Biographies of Chittenden County

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CHESSMORE, ALWYN HARDING, M. D. Alwyn Harding Chessmore, son of Alvah and Harriet (Thorn) Chessmore, was born in Warren, Washington county, Vermont, on the 17th of October, 1837. His father died when he was eight years of age, and four years later his mother removed to Chelsea, Vt. In 1851 he went to live with an uncle in Johnson, Vt, where he fitted for college in the academy. He concluded to begin the study of his chosen profession, medicine, without any further delay than was necessary while obtaining the means. In 1856 he attended his first course of lectures at the Castleton Medical College, whence he repaired for a year to the office of a cousin, Dr. Goodwin, of Rockford, Illinois, and continued his studies. He next went to Royalton, Vt, and studied a few months in the office of Dr. H. H. Whitcomb, after which, in the winter of 1859-60, he taught school in Sharon, Vt, and in March, 1860, entered the medical department of the University of Vermont. So thorough had been his previous application that in the following June he received from that institution the degree of M. D. The first year of his practice was in company with Dr. George W.  Bromley, then of Huntington, now of Richmond, whom he soon bought out.  In the fall of 1862, at the beginning of that war which deluged the country with fraternal blood, Dr. Chessmore entered the service of the Union army as assistant surgeon in the Fifth Regiment of Vermont Volunteers. In the spring of 1863 he was promoted to the position of surgeon of the Fifth Regiment, and by virtue of this rank soon became brigade surgeon. He shared from this time on in all the vicissitudes of the Army of the Potomac until the 25th of September, 1864, when he was mustered out in the Shenandoah Valley, and returned to Huntington. The war was not yet over, however, and he could not remain away from the field of activity.   After only a month or two of peace he went to City Point, Virginia, where he served as contract surgeon until the spring of 1865. During that season he returned to the town of his adoption. From that time to the present he has been continuously in practice in Huntington and the neigh-boring towns, and has achieved a reputation for skill and efficiency which frequently calls him many miles from home. Indeed, but a few months ago he was obliged for the sake of his failing health, brought on by overwork, to relinquish a large portion of his practice and confine himself to the care of only the most urgent and important cases.  His success, which it is not too much to say is phenomenal, may be attributed to the thoroughness of his preparation for practice, to his experience in the army, to the analytical character of his mind, and to the fact that his methods are hygienic, that is, that he depends on hygiene rather more than on medicine to effectuate his cures, excepting in cases beyond the reach of mere hygienic principles.  Being thus forced to the enjoyment of a certain amount of leisure, he determined to divert his energies to some other congenial and profitable employment, and in the fall of 1878 he purchased the milling property situated on the river in the north village of Huntington, consisting of a circular saw-mill, clapboard-mill, shingle-mill, planing-machine, cheese box factory and custom grist-mill. He immediately set about the improvement of this property, and has largely increased the capacity and business of the mills. He now manufactures about 200,000 feet of coarse lumber, 300,000 shingles, and 100,000 clapboards annually. Considering the fact that this volume of business has been added to his professional duties, it is a remarkable and highly commendatory commentary on Dr. Chessmore's abilities and energy of character. He has not attained this degree of success from the fact of large possessions as a basis ; on the contrary, when he began practicing in Huntington he was in debt for the team that carried him, .and by dint of industry and economy has accumulated a handsome property.  Dr. Chessmore is an unwavering Republican. He has always taken great interest in the political questions of the day, and has fearlessly advocated his opinions, regardless of opposition. The only political offices, however, which he has consented to hold was that of senator from Chittenden county in 1874-75, and that of town representative, to which latter office he was elected September 7, 1886.  In February, 1868, he married Minnie, daughter of Hon. Henry Gillett, of Richmond, a sketch of whose life appears in these pages. Mrs. Chessmore died in the month of August, 1874, leaving one son, born January 1, 1872, who has passed the most of his time, since the death of his mother, with her parents in Richmond.  Biographies Index

CROMBIE, WILLIAM AUGUSTUS, the second of four children of Samuel C. and Susan A. (Choate) Crombie, was born in New Boston, N. H., on the 20th day of April, 1844. He is of Scotch descent. His father was a carpenter and builder of  Boston, where he was born on the 20th of April, 1814. He died on the 16th of April, 1879, at Concord, N. H. His mother was nearly related to the celebrated Rufus Choate, probably the most distinguished lawyer and forensic orator known in the history of this country. She was born at Deny, N. H., in 1818, and died on the 19th of March, 1857, at Nashua in that State. Mr. Crombie, the subject of this sketch, remained in his native town until he was six years of age, when he removed with his parents to Nashua, N. H. There he passed his early boyhood in attendance at the common schools until the death of his mother when he was thirteen years old.

The next two years were spent at the Pinkerton Academy at Deny, N. H., after which he entered the high school at Nashua. At the age of sixteen years he began to provide for himself, and entered the employment of the Boston, Lowell and Nashua Railroad Company, and was placed in their freight office at Lowell, Mass. During his three years' engagement with this company he passed through the various positions until the beginning of the third year, when he was made cashier.   He then became acquainted with Lawrence Barnes, a sketch of whose life appears in these pages, and was induced by him to come to Burlington to act with him in a general clerical capacity, and with a view to obtaining a thorough knowledge of the lumber business.   He was then eighteen years of age.   His connection with Mr. Barnes continued for seven or eight years, during which time he grew into an intimate acquaintance with all the departments of the trade and manufacture of lumber, and with the different lumbering concerns in this country and Canada.   In the year 1869 Mr. Barnes sold out a portion of his business to a number of the present members of the Shepard and Morse Lumber Company, as narrated in the history of the lumber interests of the city of Burlington, and Mr. Crombie went in with the new company.   It is unnecessary to say that by virtue of his diligent and intelligent application he inspired his partners with a well-earned confidence, and upon the. incorporation and organization of the present stock company, the Shepard and Morse Lumber Company, he was made manager, with Mr. George H. Morse, of the Burlington department of this extensive business.   He is also a director in the company.   His interests are not, however, confined to the one company with which he is so prominently identified.   From time to time he has purchased stock in other and kindred companies, which manifested their appreciation of his abilities and integrity by an election to office.   He is now a director in the Vermont Life Insurance Company, the Porter Manufacturing Company, the  American Milk Sugar Company, the Baldwin Manufacturing Company, and the Brush Electric Light and Power Company, and president of the Burlington Shade Roller Company, besides being a stockholder in various other prominent concerns.

On the 2d day of June, 1868, Mr. Crombie was united in marriage with Lizzie Murray, daughter of Hon. Orlando D. Murray, of Nashua, N. H. Mrs. Crombie, like her husband, is of Scotch extraction, her earliest American ancestor being Isaac Murray, who came from Scotland to Londonderry, now Derry, N. H., previous to the War of the Revolution, and was there married in 1774. Her father is now one of the oldest and most prominent residents of Nashua, N. H. Mr. and Mrs. Crombie have three children, William Murray, born November 6, 1871, Arthur Choate, born May 8, 1873, and Maud Elizabeth, born January 5, 1881.   Biographies Index

DOW, ISAIAH. The paternal ancestors of the subject of this sketch came from Scotland in the early history of this country. Isaiah Dow, grandfather of his namesake now living, was a native of Bow, New Hampshire, where he was born in 1772 and died in 1826. His wife, Abigail Messer, was born in Piermont, N. H., and died at eighty-three years of age in 1864. Andrew, the oldest son and one often children of Isaiah Dow, was born in Londonderry, N. H., on the 17th of November, 1803, From that time on the family suffered untold hardships, such as are always incident to a life of poverty in a new country, until the death of the father in 1826, leaving the mother and ten children with no means of support and a debt of $600, contracted for a cloth-dressing works by the father two years previous in South Duxbury, Vt. The struggle for a family home and a meager subsistence was from that time chiefly borne by the wonderfully resolute mother and Andrew, the eldest son. The ever to be remembered freshet of 1830 entirely destroyed their dwelling house and cloth-dressing works, leaving the widowed mother enveloped in the terrible gloom of sorrow and poverty. Then it was that Andrew first manifested that character for integrity and pluck which characterized him through life by working out by the day to pay the $600 contracted by his father, and aiding the mother in the struggle against poverty. In the spring of 1829, having accomplished the payment of their debts, he bought the clothing works of Simon Lyman, in Johnson, Vt., which stood where the woolen-mill now stands.

In the spring of 1830 he married Mary, daughter of Jesse Gloyd, who manufactured the first nails ever made in this part of the State, and who was a blacksmith, harness-maker, shoemaker, and general mechanical genius. About two years after their marriage they had one child, a son, the only child of theirs which attained maturity, viz.: Isaiah Dow, the subject of this sketch, born February 7, 1832. From the time when he became old enough to share the burdens of business with his father, they largely shared the same vicissitudes until the death of Andrew Dow, October 25, 1882, aged seventy-nine years.   Andrew Dow held the office of judge of probate for several years, in Lamoille county.   At Johnson, Andrew and his brother Stephen started the manufacturing of woolen goods in 1845, and continued together until 1855, when the latter purchased the entire interest.   At this time Andrew Dow admitted his son Isaiah and Nelson M. Nay, of Milton, into a partnership with himself, and with them purchased the property still owned by the subject of this sketch and his son, of the assignees of J.  and J. H. Peck & Co., and began here the manufacture of woolen fabric for the farmers of the neighborhood.   In four years Andrew Dow withdrew from the concern, which was operated two years longer by the remaining partners.   Isaiah Dow then became sole owner of the property, and his father, who had removed to Jericho, returned and again took an interest in the business, which he again relinquished in two years. Meantime the business having increased to such proportions that Andrew Dow deemed himself of too great an age to do his share, permanently retired, and his interest was taken by Philo Percival.   In one year Noble L. Boynton succeeded Mr. Percival, and Dow & Boynton operated the mills about two years, when they were totally destroyed by fire.  This occurred in March, 1868.   The loss to customers because of the fire, which had consumed wool left by them to be manufactured, was about $15,000, and to the company, not considering insurance, about $14,000.

Mr. Dow was not made of material that submitted tamely to disaster, and he went at once to Middlebury and leased the woolen-mill at that place, which he operated for six months, trying to continue the supply of their goods until he could rebuild. In the spring of 1869 the present buildings at Mechanicsville were erected upon the ruins.  The work of rebuilding was completed within six weeks after it was begun, and the machinery was in operation within two months. Mr. Dow then took into partnership William A. Martin, the firm continuing business under the name of Dow & Martin until the spring of 1874, when the senior partner assumed control of the entire business and devoted his sole attention to increasing this industry until June, 1883, when his son, Justin Gloyd Dow, became a junior partner.   The firm name is now I. & J. G. Dow.  Previous to the fire the business, which was confined in scope to the immediate community about Hinesburg, were manufacturing about 90,000 pounds of wool per annum.  The summer of 1867 was an unfortunate one by reason of the drought, and in the fall of that year the firm of Dow & Boynton united with three other concerns interested in having good water privileges, and built what is now called the lower reservoir, which overflows about eighty acres, impeded by a dam of stone seven feet thick at the bottom, five feet at the top, and fourteen rods long. The cost of this structure was about $3,000, the dam alone constituting an expense of $1,000. The community has never since the construction of this valuable feeder known the want of water.  Until the fall of 1884 the woolen business of I. & J. G. Dow and their predecessors had been limited, as before suggested, to custom work for the farming population about the town and county ; but at that time they began the manufacture of white flannels for the market. So successful was the experiment that in the summer of 1886 the machinery was doubled in capacity, and the mill, which formerly lay still two or three months every winter, is now in operation the year round. They now manufacture about 5,000 yards of flannel a week. During the year 1885 they ran not far from 125,000 yards of goods.

Such is the bare outline of the life work of one of the men who benefit the community in which they live, by being industrious and economical, and by the use of foresight and the exercise of a sleepless energy in the conduct of their affairs. They do better service than the blatant politicians and the green-house members of labor unions, who pass their time rather in grumbling over their lot than mending it. Mr. Dow deserves credit for the fact that he began with limited means and has constantly and against discouraging odds at times enlarged his facilities and increased the proportions of his business until it is more than a success; it is a monument to his abilities and persistency.  Mr. Dow has been twice married. He was first united in marriage with Sarah A.  Newland, of Hyde Park, Vt., in February, 1855, who died in 1864, leaving two children, Justin G., now in partnership with his father, and Anna Sarah, who married John R. Rollins, of Bridgeport, Conn., in the fall of 1884, and died in September, 1885. On the 30th of November, 1865, Mr. Dow married Dulcena Benedict, daughter of Levi Franklin Benedict and Olla V. Manwell, of Hinesburg, who is the mother of two sons - Andrew and Frank B. Dow, and one daughter, Mary Olla.  Mr. Dow is a consistent member of the Republican party, and a stated attendant of the Congregational Church, of which his wife is a member.   Biographies Index

FLETCHER, MARY M. A life of simple and quiet benevolence, such as Miss Fletcher's, furnishes but few events for biography. She was born to Thaddeus and Mary L. (Peaslee) Fletcher on September 19, 1830, in Jericho, Vt., where her father was a merchant, and from whence he removed to Essex, where he was engaged in similar business for several years. In 1850 Mr. Fletcher came with his family to Burlington.  Mary Fletcher and her younger sister Ellen, the only children, received their education in the Burlington Female Seminary, conducted by Rev. J. K. Converse. Both girls were extremely delicate in health, and are remembered by their associates as being un-usually shy and reserved. Ellen, though apparently the more vigorous of the two, died of consumption after a short illness in 1855.

Mr. Fletcher having by prudence in mercantile business and fortunate investments at the West amassed a large property, and foreseeing that his family would be short lived, turned his thoughts to the question of a charitable endowment for the public benefit. Among the plans which he considered, were projects for a public library and a hospital. Death, however, came to him in 1873, before he had fully matured any of the plans which lay before him. The only considerable gifts made by Mr. Fletcher himself were an endowment fund of $10,000 given to the Essex Classical Institute and a bequest of $10,000 to the Home for Destitute Children, Burlington. Shortly after his death Mrs. Mary L, and Miss Mary M. Fletcher, his wife and daughter, to whom he had bequeathed all his property, founded and endowed the "Fletcher Free Library "of Burlington, with gifts aggregating $24,000. Of this sum, by the deed of gift, $10,000 was devoted to the immediate purchase of books; $10,000 was to be invested as a fund, the proceeds of which should be expended in purchasing books, and $4,000 was afterwards added for the publishing of the catalogue and for procuring books for the reference department. The cost of maintenance, including building, furnishing, salaries of librarians, and current expenses, is borne by the city. This has proved a most wise and beneficent gift. It appears by the last annual report of the trustees that the library has now on its shelves 18,600 volumes, that the yearly additions are about 1,000 volumes, and the number of volumes annually drawn out for reading 30,000.   Multiply these figures by the future decades of years which will inherit the ever accumulating proceeds of this gift, and the gain to the intelligence of the community is seen to be beyond calculation.  The sudden death of Mrs. Fletcher in the summer of 1875 frustrated for the time a plan for the endowment of a hospital in which both Mrs. and Miss Fletcher had taken a warm interest and which seemed to be approaching maturity. But as soon as Miss Fletcher recovered from the shock caused by her mother's death, she set herself resolutely, and under a profound sense of the responsibility placed upon her, to accomplish the project twice arrested by death, the founding of a hospital. In this act, or series of acts, by which, on her part, this plan was carried into execution. Miss Fletcher manifested a remarkable business and executive ability. It has almost become a proverb that nowhere do persons of wealth show so much weakness as in their projects for bestowing their wealth upon the public. But this quiet, resolute lady, having sought advice where she thought she could get the best, matured her plans thoughtfully, and then, waiving aside opposition, announced and proceeded to carry out her design with a wisdom and firmness which, almost equally with her generosity, entitle her to admiration.  The sum total of Miss Fletcher's gifts to the hospital is something over $400,000.  Of this amount nearly $30,000 went to the purchase of the charming estate which constitutes the hospital grounds, $50,000 was expended in building and furniture, and the remainder is a permanent fund for the maintenance of the hospital. This total of gifts made in her lifetime, and of the avails of her legacy, constitutes by far the largest benefaction made to the public in our State throughout its entire history.  Miss Fletcher's minor benefactions were in number countless and were always bestowed with a thoughtful kindness which more than doubled their value to the recipients.

She was, of course, beset by numberless solicitations which she was obliged to refuse, but the necessity of refusal always cost her gentle heart a pang. Among her latest gifts were an addition of $2,000 to the endowment fund of the Essex Classical Institute and a payment of $5,000 to the hospital for the establishment of a free bed in favor of the Winooski Avenue Congregational Church, with which she had her church home. This latter t, one of the last acts of her life, seemed to give her unusual enjoyment.  Miss Fletcher, though outliving all her family, was a life-long invalid, death from consumption seeming to be a near probability at any time for thirty years before it actually came. This prolonged feebleness and perpetual struggle for existence will explain at once her secluded mode of life and the special form of benevolence to which she gave her best thoughts and the largest part of her means. The Mary Fletcher Hospital is an expression of her deep sympathy with human suffering and an embodiment of her earnest wish to do something for its alleviation.

The closing scene in Miss Fletcher's life was especially touching. As soon as she became aware that her end was near she desired to be taken to the hospital. Though informed by her physician, Dr. Carpenter, that the removal would be attended with extreme danger, she would not be refused. Taken up from her bed in the arms of her faithful attendant, Michael Kelly, she was conveyed, in a sleigh, to the hospital and laid upon the bed in her own room, where nobody but herself had ever rested, and there, murmuring thanks that she was permitted to be where she was, in a very brief space she breathed her life gently away, attended by the president, the superintendent, members of the staff, and the nurses of the hospital she had founded. It was all exactly as she might have wished, and doubtless did wish, during those many days of weakness and pain, through and beyond which she has now forever passed. She died February 24, 1885, in the fifty-fifth year of her age.

Miss Fletcher's life, as we now look back upon it, was one of great interest and beauty. In spite of sickness and pain, in spite of manifold limitations, a certain serenity rests upon it, a certain degree even of sunshine and charm. Our community is the richer for having such a life treasured up in its memory. When more noted names and more splendid careers shall be forgotten, this gentle lady and that which she has done will long be held in loving remembrance.   Biographies Index

GALUSHA, TRUMAN. Truman Galusha was born in Shaftsbury, Vt., on the 30th of September, 1786. He was the son of Hon. Jonas Galusha and his first wife, Mary, daughter of Governor Thomas Chittenden. Jonas Galusha was born in Norwich, Conn., February 11, 1753. He was the third in direct descent from Jacob Galusha, who, when a boy eight years old, early in the seventeenth century, was brought from Wales, at length settled near Plymouth, Mass., and became the ancestor of a numerous family. In 1769 Jacob Galusha, the son of Daniel and father of Jonas Galusha, with his family moved from Norwich to Salisbury. Conn., and thence in the spring of 1775 to Shaftsbury, Vt., where at length Jonas Galusha became a farmer and pursued that employment through life, except as he was withdrawn from it by official engagements. When the Revolutionary struuule commenced he look an active part in favor of the independence of the colonies. He was a member of a company commanded by his brother David, in Colonel Seth Warner's regiment of " Green Mountain Boys." Previous to the battle of Bennington, August 16, 1777, he became captain of a company of militia, which consisted of two companies previously organized in Shaftsbury. When he received orders from Colonel Moses Robinson to march his company to Bennington he promptly called out his men and led them to the scene of action. As stated in the general chapter relating to the events of this war, the Vermont and New Hampshire militia were compelled to fight and win the battle a second time.  Captain Galusha, it is stated, continued in active military service until the surrender of Burgoyne, and at several other times he with his company was temporarily under arms.   In October, 1778, he married Mary Chittenden.   In March, 1781, he was elected sheriff of the county of Bennington, which office in the spring of 1787 he resigned. In 1792 he was elected a member of the second Council of Censors. In 1793 he was chosen a member of the Governor's Council, and by successive elections held the office six years. He also held the office of assistant judge of Bennington County Court for three years, beginning with 1795 ; and in 1800 was again elected, holding the office this time seven years. In 1800, too, he was elected representative from Shaftsbury, and took his seat in the House; but on the morning of the second day resigned his seat, on the ground that he had been elected councilor and had accepted the office.  He remained a member of the council seven successive years. He was elected judge of the Supreme Court in 1807, and again in 1808. In 1809 he was chosen an elector of president and vice-president, and again in 1821, 1825 and 1829. He was elected governor of the State of Vermont in 1809, and was re-elected in 1810, 1811 and 1812.  To this important office he was again called in 1815, and was re-elected year by year by constantly increasing majorities until 1819, when his competing candidate had only a few more than a thousand votes. He then announced his determination to remain no longer in public life, and in this he persisted, though urged to the contrary not only by his political friends, but by many of the adverse party. The Legislature presented an address in which they said : In discharging the duties of councilor, judge and governor you have ever merited and received the approbation of your fellow citizens." According to printed accounts Jonas Galusha was physically, constitutionally strong and active to an advanced period of life. A good observer of men and things, he improved his opportunities for special and general reading, and aptly availed himself of the advantages of his varied life. He was characterized by discernment, and by firmness and steadiness in his pursuits; but after the attainment of favorable results he was inclined to be conciliatory, and allay the excessive heat of party strife. He was not much addicted to public speaking, but when occasion required he could express himself clearly and forcibly. He and his first wife had four sons and three daughters, who arrived at maturity.   By another wife he had one daughter.  His elder sons, one of whom was Truman Galusha, passed most of the time of their minority, except when at school, at the home of their father, and as he was to a considerable extent withdrawn by official engagements from direct attention to his home affairs, they had a greater charge and responsibility in regard to those affairs, the experience derived from which was probably favorable to them in after life. Truman Galusha married Lydia Loomis September 17, 1809, who died June 27, 1818, and again, December 23, 1819, Hannah Chittenden, daughter of Hon. Noah Chittenden. She died May 29, 1828. By his first wife he had two sons and one daughter, and by the second one son and three daughters. He commenced business with a moderate patrimony, on a farm of limited extent in Shaftsbury, Vt, and occasionally practiced, as he had calls from neighbors and other persons, the art of surveying.  In February, 1823 or 1824, he and his family, then comprising two sons by his first wife, his second wife, their son and daughter, and attendant, moved from Shaftsbury to the southwesterly part of Jericho, Vt, and after their arrival first occupied the some what noted and conspicuous brick house erected, and for a number of years owned and occupied, by the Hon. Noah Chittenden, of whom Truman Galusha purchased the same, together with a considerable farm connected with it, and bordering in part on Onion or Winooski River. This house, last owned by Ellery Fay, was consumed by fire on the 22d of December, 1885. Another noted and conspicuous brick house, in the near vicinity of the one first named, was built by Governor Martin Chittenden, and owned and occupied by him a number of years before he removed to Williston, and is now owned and occupied by Daniel Bishop. In 1832 or 1833 he purchased and removed to the G. O. Dixon farm at Jericho, on Brown's River, and five or six years later removed to a more elevated tract in the more easterly part of the village of Jericho (which is now occupied by his son, Russell L. Galusha), where he died on the 12th of June, 1859.  He held the office of selectman, and other town offices for a number of years, representing Jericho in the General Assembly in 1827,1828 and 1830, and took a leading interest in the management of the affairs of the town. He was a member of the Constitutional Conventions of 1836 and 1843, and a judge of Chittenden County Court in 1849 and 1850. He was assiduous in his business affairs, and gradually acquired what was considered in his town and vicinity a considerable property. He was also attentive to his duties and offices in the Baptist Church in Jericho, to which he belonged, and to the interests of which, as well as to the general interests of religion, he was devoted.  He was never wanting in energy and attention in the discharge of his duties and obligations as a citizen and civil officer.   In meetings and public assemblies he could express his views and opinions distinctly and with effect. He was a person of excellent physique, especially in his youth and prime. At an advanced period of his life he was affected by a femoral ailment attended with a lameness which in a measure disabled him and crippled his active energies.

Two sons and one daughter of Truman Galusha now reside in Jericho. The elder, Truman C, was born in Shaftsbury December 19, 1810, first married Miss Beulah C.  Butts, and is now living with his second wife, who was Miss A. O. Bishop. He has four children. Russell L. Galusha, the second son of Truman, was born in Shaftsbury on the 9th of October, 1812, and now occupies the place last occupied by his father.  Another son of Truman, Rollin Mallary Galusha, was born in Shaftsbury on the 30th of September, 1820, and came to Jericho with the rest of the family, where he spent the remainder of his life. In him flowed two currents of influential and energetic blood under different names, and he was worthy of such ancestry. He was always held in the highest esteem by his fellow citizens of the town where he lived and died. Few men have been more universally beloved among relatives, and as a man of general intelligence, of sterling integrity, and of kindly sympathies, he will be long and affectionately remembered. His generous feeling and cordial Christian fellowship was attractive, and in him every man found a friend and every Christian a brother. He died in Jericho on the 14th of May, 1886, leaving a widow nee Carrie McEwen, and three daughters.

Clara J., wife of L. B. Howe, of Jericho, is a daughter of Truman Galusha. They have three sons living. Another daughter, Mrs. Ellen Maria Howe, widow of George P. Howe, resides at Loon Lake, Franklin county, N. Y., and has two daughters.   Biographies Index

GOODRICH, BLOSSOM. The subject of this sketch was born in Richmond, Vt., on the 11th of January, 1812. The first of his ancestors to come to Vermont was his grandfather, Daniel, who died in Wells. His father, also named Daniel, came to Richmond about the year 1811, and settled on the farm now occupied by his grandson and the son of Blossom, Jerome Goodrich. He died in Forestville, N. Y., September 21, 1852, leaving three daughters and four sons.

Blossom Goodrich was educated in the district schools of Richmond, and determined to follow the occupation of his father, that of farming. He accordingly came upon the farm which he still owns in Richmond, and by virtue of diligence and calculation has increased the original limits of a small farm until the acres now number four hundred and fifty.

In politics Mr. Goodrich is Republican. It is his habit to abstain from office, though he votes whenever it is his duty to do so, and votes with an intelligent and definite purpose. He is by preference of creed a member of the Universalist faith, and to that church contributes the benefit of his financial support.  Blossom Goodrich was joined in marriage on the 2d of January, 1834, with Naomi, daughter of Zebulon Morton. She was born on the 22d of January, 1809, near Hartford, Conn., and accompanied her parents to Williston in 1811. Mr. and Mrs. Goodrich have had nine children, of whom six are living.  Their names are as follows:

Cornelia, born October 31, 1834, became the wife of Lorenzo D. Whitcomb, of Essex Junction (of whom a sketch appears in this volume), and died December 17, 1881, leaving three children, Laura F., Edgar W., and James W. The second child of Blossom Goodrich and wife is Eleanor, born June 30, 1836, and now living in Henry, Ill. The others are Harriet, born December 7, 1837, now living in Lincoln, Neb.; Frederick Jerome, born September 5, 1839, now occupying the farm first settled by his grandfather; Eugene, born October 6, 1841, now of Burlington; Morton B., born August 21, 1843, died September 30, 1849; George, born June 13, 1845, now living in Will is ton, near the farm of his father and near the town line between Williston and Richmond; Laura F., born September 21, 1850, died May 19, 1863; and Charles, born September 21, 1852, now living with his parents. At this date (August, 1886)  Mr.  Goodrich is living at Norwood, Mich. He has eight grandsons of his surname: Arthur, Raymond, Fred, Harry, Morton, Blossom, Clifford and Clarence; and ten grand-daughters of his surname: Mary, Naomi, May, Bell, Dora, Georgia, Flora, Daisy, Maud, and Laura.   Biographies Index

GILLETT, HENRY, was born in Richmond on the 13th of January, 1818. He was educated at the Hinesburg and Montpelier Academies, after which he returned to his father's farm in Richmond. His grandfather, Asa Gillett, sr., the first of the family to come to Vermont, left Pittsfield, Mass., before the town of Richmond was incorporated, and settled on the strip of land which then formed a part of Huntington, and was afterwards annexed to Richmond. His son, Asa, jr., father of the subject of this sketch, was born in July, 1790, on the farm called the Captain Russell place, about one-half mile north from Richmond village, and died in August, 1869, at his home in Jonesville. He had five children, as follows: Maria, the eldest, now Mrs. Safford Colby, of Richmond; Manila, now Mrs. John Williams, of South Burlington; Henry; Malinda, who died many years ago, the wife of J. B. Nichols; and Hiram A., now a resident of Valparaiso, Ind. Asa Gillett's wife, whom he married in 1814, was Lucia, daughter of Edward Jones, a sketch of whose life appears in the history of Richmond.  Henry Gillett remained upon the farm with his father until 1842, when he purchased the property and began to conduct the business on his own account. In 1878 he removed to his present residence - the place where his father died - and with his usual enterprise thoroughly repaired the buildings. In 1886 he purchased the old hotel property formerly belonging to Ransom Jones, and is at the present writing engaged in repairing the buildings for the reception of guests.

Mr. Gillett is an out-spoken Democrat in politics, notwithstanding which he has been frequently elected to important offices in a town, county and State which are overwhelmingly Republican. As early as 1843, and for several years succeeding, he was chosen lister.   He has been selectman many times, among the periods being 1857-1858, and from 1864 to 1873. He represented Richmond in the Legislature in 1874, and the county of Chittenden in the State Equalizing Board in 1874, and again in 1882. His popularity is based wholly upon his catholic and intelligent public enterprise and spirit. He is always foremost in movements looking to the improvement of his town and county, and contributes without stint to the success of all beneficent public undertakings. His religion is founded on a belief in universal redemption, and he is a regular attendant at the church of that denomination in Richmond.  On the 20th of September, 1842, he married Orpha, daughter of Rev. Thomas Browning, at that time pastor of the Universalist Church in Richmond. They have had two children, Melinda, born on the 8th of May, 1844, who became the wife of Dr. A. H. Chessmore, of Huntington, and died on the 8th of August, 1874; and Frank B., born on the 10th of November, 1850, married in November, 1876, to Anna Peiton in Pittsburgh, N. Y., and now resides in Jonesville.   Biographies Index

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