Addison

NEEDHAM, Lewis Cass

Men of Vermont: Illustrated Biographical History of Vermonters & Sons of 
Vermont. Ullery. Brattleboro: Transcript Publishing Company, 1894, p 284 
(portrait p 284)

Lewis Cass NEEDHAM, of Leicester Junction, was born 06 April 1843 in 
Shrewsbury [Rutland County, Vermont], son of Benjamin E. and Amanda (PAGE) 
NEEDHAM. His parents were early settlers of Massachusetts, and his great 
grandfather, Benjamin NEEDHAM, was one of the founders of the town of 
Shrewsbury [Vermont]. Owing to his being the only dependent of a widowed 
mother and her younger children, Mr. NEEDHAM is about the only member of his 
family who is without a personal war record. His great grandfather was a 
soldier in the Revolution; his grandfather, father, and an uncle were 
soldiers in the War of 1812; an uncle, Horace NEEDHAM, served in the Mexican 
war, and many others of the family were engaged in the War of the Rebellion. 
The only education of the subject of this sketch was obtained in the schools 
of Shrewsbury during the fall terms, his summer and winter months being spent 
in farm labor and teaching. He resolved upon a business career, and pursued 
a course of study in the Eastman Business College of Poughkeepsie [Dutchess 
County], New York. Subsequently he returned to his birthplace and lived with 
his widowed mother until her death. In 1868 he went to Rutland and commenced 
work in the employment of the Rutland Railroad Company. In 1878 he moved to 
Leicester [Addison County, Vermont] and since then has been agent for the 
Central Vermont Railroad Company in that place.

He represented Leicester in the Legislature in the session of 1884; has been 
justice of the peace since that time, and superintendent of schools since 
1890; was chairman of the Republican town committee in 1890; takes an active 
interest in political affairs. Mr. NEEDHAM became a member of Centre Lodge, 
Free & Accepted Masons, at Rutland, in 1865; afterward affiliated with St. 
Paul's Lodge at Brandon, in 1890; became a member of Killington Lodge, 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Rutland, in 1870; was a zealous and 
efficient worker in that order. Mr. NEEDHAM united with the Congregational 
church at Rutland in January 1875; was transferred to the church in Whiting 
[Addison County] in 1885, where he has been a deacon since 1887. On 23 
January 1879 Mr. [Lewis Cass] NEEDHAM married Ella, daughter of Nelson and 
Nancy (FARR) BROWN of Rutland [Rutland County, Vermont]. Of this union there 
are two children: Martha E., and Florence R. Mrs. NEEDHAM is a 
granddaughter of Solomon BROWN of Lexington [Middlesex County], 
Massachusetts, who was a Revolutionary soldier, and fired the first gun in 
the battle of Lexington. The gun is a keepsake in the BROWN family.

Submitted by Cathy Kubly