Newfane's First Century - Biographical Sketches Pages 34-97

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

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HON. LUKE KNOWLTON.

Born in Shrewsbury, Mass., November 4, 1738. He served as a soldier in the old French War, and in 1759 was stationed at Crown Point awhile, and suffered great hardships during his march from Crown Point to Charlestown, No. 4. From a journal he kept during his service as a soldier, we learn that his company, in marching through the wilderness, exhausted their stock of provisions and were obliged to kill a pack-horse to save themselves from starvation. He married Sarah, daughter of Ephraim Holland, of Shrewsbury, Mass., January 5, 1760, and with his family moved to Newfane in February. 1773, which was the fourteenth family that settled in town. He continued to reside in this town until his death, which occurred December 12, 1810, at the age of 73 years. His wife died September 1, 1797. He was chosen first Town Clerk, at the organization of the town in 1774, and continued to hold that position for fourteen years. He was Town Representative in the General Assembly of the State of Vermont during the years 1784, 1785, 1788, 1789, 1792, 1803, and 1806, and a member of the old Council from 1790, to 1800 ; Judge of the Supreme Court in 1786 and a Judge of the Windham County Court from 1787 to 1793. John A. Graham, in a series of rambling letters descriptive of Vermont scenery, written and published about the close of the last century, thus speaks of Judge Knowlton, ''Newfane owes its consequence in a great measure to Mr. Luke Knowlton, a leading character and a

man of great ambition and enterprise, of few words, but possessed of great quickness of perception and an almost intuitive knowledge of human nature, of which he is a perfect judge."

He was a Loyalist, and in consequence of the great sacrifices he made in behalf of the British Government, in the early part of the Revolutionary War, he received a large and valuable grant of land in Lower Canada, upon a part of which the present town of Sherbrooke is built.

Previous to the year 1784 Judge Knowlton gave in his adherance to the government of Vermont, and voluntarily became a citizen of the State. In the division of the $30,000 which New York received from Vermont, on the accession of the latter State to the Union he received $249.53, on account of the losses he had sustained by being obliged to give up lands which he held under a New York title. He was liberal and generous to the poor, entered heartily and zealously into all the public enterprises of the day, gave to the County of Windham the land for a common on Newfane hill, at the time of the removal of the shire from Westminster to Newfane, and contributed largely towards the erection of the first Court House and Jail in Newfane. He was remarkable for his great suavity of manner, and exceedingly decorous in his deportment. By reason of his great gravity and exceeding humility he acquired the appellation of "Saint Luke." His family consisted of seven children, three sons and four daughters, five of whom survived him. Six were born in Massachusetts and one in Vermont, as follows:

Calvin, born in 1761, died January 20, 1800 ; a graduate of Dartmouth College, class of 1783 ; married Sophia Willard, of Petersham, Mass., in 1793 ; studied law and practised his profession in Newfane until he died. Patty, born in 1762, died in Ohio in 1814. She married Daniel Warner, and was the grandmother of Hon. Willard Warner, late United States Senator from Alabama, and during the civil war was a member of General Sherman's staff in his celebrated "March to the Sea." Silas, born 1764, married Lucinda Holbrook at Newfane, November 30, 1786, died in Canada aged eighty. Sarah, born May 2, 1767, married John Holbrook at Newfane,

November 30, 1786. She died March 22, 1851, aged eighty-four. Alice married Nathan Stone, April 24, 1788. She died November 14, 1865, aged ninety-six. Lucinda, born August 8, 1771, married Samuel Willard. They lived awhile in Sheldon, Vt. ; from thence they removed to Canada where she died, May 4, 1800.

The foregoing children were all born in Shrewsbury, Mass. Luke Knowlton, Jr., was born in Newfane, March 24, 1775 ; died at Broome township, Canada East, September 17, 1855, aged eighty. Of the children two, Calvin and Lucinda, died before their father ; all the others survived him. His grandsons are men of marked ability, among whom are Paul Holland Knowlton, Broome township, Lower Canada, son of Silas Knowlton, who has occupied distinguished political positions in the province, and was for many years a member of the Canadian Parliament ; Rev. John C. Holbrook, of Syracuse, N. Y., an eloquent divine, highly esteemed for his piety and learning ; Hon. Willard Warner, of Alabama ; Hon. George W. Knowlton, of Watertown, N. Y., a courteous old gentleman of more than four-score years of age, who exemplifies, in his virtue, simplicity and happiness, the powerful influence of the intelligence, industry and self-denial of his puritan ancestry ; Hon. Frederick Holbrook, of Brattleboro, who for two years during the War of the Rebellion, was Governor of the State of Vermont, and in the discharge of his official duties he exercised the prudence and discretion, united with the energy and ability which characterized his worthy ancestor, the subject of this notice.

REV. HEZEKIAH TAYLOR.

The first pastor of the Congregational Church in Newfane was born in Grafton, Mass., in 1748 ; graduated at Harvard College in 1770, and was settled as pastor of the Congregational Church in Newfane the 30th day of June, 1774. The church was organized the same day of his settlement, and at that time there were but fourteen families in the town, and the church consisted of only nine members. He died August 23, 1814. He was possessed of a firm and vigorous constitution, of great endurance, an indomitable will, and a resolution unshaken by the care of his flock and the labor and hardship incident to the early settlement of the town. Possessing habits of great industry, with a liberal education, and a disposition of great kindness and benevolence toward all with whom he was connected, he faithfully ministered to the spiritual and temporal wants of his people. Of an exceedingly genial temperament, overflowing with wit and humor, he was the delight and ornament of the social circle. His efforts and example contributed eminently to the happiness and prosperity of the early inhabitants of the town.

Parson Taylor was a very social, genial man, and fond of a joke when the occasion offered, like Parson Byles of Boston, and Bunker Gay of Hinsdale. It is related of him that at one time he met the Rev. Aaron Crosby at the grist-mill. Each had brought his grain in a wheel-barrow, and while waiting to have it ground, they amused themselves by wheeling each other about. Mr. Crosby was seated upon the wheel-barrow, when Mr. Taylor wheeled him to the mill-pond and tipped him in, then said to him, "Now run home and change your clothes, and I will wheel your grist home for you."

Mr. Taylor was sometimes pretty sharp in his replies, as the following anecdote will show. A certain member of his church removed from Newfane to the neighboring town of Jamaica. While there, under the influence of the Baptists, he changed his views, and applied to Mr. Taylor for a letter of

dismission to the Baptist church. Parson Taylor, upon receiving the application, drew him out at some length in defense of his new views. Among other things, and as a perfectly satisfactory reason for his course, the man said, "I do not think there is any true church in the world, but the Baptist church." "Well, well," said Mr. Taylor, "what about that letter, how shall I write it? Shall I say from the devil's church in Newfane to the church of Christ in Jamaica ?"

The jolly parson was accustomed on his way to Brattleboro to call at the old tavern of Luke Taylor, in West Dummerston. Joseph Gleason occupied a blacksmith shop near by. The parson called one day at the tavern on his return from Brattleboro, and while sipping his toddy Gleason entered the barroom. The parson enquired of him what success in his business? Gleason answered he had but little work, the times were hard and he was discouraged. The parson told him to be of good cheer, to exercise his wits as well as his hands, and jocosely said to him "whenever he saw a traveller ride up to the shed whom he supposed was going to Brattleboro, to slip over with his pincers and strip off a shoe from the horse. The traveller would find his horse limped, and would stop on his return and have the lost shoe replaced." A few weeks after, Uncle Joe saw the parson ride under the shed and hitch his horse. He slipped out of his shop on the sly, and pulled off a shoe. On his return, the parson rode up to the shop and told Gleason to put on a shoe, for his horse had lost one in going to Brattleboro. Uncle Joe set the shoe, led the horse to the shed, and walked into the bar-room where he saw the parson sipping his glass of toddy. The parson enquired of him how much to pay. Nothing, Uncle Joe said, for he had been exercising his wits as well as his hands ; he had been trying the experiment that was suggested to him a few weeks before, and had reset the same old shoe he had pulled off. Whereupon the parson laughed heartily at the joke, treated Uncle Joe with a glass of toddy, and acknowledged himself the victim of his own joke.

HON. EBENEZER ALLEN

Was born in Medway, Mass., in 1758 ; removed to Newfane in 1785. He represented the town in the General Assembly for ten consecutive years, from 1794 to 1804. He was for a time a Judge of the County Court, also, a Judge of Probate for the District of Marlboro, and was actively engaged in public business until his death. December 16, 1805. He was an enterprising, active and eminently practical man, and highly esteemed for his patriotism and public spirit.

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REV. AARON CROSBY.

Born in Shrewsbury, Mass., November 27, 1744 ; graduated at Harvard in 1770, married Mary Taylor, sister of Rev. Hezekiah Taylor, August 22, 1774. His family resided in Newfane from 1774 until his death, in 1824, with the exception of the term of his pastorate over the church in Dummerston, Vt., from 1784 to 1804. He died January 13, 1824. He was for many years a missionary among the Indians on the head waters of the Susquehanna. He acted under the patronage of a society in Scotland. The war of the Revolution interrupted his labors and compelled him to return to New England.

WARD EAGER.

BY HIS GRANDDAUGHTER,

MRS. FANNY A. BAKER, OF PUTNEY, VERMONT.

The subject of our sketch, son of Bezaleel and Persis Eager, was horn in Northboro, Mass., April, 1750. His mother's maiden name was Ward, and she was related to the Wards of Worcester County, Mass., who distinguished themselves in the war of the Revolution by their patriotism and loyalty. He came to Newfane about the time of the commencement of the war, in which he served awhile as a soldier. He was engaged in the battle of Bennington and Saratoga, but the perils he encountered and the hardships he endured he never communicated to his family in after years, for he was excessively modest and taciturn, and never talked of himself. The musket and cartridge box he bore at the battle of Bennington and the taking of Burgoyne at Saratoga, he retained with scrupulous care until his decease. He came to Newfane when it was little more than a wilderness, and when the land he purchased was a dense forest. He married a Mrs. Abigail Pike, a widow lady, whose maiden name was Holland. During the early years in which his forest home was in course of clearing he toiled assiduously. but when, in later years, he found himself in comparatively affluent circumstances, and his sons could relieve him from the care and labor of the farm, he gave himself up almost exclusively to literary pursuits.

He cherished a passionate fondness for mathematical studies ; particularly geometry, and for many years was the only practical surveyor in the town and vicinity. He took a lively interest in the study of astronomy, and prepared the astronomical calculations for two or three almanacs. He was excessively modest and unobtrusive in his deportment, and declined public office although he was repeatedly urged to accept of municipal appointments. The only office he was ever known to accept was that of Town Treasurer, which he held for many years. He was reticent, taciturn

and generally regarded as unsocial, for he loved seclusion and quiet, and much preferred his books to a free social intercourse with his neighbors, or the society of the many cultivated men for which the town was distinguished at an early day. He was a member of the Congregational Church, although he differed with his brethren upon the subject of baptism. It is said of him that without consulting his family or friends he quietly rode away one Sabbath morning into a neighboring town and received the ordinance of baptism by immersion, and the fact was studiously concealed from his family for a long time. No notice was ever taken of this departure from the peculiar faith of the church of his adoption, and he lived and died in full communion with the Congregational Church, although during the last years of his life he was suspected by his brethren of a strong leaning to Unitarianism. Quietly and serenely, in the retirement he so much loved and coveted, his days passed away until his life had reached almost four score years, when he died, March 24, 1824. He left at his death three sons and three daughters.

His sons, Benjamin, Nahum, and Walter, were prominent men in town, distinguished for their enterprise, probity and practical good sense. Nahum and Walter Eager represented the town two years, respectively, in the General Assembly of this State, and for more than thirty years they filled many of the most responsible offices in town.

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GEN. MARTIN FIELD.

Born in Leverett, Mass., February 12, 1773; graduated at Williams College in 1798, and received the honorary degree of A. M. from Dartmouth College in 1805. He studied law with his uncle, Lucius Hubbard, Esq., of Chester, Vt., and upon the decease of Calvin Knowlton, in 1800, and at the special instance and request of Hon. Luke Knowlton, he came to Newfane in January, 1800, and entered upon the practice of the law. He married Esther Smith Kellogg, daughter of Daniel Kellogg, of Amherst, Mass., February 21, 1802, an accomplished lady of fine personal appearance, of great goodness and exemplary piety. He was indebted, in a great measure, for his success in life to her great industry, prudence and discretion. She died June 6, 1867, aged 88 years, surviving her husband thirty-four years. He was full of anecdotes, and could tell a story with inimitable grace. His forensic efforts abounded with flashes of wit and occasional bursts of caustic sarcasm and biting ridicule, which he could use with great skill and effect. These peculiar powers rendered him a popular and distinguished jury advocate. His varied accomplishments and genial temper, with a heart overflowing with an irrepressible spirit of humor and mirthfulness, joined to a strong passion for music, of which he was extravagantly fond, rendered him an ornament to the social circle. A skilful player upon the violin, he never abandoned its use until he became so deaf that he could not distinctly hear its tones. He was eminently successful in his profession, and for nearly thirty years enjoyed a large and lucrative practice, which he was compelled to abandon by reason of his excessive deafness. On relinquishing his practice he commenced the study of Geology and Mineralogy, and by great perseverance and industry he collected what, at that time, was regarded as the rarest and most extensive cabinet of minerals in the State. A few years since it was generously given to Middlebury College by his widow, Mrs. E. S. Field. He was, for ten years, State's Attorney for Windham County,

and repeatedly represented the town of Newfane in the General Assembly and Constitutional Conventions. In 1819 he was elected Major General of the first division of the Vermont Militia.

We have copied from the 26th volume of the American Journal of Arts and Sciences, the following extract from an obituary notice of the subject of this sketch, written by a distinguished lady of Baltimore, Md., who was formerly a resident of this county:

"On account of his incurable deafness several years before his death, he declined the active duties of his profession, and, as a resource to an energetic mind, and as a solace in hours that might have been tedious for want of some interesting object of pursuit, he turned his attention to scientific investigation. When he was educated the natural sciences were scarcely studied in the schools and colleges of this country. He began with the elements, commencing with Mineralogy, and for a time was zealously engaged in collecting a beautiful cabinet ; but he found that, in order to become a skilful Mineralogist, there was a kindred science to be grasped, and one without which he could not penetrate beyond the surface. He saw that it was beautiful and curious, and felt a desire to know those mysterious laws of combination by which, from a few elements, the wonderful variety of material things is produced. This desire led him to the study of Chemistry. He purchased books and an apparatus, and for a time he directed his inquiries to the elements of matter and the laws by which they are governed."

He was not satisfied with studying nature in his cabinet, and with reading the observations of others. He became an outdoor worker in science. Few points of interest were there among the romantic scenery around him that were not familiar to him ; and many a precipice, glen and lofty summit of the Green Mountains can bear witness to his persevering research into the nature and arrangement of the rocky strata of which they are formed. His minute observations of philosophical and scientific facts were in various ways manifested in the pages of the scientific journals of this country, and particularly in the American Journal of Science, a work in which he ever delighted, and to which he felt himself indebted for much of

that love of science and those acquirements which enabled him to endure with cheerfulness a misfortune by which he was, in a measure, cut off from the social enjoyments of life. It is a great thing for a man who has been active in business to withdraw from those scenes in which his mind was stimulated to constant effort, to see the place he has filled occupied by others, and to feel that the world can move on without him ; but this condition is incident to human nature. Fortunate are those who, at such a period, can, like him who is the subject of this sketch, find, in the contemplation of the works and operations of nature, a resource against ennui, and a security against bitter and unavailing regrets."

He died at his residence in Fayetteville, October 3d, A. D. 1833, aged 6o years.

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ESTHER S. FIELD,

[WIFE OF MARTIN FIELD.]

Whose maiden name was Esther Smith Kellogg, was a grand-daughter of Daniel Kellogg, Sr., of Amherst, Mass., who married Esther Smith, daughter of John Smith, of Hadley, Mass., a lineal descendant of that grim old Puritan, Lieut. Samuel Smith, who came from Ipswich, England, to Boston in 1634, and removed from thence in 1638, with a large company, and settled on the banks of the Connecticut in the vicinity of Hartford, the "new Hesperia of Puritanism." In 1659, with sixty "Withdrawers or Separatists" as they were then called, who were opposed to the liberal and latitudinarian doctrines and practices of Drs. Hooker and Stone in relation to "baptism, church membership, and the rights of the brotherhood," he removed to Hadley, Mass., whose rich and fertile meadows were regarded as a paradise by the early Puritan settlers of the valley of the Connecticut. While residing in Hadley he occupied important positions both in

church and state. This stern old Puritan possessed great energy, an indomitable will, and was by profession and practice a strict Congregationalist, persistently adhering to all the fomulas, austerities, and self-denying ordinances of the Calvanistic faith. He impressed upon his descendants to the latest generation his peculiar and marked characteristics.

The subject of this sketch was thoroughly trained in her childhood in the discipline and religious faith of her Puritan ancestors. She early made a profession of her faith, and at the age of fifteen she was admitted a member of the First Congregational Church in Amherst, Mass. Thrift, industry and economy were among the peculiar and prominent characteristics of her ancestors, and for their constant exercise she was proverbial. Possessing a vigorous constitution, she was untiring in her labors and faithful in the discharge of her domestic duties. Distinguished for her prudence and discretion, she carefully avoided all allusions or suggestions which would tend to excite suspicion or grieve an erring or wayward neighbor. Her strong sense and excellent judgment gave her great prominence and influence in the church of which she was a member, and the social circle in which she moved. She was a keen and close observer of the human face, and an accurate judge of human character, and when she fixed her dark penetrating eyes upon the face of a stranger she rarely failed to stamp his character at once, and that, too, with marked precision. She exercised the most perfect self-control, was familiar yet dignified in her bearing, positive in her opinions, grave and serious in her deportment, yet was never regarded as imperious or arrogant.

Her husband enjoyed an extensive professional practice and possessed a large landed estate, a great portion of which he cultivated. Her superior executive ability, united with great energy, enabled her, during his absence, successfully to control and direct the labors upon the homestead, and at the same time to fully discharge the onerous duties incident to the care of a numerous household. Her husband was genial and social, full of humor and mirth, oftentimes filling the house with his "jocund laugh." The wife, however, true to her refined womanly instincts, her sense of propriety, rarely disturbed by his merry and harmless jests, with great discretion

pursued "the even tenor of her way." Patiently and with unfaltering devotion to the higher and nobler purposes of life, she always maintained her self-possession, studiously avoided all levity and frivolity, rarely relaxed the gravity of her deportment, and never failed in the end of controlling both husband and household. She always remembered, with a kind and grateful spirit, the favors conferred upon her by her friends and generously repaid them. She was withal so affable, gentle and benevolent that she won the admiration and good will of all with whom she was associated. She was a faithful and affectionate wife and mother, who exemplified, in her pure and spotless life, the influence of the severe discipline and stern religious teachings of her puritan ancestors. It affords her children great pleasure to be able to offer this slight tribute of filial affection and respect to the memory of a kind and loving mother.

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ROSWELL MARTIN FIELD,

Son of Gen. Martin Field, was born in Newfane, February 22, 1807, died at St. Louis, Mo., July 12, 1869, aged 62 years. He fitted for college with Rev. Luke Whitcomb, of Townshend, Vt., and entered Middlebury College in the autumn of 1818, at eleven years of age. Graduating in 1822, he studied law with Hon. Daniel Kellogg, of Rockingham, Vt., and was admitted to practice in September, 1825, at eighteen years of age. He practiced law in Windham County from 1825 to 1839, when he removed to St. Louis, where he remained until his death. He represented the town of Newfane in the General Assembly of this State during the years 1835 and 1836. He was elected State's Attorney for Windham County in 1832, 1833, 1834 and 1835. While a member of the Legislature in 1835, he wrote an able report in favor of abrogating the rule of the common law excluding atheists from giving

testimony in courts of justice. The proposition failed of adoption, but in 1851 it was renewed by Hon. Loyal C. Kellogg, of Benson, then a member of the House of Representatives, and passed into a law. Since that period, "no person is deemed incompetent as a witness in any court matter or proceeding on account of his opinions on matters of religious belief." The special pleas which he drew and filed in the libel suit of Torrey vs. Field, reported in the tenth volume of Vermont Reports, were declared by Judge Story to be masterpieces of special pleading. These contributions, with the exception of a multitude of briefs in cases reported in the Vermont and Missouri Reports, are all the memorials of his learning that are left. He was a finished scholar, and read Greek, Latin, French, German and Spanish, besides having an extensive acquaintance with English literature and general science. He could speak with great facility, not only French but German. He was frequently employed in suits by reason of his great familiarity with foreign languages, for the mere purpose of correcting any errors of interpreters in their translations of the testimony of foreigners who could not speak English, and whose evidence was necessarily communicated to a court and jury by an interpreter. It was as a lawyer that he won his greatest distinction. When he went to St. Louis, in 1839, he had to contend with such men as Benton, Gamble and Bates. To none of these was he second in legal attainments, sound judgment and keen foresight. As an advocate he was eloquent, and as a lawyer, learned. His attainments were of that solid character that they served him upon every professional emergency. His first distinction at the bar was obtained in cases involving the intricate old Spanish claims, which he mastered at an early day. His opinions always had great weight in the Superior Courts of the State, and at the time of his decease, he was esteemed as the ablest lawyer at the Missouri bar. By the junior members of the profession he was regarded as an oracle, and freely gave advice to all young lawyers who sought his counsel. He cheerfully and readily aided young men of talent and worth whom he found struggling for success and position against poverty and adversity. He gained a national reputation in the famous Dred Scott case, which he started and carried on until the appeal

was entered in the United States Supreme Court, when he turned it over to Montgomery Blair, then residing at Washington. In the dark days of the rebellion, during the years 1861 and 1862, when the friends of the Union in St. Louis and Missouri felt that they were in imminent danger of being driven from their homes and their estates confiscated by rebels and traitors, Gen. Lyon, Gen. Blair, and R. M. Field were among the calm, loyal and patriotic men who influenced public action and saved the city and State. In his social relations he was a genial and entertaining companion, unsurpassed in conversational powers, delighting in witty and sarcastic observations and epigrammatic sentences. He was elegant in his manners, and bland and refined in his deportment. He was a skilful musician, and passionately fond of children, and it was his wont in early life to gather them in groups about him and beguile them by the hour with the music of the flute or violin. He was confiding and generous to a fault, but for a few years before his decease he became reserved and distrustful, had but few intimate associates, and mingled but little in general society, for his confidence had been violated, his generosity abused, and his charities wasted. He was utterly devoid of all ambition for power and place, and he uniformly declined all offers of advancement to the highest judicial honors of the State.

Judge Hamilton, of the Circuit Court of St. Louis, in his address to the bar, suggests of him that "he was always under the controlling influence of principle, faithful toward his clients, honorable and upright with his professional brethren, and in all his relations, social, political and professional, frank and sincere to a fault. His heart was warm with the sweetest charities of humanity, and his friendships were as enduring as life itself." His proficiency in other walks of learning than the law would have rendered him remarkable if he had been unacquainted with jurisprudence. It was the accuracy, no less than the extent of his knowledge, which distinguished him above those around him. He seemed to have mastered the principles, the foundation of every subject with which he claimed any familiarity, and it was part of his nature to claim nothing to which his title was not perfect. He never used words without appropriate ideas

annexed to them. Nothing of the kind of knowledge which remembers the rule, but leaves forgotten or never knew the reason of the rule. His scholarship was critical and exact. He made the perusal of the Greek and Latin classics his most delightful pastime. In fact, he resorted to this and scientific research, particularly in the department of pure mathematics, for his chief mental recreation. It is greatly to be regretted that he neglected to combine, with his cessations from professional labor, some employment which would have revived and strengthened his physical frame. He was averse to active exercise, and for some years before his death he lived a life of studious seclusion, which would have been philosophical had he not violated, in the little care he took of his health, one of the most important lessons which philosophy teaches. At a comparatively early age he died of physical exhaustion, a deterioration of the bodily organs, and an incapacity, on their part, to discharge the vital functions, a wearing out of the machine before the end of the term for which its duration was designed. The defects of his character were due to a complete absence of the incentive to exertion which rivalry causes. It is obvious to all who read this slight censure, how unassailable is the man of whom it can be said that his principal defects arise from a want of one of the weaknesses of humanity. He was eminently qualified to serve, as well as to adorn society, and in all likelihood he would have found, in a greater variety of occupation, some relief from the monotonous strain under which his energies prematurely gave way. He possessed in full measure the capacity for rendering this service, but unfortunately he shrank from offering himself for its performance. It is not a paradox to say that if he had been more covetous of gain and of fame, more susceptible to the spur of emulation, and less firmly persuaded of the things ordinarily proposed as the reward of ambition, his life would have been happier and more useful to mankind. If he had possessed more ambition, his reputation would have been national, and he would have ranked among the most distinguished lawyers of the country. At a session of the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, soon after the decease of Mr. Field, Samuel Knox, Esq., a member of the Bar, suggested to the Court that it had lost an able and faithful coup‑

selor and its highest ornament in the death of Mr. Field. He was so modest in all his greatness, said Mr. Knox, as never to excite envy, so varied in his gifts, so extended his attainments, so wide his range of thought, that no person in his society could experience anything but pleasure, in his conversation anything but profit and delight. Uniting great industry and acqiurements with the most brilliant wit and genius, well and accurately informed on all subjects, both in science and the arts ; endowed with a memory that retained whatever it received, with quick and clear perceptions, the choicest, most felicitous and forcible language in which to clothe his thoughts, no one could doubt his meaning or withhold the tribute of wonder at his power. His statements Were always terse and clear, his arguments cogent and logical, his conclusions difficult to evade. In a long and eventful professional life, no charge of duplicity or unfairness, no cunning trick, no suspicion of dishonor ever tarnished his fair fame, or raised the slightest doubt of the highest professional honor and personal integrity. One thus distinguished is no ordinary loss — a loss to the Court, to the profession, to the community in which he lived. Mr. Knox then offered the report of a committee, appointed by the St. Louis Bar, at a meeting called to pay a tribute of respect to the memory of Mr. Field, and moved that the report be entered upon the records of the Court, "an enduring memorial of the love and regard of the members of the St. Louis Bar for their departed brother." Judge Wagner, in behalf of the Court, responded as follows: "The members of this Court have heard with the deepest regret of the death of R. M. Field, and the warm and deserved tribute which has just been paid to his memory receives an assenting response from the hearts of all those who knew him. In the decease of our lamented friend and brother, the Bar of Missouri has lost one of its brightest ornaments. To a naturally keen, vigorous and analytical mind, he added a thorough mastery of legal principles combined with high scholarly attainments. Perhaps no man at the Bar of this State ever brought to the consideration of any question a greater amount of exact legal learning or clothed it with a more impressive and attractive logic. When he gave the great energies. and powers of his mind to a cause, he exhausted all the learning to be had on

the subject. He studied law as a science and delighted to examine its harmonious structure and explore its philosophic principles. So deeply was he imbued with its true spirit, and so great was his reverence for its excellence, that he maintained them with the most jealous regard and would sooner have failed in success than have won a cause by trenching upon a sound legal rule. He made no parade of learning, and in his social intercourse he had a childlike simplicity. With his professional brethren he was full of courtesy and-kindness and his whole conduct was marked by entire integrity and perfect truth. He adorned every circle in which he moved, and so beautiful was his life in all its relations that he won and enjoyed the esteem and regard of all who knew him. It is fit and proper that the death of such a man should be marked by all the honors which we can pay to his memory. It is just that we should pay this last tribute as an evidence of our appreciation of his great abilities and exalted virtues. It is therfore ordered that the report of the proceedings of the Bar, which have been presented, be entered of record on the minutes of this Court, and out of respect for his memory it will be further ordered that this Court do now adjourn."

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WILLIAM H. WILLIAMS,

Son of Larkin and Anna Williams, and grandson of Col. Abraham Williams, was born in Chester, Mass., February 24, 1776. His father died in 1778, and soon after he was bound out to a farmer residing in Paxton, Mass., during his minority. He was treated with great severity by his master and deprived of the benefit of a common school education, and subjected to excessive labor until he was fourteen years of age, after which he returned to Chester to learn the cloth dressing business, at that time the most lucrative and prominent branch of industry in New England. While learning his trade he enjoyed the privilege of attending school six weeks in the year, and learned what he could of reading, spelling and grammar from "The Only Sure Guide," the only text book he ever possessed, and which is now in the hands of his widow. After learning his trade he worked two years in Paxton, after which he came to Newfane, in October, 1797, and took charge of the cloth dressing and oil making works of Thomas and Darius Wheeler. In 1801, he bought the mills of the Wheelers and worked them until his decease. He engaged in the mercantile business in 1814, and continued in trade for more than forty years. During the war of 1812 he was extensively engaged in the manufacture of potash and woolen cloth. He erected a large flouring mill, also a carding machine and saw mill. In 1798 he commenced a diary, which was continued by himself and family until his death. In it is jotted clown every days' doings and every important event which occurred during his life.

He was a resident of Newfane about seventy years, gave a name to the village where he resided and died ; contributed largely towards the erection of the village church in 1834, and was at all times liberal and generous in his donations for the support of the gospel.

He was a member of the Methodist church, represented the town in the General Assembly, filled many munici‑

pal offices and faithfully discharged the duties incident to the same. He was enterprising, industrious and eminently practical in all his views and efforts. He was munificent in his contributions for the furtherance of all public enterprises which stimulated the growth and prosperity of the town, and although he suffered severely by fire and flood at different times during his life, yet by his untiring industry and perseverance he repaired all his losses and accumulated a handsome fortune, which he left to his family. He married Abigail Robinson, October 17, 1802. She was born March 25, 1781, died July 6, 1821. He married Rosanna Miller for his second wife, February 22, 1826. She was born May 19, 1794. He had nine children by his first wife and none by his second wife. Here follow the names, births and deaths of his children, only two of whom survived him:

George Williams, born September 14, 1803, died May 26, 1841.

Anna Williams, born January 24, 1805, died January 26, 1805.

Hastings Williams, born March 5, 1806, died December 26, 1808.

Mary Williams, born May 26, 1808, died May 27, 1834. She married Roswell Robertson, January 26, 1831.

Sarah R. Williams, born March 30, 1810. Married Roswell Robertson, December 10, 1835, and died October 9, 1839.

Louisa Williams, born October 26, 1811, married John A. Merrifield, January 17, 1843.

William L. Williams, born December 9, 1813, died at Dubuque, Iowa, January 11, 1864.

Abigail E. Williams, born March 3, 1816, married Charles Converse, of Ohio, September 25, 1808.

John W. Williams, born January 9, 1818, married Gertrude Brown April 22, 1841, and died May 25, 1851.

DANIEL FISHER

Was born in Newfane in February, 1776, died August 17, 1862, aged eighty-six. He married, for his first wife, Millicent Durren, of Newfane, in 1797. She died in 1813. He married, for his second wife, Miss Priscilla Ritter, of Walpole, N. H., in September, 1815. She died June 9, 1862. His children, by his first wife, were Clark Fisher ; Lydia, who married Nathaniel Sampson, of Brattleboro ; Orrison Fisher ; Caroline, who married Richmond Dunklee, of Newfane ; Millicent, who married Richard P. Pratt, of Newfane ; Hannah, who married Isaac Burnett, of Dummerston, and Simon Fisher, the only surviving son. Daniel Fisher, Sr., the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Milford, Mass., in 1752, and removed to Newfane in 1774. He purchased a large amount of real estate, situate in the eastern portion of the town, supposed to exceed one thousand acres in quantity and embracing within its limits the fertile and productive meadows on West River. At an early day he was known and called by the name of Corn Fisher, for the reason that he raised upon his meadows great crops of Indian corn which he sold to the early settlers on the hills and mountains west of Newfane. He was exceedingly thrifty and prudent, and at his decease he left a large estate. He died in 1820, aged sixty-eight. Daniel Fisher, the subject of this sketch, inherited a large property from his father, which he judiciously distributed among his children and grand-children before his decease. He was generous and even munificent in his donations and subscriptions for various public enterprises. He was distinguished for his integrity and benevolence, cordial and kindly in his greetings and generous in his hospitalities ; liberal and kind to the poor and suffering, never closing his door or his hand to their applications for relief. He was of a tall, commanding figure, and manly and dignified in his deportment. He early united with the First Congregational Church in Newfane, and died at an advanced age, universally respected and beloved for

his integrity and benevolence. The father and son were both distinguished for their practical good sense, and were often elected to the most important municipal offices in the town, and faithfully discharged their official duties.

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GEN. PARDON T. KIMBALL.

Born in Newfane, July 2, 1797, died April 5, 1873. He was nearly seventy-six years of age at the time of his decease. His death resulted from injuries received by a fall from his carriage, in the month of November, 1872. He was greatly distinguished for his energy and enterprise. He represented Windham County in the State Senate for two years, and for the last fifty years of his life he had filled the most important municipal offices in his native town. As a citizen he faithfully discharged all his duties, and greatly distinguished himself by the zeal and energy with which he entered into all the enterprises which were calculated to promote the growth and prosperity of his native town. He was munificent in his contributions for public improvements, and generous and liberal in his gifts for the relief of the suffering poor. It was oftentimes said of him, that he had a great heart and it was in the right place. His friendships were enduring, and his heart was full of the kindest charities for the poor and of sympathy for the suffering and distressed.

DEACON MOSES KENNEY

Was born in Northboro, Mass., September 11, 1747, died in Newfane, June 23, 1808, aged sixty-one years. He was supposed to have descended from a family by the name of Keayne, as there were many of that name in the vicinity of Boston and Lynn from 1630 to 1670, and none by the name of Kenney until after that period. (See Shurtlift's Records, second volume). He married Azubah Parmenter, about the year 1770. She was born in Sudbury, Mass., January 17, 1751, and died in Newfane, January 3, 1837, aged eighty-six years. They removed to Newfane during the year 1774. They had twelve children, four of whom died in infancy and early childhood. The others all lived to an age past middle life. Sally, who married Zadock Chapin, was born in Massachusetts, September 11, 1771, removed to Pennsylvania with her husband, and died in 1831. John, born in Massachusetts, April 18, 1773, died in Newfane; September 6, 1849. Lucy, wife of Capt. Chandler Carter, born in Newfane, August 27, 1777, died in Newfane in 1825. Captain Carter was a prominent citizen, a skillful mechanic, a fine military officer, highly respected for his honesty and industry. He died in Michigan about 1864. Holloway Kenney, born February 18, 1781, removed to Lower Canada, and the day and place of his death is unknown. Charlotte, born May 26, 1783, died in Lower Canada, February 22, 1843. She married Luke Knowlton, Jr., of Newfane, March 18, 1799. They had fifteen children, four of whom died in infancy. They removed with their children to Lower Canada in 1821, where he died in 1855, aged eighty years. Silas Kenney was born April 12, 1785, died May 5, 1863. In 1813 and 1814 he commanded a company of cavalry composed of citizens of Newfane and Wardsboro. While he held a subordinate position in the company, and it was under the command of Captain Barnard, of Wardsboro, they assembled at the dwelling-house of Silas Kenney, and ascending a stone wall which he had just completed, they marched and counter-marched upon its top, which

was at least six feet across. The wall was built upon the roadside and twenty rods or more in length. After his discharge from the command of the cavalry company he organized and commanded a company of riflemen, who were the pride and boast of the town, the rank and file numbering not less than one hundred tall and stalwart men, beautifully uniformed with green frocks, and caps ornamented with black plumes. For a few years it was regarded as the best drilled and most attractive military company in the State.

Olive, wife of Jonathan Hall, was born April 25, 1787. She is now living, and the oldest person in Newfane who was a native of the town. Munnis Kenney, born December 10, 1788, died April 5, 1863. He fitted for college at the old academy on Newfane Hill, graduated at Middlebury College, studied law and practised his profession in Townshend, Vt., for a number of years, represented the town of Townshend in the State Legislature many times. In 1830 he removed to Webster, Washtenaw County, Michigan. While living in Michigan he was a prominent and influential citizen of the town and county where he resided. Sewell Kenney, born April 1, 1791, died in Chicago, Illinois, October 14, 1844.

Deacon Kenney possessed a vigorous and robust constitution, and in all his farm labors was exceedingly active and industrious. He owned at his decease more than a thousand acres of land, and at the time of its purchase it was a dense forest. He cleared off the timber and forest trees, found the surface covered with boulders and broken masses of granite, with which, by excessive labor, he constructed long lines of heavy stone wall on the division lines of his several lots. His labors were so arduous and excessive that he seriously impaired his constitution, and sickened and died at the comparatively early age of sixty-one years. He left a large estate to his children, and of the thousand acres or more of wild forest land which he originally purchased, he had cleared and fenced, with heavy stone wall, more than six hundred and fifty acres, about equally divided between tillage, grass and pasture lands. He built the first grist mill in town, at the outlet of Kenney Pond, so-called, within a hundred rods of his homestead ; represented the town in the General Assembly, filled many municipal offices in the town, was a deacon in the

church at the time of his decease, and in all his relations in life was distinguished for his industry, probity and public spirit.

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We have have copied the following sketches from a history in manuscript of the Newton family, by Rev. Ephraim Holland Newton. late of Cambridge, N. Y.

COL. EPHRAIM HOLLAND,

Son of Ephraim Holland, Senior, was born in Boylston, Mass., in the year 1755.

He married Eunice Newton, of Shrewsbury, February 17th, 1783. She was born March 13th, 1754. He was a soldier of the Revolutionary war. He had two sisters whose husbands, Luke Knowlton and Joshua Morse, were loyalists, and to escape the indignation of the Whigs, fled to Vermont, then called an "Outlaw," for it was not a State, neither did it belong to a State, and took refuge in the present township of Newfane, afterwards the county seat of Windham County and there they finally settled.

After the close of the war Ephraim Holland visited his sisters at Newfane, was induced to make a purchase of a lot of wild land of 100 acres and there settled as a farmer, a tavern keeper and a merchant; was respected, being elevated at various times to offices of trust as a town officer ; was an ambitious military man and promoted from post to post until he was placed at the head of the regiment, as their Colonel, at a period when the station was held as a mark of honorable distinction. Being absent from home on a journey he reached South Hero, one of the Islands of the County of Grand Isle, in Lake Champlain, and put up at a public house for the night. After leaving the next morn‑

ing, to pursue his journey, he went to his horse and fell dead by its side in the dooryard, in the presence of witnesses, February 28th, 1822. He was buried upon the Island, and grave stones were prepared and sent to be placed at the head of his grave. He went to Newfane in 1784, or 1785, made his purchase and commenced his settlement in the woods. He put up a small shed-like framed building with one roof, for a house, about one mile south easterly from the centre of the town, on the northerly side of the road leading from the site of the public buildings in Newfane to Brattleboro. In this shed-like house I was born as told me by my parents and received my name from the owner. To this house additions were afterwards made which made it a dwelling of respectable appearance and afforded good accommodations as a public house. About the year 1840 it was taken down and removed to the village of Fayetteville where it now stands.

Eunice Newton, the widow of Col. Ephraim Holland, was rather tall, straight and slim, of ladylike demeanor, a thorough housekeeper, a good cook, kind-hearted, a woman of great industry and of dignified deportment. She lived many years after the death of her husband, and received an annual pension from the government as the widow of a deceased soldier of the revolution ; and after she had reached the ninety-fourth year of her age, accidentally set her clothes on fire with a bunch of matches, and was so badly burned that after a few days of great suffering she died at the house of Sir Isaac Newton, in Newfane, Vt., October 15th, 1848, and was buried in the cemetery in the northwesterly, corner of Newfane. She was the last and oldest survivor in the lineal descent from her grandfather. She has left no child or descendant to represent her. This branch of her father's family is now extinct. The next oldest in descent from her father is Ephraim Holland Newton, the oldest son of Marshall and Lydia Newton.

MARSHALL NEWTON, SENIOR.

BY REV. EPHRAIM H. NEWTON.

Marshall Newton, the third child of Marshall Newton and Eunice Taylor Howe, his wife, was born in Shrewsbury, Mass., January 13th, 1757, and was bred a blacksmith. When at the age of eighteen years, in 1775, he entered into the service of the American army of the Revolution in what he used to say was "the first eight month's service," the same year in which Gen. Washington was elected by Congress as Commander-in-Chief of the American forces, and repaired to Cambridge, Mass., and took his station at the head of the army. As he took the command he arranged the army into three divisions, the left wing was stationed at Prospect Hill, under Gen. Lee, the right wing under Gen. Ward was stationed at Roxbury, while the central point of the division Washington took to himself at Cambridge. At this time Marshall Newton, Junior, belonged to the right wing of the army under Gen. Ward, occupying Roxbury and Dorchester. Here I would remark that Gen. Ward was from Shrewsbury and Marshall Newton, Junior, was born and brought up in the same neighborhood, in sight of each others' residence. He uniformly expressed a strong attachment to Gen. Ward and spoke of him in high terms as a military officer and a good citizen.

After the expiration of the time of his enlistment, Marshall Newton enlisted again ; so also from time to time as the periods of his engagements terminated. He became attached to the service, and during the long and bloody struggle of eight years, he spent seven years of that time in the service of his country. A portion of that time he belonged to the corps of artificers, and was employed as a blacksmith, traveling with the army, with his traveling forge as a portion of the baggage of war equipage.

Although I used to sit upon the dye-tub in the, chimney corner, when a child, and after his hard day's work hear

my father talk with the old soldiers, who always found welcome quarters at his house, and narrate with thrilling interest the war scenes of his military career, yet at this distant period of more than half a century I am unable to give in detail the marches, stations, battles, victories, conquests and defeats in which he participated in a seven year's service.

I have heard him speak of Dorchester Heights, the night scene of fortification which so alarmed Gen. Howe that he evacuated Boston and gave the American army the possession of that city. I have also heard him speak of being in the battle of Long Island, of being at the evacuation of New York city, of being in the battle of White Plains. I have also heard him speak of being in the "Jarseys," as he used to call it, with Gen. Washington, also, of being at Saratoga at the capitulation of Gen. Burgoyne, in 1777. At this time he belonged to Col. Job Cushing's regiment, who also was from Shrewsbury. This regiment was on the left wing of the division of the army, and was not brought into close line of battle before the enemy gave up. He was in the ranks when the American army was drawn up in double columns to witness the surrender of Gen. Burgoyne. He saw his army when they stacked arms, and stood in the ranks when they passed through the American columns, unarmed, mortified and vanquished, while the bosoms of the American soldiers swelled with the joy of a rich triumphant conquest ; a conquest, too, which inspired the American Colonies with the assurance of success in a final victory. I have heard him say he was not wounded in the army. In one instance a soldier at his side was shot down, but not killed ; he took him upon his shoulder and carried him from the field. In one instance upon a retreat, near, or in the suburbs of New York city, the enemy were so close upon him that he lost his pack, blanket and clothes, excepting what he had on. In another instance, about the same time, he was taken with cramp in his feet and limbs, in this condition he crawled into some bushes and lay undiscovered by the enemy as they passed, and the next day was successful in joining the ranks where he belonged. At times he was placed on short allowance, on horse beef, from old horses unfit for service ; at times diseased with the distempers of the camp ; at times subject to great fatigue, severe hard‑

ships and much suffering, from cold, hunger and want of suitable clothing. His bed was upon the ground sheltered by his tent, and sometimes only by the canopy of heaven; yet I never heard him complain or cast the least reflection upon his officers or his country, for the remembrance of hardships was lost in the heart cheering gratification of a completed ascendancy over British oppression, and the glorious acheivement of American liberty.

After the declaration of peace he returned to Shrewsbury and engaged in some money speculations ; thence he went to Shoreham, Vt., in 1784 or 1785, and there, for the first time, met with Timothy Fuller Chipman. They were both employed in carrying the chain in surveying the township into lots, which occupied their attention for several weeks in the woods. In 1785 he visited Newfane for the purpose of seeing his sister and making her a visit. He was sufficiently pleased with the location to be induced to make a purchase in view of settlement; accordingly he bought six acres of land in its wild and forest state, on which he erected a shop about fifty rods from his sister's, to whom he was always fondly attached. This was a frame building erected in 1785 or 1786, where he commenced his business as a blacksmith, which business he pursued until his death, December 15th, 1833. He put up his house in 1786, finished the outside and painted it, partly finished the inside, but did not complete the inside work for several years after. In this house all his children were born, excepting the first-born; here he lived and died. He was a man rather above the middle size, rather corpulent, weighing nearly two hundred pounds, generally in good health with the exception of rheumatism, probably the result of hardships and privations in the army. For close attention to his business, laborious and persevering toil, he was scarcely excelled. Possessing means to stock his shop and carry on his business with advantage to himself and others, also being desirous of accommodating his customers, he confined himself to his shop early and late. Kept work on hand in advance, both for the farmer and mechanic, which met a ready sale.

The country was new, the inhabitants principally new settlers after the war, and many of them from the army, having lost their all in the depreciation and final loss of

Continental money, yet struggling hard to clear up their new lands and make a living. He was indulgent, refused nothing by the way of barter for his work, trusted all who wished, and it was a very rare case where it was not sought, and waited patiently for his pay.

In 1786, he, Marshall Newton, married Lydia Newton, the eldest daughter of Solomon Newton, a farmer of Shrewsbury, Mass., and the same year she accompanied him to Newfane, distance of about seventy miles and called in those days a three days' journey. His house not being prepared to occupy conveniently, he moved into the house with his brother-in-law, Ephraim Holland, and remained with them until after the birth of their first child, named Ephraim Holland.

In those early times he used to take in fur, and purchased the pelts of game in that and the neighboring townships ; this with other produce, in the winter he would carry to Boston, and exchange for iron, steel, and such blacksmithing tools as he could purchase to a better advantage than make, together with groceries and necessaries for the family. This was his annual custom for years. Among my earliest recollections are the skins of wild game and packages and bales of fur in a course of preparation for the market. As his children advanced to a suitable age, in his annual visits to the metropolis of New England, he was mindful of means for their improvement and used to bring them school books and little picture books for their amusement and instruction. Among these small toy books was the "New England Primer," "Cock Robin," ''Capt. Gulliver," "Robinson Crusoe," "Children of the Wood" and "Mother Goose's Melodies," which constituted about all the variety of books for children of that age. I also recollect the high gratification experienced on his return, and the great impatience and self-denial endured in being under the necessity of going into another room out of sight, and then to the trundle bed until morning, to give him an opportunity of bringing his wares into the kitchen and smoking them over the fire as precautionary measures against the small-pox. Boston was one hundred and ten miles from Newfane, and the journey down and back was performed in about twelve days. However trifling are these incidents in

themselves considered, they serve to illustrate the contrast between that and the present age.

My father took a deep interest in the education of children. He said the want of it himself led him to see the need of it in others. Yet he was a tolerable reader, wrote a fair hand and was sufficiently versed in arithmetic to render him accurate in business and quite equal to men of his age ; still, he felt the loss of a better education and was ready to give his children every desirable advantage for their improvement. His oldest son he boarded out, at the age of four years, and sent him to school. The first school in the school district to which he belonged was opened in the southeast room of his house. After a school-house was built and teachers employed, he gave them a welcome home for board at their pleasure or convenience. Although a heavy taxpayer, he warmly advocated free schools at the expense of taxpayers to give the children of the poor advantages and all the perquisites and benefits of schooling as well as the rich.

He was a ready and liberal contributor to the erection of the public buildings and other improvements of the place. Was active in the erection of the academy and bore a heavy share of the expense, became a liberal patron and gave his influence in sustaining its interests.

In business matters he had a preference to his own rather than that of others, and uniformly refused offices of official trust as they were tendered to him, so far as they could be consistently avoided unless it was to share the burden with his fellow citizens. His business was at home and not abroad, seldom leaving it, even to make a social visit or to while away an hour, so devoted was he to his employment as a mechanic, and so ready for a bargain with those who sought it, that he would buy and sell farms and other property without leaving his anvil or stopping his work to go and look at his purchases and sales. To some this may look like presumption and even hazardous, yet his bargains did not impoverish him. He was fond of good living and provided liberally for the wants of his family, was generous hearted in extending the hospitalities of his house to strangers as well as friends, to the poor as well as the affluent. He was kind to his family in anticipating their wants and in making ample provision for their comfort

and happiness. His descendants for several generations will probably share in the avails of his industry and economy as reserved and bestowed for their benefit. The example of his industrious habits will prove a fortune to the possessor. May his mantle rest upon his descendants.

In politics he was a whig of the school of Washington, ardent to sustain the genuine principles of Washington's Administration, under whom he fought, and to whom he was knit as a child to a father. In religion he called himself a Presbyterian, but as no organization of that body existed to his accommodation, he cordially gave his support and attendance to the Congregational religious denomination.

In the first acts of Congress granting pensions to soldiers of the revolution who were in needy circumstances, Marshall Newton being a man of property was not included. He felt the injustice of this act. He said he was cut off because he had not spent his living in idleness and dissipation. He had spent seven years in the army and after leaving it, by hard work had made a fortune and by heavy taxes had contributed largely to the support of government and the rise of the country, and for all this was denied an equal standing with the poor and dissipated. He said it was not the need or the want of the money that he cared for, but the principle he felt to be wrong. After a course of years Congress passed additional acts, upon which he made application for a pension, which was granted but did not reach him but a few hours before his death.

His last illness was about two weeks, occasioned by the following circumstances: He went to his wood-house for a handful of wood, a small stick fell against his shin and grazed off a small piece of skin, which he considered trifling and gave him but little uneasiness, but taking cold it settled, became inflamed, the limb much swollen, and in spite of all effort to the contrary, mortification followed, which caused his death on Sabbath evening, December 15th, 1833, in the 77th year of his age, which was severely felt as a sore bereavement by his family and friends. His funeral was at his mansion, by the services of the Rev. Jonathan McGee, pastor of the Congregational church, in Brattleboro East Village, and by a large collection of friends and citizens, he was buried in the

common burying ground, easterly from the public buildings in the centre of the town, and a grave stone with inscription thereon, at the head of his grave, marks the place where his body rests.

To return, as before stated Marshall Newton, born January 13th, 1757, in 1786 married Lydia Newton, born at Shrewsbury, Mass., August 5th, 1765, daughter of Solomon Newton, a farmer, to whom at Newfane, Vt., were born:

Ephraim Holland Newton, June 13th, 1787.

Eunice Taylor Newton, December 24th, 1788.

Sir Isaac Newton, April 12th, 1791.

Daniel Newton, February 15th, 1793, died April 6th, 1839.

Twins, sons, March 14th, 1796, died same day.

Hannah Newton, September 18th, 1799.

Louisa Newton, August 14th, 1803.

Marshall Newton, April 1st, 1805, died June 29, 1870.

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REV. EPHRAIM HOLLAND NEWTON, D. D.

From the Presbyterian Historical Almanac for 1865.

He was born in Newfane, Vermont, June 13, 1787. His ancestors were from England, and settled in the eastern part of Massachusetts, about the year 1630. His father, Marshall Newton, served for seven years in the Revolutionary army, and his grandfather, Marshall Newton, of Shrewsbury, Mass., was a Lieutenant in Colonel Williams' Regiment in the "Old French War." Young Newton spent the early part of his life in labor with his father in the blacksmith shop. He had a special fondness for books, and determined to acquire something more than a common education. While at work with his father making axes he mastered English grammar, and laying his book upon the forge near the bellows-pole committed it to memory page after page until the whole was familiar.

When in his nineteenth year he taught a district school in Marlboro', Vt., with very marked success. He fitted for college with Alvan Tobey, of Wilmington, and at the Windham County Grammar School, in Newfane, and entered the Freshman class at Middlebury College, October 6, 1806, under Rev. Jeremiah Atwater, President, and graduated, August 16, 1810, under Rev. Henry Davis, President. In the autumn of 1809, during a powerful revival of religion in the vicinity of Middlebury, which extended to the college, he was hopefully converted, and in April, 1810, he, with about one hundred others, made a public profession of religion, and united with the Congregational church in Middlebury under the pastoral care of Rev. Dr. Merrill.

He entered the Theological Seminary, in Andover, Mass., in November, 1810, and completed his theological course there in September, 1813. He was licensed to preach the gospel by the Haverhill Massachusetts Association of Congregational Ministers, April 14, 1813. His first field of labor was in Marlboro', Vt. He commenced his labors here in October, 1813, and was ordained and installed March 16, 1814.

Dr. Newton's ministry in Marlboro' continued until January 1, 1833, and it was a successful ministry — one hundred and thirty-three persons were received to the church. A new church edifice was erected and the cause of education and morality received a valuable impulse through the whole community. Dr. Newton was installed pastor of the Presbyterian church in Glens Falls, N. Y., February 28, 1833, and during his pastorate of about three and a half years in this place one hundred and seventy-two members were added to the church.

In November, 1836, he commenced his labors with the Presbyterian church, in Cambridge, of New York, where he served as pastor until August, 1843. During his pastorate here eighty-three were added to the church, besides others who came into the church soon after his resignation, the fruits of special religious interest that prevailed during the last months of his ministry here. In July, 1843, he was elected Principal of Cambridge Washington Academy,

which post he occupied with great efficiency and success until August, 1848.

During this time he supplied the Reformed Dutch church, in Easton, N. Y., for one year ; also, the Reformed Dutch church, in Buskirk's Bridge for two years.

Having a fondness for the natural sciences, Dr. Newton gave his attention early in life to mineralogy and geology, and availing himself of the opportunities he enjoyed to collect specimens in these departments, he had gathered one of the largest and most valuable private cabinets in the land. This cabinet of about ten thousand specimens attracted the attention of connoisseurs and elicited proposals for purchase from several quarters. All these he refused, and in August, 1857, presented it to the Theological Seminary in Andover, Mass., and there gave the summer months of several successive seasons in arranging these specimens and preparing a catalogue. He afterwards gave his library of about one thousand volumes to Middlebury College.

In 1860 he returned for the first time, after an absence of twenty-seven years, to Marlboro', Vt., and finding his former parish destitute of the preached word, he consented to occupy the pulpit for a time, preaching as he had strength, while at the same time he was engaged in gathering materials for a history of that township. He found here a most discouraging state of things, but he addressed himself with zeal to the work of restoring that wasted heritage of the Lord. He spent the most of his time here until the fall of 1862, when he was elected to represent that people in the Legislature of Vermont, and while in the discharge of his duties as a member of that Legislature he was attacked with a severe fit of sickness from which he never fully recovered. In the fall and winter of 1863 and the spring of 1864 he was the acting pastor at Wilmington, Vt., and there sustained his last labors in the pulpit. At the time of his death he had made arrangements to supply that people for the winter.

In August and September Dr. Newton made his first visit to the West. He went to visit two sons and their families in Cincinnati, Ohio, to visit other kindred and to

secure a suit of fossils and shells from the Ohio river, and his last contribution to the cabinet in Andover.

He returned, October 15th, to the house of his son-in-law, John M. Stevenson, Esq., in Cambridge, N. Y., where he had made his home for the last eight years, and while engaged in labors at the academy for a few days took a severe cold, failed rapidly, and died October 26, 1864. Dr. Newton was tall in person, dignified in appearance, and genial in his manner. The prevailing expression of his countenance was that of benevolence, and he never failed to command the respect and to win the affection of those with whom he was associated.

As a preacher he was plain, earnest and Scriptural, seeking to present the great truths of the Bible in their simplicity rather than exhibit ornament in style or oratory. His ambition was to acquire knowledge, and make himself a learned man, that he might be more useful among his people and become qualified to instruct the pupils committed to his care.

He was especially active in all that concerned the welfare of his people, in things both religious and secular, and a zealous and successful worker in the town and country benevolent associations of the day. For his attainments in Theological and general knowledge his Alma Mater conferred on him the honorary degree of D. D. From early life he manifested a great interest in the cause of education, and his first effort after being settled as a pastor in Marlboro' and Glens Falls was to establish schools, which were successful and proved a lasting benefit.

At Cambridge he found a good academy already established, and immediately gave it the benefit of his energies and counsels. After resigning his pastorate he was its principal for five years. Subsequently he became its president, and his interest in this institution continued during his life, and his last public act was in performing an official duty in that academy.

Dr. Newton took a great interest in agricultural matters, and by his advice and example among the people of his first charge, introduced many beneficial changes in their mode of farming, especially in sheep husbandry. After

giving up the academy at Cambridge he retired to a small farm where he remained for several years. During this period he devoted much time to the cultivation of varieties of seeds and vegetables, with a view of learning what were the best, and by this means gave much valuable information to the neighboring farmers. He contributed many articles for publication in the agricultural journals, and at the time of his death was president of the Washington County Agricultural Society.

Rev. I. O. Fillmore, who followed Dr. Newton in the pastoral office in Cambridge, writes as follows: "My acquaintance with Dr. Newton began with my ministry in Cambridge. He was one of my parishioners there. He had passed through some troubles that had grown out of the old and new school controversy, which at that time was agitating some of the churches in that part of the country. The parties in the church and congregation were about equally divided, a small majority being with those who espoused the old school side of the controversy. With this side Dr. Newton had identified himself. Of course, he encountered the opposition of the other party. This item of history is given, not to revive feeling, now happily passed away, but to show that what Dr. Newton encountered arose from the state of things in the church and not from anything chargeable upon him personally as a man or a minister. Any other minister, at that particular juncture of affairs, would have experienced equal or greater troubles.

"If this state of things, and the delicate position he occupied, put some restraints upon our intercourse, it was not long before all reserve and restraints were thrown off, and I think I may say our friendship was mutual and cordial. I learned to love him and to seek his counsels and aid, and I may as well state here that the bitter feelings which controversy and party spirit had engendered in the minds of some, all passed away, and the whole church and congregation loved and honored him as an honest, upright man, a devoted, faithful minister of Christ, and as a Father in Israel.

"In summing up his characteristics and virtues I am at a loss where to begin or where to end. He must have

been well on to three score years when I first saw him, perhaps in the fifty-sixth or seventh year of his age. He was spare in person, rather tall. His countenance was grave, sometimes wearing a shade of sadness. My first impression of him was that he was a severe and gloomy man. But I found him to be the reverse. He was usually cheerful and pleasant in conversation and intercourse. There was in him a vein of humor and wit, which would now and then reveal itself, but not so as to compromise his dignity or seriousness.

"He was a man of great industry, never allowing himself to be idle. When he retired from the more active duties of a regular ministerial charge he was engaged at first as principal of Cambridge Academy, which was never more flourishing than under his supervision ; afterward he devoted himself to agriculture, in which he excelled.

"In matters of business he was proverbially accurate and honest, and was one of the best accountants I ever knew. He used to say that the manner and accuracy of keeping accounts determined a man's success in business. Respecting his attainments in scholarship, I am not able to speak, except that in the natural sciences, he is said to have excelled. There was a time when in mineralogy and geology he was equal to any in the land. Had he given his undivided attention to these sciences, he would have been the peer of any of our eminent geologists.

"During my ministry in Cambridge he gave a course of sermons on the first chapter of Genesis, in which he displayed high attainments in geology and great ability in reconciling that science with revelation.

"As a preacher Dr. Newton was sound and scriptural rather than imaginative, ornamental, and oratorical. His sermons were models of system and Scripture illustration. He was a great friend to all the benevolent operations of the church, and was especially interested in the cause of Foreign Missions. Acquainted with the early efforts of the American Board and with many of the first missionaries, he never lost sight of the operations of that noble institution. He was also a warm friend and patron of the Board of Missions in that church with which he was so long identified.

He was always ready to assist at missionary meetings and concerts. His extensive knowledge, and his accurate presentation of statistics, were of great advantage, and always interested his hearers. He was a man of prayer and a lover of the doctrine and order of the church with which he was connected.

"In every sense he was a good and faithful man and minister, and I was not surprised to learn that death found him ready to go and join the church triumphant and engage in the higher service in the temple not made with hands. He came to his grave in a good old age, like a shock of corn fully ripe. The memory of the just is blessed. May the example of his fidelity to the cause of Christ and of his many virtues excite to imitation, and may the mellow rays of his sunset linger long in the memories of his children and other friends."

Rev. A. B. Bullions, of Troy, N. Y., writes thus: "Dr. Newton was a man of great industry, perseverance, enthusiasm, and fidelity to his trusts. His life was filled up with usefulness, and wherever he was placed he labored conscientiously and successfully for the well-being of the community. As a preacher, he was orthodox, discriminating, and faithful to the souls of men. As a Christian, he was humble and trustful, always living near his Saviour. As a friend, he was genial and warm-hearted. Apart from the duties of his sacred calling, he devoted much of his time to the cause of education, and to every interest designed to benefit the community in which he lived. Having a sure and safe judgment, he knew how to devise well ; and possessed of a remarkably methodical mind, combined with great perseverance, he could accomplish well all he undertook. He was never in a hurry, and yet his influence was powerfully felt in every good work. He labored all his life, and almost up to the day of his death ; and his record is not only on high, but also among a grateful people, who will now sadly miss his presence, and his unselfish devotion to their welfare. But 'blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, for they rest from their labors, and their works do follow them.' "

He was married, January 29, 1815, to Huldah, eldest

daughter of Gen. Timothy F. Chipman, of Shoreham, Vt., who was a lineal descendant from John Howland, one of the Pilgrim fathers who came to this country in the Mayflower, in December, 1620. She was an excellent and devout woman, who entered into rest in Jackson, N. Y., November 26, 1853. By her he had five sons, and one daughter, as follows:

A son, born July 8, 1817, died same day.

Silas Chipman Newton, born December 29, 1818, died, at Cincinnati, Ohio, February 11, 1871.

Ephraim Holland Newton, Jr., born February 17, 1821, died April 13, 1822.

Seraph Huldah Newton, born August 6, 1823, married John W. Stevenson, Esq., September 20, 1843, who was born October 22, 1818, died September 8, 1872.

Ephraim Holland Newton, Jr., born January 7, 1825, died in Byram, Miss., September 27, 1874.

John Marshall Newton, born July 16, 1827.

Three sons and one daughter survive, to cherish, with many other friends, the memory and mourn the loss of a good father and a good man.

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HON. MARSHALL NEWTON,

[SON OF MARSHALL NEWTON SENIOR,]

Was born in Newfane, April 1, 1805, and died June 29, 1870, aged sixty-five years. The subject of this sketch was possessed of more than ordinary intelligence and good sense. He was modest and unobtrusive in his deportment, and exceedingly practical in all his views and observations. Respected for his judgment, and popular and unaffected in his manners, he was, for forty years, honored with the most important municipal offices in the gift of his townsmen. And he discharged his official duties with great fidelity. He represented the town in the General Assembly two years, was high

sheriff of the county one year, and for six consecutive years was elected and served as first assistant judge of the Windham County Court. At the time of his decease he was county treasurer and deputy county clerk. His neighbors and townsmen reposed great confidence in his integrity and good judgment, and he was largely engaged in the execution of responsible trusts, during the last years of his life, growing out of the settlement of estates, and the discharge of various important commissions that were entrusted to his care. He was greatly beloved by a large circle of friends for his genial social qualities and his simple, childlike, modest and unobtrusive deportment. He possessed a heart full of kindness, and, in the enjoyment of ample means, he dispensed his charities to the poor and suffering with a liberal and open hand. He was greatly respected while living and sincerely mourned at his decease.

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JONATHAN ROBINSON, SENIOR.

Born in Milford, Mass., July 12th, 1754, married Sarah Taylor, sister of Rev. Hezekiah Taylor, and removed to Newfane in the early part of 1775. He bought of John Wheeler, November 13th, 1775, a farm in the parish, so called, which he occupied until September, 1796, when he exchanged farms with Lieut. James Lamb. The Lamb farm which he received in exchange embraced an extensive meadow a hundred rods or more below Williamsville, where Sackett's men who were killed in the fight with Hobbs, June 27th, 1748, were buried. In 1796, when Jonathan Robinson took possession of the farm, a large number of graves were distinctly visible near a clump of chestnut trees standing on the lower portion of the meadow, and they were said to be the graves of those who were killed in the fight with Melvin at the mouth of the South Branch, formerly called the lower fork of the Wantastiquet.

But by an examination of the journal of Capt. Melvin, which has been published in the papers of the New Hampshire Historical Society, and the journals of Stevens and Taylor, it is conclusively settled that the fight of Capt. Melvin with the Indians occurred at Jamaica, about four miles below the upper fork of the Wantastiquet, and seventeen miles north of Newfane ; the most reasonable theory is, that those who were killed in the fight which occurred between Sackett and Hobbs were buried here. The fight is fully described in the address which precedes these biographical sketches. It is worthy of notice that the chestnut trees growing on this meadow are the only trees of the kind found in this county outside of the valley of the Connecticut river. This meadow is some ten or twelve miles west of the Connecticut river.

Jonathan Robinson died April 14th, 1819.

Sarah Robinson, his wife, died March 9th, 1809.

They had ten children, as follows:

Simon T. Robinson, born April 19th, 1779, died in Townshend, May 11th, 1813.

Abigail Robinson, born March 25th, 1781, married Wm. H. Williams, died July 26th, 1821.

John H. Robinson, born August 3rd, 1783, died September 17th, 1843.

Aaron C. Robinson, born October 3rd, 1785, killed by a fall from his wagon June 4th, 1864.

Jonathan Robinson, born November 5th, 1787, died July 23rd, 1829 at Wardsboro.

Hezekiah Robinson, born March 31st, 1791, died February 7th, 1851, at Waterloo, Canada.

Sally Robinson, born January 12th, 1795, died April 16th, 1871.

Hannah C. Robinson, born July 5th, 1798, married Arad Taylor, January 11th, 1821, died September 1st, 1853.

Mary C. Robinson, born July 29th, 1800, died in infancy.

Hollis T. Robinson, born August 25th, 1803.

AARON C. ROBINSON,

The third son of Jonathan Robinson, Senior, succeeded his father in the possession of the farm and occupied the same until his decease, in 1864, and during his possession added to it largely by the purchase of adjoining lands. He possessed more than ordinary ability. His strong sense and excellent judgment gave him great prominence among his townsmen. For thirty years or more before his death, he was uniformly selected and appointed Road Commissioner, at almost every term of the Windham County Court, upon petitions to lay roads and bridges in the several towns in the county.

It is creditable to his superior judgment that there are more or less highways in every town in the county, that were surveyed and laid out under his especial direction and supervision, and since they were built they have greatly subserved the interest and convenience of the public.

He married Betsey Crosby, of Brewster, Mass., June 18th, 1816. She was born July 12th, 1791, died October l0th, 1867.

They had four children, as follows:

Mary C. Robinson, born July 18th, 1817, married Dennis A. Dickinson February 25th, 1845.

Eliza A. Robinson, born August 10th, 1831.

Aaron W. and Betsey C. Robinson, twins, born August 9th, 1833 ; Aaron W. died December 13th, 1838. Betsey C. married O. L. Sherman, of Newfane, September 10th, 1856.

JONATHAN ROBINSON, JUNIOR,

The fourth son of Jonathan Robinson, Senior, was educated for a merchant and was largely engaged in mercantile business in Wardsboro, where he resided at the time of his decease. He was highly respected and honored by his townsmen; represented the town in the General Assembly, was for a few years a Judge of the Windham County Court, and was highly esteemed for his ability and enterprize.

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HEZEKIAH ROBINSON.

[ BY REV. FREDERICK ROBINSON.]

Son of Jonathan Robinson Sr., was born at Newfane, Vt., March 31st, 1791. He received a good elementary English education at the Academy of his native town, where his close application and abilities gave sure promise of the success which he achieved in after life. From the age of eighteen he was for several years engaged in wool-carding, and the manufacture of woollen goods in the summer, employing the winter in school teaching, in which he was eminently successful.

In 1817 he married Seleucia Knowlton, oldest daughter of Assistant Judge Luke Knowlton, of Windham County.

His father-in-law, whom he always held in great respect and friendship, having removed to Canada, Mr. Robinson followed him in 1821, and settled in Stukely, Shefford County, where he built a carding mill. The following year he purchased a valuable mill site in the adjoining township of Shefford, with small grist and saw mills, and to which he removed his carding mill. A few years later he rebuilt the mills and opened a store. At Judge Knowlton's suggestion he called his new purchase Waterloo.

Here, in a new country, with small capital, and by no means robust health, and with a young family dependent on him, his energy and perseverance were called into full exercise. But by prudence, foresight, and untiring industry, he, with God's blessing, acquired a considerable fortune.

His unswerving integrity commanded the respect and confidence of the community. He was repeatedly chosen to municipal and other offices, which he filled with ability and credit. By the Governor of the Province he was, in 1831, appointed Justice of the Peace for the District of Montreal, and in 1836 the first post master of Waterloo. From the time of his appointment to the date of his death, in 1851, he was the leading magistrate in the neighborhood.

In 1815 he became a member of the Congregational Society in his native town, then under the pastorate of the Rev. Jonathan Nye. Shortly after his removal to Canada he became a member of the Church of England (Episcopal) and was ever after warmly attached to her Scriptural Liturgy, a constant attendant upon her worship, and a devout and regular communicant. He contributed liberally towards building the first church (Episcopal) in Waterloo, and gave seventeen acres of valuable land, now comprised within the village limits, towards the endowment of the parish.

The village which he practically founded, is now, in 1876, a thriving town of nearly three thousand inhabitants, the seat of public business of the county, and the commercial centre of a wealthy and enterprising district.

Mr. Robinson's family consisted of five sons and four daughters, all of whom, with the exception of one daughter, who died in childhood, married and settled in Waterloo, or its vicinity.

Children of Hezekiah Robinson:

Charlotte Knowlton Robinson, born at Newfane, November 28th, 1818, married in 1839 to Roswell Albert Ellis, Esq., J. P. Merchant.

Jonathan Robinson, born at Newfane, November 4th, 1820, died at Waterloo, Canada, October 26th, 1866. For several years warden of the county of Shefford. Merchant, Frederick Robinson, born February 10th, 1823. Clergy‑

man of the Church of England, parish of Abbotsford, Diocese of Montreal.

Seleucia Robinson, born November 2nd, 1824, died May 3rd, 1835.

Hezekiah Luke Robinson, born January 1st, 1827. Merchant.

Sarah Melinda Robinson, born December 5th, 1828, died November 23rd, 1873. Married in 1852 to Dr. J. C. Butler, physician and surgeon.

George Canning Robinson, born August 25th, 1831. Clergyman of the Church of England, parish of Aylmer, Diocese of Montreal.

Abigail Knowlton Robinson, born April 1st, 1834, died November 17th, 186o. Married in 1854 to J. D. Parsonage, merchant.

Edward Robinson, born September 6th, 1837, died November 4th, 1864. Merchant.

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HOLLIS T. ROBINSON,

The youngest son, was bred a merchant in the store of his brother Jonathan, and for several years was engaged in mercantile business. He represented the town of Newfane in the General Assembly, and for many years he has officiated as trial justice in Newfane. He resided seventeen years in Canada, and for fourteen years was a Sheriff's Bailiff in one of the eastern counties.

He married Eliza Tufts, daughter of Rev. James Tufts, of Wardsboro, and they had four children, all of whom are now living.

HON. LUKE KNOWLTON, JUNIOR.

BY REV. FREDERICK ROBINSON.

Luke Knowlton, Jr., son of the Hon. Judge Luke Knowlton, of the Supreme Court of Vt., and of Sarah Holland, his wife, was born in Newfane, March 24, 1775, and educated first at the elementary school, at Westminster, Vt., then at Chesterfield academy, N. H., and finally as a private pupil and law student of his brother Calvin, a graduate of Dartmouth College, N. H., at Newfane, where he was admitted to the bar about 1796. He was a successful practitioner although he had no special fondness for the profession, and became assistant judge of Windham county, and also represented Newfane for several years in the General Assembly of Vermont.

In 1799 he married Charlotte, daughter of Deacon Moses Kenney, of Newfane, who was then under sixteen years of age. Her father opposed the match on three grounds, viz.:

First — "She is too young." Second — "I cannot spare her." Third — "I can give her no dower."

To this demurrer the young advocate replied:

First — "She will grow older every day, and as fast in my hands as in yours." Second — "You have a wife and other daughters, and can better do without her than I can." Third — "It is your daughter that I want and not a dower."

The man of law was successful in his suit — the demurrer of the Deacon being withdrawn.

This union proved to be fruitful, the issue being ten daughters and five sons, nine of whom still survive. Eight daughters and four sons grew up to man's estate, and all married, except one daughter, whose union with an estimable young man was prevented by her death. All became highly respected members of the community in which they lived.

Previous to his father's death, in 1810, Mr. Knowlton became interested with him in wild lands in the Province of Lower Canada ; this led to repeated journeys, on horseback,

to that district, involving journeys of four hundred to five hundred miles each trip, and eventually resulted in his settling, in 1821, in Stukeley, Shefford county, Lower Canada, on the farm on which his brother Silas settled, in 1798. Here his three youngest children were born, and his youngest child was buried, in 1824, by the side of his brother's wife, who died in 1801. In 1825 Judge Knowlton removed to Brome, then in Shefford county, and settled upon a farm, where he remained thirty years, till his death, aged eighty, in 1855, having survived his wife twelve years.

Impaired health prevented Judge Knowlton from taking an active part in public affairs after his removal to Canada, but his intelligence and integrity of character made him a valued citizen of the country of his adoption, as they had done in his native country. He was a man of fine personal appearance, of which his portrait, taken when upwards of seventy years of age, and in feeble health, gives an inadequate idea. He died, as he lived, esteemed by all who knew him.

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THE HON. COL. P. H. KNOWLTON, M. L. C.

BY REV. FREDERICK ROBINSON.

Paul Holland Knowlton was the son of Silas Knowlton and of Sarah Holbrook, his wife, and grandson of the Hon. Judge Luke Knowlton of the Supreme Court of Vt., and one of the first settlers in Newfane. He was born in Newfane in 1787. In March, 1798, his parents moved into Shefford county, Lower Canada, with their two children, Holland, aged eleven and Luke, aged three. Capt. John Whitney and wife, with one child accompanied them. The party stopped at West Shefford till May, when the women and children were placed upon horseback and moved on to Stukeley, some twelve miles distant, by a bridle path through the forest. Here they were left in a rude log cabin, covered and floored with split basswood planks, with no door to close the entrance,

while the two men returned to West Shefford for further supplies and fodder for the horses. Mrs. Knowlton and Mrs. Whitney closed the entrance to the cabin with a blanket, and kept up a brisk fire all night for fear of wild beasts, but sleep they had none.

Thus early was Holland Knowlton subjected to the privations familiar to the first settlers of an unbroken forest. His only sister, Samantha, was the first child born in Stukely, in June, 1799. Two years later he suffered an irreparable loss in the death of his mother, at the birth of his youngest brother, Samuel. The same year Holland was sent back to Newfane to attend the academy where he received his education. During this period he boarded in the family of his uncle, Luke Knowlton, then a prominent lawyer, in Windham county, and a valuable friend of a young man. He also had intimate intercourse with his grandfather, Judge Luke Knowlton, Sen. Such companionship was invaluable to Holland, and no doubt had much to do with the success which he achieved in after life.

In 1807 he returned to Stukeley, and two years later married Miss Laura Moss, of Bridport, Vt., then engaged in teaching in Stukeley, and settled upon a farm where he remained six years.

In 1815 Holland Knowlton settled upon a large farm, in Brome township, then forming a part of Shefford county. Here he entered into mercantile business on such a scale as suited the requirements of a new settlement. Some years later he left the farm and moved a short distance to an eligible site, and built mills, store, etc., and procured the erection of a church, and the settlement of a clergyman of the Church of England. Various mechanics and others were induced to establish themselves at the same place, which soon became a thriving village and was called Knowlton.

Holland Knowlton's political life begun in 1827, when he was elected member of the Provincial Parliament of Lower Canada, for Shefford county. In 1837 Mr. Knowlton, who had previously been appointed a Justice of the Peace, took an active part in the support of the government against

the Papineau rebellion, and was appointed Lieut. Colonel of the militia.

In 1839 Col. Knowlton was appointed a member of the special council for the government of Lower Canada, after the abolition of the Parliament, consequent upon the rebellion, and in 1841 a member of the Legislative Council of United Canada, which position he held till his death, in 1863.

In 1855 the Hon. Col. Knowlton procured the erection of Brome county, of which Knowlton became the county seat, and is now, 1876, an important village of about fifteen hundred inhabitants, and is a railway station.

He was a man of great public spirit, foremost in procuring the opening up of new roads, in encouraging education, municipal institutions and increased facilities for the administration of justice. The county of Brome is especially indebted to his sagacity and influence, personal and political, for a large share of its progress and prosperity.

Having no children of his own, Col. Knowlton adopted the eldest daughter and youngest son of his brother Luke, to whom he was a kind father, and who inherited his estate. The former succeeded to the homestead and is married to H. S. Foster, Esq., registrar of Brome county ; and the latter is married to a daughter of the Hon. Col. Foster, ex-senator of Canada ; also, a native of Newfane, and a prominent railway contractor and manager.

It may be added that Dr. S. S. Foster, the father of H. S. and the Hon. Col. Foster, was a former resident of Newfane, and an early settler of Shefford county, of which he was twice elected member of Parliament. He was a leading local physician and surgeon, and, for several years previous to his death, a member of the Provincial Board for granting licenses to practice medicine and surgery.

HON. AUSTIN BIRCHARD,

Born at Wilmington, Vt., December 5, 1793. In June, 1805, he went to Saratoga Springs with his father, who died there the twenty-second of August following. After the death of his father he lived at Wilmington with his mother, employed on the farm and in the tavern, until her death. which occurred March 3, 1813, with the exception of a few months, when absent at school or attending store.

About the first of May, 1813, he left Wilmington for Paris, Oneida county, N. Y., where he resided about fifteen months engaged mostly at farm work. In the winter of 1813-14 he took a journey to Canandaigua, then considered almost the far west by Vermonters, with his uncle, Mr. Amasa Birchard.

In the fall of 1814 he returned to Vermont, attended the academy at West Brattleboro three months, and taught a district school three months the winter following. In April, 1815, he engaged himself to the late Hon. Samuel Clarke, of Brattleboro, for two years, as clerk in his store. In April, 1817, he entered into partnership for two years with the late Hon. John Noyes in a store in Dummerston as active partner, under the firm of Noyes & Birchard. At the end of two years the firm was dissolved, and his brother Roger was received as his partner in trade, under the firm of A. & R. Birchard, and business continued at the same place.

In April, 1819, he married Roxana, eldest daughter of the late John Plummer, Jr., of Brattleboro. Soon after their marriage they visited Saratoga for her health, but she continued to decline and died July 9, 1820.

In April, 1822, he removed to Newfane Hill, the county seat, and continued trade under the firm of A. & R. Birchard.

In September, 1824, he married Mary A., daughter of the late John Putnam of Chesterfield, N. H., by whom he had four children, two sons and two daughters. Sardis,

his youngest son, gave his life for his country in the war of the Rebellion, and died a prisoner at Andersonville, Ga., August 20, 1864.

On the shire being located at Park's flat, now Fayetteville, in 1825, he immediately commenced building a small store at that place and had it finished about the first of May, 1825, and filled with goods. In the fall of 1825 the new county building, having been completed, he was appointed deputy jailor, and was charged with the duty of removing the prisoners and property from the old jail to the new. He served as jailor two years, and in the meantime built his large store and dwelling house.

The subject of this sketch was an early advocate of railroads and other public improvements ; cheerfully labored on the building committee and other committees of the society formed for building the first meeting-house in Fayetteville ; also, on the prudential and other important committees of the Congregational society for many years. He served twenty consecutive years, 1828 to 1848, on the board of auditors of the town of Newfane. He was elected a member of the old council in 1833, at that time a co-ordinate branch of the State Government, and re-elected in 1834. He was elected one of the board of the Council of Censors, in 1841, and proposed an amendment to the constitution, abolishing said board and providing a different mode of amending the organic law of the State, which failed of adoption, but the proposition was renewed in 1870, and adopted by the Constitutional Convention of that year. In 1846 he was elected State Senator. In April, 1850, he retired from trade, his constant occupation for thirty-five years. In January, 1854, he was appointed treasurer of the Windham County Savings Bank, and held the office twenty years.

He was a strenuous opponent of slavery and secret societies, from early manhood. A cheerful contributor to the Missionary and Bible societies, and other public and private charities. In 1864 he united, with the Congregational church.

REV. LEWIS GROUT.

Rev. Lewis Grout was born in Newfane. Vt., January 28, 1815, attended Brattleboro Academy in 1834, '5, '6 and '7, and Burr Seminary in Manchester, Vt., in 1838 ; graduated at Yale College in 1842 ; taught in a military, classical and mathematical school, at West Point, N. Y., for nearly two years ; studied theology at Yale Divinity College two years, 1844 and 1845, and graduated from Andover Theological Seminary in 1846. He was ordained as a missionary and married to Miss Lydia Bates, in Springfield, Vt., October 8, 1846 ; set sail from Boston for South Africa October 10 ; stopped for a few weeks in Cape Town, and reached Port Natal, Africa, February 15, 1847. Here, among the Zulus, in the District of Natal, he labored as a missionary in the service of the American Board, for fifteen years, and at the end of that time, with health impaired, he returned to America, and landed in Boston June 7, 1862. Health somewhat restored, he preached a year for the Congregational Church in Saxton's River, and then accepted a call to the church in Feeding Hills, Mass., where he was installed and labored till the first of October, 1865. He then received an appointment from the American Missionary Association as Secretary and Agent of that Society for New Hampshire and Vermont, and in their employ has continued till the present time, now, September 1876, about eleven years, having his home in West Brattleboro.

He has had two children, one a son, who died in Natal ; the other a daughter, Annie L. Grout, who graduated at Abbott Female Academy, Andover, Mass., in 1870; had charge of Belair Institute, in West Brattleboro, for four years ; taught in a Ladies' Seminary in Philadelphia a year, and is now teaching in Atlanta University, Atlanta, Ga.

WILLIAM L. WILLIAMS,

The third son, was a clerk in his father's store during his early youth, and when he attained to his majority he entered into a copartnership with his father in the mercantile business, which he prosecuted successfully for many years. He removed to Dubuque about 1860, and was extensively engaged in business as a Produce Broker at the time of his decease. He was exceedingly popular in his manners and highly esteemed for his intelligence and sound practical judgment. While residing in Newfane he manifested a lively interest in the growth and prosperity of his native town, was munificent in his donations in aid of all the enterprises that would contribute to its progress and advancement. He gave generously to the poor, was kind to the sick and suffering ; he was courteous and affable in his bearing, proverbially honest and upright in all his business relations, modest and familiar in his deportment. His whole life was without reproach and his death at the comparatively early age of fifty, was a source of great regret to all his friends and associates. He accumulated a handsome property which he bequeathed to the two sons of his deceased brother, John W. Williams.

CHARLES K. FIELD.

Charles Kellogg Field, oldest son of Martin Field, was born in Newfane April 24, 1803, fitted for college at Amherst, Mass. ; entered Middlebury College in 1818, at the age of fifteen, graduated in 1822. After studying law three years in the office of his father, was admitted to the Bar and commenced the practice of his profession in Newfane ; remained in that town until 1828, when he removed to Wilmington, Vt. ; returned to Newfane in December, 1838, removed to Brattleboro in 1861. Married Julia Ann Kellogg, of Cooperstown, N. Y., June 29, 1828. Represented the town of Wilmington in the State Legislature during the years 1835, '36, '37 and '38. Was elected Delegate to the State Constitutional Convention in 1836. Represented the town of Newfane in the State Legislature during the years 1853, '54, '55, and '60, and represented the town in the Constitutional Convention for 1843, '50 and '57. He was elected a member of the Council of Censors in 1869, and chosen President thereof at its first session in 1869, and in 1870 was chosen a member of the Constitutional Convention for 1870 from the town of Brattleboro.

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JOHN WHEELER.

John Wheeler, one of the early settlers of Newfane, was a descendant of the fourth generation, from Thomas Wheeler, of Concord, Mass., who was living there in 1640. Capt. Thomas Wheeler and Shadrach Hapgood, with twenty others, went to Brookfield to treat with the Indians in 1675. They were drawn into ambush, where Capt. Thomas Wheeler was wounded and Hapgood was killed.

A descendant of the one married a descendant of the other in 1717, and were the parents of John Wheeler, born 1735. Ward, in his "Register of Shrewsbury Families," says: "He was at Fort William Henry at the time of the memorable and unparalleled massacre of the English and Provincial troops, by the Indians, in 1757, after its surrender to Montcalm, the French commander."

John Wheeler's wife was Jedidah Bigelow, of Marlboro, Mass., and a descendant of John Bigelow, who came from Suffolk, England, and settled in Watertown, Mass., where he died in 1703, aged 86. She was also supposed to be a descendant of Nathaniel Hathorn of Lynn, Mass., who was living there in 1683, and whose children, or a part of them settled in Marlboro, where Jedidah Hathorn was married to Samuel Bigelow, the father of Mrs. Wheeler, in 1729. John Wheeler and wife were dismissed from the church in Shrewsbury, Mass., to the church in Newfane, in 1774.

Their children were,

Darius Wheeler, born in 1761, married Frances Balcom and went to Alleghany county, N. Y., about the year 1815.

Susanna Wheeler, born in 1762, married Jonas Stockwell, of Dummerston Hill.

Thomas Wheeler, born in 1765, married Amy Wood of Dummerston, settled in Newfane, where he died about the year 1813, and his widow afterwards became the second wife of Elijah Elmer, Esq., of Newfane.

Mary Wheeler, born in 1767, married Joel Stockwell, of Dummerston Hill.

Elizabeth Wheeler, born in 1769, married Daniel Taylor, Jr., of Newfane.

Catherine Wheeler, born in 1771, married Gamaliel Arnold, of Dummerston Hill.

The children of Thomas and Amy Wheeler were,

Austin Wheeler, born in 1797, went to Waterloo with Hezekiah Robinson, in 1821. Married first, Charlotte Sophia, daughter of Luke and Charlotte Kenney Knowlton. His second wife was Charlotte, daughter of Samuel and Sylvia Keep Miller, of Dummerston. His third wife was Melona Ann, daughter of George and Orilla Pease Williams,

of Newfane. He settled in Brome, Quebec, where he died in 1866.

George Wheeler, born in 1799, married Ferona, daughter of George and Orilla Pease Williams. He lives in Newfane.

Thomas Wheeler, born in 1801, married Julia Lucy, daughter of Jason Duncan, of Newfane, now living in Muskegon, Mich.

Franklin Wheeler, born in 1803, died unmarried in Newfane, in 1843.

Julianna Maria Wheeler, born in 1807, married Asa Blunt, of Bolton, Quebec.

Laura Ann Wheeler, born in 1809, married Luke Morgan Knowlton, of Brome, Quebec, died in 1845.

John Elhanan Wheeler, born in 1812, married Mary Ann Roylance, of New York city, died in Kewanee, Ill., in 1867.

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REV. OTIS WARREN.

BY REV. HOSEA F. BALLOU.

Died, at his residence, in Fayetteville, (Newfane,) Vt., May 17, 1867, Rev. Otis Warren, in his fifty-ninth year.

The character of Rev. Mr. Warren was such as deserves a biographical sketch.

He was born in Pomfret, Vt., November 23, 1807. His father, Oliver Warren, died when Otis was but seven years old, leaving him and three younger sisters in the care of an affectionate and faithful mother, who is still living in Pomfret. At nine years of age Otis was placed in the care of strangers, to earn his daily bread. His widow says: "He often spoke of this as the bitterest cup of his life." At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to learn the cabinet-makers' trade, in Barnard, which he pursued faithfully six years, enjoying only the advantages of a common school education, but, as it was his natural inclination to do well whatever he did, he became an exact and efficient mechanic. Feeling, as he did, a determined

purpose to improve in knowledge, doubtless with a view to prepare himself for greater usefulness, and in a field more congenial with his tastes, he purchased the last year of his minority and devoted himself assiduously to labor only as a means to enable him to pursue his favorite study.

Having become intensely interested in the doctrine of a universal Father and an all-efficient Saviour, he procured the works of Ballou, Balfour, Hudson and others. These with a pocket Bible were his constant companions, generally having a well-worn book upon his bench or in his hand, and midnight and often the gray light of morning would find him with unclosed eyes and book.

The sacred Scriptures became as familiar to him as "household words," and a determination to become a teacher in our spiritual Israel was fixed in his mind. He encountered many difficulties. The facilities at that time afforded the student of God's Theology were nothing in comparison with those enjoyed at the present day, as the elder portion of our ministers can but too well remember. But his failing health, never firm, was his greatest trial. Still, nothing daunted, he would say: "Be life longer or shorter, I must devote it to the one object of opening the eyes of the blind."

In October 30, 1832, he married Miss Emily, second daughter of Isaiah Tinkham, Esq., of Pomfret, a lady of many accomplishments, and every virtue, his constant companion and able coadjutor in his public labors and domestic life, known only to be respected as an industrious, faithful and prudent companion, who survives him, with their three children, two sons and one daughter, all married and enjoying an enviable reputation for intelligence, virtue, probity and usefulness.

After studying awhile with the lamented Rev. A. Bugbee, he preached his first sermon in West Brattleboro, in the summer of 1833. In the autumn he returned to his native town and preached there and in the vicinity, until he received an invitation to become pastor of the Union Society, in Newfane, Vt., to which place he with his family removed in August, 1836, where he was ordained the September following, and where he lived in happiness and peace with the society and acquaintances, in a ministry of more than twenty years.

In 1858 he journeyed to western Iowa for a change of scenery and the benefit of his waning health. He preached at Onawa through the summer and returned during the winter with little or no improvement in health or strength. After this he preached but occasionally, but continued in answer to numerous calls to attend funerals, often, no doubt, when prudence would have prevented, until about a year before his death, when his friends became somewhat alarmed at an increasing cough, which, however, it was hoped would be better in the milder season, but he grew weaker and his cough increased until autumn, when he sought medical advice. All was done that skill and affection could do, but it could not stay the insidious consumption. Death had no terrors for him. "I shall live my appointed time, I have nothing to fear as long as I believe in a father at the helm. God is good to us in this life, and I think he will be in the next, at any rate I am willing to trust him," was his reply to the solicitude of his friends.

He was wholly confined to his bed only about one week, but was not able to walk or move about the house much for two months. A week previous to his death, his physician kindly told him that there was no prospect of his getting more strength or being any better. "Then," said he, pleasantly, "I will make my preparations as I would to go a journey." He conversed with his family and friends, and gave them advice with as much composure as when in health ; gave directions with regard to his funeral, wishing his friends not to mourn, but to manifest the quietude which he felt.

He suffered greatly during the last few days, but when the final summons came his countenance became placid, and with a smile, he passed to the better land. Thus lived and died a righteous man. A man of integrity, an unassuming minister, not a sensation preacher, but a good minister of the New Testament — beloved by all his brethren and friends, and respected by all his acquaintances. His standing may be known from the fact that for four years he represented the town of Newfane in the Legislature of Vermont, and was twenty-nine consecutive years elected Town Clerk, and held the office at the time of his death. A great concourse of

citizens, of all denominations, attended his funeral. Too much cannot he said of him, nor can we cherish too deeply his memory. He had no enemies.

May God be with the widow and fatherless and enable us to sympathize with them in their affliction.

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JOHN ELHANAN WHEELER,

Son of Thomas Wheeler, born in Newfane, in 1812, was from a child, thoughtful, reticent and studious, simple in his manners and modest in his deportment. He entered the office of the "Greenfield (Mass.) Gazette," as an apprentice when he was fifteen years of age. After serving his apprenticeship there, he worked for some time in the office of the "Windham County Democrat," in Brattleboro. Afterwards was many years employed, by Mr. Greeley, as foreman in the office of the "New York Tribune," and still later was one of the editors of the "Chicago Tribune." He died of consumption, in Kewanee, Ill., in 1867. The following lines written by him, are descriptive of the writer, as he seemed to those who knew him well. They are all that remains of his genius and literary taste, although he wrote many New Year Carrier's Addresses for the New York and Chicago Tribunes:

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THE TRUE OF SOUL.

The solemn stars in their far shining, quiver

As if unstable on their thrones of blue,

But there they shine in fadeless glory ever,

And night to night their sleepless watch renew.

The needle trembles as with doubtful motion,

Yet, wav'ring, points to the unchanging pole ;

A guide, unerring, on the trackless ocean,

When storm-clouds gather, and when billows roll.

Though turned aside by all things in their flowing,

Reflecting all things in their liquid pages,

Seaward the streams perpetually are going,

Throughout the cycles of the endless ages ;

Or sealed by frost, or in the spring-time sparkling,

Or lashed to foam, or placid as the lake,

Or bright in noontide, or at midnight darkling,

One course they hold — their channels ne'er forsake.

Like these, the True of Soul may seem to falter,

By passion tossed like sere leaves in the wind,

Yet bends he ever at the one High Altar,

For but one law his will at last can bind;

Motives, a mingled crowd, are round him thronging,

Whispered suggestions come from heaven and hell,

But upward borne by an immortal longina,

Blest angels greet him, and the demons quell.

And ever strives he for the pure and holy,

The constant foe of falsehood and of wrong,

Sworn champion he of all the poor and lowly,

Against the cunning and against the strong;

His heart their home, upon his features glowing,

The gentlest thoughts obey the souls behest,

And outward sent, or guests from heaven inflowing,

Hover like doves around their wonted nest.

Sad on his car fall sorrow's wailing voices,

And quirk the hand obeys the generous will;

Diffusing joy, he like a God rejoices,

For love, in widening circles, seeks to fill

All desert hearts with sun-bright hopes, — reviving

The flowers, long withered on their arid waste,

And to the latest seeds of goodness giving

Reflected growth, with heavenly fruitage graced.

No compromise he makes with evil doing,

Though he would gladly bless all evil-doers,

And win them from the way they are pursuing,

With words persuasive as a maiden's-wooers;

With bright example, which is far more winning,

Than the best homilies which men may preach,

For who would turn the sinner from his sinning,

As taught the greatest Teacher, he must teach.

In Nature's book, that rare and wondrous volume,

He sees but types of things more true and real;

Its varied aspects, beautiful and solemn,

Suggest a deeply hid, sublime Ideal —

A Fount of Beauty whence all beauty floweth —

Exhaustless Love, free, infinitely tender —

Eternal Wisdom, which all knowledge knoweth —

A complex One, whose smile rays forth all splendor!

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ERRATA.

On page 35, third line from bottom, substitute "Sarah Holbrook" for "Lucinda Holbrook."

On page 73, fourteenth line from top substitute, "John McAllister Stevenson," for John W. Stevenson.

On page 73, sixteenth line from top, substitute June, for January.

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ADDENDA.

The following was furnished to us after the preceding pages had been printed. It should have been added to the biographical sketch of the Hon. Luke Knowlton Sr. It is copied in an abstract form from the records of the Supreme Court, which were deposited at an early day in the Clerk's Office for Rutland County. "Freeman vs. Francis Prouty."

Indictment for burglary ; respondent was tried at Westminster, February Term, 1784.

The Jury returned a verdict literally as follows:

"The Jury in this case find that the prisoner did break and enter the house of Luke Knowlton Esq., in the night season and did take and carry away the said Luke Knowlton, and if that breaking a house and taking and carrying away a person as afoersaid amounts to burglary we say he is guilty, if not, we say he is not guilty." The judgment of the court on the verdict was that he was not guilty.

Luke Knowlton and Col. Samuel Wells were regarded as friends of the American cause and supported zealously the claims of New York to the New Hampshire grants, but in 1782 they were suspected of being in the service and pay of the British Government in Canada. Consequently on the twenty-seventh day of November, 1782, Congress in secret session ordered their arrest. They received notice of the order and escaped to Canada before the officers could arrest them. Luke Knowlton returned home within a year and was residing at his house in Newfane in November, 1783. The Yorkers in Windham County supposed him still negotiating with the British, and resolved to arrest and remove him to some other State. Francis Prouty, Thomas Whipple and Jonathan Dunkley, of Brattleboro, John Wheeler and Darius Wheeler of Newfane, with others, being armed with "clubs, guns, swords, pistols and bayonets," forcibly broke and entered his house at Newfane, on the morning of November 16, 1783, took him prisoner and carried him across the boundary line into Massachusetts and left him. As soon as the seizure and abduction of Luke Knowlton was known, Gen. Fletcher, of Townshend, ordered the military to assemble. A portion of the regiment commanded by Col. Stephen R. Bradley, rallied immediately and reported themselves ready to act, but Knowlton's return and the sudden dispersion of the Yorkers terminated all further action on the part of the Vermonters.

On the eighteenth of November, Edward Smith, a constable of Newfane, entered a complaint against the rioters. Thomas Whipple, charged with an assault, plead guilty and gave bonds in £100, for his appearance before the Superior

Court at its next session at Westminster. Jonathan Dunkley was arrested and gave bonds in the same amount for his appearance before the Supreme Court. Francis Prouty, the ringleader, was afterwards found at his own house in Brattleboro by Barzillai Rice, a deputy sheriff; he was in company with his neighbors and friends armed with muskets and pitchforks. Prouty confronted the sheriff and threatened to "let out his guts" if he entered his house or touched his person. Prouty was never arrested until the 8th day of January, 1784, his house was surrounded by a party of Vermonters and he was captured and committed to Westminster Jail. On the third of February, 1784, the Superior Court commenced its session at Westminster, Moses Robinson chief justice presiding. Francis Prouty was arraigned and tried upon three several indictments, one for burglary, upon which he was acquitted, as the foregoing record shows. On one for resisting sheriff Barzillai Rice, to which he pleaded not guilty and was acquitted ; and one for seizing and carrying away forcibly Luke Knowlton out of the state of Vermont. To the last indictment he pleaded guilty and was fined £30 with costs of prosecution, and to be imprisoned in close confinement for forty days.

Darius Wheeler of Newfane was arrested and John Wheeler became bail for his appearance before justice Fletcher. No record can be found of the examinations of John and Darius Wheeler ; it is presumed that they were discharged and suffered to go at large.

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In Walton's "Governor and Council, " Vol. 2, page 116, it is suggested in a foot note that Newfane was sometimes called "New Patmos."

On page 95, last line, read "Freemen" for "Freeman."