Lamoille

DOTY, George W.

Men of Vermont: Illustrated Biographical History of Vermonters & Sons of 
Vermont. Ullery. Brattleboro: Transcript Publishing Company, 1894, pp 110-111 
(portrait p 110)

George W. DOTY, of Morrisville [Lamoille County, Vermont], was born 16 
February 1838, and at the age of two years was adopted by O. L. METCALF, a 
farmer of Morristown. Mr. DOTY received his education in the common schools 
and the People's Academy, paying his expenses by his labor and the care of 
the building. At the age of nineteen, under the auspices of the Emigrant Aid 
Society, he went to the then Territory of Kansas, where he joined a party of 
forty young men from Vermont, who under the leadership of William B. 
HUTCHINSON, established themselves at a point on the Osage River, about 
fifteen miles from the Missouri line. This settlement they named Mapleton.

During the next three years and a half, young DOTY was both a witness of and 
an actor in the most exciting scenes of that remarkable period. As soon as 
the township of Mapleton was organized, he was elected first constable, and 
joined the Free Soil forces of Captain RAIN and Colonel MONTGOMERY. He was 
also a member of the force under Col. Jim LANE that dispossessed the bogus 
Lecomton Legislature. Later, as a Free State man, he was driven out of 
Columbus [Johnson County], Missouri, at midnight, barely escaping with his 
life.

In the late fall of 1860, Mr. DOTY returned to his native state, and was the 
first man in Lamoille County to enlist at the outbreak of the Civil War. In 
conjunction with U. A. WOODBURY he recruited sixty men, who afterward became 
members of Company E, Third Vermont Volunteers. He himself was mustered into 
the United States service as a private of Company F, Second Vermont 
Volunteers, and followed the fortunes of that command throughout most of the 
bloody battlefields. He was present at the first struggle at Bull Run, and 
was with the command during the seven days' fight on the peninsula, Second 
Bull Run, and in the Maryland campaign, 1862. A member of the Second Vermont 
Color Guard, he was not absent from duty a single day until he was wounded at 
Fredericksburgh by a minie ball, which he carries in his right knee. Being 
thus disabled, he was transferred to the Veteran Corps, and served until the 
close of the war [Civil War officially ended in April 1865]. He was several 
times promoted, being a sergeant when wounded, and would have been 
commissioned in a short time.

Mr. DOTY is a staunch Republican, and soon after his return from the army, 
was appointed deputy sheriff, and later was elected sheriff, holding this 
position three years. For fourteen years he has been a member of the 
prudential committee of the People's Academy and Morrisville graded school. 
For thirty years he has been a Free Mason, a member of Mt. Vernon Lodge, and 
has held every position in that body, as well as in the chapter. A charter 
member of J. M. Warner Post, Grand Army of the Republic, he served as its 
commander for eight consecutive years. Mr. DOTY also acted as the aid of 
Commanders-in-Chief EARNSHAW and ALGER, G. A. R., and in 1891 was unanimously 
elected Senior Vice-Commander, Department of Vermont, and in 1893 received a 
like compliment when promoted to be Commander of the department.

On 30 April 1863 at Brattleboro [Windham County, Vermont] he [George W. DOTY] 
married Flora A., daughter of Loren and Fedelia (PAINE) BUNDY. Of their 
children one son died in infancy, and two daughters survive: Anna G. (Mrs. 
L. M. JONES, of Johnson [Lamoille County], Vermont); and Alice C. For twelve 
years Mr. DOTY was station and express agent and telegraph operator on St. J. 
& L. C. R. R. [St. Johnsbury & Lake Champlain Railroad *] at Morrisville 
[Lamoille County, Vermont]. For the last ten years Mr. DOTY has been 
successfully engaged in Morrisville as a furniture dealer and undertaker. 
Mr. DOTY requited the kindness of his foster parents by providing them a home 
in their old age. [* The history of this railroad is given in articles which 
appeared in the 11 & 25 October 1939 issues of the "Morrisville Messenger."]

Submitted by Cathy Kubly