USA > Vermont > Lamoille County > Gazetteer and business directory of Lamoille and Orleans counties, Vt., for 1883-84, pt 1 > Part 5
USA > Vermont > Orleans County > Gazetteer and business directory of Lamoille and Orleans counties, Vt., for 1883-84, pt 1 > Part 5
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39
Sept. Term, 1826
Alanson C. Burke ..
1835
George Wilkins.
June
1858
Philip K. Gleed.
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LAMOILLE COUNTY.
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.
The St. Johnsbury & Lake Champlain railroad, extending from Maquam bay to St. Johnsbury, crosses this county, passing through the towns of Cambridge, Johnson, Hyde Park, Morristown, and Wolcott. It was formerly called the Lamoille Valley railroad, and was completed through to Swanton, and the first train of cars passed over it on Tuesday, July 17, 1877. Soon after this, the road was completed from the village of Swanton to the bay, about two miles. The first train passed over this portion of the road August 23, 1877. The pres- ent officers of the company are Horace Fairbanks, of St. Johnsbury, presi- dent ; A. B. Jewett, superintendent ; W. P. Fairbanks, treasurer ; and G. H. Stevens, general freight and passenger agent.
The Burlington & Lamoille railroad connects with the St. Johnsbury & Lake Champlain railroad at Cambridge Junction. The company was organized February 24, 1875, under the general laws of the State, with William B. Hatch, of New York, president ; N. Parker, of Burlington, vice-president ; E. W. Peck, of Burlington, treasurer ; and D. C. Linsley, of Burlington, gen- eral manager. The construction of the road was commenced in May, 1875, and it was finished and opened for traffic July 2, 1877, extending from Bur- lington to Cambridge, a distance of thirty-five miles.
The Burlington & Northeastern railroad company was chartered last year, 1882, authorizing the construction of a road from Cambridge Junction to North Troy and Newport. Owing to uncertainties then existing regarding desired connections at Troy, Newport was named as a terminus, as a precau- tionary measure, though it will probably extend to North Troy. The loca- ting survey for the first ten miles, from Cambridge Junction to Johnson, has already been made, (March, 1883,) and as soon as the season opens, work will be begun in earnest.
NEWSPAPERS.
During the first half of the present century, began the establishment of a newspaper in Lamoille county, an important era in the growth of any com- munity, for it marks the sure progress of enterprise. Since that time, except two or three intervals of a short period each, the people have not been with- out a home paper.
The Christian Luminary, the first paper established in the county, was begun at Stowe, in September, 1830, issued by "a publishing committee," with Josiah Knight, contracting agent, and Rev. Jehiel P. Hendee, father of ex-Gov. Hendee, editor and proprietor. This was a small, semi-monthly sheet, continued about two years and a half. During the first year of its publication, Mr. Hendee set the type and carried the forms forty miles, to Danville, Vt., to have the press-work done. He then secured a small press . and did the printing at home. Among those who acted as his agents in the county, were Elder J. Moffit, of Johnson ; B. R. Carpenter, of Waterville,
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and Galen Palmer, of Wolcott. In a copy shown the writer, No. 13, Vol. II., issued February 25, 1833, was the following novel announcement :-
" Twenty-five per cent discount will be made to those who pay in advance [one dollar per annum], and the same will be added to those who neglect to pay at the end of the volume. All letters to the editor must be post-paid in order to secure due attention, unless containing one or more subscriptions."
The Vermont State Paper, published at Johnson, by C. G. Eastman, was established in 1838, and continued two years.
The Lamoille Express was then started by Mr. Eastman. This sheet passed into the hands of Wires & Co., who changed its title to the Lamoille Banner, and it finally expired, after a life of about thirty years,
The Scorpian, a campaign paper, was published at Johnson a short time, by Eastman & Co., in 1840.
The Lamoille Whig was commenced at Johnson, in 1840, by Joseph Po- land. After about two years Mr. Poland changed the title to the Lamoille Standard, and one year later sold out to W. B. Hyde, who started a paper called The Family Visitor, and issued twenty-five numbers, when his paper came out under the name of The Investigator ; but there were not six num- bers issued when it was discontinued, and there was no other paper issued in the county until 1850
The American Citizen was then commenced at Morrisville, by J. A. Som- erby. This was continued a short time, when the name was changed to the American Observer, which, after a short time, died out.
The Lamoille Newsdealer was commenced at Hyde Park, Friday, Novem- ber 30, 1860, by S. Howard, Jr. In August, 1864, it was purchased by Charles C. Morse, who enlarged it and continued its publication until April, 1867, when Col. E. B. Sawyer bought the property. Mr. Sawyer published the paper until May 10, 1870, when Mr. Morse again assumed control. On June 8, 1876, it passed into the hands of Lucius H. Noyes; his death, how- ever, February 4, 1877, left the paper without a head, though it was sus- tained by his estate until March 21, of that year. On that date its subscrip- tion list and good-will were purchased by A. A. Earle, then of the Vermont Citizen, who removed the office to Morrisville.
The Vermont Citizen was started at Morrisville, April 3, 1873, by A. A. Earle. November 17, 1881, Mr. Earle sold out to H. C. Fiske and L. H. Lewis, and the paper was united with the Lamoille News, to form the NEWS AND CITIZEN.
The Lamoille News was commenced at Hyde Park, April 18, 1877, by O. S. Basford. On August 21, 1878, the names of Armstrong & Lewis appeared on the paper as publishers, with Mr. Basford as editor. On November 20th, Mr. Basford retired, and on August 6, 1879, Mr. Armstrong also relinquished his connection with the publication. Mr. Lewis continued in charge alone until November 17, 1881, when H. C. Fiske joined him in the purchase of the Vermont Citizen, and after the 23d of that month the papers were united under the title of the NEWS AND CITIZEN.
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THE NEWS AND CITIZEN, whose history has thus already been told, is as bright and newsy a sheet as one would wish to meet. The editors, Messrs. Lewis & Fiske, illustrate by the paper they make each week, that they know what journalism is, and are not afraid to exert the energy necessary to bring their paper up to the standard. The Lamoille Publishing Co. also illustrate, by their workmanship, that they are fully competent and liberal enough to set forth their editors' work in an attractive form. The paper is ostensibly issued at Morrisville and Hyde Park, one of the editors residing in each village, though really the publishing office (is at Morrisville, and the job printing establishment at Hyde Park.
ABORIGINAL OCCUPANCY.
The territory embraced within the present limits of Vermont, previous to any occupation by Europeans, was claimed as a hunting-ground by several tribes of Indians who were hostile to each other, consequently it was often the scene of their savage wars, and constant invasion prevented its being made their permanent home. Indeed, it was Champlain's nominal purpose to help the Canadian Indians in their war with those in the region of the lake, that first brought him upon its waters. The Iroquois, or Five Nations, was a powerful confederacy composed of several tribes of Indians, who had planted themselves in Western New York, on the shores of Lakes Ontario and Erie, and were the inveterate enemies of the Canadian Indians. Champlain started from Quebec with about one hundred of the Canadian Indians, in 1609, and proceeded up the lake to the vicinity of Crown Point, where, on the western shore, as they had expected, they met a large party of Iroquois, who defied them. But, when Champlain, at a single fire of his arquebus, killed two chiefs and mortally wounded another, and another Frenchman fired from another quarter, they fled in alarm, ending the first battle fought on Lake Champlain.
The origin of the Indian cannot be determined by history, nor will calcula- tion ever arrive at a probable certainty. For a period of over two hundred years the subject has engrossed the attention of learned men, and yet the question, "By whom was America peopled ?" remains without satisfactory answer. In 1637, Thomas Morton wrote a book to prove that the Indians were of Latin origin. John Joselyn held, in 1638, that they were of Tartar descent. Cotton Mather inclined to the opinion that they were Scythians. James Adair seems to have been fully convinced that they were descendants of the Israelites, the lost tribes ; and, after thirty years' residence among them, published in 1775, an account of their manners and customs, from which he deduced his conclusions. Dr. Mitchell, after considerable investi- gation, concluded "that the three races, Malays, Tartars and Scandinavians, contributed to make up the great American population, who were the authors of the various works and antiquities found on the continent." De Witt Clin- ton held, that "the probability is, that America was peopled from various
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quarters of the old world, and that its predominant race is the Scythian or 'Tartarian." Calmet, a distinguished author, brings forward the writings of Hornius, son of Theodosious the Great, who affirms that "at or about the time of the commencement or the Christian era, voyages from Africa and Spain into the Atlantic ocean were both frequent and celebrated ;" and holds that " there is strong probability that the Romans and Carthagenians, even 300 B. C., were well acquainted with the existence of this country," adding that there are "tokens of the presence of the Greeks, Romans, Persians, and Carthagenians, in many parts of the continent." Then Priest, in his Ameri- can Antiquities, states that his observations had led him "to the conclusion that the two great continents, Asia and America, was peopled by similar races of men."
It is unnecessary, however, to add to this catalogue. No two authorities agree. Great faults have been charged against the Indians, and great faults they doubtless possessed when judged from the standpoint of a different civili- zation. Were the line strictly drawn, however, it might be shown that, as a whole, they compared favorably with nations upon whom light had fallen for sixteen hundred years. This at least appears to their credit, that among them there were none who were cross-eyed, blind, crippled, lame, hunch-backed or limping ; all were well-fashioned, strong in constitution of body, well propor- tioned, and without blemish. Until touched and warped by wrong treatment, wherever they were met, whether in Vermont, Canada, on the Potomac, the Delaware, or the Hudson, they were liberal and generous in their inter- course with the whites. More sinned against than sinning, they left behind them evidences of great wrongs suffered, their enemies being the witnesses.
Numerous arrow-heads, spear-points, etc., found in different localities throughout the county, prove that it was at one time certainly a favorite hunting-ground, if not their permanent home. The Indians who claimed this territory, and the territory west of it to the vicinity of the Connecticut river, were a branch of the Abenaqui tribe, whose chief location, in modern times, has been at St. Francis. There was always an intimate connection between them and the Indians at St. Francis, and they have been commonly spoken of, by American writers, as St. Francis Indians; and yet they had the distinguishing appellation of Coossucks, which is descriptive of the country where their principal lodge was. Coos, in the Abenaqui languages signifies the pines, and this name was applied by the Indians to two sections of coun- try upon the Connecticut river, one above the Fifteen-mile falls, about Luen- . burg, and the other below, about Newbury, on account of the great abund- ance of white pine timber in those places ; and the termination, suck, signi- fies river, so that Co-os-suck, signified the river of the pines.
The Coossucks and St. Francis Indians, who always acted on the part of the French in the wars between the French and English colonies, were for many years the most blood-thirsty and cruel enemies that the frontier settle- ments of New England had to encounter. Two of these Indians, Capt. Joe
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-and Capt. John, were known for years among the early settlers. The former once resided on the banks of a pond in Morristown whence it received its present name, Joe's Pond. Joe was mild and inoffensive in his disposition, and used to boast that he had never pointed a gun at a man. When he be- came old and unable to support himself, the legislature of Vermont granted him an annual pension of $70.00 a year. He died at Newbury, February 19, 1819, aged about eighty years, and with him fell the last of the Coossucks.
Capt. John was the opposite of Joe in disposition, being fierce and cruel. He held a captain's commission during the revolution, and, at the head of a party of Indians, was attached to the American army, which captured Bur- goyne, and was also in the battle in which Braddock was defeated. He used to relate that he was knocked down by a British officer, whom he after- wards shot, and that he tried to shoot young Washington, but could not hit him. When under the excitement of strong drink, he exulted in the relation of his former deeds of barbarity, among which he told how he mutilated a woman taken at Fort Dummer, by cutting off her breasts, and would imitate her shrieks and cries of distress.
In Cambridge there is a place called Indian hill, where hatchets, arrows, and many other relics were found. In the early part of the century, a party of the St. Francis Indians tarried for a time on this hill, and hunted and fished in the neighborhood, and as late as 1840, a number of families from the St. Francis Indians came into the town and encamped and made baskets and bark dishes for a while.
WHEN FIRST SETTLED BY THE WHITES.
The first settlement in the county was made in May, 1783, when John Spafford located in Cambridge. He came on from Pierpont, N. H., and cleared two acres of land, which he planted with corn, and then proceeded to build a Jog house, covering it with bark. Most of his crop of corn was destroyed by an overflow of the Lamoille river, but what was left he harvested in the autumn, and returned to New Hampshire for his wife and two children.
In this small cabin, furnished with no windows, and with a bed-quilt for a door, they passed the first winter, their nearest neighbors being in Jericho, a distance of twenty miles, and the nearest road the Hazen road in Craftsbury. Mr. Spafford suffered many hardships and privations. On one occasion he took a grist on a hand-sled and went down the river on the ice to Colchester Falls, twenty-five miles, to get it ground. On his return, when a number of miles from home, being very hungry and fatigued, he struck a fire, wet up some of the meal in the top of the bag, baked it and ate his supper, and then resumed his journey. Mrs. Spafford sat up until late at night wait- ing for him to return, but as he did not come, she retired, and dreamed that her husband was calling for help. She awoke, but, as all was still, soon fell asleep and dreamed the same again, and awakening the second time arose,
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and taking a torch went down to the river, where she found her husband nearly exhausted from fatigue, and unable to get up the bank.
The summer following Mr. Spafford's settlement, Amos Fassett, Stephen Kinsley, John Fassett, and Samuel Montague, from Bennington, and Noah Chittenden, from Arlington, came on and joined him, their farms all joining each other. In 1785, the first saw-mill was erected, which gave the settlers an opportunity for covering their houses and furnishing.them with floors and doors. Mrs. Spafford died in January, 1839, aged eighty-two years, and in April, 1840, Mr. Spafford died, aged eighty four years.
From this time forward the settlement of the county became quite rapid, as pioneers began to locate in all parts of the territory now included within its limits ; but the record of these early settlements properly belongs to the towns wherein they occurred, so to those lists, in another part of the work, we refer the reader. At the taking of the first census, in 1791, Cambridge had a population of 359, Elmore 12, Hyde Park 43, Johnson 93, Morristown 10, and Wolcott 32, making a total of 549 for the whole county as it now is.
LAND TITLE CONTROVERSY.
Lamoille county had no population to take part in the scenes of strife that occurred between the people of New York and the New Hampshire grants ; but as many of the early settlers came from the southern part of the State, where they had been actively engaged in the quarrel with their New York cousins, the subject deserves at least a passing notice.
The settlements made in the State previous to the year 1741, were sup- posed to be within the jurisdiction of Massachusetts ; but during that year it was ascertained that they were north of its northern line, and within the sup- posed jurisdiction of New Hampshire, This idea met with no opposition until 1763, when the population of the New Hampshire Grants had become quite large. But during that year New York laid claim to the territory, by virtue of a grant made by Charles II. to the Duke of York, in 1664, which included "all the land from the west side of the Connecticut river, to the east side of Delaware Bay." Upon application of the government of New York, it was decided by George III., in council of July 20th, 1764, that the western bank of the Connecticut river should thereafter be regarded as the boundary line between that State and New Hampshire. The colonists were surprised and displeased at this decision, but peaceably submitted to it sup- posing that it merely effected a change of the jurisdiction to which they were subject ; and the government of New Hampshire, which at first remonstrated, soon acquiesced in the decision. But on the 10th of April, 1765, Lieutenant- Governor Colden, of New York, issued a proclamation, giving a copy of the order of the King, changing the boundary of the territory, and notifying His Majesty's subjects to govern themselves accordingly." He also at once pro- ceeded to grant the lands to others than the New Hampshire claimants, and
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when the latter applied to the New York government for a confirmation of the grants they already held, such enormous patent fees were demanded as to make it impossible for them to comply.
It was well known in New York that these lands had long been granted by New Hampshire, that they were actually occupied under such grants, and that the new patents were procured in utter disregard of the rights and claims of the settlers. It was also well-known by them that the King, in commissioning Benning Wentworth governor of New Hampshire, had described his province as reaching westward " until it met his other governments," thus bounding it westerly by New York, and that the eastern boundary of New York was a line twenty miles easterly from the Hudson river, extending from Lake Cham- plain south to the western line of Massachusetts, was proven by the charter of the Duke of York, upon his accession to the throne, in 1685. But not- withstanding all this, New York insisted that not only was the jurisdiction changed thenceforward, but also that the grants made were vacated, and that the titles acquired under them were made void. The settlers were required to re-purchase their lands, which some of them did, though the great majority of them peremptorily refused. The lands of such were granted to others, who brought actions of ejectment in the New York courts, where they in- variably obtained judgment against the original proprietors. It was found, however, that it was easier to obtain judgments than it was to enforce them. The officers who attempted to serve the writs of possession were forcibly re- sisted, and sometimes very roughly handled.
Thus the quarrel continued for full a quarter of a century. In 1769, the king prohibited the governor of New York from issuing any more grants "until His Majesty's further pleasure should become known." Meanwhile civil disturbances and open defiance to the New York athorities continued to such an extent, that in 1774, a law was passed by that State, ordering the surrender of offenders under penalty of death. In reply, the people of the grants returned a public letter, threatening death to any who should aid in arresting any of her citizens. About this time a plan was made for the for- mation of a royal province, but the Revolutionary war soon absorbed every other interest. In 1789, New York acknowledged the independence of Ver- mont, and endeavored to adjust all matters of dispute, having previously made grants to those who had suffered by adhering to her allegiance, while Ver- mont in turn paid into the treasury of New York, thirty thousand dollars.
REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
With Vermont, the Revolutionary contest possessed a double interest, and while she lent her aid to redress national grievances, she also maintained a spirited contest on her own account, resolving to secure her independence from New York. The territory treated of in this work, however, has none of the romantic stories and traditions of this period that grace the annals of
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localities earlier settled. The people of the New Hampshire Grants, as may well be supposed, entered with an especially hearty zeal, into this contest .. Their schooling had been such as to render them an exceedingly undesirable foe to meet, as a large portion of the settlers had served in the French and Indian war, and during the twelve or fifteen years that had intervened, had been almost continuously at strife with New York, and entertained a feeling of deadly hatred against King George and the British parliament. It is not strange, then, that the " Green Mountain Boys " were soon both feared and. respected by their adversaries. The surrender of Cornwallis, at Yorktown,. October 17, 1781, virtually put an end to all these troubles, and the "Green Mountain Boys" were soon again enjoying the privileges of peace.
WAR OF 1812.
The yoke of the mother country having been thrown off, the American col- onies rapidly advanced in progress. Vermont expanded into a free and in- dependent State, and was finally annexed to the Union, March 4, 1791. In the mean time, the French nation, Jed by Napoleon Bonaparte, had arrived at the zenith of military glory, and was giving England great cause for fear and trembling. England, in turn, seeming to forget that her American off- spring had arrived at maturity, and was able to protect its own institutions,. continued her acts of tyranny. Looking upon herself as mistress of the ocean, during her wars with Napoleon, she utterly disregarded the rights of the United States as a neutral nation. Her cruisers would stop and search American vessels, and seize such able-bodied seamen as were needed, on the. pretext that they were British subjects. An American frigate, not in a con- dition to resist, having been subjected to this indignity, almost within sight. of an American port, after receiving several broadsides for denying the right of such search, the President issued a proclamation ordering all British ships- of-war to quit the waters of the United States. Congress also laid an em- bargo on American vessels, detaining them at home, but afterwards substi- tuted a non-intercourse act, prohibiting trade with Great Britain. All inter- course between this State and the people of Canada was prohibited, without a permit from the governor, under a penalty of $1,000.00 fine and imprison- ment at hard labor in the State penitentiary for the term of seven years.
Notwithstanding all this, England persisted in her offensive course. All: hopes of obtaining concessions on the impressment question from her were at length abandoned. George III., who was still on the throne, had become- insane, and the men who had managed affairs, were as short-sighted as his advisers had been forty years before, whose folly had provoked the revolution. Longer submission to their arrogant claims was deemed unworthy of .a free- nation, and war was therefore formally declared by the United States, June 18, 1812. The majority of the people of Vermont considered the declara- tion of war rash and imprudent, believing that the required issue could have-
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been brought about by legislation ; but notwithstanding this feeling, the gen- eral assembly of the State passed the following resolution :-
"The constituted authorities of our country having declared war between the United States and Great Britain and dependencies, it is our duty as citizens to support the measure, otherwise we sould identify ourselves with the enemy, with no other difference than that of locality. We therefore pledge ourselves to each other and to our government, that with our individual exertions, our example and influence, we will support our government and country in the present contest, and rely on the great Arbiter of events for a favorable result."
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