PAGE, JOHN BOARDMAN . was born at Rutland February 25, 1826. His parentage was worthy and of New England's best. His grandfather was a notable physician of Charlestown, N. H. His father was the cashier of the old Bank of Rutland. In the History of Charlestown, N. H., we read that John and Hannah (Robbins) Page, of New Fairfield, Conn., were born, respectively, on the 19th and 31st of March, 1720, and were married at the age of eighteen. They were the parents of twelve children, of whom William was the fifth. This son. Dr. William Page, born February 20. 1749, was one of the original incorporators of the New Hampshire Medical Society and a medical practitioner of great worth, connected socially with the best families of the region. He represented Charlestown twice in the General Assembly of Vermont, and four times in the Legislature of New Hampshire, and was a prominent citizen during the Revolutionary War, of great influence and uncompromising devotion to the principles of liberty. He died in 1810. William Page, eldest son of Dr. William Page, was born September 2, 1779. He went to Yale College at the age of thirteen, ; was assistant engineer under his father in the construction of the canal at Bellows Falls ; studied law with Judge Farrand at Burlington, and settled at Rutland in 1806, where he resided until his death, in 1850. He was cashier of the bank from its incorporation in 1824, and was widely known as an exemplary man and an excellent citizen. He was one of the deacons of the Congregational Church. He was married in 1807 to Mary Boardman, and in 1813 to Cynthia Amanda Hickok. Thirteen children were the offspring of the marriage, of whom seven still survive ; Mrs. William Barnes, Mrs. A. G. Pease, Mrs. Newton Kellogg and Mrs. J. B. Hollister, of Rutland ; Mrs. S. D. Winslow, of Pittsford ; Dr. George Page, of Crown Point, N. Y., and Egbert S. Page, of Des Moines, la.

John B. Page, son of William and Cynthia A. Page, was educated in the common schools of Rutland, and for a time student at Burr Seminary in Manchester. He was taken from school at the age of seventeen to assist his father in the bank, and acted as clerk or teller until 1S49, when he was made cashier at the age of twenty-three, and just before his father's death. He continued to be its cashier until 1866, when the bank became part of the national banking system. At that time he became its president and acted in that capacity until 1884. In 1852 he obtained the charter of the Rutland Savings Bank and effected its organization, acting as its treasurer for many years. He was always efficient in business, and was active in whatever tended to progress and development. These traits gave him an early interest in public matters, in which he has all his life been prominent. He was one of the promoters of the Rutland school system, a projector of the old Rutland Academy, one of the subscribers to and the most active solicitor of its funds. Largely through his efforts a building was constructed and an excellent school established, which was afterwards merged into the Rutland graded school district. Of this latter organization he was long an efficient trustee, and in fact popular education has had no firmer friend in Rutland than John B. Page. He had always been ready to aid every effort to advance its interests - more than that, he had been always ready to lead in such efforts - and when he once put his hand to an enterprise he knew no looking back. He was also one of the trustees of Middlebury College, and of Burr and Burton Seminary. He held all manner of local offices, and if at certain times he sought to hold them it was because he firmly believed that he could be of genuine service to the State in their administration. It was a source of great pleasure to him that he was almost unanimously elected as president of the village in 1882, and he entered into the details of the office to the best of his ability as he had in his youth.

He had a leading part in the creation of our fire department, and is remembered as foreman of the " Nickwacketts," standing on the machine at a tournament and urging his men to victory. He was chairman of the committee which provided the present excellent water supply of the village. He inaugurated many other public improvements. In 1852, '53 and'54 he represented Rutland in the State Legislature, and again in 1880. In i860 he was elected treasurer of the State and filled that office until 1866. During these years the office of State treasurer was no sinecure. The war expenditures of the State were large and varied and were especially complicated by the extra pay of seven dollars per month given every Vermont soldier by the State. The duties of treasurer embraced not only the providing of funds to meet these extraordinary calls, in which large financial ability was required and was afforded, but also the most careful and accurate expenditure of all these moneys distributed among 30,000 men, assigned by them largely to their families at home, and all under novel circumstances where no light could be gained by the experience of the past. The whole system of the office had to be organized and checks and balances provided as in a new machine, the result being most eminently satisfactorily to every citizen. The administration of the State treasury by John B. Page during the war is one of those epochs in our State history that our citizens are proud of His treasurer's office at Rutland as organized and carried on is well remembered by our citizens, and many of our prominent business men of today obtained their business education there. The results of his administration of this office were computed in his last official report, showing the cost to the State of the suppression of the great Rebellion, and also showing in gross the moneys raised and expended through his agency.

While carrying on these public services Governor Page was also engaged in the conduct of large private enterprises of a public nature. In 1860 he was made one of the trustees of the second mortgage bondholders of the Rutland and Burlington Railroad. These trustees were then in possession of the road. They were without credit and almost without income. The rolling stock was almost worn out, and the road bed, not thoroughly built at first, had been allowed to run down until it approached the condition of the famous western bankrupt railroad - only a streak of rust and a right of way. This was especially true of the eastern half of the road, which was thoroughly unsafe and quite unfit for business. Governor Page took up the matter with his usual energy, and ten years later saw a well built, well equipped railroad, its volume of business nearly quadrupled, its connections to the north, south and west assured, and itself a recognized power in the land. The result in the organization of the Rutland Railroad Company and the lease to the Central Vermont, of which Governor Page was for a time vice-president, are well known. Besides his long presidency of the Rutland Railroad Company, he was also intimately connected with the reorganization of the Vermont Valley road, with the Montreal and Plattsburgh, the Plattsburgh and Whitehall, the Addison, the Sullivan County, the Vermont and Massachusetts, the steamer Oakes Ames, etc. He also operated the Bennington and Rutland road for a time, in connection with Governor Smith, and did a great deal of work connected with the proposed Caughnawaga canal, which, however, never became an accomplished fact. He was one of the promoters of the now famous New York, West Shore and Buffalo line, its president for a time, and deeply interested in its construction. He became a director of the Howe Scale Company at Brandon, in 1874 and after a time secured the removal of the works and business to Rutland, where it has become one of the prominent industries of the nation, furnishing employment to a large number of skilled workmen, and benefiting the town in ways without number. In fact, no step has ever been taken of so much and so obvious value to the town of Rutland as was the establishment of this enterprise in our village. And the natural prosperity of the town has always been a matter of extreme solicitude to John B. Page. The interest he has always exhibited in this subject was well exemplified in his securing, when the railroad was leased, a provision that the shops at Rutland should not be abandoned.

We have not space to enumerate the numberless other activities of this busy life - his four journeys to Europe, where his first wife died, his relations to the marble industries of the town and vicinity, his constant labors in all directions to keep in motion the wheels of manufacture and of trade. Something of all this is known to our readers, and time will not permit its recapitulation in detail. How many of our young men he has assisted by kind words, by loans of money and of credit, by his influence, by employment furnished, no one now can tell.

But in conclusion we cannot forbear to add a fragment of testimony in respect to another phase of his life-work, which his relatives and friends esteem more highly than all his political and business career. We refer to his efforts in the cause of Christianity. He was a worker in this field as in every other. He became a member of the Congregational Church in 1858, was elected superintendent of the Sabbath school in 1868. and chosen deacon in 1871. .As a leading member of the church he urged forward to completion the construction of the house of worship which the society now enjoys, being chairman of the building committee and taking the closest oversight of every detail. He occupied the same position in relation to the chapel extension, so that the entire edifice, without question the most complete and satisfactory of its kind in Vermont, is chiefly due to his labors, efforts and oversight. As superintendent of the Sabbath school, also, he expended his warmest love, doing his best without stint, and limited in his labors only by his capacity for work. His most prominent relation to the church, however, has been in connection with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, a subject in which he always took a deep and unfeigned interest. He became a corporate member in 1867 and attended its annual meetings with great regularity. In 1876 at the meeting in Providence, against the advice of the leaders who were burdened with the weight of a debt which they could not reduce and dared not undertake to carry over. Governor Page stepped to the front alone and led an effort for its immediate extinguishment. He so stirred the vast audience by his words, appeals and efforts, that in a single evening the whole amount required was raised, and this most noble society restored to a position of vantage which has never since been lost. His characteristics can be inferred from his deeds. In three things he excelled many ; in tireless labor, in courage and in benevolence.

Ex-Governor Page died at his home in Rutland, October 24, 1885. He was twice married, first to Mary Reynolds, of Boston, by whom he had three children : William R.. Edward D., and Helen L., wife of Henry S. Downe, of Fitchburg, Mass.; and afterwards to Harriet E. Smith, of Winchester, N. H., leaving four children by her ; Catharine R., John H.. Henrietta R. and Margaret E.

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PROCTOR, REDFIELD. The American branch of the Proctor family springs from English stock, the first ancestor in this country being Robert Proctor, who lived in Concord, Mass., as early as 1645. From Robert Proctor's son Samuel the lineal ancestry of Redfield Proctor is as follows : Samuel (2), Thomas (3), Leonard (4), Jabez. (5). Redfield (6). Leonard, who first established the family name in Vermont, was born at Chelmsford, Mass.. in 1735. He was a soldier of the Revolution and rose to the grade of captain. His tenth child was Jabez, who was born in Westford, Mass., April 22, 1780; he was three years old when the family migrated to Vermont. He was a prominent citizen, conspicuous in politics and held a number of high offices. His wife was Betsey, daughter of Isaac Parker, of Westford, Mass., and they had four children. The youngest of these was the subject of this sketch, who was born in Proctorsville, Vt., June 1, 1831. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1851, and three years later received the degree of A. M. from that institution. He studied law in the Albany law school and graduated in 1859, and was admitted to the bar in that city and also at Woodstock, Vt. A part of the years 1860-61 he practiced at Boston, Mass., but the outbreak of the Rebellion called him to the defense of his country, and in June, 1861. he enlisted in the Third Vermont Regiment and was commissioned as lieutenant and quartermaster. In July of that year he was appointed on the staff of General Baldy Smith, and in October was transferred to the Fifth Vermont Regiment of militia, of which he was commissioned major. In October, 1862, he was promoted to the colonelcy of the Fifteenth Regiment of nine months' men. The services of these regiments have been recounted in the military chapter of this work. After his return to Vermont he entered into partnership for law practice with Judge W. G. Veazey, in Rutland ; but he was destined for more active and e.\tended business operations. In 1869 he accepted the office of manager of the Sutherland Falls Marble Company, which, under his efficient direction, became very prosperous. On the 30th of September, 1880, the Sutherland Falls and Rutland Marble Companies were amalgamated and assumed the title of the Vermont Marble Company, with headquarters at Centre Rutland - lately transferred to Proctor (Sutherland Falls). The new corporation was chartered under the laws of New York, and Mr. Proctor was elected president, a position which he still holds. Under the management of himself and his associate officers, the company has become by far the largest marble producers in the country, with branches in all the largest cities in the United Slates. Governor Proctor's public official career began in 1866, with the office of selectman' in the town of Rutland. In the following year he represented the town in the Legislature, and again in 1868. In 1874 he was elected to the State Senate and two years later received the election as lieutenant-governor, receiving a majority of more than twenty-three thousand votes over his competitor. In 1878 he was elected as chief magistrate of the State of Vermont, and his administration justified the most sanguine expectations of his friends, inaugurating an era of economy in State management, the good effects of which are still felt. Under his administration the first general savings bank law was passed in accordance with his recommendation, and numerous other important measures were inaugurated at his suggestion, which have been most beneficial to the people at large. Indeed, in all of the official positions occupied by Governor Proctor, his remarkable business foresight and judgment, his untiring industry, and his adherence to the right have enabled him to leave a record that is most enviable. To-day he is in the zenith of his mental powers and fills a station second to that of no other citizen in Vermont. Redfield Proctor was married on the 26th of May, 1858, to Emily J., daughter of the Hon. Solomon F. Dutton, of Cavendish, Vt. Five children, four of whom are now living, are the issue of their union. The eldest son, Fletcher D., is now associated with his father in business and has been the superintendent of their large marble business since the death of Hon. N. P. Simons.

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PROUT HON. JOHN, was born in Salisbury. Addison county, on the l0th day of November, 1815. He received the education supplied by the common school of that lime. He learned the art of printing and followed it for several years, and in the mean time, by studious habits and observation, so educated himself, that he entered the law office of Hon. E. N. Briggs, a prominent attorney. He was admitted to the Addison county bar in 1837 and began practice with Mr. Briggs. He was chosen representative from Salisbury to the General Assembly of Vermont in 1847, 1848, 1851, and State's attorney of Addison county in 1848, 1849, 1850 and 1851. In 1845 he removed to Rutland and formed a law partnership with C. B. Harrington, and later has been associated with Hon. Charles Linsley, W. C. Dunton, and for some ten years past with Colonel Aldace F. Walker, under the firm name of Prout & Walker, whose field of practice has been wide and varied in the different courts of the State. Judge Prout for many years has been the counsel of the Rutland railroad, the Delaware and Hudson and other leading railways.

He represented Rutland in the Legislature in 1865, and in 1867 and 1868 was a senator from Rutland county. He was elected a judge of the Supreme Court of Vermont, holding two terms- 1869 and 1870, when he voluntarily retired from the bench because his extensive practice was of far more importance to him than the limited salary paid to Vermont judges. Since that period the scope of legal practice has greatly widened in the higher courts and in the United States courts. Few Vermont lawyers have had more important and intricate cases in charge and proved more successful.

Judge Prout is not a politician and never sought office. He has occasionally yielded to the wishes of the people and served in positions outside his profession. A studious investigator of farts, he has confined himself strictly to his profession.

He has been twice married. His present wife, Ellen Sophia Ellsworth Strong, is a granddaughter of the distinguished chief justice, Oliver Ellsworth, of Connecticut. He has a son, Edward, residing in the West, and two daughters, Mrs. Cornelia Field and Miss Mary Prout.

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REDINGTON, LYMAN WILLIAMS. The following biography is taken from the Brattleboro (Vt.) Reformer, published in connection with a portrait .April 4, 1884:-

One of Vermont's most energetic Democratic sons is L. W. Redington, of Rutland. He is a son of Hon. George Redington, who was born at Vergennes, Vt., in 1798. The grandfather of the subject of this sketch, Jacob Redington, a Revolutionary soldier, held a number of local offices in the early history of Vergennes, and was a member of the first common council of the first city government which was instituted in Vergennes in 1794. He emigrated from Vergennes with his family, in 1800, to Waddington, St. Lawrence county, N. Y. The father of L. W. Redington was an able lawyer and judge of the Court of Common Pleas of St. Lawrence county, and for several terms a member of the New York Legislature, where he wielded considerable influence. He aided very materially in the construction of the Northern Railroad from Ogdensburg to Rouse's Point, and was one of its directors. Later in life he was engaged largely in the purchase and sale of real estate in St. Lawrence county, and in the manufacture of lumber and square timber. He erected a number of mills, sending rafts to Montreal and Quebec, and employing a large number of men. He was an energetic business man of large capacity, and highly respected for his sound judgment and upright straightforward dealing. He was a staunch Democrat.

L. W. Redington's mother was a daughter of Medad Sheldon, of Rutland, and a sister of Charles Sheldon, of Rutland, head of the firm of Sheldon & Sons, marble dealers.

L. W. Redington was born in Waddington, N. Y., March 14, 1849, and is therefore now only thirty-five years old. He fitted for college at Williston Seminary, Easthampton, Mass., and entered Yale College in the fall of 1866, but was obliged to leave at the close of the freshmen year on account of poor health. He subsequently graduated in the scientific department of Williston Seminary in 1869. Attended law school at Columbia College, New York city, and concluded his professional studies in the office of the late United States Senator Matt H. Carpenter, in Milwaukee, Wis. He was admitted to the Milwaukee bar in 1871, and for some time afterwards made an extensive tour of Europe to regain his health and round out his education, remaining a year abroad.

In 1875 he located in Rutland, in the practice of the law. In 1876 he was elected to the office of grand juror, which position he held for five years, and then refused to stand longer. He was the nominee of the Democracy for town representative at Rutland in 1876, '78, '80 and '82. In 1878 he was elected to the Legislature, and was the Democratic nominee of the House for speaker. He was a delegate at large for Vermont to the Democratic National Convention in 1880, and was the nominee of the Democracy for Congress in 1882. He was chairman of the Democratic State Convention in 1882, and on the 17th of March, 1884. was appointed municipal judge for Rutland, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Martin G. Everts, and now holds that office.

He was married October 6, 1875, to Catharine Russell Merrill, daughter of Colonel George A. Merrill, of Rutland. They have two children, Mary Patterson and Thomas Gregory Redington. He was attorney for the village of Rutland for the year ending 1884 and is now president of the New England Fire Insurance Company of Rutland, which was organized under a Vermont charter in 1881.

Mr. Redington is a man of many scholarly attainments, with a broad and healthy sympathy with Democratic ideas, a powerful speaker, an independent and progressive thinker. He has had every temptation to join the Republican ranks. His social connections were all that way; in his earlier years his enthusiastic temperament inclined him to sympathy with the party that had done the noble work the Republican party did in its purer days, and he had that magnetism and popular attractiveness which would surely have won rapid and increasing honor if he had been on the side of the majority. But the events of 1870-76 made it clear to him that the line of patriotic duty was with the young Democracy - with the current of political thought that applies the benign philosophy of Jefferson to the problems of today - and he has stood staunchly with the hopeless minority of the .State ever since. In the Legislature of 1878 he was the author of the " Redington bill," so called, for a local option law to apply to the liquor traffic, and it is confessed by able and impartial men that it was one of the best drawn and most carefully considered measures ever presented to our Legislature. Of course the bill was overwhelmingly defeated, but he made a gallant fight for it, his speech in its advocacy being, perhaps, the most brilliant and at the same time the most carefully studied production of his life. He was always opposed to the petty bribery of public officials with free railroad passes, and he proved his conviction while in the Legislature before the subject had been much agitated, by refusing the passes offered him. He has made a particular study of divorce laws, and has recently delivered a very thoughtful and vigorous lecture on the subject, taking a position in favor of a radical change in the Vermont system, and of the most stringent laws in regulation of divorce everywhere.

Mr. Redington was afterwards nominated for governor by the Democrats of Vermont, reducing the Republican majority some 5,000 over 1880. and some 3,000 over 1876. After the State election in September he went to New York, commencing at Troy under the auspices of the New York State Committee, but was soon afterwards engaged by the National Committee and sent into Connecticut and New Jersey; he was everywhere received with the warmest of praises from the party press, and the results of his labors greatly complimented. July 16, 1885, he was appointed by President Cleveland postmaster at Rutland, thereupon resigning the office of municipal judge, to which he had been twice elected by large majorities.

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ROBERTS, COLONEL GEORGE T., was born in the town of Clarendon. Rutland county,  Vt., on the 3d day of October, 1824. He belonged to a family of military traditions on both sides, being the third son of the late Benjamin Roberts, of Manchester, Vt., and a grandson of General Christopher Roberts of Revolutionary memory. His mother's maiden name was Sophia Hodges. She was the third daughter of Dr. Silas Hodges who served as a surgeon in the Continental army, and was for some lime in the military family of General Washington. When about four years of age his parents removed to Manchester, in which town he spent most of his boyhood. He was naturally fond of study, particularly of mathematics and astronomy, and acquired a very good education at Burr Seminary, a popular institution of learning in Bennington county.

Some years previous to the breaking out of the great Rebellion he was extensively engaged in superintending the construction of railroads in the West, and at the time of entering the service of the country was the agent and manager of the marble quarries at West Rutland, of which his brother-in-law. General H. H. Baxter, was the principal owner. In l86l he was a lieutenant in the Rutland Light Guards, which went out as one of the companies of the First Vermont Regiment. He served in the field with that regiment until the expiration of its term of service. He afterward took an active part in recruiting the First Vermont Regiment of Cavalry, and was offered a position in that organization, which he declined. When the Seventh Regiment was organized and mustered into service in February, 1862, he was offered its colonelcy by Governor Holbrook, which offer he accepted.

The foregoing very brief sketch of Colonel Roberts's life was written by a relative of his ; but it needs supplementing in order that the reader may gain an intelligent conception of his character. The history of the Seventh Regiment has already been given in earlier pages of this work. Its gallant colonel was destined to share in its hardships and victories but a few short months. The battle of Baton Rouge was fought on the 5th of August, 1862. The following account of that part of the engagement directly connected with the fall of Colonel Roberts is from Colonel William C. Holbrook's history of the Seventh Regiment: -

" When the regiment resumed its original position the action was raging with great fury directly in front of our camp and that of the Twenty-first Indiana. Owing to the fog which had not yet lifted, and to the smoke which was constantly increasing, objects could not be distinguished ten yards ahead. Although the regiment was under a terrible fire, Colonel Roberts wisely hesitated to give the order to commence firing, as he was apprehensive that the Indiana regiment might be in his front. At this moment General Williams rode up and peremptorily and in an excited and somewhat brusque manner, instructed him to open fire. The colonel was, of course, obliged to give the order, but did so very reluctantly. Before many volleys had been discharged an officer appeared and exclaimed that the fire of the Seventh was affecting the Indianians. The colonel promptly gave the order to cease firing. This was his last command, for he immediately fell from a severe wound in the neck. While being carried to the rear he was again hit in the thigh by a minnie ball. Dr. Blanchard soon reached the spot to which the colonel had been removed and gave him all the medical aid possible. Having no ambulance, a one-horse cart or dray was obtained, in which uncomfortable conveyance on a thin litter of hay, he was taken to the hospital. I met him on the way as I was returning from the picket line on the right flank. He was cheerful and bright, although seemingly suffering some pain. I expressed much sorrow that he, of all others, should have been stricken. He replied that he did not consider his wounds serious, and hoped soon to be on duty again. The wound in the thigh proved fatal, the ball having glanced upwards, penetrating the vital organs. Two days afterward he quietly, and apparently painlessly, passed from among the living."

The death of Colonel Roberts caused the most profound sorrow throughout Rutland county, and that his character and eminent services were appreciated in the field is indicated by the following extract from an article published in the New Orleans Delta at the time of his death:

"The Seventh Vermont Regiment, which had just returned from severe service at Vicksburg, participated in the battle of Baton Rouge. It is sufficient evidence that they were at their post discharging faithfully the trust reposed in them, that their gallant colonel, George T. Roberts, fell mortally wounded in the thickest of the fight. He was a true patriot and an honorable, high-minded man. He first went into the service as a lieutenant in Company A, of the First Vermont Volunteers. When the Seventh was called for he was tendered the colonel, and in every particular has proved the selection a good one, and though dying in a glorious cause. his loss will be severely felt, both by his regiment and his many friends in his native State where he was so well and so favorably known."

In an article on his death the editor of the Rutland Herald used the following words : " So long as heroism is admired and patriotism loved, will green garlands of affectionate remembrance be laid upon his honored grave.

The remains of Colonel Roberts were brought home to Rutland, where they were interred in the presence of a large concourse of citizens and their families. In addition to this customary mark of respect to the eminent dead, the citizens of the town assembled in meeting at about that time and unanimously passed the following resolutions : -

WHEREAS, We, the citizens of Rutland, in town meeting assembled, have learned with the deepest sorrow of the death of Colonel George T. Roberts, our friend and fellow townsman, while gallantly leading his regiment in the memorable battle of Baton Rouge, therefore -

Resolved, That in the death of Colonel Roberts Vermont is called upon to mourn one of her best and bravest officers, and Rutland one of her most loved and honored citizens.

Resolved, That the profound sympathies of this meeting are tendered to the mourning relatives of the deceased in this their deep affliction, and as our late fellow townsman has given all he had, even his life, for us and for his country, we give to his memory our tears and a grateful and lasting recollection of his patriotism and gallantry.

Colonel Roberts has been described as an eminently just and large-hearted man in the truest sense, which, perhaps, expresses his prominent characteristics fully.

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ROGERS, ASA J., who has lived in Poultney since 1831. was born in Mount Holly, Vt., April 23, 1820. He was a son of Stephen and Anna (Emerson) Rogers. Stephen Rogers was born in Danby, Vt., November 9, 1784. Anna Emerson was born in New Hampshire on July 9, 1784. Stephen moved from Danby to Mount Holly in the year 1806. He lived in Mount Holly for several years and moved from there to Granville, N. Y., in the year 1827, where he lived for about four years, when he moved to Poultney, Vt., with his family, where he continued to reside until his death, which occurred August 22, 1867. They had a family of nine children: Lydia, Oliver, Aaron, Charles, Samuel, John S., Asa J., David L. and Amos E. Mrs. Stephen Rogers died November 1, 1841. The nine children were all living when the family moved to Poultney, Vt., in 1831. Four have since died, and all have moved from Poultney except Asa J., who is and has been for many years one of the useful and responsible citizens of this town. He was married July 8, 1841, to Louisa Horton, of Mount Holly, Vt. She was a daughter of Asa and Susan (Breed) Horton. Her ancestors during the time of the Revolutionary War resided near Boston, Massachusetts, and one was the owner of Breed's Hill, from which that hill took its name at or about the time of the battle of Bunker Hill. Mr. and Mrs. Rogers have had six children born to them, all of whom are now living: Adelia A., Ophelia S., Louisa J., Amos J., Hattie M. and Charles E. All are married and away from home with the exception of Charles, who still remains with his father

Mr. Rogers for about thirty years after he attained the age of twenty-one was engaged in the carpentering and building business, and gave the most of his time to that trade. He is now and has been for several years a farmer, He owns a large farm and a very good one. It is situated about two miles south of Poultney village, and is so well managed as to give him quite a reputation among his neighbors as being a good farmer. He is enterprising as a farmer and keeps pace with all improvements. He built the first silo in the town of Poultney, large enough to hold a hundred tons, which he filled with green corn fodder; it proved a success, and he now regards the silo as no longer an experiment. In 1870 he became aware that there was slate rock on his farm, and called the attention of William Griffith and William Nathaniel, practical slate workers, to it. They developed it and it proved to be an excellent quality of the sea-green variety, and the result was that quarries were opened there which have proven productive, valuable and profitable to those interested. The rents (or royalty as it is called) from the same have largely increased his income.

Mr. Rogers united with the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1843, and remained a member of that church until 1858, and then embraced the faith of the second personal coming of Christ. About that time a church of that faith was formed in Poultney, Vt., with a membership of 120. Mr. Rogers became a deacon and has since been a leading member ; the church has also been quite prosperous. He has held town offices and places of trust from time to time, which his fellow citizens have imposed upon him without his seeking, the duties of which he has ever faithfully discharged. An unpretentious man, yet he is one of the firm props of society, and one of that class of our fellow citizens who can be relied upon for the preservation of good order, and for work in the advancement of morality and the interests of the community in which he lives.

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ROYCE, GEORGE EDMUND. The name of Rice in this country is traced back to Deacon Edmund Rice, who was born in about l574, and came to America from Barkhamstead, Hertfordshire county. England, in 1638, and settled in Sudbury,. Mass. He removed to Marlboro, Mass., in 1664, arid died there May 3. 1668.

Thomas Rice, son of the above, was born about 1621 ; resided in Sudbury, Mass., and removed to Marlboro. Mass.. in 1664; died there November 15, 1681.

Jonas Rice, grandson of Edmund, was born March 6, 1672 ; resided in Worcester, Mass., in 1702, and was the first settler of that town ; was judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the county of Worcester when he died, at the age of eighty years six months and fourteen days, on the 22d of September, 1753.

Adonijah Rice, .son of Jonas and great grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born November 7, 1714; was the first white child born in Worcester, Mass., and resided there until the latter part of his life, when he removed to Bridport, Vt. He was in several campaigns against the French and Indians and one of the celebrated band of scouts known as Rogers's Rangers; he died January 20. 1802.

Jonas Rice, son of Adonijah. and grandfather of the subject, was born about 1756 at Worcester, Mass. He was a first lieutenant in the regular army under General Washington and served through the Revolutionary War; was in the battles of Trenton and Princeton, and participated in the historical crossing of the Delaware amid floating ice. He settled in Orwell, Vt.. directly after the close of the war and married Elizabeth Carver, a direct descendant from John Carver, first governor of Plymouth Colony. He lived on his farm in Orwell and died there February 17. 1839.

Alpheus Rice bore the name of his ancestors until he reached middle life, when he changed it to "Royce." Giving as his reason that the people of the former name were becoming too numerous in the country.  Alpheus (Rice) Royce, father of the subject, was born in Orwell, Vt., on the 18th of December, 1787. His father had but one other child, a daughter named Harriet. His wife was Harriet Moore, of Putney, Vt.. who was born March 15, 1790. and died February 24, 1873. Alpheus was a farmer and occupied the homestead where he was born until his death, which occurred on the 15th of April. 1871. He served as captain of a militia company at the battle of Plattsburgh in the War of 1812. The children of .Alpheus Royce were as follows : Charles V., born August 28, 1810, deceased. Louisa A., born April 11. 1812, deceased. Laura E., born July 23, 1814. deceased. Mary E., born June 17, 1816, lives in Omaha. Jane A., born April l0, 1820, lives in Orwell. Henry L., born December 23, 1821, died in the service of the country during the late war. William E.. born September 10, 1824, now occupies the old homestead in Orwell. Albert F., born October 3, 1826, died in the Mexican War. George Edmund, the subject. Erasmus D., born April 9, 1831, lives in St. Lawrence county, N. Y. Harriet A., born April 7, 1833. died in infancy. M. Antoinette, born September 2, 1835, lives in Orwell.

George Edmund Royce was born on the 1st of January, 1829, as before stated, on the homestead of his father in Orwell, Vt. His younger days were passed in the customary manner of boys in this vicinity at that time. He attended the common schools, and two terms at the Troy Conference Academy, and aided in working the farm until he was nineteen years old. He then entered the store of John Simonds, at Watch Point, Shoreham, Vt., as a clerk, and here he acquired the first insight into the business which he afterwards successfully followed. He remained in that store two years, when he repaired to New York city in 1850, and engaged with the firm of Dibble, Frink & Co., in the wholesale dry goods trade. He staid there one year and changed to the firm of Lathrop, Ludington & Co., in the same line of business, and remained with them about seven years. This brought him down to the 1st of January, 1859, and he felt that he was justified in embarking in business on his own account. He accordingly associated himself in the firm of Robbins. Royce & Hard, continuing thus two years, when the firm changed to Robbins, Royce & Acker, and did business in wholesale dry goods three years longer. In this connection the natural mercantile instincts of Mr. Royce, supplemented by his studious experience, contributed largely to the success that followed. But his arduous labors in the business told upon his health, and on the 1st of January. 1864, he felt impelled to withdraw from the firm. He had already purchased a place and transferred his family to Rutland, Vt., and after spending another year in the metropolis, settling up his affidrs, he followed them to the valley among the Green Mountains. Here he became interested very soon after his arrival in the steam stone-cutter of George J. Wardwell (see his biography in these pages), which had then lately begun to develop its great value in the Vermont marble quarries. Colonel W. T. Nichols had purchased an interest in the patent for the purpose of organizing a company for its manufacture. Mr. Royce foresaw its success from the first and with Colonel Nichols proceeded at once to the organization of the Steam Stone-Cutting Company, of which he has ever since been the treasurer. It is notorious that there are in this country a class of unprincipled patent pirates, who thrive by stealing the ideas of others and fighting successfully inventors and manufacturers in the courts. The success of the stone-cutter was no sooner fully assured than one of these leeches came down upon it with all the resources of his wealth and long e.xperience in that peculiar line of business. The details of the struggle that followed in ten years of the most persistent and sleepless litigation would be out of place here, but it will suifice to state that the company, with Mr. Royce and Mr. John W. Cramton, the present president of the company, at its back, fought the piratical onslaught until nearly one hundred thousand dollars had been expended in the protection of their rights, and they were successful ; let that fact be set down to the credit of citizens of Rutland. The persistent tenacity with which Mr. Royce followed this contest exhibits one of the strongest phases of his character; when he believes himself right he does not entertain the idea of giving up his convictions. The success of the stone-cutter under his direction has been all that its great merit deserves, and it now has the field to itself

Mr. Royce is also identified with the marble producing interest. A few years since he became impressed with the value of a certain deposit on a farm lying about two and a half miles north of West Rutland. He immediately began negotiations which resulted in his purchasing three farms, and later (in the spring of 1884) in the organization of the True Blue Marble Company, which secured control of a fourth farm, on which quarrying is now going on. The organization and success of this company is largely due to Mr. Royce, and he has since been one of the director.^. An eight gang mill has been erected by the company and marble of the finest and most durable quality is now being largely quarried. (See chapter devoted to the marble industry of the county.)

Although Mr. Royce has political convictions of a well-defined character in the Democratic school, he has never sought to make them a stepping-stone to political office; he was elected to the office of selectman of the town in 1883 and re-elected twice since, but against his wishes ; an office which he fills, however, with the same efficiency displayed in his own business. He has received numerous nominations for other offices, among them that of State Treasurer, but being a resident of a district which is strongly Republican, his election was an impossibility. He has been one of the directors of the Baxter National Bank since its organization in 1870.

Mr. Royce was married first to Meriam E. Brewer, of Orwell, on the 5th of February, 1857 ; she died March 2, 1866. He married September 6, 1866, Martha A. Brewer ; and third Ellen C. White, daughter of Albert White, of Orwell, on the 4th of November, 1875. His children are as follows: Fannie E., born February 22, 1858; George B., born August 8, i860; lives at home and is secretary of the Steam Stone-Cutter Company, and also secretary of the True Blue Marble Company. Julia M., born November 4, 1862; died in infancy. Kate M., born December 9, 1864. These are children of the first wife. Jane M., born August 18, 1867 : Robert S., born August 11, 1869; Julia I., born June 14, 1871 ; children of the second wife. Edmund W.. born February 24. 1877. Thomas J., born July 25, 1879. Pauline M.. born May 24. 1881. Albert A., born September 13, 1883.

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RUMSEY, CHAUNCEY S., was born in Hubbardton, Vt., in 1805. He commenced business life at the age of sixteen years as a farmer; his object being to save the homestead for his aged parents, and which he accomplished by hard labor. His parents were William and Elizabeth (Walker) Rumsey, who were born and married in Connecticut, and died in Hubbardton, Vt. William was born in 1780, served three years in the Revolutionary army, received a pension and died in 1836. His wife died in 1830. They had eleven children, of whom Chauncey S. is the only one now living. He was the leading farmer of his town, and made a great success of grain and stock raising, and was one of the representative men of his town and State ; was also a member of the Senate in 1858 and 1859; was a member of the Legislature in 1839 and 1840 and again in 1854 and 1855 ; was county judge in 1874 and 1875 ; was town clerk and treasurer of Hubbardton, Vt., for twenty-six consecutive years, and also held many of the minor offices of his town, He was justice of the peace of his old town for thirty-two years. He retired from active life in 1871 and settled in the village of Castleton on his homestead of twenty acres. His early advantages for an education were light ; but he has become by careful application a self-educated man, and now has a fine library, in which he finds a pleasant pastime. He was married in 1830 to Hannah Wallis. They have one son, Henry C., who was born in 1844. Hannah was a daughter of Seth and Hannah (Pond) Wallis.