USA > Vermont > Orange County > Gazetteer of Orange County, Vt., 1762-1888 > Part 67
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Capt. Eleazer Bartholomew, one of the first settlers, located about two miles southeast of the present village. In making his first chopping he lived under a large, shelving rock, which helped to form a sort of cave. Here he lived until his log house was finished and ready for occupancy. It is related that on one occasion Gov. Chittenden started on foot for Newbury, then the state capital, and night overtaking him at Capt. Bartholomew's, he begged a night's lodging of him, without making known who he was. The Captain consented to keep him provided he would be satisfied with a bunk on the floor, which the Governor readily accepted. During the night a terrific thun- der shower came up, and an old sow with a litter of pigs, not knowing that she were intruding upon so distinguished a guest, rooted open the door, and, with her numerous progeny, proceeded to share the Governor's couch. In the morning His Excellency awoke before the other inmates of the cabin, dis- covered who his bed fellows were, and, laying twenty-five cents upon the table, started on his journey. The next day Mr. Bartholomew concluded to go to Newbury to election, and seeing his guest of the previous night at the head of the procession, asked who he was ; and, being told, said, "I guess I won't have anything to say if he don't." But it was too good to keep, and the Governor told how he was compelled to sleep with the swine in Washing- ton, and it was the subject of many a joke during the legislature.
Bether Bartholomew, a nephew of Capt. Eleazer, came here with his uncle. He married Rachel Barron, daughter of Lieutenant Barron, and reared a large family of children. One of his sons, Bether Willard, who resided in Washington, never married. He accumulated a large fortune, dying in 1873. He held various offices of trust, and represented the town in both branches of the legislature. He was president of the Orange County National bank for several years, and was a thorough business man.
Thaddeus White was born in Spencer, Worcester county, Mass., about
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1760. When but sixteen years of age he enlisted in the Colonial army, and served as one of the "picked men " under General LaFayette. He was twice married, first to the widow of Lieut. Barron, about 1786, by whom he had five children, George, Polly, Betsey, Charles and Bashaba. He married for his second wife Rebecca Gleason, who bore him four children, viz .: Maria, Thaddeus Gleason, John Bradshaw, and Heman Allen. George, a son by his first wife, married Irene Dickinson ; Polly married Joseph Bowles; Betsey married Thomas Brown and removed to New York, where she died ; Charles never married, but lived in this town all his life, accumulated a handsome property, and died in 1869 ; Bashaba married John Beard, and by him had four children ; Maria died in 1839.
Thaddeus G. White, son of Thaddeus, married Esther Calef, in 1841, and had born to him two sons and two daughters, as follows : Delia Maria, born August 22, 1843, resides in Montpelier ; John Wayland, born March 14, 1845, married Jane E. Pepper ; Flora W., born August 28, 1846, married E. C. Smith and lives in Williamstown ; Heman G., born May 12, 1849, married Alice Shaw, and lives in Denver, Col. Thaddeus G. has lived in this town all his life and has been honored by his townsmen with many offices of trust, having served as representative during the terms of 1852 and 1853.
William Huntington, born in Lebanon, Conn., came to Washington from Hartford, Conn., about 1795, first locating in the then forest where the vil- lage of Washington now is, later purchasing land and locating upon the hill east of the village. His wife was Elizabeth Derby, sister of Jedediah Derby who settled in Lyme, N. H. His eldest son, William, was born in 1796, his first ten children being born on the farm where he first located, now the site of Washington village, and three after he located on the hill. He served as selectman, representative, etc., and died aged about eighty-eight. Of his children, William M. is a farmer ; Benjamin died at the age of twenty-four, Cyrus in infancy, and Nathaniel at the age of eighteen ; Dana, Warren and Harry are farmers, and John is a carpenter.
Ezra Pepper came from Worcester or Braintree, Mass., to Washington, soon after 1800, locating about a mile southwest from Washington village, where he reared a family of three sons and five daughters, dying in Williams- town. His wife was Sally Bell. He was a volunteer at the battle of Platts- burgh, and afterwards received a land warrant for his services. His children were Sophronia, who married Samuel Ladd; Lucy, who became the wife of Daniel Peaslee; Willard; Eliza, the wife of Caleb Emory; Warren, who wedded with Susan Beard, has three daughters, served three years in the Rebellion, and is a resident of this town ; Mary (Mrs. Whitney), and Lyman. Willard A. Pepper, the present postmaster at Washington, is a grandson of Willard.
Shubael Smith, born in Rehoboth, Mass., in 1762, came from Grafton, N. H., to Washington, about 1794, where he reared a family of five sons, viz .: Shubael, Jr., Barak, Zenas, Cyrus and Eleazer. He served in the Revo-
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lution, and attained the age of nearly ninety-two years. Shubael, Jr., passed his life in this town, where he married and reared two sons, Wait S. and Daniel, and several daughters. Barak, who died at the age of ninety-four, was a farmer, married Mehetable Jones, and resided in the northwest corner of the town, where he reared one son, Abel J., and two daughters, Elizabeth (widow of John Huntington), and Lydia (Mrs. Warren Huntington). Cyrus passed most of his life in this town. Zenas married, reared two sons and two daughters, and died in Topsham. Eleazer married Anna Peters, of Bradford, removed to Haverhill and later to Wentworth, N. H., where he died. He was a hotel-keeper for fifty years. Wait S. Smith married Smilaxa Cheney, was a carpenter, and did much building in the vicinity of Washing- ton village, dying at the age of seventy-three. He was the father of four sons and four daughters, three of the sons, Shubael, D. P., and Cyrus H., serving int he late war, where Shubael died.
Fifield Bohonan was born in Salisbury, N. H., June 5, 1785. He removed to this town when very young, where he died November 5, 1865. Of his family of fourteen children,-six boys and eight girls,-four sons and two daughters are living. One son, Alpheus G., born December 3, 1812, moved onto his present farm, which is in the central part of the town, more than twenty years ago. On this farm was the site of the old log jail, of which we speak in another place. Mr. Bohonan married Henrietta C. Godfrey, in 1842, by whom he has had six children, equally divided as to sex, as follows: Alba F., Harriet C., Henrietta M., Charles M., George A. and Cora A. Mr. Bohonan has a fine farm of 210 acres, well stocked, and under a good state of cultivation. Alba F., who is an equal owner in the farm with his father, enlisted in Co. D, 12th Vt. Vols., for nine months, and in Co. I, 9th Vt. Vols., for three years, or during the war. He served his country faithfully, and was honorably discharged at the close of the war.
Rev. H. F. Dicky was born in Topsham in 1809. He began his labors in the ministry in North Orange, in 1843, and was ordained in 1847. He labored in East Orange twelve years, in New Hampshire ten years, when he removed to Washington, where he has since resided. He married and reared a family of four children, two sons and two daughters. Of his sons, Chester Dicky was elected justice of the peace in the town of Orange, in 1860, and has since acceptably filled that office with the exception of about two weeks, during which time he was a resident of this town. He was county judge from 1874 to 1876, has been lister two years, selectman seven years, overseer of the poor two years, and has held other offices of trust in the town and county. He has been married four times, his present wife being Mary Jane Divoll, and has had born to him five children, four of whom are living.
Ichabod E. Worthley was born in 1806, and removed to this town in 1830. He married Clarissa Emery, of this town, in 1827, by whom he had two chil- dren, a son and a daughter, the latter of whom is dead. The son, William E.,
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is proprietor of the popular Washington House. Mr. Worthley is one of the oldest residents of the town, and is highly respected by all.
Henry Godfrey became a resident of this town in 1807, when he was but four years of age, his parents removing here from Fairlee. In 1825 he mar- ried Elizabeth Little, of Chelsea, who bore him three sons and three daugh- ters. In 1826 he removed to Hardwick, Caledonia county, where he bought and cleared land, and made for himself a comfortable home in the then wilderness country. Here he remained for ten years, when he removed to Chelsea, where he remained but one year, when he again located in this town. From 1858 to 1868 he resided in Wisconsin, since which time he has resided in Washington. He has held nearly all the offices of trust in the gift of his townsmen. 1
Joseph Calef, one of the early pioneers of this town, located here in October, 1794, and pitched upon a farm about one mile and a half west of the village, where he resided until his death, in July, 1824. He reared a family of eleven children. Cutting S., son of Joseph, was born November 27, 1796. He was twice married, his second wife being Martha H. Paine, whom he married in 1822, and who bore him twelve children, as follows: Ezra P., who resides in Illinois ; Alden D, in Boston ; Elmer N., in Oregon ; George C., in Providence, R. I ; Cutting S., Jr., and Martha N. are dead ; and Har- rison W., Ira C., Quincy O., Mariette A., Lucie A. and John F. are residents of this town.
Cutting C. Cheney was born in this county. February 10, 1846, he was married to Sarah Curtis, of Orange, and in March of the same year he removed to this town, where he has since resided. He has had born to him six children, as follows: Lorette E., Orville S., Clara E., Flora E., Lucy A. and Delia L., all of whom are living except Clara E., who died September 9, 1872. Lucy A. is the wife of W. E. Worthley, proprietor of the Washington House. Mr. Cheney has, throught industry and economy, accumulated a competency, having a well stocked farm of 175 acres in a fine state of culti- vation.
N. C. Taylor was born in this town, married Miss L. N. Lord, of Orange, by whom he has had one child, a daughter, born in October, 1880. Mr. Tay- lor has represented the town in the state legislature, and has held many other offices of trust in the gift of his townsmen.
The Universalist church, located in the central part of the village of Washington, was organized in 1836. John E. Palmer was the first pastor. Their first house of worship, the present frame building, was erected in 1848, at a cost of $2,600, about its present value. It will com- fortably seat 300 persons. There are twenty-four families in the parish, under the pastoral charge of Rev. J. F. Rhoades, of Barre, who preaches here on alternate Sabbaths. The Sunday-school has an average attendance of sixty.
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TOWN OF WEST FAIRLEE.
The Union church, owned by the Methodists, Congregationalists and Free- will Baptists, was built in 1848 and will comfortably seat about 200 persons. The first 'settled Baptist minister was Gillman Sanborn ; the present one is- Rev. Mr. Cross. At an earlier date there were two churches built,-one in 1823, located one mile from the present village and called the Union church, and one in 1824, by the Congregationalists, located in the southern part of the town. These have both been torn down, and a new one was erected in the southern part of the town about twenty years ago.
W EST FAIRLEE, located in the eastern part of the county, in lat. 43° 56' and long. 4° 46', is bounded north by Bradford, east by Fairlee, south by Thetford and Strafford, and west by Vershire. It was chartered, together with Fairlee, by New Hampshire, September 9, 1761, to Josiah Chauncey and sixty three others. February 25, 1797, Fairlee was divided and the western part named West Fairlee. It contains an area of about 14,700 acres. The town was organized March 31, 1797, and Asa May was elected town clerk; Calvin Morse, constable; Reuben Dickinson, Samuel Robinson and George Bixby, selectmen. Elisha Thayer was town clerk forty seven years, from 1800. Mr. Thayer was the first justice of the peace, and held the office fifty-one years. For twenty-five years after the organization of the town, Fairlee and West Fairlee had but one representa- tive ; but in 1822 Solomon Mann was chosen to represent Fairlee, and Sam- uel Graves, West Fairlee.
The surface of the town is diversified with hills and valleys, most of which are only great enough in extent to form a pleasing landscape picture without retarding cultivation of the soil, which is of a rich, arable quality, producing large crops of grain and grass. The timber is that common to most of the towns in the vicinity. The principal streams of water in the town are Blood brook, Middle brook, and Ompompanoosuc river, which afford some very good mill-sites. Middle brood flows through the center, and nearly the entire length of the town, and empties into Fairlee lake. Blood brook, in the eastern part, also empties into this lake, which lies partly in the southeastern corner of the town. O.npompanoosuc river rises in Vershire, runs through the southwest corner of this town, thence through Thetford, and empties into Connecticut river, in Norwich.
The rocks entering into the geological structure of the town are calcifer- ous mica schist and clay slate, the latter underlying a very small portion of the territory in the northeastern corner.
In 1880 the population of West Fairlee was 1,038. In 1886 the town had seven school districts and seven common schools, employing one male and ten female teachers, to whom was paid an average weekly salary, in- cluding board, of $6.85 and $5.00 respectively. There were 182 scholars,
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TOWN OF WEST FAIRLEE.
fourteen of whom attended private schools. The entire income for school purposes was $1,275.69, while the total expenditures were $1,211.82, with William Paul, superintendent.
WEST FAIRLEE, a post village in the southwestern part of the town, con- tains three stores, one furniture and undertaking establishment, one church, one hotel, two carriage shops, one blacksmith shop, a saw-mill, livery stable. and 300 inhabitants.
WEST FAIRLEE CENTER is a hamlet in the central part of the town.
Almon Johnson's carriage factory, at West Fairlee, was built by him in 1878. He manufactures about one dozen carriages and sleighs per year, and also does a general repairing business.
Horace Sibley's carriage shop, at West Fairlee, was built by the present proprietor in 1855. He formerly did an extensive business-at one time about $12,000 per year. He now does about $800 worth of work per year. . Alvah Bean's shingle and lath-mill, at West Fairlee, cuts about 150,000 shingles and 200,000 lath per year. The rake factory, also owned by Mr. Bean, was built in 1857, and manufactures about 200 dozen hand rakes and a quantity of fork and hoe handles per annum. A grist-mill was added to the above in 1886.
The town has furnished a goodly number of professional men, as will be seen by the following list : Clergymen-Watson Niles, 3d, Benjamin Niles, Daniel Wild, Asahel Bliss, Josiah Bliss, Benjamin Southworth, Alden South- worth, William Baldwin, O. L. Lamphere, John Colton, William Douglass, A. S. Hutchins, and Fred Leazer who is now engaged in preparation for the ministry, at Montpelier. The physicians were Samuel Niles, Harry H. Niles, Edward Niles (who died soon after graduating), Ward Bassett, Dr. . Wheeler, Nathaniel Niles, David M. Baldwin, Henry Holbrook. The lawyers have been George Niles, Alpheus May, E. Southworth, Benjamin Munn, John Southworth, John B. Niles, William W. Niles, Harry T. Niles, and William Niles who practiced but a short time when he gave up the profession. In addition to the above the town has given to the state and county one mem - ber of Congress (the first from the state), one lieutenant-governor, four members of the Constitutional convention, one elector of president and vice- president, a judge of supreme court three judges of probate, three registers · of probate, three state senators, a speaker of the state House of Representa- tives, a side judge of the county court, and a general in the late war.
Among the first to settle in the town was Hon. Nathaniel Niles, who came from Norwich, Conn., about 1779, and settled near the center of the town, on Middle brook. He was a well educated man, a Congregational minister, and held many important offices in the gift of the people, being the first member of Congress from this state. He was twice married, first to a daughter of Dr. Lathrop, of Connecticut, by whom he had four children, viz .: William, Sally, Mary and Elizabeth. His second wife was Elizabeth Watson, daughter of William Watson, of Plymouth, Mass., who bore him five children, namely,.
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TOWN OF WEST FAIRLEE.
Nathaniel, Sinquel, Betsey, Watson, and Nancy. Nathaniel Niles was a man ·of high moral character and great intellectual attainments.
Capt. Francis Churchill, from Charlestown, Mass., a Revolutionary soldier, came to Fairlee during 1788 or '89 and located upon the farm now owned by his grandson, Francis V. Churchill. He had born to him eleven sons and two daughters, all but one of whom lived to advanced years. His eldest son. William Leathers Churchill, bought the old homestead, married Eliza Lanphere, and passed his life here. He was one of the Plattsburgh volun- teers in 1814, reared five sons and one daughter, of whom two sons only are living. He died in 1857. Francis W., second son of Capt. Francis, removed from Fairlee. Prof. J. W. Churchill, of Andover Theological seminary, is a son of John and grandson of Capt. Francis. George W., youngest son of Capt. Francis, was a physician in Chelsea, Mass. The farm now owned by Francis V. has been in possession of descendants of this family nearly 100 years. Francis V. married Marinda E. Munn. Carroll C., son of William L, has been for many years treasurer of Norfolk county, Mass. William L, Jr., a miller, was for several years jailor at Chelsea. Benjamin P. was a mechanic in West Fairlee, and his son F. C. is a partner in the famous firm of Carter & Churchill. Francis V. has served as represent ative, selectman, justice of the peace, etc.
Henry Child, born in Woodstock, Conn., in 1789, emigrated to West Fairlee about 1827. He served in the War of 1812, was a town officer many years after settling here, and always a true patriot and philanthropist, dying in the seventy-second year of his age. He was married four times, first to Lucretia Child, second to Henrietta May, third to Lucy, daughter of Capt. Asa May, and fourth to Betsey Buel. By the first marriage he had one daughter, by the second one daughter and one son, and by the third three sons, viz .: Asa M., Henry and George. Asa M. Child was born in Woodstock, Conn., in 1824, and was three years of age when his parents removed to West Fairlee, where he has served as selectman, justice and notary for several years. His wife is a daughter of B. D. Wadleigh, of Lyme, N. H, and they have had children as follows: Alice M. (deceased), Nellie M., Asa I. (deceased), and Lucy M.
Captain Asa May and his brother Stephen, from Woodstock, Conn., were early settlers on Blood brook. Asa was the first town clerk of West Fairlee after the division of the town of Fairlee, and served in various other town offices. He built the house (nearly 100 years ago) in which his grandson, Asa M. Child, now lives. Stephen May served in the Revolution, and his son Elisha was colonel of militia.
Fred W. Farnham was born in Tunbridge in 1839, located in West Fairlee in 1866, and is proprietor of the popular hotel at that place. He received an academic education, has held the usual town offices, having represented the town in the legislature in 1880, '82, and '84.
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TOWN OF WEST FAIRLEE.
General Stephen Thomas, son of John and Rebecca (Bachelder) 'Thomas, was born in Bethel, Vt., December 6, 1809. On the paternal side he was descended from good Welch stock. John Thomas was born in Amherst, N. H., and soon after the birth of Stephen moved to Vershire, Vt. At the commencement of the War of 1812 he enlisted in the American army, from which he never returned. It is presumed that his bones rested on "the tented field." His mother. Rebecca Batchelder, born in Brookfield, Mass., belonged to a good old family of that town, whose English ancestors emigrated to this country in 1630. Both the grandfathers of General Thomas served in the sanguinary struggle for our independence, with the rank of lieutenant, and lived to enjoy some of the blessings of the liberties for which they fought.
Being deprived of his father's aid at the tender age of three years, he had only such an education as the common schools of Thetford could furnish. When but sixteen years of age he was apprenticed to a woolen manufacturer, and became a skillful workman. At the age of twenty-one years, with a rep- utation for honesty, industry and energy, he bought on his own credit mills for cloth-dressing and wool-carding, which were burned near the close of the first year. He immediately rebuilt, and soon after sold the property which only wiped out the expense of building, and the debt on the first purchase. He resumed work in Thetford and finally in West Fairlee, and was a manu- facturer until about 1840.
From 1832 to 1840 he was constable and collector of West Fairlee. About 1836 he was appointed to the additional office of deputy sheriff, which he held about five years. In 1840 he was a deputy U. S. marshal, and took the census of seven towns of Orange county. His positions in office and favorable acquaintance with the people and acknowledged ability as a leader in the Democratic party, with which he had cast his lot, gave him a deserved popularity, and he was chosen by the people of West Fairlee to represent them in the General Assembly in the years 1838, '39, '45, '46, '60 and '61, and was state senator in 1848 and '49. In 1860 and '61 he was the Demo- cratic nominee for lieutenant governor, and received a large vote; but the party being in the minority they failed to elect him. He was a delegate to the Constitutional convention of Vermont in 1844 and 1851: He was regis- ter of probate for Bradford district from 1842 to 1846, inclusive, and judge of probate the ensuing three years. In early life he was interested in military affairs and held the offices of corporal, adjutant and captain of an uniformed rifle company. He was the Democratic delegate to the National conventions of 1848, '52 and 56, and was present at the stormy convention held in Charleston, S. C., in April, 1860, and was also in attendance at the session held a little later in Baltimore. In these gatherings he saw unmistakable signs of the impending political storm, which culminated in secession and armned rebellion, and returned to Vermont with a sorrow so intense that he felt a relief from suspense when Fort Sumter was attacked. At the conven- ing of the legislature at an extra session called by Governor Fairbanks on the 23d of April, 1861, General Thomas met his colleagues in the House with a heavy heart. He foresaw with the ken of a prophet the great struggle that was but just begun. He was a member of the committee of ways and means. In this committee a motion was made to report a bill appropriating half a million of dollars for military purposes. This called out a spirited dis- cussion, and after all the members of the committee except General Thomas had expressed their opinion on its merits, he quietly arose and informed them
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that the country was on the eve of a gigantic contest that involved the life or death of the Union, and closed a convincing argument, by saying: " We will find foemen worthy of our steel "; and, " Gentlemen of the committee, I am in favor not only of appropriating five hundred thousand dollars, but I am in favor of appropriating one million dollars." Such was the convincing effect of this speech that the bill was passed, with the amendment that an additional five hundred thousand should be raised if needed.
The bill found some opposition in the House, and several members ad- vised caution in voting to raise so large an amount. One of the principal arguments against the bill was made by a brilliant member, who was one of the ablest debaters in the House ; who closed his speech with the sentiment : " One million dollars would vastly outweigh the patriotism of the people."
We have not space to give even a synopsis of General Thomas's vindica- tion of the loyal patriotism of Vermont. His thrilling, impassioned speech held the whole Assembly spell-bound, and at its conclusion the vote upon the bill was taken, and every member voted " Yes."
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