Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1917-08-03
DEATH OF H. B. CHAMBERLAIN.
~
Long Time Town Lister and Auditor
Had Cancerous Trouble-Widley In
formed on Tax Matteru

formed on Tax Matters.
Herbert Bella Chamberlain, 6s, for over
2S years a town auditor and for 20 years
lister of the town, a prominent mem
Der of the First Baptist church which he
served for 20 years as an usher and in
which he was trustee many years, died
Tuesday morning at 3.45 clock in his
home, % Western avenue, of cancer
of the intcstines. He had been in failing
health two years and last January I'M
derwent an operation which gave tempo
rary relief. He had been confined to his
bed four months.
Mr.. Chamberlain was born in Newport,
N. H., Aug. 10, 1S49, son of Bella Net
Teton and Jane Gram Chamberlain.
| When he was an infant his parents
moved to Peterboro, N. H., and at the
age of five years he came to Brattleboro
where he had since made his home. He
graduated from the Brattleboro high
school in the class of 1867 and imme-
diately took employment in the hat store
conducted by his father where the Brat
tlcboro Trust Co. is now located. After
his fathers death, in 1887, he continued
the business about five years and sold it
to S. W. Edgett
After disposing of his business Mr..
| chamberlain confined his activities prin-
cpally to town affairs and to doing ac-
counting for the state board of health
during the long term of the late Dr.
Henry ID. Holton as secretary. He com
piled the vital statistics for the state
board of health for years.
| MIR. Chamberlain was elected a town
auditor in 1884 and continued to serve
IS such for % years. In 1895 he was
| nj tod - 4 A.
lpacity for 20 years, failing of reelection
in 1915 but receiving appointment as
clerk of the board to do the office work
Once before that he failed of re-elcc-
ton, in 1909, but Ernest S. Hall, who
was elected in his place, promptly re,
signed and the selectmen appointed Mr..
Chamberlain
Mr. Chamberlain was secretary and
treasurer of the Brattleboro Free library
and for years had been secretary and
treasurer of the Brattleboro Water Co.
He was appointed a trustee of the Aus
tine Institution after the death of John
Calvin in 1911, and is the third member
of that board to die recently, the others
being DIR. Henry ~. Holton and George
C.. Avcrill
His connection with the First Baptist
church had been since young manhood
and his interest in the church was second
only to that of his home. He was a
charter member of the Chamberlain AS
ISOLATION of America, an associate mem
Der of Sedgwick post, c. A. r., and a
member of the Valley Fair association.
He married. May ID, 1896, Miss Nettie
l.. Phillips, daughter of the late Henry
c. and Alice (Gibson Phillips of this
town. They had one daughter, who died
in infancy. Mr.. Chamberlain is the last
of his family and is survived only by his
wife
No man in Brattleboro had wider
knowledge of property valuations than
ibid MIR. Chamberlain, nor a more init
mate knowledge of the workings of tax
laws and the manner in which the pay
ment of taxes is evaded. He could talk
or hours on this subject in highly en-
ertainingl fashionno His ideas in the
framing of tax laws were sought by per
sons engaged in that work.
He was man of cheerful disposition,
accustomed always to look on the bright
side of life, and even to the last of his
illness his cheerfulness did not leave
him. He was scrupulously honest and q
IAN whose opinions were valued in town
and church affairs. He was also II very
accommodating man, many times going
ut of his way to do person a favor.
There are very many persons i'll Brat
tleboro and elsewhere who will cherish
the memory of Mr.. Chamberlain.
, The funeral was held yesterday after
noon at $50 o'clock at the house Rev. l.
NJ. Compton, pastor of the West Brattle-
boro Baptist church, officiating, assisted
by Rev. L. q. 5. Osgood, pastor of the
Unitarian church, The bearers were DR.
W. r. Noyes, Carl S, Hopkins. Enos
White Frank Downs, L. G. Phillips, and
Frank II. Field of Schenectady, n. Y
The burial took place in the family lot
IL Prospect Hill cemetery.