of Vermont militia, who was a member of the Wesminster con- vention of June, 1776, and who donated 5,000 acres of land in the town of Albany, Vt., to Middlebury College. One of his daughters married Governeur Morris of New York. The distinguished Hunt family of New York is also a branch of this, which was also connected by marriage with the Seymours of Connecticut.

Gov. Jonathan Hunt, the father of the congressman, married Lavinia Swan of Bos- ton, a woman of superior intellectual en- dowments, a former pupil of President John Adams, and their home in Vernon, with its wealth and generous hospitality, was long a social center for the best and brainiest peo- ple in New England. With such an ances- try and such surroundings, Jonathan Hunt, Jr., who was born August 12, 1780, natur- ally came up a man of unusual talent and promise, uniting as he did uniform industry and perseverance to his other advantages. He was graduated at Dartmouth in 1807, studied law at Brattleboro, and was admitted to the Windham county bar in November, I 792.

He settled in a practice, which grew to be extensive, at Brattleboro, and was promi- nently identified with the town's commercial and social life. He was chosen the first president of the old Brattleboro Bank, after its incorporation in 1821, and held the posi- tion until his death. He represented the town in the Legislature in 1816-'17-'24. He succeeded William C. Bradley as repre- sentative in Congress in 1827 and was twice

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re-elected, holding the office until his death in Washington, May 15, 1832, aged only forty-two. The news of his death was re- ceived almost as a personal bereavement by the people of the district, so deep was the hold he had obtained on their affections and regard.

Mr. Hunt married Jane Maria Leavitt. Among the five children were William Mor- ris Hunt. the artist of world-wide renown, and Richard M. Hunt, the architect, of New York.

CAHOON, GEN. WILLIAM .- In Con- gress from 1827 to 1833, and Lientenant- Governor 1820-'22, was born at Providence, R. I., in 1774, the son of Daniel Caboon and brother of Daniel Cahoon, Jr., the first settler of Lyndon. The misfortunes of Revolution- ary times brought to comparative poverty and to Vermont the father, who had been an importing merchant and was one of the charter grantees of Lyndon, where the family has ever been one of prominence. The elder Cahoon was town representative eight years, selectman eleven, and town clerk fif- teen in succession. The son, William, suc- ceeded to the latter position in 1808 and held it uninterruptedly until he went to Con- gress. He was elected town representative in 1802 and re-elected eight times. He was a delegate to the constitutional conventions of 1814 and 1828, a Madison presidential elector in 1808, judge of the Caledonia county court 1811-'19, and councilor 1815- '20. He was for many years one of the most influential Democratic leaders of the state, and was one of the candidates for councilor counted out in the close contest of 1813. He obtained his title of general in the mil- itia and was the commander of the fourth division at the time of the war of 1812, with the rank of major-general.

EVERETT, HORACE .- Congressman for years, one of the strong Whig leaders, was born in Vermont in 1780. He gradu- ated at Brown University in 1797, studied law, and practiced in Windsor. He was. state's attorney for Windsor county 1813-'17 and became famous as one of the most suc- cessful jury advocates in the state. He repre- sented Windsor in the Legislature in 1819, 1820, 1822, 1824, and 1834, and was a prom- inent member of the state Constitutional Convention of 1828, and in that year also was elected to Congress as a Whig, defeating George E. Wales. He was re-elected to the Twenty-third Congress on the second trial, receiving 304 majority ; was re-elected again to the Twenty-fourth, defeating Anderson (Dem.) and Arnold (Whig), and again to the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Con- gresses, receiving 5,183 votes in the latter

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year against 3,84 1 votes for Partridge (Dem.), and was re-elected to the Twenty-seventh- 2,222 majority-serving from Dec. 7, 1829, to March 3, 1843.

His chief fame in Congress was made by his advocacy of the rights of the Indians. Among his notable speeches was that of June 3, 1836, against the Indian bounty bill and the removal of the Creeks, Seminoles, Cher- okees, Choctaws, and Chickasaws to Indian Territory, a very exhaustive one, and he pre- dicted that the removal only changed the scene of war. He died at Windsor Jan. 30, 1851.

DEMING, BENJAMIN F .- Who was sent to the House for one term, 1833-'35, being elected from the Fifth congressional district on the Anti-Masonic ticket by a large majority, was a native of Danville, where he was born in 1790. He received only a common school education, began life as a clerk in a store and then was for a num- ber of years a merchant at Danville until he gave up his time to his public duties. He was for sixteen years, 1817-'32, the Cale- donia county clerk, and eleven years, 1821-'32, judge of probate, and councilor for six years, 1827 to 1833, winning in these positions the reputation which secured his nomination to Congress. He served, how- ever, only one session, and contracting a disease of the bowels at Washington, died while on his way home, at Saratoga Springs, N. Y., July 11, 1834, aged only forty-four. He left a wife and young family.

He was a man of "more than ordinary. talent, of a calm and deliberative mind, quick of perception, prompt, apt and up- right in business transactions, gentle and winning socially, and benevolent in ideas."

JANES, HENRY F .- Congressman 1835- '37, councilor from 1830 to 1834, and state treasurer from 1830 to 1841, was of a family that was among the pioneers in Vermont, and prominent in the early history of several towns. He was himself born in October, 1792, at Brimfield, Mass., the third of eight children of Solomon and Beulah (Fisk) Janes. The family came in his early boy- hood to Calais, and he studied law at Mont- pelier, enlisted from there in a company that was in the battle of Plattsburg in the war of 1812, and settled in Waterbury for the practice of his profession in 1817, being reasonably successful with his cases as well as in amassing a competence and in winning popular favor. He was postmaster for ten years, 1820-'29. Then he was immediately elected a councilor, serving four years, till 1834, and then promoted to Congress where he represented the district for one term, and then was elected state treasurer. serving

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three years, 1838 to 1841. This closed his political life in a large field, though he was a member of the council of censors in 1848, and represented Waterbury several terms in the Legislature, his last election being in 1855. He died June 6, 1879, in his eighty- eighth year. He wedded, in 1826, Fanny, daughter of Gov. Ezra Butler ; and Dr. Henry Janes, a distinguished physician and war surgeon, was their son.

Mr. Janes is described as a most just man in every relation of life, with clear, strong judgment, and conscientious devotion to duty.

FLETCHER, GEN. ISAAC .- Representa- tive in Congress for two terms, 1837-'41, was native of Massachusetts, born in 1784, and a graduate of Dartmouth. After teaching the academy awhile at Chesterfield, N. H., he studied law with Mr. Vose in that state and Judge White at Putney, and established him- self in practice at Lyndon. He rose rapidly to the front rank of the profession, participa- ting for a time in the trial of nearly every case in Caledonia, Orleans and Essex coun- ties, and literally wearing himself out with overwork. He represented Lyndon in the General Assembly four years, was state's attorney of Caledonia county eight years and was adjutant-general on the staff of Gover- nor Van Ness, getting his title from that source. His health had failed before he got far in his congressional service and though he was still faithful to his duties, his weak- ness prevented his attaining any distinction. He died in October, 1842, just after the close of his second term.

He married Miss Abagail Stone of Chester- field who survived him. His only son, C. B. Fletcher, a lawyer of Boston, was a man of brilliant parts, but died of consumption at the age of thirty-four.

SMITH, JOHN .- Representative in Con- gress, 1839-'41, and one of the chief projec- tors of the Vermont & Canada R. R., was a native of Barre, Mass., born August 12, 1789, and the son of Deacon Samuel Smith. The family moved to St. Albans in 1800, where young John had only the advantage of the slender educational facilities of the town, studied law first with his brother-in- law, Roswell Hutchins, and then with Ben- jamin Swift, was admitted to the bar in 1810, and formed a partnership with Mr. Swift, which continued with high success for seven- teen years, until Mr. Swift went to Congress. He represented the town in the General Assembly ten years, from 1827 to 1838, with the exception of 1834, and was speaker of the House in '32 and '33. He was state's attorney for Franklin county seven years, 1827-'33. In 1838 the Democrats of that

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district nominated him for Congress, and, though the district was strongly Whig, Mr. Smith was elected, after a vigorous canvass to which his large personal popularity added milch strength. But it was only for one term. The great political storm of 1840 left him high and dry at home. His con- gressional service was of course too short to permit any great reputation in it to be won, but he made one speech, a defense of the independent treasury idea, which was wide- ly published and counted one of the ablest and most thorough ever made on the sub- ject. His defeat for re-election to Congress closed his public life and he returned to the practice of his profession, until 1845, after which he gave his time and energies chiefly to railroad enterprises, and it was to him in conjunction with Lawrence Brainerd and Joseph Clark and to their boldness of action through the most critical emergencies, risk- ing their entire fortunes in the project by borrowing $350,000 on their personal credit, that the Vermont & Canada road was made a reality and the last link forged that was to connect New England with the great lakes.

The conception was a great one and by energy and sagacity was it realized, but the triumph was followed by perplexing and ex- hausting labor to make a business success of the enterprise, and the strain and the anxiety undermined Mr. Smith's health and led to his sudden death, Nov. 20, 1858.

Mr. Smith was a man of large mold, liberal and public-spirited, of clean and worthy pri- vate life, and in the words of a local biogra- pher : "An earnest Christian man, full of charity and good works, without partiality and without hypocrisy."

He married, Sept. 18, 1814, Miss Maria W. Curtis, of Troy, N. Y., and Gov. John Gregory and Congressman Worthington C. Smith were their sons.

YOUNG, AUGUSTUS .- Representative in Congress 1841-'43, and a scientific author of reputation, was born in Arlington, March 20, 1785, studied law and was admitted to the bar at St. Albans in 1810, began practice at Stowe, but in about eighteen months moved to Craftsbury, where his active life was spent. He represented the town eight years, was state's attorney for Orleans county four years, and judge of probate in 1830. He was elected state senator in 1836, and was twice re-elected. His election to Con- gress was in 1840, but he declined a re-elec- tion. In 1847 he moved back to St. Albans, and for several years was judge of probate, but devoted most of his time until his death, June 17, 1857, to literary and scientific pur- suits, and was appointed state naturalist in 1856. He was one of the most learned men the state ever contained in geology and

mineralogy, was a great mathematician and a profound reasoner. His intellectual charm was such, with his easy and kindly manners, as to give him great popularity, and though his energies were perhaps too scattered to. win the greatest success, none knew him but to admit that he was a man of great talents.

MARSH, GEORGE PERKINS. Son of Congressman Charles Marsh and grandson of the Lieutenant-Governor, a lawyer, congress- man, diplomat, philologist and of workl-wide fame as an author and scholar, was perhaps. the most broadly accomplished man the state ever produced. He was born March 15, 1801, graduated at Dartmouth in 1820, stud- ied law in his father's office, was admitted to the bar in 1825, and settled at Burlington, speedily acquiring an extensive practice. But he divided his time between law, literature and politics, and, in 1835, he was a member of the Governor's council. In 1842 he was elected representative to Congress and three times re-elected, until, in 1849, President Taylor appointed him minister to Turkey. The time and the situation were such as to give him opportunity, which he improved to. the utmost, to render important service to the cause of civil and religious toleration in the Turkish empire. The marked improvement of the system of the Porte in this respect in the past forty years may truly be said to be due to Mr. Marsh more than any other one man. He was also charged in 1852 with a special mission to Greece, which he filled with added reputation. On the change of admin- istration, however, in 1853, he was relieved,. and returning to Vermont, he was appointed one of the commissioners to rebuild the pres- ent state house in Montpelier, and, in 1857,. he was appointed railroad commissioner, serving two years. In 1857, also by the ap- pointment of Governor Fletcher, he made a valuable and exhaustive report on the artifi- cial propagation of fish, laying the foundation for much of the work that has been done since. In 1861 President Lincoln appointed him minister to Italy, and he held the position, being the patriarch of American diplomacy, twenty-one years, until his death, in Valom- brosa, not far from Florence, July 23, 1882.

During his residence abroad he travelled extensively in the East and in Europe, pass- ing some time in Denmark, Sweden and Nor- way, where he has long been recognized as a leading Scandinavian scholar. His published works include a " Compendious Grammar of the Old Northern or Icelandic Language," compiled and translated from the Grammar Rask (Burlington, 1838) ; "The Camel, His Organization, Habits and Uses, considered with reference to his introduction into the United States" (Boston, 1856) ; and " Lec- tures on the English Language" (New York,

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1860) ; originally delivered in 1859 in the post-graduate course of Columbia College, New York, in which he " aimed to excite a more general interest among educated men and women in the history and essential char- acter of their native tongue, and to recom- mend the study of the English language in its earlier literary monuments rather than through the medium of grammars and lin- guistic treatises.

He never tired in delving in the languages and literature of the North of Europe, and his sympathies appear to be with the Goths, whose presence he traces in whatever is great and peculiar in the character of the founders of New England. In a work en- titled " The Goths in New England," he has contrasted the Gothic and Roman charac- ters, which he appears to regard as the great antagonistic principles of society at the present day. He was also the author of va- rious essays, literary and historical, relating to the Goths and their connection with America.

Still another of his works, and one of great merit, was "Man and Nature," first pub- lished in 1864, and largely re-written and re- published in 1874 under the title : "The Earth as Modified by Human Action." He was collaborator in the preparation of the dictionary of the English language, issued under the auspices of the London Philologi- cal Society. And his miscellaneous pub- lished addresses and speeches are quite numerous. Henry Swan Dana says he "was a truly learned man, in the variety and thoroughness of his acquisitions, in all de- partments of human knowledge being almost without a peer in the world." His library, one of the finest in the country, rich beyond compare in Scandinavian literature, he pre- sented to the University of Vermont, of whose corporation he was chosen a member, in 1844.

Mr. Marsh was twice married. His first wife, who lived but a few years after the mar- riage, was Harriet, daughter of Ozias Buell, of Burlington. The second, whom he wedded Dec. 1, 1816, was Caroline Crane, of Berkeley, Mass., a woman of literary power and an author of some reputa- tion. Her published productions are : "The Hallig ; or, the Sheepfold in the Waters," translated from the German of Biernatzki, with a biographical sketch of the author (Boston, 1857) ; and "Wolfe of the Knoll, and Other Poems" (New York, 1860).

There were two children by the first wife : Charles, who died in childhood, and George Ozias, a promising New York lawyer, who died when only thirty-three.

HENRY, WILLIAM. - Congressman for two terms, close friend of Lincoln, and one

PECK.

of the fathers of the now large village of Bel- lows Falls, was born in New Hampshire in 1788. He received only a common school education, moved to Bellows Falls, where he was cashier of the Bank of Bellows Falls for fifteen years, and held various stations in public life. It was on his motion in 1834 that the act incorporating the village was accepted at a meeting of the corporation, after it had once been rejected. From that time up to and including 1843, Mr. Henry was a member of the board of fire wardens. He was a member of the Harrisburg conven- tion in 1839 which nominated General Har- rison and a presidential elector in 1840. In 1846 he was elected a member of the House of Representatives and was re-elected and served two terms. In 1860 he was again elected a presidential elector and during the campaign visited Mr. Lincoln at his home in Illinois, with whom he was personally acquainted, they having served together in Congress where their seats were near to- gether and they had been in close sympathy as Whigs. The Democratic candidate against him at both his elections was William C. Bradley.

Mr. Henry died at Bellows Falls April 17, 1861, at the age of seventy-three, just as the great civil war was breaking upon the country. Up to his last moment almost, he followed the progress of events with intensest interest.

PECK, LUCIUS B .- Representative in Congress from 1847 to 1851, was born at Waterbury in October, 1802, the son of Gen. John Peck. He was admitted as a cadet at West Point in 1822, but had to resign be- cause of ill-health after a year's study, en- tered upon the study of law first with Judge Prentiss at Montpelier, and then with Denni- son Smith at Barre, and was admitted to the bar in September, 1825. He formed a part- nership with Mr. Smith, who had an exten- sive practice, but was growing old so that the burden soon fell upon young Peck's shoulders. But he rapidly rose in his pro- fession and became one of the leading lawyers of Washington and Orange counties, and the worthy antagonist in the forensic forum of such men as Paul Dillingham, William Upham, and Jacob Collamer. He represented Barre in 1831, but soon after moved to Montpelier, where he devoted himself to his profession with all the ardor of his nature, keeping out of politics steadily for fifteen years. In 1846 the Democrats of the district nominated him for Congress and elected him, and re-elected him for a second term in 1848. While in Washington he was on intimate and familiar terms with such great party leaders as William L. Marcy and Daniel S. Dickinson. He was also twice the Democratic candidate for Governor, and

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from 1853 to 1857 was United States dis triet attorney by appointment of President Pierce. But these were all the political honors he ever held, and indeed he had but little taste for polities, and little ambition for its contests or distinctions. B. F. Fifickt, the able lawyer with whom he was in partner- ship in his later years, says that Mr. Peck often told him that the greatest mistake of his life was in going to Washington at all.

He resumed his professional practice after his congressional career closed and to the end held a rank close to the front at the bar of the state and being especially potent in railroad litigation. He was president of the Vermont & Canada road from 1859 until his death. His power as a lawyer and poli- tician, too, was in his candor and fairness of statement, his fine and unruffled courtesy, his masterful analysis, separating the true from the false, the essential from the non- essential, and the clearness with which he piled up proposition upon proposition un- answerable. It was true of 'him, as his admiring colleague said of John G. Carlisle, that he "never had a clouded thought." He was slow and deliberate, cautious in con- clusions, but most apt to be convincing when he reached them, and a safe and dis- criminating adviser. He had little of the art of oratory or the embellishments of fancy ; he spoke to convince, not to please.

He married in 1830 the daughter of Ira Day of Barre, an accomplished lady with whom his home life was a most beautiful one for the fifteen years until her death in 1845.

He was stricken with paralysis while on a professional visit to Lowell, Mass., and died there Dec. 28, 1866.

HEBARD, WILLIAM .- Was a self-made and self-educated man, and read law with William Nutting of Randolph. He was ad- mitted to the Orange county bar in 1827, and commenced to practice at East Randolph, but in 1845 removed to Chelsea, and re- mained there practicing his profession until the time of his death. He was one of the ablest and most popular men of his time, represented Randolph four years, and Chel- sea five years in the General Assembly ; was state senator in 1836-'38, and state's attor- ney in 1832-'34-'36 ; judge of probate in 1838, 1840, and 1841, and judge of the Supreme Court of Vermont from 1842 to 1844 inclusive. In 1848 he was elected to Congress, and again in 1850. In 1860 he was a delegate to the national Republican convention that nominated Abraham Lin- coln. Judge Barrett of the Supreme Court pays him this tribute : "I think his promi- nent characteristics were candor, consider- ateness, integrity and faithfulness. He was plain and practical, with substantial common

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sense that gave itself with faithful effort to such office as he was called to do, and the estimate in which he was held is amply and best attested by the fact of his large and long continued professional practice with all classes of the community, by his early and oft re- peated calls to offices of important respon- sibility, in which his integrity and assiduity were always conspienons ; by the universal respect in which he was held as a citizen, as a member of society, as a neighbor, and as a friend."

As an advocate, in the putting of his facts and ideas, his propositions and his argument into written expression he had unusual facility and merít.

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Men of Vermont : an illustrated biographical history of Vermonters and sons of Vermont, Part 27

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