My Genealogy Hound

EDWARD C. PACKARD, Town Clerk and a member of the Board of Selectmen of Goshen, was born in this town October 14, 1847, son of Hiram and Lurane (Carpenter) Packard. Mr. Packard’s great-grandfather, Joshua Packard, settled in Goshen in 1770; and here Willard Packard, one of his three sons, became a large land-owner and was an extensive raiser of cattle and sheep. The farm now occupied by J. Beals was a part of his estate. Willard Packard married Bathsheba Smith, and had a family of nine children: William S., Cordelia, Edmund, Malesta, Julia, Willard, Emeline, Hiram, and Freeman S.

Hiram Packard, one of the two younger sons of Willard, bought a portion of his father’s farm, which he later sold, and purchased the Smith farm of one hundred acres. He improved the place, erected a new house and barn, and resided there for twenty years. He then sold that property and bought the Carpenter farm, which consisted of one hundred acres; and here he also erected new buildings. Hiram Packard was a Republican in politics, and became prominent in public affairs, serving as a Selectman, Town Treasurer, and as a member of the House of Representatives in 1873. He was a progressive and public-spirited man and a member of the Congregational church. He died in 1894, aged seventy-six years. His wife, Lurane Carpenter, who survives him, became the mother of three children, as follows: Henry W., Edward C., and Charles S.

Edward C. Packard resided with his parents until reaching the age of twenty-one. During the mining excitement in 1869 he went to Colorado, where he was successful; and returning to Goshen he purchased the old homestead, upon which he has since conducted general farming. He has also engaged in lumbering with good results. He is superintendent of construction upon a section of the State road, his portion of which is a creditable piece of work. Mr. Packard is a Republican in politics and has served in different positions of public trust, having been a Selectman, Assessor, and Overseer of the Poor for six years, and Town Clerk for two terms.

On October 14, 1875, Mr. Packard was united in marriage to his first wife, whose maiden name was Vesta C. Dresser, and who was a daughter of George Dresser. She died in 1879, aged twenty-four, leaving two children — Edward W. and Lawrence A. Mr. Packard wedded for his second wife, September 20, 1883, Abbie Z. Wakefield, daughter of John Wakefield, of Reading, Mass., and has five children, as follows: Lurane, Henry W., Rachel, Arthur W., and Frances E. Mr. and Mrs. Packard are members of the Congregational church.