Ranslure Weld Clarke (1816-1899)

From the Annals of Brattleboro, 1681-1895.

   A native of Massachusetts, Ranslure Weld Clarke later migrated to Windham County, Vermont and for many years was connected with public affairs in that county, being a banker, attorney, state senator, and judge during his residency. Born in Williamstown, Massachusetts on January 27, 1816, Ranslure was the son of Elam and Cynthia Lewis Clarke. His education took place in schools local to Williamstown and also studied at both the Black River Academy and the Orange County Grammar School. Clarke would graduate from Dartmouth College in the class of 1845 and in that same year returned to the Black River Academy to serve as Principal.

   While serving at the Black River Academy Clark began pursuing the study of law with future Vermont Governor Peter Thacher Washburn, and after leaving the position of principal continued his studies with Jonathan Dorr Bradley in Brattleboro. Clarke was admitted to the Vermont bar in 1846 and three years later married to Lucy Chandler Wilder (1826-1864), with whom he had one daughter, Mary Clark Acker (born 1857). Lucy Wilder Clarke died in 1864 and Ranslure remarried in 1868 to Lucy's sister Susan (1835-1886), later having a son, Francis.

   Following his first marriage Clarke established a law practice in Brattleboro and within a short period had become involved in Republican political circles in the area. The party later nominated Clarke to be Windham County Attorney, and he was elected to that office in 1852, 1853, and 1854. Clarke continued his political ascent through the latter part of the decade, being selected as a delegate to the 1857 Vermont Constitutional Convention and in 1858 was elected by the citizens of Windham County to represent them in the State Senate. He was reelected to the Senate the following year and after leaving the Senate became register of probate for Marlboro, Vermont, holding this post from 1861-1862.

   In 1862 Clarke resigned as register of probate to aid in the war effort, becoming an assistant Quartermaster of Volunteers. During a portion of his military service, Clarke was stationed in Brattleboro and is recorded by his Vermont Phoenix obituary as having "bought 4,000 horses for the government" to be used during wartime. He was promoted to major in March 1865 and was honorably discharged from service on October 25th of that year, having attained the rank of Colonel. 

   Shortly after leaving the military Clarke returned to practicing law in Brattleboro and in 1867 formed a partnership with another oddly named man, Kittredge Haskins (1836-1909). Mr. Haskins later went on to distinction as a state representative and senator and served as a U.S. Representative from Vermont from 1901-1909. In 1868 Clarke served as a Republican Presidential elector and two years later Haskins and Clarke's law firm was dissolved, as Clarke had been appointed as the Postmaster for Brattleboro. He served in that capacity until 1879, and around that time began a lengthy connection with the Brattleboro Savings Bank, serving as its President for a number of years.

   Shortly after the conclusion of his tenure as Brattleboro postmaster, Ranslure Clarke was elected as assistant judge of Windham County in 1882. He served on the bench until December 1892 and moved from Vermont in 1893 to reside with his daughter and her husband (New York State Assemblyman Milo Acker) at their home in Hornell, New York. Ranslure Clarke died in Hornell on January 15, 1899, at age 82 and was returned to Vermont for burial at the Prospect Hill Cemetery in Brattleboro. His January 20, 1899 obituary in the Brattleboro Phoenix memorialized Clarke as having "possessed a striking personal presence and bearing" and "a had a courtly manner of the old school".              

                    From the Barre Evening Telegram, January 17, 1899.                  

Londus Fullington Terrill (1837-1907)

  Sporting a pair of fashionable sideburns, Vermont merchant, soldier, and state legislator Londus Fullington Terrill is one of many oddly named men to have been elected to a term in the Vermont legislature during the 19th century, and he joins an already lengthy list of unusually named Vermont politicians to have been profiled here over the past year or so. 

  Born in the village of Underhill, Vermont, Londus F. Terrill was one of five children born to Asaph Lee (born 1803) and Ruth Fullington Terrill (1808-1897), both natives of Chittenden County. Terrill's early life in Underhill was spent on the family farm, and he attended schools local to his hometown, later studying at the Barre Academy in Barre, Vermont. During his youth, Terrill is recorded as having "taught school four winters" but did not make a profession out of teaching. He married in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1860 to Susan A. Fernald (1838-1901), and to this union were born four sons, George Edrick (1861-1899), Frederick E. (1864-1946), Willis Ethel (1866-1936) and Arthur Leon (born 1871). 

  In September 1862 Terrill joined in the ongoing war effort, enlisting in Company F of the 13th Regiment Vermont Volunteer Infantry. He was appointed as a corporal in this unit and is acknowledged by the 1910 Pictorial History Thirteenth Regiment Vermont Volunteers as having "participated in all of its actions and in the Battle of Gettysburg". Terrill was mustered out of service in July 1863 and returned to Underhill, where in 1868 he was appointed as town postmaster, serving in this post until 1879.

From the 1910 Pictorial History of the Thirteenth Regiment Vermont Volunteers.

  Throughout the 1870s and early 1880s, Terrill served as Underhill constable and collector, and was recorded by the Gazetteer and Business Directory of Chittenden County, Vermont (1882-1883) as being a "dealer in dry goods and general merchandise". This same work also lists him as an "agent for Studebaker farm wagons and Franklin Co. churns and butter workers". Terrill also served as a director of the Burlington and Lamoille Railroad for several years.

   Aside from his service in offices local to the town of Underhill, Terrill had never served in elected office prior to 1885. In November of that year, he was elected to the Vermont House of Representatives and served during the legislative session of 1886-1888. Following his term in the House, Terrill won election to the Vermont State Senate in November 1887, taking his seat in January of the new year. His term lasted from 1888-1890 and during his service held a seat on the committees on Railroads and State Prisons. In his later years, Terrill continued in the general merchandise business and also took an active role in local veterans organizations, serving as a Vermont delegate to the National Encampments of 1882, 1883, and 1884.

  In 1901 Terrill's wife of forty years died. Following Susan Fernald Terrill's death, Londus remarried in Boston, Massachusetts in October 1904 to widow Ruth Congdon Moseley, and the couple resided in Wakefield, Massachusetts until his death at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston on December 10, 1907. His remains were later returned to Vermont and interred at the Underhill Flats Cemetery, the same resting place as that of his parents and first wife. 

  It should also be noted that two of Terrill's surviving sons went on to distinguished careers in their own right, with George Edrick Terrill following his father into successful merchandising and legislative service (serving in the session of 1892), and Willis Ethel becoming a prominent pharmacist and druggist, serving as President of the Vermont State Pharmaceutical Association from 1897-1899. One can note that both George and Willis bear a remarkable resemblance to their father, as evidenced by the portraits below!