USA > Vermont > Essex County > Gazetteer of Caledonia and Essex Counties, Vt. 1764-1887 > Part 26
USA > Vermont > Caledonia County > Gazetteer of Caledonia and Essex Counties, Vt. 1764-1887 > Part 26
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Cornelius of fenderine
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TOWN OF HARDWICK.
and spoke of them with respect, and laid his head on his pillow at night with a conscience void of offense toward all. There was never anything in his life for his friends to regret, and there was very much to bear in loving remem- brance. He was a model youth in all that relates to home life, association with his young companions, and esteem and reverence for those of mature years ; one whose life furnishes a good example from which young people of this and coming generations would do well to take pattern. Ever diligent, all the necessary home labor was promptly and neatly done, and then his time was devoted to the acquisition of useful knowledge. He willingly obeyed all rules, and never was absent from home alone after nine o'clock at night. He was just and generous to his schoolmates ; never considered one superior to another, and nothing made him more indignant than to see one tyrannizing over a weaker or younger child, and his aid was fearlessly and earnestly given to the one he deemed wronged. He enjoyed play, entered heartily into games, and was one of the leaders in all manly sports. He was interested in the conversation of old people, never interrupting them with rude remarks or attempts at wit, but gaining the wisdom of their experience quietly and with respect. Under all circumstances he seemed to know when and how to do a kind deed, or speak a pleasant word, and the deed was always done and the word spoken. He inherited the clear acumen and strong business qualities of his father, while from his mother came the tenderness, winning manners and whole-souled generosity so characteristic of her family. There was a pleasant smile on his face, a merry twinkle in his eye, and a magnetism which attracted. He shrank from all that is low and debasing; he was never profane ; he was strongly pronounced in favor of temperance, signed the pledge and kept it sacredly. From his instincts and associations he was a moral and virtue-loving youth. The wealth of his parents, instead of inducing a spirit of idleness and frivolity, only served to give an added sense of responsi- bility to his life, a determination to use his advantages wisely, and an anxiety to fit himself to properly execute the financial trusts which would devolve on him. Thus it is not strange that all people of Hardwick, old and young, should observe, become interested in, and finally love with fervency, one who in every act showed such rare qualities. That these expressions are not the language of eulogy, but of simple truth, it is only necessary to quote some of the unsought testimonials received by his grief-stricken parents after his death, the circumstances of which are as follows : March 23, 1878, Satur- day, " Nealy," apparently in robust health, went up to the mountain sugar orchard of his father, and, while there, took cold which culminated in a malignant erysipelas. On Wednesday the disease assumed so grave an aspect that the celebrated Dr. S. W. Thayer, of Burlington, was summoned, and came on a special train, but human skill was unavailing, and after terrible suffering he died Friday morning.
From the Montpelier Watchman and Journal : "' Death loves a shining mark.' No one could have been selected from this community whose loss
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would have cast a deeper sorrow and regret than the subject of this sketch so suddenly stricken down in the pride and bloom of early manhood. With so- cial position, nobility of character, and prospects of the highest order for future usefulness, his early death must be regarded as a public loss, aside from the sad affliction suffered by that now desolated home circle, of which these many years he has been a dearly cherished treasure and idol." The Hyde Park News and Citizen : "Everybody loved him, and his stricken parents have the sympathy of the whole village." The Citizen, Morrisville : "'Nealy " was loved by all his young associates, and respected by every one who knew him. The inscription on his casket, 'He died without an enemy,' was very appropriate."
His absence on Monday from the school-room of the academy, from which he was never absent a day or at a recitation (except his two weeks visit at the Centennial), caused his teacher and esteemed friend, Mr. McLoud, to say, before hearing that he was ill, ""'Nealy' must be sick or dead."
On the sad morning of his death the school-room was a scene of mourning. When the teacher called 'Nealy's ' class in reading, both teacher and scholars were so affected that the exercises had to be dispensed with. The students of the academy adopted the following :-
All who knew him loved him for his many noble traits of character. Noble, generous boy at all times. At school all duties devolving upon him as a pupil were performed cheerfully and willingly-never absent at morning exercises, always present at recitation. A kind friend to all his schoolmates, and a pleasant companion for his elders. We sincerely regret and mourn his premature death. Accordingly, at the assembling of the school, April 1, 1878, the above tribute and following resolutions were adopted :-
WHEREAS, it has pleased Almighty God, the Father of us all, in His infinite wisdom, to remove from us our beloved friend and schoolmate, Cornelius A. Judevine, therefore,
Resolved, That while we bow in humble submission to the will of our Heavenly Father, in this dispensation of His providence, we deeply lament the loss of a companion whose many virtues had endeared him to us all.
Resolved, That in our sorrow we extend our most earnest sympathies to the afficted rela- tives and friends of our deceased schoolmate, in our common bereavement.
Resolved, That these resolutions and attached tribute be printed, and a copy of them be- sent to the relatives of the deceased.
The following resolutions were passed by the Hardwick Sunday-school :-
WHEREAS, It has pleased Almighty God in His providence to take out of this world from his home, from our Sunday-school, our dear young friend and fellow student, Corne- lius A. Jeudevine, therefore,
Resolved, That we deeply deplore his loss, and prayfully sympathize with his sorrowing and affected parents in their grief and sorrowful bereavement.
D. LEWIS, Pastor.
HENRY R. MACK, Secretary.
April 21st, 1878."
Rev. H.T. Jones, the pastor of the Methodist church, who resided in Hard- wick three years previous, sent condolence to the broken-hearted parents in these words : "I have just heard with deep regret and unfeigned sorrow of your great loss in the death of your son and only child. No loss could exceed
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this. I observed him all through those years I resided in Hardwick, and admired him for his gentleness, his genial spirit, his love for his companions, and his growing manliness in body and mind. I think no one of the youth was more beloved. It is a sad bereavement to the whole community, and clouds your future earthly prospect with imperishable gloom."
The parents also received letters of condolence from their many friends, deeply sympathizing with them in their bereavement, among which were those of Hon. Jonathan Ross, of St. Johnsbury, and Hon. De Forrest Skinner, of Valparaiso, Ind., of which all were exceedingly kind and sympathetic.
A friend of the family, Mrs. S. J. Way, who had known " Nealy" from childhood, on seeing the inscription on his casket, wrote a feeling poem, which has been highly appreciated by Mr. and Mrs. Jeudevine. We give the first stanza.
"Died without an enemy, beautiful words! Fit emblem for angels to cherish and hold. Beautiful words, yet their meaning fails to tell All the hopes that perished with ' Nealy,' loved so well."
· " Better than storied urn or animated bust is such a garland of tender memories."
Zenas R. Huntley was born in Bakersfield, Franklin county, in 1829, where he resided with his parents until 1844. They removed to Underhill, Chitten- " den county, where he lived until 1854, when he went to Eden, Lamoille county, in all these years being engaged in farming. From Eden he removed to Johnson, where he lived until 1867, in which year he came to Hardwick, locating on a farm in the center of the town. In the fall of 1876, he engaged in a general mercantile business, in the Farmers Exchange, Hardwick village, at which business he is still engaged. He married, in 1849, Luna J , daughter of David Lewis, of Cambridge. They have two children, a son, David, who married Esther E. Miles, a native of Albany, who resides on the homestead in this town; and a daughter, Celia, who married Jerry Currier, of Greens- boro Bend. Mr. Huntley's father had a family of ten children, five sons and five daughters, all of whom are now living, their ages ranging from forty two to sixty-four years. None of them have ever been sick to employ a physician.
John W. Warren, son of Samuel, was born in Morristown, Vt., in 1812, married Phebe G. Russell, and has had eight children. He came to Hard- wick in 1869. His oldest son, Russell D., served in the late war, in Co. L, 11th Vt. Vols., and died in Washington, February 12, 1864. Four sons are now living, namely, George, in Cambridge, Vt .; Fayette, in Wolcott; Willie E., in Hardwick, and Wilmer U. on the farm with his father.
Philander Bailey married Anna Miner, of Peacham, and reared four sons. The oldest, Abijah, was born in Peacham in 1806. In 1816 he was lost in a snow storm, while hunting stray sheep with an old man named Warner, and for two nights and nearly three days they wandered in the woods. All the sons except Abijah went west, accompanied by their father. Abijah married
I
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TOWN OF HARDWICK.
Lydia Hildreth, of Greensboro, and has had born to him eight children, five of whom are living, viz .: Mrs. D. W. Sabin and Mrs. Alphonso Garvin, of Craftsbury, Mrs. Celinda Leland, of Iowa, Charles M., of Hardwick, and Abijah O., of White River Junction. Mr. Bailey lives in Craftsbury.
Joel R. Ainsworth, son of Ephraim, was born in Woodbury, came to this town when seventeen years of age, and has lived here most of the time since. He has served the town as lister, and has been justice about sixteen years. He married Tryphena Sulham, whose father, Benaiah, came from Woodstock at an early date.
Moses Belding was born in Barnard, Vt., in 1795, and came to Hardwick, in March, 1825. He married for his first wife Polly Bliss, who bore him four children, namely, Sylvester B. and Mrs. J. H. Marston, both of Apple- ton, Wis., Dolly O. (Mrs. Butler Shipman) and Almira A. (Mrs. Daniel J. Ward), both of whom live in town. The mother of these children died in 1843, and Mr. Belding married for his second wife Calista Hauk, who bore him two sons, both of whom died in childhood.
Ephraim Perrin was an early settler of Stannard, when it was called Goshen Gore. He married, first, Polly Cheever, in 1815, and had born to him two chil- dren, Cyrus, who died in the late war, and Polly. He married for his second wife Maria Cutler, in November, 1821, and had born to him nine children, five of whom are living, viz .: Maria (Mrs. John Garfield), of Wheelock, Ephraim, of Morristown, Augusta, of this town, Caroline (Mrs. C. Underwood), also of this town, and Ashbel, in Greensboro. Mr. Perrin lived to seventy-six years of age.
Timothy Brown was born in Coventry, December 15, 1777, and in 1805 began a clearing in Greensboro, Vt., where he bought a lot of wild land. He married Esperance Pennock, of Vershire, and in the spring of 1806 brought his wife to Greensboro, to occupy the house he had erected. They were married at a Methodist meeting held in a barn in Vershire, March 18, 1805. He was a wheelwright and farmer, and lived to be nearly eighty years of age. He was the father of ten children, five of whom are living. One son, Chester, lives at East Hardwick. He is engaged in the book trade, and for many years has been a local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Lorenzo D. Leavitt was born in Gilmanton, N. H., August 16, 1811. When six years of age his parents moved to Wheelock, where he resided most of the time until 1867, when he removed to Walden, and from there to East Hardwick in 1872, where he has since resided. He married Irene Ed- wards, a native of Walden, and has no children.
Luther W. Adgate was born in Willsboro, N. Y., January 11, 1825. His parents moved to Keeseville, in the same county, when he was a child. In the latter place he attended the academy. He graduated from the Vermont Medical college, at Woodstock, in the class of 1849. He commenced the practice of medicine at Irasburg, Orleans county, in 1850, where he remained until 1872, with the exception of two years at St. Johnsbury. In the latter
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TOWN OF KIRBY.
year he came to this town, locating at East Hardwick, where he is still in practice.
The East Hardwick Congregational church was organized by a council convened at the house of Thomas Fuller, with sixteen members, July 29, 1803. The first pastor was Elder Amos Tuttle, a Baptist clergyman. The first church building was a wooden structure, erected in 1824. The present building was erected in 1851. It will seat 300 persons, and is valued, includ- ing grounds, etc., at $6,000.00. The society now has 150 members, with Rev. Edwin E. Rogers, pastor.
The Wolcott and Hardwick Freewill Baptist church, located in the west- ern part of Hardwick, was organized with eleven members, June 18, 1845. Rev. W. W. Harris was the first pastor. The society now has twenty-three members, with Rev. J. Monroe Nelson, pastor. They have no church build- ing.
The Methodist Episcopal church, at Hardwick, was organized by its first pastor, Rev. O. S. Morris, with sixty-five members, December 22, 1847. The church building, a wooden structure capable of seating about 300 persons, was built that year, and is now valued at $2,500.00. The society now has nine- ty-five members, with Rev. S. S. Brigham, pastor.
The Advent Christian church, of Hardwick, was organized by A. A. Hoyt, with eighteen members, in 1875. Their church building was erected in 1884, will seat 200 persons, and is valued at $2,000.00. The society now has forty members, with Rev. Addison P. Drown, pastor.
K IRBY is a small, irregularly outlined township located in the eastern part of county, in lat. 44° 29' and long. 5° 4', bounded on the north- east by Burke and the county line, south and southeast by the county line, southwest by St. Johnsbury and west by Lyndon. It was granted by Vermont, October 20, 1786, and chartered October 27, 1790, to Roswell Hopkins, by the name of Hopkinsville, containing 11,284 acres. Subse- quently, however, 2,527 acres, known as Burke Tongue, were added from Burke, and the name altered, in 1808, to Kirby.
The soil of Kirby, being generally free from stone and consisting of a rich gravelly loam, is well adapted to the raising of all kinds of grain and grass, and in most parts to the growing of Indian corn successfully. With the ex- ception of a range of mountains in the eastern part, the town is susceptible of cultivation; and even those mountain lots, after being cleared of their heavy growth of timber, afford the best of pasturage. Indeed, there is very little waste land in the town. The low lands that in the early settlement were considered too wet and swampy for cultivation, are now the most pro- ductive and valuable. The township is well watered with springs and brooks that rise among the hills, and wind their way through the valleys to the Pas-
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TOWN OF KIRBY.
sumpsic and Moose rivers, the latter of which passes through a corner of the town. Along its borders are a few excellent farms, but no sites for mills. Near the center of the town there is quite a mountain-ridge, which somewhat divides the business. Here is also a small pond, from which issues Pond brook. In the eastern part of the township is an excellent quarry of granite.
In 1880 Kirby had a population of 398 souls. In 1886 it had six school districts and five common schools, employing eleven female teachers, to whom was paid an average weekly salary, including board, of $4.39. There were eighty-six scholars, five of whom were attending private schools. The entire income for school purposes for the year was $754.75, while the total expend- itures were $738.98, with Miss N. A. Russell, superintendent.
The exact date of the first settlement made here is not known. Theophi- lus Grant and Phineas Page removed thither about 1792, locating near the town line, adjacent to St. Johnsbury. In 1800 Jonathan Leach came into the northern part of the town, then called Burke Tongue, and cut his first tree. He was soon joined by Josiah Joslin, Jude White, Jonathan Lewis, Ebenezer Damon, Asahel Burt, Antipas Harrington, and others, mostly from Massa- chusetts and New Hampshire. Mr. Leach made his first "pitch " in the town of Burke-purchasing a lot of land near the center of that town. While absent, however, engaged in removing his family from Massachusetts to their new home, the proprietors obtained a new draught of the town, bringing his number some five miles to the southward of the spot where he had com- menced clearing, in an unbroken wilderness. Procuring, on his return, the assistance of a neighbor as a guide, he started out in quest of his number, which, after some difficulty, he succeeded in finding. In this new location he commenced his labors, in the month of April, 1800. He erected, at once, a log house, though, as the reader may readily imagine, " under difficulties," inasmuch as he was destitute both of shingles and boards, not to mention numerous other articles usually deemed indispensable in convenient and suc- cessful house-building. Into this rude structure, and while its gable-ends were still open, he moved his family, consisting of a wife and two small children. Addressing himself now to clearing away the forest about him and preparing the soil for cultivation, he succeeded the first year in raising a sufficient amount of grain to meet the wants of his family. By another year, without the aid of a team, he had subdued enough of the forest to gather in 150 bushels of wheat. By the third year, he had put up a framed barn-the build- ing in which was taught the first school and held the first religious meeting in town. The first saw-mill in town, however, was built by Mr. Leach.
The town was organized on the 8th of August, 1807, and on the 29th of the same month the first town-meeting was called to elect town officers. Selah Howe was chosen moderator; Jonathan Lewis, town clerk, which office he held seventeen years; Benjamin Easterbrooks, Joel Whipple and Arunah Burt, selectmen ; Philomen Brown, constable ; and Josiah Joslin, town rep- resentative.
William W. Shout
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TOWN OF KIRBY.
Theophilus Grout, a lineal descendant in the fifth generation from Capt. John Grout, who was of Watertown, Mass., in 1640, and Phineas Page, were the first settlers of the town of Kirby. They took adjoining tracts of land on the Moose river, a considerable portion of Grout's land lying low in a bend of the river, and in that early day considered of but little value. But Grout was born and reared on the banks of the Connecticut river, in Charles- town, N. H., and naturally held a more favorable view of bottom lands than the average settler. He took a conveyance of this land in 1792, and it has been in the family ever since ; he having conveyed it to his son Josiah Grout, in 1848, who, in 1865, conveyed it to his son George W. Grout, and George O. Ford, his son-in-law, from whom the title came in 1874, to its present owner, William W. Grout, the eldest son of Josiah, who, since his ownership, has made extensive and valuable improvements upon it-building two large new barns and remodeling and re-arranging two old ones built by his grand- father ; also reconstructing and adding to the house, which was built about fifty-five years ago, and was the fourth upon the premises, including the first, which was of logs, and stood upon the hill near the Concord line, where the first opening was made, in order to be well away from the frosts of the low lands and thus secure a crop of wheat, without which the settler in that: wilderness country would have been without bread. The low land along the. river has been brought under cultivation within the last fifty years and with- in the last ten has been thoroughly drained by its present owner, and is, of course, the best upon the farm. The upland rises in an undulating slope to the north and east, but until recently much of it was kept wet and cold by springs of water flowing out in many places. This, too, has been drained, and smoothed and fitted for the profitable use of farm machinery, and the whole cultivated portion of the farm, about 150 acres, is now in excellent condition, and very productive. About seventy-five acres are in timber, and 225 in pasturage, making 450 acres in all, 110 having been added to it by the present owner. The farm is heavily stocked with Jersey and high grade Jersey cows, a flock of good sheep, and a fine family of horses, carefully bred from Morgan, Clay, Hambletonian and Mambrino strains. General Grout spends most of his time on the farm when free from professional and public duties ; but since he came into possession of it, in 1874, it has been under the immediate management of his brother-in-law, Captain George O. Ford, who married Sophronia, his eldest living sister, and their attachment for the old farm is hardly less than that of its owner. Itis, in short, regarded with pride and affection by all members of the family. Now here is a farm that for almost a century has made a comfortable home for three generations of a family whose success, such as it is, has been won wholly in Vermont, and who still cling to. the old homestead. Surely here is a lesson for the young men of Vermont, not only in farming, but as showing, also, that here in Vermont, as elsewhere a reasonable degree of success always attends those who patiently and in- dustriously turn to account the opportunities at hand.
14*A
224B
TOWN OF KIRBY.
Theophilus Grout, the first owner of this property, was twenty-four years of age when he commenced clearing it up, and the whole period of his active life was spent upon it. Indeed, the removal of the forest and bringing this tract of hand under cultivation, constituted his principal life work. He was, to some extent, honored by civil office, was, upon the organization of the town, its first representative, and was several times subsequently returned to the legis- lature ; was for many years justice of the peace, and at one time collector of U. S. revenue ; but of far greater service was he to mankind in establish- ing here in the wilderness a home, and in rearing children who, in their turn, have performed their part, and nearly all passed off the stage.
PHOTO ELECTROTYPE END CON
THE GROUT HOMESTEAD.
He was a man of large influence in neighborhood and town matters. He was frank and straightforward in all his transactions. His love of justice and fair play, and his knowledge of affairs, made his advice and assistance valu- able to those in trouble, and he was frequently consulted by such as were in- volved in legal controversies. He was a man of fine presence, of strong, erect frame and iron constitution. In politics he was a Democrat. In re- ligion he inherited from his puritan ancestors a devotional turn of mind, and at one time was connected with a Baptist church in Waterford ; but later in life his views took a somewhat liberal turn. He was, till his death, a regular attendant at church on Sunday, and took a deep interest in every phase of theological discussion. He lived uprightly in the fear of God, and in love with his neighbor. In early life he married Joanna Willard, of Hartland, Vt., who by him was the mother of eleven children, and who died at the age of eighty one years. Theophilus Grout died April 5, 1852, at the age of eighty- four years, in the full possession of his mental faculties. The text, which,
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sometime before his death, he had asked the minister to speak from at his funeral, was the prayer of the publican : "God be merciful to me a sinner."
Josiah Grout, sixth child of Theophilus, was born October 20, 1805. He married, September 29, 1830, Sophronia, daughter of Carleton Ayer, of St. Johnsbury, who was a woman of superior mental and moral qual- ities ; and after living for a time at Canaan Vt., he removed to Comp- ton, P. Q., whither his father-in-law had gone to reside. There he remained till 1848, when his older brother, Theophilus, who had been at home with the old folks, having died, he returned to the old homestead, took title to it, and spent the balance of his life upon it. While in Canada he did not renounce his allegiance to the United States, and took no part in Canadian affairs- though he came near getting himself into trouble with the Canadian authori- ties by too freely expressing his sympathy with the Papineau rebellion of 1838.
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