History of Chelsea, (Orange County) Vermont United States of America

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Biographies:

Matthew Hale, lawyer, was born at Chelsea, Vt., June 20, 1829; the youngest son of Harry and Lucinda (Eddy) Hale; grandson of Col. Nathan Hale, who died while a prisoner in the hands of the British at New Utrecht, Long Island, Sept. 23, 1780'; and a descendant from Thomas Hale, an English yeoman, who emigrated to America in 1635 and settled in Newbury, Mass. Harry Hale was a leading merchant of Windsor, Vt., a captain of militia, represented Chelsea in the state legislature in 1828, 1832 and 1836; served as bank commissioner; and was foremost in founding the Congregational church at CheLsea in 1810, which contains a stained glass window as a memorial. He was twice married: first to Phebe, daughter of David and Phebe (Spofford) Adams, who (1802-15) became the mother of eleven children, including Mark, Thomas and Henry Hale; and secondly to Lucinda, daughter of Ephriam and Mary (Safford) Eddy, who bore him seven children, including Safford, Eddy, Robert Safford, William Bainbridge and Matthew. Matthew was prepared for college at Bradford academy and was graduated with honors at the University of Vermont in 1851. He studied law in the office of Kellogg & Hale, Elizabethtown, N.Y. He was admitted to the bar in 1835 and practised in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., 1835-55, in partnership with his brother Henry, who removed to St. Paul, Minn., in 1855 and with Gen. A. B. Smith, 1855-59. He removed to New York city in 1859 where he was a partner with Lot C. Clark, 1859-63. In 1863 he removed to Elizabethtown, N.Y., and became a partner with the Hon. A. C. Hand, his father-in-law, and Richard L. Hand, as Hand & Hale. He was a delegate to the state constitutional convention of June, 1867, at Albany, N.Y., and was a member of the judicial committee of that body. He was state senator, 1868-69, and removed to Albany in 1868 where he became a partner in the law firm of Hand, Hale & Swartz. He represented the interests of President Ramsey in his suit with Fisk & Gould for the control of the Albany & Susquehanna railroad; the English stockholders of the Erie railway in their contest with Fisk & Gould, and the people in the canal suits instituted by Governor Tilden, and in the trial of John F. Smyth before the state senate in 1878. He was also counsel for the Central national bank of Boston; the General Burt estate; the Delaware & Hudson canal company; the New York, Lake Erie & Western railway; the Western Union telegraph company, and various other corporations. He was the Republican candidate for justice of the supreme court in 1883; was a commissioner of appraisement of the Niagara Falls reservation in 1884; a commissioner to report upon the most humane method of capital punishment in 1887; president of the state bar association, 1890-91, and a charter member of the organization, and president of the New York state civil service reform league in 1893. He was a member of the leading clubs of Albany, and of New York city, including the Commonwealth, Reform and University. He was married in 1856 to Ellen S., daughter of Augustus C. Hand, and secondly in December, 1877, to Mary, daughter of Col. Francis L. Lee of Boston, Mass. He received the degree of LL.D. from the University of Vermont in 1883. He died in Albany, N.Y., March 25, 1897.

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

Philip Hale, musical critic, was born in Norwich, Vt., March 5, 1854; son of William Bainbridge and Harriet Amelia (Porter) Hale; grandson of Harry Hale (born at Rindge, N.H., 1780, died at Chelsea, Vt., 1861); and a descendant in the eighth generation of Thomas Hale, who was born in Warren, England, in 1606 and settled in Newbury, Mass., about 1635. He was graduated from Yale college in 1876 and was admitted to the bar in Albany, N.Y., in 1880. He went to Europe in 1882 and studied music in Berlin under Haupt and Bargiel, 1882-84, at Munich, Stuttgart, and in Paris under Guilmant, 1885-87. He returned to America in 1887. He was organist at St. Peter's church, Albany, N.Y., 1879-82; at St. John's church, Troy, N.Y., 1887-89; and at Dr. James de Normandie's church, Rexbury district, Boston, Mass., after 1889. In December, 1891, he became one of the editorial staff of the Boston Journal, and its musical critic. He became editor of the Musical Record, Boston, in 1897.

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

Napoleon Bonaparte McLaughlen, soldier, was born in Chelsea, Vt., Dec. 8, 1823. He enlisted in the U.S. army in 1849; was assigned to the 2d U.S. dragoons, May 27, 1850, and was honorably discharged, April 28, 1859. He rejoined the army as 2d lieutenant in the let U.S. cavalry, March 27, 1861; was promoted1st lieutenant, May 3, 1861, and transferred to the 4th U.S. cavalry in August, 1861. He was promoted captain, July 17, 1862, and colonel of the let Massachusetts volunteers, Oct. 1, 1862. He served in the 1st brigade, 2d division, 3d army corps, in the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and Locust Grove, 1862-63. He was in the let brigade, 4th division, 2d corps, in the Wilderness campaign, and at Spottsylvania, May 3-12, 1864. He was mustered out of the volunteer service, May 28, 1864, and rejoined the 4th U.S. cavalry at Atlanta, Ga., in June, and on Sept. 14, 1864, was appointed colonel of the 57th Massachusetts veteran volunteers. He commanded the 1st division in Willcox's 9th corps, Army of the Potomac, at the siege of Petersburg, and the battle of Poplar Grove chinch, and the 3d brigade in the defence of Forts Haskell and Stealman, March 25, 1865, where he was captured while attempting to rally the infantry in the trenches between the two forts, and confined in Libby prison, Richmond, Va. He was brevetted major, May 8, 1863, and lieutenant-colonel in the regular army, July 2, 1863, for Chancellorsville and Gettysburg; brigadier-general of volunteers, Sept. 30, 1864, for Poplar Grove church, Va., colonel, U.S.A., March 13, 1865, for the assault on Fort Stedman, and brigadier-general, U.S.A., March 13, 1865,. for gallant and meritorious service in the field during the war. He was mastered out of the volunteer service, Aug. 10, 1865; commanded the post of Grand Ecore, La., was promoted major and transferred to the 10th cavalry, May 17, 1876, and was retired June 26, 1882. He died in Middletown, N.Y, Jan. 27, 1887.

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