USA > Vermont > Windsor County > Norwich > A history of Norwich, Vermont > Part 14
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Accept then, Sir, in the sincere spirit in which it is offered, this simple tribute to your exalted virtues.
Again, Sir, not only the citizens of Norwich, but the thousands of "Green Mountain Boys " now around us, the descendants of those who fought at Benning- ton and Saratoga, with this throng of the hardy yeomanry of New Hampshire, sons of those noble sires who, under the immortal Stark, vanquished the legions of Britain on the hills of Willoomscoik, join in bidding you welcome, a thrice hearty welcome, among us.
President U. S. Grant and President R. B. Hayes each passed through the town during their respective terms of office, the former, August 27, 1869, the latter in 1877, on the 20th of the same month. On each occasion the cars were detained a few moments at the railroad station, to give the people an opportunity to see and be introduced to these high officials and honored citizens of the republic.
The route of General Lafayette in his rapid passage through Ver- mont in 1825 did not enter Norwich, but proceeded up White River from Windsor and Woodstock to Royalton, and from thence to Mont- pelier and Burlington. Much attention and honor were everywhere paid to the illustrious Frenchman, and there was a general turnout of the people, and especially of the old Revolutionary veterans, to greet this early friend of American liberty. Among other benefactions con- ferred by Lafayette upon his former companions in arms during his visit to the United States was the liberation of General William Burton from imprisonment in the jail of Caledonia County, by the payment of a debt of considerable amount, on account of which he had suffered confinement for a period of fourteen years .*
Earlier in time than either of the visits above mentioned, in one of the first years of the century, another illustrious foreigner passed
*It is not generally remembered that an expedition for the invasion of Canada was planned by the Continental Congress in the early spring of 1778, the command of which was given to Lafayette, then freshly arrived in this country from France. The raising of troops was begun in the upper valley of the Connecticut (including Norwich) to participate in the expedition, and Lafayette came on to Albany, and to Bennington, probably, to superintend the organization of forces for the contemplated invasion. But the campaign was suddenly abandoned, for military reasons, before preparations were complete for action.
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through Vermont while making the tour of the United States and Canada. This was none other than Thomas Moore, the poet, justly famous for his "Irish Melodies," wherever the English language is spoken, and for the tender sweetness of his lyric verse. What portions of the state he visited is not now with certainty known, nor how long he tarried therein, but that he was charmed by the picturesque beauty of the natural scenery, and by the Arcadian peace and happiness of our people, is attested by an exquisite little ballad composed while he was traveling through the state. Happy the people whose outward life was thus portrayed ! We have room only for the first stanza :-
" I knew by the smoke that so gracefully curled Above the green elms, that a cottage was near,
And I thought, ' If there's peace to be found in the world, A heart that is humble might hope for it here.'"
PART II BIOGRAPHICAL
Part II contains brief biographical sketches of such early families of Norwich as the authors of this volume were able to obtain.
BAXTER FAMILY
The Baxters of this town came here from Norwich, Connecticut, a town which their ancestors with others from Norwich, England, as- sisted in founding about the year 1632.
Elihu Baxter, with his young wife, Tryphena Taylor, to whom he was married October 24, 1777, arrived in Norwich the same year, and here fifteen children (six daughters and nine sons) were born to them, twelve of whom lived to grow up and have families of their own. Mr. Baxter settled on the farm that subsequently became the home of Hon. Paul Brigham. He later removed to the farm where Orson Sargent lives, and there built himself a frame house, a part of which is now in use by the present owner of the property.
Of his children, William, the eldest, born August 3, 1778, studied law with Hon. Daniel A. Buck of Norwich, and removed to Bennington, Vt., where he soon became the leading lawyer in that part of the state, and received many honors from his town and county. He married Lydia Ashley of Norwich, August 17, 1779, and died at Bennington October 1, 1826, aged forty nine years.
Hiram settled in Bennington a little after 1800.
Elihu, Jr., the third child, born in 1781, died at Portland, Me., in 1863, where he had been in the practice of medicine for many years.
Chester, born in 1785, died at Sharon, Vt., in 1863. He married Hannah Root and they had one daughter who married Deane.
James, the sixth son, born in 1788, established himself at Stanstead, L. C., in 1817, where he became very prominent in public affairs ; was a member of the Provincial Parliament in 1829-first member from Stanstead County-and held other offices of honor.
Erastus, born in 1787, married Lucy Freeman, and of their nine children eight were born in Norwich. He removed late in life to the state of New York and died at Gorham, that state.
Ira, the second son and child, married Arsena Sprague of Hartford, Vt., in 1802, and to them were born nine children, of whom Laura, the
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eldest daughter, born in 1803, married Henry S. Burton. She died in 1862, followed by her husband in 1883, in the ninety-first year of his age. Marshall D., born in 1813, died at Lyme, N. H., 1876, to which place he removed after having passed many years of his life in his native town. He married Esther, a daughter of Rev. Samuel God- dard of Norwich, Nov. 1, 1838. Arabella, the second daughter, born in 1807, married Samuel Little in 1825. She died in 1849, and Mr. Little in 1870 (both in Norwich), the latter aged seventy years. Harriet, born in 1823, was their youngest child. She died in Norwich, August 25, 1854, the wife of Lewis S. Partridge, to whom she was married June 16, 1846. Ira Baxter settled on the farm where his son-in-law Burton lived at a later date (now owned by Messenger and Hazen) and there built his tannery, already mentioned.
THE BLAISDELL FAMILY
Michael Blaisdell, the progenitor of the family in Norwich, came from Plainfield, N. H., in the year 1813, and settled on the farm where Henry S. Goddard now lives. His sons were Jonathan, Levi, Stephen, and Thomas.
Of these Levi and Stephen spent their lives in town and reared large families.
BOARDMAN FAMILY
Samuel Borman emigrated from Devonshire or Somersetshire, Eng- land, in 1639, and settled in Wethersfield, Conn., in 1641, where he died in 1673. His name is identified with many official positions in the early history of the Colony.
The following is a copy of an original letter to Samuel Borman from his mother, carefully preserved by Wm. Boardman of Wethersfield, Conn., one of her seventh generation :
"OBRYDON, the 5th of February, 1641.
"Good Sonne-I have receaved your letter; whereby I understand you are in good health, for which I give God thanks, as we are all-
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Praised be God for the same. Whereas you desire to see your brother Christopher with you, he is not ready for so great a journey, nor doe I think he dare take uppon him so dangerous voige. Your five sisters are all alive and in good health and remember their love to you. Your father hath been dead almost this two years-and this troubling you no farther at this time I rest praying to God to bless you and your wife unto whom we all kindly remember our loves.
"Your ever loving mother, "JULIAN BORMAN."
The names "Borman" and "Boreman" appear on the Wethersfield records until 1712; afterwards it appears as "Bordman," and later on as "Boardman."
Capt. Nathaniel Boardman, great-grandson of Samuel Borman who settled in Wethersfield, Conn., in 1641, was born there in 1734; was captain of a militia company during the French and Indian war ; in 1758 married Esther Carver, a lineal descendant of Governor Car- ver of Plymouth Colony; in 1775 removed from Bolton, Conn., to Norwich, Vt., with his wife and eight children, the eldest fifteen and the youngest one year old, the entire journey being made on horseback. Captain Boardman died at Norwich in 1814, aged eighty-one years. His wife, Esther, died in 1833, aged ninety-seven years.
Doctor Nathaniel Boardman, eldest son of Captain Boardman, was born in Connecticut, 1759 ; came to Norwich in 1775; married Philomela Huntington, whose father was cousin to Samuel Huntington, first President of Congress; died 1842, aged eighty-four years. His eldest son, Rev. Elderkin J., graduated at Dartmouth about 1815, also at Andover; Congregational minister for many years in Vermont; re- moved to Iowa in 1858, where his son, Hon. Henry E. J. Boardman, a prominent and wealthy citizen, now resides. Another son of Doctor Boardman's, who died in Norwich in 1867, was the last in the line of five "Nathaniels," father and son, extending back to Hon. Samuel Borman.
Halsey J. Boardman, son of the fifth Nathaniel, was born in Norwich in 1834; graduated at Dartmouth College in 1858; removed to Boston in 1859; commissioner of Board of Enrolment for the fourth Massa- chusetts district during the War of the Rebellion; member of the Bos-
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ton Common Council in 1873, '74 and '75, and president of that body in 1875; Republican candidate for mayor in 1876, being defeated by a vote of 14,000 to 12,000 by the citizens' candidate; was elected a member of the Massachusetts Legislature for 1883, '84 and '85.
EBENEZER BROWN
His parents, birth, and birthplace are not known. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1778. He studied for the ministry and preached for a time in Bethel, Vt., but was never ordained. He soon settled in Norwich as a farmer on a farm on Christian St., lately occu- pied by Roswell Tenney, where he died May 10, 1830, aged 80 years. He was familiarly known in Norwich as "Deacon Brown." He mar- ried Patience, daughter of Samuel Bell of Norwich.
Ebenezer Brown, son of Shubael and Edith (Bradford) Brown, came to Norwich at an early age from Canterbury, Conn. He grad- uated from Dartmouth College, 1787; studied law with Hon. Daniel Buck, and opened the first law office on Norwich Plain, and there practiced his profession till his death, September 25, 1822. He was assistant judge of Windsor County Court in 1814 and chief judge of the court in 1815. He married (1) Anna, daughter of Hon. Thomas Murdock, January 13, 1793, and (2) Mary, daughter of Rev. Josiah Dana of Barre, Mass., January 12, 1814. He was brother of John Brown, many years first constable of Norwich and otherwise prom- inent in town affairs.
Mr. Brown's first wife was mother of the late Miss Julia Brown, and his second wife mother of the late Mrs. Mary Godfrey, both of Norwich.
JACOB BURTON
It is quite impossible to indulge in even a brief review of Mr. Bur- ton's advent into Norwich from Preston, Conn., without repeating something of what is said of him in other places in this volume,
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Mr. Burton came to Norwich, to reside, in the latter part of 1765, bringing with him his sons, Elisha, John, Josiah, Isaac, and Asa, and his eldest daughter, Anna, who, soon after, married Simeon Carpenter. For some time she was the only young lady in town.
Before locating in town, Mr. Burton had purchased two one hun- dred acre lots of land, which embraced the greater part of the present Norwich village, and built his dwelling-house (the first one erected in town) on the southern and eastern part of his purchase, and tradition has it that it was built directly over a large pine stump, which pro- truded through the floor, and its top having been smoothed off and recesses made in its sides for cupboards, it was used as the family table.
Elisha, one of the sons, built the house where Samuel A. Armstrong resides, and John, another son, built the house now the home of Thos. A. Hazen.
Mr. Burton's political record is given under its appropriate head in another part of the book.
Of Mr. Burton it may be said that he was literally and truly one of the fathers of the town.
REVEREND DOCTOR ASA BURTON
Was born at Stonington, Conn., August 25, 1752, and was the sixth of the thirteen children of Jacob Burton. His parents removed to Preston, Conn., when he was about one year old. Here his childhood was mostly spent under the ministry of Reverend Doctor Levi Hart. In his fourteenth year his father removed to Norwich. From that time till he was twenty years of age, his work was "to fell trees, cut them into logs, and then by hand roll them with levers into heaps to burn them, and help carry logs to make into log fences, as they had no oxen for two or three years."
By these severe labors his health was much impaired, and he re- solved, if possible, to get an education. This his father opposed but his mother favored.
Two months after he was twenty years of age, he began the study
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of Latin and on his twenty-first birthday he was admitted to Dart- mouth College.
The same autumn (1772) a malignant fever entered his father's family and his mother, a brother, and two sisters died within a few weeks. His father was so much embarrassed by the expenses of this sickness and the death of his son, whose assistance he had greatly de- pended on, that he thought it necesary to remove Asa from college, and visited the president of the college for the purpose of procuring his dismission. After a long interview the president persuaded the father to allow him to continue his studies, which the son was only too happy to do.
He was a hard student in College. He says of himself: "I pursued my studies with greediness through a college course. I was always in- clined to go, as we say, to the bottom of everything. Though I knew not what was meant by first principles in a science, yet I now see that it was my desire to trace everything back to first principles."
At college he excelled in mental and moral philosophy, and especially in English composition.
After graduation he spent a few months in the study of theology with Doctor Hart of Preston, Conn., and preached occasionally in various towns in Vermont and Connecticut until January, 1779, when he was settled over the church in Thetford, Vt., where he spent the remainder of his life.
His success here was marked in building up from what he regarded as very unpromising material, a large and flourishing church. At the time of his ordination the church numbered only sixteen members, and when he preached his half century sermon in 1859, four hundred and ninety members had been added and three hundred and twenty were still members.
His "Essays," published in 1824, had a slow sale and their publi- cation proved a pecuniary loss to him.
He began taking students in divinity into his family in 1796, and continued doing so until 1816. During this period he had constantly from two to four students under his charge. About sixty young men were prepared for the ministry under his instruction, many of whom became able and successful ministers.
Doctor Burton was no bookworm, but a man of original and inde-
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pendent thought. His library was of modest dimensions. He did not seek to cram the minds of his students with theologie lore, but rather teach them to think and reason for themselves.
The first sermon preached by Doctor Burton was at Norwich, on the subject, "Justification by Faith."
He died at Thetford, Vt., May 1, 1836.
HONORABLE DANIEL BUCK
Daniel Buck came to Norwich in 1784 or '85, and opened the first lawyer's office in town-on the hill near the old center meeting house, then just being completed-and there continued to live and transact business for twenty-five years, or until he removed to Chelsea in 1809. Norwich then contained probably about one thousand inhabitants, but no village, there being at that time not over three or four dwellings where Norwich village now stands.
But little is known of Mr. Buck previous to his coming to Norwich. He was born at Hebron, Conn., November 9, 1753, and was the second son and child of Thomas and Jane Buck of that town. He had been a soldier in the Revolution, and had lost an arm at the battle of Ben- nington. He had also lived some time in Thetford, which was settled largely by people from Hebron, and perhaps also in Hanover, N. H. He acted as secretary to the council in June, 1785, when the Vermont legislature assembled at Norwich, having been assistant secretary of the same body during their session at Rutland the preceding October. He seems to have been a householder at Norwich at this time, as by a resolution of the council on June 17, the treasurer of the State was directed "to pay Daniel Buck twenty shillings hard money for the use of his house, etc."
For several years the young attorney does not appear to have made much headway in his profession, the townspeople sharing in the ancient dislike to lawyers so prevalent in the early days of New Eng- land. The town records show that he was willing to make himself useful at this period by accepting such offices as highway surveyor and key keeper of the town pound. But he grew steadily in the con- fidence of his townsmen, and was soon in possession of a lucrative
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practice. His first important public service was to represent the town in the convention that met at Bennington in January, 1791, to adopt the constitution of the United States preliminary to the admission of Vermont into the Federal Union. Here Mr. Buck appears as the champion and principal spokesman of that portion of the convention- a decided minority-who believed it to be inexpedient, for the present at least, for Vermont to enter into a union with the original thirteen states. The arguments of this party appear, at this distance of time, rather puerile and provincial, it must be confessed, though their ob- jections to union from the size of the country and diversity of interests were not without some weight. Mr. Buck, however, with most of the other objectors, finally voted in favor of immediate union, which was carried in the convention after several days' discussion, by nearly a unanimous vote .*
In 1793 and '94, the town sent Mr. Buck to the legislature, and he was each year chosen speaker of the house. In 1794, he was elected to represent the eastern district of Vermont in the fourth Congress of the United States, which assembled at Philadelphia December 7, 1795. In this position he succeeded Nathaniel Niles of Fairlee, who had held the place two terms, or since the admission of the State into the Union. Mr. Buck served but one term in Congress, being himself succeeded by Lewis R. Morris of Springfield, (1797-1803). At the September election in 1796, there seems to have been no choice for representative to Congress. Mr. Buck was candidate for re-election at this time, and received every vote but one (sixty-four out of sixty-five votes) cast in Norwich. He probably received a minority of votes in the district, as at a second election held May 22, 1797. he does not appear as a candidate, Lewis R. Morris receiving twenty-two votes in Norwich to twenty for Scott Hall and sixteen scattering. Mr. Buck was again elected to the legislature in 1806 and '07, and is said to have rendered valuable services to the town on these occasions
*It is a noteworthy fact that the opposition to Vermont joining the Union in 1791- so far as appears in the proceedings of the convention itself - was entirely confined to this section of the state. The four delegates (out of a total of 109) who on the final vote with - held their assent to the measure, were all from Windsor county, being Messrs. Moses Warner of Andover, Daniel Heald of Chester, Benjamin Perkins of Bridgewater, and Enoch Emerson of Rochester. See Governor and Council Vol. III, pp. 467-482, for a brief report of the proceedings and debates of the Convention,
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in securing certain changes in the location of the turnpike road then recently laid from Hanover bridge through Norwich to Chelsea court house. In 1809 Mr. Buck was again a candidate for the legislature, but was defeated by Pierce Burton (Burton ninety-six, Buck seventy- three, scattering thirteen). Other offices held by him during his resi- dence in Norwich were, member of the Council of Censors, 1792; At- torney General of the State, 1794; State's Attorney of Windsor County, 1802 and 1803,-Dartmouth College gave him the honorary degree of A. M. in 1799.
Mr. Buck took high rank as a lawyer, and as an advocate was often pitted against the best legal talent of his time in the Vermont courts. He acted as counsel for Ira Allen in 1792, in an investigation ordered by the legislature into his accounts and official conduct as treasurer and surveyor general of the State. John A. Graham, in his "De- seriptive Sketch of Vermont," published in 1797, speaks of him as possessing legal abilities of a high order. During his residence in Norwich the following well-known gentlemen, among others, were law students in his office: Ebenezar Brown, Aaron Loveland, William Baxter of Brownington, and Hon. William A. Palmer of Danville. The present aspect and suroundings of the place where these young men imbibed the first principles of the law, would now be thought fully as extraordinary for the location of a law school, as Rev. Dr. Asa Burton's old parsonage in Thetford would be as the site for a theological seminary.
The fourth Congress met at Philadelphia, December 7, 1795, and Mr. Buck made the journey to the capital on horseback from his Vermont home. The story is still current among the older people of the town, that on the day of his departure for that distant city- more distant in point of time and fatigue to the traveller than the trip to San Francisco is now-the inhabitants of Norwich in large numbers assembled and accompanied him on his way as far as the Hartford town line, where they wished their honored townsman a prosperous journey, and bade him farewell with manifestations of feeling not unlike those now attending the departure of friends on an extended journey in foreign lands. As to his services in Con- gress, but little can here be said. He seems to have participated considerably in the current debates, among the most exciting of which
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was that relating to Jay's treaty with Great Britain. Mr. Buck strongly favored the treaty. He spoke against a resolution of in- quiry calling on the president to furnish the house a copy of the in- structions to Mr. Jay, under which the treaty was negotiated, with correspondence and documents. He was opposed, it appears, to dis- cussing the constitutionality of the treaty or to the legislative de- partment assuming an attitude of hostility to the executive. He supported a bill providing for an increase of compensation to public officers and stated, incidentally, that he had diminished his income $1,000 a year while serving as a representative. In this connection he alluded to having "shed his blood" for his country and to his "mutilated frame."*
He favored direct taxation by Congress, voting for a tax on land and its improvements, and also for increasing the duties on foreign goods. His votes and speeches show him to have been a high Fed- eralist in politics.
Mr. Buck was at one time quite an extensive owner of landed prop- erty in town. The house built by him and used as a residence was taken down a few years since and was last occupied by Henry Goddard. The large orchard a short distance east of the house and adjoining the highway was planted by him, and is still familiarly known as the "Buck orchard."
In his later years he seems to have become embarrassed in his pe- cuniary circumstances, and he finally died poor. A fatal habit of intemperance hastened his downfall and probably brought him to a premature grave. The occasion of his removal to Chelsea in 1809 has been variously related. C. W. Clark, Esq., the historian of that town, says that Mr. Buck was committed to Chealsea jail for debt, and obtaining the freedom of the prison (jail limits) took up his residence there and remained until his death, practising his pro- fession for the most part until that event. Another informant gives a somewhat different account. He says that Mr. Buck sold
*As early as 1787, Mr. Buck had petitioned the legislature of Vermont for a pension of $5 per month, " in consequence of the loss of his arm in the battle near Bennington, August 16, 1777." In the year 1807, Mr. Buck was a petitioner to the Congress of the United States for an increase of pension, alleging that the pension he was receiving as an invalid was insufficient. He stated in his petition that he served in the Revolutionary army in 1775 and '76, and was wounded at Bennington in 1777.
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