702
VERMONT.
RIDLONS OF CLARENDON,
W. Potter, a farmer, of Castleton, and died in Illinois, whither she had
emigrated in April, 1868.
Delilah-B. Ridlon (1), third daughter of Thomas (5), was born in
Clarendon, Vt., April 5, 1841; was married Oct. 26, 1861, to James D.
Everest, a farmer in Clarendon.
Eddie Ridlon (1), second son of Thomas³ (5).
6
Mary Ridlon (34), fourth daughter of Thomas (5).
Eudora Ridlon (1), fifth daughter of Thomas (5).
Vesta Ridlon" (1), sixth daughter of Thomas" (5).
Alvin Ridlon (2), third son of Thomas (5).
Dr. John-F. Ridlon (24), eldest son of Noel (1), was born in the
southwestern part of the town of Clarendon, Vt., Nov. 24, 1852, and was
named for his two grandfathers, "John-Joshua," but he disliked his mid-
dle name, and changed it to Frederick. He commenced to attend the
district school in his eighth year, walking two miles each way; the term
lasted thirteen weeks, and the great distance made his attendance very
irregular. He continued at school during the summer and winter terms
until his twelfth year, when he was kept at home for work on the farm.
In his fourteenth year his father was killed, and he became virtually_the
head of the household; to the extent, at least, that nothing was done
without his consent, and what he advised was carried forward. At this
time his highest ambition, founded on the best type of manhood he knew
of, was to become a clerk in a country store, and afterwards to have a store
of his own.
With this end in view the homestead was rented, in 1867,
and the family took lodgings at Poultney, Vt., that he might attend Lans-
ley's Commercial College; he graduated from this institution in May fol-
lowing (1868), having been taught commercial arithmetic, commercial law,
and bookkeeping. He also imbibed a desire for a higher education, but
without any definite end in view, and on the following September found
himself at Uncle Jake Spaulding's Barre Academy, at Barre, Vt., which
at that time had the reputation of being the best school of the kind in
the State. After a year in this academy he gave up study, and commenced
canvassing for a book entitled "Our Great, New West." This proved
disagreeable business, and he gave it up, and engaged as clerk in a store
at Granville, N. Y., for one hundred and twenty-five dollars a year and
board. About this time his mother, who had been his guardian, was mar-
ried, and their property (the farm in Vermont had been sold in 1868) was
divided, and he assumed absolute control of his share, amounting to about
eleven thousand dollars. At the end of his engagement in the store, he
went to Momence, Ill., to visit his mother, and while there (summer of
1870), he joined a civil-engineer corps, on the Chicago, Danville, and Vin-
cennes Railroad, and carried "level-rod" for some weeks. In October,
1870, he came East, and began fitting for college, at Goddard Seminary
(then called Green Mountain Central Institute), at Barre, Vt., under L.
L. Barrington. Here he worked hard, and by reading Latin and Greek,
during the summer vacation, did his three years' course in two, graduat-
ing in June, 1872, and delivering the first Latin oration ever delivered in
that institution. From the latter place he went to Tufts College, enter-
ing the class of '76. He did only enough studying during his freshman
year to keep his place in his class. He joined the A society, which
was made up of the "good fellows" of the college, and took a leading
part in all the amusements to be found. On Saturday he always dined
