USA > Vermont > Essex County > Gazetteer of Caledonia and Essex Counties, Vt. 1764-1887 > Part 54
USA > Vermont > Caledonia County > Gazetteer of Caledonia and Essex Counties, Vt. 1764-1887 > Part 54
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William H. Campion is the son of James and Bridget (McLaughlin) Cam - pion. His parents came from Ireland to this county in 1844. His father worked in Brighton, Mass., as a gardener, till 185t. After coming to this
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TOWN OF FERDINAND.
town Mr. Campion was called upon to fill every office of trust and honor in the gift of the town. He had four children, William H., Mary A., James E. and John. William H. married Jennie Laducer, of Lyndon, and is now rep- resentative, town clerk and one of the selectmen, while he has held various other offices.
J. L. Hosford is a descendant of one of the first settlers of the town. He enlisted in Co. H, 4th Vt. Vols., during the Rebellion, and was among the wounded at the battle of the Wilderness. As a result he lost a limb, just below the knee. He is one of the selectmen, has been superintending school committee and a justice of the peace.
The Methodist Episcopal church, at the village of East Haven, was organ- ized by its first pastor, Rev. S. S. Brigham, in 1876, with a membership of twenty. Their house of worship, a wooden structure, was built the same year, at a cost of $1,000.00, and will comfortably seat 200 persons. The society now has thirty members, with Rev. John McDonald, pastor. The Sunday-school has an average attendance of seventy-five scholars, and seven teachers.
F ERDINAND is a sparsely settled township in the central part of the county, and is bounded northeast by Lewis, east by Brunswick and Maidstone, southwesterly by Newark, East Haven and Granby, and northwesterly by Brighton. It received its charter October 13, 1761. On the same day an adjoining township was granted, under the name of Wen- lock. The latter has gone out of existence, being divided up and added to other towns. Both of these towns were originally of a diamond shape, like Maidstone and Brunswick, while the adjoining town of Brighton was similar in shape to the present Ferdinand. The north part of Wenlock was annexed to Brighton, and the remainder, with the southern part of Brighton, annexed to Ferdinand.
The surface of the town in the northern part is comparatively level, while the southern part is mountainous. The whole territory, except a narrow strip along the line of the railroad, is densely wooded.
In 1880 Ferdinand had a population of forty souls. The town has no schools.
WENLOCK (p. o.), a station on the Grand Trunk railway, the only hamlet in the town, contains the mills of D. H. Beattie, and about ten dwellings.
David H. Beattie's steam saw-mill, at Wenlock, is the first of importance that has been erected in town. Mr. Beattie first began here with a portable steam mill of forty horse-power, in 1881. to cut the timber from the large tracts of wild land which he owned in the vicinity. In 1882 another engine was added, and a third in 1885, aggregating 105 horse-power. The machinery operated was one board-saw, two heading mills, lath machinery and shingle
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TOWN OF GRANBY.
machine. They cut 35,000 feet of rough lumber, and 8,000 feet of cedar, or 15,000 spruce shingles, and 24,000 to 30,000 lath per day. The timber cut is mostly spruce and cedar, employing forty five men at the mill, and eighty men in the logging camps. D. H. Beattie's mill was burned in December, 1886, but it is expected to be re-built this season.
David H. Beattie, son of James, was born in Ryegate, October 3, 1816. His father was born in Antrim, Antrim county, Ireland, but the original stock was from Scotland. His mother was Margaret J. Gillespie, a native of Lon- donderry, Ireland. James Beattie was a linen draper in early life, and com- ing to America went first to Virginia, and afterwards to Ryegate, where, in 1805, he married his wife. Here he became interested in the lumber trade, and did a large business for those days. He also leased the Passumpsic turnpike, which was then, and continued until 1838, a toll road. James Beattie died December 31, 1866, aged ninety-one years. David H. Beattie has been engaged in the lumber business since 1848. For several years with his brothers he was engaged in running logs down the Connecticut. He was interested in the South Lancaster mill, which D. H. & T. G. Beattie operated from 1877 to 1881, when it was burned, also in two mills in Brunswick, one . from 1864 to 1876, and one from 1853 to 1876. Mr. Beattie served as county sheriff in 1855-56-57, state senator in 1861-62, assistant judge four years, presidential elector in 1880, was elected judge of probate in 1885-86, and re- elected for two years at the last election. He married Harriet D., daughter of Thomas Carlisle, of Lancaster, N. H., and has four sons and two daughters.
G RANBY lies in the southern-central part of the county, in lat. 44° 35', and long. 5° 5', bounded northeast by Ferdinand and Maidstone, southeast by Guildhall, southwest by Victory, and northwest by East Haven. It was granted by Benning Wentworth, the royal governor of New Hampshire, under King George III., October 10, 1761, to Elihu Hall and sixty-three others, in seventy equal shares, and under the usual restric- tions of the charters of that day. Its name was given, it is said, in honor of the Earl of Granby. The town was surveyed by General James Whitelaw, of Barnet, in 1785, with a result as follows : "Beginning at Guildhall cor- ner, thence running northwest between Victory and Granby six miles ; thence northeast between East Haven and Granby six miles, to a large rock ; thence between Guildhall and Granby six miles ; and thence between Maidstone, Ferdinand and Granby, six miles.
The surface of the town is broken and hilly, possibly mountainous. The soil is mostly of the granitic order, and better adapted for grazing, and grow- ing the coarser grains and vegetables, than for wheat and corn, which require the selection of the best fields and a favorable season ; and even then are more
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TOWN OF GRANBY.
or less uncertain crops. Rocks are abundant, affording an available material for fences ; and there are some specimens of interest to the geologist. Good clay is very scarce, and of minerals nothing of practical importance is known. Cow Mountain pond in the southern, and Mud pond in the southwesterly part of the town, both rather small, are all the ponds known with any certainty to be within the limits of the town. Unknown pond, also small, near the north- western corner of the town, is believed by some to be in Granby, and by others in Ferdinand. The streams, too, are small. Moose river, or Gaswell's stream, flows across the western correr of the town, from East Haven to Vic- tory, and two or three of its branches rise in the southerly slope of Granby. One brook runs easterly through Guildhall to Connecticut river, and with Paul's stream and its branches drain the northerly slope of the town, and these streams afford a pretty good supply of water-power. Of timber, the white pine was quite plenty in the northern part of the town, but a consider- able portion of the best quality has been cut. Spruce and balsam, however, are abundant, as a considerable part of the town has not yet been cleared, and hemlock, tamarack and cedar are found in a few localities. A few elms also are found growing on and near the streams, while maple, birch and beech are the principal varieties of hard wood.
In 1880 Granby had a population of 194. In 1886 it had two school dis- tricts and two common schools. There were fifty-one scholars, taught during the year by four female teachers, to whom was paid an average weekly salary, including board, of $5.47. The entire income for school purposes was $378.66, while the whole amount expended was $280.45, with Hettie W. Matthews, superintendent.
C. H. Stevens & Co., with office at St. Johnsbury, have two large steam saw-mills here on Moose river. The mills were built in 1880, and have the capacity for turning out 6,000,000 feet of lumber per year, and furnish em- ployment for forty hands. John M. Allbee is superintendent.
Of the early settlement, etc., of Granby, we quote the following from Loomis Wells: "The proprietors of Granby appointed Lieut. Timothy An- drews their agent, September 1, 1783, 'to transact all and every matter what- soever for and in behalf of said proprietors, as he shall think beneficial to bring forward the settlement of said township,' and a similar vote was taken October 1, 1787. A committee was appointed December 8, 1789, consisting of Nathaniel Herrick, William Amy, Joseph Herrick and Sherman Hemberly, to lay out and complete a road through the town, and Jonah Clark was ap- pointed agent to give leases of tracts of land, not exceeding 150 acres, to each of twelve first settlers who will engage to settle and improve under the pro- prietors.
"'Guildhall, June 14, 1790 .- The proprietors voted that Joseph Herrick and Benjamin Cheney, being the first settlers in Granby, that each of them have, as inducement for settling, two lots (ever) ; that is to say, the said Her- rick lots No. 7 and 8 in the 5th range, and the said Cheney lots 'No. 7 and 8.
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TOWN OF GRANBY.
in range 4, being the lots on which they have begun improvements, which is to include all grants heretofore made, provided that each of them pursue and prosecute their improvements as fast as could reasonably be expected.'
" At a meeting held at Guildhall, June 21, 1791, the committee appointed to lay out and clear a road through the town of Granby, were directed to complete the same as soon as possible. At the same meeting an offer was made to any person or persons that would build a saw-mill and grist-mill, and keep them in repair for ten years, should have the land on which they were built and 300 acres of public land. Provision was also made for supplying teams in making bridges, and 'that the price of each yoke of good oxen so employed should be the same price per day as a man's labor,' which was 5s. per day."
The road was surveyed and completed in 1791, at a cost of £174 13s. 6d. It was subsequently re-surveyed in 1810, as a county road, leading from Lake Memphremagog to Connecticut river, in Guildhall.
"The first proprietors' meeting, as per record, held in Granby, was held at the house of Joseph Herrick, October 27th, 1795. At this meeting they voted :-
"'That, whereas, the proprietors at their meeting holden heretofore have given as encouragement to the twelve settlers who shall first settle in said town a tract of public land, not exceeding 150 acres to each, and, whereas, the following persons have made improvement according to said vote, and are considered as settlers, and to hold and to enjoy, to themselves and heirs and assigns forever in fee, the lands as hereafter voted to them respectively, viz .: To Mr. Nathaniel Herrick lot No. 6, range 4th, containing one hundred acres, and the half of lot No. 5. in the same range adjoining to the other, to him, his heirs and assigns forever.'
" The names of the others and their allotments were as follows : Joseph Herrick (200 acres), Benjamin Cheney, Samuel Ward, Nathaniel Herrick, Jr., Robert Pike, John Crawford, Joseph Roberts, Jeremiah Harris, Charles Curtis, John Cook and Enos Cook. It was also voted to extend the time for building mills two years from the meeting. The last entry upon the pro- prietors' record bears date April 19, 1802, when the meeting was adjourned one month, but here the curtain falls and the remainder of the page is blank paper.
" After a careful examination of all within my reach that pertains to the first settlement, I have come to the conclution that Joseph Herrick and Benjamin Cheney moved into the town in 1790 or 1791, probably the former. In the first book of town records, under the head of births and death and marriage, on page eleven, is the following:
" ' Herd Cheney, son to Benjamin and Eunice Cheney, born September 16, 1791, the first child that was born in town.'
"On page eight of the same book the record says:
""'Samuel Hart married to Susanna Herrick March 31, 1796'-also on
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TOWN OF GRANBY.
page nine, ' Anna Pike died July 13, 1795.' These are understood to be the first marriage, birth and death that occurred in town.
"For about twenty years, up to 1810, the settlement appears to have gone on favorably if not prosperously, and there were twenty-four or twenty-six families in town. About 1810, for some cause, several families removed to Canada, some to Northern New York, and some to adjoining towns ; and the famous 'cold seasons,' 1813 and 1818, produced a general stampede, so that in 1816 or 1817 there were but three families left in town, viz .: Nathaniel Bell, Zacheus Cook and James Waid, and they were hardly near enough to each other to be neighbors. After a year or two some who had removed to ad- joining towns returned, and others moved in, so that in 1825 or '30, about the standard of 1810 for number of families were attained, and has kept along to the present time very uniform."
The first town meeting was held at the house of Joseph Herrick, on the 2d Tuesday of March, 1798, when Nathaniel Herrick, Jr., Robert Pike and Ben- jamin Cheney, were elected listers and selectmen ; Samuel Hart, treasurer ; Zadock Herrick, constable ; and James Morehead, supervisor of highways. As thus organized the town continued to hold meetings and elect officers down to 1815, when the organization was abandoned and the records delivered to the county clerk. On January 10, 1822, the town was reorganized, and at the · March meeting following was for the first time divided into school and high- way districts.
To quote from Mr. Wells again: "Gen. Seth Cushman, of Guildhall, built the first saw and grist-mill, about 1810. During the 'cold season,' the grist- mill entirely run down. The granite mill-stones lay near the old mill site, and the people go out of town to mill, and have for over fifty years. The saw- mill held out until 1826 or 1827. About this time Martin Joslyn built another saw-mill and sawed a few thousand feet of boards, but the dam proved to be on a clayey foundation, and Joslyn failed in heath and finan- cially, so the mill went to ruin without ever being inclosed or covered. About 1845 Gershom Carpenter built a saw-mill, near the main road on the same stream."
The Wells family in Granby are quite numerous. They date back in this country to Levi Loomis, who was born in 1745, and in 1770 married Alice Clark, who was born in 1749. They had nine children-Patti, Levi, Seba, Harvey, Clara, Alice, Lorin, Luna and Achsa. Patti married Asa Wells, Sep- tember 13, 1795, and their children were Ward W., George W., Martha C., Lucy F., Karl L., Sophia P. and Loomis. Loomis married Adeline Farr, December 20, 1842, who died April 4, 1874. Their children were Jean, Betsey E., Lucy, Addie, Joseph L. and Hettie. Loomis married for his second wife Mrs. Hannah C. Redfield Farnam, of St. Johnsbury. She died November 24, 1879, and for his third wife he married Lucy I. Willson, of Barton, Vt. Mr. Wells has been one of the most popular men in town, has been selectman three-fourths of the time for forty years, has been in the leg-
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TOWN OF GRANBY.
islature four terms, besides being a delegate to the constitutional convention in 1870. The postoffice has been held by him or by some of the family for thirty years.
Samuel T. Dudley came from Littleton, N. H., in 1859, and settled on the place he now occupies, on road 4. He married Jerusha Temple, of Lit- tleton, and they have four children-Clara A., Martha E., Mariam E. and Frank W. They also adopted one son, Frank E. Mr. Dudley has been called to fill various town offices, has been overseer of the poor for many years, representative, and is now first selectman.
Samuel N. Buzzell is a son of Samuel D. and Elmira (Rice) Buzzell, who came from Strafford about 1830, and located on the place now owned by him. Mr. Buzzell is a thriving farmer, who has always believed in " earning one's living by the sweat of their brow." He has accumulated a comfortable fortune on the farm, and has several times been called by the town to fill offices of trust and responsibility. He has five children, Anna J., George N., Nettie L., Lila M. and Charles F.
Lewis W. Jones came from Burke, in 1858, married Rosina M. Young, by whom he has had four children-Kattie, who married R. Page, Ira B., Ellen O., and Freddie H. No man is better known in these parts than Mr. Jones. During the spring and summer he does his farming, and in the fall and win- ter is a hunter and trapper, as well as a guide to parties who may need his. . services. He has in a single month captured seventy-two foxes with his gun and dogs.
Ethan P. Shores, of Granby, was a hero of the battle of Cedar Creek, Va., October 19, 1864. We are informed by an eye-witness that the colors of the 8th Vermont were about being captured, owing to the color-bearer being shot, and that Ethan P. Shores seized them, and, as our troops were retreat- ing, he and one comrade were left behind. They were surrounded by the " Johnnies" and ordered to surrender the flag, which they refused to do. The comrade shot one rebel, and Shores shot one and bayonetted another, and they then got back to their regiment, which had formed in line of battle again. Shores gave the colors to Corporal Perham, Co. K, 8th Vermont Regt. About five minutes after the sergeant was shot dead, and the com- rander told Shores to take the flag again. He did so, and carried it the rest of the day. They were completely routed in the forenoon, but in the afternoon they were "reinforced by one man," General Sheridan, and drove back the rebels and held them. At another time Mr. Shores was captured by a part of Dick Taylor's force, above New Orleans, and was wounded in the instep, while a minnie ball cut off the cord of his limb under the knee. Still, he got away, and traveled two nights and three days, safely reaching camp.
John McGinnis came from Bishoptown, on the River Clyde, Scotland. He married Lucy Wilson and they have had three children-Willie (deceased),
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TOWN OF GUILDHALL.
Henry, who married Kattie Kerr, and lives on the farm adjoining his father's, and Ida. Henry has two children, Bertha and Willie G.
J. H. Wilkey married Alice A. Wilson. They have had four children, Will- iam C., Herbert M., Mabel E., Alice M. and Jennie V. (deceased). He was a soldier in Co. B, 4th Vt. Regt., and afterwards in Co. C, 15th Regt., and again in Co. E, roth Regt. He was a fighting soldier in the best sense of the word. After getting a broken wrist, and being excused from duty, he fought seven hours and was then wounded in the thigh and carried from the field.
Jonathan Matthews came to the place now occupied by him, on road 4, in 1838, there being nothing but a wilderness there then. By perseverance he has cleared up the land and now has a good farm. He has been blind for some years, and lives with his son Charles. Jonathan married Nancy Bell, of Granby, and they have had eight children, Noah A., deceased, Jonathan, deceased, Henry C., Annette M., Herbert, Nancy J., who married John L. Hosford, and Charles, who married Hettie Wells.
Joseph L. Wells, son of Loomis, is a farmer on road 4. He is the only farmer in Granby who makes creamery butter, his always commanding the best prices and a ready sale. He married Lella Bruce, who died January 13, 1881. He then married Eva L. Parker. He has two children, Edith L. and Dwight L.
The Congregational church of Granby and Victory, located at Granby village, was organized by Rev. Samuel R. Hall, June 8, 1825, with eight members. Rev. James Tisdale was installed as the first pastor, in 1830. Their house of worship, a wooden structure, was erected in 1846, at an orig- inal cost of $800.00, will comfortably seat eighty persons, and is now valued, including grounds, at $1,200.00. The society comprises thirty-one members, under the pastoral charge of Rev. Charles Duren. A Sunday-school is held regularly, with a membership of sixty.
G UILDHALL, the county seat of Essex county, lies in the southeastern part of the same, in lat. 44° 32' and long. 5° 18', and is bounded on the northeast by Maidstone, east by the Connecticut river, south- west by Lunenburgh, and northwest by Granby, containing an area of 19,- 477 acres. It was chartered by Governor Wentworth, of New Hampshire, October 10, 1761, to Elihu Hall and sixty three others, residents of New Haven county and vicinity, in Connecticut. Their first proprietary meeting was held at New Haven on the last Wednesday of October, 1761. The first deed was given by John Blakeslee, Enos Todd, Giles Dayton, Samuel Mix, David Thorpe, Joshua Ray, Gershom Todd, Titus Tuttle and John McClure to John Hall, 5th, and dated November 2, 1761 ; the second, by Daniel Mackey to John Hall, 5th, dated November 6, 1761, but by whom the name of Guildhall was given to the town is not known.
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TOWN OF GUILDHALL.
On the plains and intervals of Guildhall the soil is fertile and is easily cultivated ; on the hills, strong, and better adapted to grazing. Dairying and stock raising is an important industry. The town is well watered. The stream formerly known as Spaulding brook rises in Granby, flows through Maidstone and thence through the southeast corner of Guildhall to the Con- necticut. As the first mills were built upon this stream, the modern name of Mill stream is more appropriate. Burnside brook heads in Granby and turns just east of Burnside mountain or west of Hubbard hill, uniting with Mill stream. Wallace brook drains the central, and Catspaw brook the western part of the town. 'Cow mountain, in the western part of the town, received its name from the fact that a hermit negro, called " Old Bacchus," who lived in this vicinity, appropriated to his own use another man's cow, for which he suffered the dire consequences. The summit affords a fine prospect.
In 1880 Guildhall had a population of 558. In 1886 the town had six school districts and six common schools, taught during the year by eleven female teachers, who received an average weekly salary, including board, of $5.50. The entire income for school purposes was $919.68, while the total expenditures were $966.99, with L. A. Grannis, superintendent.
GUILDHALL village, the county seat, enjoys a pleasant location in the northeastern corner of the town. It has a court-house, jail, two churches ( Congregational and Methodist), three stores, a grist-mill, saw-mill, last fac- tory, blacksmith shop and about thirty dwellings. It is connected by a toll bridge with Northumberland, N. H.
John B. Parker's grist and saw-mills were purchased by him of Lafayette T. Moore, in 1880. He cuts about 3,000,000 feet of lumber and grinds about 10,000 bushels of grain per year, employing forty-five men.
John E. Bean's last factory turns out 400,000 lasts per year.
In the spring of 1764 David Page, David Page, Jr., aged eighteen, Em- mons Stockwell, aged twenty-three, Timothy Nash, George Wheeler and a Mr. Rice, started out from Lancaster, Mass., with twenty head of cattle, to make a settlement in the wilds of the Connecticut valley. On the 19th of April they arrived at Lancaster, N. H., and pitched their camp on both sides of the Connecticut, upon land since called the Stockwell place. Thus was the settlement of Guildhall begun. They owned lands, on both sides of the river in common for some time, clearing off and planting seventeen acres with corn the first season. On the 26th of August this corn stood twelve feet high. On the following morning it was frozen through and completely ruined. David Page, Sr., brought his daughter Ruth, then seventeen years of age, to the new settlement, probably the first white woman to ever set foot in either Guildhall or Lancaster. She performed the duties of house- keeper for the settlers, and finally became the [wife of Emmons Stockwell. The Indians were then quite numerous, and their house was a general resort for them, as Mr. Stockwell traded with them quite extensively. His author-
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TOWN OF GUILDHALL.
ity with them was great and was never disputed, the tapping of his foot upon the floor being sufficient to quiet them when most rude. Mr. and Mrs. Stockwell reared a family of fifteen children, their third child and first son, David Stockwell, being the first white male child born in the town. When the youngest of the fifteen children had attained the age of twenty-one years not a death had occurred in the family. Mrs. Stockwell lived to her eight- ieth year, and could then count 130 descendants then living.
Enoch Hall, Micah Amy and James Rosebrook located here in 1775, and became permanent settlers. Eleazer Rosebrook and Samuel Paige joined the settlement in 1778. David Hopkins, Reuben Howe and Simeon Howe came in 1779.
At a proprietors' meeting, held in 1777, it was voted that they would "locat & lot the township of Guildhall." A committee was appointed, who came on here for the purpose, but were driven off by the inhabitants, on account of the exorbitant expense incurred. At this early day the township lines were not well defined, so that in the early records we find Maidstone men figuring as citizens of Guildhall, and inhabitants of Guildhall as citizens of Lunenburgh. On March 15, 1799, there were twelve settler's lots occupied in Guildhall, by eleven settlers, as follows:' Lot No. I, Colonel Ward Bailey, the land now being occupied by the village ; lot No. 2, James Rose- brook, the land afterwards owned by Alva Ditson, Greenleaf Webb, Charles Webb, John Dodge, John Emery and David Hunt ; lot No. 3, D. Hopkin- son, upon lands afterwards owned by A. M. Blount, and including a part of the Haskell and Long places ; lot No. 4, Samuel Howe, upon lands since owned by E. H. Webb; lots Nos. 5 and 6, Eleazer Rosebrook, since owned by Stevens Ames and H. N. Allen ;. lots Nos. 7 and 8, Jonathan Grout and Edward Buckman, since owned by H. N. Allen, Jose, Small and Charles Benton ; lots Nos. 9 and ro, Reuben and Simeon Howe, since owned by Anson Fiske ; lot No. 11, George Wheeler, since owned by John Smith ; lot No. 12, Benoni Cutler, since owned by John and George Boyce, Horace Hubbard and Zed Wood.
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