USA > Vermont > Windham County > Gazetteer and business directory of Windham county, Vt., 1724-1884 > Part 47
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John Minard, whose father, Isaac Minard, was an early settler in Rock- ingham, was born in that town in 1798. He came to Westminster some fifty years ago and settled on the farm now occupied by his son John B., who is a lister of the town. He took an active part in town affairs and held the offices of selectman and lister. He died in 1882. Five of his six children are living.
Levi Kimball came to Windham from Amherst, N. H., about 1820, and to Westminster about 1835, locating on the farm now occupied by his son Harry H. He had ten children, none of whom are living. He died about 1870.
John B. Keech was born in Westminster in 1840, and is now living on road 37. He enlisted in Co. F, Ist Vt. Cav., and served about a year. He was disabled by paralysis, caused by a fall from his horse, which fell upon him.
Roswell Powers was born in Athens about 1808, and came to Westminster about 1845, locating where his son Joseph M. now lives. His father, Stephen Powers, was an early settler in Athens, to which town he removed from Chesterfield, N. H., and resided there till his death, about 1811.
Peter Mayo was born in Milton, Chittenden county, in 1815, and came to Westminster in 1843. He now resides on road 37, and is engaged in milling.
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TOWN OF WESTMINSTER.
Prof. LaFayette Ward was born in Wardsboro in 1824, and graduated from Dartmouth college in 1847. He taught successfully at Saxton's River, Bel- lows Falls and Westminster, and at Bernardston, Mass. He was superin- tendent of schools at Northampton, Mass. He made his home in Westmin- ster from 1853 until his death, in 1882. He represented his town in the leg- islature, and was a member of the board of education. His widow and son reside on road 34.
Pliny Fisher was born in Townshend, September 10, 1803, and resided there till 1860, when he came to Westminster and settled on road 31. He married Mary A. Farr, who died June 30, 1880. His three children are O. L., who resides with his father ; Rollin B., who lives in Boston ; and Ellen M., wife of Clark Chase, who resides at Bellows Falls.
M. W. Davis, son of Micha Davis, was born in Athens, March 30, 1822, and resided there until 1862, when he settled on road 10, in Westminster, on the farm he now occupies, which is known as Riverdale farm, and is one of the finest in the town. It was first settled by the Church brothers. Mr. Davis has been a surveyor for the last forty years. He represented the town of Athens in 1856, and has been a member of the State board of agriculture for the last four years. He married Mary S. Crowell, of Westmoreland, and has three children living, Sherman M., in Kankakee, Ill., Seymour A., in this town, and Flora A., also in this town with her father.
George W. Newcomb was born in Bernardston, Mass., February 22, 1800. January 1, 1824, he married Martha Burrows, and raised a family of twelve children, nine of whom are living. He was once an extensive and prosperous farmer in this town. He died here March 27, 1884.
Ephraim Spencer was born in Westminster, his father having come to this town from England some time previous to the Revolution. Ephraim lived near the Connecticut river, on the farm now occupied by Morton A. Snow, and died about 1856. He was twice married and had thirteen children. His son Mark was born in this town in 1807, and resided here till his death, about 1853. Five of his seven children are living. One son, Sidney A., resides on road 49, in Westminster.
William B. Cutting was born in Guilford, November 20, 1827, and came to Westminster in 1871. He has filled different town offices, and in 1882 was elected State senator. He married Mary A. Ranney, by whom he has six children. His grandfather, Jonah Cutting, came to Guilford, from Massa- chusetts, and settled near Green river. He built an oil mill, which he operated for a time. Samuel Cutting, father of William B., was in Guilford in 1791, and carried on business at Green river, having a paper-mill, store, and farm. He died at the age of fifty-one.
Henry F. Bond, who resides on road 11, came to Westminster in 1872. He is engaged in the business of slate roofing, and also deals in furs of all kinds, giving employment to five men.
George R. Harlow was born in Westminster, and went to Massachusetts in 1860, returning to this town in 1867. He enlisted in Co. E, 39th Mass.
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Vols., and served in the army two and one-half years. He was in the battle of the Wilderness, at Spottsylvania, and at Gettysburg. He represented the town of Westminster in 1882-'83.
Jonathan Houghton came from Bolton, Mass., and settled on the farm on which A. D. Kerr now lives. He was a farmer and a noted hewer of timber. He was a Revolutionary soldier and was wounded in the battle of Benning- ton. His son Asa spent his life on the homestead. The latter's son, F. J. Houghton, was born and still lives in the town.
Nathan G. Pierce was born August 19, 1810, and has spent most of his life in this town. He was left an orphan at an early age, and lived with his maternal grandfather Pierce. He has been a prominent citizen and is widely known as a propagator of seed corn.
Robert Miller settled in the west part of the town near where D. C. Gor- ham now lives. He was a farmer and had eleven children, only three of whom are now living, all in the West. He died in 1830, at the age of seventy-seven. Mary, his wife, lived to the age of one hundred and one years. His son John was born in Westminster in 1786, and lived in the town most of the time till his death, in 1867. Three of his seven children, a son and two daughters, are living, all in this town. Reuben, the son, resides on road 62, on what is known as Maple Wood farm.
Jethro and Asa Coombs, brothers, came to Jamaica from Cape Cod. The former died in New Hampshire in 1876. His son Talman T. Coombs was born in Jamaica in 1820, and now resides on road 54, in Westminster. He served in the late war. Rev. William N. Wilbur was born in Griswold, Conn., in 1825, and was graduated from Madison University in New York in 1856, in which year he removed to Saxton's River and engaged as a teacher in the seminary in that place. At the expiration of fifteen months he became pastor of the Baptist church, which relation he sustained for fifteen years, when he became the financial agent of the Vermont academy, a position he occupied for ten years. He has retired from public life to engage in agricultural pur- suits. He has lately removed to Newport, Vt.
Rev. Timothy Field, brother to David Dudley Field, Cyrus W. Field, and Judge Stephen Field of the Supreme court, was born in Guilford, Conn. After preaching seven years at Canandaigua, N. Y., he came to Westminster West, where he served a thirty years' pastorate of the Congregational church. He died about 1843. He was twice married and had six children, five of whom are living. His son William now resides on road 17, in Westminster.
The Congregational church in Westminster, East Parish, was organized June 11, 1767, with nine members, Rev. Jesse Goodell being the first pastor. The first church building, erected in 1869-'70, is still standing, as previously mentioned. The present structure, built in 1835, is a fine, comfortable edifice, capable of seating 300 persons. The society now has 108 members, with Rev. John L. Sewall, pastor. This was the third Congregational church organized in the State, the only older ones being those of Newbury and Ben- nington.
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TOWN OF WESTMINSTER.
The Second Congregational church of Westminster .- This church, located at Westminster West, was organized as the Second Congregational church of Westminster, October 31, 1799. by twelve members from the first church in Westminster. The first pastor was Rev. Reuben Emerson, ordained Feb- ruary 18, 1800. The second pastor, Rev. Timothy Field, was installed in 1807. The third pastor, Rev. Preston Taylor, was installed March 31, 1835. The fourth pastor, Rev. Jubilee Wellman, was installed March 6, 1838. The fifth pastor, Rev. Alfred Stevens, commenced his labors with the church April 20, 1842, and was ordained Feb- ruary 22, 1843. Rev. Amos Foster, of Boston, preached the sermon. Mr. Stevens is the pres- ent pastor. He is the son of Nehemiah and Deborah (Goodell) Stevens, born at Waterford, Vt., July 30, 1810. He worked twenty-one years with his father, on the farm, fitted for college at Kimball, Union, and Peacham aca- demies, and was graduated at Dartmouth col- lege in 1839, and at Andover Theological (REV. ALFRED STEVENS ) Seminary, 1842, receiving the honorary degree of D. D., in 1874. He is still the pastor, after forty-two years of ministeral work with the church. He has officiated at all the funerals in the parish in that time, with only four exceptions. So far as the ministry is concerned, he is responsible for the religious and moral character that has gone from the parish for forty-two years. He has followed to the grave more of his parishoners than there are living in the parish at the present time. He has preached the "old Calvin- istic doctrines." He has never attempted to change or improve the church as he found it in 1842. It is as good as new to-day. God has blessed the church work during all its history. A large number of professional men have left the parish in the mean time, that are well know as clergymen, law- yers, and physicians in this and foreign lands, and professors in colleges and other higher institutions of learning; and many daughters of the parish are now the virtuous women in a multitude of the homes in the land. Hehas never quarreled with his deacons, or with the singers. He has never asked his parish to increase his salary. He has had forty-two years of very pleas- ant history in his parish. He has reason to know that he has been appre- ciated, as a citizen. For twenty-five years he was the superintendent of the schools in town, and knew all the children in town by name, and in 1872 was, by the vote of the town, honored with a seat in the State legislature. The fortieth anniversary of his ordination was observed February 22, 1883. with thanksgiving and praise to God for his great blessings upon the pastor and people. The good times of the past were talked over, and greetings from those that have been taught from the pulpit and in the Sabbath- school, and gone out into the world, were received to cheer his old age with
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TOWN OF WHITINGHAM.
the assurance that he is not forgotten. He was married first, August 11, 1844, to Eliza W. Farrar, of Troy, N. H .; second, June 23, 1846, to Mary Ann Arnold, of Westminster ; third, August 25, 1858, to Harriet N. Wood, of Millbury, Mass; fourth, May 28, 1876, to Mrs. Catharine (Miller) Slate, of Brattleboro, Vt.
The first church building of this society was erected about 1775, which gave place to another in 1827, and that in turn to the present structure in 1876. It will seat about 300 persons, cost $ 1,300.00, and is now valued, in- cluding grounds. at $5,000.00. The society has eighty members, and is in a flourishing condition.
W HITINGHAM lies in the southwestern corner of the county, in lat. 42° 47' and long. 4"' 9', bounded north by Wilmington, east by Halifax, south by Rowe and Heath in Massachusetts, and west by Readsboro in Bennington county. There are four grants extant given by New York to different persons, under the name of Cumberland, one grant being dated December 3, 1766, and the others April 23, 1767. One, or all of these, probably, was for the lands now known as Whitingham ; but when Whitingham had been organized a century, no person residing in the town knew by what authority its charter was granted, and it was an open question as to whether any charter of the town existed. On the 18th of August, 1880, the charter in the possession of the town at the present time (which is a copy of the original among the land records of at Albany, N. Y.,) was presented to the town by Clark Gillson, Esq., while delivering the Centennial address in the old church on the hill near the center of the town. From it we learn that the town was chartered March 1, 1770, to Nathaniel Whitingham (from whom the town received its name) and his nine associates, by King George III., in the tenth year of his reign, " By his Commissioners, Cadwallader Colden, Esq., Andrew Elliot, Esq., Alexander Colden, Esq."
The surface of the territory is uneven, though there are many level tracts, the soil being generally of a good quality and quite easily cultivated. The native timber is beech, birch, ash, spruce and hemlock. Deerfield river flows through the western part of the town, watering some excellent tracts of meadow land, while there are many other smaller streams in different parts of the town. Sadawga pond lies in the central part of the town, a handsome little sheet of water, so named in honor of an old Indian who formerly lived near it, and who is supposed to have been drowned while passing down Deer- field river. There are also three other small bodies of water lying in the northeastern part of the town, called Jacksonville, Rider and Roberts ponds. The geological structure of the town is made up almost entirely of rocks of gneiss formation, except in the eastern part, where they are of talcose-schist formation. There are, however, several beds of limestone which has been manufactured into lime to a considerable extent. The mineral springs known
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as Sadawga springs, located near the pond of that name, were discovered in 1822. Their waters are largely impregnated with lime, magnesia and iron, and are said to prove exceedingly efficacious in cutaneous diseases. Lead and silver ores are said to exist in the southwestern part of the town.
In 1880 Whitingham had a population of 1,240, and in 1882 had fifteen school districts and contained sixteen common schools, employing nine male and twenty female teachers, to whom was paid an aggregate salary of $2,012.14 There were 352 pupils attending common school, while the entire cost of the schools for the year, ending October 31st, was $2,213.20, with A. A. Butterfield, superintendent.
JACKSONVILLE is a beautiful little post village located in the eastern part of the town. It has two churches (Methodist and Universalist), an hotel, dry goods store, drug store, tannery, grist-mill, two saw-mills, two butter box manufactories, cider-mill, and about fifty dwellings. The beautiful glen in which the village is situated attracts many summer tourists and interested visitors.
Sadawga Springs (Whitingham p. o.), is a small village located about a mile west of the center of the town, at the foot of Sadawga lake. It has two churches (Baptist and Universalist), two hotels, one store, two saw-mills, black- smith shop, wagon shop, about twenty dwellings, and the famous Sadawga springs, wlience the village derives its name. As early as 1822 it was dis- covered that the waters of these springs possessed unusual curative qualities, especially in diseases of a cutaneous nature. This led to a scientific analysis of the water, discovering the following minerals held in solution ; muriate of lime, carbonate of lime, muriate of magnesia, and carbonate and peroxide of iron.
Sadawga Springs wool-carding mill, was built by Calvin Baker in 1870, where he now carries on the business of wool carding and general jobbing.
Z. Wheeler's grist-mill, located at Sadawga Springs, was built by Hough- ton Sawyer, about fifty years ago.
G. L. Albee's steam chair factory, located at Sadawga Springs, was built about twenly years ago. Mr. Albee, since that time, has manufactured about 20,000 chairs.
Lincoln H. Sawyer's saw-mill, located at the foot of Sadawga lake, was built by Mr. Sawyer's father, J. W., in 1859. He now manufactures 300,000 feet of lumber per annum, though the mill has the capacity for turning out 1,000 feet per hour.
George S. Goodnow is largely engaged in the manufacture of lumber in Whitingham, turning out about 4,000,000 feet per year, and giving employ- ment to about fifty hands.
A. J. Hull's saw-mill and chair-stock factory, located on road 26, was built about seventeen years ago.
George Porter's saw-mill, butter-box, and chair-stock factory is located at Jacksonville, where he carries on a large business, which was established in
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1880. Herbert G. Porter leases shop of George and makes butter boxes, and grain measures.
Stetson Bros', butter tub and chair-stock factory and cider-mill, located at Jacksonville, was established by George Porter in 1856. They manufacture 50,000 butter boxes, 1,000 barrels of cider, and 3,000 butter tubs per annum.
Edwin E. Putnam's butter box manufactory, at Jacksonville, was established by Willard Foster, in 1830. He manufactures about 100,000 butter packages per year.
A railroad is being built from Hoosac Tunnel to Readsboro, passing through the southwest corner of this town, by the bank of Deerfield river.
The settlement of Whitingham was commenced in 1770, by a Mr. Bratton and Silas Hamilton. Mr. Bratton's son John was the first child born in the town, where his father settled on road 4, where C. Wheeler now lives, and his father received a grant of land in consideration thereof. John lived and died on the old homestead. The settlement thus started, according to the census of Cumberland county, taken in 1771, increased during that year and the year 1771, to fourteen souls, three of whom were males under sixteen years of age, four over sixteen, three females under sixteen, and four over sixteen, making seven males and seven females. In 1773 the settlement was increased by the arrival at Messrs. Angel, Gustin, Nelson, Lamphier and Pike, emigrants from Massachusetts and Connecticut. Mr. Pike, among the early inhabitants of the town, had a family of twenty-eight children. The town was organized March 23, 1780, Eliphalet Hyde being chosen the first town clerk. Silas Hamilton was the first justice of the peace, and also the first representative, in 1778. The house now occupied by Addison C. Tainter, on road 29, built by Eli Starkwell, was the first framed house built in the town. Benjamin Dix, aged eighty-five years, is the oldest man in the town, and Sally King, aged ninety-six years. is the oldest woman. Brigham Young, the Mormon saint, was born in Whitingham, on road 40, near the center of the town. A part of the cellar walls of the old log house mark the place of his birth. His father was a poor basket maker.
Absalom Pike settled at an early day on road 41, in Whitingham, and raised twelve children, four of whom are now living, Josiah, Sylvanus, Wil- lard and Eunice. Josiah is located on a farm adjoining the homestead, and has five sons who are living in this town.
Nathaniel Davis came to Bennington, Vt., from Ware, Mass., in 1762. He removed to Whitingham at the age of sixteen years and settled on road 22, where he resided till his death. He built the first log house on the farm on which he settled, and raised ten children, only one of whom is living, Mrs. Phebe Baily of Readsboro, Vt. His eldest son, Ebenezer, was born in Ware, Mass., and was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. He lived on the home- stead farm in Whitingham and raised seven children, two of whom are living, Freeborn G. and Hannah, the former on the homestead farm. Ebenezer Davis was a minister. He commenced preaching at the age of twenty, and
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during the first twelve years of his pastorate was connected with the M. E. church. He then united with the Wesleyan Methodists and continued his ministerial labors in that denominational fold until his death, July 28, 1875.
Ira Davis, now dead, was a native of Whitingham. He married Polly Perry, of Woodstock, Conn., and settled on a farm on road 23, on which he cut the first tree and built the first log house. He had six children, Arad E., Jotham B., Perry N., Hannah I., Arad A., and Agnes T., four of whom are living. Arad A., who married Rosetta P. Bishop, of Readsboro, resides on the homestead farm.
Jonathan Dix was born on road 35}, in Whitingham, in 1789. July 5, 1812, he married Polly Reed, and resided in this town in various locations till his death in 1860, except two years spent in Stamford, Vt. He had eight chil- dren, five of whom are living, Alvira, Sybil, John P., Fauna and Lestina P. One son, Freeman, lived many years on road 41. He was killed instantly beneath a load of logs. Two of his three children are living, Polly and Joseph, the latter on the homestead farm.
Abraham Chase came to Whitingham, Mass., about 1798, and settled on road 354, where he remained two years, when he removed to road 17, on which he resided till his death, at the age of eighty-two. He was a volunteer soldier in the war of 1812 and drew a pension. He married Betsey Rich, of Massachusetts, and had five children, David, Samuel, Jacob, Ellis and Elliot. Jacob and Elliott are still living. David, the eldest son, married Irene Kings- bury of Fairfax, Vt., and has five children living,-Betsey Upton, Joseph K., Caroline Wheeler, Adaline Hatch, and George A. Joseph married Caroline Beeman, of Fairfax, Vt., and settled on the homestead farm, where he still remains. David Chase held many offices of trust in the town.
Joshua Newell came to Whitingham in 1790, and after a residence of two years on road 50, in the east part of the town, and of one year on road 41, he located on road 46, on the farm now owned and occupied by his grandson, Chester B. Newell, where he resided till his death. His children were Frank, Baxter, Samuel, Joshua, Dwight, Mary, Luna, Sarah, and Martha, of whom Samuel, Baxter, and Martha are living.
Zachariah Wheeler was born at Stowe, near Boston, November 15, 1777, and came to Whitingham shortly before 1800. He located on road 22 and made the first improvements on the farm on which he settled. He married Susanna Bratton, by whom he had two children, Whitman and Susanna, both of whom are dead. Whitman married Polly Faulkner, of Whitingham and settled on road 3, on the farm now occupied by his son Cyrus W., who mar- ried Lestina L. Wheeler, December 1, 1858. Four others of Whitman's eight children are living.
Daniel Wheeler, a native of Massachusetts, came to Whitingham in 1800, and settled on road 25. He subsequently removed to road 42, where he resided till his death. He had ten children, five of whom are living, Char- lotte, Elizabeth, Lucy, Daniel, and Zachariah, the latter of whom owns and
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occupies the homestead farm. Zachariah married Caroline J. Allard, of Wil- mington, in which town her father was a physician of long practice, and her grandfather a pioneer settler.
Oliver Reed was a pioneer in Whitingham, and was born on raod 27}. He settled and lived for forty years on road 41. He then removed to Stam- ford, in Bennington county, where he spent the remainder of his days. Two of his eight children are living, Marcena, and Nancy Peck. His son Thomas was a lifelong resident of Whitingham. Of the latter's nine children, Henry, the eldest son, who resides on road 41, is the only one left in Whitingham. Henry married Fanny Atherton and has eight children living.
Deliverance Wheeler is said to have come from England in pioneer times, with two brothers, and first located on a farm in the town of Stowe, near Boston, whence he removed to Whitingham and located on road 25, where he remained till his death. Not one of his nine children survives. His son John married Hannah Jewell, of Whitingham and settled on road 2, making the first clearing and building the first log-house on his farm, on which he resided till his death. He had numerous children, six of whom are living, Ephraim, Roby F., Eli J., Harriet M., Henry F., and John. Ephraim lives on road 16 adjoining the homestead farm.
Benjamin Jewell, who was a hatter by trade, was an early settler in Whit- ingham. He enlisted at the commencement of the Revolutionary war and served till its close, when he returned to Whitingham. He married Olive Lamb and settled on a farm on road 41, on which he built the first log-house in district No 9. After a few years he removed to road 1, where he continued to reside till his death. He was a member of the State militia during the wat of 1812. His children were David, Jonas, Samuel, Daniel, Aaron, Sally, Hannah, Elizabeth, and Mary. Samuel, Daniel, and Aaron never married. The latter two, imbued with the martial spirit of their father, were in the Florida war, and died there. David was born November 1, 1794, married Susan Faulkner, by whom he had nine children, pursued the vocation of a farmer, and died in October, 1870. His wife died in December, 1869. Jonas married Cynthia Harris, of Massachusetts, and lived in Whitingham a few years. He moved to Minnesota and died there.
John Fuller came to Whitingham at an early day, from Douglass, Mass., in company with eight or nine families, most of whom settled in the north part of the town. Mr. Fuller located on road to, and made the first improve- ments on his farm, on which he resided till his death. He raised seven chil- dren. His son John married Polly Mcknight, of Douglass, Mass. Two of his seven children, Alfred and Polly, are living, the former on the homestead farm on road 8, on which he has resided from birth. He married Philinda Hatch, of Halifax. He has been a representative of the town two years. Two of his four children, Edward L. and Eliza W., are living, the former of whom, residing with his father on the homestead farm, is president of the Wilmington Savings Bank and has held many offices in the town of Whit- ingham.
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