History of Charlotte, (Chittenden County) Vermont United States of America

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Biographies:

Jerediah Horsford, representative, was born in Charlotte, Vt., March 8, 1791; son of Roger and Mary (Brown) Horsford, grandson of Capt. Daniel Horsford, and a descendant of William Horsford, the immigrant, who lived in Dorchester, Mass., during 1638-85, and moved to Windsor, Conn., in 1636. He was a member of the state militia in 1812 and was with the American army at Burlington engaged in defending the place. He removed to New York state in 1814 and settled in the Genesee valley, where he was a missionary among the Seneca Indians. He was also a farmer at Mount Morris, removing in 1818 to Moscow, Livingston county. He was a militia officer and acquired the title of colonel, serving at the battle of Niagara Falls, July 25, 1814. He was a member of the state assembly for several terms and a representative in the 32d congress, 1851-53, having been elected by the Whig party. He was married to Charity Maria Norton, of Goshen, Conn., a direct descendant of Thomas Norton, the immigrant, who settled in New Haven in 1639 and removed to Guilford; and also a descendant of Capt. John Mason, commander of Colonial troops in the Pequot war. Their son was Ebon Norton Horsford . Colonel Horsford died at Livonia Station, N.Y., Jan. 14, 1875.

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

John Adam Kasson, diplomatist, was born at Charlotte, Vt., Jan. 11, 1822; son of John Steele and Nancy (Blackman) Kasson; grandson of Adam and Honor (Steele) Kasson, and a descendant of Adam and Jane (Hall) Kasson, who sailed from Belfast, Ireland, in 1722, landing in Boston, Mass., with seven sons and two daughters. He prepared for college in the public schools and a country academy, and was graduated from the University of Vermont in 1842. He then entered as a student the law office of his brother, tutored for some months in 1843 in Virginia, and on his return renewed the study of law in the office of Judge Emery Washburn, at Worcester, Mass., and was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1844. He practised at New Bedford, Mass., 1844-49; removed to St. Louis, Mo., and there practised law successfully for six years, and in 1857 settled in practice at Des Moines, Iowa. He was chairman of the Republican state committee, 1858-60, and a delegate to the Republican national convention at Chicago in 1860, where he was a member of the committee and sub-committee on resolutions. He was first assistant postmaster-general of the United States by appointment of President Lincoln, 1861-62; revised and codified the postal law of the United States, and prepared the scheme and invitation to foreign governments to participate in the "International Postal Conference" at Paris, which was initiated by the U.S. post office department, and which laid the foundation of the present "Postal Union" embracing the civilized world. In 1863 he was the U.S. special commissioner to that conference, which gave him a vote of thanks, and in 1867 he was again sent to Europe to make postal treaties with various countries. He was a Republican representative from the fifth Iowa district in the 38th and 39th congresses, 1863-67, the 43d and 44th congresses. 1873-77, and the 48th and 49th congresses, 1881-84, serving on the ways and means committee, as chairman of the committee on coinage, weights and measures, and on the committee of foreign affairs. He secured the passage of the laws reported by his committee establishing the metric decimal system in the United States. He was a member of the Iowa state legislature for three terms, 1868-73, elected especially to secure the erection of the state capitol building at Des Moines; was U.S. minister to Austria, 1877-81, and left his seat in congress in 1884 to accept the office of U.S. minister to Germany, serving 1884-85; and was special envoy to the Congo international conference at Berlin, 1885; but on the accession of Grover Cleveland to the Presidency, he resigned his diplomatic post, though Prince Bismarck had privately requested his retention by the new administration. He was president of the interstate constitutional centennial commission at Philadelphia, 1887; and was commissioned as U.S. special envoy to the Samoa international conference at Berlin, 1889, where he secured an honorable settlement. He had an unusually extended experience in diplomatic affairs, having negotiated conventions with many European governments, and having been a member of three international conferences, and encountered many leading diplomatists. He was appointed U.S. special commissioner plenipotentiary to negotiate reciprocity treaties in 1897, and was also a member of the American-Canadian joint high commission in 1898. In 1899 and 1900 he negotiated reciprocity conventions with France, Italy, Portugal, Nicaragua, the Argentine Republic and the various colonies of the British West Indies. Some of these conventions were pending in the U.S. senate in 190l. He received the degree of LL.D. from the University of Vermont in 1890. He delivered a course of historical diplomatic lectures before the Lowell Institute, Boston, and at Johns Hopkins university. He contributed occasional articles to reviews; is the author of a History of the Formation of the Constitution (1889), and in 1901 was reported to be writing a history of the development of European and American diplomacy.

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