USA > Vermont > Windsor County > Gazetteer and business directory of Windsor County, Vt., for 1883-84 > Part 32
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" AND, WHEREAS, the said Nathan Stone and our loving subject William Swan, in behalf of themselves and their associates, by their humble petition presented unto our trusty and well-beloved William Tryon, Esquire, our Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief in and over our said province of New York, and the territories depending thereon, in America, chancellor and vice-admiral of the same and read in our council for our said province of New York, on the twenty-ninth day of January, now last past, writing the proceedings aforesaid, did set forth, among other things, in substance that, since the above proceedings, the several parties who were formerly associated with the petitioners, save Mary Stone, the wife of the petitioner Nathan Stone, had relinquished all their right, title and interest to the said lands, as by the instruments in writing presented with the said petition might appear, and that the petitioners and the person named in the schedule to the said petition annexed were the only persons interested in the said lands ; and therefore the petitioners did humbly pray that our Letters Patent so directed to issue, as aforesaid, might pass in the names of the petitioners and their
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associates, mentioned in the schedule aforesaid. On due consideration of which last recited petition our same council did humbly advise that, when our Letters Patent should issue for the said tract of land called Windsor, our said Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief should issue agreeable to the proceedings aforesaid, of the twenty-ninth day of October, 1765 ; but that, instead of the grantees therein mentioned or referred to, our said Let- ters Patent should issue in the names of the petitioners, the said Nathan Stone and William Swan, and of their associates named in the schedule to the last recited petition annexed, and that the several shares of the said tract of land which, by the pretended grant or charter from the government of New Hampshire, were intended for public uses, be granted in trust as fol- lows-that is to say : one such share for the use of the society for the propa- gation of the Gospel in foreign parts ; a like share as a Glebe for the use of the minister of the Gospel in communion of the Church of England, as by law established, for the time being, residing on the premises ; a like share for the first settled minister of the Gospel in the said town, and one hundred acres for the use of the school-master residing on the premises. That the share of the said tract of land formerly allotted to Benning Wentworth, Esquire, should remain vested in us, and that the whole of the said tract of land should be erected into a township by the name of Windsor, with the usual privileges.
IN PURSUANCE WHEREOF, and in obedience to our said royal instructions, our commissioners appointed for the setting out all lands to be granted with- in our said province of New York, have set out for the said Nathan Stone and William Swan and for their associates named in the schedule aforesaid, to wit :- Waldron Blaare. John Abeel, William Puntine, Michael Nan, John McGinnis. Richard McGinnis, Robert McGinnis, Patrick Walsh, James Abeel, Edward Collom, Marinus Low, Edward Patten, Andries Riegher, George Klein, Thomas Lupton, Duncan Robertson, Samuel Stevens, John Pesinger, George Lucam, Francis Groome, and James Cobham, ALL THAT certain tract or parcel of land by the name of Windsor, situate, lying and being on the west side of Connecticut river, in the county of Cumberland, within our province of New York, beginning on the west bank of the said river, at the distance of five hundred and six chains and twenty links south from the south bounds of the township of Hartford. This tract runs from the said place of beginning, north 74 degrees, west 480 chains : then north, six degrees east, 494 chains; then, south 74 degrees, east along the said south bounds of Hartford to Connecticut river ; then down along the west bank of the said river, as it winds and turns, to the place where this tract be- gan, containing 24.500 acres of land and the usual allowance for highways, and containing, exclusive of the five several lots or parcels hereinafter de- scribed, 23.000 acres of land and the usual allowance for highways ; one of which said lots or parcels of land distinguished by the name of the First Lot, is to remain vested in us, and is bounded as follows, that is to say : Begin- ning on the west bank of the Connecticut river, at the south-east corner of the above mentioned larger tract, of which this first lot is a part, and runs thence along the south bounds of the said larger tract, north 74 degrees, west 136 chains ; then north, 16 degrees east, 40 chains ; then, south 74 de- grees, east to Connecticut river ; and then down the west bank of said river, as it winds and turns, to the place where the first lot began, containing 500 acres of land and the usual allowance for highways. And, also, our said commissioners have set out to be granted in trust for the uses aud purposes hereinafter mentioned, the following four lots of land, parts and parcels of
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the said larger tract to set out as aforesaid, that is to say : For the use of the incorporated society for the propagation of the Gospel in foreign parts, all that certain lot or parcel of land distinguished by the name of the Second Lot and which begins in the south bounds of the above mentioned larger tract, at the south-east corner of the said first lot and runs thence along the said south bounds, north 74 degrees, west 79 chains; then north, 16 degrees east, 40 chains ; then, south 74 degrees, east 79 chains, to the said first lot, and then along the west bounds of the said first lot south, 16 degrees west, 40 chains, to the place where this second lot began, containing 300 acres of land and the usual allowance for highways. For a Glebe for the use of the minister of the Gospel in communion of the Church of England, as by law established for the time being, residing on the said larger tract, all that cer- tain lot or parcel of land distinguished by the name of the Third Lot, and which begins in the south bounds of the said larger tract at the south-west corner of the said second lot, and runs thence along the said south bounds, north 74 degrees, west 70 chains ; then north, 16 degrees east, 45 chains ; south 74 degrees, east 70 chains, to the fourth lot hereinafter described, and then along part of the west bounds of the said fourth lot and the west bounds of the said second lot south, 16 degrees west, 45 chains, to the place where this third lot began, containing 300 acres of land and the usual allow- ance for highways. For the use of a school-master residing on the said larger tract, all that certain lot or parcel of land distinguished by the name of the Fourth Lot, and which begins at the north-west corner of the said sec- ond lot and runs thence along the north bounds of the said second lot, south 74 degrees, east 79 chains, to the fifth lot, hereinafter described ; then along the west bounds of the said fifth lot north, 16 degrees east, 13 chains and 40 links; then, north 74 degrees, west 79 chains ; and then south, 16 degrees west, 13 chains and 40 links, to the place where this fourth lot began, con- taining 100 acres of land and the usual allowance for highways. And for the first settled minister of the gospel on the said larger tract, all that contains lot or parcel of land distinguished by the name of the Fifth Lot, and which begins at the north-west corner of the said first lot, and runs thence along the north bounds of the said first lot, south 74 degrees, east 63 chains; north, 16 degrees east, 50 chains ; then, north 74 degrees, west 63 chains, and then south, 16 degrees west, 50 chains, to the place where this fifth lot began, con- taining 300 acres of land and the usual allowance for highways. And in set- ting out the said larger tract and the several lots and parcels of land last described, our said commissioners have had regard to the profitable and un- profitable acres, and have taken care that the length of any of them doth not extend along the banks of any river, otherwise than is conformable to our said royal instructions, do by certificate thereof under their hands, bearing date the twentieth day of this instant month of March, and entered on record in the Secretary's office for said province of New York, may more fully appear ; which said tract of 24,500 acres of land and the usual allowance for highways so set out as aforesaid, according to our said royal instructions, we being willing to grant to the said Nathan Stone and William Swan, and the other persons mentioned in the schedule aforesaid, their heirs and assigns forever (except as hereinafter described), with the usual powers and privileges, and to and upon the several and respective use and uses, trusts, intents and pur- poses, limitations and appointments, and under the several resolutions, excep- tions, provisions and conditions hereinafter expressed, limited, declared and appointed of and concerning the same and every part and parcel thereof respectively."
...
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It seems that the people deeded their lands in trust to Col. Nathan Stone, who surrendered them to Gov. Tryon, of New York, and received in turn the above mentioned charter. Under the allotment of shares of the first charter, the public rights were so located as to be of some use to those for whom they were intended ; but under the last charter, by the operation of some different mode of allotment resorted to, all the public rights were located upon almost unaccessible portions of Ascutney mountain, and are utterly worthless.
By an act of the legislature, passed in 1793, the town was divided into two distinct parishes, and, in 1814, the two parishes were erected into two dis- tinct towns, named respectively Windsor and West Windsor, with the right in each to send a representative to the legislature. During the next year, how- ever, the party excitement which induced the measure having in some degree subsided, the towns were again united, under the ancient name of Windsor. This unity was continued until October 26, 1848, when the town was again divided. The following record, pertaining thereto, appears in the town book of records, under date of January 15, 1849 :-
" Whereas, The legislature of the State of Vermont by an act passed Octo- ber 26, 1848, divided the then town of Windsor, and incorporated the same into two distinct towns, by a line drawn from the northerly to the southerly line of said town, between the seventh and eighth ranges of lots in said town as allotted and marked on the original plan of said town then in the town clerk's office in said town : We, the freeholders and inhabitants of said town of Windsor, by said act incorporated, lying easterly of said line, do hereby make application to you to notify and warn a meeting of the inhabitants of said last mentioned town of Windsor, to be holden at the court-house in the said town on Monday, the 15th day of January, 1849, at one o'clock in the afternoon, to organize said town.
" To Warren Currier, J. P."
At this meeting Warren Currier was chosen moderator ; Thomas Boynton, town clerk ; E. C. Torrey, treasurer ; and David Huggins, Peter Houghton, and Warren Currier, selectmen. From the date of their election dates the existence of the present town of Windsor, which contains an area of 11,062 acres of arable lands, so fortunately laid out by nature as to present one of the most pleasing landscapes in the county. The whole territory is beauti- fully variegated by hill and dale, upland and meadow, river and streamlet, while high over all towers old Ascutney and his humbler offspring, Little Ascutney, like Don Quixota and his squire on the planes of La Mancha.
This mountain lies in the southeastern corner of the town, partly in Weathersfield and partly in West Windsor, commanding from its summit a beautiful panoramic view, bringing to the eye of the beholder the valley of the Connecticut for many miles north and south, with the river itself, "a line of silver mid a fringe of green," coursing its way in serpentine windings towards its resting place in the sea. The peculiar and interesting theory of the geological formation of Ascutney has already been mentioned on page 29. The origin of its name is somewhat abscure. Zadock Thomp-
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son, in his "Gazetteer of Vermont" says, -" The name is undoubtedly of Indian origin, but writers are not agreed with regard to its signification. Dr. Dwight says that it signified the three brothers, and that it was given in allu- sion to its three summits. Kendall tells us that the true Indian name is Cas-cad-nac, and that it means a peaked mountain with steep sides," Mr. Hagar in his Report of the Geology of Vermont," says,-" Tradition informs us that Ascutney is an Indian name, signifying 'three brothers' and was applied to the Mountain in consequence of the three deep valleys which re- semble each other in size, and course their way down its western side, from near the top quite to its base." But which of these traditions, or if either, gives us the true origin of the name of the mountain, no one now can tell; but the changes in form which the name has undergone might be an argu- ment against them. In Morse's American Gazetteer, published at London in 1798, the name is given, Ashcutney ; while in his Universal Geography, published a few years later, it is given Aschcutney, though in one place at least he has given it in its present form. In Worcester's Universal Gazetteer, published in 1817, and in Morse's Universal Gazetteer, published in [823 and in later works, the name is given as it now appears. Several laborious admeasurements have been made to determine the height of the mountain, the last, made by Mr. Hosea Doton, of Woodstock, in 1874, seeming to have verified the fact that its height is 3, 165 feet above the ocean.
From this great altitude the country on all sides appears to be a vast amphitheatre scooped out to lift Ascutney, and with the various shades presented by the forests, seeming in some places to be mere patches of dark- green moss, the yellow fields of ripened and partly ripened grain, and the green pastures, flecked here and there with the shadows of passing clouds impress upon one's mind, a picture of beauty rare as it is lasting. Looking to the east, over the village of Windsor,-where gleam the white walls of the prison, and the Old South church rears boldly up, the venerable structure, seeming to one's fancy a " monument upon the shores of time," -- almost in the eastern horizon glimmers Sunapee lake among the serrated hills of New Hampshire. To the north, following the silvery thread of Connecticut river, nestle the villages of Hartland, Hartland Four Corners, North Hartland, White River Junction and West Lebanon, beyond which rise to view the blue peaks of the White Mountains, a clear day revealing Mount Washington to the glass quite distinctly. In the west rise Killington, Pico and Shrewsbury peaks, while to the south the entranced eye takes in the historic village of Charlestown, N. H., and the heavenward pointing spires of the village churches away through to Bellow's Falls. Though the ascent of this moun- tain is difficult and tedious, the journey once made, while gazing upon this beautiful scene, all tremulous with the golden and purple mists of a summer afternoon, the various colors, lights and shades, blending in a woof more rare than ever came from the looms of Isphahan, one cannot but exclaim with the disciple of old : " It is good for us to be here."
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The geological structure of the town is made up almost entirely of rocks of calciferous mica schist formation, except in the northwestern and southwestern portions. In the former locality there is a bed of gneiss extending over from West Windsor, while in the latter locality there is a considerable bed of granite, syenite and protogine. The terrace formations along Mill brook and Connecticut river are well-developed and beautiful specimens, nearly the whole of Windsor village being located upon one of these formations. No minerals of importance have ever been discovered.
In 1880 Windsor had a population of 2,175, and in 1882 it was divided into six school districts and contained ten common schools, employing two male and twelve female teachers, to whom was paid an aggregate salary of $2,946.20. There were 511 pupils attending common school, while the entire cost of the schools for the year, ending October 31st, was $3,281.32, with F. L. Morse, superintendent.
WINDSOR is a beautiful, compactly built village, lying in the eastern part of the town on the banks of the Connecticut and on Mill brook, which here affords a fine mill privilege. It has, aside from its rows of fine business blocks and several manufactories, six churches (Baptist, Congregational, Episcopal, Methodist, Roman Catholic and Unitarian), a good hotel, an academy, town hall, United States court-house and postoffice, a fine brick structure built in 1857-'58 ; a fine depot and about 250 dwellings, many of them fine, handsome structures. The Vermont State prison, described on page 37, is also located here. Windsor is now noted among other things, as the summer home of ex-Secretary of State, William M. Evarts, as still con- taining the old Constitution House, wherein was framed the constitution of Vermont, mentioned on a previous page, and also as the place where was broken the first ground in the State towards the construction of a railroad.
THE CONSTITUTION HOUSE.
This old structure is naturally the central attraction to those interested in Vermont's history. As the stranger approaches Main street from the railroad station, he discovers on his left, in the rear of a large two-storied brick block, a plain wood building, two stories in height, with a half-story basement beneath on the east side. The structure is forty-eight feet and six inches long, and eighteen feet six inches wide; contains three rooms on the first floor and two on the second, and although in fair external condition it bears an aspect of having seen better days, as it surely has. Its windows are of the ancient 7 by 9 style, and modern improvement leaves it to-day, excepting slight varia- tions, with the exterior of a century ago. This building is the old "Consti- tution House." Its natal history, like that of Roman and Grecian shrines of classical fame, is enshrouded in what, at this writing, appears to be impene- trable mystery. It is known to have been in existence in June and July, 1777, -thirteen years only after the first permanent settlement of the town-and to have been the welcome resort of weary travelers, brave patriots, valiant soldiers
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and distinguished statesmen. Its original site was nearly directly in front of its present location, lying on Main street. An extension eastward, from near the center, of fifty to one hundred feet, in the second story of which were sleep- ing rooms and a hall, was at some time made. The ground on which it then stood was so low that, in process of time, it was necessary to raise it, at three different periods, in order to preserve it from encroachments of the rising street by accumulations of washings from the highway. It is related that Capt. Elias Savage, a noted builder of his day, used to say he had helped to elevate the building from its foundation " three times to save it from burial." The lower floor of this ancient inn was divided into three rooms, with a large hall entry from the front, in the middle. The north room, in the northeast corner of which was an outer door, was devoted to the uses of a bar-room of the ancient order, and next to it was another room. The south room was used by guests as a sitting-room, in which also the villagers occasionally met for social or busi- ness purposes. In the second story were also two or more rooms-the south being a large one occupying the entire space of about 16x18 feet. At the time of the constitutional convention at Windsor, in July, 1777, it is pretty well established that a Mr. West occupied the premises as proprietor, and that he was the host of those glorious heroes, the Allens, Chittenden, Fay, Bowker, Marsh, and others, who convened at Windsor at that time to complete the organization of the first Independent State Republic on the American conti- nert. It is related that this inn-keeper, Mr. West, had a daughter born to him in that memorable year, 1777, and that her name was Sophia. At the bewitching age of nineteen she took, one evening, a brief but rather unexpec- ted walk with a mature bachelor of some forty years, to the parson's residence at the north end of the village, and returned as the bride of her escort, Mr. Allen Hayes-a thriving merchant of the village and father of Augustus A. Hays, the celebrated analytical chemist of Boston. In regard to the par- ticular room in this building occupied by the convention at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, there is some discrepancy in the traditions. Some aver that it was in the hall, extending eastward. Others report that it was the north room of the second story, and a third account says it was the lower south room. The preponderance, we think, favors the statement that it was the south room of the second story. Small as this room would appear to be, in these days, for a State constitutional convention, it should be ob- served that the size was ample for the convenience of the small number of men, hardly forty at most, comprising the July convention of 1777, at a time when patriotism meant something more than political and personal ambition, and independence and love of liberty something better than stubborn self- will and unbridled license. Then, it must be considered, there were reasons for meeting in a retired and close assembly. It was a most extraordinary emer- gency to which they were come in their struggles for freedom and unity. Foes assailed them on all sides. A convention of persons in the interest of New York was at about the same time in session at Westminster. Many of the
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towns had been re-chartered by the New York authorities, and the New Hampshire charters surrendered, among them Windsor itself, and the pre- vailing sentiment in some of them was so opposed to the plan of independency that no delegates to that convention had been sent. Even here in Windsor, spies from other parts, it is said, were watching the movements of the conven- tion, while the army of Burgoyne was known to be sweeping down from Can- ada. Dangers beset them in every direction ; and wise councils, close lips and resolute and brave hearts, hand to hand and shoulder to shoulder, were their only safety. An upper room then, even as with the select twelve of old in the infancy of Christianity, in a place remote from the public eye-not the "meeting-house," not the " town house " nor even the public room of a village inn-seemed the most fitting for the requirements of the hour. They met, therefore, in that memorable south room of the second story, where, without interruption from either friendly or unfriendly spectators, they could proceed with their business most speedily and successfully. It was there, probably, that these men were busily engaged in deliberating upon the proposed arti- cles of the constitution and in laying the foundations of the republic, which they had named Vermont, when the courier from Col. Seth Warner arrived, with the news of the evacuation of Ticonderaga, and the retreat of the little band of American soldiers towards Castleton and Hubbardton, and a call for fresh troops to be hurried on towards Bennington, which produced a conster- nation of which we, at this distance in time, can have but the faintest concep- tion. Of its effect, and a remarkable providential interposition, Ira Allen says, in his History of Vermont :-
"In this awful crisis, the convention was for leaving Windsor, but a severe thunder storm came on, and gave them time to reflect ; while some member, less alarmed at the news, called the attention of the convention to finish the constitution, which was then being read, paragraph by paragraph, for the last time. This was done, and the Convention appointed a council of safety to act during their recess, and adjourned."
The next occupant so far as we can learn of this ancient tavern, was Samuel Patrick, the elder, who successfully maintained its honorable reputa- tion for many years, and then passed it into the hands of his son Samuel. He died at the age of seventy-five years, in the year 1825. The son, Capt Samuel Patrick, succeeded well in his patrimony of the tavern, which still held ample patronage, even though the Parmelee House, at the south end of the village, and Pettes's Coffee House, on the present site of the Windsor House, became enterprising rivals. About 1840 the failing health of Capt. Patrick compelled his retirement from the active management, and Thomas Boynton undertook it. It is related that it was at this time that the old " Patrick " inn received its now historically canonized name -- " Constitution House." Several individuals then successively occupied the premises, but nothing could save it from the hand of time and the evident coming doom of deterioration and final desertion. Messrs. Hadley, Durgin, S. R. Fitch, and Thomas Ensworth, did their best, as temporary occupants, until finally,
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