USA > Vermont > Washington County > Gazetteer of Washington County, Vt., 1783-1889 > Part 24
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Ebenezer Eastman, son of Col. Theodore Eastman, born in Sanbornton, N. H., located in Berlin when he was a young man and unmarried, and a few years later he married Roxana Shurtleff. Their children were Ezra, Emeline, Rudolphus T., Anna M., Caroline, Jane, Omri, Paulina, and Harmon. Mr. Eastman came to his death by being crushed by a falling mill at the time of a freshet in 1841. All of his four sons served in the late war. Ezra and Harmon died of illness at the front, and Omri was killed in battle.
Frederick Marsh came to Montpelier from Hartford, Conn., about 1833, and bought the farm now familiarly known as the Coffee House place. Mr. Marsh built an addition to the house, and at the solicitation of Gov. Erastus Fairbanks opened it as the Montpelier Temperance Coffee House. Gov. Fairbanks promised him his patronage and influence. About 1870 Mr. Marsh sold the place and resided in the village of Montpelier until his death. His first wife, Harriet Hill, was the mother of all his children, four of whom are living, viz .: Susan, Ann M., Eli F., and Burridge D. Four are deceased. His second wife, Chloe Robbins, survives him. Burridge D. Marsh was born in Montpelier, April 26, 1827. April 2, 1853, he married Evaline E. Perrin.
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TOWN OF BERLIN.
Their children are Hattie, who died in infancy, Willie D., Hattie M., and Annie J. (Mrs. James Pollock), of Clinton, Mass.
Alanson M. Slocum, born in Sharon, Windsor county, August 7, 1827, received a common school education. At the age of nineteen years he was proprietor of a livery stable at Hanover, N. H., and was agent of the Rut- land and Albany stage line. At the age of twenty-four years he went to Geneva, Ill., and engaged in building the Dixon Air Line railroad, and com- pleted fifty-eight miles, and built the second track of thirty miles, from Chicago to Turner. He also built for the same company the levee at Fulton, on the Mississippi river, put in 485,000 yards of embankment at La Salle, on the Illinois Central, and built eight miles of the Burlington & Missouri River railroad. In 1860 he was an extensive mail contractor, which business he continued eight consecutive years. In 1864, on account of lung troubles, he returned East. He then contracted with the Rochester & State Line railway to build 1073 miles of their road. When his work was more than two- thirds done the company suspended business. He next graded two tracks of road for the N. Y. C. from Rochester to Lyons, a distance of thirty-eight miles, and ballasted and laid the iron for the same company from Little Falls to St. Johnsville. He has been since 1865 a farmer in Berlin.
Twenty-four citizens of Berlin volunteered and went to Plattsburgh to aid in defending our country from a foreign foe in the War of 1812, but, like most of their neighbors, they were too late to participate in the battle.
In the late war of the Rebellion this town sent her full quota to the front, and fully sustained her part in the patriotic record of Washington county.
The First Congregational church of Berlin was organized October 13, 1798, by Rev. E. Lyman, of Brookfield, with but three members, viz .: Mr. Goff, Mr. Stewart, and Mr. Flagg. The Congregational church in Waitsfield had been organized two years before, and probably this was the second church of any denomination organized in the limits of Washington county. About 1800 the town selected a commanding and pleasant site for a meeting-house, near the center of the town, and completed a house 58 by 48 feet in 1803. This meeting-house was the property of the town, and was finished in the prevailing style, with a tall steeple, and galleries on three sides. It was opened for worship, town meetings, theatrical performances, and military drill, and was burned in 1838. In 1839, or 1840, the Congregational church completed their present house of worship at Berlin Corners, at a cost of $2,000. The first pastor was Rev. James Hobart, who was ordained November 7, 1798, and continued pastor of the church until May, 1829. The present pastor is Rev. John J. Hall. The church will seat 250 persons, and together with grounds and other church property is valued at $3,000. The Sunday-school has 116 scholars, with an average attendance of about seventy-five, and ten teachers. This church has sustained worship almost without cessation since its organization in 1798.
In February, 1803, the late Hon. Daniel Baldwin, then a resolute lad of
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eleven years, who had been attending a school on the lower part of Dog river, concluded he would visit his sister, Mrs. Israel Dewey, who lived three or four miles up the river, and over a road that mainly led throught a dense for- est to his destination near the line of Northfield. He set off about dark, not expecting any difficulty in accomplishing his journey, and made good prog- ress until he reached the log cabin of Seth Johnson, who, on learning the destination of the intrepid boy, shook his head and said, " Daniel, you must not try to go through the long woods to your sister's, for if you do the var- mints will catch you." But the courageous boy was decided to go on. Where- upon Mr. Johnson put a blazing fire-brand into his hand, with these direc- tions how to use it : " There, now take it and swing it enough to keep it burn- ing, and if the savage brutes beset you, swing it like fury and I'll warrant they won't touch you." He had not proceeded more than half a mile before he was greeted by a long, dismal howl, off to his left, which was almost instantly answered by a chorus of a dozen responsive howls from the side of Irish hill, and these ominous howls became more distinct as the hungry pack every moment drew nearer. The boy then realized that a large troop of wolves, against which he had been warned, were rapidly closing in upon him. He quickened his pace to a run for life, and swung his fire-brand as he went, while in front, and in rear, to the right and to the left, came the same shrill and hungry howl. He leaped forward with the speed of an antelope, the next mile, shouting at every bound to keep his own courage up and hoping to frighten away his pursuers, until almost overcome by fright and exhaustion he succeeded in reaching the home of his brother-in-law. Several settlers in the vicinity of the extensive mountain forest of Irish hill had lost sheep, and the news of this perilous adventure of young Baldwin spread rapidly in the adjacent settlements, and established the fact that a pack of destructive wolves really existed in their vicinity, and that Irish hill was their head- quarters. The inhabitants in concert joined for their destruction, and assem- bled, from miles around, to the number of 400 or 500, the ensuing Saturday, early in the morning, at the house of Abel Knapp, Esq. They chose two captains, and a general officer to remain at the starting point. The captains divided the men into two equal companies, and each led off with a company in opposite directions along the borders of the woods, and each left a man every fifty or sixty rods, with orders to keep his station until ordered to march into the woods. In this manner Irish hill was surrounded. Next came the command, " Prepare to march," from the general officer, which was repeated by the next stationed at the south, and in succession until the sound died away in the distance. In a short time a faint sound was heard in nearly the opposite direction, which grew louder and louder until it reached the starting point, and proved that the ring was complete. Then came the stirring com- mand "march," and, as each man sent the order to his next neighbor, he marched rapidly towards the center of the ring, as near as he could judge a quarter of a mile, and as instructed commanded " halt." And thus rapidly
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came the commands "march" and " halt " until the ring was so nearly closed that it was seen that several wolves were enclosed. The cowed and frightened brutes ran galloping round the circle, seeking a place, but in vain, to escape. Bullets flew promiscuously and it was discovered that men as well as wolves were in danger. At this crisis Thomas Davis, an acknowledged marksman, was delegated to go inside of the ring and shoot the wolves. This he did, dispatched them all, and endangered no man. We are informed that the trophies of the day were seven wolves and ten foxes. The company then made the house of the town clerk the objective point. It was scon announced that the amount of bounties was sufficient to pay for a supper for the whole company ; and while they awaited the cooking, a five gallon keg of rum was opened and distributed, which, taken in their exhausted condition, and on empty stomachs, upset many never upset by rum before. Thus ended the great wolf hunt of 1803, and completely routed the last of these unwelcome varmints in Berlin.
C ABOT lies in the eastern part of the county, in latitude 44° 23' and longitude 4° 42', and is bounded north by Walden, east by Danville and Peacham, south by Marshfield, and west by Woodbury. It is located about twenty-one miles easterly from Montpelier, and seventeen miles westerly from St. Johnsbury. It was granted November 6, 1780, and char- tered August 17, 1781, to Jesse Leavenworth and sixty-five associates. Mr. Leavenworth never lived in Cabot, but settled in West Danville, where he built some mills. The town received its name from Mr. Lyman Hitchcock, one of the grantees, in honor of his intended bride, Miss Cabot, of Connecti- cut, a descendant of Sebastian Cabot.
The town is six miles square, and contains 23,040 acres. It was surveyed into six divisions, of twelve lots each, with an average of 320 acres to each lot. November 3, 1786, the proprietors met at the house of Gov. Thomas Chittenden, in Arlington, after the survey of the township had been com- pleted, and there " Voted, that Giles Chittenden and Truman Chittenden, being indifferent persons, be a committee to draw the lots," which they pro- ceeded to do in presence of the meeting, "and according to law." Lots 71 and 72 were set aside for town schools, lot 3 for a college, lot 69 for the County Grammar school, the rent of which goes to Peacham Academy, and lots 62 and 63 were the minister's lots, the rents to be applied to the support of preaching in Cabot.
The surface of this township is uneven and somewhat broken, yet very lit- tlè of it is unfit for either cultivation or pasturage. The soil is strong, and produces abundant crops of hay. Stock growing and the dairy are the lead- ing industries. The timber was mostly hard wood, with some spruce and hemlock. The township is well watered by numerous branches, which unite
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in the southern part of the town and form the Winooski river, which takes a southerly course and enters Marshfield. Joe's pond, in the northeast corner of the town, and partly in Danville, discharges its waters through Joe's brook into the Passumpsic river, and wends its way to the ocean through the Con- necticut river. Molly's pond lies about half a mile south of Joe's pond, forms Molly's brook, and flows southwesterly and joins the Winooski in Marshfield, . about half a mile from the south line of Cabot. These streams furnish the town a fair supply of water-power. The ponds were favorite resorts of the famous Indian, Capt. Joe, and his wife, Molly, whose permanent home was in Newbury, and were named for them. Coit's pond is a pretty sheet of water, circular in form, and half a mile in diameter, in the northwest part of the town, named for surveyor Coit. West Hill pond originally covered about four acres. It is now used for a reservoir, has a dam at the outlet, now covers one hundred acres, and supplies the mills with power in the dry season.
There is nothing remarkable in the mineralogy of Cabot. There is a bed of marl near Joe's pond, a small bed of granite, syenite, and protogene near the northeastern corner, and a belt of granite in the southeastern corner. The principal rock formation is calciferous mica schist.
In the spring of 1776 Gen. Jacob Bailey, of Newbury, had orders to con- struct a road from Newbury, on the Connecticut river, to St. Johns, in Can- ada, for the purpose of conveying troops and provisions to the American army in Canada. He built the road into Peacham, when he learned that our army had retreated from Canada, and the enterprise was abandoned.
In 1779 Gen. Hazen was ordered to Peacham with a part of a regiment to complete the road commenced by Gen. Bailey in 1776. Gen. Hazen con- structed a passable road fifty miles from Peacham through the northeast part of Cabot, and over Cabot Plain, through Walden, Hardwick, Greensborough, Craftsbury, Albany, and Lowell, to near Hazen's Notch in Westfield. This road was of great advantage to the early settlers, and is still known as the Hazen road. The first settlement in Cabot was made on this road, on Cabot Plain, and the highest land in the town. In 1781 Col. Thomas Johnson, of Newbury, and Col. Jonathan Elkins, of Peacham, were taken by the British and marched to Canada. They camped the first night of this journey on this. location, and when Col. Johnson returned on parole soon after, he again camped there ; hence, for many years after, it was known as Johnson's Plain. This commanding elevation is the division of the waters that flow easterly into Connecticut river, southerly into the Winooski, and westerly into the Lamoille. Looking eastward from this plateau the majestic peaks of the White Mountains stretch out before you in the distance. Turn to the west- ward and your vision is bounded by the western range of the Green Mount- ains, the whole forming a panorama of magnificent scenic beauty.
Benjamin Webster, uncle of the renowned orator and statesman, Daniel Webster, came to Cabot in 1782, and made a pitch on this Plain on the Hazen road, and commenced an onslaught on the forest ; and in the midst of
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this opening built the first log cabin in the town. In the spring of 1783 he moved his family to his cabin. He had been preceded two days by Lieut. Jonathan Heath, and the same season they were joined by Nathaniel Webster and Lieut. Thomas Lyford and their families. About 1787 six families were added to the colony, viz .: David Blanchard, Lyman Hitchcock, John Lyford, Jeremiah McDaniels, James Bruce, and Thomas Batchelder. All located on the Plain and in the near neighborhood on the Hazen road.
The town was organized at the first town meeting of Cabot, held at the house of Thomas Lyford, the last Saturday of March, 1788. At this meeting the following list of town officers were elected and duly sworn into office by Walter Brock, justice of the peace : Captain Jesse Leavenworth, moderator ; Lieut. Jonathan Heath, Lieut. Thomas Lyford, and Lieut. David Blanchard, selectmen ; Maj. Lyman Hitchcock, treasurer ; Ensign Jeremiah McDaniels, constable ; Edmund Chapman, surveyor of highways ; and Ensign Jeremiah McDaniels, collector of taxes. At this organization the number of voters in the town could not have been more than ten or twelve, and of the seven officers elected six held military commissions. At this time Cabot was included in Orange county. In 1792 Caledonia county was formed from a part of Orange, and Cabot formed a part of the new organization until after the county seat was changed from Danville to St. Johnsbury, in 1855, when, by the exertions and influence of Cabot's representative, Dr. M. P. Wallace, the town was transferred to Washington county.
About the time Caledonia county was set off from Orange, Dr. Greshom and Horace Beardsley entertained so sanguine an opinion that Cabot would be the shire town, that they proceeded to clear two acres of land in a pasture now owned by S. S. Batchelder, for the county buildings. The ground was thoroughly prepared by taking out the stumps of the trees, and removing all obstructions. On this site they raised the first frame house in town. This frame was all hard wood and two stories high, and it required a large force of men, and a corresponding quantity of rum, to raise it. All the men and women in Cabot, Peacham, and Danville were invited to the raising, and two barrels of rum was provided for the occasion, (to meet the threats that those invited " would drink the Beardsleys dry,") and all were invited to help them- selves. The rum there imbibed lasted a great many two days, and in after years they enjoyed rehearsing the incidents of this " raising." The Beardsleys did not realize their hopes in the location of the county site, and their build- ing was not finished where it was raised. In about two years it was removed to the Plain, nicely finished, and became the renowned " Yellow House," and the favorite inn of the travelers passing between the north and Connecticut river. The Plain was the "hub " of the town for about eighteen years, when, like other " cities set on a hill," the business gradually slid into the valleys, and now there remains but a single farm house to mark the place of its departed glory.
The first child born in town was a daughter to Thomas Blanchard, October
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3, 1787. The first death was that of Benjamin West, who was crushed by the falling of a large tree, in the winter of 1786. The first marriage was David Lyford to Judith Heath, July 23, 1795, by James Morse, Esq. Mr. Morse came from Barre, Mass., in 1789, and settled at the center of the town. He built the first house (of logs) in that locality, and later kept in it the first tavern in town. He was the first justice of the peace and received his appointment in 1792. He foresaw that he would be called on to officiate at weddings, and felt that he could do better if he had some experience. He accordingly placed his son David beside the stump of a tree, and proceeded to marry him to it. David, as directed, assented that he would love, cherish, and protect her, and David and the stump were solemnly pronounced hus- band and wife. David would not marry until the stump rotted down. This nervous justice became confused when performing a real ceremony next time and made the groom promise to " forsake her and cleave to all other women." Thomas Lyford was elected first representative in 1791, but failed to attend the legislature. In 1792 Mr. Morse, above mentioned, was elected, and after his election his wife spun and wove the flax from which she made new "trowsers " for him to wear to the session which met at Rutland, October II. The day before he started he killed a lamb, and Mrs. Morse cooked luncheon enough to last him through the journey. Clad in the new trowsers with a pack on his back, he made the journey to Rutland and home again on foot. He was a smoker, and in some way drew his picture on the fence with his pipe in his mouth and his pack on his back, and over it wrote in large letters, " Going to Rutland." James Morse also owned the first wagon in town. The box or body is said to have been about six feet long, bolted tight to the axle, and it was considered a gay vehicle.
The first stove in town was possessed by Dea. James Marsh, cost $80, and was long enough to take wood three feet long. The first clock in town, a tall, cased, brass one, was owned by Hon. John W. Dana. Mrs. John W. Dana had the first carpet, which came to her in the division of her mother's things.
In 1788 Lieut. Thomas Lyford, the third settler in town, bought the land where the village of Cabot now stands, and in 1789 completed the first saw- mill in Cabot, on the Winooski, at this place. The irons for this mill were made at Newbury and drawn on a hand sled to the mill the previous winter. Mr. Lyford and his son 'Thomas, Jr., soon after built a grist-mill with one run of stones split out of granite. It occupied the site of the present grist-mill. This mill did grinding not only for Cabot, but for towns miles around.
At the first town meeting, held in 1788, a vote was passed to raise twenty bushels of wheat, to be expended for the support of a town school; but this vote was recinded at the next town meeting, held in March, 1789, on account of the great scarcity of wheat. At the same meeting the town voted thirty bushels of wheat for a summer and winter school; but the matter was re- luctantly deferred on account of the inability of the people to meet the ex-
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pense. The first school-house stood at the foot of Shephard hill, and was built of logs, benches were used for seats, wooden pins were driven into holes. bored into the logs, and boards laid on them for writing-desks. The first. school was taught by John Gunn in the summer of 1792.
The first settled minister was Rev. Benjamin Page, pastor of the Freewill. Baptist church, in 1803. Mr. Nicholas Warner was the first postmaster, in 1808. The first mail carrier, Henry Denny, rode on horseback, and his. route extended to the Canada line. The carriers continued to carry the mail on horseback until 1827, when Dea. Adams, then the carrier, tried the experiment of a stage, and put on a two-horse team for the purpose of carry- ing passengers. His conveyance was a wagon with the body firmly bolted to. the axles. This uncomfortable kind of vehicle was continued in use until 1830, and was then superseded by a line of good coaches, which ran from Montpelier to Danville, and returned next day. This arrangement continued the ensuing two years, when Cabot received a daily mail from Montpelier, and it. now receives a daily mail from both the Boston & Lowell and Mont- pelier & Wells River railroads.
The first distillery was erected on Cabot Plain by Hanson Rogers, in 1809. Until the time of the War of 1812, the surplus product of the distil- leries, after supplying a brisk home market, had been hauled by teams to Boston and Portland. Then large quantities of whiskey were smuggled across the Canada line and sold to the British soldiers. This, although risky, was a very lucrative business, and at one time there were twelve distilleries in full blast manufacturing potato whiskey in Cabot.
In 1819 Robert Lance built the first cider-mill. The young orchards were then bearing abundantly, and the inhabitants had cider as well as whis- key. Mr. J. M. Fisher says in his history of Cabot : "Cider and whiskey were the staple commodities of the times, and were regarded very much as United States currency in these days. No farmer thought of beginning winter with less than twelve or fifteen barrels of cider, and one or two barrels of whiskey in his cellar. No occasion was perfect without it." It was indis- pensible at friendly visits, at births, weddings, funerals, raisings, bees, and when the pastor made a call. When the ladies collected at a "quilting," every time they rolled the quilt, all must take some toddy. Frequently when this process had been repeated three or four times, the ladies were ready to stop work, tell stories, and have a good jolly time.
In 1880 Cabot had a population of 1,242. In October, 1888, the town contained fourteen school districts, and employed during the school year three male and twenty-three female teachers, some portion of the year, at an average weekly salary of $8.00 and $4.70, respectively. There were 335 scholars, twelve of whom attended private schools. The entire income for school purposes was $2,224.74, and the whole sum expended for school purposes was $2,485.55. J. P. Lamson was superintendent.
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CABOT village is located on the main branch of the Winooski river in the southwest part of the town. The saw and grist-mills built by the Lyfords, . before mentioned, in 1789, proved the nucleus of the present beautiful and thrifty village. In 1794 Mr. Lyford built the first dwelling house, in the garden in front of the house where Mrs. J. Lance now resides. Some twelve or fifteen years later John W. Dana, the leading business man of the town, foreseeing that this place would be the business center of the town, bought an extensive tract of land where the village now stands, removed from the Plain to this place and opened a store, and built a potash and pearlash manu- factory, and distillery, and from this time onward the business of the town has centered here. A hotel was soon opened by John Damon, a cloth-dress- ing and wool-carding mill by George Fielding, a blacksmith shop with a trip- hammer and small foundry by William Scales. The village thus located about midway between Montpelier and St. Johnsbury, the travel, stage line, and freight for the two places passed through here and made inn-keeping a lucrative business; and many an old-time traveler refers with pleasant memories to "mine host" Bliss, and his genial wife. Other industries and managers have come and gone.
November 19, 1866, the village was incorporated, and now (1888) it con - tains a population of 260 souls. It has a well equipped fire department, a well fenced and shady public park, which contains a fine Barre granite soldiers' monument twenty-five feet high and a good band stand. It also has two church edifices (Congregational and Methodist), a fine graded school, a grist- mill, a hotel, several stores, sixty-six neat and tidy dwelling houses, and the usual number of shops, mechanics, and artisans.
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