Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1870-05-05
Death of Hon. WIN. Clam.

eAiOuS5h dihiSphOh may CpiuG uDQu US.
Death of Hon. VIM. CIapp.
On the morning of April 30, 1870, being
the anniversary Of his birth, the Hon.
VIVA. Clapp died at st. Adams.
Reuben Clapp, father of the deceased,
was born May s, 1866; married Hepzibah
Gates of Hubbardton. Mass; removed to
Montgomery, VT, in 1898, where they
had Asahel, late of New Albany, Ind,
an able physician, and one of the most
| accomplished naturalists in the West,
and the author of one of the most yalua-
BILE botanical publications hitherto pub
lished,) Roland, Jonathan, Daniel, Will
| lam, the subject of this memoir, and
Sophia,-nearly all of whom are deceased.
William Clapp was born at Montgomery,
April 30, 1911.
At the age of seventeen, Mr.. Clapp
commenced his mercantile career as a
clerk for the Hon. Asa Wheeler, in Mont
gomery. Before he attained his majority.
so great was his aptitude for mercantile
business that he became the partner of
Mr.. Wheeler, and so continued for three
years. Upon the retirement of Mr..
Wheeler he continued the business alone
for two years, being five years in trade in
the beautiful village of Montgomery.
In 1887 he removed to East Berkshire,
and was largely engaged in trade there
until the autumn of 1850. His enterprise
in business and his untiring energy were
greater than his physical constitution
could endure. His confinement to bust
ness and his great activity were suspended
in 1850, when a painful hip disease Grip.
pied him for three successive years.
Mr.. Clapp held several town offices in
Berkshire, the duties of which he dis
charged with ability and fidelity. He
also held the Office of postmaster at East
Berkshire for several years. In 1916, in
connection with Hon. Alvah Sabin and
Hon. Hiram Bellows, he was elected SEN
ator from Franklin county, and was re-
elected in 1916. He removed from East
Berkshire to st. Adams in the fall of 1858,
and from the organization of the Franklin
County Bank until the expiration of it's
charter, he was one of its prominent and
active directors. He was chosen dele
gate from this Congressional district to
the National Republican Convention at
Chicago, in 1860, and was warmly enlist
ed in securing the nomination of Abraham
Lincoln. In 1861, he was appointed by
President Lincoln Collector of Customs
for the District of Vermont, and so re-
manned, discharging the duties of this po-
sition with consummate ability, until he
was succeeded by the present incumbent
in June, 1866. Since his retirement from
the arduous duties of that Office, his health
has been so Indifferent as to preclude any
other than his attention to the manage
ment of his large estate. For the last few
months Mr.. Clapp has been great suffer
er from his old malady, aggravated by
heart disease, which was the immediate
cause of his death, in the ripeness of his
mental powers.
Mr.. Clapp was a man of uncommon
ability and energy. He possessed rare
mechanical genius, and had his powers
been early exerted in that direction, he
would have undoubtedly attained marked
distinction az an inventive mechanic. He
was man of warm feelings and generous
impulses, though his severe physical suf-
ferings at times made him appear reticent
and stoical. Caudor obliges US to say
that he was d gentleman of strong per-
sonal attachments, and, sometimes, bitter
prejudices. This. perhaps, was the natural
ACSui1 Vi las VAIN ddO AnooC GIN phdatiC
friendships.
The deceased was the member of fam
lily who Were ardently attached to the
tenets and worship of the Protestant Epis-
copal Church. Several of his family have
gained distinction as clergymen in this
church, and one of them, the late Joel
Clapp, D. D., the first male child born in
Montgomery, was at one time promi-
nent candidate for the Bishopric of the
Diocese of Vermont. Mr. Clapp showed
his attachment to the church, of which
he was a baptized member, by unremitted
and generous contributions to its sup
port.
Mr.. Clapp was twice MARI ed On the
first of January, 1888, he was married to
Miss Emma P. Rawson of Craftsbury,
VT, who died, much beloved and lament
ed, September 23d, 1864. Two children
were the fruit of this union, Mrs Dana
R. Bailey and Mr.. William A. Clapp,
both residents of St. Adams. III July,
1865, he was married to Mrs. Lucinda NJ.
Lyman of Burlington, Vt, and formerly
of Montpelier, who survives him.-Mes8-
e1lg6r.
A REMARKABLE ESCAPE FROM SUI
FoCATIoN.-The Portland A1yts says
that few evenings since the family of
Mr.. Charles Rolf, Jr., consisting of him
self, wife and one child, residing on Port