USA > Vermont > Caledonia County > Peacham > Caledonia County grammar school, Peacham, Vt. Report of the commemorative exercises, August 11-12, 1897 100th Anniversary > Part 5
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It will be my task to-day to briefly trace the causes which led to the settlement of this town on this wilderness hill, giving it the name Peacham, a name never before or since given to any town; to recall to your minds the men and women who toiled so faithfully to carry forward a Christian civiliza- tion here; to give the circumstances leading to the found- ing of the Caledonia County Grammar School; to refresh your memories with some of the events of most general interest in connection with the school; to delineate the character of a few of those men who, as officers of the school, or teachers, or students, have taken a conspicuous part in it and the world's varied activities, and to rescue from oblivion the memories of a noble and heroic past, now rapidly fading out in the lapse of a century.
According to the old records ,the town of Peacham was originally granted by George III. of England, through Gov. Benning Wentworth of New Hampshire, to seventy-six grant- ees, natives of New Hampshire, Connecticut and Massachu- setts.
The language of the charter is, "ix miles square and no more." The town contained 23,040 acres. A gore between Peacham and Danville, in the shape of a rhomboid and called Dewesburg, was afterwards divided between the two towns and this increased the area to 25.695 acres.
The charter gives "His Excellency, Benning Wentworth, Esq., a tract of land to contain Five Hundred Acres as marked B. W. in the Plann, which is to be accounted two of the within shares, One whole Share for the Incorporated Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign parts, One whole 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 said Town Forever."
The charter expressly reserves all white and other pine trees fit for the "Masting Our Royal Navy."
The charter goes on to specify, "IIIdly, That before any Division of land Be made to and among the Grantees a Tract of Land as near the Centre of the Said Township as the land will admit Shall be reserved and Marked Out for town Lotts, one of which shall be alloted to Each Grantee of the Contents of one acre, fourthly Yielding and Paying therefor To us, our Heirs and Successors for the Space of Ten Years to be Com- puted from the Date Hereof the Rent of one Ear of Indian Corn only on the twenty-fifth Day of December annually if lawfully Demanded, the first Payment to be made on the twen- ty-fifth of December. A. D. 1764.
"V. Every Proprietor, Settler or Inhabitant shall Yield and Pay unto us, Our Heirs and Successors, yearly and Every year forever from and after the Expiration of ten years from the abovesaid twenty-fifth Day of December-which will be
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in the Year of our Lord, one Thousand, Seven Hundred and Seventy-four, one Shilling Proclamation money for Every Hundred acres he so owns, Settles or possesses."
The first town meeting of the grantees was held, by char- ter direction, in Hadley, Mass., Jan. 18, 1764. Owing to the Revolutionary War, the bitter controversy between New Hamp- shire and New York, the severity of Vermont winters, and the distance between Hadley and Peacham, greater than the entire length of Vermont, the settlement of the town was ex- ceedinly slow. For ten years it remained an unbroken wilder- ness. The proprietors occasionally held a meeting with Will- iam Chamberlain, one of the early settlers, as their clerk, and did some surveying.
The first meeting held in Peacham was Aug. 20, 1783, twenty years after the granting of the charter and only six months before the first regular town meeting of which we have any record.
The town was laid out in lots of one hundred acres each, in the form of a parallelogram. Portions of an old map and record left by Gen. William Chamberlain speak of the "square," but what or where the square was could not be ascertained. Fortunately Col. Jonathan Elkins, Jun., who came to Peacham when he was fourteen years old, with his father, Dea. Jonathan Elkins, kept a memorandum of those early years, and that document, now in possession of his son, Henry Elkins, Esq., of Chicago, throws much light upon all our early history.
According to this memorandum, Gen. Jacob Bailey, of Newbury, the most noted man in this part of the country at that time, in 1774 sent his son Joshua with several men to survey a tract in Peacham.
Starting with the western boundary of Barnet he surveyed a tract nearly west about three miles square. All within this boundary was said to be in "The Square," all without in "The Ranges."
The surveyors "pitched" them some lots, and, on their return to Newbury gave glowing accounts of the new Canaan. In September of this same year Deacon Jonathan Elkins, of Haverhill, N .H., with some others visited Peacham, and Elkins was so much pleased that he "pitched him a lot," and, return- ing to Haverhill, immediately sold his farm.
In May, 1775, Deacon Elkins and his son Jonathan, who kept the memorandum, with two hired men, came to Peacham. There was no road. They found their way by spotted trees. They were joined this same spring by John Skeele, Col. Frye Bailey, John Sanborn, Archy McLachlin, and some others. They cleared some land, but all returned in the fall.
In the spring of 1776 Deacon Elkins returned to Peacham, which was now his only home. In May, 1776, says the memo- randum, Gen. Bailey sent men to cut a military road through to Canada. By July the road was so far advanced that wagons could reach Peacham and Deacon Elkins brought his family here, and this was the first family that settled in town. Three
REV. T. GOODWILLIE
President, 1841-1845, 1852-1867.
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years later Colonel, afterwards Gen. Moses Hazen, was sent to finish the road, which gave it the name "Hazen road." That road, made expressly for military purposes, was of infinite importance in the settlement of this town. It took the general direction of this road through the village and was very crooked, going where it could be most easily and quickly made. Re- mains of it are plainly to be seen where it passed along a little to the left of the present highway below the village north- ward.
Col. Elkins has left a vivid picture of Gen. Hazen while building this road. He says: "Col. Hazen's troops were poorly clad, many of the soldiers had no shoes and they complained bitterly, and the flies were very bad. Hazen himself would strip off his shoes and stockings and go barelegged and bare- footed to encourage his men that complained. I saw him on his return to my father's with his legs all bloody as if he had wiped them in blood (and his hands and face the same), with the blood that had been taken by the flies from him. His soldiers would say that nothing would kill him."
In 1781, says Col. Elkins, Col. Johnson came to Peacham with a load of millstones, and, the boy adds, "a barrel of rum for my father." That night a band of Tories and Indians sur- rounded the house. That rum must be concealed. Human nature could not waste it. A hole was dug in the cellar of the little log house and the rum was buried; which was a miracle, because there is not another spot on this hill where one could dig a hole large enough to hide a barrel without striking a ledge or stone.
Our boy of the memorandum was taken prisoner, carried to Canada and later to England, and put in Mill Prison, Ply- mouth. In Canada he suffered everything but death itself. The British offered him his freedom if he would enlist and take an oath to be true to the king . The boy replied: "I shall not sign my name to any paper, neither shall I take an oath to be true to the king."
The prisoners' food was insufficient, and Benjamin Frank- lin, then Minister to France, gave the prisoners one shilling apiece per week with which to buy food. Elkins took his extra shilling and bought pens, ink, paper, and a slate, and, with others, hired those of the prisoners who were educated to teach them. He preserved a large part of his work in this odd school. Under the "Rule of Three direct," as he says, he gives this problem and makes the answer 2,000. "If 20 dogs for 30 groats go 40 weeks to grass, how many hounds, for 60 crowns, may winter in that place?" I give these incidents to show what it cost to settle Peacham and of what material the Caledonia County Grammar School was made.
History tells us that no white person was ever killed in Peacham by an Indian. The memorandum of Col. Elkins gives the reason. The Indians were numerous along the Hazen road. Gen. Bailey wrote to Washington for advice, at the same time suggesting that they be treated "with all kindness
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possible." Washington approved of this course and this Will- iam Penn policy kept the savages friendly.
In 1777 Harvey Elkins was born, the first white child. On the old records I find the proprietors voted to give Harvey fifty acres of good land. This vote seemed to produce the desired effect, for we soon read of the ushering in of the era of large families. The record, a true one because written by Father Worcester, shows many families ranging all the way from half a dozen to fourteen children.
Twenty years after the granting of the charter something of a boom set in for Peacham. Few, if any of the grantees, ever came here. The seventy named, all that the charter con- tained, are not familiar to this locality. They are such as Smith, Warner, Kellogg, Meacham, Hutchins, Burt, Cook, Montague and Penhallow. They were not so anxious to found a great town and a great city as to sell the land granted by George III. for a great price.
The men and women who came here to subdue the wilder- ness, to establish homes, to deveolp a robust manhood and womanhood, and to build, not for themselves alone, but for posterity and for time, bore such honored names as Bailey, Blanchard, Carter, Chamberlin, Chandler, Elkins, Foster, Guy, Johnson, Martin, McLachlin, Merrill, Miner, Skeele, Way, Worcester and the like.
The boom once on, we may suppose there was much rival- ry, generous or otherwise, for position. This hill on which we are now assembled seems to have been the center of activity. It appears strange to us to-day that this spot, so difficult of access, should have been chosen for the principal village of the town, when South Peacham, or East Peacham, or the location beyond Academy Hill, is so much better suited for a village. Probably these valleys were all full of water a cen- tury and a quarter ago, and the early settlers were forced upon the hills in order to find land suitable for raising crops. How- ever this may have been, Deacon Jonathan Elkins "pitched" on what has always been known as the Elkins place, just be- low the village; William Chamberlain, beyond Academy Hill on what is now known as the Ashbel Martin farm, and Abiel Blanchard selected the farm just out of the village, north, on the Hazen road.
Each wanted to be the center of the new city that he might become rich from the sale of his land. Gen. Chamber- lin saw that he had a fine location and felt sure that the new village would go beyond the hill toward him. Abiel, feel- ing his weakness of locality, with that shrewdness that always characterized his race, adopted this policy; he promised every artisan and tradesman who would locate on this side of the hill a lot of land upon which to erect a building.
In 1795 Peacham had reached the proportions of a thriv- ing community. In ten years its growth had been something marvelous. It was one of the most important towns of the
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State. At this time William Chamberlin, town clerk, re- ported the grand list of the town as returned by the listers to be 2,230.
The leaders now began to look around for something that would tend to enhance the glory of the town and bring sub- stantial advantage. In a warning dated Sept. 2, 1795, for a town meeting to be held on the 15th of the same month, I find this article: "2d to see if the town will Authorize Wm. Chamberlin, Esq., to engage in behalf of the Town to build a Court House or County Grammar School House or any other Publick Building upon the Expense of the Town with what will be subscribed, if any of the above privileges are granted by the Legislature."
At the town meeting subsequently held it was "II. Voted That in case a grant of the County Grammar School can be obtained by Act of Assembly and Established in the town of Peacham, That the Town will Support a Preceptor for the term of three years from the first day of January, A. D. 1797, Provided the Persons who live in the vicinity of the place where the Building will probably be built will Subscribe a Sum Sufficient for Erecting the Buildings that shall be required by the Trustees and that the Town Clerk be Directed to re- ceive subscriptions to the amount of three Hundred Pounds." "3d. Voted That Jonathan Ware, Wm. Chamberlin and Wm. Buckminster be a Committee to Draft a memorial to be pre- sented to the Legislature for the Purpose of Obtaining a grant of the County Grammar School."
At an adjourned meeting, the town voted "That the right granted by the charter of the Town to the Incorporated so- ciety for the propagation of the gospel in Foreign parts be relinquished and given up to the County Grammar School, pro- vided the same be established in this Town."
At this time both the records and tradition show that the people of Peacham were divided upon the question of whether they would have the court house or the academy. Those who were looking at the money side only ardently desired the court house, while those who were looking forward to the mental and moral development of the youth, were anxious for the school. Among the latetr was Gen. Chamberlin. Denied the early advantages of a thorough education he fully realized its lack in the many prominent positions which he was called upon by his fellow citizens to fill.
The memorandum tells us plainly what the position of Col. Elkins must have been on such a question. I think it is within the bounds of truth to say that the influence of these two men, Revolutionary soldiers, decided the question im- mensely to the advantage of Peacham. As the town's repre- sentative, Gen. Chamberlin took the memorial to the Legis- lature, and on the last day of the session, Oct. 27, 1795, the charter was granted.
The records show plainly that the early settlers were a God-fearing people and, among their very first public acts,
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we find votes appropriating money for the support of preach- ing. The Congregational Church had been organized in 1794, and the town was carrying on an exceedingly brisk contro- versy concerning the proper location for a church edifice.
The academy question held the church controversy at bay for a time, and, finally, the people agreed to concentrate all their energies, for the time being, upon the school and use the building for church purposes for a few years.
The memorial from the town to the Legislature made the charter a contract between the town and the State; a contract religiously kept by the town, and this shrewd piece of states- manship on the part of Gen. Chamberlin and others is the leal cause why Peacham has held her school lands intact, while all, or nearly all, the other schools have lost theirs.
The memorial promised that the inhabitants would build the house, furnish the land, and support the Preceptor for a period of three years. Later, when other schools tried to get a part of the school lands, the Trustees pleaded the contract entered into with the State, and the Supreme Court, Judge Collamer on the bench, said: "Peacham has kept her part of the contract and shall keep the lands."
The people of this generation little appreciate the debt of gratitude they owe the fathers for their generosity and wisdom in securing the charter of the Caledonia County Gram- mar School.
In the strife between the two sides of the hill for advantage and public buildings, the contestants were obliged to resort to that miserable makeshift, a compromise, and so the Acade- my was located on the hill between the two parties. The situ- ation could hardly have been worse. It was cold and bleak a large part of the school year, and most of the scholars board- ing in the village were forced to plow through the snow until the lapse of half a century softened the asperities of men and brought a change of location.
It seems that, at the time of the first building, the land of John Walker, Abiel Blanchard and Jonathan Elkins, Jr., cornered on the hill. These public-spirited citizens came for- ward with generous offers. Walker gave one acre of land, Blanchard one acre and Elkins two acres.
The Soldiers' Monument now stands on the site of the old Academy, as it is called, and nearly all above that toward the north and west, was covered with dense wood. Abiel Blanchard gave the wood and timber on a large part of this land for the use of the Academy, and this gave the name "Academy Woods" to that eminence upon which the observa- tory has so recently been built.
The town had appointed a committee consisting of J. W. Chandler, William Chamberlin, Reuben Blanchard, Jona- than Ware, Abiel Blanchard, Jonathan Elkins, Jr., Abel Blanchard and Jacob Guy, to co-operate with the Trustees in selecting a site. William Chamberlin and Jonathan Elkins
MISS L. P. BRADLEY 1849-1855
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were appointed to superintend the erection of the building, and Edward Clark was the architect.
This man deserves more than passing mention. Too young to enlist at the beginning of the Revolutionary War, he was a servant of one of the officers until he could enter the army. Later he enlisted and went through the entire war. He served under Gen. Hazen while building his military road. He was badly wounded at the surrender of Cornwallis. While he was remonstrating against being taken to the hospital, believing that to be certain death, the great Marquis de Lafayette came up, and, learning the situation, gave the young soldier a guinea, telling him to go to a private house and get well. This saved his life.
We may suppose that the pupils in the drawing classes often attempted to reproduce this building, but their efforts were all consigned to the waste basket and oblivion except the unpretentious drawing of a young girl, Miss Mary Merrill, a pupil of Miss Louisa Bradlee, a teacher for many years of drawing and painting. Somehow her humble picture has been preserved, and with the aid of certain measurements left on record and the recollection of some who saw, and were familiar with, the house, we have not been forced to draw upon the imagination alone for the excellent picture within the reach of all.
The laying of the corner-stone was a great event, and in those days nothing of importance could be done without a sermon. The services were held in the house of Mr. Moody Morse, who lived near the present residence of Mr. William Morse. Rev. David Goodwillie preached the sermon, taking for his text, II. Timothy 1: 5.
Mrs. Jesse Merrill, who was present on the occasion, said: "I wondered, as he read his text. what he could make out of it, but he went on and preached a real good sermon."
The building was thirty by forty feet, according to the vote of the Trustees. It was two stories high, the upper part be- ing used for the school-room and public hall; the lower story for church services. The first Board of Trustees, according to the charter, consisted of Alexander Harvey, James Whitelaw, James L. Arnold, David Goodwillie, Daniel Cahoon, Horace Beardsley, William Chamberlin, Benjamin Sias and Jacob Davis.
At the first meeting, held in less than a month from the granting of the charter, Alexander Harvey, of Barnet, was elected president, and William Chamberlain, secretary. The first treasurer was not elected until an annual meeting in 1797. The charter makes the Board self-perpetuating, gives it ab- solute power over the school and all its belongings and makes it amenable to no power under the sun, and the Board has always so understood it and acted accordingly.
But the members of the Board all down the century have been men of exceptionally high character and standing in their respective communities. If in their management of the school
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their acts show a conservatism bordering upon Puritanism, remember that Puritanism is better than un-Puritan looseness and license.
In all the century there have been but eleven presidents: Hon. Alexander Harvey, in 1795; Rev. David Goodwillie, 1799; Hon. William Chamberlin, 1813; Rev. Leonard Worcester, 1828; Hon. John W. Chandler, 1839; William Mattocks, Esq., 1840; Rev. Thomas Goodwillie, 1841; Dr. Josiah Shedd, 1845; Rev. Thomas Goodwillie again, 1852; Rev. James M. Beattie, 1867; Dr. Luther F. Parker, 1884; Hon. Cloud Harvey, 1892. The century which began with an honored son of Barnet ends with the first president's worthy grandson.
There have been but seven treasurers, the most important officer, in the century. Gen. James Whitelaw was chosen in 1797; Hon. John W. Chandler, 1806; Samuel A. Chandler, Esq., 1840; Rev. Asaph Boutelle, 1855; Hon. Ezra Carter Chamber- lin, 1856; John Varnum, Jr., Esq., 1870; Hon. George P. Blair, the present incumbent, 1889.
There have been but eight secretaries: Hon. William Chamberlain was chosen in 1795. For more than thirty years the Board met at his house. His record, though plain, shows the peculiarity of thought and spelling, and the quaint hand- writing of those early days. Rev. Leonard Worcester suc- ceeded him in 1812. I am glad he learned the printer's trade in his youth, for his copy is as plain as copper-plate, as though he had prepared it for the printer. Dr. Josiah Shedd was chosen in 1839. Rev. David Merrill, an honored son of the town and alumnus of this Academy, succeeded him. Although an eloquent man in the pulpit, a man without a peer in the parish, his handwriting shows that he never learned the print- er's trade. From 1861 to 1865 Rev. Asaph Boutelle was secre- tary. His handwriting was but a change of misery for one searching for the facts of history. In 1865 Dr. Mordecai Hale took the pen. Although a lawyer his record is plain, business- like and easily read. In 1870 John Varnum, Jr., commenced his contribution to the secretary's book. John surpassed all his predecessor's in the plainness and neatness of his chirography. In 1889 Hon. George P. Blair was chosen secretary and re- mains with us until this day. His business relations have been such in Caledonia County for the past quarter of a century that I need say nothing of his handwriting. One can easily tell what he generally wants-money.
I mention these only because their offices bring them prom- inently before us. There are others equally worthy of men- tion, but I have no time to speak of them, not even of the three generations of Bells from Walden placed on the Board be- cause of their excellent business capacity, men who, like good wine, grow better as the years roll by.
In 1838, Geo. Erastus Fairbanks was elected a trustee, but I find no record of his ever acting with the Board, probably because he was too busy inventing something that should make St. Johnsbury a "bigger" town than Peacham.
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But, although the Board have been most estimable men in all respects, their record shows that even they improved with the thought, culture and customs of the century; for at the annual meeting held in the year 1827, thirty years after the school was started, we notice this vote: "That in future meet- ings of this Board no ardent spirits be used." May we not con- jecture that at their meetings, during those thirty years, they always had a full Board?
But it is my painful duty to record that it was not until the year 1877, eighty years after the starting of the school, that the Board voted that their future meetings should be opened with prayer.
The exact date of opening the school I cannot ascertain, but it was some time during the latter part of the year 1797. Ezra Carter, Esq., a graduate of Dartmouth College, was the first Preceptor, at a salary of $333.33. All parties agree that no mistake was made in securing the first instructor. Mr. Carter was peculiarly suited to the times and the place. Strong physically, vigorous mentally, he aimed straight at his object and accomplished it.
All the people were familiar with Solomon's method of discipline, and liked it. Young America to-day, when forced to submit, speaks of being "turned down." In Carter's time the unruly boy was turned up. His methods of punishment were various. In cold weather it is said there was always a large pile of wood, sled length, in the yard from Abiel Blanchard's wood lot. Woe to that urchin who transgressed, even in slight degree. He was put to work on that woodpile and, although the Academy was situated on the coldest spot of the forty- fourth degree of north latitude, and heated by a fireplace, the house was always warm, with plenty of prepared wood on hand.
Master Carter died at the early age of thirty-eight, but he gave a grand impetus to the school, and in the right direction, and his character and worth grow brighter as the years roll away.
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