History of Wallingford, Vermont, Part 1

Author: Thorpe, Walter, 1875-
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Rutland, Vt. : Tuttle
Number of Pages: 240


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HISTORY OF


WALLINGFORD


VERMONT


Gc 974. 302 W15t 1128686


GENEALOGY COLLECTION


EX LIBRIS


TOUT


HAUT


D'EN


ELLA M. BALLOU.


7.50


ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01092 5664


1.


.


ROARING BROOK IN WINTER.


"All was silent as a dream Save the rushing of the stream."


HISTORY of WALLINGFORD VERMONT


By WALTER THORPE Minister of The Congregational Church Wallingford, Vt.


ILLUSTRATED


THE TUTTLE COMPANY Printers and Publishers RUTLAND, VERMONT


COPYRIGHT 1911 by Walter Thorpe


1128686


- HIS BOOK IS DEDICATED to the good people of the town of Walling- ford, Vt., who combine within them- selves the best elements of New England life and character.


Thanksgiving Day, 1911


FOREWORD.


I N PUBLISHING this "History of Walling- ford" the compiler would express his sin- cere thanks to all who have assisted in any way in its production. State and County histo- ries have been found helpful and used to goodly advantage. Much has been gathered by way of oral tradition, and old documents have yielded considerable information. The days spent "in the attics of friends" and in poring over columns of old newspapers have not been wasted, and in presenting the following pages it is with the con- sciousness of at least trying to use to the best advantage the material at hand.


Special thanks are due to Mrs. W. P. Cary in giving access to and assisting with the town rec- ords, and also Miss M. Congdon for the helpful- ness in Library references, to my wife in assist- ing with the revision of proofs, to the "Ver- monter" and The Tuttle Company for use of certain cuts, and to Mr. and Mrs. G. Sabin, who have greatly helped in the pictorial part of the work.


I wish the book could have been better, more accurate and trustworthy. It is sent forth, how- ever, with the wish that it may give to some a better knowledge of our town, that it may stimu- late a reasonable local pride, and help in develop- ing the community consciousness of the things that are true and just.


Walter Thorpe .


CONTENTS


Page


Introduction by Governor John A. Mead.


9


CHAPTER I.


The Days of the Wilderness


13


CHAPTER II.


The Granting of the Charter


16


CHAPTER III.


Early Settlement of the Town.


23


CHAPTER IV.


Sketches of Some Early Settlers


45


CHAPTER V.


Early Settlers-Continued


49


CHAPTER VI.


Scenes About Town


58


CHAPTER VII.


The Churches


69


CHAPTER VIII.


The Public Libraries


96


CHAPTER IX.


The Early Nineteenth Century


103


8


HISTORY OF WALLINGFORD.


CHAPTER X. Page South Wallingford and East Wallingford ... 112 CHAPTER XI.


Industries 129


CHAPTER XII.


The Town's War Record 145


CHAPTER XIII.


About Town


152


CHAPTER XIV.


Political


159


CHAPTER XV.


The Latter Decades of the Nineteenth Century 172


CHAPTER XVI.


Miscellaneous


178


CHAPTER XVII.


The Pageant 206


INTRODUCTION


By


JOHN ABNER MEAD, LL.D.,


Governor of Vermont.


I HAVE been asked to write the introduc- tion to this "History of Wallingford." The town is widely known for its beauty of situa- tion, its spirit of enterprise, and its patriotic ideal- ism. This is in part due to the splendid heritage that comes to it from the past. It is good that such a history should be recorded, and one of the results ought to be a manifestation of keener interest in the days that are gone, and a stronger community spirit in the present. Well may the people of this town be proud of their history; proud of the noble men and women who have lived within her boundaries. They were inspired with a great zeal to bring Society with all its senti- ments, its purposes, plans, customs and institu- tions, under the dominations of Godly principles and power. They felt and truly, that if they were to succeed in establishing truth and integrity, and love of country, throughout the social and politi- cal organism, to whose upbuilding they were giv-


10


HISTORY OF WALLINGFORD.


ing so freely of their strength, both of soul and body, that they must advance the "kingdom of God". Amid the hardships and toil of those who battled with the wilderness, with wild beast, with yet wilder and more savage men, who endured all things, and wrought with untiring energy among these hills and in these green valleys, through years of hardship and privations which we of this favored generation can have only a dim and feeble conception of, they were sustained and cheered and energized by lofty ideals of patriotism, of religious liberty, of progress infinitely more than by the material; and in the summing up of all great movements the ideal always wins.


Gladstone in one of his greatest speeches said "Our business it seems is, that God may utter Himself through us. The deeper we descend into ourselves, the surer do we become of this; the clearer the signs of a divinity that is within, be- neath and behind us. The days and the years are for the weaving of that Divine into speech and act." In American social life, there has entered from the very first beginnings of her political existence, the spirit of the higher life; the relig- ious conscience that forms the safeguard of the Republic in times of peril and stress. This is what enables the local town, the State, and the Nation to make splendid progress in the ideals of health, prosperity and happiness.


Religious and intellectual supremacy are we firmly believe, assured to this great Common- wealth. Throughout the years the influences which have gone out from such towns as Wallingford, rich in historical matter, in intellectual and moral content, shall live, not as atoms lost in the whirl of years, but as units forming part of a great and beneficent whole. Of all the fathers suffered, of


11


INTRODUCTION.


all they toiled for, naught has been lost, nothing will be ever lost, for the simple reason that they gave to the world through their lives of honest toil, their patriotism, their religious fervor", their desire for the education and advancement of their fellow citizens, the great force upon which com- mon humanity both of today and tomorrow must sustain its inward life. The hastening years bring changes of manner and actions, but the essential spirit that prompts the action remains the same.


Our fathers were never cursed by the lust for conquest. Our nation never suffered by the pas- sion for greater empire, nor for the greed of gold. All these have strewed the coasts of ages with the wrecks of many states. The Romans once made cruel and relentless war against all mankind, but it was that Rome might be master of the world. Russia for centuries, has been a menace to many governments, but it was that its domain might expand until its Emperor reigned supreme. Spain once master of the eastern world, drenched a con- tinent in tears, but it was that other nations should tremble at her frown. Germany saw that noble river, the majestic Rhine, sweep on for seven hun- dred miles dyed with the crimson stains of the sons of the Fatherland, but it was that Germany should be a land of iron and the mailed hand, the greatest military nation of the 18th and 19th cen- turies. Our fathers never gave their splendid sons for any of these. Their religion, their ideals, were not to conquer but to save, not to enslave but ever to make free. They did not strive that their government might endure to tyrannize and oppress, but it was to break the bonds and strike off the chains of slavery. They fought and suffered that our flag should be the banner of progress and not of retreat; of love and not of hate. That this


12


HISTORY OF WALLINGFORD.


banner should hold up to mankind not ignorance but civilization, not despair but hope. It taught men not to be merciless but just, not cruel but humane. So if our fathers' children, and their children's children will continue with the same spirit of idealism, the same tenacity of goodly pur- pose, the same rugged strength and determination, then the history of the present and the future, shall be as replete with instruction and profit as the history of the past.


13


THE DAYS OF THE WILDERNESS.


CHAPTER I.


The Days of the Wilderness.


O N JULY the fourth, 1609, Samuel De Cham- plain discovered and sailed upon the lake that bears his name. It was the first time that a white man had crossed its waters. With two companions and sixty Algonquin In- dians he paddled down the west side of the lake and saw the "Green Moun- tains". To quote his own words "continuing our route along the west side of the lake, contemplating the country, I saw on the east side very high moun- tains, capped with snow. I asked the Indians if those parts were inhab- Samuel De Champlain ited. They answered me 'yes' and that they (the inhabitants) were Iro- quois, and that there were in those parts beautiful valleys, and fields fertile in corn as good as I had ever eaten in the country, with an infinitude of other fruits."


Near Ticonderoga they met a band of Iroquois three times as large as their own and prepared for battle. The fire-arms of the white men caused consternation and fear, among the Iroquois and they fled leaving about fifty dead on the field. While this event may not have appeared very im- portant, yet the Iroquois never forgot this defeat and afterwards were the implacable enemies of the French, and during the wars that followed always allied themselves with the English.


14


HISTORY OF WALLINGFORD.


Vermont being situated equi-distant between the French and the English settlements did not invite settlement, and as disputed territory was exposed to the depredations of both. Before the coming of the white man it had been the hunting grounds of Indians. Its lakes and streams abounded with fish and its woods were filled with game. War parties of hostile Indians travelled the hills and its valleys were the scenes of many conflicts. The Indian occupancy was not as complete as in some other sec- tions of the country, yet evi- dences of village life have been found. Places of burial, imple- ments of warfare, vases, urns, mortars and pestles, indicate varying grades of social and The First American mental development.


On account of the dense growth of trees and the fact that it was not early settled, all the section of land between Lake Champlain and the Connecticut River, became known as "The Wilderness".


The wars between the French and English gave the first opportunities of noting and reporting what the land was like. Parties came down from Canada by way of the Richlieu River and Lake Champlain to the Winooski, followed that stream until by a portage they reached a branch of the White River and thence on to the Connecticut. This route was so often used by the French that it was called the "French road". The Indians frequently paddled Lake Champlain to Otter Creek which they followed to its source, and then crossed the mountain to the Black or West River


15


THE DAYS OF THE WILDERNESS.


by which they came to the Connecticut. This was known as the "Indian road". It made no differ- ence whether they used the birchbark canoe in the summer or snow shoes and toboggan in the winter, the streams offered the easiest modes of travel and became the thoroughfares among the hills.


THE SUGAR HILL CROSS ROAD.


16


HISTORY OF WALLINGFORD.


CHAPTER II.


The Granting of the Charter.


W ITH THE GRADUAL settlement of the Connecticut valley, it became necessary to protect the pioneers from the savage raids of the Indians so in 1724 a fort was built beside the river near the present town of Brattle- boro and named Fort Dummer after the Lieut .- Governor of Massachusetts. This fort was origin- ally made out of hewn logs and built 180 ft. square. Upon the walls were boxes for sentries and plat- forms for cannon. One of the cannon was called the "great gun" and fired as a signal that Indians were in the neighborhood. It became a brisk trad- ing post and the Indians found that they could make better trading bargains than at the French trading post and came in large numbers with furs and animal skins. This has been called the first per- manent settlement in Ver- mont, though it is poss- ible that the town of Ver- non, which was then a part of Northfield was settled previous to this time. New Hampshire and Massachu- setts were united under one Governor for more than forty years and at the time that Fort Dum- mer was built there was a dispute regarding the boundary line. The dis- pute was settled by the King of England in 1741 and he also appointed a Benning Wentworth.


17


THE GRANTING OF THE CHARTER.


Governor for each province. Benning Wentworth was the first royal governor of New Hampshire. In 1749 he granted a township six miles square, twenty miles east of the Hudson river and six miles north of the Massachusetts line. It was settled ten years later and called Bennington in honor of the Governor.


At this period there was rapid growth in the settlements for even "speculators and adventur- ers began to seek eagerly after land in these parts."


Others desiring to better their condition also made application and among them was that of Captain Eliakim Hall and others of Wallingford, Connecticut. They desired to start a new town- ship yet retaining the old name. On November 27, 1761 the following charter was granted them: "Province of New-Hampshire.


George the Third by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith &c. To all persons to whom these pres- ents shall come-Greeting;


Know ye that we of our special Grace, certain knowledge and mere motion for the due encour- agement of settling a new Plantation within our said Province, by and with the advice of our Trusty and Well Beloved Benning Wentworth, Esq., our Governor and Commander in chief of our said Province of New-Hampshire in New-England, and of our Council of the said Province, Have upon the conditions and Reservations herein after made, Given and Granted by these Presents, for us our heirs and successors do give and grant in equal shares, unto our loving subjects, Inhabi- tants of our said Province of New-Hampshire, and our other Governments, and to their heirs and assigns forever, whose names are entered on this


(2)


18


HISTORY OF WALLINGFORD.


grant to be divided to and amongst them into seventy-two equal shares, all that tract and Parcel of land, situate, lying and being within our said Province of New-Hampshire, containing by ad- measurement 23040 acres which tract is to contain six miles square, and no more; out of which an allowance is to be made for Highways and improv- able lands, by rocks, ponds, mountains and rivers, One thousand and forty acres free according to a plan and survey thereof, made by our said Gov- ernor's order, and returned into the Secretary's office and hereunto annexed, butted and bounded as follows, viz:


Beginning at the North east corner of Tinmouth, thence running due east six miles to the north east corner of Harwich, thence due west by Harwich to the south-east corner of Tinmouth aforesaid, thence due north by Tinmouth to the north-east- erly corner thereof being the bounds begun at, and that the same be and hereby is Incorporated into a township by the name of Wallingford, and the inhabitants that do or shall hereafter inhabit the said township, are hereby declared to be En- franchised with and entitled to all and every the Privileges and Immunities that other towns with- in our Provinces by law exercise and enjoy; and further that the said town as soon as there shall be fifty families Resident and settled thereon, shall have the liberty of holding Two Fairs, one of which shall be held on the and the other on


Annually, which


Fairs are not to continue longer than the respec- tive following the said


and that as soon as the said town shall consist of fifty families a Market may be opened, and kept one or more days each week as may be thought most advantageous to the Inhabitants. Also that the first meeting for the choice of town officers,


19


THE GRANTING OF THE CHARTER.


Agreeable to the laws of our said Province shall be held on which said meeting shall be notified by Capt. Eliakim Hall, who is also hereby appointed the Moderator of the first said meeting, which he is to notify and govern agreeable to the laws and customs of our said Province, and that the annual meeting forever hereafter for the choice of such officers for the said town shall be on the second Tuesday of March annually. To have and to hold the said tract of land as above ex- pressed with all privileges and appurtenances, to them and their Respective heirs and assigns forever upon the following conditions, viz:


I. That every Grantee his heirs and assigns shall Plant and Cultivate five acres of land within the term of five years for every fifty acres con- tained in his or their share or proportion of land in said township and continue to Improve and settle the same by additional cultivation, on pen- alty of his forfeiture of his grant or share in the said township, and of its reverting to us our heirs and successors to be by us or them re-granted to such of our subjects as shall effectually settle and cultivate the same.


II. That all white and other pine tree within the said Township fit for masting our Royal Navy be carefully preserved for that use, and none to be cut or felled, without our Special License for so doing, first had and obtained, upon the Penalty of the forfeiture of the right of such Grantee, his heirs and assigns, to us our heirs and successors as well as being subject to the Penalty of any act or acts of Parliament that hereafter shall be en- acted.


IH. That before any division of the land be made to and among the Grantees, a tract of land near the center of the said township as the land will admit of shall be reserved and marked out


20


HISTORY OF WALLINGFORD.


for Town Lots, one of which shall be alloted to each Grantee of the content of one acre.


IV. Yielding and paying therefore to us our heirs and successors for the space of ten years to be computed from the date hereof the rent of one ear of Indian corn, only on the 25th day of Decem- ber annually, if lawfully demanded, the first pay- ment to be made on the twenty-fifth day of Decem- ber, 1762.


V. Every Proprietor, Settler, or Inhabitant shall yield and pay unto us, our heirs and success- ors yearly and every year forever from and after the expiration of ten years from the aforesaid, twenty-fifth day of December, namely on the twenty-fifth day of December which shall be in the year of our Lord 1772 One Shilling, Proclama- tion money for every hundred acres he so owns, settles or possesses, and so in proportion for a greater or lesser tract of the said land; which money shall be paid by the Respective parties aforesaid, their heirs or assigns in our Council Chamber in Portsmouth, or to such officer or offi- cers, as shall be appointed to receive the same and this to be in lieu of all other rents and services whatsoever.


In testimony whereof we have caused the seal of our said Province hereunto affixed,


Witness, Benning Wentworth, Esq., our Gov- ernor and Commander in Chief of our said Pro- vince, the 27th day of November in the year of our Lord Christ, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-one, and in the second year of our reign.


By his Excellency's Command


with advice of Council B. Wentworth, Theodore Atkinson, Secty,


Province of New-Hampshire, Nov. 27, 1761.


Recorded in the Book of Charters, page 341, 342. Theodore Atkinson, Secty.


21


THE GRANTING OF THE CHARTER.


The names of the original grantees of the town of Wallingford, are as follows,


Capt. Eliakim Hall


Medad Lyman


Samuel Bishop


Rev. Saml. Hall


Amos Perkins


Enos Page


Timothy Bradley


Brenton Hall


Isaac Bishop


Elnathan Ives


Charles Sabin John Mix


Caleb Hall


Phineas Bradley


Timothy Page


Israel Bishop


Eliakim Hall, Jr.


Isaac Bradley


Stephen Hall


Thomas Wilmot


Hezekiah Hall


Stephen Ford


Rev. N. Williams


Samuel Munson


Justus Holt


Samuel Bishop


John Hall


Daniel Bassett


Giles Hall


Hezekiah Sabin


David Page


Isaac Doolittle


B. Hall, Jr.


David Austin


C. Hall


Abraham Bassett


William Peck


John Turner


Eli Todd


Enos Tuttle


Jeremiah Townsend


Daniel Lyman


Isaac Townsend


James Rice


Joseph Dorman


John Prout


Samuel Dorman


John Sackett


Samuel Miles


John Whiting


Thomas Rice


Enos Alling


William Day


Samuel Mansfield


Hez. Day


Joshua Chandler


Benj. Day


Thomas Howell


Daniel Warner


Richard Hood


Joseph Newmark


Josiah Thompson


Samuel Willis


Elisha Hall


22


HISTORY OF WALLINGFORD.


His Excellency, Benning Wentworth, Esq., a tract of land to contain 500 acres as marked B. W. in the plan which is to be accounted two of the within shares. One whole share for the Incorpor- ated Society for the propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts; one share for a Glebe for the Church of England as by Law Established; one share for the first settled minister of the Gospel; and one share for the benefit of a school in the said town.


Province of New-Hampshire. November 27, 1761.


Recorded in the Book of Charters, page 343. Theodore' Atkinson, Secty.


The compensation given the governor for the charter was usually $100.00 and in this the pro- prietors shared equally along with the cost of a survey.


On January 7, 1772, Wallingford was included with Clarendon in a patent granted by Governor Tryon of New York, under the name of Durham. It purported to grant 32,000 acres in shares of 1,000 acres each to thirty-two individuals. While this caused trouble in Clarendon, Wallingford continued its settlement under the New Hamp- shire grants.


23


THE EARLY SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWN.


CHAPTER III.


The Early Settlement of the Town.


T MUST not be thought that all the pro- prietors became residents of Wallingford. Some used their land for speculative pur-


poses. Others that their sons might have the opportunities of a new country. New townships were rapidly being settled. In 1761 no less than sixty townships were granted on the west side of the Connecticut river and the whole number of grants in one or two years more amounted to 138.


The first meeting of the proprietors was held in Wallingford, Conn., on September 12, 1772, almost eleven years after the charter had been granted. Capt. Eliakim Hall was chosen moderator, and Abner Hall surveyor's clerk, and it was voted to allot one hundred acres of land to each proprietor's right. Isaac Hall was appointed to superintend and Captain Eliakim Hall and Miles Johnson a committee to draft said allotments. Two years previous the town had been surveyed by Remem- ber Baker and his assistants. On the second of June, 1770, in company with a man named Wood from Pawlet he commenced at the northeast cor- ner of Danby and after running two miles and sixty chains north, they heard chopping in the forest to the right. They left their work and fol- lowing the sound found about forty rods to the east, on the banks of Otter Creek a dwelling and a small clearing. This was owned by Ephraim Seeley, who was the first inhabitant of Walling- ford, although he was under the impression that he was in the town of Tinmouth. The site of his home was about thirty rods east of the Hager place and the railroad now runs over its old foun-


24


HISTORY OF WALLINGFORD.


dation. Remember Baker was one of Ethan Allen's right hand men, a leader in the "green mountain boys" and many are the stirring incidents that are recorded about him.


Gov. Tryon of New York issued a proclamation offering £100 each for the capture of Ethan Allen and Remember Baker; and John Munroe, a New York justice undertook the arrest of Mr. Baker who at the time was living in Arlington. It was in the month of March, 1772, that with ten or twelve followers he forced an entrance by breaking down the door. It was early in the morn- ing and in the fight that occurred Baker's wife and son were wounded, and Baker was bound and thrown into a sleigh, and rapidly driven towards Albany. A rescue party was quickly formed and pursuing overtook them before they reached the Hudson river. The prisoner was abandoned and his would-be captors took to the woods. The inci- dent continued long after in song.


"O John Monro came in one day, With all his Yorker train; And took Remember Baker up, And set him down again."


After the Proprietor's meeting definite plans were made to settle the new town and in the fol- lowing summer one family came from Connecticut to make their new home in what had been the wil- derness. Abraham Jackson was the first legal settler of the town. With a wife and ten children he moved from Cornwall, Connecticut. This was in 1773. He may have been an officer in the old home church as he was commonly called "dea- con." . Another child, "Loraine", was born in the new town. Abraham Jackson was a splendid ex- ample of the early settler. Upright and indus- trious he commanded the respect of all who knew him.


25


THE EARLY SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWN.


Through his children his influence is still widely felt. His oldest son Abraham Jackson, Jr , served as town clerk for many years and was the first representative and occupied many positions of trust. William, the youngest, graduated at Dart- mouth College in 1790. He studied theology with Drs. Edmunds and Spring and was ordained pas- tor of the church in Dorset in 1796. He remained minister of the church there until his death in 1842. His interest in education is shown by the




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