USA > Vermont > Rutland County > The history of Rutland county, Vermont; civil, ecclesiastical, biographical and military, pt 1 > Part 4
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appointed a justice of the peace in 1794, and in each successive year from that time to 1830 inclusive-with the exception of the years 1811 and '14-making 35 years in all.
In 1814 he was appointed one of the as- sistant judges of the county court for the County of Rutland, but held this office for only one year.
He was for many years an inn-keeper in Benson, and always, when in active life, a leading and influential citizen. He removed from Benson to Granville, N. Y. in 1833, and from thence, in the spring of 1836, to Leroy, N. Y., the residence of his eldest son, Dr. Chauncey P. Smith, where he died about Dec. 1, 1836, aged about 70.
REUBEN NASH, ESQ.,
was one of the original grantees or proprie- tors named in the charter of the town. He was born at Norwalk, Ct. March 12, 1763, and was the son of Isaac and Elizabeth (Ab- bott) Nash. His father commanded the com- pany of militia from Lanesborough, Mass., in the battle of Bennington, and was there mor- tally wounded, and died in the night follow- ing the battle, in a barn near the battle-field. His mother subsequently married Col. Timo- thy Brownson of Sunderland. He was but 12 years old when his name was inserted in the charter of Benson, and he removed to the town in 1787, and was an inn-keeper, merchant and farmer. He married (1) Abi- gail, daughter of Deacon Jonathan and De- sire (Williams) Woodward, who died Aug. 16, 1796, in the 31st year of her age: and (2) February, 1798, Lois, (Moore) the widow of Aaron Rising of Dorset. In 1813 he remov- ed to Columbia, Bradford county, Pa., where his eldest son, Reuben, settled ; but returned again to Benson, after an absence of one year.
He was the representative of the town in the General Assembly, in 1800, '03, '07 '20 and '21, and justice of the peace from 1803 to '13-'16 to'19, and from 1820 to '22. In the summer of 1836 he removed to Silver Creek, N. Y., and died there July 14, 1846, aged 73 years.
DEACON JONATHAN WOODWARD
removed to Benson from Williamstown, Mass., but was originally from Plainfield, Ct. He was a deacon in the church in Williamstown. HIe died May 9, 1802, in his 76th year. He came to Benson in 17S5.
* This name was afterwards written by his children Farnham.
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BENSON.
DEACON JOSEPH CLARK
came to Benson in 1788 from Pittsfield, Mass., where he had been a deacon in the Rev. Mr. Allen's church. He died April 28, 1813, aged about 70 years. Deacons Clark and Wood- ward were chosen as the deacons of the Con- gregational church in Benson, on its organiz- ation in 1790.
DEACON STEPHEN CROFOOT
removed to Benson in 1786 from Pittsfield, Mass., where he had been a deacon in the Rev. Mr. Allen's church in that place, and he died at Benson March 17, 1812, in his 85th year.
REUBEN PARSONS, ESQ.,
who came to Benson in 1788, was town clerk from 1794 to '99, and from 1803 till his death in '13. He was also a justice of the peace from 1808 to '12. He died March 22, 1813, a victim of the then prevailing epidemic of typhoid pneumonia, aged 47 years.
CALVIN MANLEY
was the second and last clerk of the proprie- tors of the town, and was also town clerk from 1799 to 1803. He was a surveyor and farmer, and died Aug. 25, 1831, aged 71 years.
LIEUT. SOLOMON MARTIN,
who came to Benson in 1784, was from Pitts- field, Mass. In April, 1775, he marched to Cambridge on the Lexington alarm, with Capt. David Noble's company of " minute-men" from Pittsfield, and was 2d corporal in that company ; and, under the same captain, he served 8 months, or the remainder of that year in Col. Patterson's regiment at Cam- bridge. During the entire year of 1776 he was a lieutenant under the same captain, and served in New York and Canada. After the passage of the pension-law of 1818, he receiv- ed a lieutenant's pension for his services in the Revolutionary war, which continued for the remainder of his life. He died at Ben- son July 10, 1845, aged 93 years, 7 days.
DR. PEREZ CHAPIN,
who was originally from Granby, Mass., re- moved to Benson in 1797, as is believed, from Whately, Mass. He was a physician, and continued in active practice for about 10 years after his removal to Benson. His brother Sylvanus was the first settled minis- ter in Orwell (1791 to 1801) and was after- wards for many years a minister in Addison. Dr. Chapin was a man of blameless life and
religious character. He died at Benson April 26, 1839, aged 86 years. Two of his sons be. came Trinitarian Congregational clergymen, viz : Perez, (Midd. Coll., 1808) who was set- tled in Pownal, Me., and Horace B., who was settied in South Amherst, and subsequently in West Hampton, Mass., and Lewiston Falls, Me ; and Roxana, his eldest daughter, was the wife of the Rev. Caleb Burge, (Midd. Col., 1806) who was the first settled minister in Guildhall, Essex county .- (See ante vol. I, p. 1012.) Alpheus, another of his sons, a por- trait painter, (who died in Boston, Mass., March 4, 1870, aged 83 years) was the father of the Rev. Edwin Hubbell Chapin, D. D., (born in Hebron, N. Y.) who is well known as the pastor of the Universalist " Church of the Divine Paternity." corner of 5th Avenue and 15th St, New York city, and as one of the most eloquent pulpit orators in America.
COL. OLIVER ROOT
from Pittsfield, Mass., was the son of Col Ol- iver Root of that town. He removed to Ben- son in 1791-was justice of the peace from 1803 to'07 to '18, '19-and '22 to '26; was town clerk from 1813 to'15. In the spring of 1837 he removed to Castleton, where he died April 5, 1847, aged 80 years.
CAPT. JOEL DICKINSON,
who removed from Westhaven to Benson in 1809, was originally from Pittsfield, Mass., where he had been an active and prominent citizen. As a private he marched with the Pittsfield company of minute-men to Cam- bridge, on the Lexington alarm in April, 1775, and was subsequently a lieutenant and captain in the war which followed, and in almost constant service from the beginning of the war until after the defeat of Burgoyne in October, 1777. He was present at the as- sault on Quebec, in December, 1775, in which Gen. Montgomery fell ; and also in the sec- ond battle of Bemus' Heights, Saratoga, Oct. 7, 1777. He was appointed a justice of the peace in 1812, and died at Benson, Jan. 18, 1813, aged 63 years.
SAMUEL HOWARD
came to Benson from Hartford, Ct., in 1785. He was chosen one of the selectmen from 1791 to '95, inclusive,-in 1800-and from 1806 to '16, inclusive, and was the represent- ative of the town in the General Assembly in 1815 and '23. He died April 18, 1831, aged 70 years.
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His brother, James Howard, who came to| line, to serve during the war-and served in Benson in 1784, was a deacon in the Congre- gational church, from March, 1797, until his death, July 15, 1831, aged 68 years .- Another brother, Daniel, who probably came to Ben- son in 1785, or soon afterwards, died Nov. 16, 1843, aged 78 years.
These three brothers were settled on ad- joining farms, on the " Howard Hill." Ma- jor Edward S. Howard, son of Samuel, (b. June 10, 1791,) was one of the most active and successful business men of the town, and the representative of the town in the General Assembly in 1842. He died June 7, 1863, aged nearly 72 years.
LEMUEL STANDISH
came to Benson from Williamstown, Mass., in 1786 He was elected constable of the town in each year from 1798 to 1815, inclu- give, excepting 1799, and one of the select- men from 1809 to 1815, inclusive, and was a justice of the peace from 1814 to '21, inclu- sive-and also in '23 and '26. In 1838 he removed to the residence of his son-in-law, Samuel Goodrich, in Du Page county, Ill.
ALLEN GOODRICH,
of Wethersfield and Glastenbury, Ct., came to Benson in 1784. On the organization of the town in March, 1786, he was elected town clerk, and re-elected each year to 1793. He was also one of the selectmen in 1791, and constable in 1793, '94. From 1804 to '14, inclusive, he was annually elected the first selectman-making eleven successive annual elections to that office. He was also a justice of the peace from 1813, '17-19 to '21 and '22 to '27. Hewas the representative of the town in the General Assembly of 1814. He was one of the 13 persons who formed the Con- gregational church, on its organization in 1790. He died March 15, 1842, aged 81 years.
SIMEON GOODRICH
was from Wethersfield, Ct., (1785) and one of the board of selectmen elected on the organ- ization of the town in March, 1786, and was also the representative of the town in the General Assembly in 1798 and '99. He was born Sept. 11, 1759, and died Feb. 7, 1852, agel 92 years. He was the last survivor of the 13 original members of the Congregational church, and a deacon in that church from September, 1806, until his death. In the spring of 1776 he enlisted in Col. Baldwin's regiment of artificers, in the Massachusetts
that regiment till January, 1731; when, be- ing severely wounded in his left knee by a blow from a broad-axe, while at work in building a block-house, he became disabled from further service, and left the army. He was then a sergeant in the company of arti- ficers, to which he was attached.
For several years previous to his death he received a pension on account of his military service in the war of the Revolution.
JOSEPH BASCOM,
originally from Newport, N. H., came to Ben- son in 1815. His second wife was Lucretia, (Griswold) the second wife and widow of Asa Farnam, Esq. He was a deacon in the Con- gregational church, and-the representative of the town in 1832 and '33. He died Feb. 12, 1852, aged 84 years.
DR. SETH RANSOM
came to Benson in 1817, and was a practicing physician in the town for over 30 years. He died July 8, 1857, aged 77 years.
DR. ROWLAND P. COOLEY,
a native of Granville, Mass., (b. July 5, 1784) removed to Benson in March, 1810, and was a practicing physician in the town for more than 40 years. He was the representative in the General Assembly in 1834 and '35, and the delegate from the town to the State con- stitutional convention in 1836. In 1860 he removed from Benson to Saratoga Springs, N. Y., and died there April 2, 1865, aged nearly 81 years.
PERE G. LADD
was born in Coventry, Ct., January 1, 1774, and came to Benson from Pittsford, in this State, in 1798. He was a blacksmith, and followed the business of that trade for 12 years after his removal to Benson, and then abandoned it to engage in agricultural pur- suits. He was a man of little education, but was remarkable for the native energy and force of his character, and for his sound com- mon sense and good judgment. He was very successful in business, both as a blacksmith and as a farmer; and, at the time of his death, he had larger wealth than any other person residing in town. He was a major- general in the State militia from 1818 to '24. He died without issue, March 23, 1833, aged 64 years. His widow, Mrs. Dolly (Whitney) Ladd, a native of Warwick, Mass., died April 2, 1850, aged 77 years.
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BENSON.
ISAAC GRISWOLD
was a native of Norwich, Ct., born Sept. 26, 1779, and was the only son of Isaac and Ab- igail (Latham) Griswold of that town. He came to Benson about 1797, and became one of the most enterprising and prominent farm- ers of the town, and a leading citizen. He received the appointment of justice of the peace in each year from 1826 to the time of his death, excepting in 1834 and '35. He died July 14, 1844, at Vermontville, Mich., where he was taken sick while visiting a son residing at that place; and he was buried at Benson.
JESSE PARKHILL,
son of James, an original proprietor named in the charter, removed from Williamstown, Mass., to Benson, with the family of his father, in 1786. He was constable from 1817 to '27, inclusive, and was for 25 years a jus- tice of the peace in the town-his first ap- pointment to that office being in 1811, and his last in 1845. He died Aug. 22, 1817, aged 69 years.
ISAAC NORTON
was born at Berlin, Ct., Feb. 9, 1790, and re- moved to Castleton, Vt. with his parents .- He studied medicine, and was a practicing physician for a brief period, at Lisbon, N.Y .; but, abandoning that profession, removed to Benson in the latter part of 1815, and enter- .ed into business as a merchant, in which he continued for about 20 years. He was the town representative in the General Assembly in 1826 and '39, and one of the county sen- ators in 1810 and '41 During the entire pe- riod of his.residence in town, he was one of its most prominent business men. He died June 30, 1852, aged 62 years.
PHILO WILCOX
(son of Elijah) was born at Goshen, Ct., Jan. 22, 1783, and came to Benson with his par- ents in 1788 He became a successful and wealthylfarmer, and was a useful and respect- ed citizen He frequently held responsible town offices, and was the delegate of the town to the State constitutional convention in 1843, and its representative to the General Assembly in 1$15 and '46. He died Aug. 26, 1865, aged 82 years.
SIMEON AIKEN
(son of John,) was born May 1, 1808, and died March 6, 1865, aged nearly 57 years. For .
the greater part of his life he labored under the infirmity of deafness ; but was an intel- ligent, respected and most useful citizen, and no man was ever more universally esteemed by his townsmen. He was the first select- man from 1860 to '64; and, at the annual town-meeting in March, 1865, resolutions were adopted expressive of a grateful appre- ciation of his services to the town, and of a sincere respect for his character and memory.
The annals of an agricultural town are largely formed of "the unhistoric deeds of common life." Our honorable past, in its so- cial, educational and religious character, was made by earnest and self-denying men and women-the fathers and mothers who here planted in hope, and bore faithfully the struggles and trials of life, and now "rest from their labors." To their industry, ener- gy and enterprise-to their lives of toil, and sacrifice, and self-denial, how much are we indebted for the advanced culture and privi- leges of our times, and the multiplied com- forts of our homes ! In reviewing our more than four-score years of history, it is no less our privilege than our duty to hold in honor- able remembrance their virtues, worth and example.
JOHN QUINCY DICKINSON,
son of Isaac and Cornelia (Coleman), Dick- Enson, was born at Benson Nov. 19, 1837. and was a paternal grandson of Capt. Joel Dickinson. Having pursued the usual pre- paratory studies in the academies at Pou!t- ney and Castleton, he entered the College at Middlebury, and was there graduated in the class of 1860. After his graduation, he was reporter and correspondent, at Montpelier, for the Rutland Herald during the sessions of the State Legislature in 1860 and ' 61 ; and in the winter of 1861-2 he was active in enlist- ing the company known as the Middlebury company for the 7th Regiment of Vermont Volunteers, and was appointed 2nd Lieuten- ant of that company, which was called Com- pany C, in that regiment. This regiment left the State on March 10th. 1862, having been in camp at Rutland for about 6 weeks pre- vious to that time, and it was sent to the department of the Gulf and the vicinity of New Orleans. He was present at the bom- bardment of Forts Jackson and St. Philip, below New Orleans, by the combined fleet
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under Farragut and Porter in April 1862. ! and trusted of the leaders of the Republican and, in a letter published in the Rutland party of Florida. His future seemed full of hope and promise. Herald, shortly afterwards ,he gave an in- teresting and graphic account of that fierce and protracted combat. He served in that regiment during the remainder of the war of the Rebellion,-being appointed 1st Lieut. of his company on 9th Oct, 1862; Quarter- master of the regiment on 13th Sept. 1864, and Captain of Company F, in the same reg- iment on 22nd Aug., 1865. The two last offices he resigned on 10th Oct. 1865 The regiment to which he belonged participated in the expedition up the river above New Or- leans in the direction of Vicksburgh, and also in the battle of Baton Rouge, in the summer of 1862, but was afterwards stationed at Pensacola, and in that vicinity, during the larger part of the time until the spring of 1865, though its re-enlisted men received the usual furlough as veterans during August and September 1864. The regiment was en- gaged with the troops sent on the expedition against Mobile in March 1865, and shortly afterwards was sent to Clarksville, Texas, and subsequently to Brownsville in the same State, where it was stationed when he re- signed his commission in the army. At the time of his resignation, the war had for six mccins, been substantially closed. He re- turned to Vermont during his furlough in August and September 1864, and again in the summer and autumn of 1866. and, at the time of his death, was expecting to make an- other visit to his native State in the course of the then approaching summer.
Immediately after leaving the army he en- gaged in the lumber trade in the vicinity of Pensacola, in connection with Col. Peck of his regiment and another partner, but this enterprise was not successful, and was aban- doned after it had been carried on for two or three years.
When the State government of Florida be- came newly organized under a reconstructed constitution, after the overthrow of the Rebel- lion, he was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Senate of that State, and he afterwards removed to Marianna, the shire-town of Jackson Co. and was appointed the County Clerk of that County, and he also became a colonel in the State militia. Having pur- sued legal studies, he was admitted to the bar as an attorney at law ; and he was rec- ognized as one of the most prominent, active,
As he was returning; at a late hour in the evening of Monday 3d April 1871, from his office to his house in the village of Marianna he was assassinated in a most cowardly man- ner, being shot down in the street when very near his house,-his left breast and side be- ing pierced by thirteen buckshot and also by a ball, and his death being apparently the instantaneous result. The circumstances at- tending the transaction tend, with a force which seems irresistible, to the conclusion that the motive for his assassination was ex- clusively political, and that the deed was prompted by an implacable and fiendish spirit of revenge for his fidelity to his convictions of duty and to the principles which had been implanted in him by his New England nur- ture and education. He died unmarried. His assassins remain as yet unknown, and the guilt of blood unavenged rests upon the community in which he dwelt and died. He was buried at Marianna on the day succeeding his death, but his body was two days afterwards disin- terred, and, under the escort of General John Varnum, the Adjutant General of Florida, was removed to Benson, and interred here, in the burial place of his kindred, on Wednesday 19th April 1871, in the presence of the larg- est funeral procession ever gathered in the town,-the attendance from the other towns in the County and vicinity being very large, and including the Governor of the State, the Rev. Mr Smart of Albany, N. Y., and many who had been fellow soldiers with him in the service. A funeral discourse was delivered on the occasion by the Rev. Mr. Holmes, from Ps. xxxVII., 12-15, followed by an address by the Rev. Mr. Smart.
Though the hopes of friends have been so sadly taken away, yet to them remains the pleasant memory of his manly nature and character, and the consolation that the ruling principles of his conduct were noble and up- right, and that, in the stern trials to which his duty called him, he was always sincere, faithful, and true. The development of a completed and finished manhood rests not on length of days. " Honourable age is not that which standeth in length of time, nor that is measured by number of years. But wisdom is the gray hair unto men, and an unspotted life is old age." (Wisdom of Solomon, iv., 8, 9.).
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BENSON.
HON. LOYAL C. KELLOGG. BY HENRY CLARK.
With deep sorrow the decease of the hon- ored man whose name stands at the head of this article is announced. He died at the old homestead of the family, at Benson, on Sabbath morning. Nov. 26, 1872, after an illness of two weeks, in the 56th year of his age.
No citizen of our county could have passed avay at his period of life, in the ripeness of his powers, enjoying the high regard of all classes of his fellow citizens, as does Judge Kellogg. He was esteemed as an individual of pure life, a friend considerate and faithful, a lawyer able and a judge commanding the confidence of all just men, as possessing an incorruptible honesty of purpose, which sought to declare correctly the law, and ad- minister justice in accordance with its en- lightened precepts. With such a pronuncia- tion of his virtues and estimate of his charac- ter one might stop, for it expresses the eulogy of the man; but his public services and ex- ample demand a larger review of his public, judicial, and private life.
Loyal Case Kellogg, son of Hon. John and Harriot (Nash) Kellogg, was born in Ben- son, Feb. 13, 1816. His father was long a prominent citizen and able lawyer, in prac- tice at the Rutland County bar, the associate of Rodney C. Royce, Charles K. Williams, Robert Temple, Chauncy Langdon, Jonas Clark, Gordon Newell, Robert Pierpoint, Rol- lin C. Mallory, Phineas Smith and others who made the Rutland County bar, in former years, among the foremost of the State. The son inherited the strong judicial mind and high qualities of character that distinguished his father, and in personnel strongly resem - bled him. Loyal received the education of the schools of his native town, and fitted for college, at Castleton and West Rutland. He entered Amherst college in 1832, graduating with honor in 1836. Among his classmates were Hon. Alexander H Bullock. ex.Govern- or of Massachusetts, Hon. Ensign H. Kel. logg of Pittsheld, Mass., Rev. Roswell D. Hitchcock, D. D., of New York, and Rev. Stewart Robinson, D. D., of Baltimore. Soon after his graduation he entered upon the study of law at Rutland, in the office of Phineas Smith, completing his studies with his father at Benson. He was admitted to the bar at the September term of the Rutland county court in 1839. He commenced the practice of law at Benson in 1839, and there continued until 1859, when he was elected a Judge of the Supreme Court, and removed to Rutland in 1800, and returned to Benson in 1863.
He represented Benson in the General As. sembly in 1817, 50, 51, 59 and 71. In 1817 he was on the Committee on Banks, and in 1851 on the Committee on Banks and Revis- ion. In 1859, he was placed on the able committee of that year on the Judiciary, which was composed of William Hebard,
Daniel Kellogg, Loyal C Kellogg, George W. Grandey and John A. Child, He was also chairman of the Committee on Roads and of the special committee on the petition of Mat- thew Halloran for the commutation of the sentence for death to imprisonment for life.
At the session of 1871, Judge Kellogg made request of the Speaker that he should not be placed on any of the standing committees of the House, as the condition of his health would not allow continuous or arduous la. bor, which accounted for his not being at the head of the Judiciary Committee, to which he would very properly have been assigned. He was, however, on the Joint Committe on the Library, chairman of the committee on the bill providing for a general railroad law, and also on the committee on the purchase of an historical painting for the State House.
He was delegate from Benson in the Con- stitutional Conventions of 1847 and 1870. He was also one of the eight delegates from Rutland County to the Constitutional Con- vention of 1857, and was elected its Presi- dent.
He has been a director in the Bank of Rut- land and in the National Bank of Rutland for the past 10 years. While a resident of Rutland, he was one of the vestrymen of Trinity (Episcopal) Church. His last official acts were performed as chairman of the com- mittee to build the Rutland County Court House, in which he took a deep interest, and gave much time to the preparation of the plans.
The degree of Doctor of Laws was con- ferred on Judge Kellogg at Amherst in 1869.
He was elected Judge of the Supreme Court by the legislature of 1859 and annually re- elected down to and including 1867, but de- clined to accept the last election on account of his health, in the following letter ad- dressed to the Governor, and Hon. John Prout, of Rutland, was elected to fill the vacancy.
RUTLAND, November 4th, 1867. To His Excellency, John B. Page, Governor:
SIR :- I hereby decline to accept the office of assistant judge of the Supreme Court, for the official year, to which I have recently been elected by the General Assembly.
This act, which is rendered necessary by the condition of my health, will sever rela- tions which have always been pleasant to me, and I desire to accompany it with the expression of my most grateful acknowledge- ments for the honor conferred on me by nine successive elections which I have received to this office, and for the generous kindness by" which I have been sustained in it.
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