Bessette, Calice, Orwell, a manufacturer of carriages and wagons, has been established in Orwell, Vt., since 1860. He is a native of St. Mary’s Province, Quebec, Canada, where he was born on April 10, 1836. He is the fourth generation from France. His father, Albert J. Bessette, came from Canada with his family and settled in Burlington, Vt., in 1847. Calice Bessette went to Lowell, Mass., in 1856, where he spent one year, after which he went to Shoreham, Vt., where he remained three years, where he learned his trade, that of blacksmithing and carriage-making at the shop of Antoine Decelle. After this he came to Orwell, Vt., where he worked for Eleazer Abbey for two months, and then purchased the business, and by close application to business, and by manufacturing a superior quality of work, he has made the business in all of its branches a decided success and a credit to himself and the town. He not only supplies a steadily increasing home demand, but fills orders for special customers at a distance, shipping some of his best work to the large cities. He sustained heavy losses by fire in 1869, but has rebuilt his works on a much larger scale than before, and now employs on an average ten men the season through. He now owns and occupies a commodious and elegant residence adjoining the factory.
