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Go 974.302 M83m 1774468
M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
Go
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01100 2877
HISTORY
of
MORRISTOWN VERMONT
by
ANNA L. MOWER
1935
FS :: = $1
1774468
Copyright 1935 By Anna L. Mower
1
Rubi Paxosax
115763
This book is dedicated to the MORRISVILLE WOMAN'S CLUB that arranged for its preparation and made possible its publication
MESSENGER-SENTINEL COMPANY MORRISVILLE, VT.
Foreword
This History of Morristown is the outgrowth of a meeting of the Morrisville Woman's Club, held on April 4, 1927, at which Miss Lou Rand, great-granddaughter of the first settler in Morristown, presented a paper, "Our Local History," excerpts from which are given in this book.
The Club felt it could engage in no worthier project than to preserve for later generations the story of the men and women who shaped the early destiny of the town.
Macaulay once said, "A people that takes no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote descendants."
While effort has been made to avoid errors, the book probably contains inaccuracies and certainly there are many imperfections. But it brings together what has been ascertainable about the founding and development of Morristown.
Heminway's "Gazeteer," Child's "Gazeteer of Lamoille County," Crockett's "History of Vermont," and the material already collected and published by Elisha Brig- ham and Judge H. H. Powers have been freely consulted and they furnish much of the early history. Thanks are due many people and organizations for their cooperation, but special mention should be made of E. K. Seaver, who gave much of the information about Cadys Falls; of T. C. Cheney, who gave the use of the diaries of his grand- father, S. L. Gates, and his own time in consultation; of Mrs. Mary Cheney, for her interest and information; of D. A. Sanders, for his account of the Morrisville Mili- tary Band, and also data on the cemeteries; of Willard Sanders, for his history of the Water and Light Depart- ment, and of the Masonic Order; of H. M. McFarland of Hyde Park, who gave access to his complete file of the local newspapers and the index for them which he had prepared; and of Chief Justice G. M. Powers, for his advice and for reading much of the manuscript.
Contents
Page
I Before Man Came. 1
II Town Beginnings 4
III Physical Characteristics of the Town 20
IV Early Settlers
24
V Churches 39
VI Development of Various Sections of the Town 64
VII Educational Institutions. 78
VIII
Transportation and Communication.
120
IX
Military Record.
130
X Morristown Bench and Bar 159
XI Medical Profession 169
XII
Celebrations, Grave and Gay
178
XIII Organizations, Fraternal, Patriotic, and Social 196
XIV Music in Morristown 226
XV The Press, the Postoffice, and Public Houses. . 234
XVI
The Incorporated Village of Morrisville.
246
XVII
Industries in Morristown
259
XVIII
Morristown in Public Affairs
268
XIX
Miscellany
278
List of Illustrations
Green Mountain Range from Elmore Mountain Road. E. T. Houston, Montpelier, Vt., Photographer
Frontispiece
Facing page
Upper Main Street in Late '60s
76
Lower Main Street in Late '60s 76
Peck's Corner in Late '60s 77
Wheeler's Corner in Late '70s. .77
First Peoples Academy 86
Peoples Academy, Copley Building 95
Second Peoples Academy 95
Alexander H. Copley 97
View from Bridge Street 119
Morristown Centennial Library 119.
Old Covered Bridge Once Standing Near Power Plant .. 124
Early Train in Morrisville. 124
Copley Hospital
176
Copley Avenue
176
Lake Lamoille
246
Pulpit Rock 246 George Whitman Hendee 268
H. Henry Powers
270
Chief Justice George M. Powers
276
CHAPTER I BEFORE MAN CAME
INCE the physical features of a region influence very S materially the life of its inhabitants, it seems fitting that the story of Morristown should begin with a hasty glance at those tremendous forces which in the ages long past carved out its valleys and shaped its hills.
Vermont is among the oldest regions, geologically speaking, within the boundaries of the United States, fol- lowing next after the Archean formation of the Adirondack region; and the Lamoille River, together with the Winooski, are what are termed "antecedent" rivers of great antiquity. In prehistoric times the Labradorian glacier covered all of New York and New England, although the glacial scratches are less plainly seen at the top of Mount Wash- ington. Slowly this huge stream of ice moved southward, crushing and grinding its way along until it extended below New York City, from which point the terminal moraine swung westward south of Chicago, then north- ward across Montana into northwestern Canada. The thickness of the ice is estimated at not less than 10,000 feet at the northern boundary of Vermont, so it entirely covered the highest peaks of the Green Mountains. At that time the land was much lower than today, partly because of the tremendous pressure of the ice.
As this vast ice sheet began to melt, great bodies of water were created and new channels for rivers were cut out, while the sea level waters followed the retreating ice cap northward. At first these waters formed a narrow strip which the geologist calls the Hudson Inlet. As this mounted still farther north, it became the Hudson-Cham- plain Inlet. After a time sea level waters took possession of the St. Lawrence Valley, causing what is known as the Champlain Sea. After a long period of time the Gulf of St. Lawrence united with the Champlain Sea and the Hudson-Champlain Inlet became the Hudson-Champlain Strait.
It is thought that at an early stage of the ice front recession one glacial water body covered the Memphre- magog, the Lamoille, and Winooski Valleys. The waters
2
HISTORY OF MORRISTOWN
of the Memphremagog discharged through the depression now occupied by Elligo Pond into the Lamoille, and glacial Lamoille emptied through the Stowe Strait into the Winooski, which may have flowed through Williamstown Gulf into the White River and eventually into the Connec- ticut. This occupation by glacial waters seems to have been of comparatively short duration and its existence is deduced from the character of the sand plains which clearly show a water formation. A water level at about the alti- tude of the highest terrace near Morrisville is necessary to account for the soil and the northerly drainage of the valley of Joe's Brook. A large part of the valley about Morrisville is filled with fertile deposits, but about a hun- dred acres northwest of the village is of loose gravel, so that it bears little vegetation. This gravel deposit leads the geologist to think it must have been a glacial sand plain, for no other source of such material seems possible. Thus the Labrador glacier of prehistoric times provided the gravel which in this age has furnished the foundation for miles of roads in town.
So the Lamoille Valley first held glacial waters which after a long period were succeeded by an extension of the Champlain Sea. During this time the streams flowing into Lake Champlain formed deep estuaries and their deposits or deltas lay far east of the present Champlain Valley. The Lamoille created a wide delta about Milton, northern Colchester, and southern Georgia and entered the lake farther north than its present mouth. This inlet extended as far east as Hardwick. After the melting of the ice there was a gradual rising and tilting of the land which altered the flow of the rivers.
The region about Morrisville is described by Prof. H. L. Fairchild in the Report of the State Geologist, as follows : "A grand display of delta plains is found at Morrisville and eastward. Here several streams joined the Lamoille waters and the volume of detritus was large and quite filled this section of the valley. Extensive plains indicate the successive falling levels of the static waters. The business part of Morrisville is on a plain with an alti- tude of 670 feet, taking the railroad station at 646 feet. Passing eastward by the highway a higher plain with abrupt front has frontal elevation of 720 feet, rising to 730 at the back. Another terrace with a bar front is 740 feet. Above this is the handsome plain, with altitude of
3
HISTORY OF MORRISTOWN
750 feet. The village cemetery is on the extensive part of the plain on the south side of the river. The entire width of the valley was probably filled in this section and partly re-excavated by stream erosion. South of Morris- ville, along the road to Stowe, the detrital plains, smoothed by the lowering waters of the Champlain Sea, are beauti- fully displayed. The summit plains lie at the col, or divide, between the Lamoille and Winooski Valleys, with altitude about 740-feet. From these figures it will be seen that while the lower terraces correlate with the sum- mit level of the Champlain Sea the upper terraces are too high. Here again we have complication with glacial waters, as in the Winooski Valley."
On the north side of the river other terraces exist. The buildings of the Lamoille Valley Fair grounds occupy one corresponding to the level of Pleasant View Cemetery, the so-called old fair ground and the high school building. Farther northwest along the St. Johnsbury & Lake Cham- plain Railroad at Cadys Falls the several terrace levels unite, forming what is said to be the highest formation of that kind in the state.
Thus through the long centuries the waters of the Lamoille deposited rich silt, its course changed, its waters receded until the valleys and plains were made ready for the habitation of man. It was a long time before this section was permanently occupied. No considerable part of Vermont was inhabited by the Indians, but it was rather the hunting and fishing ground for the wandering bands. Tomahawks and other implements have been found in the Lamoille Valley and at a place called Indian Hill in Cam- bridge there is evidence of a camp-ground, but no settle- ments were made until Indian Joe and Molly discovered the resources of the Lamoille, or, as the Indians called it, the Wintoak, or Marrow River.
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1
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CHAPTER II
TOWN BEGINNINGS
T HE years 1780 and 1781 were momentous ones in the history of the United States, for in the fall of the former year began that series of victories in the Southern campaign which included King's Mountain, Cowpens, and Guilford Court House and terminated at Yorktown in October, 1781, and virtually ended the Revolution.
They were also significant ones in the life of the doughty little Green Mountain Republic, which had declared its independence in 1777, and was struggling to maintain it in the face of predatory neighbors, and a Congress which had declared that the acts of Vermont in asserting its inde- pendence and continuing its grants of land in violation of the resolutions of Congress in 1779 "are highly unwarrant- able and subversive of the peace and welfare of the United States." It demanded that the people abstain from all acts of authority, either civil or military, over those residents in Vermont who preferred to accept the jurisdiction of another state. The young republic accepted this challenge, and the General Assembly of October, 1780, determined to raise an army and to provide revenue for maintaining the same by granting the lands in the state not previously occupied. A printed form of petition to the General Assembly for a land grant was prepared and these petitions were freely circulated, not only in New England, but in the Middle States. Land companies were formed in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, and by officers in the Conti- nental Army. Thus the state built up among its neigh- bors a body of public opinion friendly to the stand it had taken. Some discretion was shown in making these con- cessions to persons who "will most conduce to the welfare of the state to have such grants." At the session of the General Assembly, held in the autumn of 1780, more than fifty such grants were made by the House, and in most cases the Governor and Council accepted their recom- mendations, and named the grantees and the terms of the Charter. Among such we find the following:
.
"Resolved that the proprietors of the Township of Morristown Granted to Mr. Moses Morse & Co. being sixty
5
HISTORY OF MORRISTOWN
four in Number, Marked on the plan No. 44, pay £7 L. Money in silver or equivalent in other current money, to be paid by the first day of March next, the terms of Settle- ment is three years after the War, the reservations are to be Specified in the Charter of Incorporation."
Thus the inception of the Town was closely connected with the early struggles of the state. On that same day, November 7, 1780, grants of twelve other towns were made, among them Craftsbury, Coventry and Fletcher, in this section of the state. About nine months later this action was confirmed by the Governor, and on August 24, 1781, the following charter was granted:
"THE CHARTER OF MORRISTOWN
"The Governor, Council, and General Assembly of the Freeman of the State of Vermont
[L. S.]
"To all People to whom these Presents shall come Greeting. "Know Ye, That whereas, Doct Moses Morse and his associates, our worthy friends have by Petition requested a grant of a Tract of unappropriated Land within this State, in order for settling a new Plantation, to be Erected into a Township; We have therefore thought fit for the due encouragement of their laudable designs & for other Valuable consideration us hereunto moving do by these Presents in the name and by the authority of the Freemen of the State of Vermont, give and grant the Tract of Land hereafter described and bounded, unto him the said Moses Morse and to the several persons hereafter named his associates viz: Timothy Meach, Joshua Morse, Daniel Morse, John Norton, Sarah Morse, Charity Wibon, Ger- shom Randell, John Kelley, Willard Morse, Elijah Adams, Samuel Cook, Jonathan Cook, John Smith, Daniel Kinney, Nathan Hibbard, Jesse Spawlding, Jacob Kinney, Moses Porter, Simeon Rood, Nathaniel Edwards, Elias Brown, Dennis Mach, Nathan Fay, Joseph Hinsdale, Isaac Kellogg, Aaron Hubbel, Robert Cochran, Caleb Bingham, Joseph Hinsdale, Jr., Jedediah Hyde, Jabez Bingham, David Mit- chell, Stephen Mitchell, Roger Rose, Ruggles Woodbridge, Noah Goodman, Josiah White, Mary Bingham, Marble Mitchell, Samuel Day, Lois Day, Samuel Day, Jr., Win- stone Liberty Day, Gideon Beebe, John Morse, Jonathan Merrick, David Merrick, John Merrick, Eliel Todd, Lucy
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6
HISTORY OF MORRISTOWN
Todd, Israel Jones, Marshal Jones, Isaac Searles, Mary Searles, Andrew Alger, Ebenezer Stratton, Luther Rich, William Farrand, Giles Barnes, Enoch Chapen, Thomas Train, Rosanna Farrand, Isaac Whitney, & Jason Wright. Which together with the five following Rights reserved to the several uses in manner following include the whole of said Township viz: one Right for the use of a Simonary or College; one Right for the use of County Grammar Schools in said State; Lands to the amount of one Right to be and remain for the purpose of settlement of a minister and Ministers of the Gospel in said Township forever; Lands to the amount of one Right for the support of the Social Worship of God in said Township; and Lands to the amount of one Right for the Support of an English School or Schools in said Township, which said two Rights for the use of a Seminary or College and for the use of County Grammar Schools as aforesaid, and the Improvements, rents, Intrests, & Profits arising therefrom shall be under the Controul, order, dircetion & disposal of the General Assembly of said state forever; And the proprietors of said Township are hereby authorized and Empowered to locate said two Rights justly and equitably, or quantity for quality in such parts of said Township as they or their Committee shall judge will least incommode the General Settlement of said Tract or Township; And the said Pro- prietors are further empowered, to locate the lands afore- said amounting to three Rights assigned for the Settle- ment of a Minister & Ministers for their Support, & for the use and Support of English Schools in such and so many places as they or their Committee shall judge will least incommode the Inhabitants of said Township when the same shall be fully settled and improved Laying the same equitably, or quantity for quality, which said lands amounting to the three rights last mentioned when located as aforesaid, shall Together with their Improvements, Rights, Rents, Profits, Dues & Intrest remain unalianably appropriated to the uses and purposes for which they are respectively assigned, & be under the charge, direction & disposal of the Inhabitents of said Township forever; which Tract of Land hereby given and Granted as afore- said is bounded and described as follows, viz. Beginning at the North, Easterly Corner of Stow, Then westerly in the line of Stow (something more than) six miles to an angle thereof, Then carying that Breadth back North 36
7
E
HISTORY OF MORRISTOWN
Do East so far that to extend a Line north 54 Do West across said Breadth will encompass the contents of six miles square, And that the same be and hereby is Incor- porated into a Township By the name of Morristown, and . the Inhabitants, that do or shall hereafter inhabit said Township, are declared to be Infranchised and entitled to all the Priviledges, and Immunities that the Inhabitants of other Towns within this State do and ought by the Laws and Constitution of this State to Exercise and Enjoy.
"To Have and to Hold, the said granted Premises, as above expressed in equal shares with all the Privileges and appurtences thereto belonging & appertaining, unto them and their respective Heirs and assigns forever upon the following Condition and Reservations viz that each Pro- prietor of the township of Morristown, aforesaid his heirs and assigns, shall plant and cultivate Five acres of land, and Build an house at least Eighteen feet Square on the Floor, or have one Family settled on each respective right within the term of three years next after the circum- stances of the war will admit of a Settlement with Safety on penalty of the Forfeiture of each respective Right of Land in said Township not so settled and Improved, and the Same to revert to the Freemen of this State, to be by their representatives regranted to Such persons as shall appear to Settle and Cultivate the same, That all Pine Timber suitable for a Navy be reserved for the use and Benifit of the Freemen of this State.
"In Testimony whereas we have caused the Seal of this State to be affixed in Council this 24 day of August AD 1781, in the 5th year of the Independence of this, and 6 of the United States.
"THOMAS CHITTENDEN
"By His Excellency Command
"Thomas Tolman Depy Secy"
It has generally been assumed that the name Morris- town was derived from that of Dr. Morse, the chief grantee, being a modification of the somewhat awkward term Morse-town. Judge H. Henry Powers, who investi- gated the early history of the town so thoroughly, refers to a tradition which suggests a different origin of the name. While the early settlers were struggling for their rights, a man by the name of Morris was a staunch friend
8
HISTORY OF. MORRISTOWN
of the Vermonters, and the name Morristown was given the new township in his honor. The fact that in both grant and charter the town is always called Morristown makes this explanation plausible. The question who this Morris was at once arises, and a study of the history of the state during that period suggests that it might have been one of two men.
Gouverneur Morris was a delegate from New York to Congress from 1777 to 1780 and served with marked ability. In private correspondence as well as in his public acts he showed that he was opposed to much of New York's policy. In a letter to Governor Clinton he said: "I wish the business of Vermont was settled. I fear we are pursuing a shadow with respect to that matter and every day I live and everything I see, gives to my fears the consistense of opinion. It is a mighty arduous busi- ness to compel the submission of men to a political or religious government." Again he wrote: "Let splendid acts of justice and generosity induce these people to sub- mit early to our dominion for prejudices grow stubborn as they grow old."
Naturally these views were not in accord with those of the other leaders of New York and in part because of them Morris was retired from. public service by that state in 1780, the year in which the grant of the town was made. He moved to Pennsylvania, where he was chosen a dele- gate to the Federal Convention and became one of its most influential members. Later he returned to New York and was elected United States Senator. If this tradition is worthy of any credence, it is not impossible that this early friend of the state suggested the name and any citizen of the town might well feel the town was honored by this choice.
Still another Morris whose services to the state were prominent about this time was Judge Lewis R. Morris, a nephew of Gouveneur, who had served in the American Army with distinction and settled here in Tinmouth. He served as Clerk of the Assembly, and in January, 1791, he and Nathaniel Chipman were elected Commissioners to go to Congress and negotiate with it for the admission of Vermont into the Union, which duty was performed to the satisfaction of his fellow Vermonters. President Wash- ington recognized his ability by appointing him the first Marshal of the District of Vermont. It must be conceded.
--
9
HISTORY OF MORRISTOWN
however, that his more notable services to the state were performed after the township had been granted in 1780.
If, as has been generally supposed, the town was named after Dr. Moses Morse, it was connected with a strong and rather unique character. Dr. Morse at the time he became proprietor was living in Worthington, Mass., and so many of the men who invested in the new township were associated with that or adjacent towns that a few words in regard to its history seem in order.
In 1762 this town, together with Patridgefield, now known as Hinsdale, and Cummington were sold at public auction and settlement at once began, many of the pioneers coming from Connecticut. A list of these early settlers, as given in the history of Worthington, reveals the follow- ing names of persons who were soon to become proprietors in the new town of Morristown: Jonathan and Samuel Cooke, Samuel and Lois Day, John Kelly, Moses, Joshua, Daniel and Sarah Morse, Timothy Meech, John Norton, and Gershom Randall. In addition to these, Nathan Hibbard and Jacob and David Kinne were from the adjacent town of Patridgefield, now Hinsdale. Isaac and Mary Searles and Andrew Alger were from nearby Williamstown. John Smith came from Hadley, in the same county, and Joseph Hinsdale, who figured so largely in the early, meetings of the proprietors, lived just across the state line in Bennington, while Moses Porter, another grantee, was in Pawlet. Other names indicate that still others came from that section of New England, but the ones given are definitely identified by the town records. Thus a third of the proprietors were from the northwest corner of Massachusetts or just over the border in the new commonwealth. Many of the records of the first sales in town were made by Nahum Eager, who served as Town Clerk in Worthington for years, and a study of the history of that town shows that these men who were identified with the new settlement were men prominent in the affairs of that place.
The one of them most vitally concerned with Morris- town was Dr. Moses Morse, who was born in Newbury, Mass., in 1721, a descendant of Anthony Morse who came to that town in 1635. Dr. Morse was educated at the University of Cambridge, England, and served his appren- ticeship as physician and surgeon in the hospitals of Liverpool and London and then returned to America and
.
10
HISTORY OF MORRISTOWN
settled down to practice his profession in Preston, Conn. About 1765 he moved to Worthington, being the first doctor in the town. In the record of the first town meet- ing he was elected Surveyor of Highways and later served as Selectman. In 1773 he was Agent to the Provincial Congress, the first man thus to represent the town, and in 1777 he was elected representative to the General Court. From the beginning of the Revolution his sympathies were with the mother country. "By shrewdness and tact, in 1774, he influenced the town to pass a vote making the Non-importation Act in regard to tea, which the town a few years before had covenanted to maintain, null and
void." He remained in the session of the General Court of 1777 but a short time, being recalled and censured in the following resolution passed by the town: "Voted that Dr. Moses Morse, for his misconduct in refusing to act in behalf of the town, relative to a petition and saying that he would oppose it with all his might directly con- trary to the vote of the town, ought not, in justice to the cause for which we are now contending with Great Britain sit any longer as a Representative in the General Court for this town." The petition referred to was a request made by the town to the Massachusetts Legislature to have its unimproved land taxed to assist in defraying the expenses of the war. "In spite of the ill-will and prejudice which his conduct at this time occasioncd he was subsequently appointed by the town to act on important committees, on account of his eminent ability and talents." His financial standing also doubtless increased his influ- ence in the town since his education, his frequent trips to England, and his colonizing activities indicate that he was a man of wealth for that period.
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