USA > Vermont > Caledonia County > Successful Vermonters; a modern gazetteer of Caledonia, Essex, and Orleans counties, containing an historical review of the several towns and a series of biographical sketches > Part 32
USA > Vermont > Essex County > Successful Vermonters; a modern gazetteer of Caledonia, Essex, and Orleans counties, containing an historical review of the several towns and a series of biographical sketches > Part 32
USA > Vermont > Orleans County > Successful Vermonters; a modern gazetteer of Caledonia, Essex, and Orleans counties, containing an historical review of the several towns and a series of biographical sketches > Part 32
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62
For many years he was a power- ful advocate, but later he really belonged to the bench rather than to the bar. People in Essex county. Vermont, and in Coos and Grafton counties in New Hampshire, recog- nized his fairness and great judicial ability, and referred their legal differences to him, and he was so often chosen to hear cases as referce that it became necessary for him to give up his general practice alto- gether. There were times in the last ten years of his life that he heard as referee, in the two
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SUCCESSFUL VERMONTERS.
counties of Essex and Coos, more cases than were tried at the court sessions. In 1886 he was elected president of the Vermont Bar asso- ciation.
Governor Dale possessed a wide knowledge of general literature, and his writings, speeches, and lectures were of a high order.
His funeral, under the direction of the North Star commandery, Knights Templar, of Lancaster, N. H., was held in Opera hall Island Pond, on Sunday, February 1. 1903. at 2 o'clock p. m. No church in the village would have been large enough to accommodate the people in attendance. A short service by the Rev. Thomas Hall, pastor of the Congregational church, was followed by the beauti- ful and impressive Templar service. and addresses were made by Sir Knights Z. M. Mansur, H. O. Kent, and F. D. Hale.
DALE, PORTER H., is a man of unassuming manner, yet of so much innate dignity that his presence commands instant respect in any company. A man of strong con- victions, never afraid or unable to express them and practices what he preaches and what he believes every man should be, in his every-day life; and while a great variety of business affairs besides his professional du- ties make him one of the busiest men imaginable, he is never too busy to be courteous or to do any one, high or low, rich or poor, a good turn or a favor if it is within his power.
His investments are made here where the town and townspeople reap, either directly or indirectly, a common benefit with him from them, and his energies and efforts
are exerted here rather than for any outside profit.
Colonel Dale was born in 1867, and received his education at the grammar school and seminary at Montpelier, in his native state. He then went to the Poughkeepsie Bus- iness college, and after two years in the West he returned to schools and private instructors in Boston and Philadelphia. Shortly after this course was completed, he became principal of the Green Mountain seminary at Waterbury, Vermont, and left there to accept a chair of instruction in Bates college, at Lew- iston, Maine. He was admitted to the Vermont bar in 1895. He was made chairman of the district con- vention in 1896, was appointed colonel on the staff of Governor Grout soon after, and in 1897 was appointed deputy in charge of the customs port of Island Pond, hav- ing thirteen deputy collectors and inspectors. He was made chairman of the state convention in 1898. He has been county examiner of teachers, and for several years mod- erator for the town of Brighton. trustee of the public library, school director. agent to prosecute and de- fend suits, etc. He is president of the Island Pond National bank, president of the Island Pond Elec- trie company, a director in the Dal- ton Power company and the Dalton Paper company, both at Fitzdale (Lunenburg), and is interested in, and the promoter of, numerous other enterprises.
As a public speaker he possesses unusual attributes. He is natural and impressive in his manner, pol- ished in his rhetoric and logical in his arguments, and those who have knowledge of the real power of his
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ESSEX COUNTY.
oratory, those who have observed the force and dignity with which he has presided at both our district and state conventions, realize that in this respeet he has few superiors. He is a student of the great moral and religious questions of the day, and while he is extremely charitable
who learned the principles of his party at the knee of his sire and grandsire.
Colonel Dale was married in 1891 to Miss Amy Bartlett, daughter of Alvin Bartlett of this town, and four ideally beautiful children have been born to them.
PORTER H. DALE.
and liberal in his religious views, he adheres to certain fixed moral prin- ciples uneonditionally.
A descendant of sturdy ancestors, who came up from the battle-fields of the Revolution to settle in the northern wilderness, a Republican
AMEY, HARRY B., was born in Pittsburg, New Hampshire, Deeem- ber 21st, 1868. He received his edu- cation in the publie sehools of Pitts- burg and graduated from the Lan- caster academy in 1890, and from Dartmouth college, 1894; studied
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SUCCESSFUL VERMONTERS.
law at Lancaster in the office of Ladd & Fletcher, and was admitted to the New Hampshire bar in July, 1898.
Mr. Amey is " a self-made man." and while pursuing his academic, collegiate, and legal studies he
ship with Colonel Porter H. Dale, with whom he is now practising.
llis early opportunities, limited but well improved, richly fitted Mr. Amey for a legal career and gave him that splendid knowledge of men and affairs that comes only with
HARRY B. AMEY.
taught school nine consecutive years. He commenced the practice of his profession at Milton, New Hamp- shire, in September, 1898, where he remained until September, 1902. when he located in Island Pond, and October 1st, 1902, formed a partner-
contact. lle is a man of broad views, good judgment, and a thor- ough student of human nature, an able advocate. a safe counselor, a pleasing and convincing speaker, who has won success and friends at the same time.
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ESSEX COUNTY.
He enjoys a large clientage of the most desirable kind and it is safe to predict for him a brilliant and use- ful career in his field and protes- sion.
Mr. Amey is distinctively a law- yer, and his greatest pleasure is con- tinued research and exhaustive ex- amination along legal lines.
In April, 1896, Mr. Amey was married to Gracia A., daughter of Captain W. H. Norton of U. S. eus- toms service, by whom he has two children, Henry Tillotson and Alpo Emily, aged 5 and 3 years respec- tively.
BARTLETT, ALVIN .* . In refer- ring to the men of the generation now passing away, whose lives have had a forceful influence on this lo- cality, the late Alvin Bartlett is mentioned, distinctively, as a mer- chant.
He was born in Morgan, Ver- mont, of Puritan ancestry, and moved to Island Pond when a young man. He is survived by a widow, a son, Hon. E. M. Bartlett, and four daughters, the wife of Rev. T. Mer- rill Edmands of Minnesota, Mrs. Porter H. Dale, Mrs. Edward F. Norcross, and Miss Edith Bartlett of Island Pond.
Three purposes seemed respec- tively to control his life, and all of them were accomplished beyond the reasonable expectation of men. lle gave himself first to the care of his family-home was his obligation and his veneration. During the time he lived on his farm in Mor- gan, and through the first years he spent in Island Pond, as clerk for Bartlett & Robinson, he toiled hard through long hours, and, with a
small income, confronted pro-
longed illness, and other unusual requirements in his young family, as matters he was naturally to meet and overcome. His accomplish- ment of this desire was ideal. Health and comfort and the devo- tion of wife and children filled up for him many years of cheerful home life.
In business he gave his undivided attention to his store, coming and going as regularly as the hours of the day. He seemed to have no distracting ambitions, and although as fixed as a man of his qualities must be in his adherence to the Re- publican party, he never ran for public office, and his fellow-men as- sumed he would not care for it. He possessed a determination to make. by fair means, his vocation as a mer- chant successful; and the different firms with Alvin Bartlett as senior member, continued for a long time the largest mercantile trade in this community, and while they main- tained a reputation above suspicion, they also won the lasting friendship of their customers.
But the highest ambition of his life was to live and advocate the principles of Christianity. For more than a quarter century he was deacon of the Congregational church, and during the greater part of that time he was its sexton, usher. and principal financial supporter. It is undoubtedly true that there were times when the old church, without him, would have been aban- doned, but before his death he wor- shiped there, conscious that it was permanently established. As those who were familiar with his sacrifice, beheld him in his pew during the last months of his life, the sunlight
* Sketch by Colonel Porter H. Dale.
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SUCCESSFUL VERMONTERS.
streaming through the figured win- dows about him; as they saw him there and knew that he was nearing the end of his course, they realized that purposing to live an honorable business life, for his home, and for
He was of quiet action, of un- swerving purpose, and of concen- trated energy-one of the most per- fectly poised of men-" self-bal- anced for contingencies." His was a face, the trustful expression of
Chin Bartlett
his church, he had not wasted his energies, but had been supremely successful in all three purposes.
More than one young man recalls him as the man who, more than any other, helped him to a higher life.
which you would welcome in the night of storm, the touch of his hand was helpful in the hour of moral weakness, and the inherent honor of his nature was a saving force from the mistakes and designs
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ESSEX COUNTY.
of business systems. Men are rare who have so well selected their lines of work, and so steadfastly followed them to successful conclusion.
BARTLETT, ELVIN M.,* of Brighton, is a man fortunate in the qualities inherited from his ances- tors, and in the conditions that have surrounded his own life.
He was born about forty years ago in the town of Morgan, to which his great-grandfather Bartlett, after his discharge from the Revolution- ary army, had brought his family, when the township had recently been surveyed through the primeval forest, and where his maternal grandfather Buchanan had come from Scotland.
On the stony hillside farm over- looking beautiful Seymour lake a wealth of scenery abounds, but leav- ing the observation of this and re- flecting on the fact that any mortal being could accumulate several thousand dollars as a farmer on this scenic elevation leads one to the source of some of the elements in the character of the grandson of Jarvis Bartlett.
Soon after the railroad was built through Island Pond, many of the enterprising descendants of the staunch old settlers of Morgan sought the better opportunities it afforded, among whom was the father of the subject of this sketch, and until his death, two years ago, Alvin Bartlett was one of the most marked individuals of the town of Brighton, devoted exclusively to his church, his family, and his business.
Elvin M. Bartlett, after the usual preparation of the village schools, attended the quite noted Derby
academy, and, later, took the busi- ness course at Eastman college.
He had grown up in and become familiar with all the details of his father's store, and most naturally became the junior member of the mercantile firm of A. Bartlett & Son, whose business interests in- creased from year to year. On the decease of the senior member, a stock company was formed under the name of The Bartlett Company, with the surviving partner as its president. In this enterprise Mr. Bartlett has gathered about him several young and ambitious men of experience in the business, and un- der his supervision they are operat- ing at present one of the largest and most finely equipped department stores in northern Vermont.
Mr. Bartlett has always had a pe- culiar interest in all classes of hu- manity and his business relations have brought him in contact with men under various conditions, yet he has learned to make himself cor- dially agreeable and to accept hap- pily the eccentricities of others, and in the commonest transactions of life he conducts himself in such a manner that men are glad to meet him. His social nature brought him early into the Independent Or- der of Odd Fellows, who advanced him from year to year till he held the highest position of the order in the state.
It was natural that he would take a lively interest in politics, and be very pronounced in his views, and zealous for the interests of his party, all of which brought him, almost without opposition, to the repre- sentation of his town in the house, and of his county in the senate.
* Sketch by Colonel Porter H. Dale.
A-2
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SUCCESSFUL VERMONTERS.
He has also served by appoint- ment on the board of directors of the state prison and house of cor- rection, and was a delegate to the last Republican National Conven- tion.
He has been associated with many
A. M. Stetson of Boston. Twelve years ago Mr. Bartlett married Sarah E. Fletcher of Hyde Park. Philip Alvin is their only child.
It may well be said of him : He appreciates his endowments, has preserved his powers, knows the
ELVIN M. BARTLETT.
local enterprises, and at present is a director in the Island Pond National bank, and, besides his mercantile business, is carrying on extensive Inmbering operations, with mills at Island Pond and Norton, and is op- erating the largest farm in this sec- tion recently purchased by him of
value of perseverance, is strong in the faith of his fathers, and appar- ently is entering upon many pleas- ant and successful years.
NORCROSS, DR. EDWARD F., was born at Derby, Vermont, son of Rev. Austin and Annie (Nichols) Norcross. He attended the public
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ESSEX COUNTY .
schools and graduated from Ran- dolph (Vermont) Normal school, and then pursued classical studies at Derby and Worcester academies. prominent pioneer, trapper, and
He studied medicine at the How- ard university, Washington, District
large practice. He has always taken a deep interest in the cause of edu- cation, for in this lies the hope of our institutions and government. Hle has served the town as school director, chairman of the school board and superintendent of schools.
EDWARD F. NORCROSS, M. D.
of Columbia, and graduated from that institution in 1883. Ile then took a course at the Vermont Medi- cal college at Burlington, graduating in 1884. In November of 1885 he located at Island Pond for the prac- tice of his profession, where he has met with splendid success and a
Ilaving taught school for thirty or more terms he had a thorough and practical knowledge of the re- quirements of these several offices. Hle has been health officer of Brigh- ton for a large part of the time for the past eighteen years. In the winter of 1887-'88 Dr. Norcross
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SUCCESSFUL VERMONTERS.
took up the study of pharmacy and dentistry in Washington, District of Columbia, and received a degree in both branches.
Dr. Norcross has not confined his time and energy entirely to profes- sional and educational duties, but has occupied a large and useful sphere in the business life of this ever lively community. Ile has been identified with most every bus- iness enterprise that has been inaug- urated since he located here, among which might be mentioned the elec- tric light plant, the bank, and the telephone company.
Since coming to Island Pond, Dr. Norcross resided at the Stewart House until his marriage, November 24th. 1898, to Miss Elizabeth R. Bartlett, daughter of Ilon. Alvin Bartlett. A son, Joseph Bartlett Norcross, born December 6th, 1901, died January 31st, 1903.
Dr. Norcross is a sturdy man and lets no condition nor element keep him from his duties; a man who says but little and means much, always to the point, considerate of others and ever ready to respond to a pro- fessional or needy call. Faithful to his friends and companionable to a fault, he has the ideal temperament for a family physician.
BISHOP, WILLIAM HENRY,* of Island Pond, is the son of John R. and Harriet (Kemp) Bishop, and was born at Margate, County of Kent, England, August 24th, 1851. Educated in the English schools of Margate, he came to America before he was eighteen years of age. He was employed for a time in the coun- try and then went to Montreal, and later obtained a situation at Port- land, Maine, on the Grand Trunk
railway, where he was employed in different capacities for a number of years.
In 1828 he came to Island Pond, bought the Essex County Herald, about five years after its foundation. He edited and published the paper alone till 1899, when his son, Alfred E., became a partner in the firm of W. H. Bishop & Son, which still continues the publication of the ITerald, together with a lucrative job printing business. The Herald, under the progressive management of Mr. Bishop, has always exercised a much wider influence than many county papers published in larger places, and for a far larger constit- nency.
He became a citizen of the United States in 1880, identified himself with the Republican party, and still consistently continues to advocate Republican principles. He has been a delegate to state and county con- ventions, a member of the Repub- lican county committee for several vears, and frequently its chairman.
He is a Mason and an Odd Fel- low, and has held prominent posi- tions in both orders.
Baptized in infancy, after the cus- tom of his ancestors, in the parish church in Margate, and as a lad a member of its vested choir, he grew up a well-instructed and earnest, consistent Christian. On his arri- val in America he immediately at- tached himself to St. George's church in Montreal, and when he came to Island Pond he transferred his membership to Christ church. of which he has been for twenty years its junior warden, and for sev- eral years licensed lay reader.
September 22d, 18:5, he married
* Sketch by Rev. Edward P. Lee.
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ESSEX COUNTY.
Clara M., daughter of James and Matilda (Hayward) Wyatt. Five sons have been the issue of this mar- riage, Arthur Wilham, August 19, 1876 (deceased), Alfred Ernest, born March 23d. 1828, William Henry, August 25th, 1880, Roy
in the public schools. After com- pleting his education he was em- ployed as a clerk in the store of Gil- key and Dennison. In 1869, at the age of nineteen, he removed to Wal- tham, Massachusetts, where he be- came a bookkeeper for a year and
WILLIAM H. BISHOP.
Archibald, November 13th, 1886, Hubert Stanley, April 14th, 1890. GANE, GEORGE A., son of John B. and Harriet (Trudell) Gane, was born in Quebec, March 1st, 1850. and at four years of age removed with his father's family to Island Pond. He received his education
later became a clerk in the dry goods house of F. Bryant. At the end of a year he bought the business and conducted it for three years.
He then sold out his interest and commenced in a small way the man- ufacture of custom-made shirts. A year later he went to Fitchburg,
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SUCCESSFUL VERMONTERS.
where he continued in the same line for three years. He was then in- dueed to remove to Leominster, Massachusetts, where he estab- lished the Leominster Shirt com- pany. He later founded the
Here the same energy which has always characterized his operations has been brought to the business by his enterprise and sagacity. Mr. Gane has done much to promote the wealth, growth, and welfare of Is-
GEORGE A. GANE.
Wachusett Shirt company, and was ten years manager and treasurer.
In 1895 Mr. Gane established the G. A. Gane Shirt company at Island Pond. This, as all other business enterprises of Mr. Gane, proved a marked sueccAs.
land Pond and place himself in the front rank of New England manu- facturers.
February 14th, 1873, he married Lizzie B., daughter of F. F. and Mary E. Clark of Waltham. and has four children, George L., Alfred A., Blanche T., and Elizabeth M.
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ESSEX COUNTY.
REEVE, Joux, was born in Braunston, Northampton, England, in 1826, and received his education in the public schools of that place and at the age of fifteen years en- tered the railway service in which
sent Mr. Reeve to Island Pond as its agent, where he has remained to the present time. There could hardly be a more eloquent tribute to his steadfast faithfulness than the fact of an uninterrupted service
JOHN REEVE.
he has devoted more than sixty years of a long and busy life.
In 1863 he entered the employ of the Grand Trunk railway of Can- ada, at Montreal, and the next year was transferred to Coaticook and was also made vice-consul at that place. In 1862 the Grand Trunk
of forty years in a position where energy, tact, and a splendid business judgment are constantly required.
Island Pond being a customs port, Mr. Reeve's duties are such as to require a high order of executive ability coupled with absolute integ- rity and a keen sense of discrimin-
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SUCCESSFUL VERMONTERS.
ation. These qualities are pos- sessed by Mr. Reeve to a marked degree.
Personally, few men of Island Pond are better or more favorably known than John Reeve, always cheerful, ever ready for a kind word or act, an earnest and consist- ent member of the Episcopal church, of which he was one of the seven to sign the original articles of association. He has won a place in the hearts and confidence of his fellow-townsmen. He is affiliated with Ashlar lodge, F. & A. M., of Coaticook.
He was united in marriage thirty years ago to the eldest daughter of the late William Brooke of Rich- mond, Quebec. Four children have blessed this happy union, viz., William Brooke, Marie Stuart, Bea- trice Aylmer, and John Bissell.
DECHENE, A. O. The subject of this sketch was born in the province of Quebec in 1847, and came to Island Pond when twenty-one years of age. He entered the employ of the Grand Trunk road in 1867 as a locomotive clerk, which position he has held constantly since that time, which faet would indicate the pos- session of those steady and faithful qualities so much admired in man.
In 1869 Mr. Dechene married Miss Ida Needham of Island Pond. There were by this union two chil- dren, Amos L. and Helen May, the latter only lived a few months, the mother also being taken away in 1825.
In 1882 he was united in mar- riage to Miss Hattie M. Ladd of Island Pond, and by this marriage one child, Ivy Isidora, was born. The mother and baby were taken away after a few months sickness in
1882. In 1895 he married Mrs. Flora A. Bigelow of Island Pond.
Mr. Dechene has always enjoyed a marked degree of confidence and
A. O. DECHENE.
favor from his associates. For several years he was town audi- tor and in 1900 was chosen to rep- resent Brighton in the Vermont legislature, being the first Democrat to be thus honored. He has served as chairman of both the town and county Democratie committees.
He is affiliated with both the Odd Fellows and Masonic fraternity and has served as distriet deputy grand master and patriarch of the Odd Fellows.
BLAKE, H. W., born in Orford, N. H., November 18, 1876, son of Manfred W. and Rose Blake. The senior Blake moved to Bradford, Vt., November, 1889, to get better schools for his children. Herbert attended the Bradford High school
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ESSEX COUNTY.
two years and part of a third, passed his examinations for Dartmouth college, June, 1894, and entered that institution the following fall, and was graduated with the class of 1898, being elected commencement treasurer and permanent secretary of his elass. The college course was much broken on account of his father's being crippled by a falling building in the first year, after which he was entirely dependent on his own exertions to complete his ed- ucation. He taught school at Grove- ton, N. H., during the winter of 1895-'96 and the grammar school at Warren, N. H., the winter of 1897- `98. Mr. Blake was elected princi- pal of the high and graded schools of Barton Landing, Vt .. immediately
H. W. BLAKE.
after graduation from college, where he remained two terms. The worked as section hand on the Passumpsic division, B. & M. R. R., the sum-
mer of 1896, and as passenger brake- man for the same company during the summers of 1897-98-99. Mr. Blake was appointed deputy eol- lector and inspector of U. S. eus- toms November, 1899, and assigned to the port of Island Pond, where he has remained since. He studied law during his spare time under direc- tion of Col. Porter H. Dale, and was admitted to the Vermont bar Jan- mary 27, 1903.
Mr. Blake has an attractive home on Pleasant street. His family con- sists of his father, aunt, and sister. He is a member of the M. E. church aud of several of its auxiliary socie- ties; charter member of Oswegatchie lodge, No. 17, Knights of Pythias, in which he has filled several offices. In polities he is a Republican.
JONES, LEONARD BURTON, was born at Brighton, Vt., October 17, 1845; educated at the Island Pond High school and St. Johnsbury academy. After graduation from the latter institution he entered the employ of A. Bartlett & Son as bookkeeper. October 1, 1897, he re- veived an appointment in the cus- toms service in the district of Mem- phremagog, and is at present a dep- uty collector at the port of Island Pond, Vt. June 26, 1902, he mar- ried Augusta Shirley White of Is- land Pond, Vt.
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