USA > Vermont > Windham County > Gazetteer and business directory of Windham county, Vt., 1724-1884 > Part 37
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Johno A Kannwith
297
TOWN OF ROCKINGHAM.
W. E. Knight & Son's carriage manufactory, located at Saxton's River, was built by Ransom Farnsworth, in 1870, and has been operated by the present firm about two years.
Saxton's River Hotel, Marshall A Wilder, proprietor, was built by Jonathan Barron previous to 1820. A. K. Wilder, the present proprietor's father, run the house from 1859 until his death, June 1, 1865.
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
The precise date of the first settlement of Rockingham is not known, though Thompson, in his Gazetteer of Vermont, says "the settlement of the township commenced in 1753. by Moses Wright, Joel Bigelow and Simon Knight, who emigrated from Massachusetts." The Indians held undisputed sway in the territory of Vermont long after powerful settlements had been made in Massachusetts; and the Great Falls, as Bellows Falls was then known, being in a direct line of the trail taken by the northern tribes in their predatory incursions into the latter State, was always one of their principal halting places. This was doubtless largely due to the large numbers of fish that gathered in the eddy below the falls. It is said that at a much later date the river was at times almost packed with shoals of shad and salmon, so great was their abundance. Shad were not found above this point, but the salmon, incredible as it may appear, would make their way up the falls to the level above.
The first record we have of a white man's visit to the township occurrred in 1704. In March of that year the celebrated attack on Greenfield, Mass., was niade, by 240 Canadian Indians. On their return to Canada with 112 prisoners, the marauding party halted in Rockingham, near the mouth of Williams river, to allow their prisoners to rest. This halting place was about half a mile from the mouth of the stream, traditionally identical with the old Methodist camp-meeting ground. The day was the Sabbath, and among the unfortunate ones was the Rev. John Williams and his family, and he here preached a sermon, probably the first delivered in the county, selecting as his text Lamentations i: 18: " The Lord is righteous ; for I have rebelled against his commandments. Hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow ; my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity." Some of Mr. Wil- liams's descendents became eminent citizens of Vermont.
According to the conditions of the charter, the first legal meeting of the proprietors was held on the last Wednesday in March, 1753, Benjamin Bel- lows presiding as moderator, when, among other things, it was voted-
"To lay out to each proprietor a house-lot, and that the seventy-two house- lots be laid out in three or more several places; that all the meadow or intervale lands, lying on Connecticut and Williams rivers, be divided into seventy-two lots, being one for each proprietor."
Andrew Gardner, Benjamin Bellows, Jonathan Bigelow, Stephen Farns- worth and Asahel Stebbins were appointed a committee to lay out lands, and
298
TOWN OF ROCKINGHAM.
were authorized "to lay all ye meadow and intervale lands lying upon al' ye small rivers into seventy-two lots, and take a plan of all ye lands in said town." And were further instructed " to couple all ye various lots into equal divisions, in all making seventy-two, so that ye drawing might be made at one time."
Thus, each of the seventy-two proprietors would at once come into posses- sion of all his lands, each one receiving a house-lot, a river lot and a lot on some small stream. The committee was also directed "to select and lay out six acres for a meeting-house place." Andrew Gardner, Salvenus Hast- ings, and John Grant were chosen assessors ; Benjamin Bellows, proprietors clerk and collector of taxes.
Gov. Benning Wentworth was interested in the settlement of Rockingham on account of the excellent masting for ships obtained in this section, and came here personally to make examinations and to take measures " for better securing the masting trees from being cut and telled," as they had, by charter. been secured for " the masting of his majesty's navy." Through his instru- mentality the saw-mills were erected, one at the place now known as Brock- way's mills, and the other near the mouth of Saxton's river.
The next meeting, called at the request of the legal inhabitants, was held at the house of Jonathan Bigelow, on Wednesday, the 29th of May, of the same year, Esquire Bellows presiding. This fact, together with his fortu- nate choice of lands, led to his becoming a man of great choice among the early settlers. The report of the committee to lay out lands was accepted. and the lands were drawn by lot, as laid out. Mr. Bellows took the lower meadow, with the lands around the same, for twenty-one house lots; also lands on Saxton's river, in all forty-eight acres. He also had liberty to pick five more three-acre meadow-lots, in any undivided meadow-lands, which be might choose. A part of the lower meadow is owned by his descendants to this day. But both he and John Kilburn, though owning these lands in Rockingham, resided just across the river, in Walpole, N. H. They were generous, public-spirited men, and deeply interested in the welfare of the own and adjoining settlements. When the inhabitants became alarmed in consequence of Indian depredations in the vicinity, they would at once seek the protection of these brave men. A fort, known as the " Bellows Fort." of which there yet remain indications, was erected on the summit of a hill north of the house afterwards occupied by the family, and was supplied with a heavy iron gun furnished by the royal government for the public protection, while Mr. Bellows usually had in his employ a large number of men, well-armed for defensive warfare. Mr. Kilburn's house stood further north, upon a terrace west of the Abenaqui Springs. Here occurred the " Kilburn Fight," in which 400 Indians were repulsed by four men and two women, after which the Indians returned to Canada and never again appeared in Walpole. Mr. K.+ burn died in April, 1789, aged eighty-five years, and was buried in the Wai- pole cemetery.
299
TOWN OF ROCKINGHAM.
Benjamin Bellows was proprietor's clerk until 1760, when Joshua Webb was chosen town clerk. In 1761 Moses Wright was elected to this office. About this time some anxiety was manifested in regard to the charter, doubts perhaps arising as to whether all its provisions had been complied with ; for, at a legal meeting held July 17, 1760, it was voted " that Benjamin Bellows get ye town charter renewed or lengthened out." But nothing further relative to the subject is found in the town records. At this meeting, also, it was voted to set off ninety acres of land to Michael Lovell, as encouragement for bim to build a good saw-mill and to keep it in repair for fifteen years from date. This land was so set off, where Lovell had already begun the erec- tion of a inill. It was agreed that he should saw for the proprietors of the township at one-half the mercantile rate, or at their option for one half the boards, he receiving, as further remuneration, the lot of land No. 15. This saw-mill was located on Williams river, and was probably the first erected in the town. The nearest grist-mill at this time belonged to Col. Bellows, in Walpole, N. H., was located on the small stream now known as Blanchard's brook.
The first census of Rockingham, of which there is any account, was taken in 1771. There were then in the township 225 souls, fifty of whom were heads of families, or married men. The enumeration was as follows : forty- eight white males under sixteen years of age ; sixty-two over sixteen ; four over sixty ; fifty-two white females under sixteen ; fifty-seven over sixteen ; one colored male and one colored female, whose ages are not known. These blacks were formerly slaves in Massachusetts, and were then in the employ of Mr. Lovell. From this time forward, however, the population rapidly in- creased, so that the next census, taken in 1791, shows the number of inhabi- tants to have been 1,235.
The delegates from Rockingham to the first general assembly of Vermont, held at Windsor, commencing March 12, 1778, were Joshua Webb and Dr. Reuben Powers.
Dr. Reuben Jones was one of the early settlers of Rockingham, and for a time was the only physician and surgeon in the town. The doctor was a staunch Whig and a man of patriotic temperament. He was clerk of the meeting held in Westminster, April 11, 1775, " to devise means to resist the progress of oppression " He was a delegate, with Joshua Webb, to the Dorset convention, September 25, 1776, and was for three years a representative of Rockingham in the general assembly. At the time of the court troubles in Westminster, Dr. Jones mounted his horse and rode hatless all the way to Dummerston, calling the people " to arms." He was very generous and hospitable, but so extremely extravagant that he became deeply involved in debt, and was confined in the debtor's prison in 1785. Effecting his escape, he was re-arrested, but was finally rescued from the officers by his friends. On the arrival of Dr. Cutler in town, Dr. Jones removed to Chester, and was a representative of that town in the general assembly.
Gúnyle
300
TOWN OF ROCKINGHAM.
Elias Olcott was born in Bolton, Conn., and came to Rockingham in 1763, at the age of nineteen years. He died October 29, 1794. He married Sibyl Dutton, who died August 27, 1802, aged seventy-five. His son Elias was born in Rockingham, and married Fanny Hastings, of Charlestown, N. H. He died in 1854, aged eighty-three or eighty-four. Elias Olcott, one of the latter's numerous children, was born in Rockingham, and married Charlotte Divall, of this town, who died April 7, 1858, leaving one son, Oscar D., who with his father, lives on Atkinson street, in Bellows Falls. The farm on which the elder Olcott settled has been in the Olcott family since 1763.
Joshua Webb, a native of Windham, Conn., came to Westminster in 1766. In the following spring he removed to the northwest part of Rockingham, where he remained a year, when he returned to Westminster. In the spring of 1777, he again came to this town, and settled on road 30, on the farm which has since been owned by the Webb family, six generations of which have lived upon it. He was the first representative of the town, and sus- tained that relation during fourteen or fifteen successive years. He married Hannah Abbe, of Windham, Conn., by whom he had eleven children, all of whom were born in Connecticut. He died here April 17, 1808, aged eighty- six ; and his wife, in 1815, in her ninetieth year. His son Calvin came with him to Rockingham, and settled on the farm now occupied by Joseph Carl- ton. Ethan B. Webb, son of Calvin, was born on that farm and spent his life there. He died March 15, 1872, aged eighty-eight. He married Fanny Burnham, of Chester, Vt., who died September 24, 1876, aged seventy-nine. Three of their children, Sarah, Carlton E., and Emily, live in this town. Another daughter, Fanny, lives in Walpole, N. H. Luther Webb, another son of Joshua, was three years old when his father came here. He had seven children, only two of whom are living, Joseph M. and Lucinda, both in this town, on the homestead farm, on which the former was born, September 23, 1803. Lucinda is ninety years old. Joseph M. married Elizabeth Foster, of Whitestown, N. Y., by whom he had three children, two of whom, William J., who was born August 29, 1843, and Emma E., who was born July 30, 1855, are living, both in this town, the latter with her parents.
Ebenezer Allbee, a native of Massachusetts, came to Rockingham before the Revolution. His son John, who was born in this town, had twelve chil- dren. He died here at the age of fifty-eight. Samuel Allbee, son of John, was born here and lives on the farm on which his father died. He is now in his ninetieth year. Two of his sons, Simon S. and Lewis, reside in this town, the former with his father, and the latter on road 7. Lewis married Sarah K. Thayer, granddaughter of Captain William Thayer, a native of Massachusetts, who came to Rockingham in 1789, and settled where Lewis Allbee now lives, where he died in May, 1830, in accordance with his prediction that he would die as soon as a stick on which he was whittling had been brought to a point. His son William Thayer, was born on the farm in question, in June, 1790, and died December 27, 1854. He was a captain in the State militia, and a member of the State legislature for two terms.
Gúnyle
30
TOWN OF ROCKINGHAM.
Ebenezer Locke, from New Hampshire, settled in Rockingham about 1780. He married Phebe Marcy and had nine children, one of whom, Lewis, is living in Chester, and another, Henry, who lived with his son, in Westminster, and died January 6, 1884, in his eightieth year.
Jonas Proctor, a native of Stoddard, N. H., came to Rockingham in 1783, at the age of three years, and died in 1858. His son Nathan, who was born here in 1809, is living on road 28. His wife was Harriet, daughter of Peter Dorand, and granddaughter of Solomon Wright, who was the first male child born in Rockingham.
Jonathan Barry, who was a native of Lynn, Mass., removed thence to Rockingham, and was one of the first settlers in this town. He bought a large tract of land in the southwest corner of the town, which he divided among his sons, John, Asa, Joel, and Samuel. He and Samuel Ober were the first deacons of the old Congregational church, in the central part of the town. His son John married Thankful L. Cone, of Westminster. Joel, who was born in Rockingham, married Hannah, daughter of Samuel Ober, and had three chil- dren, all of whom are living, Kendal P. in Saxton's River, Mary A. in Marlboro, N. H., and Lucius M. in Wardsboro, Vt. Kendal P., who mar- ried Clarissa Perry, a native of Hancock, N. H., has two sons living in this town, Lucius P. and Milton P.
Peter Nourse, a native of Danvens, Mass., married Lydia Low, of Ipswich, Mass., and came to Rockingham from Jaffray, N. H., in 1791. He settled in the northwest part of the town and died in 1833 or '34, aged ninety-three. He had eight sons and three daughters. His son Daniel, who was born in Fitchburg, Mass., and came to Rockingham with his father when twelve years old, married Nancy George, of Topsham, Vt., and succeeded his father on the homestead farm. He died at Saxton's River in 1865, aged eighty-three. George R. Nourse, son of Daniel G., grandson of Daniel, and great-grandson of Peter, the pioneer settler, has resided at Bellows Falls since 1867.
Deacon Albee, an early settler in Rockingham, lived on the farm now owned by Walter Wiley. His son John, who was born here, married Sophia Smith and had a numerous family. They died here. Their son John, who is also a native of this town, married Belinda Prentiss, of Westminster, Vt., by whom he had eight children, six of whoin are living. One son, Charles P., married Hattie L. Griswold, of Rockingham, and is living in this town.
Robert Wiley married Abigail Campbell, of New Boston, Mass., and removed thence to Rockingham at an early day. They located where the widow of John Moar now lives, and both died here, he, January 27, 1826, aged fifty-eight, and his wife, May 6, 1844, aged sixty-nine. She fell into the fire-place in a fit and burned to death. Four of their eight children sur- vive them. One, Ira, lives in Westminster. John W., 2d, son of Robert, who is living in Greenfield, Mass., was born in Rockingham, and married Randilla Weaver, of this town. He had nine children, four of whom are liv- ing, two in Illinois, and two, H. I. and M. W., in Rockingham. H. I. lives
302
TOWN OF ROCKINGHAM.
on the old homestead, where all the children were born, and M. W. at Sax- ton's River, where his father died, February 10, 1866. The latter married. October 2, 1855, Eliza M. French, of Alstead, N. H., who died August 1. 1879, leaving two children, Corinne E. and Ernest.
Samuel Ober, a native of Jaffray, N. H., came to Rockingham from Salem. Mass., at an early day, and crossed the Connecticut river on a raft of logs. in company with Messrs. Bellows and Lovell. He first settled at the Center. but subsequently removed to Saxton's River, where he bought 200 acres, and died at the age of eighty-eight years. He was for thirty years deacon of the first church organized in the town. His son Isaac was born in Rockingham and spent his life here, with the exception of a few years spent in Manchester. Vt., where he married Lydia Wilkins. He died here about 1859 or'60, aged sixty-seven years. Hezekiah, son of Isaac, was born in Manchester, Vt., and came to Rockingham when young. In 1839 he went to the north part of the State, to Canada, and various other places, returning in 1872 to Rock- ingham, where he now lives. He is a mason by trade. Patten B., another son of Isaac, was born here and now lives on road 51. He married Lucy A. Minard, by whom he has five children.
James Walker came to Rockingham at an early day. He hewed the tim- ber for the first meeting-house built in the town.
Samuel O. Adams, from Acton, Mass., removed in 1789 to Cavendish, Vt. where his eldest son, Mark W., was born, May 22, 1790. The family removed to Rockingham and settled on the meadows in the northeast part of the town. where Mark spent the remainder of his life, and died in 1835, aged seventy- eight. In 1816 Mark married Philena Allbee, by whom he had three sons and two daughters, three of whom are living, Lucius W. and Mrs. L. A. Barry, of Rockingham, and Hiram E., of Burlington.
John Davis lived and died in Rockingham. His son Eri L. was born here and lived where his son Hubbard B. now resides He died in 18;5. aged seventy-three. The old homestead has been owned by the Davis family for fifty years or more.
Capt. Ebenezer Lovell, Jr., came to Rockingham from Worcester, Mass .. at an early day. He was a recruiting officer in the war of 1812, and was chosen captain of a militia company at Saxton's River when sixteen years old. He afterwards removed to Putney, where two of his sons, Henry M. and John B., now reside. He died in Walpole, N. H., in 1865.
Henry Davis came to Rockingham from Groton, Mass., at an early day He died in Grafton about 1853. His son Henry was born in Rockingham in 1784, and lived in Orange and Washington counties for a number of years but returned to Rockingham, where he died about 1864, in his eightieth year
Levi Sabin came to Rockingham some time previous to 1800. He was a physician and a prominent man in the town. He had a large family. Dea E. S. Sabin, of Saxton's River is one of his sons, Another son, William Culler. was born in Rockingham, where he spent most of his life. He was for many
303
TOWN OF ROCKINGHAM.
years a deacon of the Congregational church. He died in Westminster. He had four children, only one of whom, Henry W., is living. Another son, William J., was born in Rockingham in 1827, and lived there until 1857, when he removed to road 7 in Westminster, where he died in 1881. He married Adeline Knight and had three children, all of whom are living on the farm on which he settled in Westminster.
John C. Wolf, a German and a farmer, was an early settler in Rockingham. He located about two miles from Saxton's River, and struck the first blow on the farm on which he lived. He was twice married and had thirteen children, only one of the younger of whom, Ouida, is now living. She married George Willard, of Charleston, N. H., who died in Colorado in 1875.
John D. Barry came to Rockingham from Massachusetts previous to 1800 and settled where his son William S. was born and now resides, at the end of road 40}. He died here at the age of fifty-six. William S. inarried Annie Dickinson of this town and has five children, two of whom, Walter W. and Mary A., live in Rockingham.
Brigadice Brown, from Cohasset, Mass., was one of the early settlers in Springfield, Vt., to which town he came with his young wife, on horseback, in company with a party of friends, in 1792. They camped in the forest while preparing log dwellings. Abel Brown, one of his younger sons, married Pris- cilla Hodgkins, of Chester, and had ten children, only two of whom are living. Elias, a farmer in Grafton, and Amos H., of Bellows Falls. The latter was the youngest son. Born in Springfield, he lived with his father until he became of age. He then learned the trade of a machinist and pursued that business for ten years, also conducting the woolen business at Perkinsville until 1858. From that time until 1878 he did an extensive wholesale grain business, with headquarters at Caremont, N. H., where he owned a large mill. In 1878 he purchased the stove and tin business he now conducts at Bellows Falls, and took up his residence there.
John Wiley came to Rockingham from Peterboro, N. H., about 1815, where he was born May 13, 1786, and settled in the central part of the town, where he pursued the vocation of a farmer, and died in 1861, aged seventy-five years. He married Mary Perry and raised twelve children, eight of whom, are living, five in Rockingham, one in Springfield, Vt., one in Fitchburg, Mass., and one, Thomas W., in Westminster, Vt. Three of the children were born in Peterboro,-Samuel, in 1810, Mary J., Oct. 8, 1812, and Rodney, in March, 1815. The nine children born here were Catherine, Thomas W., Frederick, Hamilton S., Sarah S., George, Harriet, Caroline and John.
Xenophan Earle, a native of Chester, Vt., came to Rockingham about 1812 or '13. He died here February 15, 1875, aged seventy-five. His son Ira L. was born in Rockingham and married Maria A. Graves of this town. He was a locomotive engineer for thirty-four years, but discontinued that busi- ness in March, 1882, and is now an ice dealer, residing on the street which bears his name. He has two children, Mary and Edward, the latter of whom is a locomotive engineer and lives in Windsor, Vt.
Gúnyle
304
TOWN OF ROCKINGHAM.
Samuel and Rufus Guild, twin brothers, and natives of Dedham, Mass., married sisters, Annie and Mary Hoadley, of New Hampshire, and in 1804 removed to Bellows Falls, where they engaged in the lumber business. Samuel was killed in 1824 by a log which he was rolling into the river. His son Samuel, who was born in Langdon, N. H., where his father resided for ten or twelve years before his removal here, was a paper maker, and set and operated the first paper machine used in Vermont. He was foreman of one of the mills at the Falls for years. He married Roxanna Stevens, and died here at an advanced age. Two sons and two daughters are living. One son, William lives in Brattleboro, and the other, George O., is a dry goods merchant in Bellows Falls, in which business he has been engaged since 1861. George O. was born in Claremont, N. H.
Theophilus Hoit was the eldest of the two sons of Theophilus and Sabrina (Shaw) Hoit. He was born in Westmoreland, N. H., February 19, 1813, and continued to reside with his parents in that town, attending school win- ters and working on the farm summers, until the June after he was fifteen years of age, when he went to Sharon, Vt., to learn the trade of wool carding, cloth dressing, and weaving ingrain carpets. Business of this kind was thriv- ing in those days, when every family sent their wool to be carded and had their cloth spun and woven from the rolls and then dressed, especially when it was designed for their best or "Sunday clothes." While at Sharon he also learned to manufacture cassimeres. In April, 1833, he entered the employ of Faulkner & Colony, of Keene, N. H., who were at that period quite exten- sive wool carders and cloth dressers. He remained there two years, when he tried to better his fortunes, by removal, in March, 1835, to Saxton's River, where he manufactured satinets for J. F. Butler, who soon failed. The busi- ness was continued, however, by Ami Smith, who soon formed a co-partner- ship known as Smith, Wentworth & Bingham. Mr. Hoit continued in the employ of these different firms until 1836, when, taking the little treasure that by honest industry and frugality he had laid up, he started for the great West, then, as now, the el Dorado of all who were seeking to improve their financial status. For the next few months we find him exhibiting those Yankee traits of industry and perseverance which have so often led to success. He worked on the streets of the infant city of Chicago, drove a freight team, worked as a carpenter, a farmer, and as a clerk in a store in Milwaukee during the second year of its growth. We then find him running a saw-mill near the present city of Niles, Mich., and here he invested his hard earned treasure in city lots, only to see it vanish in the panic of 1837. In April, 1838, he determined to leave the illusive West, with its broad prairies and its flattering promises of easy fortunes, and return to sterile New England, which yields her fortunes only to those who woo her with constant toil and careful economy. He arrived at Saxton's River in May of that year, and again entered the service of Ami Smith in the old woolen factory, where he continued until the autumn of 1846, when he began the manufacture of
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