The history of Washington county, in the Vermont historical gazetteer:, Part 70

Author: Hemenway, Abby Maria, 1828-1890, [from old catalog] ed
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Montpelier, Vt., Vermont watchman and state journal press
Number of Pages: 1066

USA > Vermont > Washington County > The history of Washington county, in the Vermont historical gazetteer: > Part 70

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Near the year 1800, he became involved in several large and vexatious lawsuits, growing out of disputed land titles or the sales of lands he had effected through his agencies under foreign landholders. In one of these, for want of his ability to make legal proof of payments that the dis- tant proprietors had received, a large judg- ment was obtained in the United States Circuit Court against him, which was con-

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sidered by himself, his family and friends, so unjust that he, with their concurrence, resolved never to pay it. And in pursu- ance of this determination, he conveyed to his sons and sons-in-law the principal part of his attachable property, and, removing his family to Burlington, so as to be within the limits of Chittenden county jail-yard, invited the service of the execution taken out against him on his own person. Here in Burlington, he led a quiet life for over a dozen years, during which frequent offers of compromises were made him by the plaintiffs in the suit, which he steadily rejected till the winter of 1814, when they made an offer so nearly amounting to a re- linquishment of their whole claim, and so virtually involving an admission of its in- justice, that he accepted it, and the whole matter in dispute was amicably settled. But before he became prepared to remove, as he was about to do, to his beloved Mont- pelier, he was attacked by an acute disease which terminated his life April 9, 1814. His remains were brought to Montpelier for interment, and a broad tomb-stone marking the place where they repose may now be found in the old village grave-yard.

In person, Col. Davis was 6 feet high, broad-shouldered, compactly formed and well proportioned, with unusually large bones and muscles. His face was round favored, and handsomely featured, and his whole appearance dignified and command- ing. His great physical powers are in- stanced in his ability to slash an acre of forest land in a day. Let one other suffice. Old Mr. Levi Humphrey, one of the first settlers, who died in this town, August, 1859, aged 93 years, told us, about a fort- night before his death, he well-remembered being one day at Col. Davis' log house, when the latter requested two of his strong- est hired men to go into the yard and bring in, for a back-log for their long open fire-place, a cut of green maple 4 feet long or more and nearly 2 feet in diameter. In compliance, they each took hold of an end, but reported they were unable to bring it in, and were preparing to roll it up to the door with handspikes, when the Colonel, having noticed their failure to take up the

log, came out, motioned them aside, and grasping the ends with his long arms, lift- ed and marched into the house with it, and threw it on to the fire, pleasantly remark- ing to them as he did so, that " they did not appear to be any great things at log- lifting." But Col. Davis' physical powers were of small account in the comparison with the other strong traits of the man, his enterprise, energy, judgment and far- reaching sagacity ; but even they were not all the good qualities of his character ; no needy man ever went empty-handed from his door; he ever gave employment of some kind to all who asked for it; and so well he rewarded all his employees, that no reasonable man in the whole settlement was ever heard to complain of the amount of wages he paid, or any unfair conduct in his dealings.

[In addition, Mr. Gilman gives : Charl- ton, the birth place of Col. Davis, adjoins Leicester on the north. Hon. Emory Washburn, in his history of Leicester, states that the academy in that town, one of the oldest in the state, " owes its founda- tion to the generosity and public spirit of Col. Jacob Davis, and Col. Ebenezer Crafts, whose munificence was suitably acknowl- edged in the Act of Incorporation. They purchased the commodious dwelling house, then recently occupied by Aaron Lopez, and its appendages, together with an acre of land, which they conveyed to the Trus- tees of Leicester Academy, in consideration of the regard they bear to virtue and learn- ing, which they consider greatly conducive to the welfare of the community. The value of this estate was $1716, and was situated directly in front of the present Academy buildings. The liberality of these gentlemen, one of them (Davis) res- ident of Charlton, and the other (Crafts) of Sturbridge, deserves the gratitude of pos- terity." Col. Davis owned a valuable es- tate in Charlton, adjacent to that of his brother, Ebenezer Davis. Col. Nathan- iel, Gen. Parley, and Hezekiah Davis, three brothers, early settlers in Montpelier, were sons of Ebenezer Davis of Charlton, and nephews of Col. Jacob Davis, not cousins, as stated by Thompson.]

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REBECCA DAVIS.

The efficient help-meet of the energetic man, whose life and character we have but too briefly sketched, was born in Oxford, Mass., in 1743; married about the year 1765, and died Feb. 25, 1823. She lies buried by the side of her husband in this village, where she peacefully passed the last as well as the middle portion of her useful and exemplary life. She early united with the Congregational Church after it was es- tablished in this village, and had long been considered a Christian in works, as well as faith, which would have well warranted an earlier public profession of religion, Unusually comely in person, with a sweet smile ever on her lips, kind in disposition, intelligent and discreet, she was the never failing friend of the needy and distressed, the judicious adviser of the young, and the uni- versal object of the love and respect of all classes of the people of the settlement. Of the more than half score of her cotempora- ries in this town of whom we have made inquiries respecting her, all most cordially united in affirming, in substance, what we will only quote as the warmly expressed words of one of them ; "Mrs. Colonel Davis was one of the best, the very best, women in the whole world !" She was a mother in the early Montpelier Israel, and she has left behind her a name bright with blessed memories.

HON. DAVID WING, JR.,

was born in Rochester, Mass., June 24, 1766; removed with his father and family to Montpelier about 1790, and settled down with them on a farm adjoining what is now known as the old Clark Stevens place, in the east part of the town. He had doubtless received a rather superior common school education, though the ed- ucational accomplishments, which he al- most at once exhibited after coming into the settlement, were probably mainly the fruits of his native taste and scholarship, which is strikingly conspicuous in all the memo- rials, social or civil, that he has left behind him. He taught the second school of the town, which was opened, it is believed, in the same year in which he became one of

its inhabitants. Within about 2 years after his arrival, he was elected town clerk, and during the next dozen years the offices of town agent, town representative, judge of the county court and secretary of state, seem to have been crowded upon him in regular and rapid succession. As an ev- idence of his great popularity among his townsmen, may be cited, that while he was holding the office of side judge, and chief judge of the county court-ten-fold the best office held by any other inhabitant of the town-he was elected the town repre- sentative 4 years previous to his election as secretary of state ; and not content with that, for the several years during that time, they threw their entire vote for him as state treasurer. Considering the jeal- ousies usually existing among the numbers found in every town who believe them- selves qualified for office, and who gen- erally raise a clamor against bestowing an office on a man who is already holding another good office, perhaps nothing could be adduced, which shows so strongly, the personal regard in which David Wing was universally held by his almost idolizing townsmen.

In 1792, he married Hannah, second daughter of Col. Jacob Davis, a young lady of many personal attractions and much moral excellence. They had eight children, whose names show the classical tastes of the father, and estimation in which the different noted personages of history were held by him : Debby Daphne, Christopher Columbus, Algernon Sidney, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Maria Theresa, David Davis, Caroline Augusta and Max- imus Fabius. The two first daughters died in infancy ; the other children arrived at maturity, and took highly respectable positions in society, though only one of them appears to have fully inherited the tastes and native scholarship of their father-the Rev. Marcus T. C. Wing. .

In person, Judge Wing was of medium height, of a good form, fine head, shapely features and an animated countenance, all made the more attractive and winning by the dignified affability of his manners. As an instance of the quickness of his per-

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ceptions, his ready business capacities and the versatile character of his talents, sev- eral of his yet surviving cotemporaries have named to us the fact, of which they were frequently cognizant, that he would correctly and rapidly draw up any kind of document, report, despatch or legal in- strument in writing, and at the same time maintain a connected and lively conversa- tion with those around him.

He was elected secretary of state in the fall of 1802, and while still holding the office, and in the midst of his usefulness and high promise, was suddenly swept away by a malignant fever, Sept. 13, 1806. Rarely has a death occurred in this sec- tion of the State which produced so pro- found a sensation in community, and it was mourned as a great loss, not only to the town but to the whole State.

[MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO WING, son of David Wing, Jr., born Oct. 17, 1798; graduated at Middlebury in the Class of 1820; read medicine in Montpelier, 1820- 1821; was teacher in Maryland, 1821- 24; studied at the Episcopal Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Va., 63 years ; was tutor in Kenyon College, O., 1826-29 ; Rector of an Episcopal church in Board- man, O., 1829-31 ; editor of the Gambier Observer, and treasurer and general agent of Kenyon College, several years, since which he has been Professor of Ecclesiasti- cal History in the Episcopal Theological Seminary of Ohio at Gambier. He has re- ceived the degree of D. D. (1853.)

-Pearson Catalogue.

ELDER ZIBA WOODWORTH,

a man whose character was marked by many peculiar qualities, whose life was checkered by many peculiar events, was born Apr. 1769, in Bozrah, Ct., and was a connection of the gallant Col. Ledyard, who married his aunt, and his two broth- ers, Joseph and Asahel Woodworth, Ziba, the younger, but 17, became soldiers in Col. Ledyard's regiment ; when that re- vengeful devil incarnate, Benedict Arnold, led the British against New London, and utterly desolated it with fire and sword, Ziba and his brother Asahel were, with

their brave uncle in command, in Fort Griswold, on the Groton side of the Thames, Joseph being with another de- tachment some miles distant, but hasten- ing on to the rescue. While the infamous Arnold was devastating New London, he sent out a detachment of several hundred British troops, under Col. Eyre, to carry Fort Griswold. The resistance of Col. Ledyard was gallant but unavailing. Part of the works were dilapidated, and the British, after being kept at bay about an hour, and suffering the temporary loss of their Colonel, who was badly wounded, and the loss of their second in command, Major Montgomery, who, with many of the soldiers, was killed, poured into the Fort in overwhelming numbers, under the lead of the third officer in rank, the vin- dictive and brutal Major Broomfield. Col. Ledyard surrendered the Fort, and, while presenting his sword, hilt first, to the British commander, was murderously run through the body by his own weapon. Thereupon the British commenced an in- discriminate butchery of the Americans. Among the first, Ziba and his brother Asahel were prostrated-Asahel by a bullet, shattering the bones of his knee ; Ziba by a head-wound, which rendered him insensible. They had not yet done enough for the desperately wounded Ziba ; one of them made a heavy lunge with a bayonet into his bowels ; the wound, though, owing to the strength and thickness of the new tow shirt he had on, not proving mortal, and another struck him senseless with the butt of a musket on the head. The mas- sacre was intended to be universal. [As this account had from the lips of Uncle Ziba in his lifetime appears to violate his- tory, it will be contended by some that he mistook some other British officer there slain for the murderer of Ledyard.] After all had, or were supposed to have, received their death wounds, the British, in their wanton ferocity, dragged out a dozen or so of those who exhibited the most signs of life, piled them into a detached cart, and sent it rolling down a steep bank till it struck a large apple tree, by which it was stove to .pieces in the shock, and made a

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sudden end of its groaning victims. Most of these particulars were had from the lips of Ziba Woodworth.

After a long, distressing sickness, Ziba recovered, except in the use of his knee, and in a few years, came with his two brothers, and perhaps other members of his family, to settle in Montpelier. His first pitch was made on the lot lying about I mile east of the village, which he soon sold to James Hawkins, and purchased another on the Branch, about 13 mile above the village, where he resided till his death, Nov. 27, 1826.

He married and lived some years with his wife in Connecticut, when they were divorced, and soon after coming here, he married Lucy Palmer, from Canaan, N. H. Their children, 5, all but their son John, who is still living, (1860,) died in child- hood.

He came into Montpelier about 1790, was present at its organization and its first town clerk. Ever after coming here, he was accounted a religious man of the Free Will Baptist persuasion. In about 1800, he began to exhort in public meetings, and in January, 1806, was licensed and or- dained at a quarterly meeting of Free Will Baptists held at Danville. He did not, however, preach statedly anywhere, but mostly confining himself to his farm, di- vided his spare time between politics and religion, and became as ardent a partisan as he was a Christian.

Elder Woodworth was of small stature, limping in gate, but of wonderfully an- imated manner, and his heart seemed ever absolutely overflowing with the gushing of benevolenee. Once, learning a poor man from his neighborhood, who had moved to Ohio, had fallen sick and died there, leaving two or three unprotected children, he left his business, journeyed all the way to Ohio, at his own expense, in a single. wagon, and brought all the children home with him. And still Uncle Ziba had enough faults to mingle with his virtues, to make him sometime the subject of doubtful remarks among the less char- itable of the community. He was quite energetic in all he did or said, and the

ardor of his temperament often led him into some extravagance of speech or action. But, take him all in all, he was a man of the kindest of impulses, a hearty friend, a charitable opponent, a good neighbor and a good citizen.

DOCTOR EDWARD LAMB,

born in Leicester, Mass., 1771, had not the advantages of a full public education, but studied at the academy, growing up in that town, in which the classics were be- ginning to be taught several years, and af- ter that added a respectable knowledge of Latin and Greek, and entered as a medical student with Dr. Fiske of Sturbridge, con- tinuing with him until he had attended a course of medical lectures in Boston and Cambridge, when, at the age of about 24, he removed to Montpelier, where his elder brother, Colonel Larned Lamb, had some years preceded him, and settled in his pro- fession. In 1803 he married Polly Wither- ell of Montpelier, who died in 1822, leaving no issue. He was constable and collector of the town from 1799, two years; town representative in 1804, 14, 15 ; and what should be esteemed a still greater honor, was one of the Presidential electors when Gen. Harrison was run in 1836.

Although not much of a public speaker, he acquitted himself well in his public sta- tions, for he was a man of rare good sense, unusually extensive practical information, and had a wonderful memory he had stored with a vast fund of all sorts of knowledge and learning.

We know of but two public performances of his, not connected with the above named offices-one the delivery of an original ora- tion at the first celebration of the fourth of July ever held in Montpelier, in 1806, the other his valuable address on the " Science of Medicine," delivered before the Ver- mont Medical Society some 15 years later.

But it was in his profession he was best known to the public, and that more favor- ably and extensively than often falls to the lot of a local physician. His opinions among his professional brethen, in this section of the State, were widely sought and respected. In a knowledge of the

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technicalities of medical science he scarce- ly had a superior. In all the ordinary dis- eases, his skill was equal to that of other good physicians-in fevers it was such as to place him with the very ablest practition- ers of Vermont. The estimation in which his skill was held, in this respect, by his professional brethren, is sufficiently attest- ed, that during the general and fatal prev- alence of malignant fevers in 1813 and 14, he had at one time no less than 14 sick physicians under his immediate care in this part of the State.

During the run of the spotted fever, in this vicinity, Dr. Lamb had the chief care of 70 cases, and lost but three. His prac- tice in his own town, was, at least 40 years, as full as it was successful ; while for diffi- cult cases his attendance was sought in all the surrounding country.

He had some unfortunate deficiences. In all his own pecuniary affairs, he was singularly remiss. More than half the time, it is believed, he made no charges for his services at all. He rarely dunned any man ; and if he did, it was when he happened to be hard pressed for money to keep up his unusally plain and cheap way of living. Then often he would go to some abundantly responsible customer, owing him honestly, perhaps, $50, ask for $15 or $20, and on receiving it, hand back a re- ceipt, in full of the whole account. In fact, he was one of the most unselfish men in the world, and could not be brought to care any more for money, except for supplying his absolute present wants, than so much dirt beneath his feet. And in all his ex- tensive practice among all classes of com- munity, it probably never once entered his head to make the least distinction between the richest and poorest, in the promptitude and faithfulness of his attendance. `And the consequence, while his just and honest earnings would have made him, well man- aged, worth $50,000, he died worth scarce- ly one hundredth of that amount. He was everybody's servant, and everybody's friend but his own; and being at last seized with one of the ten thousand fevers he had so successfully managed in others, he at once predicted its end but too cor-

rectly, and in a few days passed peacefuly away, Nov. 4, 1845, aged about 74, uni- versally regretted and respected.

Personally, he was of medium height, rather stocky, moderate in his motions, slightly limping in gait in consequence of a fever sore on one of his legs in his youth, and very neglectful in all matters of dress and outward appearance,-all which were at once forgotten, when one confronted his massive and noble head, manly features, pleasant blue eye, and thoughtful, impres- sive countenance ; and socially, he was one of the most kindly and agreeable men, full of instructive remarks, generally aptly illus- trated by the fund of piquant and amusing anecdotes which, in the course of his vari- ous reading and experience, he had treas- ured in his remarkable memory.

If ever a people owed a great and une- quivocal debt of gratitude to any one man, the people of Montpelier and vicinity rest under such an obligation to Dr. Lamb.

COL. JAMES H. LANGDON,

the successful merchant of Montpelier, was born in Farmington, Conn., Mar. 3, 1783. When a youth he entered the store of Gen. Abner Forbes, then the leading mer- chant of Windsor, Vt., to acquire a knowl- edge of the mercantile profession, which he had determined to make the business of his life. And such was the progress he made and the confidence he inspired, and tact and good judgment he displayed in all the details of trade, and more important transactions of business coming within the scope of his action, that his employer, Gen. Forbes, before he reached the age of 21, took him into partnership, and estab- lished him at the head of a branch store in the village of Montpelier, in 1803. For the next half dozen years he continued to do business under the firm of Langdon & Forbes ; when justly believing he had ac- cumulated capital enough and friends enough in this place to warrant the move- ment, he bought out Gen. Forbes' interest in the store, and thenceforward conducted the business in his own name, and entirely on his own responsibility.

From this time, alone or in company

It Langelow

Nabby Langston

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with different partners, the firstand longest continued being the systematic and clear- headed John Barnard, who was prematurely cut down by an acute disease in 1822 .; and the next, the Hon. John Spalding, still surviving, [since deceased.] From this time, for the next 20 years, Col. Langdon seemed to be wafted forward on one un- varied tide of prosperity and success, and great public benefits grew out of his com- mercial career, as he was instrumental in reforming the irregularities of trade, which up to his day custom had sanctioned, and in placing it on a just and honorable basis ; and while thus conferring untold benefits on his town by what he did, and by the force of his salutary examples, he so con- ducted his dealings as well to deserve all the remarkable success which attended him. But we need not here enlarge on his noble characteristics as a merchant ; we shall rather confine the remainder of our sketch to that which particularly marked him as a man and a citizen, and gave him that strong hold on public feeling, and that high place in the public estimation, which he retained through life.

In 1809, Col. Langdon married Miss Nabby Robbins, of Lexington, Mass., a union from which sprang five children, Amon, who died in childhood, John B., James R., George, and Caira R. Langdon. [John Barnard and George Langdon have died ; James Robbins and Caira R., now Mrs. Nicholas, are still living.]

Col. Langdon ever manifested a proper interest, and often took an active part in the public affairs and official business of the town, having at various times filled with acceptance its most important offices. He also entered, and was rapidly promoted, in the military line, till he gained the title by which he is here designated. In the year 1828, having removed over the river to his beautiful meadows within the bor- ders of Berlin, he was elected with unusual unanimity by the people of that town, as their representative in the Legislature ; and in the following year re-elected to the office still more unanimously ; and by the appli- cation of his excellent judgment and great practical knowledge in the business of | a single dollar lost out of the whole col-

legislation, he well justified the choice of his constituents. In 1828, he was elected, on the retirement of the Hon. Elijah Paine, the first to hold the office, President of the Bank of Montpelier, which responsible office he continued to hold to the time of his death.

In person, Col. Langdon was well formed, and his features were all shapely and hand- some ; while his countenance was lighted up by one of the most kindly and winning smiles that ever enlivened the human face. Nor did his countenance belie his heart, inherently sincere, sympathetic and hu- mane. And, while in all the movements and enterprises of public benevolence, his liberality was commensurate with his means, in private charities and individual assist- ance, he went, as he wished, far beyond what was ever generally made known to the public ; for he was extremely averse to making any parade of his benefactions, and his favors were very generally con- ferred under injunctions of secrecy. And thus it was, that the extent of his private charities and pecuniary assistance to the distressed and those laboring under busi- ness embarrassments, were never known except through the irrepressible outgush- ings of gratitude from the lips of those whom he had relieved.

His lenity and forbearance towards all who were indebted to him were remark- able ; and, to the credit of human nature be it said, as remarkable was the gratitude of those thus favored, and their determin- ation that he should never be the loser by the kindness he had conferred. After he had retired from business, expecting to be much absent, he placed his demands, over $100,000, in the charge of a confidential agent, who was an attorney, strictly en- joining him to sue nobody and distress nobody, but use all kindly, and charge him for all the expense and trouble in- curred in the collections. And though this great amount of miscellaneous de- mands remained in the hands of that at- torney for nearly three years, and though a large number of the debtors failed during that time, yet in all that period never was

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The history of Washington county, in the Vermont historical gazetteer:, Part 70

Author: Hemenway, Abby Maria, 1828-1890, [from old catalog] ed Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Montpelier, Vt., Vermont watchman and state journal press Number of Pages: 1066

Author: Hemenway, Abby Maria, 1828-1890, [from old catalog] ed
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Montpelier, Vt., Vermont watchman and state journal press
Number of Pages: 1066