USA > Vermont > Men of Vermont : an illustrated biographical history of Vermonters and sons of Vermont > Part 56
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August 25, 1863, Mr. Fisk was united in marriage to Miss Harriet L., daughter of Charles E. and Luana (Carpenter) Bige-
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FLAGG.
low. They have four children : Flora F. (Mrs. G. L. Zimmerman), George Shep- hard, Fidelia, and Grace Harriet.
Mr. Fisk was chaplain of the Vermont Senate in 1869 and 1870, and inaugurated the custom of daily legislative prayer meet- ings. He is a poet of more than local rep- utation and a few of his compositions have been published in the "Poets and Poetry of Vermont."
FLAGG, GEORGE W., of Braintree, son of Austin and Mary E. (Harwood) Flagg, was born in that town, April 9, 1839.
Educated in the common schools of Brain- tree and Randolph Academy he remained upon his father's farm till the age of twenty and afterwards was a day laborer till the breaking out of the civil war.
GEORGE W. FLAGG.
In May, 1861, he enlisted at Montpelier in Co. F, 2d Regt., Vt. Vols., and partici- pated in every engagement in which the old Vermont brigade bore part from Bull Run to Appomattox. He was constantly on duty, but for one month was disabled by a wound received in the Wilderness. May 3, 1864, his brigade was the first to enter Petersburgh, when General Grant advanced on Richmond. Mr. Flagg enlisted as a private, served four years, participated in twenty-five battles and was promoted to the rank of sergeant ; he as such more than once commanded his company in the absence of all the superior officers. He was honorably discharged as ist lieutenant with brevet captain, July 25, 1865.
He was in command and took home to the state the only company organized in the capital of the state during the war.
Soon after the close of the war, he mar- ried and settled upon a farm. He now owns three hundred and fifty acres in the east por- tion of the town, it being the second best in town, the production of which he has quad- rupled in twenty-four years. He is a well known breeder of Cotswold sheep and has re- ceived many medals and prizes for specimens exhibited at New England state and county fairs. He also possesses an excellent orchard, for the fruit of which he finds a ready market.
Early in life he showed great aptitude for collar and elbow wrestling and was wont, even when a boy, to display this accomplish- ment at public gatherings. He gradually so increased in skill that he was the acknowl- edged champion of the Army of the Poto- mac. From the age of thirty-five to forty- eight, he travelled extensively in most of the northern states, giving exhibitions of his proficiency, and his only rival was H. M. Dufur with whom he had many hard fought battles.
At the age of eighteen he lost his last fall (for business), for fifteen years he knew no difference in men, he could throw any man he ever met in five minutes. He travelled through Western New York, where he won many matches, also Ohio. He wrestled in almost every town of importance in Michi- gan where he defeated the renowned Indian chief Tipsico at a back hold match. In New England he wrestled for agricultural societies, one of which was the Vermont State Fair, also at July 4th gatherings to thousands of people under great excitement. In his travels he challenged all comers for any amount with perfect confidence.
After each campaign of travels he returned to work on his farm, never training for a match or series of matches.
During Mr. Flagg's wrestling career he doubtless wrestled two hundred matches. Athletic sports had a great fascination for him. A game that was very popular in his' boyhood days, the champion wrestler being the lion of the day at all public gatherings. In all of his matches he always manifested good cheer towards all, never losing his temper, being strictly honest.
As a temperance man none were more zealous in the cause than he. In all of his travels he never tasted liquor ; making speeches in the Legislature in the cause of temperance, never tiring in advocating its cause.
Mr. Flagg married Delia A., daughter of Whitman and Elmira (Smith) Howard, May 16, 1865. By her he has had two children : Lester G., and Bert C.
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ILANDERS.
As a Republican, Mr. Flagg has been called upon to serve his town in many minor offices, and was elected representative to the Legislature in 1886.
He received his degrees in Masonry in Phoenix Lodge of Randolph, and has joined U. S. Grant Post, No. 96, G. A. R., of West Randolph, and is its present commander.
Mr. Flagg possesses a marked personality, is fully six feet in height with the figure of a Hercules ; and with his jovial good nature, his sturdy strength and endurance, his unflinch- ing courage and unselfish patriotism is the typical Green Mountain Boy of '76 and '61.
FLANDERS, WILLIAM DANA, of Orange, son of Royal C. and Hannah B. ( Williams) Flanders, was born in Orange, June 20, 1850. Royal C. Flanders enlisted as a pri- vate in the 2d Regt. Vt. Infantry, and after- wards in the oth, and when he returned from the war, after more than four years service, he held the commission of lieutenant.
WILLIAM DANA FLANDERS.
Dana attended the common schools of Orange, but his father dying when he was about sixteen years of age, his efforts to obtain an education were brought to a ter- mination. Before he was of age, he began as a laborer in a sawmill, and naturally has followed the business of lumbering from that time. In 1879 he formed a partnership with Carlos B. Richardson, which lasted six years, and since that time he has carried on the business alone, in the summer time giving some attention to farming.
FLETCHER.
Favoring the principles of the Republican party, he has been thought worthy to fill the usual town offices, and was sent to the Legis- Jature from Orange in 1892. Here he served mpon the committee on clanns.
Mr. Flanders was married at Barre, July 3, 1878, to Cora B., daughter of Carlos B. and Sarah (Jackson) Richardson. Fonr children are the fruit of their marriage, two of whom died in infancy ; Nettie B. and Fred C. are still living with their parents.
Mr. Flanders is a Free Mason of more than twenty years standing, is a member of Granite Lodge, No. 35, of Barre, and also of the chapter of that place. Though he com- menced life under many disadvantages, he has made full use of his opportunities, and bears an excellent reputation in the com- munity in which he lives.
FLETCHER, HENRY ADDISON, of Proc- torsville, son of Ryland and Mary Ann, (May) Fletcher, was born in Cavendish Dec. 11, 1839.
The name of Fletcher for three genera- tions has been a prominent one in the town of Cavendish. Dr. Asaph Fletcher was a member of the convention that framed the Constitution of Massachusetts. Having moved to Cavendish in 1787, he was also a member of the convention which applied to Congress for the admission of Vermont into the Union, was several times elected to the Legislature and was also a county judge and presidential elector. Of his family of nine children the three most distinguished were : Horace, a prominent Baptist clergy- man ; Richard, a member of Congress and judge of the Supreme Court; and Ryland, who became Lieutenant-Governor, and was the first Republican Governor of the state. Sketches of both the latter appear in Part I of this work.
Henry A. Fletcher was mustered into the U. S. service Oct. 23. 1862, as Ist sergeant of Co. C, 16th Regt. Vt. Vols., commanded by Col. W. G. Veazey, was appointed ser- geant major March 9, 1863, and com- missioned 2d lieutenant of Co. C, April 2, 1863.
A Republican in his political preferences, he represented Cavendish in the House in 1867, 1868, 1878, 1880 and 1882 and was a senator from Windsor county in 1886. Among his other legislative duties he served on the committees on banks, railroads, revis- ion of laws and the general committee. In 1878 he was appointed aid on the staff of Governor Proctor with the rank of colonel. In 1890 he was elected Lieutenant-Gover- nor of the state. He is a member of Howard Post, No. 33, G. A. R. of Ludlow.
Mr. Fletcher is unmarried and is a farmer residing on the old homestead, which has
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been owned and occupied by the family for more than a century. His name is equally associated with the distinguished memory of an honored ancestry and his own excellent record as a citizen and a public man.
FOOTE, ROLLIN ABRAM, of Cornwall, son of Col. Abram and Orpha (William- son) Foote, was born in Cornwall, Jan. 9, 1832.
ROLLIN ABRAM FOOTE.
He obtained his education in the common schools of his birthplace, settled upon the farm which has been in the possession of the Foote family from the first settlement of the town, and has continued there pursuing his vocation till the present time. The estate has been enlarged and improved since it came into his hands, and he does not complain of " hard times" in the present depression in agriculture. He is one of the substantial men of the county ; where advice is often sought, and whose influence is wholly on the side of good order. In 1879, he formed a copartnership with his son, Abram W. Foote, for the sale of hay and agricultural imple- ments, and has built up a prosperous trade in that line ; and he has also made a spe- cialty of breeding matched horses.
Mr. Foote has held all the principal offices in the town of his nativity, among which may be named : Lister eleven years, overseer of the poor seventeen years, and road com- missioner.
He married, March 1, 1854, Miss Julia Arabella Sampson, by whom he has had two
FORBES.
children : Abram William, and Frank Samp- son.
FORBES, CHARLES SPOONER, of St. Albans, son of Abner and Catherine Forbes, was born at Windsor, August 6, 1851, and removed to St. Albans in 1863.
The public schools gave him his prelimi- nary training, and resolving to become a journalist by profession, he commenced his newspaper career on the St. Albans Tran- script at the age of seventeen. He has been connected with various state papers for nearly twenty years and since 1879 has been the Vermont correspondent and state mana- ger of the Boston Journal.
Mr. Forbes cast his first vote for President Grant and was prominent in the Campaign Club of St. Albans in 1872, and has acted as secretary and treasurer of the local Republi- can clubs afterward formed. He was secre- tary of the Republican state convention of 1886 ; was a delegate and one of the secre- taries of the national convention of Repub- lican clubs held in New York City in 1887 ; made secretary of the Republican League of Vermont in 1888, and assisted in organizing
CHARLES SPOONER FORBES.
one hundred and fifty campaign clubs. He was appointed captain and aid-de-camp on the brigade staff, V. N. G., in 1886 and was a member of the staff of Governor Dilling- ham, with the rank of colonel.
Colonel Forbes has held many honorable positions in civil life, among them the secre-
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FORD.
taryships of the Vermont commission on the Washington centennial at New York, the State Press Association, the Vermont Society of the Sons of the American Revo Intion, the Vermont Historical Society, the Vermont League for Good Roads, and the state commission to the World's Columbian Exposition. He was elected president of the Vermont Press Association in 1893. hu December, 1880, he received the appoint ment of deputy collector of internal revenue for the Vermont Division, which office he held for four years.
The religious views of Colonel Forbes are Episcopalian and he is a member of St. Luke's Church, St. Albans. He has been a vestryman, treasurer and parish clerk, and also a delegate to several diocesan conven- tions of the church. Colonel Forbes was one of the notification committee appointed at the special diocesan convention in 1893 to inform Rev. Arthur C. A. Hall of Oxford, England, of his election to the Vermont Bishopric.
FORD, SAMUEL W., of Concord, son of Robert and Lydia ( Hale) Ford, was born in the town of Grafton, N. H., June 16, 1823.
When Samuel had arrived at the age of six years his father moved to Kirby and in the public schools of that town he received his early educational training.
Mr. Ford left home when about seventeen years old and pursued the vocation of farm laborer until the age of thirty. He was an excellent type of his class of that period now unfortunately so seldom to be found in our agricultural communities. Sturdy, intelli- gent and industrious he fought his way through difficulties and obstacles, until he was able to marry and settle upon the fertile farm that he has occupied ever since, where he has still continued to manifest the thrift and perseverance of his early life. He has been most successful in breeding good grade Shorthorn stock and Shropshire sheep.
Mr. Ford bears a striking resemblance to the late ex-President Hayes and also is of the same political creed. As selectman he was most active and energetic in raising the town quota of soldiers during the civil war. The requisition was received Saturday and on the following Thursday sixteen recruits were enrolled before sunset. In 1876 he represented the town of Concord in the Legislature.
Mr. Ford was married March 8, 1853, to Sophronia, daughter of William and Polly Willry. Mrs. Ford has been the mother of four children : Ellery, Helen (Mrs. William Lindsan), Dan, and Almeda (Mrs. Milo A. Green).
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FOSS, JAMES M., of St. Albans, was born at Pembroke, N. IL., Jan. 6, 1829. His parents were jeremiah and Clarissa ( Moore) Foss.Y Rx8
He was educated at Pembroke Academy, until his seventeenth year, when he deter- mined to supplement his academic instruc- tion with practical information in a direction that would fit him for the business life to which he had resolved to devote himself. To this end he commenced an apprentice- ship, November, 1846, in the machine shops of the Concord Railroad Co., at Concord, N. II. From 1850 to 1862 Mr. Foss worked as a machinist and locomotive engineer on the Boston, Concord & Montreal R. R., acquir-
JAMES M. FOSS.
ing a thorough familiarity with the details and practical knowledge of the construction and operation of railroad machinery. Dur- ing the last portion of his service, he was in charge of the shops of the last named road. From 1862 to 1865 he was master mechanic of the Boston & New York air line, in connection with the Back Bay Co. In March, 1865, he returned to Concord, N. H., as master mechanic of the Concord Railroad, where he remained until June, 1868, at which time a larger field for the employment of his ability in his special line was afforded him, and he accepted an offer for the management of the Vermont Central Railroad Co., as its master mechanic. In 1873 he was made superintendent of the motive power and machinery of the Central
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FOSTER.
Vermont system, which comprised the Ver- mont Central, Vermont & Canada railroads, the Rutland, and other leased lines. During this period the corporation constructed its own locomotives, some half hundred of which were turned out under the supervision of Mr. Foss. His efficiency as a railroad man was recognized by his promotion in 1879 to the position of assistant general superinten- dent, which was followed by a further ad- vancement, in 1885, to the office of general superintendent. This appointment he held until 1892, when impaired health compelled him to resign. But the corporation with which he had been connected for so many years was loth to part with his services, and he remained in its employment in the capacity of assistant to the president, a posi- tion in which the benefit of his advice and judgment could be availed of, while he could be afforded more leisure than was possible while performing the more active duties of general superintendent. This position of assistant to the president he still retains after nearly half a century of active railroad life.
Mr. Foss was married, Nov. 15, 1855, to Ellen A., daughter of John V. and Laura Barron, who died in April, 1871. For his second wife he wedded, Sept. 18, 1874, Mrs. Sophia H. (Chester) Locklin (widow of H. H. Locklin), daughter of John and Mary Chester, natives of England and residents at Dudswell, P. Q. Of this union there is one son : James Barron Foss, born August 17, 1876, who, with Hortense H. Locklin, daughter of Mrs. Foss, constitute the family.
He is a believer in the great industry of Vermont farming, and has a large area of land under cultivation, located on the road from the village to St. Albans Bay.
His business life has demanded all his time, and he has found no opportunity to mingle actively in politics, but he has always manifested a loyal allegiance to the princi- ples of the Republican party.
He is a member of St. Luke's Episcopal Society, and contributes generously to its support. Mr. Foss is a member of the sev- eral Masonic bodies, and has attained to the 32d degree in that fraternity.
He possesses a genial, social nature, and enjoys the quiet entertainment of a few friends at his handsome and hospitable home.
FOSTER, ALONZO M., of Cabot, son of G. W. and Polly (Kelton) Foster, was born in Calais, Jan. 30, 1830. His father was an early settler and when much of the town was an unbroken wilderness he cleared away the land, built farm buildings, and set out shade trees. Not content with this homestead, he busied himself extensively in reducing wild lands for other farms in the neighborhood.
FOSTER.
At twenty years of age Alonzo M. Foster bought one-half of his father's estate on credit and carried on this property success- fully for sixteen years. In 1866 he came into possession of a valuable property in Cabot, known as the "Old Camp Ground," or "Lyford Farm," where, although doing general farming, he has given his most ener- getic efforts to the manufacture of maple sugar, producing from an orchard of more than two thousand trees three to four tons annually, for which he finds a ready sale both at home and abroad. The products of "Maple Grove Sugar Camp" are becoming known and appreciated throughout the country, and while Mr. Foster has for years led the column of Vermont producers, it is now, though unofficially as yet, learned that his sugar has received the highest award at the late World's Fair.
Mr. Foster acted with the Free Soil party in 1852, but since that time has voted the Republican ticket, and in 1864 and 1865 was sent as representative of the town of Calais to the Legislature.
He is a member of the Patrons of Hus- bandry, and was for years Master of Wash- ington Grange of Cabot. Remote from city life, he has spent a useful and quiet existence among his native hills, esteemed and re- spected in the community in which fortune has cast his lot.
Mr. Foster was united in marriage, April 20, 1851, to Elsie W., daughter of Charles and Susan ( Rich) Dudley of Calais. Their five children are : Charles D., Harry H., Ina B., Bernard M., and Linnie D.
FOSTER, AUSTIN THEOPHILUS, of Derby Line, son of Stephen and Mary (King) Foster, was born in East Mont- pelier, Sept. 20, 1822.
His education was obtained through the usual medium of the common schools and an after course of instruction at the acad- emy in Montpelier.
In the spring of 1836 he went to Derby Line and entered the store of Spaulding & Foster just across the Canadian frontier at Rock Island, P. Q., as a clerk. In 1841 he was associated in partnership with Levi Spaulding and his brother Stephen Foster under the firm name of Spaulding, Foster & Co. In 1851 he also opened a general store at Derby Line which he continued until 1882. In 1865 he purchased from the estate of Charles Pierce the shoe factory at Rock Island which he still owns. Mr. Foster has been an active business man for fifty two years during which he has resided continuously at Derby Line, he has generally met with success in his operations. He was a director in the People's Bank at Derby Line from January, 1852, till it was merged
10SIIR.
in the national bank of that place of which he has been a director since its organization and its president since 1871.
He represented the town of Derby in the General Assembly in 1862 and 1863, being elected by the Republican vote, and was chosen senator from Orleans county in 1886. Hle was appointed U. S. Consular Agent in 1869 at Stanstead, P. Q., and served in that capacity for fifteen years
Mr. Foster has also been prominent in religions circles, receiving the honor of an election to the presidency of the Universalist convention of the state of Vermont and Province of Quebec in 1882 and has been called to that office every year since by ac- clamation.
AUSTIN THEOPHILUS FOSTER.
He was united in marriage in 1848 at Stanstead, P. Q., to Aurelia, daughter of Harris and Abigail Way of Rock Island, who only lived about two years after their mar- riage. In 1853 he married Sarah H., daugh- ter of Capt. John and Lydia Gilman. By her he has four children : Harriet (Mrs. F. M. Hawes, Somerville, Mass.), John G., Mary J., and Stephen A.
FOSTER, WELLS A., of Weston, son of Jeremiah and Mary (Temple) Foster, was born at Weston, April 8, 1837.
He was the youngest of a family of three children, and his father died when he was five years old. His education was neces- sarily limited, and was received in the com- mon schools. When he arrived at the age
FRANCISCO.
of thirteen, he had the misfortune to lose his mother, and from that time never knew the blessing of a home till he had made one for himself. He labored upon a farm in the vicinity till he was nineteen, and during the next seven years was variously employed in mechanical pursuits, first at Mt. Holly, and later at Boston. In 1863 he was drafted into the army, but purchased his release. Soon after he commenced the manufacture of ash handles for agricultural tools in com- pany with W. S. Foster, and afterward with R. B. Jagnith. The firm then began to turn out chair stuff in the rough, and soon after began manufacturing finished chair stock. Now their increased business requires a force of forty men, and their buildings cover an arca of four acres. In 1889 the firm suf- fered the loss of their entire plant by fire, but with characteristic energy they immedi- ately rebuilt their works, and are doing the usual amount of business, turning out a product of $40,000 a year.
Mr. Foster is a Republican, and repre- sented Weston in the General Assembly in 1884 and 1886, serving on the committee on the grand list.
He was married in Mt. Holly, Dec. 23, 1858, to Lavina L., daughter of Austin L. and Lois (Simonds) Benson. ' Of this union were two children : Ella (Mrs. Walter M. Wright, of South Gardner, Mass.), and Vernie A.
Mr. Foster has settled many estates and often acted as guardian and has always con- scientiously and ably discharged the duties of these trusts. He is a director of Chester National Bank, and one of the trustees of the Black River Academy, of Ludlow.
FRANCISCO, M. JUDSON, of Rut- land, was born on the 5th day of August, 1835, at West Haven, and was the third son of John Francisco who moved to West Haven in 1795, participated in the war of 1812, and at the battle of Plattsburgh was one of the famous Green Mountain Boys.
The subject of this sketch left home when sixteen years old for Ohio, to enter Oberlin College. After completing his studies there he passed several years travelling through the West and South, visiting all the states then admitted to the Union. He returned to Vermont in 1859, returning West again in October, 1860, as principal of the North- western Commercial College at Fort Wayne, Indiana. Here he resided during the first years of the rebellion and took an active part in raising volunteers for the Union cause, and in circumventing the schemes of the " Knights of the Golden Circle."
In 1863 Mr. Francisco married Margaret Holmes, daughter of Israel Holmes of Water- bury, Conn., one of the oldest and best.
Info Francisco
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I RARY.
known families of that state. Mr. Holines was directly connected with the founding of the brass industry in the United States and established a Inge number of manufactur- ing concerns in Connectient, notably among these being the Hohues, Booth & Hayden Manufacturing Co. ; the Waterbury Brass Co. ; the Plume & Atwood Manufacturing Co. ; the Scoville Button Co. ; the Water- bury Clock Co., and the Wolcottville Brass C'o.
Leaving Fort Wayne in 1864, Mr. Fran- cisco accepted the presidency of the Pennsylvania College of Trade and Finance, at Harrisburg, where he organized a large and flourishing institution, in which many men now at the head of influential corpora- tions received their first knowledge of com- mercial principles. After several years of close application in the management of the college, failing health compelled him to re- linquish his position, and he returned to his native state where he found renewed vigor, and entered upon that sphere of activity which was destined to be of wider scope than that of any preceding years. When the English fire insurance companies were negotiating for admission into the United States Mr. Francisco was promptly tendered and assumed the general management for Vermont of the North British and Mercan- tile of Edinburgh and the Liverpool and Lon- don and Globe of London. He was later made manager of the Vermont, New Hamp- shire and Northern New York departments of several other like companies ; it was while in the service of these corporations that he made his memorable argument before the joint committee of the state Senate and House of Representatives in opposition to the so-called " valued policy " bill. He has also the distinction of having written the largest fire policy ever issued in New Eng- land, the face value being $2, 100,000.
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