USA > Vermont > Chittenden County > Gazetteer and business directory of Chittenden County, Vermont, for 1882-83 > Part 24
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William Blood, from Connecticut, made the first settlement upon the farm now owned by Laura Lavene, and resided thereon until 1805, when he re- moved to the one now owned by his grandson, W. F. Blood, and upon which W. F.'s father, Luther, resided sixty-eight years.
Nathan Blood, an early settler, came from New Hampshire and located upon the farm now owned by Henry Nichols. Amos, his son, lived in the town until his decease, in 1871, and is now represented by his son, N. H. Blood, residing on road 8.
Samuel Smith was the first settler on the farm now owned by E. F. Whit- comb, in 1788. His son, Eli, was the first male child born in the town. He also erected, on this place, the first barn built in the township. Two men, it is said, went from Mallett's Bay, by boat, to St. Johns, Can., for rum to use at the raising.
Moses Parsons settled in Royalton at an early day, was captured by Indians and taken prisoner to Canada, where he remained a captive two years. He was then released, and returning to Vermont, located in this town, being the first settler on the farm now owned by John Slater, and died here in 1814. His son, James, is still a resident on road 51, at the ad- vanced age of eighty-one years.
Edward Brownell, from Canaan, Conn., located in Williston previous to the year 1800, where he remained until his death. Ellis S. Brownell, the originator of the famous "Brownell Beauty" potato, now lives in this town.
Ebenezer Bowman, born in Lexington, Mass., July 17, 1767, emigrated to Clarendon, Rutland County, about 1790, and from there to Westford in 1804, where he died, September 20, 1832. William, his son, occupied the homestead thirty-two years, then sold out and made his home with his chil- dren, and died while living with E. H. Bowman, at Essex Junction, in May, 1877.
Thomas Whitcomb, with his son, Thomas Jr., from Swanzey, N. H., locat- ed in Richmond in 1804, where he remained until 1835, then removed to Essex and located where his son, E. F. Whitcomb, now lives, and died there in 1871, aged eighty-nine years.
Samuel Atherton, born at Walpole, Mass., came to Essex in early life, where he reared a family of nine children, none of whom are now living. One of his sons, Asa, had a family of sixteen children, five of whom are now living in the town.
Joseph Weed, from Plainfield, N. H., emigrated to Richmond in 1811, and
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after one year's residence there removed to Essex, locating upon the farm now owned by his son, E. B. Weed, with whom he still resides, aged seventy- seven years. Mr. Weed served in the war of 1812.
Dr. Benjamin F. Warner, from St. Albans, came to Essex in 1827, and located upon a part of the farm now owned by C. H. Nichols. He was a practicing physician here for many years, several of which he was also a local preacher. His practice extended from the Canada line to Addison County. He was a cousin to Col. Seth Warner, and also served in the war of 1812.
William A. Varney, born in Westford, Vt., in 1810, came to Essex thirty- six years ago, and located upon the farm now owned by his son, Clark R. Varney.
Charles G. Williams, from Royalton, came to Essex twenty-one years ago. He is a descendant of Silas Williams, an old settler of Royalton, who located there just after it was sacked by Indians.
Michael Beecher emigrated from Germany in 1846, and located in Bur- lington. His son, George, now lives in this town, on road 14.
Ezra Slater, from Farmingham, Mass., came to Essex during the early set- tlement of the town. He purchased the farm, now owned by A. F. Chapin, upon which he resided until his death. He was a member of the legislature several years, a justice of the peace as far back as 1802, and served the town as selectman most of his life here. He united with the Congregational church, at Essex Center, in 1838, and died in 1843, aged seventy-seven years. Ezra Slater, Jr., was born here in 1798, and, in 1821, commenced his residence on the farm now owned by A. C. Slater, where he continued to reside until his death, in 1881, aged eighty-four years.
Joseph Sinclair, from Massachusetts, came to this town in 1788, and located upon the farm now owned by Joshua Whitcomb. He married Polly Thomp- son, and was one of the earliest settlers in the town, as were also his brothers, Samuel, Jeremiah, and James. Samuel located where Erastus Whitcomb now resides, and Jeremiah settled near him. James was a deaf mute, never married, but spent most of his life here.
John Halbert, from Hinsdale, Mass., came to Essex in 1805, and located in the eastern part of the town. He had a family of twelve children, five of whom are now living here. His son, Horace, is now eighty-five years of age. He has resided upon the farm he now occupies since his marriage. It then belonged to his father-in-law, Dea. Samuel Bradley.
David Greely, an uncle to Horace, lived in this town until his death, and is buried at Essex Junction.
David Smith, from Barre, Mass., came to this town with his sister, Sarah, in 1822, and has resided here since, being now seventy-seven years of age.
Eliphalet Hunt, from Coventry, Mass., came to Essex in 1844 or '45, and has since resided here. He married Rosetta L. Griffin, a daughter of Samuel Griffin, and has had a family of four children, all of whom are now living.
Amasa Mansfield, from Massachusetts, was an early settler in Milton, and
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about fifty-eight years ago removed to this town, locating where his son, Car- low, now resides. He served as a captain during the war of 1812.
The Congregational Church, located at Essex Center, was organized Octo- ber 3, 1797, by Rev. Jedediah Bushnell, with the following members : Daniel Morgan, Timothy Bliss, Joshua Basset, Morgan Noble, David Kellogg, Samuel Buell, Stephen Butler, Zerviah Bliss, Eleanor Kellogg, and Rachel Buell. Rev. Asoph Morgan was the first settled minister. The first house of worship was built of wood about the year 1800, and gave place to the present brick structure in 1840. It has a seating capacity for about 250 per- sons, and cost $4,000.00. The society now has 100 members, with Rev. John Cowan, pastor.
The First Baptist Church, located at Essex Center, was organized in 1801, by the Baptist church of Westford, with six members. Rev. David Hulburd was the first pastor. The church building, a wood structure, was erected in 1822, repaired in 1839 and 1869. It will accommodate 250 persons, and is valued at $3,500.00. The society now has 114 members, under the pastoral care of Rev. I. W. Coombs, and sustains a Sabbath school with an average attendance of seventy-five.
The First Universalist Church, located at Essex Center, was organized by its first pastor, Rev. Joseph Sargent, in 1857. The church building was erected in 1859, of wood, will seat 300 persons, and cost $1,200.00. The pastor of the society is Rev. George S. Sargent.
The First Congregational Church of Essex Junction was organized June 29, 1869, by a council consisting of thirty pastors and laymen from the Con- gregational churches of the following places : Burlington, Essex, Charlotte, Colchester, Hinesburgh, Jericho, Milton, Richford, South Hero, Underhill, Westford, Williston, Winooski, St. Albans, and Georgia, and contained twenty- two members. The church edifice, a wood structure capable of seating 300 persons, is used in union by this society and the M. E. church, each holding services on alternate Sabbaths. It was built in 1866, at a cost of $8,000.00, and is now valued, including grounds, at about $7,000.00. The society now numbers seventy-seven members, with Rev. John Cowan, acting pastor. The society also has a Sabbath school in union with the M. E. church, having 200 scholars and an average attendance of about one hundred.
The Second Baptist Church, located at Essex Center, was organized by Rev. J. A. Leavett, as a mission church, in 1873, and reorganized as an inde- pendent society in 1879. The church building was erected in 1875, at a cost of $3,200.00, and is now valued, including grounds, at $4,000.00. At its first organization the society had twelve members. It now has thirty-six, with Rev. J. W. Coombs, pastor.
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TOWN OF HINESBURGH.
INESBURGH, located in the southern part of the county, in lat. 44° 19', and long. 3º 57', bounded north by Shelburne, St. George and Richmond, east by Huntington and Starksboro, south by Starksboro and Monkton, in Addison County, and west by Charlotte, was granted by New Hampshire, June 24, 1762, to David Ferris, Abel Hine and sixty-three others, mostly resident in New Milford, Conn., the said Hine acting for many years as proprietors' clerk, hence the name "Hinesburgh." In outline the town is very regular, its boundary lines being each six miles in length, form- ing a perfect square, and enclosing a tract whose area is just thirty-six square miles, or 23,040 acres. This area, too, it has retained since the original survey, no changes ever having been made as in most of the adjoining towns.
In surface, Hinesburgh presents as fair a contour as it does in outline. Through the center of the town, nearly in a north and south direction, there extends a bed of clay slate underlying the soil, having a mean width of about half a mile. This ledge, or vein of rocks, seems to be the dividing line between what might be termed the low land of the west, and the high land of the east; for west of this line the surface is low, having an altitude of from 300 to 500 feet above the lake level, while east of it the surface rapidly rises in large and broken ridges to a height of 1, 200 to 2,000 feet, though mostly covered with a strong, arable soil, making very good dairy farms. The soil of this western portion is principally clay, very fertile, and capable of producing excellent crops of grain, while that of the eastern portion is a sandy or gravelly loam, equally rich. Along the principal streams are tracts of intervale, possessing an alluvial soil seldom surpassed in richness. Numerous streams and springs abound, affording ample irrigation for the soil, and containing many good mill sites. The principal water-courses, however, are Lewis Creek and LaPlotte River, Lewis Creek being the largest stream in town. Near the southeastern cor- ner of the township the mountainous ridge is cut from summit to base by a chasm from a quarter to a half mile in width, through which flows, from Huntington, a branch of Lewis Creek. The LaPlotte rises in the south- eastern part of the town, flows a northwesterly course, and is joined near the village by Pond Brook, from the northeastern part of the town, and thence flows on through Charlotte and Shelburne into Shelburne Bay. An interest- ing tradition relative to the origin of its name is current, which may be found noted in the Shelburne sketch. Two small ponds are found in the northern part of the town, one lying partly in Williston. The rocks are principally Eolian limestone and talcose conglomerate, though there is a large bed of red sandrock underlying the southwestern portion of the territory. With these exceptions, all the rocks of the western part of the town, up to the bed of clay slate previously mentioned, are composed of limestone of the Eolian or marble formation, though no quarries suitable for working have been dis- covered. The whole eastern portion is composed of talcose conglomerate, cut by a large bed of quartz rock, lying in the northeastern part of the township.
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In 1880, Hinsburgh had a population of 1,330, and contained thirteen common schools, employing three male and sixteen female teachers, to whom was paid an aggregate salary of $1,840.25. There were 327 pupils attending common school, while the entire cost of the schools for the year, ending October 31, was $2,070.57, with Mr. C. G. Peck, superintendent. In addi- tion to these, the town also has an excellent school known as Hinesburgh Academy. This institution was established and incorporated by an act of the legislature, November 12, 1824. Under this act the trustees organized and opened a school which has continued without interruption to the present time, and has been one of the most permanent and successful institutions of the kind in the State. The building is a commodious, two-story structure, situated on a rise of land in the center of the village, above and back from the west side of the street, and fronted by a luxuriant grove of maples and locusts. The building is in good repair and furnished throughout with modern furniture, has a fine minerological collection and reference library; but the philosophical apparatus, which had become antiquated, was disposed of in 1880, and has not yet been replaced. In 1870, the town adopted the town system of schools, and elected a board of directors who have entire control of the public schools. In 1871, the academy was leased to this board. on the conditions that the school be maintained similar in grade and equal to that maintained by the trustees in years past, and that the building, furniture, library, and apparatus be kept in as good condition as when delivered to them. Under the management of the school board, the character of the institution as a fitting and training school, with but slight modifications, has remained the same. The school has no endowment, and is supported partly by town ap- propriations and partly by tuitions. The property, by the act of incorpora- tion, is exempt from taxation. The present principal, Henry W. Page, under whose charge the school has been since 1880, was educated at the University of Vermont. Under his care the number of pupils has steadily increased from term to term, and a revival of interest has also been manifested in the classical department. The methods of instruction are fully up with the times, while the moral tone of the school is excellent, and the work done, for thor- oughness, will compare favorably with that of any similar institution.
The people of the town have always given much attention to the means of education and general instruction. Toward this object a literary society was formed in 1810, and became of so much importance that it was incorporated by an act of the legislature in 1822. A good library was collected, which circulated among its members, and is now kept in the office of Dr. J. F. Miles. This society, through its library, lectures, essays, and debates, brought the leading topics of thought in science, literature, politics, history, and religion. not only before its members, but before the citizens of the town, and exerted a marked influence upon the young men reared here. The functions of the society gradually became absorbed by the academy, and about 1860, as a corporate
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body, it ceased to exist. The lighter books of the library perished long ago, but it still contains many valuable works which have a limited circulation.
HINESBURGH, a post village located in the central part of the town, con- tains four churches (Cong., M. E., Baptist, and Christian), three stores, one tailor shop, a grist-mill, cheese-factory, hotel, a high school and Masonic hall, and about 400 inhabitants.
RHODE ISLAND CORNERS, a hamlet located in the northeastern part of the town, near Hinesburgh Pond, received its name from the fact of its having been originally settled by people from Rhode Island. It contains a church and about half a dozen houses.
MECHANICSVILLE, a hamlet situated in the northern part of the town, on Pond Brook, contains a woolen-mill, excelsior factory, grist-mill, wagon-shop, saw-mill, cheese and butter tub factory, cider-mill, iron foundry, carding-mill, and about twenty-eight dwellings. It was formerly called Patrick and Murray Corners.
Hinesburgh Woolen Mill .-- An- drew Dow, Nelson M. Nay and Isaiah Dow, in partner- ship, purchased the Hinesburgh Wool- en Mill, located at Mechanicsville, in the spring of 1856, and commenced the manufacture of woolen goods, where it has been (HINESBURGH WOOLEN MILL.) continued with varying degrees of success till the present time. It is now considered the best equipped mill of its size in the State. The building is heated and the dyeing done by steam generated in a thirty-horse power boiler, situated in a brick addition outside of the main building. The machinery is of the best make and most modern improvement. It has been brought to its present state of perfection by Isaiah Dow, he having been the sole proprietor for the past ten years. The stream on which the mill is located is one of the best and safest in the county. There are now a number of first-class unoc- cupied privileges on the stream, which should call the attention of mechanics, providing the town would bring them to their notice and give the mechanics reasonable support and encouragement. Hinesburgh has all the natural advantages for a large manufacturing business, and it should be developed. Mr. Dow now employs twelve operatives and turns out annually about $30,- 000.00 worth of goods.
The Union Cheese Factory, located on roads 14 and 16, built in 1871, is
RESIDENCE OF ISAIAH DOW, ESQ., HINESBURGH, VT.
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TOWN OF HINESBURGH.
owned by a stock company, who manufacture cheese from the milk of 250 COWS.
The Valley Cheese Factory, was established by a stock company in 1866. It receives the milk from 300 cows, manufacturing 60,000 lbs. of cheese annually.
Lorenzo Murray's Excelsior Manufactory, located on Pond Brook, was commenced in 1873, by the present proprietor. He employs three men and manufactures about one hundred tons of excelsior per year, using basswood and poplar.
Patrick's butter tub and cheese box manufactory and saw and cider-mill, located at Mechanicsville, was establishd by R. Patrick & Sons in 1868. The works now employ six men, who manufacture 5,000 feet of lumber per day, 3,000 butter tubs and 12,000 cheese boxes per annum, while the cider-mill has a capacity for making sixty barrels of cider per day.
Patrick's iron foundry, also located at Mechanicsville, was built in 1832, by Rufus Patrick, and run by him until 1876, when it was taken by his son, D. K. Patrick, who still carries on the business, manufacturing agricultural implements, employing four men.
The only settlers who resided in the town previous to the Revolution were Isaac Lawrence, from Canaan, Conn., and Abner Chaffee. Mr. Lawrence was given lot 26, of the second division, voted him by the proprietors in con- sideration for services rendered them in making roads. Mr. Chaffee lived at the south end of the village. At the beginning of the war they both left, and Mr. Lawrence returned again in 1783, and resided here until 1793, when he sold out to Epaphras Hull, from Wallingford, and removed to Canada. His family endured some of the severest hardships while here, being often in want of food. Mrs. Lawrence has said that she lived ten months at one time without seeing the face of any other woman, and that for one whole season the only food used by the family was dried pumpkins with the little mouldy flour that the children scraped from the inside of a barrel that had been wet. In 1784, Mr. Lawrence was joined by Jacob Meacham, from Rutland, Hez- ekiah Tuttle, from Williamstown, Mass., and Amos Andrews. In 1785, George McEuen, from New Milford, Conn., George Palmer, from Stoning- ton, Conn., Elisha Meech, Eliphaz and George Steele, Thomas Place, Thom- as Butler, Joseph Wilson, Thomas McFarland and Elkanah Billings came into the town, and were followed in 1786, by Alfred Smalley, Job Spafford, Azariah Palmer, Elisha Barber, Zadock Clark, Andrew Burritt, Jonathan Green, David Gates, Nathan Leavenworth, Nathan Leavenworth, Jr., James Gates, Zalmon Wheeler, Cornelius Hurlburt and Enoch Haskins. These were joined in 1787, by Elijah Peck, James Comings, Seth Bassett, Jonathan Marshall, Knaptaly Bishop, Lemuel Bostwick, Joseph Farrand, David Hill, Nathan Stuart, Thaddeus Stuart, Abraham Stuart, Eleazer Sprague, Lockwood Mead, Alpheus Mead, Simeon Hine, Robert McEuen, David Weller, Sam- uel Dorwin, Stephen Spaulding, Ezbon Noble, David Spencer, Ebenezer
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Stone, Moses Smalley and Jonas Shattuck, constituting an entire list of all who came previous to the organization of the town.
But one of the original proprietors, Andrew Burritt, ever settled in the town, though many of them were represented by their descendants. Mr. Burritt located in the southeastern part of the town, where he resided many years. He was blind a number of years previous to his death, which took place before that of his wife, at the age of ninety-six years, three months, and hers at ninety-five years and eight months. Not long before her death she remarked that she had lived so long she was almost ashamed of herself, and sometimes concluded the Lord had forgotten her, but thought she should fare well in the next world for being so good to " Dada," the name she gave her husband, while he was blind and helpless. They lived happily together for seventy years, and attained the greatest age of any settlers of the town.
The first proprietors' meeting was held at New Milford, Conn., on the last Friday of July, 1762, and continued to be held at that place from time to time, for the transaction of business, up to May 16, 1776. From that time to May 6, 1783, no meeting was held, owing to the unsettled times attending the Revolution. Soon after its close, however, May 16, 1783, the first meet- ing in the town was warned, through the public paper, notifying the proprie- tors "to meet at the house of Abner Chaffee in said Hinsburgh on the fifth Monday of June next." The meeting so warned was held, and Noble Hine chosen moderator and Isaac Hitchcock clerk. The first town meeting, at which the town was duly organized by the election of proper town officers, was warned by Isaac Tichenor, of Bennington, and held on the third Tuesday of March, 1787, at the house of Eliphaz Steele. Josiah Steele was chosen moderator ; Elisha Barber, town clerk ; Elisha Barber, George McEuen, and Eliphaz Steele, selectmen ; and Jacob Meacham, constable. Erastus Bost- wick held the office of town clerk from 1798 to 1838, forty years, and was the last survivor of the ancient officers. The first justice was Elisha Barber, chosen in 1787, and the first representative was Lemuel Bostwick, elected in 1789. The first child born in town was a son of Jacob Meacham, born April I, 1785, and was named Hine. The first death was that of a child of Elkanah Billings, who settled here in 1785.
On Pond Brook, which contains excellent mill sites, was erected the first mill. It is a small stream, heading in Hinesburgh Pond, a handsome sheet of water about a mile and a half in length by three-quarters of a mile in width, containing Rock, Grass, and Spruce islands. The latter, lying near the eastern side, is the largest, and is quite a resort for picnic parties.
The outlet of the pond is at the south end, where a dam seven feet high and three rods long is built, forming a good reservoir for the mills on the stream below, which courses along in a general southwesterly direction. It originally joined the LaPlotte to the southwest of the village, but now joins just west of it, as its course was changed by building a canal, through which its waters are carried to the village, where they afford a water-power of six-
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teen feet head. From the pond to the bridge near Rufus Patrick's, the brook has a fall of about thirty feet, and from there, in flowing three quarters of a mile, it falls 250 feet, affording mill privileges which are unexcelled, as the reservoirs above render them reliable throughout the year. The lots con- taining the best of these mill-sites were marked 53 and 54 on the original survey, and were purchased of the proprietors by Beriah Murray, of Clare- mont, N. H. Mr. Murray was a famous hunter at that time, and probably became acquainted with the spot on some of his excursions in search of game. He never located here himself, however, but sold the property to Lemuel Bostwick, and became an early settler in Williston. In 1791, Mr. Bostwick, in company with Daniel Sherman, erected a saw-mill, just above the site now occupied by Daniel Patrick's mill, the first built in the town. It was a cheap affair, however, after the fashion of the period, and lasted but a short time. In 1793, Mr. Bostwick erected a grist-mill just above the shop now occupied by John Edwin. It was a two story structure, containing two runs of stones and a bolt, operated by an overshot wheel situated outside of the building, the outer bearing resting on a stone, which, by the way, was well calculated to grind it off, as indeed it did in the course of a few years, and the mill stopped. Sometime between 1793 and 1800, Mr. Bostwick built a carding mill on the site now occupied by the grist-mill. It was supplied with machinery which carded the wool and formed into rolls, and though a rude affair, was considered at that time a model of mechanical genius, and, indeed, it was a matter of no small importance to the inhabitants, as previous to this all their carding had to be done by hand, or taken to Vergennes, where there was a mill. About this time Joseph Wilcox built a saw-mill some thirty or forty rods below, where the rocks formed a sort of natural dam, affording a head of eight or ten feet. A few years after this, about 1801, Mr. Bostwick, in company with Messrs. Eldridge and Peck, built a saw-mill a little to the northwest of the site now occupied by L. Murray's excelsior mill. The water was taken from the dam which supplied the card- ing mill, carried thither by a ditch which passed along where the road now is, or a little higher up the bank. In 1812, the bearings to the grist-mill wheel again were ground off, and it "stopped, never to go again," as a grist-mill.
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