USA > Vermont > Men of Vermont : an illustrated biographical history of Vermonters and sons of Vermont > Part 28
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Judge Hebard married Elizabeth Stockwell (Brown), Sept. 12, 1830. He died at Chel- sea at the age of seventy-five, Oct. 20, 1875.
MEACHAM, JAMES .- College professor and Congregational preacher as well as poli- tician, was born in Rutland, August 10, 1810, and being left an orphan in early childhood was apprenticed to a cabinet maker. But a benevolent neighbor, impressed with his tal- ents and ambition, assisted him to an educa- tion, and he graduated from Middlebury in 1832, took a course of theology at Andover, and was settled as pastor of the Congrega- tional church at New Haven in 1838. He had been employed before completing his education as a teacher in the academies at Castleton and St. Albans, and for two years, from 1836, had been a tutor at Middlebury. In 1846, he was called back to the college to take the professorship of elocution and Eng- lish literature. His reputation as an orator, writer and man of high culture rapidly ex- tended and in 1848 he was elected to Con gress, served four terms and had been unanimously nominated for a fifth at the time of his death, August 23, 1856, at the age of only forty-six. He resigned his chair in the college in 1850 and devoted him- self entirely to his public and political duties. In Congress he was chairman of the committee on the District of Columbia, and the severe labors of the position are what undermined his health. He was prominent in the opposition to the abroga- tion of the Missouri compromise, which he regarded as a contract which both sides were bound to obey in good faith, and he warned the Southerners that if they persis- ted it was the last compromise that would be made between the clashing interests of the sections. A number of his speeches while in Congress have been published.
MINER, AHIMAN L .- Representative in Congress, 1851-'53, was a native of Middle- town, the son of Deacon Gideon and Rachel (Davison) Miner, and was born Sept. 23, 1804.
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He worked on his father's farm until he was of age and then fitted for the sophomore class in college, but instead of entering studied law in the offices of Malloney & Warner at Poultney and Royce & Hodges at Rutland ; was admitted to the bar in 1832 ; practiced for three years at Wallingford and then moved to Manchester. He represented the latter town four years in the Legislature, 1838, '39, '46 and '54 and was also in 1840 county senator. He was clerk of the House of Representatives, 1836-'38 ; state's attorney for Bennington county in 1843-'44 ; register of probate seven years and judge of probate three years, 1846-'49. His nomination for Congress, by the Whigs from the southern district of the state, in 1851, was secured after one of the hardest fought pre-conven- tion campaigns the state has ever seen, Col. Calvin Townsley opposing him. He was a man of popular power, social and en- gaging personally. He was twice married and had eight children. He died July 19, 1886.
BARTLETT, THOMAS JR .- Was a na- tive of Burke, the son of Thomas Bartlett, a man of ability and local prominence in his time. Young Bartlett studied law and set- tled in Lyndon in 1839 ; in '41 and '42 he was the state's attorney for the county, in 1840 and '41 was in the state Senate and in 1850 was elected to Congress for a single term. In the former year he was also chosen the town's representative and again filled that position in '54 and '55. He was also a member of the constitutional conventions of 1850 and '57 and presided over the former body. At that time he was one of the most influential men of his district and of the state.
TRACY, ANDREW. - In Congress for one term and speaker of the state House of Representatives for three years, was born in Hartford, Dec. 15, 1797, the son of James and Mercy (Richmond) Tracy. The family was one of worthy and prosperous farmers, but it was decided to give young Andrew an education, because he was not robust physic- ally. He was fitted for college at the Royal- ton and Randolph Academies, and entered Dartmouth, but remained there only two years, because his friend and classmate, Leonard Marsh, had to leave on account of trouble with his eyes. The two young men then struck out into New York state, and Tracy taught school at Troy for two years. Returning home he studied law in the office of George E. Wales, being a portion of the time postmaster at White River village, was admitted to the bar in 1826, and began practice in Quechee village, enlarging his clientage and reputation steadily until it be- came of state extent. In 1838 he moved to
Woodstock, where he formed a partnership with Norman Williams that lasted until the spring of 1839, when Mr. Williams became county clerk. The next year he formed one with Julius Converse, and in 1849 with Con- verse and James Barrett, which lasted until he went to Congress.
For more than a generation Woodstock was famous as a place of big lawyers, and this firm, and Mr. Tracy at its head, more than kept alive the tradition and held its rank among some of the ablest competitors ever gathered at any bar. Of him W. H. Tucker, Hartford's historian, says : " Mr. Tracy's power and strength as a lawyer and advocate consisted in his wonderful quickness of perception, the rapidity with which he could adapt facts to legal principles, his quick comprehension of the full merits or demerits of a case, his keen discriminating analysis of facts, the nervous power and eloquence with which he presented facts to a jury, and in his masterly power of sarcasm and invective. Mr. Tracy was not what we called a learned lawyer, he rarely read text- books or reports, but consulted them in connection with his cases. He was well grounded in the principles of common law, and in his arguments of legal points, rea- soned from first principles, and rarely cited or referred to decisions."
H. S. Swan, the Woodstock historian, tells of his swift and ready way of speaking, the force and compactness of his statements, and the keenness of his sarcasm.
His political career would have been one of equal brilliance if his tastes had permitted him to persist in it. Hewas at first a National or Adams Republican and then after the Whig party was formed an ardent follower of it. He represented Hartford in the Legislature for four years, 1833-'37, and after his removal to Woodstock, he was, in 1839, elected a state senator. In 1840 he was a candidate against Horace Everett for the Whig nomina- tion for Congress, but was defeated after a hard fight, much to his chagrin. In 1842, however, Woodstock sent him to the Legisla- ture, and he was immediately made speaker, being re-elected in 1843 and 1844, as long as he was in the House and coming out with great eclat. In 1852, he was nominated and elected to Congress as a Whig, but declined re-election after serving one term, being thoroughly satiated with political honors and a good deal disgusted with what he saw at Washington. He returned to the practice of his profession with renewed zest and con- tinued at it without further distraction through his active life.
Personally, he is described as a tall, slim, cadaverous man, who to a stranger would seem to be in the last stages of consumption. But his step was ever quick and elastic, and
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he had a great amount of energy and an in domitable will, though never a well man.
Ile died at Woodstock, Oct. 28, 1868.
SABIN, ALVAR. Another preacher-pol itician of a power approaching that of Niles, Lyon, Leland and the giants of the carlier days, was born in Georgia, Oct. 23, 1793, the son of Benjamin and Polly ( McMaster) Sabin. He was graduated at Columbian Col- lege in the District of Columbia, educated for the Baptist ministry, and preached at Cambridge, Westfield and Underhill until he was settled in Georgia in 1825. Here he re- mained, a fine specimen of the old-time power of the country minister in the com- munity, for forty-two years, removing in 1867 to Sycamore, Ill., where he continued his ministerial duties as long as life and strength lasted. His only brother, Daniel Sabin, was also a Baptist clergyman, and after preach- ing at Swanton, North Fairfax, and other places for several years, went to Wisconsin.
Parson Sabin was ten times his town's representative in the Legislature, in 1826, 35, '38, '40, 47, '48, '49, 51, '61, and '62, and in the latter sessions, though nearly seventy years old, was prominent in the war legislation. He was three times county senator, in 1841,'43 and '45 and was secre- tary of state in 1841. He was also county commissioner for Franklin county under the prohibitory law in 1861 and '62.
He was first elected to Congress in 1852 and re-elected in 1854.
HODGES, GEORGE T .- Was born in Clarendon, July 4, 1789, the son of Dr. Silas Hodges, a surgeon in the Revolutionary army and for some time in the military family of General Washington, and for twenty years the leading physician of his section. George was the third son of a family of eleven children, and took a partial course in college, but abandoned it for a business career and went to Rutland where he was a prosperous merchant for many years and until his death. He served repeatedly in both houses of the Legislature. On the death of Hon. James Meacham, representa- tive to Congress, in 1856, he was chosen to fill the vacancy. He was a director of the old Bank of Rutland from its organization in 1825, until his death, and its president from 1834. He was also a director and the vice-president of the Rutland & Burlington R. R., from its commencement.
He was also a warm supporter of the Ver- mont Agricultural Society. He was a man of dignified and courteous demeanor and with a good deal of ability in both business and political affairs. He died at Rutland Sept. 9, 1860.
WALTON, ELIAKIM P. Representa- tive in Congress from 1857 10 1863, one of the great editors of the state, and a valuable con - tributor to its history,was born at Montpelier, l'eb. 17, 1812, the son of Gen. E. P. and Prus- sia ( Parsons ) Walton. The family was of Quaker origin, and the father, who rose to be major-general of the state militia, was also for years one of the chief editorial powers of the state, who probably did more than any other one man towards building up the old Whig party and its suc- cessor to secure ascendency, and who was nominated for Governor by the first Repub- lican convention in 1854, but withdrew in favor of Judge Royce for the purpose of con- solidating the various elements into one organization.
Eliakim, the eldest of his children, was educated in the common schools and at the Washington county grammar school, but, better than all, had a double advantage in in- struction by a cultured and discriminating mother and of training at the printer's case in his father's office. He studied law in the office of Samuel & S. B. Prentiss, where he also obtained an instructive insight into national politics, as the former was then United States senator. But instead of giv- ing his life to law he was, when twenty-one, in 1833, taken into partnership with his father in the publication of the Vermont Watchman and State Journal and in the general printing and publishing, book-bind- ing and paper-making business. Soon the main editorial duties fell upon him, while General Walton's attention was chiefly ab- sorbed in the other departments of the busi- ness, and for thirty-five years, except while in Congress and engaged in other public duties, he was constantly in the editorial harness. He established the first exclusively legislative newspaper, which soon expanded into a daily. Early in the war he started a daily, maintained a live correspondent in every Vermont regiment at the front and gathered and preserved in this way an immense quantity of historical data that is of price- less value.
Like his father he was not a seeker for office for himself, but in 1853 represented Montpelier in the Legislature, and three years later, at the solicitation of Judge Col-
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lamer and other party leaders, reluctantly consented to stand for Congress in order to solve a political situation that was full of complications. He was easily elected by a majority of over three to one, and twice re- elected, in 1858 and 1860. His most notable speeches during this service were on the admission of Kansas to the Union in March, 1858; on the tariff question, in February, 1859 ; on the state of the Union, in Febru- ary, 1861, and on the confiscation of rebel property, in May, 1862. He demonstrated by an exhaustive table of figures the injustice to Vermont and seven other states of the apportionment act of 1862, based on the census of 1860, and calling Senator Colla- mer's attention to it, the latter procured the passage of a supplementary act by which Vermont's representation in the House was saved from being cut down from three to two. He performed a similar service for the state under the act after the census of 1870, and Edmunds and Thurman, producing his facts and figures, carried an amendment which again saved the threatened states from a cut-down.
Mr. Walton, returning to private life, con- tinued in charge of the Watchman until 1868, when he sold it to J. and J. M. Poland, but continued to write much as long as he lived. He was a member of the constitu- tional convention of 1870 and a senator from Washington county for two terms, 1874 to '78. He was three times a delegate to national conventions, in 1840 to the young men's convention at Baltimore, in 1864 to the Republican convention at Philadelphia, and in 1866 the Philadelphia convention to meet and consult with southern men. He was president of the Vermont Historical Society from the retirement of Rev. Dr. Lord in 1876 until his death, and of the Vermont Editors' and Publishers' Association from its organization until 1881. He edited Vol. II of the collections of the Vermont Historical Society, including the Haldimand Papers and the eight volumes of the "Records of the Governor and Council," and his notes- biographical, historical and explanatory --- exhibit a painstaking and exhaustive re- search, while the illumination of the Haldi- mand business, under his careful analysis, was a service to the state and to the truth of history which cannot be too highly appreci- ated. The "Vermont Capitol," 1857, consisted mainly of his reports, and Walton's Vermont Register, up to within ten or a dozen years, was under his editorial charge. Printed ad- dresses of his include those on Gov. Charles Paine, on the Battle of Hubbardton, and on Nathaniel Chipman.
Mr. Walton was twice married, first to Sarah Sophia, daughter of Joseph Howes, of Montpelier. She died Sept. 3, 1880, and
Oct. 19, 1882, he wedded Mrs. Clara P. Field, nec Snell, of Columbus, Ohio.
Mr. Walton died Dec. 19, 1890.
ROYCE, HOMER E .- Congressman, and chief jus- tice of the state Supreme Court, was born at Berkshire, June 14, 1820, the son of Elihu Marvin, and Sophronia ( Par- ker) Royce. His ancestry in his father's side traces back on both directions to the fathers of the state, Maj. Stephen Royce and Ebenezer Marvin, and he was a nephew of Gov. Stephen Royce. His maternal grandfather was Rev. James Parker, the first settled minister of Underhill and long known as an able preacher of the Congre- gational denomination.
Young Royce was educated in the district schools and at the academies in St. Albans and Enosburgh, studied law with Thomas Childs, was admitted to the bar in 1844, was in partnership for two or three years at East Berkshire with Mr. Childs, and after- wards for about the same time with his rela- tive, Heman S. Royce. He was state's attorney for Franklin county in 1846 and 47. In the same year also he represented Berkshire in the Legislature, was chairman of the railroad and a member of the judic- iary committees, which had some difficult. work in a hitherto unexplored field in guiding legislation upon the relations of the railroads to the state. In 1849, '50 and '5 1 and again in 1861 and '68 he was elected to the state Senate from Franklin county, doing his most notable work on the judic- iary committee.
Professionally and politically he had come to be recognized as a man of brilliant parts and comprehensive reach of mind, and in 1856 he was elected a representative in Congress, being the youngest member of that body, but taking quite an active part for a new member, serving on the foreign affairs committee, and attracting attention by his speech on the Cuban question, which was at that time deeply agitating the country.
Retiring from Congress he resumed his professional practice with increasing renown, until in 1870 he was elected justice of the Supreme Court, and regularly re-elected until in 1882, on the death of Judge Pier- point, Governor Farnham appointed him
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chief justice, a position that he held by regular re election, though once or twice with a spirited contest, until his death. It was under him as chancellor that the long and involved litigation of the Central Ver mont R. R. arose. Many of his opinions, notably as to the disqualification of jurors, as to what constitutes an expert, and as to the rights of riparian owners, are often quoted.
Judge Royce was prominent among the promoters of the Mississquoi R. R. In 1882 he received the degree of L.L. D. from the University of Vermont.
He married, Jan. 23, 1851, Mary, daugh- ter of Charles Edmunds of Boston, who bore him three children : Stephen E., Homer C., and Mary Louise.
Mr. Royce died April 24, 1891.
BAXTER, PORTUS .- Representative in Congress 1861- '65, the "sol- dier's friend," as he was then fondly and de- servedly called, and, for a full decade before, the Thurlow Weed of Ver- mont politics, the greatest per- sonal political force on the east side of the mountains, was born from one of the oldest and best families of the state, at Brownington, 1806. He was liberally educated at Norwich University, but engaged at Derby in 1828 in mercantile and agricultural pur- suits, and, with his keen activity, energy, and farsightedness, most successfully. His posi- tive character, his fine judgment of men, and his facile handling of them rapidly won him an influential position in politics, first in his town and county, then throughout the dis- trict and the state, and finally in national affairs. But he was never a self-seeker, more enjoying power behind the throne, in con- ventions and appointments, and in using his electric power to lift other men rather than himself.
He repeatedly refused election as town representative and once or twice at least could have had his party's nomination for Congress but preferred it to go to others. He was an ardent Henry Clay Whig while the party lasted, and was the only delegate from New England in the convention of 1848 to advocate the nomination of Gen- eral Taylor from the beginning. In 1852 he headed the Scott electoral ticket in Ver-
mont, and in 1856 that of the young Repub- lican party for Fremont.
Finally, in 1860, he accepted a nomina- tion for Congress, beginning services with the opening of the rebellion and continuing through the momentous events of that pe- riod, until in 1866, with the Union secure, he declined a re-election, which he had before had almost unanimously. He served indus- triously on the committees of elections, agri- cultural, and expenditures of the navy de- partinent. He was a close friend of Secretary Stanton, and the latter as he said, found it about impossible to refuse him anything. Mr. Baxter improved the opportunity to min- ister with extraordinary zeal to the wants of the soldiers in the field. He operated by personal efforts, by the charm of his man- ners and the magnetism of his conversation and social intercourse, rather than by speech- making. He never but twice attempted any formal speech-making or any real argument on his feet. What he had to say he said in a few words, so surcharged with the intense conviction and the thorough earnest- ness of his nature as to well take the place of logic and rhetoric. He was in every fibre of his being a patriot ; he was a man of generous and warm sympathies. These two facts, with his frank and engaging manners, explain his remarkable power of party leadership. "We never knew a more earnest or energetic politician," said one eulogist after his death. During the ghastly days of the Wilderness campaign and fight he was at the front at Fredericksburg to minister to the wounded and suffering, and all that summer both he and his wife remained at their post of tender duty until they were themselves prostrated, and sickness only made an interval in their labors. It was no wonder that he obtained such a large place in the soldiers' affections. Two of his sons, physicians, also rendered invaluable ser- vice on the field and in the hospitals, and a third, the youngest, entered the service as a private, in the 11th Vermont and came out a brevet major, with successive promotions, all won by gallantry.
His wife, was Ellen Jannette, daughter of Judge Harris of Strafford, whom he wedded in 1832.
Mr. Baxter died at Washington, March 4, 1868, from pneumonia, after only a few days' illness, though he had for years suffered from asthma.
WOODBRIDGE, FREDERICK E .- For four years in Congress, was born at Ver- gennes, August 29, 1818, graduated at the University of Vermont, 1840, studied law with his father, Hon. E. D. Woodbridge and was admitted and practiced at Vergennes. He was a member of the state House of
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Representatives, 1849, 1857, 1858, repeatedly mayor of Vergennes, state auditor, 1850-'5 1- 52, prosecuting attorney, 1854-'58, engaged in railroad management, and was several years vice-president and active manager of the Rutland & Washington R. R. ; a state senator, 1860-'61, and president pro tempore of that body in 1861. He was elected a represent- ative from Vermont in the Thirty-eighth Congress as a Republican, receiving 8,565 votes, against 3,486 for White, Democrat ; was re-elected to Thirty-ninth Congress, re- ceiving 9,447 votes, against 3,67 1 for Wells, Democrat, was re-elected to Fortieth Con- gress, 10,568 votes, against 3,036 for Wells, Democrat.
Mr. Woodbridge died April 25, 1888.
SMITH, WORTHINGTON C .- Congress- man from 1867 to 1873, son of Congressman John and Maria (Curtis) Smith, and brother of Gov. John Gregory Smith, was born at Barre, Mass., August 12, 1789. He gradu- ated from the University of Vermont, near the head of his class, in 1843, and studied law for a while in his father's office, but abandoned it before admission to the bar to enter business life. He embarked in the iron trade in 1845, and carried it along suc- cessfully, either alone or in partnership, until 1860, when he leased the works known as the St. Albans Foundry until 1878, then re- suming the active management again. The business consisted chiefly in the manufacture of articles needed by railroad companies. He was himself largely identified with the railroading of the state, being a director for several years and afterwards president of the Vermont & Canada, a trustee and manager of the Vermont Central and the leased lines from 1870 to the crash of 1873, then vice- president for three years of the Central Ver- mont, and one of the trustees for six years after 1872, and then president and manager of the Missisquoi road. He was also presi- dent of the Vermont National Bank, at St. Albans, from 1864 to 1870.
Up to the war he was a Democrat in poli- tics, but promptly identified himself with what he regarded as the party of the Union after the firing on Fort Sumter. As presi- dent of the corporation of St. Albans he con- vened the first "war meeting" at the place, and he helped to raise and equip the Ransom Guards, a company in the first volunteer reg- iment dispatched from Vermont. In 1863 he represented St. Albans in the Legislature, and in 1864-'65 was state senator, being complimented by a unanimous election to the presidency pro tem of that body in the latter year. He had served so usefully in both branches of the Legislature that in 1866 he was sent to Congress, and was re-elected in 1868 and 1870. In the two latter terms he
served on the committee on banking and cur- rency, of which Garfield was chairman. His position was not a prominent one in Con- gress, though its duties were well filled. His first speech, on the question of the impeach- ment of President Johnson, was a very good one in its discussion of constitutional princi- ples. Another one which attracted some attention was delivered Jan. 26, 1869, and took the ground that the way to reach specie payments was to retire the greenbacks.
Mr. Smith was possessed of a good deal of executive ability, was keen and farsighted as a business man, and personally was a most interesting conversationalist, and he had the powers of mind that would have adorned almost any of the professional walks.
He married, Jan. 12, 1850, Catherine M., daughter of Maj. John Walworth of Platts- burg, N. Y., and seven children, of whom five survived childhood, were the issue of the union.
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