USA > Vermont > Orange County > Bradford > A history of Bradford, Vermont : containing some account of the place of its first settlement in 1765, and the principal improvements made, and events which have occurred down to 1874--a period of one hundred and nine years. With various genealogical records, and biographical sketches of families and individuals, some deceased, and others still living > Part 10
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On this, their last voyage, an incident occurred which, for the benefit of young ladies who may happen to fall into like peril, I will here relate.
Mr. Peters and wife had with them a good-looking daughter, in the bloom of womanhood, whose name was Mary Ann. A young man on board the ship became her warm admirer, and earnestly solicited her hand in mar- riage. He represented himself to be a farmer, in good circumstances ; and promised, in case of marriage, that directly on their arrival in port he would take her to a pleasant home. Having obtained the consent both of the girl and her parents, he insisted that the marriage should take place immediately, and that the ceremony might as well be performed by the captain, as by a magistrate or
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minister on shore. The captain consented, the marriage took place, and during the remainder of the voyage things went on to the satisfaction of all concerned. But on their arrival in England the villain, for such, to her bitter disappointment and the deep mortification of her parents, he proved himself to be, absconded, leaving poor Mary Ann to take care of herself as she could ; his pretensions of love, and promises of fidelity and a pleasant home, all having been false and wicked. Beware of such men !
ANDREW B. PETERS, EsQ.
We come now to a more full account of our honored fellow townsman, Andrew B. Peters. He was the second son of Colonel John Peters, born at Hebron, Conn., Janu- ary 29, 1764, and when with his parents he first came to this town, he was about seven years of age. In prospect of the revolutionary struggle, his father, being a loyalist, removed his family from this place to the province of Nova Scotia, and there, as we have said, was commission- ed a colonel in the British army. In consequence of the course pursued by his father, Andrew B. became a sub- ject of the royal government during the whole seven years of war which followed, and was surrounded by in- fluences suited to enlist his youthful ambition and ener- gies on the side which his father, and his father's distin- guished uncle, then in London, had so heartily espoused. It is no wonder then that he should have, early in life, enlisted in the same cause. From his seventeenth to his twentieth year he seems to have been engaged in the king's service, particularly in the naval inland depart- ment. Under date of September 16, 1783, near the close of the war, " Commodore " Shank, then at Quebec, gave him an honorable discharge, saying that from the 27th of June, 1780, he had served for a time in his majesty's ship the Wolf, also aboard of his majesty's armed schooner
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Mercury, and in the year 1781 was ordered upon Lake Champlain, where he served on board of different vessels, and frequently commanded them, until the 16th of Sep- tember, 1783. Mr. Peters was then not quite twenty years of age, but the commander speaks highly of his conduct, as an officer and a gentleman, and recommends him to further consideration in his majesty's naval ser- vice.
Within a very few years after the permanent restora- tion of peace, Mr. Peters, having no encouraging prospect of promotion in the British navy, or urgent call for fur- ther services under the royal government, concluded. to return to Bradford, where his father's family had formerly resided, and here permanently settled down as a loyal and good citizen. His great uncle, the Rev. Dr. Samuel Pet- .ers, was still in London, and had all along taken a deep interest in behalf of his promising young relative and correspondent. A few extracts from one or two of his letters will here be appropriate and interesting.
In a letter to Andrew B. Peters, dated at London, March 24, 1795, he writes: " My dear nephew, years have passed since I saw you in your mother's arms. I am on the wings of Time, bearing up to God, in whose presence is life, light, and joy. Here we have no continuing city. *
General Cogswell, of Castleton, near Rutland, will have the goodness to deliver or convey this to you, and will pay you thirty pounds sterling, on your receipt. The above I send you, not knowing how soon I may be with you, or that you might not want it before my arrival. I hear you have a wife and children. Heaven prosper you and yours. * The reasons of your residing in Verd- mont, I doubt not, are the same which will induce all peo- ple in the old world to go there !"
In another letter, dated at London, April 20, 1797, the doctor writes: "I am glad you received the thirty pounds sterling from that good man, General Cogswell.
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* You must not mind the conduct of Absalom and John, for they persecuted your father, me, and the proph- ets, before you." He here, evidently, refers to Andrew's patriotic uncle, General Absalom Peters, but to what John does not so clearly now appear. "Do good to them that despitefully treat you, and love them that hate you. While we were enemies to God, Christ died for us. Ver- bum sat." In the same letter he refers to " Commodore," as he styles him, Shank, " with whom," he continues, " you served in the Navy, and I tried to have you made a Lieutenant in the Navy but did not succed, because you were born in America. The Admiralty treated all Ameri- can born midshipmen in like manner after the Independ- ence of America. Perhaps it is for the best. * * * Would it suit you to be a Justice of the Peace, or to be a military officer ? General Allen will be able to assist you with the Governor."
Of Mr. Peters' second wife he pleasantly says : "If I remember well, Mr. Ellis Bliss had a beautiful daughter, whose mother was dead. If she is as good as she looked, or so good as her father and mother, you have great rea- son to be thankful, and must be happy."
In the year 1798 Andrew B. Peters was chosen Town Clerk of Bradford, and was continued in that office for forty out of the ensuing forty-six years, there being but two interruptions, the first of five, and the other of one year. The early records of the town, while they exist, will be a memorial of his ability and correctness. It is well that the books were kept so long by one faithful man, instead of being bandied about from one place to another. The same year in which Mr. Peters was first chosen Town Clerk he was also elected Representative to the State Legislature, and served the town in that capac- ity for five years, though not continuously. He also offi- ciated as a Justice of the Peace for many years. For
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half a century he was occupied in various public services, and in every department gave general satisfaction.
Esquire Peters was strictly temperate in his habits, both of eating and drinking. He was accustomed to rise, and also to retire, at early hours. He was in his temper, quick and decisive : in his pursuits, active and persever- ing. And never having broken down his physical consti- tution by excessive labor, or other abuses, his sight, hearing, memory, and powers generally, both of body and mind, held out admirably. In his old age he stood erect, and walked with a quick and firm step. But a few weeks before his decease, he, with his wife, took a journey to Boston and vicinity, to visit their children there. If men would abstain wholly from the ordinary use of intoxicat- ing liquor, tobacco, opium, and otherwise observe as they should the laws of health, instead of becoming old and broken down at the age of forty-five or fifty, instances of sprightliness and energy at the age of seventy-five or eighty would not be at all uncommon.
In carly life Mr. Peters united with the Episcopal church, and, though he seldom had opportunity to enjoy its forms of worship, he retained his membership to the last. He was strict in his observance of the Sabbath, and exemplary in his attendance on public worship, with the Congregational denomination, whose house of worship was long quite near his residence. He was detained at home only for two Sabbaths, during his last illness. Though fully aware that the time appointed for his de- parture was close at hand, his mind remained peaceful. He did not seem to depend on his morality at all, but on Christ, and him alone, for salvation. On Sabbath morning, August 10, 1851, the venerable old man passed quietly away at the age of eighty-seven years, six months and twelve days.
On the following Monday, his funeral was numerously attended by the inhabitants of the town which he had in 10
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various capacities so long and faithfully served, the relig- ious services being performed by his Congregational pastor, assisted by the Methodist brother then officiating in Bradford. His remains rest, with those of his three wives, in the pleasant cemetery near their former resi- dence.
The first wife of Esquire Peters was Anna White, of Newbury. They were married January 18, 1787, about three years after the close of the Revolutionary war, which shows that he was then resident here. This good lady, in a little over one year after her marriage, died of consumption, at Bradford, in the twenty-fourth year of her age.
December 16, 1790, Mr. A. B. Peters married for his second wife Miss Lydia Bliss, then of Bradford, but a na- tive of Hebron, Conn., a daughter of Mr. Ellis Bliss. They lived happily together for nearly twenty-seven years, when she died at Bradford, March 5, 1816, in the fiftieth year of her age, leaving a large family. The children of Mr. Peters and his second wife were,
1. John Peters, born May 6, 1792. He married Dol- ly Rowe, and settled in Jay, Vt. Died October 19, 1858. No children.
2. Anna, born November 2, 1793; married Eleazer Smith ; settled in Haverhill, N. H .; died in Charlestown, Mass., June 20, 1848, leaving two sons : Charles G., who married Ruth Morse and settled in Haverhill; and Wil- liam P., who was killed in Sharon, Vt., while driving a stage team of four horses, which went over the bank into White River:
3. Samuel Peters, born April 16, 1797 ; married Mar- garet Nelson, of Ryegate, Vt., where he settled, and had two sons and six daughters, the most of whom married and settled in different parts of the country.
4. - Daniel C. Peters, born April 4th, 1799; married Sally White of Bradford, and settled in Peoria, Illinois.
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They had five daughters, two of whom are at this date married in that State, and one son, who died young.
5. Hannah, daughter of A. B. Peters, born April 18, 1801, died May 3, 1853.
6. William Peters, born December 14, 1803 ; married Mary, daughter of Capt. Haynes Johnson, of Bradford, September 2, 1830. She died in Charlestown, Mass., Feb- ruary 7, 1844, in the forty-first year of her age. They had two sons and one daughter. William Francis, at this date residing in Salmon City, Idaho; Charles Edward married Lucinda E. Hodgdon, of Piermont, N. H., and is a livery stable keeper in Bradford village. They have one son, Charles Henry, and one daughter, Lillie May. Mary Jane, daughter of Wmn. Peters, married Thomas H. Moore, and resides with her husband at Cambridgeport, Mass.
Mr. William Peters, Jan. 19, 1845, married for his sec- ond wife Hannah Johnson, a sister of his first wife, and settled in Boston, Mass. Both she and her sister Mary were members of the Congregational church in this their native town. Mrs. Hannah J. Peters died in Boston, Feb- ruary 5, 1872, in her fifty-ninth year. Mr. Peters had by this marriage one son, Alvah Henry Peters, who married · Miss Etta Damrell, and settled in Boston ; and one daugh- ter, Martha Nellie Peters, who died April 22, 1869, in her eighteenth year.
7. Andrew Bliss Peters, born March 14, 1812, mar- ried Susan Jones, of Durham, N. H., and settled in Charles- town, Mass .; had one son and a daughter, and died March 9, 1857, aged forty-five years, lacking three days.
Mrs. Lydia Bliss Peters, the mother of this large family, died March, 1816; and on the 15th of September, of the same year, Esquire Peters married, for his third wife, Ke- ziah Howard, a good lady of Tamworth, N. H., born at Bridgewater, Mass., November 25, 1783. On her marri- age with Esquire Peters, she moved directly to her Brad- ford home, where she lived very nearly fifty-six years,
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and died September 2, 1872, at the age of eighty-eight years, nine months and eight days. She had long been a worthy member of the Congregational church here.
Andrew B. Peters had by his third marriage two sons.
1. Joseph Howard Peters, born October 7, 1717, mar- ried Clarissa Culver Washburn, of Lyme, N. H., Nov. 25,. 1841, and settled on the old home farm, where, at this writing, he still resides. Mr. Peters, though mainly de- voted to agricultural pursuits, has been called repeatedly to serve his native town in different official capacities ; in 1868-9 as lister, and in 1870-1-2 as chairman of the board of selectmen. The children of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Peters are as follows, namely :
Andrew Barnet Peters, born March 10, 1843, married Jennie S. Kessler, May 14, 1872, and settled in Fitchburg, Mass.
Mary Ann, born June 23, 1845, died August 20, 1846.
Mary Ellen, born March 30, 1847, married Charles A. Leavitt, December 25, 1871, and is settled in this village.
Clara Emma, born June 15, 1848, married Andrew G. Tarleton, December 20, 1870, and settled in Woburn, Mass.
Arthur W., born July 31, 1851, married Velma L. Jen- kins, of this town, November 14, 1871, and remains on the old homestead, with his father.
Minnie S., born June 4, 1855, married Job Clement, of Bradford, March 17, 1872, and remains in her native town.
2. Edmund Fanning, the youngest son of Andrew B. Peters and his third wife, born September 5, 1822, mar- ried Mary Ann Slack, of Wilmington, Mass., has had a son and a daughter, and resides in Charlestown, near Boston.
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph H. Peters, and their daughters, Mrs. Leavitt and Mrs. Ciement, were all members of the Congregational church in Bradford.
B. I. Balduin
.
American Bank Note Co. Boston.
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CHAPTER VII.
The Baldwin Family, with Their Connections, The Pecketts, Chases and Stricklands.
Benjamin Baldwin, Esq., and his wife, Lydia Peters, were natives of Hebron, Conn. She was a daughter of John Peters, Jr., of that place, and a sister of General Absalom and Colonel John Peters, men of distinction in the genalogy of the Peters family. Mr. Baldwin and wife, not long after their marriage, emigrated from their native town in Connecticut, to this Coos country, then just beginning to be settled. They at first took up their abode in Thetford, Vt. Among the first settlers there, were John Chamberlin, Benjamin Baldwin, and Joseph Hosford. The wives of Baldwin and Hosford were sis- ters. They were there as early as 1765, if not a year
sooner. They all came from Hebron, above mentioned. The Baldwins remained in Thetford not more than two or three years, when they removed to Orford, N. H. Their third child, Benjamin P., was born there, April 23, 1767. John Mann, Jr., his relative, is said to be the first English child born in that town, May 21, 1766, and probably Ben- jamin P. Baldwin was the second, as he was born but a few months later. In the year 1774 Benjamin Baldwin built a saw-mill in this, then Mooretown, Vt., on the falls in Wait's River, a half a mile or so above its confluence with the Connecticut. His wife's brother, Colonel John Peters, a year or two before, had erected a grist-mill on the same stream, a short distance below. The desirable site which Baldwin had selected for his saw-mill was for many subsequent years occupied in the same way. A grist-mill, a sash and blind factory, and a shop for the
NOTE .- The likeness in front of this chapter is that of Benjamin F. Baldwin, Esq., (son of Benjamin Baldwin, the immigrant), and is from the same engrav- ing as were the likenesses of him which appeared on bills issued by Bradford Bank, years since.
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manufacture of mackerel kits, etc., have superseded the old saw-mill, and are full of business, at this writing, in the same locality. The white two-story house on the Western bank of Wait's River, about a half a mile above the falls, and still in good condition, was built by . Mr. Baldwin, and there he lived for many years, and finally died. In addition to lumber business, he owned and cul- tivated a good farm, and was a good deal occupied in pub- lic affairs. We have not the precise date of his settle- ment here, but it must have been about the time of his building his saw-mill, in 1774. In the year 1778 he rep- resented this town in the convention at Windsor " to take measures for the organization of a new State." He also officiated, at least in 1782 and 1789, as Town Clerk. For how many years he performed the duties of a Justice of the Peace does not at present appear. Having raised up a large family, and long lived, comfortably and useful- ly, enjoying the respect and good will of all around him, he quietly passed away, at the age of eighty-five years. His funeral services were performed by the writer of this, on Lord's day, February 22, 1818.
Mrs. Lydia Peters Baldwin was a woman highly distin- guished for her cheerfulness, resolution, and energy. Besides bringing up a large family of her own, and man- aging her domestic affairs in an exemplary manner, she for many years was extensively, and with remarkable suc- cess, in the practice of midwifery. Her business was not confined to Bradford, but extended into the neighbor- ing towns, particularly of Corinth, Fairlee, Piermont, and Orford. When possible for her to go, whether by day or night, in sunshine or storm, she was ready. A great part of her traveling was on her own side-saddle; but much also on her pillion, behind the man on horseback who had come for her. How it was possible for a woman situated as she was, to perform such an amount of service in this
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department of the medical profession, seems strange in- deed.
From an old memorandum of hers, still extant, the fol- lowing summary has been gathered. In the course of fifty years and six months subsequent to August 18, 1768, when she must have been living in Orford, this remarka- ble woman assisted in the introduction of nine hundred and twenty-six children into this state of probation ! Of this whole number four hundred and eighty were sons, and four hundred and forty-six were daughters. Of twins there were ten pairs, or nearly one pair in every one hun- dred of children born. Five of these pairs consisted- each of two daughters, one pair of sons, and four pairs of a son and daughter each. Of the nine hundred and twen- ty-six children, twenty-six were still-born ; fifteen of these, including one pair of the twins, were females, and eleven were males, that is, less than three in every hundred. And of the whole number born, only seven were illegiti- mate ; namely, five sons and two daughters. In all these cases of birth only one mother died in child-bed. In that case her infant, female, died with her. Previous to 1773 Mrs. Baldwin had officiated only on eight such occasions, and her last case was January 26, 1819. She died about seven years later, September 3, 1825, at her old home, in the family of her son, Benjamin P. Baldwin, Esq., at the age of eighty-five years. She was, in the days which tried men's souls, decidedly patriotic, and so continued. She was, during its existence, a member of the Congre- gational church in this place, under the pastoral care of Rev. Gardner Kellogg, and is understood to have retained her hope in Christ to the last. A woman who accom- plished a work so great and good, deserves to be held in honorable and lasting remembrance.
Benjamin Baldwin, Esq., and wife, were blessed with a family of four daughters and five sons, all of whom, with
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the exception of one of the sons, lived to marry, and have families of their own.
1. Lydia, born November 26, 1762, married Andrew Crook, of Piermont, N. H. He was for many years a Deacon of the Congregational church there, and was justly esteemed one of the excellent of the earth. They had a family of three sons and four daughters. Lydia married Joseph Root; Betsey, Daniel Hogan ; Cynthia, James Robinson, all of Piermont. John married Anna Dutton, of Orford, and had one son, Andrew, and one daughter, Sarah Anna, wife of George Jenkins, of Brad- ford. These all had children. Sarah Crook and her brothers, Andrew and Isaac, died unmarried. Of the above named children of Deacon Crook and wife, Mrs. Robenson, at this writing, is the only individual remain- ing.
2. Elizabeth, born November 20, 1764, married John® Moore, Esq., of Bradford. He built, and with his family long occupied, the large yellow house, still standing on a lofty eminence beside the South road, some two miles West of the village. The original occupants of that house are now all gone, some to their long home, and the rest, with their families, scattered widely abroad through our country. Not one of the descendants is now left in Bradford. Esquire Moore and wife were worthy mem- bers of the Congregational church in Bradford, and peace- fully departed to their final rest in good old age.
They left four sons and four daughters. John, the old- est son, married Mary Dyke, a good woman, whose intel- lectual powers, after many years, failed, and she died at the asylum for the insane, at Brattleboro. Mr. Moore was an honest farmer in Bradford, and a humble christian, whose end was peace. He died March 16, 1873, in the the eighty-fourth year of his age. He never had son or daughter. His sister Betsey married Timothy Under- wood, of Bradford, and removed to Hardwick ; Polly mar-
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ried Nathaniel Waugh, of Bradford ; Anna married Jo- siah Moore, of West Fairlee, and removed with him into the Western country ; Lydia married Jonathan Austin, of Bradford, and went with him to Michigan; Roswell married, and died at Ann Arbor, Michigan; Benjamin married Mary, a daughter of Dr. Bliss, of Vershire ; he was a fine singer, and devoted christian, and died of chol- era at Maumee, Ind. William spent some time as a sailor, returned home, married a Miss Wells, of Newbury, and removed West. The several members of this family are understood to have had children of their own, of whom no particular account can here be given. Most of the parents, if not all, were esteemed good christian people.
3. Benjamin P. Baldwin. Of him and his family, a separate account hereafter.
4. Theopolis, born August 25, 1769, married Hannah Mann, a sister of John Mann, Esq., of Orford, N. H. They lived for several years in Bradford, and thence moved to the township of Holland, Erie county, New York, where they died. They had at least four children, John, Han- nah, Harriet, and William.
5. Cynthia, born May 9, 1772. Died young.
6. Lucy, born at Bradford, February 9, 1775, married William Kendall, of this town. They had one son, Lang- don, who became a resident of Barnet, Vt. At this date still living.
7. Absalom, born March 10, 1778, married Miss Lydia Bliss, of this place, and long resided on his farm in what is now called West Bradford, keeping entertainment for travelers. Mr. Baldwin died April 10, 1850, aged seven- ty-two years and one month. Mrs. Baldwin, his wife, died February 4, 1860, in the seventy-seventh year of her age. These parents had four sons and four daugh- ters. One of the sons died in childhood. Absalom, Jr., born October 2, 1808, died June 1, 1842. Lydia, born August 4, 1804, married William Clifford, had one or more .
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children, and died November 17, 1840. William, born July 25, 1807, married Judith Burgin, had one son, went to California, where he remained for several years, and then resumed his residence in Bradford, where he died suddenly, September, 1874. Hannah, born April 11, 1815, married John Shumway, of Bradford. George, the youngest member of this family, born November 24, 1817, occupied the old homestead of his father, attending not merely to agricultural pursuits, but being somewhat extensively engaged for many years in the business of a drover, buying sheep and cattle in Vermont, and selling the same in the vicinity of Boston. He married Miss Han- nah Merrill, of the same neighborhood with himself. She was born there February 13, 1822, and their marriage took place December 25, 1840. They were blessed with two sons and two daughters. Abbie W. Baldwin was born May 24, 1844; Jesse A., June 24, 1847; George W., born June 25, 1852 ; Ida H., born January 25, 1855. All still residents of Bradford; Miss Ida pursuing a course of ed- ucation at the Abbott Academy for young ladies, at An- dover, Mass ..
8. William, the fourth son of Benjamin Baldwin, Esq., and wife, was born September 23, 1782. He had a liking for the sea, and for some years pursued the business of a sailor ; but finally settled down in his native place. He married Miss Hannah Webster, of Massachusetts, by whom he had one son, Emery, and a daughter, Lydia, who mar- ried Washington Merrill, of Methuen, in that state, and died there. Mr. Baldwin, as life was declining, became melancholy, partially insane, and terminated his mortal existence by an act of suicide.
And this suggests the remark that there have been, within the recollection of the writer, eight instances of that lamentable crime in Bradford-six men and two women. Of the men, one drowned himself in a small brook, three hanged themselves, one shot himself, and one took
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