USA > Vermont > Windham County > Whitingham > Green leaves from Whitingham, Vermont: a history of the town > Part 4
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They followed up North River by where Jackson- ville now is, to Wilmington. Mrs. Bratten ascended a tall tree and discovered the Deerfield valley, and their course was turned in that direction. They had marked trees as they came along so that they might find their way back, for they had no chart or compass.
They drove before them a cow, and carried their cooking utensils on their backs. A small iron kettle was used as a water pail, milk pail, and for cooking ; and as the population increased the milk of one cow was divided among several families. Their log house was located near the river above where Cyrus Wheel- er now resides. Its site now covered with forest trees and the hearth-stone around which merry chil- dren played, lie unnoticed under the fallen leaves.
On the 19th day of May, 1780, known as the dark day, Mrs. Bratten set out an apple tree near this spot which has since borne the name of "Grand-mother Bratten's apple tree."
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Whitingham, Vermont.
Silas Hamilton was a native of Brookfield where he was born in 1740. He went to Deerfield in 1760 and there commenced the manufacture of felt, and on the 27th day of July, 1763, he married Hannah Hoyt of Deerfield, who was born Sept. 6, 1744, in the "Old Indian House" and was a grand-daughter of Ensign John Sheldon. In 1768 he was the owner of 200 acres of land whereon he erected pot and pearl- ash works. About 1771 he reached Whitingham. In 1778-9 he represented the town in the General Assembly of Vermont. In 1780, with 7 associates, he obtained a grant of 3,000 acres of land in the north- east corner of Whitingham, and the same year he was Selectman and Treasurer. He became involved in some financial trouble while he held this position and mortgaged all his property, real and personal, to to secure the town. Soon after this he removed to Western, Mass., where he adhered to the Rebellion of Daniel Shays, just a century ago. He was arrest- ed, tried, convicted, and sentenced to stand one hour in pillory and to be publicly whipped on his naked back 20 stripes. The charge against him was, "For stirring up sedition in this Commonwealth."
He was a man who took an active part in all the affairs of the time, never failing to carefully vindicate what he advocated, even when his life was in peril.
Bratten and Hamilton have been considered the 'first settlers of the town, but by the census of 1771 it would seem that there were four families in town
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instead of two. Who they all were does not appear.
In 1780 Silas Hamilton, Amos Peabody and Eli- phalet Hyde, sold a lot of land. Their signatures to the deed were witnessed by Calvin Newcomb, Philip Bartlett, Edward Harris and Lydia Harris, all four of whom signed by mark. It is now thought best to secure witnesses who can write their own names.
When this early settlement was in progress the town was without roads and the people were obliged to travel by marked trees. Their grain had to be ground as far away as Greenfield, the same being transported there and back on foot. It is said that one of the early settlers went to Greenfield on foot, bought an iron five-pail kettle and half a bushel of meal, both of which he brought home on his back, more than 20 miles, without food except a little meal which he mixed with water in his hand.
After the trail between Whitingham and Greenfield became better known, it was customary to employ one person to go to mill for several families. This service was performed on horseback, and it was im- portant that the person who conducted this business should not himself be a full load for the horse, and to avoid this Mrs. Dalrymple, who was a very small woman and could manage two bushels of grain and ride herself, was more frequently employed than any other person. She died at the age of 103.
The first child born in town was John Nelson Jr., and Thomas Riddle who was on a visit among his
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friends was the first person who died in town. His home was in Connecticut, and there being no means of transportation except on horseback, it became necessary to bury him in Whitingham.
During 10 years previous to 1780, when the town was organized, the inhabitants were quite extensively engaged in an industry which might have been re- munerative at the time, but of no permanent advan- tage to the soil, and by many thought to be a great and lasting injury. This consisted in cutting off the wood and timber and burning the same for the ashes, which were leached and the lye boiled down to salts or potash. These salts were then put into sacks and transported on horseback to Greenfield or elsewhere, to be exchanged for such goods as a farmer might need. All this appears simple and commonplace, and the right of carrying these sacks 25 miles through an unsettled country in this primitive way, was not seriously contested. It required much care to man- age this material while in transit, for in case there should be any leak in the sacks the horse would be sadly injured thereby. To overcome this difficulty the person in charge of the horse would peel sheets of birch bark as he went along and place them under the sacks to prevent galling the horse.
This way of clearing off the land and carrying off what the soil so much needed, was a lasting injury to many of the best farms in Whitingham, and one from which they can never recover. If half of the
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cleared land in this town was covered with original timber to-day, where most needed, it would increase the valuation of the town more than fifty per cent.
But this was a period of great privation on the part of the settlers. They had taken up their abode on a sterile soil, away from the comforts of civiliza- tion, among wild beasts, and in a climate not to be admired in winter. It was now towards the close of the Revolution. Independence had been declared by the colonies four years, and by Vermont three years, but up to this time there had been no record of any religious expression on the part of the people.
At this time the English government was not very much respected in Vermont, and the inhabitants sought to acquire titles to their lands through the General Assembly. About 1780, Silas Hamilton and seven others petitioned for a grant of 3,000 acres of land in Whitingham, and the petition was referred to a committee who reported as follows :-
THE HON : L GENERAL ASSEMBLY :
Your Com : tee Report as their opinion that the three thousand acres of Land in the Township of Whitingham as Re- ferred to in the Pettion of Silas Hamilton be granted to said Hamilton and the settlers named in said Petition thay Paying a Meat Consideration - - and that his Exclancy and Council be Directed to Make out a Charter of Incorporation for the same with the Reservations and Restrictions Necessary.
JOHN THROOP, CHAIRMAN.
This report was duly referred to the Governor and Council, and the following grant thereupon issued :
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L.S. State of THE GOVERNOR; COUNCIL AND GENERAL Vermont. ASSEMBLY OF THE FREEMEN OF VERMONT.
To all people to whom these presents shall come, GREETING:
K NOW YE that whereas it has been represented to us by our worthy friend Silas Hamilton and associates, that there is a certain tract of vacant land within this State which has not been heretofore granted, which they pray may be granted to them, we have therefore tho't fit for the due encouragement of settling a new plantation within this state and other valuable considerations us hereunto moving and do by these Presents in the name and by the authority of the freemen of Vermont give and grant unto the said Silas Hamilton and the several persons hereafter named his associ- ates viz : Thomas Sterns, John Butler, James Roberts, Abner Moor, James Angel, Charles Dodge and Eliphalet Hyde bounded as fol- lows viz : Beginning at the south east of Wilmington and the north east corner of Whitingham at a beach tree marked PPM. thence bounded on Wilmington north eighty degrees west 176 chains and 25 links to a small maple tree marked PPM. thence south 10 de- grees west 171 chains and 25 links to a large beach tree marked M. C. III thence south eighty deg's east 176 chains and 25 links to a large hemlock tree on Halifax line, thence bounded on Halifax line north 10 deg's east 171 chains and 25 links to the first men- tioned bounds, containing three thousand acres.
And the said tract of land is hereby declared to be joined to the Township of Whitingham or entitled to receive equal privileges and immunities in connection with said town as other corporated Towns within this State do by law exercise & enjoy. To have and to hold the said granted premises with every appurtenance and privilege to them and their respective heirs & assigns as above de- scribed to their free and full enjoyment forever.
IN TESTIMONY whereof we have caused the seal of this State to be affixed this 15th day of March A. D. 1780, and in the third year of the independence of this State.
THOMAS CHITTENDEN.
JOSEPH FAY Sec't'y.
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The question might be raised here as to whether this charter or grant superceded or in any respect modified that of March 12th, 1770. It seems clear that it did not, and also that Vermont had no more authority in the premises than New York, as both occupied the position of a claimant; but the action of New York was ten years earlier than that of Ver- mont the same being acknowledged and re-affirmed when Vermont granted lands in Whitingham instead of Cumberland, and adhering firmly to the metes and bounds long before established by New York.
On the 8th day of June, 1780, the Governor and Council passed the following significant resolution :
Resolved, That the price of 3,000 acres of land granted to Silas Hamilton and company in Whitingham be one shilling per acre, money made good as in 1774, in lieu of two shillings which this Council set in March last.
Two petitions are here presented, both of which were probably made in Wilmington, though signed in part by Whitingham men. They indicate the sen- timent of the time, being signed by the leading men of southwestern Vermont.
They were evidently written by a crank, holding to certain sentiments more or less approved by those who signed them. While they possess but little lit- erary merit the second one displays unusual shrewd- ness in causing foreign matters to absorb the mind, while unconscious action might produce the desired result. But these petitions do not appear to have
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been granted in accordance with the prayer of the petitioners.
PETITIONS.
To the Honorable the house of Representatives of the State of Ver- mont Now setting in Windsor in said state.
THE Memorial of the Proprietors and Others Inhabitants of the Town of Willmington and Towns adjoining in the Counties of Cum- berland Bennington &c humbly Sheweth-That the publick Road leading from said Willmington to Bennington is greatly out of repair, to wit in that part of the Country lying between said Willmington & Bennington-The bridges broken down and dangerous passing, that the whole or most of those lands between the two Towns afore- said belongs to Tories and other Inimical persons who have gone Over to the Enemy and Joined them, That said road is indispensi- ble Necessary for the Good people of this State and particularly So in this day of publick Calamity and war in Marching Troops, dri- ving droves of Cattle and Other important publick purposes, that the Memorialists and Others, as in the Condition of all New Set- tlers, have as much as they Can do to make and repair their Own roads and subdue and cultivate their Own farms so as to support their families. That as all lands are bettered by lying on Great and public roads, so it is reasonable that the proprietors of those lands or the lands themselves Should be Subjected and Obliged to Sup- port their own roads, your memorialists therefore humbly pray your Honors to take this memorial into your Equitable Consideration and appoint a wise and Judicious Comtee to repair the road aforesd and make the same Feasible for the Travelling of the Good people of this and the Neighboring States-and also to empower said Comtee to make Sale of So much of said Inimical persons land as shall pay the Expenses of the road aforesd or Otherwise Grant relief as your Honors in your Wisdom shall think fit and the memorialists as in duty bound shall ever pray. Dated at Willmington the 9th day of October 1778.
SILAS HAMILTON, DAVID DICKINSON, WM. WILLIAMS, GIDEON GRANGER, BENJA WILLARD.
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State of Vermont. To the Honourable General Assemble of said State Now Seting in Manchester in & for said State.
The Petition of John Hamilton & others of his associates Hum- bly Sheweth, that as ther is a Cartain Tract of Land of twelve miles in Length & Four miles wedth, Laying in the South part of said State of Vermont, Bounding South on the Bay State, and East on the Townships of Whitingham & Wilmington, & North on the Town called Sumersit and west on the Towns of Woodford & Stamford, Said Tract Laying in Good Form and Sofitiant for, three Town- ships of Four miles Squair. And your Humble Petitioner would observe to your honors, that in the year 1764 three thousand acres of the South East corner of Said Tract of Land was Granted from New Hampshireto Majr Robert Rogers a Redused officer in the Brittish sarvice, & also sum part Viz the East part, of Said Tract, ware formerly Granted to General Lyman & others of his Associates Included in in the Grant or Township of Wil- mington, and what your Humble Petitioners would further observe to your Honours is that said Tract of twelve miles in Length & four in wedth bounding as abovesd ware Sense Regranted by New York to favorite Land jobbers, Jest before the Commencement of this present war, without any Regard to the abovesd New Hampshir Grants, and known by the Name of Readsborough, and said Reads- borough Patentees have not as yet Don the Duty Required in ther Patent or Grant of sª Readsborough, but many of whom had gon over to, and Joined our brittish advercaries, others of whom have ben Very unfrindly to Amaraca and to the sd State of Vermont since the Present war commenced.
And your Humble Petitioner would further obcerve to your Hon- ours, that it is the mind of your Petitioner that it is of Vast Impor- tance that Said Land be settled and Cultivated, on many acompts, First, on accompt of ading True Subjects to the sª State of Ver- mont, and secondly that said wild Land may be Converted into Good farms which will Greatly help pay the Publick Taxes of Ver- mont State, Thirdly, that the Publick Roads may be constantly & affectually mantained, Forthly, that all the Voratious wild Beasts of Pray may be forEver Disinherited & Distroyed, and also to pro- mote Emigration into said State of Vermont, and also to Encour-
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age the Industry of the Poor &c. And it is your Petitioners Hum- ble Request of your Honors, That Four miles Squair of the Senter of said Readsborough be granted to your Humble Petitioner, in manor following, Viz-with a resarve of the Original Grants to General Lyman and Maj. Robert Rogers, and also of those of said Lands as Nececaryly Disposed of for making a Publick Road from Bennington to Wilmington through said Readsborough and of these Lands Labourd on by Wiliam Brace, and also one Hundred acres Labourd on by one Whippel now in the Continental Sarvice, and as said Lands are Greatly Delluged with Snow, the most part of the year, and Vastly Heavy Timbered, and of Consequence Very Dear at the Cultivation thereof, your Humble Petitioner Prays your Honors to Grant him the Same Not Requiring any Large Feas, but Strict Injunctions and Icoregments for the speedy Cultivation & Popelating said Land, and also Incorporate the same and Let it be known by the name of Brace-or ansure your Petitioners Humble Request any other way then is above Set forth as in your Great Wisom may seem meet and Just and your Petitioner as in Duty bound shall ever Pray.
Oct™ ye 14 A. D. 1779.
JOHN HAMILTON, JESSE BELKNAP,
JEREMIAH WILLIAMS,
WM, WILLIAMS, JAMES WHITE, JOHN HAMILTON, 2d.
JAMES ROBERTS,
JOHN BOLTON, ASA WILLIAMS,
SILAS HAMILTON, JAMES WILLIAMS, SIMEON HATHAWAY,
BENJAMIN LYMAN,
JOHN RAND,
LEVI HAMILTON,
ASEPH WHITE, JOSIAH LOCK, JOHN WHITNEY,
THOMSON MAXFIELD, JUDAH MOORS, MATHEW LYON,
WILLIAM BRACE,
AMOS PEABODY,
DAVID DICKINSON,
DANIEL CARR.
ORGANIZATION OF THE TOWN.
The following appears to be a record of the first town meeting held in Whitingham, but the town was represented in 1778-9 in the General Assembly, and the representative was probably elected at some kind of a meeting, but the records thereof may have been lost, for the first 50 pages of the town records
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as they now appear, are on loose sheets, and it is a disgrace to the town that it has too little enterprise to have them bound and thereby preserved.
The following record is exceedingly brief, failing to note the transaction of any town business except the election of town officers.
Att an annual Toun meeting March 30 1780 the men whos names are under Ritten ware Chosen to Ofis. Town Clark : Eliphalet Hyde. Selectmen : James Angel, Eliphalet Hyde, Silas Hamilton. Treasurer : Silas Hamilton. Constables : Abner More, Levi Shum- way. Highway Surveyors : Abner More, Thos. Hunt, Ebenezer Davis, John Nelson Jr .. Listers : Thos. Stearns, Eliphalet Hyde. Collectors : Levi Shumway, Abner More. Grand Juror : Thomas Stearns. Sealer of Waits & Measurs : John Butler. Deer Rief : Amasa Shumway, Thos. Stearns.
The trouble occasioned by the management of the Treasurer in 1780, led to a radical change of town officers in 1781, as will be seen by the record.
At the Annual Town Meeting Holden on March 26th 1781, Voted that Thomas Sterns be moderator. Leonard Pike, Eliphalet Hyde, Thomas, Blodget, Selectmen. Thomas Sterns, Treasurer. Amos Shumway, Jabez Foster, Constables. Henere Lee, Eliphalet Gus- ten, Benjamin Blodget, Listers. Jabez Foster, Amos Shumway, Collectors. Thomas Sterns, Leather Sealer. Thomas Sterns, Benjamin Blodget, Grand Jurors. Henere Lee, Robert Bratten, Tithingmen. Henere Lee, Seler of waits and measures. Robert Bratten, Thomas Hunt, Highway Surveyors. Thomas Hunt, Sam- uel Day, Deer Rief. Abner Moor, Jabez Foster, Leonard Pike, Thomas Sterns, John Nelson, P Juror.
May 11, 1781. Voted, That the Seleck men Shall run a Senter Line through the town east and west north and south and lay out two Rods as near the Senter lines as the land will allow of.
Voted, That the annuell town meeting be held on the first mon- day of March anuelly.
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Whitingham, Vermont.
March 28, 1782. Voted, That the Law Book at Capt. Hydes be Removed to the Town Clerks & the Law Book be removed from Amos Greens to Benjamin Blodgetts.
March 3d, 1783. Voted That Sheep Horses and Swine shall not Run at Large from the fifth of May till the middle of October next.
March 4, 1783. Thos. Hunt, Town Clerk. Daniel Wilcox, Thos. Hunt, Jabez Foster, Henry Lee, Amasa Shumway, Select men. Thos. Stearns, Treas. Jonathan Barton, Amos Green, Constables. Billee Clark, Levi Shumway, Jonathan Dix, Listers. Jonathan Barton, Amos Green, Collectors. Thomas Blodget, Grand Juror. Jonathan Lee, Tithingman. Jeremiah? Sprague, Nathan Green, Thomas Day, Pettee Jurors. Thos. Day, Eliphalet Gusten, John Rugg, Highway Surveyors. Benj. Blodget Jr., Dear Reef.
Sept. 2, 1783. Voted, That a Committy be appointed to instruct the Representative. John Butler, Daniel Wilcox, Thos. Hunt, Com.
What the instructions were does not appear, but it is quite probable that they had reference to the controversy between New York, New Hampshire and Vermont. The Representative was Isaac Lyman.
The Selectmen of 1781 were directed to run a "Senter" line through the town, east and west north and south, but no record thereof being made the line was lost, and the Selectmen of 1784 were instructed to look it up and report to the town.
March 1, 1784. Thos. Hunt, Town Clerk; Thos. Hunt, Isaac Lyman, Benj. Blodget, Selectmen ; Dan. Wilcox, Treas .; Dan. Wilcox, Constable ; Jas. Reed, Jas. Roberts, Samuel Day, Listers ; Roger Edgecomb, Thos. Blodgett, Collectors ; Nathaniel Streeter, Samuel Day, Grand Jurors ; James Glass, Elisha Blake, Tything- men ; John Butler, Bille Clark, Jabez Foster, Nehemiah Sprague, Highway Surveyors : Voted, That the Selectmen find the Senter of said town and make Report at the next March annual Town
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Meeting. Dan. Wilcox, Thos. Blodgett, and James Roberts were appointed a committe to look out some suitable places for Burying yard in said Town. Sept. 7th, Voted, That the Town meeting be held at James Reed's House for the future.
Voted, That Mr. Pike be allowed one silver dollar in payment for money he let Capt. Eliphalet Hyde have.
These specimens of early records are truthful re- minders of the way and manner in which our fathers . managed town affairs a century ago, showing a mark- ed contrast between that day and the present.
THE FIRST GRAND LIST.
The Grand List of 1781 shows who paid the taxes at that time, and indicates to some extent the popu- lation of the town, as follows :
Angel, James,
Day, Thomas,
Lampher, Benijah,
Barton, Jonathan,
Dix, Jonathan,
Lee, Henry,
Berton, Timothy S.,
Dodge, Charles,
Lee, Nathan,
Blake, Elihu,
Edgecomb, Jonathan, More, Abner,
Blodget, Benja,
Edgecomb, Roger,
Nelson, John, Nelson, John Jr.,
Blodget, Benj. Jr.,
Foster, Jabez,
French, Elijah,
Nelson, Samuel,
John Blushfield,
Fuller, Calvin,
Peters, Brinslee,
Levi, Boyd,
Fuller, Isaac,
Pike, Leonard, Reed, James, Rugg, John, Shumway, Amasa,
Bratten, Robert,
Bratten, Robert Jr.,
Butler, John,
Butler, Samuel,
Shumway, Jonham,
Clark, Bille,
Coleman, Joseph,
Shumway, Levi, Sprague, Beriah, Sterns, Sterling,
Davis, Ebenezer, Davis, Nathaniel, Day, Samuel,
Green, Amos, Gusten, Eliphalet, Halloway, Daniel, Hambleton, Silas, Hide, Eliphalet, Hide, Moses, Howard, James, Howard, John, Hunt, Thomas, Wilcox, Daniel.
Sterns, Thomas, Washburn, Luther,
Blodgett, Thomas,
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Whitingham, Vermont.
Robert Bratten and Leonard Pike settled near the northwest corner of the town, and James Angel, Eli- phalet Gusten and Benijah Lamphear in the south- east part. John Butler and Silas Hamilton settled in the northeast section. The first grist-mill in town was built on North River, by John Butler. The first deed known to be on record was from Robert Brat- ten of Whitingham to John Torrey of Halifax, and is dated January second, 1780.
A portion of New Hampshire and a portion of Vermont attempted, on two occasions, to unite as a separate state. When the second effort was made, in February, 1781, Whitingham favored the union.
A proposition was also made for the union of. a part of Vermont with New York, and Whitingham on June 16, 1781, through its Representative, Rob- ert Bratten, voted for such union.
It will be seen that Whitingham was in a dilemma. The disturbance between Vermont, New Hampshire and New York, had a tendency to unsettle political affairs throughout the state, and Whitingham having been then recently disappointed in its treasurer, and also much in need of a competent leader or some one to give intelligent advice in the critical matters rela- tive to civil government, which so often perplex new settlements and prevent a free expression of political convictions, was suffering from incompetent and dis- honest official action in town affairs.
The people were not familiar with accuracy in the
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most commonplace town business, as may be seen by the way they undertook to lay out a highway in 1781, "From Wilmington line to Halifax line, beginning near a spruce Stubb on the South line of Wilmington that is about one pole north of Sª Stubb."
The point of beginning in this case was essential, as the north boundary of Halifax and the south bound- ary of Wilmington were on a line, and the two towns joined only at the corner of each, so that a highway might extend from Wilmington line to Halifax line without visible length, provided the "Spruce Stubb" stood on the line at the corner where Wilmington, Marlboro, Halifax and Whitingham touch each other. What authority Whitingham had to lay out a high- way one pole north of a spruce stub that stood on the south line of Wilmington, does not fully appear.
ANOTHER LAND GRANT.
As soon as the town was fairly organized, there was an effort made on the part of sundry persons to advance its settlement, and each one, though sneer- ing at the original grantees under the authority of New York, and denouncing them as "favorite land jobbers," had a desire to obtain large tracts of land, not then occupied, in the same way, and for that pur- pose appealed to the General Assembly of Vermont.
The second grant after the organization of the town was made to Samuel Wells, Jonathan Hunt, . and Arad Hunt, for 3,000 acres, by a Resolution of
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Whitingham, Vermont.
the General Assembly, and in 1787, a supplementary grant was issued to Jonathan and Arad Hunt.
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