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Aldrich, Lewis Cass, editor; History of Bennington County, Vt. © 1889, p. ...

ABBOTT, LYMAN FREDERICK was born at Holdcn, Worcester county, Mass., on the 13th day of January, 1839, and was the youngest of eight children born to Asa and Sarah (Morse) Abbott. The father was a farmer by occupation at Holden. When Lyman was about nine years old the family moved to Worcester, Mass,, at which place at the age of fourteen years the young son was put at work as a clerk, and was thus employed about two years, when the family again changed place of residence, this time moving to Bennington. Here Lyman entered the factory of his brother in-law, Henry L. Bradford, working in various departments, and by diligent application becoming acquainted with the business in every detail.

The faithful services rendered by young Abbott were not left unrewarded by his employer, for in 1863 he was taken into the firm, and upon the occasion of the death of Mr. Bradford in April, 1878 Mr. Abbott became the senior partner in the business, while the sons of the deceased manufacturer represented the interest of their father, but never disturbed the old firm name of H. E. Bradford & Co., it being too well and favorably known in business circles to be thrown aside by the successors in the factory.

Upon the death of Mr. Bradford our subject practically succeeded to the management of the extensive business of the firm as it then existed; this business was exceedingly large, but under the charge of Mr. Abbott and his associates it lost nothing of its magnitude, and the new firm is still one of the leaders in the vicinity in the manufacture of knit goods. While this manufacture has received from Mr. Abbott close attention and care, he has not been so fully engaged by it as to prevent him from taking part in the various enterprises looking to the welfare and improvement of his town and its people, and once do we find him in the political arena, though against his every inclination, and only to gratify the wishes of his personal friends and party followers. In the fall of 1880 he consented to become the Republican nominee for representative in the State Legislature. He was elected by a large majority, although the town is so equally divided as to require that each party put forth its strongest
candidate.

Mr. Abbott is a member of the Bennington Historical Society, and as such has been elected by that body to membership in the Battle Monument Association, the object of which is well known to every resident of the county. Also he has been connected with the First National Bank of Bennington since 1879 as director and vice-president. On the 20th day of May, 1868 Lyman F. Abbott was married to Laura Tirza Hancock, the daughter of Frederick Hancock, of Bennington. Of this marriage two children have been born, both of whom are now living. Mr. Abbott is to-day numbered among the substantial business men of the town of Bennington, having the companionship of a large circle of friends, and enjoying the reputation of entire honesty in business transactions, generosity in all good causes, and a citizen whose moral character is
above suspicion.

Aldrich, Lewis Cass, editor; History of Bennington County, Vt. © 1889, p. 512

BRADFORD, HENRY E. In the portion of this volume that is devoted to a description of the past and present manufacturing interests of Bennington the statement appears that Henry E. Bradford was the pioneer of the knit goods industry in the village. His operations in founding this industry began in 1853, when he became the owner of the Wills and Fairbanks property, and soon afterward in the spring of 1854 put it in operation in the manufacture of woolen cloths. This was continued until 1857, at which time George S. Bradford, a brother of our subject, became interested in the business, and the firm of H. E. Bradford & Co. was established and has continued until the present time, although neither member of the original partnership is now living.

Henry Edwards Bradford, the senior partner of the firm above referred to, and its principal member, was a native of Southbridge, Mass., born September 19, 1819. His parents were Elisha and Sally Bradford, and of their eight children Henry was the youngest. At the age of nine years the lad Henry was put at work at wool sorting, that occupation being at that time a trade, and so continued for several years until he became a practical and reliable sorter. In the course of time he accumulated some little means, and then about 1847, partnership with John Tenney, he engaged in the manufacture of woolen cloths at Millbury, Mass.; but at the end of four years Mr. Bradford sold out to his partner and went to North Amherst, where he again engaged in business, this time in partnership with Thomas Jones, the latter furnishing the necessary capital for the firm, while Mr. Bradford was the practical man in charge of the manufacturing department. Their product was cloths, principally Kentucky jeans, and their business was conducted with reasonable success for a period of about three years.

During the time of his business operations, both at Millbury and North Amherst, Mr. Bradford had a desire to establish a business for himself, but he lacked the requisite means, and therefore was obliged to work with others until his own capital was sufficient to warrant an investment of it; and the latter part of his three years partnership at North Amherst seems to have found him sufficiently well possessed for his purpose, or at all events he then determined to make the venture. Looking about for a desirable place to locate Mr. Bradford discovered an opening at Bennington, and he thereupon purchased the old Wills and Fairbank property that had formerly been a cloth factory, but the business had not been conducted with any great degree of profit. This property, as has been stated, Mr. Bradford purchased in 1853, and in the spring of 1854 took up his abode in Bennington. For the next three years the mill was run as under the preceding firm, but at the end of that time its character was changed and the first mill for the manufacture of knit goods was established in Bennington. The business of the firm was soon made a successful and profitable one, and enlargements were necessitated to meet the increasing demands for their product. Other persons saw too that the Bradfords were on the road to prosperity, and then in turn commenced similar manufactures until the village acquired the reputation of being an extensive knit-goods manufacturing center.

In the year 1863 George S. Bradford and Henry E. Bradford dissolved partnership and divided the property formerly held and operated in common; but the retirement of George S. Bradford did not affect the firm name, as Lyman F. Abbott, whose sister Henry E. Bradford had married, at once succeeded to the vacant place. John Kelso also became interested in the business, and continued in the firm until about the year 1884. George S. Bradford took what the former firm had always called their "upper mill," and there he conducted business until the time of his death.

Henry E. Bradford was a stirring, energetic and thorough business man, and while he was a practical workman he also had the capacity of managing the entire business in the office as well as at the work-bench. Thus was Mr. Bradford engaged at the time of his death, April 10, 1878. By his death the village of Bennington lost not only one of its most prominent business men, but one who had at heart the interests of the town as well as his personal affairs, and one whose influence for good in the community was remarkable. While the turmoil of politics had no charms for him he nevertheless was not backward when his friends requested him to represent the people in local offices, but beyond this he would not consent to go. Mr. Bradford, too, was a generous man, and gave liberally of his means to the support of the church of which he was a member— the Methodist Episcopal — as well as to all other worthy objects. He was an earnest advocate of the graded school for the village, and when that institution was erected Mr. Bradford generously donated to the trustees some desirable apparatus for experiments in the scientific department.

After Mr. Bradford's death the business of the firm was continued without changing its name, although several changes in partners have been made. As now conducted the persons interested in the firm of H. E. Bradford & Co. are Lyman F. Abbott, William H. and Edward W. Bradford, sons of Henry E. Bradford.

Henry E. Bradford was twice married. He was first married on the 16th day of August, 1843, to Lucy Ann Proctor, of Fitchburg, Mass., at which place Mr. Bradford was then working at his trade as a wool sorter. Of that marriage one child, Frances Ann, was born. She died during childhood. Lucy Ann Bradford died May 9, 1847. Again on the 8th day of November, 1849, at Millbury, Mr. Bradford was united in marriage with Eleanor Abbott, the daughter of Asa and Sarah Abbott, then residing at Worcester. There have been born of this marriage seven children, viz.: Herbert Waldo, who died September 8, 1857; Frederick, who died March 19, 1859; William Henry, of Bennington; Carrie Frances, who died September 10, 1859; Edward Walling, of Bennington; Lizzie May, the wife of Chester J. Reynolds, of Chicago; Emma Amelia, wife of Charles Henry Dewey, of Bennington.

Aldrich, Lewis Cass, editor; History of Bennington County, Vt. © 1889, p. 513-514

BROWN, SAMUEL H., Major. In the township of Bennington there was probably no man longer engaged in business pursuits, or who had a more extended and favorable acquaintance throughout the vicinity than Major Brown; for, during the better part of sixty years he was in a greater or less degree directly interested in mercantile or manufacturing enterprises in the town; and during all his long and varied business life and intercourse with his fellow men no man ever had just cause to doubt his honor and probity. Although he began life with not limited means, his prudent habits, excellent judgment, and firm adherence to the rule that "whatever is worth
doing at all is worth doing well," brought to him most gratifying success and enabled him to accumulate a comfortable fortune. Of quiet disposition, kind of heart, and generous to all good causes, he won the respect and esteem of all to whom he was known. But in no way did the qualities of the man appear so strongly as in the citizen, friend, and neighbor, in the more private walks in life, and as the parent and husband within the sacred precincts of home. His commanding personal appearance, agreeable manners, and scrupulous attention to the common civilities of life, endeared him alike to old and young.

Such were the characteristics of Major Samuel H. Brown, who, after an exemplary life of eighty-three years, changed the mortal for immortality, and was laid at rest on the 1st day of June, in the year 1887.

Samuel Hinman Brown was born in the town of Bennington on the 2d day of May, in the year 1804, and was the son of Samuel and Betsey Brown. Very early in life was he deprived of a mother's tender love and care, for she was stricken and died when Samuel was but seven years old; and eight years later he was left an orphan through the death of his father. But kind friends interposed, and young Samuel, under the guardianship of Captain Jonathan Norton, was placed in the family of Dr. Noadiah Swift, with whom he lived most of the time till his majority was reached. He then formed a partnership with Benjamin Fay, and commenced mercantile business at Bennington Center, as successors to General Henry Robinson, but in 1829 the partner retired, and the business was continued by Mr. Brown for some time longer, when, having acquired an interest in a tin business at East Bennington, he again took a partner, Ray R. Sanford, a relative of the family.

It would indeed be difficult to follow the many and varied business enterprises in which our subject was from time to time engaged after his first venture in partnership with Mr. Fay and his successor, Mr. Sanford, until his final retirement in 1870; but there may properly be made, as a part of this sketch, some mention of the leading of these enterprises as they are noted in the obituary, written soon after Mr. Brown's death and published: "Major Brown was interested in two cotton-mills here. The first stood upon the site of the Stewart block, and the other on the site of the present novelty works and known as the Doolittle factory. About 1838 he sold out his store at the Center, and entered the bank of Bennington as cashier, remaining there four years. After leaving the bank he exchanged his farm for business property in Troy, and came to East Bennington to reside in 1842. He engaged in the grocery trade in Troy, but not liking it there returned to Bennington and built the stone grist-mill on North street, which he furnished with fine machinery and conducted for about twenty-five years. A foundery was also run in connection with the other business. This foundery was the Aaron Grover Works, and was purchased about 1846.

From this time Major Brown became prominently identified with the iron interests of the county. The iron mines east of the village were worked, and this business was a leading industry of Western Vermont at the time. One of his partners in this business was Rcsolvy Gage, now a resident of East Boston, Mass. In 1860 Olin Scott succeeded Mr. Gage.

In 1867 Mr. Brown sold his grist-mill and appurtenances to Henry W. Putnam, and began work on his Troy property, which occupied his attention for about two years. In 1870 he retired from active participation in business pursuits, and devoted himself to the management of his investments.

In his daily meeting with friends and fellow townsmen Mr. Brown was generally addressed as "Major." This title became his by virtue of his appointment in 1829 as brigade major and inspector of the second division of Vermont militia, and by it was he ever afterward designated. Besides this Major Brown was variously honored with offices, the gift of the electors of the town and county, but he was by no means an office-seeker; and whatever of political holdings were his the duties of office were faithfully and honestly administered. In 1853 he was elected associate judge of the County Court of Bennington county, and served in that capacity two terms.

An event that proved an important factor in Major Brown's success in life was the faithful and devoted companionship of a most estimable wife, the sharer of his fortunes and reverses in business, and who survived him at the time of his death in 1887. Samuel Hinman Brown and Sarah Maria Brown, the latter formerly of Southbury, Conn., were united in marriage on the 10th day of October, 1826. Of this marriage five children were born, as follows: Hinman Samuel, now of Bennington; Sarah Maria, who died at the age of twenty-five years; Francis Raymond, who died at the age of twenty-seven years; Helen Elizabeth, who became the wife of William E. Hawks, and Cordelia, who died an infant of one year and eleven months.

Aldrich, Lewis Cass, editor; History of Bennington County, Vt. © 1889, p. 515-516

BURTON, ELIAS BLACK, Hon., was born in the town of Rupert on the 3d of May in the year 1816, and was the fourth of nine children born to Nathan and Charlotte (Graves) Burton, both of whom were highly respected residents of Rupert, the mother being a daughter of Dr. Graves of that town, a leading physician of his time. Young Elias was given the advantages of a good education in the district schools of the town at first, but afterward was under the instruction of Judge Aiken, then of Manchester, afterward of Massachusetts, by the latter preparing for college. He also attended one term at the Royalton Academy, and later at the Bennington Academy, and in 1833
entered the Middlebury College for a regular classical course of four years. In 1837 he was graduated from that institution. He then went South and passed about a year, engaged in teaching at Carrolton, Ala., but at the expiration of that time returned to his home in Rupert.

The next year, 1839, our subject is found in Troy, in the office of Lawyer Wilson as a student, determuicd to enter the legal profession, but after four months he went to Salem, N. Y., and there entered the law office of Allen & Blair, with whom he continued until his admission to the bar at the General Term of the Supreme Court held in May, 1842. In 1843 the young lawyer came to Manchester and formed a law partnership with Counselor A. L. Miner of that place, with whom he was associated until the year 1851, Mr. Miner then leaving off practice to enter upon the duties of the office of representative in Congress, to which he was in that year elected. From that time until 1854 Mr. Burton practiced alone, but in the year last named he took a partner in the person of Samuel Seward Burton, the cousin of our subject, who afterward became prominent as one of the leading and most successful lawyers and business men of LaCrosse, Wis., to which place he emigrated in 1857. Then, after a period of practice alone Mr. Burton formed a partnership in 1866 for law practice with Loveland Munson who had then but recently been admitted to the bar of the State, and who had prosecuted his legal studies in the office of our subject. This latter copartnership relation continued until the spring of 1888, when the senior partner felt justified in retiring from the onerous and burdensome duties of active professional life.

As has already been stated it was in the year 1843 that Elias B. Burton began his professional career in Manchester, the north half-shire town of Bennington county, but his subsequent practice was not by any means confined to this locality alone. As a lawyer, whether young or old in the profession, he always applied himself diligently to its labors, and at an early day assumed, and to the time of his retirement maintained a leading position among the profession's ablest members. In the conduct of his legal business he was methodical and cautious, without being laborious. He discountenanced rather than promoted litigation, and in his intercourse with his clients mature deliberation always preceded council. He rarely indulged in rhetoric and never in ostentatious display, but addressed himself to the understanding of his hearers instead of appealing to their passions, and approached whatever subject he had in hand with dignity, self-possession, and in the light of principle and common sense. Upon all the political issues of the times he has entertained clear and well settled convictions and is perfectly frank and outspoken in the expression of them. His sentiments have been and are emphatically conservative— naturally inclined to adhere to the established order of things, and not easily drawn into the advocacy of any of the isms of the day.

Naturally enough a man of his prominence could not well avoid being drawn into the arena of politics, yet he has by no means been an office-seeker. In 1849 he was elected State's attorney for Bennington county, and held that office one year. In 1855 he represented the town of Manchester in the State General Assembly, and in 1856 and 1857 in the State Senate. In 1865 he was elected to the office of Probate judge and filled that position for twelve consecutive years. In 1860 John W. Stewart and Elias B. Burton were appointed delegates to represent the first Vermont Congressional District at the National Republican Convention held at Chicago, and at which Abraham Lincoln was nominated for the presidency of the United States, and it is to this last named event and his connection therewith that Judge Burton looks back with feelings of the greatest pride and satisfaction.

On the 13th day of December, in the year 1842, the same year in which he was admitted to the bar, Elias B. Hurton was married to Adeline M. Harwood, of the village of Bennington. Of this marriage there have been born six children, three of whom are now living, the other three having died in infancy.

Aldrich, Lewis Cass, editor; History of Bennington County, Vt. © 1889, p. 526-528

BURTON, WILLIAM B. The subject of this sketch was born in the town of Manchester, on the farm now owned and occupied by his brother, George G. Burton, on the 3d day of July 1820. His father was Joseph, and his mother Anna (Benedict) Burton, and of their six children William was the eldest but one. The father, Joseph Burton, was a farmer, and on the farm William was brought up at work, attending school in season, until he reached the age of about twenty years, when, having been educated at the Burr and Burton Seminary at Manchester, he began teaching school, which occupation engaged his attention for several years.

About the year 1848, in copartnership with F. W. Hoyt, Mr. Burton embarked in the mercantile business at Manchester village, but three years of experience in trade brought the firm no gratifying results, and the establishment was closed. But Mr. Burton settled the affairs of the unfortunate firm, and accepted a clerkship or managing position in connection with a union store gotten up and stocked bv the farmers of the vicinity, and located at Factory Point (now Manchester Center), which business Mr. Burton conducted for about eight years.

In 1862 our subject formed a partnership with Samuel G. Cone of Manchester, and succeeded by purchase to the mercantile business formerly conducted by Franklin H. Orvis; and about five years later the firm added to their interests another store at Factory Point, in both of which enterprises they have been engaged to the present day. It is no flattering comment to state that the business of this firm has been entirely successful, or that the members of the firm are both counted among the most honorable and fair dealing men in the community. From 1862 to 1875 Mr. Burton also held the office as postmaster.

William B. Burton has never been an aspirant for political honors in his town or in the county, but has been content to busy himself with the affairs of his own interests; still there is no man that has been more closely identified with the various measures looking to the benefit and welfare of the town than he. In matters pertaining to the church, with which he has for upwards of thirty years been connected as a member, Mr. Burton has taken a deep interest, contributing both of his time and means for the advancement and prosperity of the Congregational Society. The office of treasurer of that society he held for many years, and insisted on being retired from the duties of the same at the last annual meeting, but still he holds the office of deacon. For more than forty years he was leader of the choir in the Congregational Church.

On the 16th day of August, 1846 William B. Burton was married to Angeline M., the daughter of Abraham B. Straight, of Manchester. Of this union three children were born, only two of whom grew to maturity. His wife died on the 13th day of December, 1877. On the 15th day of June, 1880 Mr. Burton was married to Elizabeth T. Morgan, the daughter of a highly respected and prominent pioneer resident. Colonel A. W. Morgan, of Glens Falls, Warren county, N. Y.

Aldrich, Lewis Cass, editor; History of Bennington County, Vt. © 1889, p. 528-529

COOPER, CHARLES was bom in Nottingham, England, in January, 1835. He was the fourth child, and one of the twelve children born to James and Ann (Glover) Cooper. The father, James Cooper, was a very skillful mechanic, and made the inside work of knitting machinery a specialty. He manufactured for the trade all kinds of knitting needles, and the various forms of the sinkers for the knitting frames. Into this business Charles Cooper was very early inducted, and before reaching his minority had acquired considerable skill in many of the operations that constitute the process of this manufacture. In 1847 James Cooper, the father of the subject of this sketch, came to America, first to Germantown, Pa., at that time the seat of the greatest knitting industry in the United States. After a few months he went to Thompsonville, Conn.,
to enter the employ of the Enfield Manufacturing Company of that place, pursuing the calling to which he hatl devoted his life, making needles and sinkers, and the delicate inside work of knitting frames. In 1848 the family left by him in the old English home came across the water to join the pioneer husbaud and father, and, being soon domiciled, began the working out of their several destinies in the new world. The Cooper family are a gifted race in the line of mechanical design and invention. A sister of Mr. Cooper, Madam Griswold, of New York City, has invented and manufactured some of the most popular designs of corsets and other articles of ladies' underwear. She has made for herself an enviable reputation and secured a competency. George Cooper is known as a most skillful and ingenious machinest, and his patents are numerous, and have won for him great distinction as an inventor.

While living at Thompsonville Charles Cooper was married to Miss Annie Semple, daughter of Alexander Semple, whose brother is now the superintendent of the Broad Brook Woolen Company's Works. To Charles and Annie Cooper have been born five children, three daughters and two sons, one son and two daughters are now living; the younger son, a remarkable boy, died at the age of twelve years. The middle daughter, Mrs. Mabel E. Graves, but recently passed away. Charles Cooper, having previously purchased of his brother George all his right in the flat rib knitting machine patent in 1868, came to Bennington to put one of his machines to work in the mills of H. E. Bradford & Co., bringing with him George Dakin, an expert knitter, to run. In the fall of the same year Charles Cooper brought his whole needle plant to Bennington, and began here his extensive business in that line. He manufactures all kinds of knitting needles for all kinds of machines, also the sinkers for the same. This was his father's business, and he has been trained in it since his youth. In 1870 Mr. Cooper took his brother in law, Mr. Eli Tiffany, into partnership with him, and the year following they commenced the manufacture of their patent flat rib knitting machine, and so great were their sales that their output went as high as $75,000 per year. In 1886 the firm was dissolved, and Charles Cooper began the manufacture of the same machine in a shop of his own, and the output of the new shop equals the number of machines made by the old company. His machine works are supplied with the most improved machinery and tools, and are under the supcrintendency of Mr. Daniel Hurley. In 1883 he started the manufacture of knit goods of a very fine quality and diversified patterns, and this branch of his business has increased to such an extent that the Cooper Manufacturing Company ranks as one of the leading industries of southern Vermont. Of this company the capital stock is $100,000, Charles Cooper, president, and his son, A. J. Cooper, is vice-president and treasurer, and Benjamin F. Ball secretary and superintendent.

Mr. Cooper is essentially a self-made man, a good example of America's opportunities and rewards of talent and energy. He began life with no capital save a thorough knowledge of his trade, and this he has utilized to exceedingly good purpose. Substantial returns are the reward of his energy, industry, and perseverance.

Devoted to his business, Mr. Cooper has not found time to enter into local or general politics to any great extent than should every prudent and patriotic citizen. He has, however, very decided political opinions, and is a thorough protectionist from conviction of the imminent disaster that must come to American industries if, by lowering the present tariff rates, American operatives and manufacturers are brought into too sharp competition with the cheaper labor and massed capital of Europe.

He knows the more favorable condition of the American operative and mechanic as compared with the same employment in Europe. He knows this from observation and experience on both sides of tlie Atlantic, and is therefore the more pronounced in favor of the American system of protection.

In social and society matters Mr. Cooper takes great interest. But he finds his greatest pleasure in the relaxation from business by devotion to church work. He is an official member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is the superintendent of the Sunday-school. He is an earnest and reliable helper in all good enterprises.

Aldrich, Lewis Cass, editor; History of Bennington County, Vt. © 1889, p. 525-526

Hall, Hiland 505

HAWKS, WILLIAM EDWARD, the son of Alvah and Julia Ann (Pratt) Hawks, was born in Bennington, on the 27th day of January, 1832; therefore he is now just past his fifty seventh anniversary of birth. His father and mother were also natives of the town of Bennington, and on both sides his ancestors have been pioneers of the county. The father of our subject was a farmer by occupation, and on the farm William was brought up at work and attending school in season, until he attained his eighteenth year, at which age he went to New York City and took a clerkship in the house of Hunt Brothers, importers and jobbers of dry goods. Witli this firm young Hawks continued about four years, when they suspended business, whereupon he entered the dry goods house of Richards & McHarg, in the capacity of salesman, and with whom he remained from 1854 until 1857, when this firm also was obliged to suspend.

Having now been some years in the city of New York, and having acquired a pretty thorough knowledge of the business with which he had been connected, and what was of equal value to him, having saved as much as possible of his salary, Mr. Hawks joined his accrued capital with that of Charles C. Hurd, and entered into active business life at 13 Park Place, as importers and jobbers of hosiery and notions, under the firm name and style of Hurd & Hawks, which business was continued with indifferent success until 1860, when the senior partner went out of the firm and our subject was left to close out the stock as best he might.

In the year next preceeding this, or in 1859, on the 2d day of February, William E. Hawks was married to Helen Elizabcth, daughter of Major Samuel H. Brown, of Bennington. Of this marriage five children were born, all of whom are still living.

Again, in 1864, our subject ventured into business in New York, this time as a dealer in ladies' and gentlemen's furnishings. This proved far more profitable than his previous undertaking at the metropolis, and his endeavors were rewarded with abundant success. And during the same period, or trom 1864 to 1870, Mr. Hawks was engaged in other business enterprises, and these, too, were fortunate and brought satisfactory returns. But in 1870. or about that time, the capitalists of the East were giving much attention to Western investments, and our subject saw for himself that these promised better returns than any Eastern enterprises offered at that time; he therefore closed out his mercantile business in New York, and "turned his face toward the setting sun," and there, in the main, has he been interested from 1870 until the present time; but not to the prejudice or neglect of his native town — Bennington — for here has been his acknowledged home notwithstanding the magnitude of his interests in other localities. And he has been, and now is, largely interested in investments in Bennington and elsewhere in its vicinity; he is director and stockholder in the Bennington County National Bank, vice-president of the Bennington County Savings Bank, the owner of a large amount of real and personal property in the county; also, he was one of the chief advocates of the graded school enterprise, and connected with the Monument Association in their most laudable undertaking. Mr. Hawks, too, is known to possess much public-spiritedness and generosity, and no worthy charity has ever appealed to him in vain.

But, turning for a moment to some of Mr. Hawks's Western investments, we find him, in 1872, one of the organizers and directors of the First National Bank of Marseilles, Ill.; later he becomes president of the Marseilles Water Power Company, and the largest stockholder of the concern; he was also at one time vice-president of the Joliet Water Works Company; is president of the Plymouth Rock Cattle Company, a corporation having a capita! stock of $250,000; also president of the Leadville Water Company, the capital of which is $300,000; also president of the Soda Springs Land and Cattle Company, capital stock $300,000. In each of these enterprises Mr. Hawks owns a very large and controlling share of the stock.

Such, then is a brief resume of the principal business operations of William E. Hawks. If it indicates anything it is that he is a remarkable man in his capacity to grasp and successfully direct great enterprises. In such undertakings, the detail of which would distract and paralyze the powers of men less favorably constituted for such operations, Mr. Hawks has seemed to observe the end from the beginning. He looks over his ground, forms his judgment with rapidity and almost unerring accuracy, and then proceeds to the execution of his plans with the serene confidence that all will end according to his expectation. And he is, as must be seen, a very busy man; but his manifold interests never seem to worry him; in all these his power has been found sufficient for any emergency, and his time adequate for all requirements. And he has found time too, for other duties than those confined to his business operations; indeed, to every improvement that has promised to add to the welfare or beauty of his native place he has given the same care and efticient attention that is bestowed upon his own affairs. His personal connection with the Congregational Church covers a period of twenty years, and this, and other religious institutions, have received his sympathy and material aid. In short, he has not only succeeded in erecting a business and financial fabric of large proportions, but is in all respects the useful citizen, to whom the confidence and respect of his townsmen are not the least appreciated of his rewards.

Aldrich, Lewis Cass, editor; History of Bennington County, Vt. © 1889, p. 516-518

ISHAM, PIERREPONT Hon., the oldest child of Dr. Ezra and Nancy (Pierrepont) Isham, was born in the town of Manchester on the 5th day of August, in the year 1802. Of his early life the writer has no authentic information, but at the age of about nineteen years he commenced a course of law study in the office of his uncle, Richard Skinner, of Manchester, one of the first lawyers of the State, at one time chief justice of the Vermont Supreme Court, and governor of the State. In the year 1823, then being twenty-one years old, Mr Isham was admitted to the bar, and at once began practice in Bennington county, in the south half shire, a part of the time in Pownal but the greater part in Bennington, where he continued to reside until the year 1860, at which time he left this State and moved to New York. In his chosen profession of the law Pierrepont Isham had such early instruction, and applied himself so diligently to the study of its maxims and principles that he soon acquired the reputation of being one of the ablest lawyers of Southern Vermont, and it is said that he loved the practice of the law, not because he particularly loved litigation itself, but because it was a profession in which men of erudition, high legal attainments, and honorable feelings have full scope for all their powers, and yet can aid in the honest and able administration of justice. His clients knew that he was entitled to their implicit confidence, his professional associates and the bench knew that candor and fairness were his characteristics. But it was as a professional man, and in that character that all members of the same fraternity could more fully appreciate him. His knowledge of law was deep; his oratorical powers fine and persuasive; and his long professional course, at the bar and upon the bench, was a success. His forensic efforts for nearly forty years bear testimony to his power and ability as a lawyer, an advocate, and as a judge.

The life of a lawyer devoted to his profession is inevitably uneventful. The relation to friends and clients, and the issues of controversies at the bar, though they may be absorbing and often dramatic, do not pass readily into biography. Six years of the professional life of Pierrepont Isham were passed upon the bench of the Supreme Court of Vermont. In the fall of 1851 the Legislature of the State elected him to that position, which he held without intermission until the fall of 1857, and then peremptorily declined a re-election that was offered him. During that period the body of railroad law of this country was in its early course of development and as the railroads constructed in Vermont passed almost immediately into litigation many of the most important cases of that time came under the cognizance of that court. Possessing as he did those qualities that placed him high in the profession as a lawyer, Judge Isham was eminently fitted for the more exalted station on the bench of the Supreme Court, and here he was ever self-possessed dignified, courteous, easy and graceful in bearing, firm in his rulings, logical in his reasonings, kind and forbearing, especially toward the younger members of the profession, so that he earned the reputation of being one of the ablest and most popular judges upon the Supreme bench, where, during the term of his incumbency, he was associated with jurists like Stephen Royce, Isaac F. Redfield, and Milo L. Bennett. Very soon after Judge Isham's retirement from the bench he removed to New York, where he lived until his death, on May 8th, 1872. He was always known as a man of scholarly tastes and wide reading, a profound lawyer, a blameless citizen, a faithful friend, a trusted counselor, adequate to every call of duty, though he seldom appeared in court. Thus his was a complete life. It was, however, as a citizen and neighbor, and especially during his latter years, that those who knew Judge Isham best will remember him most fondly. His genial and kindly
presence, his liberal heart and free hand, his perfect truthfulness and singleness of mind, his uprightness and purity of life, his thorough contempt for over-subtle methods, his unhesitating assertion and support of his honest convictions, in short his Christian faith and the Christian morals and Christian life by which that faith was evinced, these form the memories of him which will longest endure in the hearts of his friends. He was one to whom death could not come untimely. Upon the occassion of the death of Judge Isham, the New York Herald, commenting upon his life, said: "Judge Pierrepont Isham, an American lawyer, jurist and judicial magistrate of brilliant reputation and the most strict integrity of character, died yesterday. His removal from life sorrows a wide circle of friends and terminates a professional career of great utility. Judge Isham was for a long period of time an associate with Chief Justice Redfield and Judge Bennett on the bench of the Supreme Court of Vermont in its best period, but of late years a resident of New York and of Vermont. He was rarely seen in court, although he was the counselor of some of our most influential men in matters affecting their largest interests. His reputation was known throughout New York, New England and some of the Western States. He was accepted by the public and by his brethren at the bar as an excellent representative of that class of men, 'old time judges,' who were raised to the bench, as it were, of necessity, purely because of the weight of their professional influence and character, whose decisions, founded strictly on principles of equity and the common law, illumine the reports of the courts of the United States, and are cited abroad with respect, and continue to be quoted long after their authors have given place to younger men. His example in every day life was a useful one, prominent as he necessarily was in society. He was standard bearer and active member of his church, and one who zealously per
formed every duty of a good citizen."

On the 2d day of October, in the year 1831, Pierrepont Isham was married to Semanthe Swift, dauglucr of Dr. Noadiah Swift, a distinguished physician of Bennington. Judge Isham raised to maturity a family of three children, viz.: Edward Swift, Henry Pierrepont, and Mary Adeline, the latter the wife of Major Sartell Prentice, U. S. A., of all whom reside in the city of Chicago, IlI.

Aldrich, Lewis Cass, editor; History of Bennington County, Vt. © 1889, p. 539-541

McCULLOUGH, General JOHN G. The subject of this sketch was born in Welsh Tract near Newark, in the State of Delaware. His ancestry is of Scottish blood on the paternal, and of Welsh extraction on the maternal side of the house. His early educational advantages were of a meager character, but such as they were he diligently utilized them with considerable credit to himself. His father died when John G. was only three, and his mother when he was only seven years of age; but friends and relatives extended kindly and considerate care to the youth, whose pluck, persistence and unwearied industry placed him in command of the resources of a good educatiun before he had attained his legal majority. His scholastic career ended in Delaware College, where he graduated with the first honors of his class before he had reached his twentieth year.

Selecting the profession of law, Mr. McCullough began to prepare for its practice immediately after his graduation. Repairing to Philadelphia he entered the law office of St. George Tucker Campbell, who for many years was one of the brightest and most successful jury lawyers at the Philadelphia bar. There he zealously prosecuted the necessary studies for the next three years, and also attended the law school of the University of Pennsylvania. From the latter institution he received the diploma of L.L.B., and was also admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in 1859. Thus thoroughly equipped for the contests of the courts the young lawyer found himself apparently doomed to exclusion from them by the declining condition of his health. Of naturally weak constitution he was now seized by a grave pulmonary complaint, and was obliged to turn aside from the pleasing local prospects before him. The preservation of life itself demanded speedy change of climate and surroundings. Having tried and won by his maiden effort the first and only case intrusted to his management in Philadelphia, he sailed for California. The outlook was not promising. More dead than alive, the probabilities of the health, fortune, and fame, of which he was in eager quest, were neither numerous nor flattering.

When Mr. McCullough landed in San Francisco he was unable to remain there because of the severity of the winds. He at once went forward to Sacramento. There he was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of California. But physical necessity was upon him, and he again moved onward to the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas, in order to profit by the dry and exhilarating air of the mountains. When the stage stopped at the end of its long route, in Mariposa county, he disembarked, and stood face to face with all the new and untried possibilities of the situation. This was in 1860. Opening an ofhce for the transaction of business, he rapidly acquired a full share of legal practice. The fame of a patriot rather than that of a legist was, however, what awaited him in his new and unaccustomed home. Before he had established any close and
extended acquaintance with the people he was unwittingly swept into the thickest of the forensic fight for the preservation of the national union. The outer currents of the eddying war-storm that had gathered over the Cotton States, and that threatened destruction and death to all who stood in its pathway, made themselves felt in the remote coasts of the Pacific. There in Southern California the Secessionist from Alabama lived in close proximity to the Unionist from Vermont. It was by no means certain that the State would not become the theater of internecine war. The arrival of General Sumner on the scene was remarkably opportune. By a coup d'etat he superseded Albert Sidney Johnston in command of Fort Alcatraz, and thus frustrated the scheme of the Southern sympathizers to separate California from the Union. He found a ready and efficient supporter in the young McCullough, whose heart was too hot, intellect too swift, and eloquence too effective to permit him to be an inactive spectator of passing occurrences. Stranger as he was, he ascended the stump, and from that popular rostrum did splendid service for American nationality and freedom. Although barely qualified according to local law, he received the nomination for the General Assembly. A coalition of the Republicans and Douglas Democrats triumphantly elected him, despite the eflorts of Secessionism, and sent him to Sacramento in 1861.

In the Legislature of California Mr. McCullough so manfully and successfully advocated the cause of the Union that in 1862 his constituents returned him to the Senate. The Senatorial district was large, and composed of many counties, and had for many years previously been under the control of the Democrats. Senator McCullough displayed such legal acumen and such judicious vigor in shaping Legislation, that, notwithstanding the fewness of his years and the recency of his citizenship, he was nominated in the following year by the Republican State Convention for the office of attorney-general, and was elected at the polls by an overwhelming majority. This office he continued to hold for the next four years, in which he resided at Sacramento. Much important litigation, in which the commonwealth was interested, thus fell to his management, and was so skillfully and satisfactorily conducted that he was again nominated by his party in 1867. But popular sentiment had veered. In the election his name stood at the head of his ticket in the reception of general favor, but nevertheless both himself and co-aspirants failed of success.

After the close of his official career General McCullough settled in San Francisco, and there established a law firm, of which he was the head. From the commencement of its operations, and thronghout the more than five years of his residence in that city he was a prominent member of the bar, which included men of the keenest and most cultured intellect from every State of the Union. His practice was highly remunerative, and his reputation with court, counsel, and client that of a practitioner who is scrupulously precise in statement and in action, and who is always governed by the nicest sense of professional honor. In 1871 he visited the Eastern States and Europe, and returned in company with a gifted and accomplished lady, whom he had espoused in Vermont. The latter auspicious connection was the controlling cause, aided by the fact that he had already acquired an ample fortune, of his permanent removal to Vermont in 1873.

In the full prime of manhood, and endowed with a restless, energetic, and self-controlled temperament. General McCullough could not content himself with the enjoyment of what he had so nobly and honorably won. Although he has not again taken up exclusively legal labors, he has distinguished himself in commercial, banking, and railroad affairs. For the past twelve years he has been vice-president and manager, in great measure, of the Panama Railroad Company. He is now the president and directing genius of that corporation, having consented to hold such relation at the urgent solicitation of M. De Lesseps and its French owners. He is chairman of the board of directors of the Erie Railway Company. He is also the president of the I'irst National Bank of North Bennington, president of the Bennington and Rutland Railway
Company, and a director of several banking and other institutions in Vermont and New York. Belonging to the Bennington Battle Monument Association, he was an active member of the committee charged with the selection of a design for the fitting memorial of that celebrated engagement.

Politics, as an applied science, have never failed to enlist the warmest sympathies of General McCullough. Whether on the Pacific or the Atlantic slope of the continent he has exhibited the liveliest interest in all the public questions of the day. No political campaign since 1860 has passed away without having heard his voice, ringing out in no uncertain tones, in advocacy of the principles and men that challenged his support. Under ordinary conditions the better and more fruitful portion of life is still before him. His beautiful home in Southern Vermont is the abode of elegant and cordial hospitality, and the center whence radiate the manifold energies which class him with the ablest and most influential citizens of the Green Mountain State.

John Griffith McCullough was married in 1871 to Eliza Hall, the oldest daughter of Trenor W. Park, and grand-daughter of ex-Governor Hiland Hall. Four children, named Hall Park, Elizabeth Laura, Ella Sarah, and Esther Morgan, are the fruit of their union.

Aldrich, Lewis Cass, editor; History of Bennington County, Vt. © 1889, p. 522-524

ORVIS, FRANKLIN H. The people of the quiet little village of Manchester hardly thought what fame was in store for their town when, in 1852, Franklin H. Orvis took the residence of his father and converted it into a summer resort; and Mr. Orvis himself was somewhat surprised at the results of the first few years in this undertaking, for while he confidently believed from the very first that the enterprise would be measurably successful, his most sanguine expectations were greatly surpassed in the growing success that crowned his efforts at the outset. In 1853 Mr. Orvis enlarged the capacity of the house by making his father's store-building a part of it, and the whole was then christened the Equinox House; a name well known to summer pleasure seekers throughout the country; not seekers after exciting sports, but rather those who prefer the quiet enjoyment of a most healthful locality, where rest and comfort are assured and nature's attractions are perfect. But as the name and fame of the Equinox went abroad further enlargements were necessary, but we cannot enumerate them in detail. In 1858 the building on the east side of the street was arranged for the accommodation of guests and made a part of the house, and in 1883 Mr. Orvis purchased the Taconic House, on the west side of the street, and that too forms a part of his extensive hotel. Other additions were made from time to time, and the Equinox property now occupies an ample frontage on both sides of the thoroughfare, and the surroundings and appointments of the whole enterprise are most inviting and delightful. Nature, too, has done much to make Manchester a desirable place of abode during the summer months; on the east the visitor obtains a magnificent view of the main chain of the Green Mountains; on the west is presented to the eye the towering heights of grand old Equinox; to north, and but a few miles distant, there stands out clearly to the vision the lesser lights — Mount Æolus and Owl's Head, while on the south the beautiful valley of the Battenkill is an attraction no less charming and no less grand. But all this lovely panorama of nature has been in constant display for hundreds and hundreds of years, and still it remained for the hand and energy of man to develop the place and make it a profitable resort — profitable to the person who should undertake it, and an honor to the town; others might have accomplislied the samje thing but Franklin H. Orvis did it, and by the doing the whole townspeople owe him a debt of gratitude. Some men would have devoted a lifetime to the work done by our subject in thirty five years, others might have done it as quickly as he; he claims no special credit for his success. He is a native Vermonter, proud of his State and town, and his success is that of his town also. Let us see the record of his life. Franklin Henry Orvis was born on the l2th day of July, 1824, and of the seven children born to Levi Church and Electa Sophia (Purdy) Orvis he was the oldest. His father, Levi Church Orvis, and grandfatther, Waitstill Orvis, were likewise natives of Vermont, though born "over east of the mountains." Electa Sophia Orvis, the mother of our subject, was descended from Reuben Purdy, who will be remembered as the head of one of the oldest and most highly respected pioneer families of the town of Manchester. Levi Orvis came to Manchester about the year 1820, living for a time in the family of Ephraim Munson, and attending Hill's School. Shortly afterward he married Electa Sophia Purdy as above stated. He then engaged in the mercantile and marble business at Manchester, and continued in such up to the time of his death in 1S49. It was in his father's store that Eranklin H. Orvis obtained his early business education, but he also attended the common schools of the town, the Burr Seminary, and the Union Village Academy at Greenwich, N. Y., finishing at the latter in 1842, then being eighteen years of age. The next two years were passed in Wisconsin and Illinois in mercantile pursuits, but in 1844 he went to New York City as a clerk in the wholesale drygoods house of Marsh & Willis, which position he held for about two years. In 1846 Mr. Orvis, in association with Elijah M. Carrington, formerly of Poultney, under the firm name of Carrington & Orvis engaged in the business of wholesale dealing in dry goods, with which enterprise he was connected until about the year 1860, then retiring to give his entire attention to the hotel business he had established some eight years before. But the Equinox at Manchester, as is very well known, has been conducted as a summer resort exclusively; therefore, with Mr. Orvis's retirement from the mercantile business in New York City, the winter months became to him a season of comparative inactivity, except during the brief period of his connection with the Manchester Journal, which paper he took in 1871 and conducted with gratifying success for about one year, as will be seen by reference to the press chapter in an earlier part of this volume. About this same time, or in l872, Mr. Orvis became proprietor of the St. James Hotel, at Jacksonville, Fla., which house he conducted as a winter resort one year. In 1875 he purchased the Putnam House, at Palatka, Fla., enlarged it, made it a winter resort, and continued its management until it was destroyed by fire in November, 1884. In 1880 Mr. Orvis took the Windsor at Jacksonville, conducting this and the Putnam at Palatka, until the latter was burned, since which the Windsor has occupied his time during the wintcr, and the Equinox at Manchester during the summer season. The successful conduct of a large hotel calls for as much of tact and good judgment as the management of any other extensive business enterprise; and it is an undeniable fact that the successful landlord must possess peculiar characteristics such as are not brought into active use in the transaction of ordinary business in other channels. These necessary traits and qualifications are, it seems, possessed by Mr. Orvis in an abundant degree; and while to him is due the credit of having built up these large enterprises and made for them a reputation second to none in the country, some acknowledgement should be here made to the efficient assistance rendered by his sons, who are interested in the business of their father, and seem to have inherited much of his business thrift and energy. Six sons were born of the marriage of Franklin H. Orvis with Sarah M., the daughter of Paul Whitin, of Whitinsville, Worcester county, Mass. This marriage occurred on the 17th day of November, in the year 1852. As will be seen from the foregoing brief résumeé the life of Franklin H. Orvis has been one of busy activity for nearly half a century, commencing with his eighteenth year and continuing to the present time. And while he has been thus engaged with his business affairs he has nevertheless found time to participate in the various events and measures looking to the improvement and welfare of his native town, for every cause that has tended to its advancement has found in him an earnest advocate, and every worthy charity has received from him substantial aid. In the fall of 1869 he was elected to the Vermont Senate from Bennington county as the candidate of the Republican party, of which party he has been an active member since 1861.

Aldrich, Lewis Cass, editor; History of Bennington County, Vt. © 1889, p. 529-531

PARK. TRENOR WILLIAM, the son of Luther and Cynthia (Pratt) Park, and the grandson of William Park, was born in the town of Woodford, in this county, on the 8th day of December, 1823.

When two or three years old Trenor W. Park moved with his parents to Bennington. There his meager educational advantages were utilized in such irregular manner as the poverty of the family would allow. Pluck, perseverence, and industry, however, enabled him to surmount all obstruction. From 1830 to 1836 he was known as the bright, precocious, keen witted boy, who peddled molasses candy to supply the necessities of the household. He also performed such acts of service as he was capable of doing. Among these he carried letters to and from the post-office at Bennington, which was then located in what is now called Bennington Center. This penny postal establishment between the present village of Bennington and that of Revolutionary fame was among the earliest harbingers of cheap postal service.

When fifteen years of age Trenor W. Park had prospered so much as to be the proprietor of a small candy store on North street. But his aspirations were to much higher ends than any associated with so humble a branch of commerce. He resolved to become a lawyer. Entering at sixteen the law office of A. P. Lyman, he there studied for admission to the bar, and with such success that he was received into the legal fraternity soon after the attainment of his majority.

Beginning practice in the village of Bennington, he continued to prosecute it with great success until the spring of 1852. He was also interested in the lumber trade of that section of the State, and contributed largely to its subsequent development. In controversy or argument his talents were strikingly apparent. In the village lyceum he was one of the most conspicuous figures, and judging from his success in later life, was doubtless one of its most able and brilliant debaters.

The appointment of Hon. Hiland Hall by President Fillmore in 1851 to the chairmanship of the United States Land Commission of California, brought an entire change into the plans of Mr. Park, who was the son-in-law of Mr. Hall. The commission was constituted to settle Mexican land titles in the new acquisition to the territorial domain of the country. In the spring of 1852 Mr. Park and his family migrated to the Pacific coast. Arrived in San Francisco he commenced the practice of law, and displayed so much ability in the successful management of his first case that he attracted the attention of the law firm of Halleck, Peachy & Billings, which firm he was soon thereafter invited to join, and did so, the style thereupon becoming Halleck, Peachy, Billings & Park, the leading law firm of California.

Mr. Park's professional practice at San Francisco was not unattended by personal danger. Pistols were favorite arguments with disputants. But he scoffed at pistols, and relied on principles and precedents. He was counsel of Alvin Adams, of Boston, president of the Adams Express Company, throughout the long and intricate litigation in which that company was involved in California and Oregon. In the historic reform movement of 1855 he aided "James King of William" in establishing the San Francisco Bulletin. When that daring reformer was assassinated in the street for sternly upholding law and order, the memorable "Vigilance committee" sprang at once into being,
and assumed the local government. Mr. Park was its attorney. Five of the more prominent ruffians were hung. The worst of their companions were deported to Australia.

In 1858 Mr. Park visited Vermont. He was then the possessor of what was justly regarded as a fortune. But this was unexpectedly diminished in his absence by a commercial panic at San Francisco. Real estate greatly depreciated in value. Yet although his available resources were suddenly circumscribed, the ability and zeal to make the most of oppurtunities remained intact. Not only was he a brilliant and successful lawyer, but he was no less distinguished for judgment and skill in real estate operations. Politics attracted his energies. He failed of election as United Stales senator from California by a few votes only. Next he became associated with Colonel John C. Fremont in the control of the celebrated Mariposa mine, and administered the affairs of the Mariposa estate. Prosperous himself in all his undertakings, he also made the fortunes of those who were connected with him in business.

In 1864 Mr. Park retired from business and returned to Vermont. Inaction was too wearisome for one of his temperament, and he soon emerged into active life, and established the First National Bank of North Bennington, built a fine residence, and connected himself with various business enterprises. He also embarked in State politics, was elected to the Legislature, and wielded great power in that body. One of the original corporators of the Central Vermont Railroad Company at the reorganization of the Vermont Central under that title, he furnished much of the capital required on that occasion. Not all his railroad enterprises were as remunerativc as he had expected. The Lebanon Springs Railroad was one of these. Commencing its construction in 1868, he hoped thereby to make Bennington an important railroad town, and to place it on a through route from New York to Montreal, but almost ruined his finances and also impaired his health in the undertaking. He wished to supply the great want for transportation experienced by Southern Vermont, but did not meet with fitting co-operation. Prior to this he had purchased the Western Vermont Railroad. Works showed the sincerity which his opponents have so freely and fully admitted.

In 1872 Mr Park was united with General Baxter in the ownership of the celebrated Emma Mine, and while he managed it the payment of dividends was regular. Positive, energetic, and accustomed to operate on a large scale, he did not escape criticism and litigation. In the legal controversy which sprang out of the Emma Mine he was the victor. His sagacity and legal acumen were marvelous. After a jury trial of five months he was fully vindicated.

Neither trials nor claims were impending at the time of his decease, nor did any stain rest upon his character. His administration of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, of which he was for years a director, was characterized by his wonted shrewdness and force. He purchased a controlling interest in the Panama Railroad, and was elected its president in 1874, and so continued until his decease. As manager in connection with Genercd J. G. McCullough, he, through favor of circumstances, saw the value of its stock rise from below par to three hundied cents on the dollar; at the rate it was sold to the De Lesseps Canal Company. His was the dominant mind in the old Panama corporation, and to him the felicitous close of its affairs were mainly due. The transfer of its property and the accompanying negotiations were only completed a few months before he sailed for Panama on the trip on which he died.

Trenor W. Park was warmly and deeply attached to the locality in which the years of his youth and early manhood had been passed. He was, with E. J. Phelps, of Burlington, ex-Governor Prescott, of New Hampshire, and ex-Governor Rice, of Massachusetts, one of the committee on the design ot the Bennington Battle Monument, which is intended to perpetuate the memory and preserve the spirit of Revolutionary patriotism. He was also a liberal giver. When one of the trustees of the University of Vermont he conceived the idea of donating the Gallery of Art which now bears his name. Benefactions whose good was apparent in the improved health of hundreds of poor New Yorkers (beneficiaries of the Tribune Fresh Air Fund) he delighted in. To these he gave some months of delightful rural experience at Bennington. The Bennington Free Library is also a splendid monument ot his munificence.

His last and largest contemplated gift was that for the ample endowment of a "Home" at Bennington. The "Park Home" for destitute children and women is one of the most impressive memorials of the man. It reveals his heart. It was intended by him to be monumental of his sainted wife. The Hunt property north of the village was purchased, and the Home incorporated by act of the Legislature of 1883, but soon thereafter Mr Park died. Since his death the heirs, knowing his intense interest in the welfare of Vermont's soldiers, have donated the property to the State where is now established the "Soldiers' Home."

Paralysis seized him on the 13th of December, 1882, while a passenger on board the Pacific mail steamer San Blas. His remarkable career closed suddenly. In itself it is not only an illustration of the possibilities of youth in this country, but also of the intrinsic value of shrewdness, energy, and perseverance. Nurtured in poverty, he died in affluence. Reared with scanty ad\antages, he died an able and astute legist, a general of industry, a monarch of finance. Of course he had enemies. Such men necessarily make opponents. But he also made and kept hosts of warm and devoted friends. Short and slight of figure, head bent forward as if in deep thought, eyes small and restless, manner nervous and restrained, chin and mouth strong and firm, quick and decided in expression, a great reader and a powerful thinker — this modest and unobtrusive man was one whose memory neither Vermont nor the world will permit to perish. His funeral took place from the Collegiate Reformed Church, Fifth avenue and Forty eighth street, New York, and was attended by many political, financial, and railroad dignitaries. His remains repose in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Trenor W. Park was married on the 15th of December, 1846 to Laura V. H., daughter of ex Governor Hiland Hall. Lovely and beloved, a woman who through life showered sunshine on all around her, she died in June, 1875. Two daughters and one son survive their parents. One of the daughters is the wife of General J. G. McCullough, and the other of Frederick B. Jennings, a prominent young lawyer of New York City. Thc son, Trenor L. Park, is also a resident of the city of New York. On the 30th of May, 1882 Mr. Park was married to Ella Y., daughter of A. C. Nichols, esq., of San Francisco, Cal., who now survives him.

Aldrich, Lewis Cass, editor; History of Bennington County, Vt. © 1889, p. 518-522

ROBERTS, EDWARD. The subject of this brief sketch was born in Manchester, at the Roberts homestead, on the 23d day of March, 1812, and was the fifth child born to Martin and Bctsey (Stone) Roberts. Burdened with a large family of children, and not being largely possessed of this world's goods, it was impossible for the parents to make advances of money to start their sons in business, but what proved more to their welfare, each was given as good an education as the means of the parents could aftord. Edward was naturally inclined to books, and started out in life with the determination to enter a profession, but in this his expectation was balked, and he was then obliged to engage in mercantile pursuits; but with him professional life, while it may have been more in accord with his taste, could not have been more successful than
that calling which circumstances compelled him to adopt.

In the spring of 1827, then being just past his fifteenth year, Edward Roberts left home and went to Rutland, where he engaged with his cousin, E. C. Purdy, esq., in the printing otfice of the Rutland Herald. Here he remained some two years, and until the fall of 1829, when he went to Fishkill-on-the-Hudson and entered the Highland Grove Gymnasium, a classical preparatory school, then under the charge of Rev. B. Kent, a brother-in-law of our subject. Having applied himself diligently to his studies, and engaged in teaching when not so occupied, yoimg Roberts was prepared for a still higher education, and in the latter part of the summer of 1831I he entered Williams College for the regular classical course. Unfortunately, however, his college course was abruptly terminated by a severe attack of inflamatory sore eyes and dyspepsia of such a nature as to compel a cessation of study and retirement from the institution, and to effect a radical change in the plans for the future therefore mapped
out. But he was quite unwilling at once to yield up all hope of completing his education and entering professional life, and the succeeding ten years found him engaged in travel and teaching, devoting such time to study as he could bear, but without instructors other than the best text-books. Especially was he devoted to Greek, Latin, Hebrew and some of the modern languages, the knowledge of which he has kept up, a great solace to him, and refuge from the cares and vexations of an unusually busy life.

But the ten years at length passed, and his old difficulty continuing in a threatened chronic form, Mr. Roberts reluctantly abandoned his cherished hopes of a professional life, and in 1841 went to New York City and settled down to business life. Subsequently he became a silent, and finally a general member of. the firm of Roberts, Cushnan & Co., for many years one of the leading houses in that city engaged in importing hatter's material, supplies, etc., and to-day Mr. Roberts' name is in the old firm established so many years ago, and he still retains an extensive interest therein, although his time is mostly devoted to the care and development of the large real estate interests of which he is possessed. Still our subject finds time each summer to visit his old home in Manchester, of which he is now, and has been since 1849 the owner; and here, surrounded by family and friends, he passes the heated season in quiet enjoyment under the protecting branches of the magnificent old elms that gave him their shade in boyhood days.

In 1840, the year next preceding that in which he entered business life in the great metropolis of our country, Edward Roberts was united in marriage with Lucy Maria Benjamin, daughter of Hon. Nathan Benjamin, of South Egremont, Mass. Of this marriage three children were born as follows: Nathan B. Roberts, June 25, 1841; Edward A. Roberts, May 18, 1843; Gardner B. Roberts, November 12, 1844, died March 7, 1845. Lucy Maria, his wife, having died January 26, 1845, on April 27, 1847, Mr. Roberts was married to Miss Irene B. Robinson, daughter of Royal Robinson, M.D., of Braintrim. Pa. Of this second marriage have been born eight children as follows: Genevieve Roberts, May 15, 1848, died September 16, 1887; Jessie Roberts, January 3, 1850, died December 6, 1887; Christopher H. Roberts, January 27, 1S52; Irene Roberts, May 17, 1854, died May 9, 1857; Lucy Roberts, June 1, 1856; Walter Roberts, April 3, 1858, died June 8, 1859; William R. Roberts, June 26, 1860; Fanny, August 11, 1862, died March 13, 1864.

Aldrich, Lewis Cass, editor; History of Bennington County, Vt. © 1889, p. 537-539

ROBERTS, General MARTIN. Standing upon a beautiful elevation, at the point where the road divides and leads to the east and west sides of Mount Æolus, overshadowed by magnificent elm trees, and commanding a view of the charming valley of the Battenkill River, as that stream courses along th,"! base of the Green Mountains, is the place known to every dweller of Manchester, Dorset and other towns as the "Roberts homestead," the property occupied during most of the years of his long life by Martin Roberts. And the older residents of the town will recall in pleasant remembrance the familiar form, the dignified, military, and ever courteous bearing of him of whom we write. Should there be found one person whose memory could carry him back three-quarters of a century, he would recall in mental picture the thriving little hamlet, with its dozen or more of houses clustered around the homestead place, and known as "Robertsville." But hamlet and proprietor have long since gone; and it is therefore the purpose of this sketch to perpetuate the memory of the latter to the use of generations to come, in the history of the county in which he was born and lived and died.

Martin Roberts was the eldest son of Gen. Christopher Roberts, and was born on the 8th day of January, in the year 1778. Of his early life and of his more mature years we have no detailed record, but in the history of the town of Manchester it is stated that the male children of Gen. Christopher Roberts were Martin, Jonathan. John Peter, Benjamin, and Serenus. Martin, while quite young, became a clerk in the store owned by Joseph Burr, of Manchester, and here he acquired a knowledge of the mercantile business. After a few years he started in trade for himself, in a small way at first, but gradually enlarging the same until about the time of the breaking out of thc War of 1812, he was known as one of the most thrifty and successful merchants in the region, until about the closing years of the war, when, on account of general stagnation in trade circles, and the consequent depreciation of values, together with his inability to recover loans and advances made to friends, his possessions were largely reduced, but not one whit was Martin Roberts lessened in the estimation of his fellow townsmen and acquaintances by reverses of fortune. After liquidating the heavy losses thus incurred, still possessing means and resources unexhausted, he entered into the bold enterprise of starting a new line of stages for carrying passengers and mails between Boston and Saratoga The line was arranged to run by a new route from Boston westward through Keene, Concord, Chester, Landgrove, Peru, and over the Green Mountains to Robertsville in Manchester, and thence over the Western or Taconic range through Rupert and Salem to Saratoga. The charms of the scenery through the most beautiful valleys and passes of the mountains was somewhat depended upon to attract travel and make the new route remunerative, but the enterprise was financially a failure, and brought heavy losses to the bold originator of the scheme.

In military affairs in the State General Roberts was active and prominent, and rapidly advanced from lesser rank to greater until he became Maior-General of militia, the highest military office in the State, and this he held up to the time of his death in 1863. No less prominent was the position occupied by General Roberts in the Masonic fraternity of the State, as for a number of years he filled the exaltcd office of Grand Master.

During the period of political agitation about the time of the War of l8l2, General Roberts was on what was proved, by American success, to be the unpopular side of the controversy. He was the Federahst leader, and the acknowledged champion of the doctrines of that short-lived party in the north part of the county, and as such was put forward by his followers and pitted in the field of politics against the leader of the Democracy, a person no less prominent than Richard Skinner, then the leading lawyer of the town, and afterward governor of the State

Martin Roberts was twice married. His first wife was Lucy Bulkley, by whom he had four children, two only of whom grew up and raised families. They were Marcius and Mary B., the former settling in East Dorset, while the latter became the wife of Dr. George Tuttle, and lived in Manchester. His wife Lucy having died, Martin Roberts, on the 11th of January, 1806, married Betsey, the daughter of Luther Stone, esq., one of Arlington's most prominent citizens. The issue of this marriage was thirteen children, all of whom, save one which died in infancy, grew to man's and woman's estate, married, and raised families that are now scattered through several States of the Union. These children were Lucy, Dexter, Charles, Benjamin, Edward, Mira, Betsey Ann and Julia Ann, (twins), Richard, Belvediere, Elizabeth, and Henry Eckford.

General Martin Roberts died in 1863, at the advanced age of nearly eighty-six years. The old homestead still stands, but all evidences of the existence of a small village around it are fully wiped out. The old home and farm, enlarged and improved, are now the property of Edward Roberts, who, from the love he bears the place of his birth, out of his abundant means maintains the homestead as much as possible in its original form, and makes it his dwelling place throughout the warmer months of the year.

Aldrich, Lewis Cass, editor; History of Bennington County, Vt. © 1889, p. 535-537

ROOT, HENRY G. It would seem that fifty years of participation in active business pursuits ought to entitle any person to permanent retirement and rest for the remainder of his life; but some men are so constituted that the absence of business connections seems like idleness, and the latter is irksome and foreign to their nature. Such a thought is suggested by looking over the past career of Henry G. Root, who, although now past his seventieth anniversary of birth, appears to be as actively engaged in business as at any time heretofore, and with the same good judgment and results as at an earlier day; in truth time has dealt leniently with our subject, and his years hang but lightly upon him. His life too, from a business point of view, has been entirely successful, and a substantial fortune is its result.

But it is not solely to this accumulation that Mr. Root has been devoted throughout these long years, for within the county of Bennington there lives no man who has exhibited more public-spiritedness, or has gone deeper into pocket in the interest of his town and its improvement in every respect than has he; his early connection with the efforts made to obtain a railway outlet for the town, and the bringing about of that consummation, shows that he possessed something of an influence in the community as well as a desire to benefit the town; and his connection with the Centennial Celebration, and the Battle Monument Association, he having raised in the main the subscription fund for the former, and the five thousand dollars demanded by the State Legislature to be raised by subscription among the people, as condition upon which the State appropriation was made; and for all of this service he neither asked, received or hoped for reward other than that enjoyed by the whole people of the coumty
— a fitting celebration of the Vermont Centennial Anniversary, and the building of a magnificent monument commemorative of the battle of Bennington. The people of the county will remember the movement that was set on foot relating to the removal of the court-house and county buildings fiom Bennington and Manchester and centering them in Arlington, and the wotk that was required to be done, and the means necessary to be raised to prevent such removal; and remembering this they will also recall the fact that of the prominent citizens who worked to retain the buildings in the village and raise the funds to make the court-house inhabitable, none labored more zealously, or with better results than Henry G. Root.

More than this Mr. Root has been honored by the freemen of the county with public office, having been elected to the State General Assembly and twice to the Senate. In 1860 he was a presidential-elector at-large on the Republican ticket, and had the honor of casting a vote for Abraham Lincoln in the electoral college. Mr. Root is the only surviving member of the college now living in Vermont. In the local institutions of Bennington our subject has been equally prominent, for besides his connection with the monument association and the centennial commission, he is one of the trustees of the library association, and of the Congregational Church Society, of the latter being the president; his contributions to the fund with which the church edifice was built, and subsequently to the fund that finally extinguished that society's indebtedness, may be counted by the thousands of dollars. Mr. Root's membership in this church dates back to January, 1857. He was one of the first board of directors of the Lebanon Springs Railroad, and one of the incorporators of the First National Bank of Bennington; was elected vice-president of the bank after the first year of its existence, and has continued in that office to this time. He has been connected with institutions and organizations of the State, as well as those of local importance, having been a director of the Vermont State Agricultural Society for the last twenty-five years, and president of that society during the years 1871-72 and 1873. Besides this he has been prominently associated with other societies of the State.

Henry Green Root was a native of Massachusetts, born in Greenfield on the 18th day of September, 1818. Up to the time he was seventeen years of age Henry lived at home on the farm of his father where he worked in season and attended district school; but on reaching the age above stated he was apprenticed to learn the trade of tinsmithing at Templeton, Mass. In the fall of 1838 Elisha Root, the father of our subject, came to reside at Bennington, and this fact induced Henry to follow after he was released from his apprenticeship, which release he purchased four months before his term had fully expired. After coming to Bennington young Root borrowed a small sum of money from his father, and in partnership with Luther R. Graves engaged in the business of manufacturing and selling tinware, in a small way at the beginning, but gradually enlarging and increasing the same as the means of the proprietors would permit. Under the arrangement between these partners Mr. Root had charge of the mechanical department of the concern, while Mr. Graves was on the road. This business grew to large proportions and proved an exceedingly profitable enterprise for the firm. They established houses in various sections of the country, and entrusted their management generally to young and competent men whom they had educated in the business. Among the branch houses established by the firm of Graves & Root during their long business associations was one at each of the following places: Red Hook, N. Y.; Troy, N. Y.; Easton, Pa; Watertown, N. Y., and Burlington, Vt.

When Luther R. Graves and Henry G. Root entered into their partnership agreement it was verbally provided that the same should continue tor a period of six years, but when that time had elapsed the business of the concern was continued without any further understanding, and has been so conducted to the present day; and it is a truth that notwithstanding the fact the Messrs. Graves & Root have now been associated together for a full half century, and for forty-four years without any regular agreement; there has never been an accounting between them, and the acts of either have never been questioned or criticised by the other. Their business has always been successful, and their firm relations entirely harmonious.

On the 23d day of December, in the year 1846, Henry G. Root was married to Catharine L., daughter of Hon. Samuel H. Blackmer, a highly respected citizen of Bennington. Of this marriage four children have been born, only two of whom are now living. Catharine L. Root, wife of Henry G. Root, died on the 2d of September, 1887. Mr. Root on the 23d day of January, 1889 was married to Mary A. Gale, daughter of the late Dr. Nathan Gale, one of Orwell's most prominent physicians and respected citizens.

Aldrich, Lewis Cass, editor; History of Bennington County, Vt. © 1889, p. 531-533

SCOTT, Colonel OLIN. This well-known and enegetic business man of the village of Bennington is a life long resident of the town, and was born on the 27th day of February, in the year 1832. He is therefore in the fifty-eighth year of his life, although he might well be taken for a man at least ten years j ounger, and that notwithstanding the fact that Colonel Scott's life has been one of hard and incessant labor since he was about ten years of age. His work, too, has been of such a character as would ordinarily break the constitution of an average person; but he, happily, has been an exception to the general rule, and the strength of mind and body are apparently as vigorous as can be found in the great majority of men with a score less years upon them. The parents of Olin Scott were Martin B. and Mary A. (Olin) Scott, of whose children our subject was the eldest save one. The father was a carpenter and joiner by trade, and lived, when Olin was born, in Bennington, about a mile due north from the Putnam House corner, on a direct continuation of North street past the Soldiers' Home. In the spring of 1841 the family moved to Shaftsbury, Vt., and in 1843 removed to the village of North Bennington, Vt., where the family have since remained. Up to the time that Olin reached his eleventh year he attentled the district school of the town, but on attaining that age his father obtained for him a situation in a store at Troy, N. Y., where he remained about one and a half years. He then returned home and resumed his books during one winter, but went the next spring to Albany, and took a position as cashier and collector's assistant in a dry goods establishment in that city, remaining there several months, and then came back to North Benningon and school. In the spring of 1846 the young man came to Bennington village (that now known as such), where he worked for his board, with the privilege of attending school at the old Union Academy; but during the spring of 1848 he became an apprentice to learn the trade of a millwright, working with his mother's brother, Truman Olin, and was so employed during the next three years, and at the end of that period he had so thoroughly mastered the trade in all its departments that he was frequently sent out with gangs of men under his charge to do millwright work in various places. But during these years, as well as those that followed, it was an absolute rule with young Scott to spend at least an hour each day in the study of mathematical and mechanical books; and after his term of apprenticeship had passed he attended the North Bennington Academy and studied mathematics and surveying, the knowledge of which served him an exceedingly good turn in after years. It may be stated further, parenthetically, perhaps, that until within a very few years Colonel Scott has devoted much of his leisure time to the study of mechanical engineering, drafting and kindred pursuits, which might be of assistance to him in business life; and while so doing other studies have not been wholly neglected, as he has a fair knowledge of law, and besides these he is an exceptionally well informed man, and an agreeable, clear, and forcible conversationalist on all the leading events of our civil and political history. From the time of completing his apprenticeship until the year of 1855 young Scott worked for himself, jobbing in various localities and States, some in New Hampshire, New York, and Massachusetts, but mainly in Vermont; but during the year last named or early in the next year he became connected with the old firm of Grover & Harrington, of Bennington in the capacity of foreman of their mill machinery department. With this concern he was employed until their suspension in December, 1857, after which he became for a time interested in a mill property in Shaftsbury, which he sold in the spring of 1858. In May, 1858, Mr. Scott became a partner of Major S. H. Brown in the Bennington Iron Foundry and Machine Shops and engaged in the business of building general and papermill and powder machinery, at the Bennington Iron Works on North street in Bennington, which copartnership continued for a period of file years. At the beginning of the war of the rebellion Colonel Scott was prompt to begin the work of raising men to support the government, and largely assisted in raising
the first company of three years' volunteers put in the field by the State of Vermont — Company A of the Second regiment (the first regiment being a regiment of mihtia who went out as three months' men). He drilled with the company two weeks, when he was called to the work of reconstructing the powder-mills of the country to make the powder needed for the extensive military operations then in progress. Not being able to go into the field in person during the war, he hired a man to go in his stead as a volunteer, but without procuring exemption for himself. At that time Colonel Scott was the only mechanical engineer in the United States who was an expert in the
construction of powder-mills, and also in the manufacture of gunpowder, he having already made that business a specialty. A large part of the powder machinery built during the war of the rebellion was built by him. During the war Colonel Scott continued building powder-mill machinery, and the urgent needs of the country for machinery, such as the firm put up, gave them an abundance of business and necessitated an enlargement of their works. In 1863 Colonel Scott became sole proprietor of the works and so remained until 1864, when he and H. W. Putnam purchased the Grover & Harrington property and made a division of the same, Mr. Putnam taking the realty and Colonel Scott the machinery and patterns, the latter being soon afterward removed to the location on Pleasant street where the colonel's extensive works are now operated. In 1865 the large brick building was erected, but the works were not in full operation until the year 1866, up to which time he continued to operate the works on North street. His chief manufacture at that time and in fact up to within the last two years was the production of powder-mill machinery, but incidental thereto he has always carried on the business of general jobbing and machine work together with the building of paper and marble-mill machinery at the same time. In his special
industry of so many years continuance — that of building powder-mill machinery— Colonel Scott has done a large business, and it is a fact that during the period above stated he has built such to the extent and value of more than two millions of dollars; and his product has gone into all the principal powder-mills of this country and many in Europe. One great advantage of his over other powder-mill inventions lies in the fact that by their use the risk and danger to life are very much lessened. So much, indeed, were his inventions and improvements superior to others in use, and his mechanical genius estimated over that of other like engineers, that he was in 1869 chosen as superintendent of the Lake Superior Powder Company — a newly organized corporation in which he was a stockholder, and stayed during the greater part of that year on the Upper Peninsula in Michigan, the location of the company's work's, which were built by him. Again during the years 1873 and 1874 he was engaged by the Laflin-Rand Powder Company in the capacity of mechanical engineer, and as such had headquarters in New York City during his term of engagement. In 1882 Colonel Scott assisted in organizing the Ohio Powder Company of Youngstown, O., and built that company's works, and for three years was a director and vice-president. In 1884 he organized the Pennsylvania Powder Company (Limited) at Scranton, Pa , and two years later he became the owner of the entire enterprise, which he sold in March, 1887. On the first of April following Colonel Scott made a contract with the firm of E. I. Dupont de Nemours & Company, of Wilminigton, Del., and the Laflin-Rand Powder Company, of New York, by the terms of which Colonel Scott was engaged by each of them for a term of ten years in the capacity of consulting engineer and superintendent. In July, 1887, Colonel Scott formed a partnership with C. W. Roberts, for the manufacture of wood pulp machinery. This firm was organized into a stock company during the summer of 1888, and Colonel Scott was made its president, an office which he still holds. Such is a resume of the events of the early and business life of Olin Scott, and from it the reader will discover no period of idleness or inactivity, and anyone that thoroughly knows Colonel Scott also knows that his characteristics are those of a persistent enterprising business man. But, however busied he may have been with his multitude of business aflairs, Colonel Scott has lacked nothing of public-spiritedness or progressivcness in matters pertaining to the welfare of his town and village, and every measure looking to that end has found in him an earnest advocate and generous contributor. Political aspirations he has none, still he has been called into some of the offices of the town and village because he could not well avoid it. At one time he served in the capacity of auditor for the village, town, school district, and savings bank, the first of which offices he held for ten successive years. His connection with the Bennington Savings Bank covers the entire period of that institution's existence, having been for many years a trustee. He was one of the earnest advocates of the graded school enterprise, and when that consummation was attained he generously donated an elegant and costly piano for the use of the school. He was also prominently connected with the committee chosen for the Centennial Celebration in 1877 and the subsequent Battle Monument Association, being now the secretary and first auditor as well as one of the present directors. Colonel Scott was brought up in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and for many years was one of the strongest supporting members of that society, but in 1875 he withdrew and has since become a member of the Congregational Church of Bennington, of which society he has for many years been a trustee. Olin Scott has no children to enjoy the prosperity he has earned and so richly deserved. He was married on the 30th day of October. 1856 to Celeste E., the daughter of Deacon Samuel Gilbert, of Salem, N. Y. Of that marriage three children were born, two daughters and one son, but none of them are now living. This great loss fell heavily upon our subject, and may with much truth be said to have been the only burden that ever bore him down. In the foregoing sketch the writer has designated the subject by the title by which he is generally addressed— "Colonel." This came to him by virtue of his position on the staff of Governor Farnham, to which he was appointed during the incumbency of that official. For five years Colonel Scott served as captain of Company K. First Regiment V. S. G., and was appointed to Governor Farnham's staff in 1880.

Aldrich, Lewis Cass, editor; History of Bennington County, Vt. © 1889, p. 543-549

TAYLOR, DWIGHT. The township of Rupert occupies a position in the extreme northwesterly corner of Bennington county. It was chartered by Governor Wentworth on the 20th of August, in the year 1761, but its early settlement did not commence until several years after that date. Some of its pioneers were from New Hampshire, and among them was Joel Taylor, a native of Merrimac, born March 4, 1764. While yet a young man he came to the town above named, being at that time exceedingly poor in purse, and carrying no baggage except that contained in an old knapsack, which was strapped about his shoulders.

Joel Taylor took up his abode on Rupert mountain, on the old road leading from Pawlet to Salem. At that time the low lands or valleys were swampy, and by the settlers considered of little value, and exceedingly unhealthy; so Joel Taylor began clearing his farm on the mountain. He married Hannah Farrar, who was born in New Hampshire in 1762, their marriage taking place in March, 1784. Their children were as follows: Hannah, born August 20, 1785, married Robert Wilson and lived in Rupert, and afterward in Salem, and died January 20, 1858; Polly, born October 22, 1787, married Austin Johnson, of Rupert, and died December 3, 1840; Joel, born in Rupert August 17, 1794, married Olive Field, of Dorset, and died April 8, 1859; Stephen, born April 10, 1796, married Harriet Sheldon, of Rupert, and died July 29,
1884, and his wife, Harriet, died February 5, 1854; Elbridge, born August 24, 1799, died September 26, 1884. Joel Taylor, the pioneer, died January 16, 1846. His wife, Hannah (Farrar) Taylor, died September 25, 1825.

Stephen Taylor, the fourth child and second son of Joel, married first Harriet Sheldon, the daughter and descendant of one of the most respected pioneer families of the town of Rupert. The children of this marriage were: Dwight, born September 10, 1825; Emmons, born July 26, 1828, died April 13, 1874; Newton, born February 23, 1830, died March 21, 1841; Sheldon, born August 6, 1833, died April 2, 1874, and James B., born August 15, 1840, now living at Portage City, Wis. The second wife of Stephen Taylor was Olive W. Wakeley, who died December 2, 1877. Emmons Taylor and James B. Taylor both lived in Portage City, Wis., and became prominent lawyers of that place.

It will be seen from the foregoing genealogical sketch that of the children of Stephen Taylor but two, Dwight and James B., are now living, and that the former of these alone remains to represent the family name in the town. On the 24th day of April, 1850, Dwight Taylor was united in marriage with Aurora M. Eastman. To them has been born but one child, Hattie M., now the wife of Orlin P. Black.

Dwight Taylor was brought up to the occupation of farming, and has followed that during the majority of the years of his life. As such he has been persistent, thrifty and enterprising, and the result has been shown in the steady increase of his means until to-day he is counted as one of the most successful and affluent and influential men of the town and county. As rapidly as the revenues of his farm were received they were promptly invested, and by this means he has enhanced the value of his estate. Farming with him was a pleasure rather than a burden, and he has given it the same close attention and care that the most successful merchant bestows upon his business. In the affairs of the town, too, has Mr. Taylor taken an active part; and in office his course has been characterized by the same spirit of straightforward honesty and
economy that has made his business life a marked success; but he has not been, by any means, an office-seeking politician, for the offices he has held, and the other various trusts that have been put upon him, have not been of his asking, but rather against his inclination; and he has yielded to the entreaties of his friends, feeling it a duty that he perform some service for his town and people as well as for himself. Mr. Taylor is a leading member of the Congregational Church of Rupert, and of his means liberally contributes to the support and maintenance of that society, and the good work in which it is engaged.

Aldrich, Lewis Cass, editor; History of Bennington County, Vt. © 1889, p. 534-535

TIFFANY, ELI. The subject of this sketch was born in the little town of Horbury, not many miles from the city of Leeds, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, on the 9th day of November, 1830. His father was a carder in a woolen factory at that place, and, in accordance with the customs of the country, phiced his son at an early age in the mill to learn the art of spinning. The opportunities of that period in that country for obtaining even a limited education were very meager; but such as they were Eli made the most of them, and by his energy in later life supplemented thc deficiencies of his early experience.

It may be interesting to briefly sketch the condition of the schools which were then provided for the working people. No such thing as a free school existed. Such facihties as were provided were maintained by private enterprise. If parents were in circumstances to do so they sent their children to the "infant school" where they were instructed from five to fourteen years of age. But this course seldom embraced more than the rudiments of common English. Many were put into the factories to earn their own livelihood at eight or nine years of age. But the law as it then stood prohibited any employer from working children between the ages of nine and twelve years in any mill or factory, unless they allowed them half a day each day for school. Hence, many mill owners, to beat the law, would maintain a school of tleir own, to which their juvenile help could be sent if their parents saw fit to avail themselves of the opportunity. The schools of this character were usually conducted by some matron, frequently the wife of one of the mill hands, who could read and write, and who carried on the school in addition to her household duties, and thus aided to piece out the family income. The children of these "dummy" schools seldom advanced beyond learning to read. If they wished to learn writing or arithmetic, they would have to pay for it. As the working time was from twelve to fourteen hours per day, it can be judged what the mental condition of the children would be for study each day after their task was done. At fourteen they usually graduated from the school to the mill, where they then were expected to make "full time." Young Tiffany was employed in this way until he was nineteen years old, when a circumstance occurred which gave a turn to the tide in his affairs that ultimately "lead on to fortune."

In the year 1851 Josiah Dews, then representing the Waterbury Knitting Company, of Waterbury, Conn., went to England for the purpose of procuring certain machinery to be used in the works of the company. This being done he next sought to obtain the services of experienced operators to accompany him back to America. In doing this he fell in with Eli Tiffany, and a friend, Edwin Carter, and both having an eye to the main chance, accompanied Dews back to America. Tiffany by trade was a spinner, and knew nothing of knitting, but relying on his native push and ingenuity, took his chances and went into the employ of the company as an operator of knitting machines. Here he became familiar with the knitting frames then in use for making flat ribs for shirts and drawers, and soon discovered their defects, imperfect construction and general inaptitude for the work for which they were designed. He remained in the employ of the Waterbury company for some six years, running the old "Powell" machines, and then went to Meriden, Conn., where he operated rib machines for Powell & Parker, for two or three years.

Satisfied that the rib machines then in use could be grcatly improved, he then went to Glastenbury, Conn., and commenced to make drawings and experiments for an automatic power rib machine. After a year and a half of study and experiment he succeeded in producing a successful machine which would knit ribs with welts and slack courses, for which he filed a caveat in the Patent Office on the 7th of October, 1858. Soon after this he became associated with George Cooper, and assigned to him a half interest in his invention, and accordingly the patent was issued to Eli Tiffany as sole inventor, and George Cooper as assignee of an undivided half interest in the same. This patent was dated May 1, 1860.

At this time all rib knitting frames were operated by hand, and the production of goods in this way was very expensive to the manufacturers. But after the introduction of the new machine of Tiffany, which could be run by power, the cost of production of ribbed cuffs was reduced from forty cents per dozen to three and four cents per dozen. Here the inventor was confronted with the usual difficulty which all poor inventors have to contend against, lack of capital with which to build and introduce the machines. But at this stage of affairs Mr. Medlicott, of Windsor Locks, Conn., came to their assistance and they effected an arrangement with him to advance them capital to manufacture and introduce the invention and take his pay in machines. At Mr. Medlicott's request, Mr. Tiffany went to Windsor Locks to operate these machines, and while so employed a knitting needle manufacturer from New Hampshire accidentally became interested in their operation and was greatly pleased with their practicability and efficiency. He advised Tiffany that he was hiding his light under a bushel, and urged him to "get out of that place," and seek a wider field of operations. Accordingly two or three years later Tiffany & Cooper went to Cohoes, N. Y., and there sold the right to build the invention in that State to Campbell & Clute, of Cohoes. A partnership was also formed about the same time in which Eli Tiffany was a partner, under the name of William Woods & Co., for the manufacture of flat ribs at Cohoes. After residing about six vears in Cohoes Mr. Tiffany became desirous of enlarging the business of manufacturing the machines in his own interest, but on account of the objection urged by Mr. Wood, that Mr. Tiffany could not under the existing arrangements build machines in the State of New York, for sale outside of New York, without infringing the rights of Campbell & Clute, he determined to locate at Bennington, to which place his family accordingly moved in the year 1870.

Here Charles Cooper purchased his brother George's interest in the patent, and the partnership of Tiffany & Cooper was formed, which leased the south wing of Olin Scott's machine shop, and here in these contracted quarters, with four or five hands, they commenced the building of the machines which have now displaced in this country all other machines for the production of flat ribs for shirt cuffs and drawer bottoms.

Unbroken success seemed to attend all their efforts; and the concern went on enlarging the production of their goods until they were obliged to find more room. They then took the second story of his office building, which nearly doubled their accommodations. Their next cnlargment consisted in the building of the large two-story building which is now occupied w th the business, and which has been recently added to. Other material additions to their facilities have from time to time been made to meet the steadily increasing demands of the business.

In the year 1874 Mr. Tiffany's health became seriously impaired so that a surgical operation became necessary, and he went to the city of Troy for treatment. As his patent on the machine was about to expire he applied for an extension of the same, and it was while he was in the hands of the surgeon that, in conjunction with his counsel, A. F. Park of Troy, he prepared the necessary proofs and arguments to obtain such extension. The proofs showed that the use of Tiftany's invention had then effected a saving of about sixteen cents a dozen in the knitting of ribbed cuffs, and that they had nearly superseded the use of the old hand frames as well as the best known English power frames. Accordingly the patent was extended for a further term of seven years from the first day of May, 1874.

The additional protection thus obtained for his business afforded a warrant for devoting a greater share of his time and attention to the improvement and perfection of the rib machine, and to the development of an entirely new line of inventions for making full fashioned goods of the higher grades. Accordingly in the years immediately following the extension, Mr. Tiffany took out several patents for fashioning machines which have been extensively introduced, and enjoy a reputation for making as perfect fashioned goods as any that are made in the world. In 1880 the firm of Tiffany Brothers was formed, with Eli Tiffany as the senior partner and general manager. New buildings were erected for the new company which now employs about sixty hands, and is turning out an extensive line of first-class hosiery, both cut and fashioned.

In 1886 the partnership of Tiffany & Cooper was dissolved. Mr. Tiffany having purchased the interest of Mr. Cooper, and the present partnership of E. Tiffany & Son was formed by the admission of Mr. Frank M. Tiffany as the junior partner. Since the organization of the latter firm it has further extended its business by leasing a shop at Amsterdam, N. Y., recently erected by Tiffany Brothers, where it carries on the manufacture and repairing of knitting machinery for its western customers. In the two shops from forty to fifty hands are employed in the manufacture of the various grades and kinds of knitting machines made by this firm.

During the past three years Mr. Tiffany has made a large number of improvements on his various machines for which he has taken out recent patents. These improvements are of great value as improving the quality of goods made, and also increasing thc product of the machines. Other inventions for the improvement of the same are being constantly worked out.

Mr. Tiffany takes a lively interest in everything that relates to educational matters and for the last six years has held the office of school trustees of the Bennington graded school, one of the leading educational institutions in the State.

The foregoing record contains a brief review of the leading events of the life of Eli Tiffany, who came to this country about thirty-eight years ago; possessing no means or capital of any sort, other than a thorough understanding of his trade as a spinner. This record certainly proves something, and that is that Eli Tiftany is, in his special field of labor, a man of remarkable capacity, and possesses all the rare qualifications that enable him to not only understand the character in detail of all the various parts of the intricate and delicate machines he manufactures, and how to successfully manipulate them so as to produce the best results, but also the executive ability to supervise and control large interests. Mr. Tiffany is a man of retiring nature, brief of speech, but entirely capable of clearly impressing his ideas upon all those with whom he comes in contact or competition. He readily wins friends and remains staunch to those who earn his regard. He possesses a large store of sound common sense and good judgment which seldom fail him in practical matters. He and his son, Frank M. Tiffany, have done much for their adopted town, particularly as employers, and both are counted among the solid men of the village. It is no flattery to say that in the whole town of Bennington there is not another family which exemplifies so much versatility of brilliant talent as that of Eli Tifiany. His wife, Mrs. Phebe E. Tiffany, is highly esteemed for her unbounded benevolence, her active interest in church and village affairs, and for her natural musical talent. His son Frank ranks as one of the leading young men in the town, and one of most promising rising young business men. He is a pianist of no mean pretensions. The second son, Louis L., possesses rare ability as an inventor, musician and artist. The youngest son, William, although quite young, gives promise at no distant period of attaining eminence in musical composition. With an honest heart and open hand, with nothing but brains and pluck to fall back upon, no citizen of the town has done more to promote its prosperity than Eli Tiffany.

Aldrich, Lewis Cass, editor; History of Bennington County, Vt. © 1889, p. 550-554

VALENTINE, MAJOR ALONZO B. The subject of this sketch, the son of Joel and Judith (Wells) Valentine, was born in Bennington on the 1st day of April, in the year 1830, and at this day lives in the house in which he first saw the light. Alonzo was the youngest of four children born of the parents above named, and the only one that grew to man's estate. The youth of our subject was spent in the schools of the town, the Union Academy, and he also received further instruction at Townsend, Vt., and Suffield, Conn., taking a course preparatory for college, but relinquished this purpose, having a greater inclination for business rather than professional life. To this end he engaged with his father in the custom woolen mill of the latter, and became a partner on arriving at the age of twenty-one, under the style of Joel Valentine & Son.

But about this time the wonderful stories in circulation concerning the rich gold deposits of California were creating considerable excitement in the East, and young Valentine was brought under its influence to an extent that induced him to journey to the other side ot the continent during the year 1852. Here he remained some two years, in the gold fields a part of the time, and engaged in business for the other part, but decided to and did return to the East in the early part of 1854, bringing with him several hundred dollars in gold dust, the fruits of his labor and toil.

Having returned to Bennington our subject resumed business, but changed its character somewhat by adding grain grinding machinery to the mill, the special charge of which was taken by the young man and Zadoc Taft. But in 1856 Alonzo sold his interest to his partner, Mr. Taft, and with his young wife, whom he had married on the 28th day of June of that year, and whose maiden name was Alma L. Park, (the sister of the late Trenor W. Park), he again went West, this time to Wisconsin, where he acquired an interest in a timber tract, and engaged in the lumber business. This he sold after about two years, and in 1838 Mr. Valentine returned to Bennington, purchased Mr. Taft's interest in the grist-mill, and carried on business here until 1862, when the war being in progress he entered the service as regimental quartermaster with the rank of lieutenant, in the Tenth Vermont Volunteer Infantry. In this capacity Lieutenant Valentine served from the 31st of July, 1862 until the 2d day of March,
1864, and was then advanced by President Abraham Lincoln to the position of commissary of subsistence, with the rank of captain, and assigned to duty with the First Vermont Brigade. Again on the 28th of June, 1865, by a commission bearing the signature of Andrew Johnson, (the former bore President Lincoln's), Captain Valentine was further advanced to the rank of brevet-major, which promotion, as the commission recites, was "for meritorious services."

Digressing briefly here from the narrative of the events of his life, it may be stated that it was as commissary of subsistence that Major Valentine rendered his most efficient service to the government during the war. The office was highly important, and one connected with which were heavy responsibilities. An officer so holding was compelled to furnish large bonds of fidelity, as there were placed with him vast quantities of army stores and supplies for safe keeping and disposal; and although Major Valentine was a new man to this branch of service he performed its duties to the entire satisfaction of the department, the suspicion of error or fault never being created, but every duty was done with military and business dispatch and accuracy. Concerning Major Valentine's incumbency of this office, Granville Benedict in his "Vermont in the Civil War," says: "Alonzo B. Valentine was without previous experience, but possessed genuine business capacity as well as high patriotism, and proved to be an energetic and capable officer."

In June, 1866 Major Valentine was mustered out of the service and returned to Bennington, and home and friends. He then purchased from his father the mill and privilege the former had so long utilized, and changed it into a knitting factory, and has conducted it as such to the present day. While the business of manufacturing knit goods is perhaps the leading industry of Bennington, the factory now operated by the Valentine Knitting Company is known not only as one of the largest, but also as one of the best managed and most successful enterprises of the village or locality. Of this company Major Valentine is the vice-president and active manager, and to the building up of this vast industry has he been devoted since his return from the South in 1866. Besides this he is interested in various other enterprises of a business character, but that above mentioned is perhaps the most important and extensive.

Outside of his business Major Valentine has been no less conspicuous in the town, county and State in all matters pertaining to the general welfare of each. It cannot be said that any good work ever appealed to him in vain; at the same time his best deeds have not been done in a manner to draw attention to himself. He is not a self-seeker in any sense, his chief aim being to be considered one of the staunch business men of the town, and to so order his daily life as to secure the respect and esteem of his townsmen. His public-spiritedness too is undoubted, for there has been no enterprise the object of which was for the general welfare of the people, with which he has not been prominently associated. In the matter of the celebration of the Vermont Centennial Anniversary, the subsequent Battle Monument Association, and the project for building the monument itself, he has been not only a leading spirit, but a safe counselor in the multitude of questions that have arisen where exceedingly good judgment and wise discrimination were of the utmost importance. He was not only an earnest advocate of the graded school for Bennington, but he stood manfully and fearlessly in the front when others wavered, and it is due to him to say that without the effort made by Major A. B. Valentine the village of Bennington would not have had the graded school built when it was, and perhaps not even to this day. Major Valentine is not without enemies, but the leading men, the thoughtful business men, the men of integrity
of the town are entirely content with his course, and proud to call him their friend. It was almost wholly through his efforts that the Soldiers' Home was established at Bennington, and he is now the active local director and chairman of the finance committee of the board of trustees of that institution. He is the present president of the Bennington County Savings Bank. In "Grand Army" circles Major Valentine has been equally prominent. In 1882 he was elected State Department Commander, and at that time the organizations of the State numbered only about seven hundred members; but through the energy brought into the Grand Army by his incumbency, the membership during his first year increased to fifteen hundred, and at the expiration of the second year (Major Valentine having been re elected in February, 1883), the latter figure was itself doubled; more than that he greatly increased the number of posts in the State.

Naturally enough a man of his extended and popular acquaintance could not well avoid being drawn somewhat into the field of politics, both in minor and higher offices, the indispensible public trusts required by every community. He has never sought office, and often refused it. By it he could add nothing to his name, character, or standing among his fellow-men. He never felt the "pride of office;" to fawn or scheme for it he is incapable, and like the good citizen he has been ever awake to the public weal, and a close observer of public men and public acts, and has watched the interests of the country with the closest scrutiny; and occasions are not wanting in which his sentiments have been expressed upon the platform and through the medium of the public press. Still, private life and his own aftairs are more congenial to his tastes. Blessed with a happy family and an abundance of this world's goods, his home is the seat of comfort, generous hospitality, and social enjoyment, and yet he is a public man. His influence in society is great and beneficial, and his liberality in every enterprise for improvement, and in matters relating to charily and education is
munificent.

In 1886 and 1887 Major Valentine represented Bennington county in the Senate of the State, and while there he was identified with some highly important measures, among them the bill that brought the Soldiers' Home, into existence; also the bills relating to the Normal Schools of the State, and the permanent location of a camping ground for the use of the National Guard of Vermont. He was especially active in securing the passage of the act entitled "an act to provide for the study of scientific temperance in the public schools of Vermont," and the supplementary act making the books relating thereto free to the scholar. Under the provisions of these acts Senator Valentine was appointed by Governor Ormsbee one of the conmittee of three to select the text-books to be used, and to contract for their purchase.

After retiring from the duties of his office in the Legislature Senator Valentine has devoted his time and energies to his personal business interests, and the several institutions with which he is associated; and at this present holds by appointment of Govenror William P. Dillingham, the position of commissioner of agricultural manufacturing and labor interest of the State, a position of importance and responsibility. Concerning the appointment and Major Valentine's qualifications for its duties the Burlington Free Press says:

Governor Dillingham's appointmenl of Major A. B. Valentine to be coinmissioner, under Act 110 of the last Legislature, to investigate the agricultural and manufacturing interest of the State, and devise means to develop them, is well received by the press of the State. It is the duty of the commissioner to collect authentic statistical information in regard to the agricultural interests and resources. The commissioner is to report, if advisable, a bill to the next Legislature, embodying any action that may be necessary. Major Valentine will employ a clerk to assist him in the statistical duties of the office.

In 1876 Major Valentine made an extended tour through Europe, and took a great interest in the condition of mill operatives, especially in England. He has also traveled extensively on this continent antl with his habits of observation has laid up a large store of information, which will add to his qualitications for the duties of the office.

The growth of the Vermont Department of the Grand Army of the llepublic was remarkable under Major Valentine's administration as department commander in 1882 and 1883, and added to his reputation for executive ability. He was State senator in 1884, and was the author of some important bills which became laws.

His articles on the tariff and Iabor question during the late campaign attracted much attention, and were extensively copied by our State papers and prominent metropolitan journals.

The position of commissioner of agricultural and m.mufacturing interests was reluctantly accepted by him, but with his energy and executive ability there is no doubt but he will fill the position ably, and render valuable public service in it.

Aldrich, Lewis Cass, editor; History of Bennington County, Vt. © 1889, p. 542-549

VALENTINE, JOEL, was born in Jackson, Washington county, N. Y., January 22, 1791. He was brought up a farmer, and had the usual limited opportunities for education aftorded in those days by the district school, which opportunities he seemed to have improved. He was for a short time a soldier in the War of 1812 and 1814. His father served in the Revolutionary War. In early manhood he worked his full time as an apprentice in learning the clothier's trade. He was married in 1821 to Miss Judith Wells, also of Jackson, N. Y. He moved to Bennington in 1822, and hired what was known as the Walbridge Fulling Mill, situated at Bennington Falls, and there did a small business in manufacturing woolen cloths. In the year 1824 he purchased lands and a water privilege in Bennington village, then called in derision "Algiers."
His business was taking wool of the farmers and making it into cloth, and fulling, coloring and finishing their home-woven flannels. He also carded wool into what were called rolls, for the spinning-wheels of the thrifty dames of those days. He was doing a thriving business, when in 1836 his factory, which was insured for only a few hundred dollars, was destroyed by fire. He improvised a small manufactory in one of his outbuildings, where he worked for nine years. At the end of that time he was able to build a substantial brick structure, which became in later years a part of his son's knitting-mill, and was destroyed by fire in 1884.

Mr. Valentine was economical in his habits, and as a business man careful and prudent, and for those days successful. He was honest to a fault, his word being as good as his note, and there was never cause to question either. His stern, unyielding integrity was proverbial, and no persuasion could induce him to give or spend one cent beyond the warrant of his means and business prospects.

Few, if any, did more to shape the course of Bennington village in its early history than did Joel Valentine. With a judgment unsually clear, and possessing decided opinions, he was active in promoting what he considered the best good of the village. He was one of the promoters of the educational institution so long and widely known as Union Academy. His private life was above reproach.

In early years he was a strong Jackson Democrat, later on a Free Soiler, then an Abolitionist, and at the breaking out of the rebellion he became an ardent Republican. He was town selectman for a number of years and held many positions of public trust. He took an active and liberal part in the support of the Baptist Church, of which he was a member. He was a strong temperance man, and believed in the prohibitory law and its enforcement. Such a man would naturally make some enemies, and many friends. Four children were born to him, two of whom died in infancy. A son, Samuel Wells, lived to the age of nineteen, and his son, Alonzo B. Valentine, was his only surviving child at the time of his death, July 17, 1866.

Aldrich, Lewis Cass, editor; History of Bennington County, Vt. © 1889, p. 541-542

WELLING, CHARLES E. The father of the subject of this sketch, whose name was Edward M. Welling, was born in Novia Scotia, and came with his parents who settled in Pittstown, N. Y., in the early years of the present century. His ancestors were from Wales, England. He learned the carpenter trade, and followed that occupation for many years. In 1821, at Hoosick, N. Y, he was married to Amelia Russell. Three years later, in 1824, he moved to North Bennington, then called "Sages City;" soon after he purchased the Paran Creek grist-mill, saw-mill and a small firm. He built extensively for himself and others in the vicinity, churches, school-houses, dwellings, and mercantile buildings, and in 1833 removed the old mill and built the substantial stone mill and saw-mill which are standing monuments to his memory. He continued the manufacture of lumber and milling, and did a successful business; and is remembered as one of the most thrifty, energetic, and straightforward men of the town. The fruit of the above marriage was two children, Charles Edward Welling, the subject of this sketch, who was born on October 16, 1823, at Hoosick, N. Y., and a daughter, Evaline A., who was born in January. 1827, and who became the wife of Charles Thatcher, jr.

Charles E. Welling from early boyhood was brought up to such work as his father was engaged in, on buildings, in the mills and shop and on the farm when not in school. In 1844, with his father, he engaged in the manufacture of potato starch, occupying part of the stone-mill until in 1849, when owing to the almost entire failure of the potato crop by rot, it was abondoned. In 1850, on the 9th day of April, he was married to Sarah D, Thomas, the daughter of E. H. Thomas, then of North Bennington, but formerly of Brattleboro, Vt. The same year in which he was married Mr. Welling engaged in the mercantile business at North Bennington, in partnership with Charles Thatcher, jr., who came to North Bcnnmgton at this time, and which continued in active operation from this time until the year 1876, a period of some twenty-six years. In 1853 the farmers started a union store which divided the trade and discouraged the firm in that direction. The milling business was depressed also, and Mr. Welling's love for mechanical work resulted in his proposal to purchase and convert the mill into a paper-mill, and he to take that part of the business. Machinery was purchased and started in 1854. Without previous experience in the business, and the increasing depression from this time on in all manufacturing, which culminated in 1857 in the well remembered general crash, in which it was said more than half the paper manufacturers failed, they struggled on, and through resolute, determined and persistent effort the crisis was passed, and success finally achieved. In 1867 additions and improvements were made and entire new machinery throughout put in, largely increasing the productioa of the mill. It is a wcll-known fact that their business was quite extensive and successful, and that both members were men of the strictest integrity of character and worth. About 1870 the firm disposed of its stock of goods, and in the spring of 1875 Mr. Welling bought D. Hunter & Co.'s paper-mill situated about two miles away, put in new machinery, and with his son, Edward D, ran that independent of the firm. In 1876 Mr. Welling succeeded the firm, and in 1877 the Stark Paper Company was organized and C. E. Welling elected its president, and he has held the position to the present time. This company operated both mills, and it may in truth be
called an enterprise of the Welling family, as Charles E. Welling and his son are the owners of the greater part of the stock and direct its business management almost exclusively.

While Mr. Welling has always been a very busy man. occupied constantly with the many cares and details of his manifold interests and enterprises, he has, nevertheless, like the good citizen, found some time to devote to the general welfare of the town and county, although he has by no means been a seeker after political honors, there is scarcely an office in the township that he has not held, and in each of these he has exercised the same care and judgment that he gives his private concerns. For a period of eight or ten years he held the office of postmaster at North Bennington, and in the fall of 1888 he was elected to represent the town of Bennington in the General Assembly of the State. In politics Mr. Welling was born a Democrat, but having lived to see the predictions of the old Whig party fulfilled in 1839, that the reduction or removal of duties would flood the countiy with foreign goods and break down our manufactures, and the ruin and scattering of a whole village near him and the destruction of the home market, that these operations, made for the farmers, convinced him that the policy of protection to our own manufactures was the true one for this country to pursue, and caused him to identify himself with the Republican party, with which he has continued to act until the present time. He holds that the theory ot free trade would be all right were the conditions of the world equal, but that is an impossibility, and consequently this country should so legislate as to protect our own interests until such time
as we are able to compete with the world.

In the early part of this sketch it is stated that on the 9th day of April, 1850, Charles E. Welling and Sarah D. Thomas were united in marriage. Of this union there have been born five children, of whom three are now living, Edward D., Hattie S., and George B. Welling.

Aldrich, Lewis Cass, editor; History of Bennington County, Vt. © 1889, p. 549-550