The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1895-11-08

(2) Col Benjamin Carpen ter one ofthe grand
| csthgures of those days,the most prominent mar
on the east side Of the mountain who took the
"new state" side from the beginning, stal
wart and uncompromising Democrat in his pol
itics In later years. and all his life most useful
citizen and rugged christian. and sometimes
u preacher. He was born at Rehoboth
Mass, May II. l725. so that he was almost
30 years old at the time introduced in this
story and though he had only common school
education. he was man of prominence and a
magistrate In Rhode Island before he came te
Vermont, which he did In ITO. He was the
first delegate from Guilford to a Vermont con
vention, was prominent in all those of l7,5 and
rs, was chairman Of the Cumberland county
committee of safety Feb LIST l116, and was
nominated lieutenant colonel of MALTA by that
body, the appointment being confirmed by New
convention that formed the constitution of Yer
mont. He was a member of the Council OF
Salty which managed the LII campaign so eff
cienily, building out Of disaster and disorgan.
turning point of the war. followed as II was by
the capture of Borgoyne. Col Carpenter went
afOot with pack and cane 30 miles through the
woods from his home at Guiford guided by his
line Of marked trees, to attend the meeting OF
the council at Manchester. As Thompson ga VS.
he "deservedy holds a conspicuous place In the
early history Of the state. AT the second elect
ion under the new government he was chosen
lie utenant governor in l779 and reelected In 1850
His last Office was that In the Council of treas
urer in 1884. Though back woodsman and act,
i've In an era when land speculation and greed
marred much of public service, he was a man OF
resolutely high ideals in public life. The. leg.
islature. consisting largely of men who had
framed the constitution. at one time voted to
themselves severashares in townships of land as
compensation for their long and self sacrificing
service" and the whole town of Barre, now OF
Carpenter. He not only voted against the measure
himself and denounced It AS detracting from
the dignity of thier work, but he refused to his
dying day TO accept the shares voted to him or TO
he 9TH ...par. an tinn for
vices.
The famous inscription on his tombstone at
Guildford is quite biography of itself. II reads
Sacred to the memory
of the
HON. BENJAMIN CARPENTER, ESQ.
Born in RehOb 9th, Mass, A ID, I725
A Magistrate in Rhode Island in l76i
A public teacher of righteousness
An able advocate to his last for Democracy
And the equal rights of man
Removed TO this town ID 1,10
Was a field officer in the Revolutionary War
A founder of the first constitution and
government Of Vermont
A councillor of Censors ID 1894
member of the Council and Lieut.
Governor of the State in ID 1873
A firm professor of Christianity
in the Baptist church so years
Left this world and LAG persons of lineal pos.
March %, 1904,
Aged IS years, 10 months and IL days
u
Mind and full faith of a more
Glorious state hereafter.
Stature about six lightweight 200
Death had no terror.
He married his fourth cousin, Annie daughter
of Abrial and Prudence Carpenter at Provi-
dence, X I, Oct 3, 1145. Among his descendants
are Mrs II Sherman of Brattleboro, a great
granddaughter, W Carpenter, the manager
of the Carpenter Organ Co, and Judge Obed
Hall Of Stamford.
f2) Judge Thompson has here adopted an
error that had curious origin, Thompson's
Gazateer, in the article contributed by Maj.
stephen Sreenleaf, contains the statement that
the latter's father was the first merchant in the
East village, but Maj. Greenleaf did not make
the statement, as Is shown by the manuscript
w hich Is now in the hands OF DIR Conland; IL
was an interpolation by the editor. who had
evidently heard that he was merchant, as he
had been in Boston. He failed there and came
10 Brattleboro In Ill, and in August buying tine
"t,oyepor'- Farm" which covered most of
where the village IL, but living where the Rich
ardson place now Is, nearly mile south
There was then no village and hardly II any,
houses where the village 10, and but two or
three along the banks of the Connecticut. OF
course Mr. Green.eaf may have brought some
goods from Boston, but he kept no store. In ls72
he built a saw mill at Centeryille and moved 10
Finn Corners about that time. lie mortgaged
the governors farm to Judge Wells and TO
his Boston creditors and It a forwards came
into the hands OF Wells, then the big man
Of ms section. The only land that he sold was
that 20 Sam knight. His home was Elm Corners
and his widows dover was the nat south OF u
r Miners tenant house. These facts are
a.; shown by the town records. Mr. Greenleaf
who died about 1so2, was town clerk for seven
vears from f77e TO - and his son, Mai. Greenleaf
held the Office As years more. Iron isss TO ie44-