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under the name and style of Bailey & Marsh, which partnership was continued until Mr. Bailey's death at Burlington on May 23, 1832.
Mr. Bailey's peculiar talents as a lawyer consisted in his easy address and ability as a jury advocate. He was an earnest, fluent and forcible speaker as well to the court as to the jury, and his success in business was commensurate with his industry and talents. At the time of his death he was the candidate of the democratic party for Congress in opposition to the late Heman Allen and Truman Galusha.
In June, 1822, he was married to Catharine F. Hyde, of Grand Isle, daughter of the late Jedediah Hyde, Esq., who survives him with their two children, Marcia, wife of Louis Follett, Esq., of Burlington, and George Franklin Bailey, Esq., an attorney who is practicing his profession with ability and success at Chicago, Ill., where the widow now resides.
Soon after the decease of Mr. Bailey. the Burlington Sentinel contained an obituary notice of his death of which the following is an extract: "The prominent stations occupied by Mr. Bailey as a member of the bar, attorney of the county, and representative of Burlington in the State Legislature, and the talents and devotion to his trusts displayed by him as an advocate and public officer, strongly attached to him the confidence and respect of the community, and give poignancy to its unavailing regrets at the early and afflictive termination of his life, at a moment when the anticipations of his friends as to his future and more extensive usefulness were full of brightness and promise. In his private relations few men have exhibited more amiable dispositions or contributed more largely to the happiness of those to whom those relalations were sustained. Possessing a heart warmed with sympathies which shed the kindliest presence on the domestic and social circles as a brother, a husband, a neighbor, and friend, few men practiced with more assiduity the charities which enshrine those names in the memory of bereaved affection. Though taken away "in the midst of life," yet his friends have the rich consolation that to the eye of Christian faith and charity his last days were his best days, for, through Divine Grace, he was enabled to lay hold of the hopes of the Gospel, and in humble reliance upon the merits of his Redeemer, to commit his soul to a faithful Creator.
BY REV. P. H. WHITE, OF COVENTRY.
[From the Historical Magazine, Vol. III., No. 20.]
Zadock Thompson was the second son of Capt. Barnabas Thompson of Bridgewater, Vt., where he was born May 23, 1796. His father was a farmer, but Zadock gave early evidence that he preferred study to manual labor. It was not, however, till he was nearly twelve years old that he was able to devote much attention to books. A severe wound, which nearly occasioned his death, confined him to the house for a long time and gave him leisure for study. The Rev. Walter Chapin, of Woodstock, took notice of his aptitude for study, received him into his own family, and assisted him in procuring an education. In 1819 he entered the University of Vermont and was graduated with honor in 1823, at the age of twenty-seven years. He married, Sept. 4, 1824, Phebe Boyce.
His career as an author commenced with the preparation of an almanac for 1819. He subsequently made astronomical calculations for a series of Vermont Registers, published at Burlington, and for the thirty-four years preceding his death he made similar calculations for Walton's Vermont Register. These Registers embody a large amount of information respecting Vermont not elsewhere attainable. In 1824 he published his "Gazetteer of Vermont," a duodecimo of 312 pages. It was a work of great labor and extensive research. To gather materials for it he visited almost every town in the state, and by the examination of records and conversation with the oldest inhabitants, gathered a large mass of valuable facts, very many of which, but for him, would have gone into forgetfulness.
In 1825 he was chosen a tutor in the University of Vermont. During the same year was published his "Youth's Assistant in Theoretical and Practical Arithmetic," pp. 164, 8 vo. In 1828 he edited a Magazine entitled "The Iris and Burlington Literary Gazette," and in 1832, "The Green Mountain Repository," both of them published at Burlington. In 1833 he removed to Hatley, C. E., where, and in Sherbrooke, he was diligent in teaching and in writing a Geography of Canada, which was well received and passed
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through several editions. At the same time he pursued theological studies, and on the 27th day of May, 1835, he was ordained to the Diaconate in the Protestant Episcopal Church by Rt. Rev. Bishop Hopkins. Returning to Burlington in 1837, he engaged in teaching in the Vermont Episcopal Institute and in preparing his "Natural, Civil and Statistical History of Vermont," which was published in 1843. It is upon this work that his reputation with posterity will chiefly rest. It is an octavo volume of 648 double-columned, closely-printed pages, containing an immense amount of historical, scientific and statistical information.
In 1845, and for three succeeding years, he was Assistant State Geologist, toiling in the department of field labor. In 1851 he was appointed to the professorship of Chemistry and Natural History in the University of Vermont. He collected and preserved with great care more than 3,000 specimens of the productions of Vermont in the various departments of natural history, and his cabinet has attracted the attention of the most learned naturalists in the country. In 1853 he published an appendix to his history of Vermont, containing the results of his later investigations. During the same year he was appointed State Naturalist, and continued in that office till his death, which was occasioned by ossification of the heart, Jan. 19, 1856.
He was distinguished for the simplicity and amiability of his character, modest and retiring manners, diligence which never tired, persevering research, systematic recording of results, and a conscientious doing of whatever it became his duty to do.
BY GEORGE P. HOUGHTON, ESQ, OF ST. ALBANS.
Chauncey Goodrich, Esq., was a native of Hinsdale, Mass. In early life, when not laboring on the paternal farm, he was a school teacher. When 19 years of age he became connected with the book-publishing house of Oliver D. Cooke of Hartford, Conn., where he remained nearly six years, gaining an excellent business education. In 1823 he removed to Castleton, Vt., and in 1827 to Burlington, where he remained until his death. In 1828 he was married to Arabella, sister of the Rev. James Marsh, D. D., late President of the University of Vermont, who died in 1835, leaving two daughters, the elder of whom died Dec. 4, 1858.
Mr. Goodrich's chief business was publishing school, law, and miscellaneous books, printing and bookselling.* The measure of his pecuniary access was indifferent, although the amount of his business was large. Many proofs of his generosity and timely aid to indigent students who struggled to obtain an education at the University of Vermont could be cited by many recipients who have gained honorable distinction in the pulpit, and at the bar, as well as in other departments of business. There is a settled conviction among those best acquainted with the circumstances, that such beneficence was sometimes to him the occasion of great embarrassment and pecuniary sacrifice.
His farm and fruit-garden divided his attention with his book-publishing; and he became widely known as an amateur horticulturist, and was very instrumental in the introduction of fruit-culture in the state. He was active in organizing the "Champlain Horticultural Society," and as its chief officer and member of prominent committees contributed greatly to render it prosperous and useful. He wrote occasionally for the "Albany Cultivator," and "Country Gentleman," and several other newspapers on horticultural and agricultural subjects. He was the author of a practical work entitled "The Northern Fruit Culturist," which ran through several editions and was extensively circulated and favorably received throughout New England, New York and Canada. He was an early member of the Vermont Historical Society, and was pleased with every thing calculated to promote the cause of science, education and the fine arts. Although not a native of Vermont, he was especially interested in all that furthered her religious, educational or material interests. "In pomology," as a relative of his has written,† he was very enthusiastic, and used to say that the practical Christianity of a place was to be tested by a literal application of this rule, "By their fruits ye shall know them!"
The residence of Mr. Goodrich, near the University, was for many years the seat of
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*For his publications see List of Vermont Publications, page 555. — Ed.
†See a work entitled "Annual Obituary Notices of eminent persons who have died in the United States in 1858," by the Hon. Nathan Crosby of Lowell, Mass.
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much cheerful hospitality, and many hearts were saddened when the announcement was made that their old and enthusiastic friend had, Sept. 11, 1858, been "gathered to his fathers," in the 61st year of his age.
Mr. Goodrich was a man not without the usual allotment of minor faults to which human nature is heir. The history of Burlington, however, would be incomplete without some reference to him and his devotion to some of her highest and best interests.
BY GEORGE F. HOUGHTON, ST. ALBANS.
Benjamin Lincoln was born in Dennysville, Maine, in October, 1802. He was the son of Hon. Theodore Lincoln, and grandson of Major General Benjamin Lincoln of the American Revolution. He was graduated at Bowdoin College in 1823 — having for classmates the late Dr. Luther V. Bell, the late Hon. William George Crosby, governor of Maine, and the Hon, William Pitt Fessenden, present U. S. Senator from Maine. He studied medicine with the late Lemuel Shattuck, M. D. of Boston, and entered upon the practice of his profession in 1827. In 1828 he delivered a course of lectures on Anatomy and Physiology at the University of Vermont with such eclat that in 1829 he was elected Professor of Anatomy and Surgery for said University — which office he held with increasing satisfaction until the last year of his life. Although in feeble health, he continued his medical practice at Burlington and vicinity with marked success and rapidly advanced in professional business and reputation. Upon the retirement of Dr. John Dean Wells, in 1830, he supplied his place as lecturer on Anatomy and Surgery at Bowdoin College, for that season, and the next year succeeded him at Baltimore as lecturer in the University of Maryland. In 1832 he published an able treatise entitled "Hints on the present state of medical education and the influence of medical schools in New England" — advocating therein the necessity of a reform in the medical schools of America, by which they might be placed on a higher and firmer basis. In 1833 he published at Burlington a pamphlet entitled "An exposition of certain abuses practiced by some of the medical schools in New England; and particularly of the agent-sending system, as practiced by Theodore Woodward, M. D., addressed to medical gentlemen in the State of Vermont — By Benjamin Lincoln" — Burlington, Vt. Printed for the author, 1833, 8vo. pp. 76. This pamphlet was written as an appendix to his former treatise and was "intended to illustrate and prove the truth of certain positions therein assumed." During the year 1827-8 he wrote a work on the Elements of Music — a subject in which he was learned and with whose mathematical principles he was better acquainted, probably, than any American then living. But unfortunately it was left in too unfinished condition to be made available for publication. "In his 1ast illness," writes Prof. George W. Benedict, "Dr. Lincoln felt very solicitous to complete his treatise on Music, and as soon as he returned to his father's house — when he had left Burlington helpless from disease — one of the first things he did was to order some blank ruled music paper for that purpose. But his powers of body were too far gone for any such work. "I have always felt it," adds Prof. Benedict, "to be a great loss to the public that the work was never completed and published. His knowledge of the subject was wonderful, and his power for illustrating the most intricate relations of it with simplicity and clearness I never saw equaled."
The Hon. Charles Adams, late of Burlington, in the freedom of private correspondence writes of Dr. Lincoln, 25 years after his death, in the following glowing language: "I hope you will publish some notice of Dr. Benjamin Lincoln, for he was, more than almost any young man I ever saw, one of Nature's noblemen. To have any just conception of the man, it would be necessary to have known him — to have known the eloquent voices of lofty thought uttered unconsciously from his lips and have seen the illumination of a mind walking as among the clouds. He was a pattern of humility, though genius flashed from his beaming eyes as the aurora scatters the clouds of the horizon. He was patience personified, amid bodily sufferings that bent his elegant form almost into a circle.
Oft was he seen emerging from some pool
With leeches gathered to assuage the ills
Of some poor man; and bent almost to earth
With excruciating pain, still kept on
To relieve a friend, regardless of himself.
In the Historical Discourse pronounced by the Rev. John Wheeler, D. D., on the occasion of the semi-centennial anniversary of the University of Vermont, in August, 1854, oc-
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cur the following passages, whose force and truthfulness justify their repetition in this biographical notice:
"Great men, good men and earnest men were connected with it (the University.) — Professor Porter was here, the one who would not suffer instruction in the academical department to stop, though permitted by the Corporation and ordered by the Faculty. — Nathan Ryno Smith was here, giving early promise of what he has since become — one of the first practical surgeons in Maryland, and of high eminence as a professor of surgery. Also Nathan Smith (senior), a man of more surgical experience and of more genuine medical genius perhaps than any man of his day in New England. Last, but not least, there came Benjamin Lincoln, who laid down his life on the altar of medical science. He came in 1829, and was about 30 years of age. He was a graduate of Bowdoin College in Maine. After coming here, he was for one season Demonstrator of Anatomy in the Medical College at Baltimore, and was urged to return there and accept a Professor's chair. But he hoped to realize, he cared not on how small a scale, if it were but done, his idea of a medical school in this University, (of Vermont) without the hindrance of incrusted organic remains from old formations. He pledged his life to it. In the frank, genial, bright and cheerful English of his social converse, he was like Hugh Miller, In readiness and clearness in tracing physiological analogies and correspondencies, and in rapid and lucid generalization in the then almost untrodden field of Comparative Anatomy, he was very like Agassiz. In moral honesty and in fearless integrity he was an embodied conscience. His mind was eminently mathematical. In the stage-coach-riding of the day he used to fill his hat with mathematical papers, diagrams, formulas, and propositions developing more or less of them, from stage to stage, for his own amusement. Although not deeply read in mathematical books, his mind seemed to mount up like a flame into the highest forms of mathematical reasoning and to expatiate, as in a region of light, among the most comprehensive mathematical truths. His knowledge of the mathematical relations of musical notes and chords is believed to have been unsurpassed in modern times. He loved Art, and especially music, as a mother loves her child; but to him Art must have its groundwork of beauty and harmony in a truthful integrity as its manifest ground or corner-stone, that on which and by which it was builded up into loveliness, or he was to it a perfect Iconoclast; it was shivered by the blast of his indignation. This will be plain to those who have read his Treatise on the condition of the Medical Schools in Vermont. It was apparent that the intellectual activity and the moral energy of the man would early wear out his physical powers. From being a model of delicate, elegant and manly beauty, he gradually bent under the rigid contraction of muscular rheumatism; and we held our breath and turned away our eyes in sorrow, as in 1834 we bid him our last farewell."
Dr. Lincoln returned to the paternal roof in Dennysville, Maine, and there died 26th February, 1835. Although the events of his life were few and of no extraordinary character, yet his talents, benevolence, activity and professional attainments, joined with an unwavering devotion to science and an undying love of truth, gave him a hold upon the public mind where he lived, which was permanent and of an elevated character. — Weighed down by disease and racked by pain, from which he was hardly free from the date of the 20th year of his age, this excellent lecturer, skillful anatomist, and learned botanist went to his grave in the prime of life, while the world looked on in silence and tears!
BY G. B. SAWYER, ESQ.
In the changes which time brings to neighborhoods and communities, we are struck and arrested by the death of the young just entering on the career of active life; and hardly less impressive is the sudden removal of the old citizen whom we had been accustomed daily to meet, and hardly to regard as even approaching "the bourne whence no traveler returns." We can hardly realize that he is gone.
Sion E. Howard was the oldest of the business men in Burlington, and had been nearly connected with all the local, social and business interests of the town and community — and while proceeding with an improvement that was to add to the wealth and beauty of the place, he was struck down. Conversing cheerfully with his neighbor in
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the street — himself interested and occupied with the plan he was executing,— he passed into his house, and in five minutes they were told he had ceased to live. An event so unexpected, happening too at an age which admitted of his looking forward to years of usefulness and even enjoyment, is fitted to leave upon us all a profound impression.
He was a resident of this place since 1812 — the year his father removed to Burlington with his family. His father was Mr. John Howard* — a model of industry and integrity — whose name is never mentioned but with expressions of respect and even veneration. He imparted to his sons, Sion, Daniel and John, some of his best qualities; and their success in life is the fruit of the maxims he taught, and the example he set them.
After being employed for some years as the first teller in the old Bank of Burlington, of which he was for many years a director, he became a merchant. He sold his goods at small profits and for cash down; and his example contributed much to the establishment of that mode of dealing, at that early period, here and in this vicinity. He was one of the original. most active and zealous members of the Fire Department — helped to establish the Telegraph Company — belonged to the old Steamboat Companies in times that are past — a promoter of our Railroads — a friend of our Agricultural Society and of the College — and one of the original advocates and contributors to the Pioneer Shop — an enterprise that has had so important an influence on the prosperity of Burlington. Such objects he always patronized and supported; and they are referred to here simply as indicating his disposition to promote whatever conduced to the public interest and improvement — in all which Mr. Howard cooperated with our best citizens.
Of late years he manifested a deep and enlightened interest in our public schools — visiting, addressing and encouraging the pupils by his kindly presence and exhortations. He has, in this matter, set an example worthy of all approbation and imitation by gentlemen of years and leisure. He was always the friend and helper of young men. Eminently successful as a business man, he never was accused of a hard or unconscientious action. His prosperity was the natural and legitimate result of fair and honest business, perseveringly pursued — prosperity so attained was the object of envy to none.
Constitutionally genial, kindly and social, he was the friend to all, and had no resentments and no enemies. Having retired from active business, he was permitted to retain health and activity to a considerable degree, and busied himself in erecting a mansion which would be a remembrancer, at least, of him who built it. All his family relatives were around or near him, and he hoped, doubtless, to be spared to enjoy among them and his friends, years of a useful and pleasant life. It was not to be — and his departure from the earth, and the mode of it, serves impressively to remind us "what shadows we are and what shadows we pursue."
Among the physicians who have gained credit at Burlington might very properly be reckoned Nathan Ward, whose obituary can be found in the Vermont Chronicle under date of May 28, 1861.
Nathan Ward, son of Samuel and Sarah (Read) Ward, was born in Plymouth. N. H., 21st Nov., 1804. He pursued academical studies at the academy in his native place, also at Thetford and Brownington academies; after which he read medicine with Dr. Samuel S. Kendall, of Coventry, Vt., and at Bowdoin Medical College, where he took the degree of M. D., in 1832. He married, 8th Jan., 1833, Hannah W. Clarke, of Peacham, sister of the Rev. E. W. Clarke, of the Sandwich Islands Mission. Being accepted as a missionary physician of the A. B. C. F. M., he sailed from Boston, 1st of July, 1833, and arrived at Batticotta, Ceylon, 28th October, 1833. His connection with the Ceylon Mission continued. about 13 years, during which time he made himself very useful, not only as a physician but as a teacher. In 1846, finding Mrs. Ward's health greatly impaired, and himself much broken down by disease and hard work, he returned to America, and practiced medicine at Burlington, Vt., till 1853, when he received license from the Winooski Association, and was ordained as an evangelist, at Brownington, 7th March, 1855, Rev. Joseph Underwood of Hardwick, preaching the ordination sermon. From that time he was stated supply of the churches in North Troy and Westfield, till about 1st Jan., 1860, he decided to return
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*See biography, page 594.
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to Ceylon, and sailed from Boston, in Sea-King, 30th Oct., 1860, but died when about 30 days out.
At a meeting of the Orleans Association at Newport, Vt., May 21, 1861, the following minute was adopted, and ordered to he sent to the Vermont Chronicle for publication:
Resolved, That in the death of the Rev. Nathan Ward, recently a member of this Association, we recognize the hand of God, whose ways are not as our ways, removing one who, to our imperfect observation, was at the height of his capacity for usefulness in his chosen field of labor, and that we bow submissively, though sorrowfully, to the will of God in that event.
Resolved, That we will cherish the memory of Bro. Ward, as an Israelite indeed in whom there was no guile, whose deep and unaffected piety, ardent devotion to the Master's service, and diligent labors for the good of souls, are well worthy of our remembrance and imitation.
BY GEORGE F. HOUGHTON, ESQ., OF ST. ALBANS.
From the inscription on the gravestone which marks the spot in the burying ground at Burlington, where the subject of this biographical sketch was laid down to rest, we learn that Isaac Appleton Jewett "was a scholar and a ripe and good one." No native of Burlington, excepting, perhaps, the late Samuel Hitchcock and the late George F. Sawyer of the U. S. Navy, had traveled more in his own country and abroad than Mr. Jewett. And while Messrs. Hitchcock and Sawyer left no permanent memorials of their travels, other than letters of interest to friends and relatives, Mr. Jewett published in two volumes an account of things which he saw in Europe, which have been widely read and highly commended. As one of the authors and travelers to whom Burlington has given birth, it is peculiarly appropriate that some mention of his life and writings should be made in a chapter devoted particularly to the commemoration of those natives or residents of Burlington who, in any sense, have been conspicuous or occupied a prominent place in public regard.
Isaac Appleton Jewett, only son of Moses Jewett and Emily (Appleton) Jewett, was born at Burlington, Oct. 17, 1808, and died in Keene, N. H., in the 45th year of his age. He passed three years of his collegiate life at Waterville College, Maine, and then, from choice, went to Harvard University, where he was graduated in 1830, in a class of which the Hon. Charles Sumner was one of the most prominent members.
Upon his graduation he entered the Harvard Law School, and after his admission, established himself in the practice of his profession, at first in Cincinnati and afterwards in New Orleans. He resided awhile at Columbus, Ohio, where his father passed the latter years of his life and died Aug. 12, 1847. At this period he was not engaged in the active duties of his profession. From an appreciative obituary in the "Christian Register," printed soon after his decease, it appears that "his legal attainments were extensive," and had he devoted himself to his profession he had every quality requisite to secure distinguished success. But his tastes drew him from law to literary and other kindred pursuits.
In 1836 and '37 Mr Jewett traveled abroad for pleasure, and principally for the purpose of accompanying his uncle, Mr. Nathan Appleton of Boston, and his older daughters, and was absent in England, France and Italy nearly two years. "Whatever he saw he was able to reproduce in pictures of singular brilliancy and fidelity. His two volumes, entitled 'Passages in Foreign Travel,' published in Boston in 1833, and which are principally occupied with an account of things most worth seeing in the leading European capitals, we think, have never been surpassed by any succeeding works treating of the same class of subjects."*
On his return from Europe he went to New Orleans and resumed the practice of the law for several years, when he removed to Boston, and again assisted the late Samuel Appleton, in various ways, as his confidential companion and trusted friend. In 1850 he published a work entitled the "Memorial of Samuel Appleton of Ipswich, Mass., with genealogical notices of some of his descendants; compiled by Isaac Appleton Jewett — Boston, MDCCCL," 8 vo., pp. 183. This work, a labor of love, was carefully compiled and was illustrated with handsome engravings and valuable genealogical tables.
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* Vide obituary in the "Christian Register," and republished in Vol. VII of the "New England Historical and Genealogical Register," April, 1853, pp. 196, 197.
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A series of graphic letters, which were published in the "Christian Register," Boston, were written by Mr. Jewett from the West Indies, while he was accompanying his uncle Nathan Appleton. They visited Cuba and Antigua, where the Hon. Robert James Mackintosh, a son-in-law of Mr. Nathan Appleton, was Governor. These letters were the last of his published literary labors.
The personal appearance of Mr. Jewett was peculiar and interesting. He had quite remarkable features and thick, close-curling hair. He was of about middle height, and his conversation and letters were brilliant and amusing.
The obituary in the "Christian Register," already referred to, thus speaks in not too eulogistic terms of Mr. Jewett's literary and personal character:
"Wherever Mr. Jewett came he was always welcome. He had no enemies. He was respected most by those who most highly value intelligence and rectitude of character. For years past he was largely occupied as the active and efficient agent of the charities and benevolent offices of a relative whose good deeds are not less widely known than his reputation as a merchant. To him his last grateful messages were sent, and of him his last words were spoken. He has thus passed away in the middle of his years:"*
BY PROF. M. H. BUCKHAM.
CALVIN PEASE was born in Canaan, Conn., Aug. 12, 1813. While a boy, his parents removed to Charlotte, Vt., from which place he entered the University in 1833. His college course is represented to have been highly creditable to him both as a scholar and as a man. While not deficient in the scientific studies of the course, his tastes led him to engage with more enthusiasm in the study of language and philosophy, in which departments his success was then such as to give promise of the eminence he afterwards attained. Being graduated in 1838. he spent the next four years in teaching in the Academy at Montpelier. In 1842, he was called to the chair of the Greek and Latin Languages, in his Alma Mater, a post to which he brought rare qualifications both in the way of natural endowments and of extensive and accurate attainments. Without abating anything from the merit or the value of his services in other departments of labor, it may be safely affirmed that, in discharging the duties of his professorship so faithfully for the long period of 13 years, he did the main work of his life, that which will now sum up as his most permanent and valuable contribution to the cause of learning and of religion. No doubt during the last five or six years of his life he exerted a more direct influence upon those intellectual and spiritual forces which hold sway in society; but valuable as have been his services, and decided as has been his success in such labors, it may be doubted whether it would not have been easier to make his place good here, than in that obscurer, but not therefore less important position from which he operated indirectly upon these same forces through the minds that he trained, and the characters that he shaped, or assisted in shaping. For a classical teacher he was adapted by many constitutional peculiarities. It would not have been easy for those who were led by his influence to form habits of careful discrimination and close study, to say in what way this was effected. It certainly was not by mere force of personal popularity, nor by formal precept and task-setting. — There was manifest in the whole working of Mr. Pease's mind, not only the power of fine analysis, but real love for it — a kind of Aristolelian enthusiasm for tracing the subtle distinctions, interdependencies, and correlations of ideas, as these are exhibited in that wonderful language through which it was his business to train and develop the minds of young men.
But it was not merely as an instructor in the classics that Mr. Pease's influence was felt for good while he was professor. His fine appreciation of literature in other languages, and especially of English literature, was recognized and deferred to by the students. — His style of writing, somewhat florid in his earlier years, but gradually becoming chastened and brought under reserve, used to be greatly admired and imitated. As a College officer, he was active and faithful, foremost in all enterprises to promote the internal welfare of the University, as well as laborious and self-sacrificing in efforts for its financial prosperity, and its good character before the public.
On the death, of President Smith, in 1855,
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*N. England Hist. and Genea'l Reg, Vol. VII, p.197.
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Mr. Pease was cordially commended to the corporation by the faculty, for the Presidency. His scholarship, his great services to the Institution, his growing influence as a man, seemed to warrant them in feeling confident that, under his management, the University would be enabled to realize many of the long-cherished projects of its best friends. — He was elected to the office in November, 1855, and entered immediately upon its duties, though he was not formally inaugurated till the Commencement following. A few days after his inauguration, he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Middlebury College. He addressed himself to the work entrusted to him with earnestness and enthusiasm. He had made some progress in a very important financial measure upon which the future prosperity of the University seemed greatly to depend, when the monetary crisis of 1857-8 suspended and substantially broke up the scheme. The six years of Dr. Pease's presidency were, to him, years of great mental anxiety and perplexity. Disappointed in many of his plans for the good of the University, brought reluctantly to see that self-sacrificing devotion to a good cause is not so prevalent a virtue as he had too generously supposed, he began to manifest signs of discouragement and depression, to the eyes of those who watched him most closely — feelings which increased upon him till they finally led to his resignation of the presidency. During all this time, however, his mind was rapidly expanding in all directions, and he was steadily growing as a man of power and influence. His public performances, which had always been received with favor, grew sensibly in breadth and solidity. He became prominently connected with many of the most important educational and religious enterprises in the state. He was an active and influential member of the Board of Education from the time of its organization till he left Vermont. He was also for several years President of the State Teachers' Association. In all these relations he was enabled to render more eminent service to the public, by means of his official position in the University, and, on the other hand, he faithfully returned to the University all the increased efficiency which he attained through his influence with the public.
Mr. Pease had been licensed to preach in 1852, and had occasionally officiated in the pulpits of the neighboring churches. During a season of unusual religious interest in College, in the year 1855, his religious character seemed to receive a remarkable quickening, and his style of preaching greatly improved, becoming in an eminent degree spiritual and practical. It was about this time that, after having supplied the pulpit of the Congregational church in Burlington for some months, with great acceptance to the people, and with decided tokens of the divine blessing attending his labors, he received an urgent call from the church to become their pastor. This invitation, however, he felt it his duty to decline. From that time it became evident to his friends, that he found more satisfaction in preaching than in any other kind of labor, and it was not altogether unexpected by them that he would at some time settle down to the work of the ministry exclusively, as the most congenial to his character and aspirations. This time came, however, sooner than they expected. On receiving a call to the First Presbyterian Church in Rochester, N.Y., he resigned the presidency, Nov. 14, 1861, and spent the remaining 21 months of his life as pastor of this large and important church. Of his character and labors in this relation, we have the following account from a judicious and attached member of his church:
"Dr. Pease's labors during his brief pastorate in this city were highly creditable to himself, satisfactory to the people of his charge, and were accompanied by the Divine blessing, — more than 60, chiefly new converts, varying in age from 12 to 30 years, having united with the church during this time. As a pastor he was kind, affable, indefatigable, and uniformly successful in gaining the confidence and winning the affections of his people, both old and young, but especially the latter, in whom he took a deep interest, and among whom he delighted to labor."
In his theology, Dr. Pease belonged to what is now called the Old School of Orthodoxy. As a preacher he was capable of several different styles, according to his audience and the occasion. His most usual style, however, was one which combined great pungency and directness in the matter, with simplicity and elegance in the manner. He could, if the occasion required it, preach what is called a "great sermon" — profound, argumentative, and elaborate. Some of his Baccalaureate discourses will rank among the very highest
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of their kind, in these qualities. His forte, however, as a preacher, lay in his power to crowd a truth upon the conscience with such steady and straight forward persistence that there seemed no possibility of evading it.
In his character as a man, Dr. Pease needed to be intimately known to be appreciated according to his real merits. He united, in a way which could not but puzzle and prejudice all who did not so know him, cordiality of feeling with reserve of manner, habitual kindness with occasional severity, the affability of the warm friend and the Christian gentleman with the shyness and abstraction of the student. The society which he most delighted in was that of young men and of the pious poor. In such company he would throw off the reserve which hampered him on ordinary occasions, and would enter with real enthusiasm into the conversation, pouring forth treasures of imagination, wit and feeling which no less surprised than delighted his auditors. Those who were thus admitted to the knowledge of his real inward character can testify that his remarkable intellectual acumen coexisted with geniality, warm-heartedness, and genuine sympathy with everything good.
The month of August, 1863, Dr. Pease spent in Vermont, rambling about among the fondly-remembered friends and scenes of his old home, and recruiting his strength, as he thought, for another year of toil. Having gained sensibly in health and vigor, and already becoming impatient to return to his much-loved flock in Rochester, he was making his preparations for departure, when he was arrested by an attack of acute dysentery. If the same things could soothe and gratify a man on his death-bed which were wont to delight him in ordinary circumstances, Dr. Pease would not have chosen any different scene amid which to die. In the spot which was dearer to him than any other on earth, in the home which he had built, under the shadow of the trees which his own hand had reared, and directly facing that magnificent scenery of lake, mountain and sky, which he said he missed in Rochester more than any thing else, "methinks it were no pain" for him "to die" — if such things as these made dying painless. But it was to far other things that his thoughts turned. He died as a good man dies, thinking of his personal relations to his Saviour, of his family, and of the precious souls committed to his charge as pastor. As the disease lingered on for over two weeks, alternating from day to day between hopeful and alarming stages, an intense solicitude occupied all minds. And when at last on Thursday morning, Sept. 17th, it was announced that he was departed, a profound grief, such as is seldom witnessed in our community, settled upon the hearts and was visible in the faces of our citizens of all classes. It began slowly to come over us that a man of mark, and of power, one to whom we were all, in a measure, indebted, and had never perhaps duly estimated our indebtedness, had gone from among us, and that we should see his face no more.
The remains of Dr. Pease have been removed from their temporary resting place in our cemetery to their final abode in Rochester. In alluding to the removal, the Rochester Democrat took occasion to pay the following beautiful tribute to Dr. Pease's memory:
"It is a source of gratification to the many friends of Dr. Pease in this city, that his remains are to rest in our beautiful cemetery. No minister in so brief a time ever won the affection and esteem of the community more completely than did Dr. Pease. There are young men among us who will bless the day that made him a resident of Rochester; and we shall all, while lamenting his untimely end, be grateful that he was permitted to do so much for us. His work in this city was short; but it was faithfully done. His superior intellectual characteristics, his largeness of heart, courteous address, and fascinating social qualities, his noble bearing as a true, devoted Christian gentleman and patriot, will never be forgotten by those among whom he labored, and who were so fortunate as to have his acquaintance. It is fitting that his last resting place should be in our city — the place where his family resides, the place for which he had done so much, in which he had so many warm admirers, and which was the scene of the closing labors of his eminently useful and beautiful life."
We have also secured the following list, which embraces the names of all the deceased citizens of Burlington over 70 years of age, reported in the Burlington papers, from which it was copied, not already included in our biography, and quite a number of others still
BURLINGTON. 655
younger, supposed to be best known to the citizens, from Dec. 1854 to March 1865. — ED.]
Mrs. Hannah Earle Howard,* who died Sept. 22, 1865, aged 93.
Mrs. Susannah Fay and Mrs. Esther Thomas, 92.
Theodore Catlin, William Burnett and Mrs. Mary Cockle, 90.
85 years and upward. — Samuel Greggs, Mrs. Grace Corning, Mrs. Lucella Read, Rufus Duncan, Mrs. Priscilla Mills, Henry Boardman, Richard Powers, John W. Partridge,† Zebulon Burr, Mrs. Elizabeth Fleming, Mrs. Mary Lyon.‡
80 years and upward. — Nathaniel Mayo, Enos Walker, Joseph Wells, Mrs. Sarah Read, Mrs. Polly French, Mrs. Sarah French, Mary Grace, Mrs. Clarisa Lyman, Mrs. Parthenia Spaulding, Dr. S. W. Thayer,§ Daniel Littlefield, Esq., Wm, A. Foote, Mrs. Sally Mansfield, Samuel Densmore, Edward Hickey, James Lloyd, Mrs. Deborah Ames.
77 years and upward. — Isaac Warner, Esq.|| Dr. Reuben Witcher, Aaron Bostwick, Henry May, Mrs. Jerusha Cole, widow of the late Dr. Seth Cole, Jesse Starr, Mrs. Sarah F. Lyman, Maria Bradley, Mrs. Polly Petty, Mrs. Lucy Foote, widow of Wm. A. Foote, Elisha Barstow, William Scott, Hon. John Peck,¶ Dea. David Hamilton, Mrs. Huldah Johnson, and Mrs. R. Goulding.
70 years and upward. — James Fitz Simmonds, Jesse Green, William Seymour, Joseph C. Roxey, Mrs. Eliza R. Yeomans, Mrs. Mary L. Bombard, Mrs. Laura Wardsworth, Ebenezer Edmunds, father of George F. Edmunds, Esq., Dea. Benjamin Farrand, Martin Grinnin, Timothy Hall, George Edgecombe, Mrs. George Moore, Mrs. Sarah Godfrey, Tilley Pinney, William Hurlburt, Joshua Doane, Esq.** Prosper Blackman, F. McDonough, Mrs. Martha Wilkins, Miss Sarah Dafferty, Mrs. Anna R., wife of Theodore Catlin, William I. Seymour, Mrs. Fanny Seymour, Mrs. Nancy Collins, Joseph Falstrau, Martin McDonell, David Mularky, Mrs. N. Kasson, Mrs. Mary P. Lyon, Mrs. Prudence L. Mason, and Miss Catharine B. Wilkins.
60 years and upwards. — John S. Webster, M. D., Mrs. Nancy P. Thompson,†† Nehemiah Peck, Mary Hendee, wife of Dr. Whipple Spooner, Hon. Wylys Lyman, Capt. Andrew White, William B. Harrington, ‡‡ Horace Ferris, Esq., Col. Smith, Mary Y., wife of Dr. Horace Hatch, Currence P., wife of John B. Hollenbeck, Esq., Mrs. Orinda Kimball Taft.
50 years and upwards. — Morton Cole, §§ Jasper T. Catlin, Samuel H. Baker, Eliza, wife of Capt. William Brush, Mrs. Sarah A. Bostwick.
40 years and upwards. — John Brooks, eldest son of the late Rev. John B. Wheeler, Silas C. Isham, late Hospital Steward of the 5th Vt. Vols., Capt. Silas Hinckley, Ann W. Clark, daughter of the late Rev. Samuel Clark, Mary E., wife of Dr. M. J. Whiton, Prof. T. F. Molt, Harriet Cowen, wife of Prof. T. F. Molt, Eliza C. Mayo, wife of H. H. Doolittle, Capt. John O'Grady, Mrs. Anna P., wife of J. S Adams, Secretary of the Vt. Board of Education, John Nash, printer, formerly of Burlington. funeral from the Howard Hotel, this city, James W. Marsh, 31, Adaline P.,††† wife of Rev. F. E. Judd.
Ages not given. — Rev. Nathan Wood died
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* "Identified prominently with the people and interests of Burlington for most of the present century, as the wife of one or its most valued citizens, the late John Howard, and the mother of a family of sons widely known for their business ability and integrity, she ever drew additional respect to herself from all who knew her for her own excellent qualities and affectionate disposition. For a long time the infirmities of old age forbade her to mingle in general society, yet she kept up her interest in the welfare of all around her, and employed her time, as far as strength would allow her, for good. During the trying years of the late rebellion, though unable to be present with those who from week to week met to labor for the health and comfort of the soldiers in tho field, her fingers were kept busy in the good cause, at home; and many were the gallant fellows whose feet were protected by the stockings which she had knit. She goes to the grave in a ripe old age, honored by all, and will be kept in grateful remembrance by all who knew her." — [From the Free press.
[See biography of her husband and son, page 594, and page 653 — Ed.]
† One of the eldest inhabitants, he removed from Peacham here in 1801."
‡ Widow of Asa Lyon, late of Burlington, and a daughter of Auburn Atwater, one of the early settlers of Burlington, died in Rochester, N. Y.
§ Dr. S. W. Thayer, senior, died at Burlington, Dec. 12, 1863, in the 81st year of his age.
|| "He was born in Brookfield, Mass.; came to Cambridge in this state in 1802, was admitted to the Bar in St. Albans, as attorney and counselor at law in 1807, and held many responsible offices in civil, military and post-office departments." — [Burlington Sentinel.]
¶ Was a leading merchant, an extensive owner of real estate, president of the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank, and a very active participator in every public enterprise for nearly half a century.
** Burial from his residence on Main Street, with Masonic honors.
†† Wife of the Hon. John C. Thompson, formerly a Judge of the Supreme Court of this State, and a resident of Burlington for many years.
‡‡ Was one of our leading citizens, of high esteem, a most worthy and excellent man, says an obituary in tho Burlington Sentinel.
§§ Died in Brooklyn, N. Y. His body was brought to Burlington for interment, and buried from St. Paul's Church.
††† Daughter of Rev. Zadock Thompson, late of Burlington. [See p. 646,]
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May 10,1864. Nov. 21, Rev. James Milligan, England, at the Howard Hotel. Oct. 1, 1865, Dr. David S. Conant.*
By accidental drowning, Dec. 10, 1859, Russell J. Jones, 27 years.
Nov. 24, 1859, at Laguayra, Venezuela, Martin Chittenden Bradley, formerly of Burlington, and a graduate of the University of Vermont, of the class of 1854. He went to South America, as chief engineer of a railroad, and died of yellow fever.
"Jan. 13, 1863, Geo. Albert French, son of Hon. David French, aged 23 years. He was a graduate of the University of Vermont, of the class of 1862, and his active and intelligent mind gave evidence of a successful and honorable future. He spent some months of the time since he graduated in the service of his country, in one of the nine months New York Regiments, and on returning home last summer, was appointed and filled during the summer season the position of assistant captain on board the steamer Canada, on the Lake. Frank and courteous in his manners, with vivacity of disposition, and a genial, kindly nature, he endeared himself to a large circle of acquaintances. His loss will be felt among the young men of Burlington."
"Jan. 17, 1862, Charles Deming Baxter, son of Carlos Baxter, Esq., a young gentleman of education, fine abilities and excellent promise in life. His death was very unexpected. He was, however. seemingly well prepared to meet it. Such is life, the young and the old falling alike beneath the shaft of death. Life consists only of to-day."
DISCOVERY, NAVIGATION AND NAVIGATORS OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN.
BY THOMAS H. CANFIELD.
To the antiquarian and historian this title alone opens at once to the mind's eye an extensive field, — interspersed with an innumerable variety of thrilling scenes distinguishing the various steps and gradations of civilization by ineffaceable vestiges, as Time in his onward march has transformed this continent.
No place of the same area has so long been the scene of disputes and conflicts, and none whose possession has been regarded of so much importance, both by the different tribes of Aborigines, as well as by the different civilized nations who have from time to time claimed control of the Valley of Lake Champlain. Forming, as it has for two and a half centuries, a great highway between the principal settled portions of Canada and the United States, it has consequently become closely identified with the great changes which have taken place in the progress of the nation during that period. The most memorable occurrences in its vicinity, especially the political and military, have already entered into the general history of the country.
So far, however, as these events may in any way give us information respecting the first boats used and the subsequent improvements in them — or may shed any light upon the first attempts at trade and commerce and their future development, it will be necessary to recall some of the more prominent, and thereby trace the improvements which have been made, And here we must beg pardon, if we should omit many facts, or if we should seem to have shown partiality to Vermont. It has been impossible, in the short time at our command, to make as full researches as we could wish with satisfaction to ourselves, or justice to the subject; and besides, there are no early records of vessels preserved on either side of the Lake. We have had to rely to a great extent upon the memory of individuals, and incidental allusions, in works of history, to the earlier kind of boats in use. Besides, this article is intended more particularly to relate the part taken by the citizens of Vermont, in developing the navigation of the Lake, and especially those of Chittenden County, and we have had greater opportunity to obtain information in this direction than upon the New York side of the Lake.
In order to understand the subject more clearly, we shall divide it into three periods:
The first, embracing the time from the discovery of the Lake to the close of the revolutionary war, when there was little or no trade — when it was entirely under the control of military power and navigated for military purposes, and canoes or bateaux were used.
The second, extending from the time peace was declared, in 1815, and Vermont admitted as a State into the Union, until the present
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* Well known to the community as the able professor of Surgery in the Medical Department of the Universify of Vermont, died at his residence in New York city.