USA > Vermont > Early history of Vermont, Vol. II > Part 18
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The Committee appointed by Congress to bring about a settlement of the differences be- tween New York and the inhabitants of the New Hampshire Grants, submitted to Governor Chit- tenden a long list of questions, the answer to which might throw light upon the controversy. One question was, "Are you satisfied that the proclamation by Governor of New York would se- cure your property in the soil though the jurisdic- tion were allowed?" Governor Chittenden's an- swer was: "By no means, as it is only a shadow without any substance, and calculated to an- swer sinster purposes which is implied in his sec- ond proclamation, viz: that all such lands which have heretofore been granted by the government of New Hampshire or Massachusetts Bay and
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have not been since granted by the government of New York, the words, 'and have not since been granted by the government of New York,' wholly exclude the most valuable lands in this State; in- cluding that which is in actual possession, as the State of New York has since made grants of the same lands-and I presume to say it is not in the power of the Legislature of New York to confirm those lands, being previously granted to others. There are sundry other passages in the same proc- lamation equally insufficient and dissatisfactory."
Another question was: "If the property of your lands were perfectly secured to you would your people be willing to return under the jurisdic- tion of New York?" Answer: "We are in the full- est sense as unwilling to be under the jurisdiction of New York as we can conceive America would to revert back under the power of Great Britain." Another question was; "What was the occasion of Colonel Allen's proceeding by arms to take and confine sundry officers in Cumberland County, who professed to be subjects of the State of New York?" Answer: "Colonel Allen proceeded into Cumberland County under the direction of the civil authority of this State (Vermont) to assist the Sheriff in the execution of his office."
Governor Chittenden stated in his communica- tion to the Committee that he believed he was warranted in saying in behalf of the people of his State that they would be happy to submit the dif- ferences between the two States to the determina- tion of Congress if allowed equal privileges with New York in supporting their cause, reserving all
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rights, privileges, immunities and advantages which they had or might have by any former grants, jurisdictions, powers and privileges on ac- count of any province or state heretofore had, notwithstanding any subsequent transaction.
On July 23, 1779, a petition signed by Samuel Minott, Chairman of a Committee of ten towns from the County of Cumberland, was sent to Con- gress, setting forth that in some instances the government of New York had been oppressive to the inhabitants of New Hampshire Grants, but now they were willing to redress any wrongs as soon as pointed out. The petitioners stated that now they "are in the fullest sense as unwilling to be under the jurisdiction of Vermont, as we can conceive America would be to revert back under the power of Great Britain, and they should con- sider their lives and properties equal insecure." And asked Congress as speedily as possible to re- store peace to them.
On August 27, 1779, the New York Legislature instructed their delegates in Congress to "entreat once more the mediation of Congress" in the set- tlement of the controversy with Vermont, they having been informed that a quorum of the Com- mittee appointed by Congress had never met. They stated to their delegates, "that they were persuaded their successful efforts to expel a for- eign tyranny would avail them little while they remain subject to the domestic usurpation; that the pretended Legislature of Vermont has already confiscated and are now disposing of estates of persons who have joined the enemy and probably
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will soon proceed to grant the unappropriated lands-by these means they raise money for the support of their government and obtain a great and daily accession of strength, not only by an additional number of settlers, but every other pur- chaser will be interested to maintain an authority upon which their title depends. These proceed- ings also will increase the confusion, and render the restoration of peace at a future day more diffi- cult as they bear no share in the present burthens ; that that part of the country is become an asy- lum for all persons who wish to avoid military duty or the payment of taxes; and numbers are daily emigrating thither influenced by this mo- tive." They stated to their delegates that if they should be disappointed and Congress decline to in- terpose as they had proposed, they should direct Mr. Jay, to whom they had especially committed the business, to immediately withdraw.
Congress on September 24, 1779, discharged the Committee that had been appointed to in- quire into the reasons why the inhabitants of the Grants refuse to continue citizens of the respective States which had exercised jurisdiction of the dis- puted District, and Congress took the whole mat- ter under their consideration, and in substance stated, that whereas disputes were subsisting between New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, New York and the district called New Hamp- shire Grants: Resolved, that it is earnestly rec- ommended to the said three States to pass laws authorizing Congress to hear and determine all differences between them relative to their respec-
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tive boundaries and disputes which they may have with the people of said District relative to jurisdiction or disputes between grantees of lands lving in said District. Congress resolved unani- mously to proceed on February 1st, 1780, with the hearing relative to the jurisdiction and re- quested each party interested to prepare for a hearing. And resolved that it was their duty to let all matters in dispute remain in statue quo till the controversy was determined by Congress.
On September 21, 1779, Charles Phelps, who had been sent to Philadelphia to look after the in- terests of New York in the controversy with Ver- mont, addressed a long, effusive communication to the Legislature of New York stating how he had used his influence among the members of Con- gress to attach them to the cause of New York, and how he had opened the subject of their griev- ances to the members, and that they had told him that it was "high time Vermont was broke up." But he said "some of the delegates of Congress think more favorably of Vermont * and ** * would be heartily glad they were established a separate State." He said "I endeavor to induce them to believe the truth which is that if Con- gress don't immediately interpose there will be a great effusion of blood as soon as I get home."
In February 1780, Phelps addressed a long let- ter to Governor Clinton seeking his influence with the New York Legislature for the payment of his services and expenses in behalf of the State while at Philadelphia. He claimed his services were "in behalf of this patriotic State in a matter of so
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much importance to the justice, the sacred rights of jurisdiction, the emolument and lasting tran- quility of this whole State, against the lawless and treasonable pretended dominion of such con- tumacious, most violent, insulting, headstrong and ferocious people of Vermont, risen up in the woods among the mountains, snatching at the helm of government, wrenching the sacred and awful scepter thereof out of the hands of those who were lawfully commissioned to wield it, to the infinite prejudice of the people of the whole State, and in contempt of the authority of Con- gress and to the whole magistracy of this, and in its consequences to that of the whole in United States."
On June 12, 1780, Micah Townsend on behalf of some of the inhabitants of Cumberland County who had suffered by the disturbances then prevail- ing in the eastern district of New York made ap- plication to the New York Legislature for compen- sation for injuries and losses suffered by the State not protecting them,-the State Legislature hav- ing pledged its faith in February 177S, to protect its inhabitants in the Counties of Albany, Char- lotte, Cumberland and Gloucester in their persons and estates. Other parties made their petition to the Governor and the Legislature, from time to time, to get relief from their distressed condition and compensation for losses sustained, sacrifices made, and for suffering, tortures, banishments. imprisonments in loathsome gaols endured and for having been half starved and threatened with being put to ignominious deaths.
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Judge Robert Yates of Albany wrote to Gov- ernor Clinton February 24, 1782, that the Legis- lature of the pretended State of Vermont had re- linquished their jurisdiction over the Eastern and Western Unions, and that he had issued his mitti- mus against a number of those who had sup- ported Vermont in their usurpation, and had them in custody, three charged with holding mili- tary commissions under the pretended State of Vermont, seven for having by force of arms op- posed the government and authority of the State of New York, one for having accepted and exer- cised the office of Grand Juror under the pretended State of Vermont, and one for having accepted the office of Constable under the pretended State of Vermont.
In March 1782, many of the people then resid- ing in the West Union in the towns of Cambridge, Grandville and White Creek, who had given their allegiance to Vermont and had submitted, as they claimed, reluctantly to Vermont authority, now that the Union had been dissolved and the protec- tion of Vermont withdrawn from the inhabitants of that section, petitioned the Governor and the Legislature of New York to pardon them of their transgressions, and restore them to their former privileges.
As late as September 27, 1782, Governor Clin- ton wrote to the Convention held in Cumberland County, "that he had reason to believe that Con- gress will immediately interpose and exert their authority for their relief and protection."
On March 1, 1786, the Senate of New York
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took into consideration the petition of Timothy Church, Major William Shattuck and Major Henry Evans in behalf of themselves and other in- habitants of Cumberland County, and reported that the petitioners having been deprived in a great measure of the means of subsistence, and having become odious to the present government of the assumed State by reason of their supporting the laws of New York in said County, are unable to continue longer therein without the greatest in- convenience to themselves and families, and are desirous of removing immediately into the west- ern part of New York, providing they can procure vacant lands fit for cultivation; that they have a claim on the State for some compensation for their sufferings and losses.
The Senate then resolved that the Legislature during their then present meeting grant them "a quantity of vacant lands equal to a township eight miles square." The House concurred in the resolution. About 136 persons were allotted lands under said resolution in a township in the County of Chenango, N. Y. The differences be- tween New York and Vermont were afterwards settled, and the boundary between the States agreed upon and determined, the particulars of which settlements were fully stated in the former volume. The thirty thousand dollars that Ver. mont paid to extinguish the claim of New York to the land that fell into the jurisdiction of Vermont. and in settlement of the controversy was divided between seventy-six claimants and their represent. atives. Goldsrow Banyar received the large: sum, it being $7218.94 and William Giles thx smallest sum, it being $5.49.
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CHAPTER XVII.
THE SABBATH, ITS RELIGIOUS OBSERV- ANCE AND PRIVILEGES IN THE EARLY DAYS OF VERMONT.
The religious belief, the strict Sabbath obserr- ance and the manner of worship, as well as the intolerance of the early settlers of Vermont were of the Puritan type, and were to a large extent de- rived from the early Colonial people of New Eng- land. As a matter of fact the early settlers of Ver- mont were emigrants from Massachusetts, Con- necticut and Rhode Island, and they brought their manners, customs and religious sentiments with them. The Puritans of New England left the Old World for America to get rid of the religious perse- cutions to which they were subject, but when they got fairly established here, and had become prosperous and powerful, they also became intolerant.
A description of the early meeting-houses and their furnishings, the length of the service and the manner of conducting it, and keeping order, the authority the church assumed or actually had throughout early New England, would be an apt description of the service and church matters among the people in the early days of Vermont.
In each successive town settlement where there were sufficient numbers to support church service,
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the new community built a house for the public worship of God. It was called a meeting-house and not a church. In the Puritan's way of think- ing the church worshipped in the meeting-house and he was opposed to calling it a church, and op- posed to calling the Sabbath Sunday-but chose, rather, to call the day the Lord's Day. At an early day in Massachusetts it was enacted that a meeting-house should be erected in every town, and if the people failed to do it, the magistrates were empowered to build it at the expense of the town. The meeting-houses were built of logs and the chinks filled with clay. At an early day in Vermont, meetings in some places were held in barns. It was considered a great advance and a matter of proper pride when settlers had the house lathed and plastered.
The first meeting-house in Dedham was but 36 feet long, 20 feet wide and 12 feet high "in the stud." The next improved type was a square wooden building, unpainted, either inside or out, with a belfry. The first meeting-houses were built in the village, with dwelling houses clustered around them. In some parts of New England the Colonists were required by law to build their dwelling houses within one half mile of the meet- ing-house. But as the community grew, the houses became too closely crowded for the uses of a farming community ; their farms became too far from their dwellings, and wood and water had to be taken at too great a distance, and it became inconvenient. As the country grew older the Indi- ans were not so troublesome and there was not
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the necessity of remaining in a closely compact community as formerly, and the new-coming set- tlers built on outlying and remote land.
When the town had become quite generally set- tled and people had built upon the scattered farms, the meeting-houses, to accommodate the whole township, were located near the center of the population, and often on an elevated location for various reasons: viz., because the meeting- house was a watch-house from which to keep vig- ilant lookout for the approach of hostile or sneak- ing Indians; the house and its steeple were a land mark and a guide on earth, as it could be seen for miles around by travelers journeying through the woods; our New England ancestors loved a "sightly location" for their meeting-house.
Travelers through Vermont, at the present time, may observe some of those old meeting- houses, still standing, but deserted by both the congregation and minister, or the building has fallen and nothing can be seen but the foundation stones that mark the spot where religious services were once held. And near by the spot may be seen the neglected grave yard with its fallen head stones where tall grass, the blackberry bushes and the wild cherry tree flourish.
In an early day the church raising was a great event in town. Each citizen was forced by law to take part in or contribute for "raising the meeting- house." Not only logs, lumber, nails, use of horses and men's labor were contributed, but a barrel of rum was regarded as a necessary article in the raising of the meeting-house. In A. M.
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Earl's work on the New England Sabbath, she says, that when the Medford people built a meet- ing-house there were provided "for the workmen and bystanders five barrels of rum, one barrel of good brown sugar, a box of fine lemons and two loaves of sugar."
As late as the seventeenth century oiled paper was used instead of glass in the windows to ad- mit the light; curtains and window shades were in those days unknown. Sometimes the houses were gloomy ; a parson preaching in one of them on the text, "why do the wicked live?" said, as he peered at his manuscript in the dim light, "I hope they will live long enough to cut this great hem- lock tree back of the pulpit window." Notices of various kinds were posted on the meeting-house door as the most conspicuous place to attract the attention of people. A man who should bring a living wolf to the meeting-house was paid by the town 15 shillings, and if dead 10 shillings, and if he wished the reward he must bring the dead wolf's head and nail it to the meeting-house and give notice thereof. Prohibitions from selling guns and powder to the Indians, notice of town meetings, intention of marriage, copies of laws against Sabbath breaking, warnings of vendues, sales and lists of town officers were posted on the meeting-house doors through New England, in- cluding Vermont.
On the meeting-house green stood the Puritani- cal instruments of punishment, the stocks, whip- ping-post, pillory and cage. These instruments of punishment were used through New England
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till sometime in the 19th century. The pillory was used as a means of punishment in Boston, Massachusetts, until 1803. In an early day no stoves or fireplaces were allowed in the meeting- house; the people had to depend on their cloth- ing, the foot stove for women, and the love of God, to keep them warm. Before stoves or fire- places were allowed in the church and before the Revolutionary War, a closet in the meeting-house was used for the storage of powder. and grain that was designed for the minister were stored in the loft of the meeting-house. And other people were allowed to store grain there; and in Connec- ticut the church loft was used to cure tobacco leaves.
At a later day when the people got to be a lit- tle more prosperous the high, large, square house was built with gallery upon three sides. The pul- pit was built on the fourth side from seven to ten feet high from the floor, to which a narrow flight of stairs led; sometimes the stairs were built up in the vestibule to a door in the wall between the vestibule and the body of the house through which the minister entered into his pulpit.
For many years after the settlement of New England the Puritans went armed to meeting and gun loaded ; they were expressly forbidden to fire off their charges at any object save an Indian or a wolf. Trumbull writes the following verse, viz :
"So once, for fear of Indian beating, Our grandsires bore their guns to meeting .- Each man equipped on Sunday morn With psalm-book, shot, and powder-horn, And looked in form, as all must grant, Like the ancient church militant."
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In Massachusetts and Connecticut the law pro- vided that a certain number should go to meeting armed. In 1642, in the former Colony, six men with muskets and powder and shot were thought sufficient for the protection of each church. In Connecticut a law was passed in 1643, that any one required to go armed to meeting, neglecting to do so, should forfeit twelve pence for each of- fense. In 1644, a fourth part of the trained band was obliged to go armed to church each Sabbath, and the sentinels were ordered to keep their matches constantly lighted for use in their match- locks, and to wear an armor, which consisted of "coats basted with cotton wool, and thus made defensive against Indian arrows." The details of . defense were carefully looked after; bullets were made common currency at the value of a farthing, in order that they might be plentiful and in every one's possession.
In Concord, New Hampshire, the men, who came armed to meeting, stacked their muskets around a post in the middle of the church, while the honored pastor, who was a good shot and owned the best gun in the settlement, preached with his treasured weapon in the pulpit by his side, ready from his post of vantage to blaze away at any red man whom he saw sneaking without, or to lead, if necessary, his congregation to battle. The Maine Indians were so bold the church at York felt it necessary to retain the cus- tom of carrying arms to the meeting-house until 1746. In those days when the church services were ended the men rose and left the house before
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the women and children to insure the protection of the women and children, and for the same rea- son it was thought necessary for the men to sit at the head of the pew, a custom that is not heeded or necessary now.
In some parts of New England the people were gathered together or warned to meet at the. proper hour on the Sabbath by various warning sounds : in Haverhill the settlers were warned by the ringing toot of the horn; the Montague and South Hadley people were notified of the hour of assembling by the blowing of a couch-shell. The drum was often used as a signal for gathering for public worship. In Norwalk the drum was beaten until 1704, when the church got a bell. In 1638, a platform was made upon the top of the Windsor meeting-house on which to walk to sound a trumpet or drum to give warning for meeting. Sometimes three guns were fired as a signal for church-time. In Plymouth in 1697, the selectmen were ordered to procure a flag to be put out at the ringing of the first bell and taken in when the last bell was rung. The first bells, for lack of bell towers, were sometimes hung on trees beside the meeting-house. These modes of calling the people together for public worship did not ob- tain to any great extent in Vermont.
In the first meeting-houses in Vermont and in all New England, the seats were uncomfortable benches which were made of simple rough planks. placed on legs like milking-stools, with no rests for the back, but when the communities grew wealthy. spots for pews were sold; the influential or rich
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would sit in a group together, and finally a fam- ily would have their own family pew, that was oblong or square and usually unpainted, but the owner was at liberty to paint his own pew to suit his taste and used such wood as he saw fit in constructing it, and used his own discretion in its style and finish, which resulted in much diversity and incongruity. The pews were the individual property of the members who built them and not common property. This is different from what is now held. The law now simply gives the owner of the pew the exclusive right of its occupancy.
In the time of the early settlements the back of the pews were very high, coming up nearly to the head of the person sitting in them. It is recorded in the records of the Haverhill church that per- sons might build pews in the house, "provided they would not build so high as to damnify and hinder the light of them windows." The floor of the pews were several inches above the floor of the alleys. The benches and pews were never cush- ioned. It is a matter of tradition that one Col- onel Greenleaf caused a nine days talk in Newbury town, Massachusetts, at the beginning of the 19th century, when he cushioned his pew." The name of the owner of the pew frequently was painted on the pew door and the door fastened by a wooden button.
Men frequently stood up for a time during ser- mon time to rest their cramped up legs. It is stated in A. M. Earl's book that while Deacon Puffer of Andover, Vermont, was thus standing leaning against the pew-door the wooden button
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gave away under his weight and he sprawled on all-fours, with a loud clatter, into the middle of the aisle, to the amusement of the children, and the mortification of his wife. And thus it may be seen that diversions were frequent in meeting in those days.
The important duty of "seating the meeting- house," fell upon a dignified and influential com- mittee. The order of the seating is well described in the lines written by Whittier, viz :
"In the good house of worship, where in order due and fit, As by public vote directed, classed and rauked the people sit : Mistress first and good wife after, clerkly squire before the clown,
From the brave coat, lace embroidered, to the gray frock shading down."
In some churches the seating committee made a list of the attendants and the seats assigned to each, which was read in church and nailed to the door, and every person should take the seat as- signed them, and if any should act contrary to the order of assignment they were to be reproved by the deacons, and for a repetition of the offense pay a fine. Sometimes the fine imposed was very se- vere. Two men of Newbury, Massachusetts, were in 1669, fined twenty-seven pounds and four shil- lings each for that offense. In the Puritan meet- ings as well as in Quaker meetings, men sat on one side of the meeting-house and women on the other and entered the house by separate doors. On one side of the pulpit a square pew was as- signed to the minister's family. Seats in the gal- lery were regarded in the early churches as the
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