Gazetteer of Washington County, Vt., 1783-1889, Part 29

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836-, comp; Adams, William, fl. 1893, ed
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Syracuse, N. Y., The Syracuse journal company, printers
Number of Pages: 898


USA > Vermont > Washington County > Gazetteer of Washington County, Vt., 1783-1889 > Part 29


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97


Luther Converse was born in Elmore, and came to Calais when a young man. His father, Ira, died in February, 1887, aged eighty years. His mother, of the Lamberton family of Marshfield, still survives (1888), aged nearly eighty-one years. Luther Converse married Asenath W. Shortt, of Calais. Four of their six children are living, viz .: Jesse O., Elmer P., Albert J., and Homer L. Jesse O. married Miss E. Pray, of East Montpelier.


239


TOWN OF CALAIS.


Capt. William V. Peck, son of William and Hannah (Hackett) Peck, was born in Wolcott, Vt., February 8, 1834. His parents removed to Calais in 1841. February 6, 1858, Mr. Peck married Helen M. Dudley, of Calais. He served as captain of Co. H. 13th Regt. Vt. Vols., four months, under the command of Col. F. V. Randall, and returned in broken health. Mr. Peck is a practical farmer, on road 45, and is the inventor of the noted odorless fertilizer, and is of the firm of Peck & Dudley, of Montpelier.


Gilman Guernsey was born in Haverhill, N. H., came to Calais when a boy, and learned the joiners' trade of Salem Goodenough. About 1837 he mar- ried Clotina Southwick, and continued to reside in Calais to the close of his life. Their children are Mahala, who married Abram J. Wallace, a contractor and builder, of Waterloo, P. Q .; George H., the celebrated architect and builder, of Montpelier ; and Oscar W., born January 22, 1847, who is a farmer in Calais. February 15, 1873, he married Sarah J. Leach, and they have three children, Myrtie M., Alice M., and George H.


Charles S. Guernsey settled as a farmer in Calais, on the farm where his son A. C. now lives, about 1843. He married Cynthia Hanks, of Duxbury, a descendant of the Sprague family of that town. They had born to them the son before mentioned, and a daughter, who married Carlos Wheelock in 1848. Her home is in Boston, Mass. Mrs. Wheelock is the guardian of an orphan child, Hope Clement, who owns a residence on road 45, where Mrs. Wheelock makes a summer resort.


Austin H. Sanders was born in East Montpelier, January 4, 1839, where he resided until 1867, when he bought a farm on road 45, in Calais, which has been his home since that date. Mr. Sanders, in June, 1863, married Mary, daughter of H. D. Sinclair, of East Montpelier, who served as a soldier in the late war, under Gen. Thomas, and in the military printing office at New Orleans. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Sanders are Arthur L., born August 16, 1865, and George E., born January 28, 1868, both of whom reside with their parents. Mr. Sanders is honest, upright, and highly respected. His parents were Peter and Hannah (Pike) Sanders.


J. K. Toby, son of R. W. Toby, was born in Calais, June 17, 1845, and received his education in the common schools and at the Union school of Montpelier. He engaged in land surveying and school teaching, and was a teacher in New Jersey from 1865 to 1870. He married Miss Sherill Rob- inson, and settled on a farm at Maple Corners, where in the last years of his life he engaged in raising seeds for the firm of B. K. Bliss & Son, of New York. Mr. Toby was entrusted with many of the offices of his town, and interested in educational affairs.


Sargent F. Bailey was born in Danville, in 1814. His parents removed to Woodbury when he was two years old, and where he resided until he was twenty. He then went to Barre and learned the trade of mason. He trav- eled in thirteen states, and labored at his trade in each. In December, 1847, he married Caroline Edson, of Cabot, and has had born to him five children,


240


TOWN OF CALAIS.


only two of whom are living, viz .: Sarah C., who married Chauncey C. Haskell, in May, 1877, and is the mother of a daughter, Helen S., born in October, 1878 ; the other married O. S. Joslyn, of Waitsfield, in January, 1878, and is the mother of four children. Mr. Bailey settled on the farm where he now lives, in Calais, in 1882, and since then he has been a farmer. He was a resident of West Woodbury forty years, and one of the highly respected citizens of that neighborhood.


Erasmus L. Burnap, son of Ebenezer and Ruth (Tucker) Burnap, was born in Auburn, Mass., in 1813. He removed to Cabot in 1837, where he resided until 1859, when he settled in Calais, which has since been his home. December 17, 1834, he married Susan Hawes, of Wrentham, Mass. Five of their seven children are now living, viz .: Charles H., born in December, 1839, learned the joiners' and carriagemakers' trade when twenty years of age, and went to reside in California, but found the climate uncongenial and returned to Calais. July 17, 1862, he enlisted in Co. I, 11th Vt. Regt., served to the close of the war, and was discharged June 24, 1865. He mar- ried Sarah W. Leonard, of Calais, and is father of one daughter. He is a farmer with his father on road 56. Isabel F. is the wife of O. H. Leonard. Harvey E. married Mira L. Jacobs. Anna E. resides at the old home. Mary H., the eldest, married Levi W. Pitkin, and resides in Marshfield. The others all reside in Calais. Mrs. Susan Burnap died August 2, 1862. April 17, 1867, Mr. Burnap married Elsie A. Shortt. He has been promi- nent in town affairs, and represented Calais in the legislature of 1876-77.


George C. Slayton, son of Joseph A. and Lucinda (Hackett) Slayton, was born November 14, 1860. He acquired his education at the graded school at Maple Corners, where he prepared himself to teach, and has taught in Calais and adjacent towns. November 14, 1881, he united in marriage with Lovinia A. Goodell, and both taught the ensuing four years. He then bought the farm on road 48, where they now reside, and are engaged in securing a comfortable home.


Joseph A. Slayton, son of Orin and Dulcena (Andrus) Slayton, and grand- son of Bucklin Slayton, the carpenter, and an early settler of Calais, was born in East Montpelier, December 6, 1833. In 1859 he married Lucinda Hack- ett, of Calais. In 1860 they settled in the western part of this town. In 1867 they removed to the farm where they now live, on road 10. Mr. Slayton is a thorough farmer and stock grower. His marriage has been blessed by the birth of two sons, viz .: George C., a farmer on road 48; and Mahlon A., who lives with his parents.


E. D. Haskell, son of Daniel and Betsey (Spaulding) Haskell, was born in St. Johnsbury, July 16, 1833, where his mother was born about 1803. At the age of twenty-one he married Lorinda P. Hoyt, and the same year com- menced the manufacture of doors, sash, and blinds at Woodbury, which he continued six years, when he sold to Alonzo A. Clark, and bought the farm where Harley Rickard now lives. He conducted the farm three years, sold


241


TOWN OF CALAIS.


it, and entered the mercantile business at North Calais, in March, 1863, and is a merchant at the present time (1888). Mr. Haskell was also a manufac- turer of woolen goods three years. He bought the mills of George White, put in machinery, employed from eight to ten hands, but after three years it passed into the hands of G. Ormsbee. Mrs. Haskell died January 9, 1885. Their only child, Charlie E., was born June 8, 1856, and is now of the firm of E. D. Haskell & Son, merchants, doing business at Wolcott, Vt. Both, father and son are energetic business men.


Albert George, son of Rufus, was born in Chelsea. This George family is. of unmistakable English origin and of noble blood. Mr. George has in his. possession the family coat of arms. At the age of twenty-five years, after a. sojourn in Boston, he came to Calais, and June 3, 1866, united in mar- riage with Miss Lucretia Dutton. This marriage is blessed with one son. Mr. and Mrs. George have a beautiful home and good farm, one mile from East Calais, where they dispense a generous hospitality. Mr. George is genial, kind,a good neighbor, and reliable citizen. He defended the " old flag," in the late war, and at the expense of two severe gun-shot wounds-one in his thigh and the other in his right shoulder. He now receives a pension from his country which he so heroically defended.


Curtis O. Eastman was born in Compton, P. Q. His parents removed to Walden, Vt., when he was but two years old, and from there to Woodbury. At the age of fifteen he left home, and married Sarah Thompson, of Glover, when he was twenty-three years of age, and two children were born to them. In 1862 he enlisted in the 11th Vt. Regt., and served the ensuing three years. While he was in the service of his country his wife and children died. In 1865 he married Emma S., daughter of Elias Smith, who was a son of one of the earliest settlers of Marshfield. Elias Smith settled in Calais in 1830, on the farm where he spent the remainder of his life. He died in November, 1879. Mr. and Mrs. Eastman, with their family of six children, have, since his death, occupied the homestead.


The soldiers in the Revolutionary war who were afterwards citizens of Calais were John Beattis, who deserted from the British, Seth Doan, Jonas Comins, Backus Gary, Ebenezer Goodenough, Stephen Hall, Moses Haskell, Francis Lebarron, Job Macomber, John Martin, Shubael Shortt, Jesse Slayton, Samuel White, Edmund Willis, Duncan Young, who also deserted from the British, David Fuller, Asa Wheelock, and Joshua Bliss.


The soldiers in the War of 1812, who went from Calais, were Danforth Ainsworth, Welcome Ainsworth, Benjamin Bancroft, John Goodell, David Green, Isaac Hawkins, Enoch Kelton, Ansel Lebarron, Shubael Lewis, Azael Lyon, Jason Marsh, Perry Marsh, Dwight Marsh, John Martin, Jr., Jabez Mower, Ephraim Pray, Isaac Robinson, Joel Tucker, Josiah White, and Daniel Young.


In the Jate civil war Calais did her duty promptly and well. Ninety-six sol- diers enlisted for three years, twenty-three for one year, and twenty-seven for


16*


242


TOWN OF DUXBURY.


nine months. Of the thirty drafted men, six entered the service and twenty- four paid commutation. Thus the town furnished three in excess of the quota of 173.


In August, 1823, a call was issued, signed by Caleb Curtis, Midad Wright, and Nathan Bancroft, inviting all interested in building a meeting-house to meet at the house of Midad Wright on the 18th of that month. The meet- ing was accordingly held and the First Meeting-house Society of Calais was then formed, by-laws adopted, and officers elected as follows : Caleb Curtis, moderator ; William Dana, clerk ; and Joshua Bliss, treasurer. A commit- tee was appointed to select a site and draw a plan for the meeting-house. On the 30th of the month a meeting was held, and the committee reported that they had agreed upon a building lot, and had drawn a plan for a house " 40 by 42 feet, with 40 pews on the lower floor, 5 by 6 feet, and 18 above of the same bigness." This report was accepted. The house was to be three years in construction ; one-half the expense to be paid in three installments : half in neat cattle and the other half in grain. The house was completed, ac- cepted, and dedicated in November, 1825. Six religious societies owned the house, and its occupancy was apportioned to them according to the amount that each had contributed. The first recorded apportionment was in 1828, when the Universalists had twenty Sundays, Baptists ten, Congregationalists nine, Christians six, Freewill Baptists four, and Methodists three. In 1848 there was another apportionment made, which was Universalists thirty-two, Congregationalists seven, Methodists. five, Baptists four, Christians four. The house was used almost every Sunday, summer and winter, without a stove, until 1831. It is still in fine condition, and kept nicely painted and repaired, although it has been but very little used for a number of years.


The Christian church, located at Calais Center, was organized in 1810, by Rev. B. Putnam and Rev. R. Dodge, with about fifty members. Rev. B. Putnam was the first pastor. At its organization there was a monthly con- ference established, and maintained to the present time. The church has sustained preaching nearly all the time of its existence of nearly eighty years. Their house of worship was erected, of wood, in 1866, at a cost of about $2,000. The membership is about sixty, with Rev. Orin Davis, pastor. The value of church property, including grounds and buildings, is $2,000. The house will comfortably seat 300. For the past twenty-five years their Sunday- school has numbered from 100 to 130 members, and at present has about IO0.


D UXBURY is located in the northwestern part of the county, in latitude 44° 18' and longitude 4° 12', and is bounded north by Waterbury and a part of Bolton, from which town it is separated by the Winooski river, east by Moretown, south by Fayston, and west by Huntington and


243


TOWN OF DUXBURY.


a part of Bolton. The town was granted by his excellency Gov. Benning Wentworth, of the Province of New Hampshire, June 7, 1763, to Rev. Isaac Brown, John Winnie, Abraham Gadwin, Samuel Averill, Stephen Tuttle, Nicholas Joralemon, Daniel Riggs, Josiah Gilbert, Lodwick Rice, Phillip Schuyler, Daniel Wardner, Nathan Phillip Earle, Daniel Gessup, Job Brown, Richard Webart, John Vance, Daniel Isaac Brown, John Kingsland, Daniel Farrand, Barnt Van Thorn, William Provoost, John Joralemon, Thomas Cadmar, Jr., Tunis Joralemon, Edward McAllister, John Spear, Elias M. Vreelandt, Thomas Walbrook Waldran, Dirick Joralemon, Thomas Cadmus, Theodorus Van Wyk, Gabriel Ogden, Jacob Tilsort, Henry King, James Nesbit, Hendrick O. Gessen, Samuel Jacob Demorett, James Obrian, Abraham Van Wyke, Dirick Brinkerhoof, Kendrick Van Gessen, Jr., Abraham Ackerman, Jacob Joralemon, Arey King, James Van Burn, John Wentworth, William Barber, John Downing, Henry Joralemon, Garret Hopper, John Chaple, John Berdan, Barnt Governeur, Partridge Thatcher, William Camp, John Devoir, William Browne, Ann Van Dyk, Isaac Van Gessen, Abraham Governeur, Peter Zebrisco, Johanis Schuyler, Harper Joralemon, and Joseph Browne. The township was to be six miles square and to contain 23,040 acres, and divided into seventy-one shares-one for each of the sixty-five pro- prietors, two rights, or 500 acres, for Gov. Wentworth, one for the support of schools, one for the County Grammar school, one for the first settled minister, and one for the propagation of the gospel.


The first meeting of the proprietors to organize the company was held seven years after the date of the charter, and is on record as follows :-


" At a meeting of the Proprietors of the Township of Duxbury on Onion River in the Province of New York, legally warned in the public News-Papers, holden at the Dwelling-House of Samuel Canfield Esq. in New Milford in Connecticut on Thursday the tenth Day of May Anno Domini One Thous- and Seven Hundred and Seventy-Proceeded as followeth, (Viz) Voted Ist. Mr. Partridge Thatcher Esq. of New Milford to be Moderator of said Meet- ing.


" Voted 2d. Samuel Averill of Kent to be clerk of said Township.


" Voted 3d. To Lay out said Township and to Lot out one Division of One hundred acres to Each Right.


" Voted 4th. That Samuel Averill should be a Committee man or Agent to Agree with two Surveyors and a sufficient Number of Chain Bearers to do said Business.


" Voted 5th. To Lay a Tax of three Dollars on Each Right to Defray the Charges of Laying out said Township.


" Voted 6th. Adjourned unto the fourth Tuesday of September Next unto the Dwelling house of Samuel Averill in Kent.


" On Tuesday ye 25th Day of September, A. D. 1770 met according to adjournment, the meeting being opened was adjourned to house of Capt. John Robinson of Newark, in the Province of New Jersey to Thursday the 25th Day of October Next, at one of the Clock in the afternoon."


In the summer of 1770 Jedediah Hubbell, with eight assistants, surveyed the township and laid out the first division of lots, and made the following report :---


1


244


TOWN OF DUXBURY.


" A survey of the Township of Duxbury a Township Lately Granted by his Excellency Benning Wentworth Esq'r Governor of the Province of New Hampshire &c.


"Beginning at the Eastward Corner of the Township of New Huntington on the south west Bank of Onion River, thence Running south west by said Township six miles, to the south Corner of said township, thence running south eastward a Line Parallel to Onion River, Six miles, then North east Six miles to the Bank of Onion River, then by and with the Bank of said River to the first mentioned Station, and on Each of said Lines Marked Trees at one Mile Distance from Each other, with the Number of Miles on said Trees. And then we proceeded to Lay out one Division of Hundred acre Lots (Viz) Seventy Two Hundred acre Lots Lying in Length from Southeast to North- west Two Hundred Rods and in Width from Northeast to South West Eighty Rods, the first Lot Lying in the North Corner of said Township, and Twenty Four Lots, Buting on the North West Line of Said Township for the First Tier of Lots, and between the first and Second Tier of Lots we Laid out on Highway Six Rods Wide Extending through said Township and the second Tier of Lots Begins on the South West Line of Said Township, with Num- ber Twenty Five, and Continues in Succession of Numbers to the River, and between the Second and third Tier of Lots we Laid out an Highway extend- ing through the Township of Six Rods Wide, and Butted the third Tier of Lots on Said Highway, beginning with Number Forty Nine Extending South West in Succession of Numbers, to Number Seventy Two on the South West Line of Said Township, and also Laid out a Cross Highway through Said three Tiers of Lots Six Rods wide in the Centre of said Tiers-the above Work was Done and Completed June ye 5th A. D. 1770 with the assistance of Messrs. Moses Crane, John Ranger, Samuel Frost, Nathan Price, Charles Townsed, Caleb Ball, Jonathan Wilkerson, and Samuel Filer.


" By Jedediah Hubbell Surveyor of Land.


" Recorded by " Samuel Averill Jun'r, Register."


The proprietors met in Newark, N. J., pursuant to adjournment, at the house of Capt. John Robinson, in November, 1770, accepted the surveyor's report, and each proprietor drew his lot or "right."


Charters of Duxbury, Waterbury, Middlesex, and Moretown bear date the same month, and that of Middlesex contains some names of the Duxbury syndicate. The two companies were organized at the house of Samuel Can- field, at the same date, in New Milford, Mass., and Partridge Thatcher, of that town, and Samuel Averill, of Kent, were respectively moderator and clerk of the two organizations. Later, Partridge Thatcher assisted in the survey of Waterbury. Besides many familiar Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Jersey names, there appears in the Duxbury list that of Col. John Wentworth, of New Hampshire, the brother of the Governor, and numerous New York Dutch Knickerbocker names, -Philip Schuyler, Hon. Richard Webart, Abram Governeur, Hendrick Van Gessen, and one lady, Ann Van Wyke, and several others.


During the French and Indian war the soldiers from Massachusetts and Connecticut passed through the fertile valleys of the Connecticut and Wi- nooski rivers on their route to and from the seat of war, and at the close of


245


TOWN OF DUXBURY.


that war the tide of emigration rushed to these rich and desirable locations, from these older colonies, and surpassed all that was ever before witnessed. It is said of Governor Wentworth that " He did not let slip the golden op- portunity of filling his coffers." " In every township granted to petitioners, five hundred acres of land were reserved for the Governor, without fees or charges, and he was well rewarded by petitioners for his services." The Gov- ernor's specific lands were located in the charter, and he secured the best 500 acres, in a body, in each town. In these old proprietors' records we get a glimpse of the controversy between New York and New Hampshire concern- ing the ownership and jurisdiction of the Green Mountain territory. While the proprietors received their charter of 1763, which described Duxbury ter- ritory as being under the jurisdiction of New Hampshire, yet in their first record and organization they described it as "On Onion River in the Province of New York." Vermont, however, during the confederation, assumed to govern herself, and became a state of the Union in 1791.


The next meeting of the proprietors was held April 13, 1773, at the house of Samuel Averill, in Kent, Mass., where they found that the amount voted to defray expenses of surveying, at the first meeting held at the house of Samuel Canfield, May 10, 1770, exceeded the amount required by about half a dollar on each right.


" Whereupon we vote to Lay a Tax of two Dollars and half, one Dollar on each Right in Lieu of said Former Tax amounting to 170 Dollars."


" Elected Samuel Averill assessor, with instructions to proceed and assess the proprietors of the township agreeable to a Certain act or Law of the Province of New Hampshire, in such case made and Provided. Samuel Averill, Jun'r, was chosen collector, and the meeting adjourned to the second Tuesday of May following."


The first deed of land in Duxbury, after the charter, was executed by Samuel Averill, Jr., collector of taxes, to Partridge Thatcher, conveying nine full rights or shares in the township for non-payment of taxes, "in consider- ation of the sum of Nine Pounds Eighteen Shillings New York money," dated May 30, 1774.


The first meeting of the proprietors in Vermont was held at Bennington, March 26, 1784. The next meeting of which we find a record was warned by William Coit, justice of the peace, of Burlington, notifying the proprietors to meet at the house of Walter Avery, in Duxbury, July 31, 1795. The meeting was covened according to notice. Walter Avery was moderator and Daniel Kennon was chosen proprietors' clerk ; both were residents of Dux- bury. All subsequent meetings were held in Duxbury. The last one was held July 26, 1798. The proprietors found it necessary to resurvey the entire township, and several tax sales occurred, to raise the funds to pay for surveying. The following are among the items of expense :-


246


TOWN OF DUXBURY.


Sept. 15, 1795.


To Walter Avery, 8 days, as supt.


$ 8 00


66


66


To provisions for the hands. .


15 17


66


To 62 gallons of rum, $2 per gal. .


13 00


66


60


66


To Roswell Wells, for 22 days board, 25c. 5 5°


66


To cash paid for rum . .


5 08


66


66


66


66


66


66


To 66 I qt. rum 5oc., and 30 lbs.


bread $2


2


50


This town was probably named after Duxbury, Mass., which was a dupli- cate of Duxbury, England. In old Saxon " Bury " signifies a fortification, or fortified place, and Dux, or duke, meaning a chieftain or leader. Hence Duke's fort, or Duxbury.


The surface of the town is decidedly mountainous ; so much so that not more than one-half of its area is fit for cultivation. The settled portion of the town lies along the Winooski river, which includes the most valuable part. Clark's, Crossett's, and Ward's hills embrace many productive farms, and extend across the eastern border of the town ; and the valley, elevated more than a thousand feet above the Winooski river, lies between the mountains along Ridley's brook, and bears the significant name of "Hardscrabble." The remainder of the town is comprised in the mountain district and mainly covered with forest.


The geological formations of Duxbury are gneiss underlaying about one- third of the town in the western part, with talcose schist in the remaining part. There is a small outcrop of steatite in the southeastern part. On a line of this strata north from this one near the town line of Duxbury and Moretown are several small outcrops of steatite in connection with serpentine. In one case the steatite was found interstratified with talcose slate. If we are not mistaken this deposit is on lands owned by Deavitt Brothers. It is near the highway, and in or near the northwest corner of Moretown. An opening of the quarry has been made and soapstone taken out twenty-five feet in length, twelve feet wide, and about ten feet deep. The stone removed was very pure. The enterprise was abandoned. At the north it passes into a sparry serpen- tine, and at the south into chlorite.


Camel's Hump is situated on the line that divides Duxbury from Hunting- ton, and next to Mt. Mansfield, in Stowe, is the most elevated peak of the Green Mountains. Its height above the sea has been computed to be 4, 188 feet. It is the most conspicuous and best defined mountain in Vermont, and is clearly seen from the whole valley of Lake Champlain, and from most parts of Washington county. The ascent is usually made from the Duxbury side. Samuel Ridley, Jr., who kept a hotel at Ridley's Station, in stage coach days, built a carriage road to within three miles of the summit, and a bridle road to near the dizzy peak, and a house at this terminus for the entertainment of those who made the ascent. Mr. Wells and his worthy wife, Mary L. (Arms) Wells, conducted it for some time, and were its last proprietors. The house


To Jesse Arms, for 4 days work, $1 per day ... 4 00 To " 5 lbs. butter 12}c .. 62₺


247


TOWN OF DUXBURY.


has been burned, and the road is not kept in good condition. Of Camel's Hump, and the high and secluded valley of Hardscrabble at its foot, F. T. Wallace, a native of Duxbury, in a communication to the Rural Vermonter, says : " It is the scene of Daniel P. Thompson's famous novel, May Martin, or the Money Diggers. About 1824 a few wise men, inspired by some gifted Witch of Endor, who could discern money in a mountain by looking into a hat or a millstone, pitched their cabin under the awful southern cliff of the Hump, and for a season professed to dig for hidden treasure-Kidd's, of course. There are many now living (1886) who remember the excitement in the surrounding regions caused by the eccentricities and mystery of the ' Money Diggers,' who answered to the names of Clogston, Shackford, Friezell, and Eastman. The latter was the recognized gallant of the party. If May Martin was purely an imaginary heroine of the novel, and not one of the many bright and vivacious girls of Hardscrabble, certainly the historical evidence of the reality of the ' Money Diggers ' remains to this day in their several unpaid board bills in that neighborhood."




Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.