History of Guilford, (Windham County) Vermont United States of America

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Biographies:

Hosea Ballou, 2d, clergyman, was born at Guilford, Vt., Oct. 18, 1796, son of Asahel and Martha (Starr) Ballou. He was educated at the schools of Halifax, Vt., whither his parents removed about 1797, and later studied under a tutor, Rev. Mr. Wood, but owing to his father's views on religious education, he did not receive a college training. He studied for the Universalist ministry under his grand-uncle, Hosea Ballou, at Portsmouth, N.H., and in 1815 assumed pastoral charge of a church in Stafford, Conn. In 1821 he was appointed pastor of the Universalist church at Roxbury, Mass., and was associated with his grand-uncle and Thomas Starr King in the editorship of the Universalist Magazine, which later became the Trumpet, and of the Universalist Expositor, later known as the Universalist Quarterly, which was founded July 1, 1830, and long exerted a powerful influence in the Universalist denomination. In 1852 he resigned his pastorate at Roxbury, and accepted an invitation to serve the church at Medford, Mass. In 1853 he was elected first president of Tufts college, an institution which he had been largely instrumental in founding, and the early prosperity of which was mainly due to his able administration. In 1843 he succeeded Dr. Channing as overseer of Harvard college. In 1843 Harvard conferred upon him the degree of A.M., and in 1845 that of D.D. His nephew, Hosea Starr Ballou, published his biography in 1896. Mr. Ballou published, "The Ancient History of Universalism from the Time of the Apostolic Fathers to the Reformation" (1829). A second edition of this work was published in 1842. In 1833 he edited and published Sismondi's "History of the Crusades." He died at College Hill, Somerville, Mass., May 27, 1861.

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

Halbert Stevens Greenleaf, representative, was born in Guilford, Vt., April 12, 1827; son of Jeremiah and Elvira Eunice (Stevens), grandson of Daniel and Huldah (Hopkins), great grandson of Stephen and Eunice (Fairbanks), and great, great, great, great, great-grandson of Stephen and Elizabeth (Coffin) Greenleaf. He was brought up on a farm and engaged in various occupations till 1859 when he became a member of the firm of Linus Yale, Jr., & Co., lockmakers in Philadelphia,. He removed to Shelburne Falls, Mass., in 1861, and organized the Yale & Greenleaf Lock Co., of which he became business manager. In 1862 he enlisted as a private in Company E, 52d Massachusetts volunteers, and was commissioned captain September 12, and colonel Oct. 15, 1862. He participated in the battle of Indian Ridge, at Jackson Cross Roads, and in the assault on Port Hudson. June 14, 1863. At the expiration of his military service he was given command of the steamer CoI. Benedict on the lower Mississippi till the end of the war, when he took charge of the salt works (in Petite Anse Isle, St. Mary's Parish, La. In June, 1867, he removed to Rochester, N.Y., and became a lock manufacturer. He was a Democratic representative from the thirtieth New York district in the 48th and 52d congresses, 1883-85 and 1891-93. He was married April 12, 1827, to Jean F., daughter of Dr. John Brooks of Bernardstown, Mass.

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

Benjamin Carpenter, patriot, was born at Swansea, Mass., May 17, 1725; son of Edward and Elizabeth (Wilson) Carpenter. He removed in early life to Rhode Island, where he was a magistrate in 1744, and where he was married, Oct. 3, 1745, to Annie, daughter of Abial and Prudence Carpenter. He settled in Guilford, Vt., in 1770, and was the first delegate from that town to a Vermont convention. He was a member of the Westminster convention in 1775, of the Dorset and Westminster conventions in 1776, and of the Windsor convention, which framed the constitution of the state. In 1776 he was chairman of the Cumberland county committee of safety, and was made lieutenant-colonel of militia. In 1779 he was elected lieutenant-governor of the new state, and was re-elected the following year. He was a member of the council of censors in 1783. He died at Guilford, Vt., March 29, 1804.

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

Charles Edward Phelps, jurist, was born in Guilford, Vt., May 1, 1833; son of John and Almira (Hart) Lincoln Phelps; grandson of Capt. Samuel Hart, a soldier in the Revolution, and a colonial champion of religious liberty; great-grandson of Charles Phelps, the first lawyer who settled in Vermont, and a descendant of William Phelps, who came from England in 1630, and of the Rev. Thomas Hooke . He removed to Maryland in 1841; was graduated from the College of New Jersey, A.B., 1852, A.M., 1855; studied law at Harvard; became a practising lawyer in Baltimore in 1855, and was admitted to practice in the U.S. supreme court in 1859. He was elected on the Reform ticket a member of the city council of Baltimore in 1860; was one of the organizers and major of the Maryland Guard, 1858-61, and lieutenant-colonel and colonel of the 7th Maryland Volunteers, 1862-64. At the battle of the Wilderness his horse was killed and his clothing riddled, and at Spottsylvania, May 8, 1864, his horse was killed, and he was wounded and taken prisoner while leading the 2d division, 5th army corps, in the charge on the works. He was recaptured by Sheridan's cavalry, brevetted brigadier-general for gallant conduct, and awarded the congressional medal of honor. He was elected on the National Union ticket as a representative from the third district of Maryland in the 39th congress, 1865-67, where he opposed the radical measures and policy of reconstruction, and was re-elected on the Conservative ticket to the 40th congress, 1867-69. He declined an executive appointment as judge of the court of appeals in 1867; was married, Dec. 29, 1868, to Martha Woodward of Baltimore, Md., and resumed his practice in Baltimore. He was president of the Baltimore school board, 1876; commander of the 8th Maryland regiment during the strike riots in 1877; president of the Maryland Association of Union Veterans, and a member of various scientific historical, military and social organizations. In 1882 he was elated on the Independent ticket judge of the supreme bench of Baltimore, and in 1897 was nominated by all parties and re-elated without opposition, the legislature, in 1902, upon the application of the Baltimore Bar association, unanimously extending his term beyond the constitutional age limit. In 1884 he was chosen a law professor in the University of Maryland. He is the author of: Juridical Equity (1894), and Falstaff and Equity (1901).

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