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 6
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 6
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 6
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WALTER J. ALDRICH, M. D.
shire, in 1866, son of Albert H. and Ruia (Tucker) Aldrich.
In the wholesome experience of his farm home he formed a sturdy constitution, habits of energy and perseverance, and a determination to secure a thorough education. Ile worked his way through Little- ton (New Hampshire) High school, and then took a course in St. Johns- bury academy, graduating in 1888. After studying medicine for a time with Dr. J. D. Folsom, he entered
Dartmouth Medical college, where he remained during the winter of 1889-'90.
In the fall of 1890 he entered Bellevue college, from which he graduated in 1893, and in March of the same year located in St. Johns- bury. He has made a specialty of obstetrics and diseases of women. and has built up a large and lucra- tive practice. Dr. Aldrich possesses those prime requisites of the suc- cessful physician, thorough profes- sional training, a sound physique. and an optimistic temperament, and the habit of careful attention to his cases. Ile is health officer of the village and town of St. Johnsbury.
In the organizing of the County Medical society to affiliate with the state society, he was chosen secre- tarv.
Dr. W. J. Aldrich was married in 1893 to Flora M., youngest daughter of Dr. J. D. Folsom, and one son, James Folsom Aldrich, is the fruit of their union.
DUNNETT, ALEXANDER, son of Andrew and Christiana (Galbraith) Dunnett, was born in Peacham in 1852. Alexander Dunnett is a thoroughbred Scotchman, turned Yankee. He is a descendant of adventurous Norsemen mariners, whose seat was Dunnett llead, the most northern point of Scotland, a precipitons headland, crowned by a lighthouse whose sides are often lashed by the tempestuous waves dashing mountains high through the channel separating the main- land from the Orkney Isles. Their family crest is significant-a fox on a rock-their motto, " Nom Tena sed Aquis."
Andrew Dunnett came to AAmer- ica from his native Scotland in
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CALEDONIA COUNTY.
1842; a few years later married Christiana, daughter of George Gal- braith of Barnet, settled for a few years on a farm in Peacham and later at West Newbury. He was a moderately well-to-do farmer, a great Bible student, and not un-
was a " Scotch Laird," who came to America before the Revolution and purchased a large tract of land in Sutton and in Barnet, near Endrick brook, named by him. Here he stayed for a time alone, waiting for a break in the Revolutionary lines
ALEXANDER DUNNETT.
skilled in theological polemies, and an elder in the Reformed Presby- terian church at South Ryegate. where the family moved when Alexander was fourteen years old. John Galbraith, the great-grand- father of the subject of this sketch.
through which he could return to Scotland, frequently visited by the Indians.
Alexander Dunnett began the study of law with Hon. N. L. Boy- den of Randolph, completed his pro- fessional studies at Boston Univer-
NOTE. In the fourth line from the bottom on the preceding page, read NON TERRA, for Nom Tena. 4
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SUCCESSFUL VERMONTERS.
sity Law school, and was admitted to practice at the bar of Orange county at the June term, 1877.
During these years he enjoyed the wholesome experience of teaching several terms of winter school. He began the practice of his profession at South Ryegate, and three years later was appointed Master in Chan- cery. In 1883 he removed to St. Johnsbury, where he entered into partnership with Hon. A. F. Nich- ols, which connection subsisted three years. Since 1896 he has had L. P. Slack as a partner.
As a lawyer Mr. Dunnett pos- sesses a keen analysis which seizes and illuminates the salient points of his case, tireless energy and persis- tence in trial, united with a forceful and original presentation of both law and evidence. lle has become especially prominent as an all around lawyer, with a large practice at nisi prius as well as before the supreme court. He was state's attorney of Caledonia county from 1886 to 1890. He was for several years town superintendent of schools of Ryegate and has served as mod- erator many years in that town and St. Johnsbury. He has taken the stump as a political orator in every campaign since he was admitted to the bar, has attended as a delegate most of the state and district con- ventions, was for several years chair- man of the Caledonia County Re- publican committee, and also of the Republican state convention of 1900.
His growth in ability and influ- ence has been constant at the bar and in the political forum. He served with distinction in 1900 as a senator from Caledonia county, was chairman of the general committee,
a member of the judiciary commit- tee and a potential factor in the work of the session.
Liberal in his religious beliefs and his social affinities, Mr. Dunnett en- joys a wide circle of friends and ac- quaintances. He has been Master Wells River, High Priest of Haswell chapter, R. A. M., and is a Knight Templar.
Mr. Dunnett married in April, 1879, Ella J., daughter of James and Anna C. White, who died in 1881. December, 1884, he married Sarah M., daughter of Silas M. and Harriett Town of Barre, who passed away in 1888. He contracted a third alliance with Mrs. Ella Chal- mers, widow of Rev. John R. Chal- mers of St. Johnsbury, in April, 1890.
SLACK, LEIGHTON P., son of Joel B. and Mary (Fullam) Slack. was born in Woodstock, Vermont, June 18, 1867. He is a descendant from William Slack, who came to Massachusetts from Yorkshire, Eng- land, in the latter part of the seven- teentlı century. Through his father's mother, Prudence Bartlett, he traces his ancestry to Josiah Bartlett of Declaration of Independ- ence fame. His maternal ancestry is directly traceable to Hon. Fran- cis Fullam, who moved to Water- town, Massachusetts, in 1683 from Fullam Place, near London, Eng- land, and was for many years a judge of the superior colonial court of Massachusetts and for seventeen years a member of the colonial legis- lature of the same colony.
HIe received his early education in the common schools of his native town and at Black River academy at Ludlow, Vermont; studied law with HIon. S. C. Shurtleff and Judge M.
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CALEDONIA COUNTY.
E. Smilie, at Montpelier; was admit- ted to the bar of this state at the October term, 1892, and two years later to the district and circuit courts of the United States. During his years in the academy and while pursuing his legal studies, he taught
St. Johnsbury and formed the part- nership with Hon. Alexander Dun- nett, which still exists. The firm of Dunnett & Slack is one of the lead- ing law firms of the state, and en- joys an extensive practice in both the state and federal courts. Mr.
LEIGHTON P. SLACK.
school successfully in various towns in Windham and Washington coun- ties. Soon after his admission to the bar he located in Barre, where he formed a partnership with Frank J. Martin, Esq., of that city. This arrangement continued un- til May, 1895, when he moved to
Slack is a careful, studious, and painstaking lawyer; thorough in the investigation and preparation of his cases, and frank and candid with his clients and with the court. During his term as state's attorney of Caledonia county,-from 1898 to 1900,-he won the confidence
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SUCCESSFUL VERMONTERS.
and admiration of all law abiding people by his thorough and fearless enforcement of the law. During this term he prepared the first in- dictment, under our so-called Bucket-Shop law, ever sustained by the supreme court of the state. The appreciation of his services was shown by the almost universal de- mand for his reelection. This he, however, declined, in order that he might devote his entire time to the general practice of his chosen pro- fession.
He married in August, 1894, Es- telle H., daughter of W. II. H. and Emily Mears of Marshfield, Ver- mont. She died in April, 1896. He contracted a second alliance July 11th, 1899, with Leah E. Mears, a sister of his former wife. They have one child, Ruth Estelle. In his religious views he is a Congre- gationalist, and is a member of the North Congregational church of St. Johnsbury. He is a past chancellor of Apollo lodge, Knights of Pythias, a member of the Grand lodge of Vermont, and of the Grand Tribune of the latter body. He is also a member of Passumpsie lodge, No. 27, F. & A. M .; Ilaswell chapter, No. 11, of Royal Arch Masons; Pal- estine Commandery and the Mystic Shrine. He is at present high priest of Haswell chapter.
STAFFORD, WENDELL PHIL- LIPS, son of Frank and Sarah (Noyes) Stafford, was born at Barre, Vermont, May 1, 1861. llis grand- father, John Stevens Stafford, was an active and original abolitionist, and his father cherished the same principles, and was an ardent ad- mirer of the great apostle of free- dom for whom his son was named. Wendell graduated from Barre acad-
emy in 1878, and from St. Johns- bury academy in 1880, and three years later graduated with the rank of cum laude from the law depart- ment of Boston university. With Hon. Henry C. Ide he formed in 1884 the firm of Ide & Stafford, which continued until 1890, after which he practised alone.
He married Miss Florence S. Goss, daughter of John and Martha (Sin- clair) Goss, in February, 1886, at St. Johnsbury, where he has resided since May, 1879. In 1892 he was' elected to the legislature from St. Johnsbury, on a citizens' ticket, af- ter a spirited canvass, and served in that body as a member of the ju- dieiary committee and advocated weekly payments and municipal suf- frage for women. He was reporter of the decisions of the supreme. court of Vermont from December,. 1896, to July, 1900, and as such edited the 69th, 70th, and 71st vol- umes of Vermont Reports. He was president of the Vermont Bar asso- ciation 1898-1899.
In June, 1900, he was a candidate- for the Republican nomination to congress in the second district con- vention. He was appointed a judge of the supreme court of Vermont July 2, 1900, and has continued to. fill that position by successive elec- tions. He delivered the oration at the unveiling of the statue of Rob- ert Burns at Barre, Vermont, July 21, 1899, was a speaker at the ban- quet of the Republican club in New York in February, 1902, and has- lectured frequently in Vermont and occasionally in Boston and New York. There have been two chil- dren of said marriage, a son, Ed- ward, born September 11, 1889. still living; a son, Robert Sinclair_
WENDELL P. STAFFORD.
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SUCCESSFUL VERMONTERS.
born September 20, 1894, who died May 24, 1901.
HOWE, HARLAND BRADLEY, son of Worcester C. and Rosaline (Brad- ley) Howe, was born in St. Johns- bury, February 19th, 1823. He was born and until he was thirteen years of age lived on the Abner Bradley farm, the homestead of his grandfather Bradley, near St. Johnsbury Center. In 1886 his father, who was a harness-maker by trade, moved from the farm to Lyndonville. Harland attended the graded school of Lyndonville and graduated from the commercial course of Lyndon institute under Principal Walter E. Ranger. Soon after he sustained an attack of fever, which left him in somewhat impaired health. Unable to follow the trade of harness-making, which he had learned, in accordance with his mother's wishes, he began read- ing law with George W. Cohoon, Esq., of Lyndonville. He entered the law department of the Univer- sity of Michigan in October, 1891, and remained one year. His funds being exhausted he made an engage- ment with Hon. Henry C. Ide as an assistant in his law office, where he opened a collection agency and ob- tained the means which enabled him to return to the university, in Oc- tober, 1893, where he completed his legal studies and graduated in June, 1894, receiving the degree of LL. B. His legal education was obtained by his own unaided efforts. He was admitted to the Vermont bar in October, 1894, and began practice the following November in St. Johnsbury. He soon gained a repu- tation as a skilful and aggressive trial lawyer and his clientage has steadily increased.
He is a Democrat in politics. He married in 1900 Miss Maybelle Jane Kelsey of St. Johnsbury. They have one daughter, Josephine Eliza- beth.
CRAMTON, CHARLES AUGUS- TUS, M. D., son of Dr. Josiah O. and Charlotte E. (Ward) Cramton, was born at Winooski, Vermont, July, 18:2. Ilis father was a prominent physician and an operating surgeon at Mary Fletcher hospital, Burling- ton.
He was graduated from the medi- cal department of the University of Vermont in 1893, and during the two following years was house sur- geon at Mary Fletcher hospital, an eminently practical experience. He then went to Europe and took post- graduate courses at St. Thomas and St. Bartholomew hospitals, London, and Hospital Laraboisure of Paris.
He has also taken courses at the Post-graduate college of New York city and Baltimore and has become especially proficient in diseases of the eye, ear, nose, and throat.
Dr. Cramton settled in St. Johns- bury in August, 1894, and soon be- gan a successful and extensive prac- tice.
He is official examiner for several leading life insurance companies and a member of the U. S. pension board for Caledonia county, being the specialist for the eye and ear. He is a member of the Caledonia County and of the State Medical societies. Dr. Cramton married Ger- trude Horton Howe, in July, 1895. They have three children, Gertrude, Marjorie, and Edward Allen.
BATES, IION. HENRY CLAY, Was born in Derby, Vermont, January 29, 1843, and received his educa-
HENRY C. BATES.
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SUCCESSFUL VERMONTERS.
tion in the public schools of his na- tive town.
When the war broke out he en- listed as a private in Company C, Fourth Massachusetts Heavy artil- lery. Returning from the service he took up the study of law in the office of Edwards & Dickerman at Newport. After his admission to the bar he practised for a short time at West Concord and later at Guildhall. In 1873 he located in St. Johnsbury, and a few years later formed a partnership with Elisha May, Esq., which continued until the spring of 1901, when he received an appointment on the bench in the Philippine islands. Judge Bates possesses an unusually acute and logical mind and is a man of rare judgment in the application of legal principles and has the gift of clear and forcible statement and has gained a foremost place at the Vermont bar.
He is an old line staunch Repub- lican. In 1880-'82 he was state's attorney for Caledonia county and again in 1892-'94. Was senator from Caledonia county in 1886-'87-'88- '89. During the first term he served as chairman of the commit- tee on rules and a member of the judiciary committee, and during the second term was president pro tem. of the senate. In 1896 he repre- sented St. Johnsbury in the general assembly and was recognized as a leader of the house, and in 1898 was elected lieutenant-governor of Ver- mont.
In the early spring of 1901 he took his departure for the Philip- pines to fill an important judicial position which he has done with great credit, not only to himself and Vermont but to the American people.
CARR, WILLIAM HENRY, son of John P. and Fanny A. (Woods) Carr, was born in Waterford, Ver- mont, in 1848. John Carr came from southern New Hampshire to Waterford early in the last century and settled on the farm now owned by A. Daniels, which he cleared and there reared a large family, of whom John P. was the eldest son, and re- mained on the farm. John P. Carr was an industrious and enterprising farmer and cattle dealer, an es- teemed and prominent citizen of Waterford. He purchased and united his father's farm and that of his father-in-law, Captain Ebenezer Woods, and built the present excel- lent farm buildings. He reared a family of eight children, four of whom are now living. William H. Carr graduated from St. Johnsbury academy in 1869, and entered Dart- mouth college in the class of 1873. After attending one year he was called home by the premature death of his father, and during the decade ensuing the care of the farm and of the family largely devolved upon him. Meanwhile for several years he taught in high schools and acad- emies. He was an early and promi- nent member of Green Mountain grange, No. 1, and an organizing deputy of the National Grange, P. of H.
Mr. Carr came to St. Johnsbury in 1880, and entered the Fairbanks Scale Works, where he remained twenty years, and was working in the sealing department on contract when ill health in 1900 compelled him to change his occupation. He soon after bought the stock of goods at the llovey store, corner of Port- land street and Concord avenue, where he is doing a thriving busi- ness in the line of choice family
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CALEDONIA COUNTY.
groceries and provisions. Mr. Carr enjoys a wide and intimate acquain- tance, both among the townspeople and the farmers of this vicinity, with whom he is doing a very con- siderable barter trade on favorable terms.
Although a man of affairs, he has always been a student, has collected an excellent and standard private library, and is unusually well in- formed in literature, science, and current affairs. Naturally retiring in his habits, he has avoided rather than sought public office.
In 1878 he married Natio Bishop, a scion of a prominent family, whose ancestor fought with Ethan Allen in the Montreal campaign.
They have three children: Nel- lie J., a graduate of St. Johnsbury academy and a student of Boston Conservatory of Music, Arthur B., and Walter P. Carr. For a third of a century Mr. Carr has been a mem- ber of Passumpsic lodge, F. & A. M., and is also a member of Haswell chapter.
BAILEY, ALDEN LEE. The sub- ject of this sketch is widely and favorably known as one of the most extensive dealers in musical mer- chandise in northern New England and is an excellent type of the self- made Vermonter.
He was born May 31, 1845. Early bereft of both his parents, his father dying before he reached his third year, and his mother when he was only nine years old, he found a home with an uncle, a farmer, with whom he lived until he reached his majority.
His common school education was supplemented by several terms at Compton academy. His opportuni- ties were well improved and he early
formed those habits of industry, energy, and self-reliance that have won him marked success in wider fields of effort.
Starting at his minority without capital, he had nothing to lose but everything to win, and his ambition
ALDEN L. BAILEY.
and will power were invincible. He was employed for a time in the Fair- banks Scale Works, where he saved a modest sum that became the nu- cleus of future enterprises. He opened a music store in a small way in St. Johnsbury, and later moved to his well-known stand, corner of Railroad street and Eastern avenue, where he has been located for about thirty years, doing a constantly ex- panding business. He has six well-
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SUCCESSFUL VERMONTERS.
equipped musie stores in Vermont, of Hardwick and St. Johnsbury. New Hampshire, and New York He found, as many others have done a congenial resource in teach- ing, and a stepping-stone in his own literary and legal training, and suc- cessfully taught fourteen terms of school. state, twenty traveling salesmen, and is now conducting the most ex- tensive musie business north of Boston. He was one of the found- ers and early directors of the Citi- zens' National bank, and is now its honored president.
His business tact, foresight, and sound judgment have been an im- portant factor in securing the marked prosperity of the bank.
Mr. Bailey has a faculty of orig- inality and invention, having se- cured several patents, notably a uni- form hose coupler, and a hose fas- tener. He is actively interested and public spirited in all movements for the moral and material improve- ment of St. Johnsbury. He has been for many years a zealous mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal church, and superintendent of its Sunday-school, and a frequent dele- gate to denominational conventions. An enthusiastic Republican, he has never aspired to publie office. Al- den L. Bailey married in 1871 Lucy A., daughter of William and El- mira B. Lynn of St. Johnsbury. They have one daughter, Rose Lynn Bailey.
FARNIIAM, HERBERT A., adopt- ed son of Lorenzo D. and Harriett F. Farnham, was born in Sutton, Vermont, in 1859. His father was a Union soldier and died in Ander- sonville prison.
Herbert early learned to depend upon his own resources and his boy- hood and youth were spent in the labors of the farm and in attendance upon the district schools in the towns of Walden and St Johnsbury. Later, as he was able to provide the means, he attended the academies
He began reading law with Bates & May in 1889, and was admitted to the bar in October, 1894. Dur- ing the summer of 1895 he found congenial employment as the repre- sentative of a firm of school-book publishers.
Ile opened an office in the Mer- chants' bank building and in 1896 formed with David Porter. Esq., the law firm of Farnham & Porter, which existed three years. Since that time Mr. Farnham has con- tinued to practice alone, with an increasing clientage and a good pro- fessional standing. He was ad- mitted to practice in the United States district and circuit courts in 1899.
He was a member of Company D, Vermont National Guard, of St. Johnsbury, seven years, during which time he was promoted from private to second lieutenant. IIe affiliates with Passumpsie lodge, F. & A. M.
. H. A. Farnham married, in 1896, Elizabeth, daughter of A. H. Noyes, and their fireside is cheered by two sons, Paul Noyes, and Lorenzo Dow Farnham.
WETHERBEE, WILLIAM, son of Ira and Sally Chase Wetherbee, was born in Concord. Vermont, in 1851. Ira Wetherbee was the youngest of a family of the fifteen children of Jackson Wetherbee and came to Concord during his minority, where he continued to reside until his death in 1892. He was an indus-
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CALEDONIA COUNTY.
trious and skilful carpenter and mechanic, traveled several years in the west for the Fairbanks com- pany, built half a dozen or more houses in West Concord and several in that vicinity; was in trade there nearly twenty years, and was highly esteemed as a neighbor and citizen. Sally Chase Wetherbee was one of the twenty children of Archibald Chase, and was a woman of un- usual energy. William Wetherbee
WILLIAM WETHERBEE.
inherited many of the characteris- ties of a stanchi ancestry, and withal a vein of humor and droll wit, united with an optimistic good na- ture, that has always been equal to every emergency.
He received a fair education in the village schools and learned the carpenter and joiner's trade of his father. He participated with hi- larity and vim in the local sports of the period at West Concord, and was
the bright particular star on the dramatie stage in any rôle of com- edy. His genius for comedy was displayed at Music hall in the drama, " Battle of Gettysburg."
Mr. Wetherbee married Edna G., daughter of Mason Hall of West Concord in 1823, and in 1880 moved to St. Johnsbury and entered the employ of the Fairbanks and soon became foreman of the plan- ing mill and saw shop. He has continued in this employment until the present, with the excep- tion of a year or two spent in Pasa- lena, California, and has been fore- man of the lumber yard during the past dozen years. Mr. Wetherbee became a Mason in 1883 and his abilities and good fellowship have won him unusual distinction in the work of the craft.
He has passed all of the chairs of Passumpsic lodge, Haswell chapter, C'aledonia council, and Palestine commandery, of which he is at pres- ent eminent commander. For twenty-three years Mr. Wetherbee has been a member of the Knights of Honor and was for several years grand dictator of the state of Ver- mont and later supreme representa- tive of the Grand lodge of Vermont to the Supreme lodge of Knights of Honor at Nashville. Detroit, and Buffalo. In politics he is an inde- pendent Democrat and a Univer- salist in religious belief.
SULLOWAY. LORENZO, son of Lorenzo and Sabra (Campbell) Sul- loway, was born in Wheelock, Ver- mont, July 12, 1839. After re- ceiving such educational training as the public schools could offer, he spent several years as a commercial traveler, representing an evaporator company.
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SUCCESSFUL VERMONTERS.
Returning to Wheelock in 1870. he formed a partnership in trade with B. F. Taylor, which continued until 1873. Meanwhile, in 1868, he was appointed deputy sheriff and held that position until 1878, when he was elected sheriff of Caledonia county and removed to St. Johns-
During this long period he has had charge of many notorious crim- inals, and been brought in contact with many curious phases of human nature. He has sought criminals in several states, in Canada and in Cuba. Sheriff Sulloway has a wide personal acquaintance with the legal
LORENZO SULLOWAY.
bury. His fitness for that respon- sible position has been recognized by his constituents by successive reëlections, until the present time, which rounds out a quarter of a century of continuous service, the longest with one exception in the history of the state.
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