History of Shoreham, (Addison County) Vermont United States of America

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Biographies:

Columbus Delano, statesman, was born at Shoreham, Vt., June 5, 1809; son of James and Lucinda (Bateman) Delano. In 1817 he settled in Knox county, Ohio, where his boyhood was passed on a farm. He was left without a natural protector in 1819, and went to Lexington, Ohio, where he worked in a woolen mill. He entered the law office of Homer Curtis at Mt. Vernon, Ohio, in 1828; was admitted to the bar in 1831, and began practice in that town. He was prosecuting attorney for the state, 1826-30, in a county adverse to his political views. He was a Whig representative from the tenth Ohio district in the 29th congress, 1845-47, the Democratic candidate for governor carrying the district at the same election by a majority of 800. In May, 1846, he voted with John Quincy Adams and twelve other representatives against the famous declaration that "war exists by an act of Mexico," and subsequently he defended his vote in an able speech upon which Mr. Adams remarked, "There should not be in it a 't' crossed or an 'i' dotted." In 1848 his name was proposed before the Whig state convention for the nomination as governor of Ohio, but he was defeated in convention by two votes. In 1850, having retired from the bar, he removed to New York city and became a member of the banking house of Delano, Dunlevy & Co., and after five years of successful business life he returned to Mt. Vernon, Ohio, and engaged in general business and agriculture. In 1860 he was chosen a delegate to the Chicago convention, and seconded the nomination of Abraham Lincoln for the presidency. In 1861 he was appointed commissary-general of the state of Ohio. In 1862 he was defeated in his candidacy for U.S. senator, receiving two votes less than were given to Benjamin Wade. In 1863 he was elected a representative in the 56th general assembly of Ohio, and in 1864 he was chairman of the Ohio delegation of the national convention at Baltimore, Md. which renominated Mr. Lincoln. He was a representative from the thirteenth Ohio district in the 89th congress, 1865-67, where he served as chairman of the committee on claims. He was a delegate to the Loyalists' convention at Philadelphia, in 1866. He successfully contested the scat of George W. Morgan in 1867 in the 40th congress, and served on the committee on foreign relations, and at the expiration of the term, refused to be again a candidate. As a representative, Mr. Delano was an advocate of a tariff for revenue only. He strongly opposed the claims of railroad companies for land grants and government subsidies. To his speech of July 24, 1866, was given the credit of carrying the tariff bill of that session against what had been conceded the sense of the U.S. house of representatives. He was commissioner of internal revenue, 1869-70, and proved himself competent to contend successfully with the powerful whiskey ring then in existence. In 1870 President Grant appointed him secretary of the interior. He resigned the portfolio in 1875 for the purpose of resuming his farming interests at Lakehome, his country residence near Mt. Vernon, Ohio. He was a trustee of Kenyon college and received from that institution the honorary degree of LL.D. He endowed Delano Hall, a grammar school connected with the college. He died at Mount Vernon, Ohio, Oct. 23, 1896.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Levi Parsons Morton, Vice-President of the United States, was born at Shoreham, Vt., May. 16, 1824; son of the Rev. Daniel Oliver and Lucretia (Parsons) Morton; grandson of Ebenezer, Jr., and Hannah (Dailey) Morton; great-grandson of Capt. Ebenezer and Mercy (Foster) Morton, and of Daniel and Hannah Dailey, of Easton, Maine; great2-grandson of John, Jr., and Mary(Ring) Morton and of John and Hannah (Stetson) Foster, and great3-grandson of the Hon. John and Lettice (Hanford) Morton of Middleboro, Mass., and of Andrew Ring. His first ancestor in America, George Morton (or Mourt), financial agent of the Plymouth colony, born in Yorkshire, England, 1585, married in 1612, Juliana, daughter of Alexander Carpenter; took passage in the ship Anne, which arrived in Plymouth, Mass., in June, 1623, and was the author of "Mourt's Relation" (1622), giving the earliest account of the Pilgrim enterprise. His maternal ancestor, Joseph Parsons, was a cornet in an English cavalry troop, and was father of the first child born in Northampton, Mass. Levi Parsons Marten was educated at Shoreham academy; was employed in a country store at Enfield, Mass., 1838-40: taught school at Boscawen, N.H., 1840-41; was clerk in the general store of W. W. Esterbrook, in Concord, N.H., and in 1842 was given charge of a branch store at Hanover. Upon the failure of Mr. Esterbrook, Morton became a clerk in the employ of Mr. Beebe of New York, and in 1845, on reaching his majority, bought out Beebe's interest and engaged in the business for himself. He removed to Boston, Mass., in 1849, to accept a partnership with Mr. Beebe in the dry goods business, and in 1854 established the drygoods house of Morton & Grinnell, in New York city. The firm failed in 1861, and in 1862 he established the banking and brokerage house of L. P. Morton & Co., with Charles W. McCune as partner, and when Mr. McCune withdrew in 1863, Mr. Morton established the London house of Morton, Burns & Co. In 1868 George Bliss became a member of the New York house, the firm name being changed to Morton, Bliss & Co., and Sir John Rose entered the London house, which became Morton, Rose & Co., the Geneva award of $15,500,000 being paid through this house. The firm was also conspicuous for its sale of $500,000,000 of New York Central stock belonging to Cornelius Vanderbilt, to English purchasers. The firm of Morton, Bliss & Co. headed the syndicate formed to fund the national debt in 1896, and in 1899 went into voluntary liquidation, and was succeeded by the Morton Trust company. Mr. Morton was a Republican representative in the 46th congress, 1879-81; declined to accept the nomination for Vice-President from the Republican national convention in 1880, was appointed by President Garfield U.S. minister to France in 1881, having declined the position of secretary of the navy in his cabinet. He resigned the French mission in 1885, and returned to New York. He was elected Vice-President of the United States on the Republican ticket, with Benjamin Harrison for President, in 1888, serving 1889-93, but was not re-nominated in 1892. He was elected governor of the state of New York in 1894, defeating David B. Hill, the Democratic candidate, by a large plurality. While governor he signed the bill granting the charter to Greater New York. Upon the close of his term in 1896 he retired from politics, and gave his entire time to his banking interests and beautifying his estate, "Ellerslie," at Rhinebeck-on-the-Hudson, where he also engaged in stock raising, He was twice married, first in 1866, to Lucy Kimball, of Flatlands, L.I., N.Y., who died in 1871, and secondly, in 1873, to Anna Livingston, daughter of William J. Street of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and they had five daughters. He became a member of several New York clubs, and of the Sons of the Revolution and the Mayflower Descendants. The honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred on him by Dartmouth in 1881, and by Middlebury in 1882. In 1885 he gave a valuable piece of property to Dartmouth college on which to erect a memorial hall; and in 1885 he gave $10,000 to Middlebury college on condition that an equal amount of money should he raised, and the whole he used to found a professorship of modern languages.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Alvah Woods, educator, was born in Shoreham, Vt., Aug. 13, 1794; son of the Rev. Abel (1765-1750), (a Baptist clergyman), and Mary (Smith) Woods, and a nephew of the Rev. Dr. Leonard Woods . He attended Phillips academy, Andover, Mass.; was graduated from Harvard, A.B., 1817, A.M., 1820, and from Andover Theological seminary in 1821, serving as assistant instructor, 1819, and was ordained to the Baptist ministry, Oct. 28, 1821. He was professor of mathematics and natural philosophy and of ecclesiastical history and Christian discipline in Columbian college, Washington, D.C., 1821-24, visiting Europe in 1822-23 as financial agent of the college, and was married, Dec. 10, 1823, to Altoira, daughter of Josiah and Priscilla Marshal of Boston, Mass. Their son, Marshall Woods, (Brown, A.B., 1845, A.M., 1848, University of the City of New York, M.D., 1848), was treasurer of Brown University, 1866-82, serving also as trustee of the university, 1856, and as senior member of the corporation, from 1892. Alvah Woods was professor of mathematics and natural philosophy at Brown university, 1824-28, serving as acting president of the university, 1826-27; president and professor of moral and intellectual philosophy, Transylvania university, Lexington, Ky., 1828-31, and first president of the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Ala., 1831-37, subsequently residing in Providence, R.I., where he served as voluntary chaplain of the prison. The honorary degrees of A.M. and D.D., conferred upon him by Brown in 1826 and 1828, respectively. He was a trustee of Brown, 1843-59, and a fellow of the university, 1859-87, and also a trustee of Newton Theological Institution, 1853-87. Dr. Woods established five scholarships in Brown, and also a scholarship in Worcester academy, founded the Alvah Woods lectureship in elocution, and an assistant librarianship at Newton Theological Institution. He served as president of the board of trustees of the Alabama Female Ath?n?um. He is the author of several published sermons and addresses. He died in Providence, R.I., Sept. 6, 1887.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Ellen Kelley Hooker, educator, was born at Shoreham, Vt., May 23, 1833; daughter of George Wing and Sibbel Dew (Sweat) Kelley; granddaughter of Eliphalet and Prudence (Mathewson) Kelley, and of Theophilus and Lydia (Dew) Sweat, and great granddaughter of Joseph Kelley, a justice of the peace in Smithfield, R.I. Her grandmother, Prudence (Mathewson) Kelly, was a preacher of the Society of Friends. Her father, George Wing Kelley, was a leading Abolitionist, and his house was an open station for the underground railroad. She was graduated from Troy Conference academy, Poultney, Vt., in 1852; taught school in Vermont, 1848-52, and became assistant principal of a girls' school at Chatham, N.Y., in 1853. She was married at Pittsford, Vt., to Dr. Samuel L. Hooker, a lineal descendant of Thomas Hooker, and in 1855 removed with him to Dane county, Wis., where they conducted a large private school, 1855-60. She became connected with leading educators in furthering advanced educational plans; was teacher of French and English in Le Roy collegiate institute, 1867-76; taught English in Ingham university, Le Roy, N.Y., 1876-78; was principal of that university, 1878-84, and received the degree of A.E. from there in 1882. She opened and conducted Park Place school for young ladies at Batavia, N.Y., 1884-88; was principal of Sage college, the woman's branch of Cornell university, 1888-97, after which she conducted private classes in English and gave Browning readings. She was elected a member of the College Woman's club of New York; and of the Saginaw Woman's club of Michigan in 1898; and is the author of occasonial contributions to periodicals.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor