Gazetteer of Caledonia and Essex Counties, Vt. 1764-1887, Part 16

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836- comp. cn
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Syracuse, N. Y., Syracuse Journal Co., Printers and Binders
Number of Pages: 886

USA > Vermont > Essex County > Gazetteer of Caledonia and Essex Counties, Vt. 1764-1887 > Part 16
USA > Vermont > Caledonia County > Gazetteer of Caledonia and Essex Counties, Vt. 1764-1887 > Part 16

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Ezra J. Roy's saw, shingle and lath-mill, on road 72, is run by water-power from Jennett's brook. He employes five hands, and turns out 500,000 feet of lumber, 550,000 shingles, 30,000 lath, and 25,000 feet of clapboards an- nually.

James E. Smith has a factory on road 57, near West Barnet, for the manu- facture of butter boxes, prints and general wood work. The factory is on Stevens river, and gives employment to four men. The business was started at the present location twelve years ago by Stuart & McMillan.

Bailey & Co. have a wood turning factory on Stevens river, one-half mile

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from Barnet village. Their power is a combination of water and steam. They manufacture wooden notions, and employ from fifteen to twenty hands.

John M. Randall's saw-mill is located on Joe's brook. The business first carried on at the site was a foundry, where was manufactured the " Moore " plow, or "Scotch " plow, by John and William Moore, about fifty years ago. Mr. Randall now does only a custom sawing business, owing to the scarcity of lumber in the vicinity.

The Passumpsic Pulp Company have extensive works at Passumpsic village for the manufacture of wood pulp. The business was established in 1879, by F. A. & G. F. Cushman. The works were burned in October, 1884, and re-built the same year. The company now consists of A. C. Russell, of Lowell, Mass , president ; George S. Cushing, of Lowell, secretary and treasurer ; and George F. Cushman, of Passumpsic, superintendent. The power is supplied by Passumpsic river. They employ seven hands and turn out 1,500 tons of pulp annually.

J. P. Miller's grist mill, at West Barnet, does an extensive business in both custom and merchant milling. It is conducted by water-power, supplied by the outlet of Harvey's lake. Mr. Miller does a business of twenty thousand dollars annually.

The first settlement in the town and county was made March 4, 1770. The first settlers were Daniel, Jacob and Elijah Hall, three brothers, and Jona- than Fowler. The first house in the town and county was built by the Hall's at the foot of the fall on Stevens river, on its north side. The three brothers, and probably Jonathan Fowler, received gratuitously from the proprietors one hundred acres of land each, to encourage them in settling the town. Daniel Hall's lot was the farm where Cloud and Robert Somers first settled. Jacob Hall's lot included the meadows north of Stevens river, and Elijah Hall's lot was north of Rider's farm. Jonathan Fowler probably settled first on the north end or the McIndoe plain, and then in the southwestern part of the town, in the Harvey tract. Sarah, daughter of Elijah Hall, was the first child born in the town and county. She was married December 27, 1787, to James McLaren, in the seventeenth year of her age. She died at an advanced age. Barnet Fowler, son of Jonathan Fowler, was the first male child born in Barnet, and probably in the county. The Fowler family moved to Shipton, C. E., about 1810. Daniel Hall's wife was the first person who died in town after its settlement. She was buried in the graveyard at Stevens village. She was the mother of Dr. Abither Wright, who was a physician here. Jacob Hall had but one son, Moses, to whom he sold his farm, but they afterwards moved to Shipton. Daniel Hall moved to St. Johnsbury, thence to Lyndon, and thence to Burke, where he died, having been an early settler in four towns in this county.

The settlement gradually increased till the influx of settlers under the Scotch company, as detailed in the sketch of Ryegate. The following from the records gives the names of the early settlers :--

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"Barnet, January 29, 1784: Now and formerly the persons mentioned took the Freeman's oath : Peter Sylvester, Samuel Perie, James Cross, Alex- ander Thompson, Stevens Rider, Elijah Hall, Walter Brock, James Stu- art, Samuel Stevens, John Merritt, James Orr, Daniel McFarlane, Jacob Hall, Bartholomew Somers, James Gilchrist, Alexander Harvey, William Tice, Hugh Ross, John McFarlane, Robert Twadell, William Stevenson, John McLaren, Ezekiel Manchester, Robert Somers, John Waddell, Robert McFarlane, John Ross, Andrew Lackie, Archibald Harvey, Peter Lang, Cloud Stuart, Walter Stuart, Daniel Hall, Thomas Smith, and George Gar- land. January 29, 1784, the following gentlemen took the Freeman's oath in as far as it agrees with the Word of God: John Waddell, Hugh Ross, John McFarlane, John McLaren, Ezekiel Manchester, Robert Somers, Andrew Lackie, Archibald Harvey, Cloud Stuart, Walter Stuart, and George Garland. Barnet, March 11, 1785, the following persons took the Freeman's oath : John Robertson, William Robertson, Moses Hall, Levi Hall, Robert Blair, James Buchanan, William Maxwell, Isaac Brown, Elijah Hall, Jr., and Simon Perie. April 6, 1785 : John Youngman, William Warden, and Hugh Cam- mell. August 27, 1785 : Joseph Bonet. September 5: John McIndoe, John Hindman; 1787 : John Gilkenson. May I : John Goddard. Sep- tember 4, 1788: Enos Stevens. March II: John Rankins, William Gilfil- lan, Sr., John McNabb, James McLaren, and Andrew Lang. February 2, 1789 : Alexander McIlroy, Samuel Huston. March 10 : Thomas Hazeltine, Phineas Aimes, Phineas Thurston, Oliver Stevens, Ephraim Pierce, Moses Cross, Job Abbott, and Levi Sylvester. February 4, 1790 : Aaron Wesson, Dr. Stevens, John Mitchell, John Stevens, Timothy Hazeltine, Cloud Somers, and John Galbraith. September 24: Joseph Hazeltine. December 7 : Thomas Gilfillan, William Innes, John Waddell, Jr., and William Lang."

In 1790 the population had increased to 477 souls. The subsequent growth of the town is shown by the census table for the county on another page.

By the terms of its charter, the town's first meeting for the choice of offi- cers was to be held on the first Tuesday of October, 1764. This meeting was held accordingly, but no record of its transactions is left, as indeed may be said of all subsequent meetings down to that of March 18, 1783. The records down to this date, it is claimed, were lost, how tradition saith not. At this meeting, however, where the present town records begin, the follow- ing officers were elected : Alexander Harvey, president ; Walter Brock, clerk ; James Gilchrist, Thomas Smith, and Bartholomew Somers, selectmen ; James Orr and Stevens Rider, constables; James Cross, treasurer ; James Stuart and Peter Sylvester, listers; John McLaren and Jacob Hall, collectors ; James Gilchrist, grand juror ; Peter Lang and Robert Brock, tithingmen ; James Stuart, sealer of weights and measures ; Alexander Thompson, Will- iam Rider and Archibald Harvey, road surveyors ; Elijah Hall and George Garland, fence surveyors. Alexander Harvey also was the town's first repre- sentative. The first justices of the peace appointed by the state were Wal- ter Brock and James Gilchrist. Col. John Hurd, of Haverhill, N. H., built the first saw and grist-mill in the town and county, in 1771-72. It was located on the "falls of Stevens river."

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Col. Alexander Harvey was sent out by a syndicate of farmers of Dundee, Scotland, to locate lands for them in this country. In 1775 he located prob- ably 7,000 acres of land in the southwest part of this town, including Har- vey's lake. Owing to the breaking out of the Revolution, many who had been sent out by him and located lands never came to settle them, and all com- munication between those who did come and their friends in Scotland were cut off. Col. Harvey married Jannette, daughter of Walter Brock, who set- tled here in 1776. They had a family of sixteen children, thirteen of whom lived to grow up, of whom Isabel, born November 21, 1798, married Alexander Brock, and is the only one now living. She resides with her daughter, Mrs. John C. Welch, in the village of Barnet.

Claudius Stuart came from Scotland and settled on the hill north of West Barnet about 1775. He had been a soap and candle chandler in Glasgow, was sixty-two years of age, married, and had a large family when he came to this country. Two of the sons were drowned in the Connecticut river, just below McIndoes Falls. They were ferrying across the river when their horse became restive and backed the wagon into the stream. Alexander succeeded his father on the farm, and was followed by his son William, whose sons Will- · iam and George, and daughter, Abbie H., now occupy the old homestead.

Walter Brock came from Scotland and settled on road 54, near West Bar- net, in 1776. He brought his wife with him from Scotland, she being a Stuart, who were also among the first settlers of the town. They reared a family of ten children. He was the first town clerk of Barnet, and was also a general merchant at West Barnet, and built the first grist-mill and first saw mill in town, at the outlet of Harvey's lake. William S. Brock, a grandson of Walter Brock, was a farmer on road 39. He married Mary S., daughter of James and Sarah (Stevens) Wright, she being a descendant of one of the first settlers, from whom the present village of Barnet was first named Stevens Village, and also a river which runs through the town derives its name from the same family. William and Mary Brock had a family of eight, six of whom are still living, of whom Maynor D. married Emma M. Lovering, of Lynn, Massachusetts. He was a clerk in a store in Boston previous to the late war, in which he enlisted in Co. F. 15th Vt. Vols. Infantry. During the war he received injuries which has rendered him an invalid for life. Leonard W. and William S. also enlisted in the same company, William S. being at the time only eighteen years of age. James W. enlisted in the 2d Vt. Regt. Lucius S. was drafted into the service in 1863. Thus from one family were five sons engaged in their country's service. Sarah W. married A. B. Trus- sell, of Hamilton, Mass. Lucius S. married Jennie Smith, of Passumpsic. Leonard W. married Etta Wolcott, of North Conway, N. H. William S. married Jennie Stanley of this town. He carries on a large bottling business, and keeps a hotel called the "Travellers Rest." James married Sarah E. Wells, of Waterbury, and is a resident of Montpelier, and, until recently, of the firm of Lane, Pitkin & Brock, manufacturers of portable saw-mills. Will-

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iam S. Brock's brothers were Walter, Joel, Harvey, Charles and Isaac. His sisters were Mary and Jeanette.

William Stevenson and James Cross came to this town together in 1776, emigrating from Scotland. Each took up one hundred and fifty acres of land, drawing their lots from the tract of 7,000 acres located by Colonel Harvey in 1775. These lots adjoined on road 48. William Stevenson married Jean- nette McCormick, a native of Scotland. They had a family of four children, of whom one daughter died in infancy. William, Jr., is the only one of the family now living. He married Janette Gilfillan, of this town, and has reared a family of eleven children, eight of whom are living, viz .: William M., Thomas, James, Margaret, who married William McLaren, and Mary, reside in this town, and John H. and H. M., in Ryegate. Robert lives in Peacham. The elder William is still living, at the age of eighty years, on a farm on road 82.

William Stevenson, a native of Scotland, came to this town at quite an early date, with his wife and family of ten children, and settled on a farm on road 44, where he resided until his death. None of the family settled in the town except William, the youngest son, who occupied the old homestead. He married Margaret Gray, a daughter of parents who emigrated from Scot- land to Canada, and came to this town in 1844. William reared a family of eight children, all of whom are living. Fred is a graduate of Gaskell's busi- ness college, and resides at Bridgeport, Conn. Annie married Charles Priest, overseer in Moen & Washburn's wire factory at Worcester, Mass. George and Frank live in Lowell, Mass. Mary and Maggie live with their mother. Justin and Charles carry on the old homestead. Mrs. Stevenson's father served through the late war, and her only brother died from sickness in the early part of the war, after a year's service. William Stevenson died very suddenly, April 15, 1885.

William Warden came to this town from Greenock, Scotland, in 1784, and located on the farm now occupied by Horace J. Warden. James, his son, who occupied the old farm after his father's death, for many years, married Elizabeth Gibson, of Ryegate, a descendant of parents who came from Scot- land, she being a native of that country. They had a family of thirteen, ten of whom lived to be men and women, and four are now living, viz .: Elizabeth married Elisha Peck, of St. Johnsbury, who claimed to have helped to finish the first set of scales the Fairbanks Co. ever built, and who died in June, 1885. Marion married Henry C. Phelps, of Remington, Ind. Jane married Elijah Harvey, now deceased, and lives at Atchinson, Kansas. Andrew mar- ried Lydia B. Peters, of Haverhill, N. H., a native of Ryegate, and they have six children, four sons and two daughters. He is a large farmer on road 21, near Joe's brook. William bought lot No. 146, January 19, 1785, pay- ing therefor ninety-five "Spanish Milled Dollars." He brought with him from Scotland his wife, Isabel Laird, and three sons and three daughters. His son James occupied the farm during his lifetime, being succeeded by his

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son William, who married Isabel Nelson, of Monroe, N. H. They had three sons and five daughters. The youngest daughter, Alice, died at the age of sixteen, in 1875. Robert, the eldest son, is a farmer in Iowa. Elizabeth J. married Amos Somers. Cynthia A. married William Gleason. Mary A. lives with her mother at South Peacham. Horace J. occupies the old home_ stead. He married Maggie M. Dole, of Danville. Albert W. is a physician in New York city. Abbie A. resides with her mother at South Peacham. Horace Worden has a relic of interest in his possession, a two-dollar bill of the Manufacturers' and Mechanics' Bank of Boston, Mass., issued April 29, 1814. The paper on which it is printed is of fine texture. C. Adams was cashier, and John Bellows, president.

James Buchanan came to this town from Drummond, Stirlingshire, Scot- land, in 1784, and located on road 71. His brothers, Henry, Alexander and Peter also settled in the east part of the town. He married Elizabeth Hurd, of Rochester, N. H. They had eleven children, eight of whom lived to man- hood and womanhood, viz .: Elizabeth married Benjamin Rollins, and after his death Levi Stockbridge ; Anabel married Joshua Rollins, of Alton Bay, N. H. ; Margaret married James Miller, a native of Scotland. who removed from that country to Demarara, South America, and afterwards to this town, both of whom died at Greensboro, Vt .; Rebecca married Benjamin Glines, of Greensboro ; Jennet married James McLaren, of this town, both dying in Greensboro ; Peter married, first, Lucinda M. Dickinson, of Monroe, N. H., second, Betsey. Blanchard, of Greensboro, Vt., and third, Sarah A. Weed, of Topsham, Vt., with whom he is now living. He has been engaged in farming most of his life and has held various town offices, being one term representa - tive of Barnet in the state legislature, and was twice elected assistant county judge of Caledonia county, and is now a resident of McIndoes Falls ; Hannah married Thomas Hastie, and lived and died in Barnet ; James, Jr. married Delight Scott, of Greensboro, Vt. Peter Buchanan had eight children, six of whom lived to grow up, and four of whom are now living, viz .: John E., in Kansas ; Edmund H., in Iowa; Peter M., in California ; and Anna E., wife of Dr. Albion S. Marden, of Danville. Peter has in his possession a brass clock which his father brought from Scotland. It was manufactured in 1806, and has run almost constantly since that date. He recently refused an offer of $150.00 for it.

Alexander Roy came from Glasgow, Scotland, to this town in Septem- ber, 1785. He worked a year here for a Mr. Galbraith, also a Scotchman, to pay his passage money to this country. He married, first, Lois Fuller, who died at the birth of her first child, and second, Sarah Hurd, of Rochester, N. H. They had a family of four sons and two daughters, as follows : One daughter died in infancy ; Rebecca, widow of Dudley Nutter ; James, born in May, 1800 ; Nathaniel, born in September, 1802 ; William, born June, 1805; and Joseph, born in 1808, all living in this town, except William, who resides in Chelsea, Mass. Nathaniel Roy married Margaret Gilfillan, a

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native of this town, whose father came from Scotland in the same vessel with Mr. Roy's father. They have had a family of eight children, four of whom are living. Joseph W. married Carrie Eggleston, of Groton. John is carry- ing on a milk business in San Francisco. Nathaniel H., has been a resident of California twenty-three years. Jane married Moses Buchanan, and lives in Newbury. Nathaniel Roys's grandfather, Truston Hurd, cleared the farm on road 72, now occupied by Nathaniel and his son, Joseph W., an hundred years ago. He occupied the farm his lifetime, dying at the age of ninety-four years. His wife died at the age of eighty-nine. Mr. Hurd's father was killed by the Indians at Dover, N. H. On Mr. Roy's farm is standing one of the oldest houses in the town, built about 1780. It is a one-story framed building, all the timber of oak. The nails are all hand-made and are sought as relics.

Rev. David Goodwillie built the house now occupied by William B. Gib- son, on road 41, in 1790. It is the second oldest habitable house in town. On its walls was hung the first wall-paper ever put on a house in town. On this farm, also, was laid the first lead pipe to convey water in the town, and it is still in good condition, after having been in constant use for more than sixty years. The flow of water through this pipe has never been stopped but once. Rev. David Goodwillie was the first settled pastor in town. As an inducement to settle, the town gave him 200 acres of land, and on one fifty acre lot of this land this house was built. The other 150 acres were located in different parts of the town, and were sold for his benefit. He was pastor of the Barnet Center church forty years, and was succeeded by his son Thomas who also preached forty years. This is a remarkable record. A father and son pastors of one church for eighty years, perhaps without a par- allel in the United States.

Robert Gilfillan, from Scotland, came to Barnet in 1794 and settled on road 62. He had married in his native country Jean McIndoe, and they reared a family of twelve children, all of whom lived to manhood and woman- hood. Four only are now living : Robert is a farmer at Peacham ; Archibald and Nancy reside on the old homestead ; Jane inarried Alexander Blair, and is now a widow; John married Zerviah W. Carpenter, of Waterford. They had a family of eight, five of whom are living-Jonah in California ; Henry A. married Maggie Morrison, of this town and is a farmer on road 47; William L. married, first, Vienna Aiken, and second, Ruth Bailey, of Peacham, and is a farmer on road 48; Helen married Hiram O Marsh, of Concord, N. H .; Hannah lives with her brother, William L.

Duncan Harvey and Isabel, his wife, came from Scotland about 1800, and settled near the center of the town. They raised a family of four sons and four daughters, none of whom are now living. Ason married Phebe Hight, whose parents came to to this town from Connecticut. They had five chil- dren-four daughters and one son-only two of whom are living, Helen D., who married Walter P. Phelps, a farmer in this town, and Daniel, who mar-

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ried Emily L. Bartlett, from Johnson. The latter has five children, three sons and two daughters, and is a large farmer on road 36.

Andrew Lindsay came to this town, from Greenock, Scotland, in 1801, a single man, about twenty-seven years of age. In 1808 he married Christina Galbraith, whose father, John Galbraith, came here from Scottland before the Revolutionary war, staying in this country until after the war closed and then returned to Scotland. Andrew Lindsay had four children who lived to ma- turity. When they had a family of four children, all were attacked with spotted fever, a terrible scourge which raged here in 1816, and three of them died. John G., the oldest, settled in the Province of Ontario, and died there. James M., married Amoret Johnston, of this town, and settled in Greensboro, where he now lives. Margaret C. married John Somers, who removed to Greensboro, and both died there. Peter married Margaret Lang, of this town, whose father, Andrew Lang, came here from Scotland in 1784, and her mother was a Johnston, born in Ryegate. They have seven children, viz .: Andrew O., who is in California ; William married Mary Jane Judkins, of Danville, and is a farmer on road 20 ; Fenton H., a farmer and cattle dealer in California ; Peter J., a miner in Colorado ; Eveline married E. R. Hoyt, who lives at Durango, Colorado ; Mary C. married James L. Judkins, a native of Danville, a carriage maker at South Peacham ; Margaret J. married Frank E. Sproat, of Norwich, and now resides at Lowell, Mass.

Langdon Kendall was born in Barnet, in 1809. When one year old his parents removed to Bradford and when seventeen years of age he returned to this town and learned the cabinet-maker's trade, in the shop of Darius Harvey. In 1832 he bought the shop and business of Mr. Harvey and carried on the same for a number of years. He sold the business to Nathaniel Hazelton, and the factory exchanged hands a number of times, until Smith & Gilbert pur- chased it and carried on the business of manufacturing rakes, axe handles and wooden measures. For many years Mr. Kendall traveled for Messrs. E. & T. Farbanks & Co. He married Louisa Woods, a native of this town, and they have had a family of five children, of whom are now living Mahala, who married J. D. Goold, of Passumpsic ; Minerva married Henry Bruce, also of this town, Louisa married A. J. Miller, of Lunenburg ; Milo lives at St. Paul, Minn., and Cyrus L. lives at Los Angeles, California.

Hugh Somers was born in this town June 21, 1810, and always lived here, with the exception of two years spent in Peacham. He was a gunsmith by trade, and manufactured rifles and telescopes in a factory on Joe's brook road. He at the same time carried on farming. He married Martha San- derland, of Barnet, whose parents came from Scotland and were among the early settlers of the town. Hugh Somers's father and mother were also early settlers of the town, from Scotland, who cleared the farm on Joe's brook, mentioned above, in 1801. Hugh had a family of two children, a son and a daughter-Emily, married William Lester, of Lisbon, N. H., and both now deceased ; Cumings married Jane Samuel, a native of Scotland. He is a

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TOWN OF BARNET.

farmer near the village of Barnet, on road 44. They have three sons, Burton W., Chester L., and Harligh A.

William Carrick was born in this town, June 13, 1814. His father was a native of Scotland and came here in 1801, from that country. His mother was Jane Somers, a native of Barnet. William, who has always pursued farming, married Dorcas Wilson, also of this town, and they have had a family of seven children, only one of whom is now living. Bruce, born in 1856, attended school at St. Johnsbury with a view of entering college, but his plans were frustrated by sickness in 1878, which terminated in his death. Frank, at the age of twenty-one years, was thrown from a carriage and received injuries from which he died in February, 1882. Fred P. was born in 1862 and is now living. Burns died at the age of one year, and the three others all died in infancy.

Bartlett S. Bard was born in Barnet, May 9, 1815. He was a spinner and worked at that trade about twelve years. He has also learned the trade of carpenter and joiner. He married Sarah A. Harriman, a native of Danville, and they had three sons and one daughter. At the breaking out of the re- bellion, in 1861, he, with his three sons, Harrison K., Charles F., and Oscar I .. , enlisted in Company D, First Vermont Cavalry. Mr. Bard, Charles and Oscar were discharged on account of sickness. Harrison K. served through the war and lost his leg from a wound received at the battle of Gettysburg. He is now a pensioner.

Loren Kinney was born in Waterford, in 1805. His life was spent there until his marriage, in 1827, to Emeline Holbrook, of Waterford. The same year he removed to this town and located on a farm of five hundred acres on road 11, where he resided until his death in February, 1884. His son, Henry C., succeeded his father on the farm. He married Alice Farnsworth, a native of Haverhill, N. H., in October, 1876, and died March 30, 1885, at the age of thirty-eight years, leaving two children, a son and a daughter.

Cloyes W. Gleason, M. D., was born in Barnet, Caledonia county, Vt., May 14, 1821. His father, William Gleason, was born in Framingham, Mass., July 24, 1774, and married Ruth Cloyes October 8, 1799, and moved to Barnet, Caledonia county, Vt., in 1803, and died there November 6, 1861. His father and mother were among the direct descendants of Thomas Gleason, who took the oath of fidelity at Watertown, Mass., in 1657, and died in Cam- bridge, Mass., in 1684, and of John Cloyes, who was a mariner by profession and settled at Watertown October 31, 1639, and was killed by the Indians in 1676. Both of these early colonial settlers left numerous descendants, who lived in Cambridge, Watertown, Sudbury, Natick and Framingham, and other towns near Boston. Some of these descendents' names are found in colonial records of Massachusetts as taking important parts in public affairs, and others were officers and soldiers in the early French and Indian wars, and also in the war of the Revolution. Among the native citizens of Fram- ingham and Watertown, who served during the war of the Revolution, are

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Gazetteer of Caledonia and Essex Counties, Vt. 1764-1887, Part 16

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836- comp. cn Publication date: 1887 Publisher: Syracuse, N. Y., Syracuse Journal Co., Printers and Binders Number of Pages: 886

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836- comp. cn
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Syracuse, N. Y., Syracuse Journal Co., Printers and Binders
Number of Pages: 886