Charles Edward Putney, the son of David and Mary Putney, was born at
Bow, New Hampshire, February 26, 1840. He was one of fourteen children,
of whom ten lived to grow to manhood and womanhood. David Putney was a
farmer, and Mr. Putney's early years were spent on the farm. He attended
district school and went later to Colby Academy, teaching district
schools from time to time, and preparing himself to enter Dartmouth
College, which he was about to do when the Civil War broke out.
He enlisted in the Thirteenth New Hampshire Volunteers, and later became
a sergeant. He was in the war over three years and took part in the
battles of Fredericksburg, siege of Suffolk, Port Walthal, Swift Creek,
Kingsland Creek, Drewrys Bluff, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Fort McConhie,
Fort Harrison, and Richmond. He was one of the first four men to enter
Richmond after the surrender.
At the conclusion of the war he entered Dartmouth College, and was
graduated with high rank in 1870. Directly after his graduation he was
married to Abbie M. Clement of Norwich, Vermont, who died in 1901. He
taught in Norwich until 1873, when he became assistant principal in St.
Johnsbury Academy under Mr. Homer T. Fuller, whom he succeeded in the
principalship. In 1896 he resigned on account of ill health. He went
to Massachusetts and became superintendent of schools in the Templeton
district, where he remained until the spring of 1901, when he took up
his work in the Burlington High School. He died in Burlington at the
home of his daughter, February 3, 1920, after an illness of two weeks.