Gazetteer and business directory of Addison County, Vt., for 1881- 82, Part 14

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836- cn
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Syracuse, Printed at the Journal Office
Number of Pages: 1148


USA > Vermont > Addison County > Gazetteer and business directory of Addison County, Vt., for 1881- 82 > Part 14


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Joel Rice, from New Hampshire, was one of the earliest settlers of Gran- ville, locating on road four, where his son Denison now lives.


Caleb Amy came to Granville in 1820, locating in the southern part of the town. He had a family of five children, three of whom are living, one, Frank- lin, in this town. Franklin married Abby Withington and had two sons, both living in the town.


The religious denominations were originally Congregationalist and Baptist. In 1840, the Methodists and Universalists had very much increased. In the winter of 1843, the Adventists held a series of protracted meetings, in which great religious excitement prevailed, and the different churches for a long time expected that great numbers would be added to them. But in this they were disappointed, for the interest subsided and the church gradually died, and for a long time there was a great dearth of religious interest.


The Union Meeting House Society, of Granville village, was organized in 1871, with thirty members. The members from all denominations meet and have religious services, though they have no regular pastor. The church building was originally built in 1838, costing $2,000. In 1871, it was repaired and almost entirely rebuilt, and will now accommodate about 250 persons with seating room.


The Methodist Episcopal Church, located at Granville Center, was organ- ized by their pastor, Rev. W. J. Kidder, in 1871, having only seven members. The church building is a substantial structure with seating capacity for 350 persons, erected in 1876-7, at a cost of $2,446.00, and is now valued, including


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TOWN OF HANCOCK.


grounds, at $2,500. The society is at present in a flourishing condition, with 104 members under the pastoral care of Rev. H. K. Hastings. The expense attending the building of the church, except $600.00, was sustained by Mr. D. H. Whitney. The building was dedicated February 28, 1877.


ANCOCK, a mountainous town in the southeastern part of the county, lies in latitude 43° 55' and longitude 4° 8' bounded north by Gran- ville and Ripton, east and south by Windsor county, and west by Goshen and Ripton. It was granted November 7, 1780, and chartered July 31, 1781, by the State of Vermont, to Samuel Wilcox and 129 associates, containing, according to the charter, an area of 23,040 acres ; but on October 28, 1834, a portion of this was annexed to Rochester, and again, November I, 1847, another small portion was set off to the same town. The surface is very broken and uneven, a great portion of it so much so as to be unfit for purposes of cultivation, lying upon the Green Mountains. West Branch, with its tributaries, is the principal stream, rising in the western part of the town and flowing an easterly course into Rochester. South Branch rises in the southwestern part, and flows a southeasterly course into Windsor County. Leicester and Middlebury Rivers both head in the western part also. These streams furnish several very excellent mill-sites, some of which are occupied. About a mile east from the western border of the town is a small pond which is something of a curiosity, from the fact of its being situated on the top of a mountain and only accessible by steps. It is about a half mile in diameter and called Mount Vernon Pond. In the valleys and along the several streams, Hancock possesses some fine alluvial land, upon which are grown wheat, oats, buckwheat, Indian corn, potatoes, and hay. Among its exports, sugar and wool take the precedence. The timber, on the highest summits, is mostly spruce and hemlock, in other portions, prin- cipally beech, maple, birch, oak, etc.


In 1880, Hancock had a population of 382, was divided into three school districts and had three common schools, employing one male and five female teachers at an aggregate salary of $280.30. There were eighty- six pupils attending common school, and the entire cost of the schools for the year ending October 31st., was $335.70, with C. S. Wright, superin- tendent.


HANCOCK, a post-village located in the eastern part of the town, on West Branch, is the only settlement, and contains one church (Union), two stores, one hotel, one saw and grist-mill, one carding-mill, a blacksmith shop, wagon shop, and about one hundred inhabitants.


Samuel Harlow's Mills, located on West Branch, were built by him in 1870. He manufactures coarse lumber, clapboards, shingles, and chair-stock, the mills having the capacity for sawing 8,000 feet of lumber, 4,000 feet of clapboards, and 10,000 shingles per day.


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TOWN OF HANCOCK.


William H. Church's saw and grist-mills, located at Hancock village, were built by Jonathan Ford, in 1825. The grist-mill has three runs of stones and does general custom work. The saw-mill has facilities for cutting 10,000 feet of lumber, 10,000 feet of clapboards and 10,000 shingles per day. His carding-mill, also located at the same place, was built by himself in 1840, and does the custom carding for nearly eighteen towns.


Settlement was commenced in Hancock in 1788, by Joseph Butts, from Canterbury, Conn., Daniel Claflin from New Salem, and John Bellows from Dalton, Mass., with their families. Several young men also began improve- ments during the same year, among whom were Zenas Robbins and Levi Darling. Three years after its settlement, at the taking of the first cen- sus, in 1791, it had fifty-six inhabitants, and the following year, June 18, 1792, the town was organized, and Zenas Robbins chosen town clerk, and Daniel Claflin, John Bellows, and James Claflin, selectmen. Zenas Robbins occupied this office thirteen years. The first constable was Noah Cady; first justice, Esias Butts, elected in 1799, and retained the position twenty-four years. He was also the first representative, elected in 1800. The first phy- sician was Darius Smith, who came in 1801, and continued his residence here until his death. The first public house was kept by Joseph Butts, at Han- cock village. The first saw-mill and grist-mill were built in 1800, by Zenas Robbins. Previous to this time the inhabitants were obliged to carry their grist to Stockbridge, a distance of ten miles. The first frame building, a barn, was built by Daniel Claflin, and his son Ebenezer was the first child born in the town. For the first two winters after settlement all the hay for their cattle had to be carried on poles or drawn on hand-sleds from Beaver Meadows, a distance of two miles.


Charles Church, from Lebanon, N. H., came to this town in 1814, locating where the hotel now stands. Here he was engaged in the hotel business for many years, and also owned a stage line to Montpelier, Royalton and Middle- bury. Mr. Church is still a resident of the town.


Levi Darling was one of the early settlers in Hancock, coming from Massa- chusetts in 1790. He was twice married and had a family of nine children, all but one of whom, Ehud, are dead. Ehud was born March 16, 1804, married Elmira Bradford, and has two children, Mary J., and John B. Mary married James H. Fisk, and resides in Chicago. John B. still resides in the town and is a deputy sheriff. Ehud represented the town in 1866, '67, and '78, and has held all other town offices, having been justice of the peace for a period of forty years.


John Perry, with his son Bela, came to this town about fifty years ago, locating where Harvey Perry now lives.


Royal Flint was among the early settlers of the town, and died here Octo- ber 2, 1869. His son Rolla is the present postmaster.


Jesse Kidder, from New Hampshire, located in Hancock in 1859, where he has since been engaged in farming. He is now seventy-five years of age.


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TOWN OF LEICESTER.


Titus Hutchinson, born in Woodstock, Windsor County, in 1809, located in Hancock in 1870. Mr. Hutchinson, a book-keeper by profession, has held various positions of trust in the New York custom house, and in the postal department of California. He represented the town in 1874 and '76.


The religious denominations of the town are Methodist, Universalist, Congregational and Baptist, though none except the Congregational have ever had any regularly organized society. They were organized July 20, 1804, though they never have had a settled minister. Services are held in the Union church at Hancock village.


EICESTER, located in the southern part of the county, in lat. 43° 51' and long. 4° o', bounded north by Salisbury, east by Goshen, south by Brandon, in Rutland County, and west by Whiting, was chartered by the Governor of New Hampshire, October 20, 1761, to Aaron Brown and sixty-six associates, in seventy-two shares, to contain an area six miles square or 23,040 acres. This area, however, the proprietors failed to find, thereby leading to a controversy with the township of Salisbury relative to land titles, that was carried on with a considerable degree of animosity through a series of years. The facts in the case were briefly as follows : Prior to issuing the grants of Salisbury and Leicester, Middlebury on the north had been granted and its limits located, and Brandon, in Rutland County, on the south, by the name of Neshobe. leaving a distance of about eight miles between the two. This tract, probably from an imperfect knowledge of the geography of the county, was granted to both Leicester and Salisbury, allowing each an area of six miles square. Priority of charter would, as a matter of course, have at once determined which should have the precedence; but when it came to this, it was claimed by Salisbury, whose charter bore date nearly a month later, that the date of the Leicester charter had been surreptitiously changed. Litigation followed litigation, and quarrel after quarrel, for about twelve years, during which time one party would raise a crop and another claimant clandestinely reap it, all tending to have a bad moral effect, at the same time greatly retarding the settlement of the town. But finally, on April 18, 1796, a committee from this town, consisting of John Smith, Benjamin Garfield, and Joseph Woodward, met a committee from Salisbury, and the affair was amicably adjusted, the dividing line being settled upon as it now exists. Here ended the controversy, restoring harmony and giving to each town about 16,000 acres. The surface, except in the eastern part, is moderately level, sinking into low, marshy land along the bed of Leicester River, and a portion of Otter Creek. The highest elevations are Bald Mountain, extend- ing across nearly the whole eastern part of the town, from north to south, and Mount Pleasant, in the northern part of the territory ; the latter, from its summit, affording a grand view of the surrounding country. The scenery is pleasing and often picturesque, with some very interesting points of beauty,


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TOWN OF LEICESTER.


among which are Lake Dunmore, extending south from Salisbury to nearly the centre of the western part of the town, a body of water whose beauty is too well known to require special mention here. East of this is another little lakelet called Silver Lake, so named from the silver-white sand that covers its bottom, together with the clearness of its waters, lying among the mountains 1,400 feet above tide level, and 1,000 feet above Lake Dunmore, having a diameter of about one mile. During the summer months this is a delightful place for recreation, having a fine hotel, kept by Mr. Frank Chandler, of Brandon, operated on strictly temperance principles, and conse- quently very quiet and orderly. Little Pond, lying just south of Lake Dun- more, and having about the same area as Silver Lake, is also a handsome little sheet of water. In the northern part of the town is another, called Mud Pond, small in size. The principal streams are Otter Creek, forming a part of the western boundary of the township, and Leicester River, flowing a southwesterly course from the centre of the north line, into Otter Creek. The soil is a rich, sandy loam, interspersed with some flats of clay, and along the streams, valuable tracts of intervale, though towards the east, as you approach the mountains, it becomes harder and less productive, being more adapted to grazing than cultivation. The rocks in the western part of the town extending nearly to Lake Dunmore, are of the Eolian limestone forma- tion, containing a number of beds of excellent marble, and some ledges more adapted for calcining into lime, both having been wrought to some extent. Next to this, the township is cut by a narrow belt of pliocene tertiary deposit, containing many valuable minerals, among which are iron and lead ores, manganese, and ocre, all of which have been, or still are, worked to some extent. East of this the quarts rock preponderates, also containing iron ore, one mine of which has been extensively worked by a Brandon firm. The Rutland Railroad (Rutland Division) of the Central Vermont Railroad passes through the western part of the town, with a station at Leicester Junction, where it is intersected by the Addison branch.


In 1880, Leicester had a population of 634, was divided into six school dis- tricts and had six common schools, taught by one male and six female teachers, at an aggregate salary of $586.20. There were 128 pupils attending common school, and the entire costs of the schools for the year ending Octo- ber 31st, was $1,394.61, with Herbert Norton, superintendent.


LEICESTER JUNCTION, a post village located in the western part of the town at the junction of the Addison and Rutland Railroads (C. V. R. R.), on Otter Creek, contains a depot, hotel, blacksmith shop, two stores, the Brandon Marble Lime Co., and one hundred inhabitants.


LEICESTER, a post village located in the southern part of the town, contains one church (Union), and about a dozen dwellings.


The Crown Point Mineral Paint Works, located on road seven, were established by the Brandon Mineral Paint Co., in 1866. The firm employs twelve men, and manufactures 400 tons of paint per year.


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TOWN OF LIECESTER.


The Brandon Lime and Marble Co., located at Leicester Junction, em- ploys fifteen men and manufactures 40,000 bushels of lime per annum.


The Leicester Marble Lime Co., also located at the above place, was organized in 1878. It employs ten men and manufactures 12,000 bushels per year.


The Leicester Cream Mineral Paint Works were organized as a stock company in 1866, where they manufacture 500 tons of ocher per year, em- ploying twelve men.


Newton F. Thompson's steam saw-mill, located on road 7, cuts 400,000 feet of lumber per year.


For a period of nine years after the granting of its charter, Leicester remained an unbroken wilderness, with no human habitation within its limits till about 1770, when Jeremiah Parker and son, and Samuel Daniels, came into the town and made some improvements near Otter Creek, returning to their families in Massachusetts in the winter. This they continued till 1774, when they removed their families to the town and commenced the first settlement. During the Revolution this settlement was broken up, the men taken prisoners to Quebec, all except Jeremiah, who was taken as far as Crown Point and there released on account of his deafness. The rest of the families returned to Massachusetts, where they remained till after hostilities were suspended, then returned to their long neglected farms. Here the infant colony increased slowly, till, in 1786, there were thought to be enough to organize the town and elect officers. Accordingly, a meeting was called and Ebenezer Child chosen town clerk, and John Smith, representative .* From this time settlers came in quite rapidly, so that in spite of the conflicting claims and insecure titles, Leicester had 343 inhabitants in 1791. The first birth was that of Chloe, daughter of Jeremiah Parker, March 2, 1777, in the west part of the town, near where the railroad crosses the creek above Leicester Junction. Samuel Daniels was killed in a skirmish with Indians in Shelburne. Dr. Elkanah Cook was the first physician, possessing consider- able skill in surgery, though a self-taught man. He died here, August 27, 1815, aged seventy-seven years.


Jeremiah Parker was a very powerful, athletic man, and it is related of him that at the first town meeting, though seventy-five years of age, he won five gallons of brandy on a wager that he could out-jump any person there. He was three times married, having in all a family of seventeen children. His daughter, Chloe, the first born in the town, who afterwards became Mrs. Jenny, died here December 29, 1863, aged eighty-six years.


Ebenezer B. Jenny, now a resident of the town, says he can remember dis- tinctly the time of the battle of Plattsburgh. A prayer meeting was held here for the purpose of praying for the success of the American cause. He also claims that by placing the ear near to the ground, the roar of the cannon


" The exact date of this meeting, nor the full list of officers chosen, cannot be obtained owing to the loss of the early records.


10


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TOWN OF LINCOLN.


could be heard. His father, Ebenezer, was captain of a company of volun- teers who went out from this town.


The house in which the celebrated Stephen Olin, D. D., LL.D., was born, March 3, 1797, is still standing, upon the place now owned by Mrs. Addie Armstrong.


Joseph Swinington, from Massachusetts, came to Leicester among the early settlers, locating upon the place now owned by George O. Swinington, a grandson, son of Adin A. Adin A., the oldest person in the town, still re- sides with his son, and though now over ninety years of age, walks over to his grandson's occasionally, a distance of about an eightli of a mile. The dwelling house they occupy was built in 1801.


John Barker came to Leicester among its earliest settlers, locating in Dis- trict No. 1, near where the school-house now stands. He served five years in the war of the Revolution, and also in that of 1812, being present at the invasion of Plattsburgh. He died here in 1818, and a number of his descendants are now residents of the town.


The house now occupied by Walter J. Thomas, built by David Fish, in 1801, was the second framed house erected in the township. On this farm are two places supposed to have been used by the Indians for their gardens. On these spots, not a stone or pebble is to be found, while the land surround- ing is covered with them. Indian arrow-heads, too, have been found in considerable numbers.


The Methodist society is the only oganized church, except the Roinan Catholic, of the town, established by a Rev. Mr. Mitchell, in 1800. An as- sociation called the Leicester Meeting-house Society, erected a brick church in 1829, which now is used as a union church by all societies.


Saint Agnes' Roman Catholic Church, located at Leicester Junction, was organized by the present pastor, Rev. J. C. Mclaughlin, October 1, 1881. During this year the church building was erected, costing $1,200.00. It is capable of seating 250 persons, and valued, including grounds, at $1,300.00. The society now has fifty members.


INCOLN lies in the east part, and north of the center of the county, in lat. 44° 7,' and long. 4º 5', bounded north by Starksboro and Bristol, east by Warren, in Washington County, south by Ripton, and west by Bristol and Middlebury. It was granted by Vermont, November 7th, and chartered November 9, 1780, to Benjamin Simonds and sixty-four others, con- taining an area six miles square, or 23,040 acres .* This area has since, however, been largely increased by annexations from other towns. First, November 18, 1824, 4,400 acres were annexed from Bristol; then a part of Avery's Gore


. An error is made in Miss Hemenway's Hist. Mag. in dating the charter "'1790."


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TOWN OF LINCOLN.


was added, November 12, 1847 ; but this was decreased, November 12, 1824, by annexing to Warren a strip of land from the east part of the town about two miles in width.


The surface in the western and eastern parts is high and uneven, sloping towards the New Haven River. Mount Pleasant, in the north part, Lincoln Mountain or Potato Hill, in the east, and Cobb Hill and Grant Mountain, in the south part, are the highest elevations. The rocky ravines with their purl- ing streams and cascades, the bold heights and dense forests, all unite to form a series of beautiful scenes, at some points most wild and romantic. The rocks are of the talcose schist and conglomerate, and Green Mountain gneiss, containing some iron ore, manganese, and other minerals, but not in sufficient quantities to warrant working. The soil, in some parts of the town, is rather sterile, and in others too rugged and rocky for cultivation; but the wide and sloping valley of New Haven River affords ample areas of excellent farming and grazing land, with a soil that produces a percentage of fruits and grain in- digenous to this locality, that is, at least, at par with the surrounding town- ships. The timber, wherein lies the principal wealth of the town, is mostly hard wood with some tracts of spruce; and though the saw's sharp teeth are constantly gnawing at it, there yet remains what would seem an almost in- exhaustible supply. New Haven River, with its numerous tributaries, is the only stream, flowing from the southeast part of the town a northwesterly course into Bristol, from the northern part. This river is a beautiful, clear stream, with a rocky channel, often broken by mad plunges over rugged ledges, affording numerous good mill-sites. From its boistrous, rollicking, good-natured manner, one would not suppose it capable of the wild, savage prank it played in the early summer of 1830, an account of which is given in connection with the sketch of New Haven. The loss of property in Lincoln was very great, its effects being felt to this day. The destruction commenced where a bridge, called Jones' bridge, was swept away, above which rocks and trees only were exposed to the ravages of the stream. Below this, Aaron Gove, whose house stood near the bank, was driven, with his wife and six small children, to take refuge in the chamber ; he had scarcely left the lower part of the house when it was beaten in, one post only, sustaining the upper side, remained to prevent the fall of the house, and the consequent death of the inhabitants. Below Gove's about one-half mile, Daniel Butterfield suf- fered the loss of land and crops; and one mile below this, a dwelling house belonging to Thomas Tabor was instantly carried away with all its contents. The family, five small children with their parents, barely escaping with their lives. Below Tabor's, one mile, a saw-mill and other machinery were de- stroyed; and one-half mile below this, a bridge, together with nearly all the crops of Valentine Meader suffered the same ruin. Still farther down, the waters bore away a new saw-mill, a large iron forge, together with coal, coal- houses and iron in large quantities; and below this, a bridge, and one hun- dred rods below this another iron establishment owned by Pier & Burnham,


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TOWN OF LINCOLN.


with a large quantity of stock, together with an unfinished house occupied by Prosper Durfee. The last effects suffered in Lincoln was the destruction of a large factory, the property of Gen. Barnum, of Vergennes, newly erected, to- gether with the dam connected with it. The soil and the crops in many places suffered the same destruction. Another damaging freshet occurred in 1869, but nothing in comparison to the one of '30.


The principal exports of the town are lumber, maple sugar, wool, and pro- ducts of the dairy. 'I he population in 1880, was 1,368, and the town was divided into twelve school districts, containing each a common school. There were two male and twelve female teachers employed, to whom was paid an aggre- gate salary of $878.00, there being 281 pupils in attendance ; while the en- tire cost of the schools for the year ending October 31st, was $942.52, Mr. A. C. Merrill acting as superintendent.


WEST LINCOLN, a post village located in the western part of the town on New Haven River, contains one saw-mill, two blacksmith shops, one hotel, and about twenty dwellings. The postoffice was established here in 1877, with Milton J. Stearns as postmaster, which position he resigned in 1878, in the interest of Ira W. Wakefield, he having been elected representative.


LINCOLN CENTRE, a post village located near the central part of the towr., contains two churches (Union and M. E.), two stores, a school-house, and about ten dwellings.


SOUTH LINCOLN (p. o.), a hamlet located in the southern part of the town on New Haven River, consists of a dozen dwellings.


M. A. Gove's saw-mill, located near the town line on New Haven River, is operated by steam power, manufacturing 100,000 feet of lumber per month.


George A. Thayer's saw-mill, on New Haven River, is operated by water power, employs fifteen men, and cuts 1,000,000 feet of various kinds of lumber. per year. In 1869, the property was swept away by a freshet, but its recon- struction was immediately commenced and it was soon in operation again.


Seth T. Hill's saw-mill, first on the stream in location, was built by George Brooks, in 1875. Its capacity is 4,000 logs annually, cutting 400,000 feet of common lumber. There is also situated on Mr. Hill's property an excellent bed of ocher that bids fair to become a source of considerable revenue to its owner if properly worked.




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