History of Chester, (Windsor County) Vermont United States of America

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Biographies:

James Robinson Graves, author, was born in Chester, Vt., April 10, 1820; son of Zuinglius and Loisa (Snell) Graves. He was principal of Kingsville academy, Ohio, 1839-41, and then removed to Kentucky for his health and took charge of Clear Creek academy, near Nicholasville. While teaching he mastered a college course of study without assistance and began the study of theology. He was ordained to the Baptist ministry and in July, 1845, removed to Nashville, Tenn., where he established an academy and in the fall became pastor of the 2d Baptist church. He was editor of the Tennessee Baptist 1846; originated the Southwestern publishing house of Nashville, Tenn., in 1848; and in 1850 founded the Tennessee and Alabama female institute, afterward the Mary Sharpe female college, Winchester, Tenn., and drafted its curriculum. He was one of the leaders of the Baptist high church party, holding the "Old Landmarkism" views. In addition to editorial articles and contributions to periodicals he wrote: The Desire of All Nations; The Watchman's Reply; The Trilemma; The First Baptist Church in America; The Great Iron Wheel (1854); The Little Iron Wheel (1856); The Bible Doctrine of the Middle Life; The Intermediate State (1869); Exposition of Modern Spiritism; Old Landmarkism, What It Is (1878); The Little Seraph; The Intercommunion of Churches (1879); The Redemptive work of Christ (1883); The Work of Christ in Seven Dispensations; The New Great Iron Wheel (1884); Denominational Sermons (1885); and The Parables and Prophecies of Christ (1887). He edited and brought before the public Robinson's History of Baptism; Wall's History of Infant Baptism; Orchard's History of Foreign and English Baptists, and Stewart's Baptisms. He died in Memphis, Tenn., in 1896.

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

Albert Leighton Rawson, author, was born at Chester, Vt., Oct. 15, 1828; son of Adolphus and Betsey (Armington) Rawson; grandson of Samuel Read and Philanda (Cleavland) Rawson, and a descendant of Edward and Rachel (Perne) Rawson. Edward Rawson emigrated from Gillingham, Dorset county, England, to America in 1636, and settled in Newbury, Mass., subsequently removing to Boston, Mass. Albert L. Rawson was educated under private tutors, and at Black River academy, Ludlow, Vt.; studied law under William H. Seward, theology under "Elder" Graves, and medicine under Professor Webster of the Massachusetts Medical college. He visited the far East four times, and in 1851?52, by representing himself to be a Mohammedan medical student, succeeded in accompanying the caravan from Cairo to Mecca. He made important investigations in the Indian mounds of the Mississippi valley, and in 1854?55 made similar research in Central America. He was adopted as a "brother" by the Adwan Bedouins of Moab. He was one of the two founders of the Nobles of the Mystio Shrine, a founder of the Theosophical society in the United States, a life member of the Society of the Rosy Cross, and a member of various literary and scientific societies. He was married to Sarah Lord. He received the degrees D.D. and LL.D. (1880), from Christ college, Oxford, England, and M.D. from the University of Sorbonne, Paris. He illustrated books, including "The Life of Jesus" by Henry Ward Beecher (1871); executed more than 3000 engravings. and painted the portraits of Queen Victoria, Louis Napoleon, Empress Eugenie and other celebrities. He contributed to magazines, wrote rituals for many secret societies, and is the author of: Divine Origin of the Holy Bible (1846); Stella and Other Novels (1847); Vocabularies and Dictionaries of Arabic, Persian and Turkish (1854); Bible Handbook (1869); Ruins and Relics of the Orient (1870); Bible Dictionaries (1870?75); Histories of all Religions (1870); Statistics of Protestantism (1870); Antiquities of the Orient (1871); Scarlet Books of Free Masonry (1873); Vocabulary of the Bedouin Languages of Syria and Egypt (1874); Dictionaries of Arabic, German and English (1876); Vocabulary of Persian and Turkish Languages (1877); History of the Quakers (1878); Chorography of Palestine (1880); The Symposium of Basra (1880); Historical and Archoeological Introduction to the Holy Bible, with maps and illustrations (1879, 1881, 1882); The Unseen World (1888); The Archaic Library (Vols. I and II, 1893), and The History of Mysticism. In 1903 he resided at Hillsdale Manor, N.J.

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

Albert David Hager, geologist, was born in Chester, Vt., Nov. l, 1817. He acquired his education in the public schools of his native town. He was assistan state naturalist of Vermont, 1856-57; assistant state geologist with Prof. Edward Hitchcock, 1857-61; state geologist and curator of the state cabinet of natural history, 1862-70; state geologist of Missouri, 1870-72, and librarian of the Chicago historical society, 1877-88. In 1867 he was sent from Vermont as a commissioner to the Paris exposition. In collaboration with Professor Hitchcock, he is the author of Geology of Vermont (2 vols., 1861). He also published the reports of the Vermont fish commission (1866-69); Economic Geology of Vermont; and report ou the geological survey of Missouri (1871). He died in Chicago, Ill., July 29, 1888.

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

Zuinglius Calvin Graves, educator, was born in Chester, Vt., in 1816; son of Zuingliusand Loisa (Snell) Graves. He attended the common schools and the normal school at Ludlow, Vt., supporting himself by teaching district schools several months each winter. In 1837 he opened a private school at Unionville, Ashtabula county, Ohio, and in 1840 was elected principal of the academy of Ashtabula. He was president of the Tennessee and Alabama female institute, afterward Mary Sharpe college, Winchester, Tenn., 1850-89. Upon the death of the Rev. Joseph H. Eaton in 1859, Dr. Graves was offered the chancellorship of Union university, Murfreesboro, Tenn., but declined the honor. He was married in 1841 to Adelia Cleopatra, daughter of Dr. D. M. Spencer of Kingsville, Ohio. The degree of A.M. was conferred upon him by Madison university in 1847, and that of LL.D. by Union university, Murfreesboro, Tenn., in 1856.

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