USA > Vermont > Orleans County > The history of Orleans county, Vermont. Civil, ecclesiastical, biographical and military > Part 29
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6. Benjamin Hinman of Derby,-eldest son of Aaron and Ruth Hinman, the subject of the foregoing sketch, was born at South- bury, Ct., Aug. 12, 1773; married Lydia Dean, daughter of Isaac Dean of Grafton, N. H., March 13, 1806. She was born at Taunton, Mass., Jan. 15, 1786, and died at Derby, Vt., July 22, 1865, He died at Derby, Vt., Nov. 26, 1856.
NOTE OF DESCENDANTS OF BENJAMIN HIN- MAN OF DERBY .-- Children as follows, viz.,(1) Major Aaron born, Feb. 24, 1808 ; married Nancy, daughter of Maj. Rufus Stewart ; lived at Derby and died there, Oct. 16, 1854. His widow and family still reside at Derby Cen- tre. (2) Ruth Emm: born Oct. 9, 1809 ; married Sept. 14, 1826, Dr. Lemuel Rich- niond ; still residing at Derby Line. (3) Mary, born Aug. 14, 1812; married Sanford Steele of Stanstead, in Canada, Dec. 14, 1835. He died Sept. 4, 1856. She resides at New- port, Vt. (4) Harry Sherman, born May 28, 1818; married Urania, daughter of Judge William Hinman of Connecticut, Oct. 21, 1842. He lived in Derby until after the death of his parents, when he removed to Boston, Mass., and is one of the firm of Hin- man &Co., in that city.
Grandchildren as follows, viz. (1) children of Aaron, viz. Jane E., wife of Maj. Lewis H. Bisbee of Newport, Vt .; Harriet, wife of Maj. Josiah Grant, Jr., of Island Pond, Vt .; Mary and Benjamin. (2) Children of Ruth Emm (Hinman) Richmond, viz. Jane A., wife of Lemuel C. Richmond of Barnard, Vt .; Mary, wife of Otis Hinman of Hinman & Co. Boston, Mass. (3) Children of Mary (Hin-
man) Steele viz. Benj. Hinman, who married Mattie Sumner of Hartland, Vt. ; and Lydia Maria and Hiram Roswell and Sanford Hen- ry and Mary Ellen, who died Aug. 18 1856. (4) The children of Harry, viz. Selina and William.
Great-grandchildren-viz. : Willis Hin- man Richmond, born, Aug. 5, 1852; Rollin Lemuel Richmond, born Nov. 10, 1858 ; Ma- ry Hinman Steele, born April 23, 1863 ; Hat- tie Bisbee, born Aug. 17, 1867; Otis Rich- mond Hinman, born July 16, 1868.
A PIONEER.
BY HON. E. A. STEWART.
Mr. Nathaniel Kelley, the oldest man in town, died on Saturday, Aug. 21, 1869, at the age of 93 years and 1 month. He died with no disease; but the machinery of his life had literally and naturally worn out. He retained his senses to the last, and showed by his frequent expressions of trust and con- fidence his belief in the precepts of the Christ- ian faith. The following is taken from a short account of his life published 6 months previous to his death :
" Nathaniel Kelley, now living and in vig- orous health is as old as the government, having been born on the 22d day of July, 1776. His native place was Norwich, Ct. At the age of 17 years, in 1793, he came to St. Johnsbnry, where he resided most of the time till he came to Derby some 15 years ago. He has a distinct recollection of a quarrel among the Indians at Norwich, because some of them desired to enlist in the Revolutionary army ; and of a brilliant lighting up of the place in honor of a great victory by the pat- riots, and of the disbandment of the army at the close of the Revolutionary war. He was among the first settlers of St. Johnsbury. and assisted in building the first school-house and meeting-house in that town. During a greater part of his residence there, he lived on the farm now owned by Charles Starks. A year or two after he came there, he helped move Richard Packard, Nathaniel Daggett and one Davies from St. Johnsbury to New- port. They came through Barton, Brown- ington, Salem and Derby, then mostly a wild- erness, and crossed Memphremagog Lake, near Indian Point in bark canoes. Martin Adams came into Newport the year before and had erected a log-house. According to the cus- toms of those times, liquor was dealt out as one of the necessaries of life, and Mr. Kelley's account of this his first experience with the ardent was as amusing to the writer as the whiskey was disastrous to him.
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About 35 years ago, he went West-which was then Ohio-with a view of settling there, but becoming disgusted with the mud, chills and heterogeneousness of the population, he returned to Vermont in about a year. He received a grant of 2000 acres of land in Al- bany, in Orleans County, but being obliged to commence suits to eject the squatters ; be- tween the lawyers and the squatters, his real estate proved more fanciful than real, and resulted in money out-of-pocket, besides a world of vexation. He never held any offi- cial positions. He was once offered a cap- tains' commission, but declined, preferring, to use his own expression, 'a good farrow cow' to the honors. He voted for Jefferson, and has voted at every presidential election since, except the last.
He was married Jan. 23, 1807, to Sally Coe, by whom he had 11 children, all living except one. His wife died a year ago, they having lived together 61 years. He had 30 grand-children and 9 great-grand-children. About the year 1820, he made a profession of religion and united with the Congregational Church at St. Johnsbury. He is now able to read common newspapers without the aid of glasses."
OREM NEWCOMB.
BY O. T. LANPHEAR OF BEVERLY, MASS.
Orem Newcomb, the oldest son of Dr. Lu- ther and Milla Conant Newcomb, was born in Derby Dec. 6, 1800. Dr. Newcomb was the first physician settled in the town, with a practice which in the new settlement of the country, gave him the ride over the most of Orleans County, and sometimes beyond it. His gentleness of disposition, patience under trials, faithfulness and kindness to every class of patients, and hardships in following his profession owing to the new state of the country, called forth the sympathy and ad- miration of all who knew him. Skillful in practice, he had medical students some of whom rose to great eminence in the profes- sion, among whom Dr. Colby, who settled in Stanstead C. E. deserves special mention.
In the absence of those facilities for schools which are had at present, the education of Orem with the exception of a term or two at the County Grammar School at Peacham, was obtained for the most part under the private instruction of his father, together with that of his mother, who was a person of con- siderable culture.
When hardly large enough to sit in the saddle he began to assist his father by carry- ing medicine to his patients, in different directions, to the distance of sometimes 20 and even 30 miles.
Mr. Newcomb in after-life spoke sometimes with regret of his lack of early training in books and at schools. Greater advantages of this sort would undoubtedly have given a fuller development to his faculties, and have raised him in some respects to a higher sphere of usefulness ; but with all his disadvantages there were few men better educated, if by ed- ucation is meant the leading forth of the mind and heart to a clear understanding of men and things.
When it became necessary that he should decide upon some business for life, he chose that of a merchant, and after the regular apprenticeship as a clerk, opened a store in partnership with two other gentlemen at Derby Center. Finding after a time that the confinement of the store was unfavorable to his health, which was never very firm, he withdrew his connection from mercantile business, and entered upon more active occu- pations. From this time his services were in constant request upon almost every form of public and private business requiring sound judgment and tact as well as delicacy of management. Causes of litigation were re- ferred to his arbritration for settlement in- stead of being carried to the courts. Land damages consequent upon the construction and improvement of public ways and rail- roads were referred to him for assesment and his services as administrator were sought in the settlement of estates involving nice points of law, requiring tact and judgment in the business details. He was for more than 17 years assesor of the town valuation in mak- ing out the tax list, and town clerk for nearly the same period. He was the orphan's guard- ian, the trustee of public and private funds, an agent of pensions, and called to almost every form of public as well as private service.
After all, the traits of character which distinguished Mr. Newcomb, more than all others, were brought out in the development of his christian life. Though his life had been unexceptionable as to the strictest ob- servance of outward morality, yet apparent- ly he had no marked convictions of the ne- cessity of a spiritual interest in Christ until
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he had entered upon his 31st. year. This be one of the most difficult biographies to conviction was awakened during a protracted meeting at Derby at which the late Rev. Ora Pearson of Peacham was present, and whom Mr. Newcomb always spoke of afterwards as his spiritual father. He was so drawn to- ward Mr. Pearson that he followed him to Irasburgh where he had gone to attend a meet- ing similar to that held at Derby, hoping through him to get light and relief under his convictions. Disappointed on finding that Mr. Pearson had left Irasburg, he sought another friend, who he knew had been at the meeting, but without success. With the feel- ing that he was shut out from all human help he turned his course homewards, looking up to God his Saviour as his only light and help, and soon found peace in believing.
Mr. Newcomb united with the Congrega- tional Church at Derby Center, July 29, 1832. For more than 22 years he kept the covenant then taken, " henceforth denying all ungodli- ness, and every worldly lust; living soberly, righteously and godly before the world." He interested himself in every instrumentali- ty that promised to extend the knowledge of the gospel, and build up the kingdom of Christ. He was especially a friend of the Bible and Tract Societies, and of the Ameri- can Board for Foreign Missions. He corres- ponded with several of the missionaries in the foreign field. He loved to watch the progress at the Sandwich Islands, and always had some fact relative to that mission with which to enliven the monthly concert. He. had a cabinet of minerals and other curiosi- ties sent to him from the Islands, and the windows of one of his rooms were cur- tained with cloth of native manufacture. When the mission to Micronesia was in con- templation, he said one day to his pastor, "I am about ready at my advanced age to go out as a missionary, to that new mission. I sincerely regret that my mind did not turn to this subject in early life, so as to have de- voted myself to this good work." But though he did not go in person. he could go by his sympathy and prayers. The poor student fitting for the ministry and for missions, was encouraged by his kind words, and by such material aid as he could give.
Though it is easy to give in detail the many points of interest in Mr. Newcomb's character as they appeared to the public and to his friends, yet in another respect his would
write on account of the harmony and even balance of all his faculties. Had there been less harmony, and had this balance been broken here and there; had his good points appeared as prominent eccentricities with corresponding depressions as defects between them, then it would require but a stroke of the pen to number the good traits, and count the defects, and with that the biography would be done. But his character was to the thoughtful observer more like the smooth surface of a perfect sphere with all points of it flowing into smooth outline. His mind was remarkable for its judicial power. He knew men, and could detect their worth and their foibles almost at sight. He could thread his way through the most intricate web of conflicting evidence with its perplexity of circumstances, so as to put the tangled lines in order and come to a just judgment through a fair balancing of testimony. And yet there was none of that cold sense of superiority and haughty reserve, commonly associated with this order of mind. He rather used this faculty as if led to it by a high sense of honor and love of duty. It was his enthusi- asm of trying to do right, in which there appeared all the meekness and tenderness of a child.
He had that faculty, so rare even in great men, silence. On first acquaintance it might sometimes have appeared like pride ; he was always so calm and self-possessed ; but fur- ther acquaintance would show his silence was modesty. He listened with the greatest deference to the conversation of others, show- ing afterwards in a few words, when appealed to, that he had mastered the whole subject, and often throwing upon it some fresh light as the result of his own reflections. In or- dinary conversation his words were neither rapid nor flowing; but when the occasion required it and he felt the pressure of duty, few men could speak with more authority or rise to a more commanding pitch of elo- quence. But he never rose to speak in pub- lic except in such an emergency, and where there was some principle of right or duty at stake. Then, though one of the most modest men, he stood up the most fearless and uncompromising advocate of the right. Nothing could intimidate him. In the ex- pression of his eye, his tones of voice, and gesture there was a majesty before which
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falsehood and meanness must quail. He | never conversed about the private affairs of other people. He thoroughly hated all gos- sip, and every approach to it, which may have been one reason why every one trusted him with their private wants in order to solicit his counsel.
He sometimes gave counsel unasked, when he thought he could be of service to persons or parties, but it was given in the most unob- trusive manner. If he knew of parties at variance or of persons pursuing a course dangerous to their good name, or to the pub- lic morals, he would give some word of cau- tion in the strictest privacy, or send a letter full of warning in such well turned phrase as not to carry any impression of assumption on his part. No mention of any such act ever escaped his lips, no minute or letter ever revealing it, was ever found among his papers, nor would it ever have been known but for the expressions of gratitude from those who had received benefit from such counsel.
In all his intercourse with men, Mr. New- comb was cautious never to wound any per- son's self-respect When this had been done, he considered that there was little hope that any council however wise, would be benefi- cial. He loved to throw out suggestions, and to have people take them as though they had risen in their own thoughts, and follow them as if a part of their own wisdom; so thoroughly free was he from all vanity in re- spect to his own influence. On this account it has been justly said that, “it seemed given to him to say the right things at the right time ; never showy nor forward, but quietly moving along, diffusing comfort and courage to the sorrowful and the destitute." It was a touching scene after Mr. Newcomb's death when a widow in tears said to his bereaved companion, "you are worse off than we, for you have no Mr. Newcomb to go to, as we had."
There are so many touching incidents in the memories of the good man, the pen knows not where to stop; but present limits forbid further detail. He sleeps quietly in the town where he was born and which was the scene of all his earthly labors.
with this disease on Wednesday, on account of which he was called home from business abroad. Reaching home on Saturday, the child died early the next morning. The fore- noon of that Sabbath Mr. Newcomb spent with the sick and the dying in the neighbor- hood, with his characteristic forgetfulness of self, seeking comfort for his own grief only as he might be the means of bearing comfort to others in affliction. The next Tuesday he was attacked by the same disease and died after an illness of 9 days. He seemed literal- ly, to vanish out of sight, leaving behind him the solemn impression of the value of religion both in life and death.
Letters of condolence were written to the bereaved widow and family, from the wide circle of friends who had known the deceased, among whom were many eminent in profes- sional life, as well as distinguished men of business. The funeral sermon was preached on the Sabbath following, by Rev. Mr. Lan- phear, at that time pastor of the church of which Mr. Newcomb was a member, from the first verse of the twelfth Psalm: "Help, Lord; for the godly man ceaseth."
HON. PORTUS BAXTER.
BY MRS. MARY CLEMER AMES.
Hon. Portus Baxter, son of Hon. William Baxter, a man of preëminent influence in his day, was born in Brownington, Vt., Dec. 4, 1806. Amid the lovely lakes and picturesque mountains of northern Vermont, he very early received those profound impressions of natu- ral beauty, and that passionate love for his native State, which formed so marked a trait of his character in mature years. This portion of his education coming to him through a boy's acute and eager senses as he "drove the plough a field" or followed the cattle up and down those hill-sheltered valleys, gave a charm to his nature which never left it.
He fitted for college at the Norwich Military Academy and entered the University of Ver- mont in 1823. He left at the close of his junior year to enter at once upon the active duties of life. There are temperaments which rebound naturally from books, from all abstract and obstruse forms of knowledge. They rarely accept wisdom at second-hand; they receive it direct from nature, from contact with men, and from the experiences of human life. Such was the temperament of Portus Baxter. Though he did full justice to the advantages of a
Mr. Newcomb died Oct. 12, 1854, of typhoid dysentery, which prevailed at that time in the community, and in many instances proved fatal. His youngest child had been taken liberal education, and to the day of his death
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kept pace with contemporaneous literature, his supreme strength was in action, and reached its complete manifestation in his contact with men. The death of his father, leaving the administra- tion of a large estate to devolve upon him, filled his life with responsibility and labor, at the beginning of manhood.
In the year 1828, he settled in Derby Line Vt., a portion of the State at that time so newly settled as to demand of its inhabitants the best traits of the pioneer. Here he entered upon mercantile pursuits, and extensive farming, and to the day of his death remained one of the model farmers of Orleans County. "Thank God I am a farmer!" Those who heard him utter these words in the electric speech which he delivered on the Reciprocity Treaty, in the House of Representatives, 1864, will never for- get the fervor of his tones, nor doubt the en- thusiasm which he felt for his chosen profession.
In the year 1832, he was married to Ellen Janette Harris, daughter of Judge Harris of Straf- ford, Vt. It is impossible for one who knew him to give even the barest outline of his life, with- out saying what this marriage was to his intellect and heart. After 36 years personal union of love and labor, and sorrow, shared together, this husband looked into the face of his wife, with an admiration, a devotion, a chivalric love, which over-flowed with all the enthusiasm and romance of youth. Time and grief had left their inevita- ble traces on her beautiful face, and yet she was more beautiful in his eyes than when she won him first in the surpassing lovliness of her youth. Revering all true womanhood, she was to him the supreme woman of the world. Many, in age, love with more than the depth of youth, but few, with its enthusiasm. But the love of this husband and wife bore daily witness not only to the depth and fidelity of their affections, but to the youth of their hearts, and the perfect marriage of their blended lives.
Mr. Baxter was a patriotic politician. The science of government, the administration of public affairs were to him passions. But with the keenest interest in politics, and the shrewd- est foresight in their management, he sought none of their personal prizes for himself. He was self-distrusting to diffidence of his own fit- ness to fill the higher positions of power. His enthusiasm was for other men, in whom his faith was a religion. It was the passion of his Life to serve and advance his friends. He had a boundless belief in individuals, an unerring instinct to discover the right man for the right I perhaps they may have never heard.
place. He possessed all the mental characteris- tics of a leader. More, he possessed the tem- perament of a leader, the spontaneous, irresistible force of feeling which moves and controls the emotions and actions of men. And this, through no secret or occult power. It was the conta- gion of sympathy and of enthusiasm, which he imparted till he imbued other minds with somewhat of the ardor of his own. He was conscious of this power. He felt a keen delight in its possession. It is a proof of the nobility of his nature, that he did not use it for his own personal advancement. He loved the power because he could use it for others. To put the best men in the best places he thought a high service to render his country. Possessing such characteristics in so remarkable a degrec, it is not strange that from 1840 till 1860 he exerted a greater influence upon the politics of his State, than any other man in Vermont. No man could be made Governor, no man could be elected to any important office whatever, without his en- dorsement and support. And this powerful personal influence was not confined to his own State; it extended across the "Line" and vras felt in the politics of Canada, at least through Stanstead County.
The thousands of travelers who every Summer follow the Connecticut River, and Passumpsic, Railroad along the loveliest of American valleys from Springfield to Newport Vt., and now even further on, to meet the Grand Trunk railroad of Canada, can realize all that they would have missed had that railroad never been built. Many and many a year before the cry of the steam horse had broken the silence of these hills, Mr. Baxter, in his own carriage, following the windings of these rivers along these peaceful valleys, foresaw all that we see to-day. To see with his own eyes a railroad running through the Connecticut valley was one of his earliest and most powerful enthusiasms. For its accom- plishment he spared neither money, time, nor labor. Month after month he called meetings, gathered subscriptions, and at one time spoke, fifteen nights in succession in behalf of this great enterprise. Few indeed of the multitudes who feast their eyes on the exquisite scenery which greets them at every mile of their passage, or who, bless the pleasant trains which bear them so rapidly from the weariness of the city, to the refreshment and health of the summer lakes and hills, know how much of all this they owe to the zeal and labors of a man, whose name
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Second only to the personal love which be bore his native State, was Mr. Baxter's unbound- ed faith in and admiration of the West. Visit- ing Chicago in 1836 while a mere village, he prophesied for it all the future greatness which is a reality to-day. More than one man of wealth in the West, who to-day gazes upon his thousands of fruitful acres, upon overflowing barns and upon a happy home, looks back to the time, not many years gone, when the "money to start with" which he carried in his pocket, and the "God speed you" that he carried in his heart, both the gifts of Portus Baxter, made the only capital wherewith the young man could begin the world. Mr. Baxter's large nature out-ran all sectional boundaries. His country was his whole country. In the largest sense he was an American. Yet, after every extended journey he returned to gaze with an added tenderness upon the hills of home. It was love of birth- place, devotion to the land-marks which were interwoven with all the memories of boyhood, the heart-life of youth, and the activities of manhood. It was the enthusiasm which spurns dead levels and springs spontaneously to the strength of the hills. This enthusiasm makes the Vermonter feel that of all others on earth the verde-monts are the delectable mountains : It seems as if no other human eye could have taken in so broad a reach of landscape with such an enthusiastic loving gaze as did his, while he stretched it toward the lovely meadows of Derby, toward Memphremagog, toward old Owl's Head and grand Jay Peak beyond. The writer of this record, can never forget the first impres- sion of this scene, nor the image of this man, nor the tones of his voice, as he said ; "Where did you ever see such a country?" and "Look at those mountains! "
for Fremont. After declining two nominations for Congress, he accepted the Republican nomi- nation for the third District of Vermont, and was elected to the thirty-seventh, thirty-eighth, and thirty-ninth, congresses by overwhelming majorities. He commenced his Congressional career with the ominous special session of the thirty-seventh congress, and during his suc- cessive terms served on the committees on elections, on agriculture and on the special committee on expenditures of the navy de- partment. His public position in Washington gave to Mr. Baxter the best opportunity of his life. The exigencies of war, the patriotism, the heroism of the hour, the incessant strain upon every faculty of the mind, every sympathy of the heart, roused every noble quality of his nature into its utmost activity. He found no time to write specches nor time to seek ease and comfort in his own distant home. He spent all his energy and all his time in the service of his constituents, and in administering to the wants of soldiers. No soldier ever saw his face that did not know him to be his friend. How he used his person- al influence to secure the rights of men who had fought, been maimed, or lost their lives for their country, how he used it to encourage the unfor- tunate, to assist the struggling, the disappointed, the weary, the heart-broken, how many on this side and on the other side of the pale of life might tell! In the midst of battles, of the dying and the dead, he proved how utterly he was the representative of the people, especially of the people of that northern State whose love of liberty and hatred of tyranny is as strong as the strength of their own mighty hills.
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