History of Rutland, (Rutland County) Vermont United States of America

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Local History Notes:

RUTLAND, a county in the S. W. central part of Vermont, has an area of about 960 square miles. It is in part bounded on the W. by Lake Champlain, and is drained principally by Otter creek and its branches, which supply water-power for numerous mills. It contains several small lakes and ponds, among which may be mentioned Lake Austin and Bombazine lake. The surface is elevated, and in the E. part mountainous. The soil is fertile, especially along the valley of Otter creek. Potatoes, wool, and grass are the staples. In 1850 this county produced ta 416,000 bushels of potatoes; 103,950 tons of hay; 1,120,814 pounds of butter; 1,930,047 of cheese, and 623,199 of wool. The quantity of wool was the greatest produced by any county in the United States, except Washington county, Pennsylvania. There were 2 cotton and 11 woollen factories, 5 foundries, 2 furnaces, 9 grist mills, 33 saw mills, 4 marble quarries, 16 marble sawing establishments, 1 iron-rolling mill, and 18 tanneries. It contained 60 churches, 4 newspaper offices; 9395 pupils attending public schools, and 1020 attending other schools. This county abounds in iron ore and excellent marble. Lake Champlain is navigable along the W. border. The railroad connecting Bellow's Falls and Burlington traverses this county, which is also partly intersected by those connecting Rutland with Troy, Saratoga, and Bennington. Organized in 1781. Capital, Rutland. Population, 33,059.

Biographies:

Walter Chipman Dunton, jurist, was born in Bristol, Vt., Nov. 29, 1830. He was prepared for college at Malone academy, N.Y., and was graduated from Middlebury college in 1857. He was admitted to the bar in 1858, and soon after removed to Kansas, where he was a member of the territorial legislature in 1861. He returned to his native state in the later part of that year and settled at Rutland. In 1862 he joined the Union army, serving as captain in the 14th Vermont volunteers. In 1865 he was elected judge of probate, and served until April 14, 1877, when he was appointed a judge of the supreme court to flit a vacancy. He resigned on account of ill health in 1879. In l880 he was elected a state senator, and in 1881 was president of the Vermont bar association. He was a member of the state constitutional convention of 1870. He was professor of law in the Iowa state university, 1888-89, and a trustee of Middlebury college, Vt., 1870-90. He died at Rutland, Vt., April 23, 1890.

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

James Davie Butler, educator, was born in Rutland, Vt., March 15, 1815, son of James Davie and Rachel (Maynard, born Harris) Butler. He was prepared for college at the Wesleyan seminary in Wilbraham, Mass., and was graduated at Middlebury college in 1836. After studying a year in the theological school of Yale college he became a tutor at Middlebury college, and in December, 1838, acting professor. In 1840 he was graduated at Andover theological seminary, and being elected an Abbott resident he remained at Andover until 1842. From June, 1842, he travelled and studied in Europe. He was engaged as a supply for Congregational churches in West Newbury, Mass., and Burlington, Vt. From 1845 to 1847 he was professor and acting president of the university of Norwich, Vt. From 1847 to 1852 he was pastor at Wells River, Vt., Norwich, Vt., and South Danvers, Mass. From 1852 to 1855 he was pastor of the Congregational church in Cincinnati, Ohio, resigning to accept the chair of Greek in Wabash college in Indiana. In 1858 he accepted a similar position in the university of Wisconsin, where he remained until 1867. After a year of foreign travel he spent a winter on the lecture platform. From 1869 to 1873, in the interest of a western railroad company, he explored, studied and described the region through which the road ran. He then took up his residence at Madison, Wis., and engaged in literary work, lecturing and preaching. In 1854 he was elected a member of the American antiquarian society, the fifth to receive that honor, and delivered an address before that society in April, 1894, concerning the journal of Sergeant Lloyd. He also became a member of the Wisconsin state historical society, of which he was acting president in 1897. Middlebury college conferred upon him the degree of LL.D. in 1862. His published writings include Deficiencies in Our History (1846); Incentives to Mental Culture among Teachers (1852); Nebraska (1873); The Naming of America (1874); Governmental Patronage of Knowledge (1877); American Pre-Revolutionary Bibliography (1879); First French Footprints beyond the Lakes (1882); The Hapax Legomera in Shakespeare (1882); Portraits of Columbus (1883); The words once used in Shakespeare (1886); Alexander Mitchell, the Financier (1888); Butleriana, Genealogica et Biographica (1888); Prehistoric Pottery (1894), and British Convicts shipped to American Colonies (1896).

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

Walter Colton, author, was born in Rutland, Vt., May 9, 1797; son of Deacon Walter and Thankful (Cushman) Colton. He was graduated from Yale in 1822, and from Andover theological seminary in 1825. He was professor of moral philosophy and Biblical literature in the Military academy, Middletown, Conn., 1825-30, also officiating as chaplain. He was ordained, June 5, 1827. In 1828 he went to Washington, D. C, to accept the editorship of the American Spectator, a Whig organ. In 1831 he was appointed by President Jackson chaplain in the navy, and visited the West Indies on board the Vincennes, 1832-35, and the Mediterranean on board the Constellation, 1835-37. He was then assigned to the Charlestown navy yard, and while in Boston edited the Colonization Herald, 1837. In 1838 he was transferred to the naval station in Philadelphia, where he edited the North American, 1841-42. In 1845 he was ordered to California, and in 1846 was appointed by Commodore Stockton alcalde of Monterey, to which office he was afterward elected by the people. He established the Californian, the first paper published on the Pacific slope, which he removed to San Francisco and called the Alta Californian. He built the first schoolhouse in California, and in a letter to the North American, made the first public announcement of the discovery of gold. He resigned his chaplaincy during President Tyler's administration and returned to Philadelphia in 1849, where he devoted himself to literary work. The U.S. senate after his decease, voted his heirs a hand some sum in recognition of his services. He was married to Cornelia B. Colton of Philadelphia, who after his death became the wife of Simeon B. Chittendon. He received the degree of A.M. from Yale, in 1828. Among his published works are: Ship and Shore in Madeira, Lisbon and the Mediterranean (1835); A Visit to Athens and Constantinople (1836); Three Years in California (1850); Deck and Port: Incidents of a Cruise to California (1850). He died in Philadelphia, Pa., Jan. 22, 1851.

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

James Meacham, representative, was born in Rutland, Vt., Aug. 10, 1810. He was left an orphan at an early age and was apprenticed to a cabinet-maker, from whom he was released and sent to school by a neighbor. He was graduated at Middlebury college, A.B., 1832, A.M., 1835; taught in the seminary at Castleton, Vt., 1832-33, and at the Academy in St. Albans, Vt., 1833-34; attended Andover Theological seminary, 1834-36; was a tutor at Middlebury, 1836-38, and was ordained to the Congregational ministry, May 29, 1838. He was pastor at New Haven, Vt., 1838-46; professor of rhetoric and English literature at Middlebury college, 1846-50, and was a representative in the 31st, 32d, 33d and 34th congresses, 1840-56. He served as chairman of the committee on the District of Columbia, and was prominent in his opposition to the abrogation of the Missouri compromise. He was a regent of the Smithsonian Institution, and a trustee of Middlebury college. He died in Rutland, Vt., Aug. 23, 1856.

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