Gazetteer of Orange County, Vt., 1762-1888, Part 29

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836- comp. cn
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., The Syracuse journal company, printers
Number of Pages: 836

USA > Vermont > Orange County > Gazetteer of Orange County, Vt., 1762-1888 > Part 29

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TOWN OF BRADFORD.

of Bradford, and in company with Mr. Barron Hay succeeded his brothers in the mercantile business. Since the autumn of 1870 he has held the office of clerk of Bradford. In 1882 he represented his town in the state legis- lature and held the office of selectman in 1885 and '86.

James Dickey, born in Ireland, came to America and settled in Corinth at an early day. He married Jane Nawher before he left his native country, was a farmer, and died in Bedford, N. H. His son James married Ruth Mclaughlin, and settled in Corinth. Of their children, William, born August 29, 1803, died in 1808 ; Jobn L. M., born in 1806, died in 1828; Seneca, born in 1808, married and settled in this town, and later removed to Wisconsin, dying suddenly in 1874; Harris E. G. M., born in 1810, died . in infancy ; William, born in 1812, married Martha S. Taplin, of Corinth, March 1, 1838, and settled on a farm in this town, where he died in Novem- ber, 1886. The latter had born to him children as follows : Lizzie F. (Mrs. Blaisdell Chapman), of Newbury ; William Henry, who died while serving his country in the late war ; James E., who married Ellen Wheeler, and is a farmer in Newbury; Seneca, who married Emma Flagg, and resides on a farm in this town ; Charles F., who married Lucetta Chase, and is a farmer in Newbury ; Wallace L., a commercial traveler, who married Eva Getchell, and resides in Bradford village ; and Georgia E., who resides in this town.

Capt. Preston S. Chamberlin was born in Newbury in 1832. He received a common school education, and remained on his father's farm until twenty years old. At the age of twenty-one years he settled on Goshen road, in this town, where he now resides. In January, 1856, he married Hannah S. Cor- liss, and they have three children, viz .: Annie, Mary H. and Edith. In 1858, at the organization of the Bradford guards, Mr. Chamberlin was one of the first to enlist. Under the first call of the President, in 1861, this company enlisted for three months, during which time Captain Chamberlin served as sergeant. In 1862, on the call for nine months' men, he enlisted in the 12th Vermont regiment, and went out as captain of the Bradford guards (Co. H.) and served until the expiration of his term of service, being mustered out in 1863, since which time he has given his attention to the cultivation of his farm. He has been elected to the offices of selectman and overseer of the poor, and is now serving his town as lister.

George F. Morris, son of William M. and Esther P. (Southworth) Morris, was born in Wentworth, N. H., in 1825. When about two years of age his parents removed to West Fairlee, where they resided the ensuing five years, when they located in Vershire, where they remained until their death, Mr. Morris dying at the great age of ninety years, and his wife at eighty. George F., at the age of twenty years, removed to Boston, Mass., where he remained two years, and learned the mason's trade, when he located in this town, where he has since resided. During most of the time he has resided here, in addition to working at his trade, he has owned and managed a farm located in Vershire. The larger portion of the buildings in Bradford village are

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monuments of his handicraft, prominent among which is Union block, a fine brick structure, the mason work on which was done jointly by Messrs. Morris and Eastman. Mr. Morris attends the Congregational church, and is a liberal contributor to its financial interests, having served as treasurer of the society for twelve years. He is interested in all the projects for the advance- ment of the interests of the village, and to his care has been trusted the funds of the fire district for many consecutive years. February 3, 1853, he married Lydia M. Fuller, of Vershire, by whom he has had two sons, one of whom died in infancy. The other, Chauncey C., born January 13, 1860, is employed as clerk and telegraph operator at the railroad station in Littleton, N. H. He is also a fine musician.

Harry Elwood Parker, son of Charles and Amelia E. Parker, was born in Lyman, N. H., June 11, 1853. He is the great-grandson of Silas Parker, an early settler of Sugar Hill (Lisbon); grandson of Hon. Levi Parker, who was so prominent for many years in the civil affairs of that town, and who served as councilor under Gov. Gilmore at the time of the civil war (1862-63). H. E. Parker was educated at the local school of his native town and academy at Lisbon, where he removed in 1863. He possessed fine musical tastes, and devoted himself to music for some years. At the age of sixteen he was leader of a military band at Marion, Va., which furnished music for college commencement at Emory and Henry college in 1870. In 1869 he began to learn the printing business, put it aside for awhile, resumed it in 1872. In 1877 he commenced the publication of the Lisbon Globe. This was a small twelve-column folio. In 1878 he was chosen engrossing clerk of the New Hampshire legislature, one of the most important and lucrative clerical posi- tions in that body, and was re-appointed in 1879-80. In the Garfield cam- paign of 1880, he was president of the Young Men's Republican club of Lisbon. In November, 1881, he moved to Bradford, and engaged in the newspaper business. He consolidated the rival papers, and established the United Opinion. Under Mr. Parker's able management the business has largely increased, and at present, besides the proprietorship of the Opinion, he has a half interest in Plymouth Record, Plymouth, N. H., and Lisbon Index, Lisbon, N. H.

Mr. Parker is a prominent Odd Fellow; is Chief Patriarch of Trotter Encampment, Bradford, and Grand Secretary of the order in Vermont. He has been offered the position of lieutenant-colonel on the staff of Major- General Cushman, corps commander of New England and Canada Patriarchs militant. He married, in Nashua, September 24, 1873, Annie M. Weston. They have had four children.

Lester Warren Hanson, M. D., was born in Lawrence, St. Lawrence county, N. Y., July 15, 1845, where he resided until about four years of age, when his parents removed to Barre, Vt. Until fifteen years of age he spent his time on his father's farm in Barre, attending district school summers and winters. In the fall of 1860 he entered Barre academy, finishing the course 13*

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in 1864. During his student life he taught several terms of district school' and one select school with good success. After leaving Barre academy he studied medicine in an office in Woodstock, Vt., attended two courses of instruction in the Medical department of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and graduated in medicine at Dartmouth Medical college, in October, 1867. The following winter he spent in Bridgewater, Windsor county, practicing his profession in Connecticut, with Dr. H. L. Rodimon. In 1868 he married Emma F. Bill, daughter of the late Hon. R. M. Bill, of West Topsham, and removed to Genesee county, Mich., where he spent twelve years in active practice-the last nine years being at Davison, where his two children, a son and daughter, were born. He spent the winter of 1875-76 in the medical college and hospitals of Detroit for professional improvement. In 1881, through the influence of the late Dr. A. A. Doty, whom he succeeded, Dr. Hanson located in Bradford, where he still resides, engaged in an active and successful practice. Soon after locating here he was appointed United States pension examining surgeon, holding the position five years. He is now ( [887) president of the White Mountain Medical Society, including physicians on both sides of the Connecticut river between White River Junction and Canada line. Through his efforts in 1883, Ver- mont Council, No. 773, Royal Arcanum, was established in Bradford, of which he is the medical examiner. The order now numbers over 80,000 members, and pays a benefit of $3,000 to the families of deceased members. The doctor takes an active interest in education, temperance, the church, and whatever pertains to good citizenship and the well being of the community.

William B. Stevens, born in Newbury, April 9, 1822, was educated in the common schools, with a few terms in local academies. At the age of fifteen years he engaged as clerk in a general store in his native town, in which posi- tion he continued for thirteen years, thoroughly learning the mercantile busi- ness before embarking for himself. In 1851 he engaged in business in Brad- ford, with his brother, Charles S., under the firm name of W. B. & C. S. Stevens, which continued until 1869, when Mr. V. W. Bagley was admitted to the firm, each member owning a third interest, under the name of Stevens Bros. & Co. In 1872 the death of C. S. Stevens caused the dissolution of the firm ; and during the next seven years the business was conducted by the remaining members of the firm, under the name of Stevens & Bagley. In 1879 Mr. Stevens purchased Mr. Bagley's interest, and conducted the enter- prise alone until 1881, when C. E. Clark, a clerk who had been in Mr. Stevens's employ for the preceding seven years, became his partner, and formed the present firm of. Stevens & Clark. In 1856 Mr. Stevens built his fine residence, and in 1883 he erected the handsome brick block known as the Stevens block, containing the postoffice and two roomy stores on the ground floor, many fine offices on the second floor, and two spacious halls on the third floor, occupied respectively by the Masons and Odd Fellows. Mr. Stevens is still actively engaged in what may be properly termed his life-work,.

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and has been in business in Bradford for more than thirty-five consecutive years, during which time he has always been able to pay his bills and meet all demands. In 1855 he married Harriet E. Ladd, of Haverhill, N. H., and their children are Anna (Mrs. Albert W. Porter), of Harrisburgh, Pa., and Carrie and May, who reside in this town with their parents.

Daniel B. Higgins was born in the town of Kirby, Caledonia county, March 12, 1816. At the age of seventeen years he was apprenticed to learn blacksmithing, and when about twenty years of age engaged with E. & T. Fairbanks & Co., with whom he continued for fifteen years. In 1859 he removed to this town, where he has been engaged as machinist and black- smith up to the present time (1887), and now, aged over three score and ten years, is well preserved and able to perform manual labor. In 1842 he mar- ried Jane M. Livingstone, of Albany, Orleans county, and they have had born to them two children, both of whom are dead.

William H. Leavitt, son of Josiah and Susannah (Copp) Leavitt, was born in Sanbornton, N. H., August 9, 1824. At the age of twenty-three years he removed to Meredith Bridge, (now Laconia. N. H.,) and about three years later engaged in the manufacture of doors, sash and blinds, in which business he continued until the fall of 1864, with fair success, when he removed to this town and continued in the same business. In 1872 he erected a com- modious shop in which he prosecuted an increasing business until 1877, when he sold to George W. Farr & Co., and engaged in his present business of manufacturing square butter boxes. October 10, 1847, he was united in marriage with Rachel M. Prescott, of Washington, and they were the parents of five children, of whom three are living, viz .: Eugene, a sash and blind manufacturer of Lancaster, N. H .; Forest, a homeopathic physician of South Royalton, Windsor county, and Corinne (Mrs. J. A. Sargent) of this town.

Dr. Frederick Fletcher was born in Thetford, June 17, 1844, where he spent his early life upon his father's farm. He remained with his father until 1870, when he graduated from the medical department of Dartmouth college, and immediately entered into active practice in Strafford, where he remained until 1882, when he removed to this town. In 1875 he was united in mar- riage with Ella Kent, of Strafford.

CHURCHES. - At the freemen's meeting held September 2, 1788, the town appointed a committee to " drive a stake where to set a meeting house," and October 18th, following, it was decided by the town that the meeting-house should be set on the flat near Esquire Peters's barn, and that it should be fifty feet long, forty feet wide, and twenty-three feet posts, but then arose the serious questions who should build it, who be responsible for the cost, and what way should the means of payment be obtained. Four years and a half were consumed in settling these questions, and March 19, 1793, it was decided that a town committee, appointed for the purpose, should see the work accomplished. Accordingly this committee contracted with Ed vard Clark, of Haverhill, N. H., and Joseph Clark, of Bradford, April 23, 1793, to build

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the meeting-house, it to be finished July 1, 1795. The builders fulfilled their contract, and the house was ready for dedication. By a vote of the town the pews were sold at public auction before the completion of the meeting-house, and the funds so raised appropriated to defray the expense of building, and thus general taxation was avoided.

At a town meeting called for that purpose October 12, 1793, "Voted to hire some preaching this fall, if some candidate chance to come this way." Rev. Gardner Kellogg "chanced to come that way," and was employed.

March 31, 1794, " Voted to raise £16 lawful currency to pay for preach- ing."

July 3, 1794, " Voted to have Mr. Kellogg three months longer."

September 24, 1794, " Voted to give Mr. Kellogg a call to settle in the ministry."

November 10, 1794, "Voted to give Mr. Kellogg £200 in labor and materials for a house ; part to be paid in a year, part in two years, and the remainder in three years. Also, to give him £50 the first year, and to increase by the addition of £5 per year until it amounts to £75, which shall be the regular salary. One quarter to be paid in money, the remainder in wheat at 5s. a bushel, or neat stock equivalent to said wheat."

January 13, 1795, " Voted to give Mr. Kellogg, in addition to the above, twenty cords of wood yearly, if he needs it ; also to give him {200 settle- ment, in land."

Mr. Kellogg accepted this call, with its very liberal provisions, March 21, 1795, and his ordination took place September 2d, succeeding his acceptance.

As a large majority of the tax-payers were Congregationalists, that denomin- ation was the established religion, and none escaped taxation for its support, except such as filed with the town clerk an authentic testimonial that they belonged to another denomination. This method of supporting a minister was attended with so many embarrassments to both the town and the minister that, in 1809, at the March meeting, the town appointed a committee to request Mr. Kellogg to resign, which he did on the town's paying him all arrears, after a pastorate of nearly fourteen years.

The Congregational Church .- The present Congregational church of Brad- ford was organized June 24, 18to, by the counsel and assistance of Rev. Stephen Fuller, pastor of the church in Vershire. The church at first con- sisted of but seven members-five women and two men-and was without a regular pastor until July 25, 1815, when the Rev. Silas McKeen received ordination, and was duly installed pastor, which relation continued, with only a short interruption, until December 31, 1832. His successors were, first, Rev. George W. Campbell ; second, Rev. John Suddard, during whose min- istry, in 1836, the first meeting-house, which had been occupied forty years, was taken down and remodelled, and used in building the present edifice of the Congregational church in Bradford village ; third, Rev. Cephas H. Kent, installed December 27, 1837, and who continued until December 15, 1841.

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The church, with unanimity, then extended to Rev. Silas McKeen, their first pastor, a call to return to them, which he accepted, and re-commenced his ministry at Bradford in March, 1842, which continued a little over twenty- four years longer, when he asked for a dismission, which was granted, the kindest feelings existing on both sides. He preached his farewell sermon July 29, 1866. His whole period of active ministry with the church was over forty-two years. At the close of the Rev. Mr. McKeen's ministry in Brad- ford, several of his friends presented him and his wife a life lease, free of rent, of a pleasant house near the church edifice, at an expense of about $2,600.

The Methodist Episcopal Church of Bradford .- Mr. Giles Peckett and Bryant Kay emigrated from England, with their families, about 1774, and settled in Haverhill, N. H .; thence they removed to Bradford (then More- town), in 1779 or 1785. Messrs. Peckett and Kay and their wives were members of a Methodist society in England, and Mrs. Peckett, who was a woman of superior talent, well informed, and a lively Christian, and before her marriage was three years Mr. Wesley's housekeeper. Her maiden name was Margaret Appleton. Mr. Peckett opened his house for religious meet- ings, remained steadfast in the doctrine taught by Mr. Wesley, but died before there was a chance for him to see a Methodist preacher in America. Their dwelling was on the Lower Plain. In 1796 Rev. Nicholas Sneathen was appointed to form a circuit in Vermont, and came to Bradford in July, 1797, and preached at Mrs. Peckett's the first Methodist sermon in Bradford. Rev. Ralph Williston was his successor on the Vershire circuit, and in the sum- mer of 1798 preached once in Bradford. In the following November Rev. Joseph Crawford preached at Mrs. Peckett's, and continued his appoint- ments every two weeks through the winter with success, and formed the first class of five members, namely, Margaret Peckett, William A. Peckett, son of Giles and Margaret Peckett, Laban Clark, Joseph Clark and Elizabeth War- ren. In a few weeks their numbers were increased by Samuel Aspinwall, Mrs. Joseph Olmstead and her two daughters, Sophia and Sarepta ; also Bryant Kay and wife had their names attached to the class, although living at a distance of twelve miles. Next year Rev. Mr. Crawford was returned to this circuit, and formed the first Methodist church in Bradford, which gradually increased so that before he left, in 1800, it had about thirty mem- bers. Mrs. Margaret (Appleton) Peckett died in Bradford in 1802. For fifteen or twenty years longer their public worship was chiefly held at the school-house near where the Pecketts had lived. The little church gradually increased in numbers and influence until a plain but comfortable meeting- house was built in the same locality, but nearer the village, in 1832.

This house they built and occupied jointly with the Universalists a certain portion of the time for a period of sixteen or seventeen years, when it was agreed to sell the house. The Methodist church then, in the year 1849, built a new and more commodious house in the village, nearly opposite the Con- gregational house on the east side of Main street. In a few years this house

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proved to be too small, and during the pastorate of Rev. H. P. Cushing it was enlarged by the addition of twenty new slips, and greatly improved and beautified. The present pastor is Rev. A. J. Hough. The Sunday-school has a membership of one hundred.

B RAINTREE is situated in the southwestern corner of the county, in latitude 43° 58', and longitude 4º 19', bounded north by Roxbury, in Washington county, and Brookfield, east by Randolph, south by Rochester, in Windsor county, and west by Granville, in Addison county. This township was granted November 2, 1780, and was chartered by Ver- mont, August 1, 1781, to Jacob Spear, Levi Davis and sixty-three others, and by the terms of its charter was to contain 23,040 acres. By act of the legis- lature November 10, 1824, a portion of the territory of the town was taken from the southwest corner and annexed to Rochester, leaving its present area about 35.5 square miles, or 22,720 acres.

The rocks entering into the geological structure of the town are princi- pally of the talcose schist and clay slate formation, the latter underlying about one third of the entire territory, in the northeastern part. Gold in alluvium exists along the third branch of White river, and on Riford's and Thayer's brooks, extending through the southern and central parts of the town. Granite, syenite and protogene are found in the extreme northern part, and a bed of steatite in the western part. On Braintree hill, in this town, is the wonderful rocking bowlder, of seventy tons weight, which was so perfectly poised on its foundation that at one time a person could rock it with the strength of one finger ; but owing to the continual wearing away of the rock upon which it rests, it is now only possible to move it by using a lever.

The surface of the town is very uneven. The valley of the third branch of the White river known as the " Branch," through which runs the Central Ver- mont railroad, divides the town into two principal divisions. That part south and west of the Branch is rough, rocky, with many bold and precipitous peaks, much of it being incapable of tillage. All settlements are confined to the eastern half. Riford's brook, named for Joseph Riford, who first settled near it, and Thayer's brook, similarly named for Joel B. and Zeba Thayer, both tributaries of the Branch, are its largest streams. The Branch flows southeasterly through the whole width of the town. The part north and east of the Branch is nearly equally divided by the high ridge, commonly called Braintree hill, extending north and south through the town, just east of its center. Spurs jut out eastward and southward from it, diversifying the sur- face. The chief points in the ridge are Nevins's hill, named for Alfred Nevins, who early settled at its foot ; Belcher hill, siniilarly named for Samuel Belcher; Oak hill, so-called from the oaks growing upon it ; Quaker hill, named by Ebenezer Waters while surveying the town, who, with his assistants, dined

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one day at the corner near Braintree hill meeting-house. Waters, it is said, jocosely remarked : " We will sit down here and eat dinner with our hats on, and call it 'Quaker hill.'" Its highest point is also called Alban's hill, for William Alban, who lived there many years. The largest streams are Ayer's brook, through Snowsville, and Spear's brook, its tributary. According to tradition, Ayer's brook received its name from one Ayer, who deserted the English and became a guide to their enemies during the French and Indian war. He was caught and hanged on this stream about 1755. Spear's brook was first called Bass's brook, for Deacon Samuel Bass, who first settled on it ; then Mill brook, from the numerous mills for which it has furnished water- power ; and Spear's brook, for Nathaniel Spear, who settled and for many years owned mills on it. It is the outlet of Mud pond, which is some five or six acres in area, and the only natural pond in the town. It is peculiar in having great depth and in being filled with a light mud, which, when water is abundant, is overflowed, and in a dry time can be walked on in some places.

The population of Braintree in 1880 was 1,05[. In 1886 the town had twelve school districts, with eleven common schools, employing three male and seventeen female teachers, to whom was paid an average weekly salary, including board, of $6.34 to the former, and $4.59 to the latter. There were 240 scholars, twenty-five of whom attended private schools. The whole in- come for school purposes was $1,451.36, while the total expenditures were $1,355.20, with C. E. Woodward, Jr., superintendent.

BRAINTREE (locally known as Snowsville) is a post village located in the extreme northeastern part of the town, on Ayer's' brook. It contains a church, hotel, one general store, a carriage shop, two blacksmith shops, a harness shop, grist-mill, and about twenty dwellings. It is five miles from West Randolph village, with which it is connected by daily stage.

WEST BRAINTREE is a post village situated on the third branch of White river, and on the Central Vermont railroad, six miles north from West Ran- dolph. It contains one church, a large steam saw-mill, blacksmith shop, two general stores, a hotel, livery stable, and about thirty dwellings.

PETH, once known as Hutchinson's village, is a hamlet in the eastern part of the town on Spear's brook, and about two and one-half miles southwest from Snowsville. Here were formerly the Braintree postoffice, a church, a dry goods store, carriage shop, clover-mill, oil-mill, carding-mill and black- smith shop ; but no traces of them remain. A freshet destroyed most of them, and they were never rebuilt. It now contains about fifteen dwellings.

BRAINTREE HILL was once the business center not only of Braintree, but of several other towns as well ; but all that remains are several pleasant farm dwellings and the old Braintree Hill meeting-house.

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Gazetteer of Orange County, Vt., 1762-1888, Part 29

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836- comp. cn Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., The Syracuse journal company, printers Number of Pages: 836

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836- comp. cn
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., The Syracuse journal company, printers
Number of Pages: 836