Rutland

PROCTOR, Fletcher Dutton & Redfield, Sr.

Men of Vermont: Illustrated Biographical History of Vermonters & Sons of 
Vermont. Ullery. Brattleboro: Transcript Publishing Company, 1894, pp 327-329

Biography of Redfield PROCTOR - pp 327-329 (father of Fletcher D.)

Redfield PROCTOR [Sr.], of Proctor [Rutland County, Vermont], was born 01 
June 1831 in Proctorsville [Windsor County, Vermont], son of Jabez and Betsy 
(PARKER) PROCTOR. The American branch of the PROCTOR family is from English 
stock. The first ancestor in this country was Robert PROCTOR, who as early 
as 1645 was living in Concord [Middlesex County], Massachusetts. Redfield 
PROCTOR received an excellent preparatory education, and was graduated from 
Dartmouth College in 1851. Three years later he received the degree of A. M. 
from the same institution. Selecting law as his profession, he pursued the 
preliminary studies at the Albany Law School in New York. After graduation 
in 1859 he was admitted to the New York bar at Albany [Albany County], and 
also at Woodstock [Windsor County], Vermont. During a portion of 1860 and 
1861 he practiced his profession in the office of his cousin, Judge Isaac F. 
REDFIELD, the eminent jurist at Boston [Suffolk County], Massachusetts.

Upon the outbreak of the Rebellion in 1861 he immediately returned to Vermont 
and enlisted in the Third Vermont Regiment, was commissioned as lieutenant 
and quartermaster, and repaired to the front. In July 1861 he was appointed 
on the staff of Gen. William F. ("Baldy") SMITH, and in October was promoted 
and transferred to the Fifth Vermont Volunteers, of which he was commissioned 
major. With this regiment he served nearly a year in the neighborhood of 
Washington and on the Peninsula. In October 1862 Major PROCTOR was promoted 
to the colonelcy of the Fifteenth Vermont Volunteers, and in the memorable 
and decisive engagement at Gettsyburg this command was stationed on the 
famous Cemetery Ridge during a part of the second day's struggle.

After his return to Vermont Col. PROCTOR established himself in Rutland, 
entering into law partnership with Wheelock G. VEAZEY, afterwards a judge of 
the Vermont Supreme Court, and now a member of the U. S. Interstate Commerce 
Commission. Thrown into the conduct of business matters in settling the 
affairs of a concern of which he had been appointed receiver, Col. PROCTOR 
found that it was more to his taste to do things than to talk about them. 
The attraction that business life has for a man of pronounced executive 
ability soon withdrew him from active practice of law, and in 1869 he became 
manager for the Sutherland Falls Marble Company, with Governor PROCTOR as its 
president. Under his management this company enlarged and so increased its 
business as to become the largest concern of the kind in the world.

The public career of Redfield PROCTOR began in 1866 as a selectman of the town 
of Rutland. In 1867 he represented his town in the state Legislature, 
serving as chairman of the committee on elections of the lower House. Again 
a member of the House in 1868, he served as a member of the committee on ways 
and means. Elected to the state Senate in 1874, he was chosen president pro 
tempore of that body. In 1876 he was elected Lieutenant Governor of the 
state, and in 1878 was nominated by the Republicans and elected Governor of 
Vermont. He was delegate-at-large to the Republican national convention in 
1884, and also in 1888, and in the latter year was chairman of the Vermont 
delegation. In 1888 the Legislature of Vermont unanimously recommended him 
for a cabinet position, and in March 1889 President HARRISON appointed him 
Secretary of War. Senator PROCTOR won national reputation by his conduct of 
the war portfolio, and his administration is considered one of the ablest in 
the history of the department.

On the retirement of Senator George F. EDMUNDS from the United States Senate, 
Governor PROCTOR was appointed Secretary PROCTOR to fill the unexpired term, 
and 18 October 1892 was elected by the Vermont Legislature to fill both the 
unexpired and full terms, the latter ending 04 March 1899. Senator PROCTOR 
speaks well and always to the point, but is best known as a strong man who 
does things, a man of action, guided by wisdom. On 26 May 1858 Redfield 
PROCTOR was married to Emily J., daughter of Hon. Salmon F. and Sarah J. 
DUTTON of Cavendish [Windsor County, Vermont]. Five children, four of whom 
are living, are the issue of their union: Arabella G., Fletcher D., Emily 
D., and Redfield Jr.



Biography of Fletcher Dutton PROCTOR - p 329 (portrait p 329; son of 
Redfield, Sr.)

Fletcher Dutton PROCTOR, of Proctor [Rutland County, Vermont], was born 07 
November 1860, son of Hon. Redfield and Emily J. (DUTTON) PROCTOR. His early 
education was followed by instruction at the Rutland Military Institute and 
the Middlebury high school. He then entered Middlebury College, but soon 
after matriculated at Amherst College, from which he graduated in 1882. 
After the completion of his educational course he entered the employment of 
the Vermont Marble Company, and commenced his business career by learning the 
trade of a machinist, and after this occupied various positions, until in 
1885 he became the superintendent of the company. From that time he has been 
active in its management, and in 1889 he was elected president, which 
position he now holds. In September 1889 he was chosen to fill a similar 
office in the Clarendon & Pittsford Railroad, which corporation operates 
fifteen or twenty miles between the Pittsford, Proctor, Rutland, and West 
Rutland [all in Rutland County]. Upon the organization of the Proctor Trust 
Company in 1891, he was made director and president. Since he has had charge 
of the affairs of the Vermont Marble Company, that corporation has purchased 
the marble business of Gilson & Woodfin, Ripley & Sons, and made a 
thirty-year lease of the property of the Sheldon Marble Company, so that now 
the Vermont Marble Company has in its employ over eighteen hundred men, and 
is by far the largest producer of marble in the world.

Mr. PROCTOR was a member of the Vermont National Guard, enlisting in Company 
A in 1884, and was promoted to second and first lieutenant. He resigned in 
1886, and was appointed inspector of rifle practice on the staff of Colonel 
GREENLEAF, which position he resigned in 1887. In 1883 he was elected the 
first permanent colonel of the Vermont division of Sons of Veterans and 
during his administration the division increased from three to twenty-seven 
camps. Mr. PROCTOR has served numerous terms as selectman, both in Rutland 
and Proctor, and has been a member of the school board for Proctor since 
1883. He was secretary of civil and military affairs under Gov. ORMSBEE, was 
elected to the Legislature from the town of Proctor in 1890, and was chosen a 
senator from Rutland County in 1892. On 26 May 1886 he [Fletcher Dutton 
PROCTOR] married Minnie E., daughter of Hon. Asher C. and Erminnie ROBINSON 
of Wesford [Chittenden County, Vermont]; two children have been born to them: 
Emily, and Mortimer Robinson.

Submitted by Cathy Kubly