The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-05-06
GOVERNOR HolsRoo~
Biographical Sketch of Vermont's
Grand Old Man.

brook, was born in Weymouth, Mass,
July 10, 1851. In his youth British
officers stationed at Dorchester
Heights taught him surveying, and
about the time he reached his MAORI
ty he came to Newfane, bearing
recommendations to Judge Luke
Knowlton. through whom he obtained
employment as surveyor, an art
then very much in demand, with this
whole section of country wilderness
covered with the primitive forest ana
lust beginning to be opened up to set
Element. A few years later NOV
30 1856. he married Judge knowl-
toms daughter, Sarah.
Within ten years of his marriage
Mr.. Holbrook moved to Brattleboro
with his family, and this was after
wards their home, save for two or
three years. when, on account of bust
ness connections, Mr. Holbrook
moved to Warehouse Point, Conn. 1t
was here, on Feb. Is, 1913, that
Frederick Holbrook was born, being
the youngest in a family OF ten chill
dren. all the rest of whom were born
in Vermont. On his mothers side
Gov. Holbrook was a descendent OF
Gov. Bradford of Massachusetts.
Gov. Holbrook's Father.
When the father of Gov. Holbrook
first came TO Brattleboro, iD the year
1895 or SO he bought the mills stand
ing on the site now occupied by the
old Hines & Newman machine shop
and the electric light station. The
trade was mostly by barter and ex-
chanbe, and to facilitate his trade
with Hartford and other points MT
Holbrook started the first of the line
of fiatbottomed boats which were used
to ply up and down the river. The
Holbrook family resident was at this
time in the brick house on the corner
of Main and Elliot streets, where the
Vermont National bank now stands,
afterwards the John r. Blake house,
which was burned in the great fire of
1869. In 1925, having then retired
from active business. From the year
1882 until his death which took place
on the 9Th of April, 1898, Mr.. Hol-
brook was president of the Bratte-
boro bank. now the Vermont National
he was one Of the original trustees OF
the Vermont Asylum for the Insane,
and in many ways a man of note in
the early life of Brattleboro. He was
a man of splendid physique and in his
dignity of bearing one eminenty
born to command The family por-
trait shows Mrs. Holbrook to have
been a woman OF great personal beau
ty, while in mental equipment she
was the peer and complement of her
husband.
Childhood and Schooling.
This sketch Of Gov. Holbfook's par
entage suggests the way his childhood
was spent AT the age Of about 10
years he was sent 20 the Berkshire
Gymnasium" at Pittsfeld Mass, then
the best school for boys and young
men in the country Here he remain
ed two years i'm the study of mathe
MATES ana the higher English bran
ches. l. thus enjoyed the best poss
lble instruction and with both teach
ers warm personal friendships were
made-friendships which were OF
great value in after lii
AT the age of 20 he crossed the At
lantic for the benefit OF an extended
European trip.
A Floodwood Captain.
Tt was soon after the young mans
return from this school that an inter
esting incident occurred in his cleo
ton as captain OF the Floodwood
militia company. For the young men
of today it may be said that the state
al that time required military service
from all ablebodied citizens of GER
tain ages Brattleboro had a regular
ly organized and equipped artillery
and infantry company, by which pro
flciency in drill was acquired. Into
another company, the ~Floodwood,
was gathered all those remaining sub
iects OF military discipline who simp-
~ wished to keep within the requir-
ments of the law, and save the pay
ment of fines, by gathering for an an
nual June training
The captain of the Floodwood com
pany had resigned. and the young
bucks of the village bent on having a
lark ignored the pompous young lieu
tenant. who thought he had a cinch
on the place and made grandilo-
quent speech preliminary to his eX-
pected election; and when the first
| sergeant held out a stoyepipe hat and
the company marched by to cast in
their ballote, II was found that Fred
Holbrook, a boy of IS, was elected by
practically unanimous vote. The
election took place in front of tAe
Westinghouse in the West village
In the autumn of his 18th year he
went to Boston, where he became in
terested in the bookstore of Richard
son, Lord & Holbrook. remaining
there about two years lie became a
member of the Handel and Hayden
society, and of Lowell Mason's church
choir, and his associations were such
that he enjoyed unusual advantages
for cultivating his natural musical
taste, with the result that for 40 years
after his return to Brattleboro he was
the choir leader of the Centre church.
1t is, in fact, only few years ago that
Gov. Holbrook appeared before the
Brattleboro public as the able and
gracious leader of an "old folks" con.
cert.