USA > Vermont > Addison County > Gazetteer and business directory of Addison County, Vt., for 1881- 82 > Part 20
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TOWN OF NEW HAVEN.
by Caroline Eaton. The first hotel was kept by Matthew Phelps, from Conn., upon the site now occupied by the New Haven House. The first school house was built in District No. 1, upon the site occupied by the pres- ent building. This house, it is related, was quite small, so much so as to be considered by the female portion of the community wholly unfit for the pur- pose for which it was intended. Accordingly while the men were all away upon a wolf hunt one day, the women repaired to the building with axes, and soon razed it to the ground. A more pretentious affair soon after took its place.
In 1813 and '14, the town was visited by a terrible mortality. In July, 1830, a heavy rain fell over the towns comprising the heads of the streams that form New Haven River, continuing for two or three days, swelling that stream much above its former freshets. During the last day of the rain many of the inhabitans became alarmed for the safety of their lives, in houses which had ever been safe from any previous freshet. At the lower falls on the river, at a place then called Beaman's Hollow, now Brooksville, just above the high railroad bridge, people and property suffered the most severely. Between the railroad and the village is a narrow gulf, not over fifteen or twenty feet wide, with a perpendicular bank of solid rock on the south side, and a very abrupt bank on the north, to the height of twenty or twenty-five feet. The night came on with intense darkness, rain falling in torrents. One heavy bridge and a smaller one were carried down the current, and it is more than probable some of the long heavy stringers got entangled from bank to bank, and other timber and flood-wood accumulating against it in such quantities as to raise the water above to that height that it caused the mills, buildings, houses, etc., to float down stream. Many had exposed their lives in aid of others, by being in the water while it was rising owing to the operation of the temporary dam, which dam suddenly gave way, and nineteen persons were carried through the gulf, five only of whom were found alive.
Solomon Brown, an old Revolutionary hero, came to New Haven in 1787, locating upon the farm now owned by his son, Ira, and built the first house of logs, on that farm. Mr. Brown was not only one of the heroes of the memorable 19th of April, 1775, but he was also the first to shed British blood in that engagement. He was also the first to bring the intelligence into Lexington that a number of British officers were on their way thither from Boston, and when the officers reached Lexington he was one of those who volunteered to follow them and watch their movements, and was taken prisoner by them, together with his companions, Thaddeus Harrington and Elijah Sanderson, though they were detained but a few hours. His action in this affiair is set forth in a pamphlet describing the Battle of Lexington, now in the possession of Ira Brown, as follows :-
" Solomon Brown, of Lexington, who had been to market at Boston on the 18th, returned late in the afternoon and informed Col. William Munroe, then orderly-sergeant of the militia company, that he had seen nine British officers, dressed in blue great-coats, passing leisurely along the road, keeping some-
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times before and sometimes behind him. All were armed, as he had observed by the blowing aside of their great-coats. Munroe, suspecting their intention was to seize Hancock and Adams, immediately collected a guard of eight men, well armed and equiped, and with himself at their head, placed them at the house of Mr. Clark, which was about a quarter of a mile from the main road leading to Concord. The committee of safety, in session in the western part of Cambridge, also sent information to Hancock and Adams."
Solomon was in the army five years, and held the office of sergeant. He was also appointed " conductor of supplies " at Fort Schuyler, now Utica, N. Y. After leaving the army he remained in Nine Partners, N. Y., two years, then came to this town in 1787, as previously mentioned. Mr. Brown was twice married and had a family of seventeen children. Honored and respected, he died at a ripe old age, one of the true, tried spirits that made our country what it is.
Augustus Tripp, from Lanesboro, Mass., came to this town, in 1781, and located upon the farm now owned by Henry C. Roscoe. After dismount ing from his horse one day, he carelessly stuck his riding whip into the ground, where it remained, took root, and now stands a majestic elm, twelve feet and seven inches in circumference.
Martin Crane and Reuben Grinnell emigrated to this town from Salis- bury, Conn., in 1781, Crane locating upon the farm now owned by T. Sturte- vant, Grinnell upon the one now owned by Mills J. Landon.
As nearly as can be ascertained, the road running north from New Haven village known as Lanesboro street, was first settled in 1781, by a party from Lanesboro, Mass., among whom were Ezra Hoyt, Sr., Seth Hoyt, William Seymour, Matthew Phelps, George Smith and Seymour Hoyt.
Deacon David Smith, also from Lanesboro, made the first settlement upon the farm now owned by Charles Mason and Warren Smith.
Col. David P. Nash came to New Haven and commenced his business life here on the banks of New Haven River, in 1796. His father, William Nash, came from Goshen, Conn., and settled near David, and the younger and only brother of D. P., William, Jr., came at the same date with his father. William, Jr., or Gen. William Nash, as he afterwards became known, was but twelve years of age when he came, and not many years after became interested in the business with his brother, was very successful, and soon became known as a man of great sagacity and unquestioned integrity. He represented the town in the Legislature during the terms of 1825, '26, '36, and '49, and was State senator from the county in 1846 and 1847. His active and useful life was brought to close in December, 1871. Three of his sons, William P., Dorastus W., and Joseph R., became active, influential members of the community. William Phelps succeeded to his father's busi- ness, and is a director of the Bank of Middlebury, and in addition to other offices of trust was representative in 1854 and '55, and senator in 1868 and '69. Mr. Nash is still living here, honored by his townsmen, takes an active interest in business affairs, and is a large land owner. Dorastus W., a pros-
13
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perous farmer, has always resided near his birth-place on New Haven River. Among the many prominent town offices he has honored, was that of repre- sentative, in 1878. Joseph R., an esteemed and prominent citizen, a repre- sentative to the Legislature in 1874, died quite suddenly in 1878. David P., after his marriage in 1804, located at New Haven Mills, where he resided until his death, in June, 1852. His son, Samuel P., has been a magistrate many years, and in 1858 and '59 served as State senator from Addison County, and was for several years deputy collector of internal revenue under the United States government.
Silas Doud, born in 1793, removed to New Haven from Terringham, Mass., in 1791, and was married during the following year to Irena Scovil, from Meriden, Conn. He was one of five brothers who settled in the same neighbor- hood at about the same time. Intelligent and candid, with warm and active sympathy towards his fellows, he enjoyed public confidence to a large degree, filling from time to time most of the town offices, among which, that of rep- resentative in 1818, and 1819. He had a family of ten children, four sons and six daughters, and died in 1826, aged fifty-three years. His wife died in 1870, aged over ninety-nine years. Osmond and Sylvester, sons of Silas, ยท were born, the former in 1802, and the latter in 1806. Both were largely en- dowed with the characteristics of their father, being men of rare integrity, frank and intelligent, and consequently were in early life called to many official positions. Osman represented the town in 1837 and 1838, and died in 1864, aged sixty-two years. Sylvester was representative in 1852 and 1853, and now enjoys a hearty old age, eminently respected. Edson A. Doud, son of Osmond, born November 18, 1832, married a daughter of L. W. Stowe, with whom he has many years resided. He has held many town offices and was elected representative in 1880.
L. W. Stowe, a prominent farmer and dairyman, was born in this town March 15, 1814, and has always resided on the farm he now occupies. In earlier life he was a hotel-keeper, conducting his farm at the same time, but late years he has confined himself to farming entirely. Mr. Stowe has held many offices of trust, and in 1858 and 1859, represented the town in the Gen- eral Assembly.
Major Matthew Phelps, Jr., son of Capt. Matthew Phelps, one of the earli- est graduates of Middlebury College, was a young man of great promise. In 1811, he was elected to the Legislature from New Haven, and in 1810 and 'II, was one of the judges.of the county court. He entered military service in the war of 1812, and died quite suddenly while in the army, in 1813.
Oliver Smith for many years resided in the north part of the town, but is now a resident of the village. He has always been a capable and intelligent business man, and was many years a magistrate, a member of the Legislature in 1843 and '44, and one of the county judges in 1862 and '63.
Erastus S. Hinman has been prominent in social, religious and educational matters for many years, and was for a long time a magistrate, and in 1854 and '55, was one of the judges of the county court.
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Col. Ira Gifford was born September 2, 1797, and died quite suddenly February 12, 1881. He was a leading farmer on New Haven river for many years, but for a few years past had resided at the village. He was deacon of the Congregational church, and prominent in military and civil affairs. In 1864 and '65, he was a member of the Legislature, and in 1858 and '59, was elected county commissioner.
Lewis Meacham, brother of Congressman James Meacham, was born in Rutland, and removed to New Haven in 1845, having married in 1842, Eliza, daughter of Jonathan Hoyt, Jr. Mr. Meacham's sterling character commend- ed him to popular favor, and in 1856 and '57, he was a representative in the Legislature, and 1864 and '65, senator from Addison County. He died sud- denly at Chicago, Ill., while there on a visit, June 16, 1868.
Dea. Calvin Squire was born in New Haven, April 4, 1795, and died on the farm where he was born, May 6, 1880. He was for a long period deacon of the Congregational church, and active in educational and religious matters. His brother, Rev. Miles P. Squire, D. D., who died at Geneva, N. Y., in 1866, was a prominent clergyman and author of several religious works. He was the son of Wait Squire who removed from Lanesboro, Mass., to Vermont, and with another brother settled in New Haven during the latter part of the last century. A most remarkable incident is recorded of Wait Squire and four brothers, who, one Sabbath, sat together in one pew in the church at New Haven, the five brothers all being over six feet in height, all weighing over two hundred pounds, all over eighty years of age, and at that time no death had ever occurred in the family.
Amos Palmer, from Duchess County, N. Y., came to New Haven in 1781, locating upon the farm now owned by Electa Smith. His son, Caleb, born here in 1787, is still living, having a family of nine children, the youngest of whom is forty-one years of age.
Nathaniel H. French came from Trumbull, Conn., in 1789, locating upon the farm now owned by Charles W. Mason. He served all through the war of 1812, after which he returned to the old homestead, where he died in May, 1851, aged ninety-two years. His son, Nathaniel, born here in 1801, always has been a resident of the town, and now lives with his son, William N., at the advanced age of eighty years.
Nathan Barton, from Litchfield, Conn., came to this town with his father in 1770, and located upon the farm now owned by George W. Barton. Wal- ton, son of Nathan, occupied the old homestead for a period of over seventy years.
Luther Evarts, from Salisbury, Conn., located upon the farm now owned by David Hare, in 1770.
Nathan Griswold, from New Milford, Conn., came to New Haven at an early date, locating in what is now the town of Waltham, upon the farm now owned by W. W. Pierce. He used to carry his grain upon his back to Ver- gennes, and thence take a canoe to Crown Point, where the nearest mill was
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located. He was captured three times by the Indians, twice liberated, and the third time was taken with his brothers, Adonijah, John and David, to Quebec, where he remained a prisoner three years and ten months. After their cap- ture, his mother and youngest brother, Dr. Griswold, proceeded through the forest on foot and alone, to New Milford, returning to the old place again after Nathan's release, where he resumed his occupation of tanner and cur- rier. Daniel C. West is a grandson of Griswold's.
Jonathan Hoyt, Jr., born at Norwalk, Conn., May 7, 1775, removed to New Haven in March, 1802, and resided until his death, April 5, 1867. His father, Jonathan Hoyt, a soldier of the Revolution, removed to New Haven several years later than the son. Jonathan Hoyt, Jr., was an active and in- fluential citizen of the town, a member of the Legislature in 1809, and 1810, and high sheriff of Addison County in 1811, '15, '16, '17 and '18. Ezra Hoyt, cousin of Jonathan Hoyt, Jr., was born at Norwalk, Conn., October 16, 1770, and removed from Lanesboro, Mass., to New Haven in 1792. He married for his second wife, Jerusha, daughter of Capt. Matthew Phelps. A memoir of Capt. Phelps was published by Anthony Haswell, of Bennington, in 1802. Mr. Hoyt, soon after his removal to New Haven, be- came one of its leading citizens, was elected to the Legislature in 1797, '98, 1808, '12, '13, '14, '17, '21 and '24, and in 1813, '14, '15, '16, '17 and '23, was one of the judges of the county court, and judge of probate in 1824, '25, '26, '27, '28 and 29.
. Daniel Twitchell, one of the first settlers of Middlebury, and proprietor of the first grocery store, came to this town in 1800, and located upon the farm now owned by Ira J. Twitchell.
Preserved Wheeler, from Lanesboro, Mass., removed with his parents to Wyoming, Pa., where his father, Peter, was killed at the time of the Indian massacre. His mother, with three children, made her way back to Lanesboro by the aid of one horse. In 1781, Preserved came to this town and located upon the farm now owned by Alexis T. Smith. His son, Orson, born here in 1799, was a resident of the town up to the time of his death, in 1867. His son, grandson of Preserved, is still a resident.
Curtis L. Lampson, born in this town, went to Montreal when sixteen years of age and engaged with his brother in the fur trade. Here he remained till twenty-four years of age, when he went to London, England, where he has since accumulated a large fortune, and was one of the leading men in laying the first Atlantic cable on the other side of the ocean, and for his connection with which he was Knighted by the Queen. In 1868, he donated $8,ooo.oo for the erection of a school-house in New Haven Mills, which was named in his honor, and said to be one of the finest district school-houses in the State. He also furnished it with a library consisting of nine hundred rare volumes of his own selection.
Dr. Levi Warner, from New Millford, Conn., came to New Haven in 1789, locating in the part of the town now included within the limits of Vergennes,
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where he practiced medicine till 18or, then removed to New Haven Mills, where he practiced up to the time of his death, in 1831. His son, Erasmus D., was born here in 1806, graduated from the Castleton Medical Institute, and succeeded to the practice of his father, dying at New Haven Mills, Feb- ruary 22, 1875. He represented the town twice, and served two years in the State senate. William C., brother of Erasmus, was born in 1809, graduated from Middlebury College, and practiced medicine in Bristol sixteen years, which town he represented two years, being at the time of his death in attend- ance upon a session of the Legislature at Montpelier, in October, 1847.
Thomas Dickinson, an old Revolutionary soldier, came to New Haven in 1785, locating near the falls at Brooksville, where he built the first saw-mill on that site. At that time, it was the custom to bring logs to mill without "butting," and to allow the sawyer the best board in the log for his labor in performing that operation. Mr. Dickinson, one day, while butting a large pine log, sawed upon a hard substance which was found, upon investigation, to be a hatchet. Two or three hundred rings, marking the growth of as many years, were counted outside the spot containing it, proving that it must have been buried there hundreds of years. Mr. Orrin S. Dickinson now has in his possession an old chair, part of the furniture of the "May Flower."
Seth Langdon, from Framingham, Mass., came to this town about the year 1782, locating upon the farm now owned by Charles Peck. Married Amel Dowd in 1784, and for his second wife, Lois Phelps, in 1824. He resided upon the old homestead till his death, in December, 1851. Seth Langdon, Jr., born on the old place July 7, 1799, was a prominent farmer in this part of the town until 1870, when he retired and removed to New Haven street, where he died in 1881, aged eighty-two years.
Aaron Haskins came from Connecticut and located upon the farm now owned by A. A. Farnsworth, in 1785. He built, and operated for several years, an oil mill at Brooksville, the run of stones being afterwards removed to Mid- dlebury, where they were used in a mill until it was destroyed by fire.
Isaac Gibbs, born in Middlebury in 1802, where he resided until six-two years of age, says he can remember hearing the first Methodist sermon ever preached in that town. The minister, a Mr. Girdley, being required to preach a sermon before they would grant him a license, took for his text "By the life of Pharaoh, ye are all spies."
Edward S. Dana was born at Cornwall, Vt., April 27, 1834. He was the son of Austin Dana, who for forty years was a prominent farmer of Cornwall, Vt., and who died in 1870. He married September 11, 1861, a daughter of Deacon Calvin Squier, of New Haven. From 1861 to 1871, he held official position at Washington, D. C., as clerk and examiner-in-chief in the U. S. pension office, and as assistant clerk of the House of Representatives. In 1874, he was a member of the Vermont House of Representatives, from Cornwall, and removed to New Haven in 1877. He was elected to the Ver- mont Senate in 1880.
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MOST TERES
(LEMUEL B. ELDREDGE.)
Lemuel B. Eldredge was born in Mansfield, Tolland County, Conn., July 19, 1777. The family were of Scotch descent, the great-grandfather of Lemuel having emigrated to Rhode Island at an early day, and thence his grand- father removed to Connecticut. Dea. Lemuel Eldredge and his son, Lemuel B., came to Vermont in 1798, locating upon the farm now in the possession of Julius L. Eldredge, of New Haven, son of Lemuel B., the latter preceding his father's arrival a few months. But upon the arrival of his father, Lemuel B. moved to another part of the town, where for several years, and until his father's death, resided on a farm near New Haven East Mills. After the death of his father, Lemuel B. sold this farm and removed to his late father's homestead, where he resided until his death, January 10, 1864, in the eighty- seventh year of his age. Mr. Eldredge was married to Martha Thall, of of Mansfield, Conn., in 1798, just before their removal to Vermont. Four- teen children were born to them, of whom four sons and four daughters arrived at maturity, two only of whom are now living. Dea. Julius L. Eldredge, of New Haven, and S. W. Eldredge, of Colton, St. Lawrence County, New York. Mrs. Eldredge survived her husband's death until August, 1869, dying at the age of ninety-three years. The subject of this sketch was a man of commanding personal appearance, something over six feet in height, of full, though not corpulent habit. He possessed great energy of character and physical endurance, was a leading man in the town, and in the Congregational society in New Haven, to which he belonged. He held various town offices, among which was that of town constable and collector of taxes, for a period of nineteen years. He was a great lover of music, and in his younger days was employed as a vocal teacher, and was for many years the leader of the choir in the church to which he belonged. He
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continued to be a constant attendant upon public worship until within a short period of his death, and it was his constant habit to join in the service of song even to his last days. His social qualities were above the average, and he took great delight in entertaining and being entertained by his friends, retain- ing to old age the power to interest both young and old by his fund of anec- dotes, drawn from the observations and experience of his long and active life. In the summer of 1830, after the great calamity spoken of on a previous page, he wrote and published a book, describing with great power and pathos the harrowing incidents connected with this tragedy of nature, which, at the time, was perused with great interest. By his death, one of the men whose active life began with the present century, who had been prominent among his townsmen, and esteemed as a good citizen and worthy man for more than half that century, disappeared, leaving many regrets for the light that had gone out. None of the family who bear the name are now residents of Ver- mont, except Dea. J. L. Eldredge, above mentioned, and his son, Hon. L. D. Eldredge, who at present and for many years has been a lawyer, practicing his profession in Middlebury. From Mr. Eldredge's book we quote the following account of the disaster, and of his escape from the angry flood, on that memorable July night of 1830 :-
The inhabitants of the village living nearest the stream, became alarmed between ten and eleven o'clock on the evening of the 26th, and commenced exertions for securing property from the mills and other buildings threatened with immediate destruction ; and, as many of them had lived during thirty years in that vicinity, they apprehended no danger to those buildings, the foun- dations of which were higher than the river had before been known to rise. Thus the time which might have been improved for securing their own lives was devoted to the rescuing of property.
About twelve o'clock, a young man came to my house and awoke me, requesting the aid of myself and son for the sufferers in the hollow. My buildings, several rods from the scene of ruin on an eminence, were not en- dangered. On receiving the information of the trouble of my neighbors, while my son brought a horse from the barn, I awoke an Englishman, occu- pying a small dwelling of mine across the dooryard, and we three repaired im- mediately to the hollow.
While we were engaged devising means to preserve what was valuable in the buildings about to be plunged in the stream, we were alarmed by the cries of Mrs. Wilson, who called to her husband, informing him that their house was about to be overturned and themselves lost. We then for the first time dis- covered the hopelessness of our situation. A new channel had been formed in our rear, encircling the whole village, and, when discovered, was rolling along ten or twelve feet of water, every minute adding to its depth nearly one foot.
One way of escape presented itself ; the mare which had brought me thither possessed nerve and sinew sufficient to have borne me with my son across the moat ; my son even mounted the beast and urged her into the stream, but the thought of leaving his father in a situation almost utterly hope- less, forbade him to proceed. For myself, the hope of lending assistance to those who were hopeless retained me until all opportunity of escape was cut off.
Twenty-one persons were now on this island, upon which the water gained
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with fearfully rapid advances. Each swell, as it swept by, bore something from the small area which remained to us ; the surface of the surges broke whiter and whiter in the feeble light of our lamps; the hoarse clamor of lossened rocks and floating drift-wood became more and more deafening ; and each sound added something to the despair and consternation depicted on every countenance.
The individuals thus surrounded were the family of John Willson, viz : himself, his wife, one son and four daughters, also his wife's sister who was unable to move from her bed.
The family of Mr. Stewart, a blind man, viz : himself, wife, two sons, four daughters, and Phinney, a youth of nineteen years, who lived in the family. The rest, among whom were myself and son, were those who had come to their assistance.
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