The History of Washington County in the Vermont historical gazetteer : including a county chapter and the local histories of the towns of Montpelier., Part 98

Author: Hemenway, Abby Maria, 1828-1890
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Montpelier, Vt. : Vermont Watchman and State Journal Press
Number of Pages: 1064

USA > Vermont > Washington County > Montpelier > The History of Washington County in the Vermont historical gazetteer : including a county chapter and the local histories of the towns of Montpelier. > Part 98

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PROMINENT SONS OR CITIZENS.

Among the men of note who were born or have lived in Moretown, in the early part of their lives, is Rev. ELAND FOSTER, a preacher and author. He has held many good appointments in and around New York city. Mr. Foster married the daugh- ter of Dr. Palmer, of New York. He with his wife are great revival workers. [What has Rev. Mr. Foster published? titles of his works asked for, not yet received-ED.]

Rev. WILLIAM HIGH may also be named as one who was brought up, if not born, in our town, and who is well known as quite a noted pulpit orator.

Also, Rev. E. C. BASS, now of New Hampshire Conference, is a native of Moretown, and graduate of the Vermont University.

LONGEVITY OF MORETOWN.

Persons deceased in town 70 years of age and over .- Philemon Ashley 80, Roger G. Bulkley 86, Lyman Child 81, Reuben Per- kins 72, John Pattrill 82, Lyman Cobb 72, Ephraim Cobb 81, Israel Noble 84, Elisha Goodspeed 88, Levi Spalding 81, Constant Freeman 77, Jesse Thornton 71, Cephas Carpenter 88, Nathan Benton 70, Nathan

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Ephraim Clark, Rachel Kingsbury, Anna Munson 86, Clarissa Heaton 96, Mrs. Al- fred Crane 70, Juda Haseltine 96, Mrs. John Foster over 70, Mrs. David Stockwell over 70, Susan Foster 74, Hannah Flan- ders 90, Huldah Colby 70, Lucretia Free- man 73, Lydia Goss 73, Betsey Hutchin- son, Mrs. Aladuren Stowell 75.

Old people of Moretown now living over 70 .- Joel D. Rice 75, Lewis Bagley 78, Uriah Howe 72, Calvin Foster 78, John Towle 80, Wm. B. Foster 80, Osgood Evans 78, Hiram Hathaway 70, Smith Freeman 72, Ezra Hutchinson 81, William Deavitt over 70, Rolland Knapp over 70. Mary B. Evans 73, Abigail Child 81, Mary A. Spalding 86, Polly Prentiss 82, Cornelia W. Goss 75 Lucinda Tubbs 79, Rahamah T. Bulkley 72, Sarah Seaver 70, Mary Somerville over 70, Mrs. Joel Rice 75, Nancy Carlton 80, Priscilla Knapp 81.

Benton Jr. 79, Stephen Pierce 88, Charles Howe 91, Abram Spofford 82, Elijah Win- ship 73, Rowland Taylor 77, Ichabod Thomas 79, Morty Kerin 82, Timothy Hutchins 76, Abner Child 87, Reuben Hawks 75, James Smith 73, James Smal- ley 84, Levi Munson 72, Richard Welch 71, John Poor 79, Horace Heaton 81, Zela Keyes 76, Martin Mason 70, Daniel Wood- bury 91, Daniel Murray 70, Samuel Carl- ton 83, Earl Ward 70, David Stockwell 75, Philetus Robinson 76, Micah B. Tap- lin 78, Ward Page 74, Francis Hope 82, Robert Prentiss 83, Matthias Cannon 82, John Snyder 85, Daniel Hassett 72, John Flanagan 76, Wm. Prentiss 83, Eber C. Child 76, Lester Kingsley 76, Samuel Pierce 82, William Prentiss Sr. 80, Ezra Harris over 70, Isaac Foster, Caleb Hobbs, Ebenezer Johnson, Ebenezer Mayo, Hart- well Robinson, Harvey Stowell, Samuel Kingsbury, Alfred Cram, Emory Taylor, Wales Bass, son of Alpheus Bass, of Moretown, was killed instantly, Dec. 1863, being thrown from a load of wood ; the horses had taken fright. Paul Knapp 87, Ebenezer Haseltine 79, Elisha Atherton 79, Henry Colby 84, Richard Colby 89, David Belding, John Goss 73, Aladuren Stowell 80, Sylvia Ash- ley 76, Sally Bulkley 80, Eunice Noble 71, ADDITIONAL FROM AARON GOSS. Lydia Foster 84, Martha Davis 85, Thank- Longevity .- Charlotte Smith died in town, aged 93; and the following died during the past year, 1881 : ful Spalding 80, Sibyl Clapp 80, Phæbe Thornton 80, Lucinda Curtis 89, Anna Carpenter 71, Esther Benton 77, Elizabeth Dr. Luther Kingsley, aged 76 years, who lived in town nearly 60 years, had been town clerk nearly 50 years. Pierce 73, Martha Howe 96, Rebecca Pierce 73, Jane G. Seaver 81, Sarah Free- man 70, Nancy Smith 74, Mary Allen 77, Wm. Prentiss, aged 83, had always lived in town. Elizabeth Hall 75, Betsey Vose 86, Polly P. Wells 81, Louisa A. Martin 71, Abigail Samuel Pierce, aged 82, had lived in town 58 years. Haseltine 79, Emily Allen 70, Prudence Freeman 90, Phila Goss 72, Dolly F. Child Mrs. Florinda Belden, aged 87, and Mrs. Lydia B. Foster, 80. 88, Sally Stiles 73, Susan Hope 78, Har- riet McNaulty 74, Rhoda Willey 80, Lydia Simon Stevens had his distillery on the premises where D. F. Freeman now lives. He was a very resolute business man, and died by taking a severe cold from over- work. G. Robinson 86, Eliza M. Poor 73, Mary Nash 78, Isabel C. Jackson 71, Priscilla Knapp 93, Polly Howes 77, Phœbe Rice 89, Sarah D. Walton 74, Betsey Clark 88, Ruth Slayton 81, Lucinda Stowell 75, RE-UNION OF OSGOOD EVANS' FAMILY, which held a pleasant re-union in this town, at the old homestead, Sept. 1879; there being present Mr. Evans, the father, 76 years of age ; Mrs. Evans, 72 ; J. D. Evans and family, of the firm of Batch- elder, Evans & Co., Boston, produce deal- Anna Barton 86, Mariam Leland 92, Par- nel Boutwell 71, Shuah Keyes 88, Florenda F. Belding 87, Sally Corss, Eunice Snyder 85, Lucinda Prentiss 75, Lizzie Prentiss 72, Mrs. Amos Palmer over 70, Esther (Luce) Ridley 86, Lucy Silsby over 70, Mrs. Eben'r Mayo, Dolly Child, Mrs. ers-wife and 2 children ; E. A. Shattuck,

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Central R. R. engineer, and family ; M. O. and G. B. Evans and families, and Geo. C., who lives with his father ; and grand- children present, 27.

MATTHEW HALE CARPENTER

was born in Moretown, Dec. 22, 1824, and died at Washington, D. C., Feb. 24, 1881, while serving as United States Senator from the State of Wisconsin. His parents named him Decatur Merritt Harmon Car- penter ; how and why his name was changed will appear further on.

His grandfather, Col. Cephas Carpenter, was long a resident of Moretown-a man of strong intellect and marked character- istics. For years he was a justice of the peace, and as such presided in the trial of cases almost without number. When a trial was had before another justice, he was usually found acting as counsel for one of the parties, in which capacity he was quite the equal of most of the practicing attorneys of his day. It has been truly said of him.that " he was a lawyer, though not a member of any bar."

His father was Ira Carpenter, who was born in Moretown, and resided there until well advanced in life, when he removed to Warren. He was a particularly fine-looking man, easy in manner, social in his habits, and a favorite among his acquaintances. For more than twenty years he held the office of deputy sheriff, and was frequently constable of the town. In discharging the duties of these offices he was thrown much into the company of Hon. Paul Dillingham, a lawyer residing in Waterbury, but having a large practice in the Mad River Valley. Such close business relations soon made them fast friends, and Mr. Carpenter's house became Mr. Dillingham's habitual stopping-place when at Moretown. During these visits " Merritt," as the boy was then called, attracted the attention of the genial attorney from Waterbury, who frequently bantered him about coming to live with him, promising to make a lawyer of him. On the occasion of a certain trip to More- town, while passing over the height of land midway between the latter village and Waterbury, Mr. Dillingham was surprised to meet young Carpenter, then a lad of ·14,

trudging along on foot with all his worldly effects in a small bundle. When asked where he was going, the boy replied, "To Waterbury, to live with you and be a lawyer." 'Squire Dillingham, as he was then popularly called, finding his former proposals thus unexpectedly accepted, di- rected the lad to go ahead, report to Mrs. Dillingham, and await his return at night. Mrs. Dillingham was greatly pleased with her youthful visitor, who made such good use of his undeveloped arts as an advocate that when Mr. Dillingham returned, he found an entente cordiale had already been established between his wife and the boy. And this is how young Carpenter became a protege, though never a formally adopted son of Hon. Paul Dillingham, whose house thereafter was the only home he had until he entered upon the practice of his pro- fession, and had made one for himself in the West.

In 1843, through the influence of Mr. Dillingham, he was appointed a cadet in the Military School at West Point, in which institution he pursued his studies for 2 years. Having no taste for military life, but desiring above all things else to be a lawyer, he at the end of that time ten- dered his resignation. This was accepted, and he immediatety returned to Water- bury, and entered Mr. Dillingham's office as a student. In Nov. 1847, he was ad- mitted to the Washington County Bar ; but conscientiously refused to practice with- out further preparation. He went to Boston, where he was generously taken into the office of Rufus Choate. He soon won, not only the good opinion of that great man, but his admiration and unbounded confi- dence. Mr. Choate assisted him in select- ing a library suitable to his needs, and ad- vanced the money to pay for the same. Equipped with this, he removed to Beloit, Wis., in the year 1848.

At this time he was tall and handsome of figure, with a noble head and winning blue eyes, with a voice of sympathetic quality, and with a manner of mingled frankness and almost boyish roguishness. His prospect was full of promise, when, after a few months' residence in Beloit, he

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was suddenly and unaccountably afflicted with a disease of the eyes, which resulted for several months in total blindness. For 18 months he was under treatment in New York, poor, almost hopeless of cure, and with no other than his constant friends, Mr. Dillingham and Rufus Choate. Nearly 3 years were thus lost -- so far as professional advancement was concerned -- before he was able to return and resume the practice of his profession in Beloit. Poor as he then was, he managed to collect what was then the best law library in the county, and from the first developed that thoroughness of " working out" cases which ever since characterized him. Then, as since, he was very fond of literary studies. The poets he had almost by heart, and his studies of the historical, philosophical and political classics of England and America were un- ceasing. Politically, he was a democrat of the most decided cast. Going to Beloit just as the "free-soil " movement was carry- ing all before it, he had to breast the al- most unanimous political sentiment of a county and town invincibly whig before, then " free-soil," and since republican. Still, he assailed his opponents in their stronghold with so much fearlessness, wit, logic, constitutional learning and unfailing bonhommie, that only his few enemies were vexed at his personal popularity.

Still democratic on his return to Beloit, he became known more widely by occa- sional speeches in various parts of the state, while his professional success grew with steadiness. So strong had be become in a few years in his own county, that in 1852 he received the legal majority of votes cast for district attorney, although his party was beaten by over 1500 votes .. His opponent received . the certificate, owing to the diversity in the use of the numerous initials of his name on the ballots cast by his supporters, but Mr. Carpenter appealed to the court, and vindicated both his right and legal ability before the su- preme tribunal of the state with equal success. It was in consequence of this experience that he obtained legislative sanction to the name, Matthew Hale Carpenter, by which he had become to be

called by his admirers in a spirit of pleas- ant recognition of his splendid legal abil- ities.

From this time until 1869, he never held an office, nor was he a candidate for one. He devoted himself to the study and prac- tice of the law with an enthusiasm which knew no bounds, and had a large and lu- crative practice.

In 1856, he was the leading counsel for the respondent in the remarkable proceed- ings by quo warranto, to try the title to the office of governor of Wisconsin between the relator Bashford and the incumbent Barstow.

In 1859, he removed to Milwaukee, and formed, by invitation, a law partnership with Hon. E. G. Ryan, then the acknowl- edged leader of the Wisconsin Bar, and afterwards Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of that state.

Two such natural leaders of men could not long remain partners, and this partner- ship was soon dissolved. Mr. Carpenter opened an office for himself, and was con- stantly crowded with business. From 1860 to 1867 his time was almost constantly occupied with litigation connected with the railroads of the state, and which was finally carried to the supreme court of the United States, where upon his first appearance he won the rare honor of a highly compli- mentary notice from that grave tribunal.

" Meanwhile, the outbreak of armed re- bellion gave Carpenter the opportunity to lead in politics as in law. Having been a devoted Douglas Democrat, a believer in the constitution, and a stalwart defender of the Union, he burst the bonds of party allegiance, as soon as the democratic party South openly carried out its plans. No voice in Wisconsin, at the outset of the war, was so clear, electric and thrilling as his, when the First Wisconsin regiment was sent to the front. His speech was a trumpet blast that was worth an army corps to the cause that inspired him with the courage of an apostle and the prescience of a prophet. It came from his heart and went to the hearts of the people. It an- ticipated the necessity of emancipation and filled the souls of old anti-slavery leaders

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with apprehensions of its untimeliness. - In all the subsequent phases of the war he was constantly in the lead, but never had to go beyond the doctrines and sentiments of the speech that made him the foremost republican leader, in the hearts of the people."

During the dark days of 1863 and 1864, Mr. Carpenter supported the government by public speeches and printed arguments, in which he took the most advanced posi- tion as to the war powers of the govern- ment outside the constitution when the life of the nation was in peril. His power- ful arguments, maintaining the measures of the government, attracted universal attention. So great, indeed, had his reputation become as a constitutional lawyer, that in 1867, when the famous McArdle case was coming on for argument before the Supreme Court of the United States, Secretary Stanton engaged Mr. Carpenter to make the principal argument for the government. His argument in that case, it may be safely said, will rank with the greatest efforts ever made before that or any other judicial tribunal. After the completion of his brief, he submitted it to Secretary Stanton, who cordially ap- proved it, but added that William M. Mer- edith, of Philadelphia, was the king of American lawyers, and that before the ar- gument was made he desired to have his judgment as to its soundness. Provided with a note of introduction from the Sec- retary and a $1000 retainer, Mr. Carpenter went to Philadelphia, and submitted his argument to Mr. Meredith. A whole day was spent at the latter's residence in a very thorough examination of it. At the conclusion Mr. Meredith wrote Secretary Stanton in these words : "I have care- fully examined the argument of Mr. Car- penter in the matter of McArdle. To it I cannot add a word; from it I would not subtract one."

This case, though fully argued, was never decided, the court holding that it had no jurisdiction ; but the National Leg- islature endorsed the soundness of Mr. Carpenter's views by subsequently enact- ing laws for the reconstruction of the

Southern States, which were founded upon the principles maintained by him in this argument.

In 1869, he was elected United States Senator by the republicans of Wisconsin. During his service he bore a conspicuous part in the debates, and increased his rep- utation as an orator and constitutional lawyer. In March 1873, he was elected President pro tempore of the Senate, which position he held until the expiration of his term in 1875. At this time he was the choice of the republicans of his state as his own successor, but the democrats were then engaged in defeating regular nomina- tions through a coalition with disappointed republicans. By a combination of this kind, largely composed of democrats, Mr. Carpenter was defeated.

During the next 4 years he remained in Washington, constantly employed in im- portant causes. Among these was the impeachment trial of Secretary Belknap, in which he appeared for the defendant. He also appeared for Mr. Tilden before the electoral commission, and displayed rare knowledge of state and national laws.

In 1879, he was again elected a senator from the State of Wisconsin to succeed Timothy O. Howe, which office he held at the time of his death.

During all the time he was in the Senate he continued the practice of the law, mostly in the Supreme Court of the United States. His cases embraced almost every question that could be raised under the Reconstruc- tion Acts of Congress, the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution, as well as the numerous questions constantly growing out of great business transactions. Upon his ability and acquirements as a lawyer and an advocate his reputation will rest.

His devotion to the law led him to look for the principle underlying every measure requiring his action, and unless such measure seemed to be founded upon sound principles, it failed of his support. Hence he often differed in opinion with his po- litical associates who had gained reputa- tions as statesmen. Upon one of these occasions, being taunted with the fact, he

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exclaimed, "I am a lawyer, not a states- man."

To be a good lawyer was his ambition and pride, and in the midst of his political career, when opposition newspapers were pouring abuse upon him without stint or mercy, he found consolation in the fact that none of them had charged him "with being a poor lawyer."

Ex-Attorney-General Jesse Black, who had much professional intercourse with Mr. Carpenter, said of him after his death :

" The American bar has not often suf- fered so great a misfortune as the death of Mr. Carpenter. He was cut off when he was rising as rapidly as at any previous period. In the noontide of his labors the night came, wherein no man can work. To what height his career might have reached if he had lived and kept his health another score of years, can now be only a speculative question. But when we think of his great wisdom and his wonderful skill in the forensic use of it, together with his other qualities of mind and heart, we can- not doubt that in his left hand would have been uncounted riches and abundant honor if only length of days had been given to his right. As it was, he distanced his co- temporaries, and became the peer of the greatest among those who had started long before him. The intellectual character of no professional man is harder to analyze than his. He was gifted with an eloquence sui generis. It consisted of free and fear- less thought, borne upon expression power- ful and perfect. It was not fine rhetoric, for he seldom resorted to poetic illustra- tion ; nor did he make a parade of clinch- ing his facts. He often warmed with feel- ing, but no bursts of passion deformed the symmetry of his argument. The flow of his speech was steady and strong-as the current of a great river. Every sentence was perfect ; every word was fitly spoken ; each apple of gold was set in its picture of silver. This singular faculty of saying everything just as it ought to be said, was not displayed only in the Senate and in the courts ; everywhere, in public and private, on his legs, in his chair, and even lying on his bed, he always ' talked like a book.'"

In personal appearance, Mr. Carpenter was striking and distinguished. He was above the average stature, broad shoulder- ed and well proportioned. His head was large, well set and finely formed. His hair grew in profusion, and formed a fine setting for a countenance which was al- ways strong and winning, but which was in- expressibly sad or characteristically bright and cheery-just as the mood happened to be in which one found him.

In temperament, he was buoyant, en- thusiastic, energetic and kind. His buoy- ancy never left him, his sparkle (and it was his alone), never ceased, his energy never diminished, his industry never wea- ried, and his generosity and kindness, al- ways large, only grew larger and more comprehensive as life went on.

His services as a speaker were sought on all occasions where public joy or public sorrow sought expression. The following extract from one of his addresses will give an idea of his style :

" The loves and friendships of individ- uals partake of the frail character of human life ; are brief and uncertain. The experi- ences of human life may be shortly summed up : a little loving and a great deal of sor- rowing ; some bright hopes and many bitter disappointments ; some gorgeous Thursdays, when the skies are bright and the heavens blue, when Providence, bend- ing over us in blessings, glads the heart almost to madness ; many dismal Fridays, when the smoke of torment beclouds the mind, and undying sorrows gnaw upon the heart ; some high ambitions and many Waterloo defeats, until the heart becomes like a charnel-house, filled with dead af- fections, embalmed in holy but sorrowful memories ; and then the cord is loosened, the golden bowl is broken, the individual life-a cloud, a vapor-passeth away."

Mr. Carpenter was a profound believer in the inspiration of the Scriptures-of which he was a close and appreciative student-and of the divinity of Christ. One of his reasons for this belief may be found in the following extract from a letter written by him to Prof. David Swing :

" Whoever will read Cicero's Twilight

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Speculations about Duty and the Future Life, remembering that perhaps he was the fullest man of an antiquity, the ripest scholar and student of the highest period of Roman civilization, and remembering that from the birth of Cæsar to the birth of Christ the. only change that came to civilization was a decline, and that Jesus belonged to an out-of-the-way people-a people apart from the high tides of human greatness-and then will read the Sermon on the Mount, I cannot comprehend how he can escape the conclusion that the dif- ference is not one of degree, but of kind. That Jesus, surrounded as he was, could have promulgated a system of morals em- bodying all that is most valuable in the prior life of the worlel, and to which nine- teen centuries of civilization have been unable to add a thought or impart an orna- ment, is a fact not to be explained by any ridicule."

At the time of his death, his law library alone had cost him more than $40,000, and his library of miscellaneous works numbered about 10,000 vols.

He was married to Caroline, daughter of Hon. Paul Dillingham, of Waterbury, Nov. 27, 1855. Four children were born to them, of whom two-daughters-died in infancy. Of the two now living, Lillian Carpenter, now a young lady, is the eldest ; the other, Paul Dillingham Carpenter, is a lad of 14 years. Mrs. Carpenter, with her son and daughter, now reside in the city of Milwaukee.

[The above are facts furnished by the Dillingham family of Waterbury, with journal notices.]

MRS. HOPY HOLT,

aged over 94 years, is the oldest person we have any record of now living in More- town. She was born in New Bedford, Mass. Her parents were Abraham and Mary (White) Howland. Her mother lived to nearly 82 years. Mrs. Holt was the wife of Amos Holt, who died in More- town some 38 years since, and the mother of 10 children, 9 of whom lived to settle in life as heads of families ; 7 now living ; 3 over 70: Amos Holt, of Berkshire, age

77, Sept. last ; Hopy, aged 74, June '81- Mrs. Hopy Holt Hartwell, now of Mont- pelier, widow 17 years of William Hart- well, who died aged 59, in Berlin ; and Mrs. Mary Goodspeed, who lives in North- ern New York, aged 72.

Mrs. Hopy Holt, in her life of almost a century, has lived in Montpelier, Calais and Moretown, and perhaps in one or two. other towns in this county.

She remembers when Montpelier river was of the size of a large brook. She says when young she was spry, and could jump as far as any one; that with a long pole she could have reached into the mid- dle of the stream, and jumped over. Now at 95, she can drop down on her feet upon the hearth, at the fire-place, light her pipe sitting on her feet, and spring up lightly again without touching a hand down; a feat not half of the women of 40 can ac- complish. She states her little house where she lived in Montpelier, stood upon ground covered now by the mill-pond near the Arch-bridge, near the centre of the present pond. That there were but two framed houses in Montpelier village when she removed to Calais. Her present home is with her son, G. H. Holt of Moretown. We saw the mother of 94 and daughter of 74, together the past summer. It seemed quite a sight, a mother with a daughter of 74 years by her side; and the mother in appearance bid fair to outlive the daughter.

Since the above was in type we have learned that Mrs. Hopy Holt died Dec. 12, 1881, aged 94 years, 3 mos. 24 days.

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The History of Washington County in the Vermont historical gazetteer : including a county chapter and the local histories of the towns of Montpelier., Part 98

Author: Hemenway, Abby Maria, 1828-1890 Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Montpelier, Vt. : Vermont Watchman and State Journal Press Number of Pages: 1064

Author: Hemenway, Abby Maria, 1828-1890
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Montpelier, Vt. : Vermont Watchman and State Journal Press
Number of Pages: 1064