USA > New Hampshire > The Connecticut River Valley in southern Vermont and New Hampshire; historical sketches > Part 12
USA > Vermont > The Connecticut River Valley in southern Vermont and New Hampshire; historical sketches > Part 12
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Rockingham citizens had been very active in mak- ing and carrying out the arrangements for the great "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" or "Hard Cider" con- vention at Stratton and had taken their full share in the arrangements for, and the carrying out of, this monster gathering, which numbered several thousand people, on the side of the mountain between Windham and Ben- nington counties the day before.
Throughout the convention, the late Capt. Walter Taylor of Bellows Falls was the chief marshal of the Rockingham forces and assisted many other delegations in a similar capacity. William Henry of Bellows Falls, later a member of Congress, was on a committee upon resolutions of the convention, and was nominated as its candidate for presidential elector, to which position he was later elected. Cyrus Locke, a prominent citizen of Saxtons River, was one of the vice-presidents of the con- vention and John W. Moore, editor of the Bellows Falls Gazette, was one of the secretaries. It was estimated
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that at least 250 people attended the convention from this town.
Up to the time of the assembling of the convention no arrangement had been made, nor had it been deemed possible that Daniel Webster would visit Bellows Falls. On account of the prominent part which Rockingham took in the convention, and at the urgent request of its large delegation, Mr. Webster, Tuesday morning, decided he would return this way and speak to a Bellows Falls audience Wednesday afternoon. Although the notice was very short, and there were no telephones or tele- graph in those days, a crowd estimated at over three thousand people had gathered, filling the whole public square as far down Bridge and Westminster Streets as the eye could reach.
It was the middle of the afternoon before the barouche that brought Mr. Webster, coming by the way of Grafton, Cambridgeport and Saxtons River, reached the Mansion House where he was entertained while here. Its proprietor at that time was Capt. Theodore Griswold.
Mr. Webster soon appeared upon the upper balcony of the hotel and, being introduced, spoke in his ex- pressive and eloquent manner for about an hour and a half. A number of those present have told the writer many years ago of the breathless silence of the great audience, except when they gave forth their mighty cheers. Gates Perry, Jr., of Saxtons River and Deputy Sheriff Timothy H. Hall of Westminster kept order, and tradition says you could have heard a pin drop in any part of the Square.
During Mr. Webster's stay in Bellows Falls it is known that he went into two other houses besides the
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hotel These were the house on the Old Terrace now owned by James H. Williams, then by Solon Grout, a prominent politician of those days, and the small house near the south end of Atkinson Street known as the Charles Hapgood house, now owned by A. G. Rice. Mr. Webster went from here to Keene where he spoke the next day to a large audience.
The Mansion House, where Mr. Webster was enter- tained and from which he spoke, was built by James I. Cutler & Co. in 1826 and was destroyed by fire Novem- ber 17, 1857.
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DANIEL WEBSTER AT STRATTON IN 1840 SLEPT AT LUTHER TORREY'S HOUSE
Everything pertaining to the visit of Daniel Webster to this section of the Connecticut river valley July 6 to 8, 1840, when he spoke on Stratton Mountain on the 7th, is of lasting interest to all citizens of this locality. Many stories are told regarding it every year which have little foundation in fact, so when reliable facts are found it is well that they become history.
A letter of much importance in this regard has recently come to light, written July 11, 1907, by E. M. Torrey, an aged man then living in East Dorset, Vt. He was son of Luther Torrey of Stratton at whose house he relates that Mr. Webster spent the night before his noted speech. It disposes of some of the amusing tradi- tions which were being circulated about the time the letter was written.
He says :-
"Dear Sir: Sixty-seven years ago, July 7, 1840, the people of Brattleboro were up, out, around and astir uncommonly early. The 'godlike' Daniel Webster had spent the night of the 6th there and the Tippecanoe & Tyler Too club, of which young Mr. Frederick Holbrook, now our venerable ex-governor, was president, and some one hundred others, were to escort him to Stratton, where he was that day to address an outdoor mass Whig con- vention on the issues of the campaign. Many errors about this convention have appeared in print.
* The site of the 'Webster Grandstand' was a natural amphitheatre in a rough pasture, a little north of a good stage road and three miles east of the top of the Green Mountains and three-fourths of a mile east of White's saw mill, now Grout's, so-called,
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on Deerfield river. The mill and pasture were owned by Phineas White of Putney. Mr. Webster spoke Satur- day, July 4, 1840, in Barre, Mass., came to Brattleboro Monday, the 6th, to Stratton the 7th and spoke in Bel- lows Falls the 8th.
"Brattleboro's 'prancing cavalcade of horsemen' didn't prance through her streets in honor of Daniel Webster July 5, 1840, as in print, for that day was Sunday. More likely they were singing 'Auld Lang Syne' and the 'Doxology.' Nobody knows where in Brattleboro Mr. Webster spent the night, July 6, or where he dined at the Stratton convention. Maybe it was at Luther Torrey's, next house east of the grounds where he stopped on his way to address the convention and where he spent the night after the rally. Maybe he dined on the stand he was to speak on-there was plenty of room-and maybe in 'a large tent,' but that tent wasn't 'pitched on the summit of the mountain.' That summit was an unbroken forest then as now and always except by the road and three miles distant. May- be and more likely he dined with his new-made political friends in the log cabin, 100 feet long from north to south and 50 feet wide, cut in two width-wise by a drive for teams.
"It is in print that Mr. Webster spent the night after the rally in West Wardsboro at the private house of a stranger. Guess not. And that that stranger set fire to his only cigar and 'after puffing at the weed some little time' handed the residue to Mr. Webster, who finished it, 'appreciating the luxury.' He did not. He had such an offer on the steps of the hotel at West Wardsboro, where he stopped on his way to the con- vention, but declined with thanks. In 601% years the story grew to the improbable and nauseating dimensions as above. Mr. Webster was remote from his teens. He had traveled from Brattleboro to the Stratton convention 37 miles, by the winding of streams or over mountain spurs; had been lionized all the way; had addressed a
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multitude of nineteen or twenty thousand, and had loaned his ears there and everywhere from dawn in Brattleboro to dark in Stratton to 'Hip, hip, hurrahs.' He didn't travel back seven miles to West Wardsboro. In the early darkness after the rally he, with another, entered the southwest corner room of Luther Torrey's near the rally grounds, and the candles were soon put out and he there pillowed his big, weary head in 'tired nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep' till the coming dawn.
"August 16, 1901, there were assembled, as per a newspaper report, on the Webster convention grounds 1,000 people, mostly from the East. As they passed the site of Luther Torrey's they saw posted 'Where Webster stayed.' Those who posted the notice knew and know the stubborn fact."
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EARLY SCHOOLS IN ROCKINGHAM
The erection during the past two years of the new Bellows Falls High School building at an expense of $275,000 marks a long step from the primitive school system, buildings and practices, of the early settlers of this town and others in the Connecticut river valley.
The town records show that the first effort to estab- lish a school in Rockingham was unsuccessful. In the warning for the town meeting of December 12, 1774, was an article,-
"4th, to see if the Town is willing to hier a School Master to Teach our Childering three months this Win- ter and to Chuse a Committee for that purpose and to see if the Town will raise any Sum of money or Grane for that purpose," and it was "Voted In the Negative."
In 1794 the town was divided into ten school dis- tricts, and later into eighteen. The territory now cov- ered by the incorporated village of Bellows Falls was at first known as the "South-east District" and later as "District No. 1." The first movement for organizing district No. 1, and establishing a school, dates from March 24, 1800, when the following paper, which is still in existence, was circulated :
"We the subscribers being desirous to have a School Kept in our neighborhood the insuing season do hereby appoint Daniel Farrand and Quartus Morgan a Com- mittee to hire some sutable place to be by them provided for six months from the time shall begin and we severally engage and promise to pay the Committee our propor- tion of the expense of hireing & boarding such woman and of preparing a Room for the purpose according to the number of Scolars we subscribe for."
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This was signed by 10 citizens having 19 pupils. Mr. Farrand, who was a Judge of the Vermont Supreme Court in 1813-4, paid for two, and Mr. Morgan, who was an early tavern keeper here, also paid for two. The first school building was later erected north of the vil- lage, about ten rods southeast of the two dwellings now owned by Arthur B. Anderson. The location is shown by a slight depression which was a few years ago tempora- rily marked, later the post removed. It was beside the old highway, as it ran previous to the building of the Rutland railroad, five or six rods east of the present highway.
The records of the district now known as the "Law- rence Mills District" on the Williams river, show that district to have been organized in 1801, and the school was kept in the dwelling of Samuel Emery, who then owned the mills. In 1822 a new building was proposed and it was "voted to build a school house twenty-six feet long and twenty feet wide with a poarch six feet square," but later in the same meeting the size was changed to twenty-four feet long and twenty feet wide, the voters evidently feeling the first dimensions were extravagant to accommodate the eighty scholars then in the district. The contract was let to Robert Finlay to erect the build- ing for $218.00, some of the specifications being to be of brick, the main room eight feet high, with two fire places one at each end, "Swinglass windows in the body of the house twenty lights in each window two rows of seats on each side Suitable for writing Scholars one ditto for small scholars Said rooms to be ceiled overhead and the walls not plastered The house and poarch to be finished by the first of December next in a
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plain workmanlike manner Suitable to teach school in pay to be made in graine in the month of January next. To be shingled with good white pine Shingles."
The total expense of the school in this district for the year 1852 was $97.65, made up as follows : "12 weeks school taught by female at $1.25 per week, $15, 12 weeks by male do $39. Cost of board, 36. cost of wood 7.65" The number of scholars in the district in 1853 was fifty-five, while at the present time there are only a few pupils in the district and they are being transported to other schools.
The records of the school meeting October 8, 1853, show the following action :
"10 ly Voted to set up the board at auction and the lowest bidder to board the teachers. Alby Buss has the first two weeks at $1.75. Lucious Estabrook 3 and 4, 1.741/2. George W. Morrison 5, 6, 7, 1.75. Timothy Lovell the remainder 1.90 Raymond Brockway boards the female for $1.25 per week"
The question of heating the school house was much discussed. Some years the district voted not to furnish wood to the heat the building. In 1807 they voted $14. for "getting wood for the support of the school, and voted that each and every person taxed should have the privilege of paying his or her rates in good merchantable hard wood, cut three feet long and split suitable for the fire in said school house if delivered at said school house by the 10th day of January, the price to be $1.00 per cord."
The teachers usually "boarded around," the board being credited on the taxes in place of so much cash. In 1822 it was "voted that the board of the master and
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mistress be set at $1.00 per week and if any man would rather pay the money than board, let him pay it."
These early records are typical of those in all the districts of the town, and show a great contrast with those of the town in the present day, with its more than a thousand pupils this year, and an expenditure of over a quarter of a million dollars for one school building last year, added to an annual cost of the town schools of over $83,000.00.
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LELAND & GRAY SEMINARY AT TOWNSHEND
This section of Vermont has three schools for second- ary education of a high grade of efficiency besides the various high schools in the different towns. They are, in the order of their establishment, Leland & Gray Sem- inary at Townshend, Black River Academy at Ludlow and Vermont Academy at Saxtons River. Both Leland & Gray and Black River are nearing the century mark since their establishment.
Leland & Gray was opened in the autumn of 1835, the movement for its establishment being sponsored by the Woodstock (Vt.) Baptist Association of churches, the leaders in the movement being Rev. Joseph Freeman of Cavendish and Major Ezekiel Ransom of Townshend. Its first name was the "Leland Classical Institution of Townshend," so named in honor of Rev. Aaron Leland, who, in his day, was one of the most outstanding men in the state of Vermont in civic, religious and political affairs. He was born in Holliston, Mass., in 1761. In 1787 he established a Baptist church in Chester and soon became one of the most outstanding preachers of his day, traveling all over southeastern Vermont organizing churches, ordaining ministers, etc. He was an acknowl- edged leader in the Woodstock Baptist Association. He served many years as town clerk and treasurer of Ches- ter; was justice of the peace and judge of Windsor county court; represented Chester nine years in the legislature, three of which he was speaker of the house; four years was in the Governor's Council; five years lieutenant governor, repeatedly refusing the nomination as governor; and was prominent in Masonry, attaining
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to the office of grand master. He received an honorary degree of M. A. from Middlebury College, and the same honorary degree from Brown University, although he was not a college graduate himself. He died in Chester in 1832 after a life-time pastorate there of over forty-six years.
The name was several years ago changed to Leland & Gray Seminary in honor of Deacon Samuel Gray, a prominent citizen of Townshend and a staunch supporter of the institution.
The seminary has passed through many vicissitudes, the most serious experience being the burning of the buildings April 26, 1894, together with a large part of the village of Townshend, but it was rebuilt in a much improved manner.
The catalogue shows 136 boys and girls in attendance its first year, in 1836, and twenty years later, in 1856, it showed a total of 257 names, indicating the wide- spread interest and patronage of the institution. Many of the trees now standing on the common of the village were set out by the pupils of those early days. Those old catalogues show some peculiarities. Among the titles of some of the teachers were "Teacher of Mono- chromatic, Polychromatic Painting and Head Drawing," "Teacher of Ornamental Branches" and "Preceptress of the Female Deportment." Among the books listed as used by the seminary were many familiar to the older residents of today, but not known by younger genera- tions. Among them were "Smith's Grammar," "Col- burn's and Bailies Algebra," "Comstok's Chemistry," and "Phylosophy." For a time, even instruction in the art of making hair wreaths was advertised for the bene-
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fit of the clever grandmothers of today. For the first 15 years or more the school owned a boarding house and pupils largely were boarded by families which had leased the building, but this was discontinued and the building sold in 1861. Also for the first two decades of the school there were weekly, or fortnightly, compulsory forensic lyceums at which every member of the student body was required to declaim. So strictly was this rule adhered to that one promising boy is said to have been expelled for refusing to take part in the lyceum. Many of the original copies of the speeches prepared and delivered are preserved by the institution, and among them is one of Hon. E. L. Waterman, who later became a chief justice of the Vermont Supreme Court, now resid- ing in Brattleboro.
In 1859 the price of board and room was from $1.25 to $1.50 a week, but during the Civil War it advanced to $4.00 and $4.50 in private families. The present prices although higher are modest as compared with similar schools elsewhere, and with the excellent stand- ing from an educational standpoint the institution looks forward to many years of valuable service. Many emi- nent men of the past have received their early training here. The Honor Roll of Leland & Gray shows 52 in the World War, of whom one was killed in action and one died in service.
The present principal is Vernon C. Pinkham, M.S., of Iowa State College, and Miss Mary L. Plumb, B.S., of Mount Holyoke College, is vice-principal, she having occupied the position 22 years. The president of the board of trustees is Guy W. Powers of Athens, Vt., who was principal from 1911 to 1916.
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"'ST. AGNES HALL" A FORMER POPULAR YOUNG LADIES' BOARDING SCHOOL
The $275,000 high school building recently built is che third school to be erected on the corner of School and Cherry Streets in Bellows Falls within the last 60 years. A long rambling two-story frame building which had served as one of the earlier dwellings of the place, stood on this particular site until its removal in 1895 to make way for the high school building destroyed by fire in 1926. For the 22 years between 1867 and 1889 this was occupied as a young women's boarding school. During the last 20 years of its existence the school was under the direction of Miss Jane Hapgood and the standard of efficiency was high. Hundreds of women scattered over the world look back with pleasure to the school days passed there.
The school was under the patronage of the Episcopal diocese of Vermont, the local rectors and the bishop taking an active oversight, and girls came from all parts of the country, it being distinctively a church school. The building was erected for a dwelling and for many years was occupied by S. R. B. Wales, the grandfather of George R. Wales, the present president of the Bellows Falls Savings Institution. It dated back to about 1800, but was enlarged when it became a school.
The school was started a year or two previous to the coming of Miss Hapgood. In 1869 she took a lease of the property for 20 years from its owner, the late James H. Williams, who purchased it for the purpose, but the school attained no celebrity until it came under the care of Miss Hapgood. The name St. Agnes Hall
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was given it by Rev. Charles S. Hale, then rector of Immanuel church. At the expiration of the lease it was relinquished. as the diocese had established a similar school, Bishop Hopkins Hall, in the vicinity of Burlington.
Miss Jane Hapgood was born on the ancestral farm in Reading, Vt., September 18, 1831; graduated from Troy Female Seminary, 1850; taught in South Carolina four years and in Illinois four years; and was vice-prin- cipal of Cleveland Seminary two years, previous to assuming charge of St. Agnes Hall. She died Septem- ber 29, 1916, at the New Hampshire Memorial Hospital in Concord, N. H., where she had been an inmate for perhaps four years. Her age was 85 years and 11 days.
Among the young ladies in attendance at St. Agnes Hall in the winter of 1877-8 was a daughter of the late Hon. Joseph G. Cannon, who represented the 14th Illi- nois district in the U. S. Congress. Mrs. Cannon visited her daughter in January of that year and as a courtesy invited the entire school of about 40 girls to a sleigh ride. An immense sleigh large enough to accommodate the entire party, with four heavy horses, was provided by a local livery stable. As the outfit turned into School Street, in front of the school building, the entire load was overturned, causing a pretty general mix-up of pretty girls, none of whom were injured. After some time spent in righting and repairing the somewhat damaged sleigh the ride was continued, resulting in much pleasure, still remembered by a number of the partici- pants, and also by one or two who happened to be on- lookers at the time.
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The first high school in Bellows Falls was built in 1854, costing $5,000. This was destroyed by fire 12 years later, and the second high school was built in 1866 at the cost of $17,000. The third high school was built in 1885 at the cost of $60,000 on the site of St. Agnes Hall. This, in turn, was destroyed by fire May 10, 1926, and replaced during the following two years by the present one, costing $275,000.
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IMMANUEL (EPISCOPAL) CHURCH, THE FIRST IN THE VILLAGE OF BELLOWS FALLS- DATES OF OTHER CHURCH BUILDINGS
The beautiful stone church building of Immanuel (Episcopal) church in this village had nearly $10,000 expended upon it during the summer of 1928 in redec- orating and in new fixtures and furniture, making it one of the most attractive church buildings in all this section of New England.
This church had the first organization and church building in Bellows Falls. The organization was effected in the village of Rockingham in 1798, that village then being the only one in this town. Their first services were held in the old town Meeting-House there until 1817, when, seeing the tendency of population toward the, then, new village of Bellows Falls, they decided to change their location. For ten years previous to the organization, or from about 1788, residents of all this section of New England, who were interested in the Church of England, had met for public worship at Rockingham, under the leadership of lay readers, avail- ing themselves also of the ministrations of transient clergymen.
As early as 1785, the records of the town show a quaint certificate appointing Oliver Lovell, one of the town's earliest residents, as a "wardean of the Church of England for the Towns of Rockingham, Westminster, Chester, and Thomlinson (now Grafton) in Vermont State." It was dated at Claremont, N. H., and signed by "Ranne Cossett, Clerk."
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In 1798, articles of association were drawn up by Dr. Samuel Cutler and signed by himself and Dr. Alexander Campbell and fifteen other influential citizens of the town. These articles were destroyed by fire in 1809. Dr. Cutler drafted them again, and the church was reformed in that year. The name of the original association was the "Protestant Episcopal Society of Rockingham," and it so remained until April 28, 1862, when it was changed to its present name of "Immanuel Church of Bellows Falls.
In 1817, upon removal from Rockingham to Bellows Falls, the parish erected its first church building, and it was the first church building in Bellows Falls. It was a frame structure and stood about thirty feet south of the present church building. It was surmounted by a square belfry of the peculiar architecture so common at that date, in the tower of which was, in June, 1819, hung the first village bell. The bell was presented to the village by Gen. Amasa Allen, a wealthy citizen of Wal- pole, N. H., and June 29, 1819, the members of the parish
united with the citizens of Bellows Falls in tendering to Gen. Allen a notable banquet in recognition of the gift. It was held at "Webb's New Hotel," erected two years before on the present site of Hotel Windham. The bell is the one now used by the parish and was cast by Revere & Sons, of Boston, the senior member of which firm was the noted Paul Revere, immortalized by Long- fellow. For over thirty years it was the only church bell in the village, and was used as a fire alarm, for cur- few at nine in the evening, and to announce to the resi- dents every death occurring within the village limits, according to the custom of those years. A certain num-
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