USA > New Hampshire > The Connecticut River Valley in southern Vermont and New Hampshire; historical sketches > Part 11
USA > Vermont > The Connecticut River Valley in southern Vermont and New Hampshire; historical sketches > Part 11
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Later in the afternoon the Amherst students and their guests had a notable banquet at the Island House, then managed by C. R. White. The toastmaster of the occasion was H. W. Jones, of the class, who brought out various responses to sentiments from members of the classes of the two colleges, from Rev. Dr. Clap, rector of Immanuel church, and Rev. Samuel E. Day, pastor of the local Congregational church. Also among the speak- ers were A. N. Swain and Hiram Atkins, the editors of the two Bellows Falls newspapers at that time, and a dozen or more members of the college classes. It was early evening before the party broke up and the college men departed, closing one of the memorable days in the history of Bellows Falls.
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THE "POVERTY YEAR" OR "COLD YEAR" OF 1816-A WALPOLE, N. H., INCIDENT
In the year 1816 throughout practically the entire United States there was frost every month and snow fell to quite a depth in New England during June. In one town a man was lost in a June blizzard while hunting for his sheep and froze to death.
The result of this was that this whole vicinity suf- fered many hardships from failure of the crops. Bread- stuffs commanded almost prohibitive prices throughout this and nearby towns. Most of the farmers lost even their seed for the succeeding season.
Among the few farmers in New England who had a good crop of corn that year was "Squire" Thomas Bellows of our neighboring town of Walpole, N. H., son of Benjamin Bellows, the second settler in that town. He owned and lived on the place now known as the "Stage Coach Inn," two miles south of Bellows Falls. He had more corn and other produce than he needed for his own use, and what he had to spare he sold in small quantities at the same price as in years of plenty, to such men as needed it for their families. In many instances he accepted labor of the purchaser in place of the cash which the purchaser often could not command.
One day a speculator called on Mr. Bellows to in- quire his price for corn. He was much surprised to learn that it was no more than in years of plenty, and he quickly said he would take all that Mr. Bellows had to spare. "You cannot have it," said the worthy citizen. "If you want a bushel for your family, you can have it at my price but no man can buy of me to speculate in this year of scarcity."
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WARM WINTER OF 1827 RECOUNTED BY WIL- LIAM HALE, GRANDSON OF COL. ENOCH HALE
During the years of 1826-27, the climatic conditions in this section of New England were very peculiar. One of the most serious freshets along the courses of the smaller rivers, which there was then record of, occurred March 25, 1826, causing much damage. A grandson of Col. Enoch Hale, who built the first toll bridge across the Connecticut river here, William Hale, who died at the age of 90 years, often told during the last years of his life of the conditions following the spring freshet.
He said the spring of 1826 was an average forward one with plenty of rain up to the first of June. After that time no rain fell until about September 10. The entire summer was extremely hot, and was many years thereafter known as "the grasshopper season," the crops in most of the places in this section being ruined by that pest, and it was necessary to harvest all that could be secured before they were ripe. The meadows and pastures looked as if a fire had scorched them. About the 10th of September, it began to rain slowly, and as the weather was warm, grass started up and grew very rapidly. So good was the warm weather and grass growing rapidly, the farmers kept their stock out and in good fresh feed until January 8, 1827, the grass being as good as in June. With no frost to kill the grass, it died of old age.
About January 10, 1827, there came about 15 inches of snow, the ground not being frozen at all. In a few days there came about as much more, and on the first of February, there was nearly three feet of snow on a
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level in all this vicinity. The 20th of February (which was Mr. Hale's 22nd birthday ), he said that Ira Gowing, a neighbor living near him at Walpole, N. H., was plow- ing with two yoke of oxen on the "Petty place," so called, in sight of his father's house; the snow was all gone except where there were drifts, and there was no frost in the ground. During Mr. Hale's long life in this vicinity, he said he had seen only two other Christ- mases and New Years that were as warm and pleasant, but in both those seasons they had a much colder average fall and winter.
Mr. Hale was for over 50 years a civil engineer and surveyor in this vicinity. His father, Sherburne Hale, owned the farm now covered by the bustling village of North Walpole, N. H., opposite Bellows Falls. The farm consisted of 800 acres, which was sold to Levi Chapin, a relative of the noted Springfield (Mass.) Chapin family. The land was thickly covered with a fine quality of old growth pine, and Mr. Chapin, being interested in lumber business, shipped down the Con- necticut river large amounts. The result was that a large number of the buildings at Springfield, Mass., erected between 1810 and 1850, were from lumber cut on this North Walpole farm, sawed at a small saw mill owned by the Chapins and located on "Governor's Brook," which flows through that village. Among the papers of Levi Chapin were reecntly found the specifica- tions, and bills, for one of the churches of that city.
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SPOTTED FEVER EPIDEMIC IN NEW ENGLAND IN 1812-SERIOUS IN ROCKINGHAM
This entire section of New England, if not a much larger area, during the spring seasons of 1812 and 1813, was scourged by a fearful epidemic, called at first "spotted fever" and later "malignant fever." So great were its ravages that the deaths in Vermont reached 6,000 by this disease alone, or about one death in 40 inhab- itants. The disease is supposed to be the same as that now called cerebro-spinal-meningitis, and was not then
considered contagious. During the time the epidemic raged there were 70 deaths at Bennington ; Pomfret and Reading each had 44; and Shrewsbury about 30. In the month of March, 1813, seven persons died in the town of Walpole in as many days and great excitement and fear prevailed in all this section of the Connecticut valley. In the town of Rockingham the most prominent physician was Dr. Joshua Ripley Webb, who lived in the small dwelling east of the old Rockingham meeting house, now occupied by his descendants. He was one of the victims of this terrible disease. He was attacked suddenly while on his daily rounds among the afflicted ones and became unconscious while in his buggy. His faithful horse continued upon its way and brought the stricken doctor to the door of his own home where he survived only a few hours. He was son of Joshua Webb, one of the earliest and most prominent men of the town.
An illustration of some methods of treatment of this disease (not however by Dr. Webb) was shown in later years among the papers of Capt. Charles Church, who was a wealthy and leading citizen of Westminster.
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It is a receipt which was reported to be one of the most efficacious of any used at that time. Certainly if the patients survived the medicine, they surely ought to have survived the disease.
"Cure for Spotted Fever-To one quart of lime add one gallon of water. To one quart of tar add two quarts of water. Let these stand in separate vessels until they froth, skim the froth, pour them together. To this mix- ture add eight ounces of saltpeter, four ounces of opium -take a glass when going to bed and repeat the same in four or five hours."
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A MAN WHO HAD 386 DIRECT DESCENDANTS LIVING WHEN HE DIED-JOSIAH WHITE
A tombstone in the old burying ground at Rocking- ham, a few feet from the northwest corner of the Old Meeting-house, bears a unique epitaph, the record con- tained being probably unequalled by any family in New England, if not in the United States. It shows a line of achievement of one of the very earliest settlers in the town, but it was not all he accomplished in life by any means.
The epitaph reads as follows :
"JOSIAH WHITE
"In Memory of Mr. Josiah White who died Sept. 1, 1806, in the 96th year of his age.
"The descendants of Josiah White at his death. Children 15, Grandchildren 160, Grate-Grandchildren 211. Children deceased 2, Grand-Children deceased 26, Grate-grandchildren deceased 35."
Mr. White was born at Lancaster, Mass., January 3, 1714, and he built the first mill in that part of Lancaster, which was later set off to Leominster. He later lived for a time at Charlestown, N. H., and probably removed to Rockingham about 1773, as he in that year purchased real estate in town and took the oath of allegiance to the new government in 1777. He was of the little band from Rockingham that marched to Manchester the same year. His name frequently appears upon the town records as taking an active part in public matters of his time. His home farm was in the north part of the town, the same recently owned and occupied by Chester B. Hadwin. A part of the original house is now used as
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a corn barn in the rear of the brick building that was erected by Mr. White's son, Phineus.
Mr. White enjoys the distinction of being probably the progenitor of a greater number of people than any other man resident here during the history of this town, and an excellent genealogy of the "descendants of John White 1638-1900," written by the late Miss Myra L. White of Haverhill, Mass., records his descendants to the number of 2,663 up to about 25 years ago. The number must have materially increased since. Her com- pilation of the descendants of the emigrant John, three generations further back, showed the unusually prolific qualities of the family to a grand total of 19,629 up to that date, and there has since been a third volume added.
Mr. White was prominent in the First Church of Rockingham and one of his descendants a few years ago placed a beautiful tablet on the square "pigpen" pew which was occupied many years by him and members of his family.
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A MARBLE MONUMENT FOR A DOG IN THE WESTMINSTER CEMETERY-WILLIAM CZAR BRADLEY, AN EMINENT CITIZEN
In the village cemetery at Westminster, across the avenue from the granite shaft erected by the state of Vermont as a memorial to the martyrs of the 1775 mas .. sacre, William French and Daniel Houghton, is the large tomb in which the ancestors of the Bradley and Kellogg families lie. At the southeast corner of this tomb, and attached to it, is a small marble slab which bears this inscription, which is often wondered at by the visitor : "To Our Gentle, Kind and Faithful Penny."
"Penny" was a dog, much beloved and an insepara- ble companion of Hon. William Czar Bradley, one of the leading lawyers of Vermont who resided in West- minster practically his entire life. He for several years represented this district in the Congress of the United States. The affection which he lavished upon his little companion was a most pathetic and interesting side-light to the life of a most eminent and widely famed man. Many most interesting and amusing incidents in which Mr. Bradley and his dog figured were often told among his friends and intimate associates of the bar. The memorial stone was first erected at the grave of the dog at the little mound in the front yard of the ancestral home of the family, which still stands farther south at the corner of School Street.
The late Judge Daniel Kellogg of Westminster, a descendant, used to tell of the dog frequently accompany- ing Mr. Bradley into the court room. On one of these occasions, when Mr. Bradley had made one of his eloquent
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pleas, he took his seat and as usual little Penny jumped into his master's lap. His opponent, desirous of display- ing his forensic ability, commenced his reply in a loud voice and with wild gesticulations. Then little Penny from his seat in his master's lap became interested evi- dently in the discussion and commenced a furious bark- ing. The old orator patted the little dog on the head and said in a voice loud enough to be heard all over the court room, "Hist! hist! Penny, only one dog at a time." Suppressed laughter from the bar filled the court room, and even a broad smile illuminated the countenance of the dignified judge, while the young lawyer sank back crestfallen and dumbfounded. He never completed his plea.
Mr. Bradley, although a man of immense research and quaint intellect, was peculiarly superstitious. On one occasion he was driving on his way to the county seat at Newfane with Mr. Kellogg. It was a bright spring morning and all at once Mr. Bradley exclaimed, "Hold on. We must kill that snake," and immediately sprang out of the buggy, cane in hand, and as quickly as he could chased the meandering varmint into a high stone wall. With Mr. Kellogg's help the old gentleman tore down more than a rod of the stone wall before the snake was found and killed. Mr. Kellogg being surprised at the persistence of Mr. Bradley in his search for the snake inquired how long he would have worked if they had not found the snake, when Mr. Bradley quickly replied, "I would have hunted for him until dark if we had not found him, otherwise I should have lost every case this term "
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It was in the old Bradley mansion that Ethan Allen, early one morning, married his second wife, Mrs. Buchanan. This Frances Buchanan was the step-daugh- ter of the detested and noted Tory, Crean Brush. John Norton, the proprietor of the Tory Tavern, was a guest at this wedding breakfast, and is said to have humor- ously remarked to Allen, "General, I understand that you do not believe there is a God, or heaven, or hell." Allen mused a moment, and then turning a stern eye on Norton replied, "No, John ; I believe there is a hell-for Tories."
Hon. Stephen Rowe Bradley, the father of William Czar, and Moses Robinson were the first U. S. Senators from Vermont. Mr. Bradley was five times elected presi- dent pro tem of the senate, and was a close friend and adviser of Presidents Jefferson and Madison. He was a graduate of Yale in 1775, served as an officer in the War of the Revolution, locating in Westminster in 1779. From that time the name of Bradley has been held in high estimation in that town in all the succeeding gen- erations. Very many mementos of their life here, and the liberality of their descendants, abound in various parts of the town.
William Czar Bradley died in the old homestead March 3, 1867, and his little law office on the adjacent grounds remains in exactly the same condition in which he left it, library, furniture and pictures, yes, even his straw hat he last wore hangs on the wall as he left it.
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THE DAVID R. CAMPBELL LEGACY FUND AND ITS DONOR-OTHER BENEFACTIONS
A century ago at this time there was a young man named David R. Campbell, clerking in the general coun- try store of Hall & Goodridge, in Mammoth Block on the south side of the Square (now occupied by J. J. Fenton & Co.), who did things in later years that have caused him to be remembered with gratitude by thousands, and will so continue in the years to come. He gave to his nat- ive town of Rockingham $20,000 to be invested, and the income to be devoted annually to relieving the needs of the poor. In addition he gave an aggregate of $48,000 to nine other towns in this section of Windham and Windsor counties for similar purposes. The Rocking- ham gift is invested at 5% interest and the income is devoted by the trustees to the relief of needy persons who are not town charges. Last year's report shows 34 different families and persons of this town assisted to the amount of $842.38, and a balance left over for future use. The fund is known as the "David R. Campbell Legacy Fund," and the distribution is made by three trustees elected by the town annually.
Mr. Campbell was born on a farm in the north part of the town April 25, 1794. His education was in the common schools of the town, supplemented by a few terms at Chester Academy. He taught school several years, the last term being in Bellows Falls in the old brick school house then located on Westminster Street near where the Gates garage is now. He was then em- ployed several years in the Hall & Goodridge store, thus
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beginning about 1823 a mercantile career in which he amassed a comfortable fortune in the later years of his life. In 1832 he went to Boston and became a member of the firm of Charles Valentine & Co., on South Market Street, extensive dealers in salted provisions, having large slaughtering works at Alton, Ill. In 1854 he withdrew from the firm and spent the remainder of his life, 31 years, in the family of a nephew, Col. Hiram Harlow of Windsor, who was for many years the super- intendent of the Vermont State Prison. He never mar- ried, and his death occurred at the Harlow home Feb- ruary 19, 1885, at the advanced age of 92.
He was a tall, well formed old man, slightly stoop- ing, face clean shaven, and with "banged hair" that was only slightly gray ; he became a familiar figure upon the streets of Windsor. Recollections of those who knew him, letters written by him to the writer of this, and all other sources of information indicate this benefactor of this and neighboring towns to have been a peculiarly kind-hearted man, with a beautiful nature, always noted for his strict integrity and honesty. Just before his death, a Boston paper gave an account of his returning to a tailoress who had made him a coat 50 years before, the amount of the bill and 50 years' interest added thereto. The bill amounted to only "three-and-nine- pence," and when he'd gone to pay it 50 years before she had not been in. As they both soon left town he failed to settle, but he always bore it in mind and paid it to her the first time he saw her, after a lapse of fifty years.
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The other towns to which Mr. Campbell made simi- lar but smaller gifts were Windsor, Grafton, Westmins- ter, Athens, Chester and Springfield while he lived, and by his will to Baltimore, Weathersfield, West Windsor and Hartland.
A similar gift of a smaller amount, and for the same purposes, was made to the Village of Bellows Falls in 1895 by Luther G. Howard, many years a well known hardware dealer here, as a perpetual memorial to his deceased wife. The amount was $10,000. It is held by trustees in the same manner, and known as the "Sarah Burr Howard Fund."
In April, 1901, the heirs of Dr. Daniel Campbell and John Robertson, earlier leading residents of the town, presented to Rockingham an expensive town clock of the Seth Thomas make, and a bell connected there- with. These were placed in the tower of the opera house block in Bellows Falls, and bore the following inscrip- tion : "Presented to the town of Rockingham in memory of Daniel Campbell and John Robertson, by their heirs, April, 1901." This clock was destroyed by the fire of May 10, 1925, but the bell was saved. The town voters authorized the selectmen to expend $3,000 for another clock to be placed in the tower of the new town hall completed in September, 1927, and it was done, but before the $3,000 was paid they received a check for that amount, to be used for the purpose, from Hon. Charles N. Vilas, a wealthy and public-spirited citizen of our neighboring village of Alstead, N. H. The bell given by the Campbell and Robertson heirs is the one still in use in the new tower, and bears the above inscription.
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In 1905 Andrew Carnegie, the noted philanthropist, notified the town he would give it $15,000 with which to erect a library building, if it would furnish a suitable site for it. This was done and the building now in use for the purpose on Westminster Street was built as a result.
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CAPT. GREEN AND COL. FLEMING PLAYED WHIST FOR CHOICE OF RESIDENCES
Recent changes relating to the Rockingham Hospital property, whereby the hospital has two entrances to its grounds, one from Westminster Street where it has always been and a new one from Saxtons River Street at the top of the terrace, brings to the recollection of a few of the older citizens some interesting facts relating to the hospital building and the adjacent one now owned by James H. Williams.
These two prominent and sightly buildings were built by Capt. Henry F. Green and Col. Alexander Fleming, who, under the firm name of Green & Fleming were many years the agents for the management interests of the Bellows Falls Canal Company, under the Atkin- son ownership, and many years connected with the early paper manufacturing of the village, owning and man- aging the large paper mill that was the only one here a century ago. Both married daughters of John Atkinson, the Englishman who built the canal. In their business relations they were very intimate, as well as in family relations.
A century ago, in the year 1829, they built the two residences, long known as the "Two Mansions," as they were the most sightly and expensively built of any here in those days. They built the two houses exactly alike, and with the firm's money. Not until they were completed was it known which one each would occupy. When ready for occupancy they agreed between themselves that the question of occupancy should be settled by a "rubber of whist," to which the gentlemen
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sat down. Capt. Green won the game and so was en- titled to the first choice between the homes. He chose the one now occupied for the hospital, and it has had important improvements and additions made to it. So conscientious were they in dividing their property that where one had more land in front of his house the other had more in the rear, each having a right of way around the other's house, and a portion of this right of way has recently been made a regular highway in order to reach the hospital through the Williams property, so the entrance is available now from Saxtons River Street. The original deeds provided that a right of way should be kept open from the "Basin" in the rear "wide enough for a yoke of oxen to pass."
Both these buildings had very high and large pillars in front which were turned by hand in the old saw mill that then stood about where the present Claremont Paper Company's mill stands under the hill. The turning was done by Powers Crossett, father of the late Augustus P. Crossett, who was the toll gatherer at the bridge from 1837 to 1849. The pillars on the Williams residence are the same ones, but those of the hospital were replaced by new ones in 1900, while the place was used as the residence of the late John W. Flint. In 1900, when digging the cellar for the hospital ell, an immense brick cistern was discovered, built in the shape of a bottle, 10 or 12 feet deep, and a similar one was found near the stable, now used for the Nurses' Home. Both were used for the storage of rain water in the dry seasons of early times, to be used for domestic purposes.
In early days there were several flights of stairs running down the terraces, in front of what is now the
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hospital, which were kept nicely painted and made a material addition to the locality. One of the first pic- tures of Bellows Falls, of which there are two or three still in existence, "From Nature and on Stone, by Mrs. Webber," shows these two mansion houses as the prin- cipal feature of the landscape, although the perspective is faulty to a great degree.
Captain Henry F. Green received his title from having been captain of various ships engaged in com- mercial business and became a resident of Bellows Falls about 1819, while Col. Alexander Fleming earned his title by service in the War of 1812, and came to Bellows Falls two years before his warm friend, Capt. Green. The Fleming homestead north of Immanuel church was erected in 1826, and became his home in his later years. It is still in the ownership of his great-grandson, Richard F. Barker. Col. Fleming was clerk of the Bellows Falls Canal Company 47 years, and died here in 1867. Green & Fleming were the owners of the old paper mill which was burned in 1846, and from that time Bellows Falls had no paper mill within its limits until William A. Russell came here in 1869 and organized the Fall Moun- tain Paper Company, which was merged into the Inter- national Paper Company in 1898.
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DANIEL WEBSTER SPOKE IN BELLOWS FALLS THE DAY AFTER THE STRATTON CONVENTION
Wednesday, July 8, 1840, Daniel Webster spoke in Bellows Falls to an audience which at that time was probably the largest gathering of people ever held in this immediate vicinity. He was on his way back from the memorable convention held on Stratton mountain. He spoke from the upper piazza of the Mansion House, a hotel that, from 1826 until it was burned in 1857, stood on the west side of the Square, the front piazza of which was where the front of the store occupied by Fenton & Hennessey now is.
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