USA > Vermont > Addison County > History of Addison county Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 28
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We would like to record the names of other solid dairymen scattered all over the county, and the many competitive modes of making the most, and best, butter and cheese, and thereby the largest annuity from a given number of acres of ground, but space will not permit. Only one more dairy with somewhat new appliances and appurtenances can be mentioned.
Mr. Harry Everest, of Waltham, keeps a dairy of sixty Jersey cows, mostly thorough-bred, and uses a steam separator by which the cream soon after be- ing drawn from the cows is separated from the milk and churned after ripening, making butter that has sold readily, we are informed, the past season for thirty cents per pound. He also sells to the Burlington houses sweet cream at good prices.
Notwithstanding the value of the cattle industry in all its branches, the wealth and great blessings that have been enjoyed through a bountiful Provi- dence, growing out of this manifold enterprise, it is common to hear young farmers complain of the unsatisfactory results, at the present time, of raising and fattening cattle ; or of the meager returns of the dairy product. They often exclaim that the whole business is unprofitable; that twenty cents per pound for butter, ten cents for cheese, and for first-class market fattened cattle, steers and oxen, five cents per pound live weight is ruinously low ; and that the shrinkage of values is so great that in this county they cannot compete with the great West for fat cattle, nor with the extensive creameries and factories of Iowa and other rich producing places for butter and cheese, but in consequence must give up and turn their attention to more profitable business. To such we say, we have studied the history of Addison county with very little profit since its formation in 1785, if we have not discovered that in no single decade, or in half that time, down to 1860, has beef, butter and cheese brought so much by one-third as it has for the past two years of 1884 and 1885. The trouble is, we only look at the business in contrast with an anomalous and abnormal ap- preciation of prices caused by the vast inflation and circulation of a depreci- ated currency incident to the greatest internecine war that ever ravaged a coun- try. The wonder is, perhaps, that in the crash of arms, intensified by modern improvements of implements of destruction, these industries and the nation's fostering care had not gone out in darkness forever; thankful should we be that through the recuperating energy of fifty millions of people in time of peace these great industries " still live," and are brought to their normal con- dition and true basis of supply and demand.
233
TOWN OF MIDDLEBURY.
CHAPTER XV.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF MIDDLEBURY.1
T HE rapid settlement of the territory of the State of Vermont was long postponed by the fact that it was a thoroughfare of the war parties of the French and Indians on their way to the southward and eastward from Canada and Lake Champlain ; and but little progress was made in that direction until the conquest of Canada by the English in 1760. Benning Wentworth was appointed in 1741, by the king of England, governor of the province of New Hampshire, and given authority to issue patents for lands to applicants, in any unoccupied territory. Under this authority he claimed the right to issue char- ters over what is now the State of Vermont. His first charter within its boundaries was for the town of Bennington in 1749, and in the next year this was followed by the charter of Pownal ; about a dozen towns had also been chartered east of the Green Mountains ; but no grants were made in the more dangerous western part of the State until 1761, in which year, the banners of peace having been uplifted over the territory of the "New Hampshire Grants," as this region came to be known, there was a rapid movement to secure char- ters to the territory, no less than sixty having been granted in the year named within the present limits of the Green Mountain State. Among the number was Middlebury, as well as eight other Addison county towns.
Among the residents of Salisbury, Conn., were a number of men who, with others, united for the purpose of procuring town charters of lands in this county and engaged John Evarts, of Salisbury, to act as their agent. Procuring the needed assistance, he came into the wilderness until he reached the region along the east side of Otter Creek, before he found unoccupied territory. Here he discovered that there was sufficient land to constitute three towns of the pro- posed extent-six miles square-between the "Great Falls" at Vergennes on the north, and Leicester on the south : hence he proceeded to survey the entire tract. He began at the head of the falls (which was fixed upon as a perma- nent starting point and boundary), laid out the town of New Haven and fol- lowed with Middlebury and Salisbury. Some of the original applicants agreed to take shares in two and others in all three of these towns, making out the requisite number of grantees in each instance. The charters of Middlebury and New Haven were dated November 2, 1761, and that of Salisbury on the next day. By the charters all of these towns are bounded west by Otter Creek, and extend where necessary up the slopes of the Green Mountains for the eastern boundary. The charters were made in the customary form, which is
1 From the fact that this town is not only the county seat, but contains by far the largest village in the county, where are located most of the important public institutions, it is deemed best to place its his- tory at the beginning of the several town histories; the others will follow in alphabetical order.
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
so well known that it need not be given here entire. It granted in this instance to those " whose names are entered on this grant, to be divided to and amongst them into sixty-eight equal shares," a tract "containing by admeasurement 25,040 acres, which tract is to contain something more than six miles square." The charter gives the boundaries as follows :
" Beginning at the southerly corner of a township granted this day by the name of New Haven, at a tree marked, standing on the bank of the easterly or northeasterly side of Otter Creek, so called, from thence running east seven miles, thence turning off and running south ten degrees west six miles and sixty-four rods, then turning off and running west to Otter Creek aforesaid ; then down said creek, as that runs to the bound first mentioned," and it "is incorporated into a township by the name of Middlebury." It also provides " that the first meeting for the choice of town officers shall be held on the first Tuesday in January next, which said meeting shall be notified by Capt. Samuel Moore, who is hereby also appointed moderator of the said first meeting," and that " the annual meeting forever hereafter for the choice of such officers for the said town shall be on the second Tuesday of March annually."
The following are the names written on the back of the charter: John Evarts, Elijah Skinner, Elkanah Paris, Benjamin Paris, John Baker, Gideon Hurlbut, Ebenr. Hanchit, Deliva. Spalding, Noah Chittenden, Mattw. Bost- wick, Thomas Chittenden, John Abbit, Moses Read, Saml. Keep, Elisha Painter, Ruluff White, Elisha Shelden, Jun., Moses Read, Jun., Matthw. Baldin, Lt. Jonathan Moore, John Benton, Nathl. Evarts, 3d, John Turner, Jun., Ebenr. Field, 3d, Saml. Turner, Zecheriah Foss, Ebenr. Field, Nathl. Flint, Benjn. Everist, Jeremiah How, John Read, James Claghorn, Lt. Mathias Kelsey, Daniel Morris, Rufus Marsh, Elias Read, Noah Waddams, John Evarts, Jun., Jona. Moore, Jun., Nathl. Skinner, Jun., David Hide, Jun., Thomas Chipman, Amos Hanchit, Saml. Towsley, John Strong, John How, Oliver Evarts, Rus- sell Hunt, Capt. Josiah Stoddar, Bethel Sellick, Saml. Skinner, Capt. Saml. Moore, Hezekiah Camp, Jun., John McQuivey, Benjamin Smalley, Lt. John Seymour, Datis Ensign, Lt. Janna Meigs, David Owen, Charles Brewster, Theo. Atkinson, Esq., M. H. Wentworth, Esq.
The old governor looked after his own interest in the customary manner, as appears by the following, added to the foregoing signatures :
" His Excellency Benning Wentworth, Esq., a tract of land containing five hundred acres, as marked B. W. in the plan, which is to be accounted two of the within shares, one whole share for the Incorporated Society for the Propa- gation of the Gospel in Foreign parts, one share for a glebe for the Church of England, as by law established, one share for the first settled minister of the gospel, and one share for the benefit of a school in said town.
" Province of New Hampshire, Nov. 2d, 1761.
" Recorded in Book of charters, page 278.
"THEODORE ATKINSON, Secy."
235
TOWN OF MIDDLEBURY.
To the sixty shares of the sixty applicants were added one each for the governor's secretary, Theodore Atkinson; Michael H. Wentworth, nephew of the governor ; the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel; a glebe for the Church of England, and for a school; making, with the two shares for the gov- ernor, sixty-eight.
The east line of the town was intended to run substantially parallel with the course of the creek on the west line; it will be seen that such is not the case, making the town, as shown by those boundaries, contain rather less land than the original survey contemplated.
The nominal rental of " one ear of Indian corn " for the first ten years was more in the nature of an acknowledgment of the sovereignty of the king than an actual payment; while the one shilling " proclamation money " was a per- manent fee to be paid annually to the king. The fact that the governor of New York demanded a higher rent in his subsequent grants constituted one of the grounds of complaint by the Green Mountain Boys against the claims of that State in the historic controversy.
The town of Middlebury is bounded at the present time as follows: On the north by New Haven and Bristol ; on the east by Ripton ; on the south by Salisbury, and on the west by Weybridge and Cornwall. The surface of the town is, since the setting off to the town of Ripton of a large part of the east- ern mountainous tract,1 either level, rolling or moderately hilly, except the portion which lies along the western slopes and ridges of the mountains ; much of this latter is steep and almost unfit for tillage; some of it is good for pastur- age and small portions of it for cultivation. The lands lying along Otter Creek and Middlebury River are substantially level. Northeast of the village of Mid- dlebury is an elevation that has been known as "Chipman Hill," from Daniel Chipman, who owned a portion of it and lived near its southern point. The view from this elevation is one of the finest in New England. This is the only elevation west of the mountains that is worthy of mention.
The principal stream is Otter Creek, which is also one of the largest in the State; it flows from south to north and now crosses the western part of the town, though originally forming its western boundary, as before stated. The falls in this beautiful stream (which merits a much more pretentious title than " creek "), situated at the village of Middlebury, are not only picturesque in themselves and their surroundings, but afford a magnificent water power which has been improved almost from the first settlement to the present.
1 On the IIth day of November, 1814, the Legislature enacted " that a tract of land in the County of Addison, described as follows, to wit : Beginning at the southeast corner of said Middlebury, thence west on the south line of said town one mile, thence northerly to a stake in the north line of said Middlebury, one mile and a half from the northeast corner of said Middlebury; thence on said north line of said Middlebury, to the northeast corner thereof, thence to the first bounds, be and the same is hereby annexed to the town of Ripton, in said county, and the inhabitants that now do or here- after may reside on said tract, shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities with the other inhabit- ants of said Ripton."
236
HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
The other stream of importance in the town is Middlebury River, which rises in the mountains to the eastward in two branches, the principal one in the town of Hancock; the branches unite in Ripton; thence the stream descends the slope and joins Otter Creek near the south line of Middlebury. On this stream at East Middlebury are a series of falls, supplying several excellent water privileges ; the Muddy Branch, as it is called, is the main tributary of the river, and its current has turned several mills.
The soil of this town may be said, in a general way, to rest upon a vast de- posit of marble (limestone). Professor Hall has made the statement that " lime- stone, which, with comparatively moderate heat, may be changed into lime, exists in almost every quarter of the town." Of these marble deposits he fur- ther says: "Marble of the finest texture and susceptible of a high polish is found here in an inexhaustible abundance. The soil indeed of the whole township appears to rest on a vast basis of marble. In more than a hundred places does the marble make its appearance above the surface. It is arranged in strata, somewhat irregular, and of different thicknesses, but all inclining more or less to the plane of the horizon. It is of various colors, from pure white to deep grey, verging to a black." This subject will be further treated elsewhere in this work.
The soil of the town, as a whole, is not such as to award the agriculturist the greatest returns for his labor. There is little siliceous, vegetable, or other fertilizing substances in the soil itself.
The first meeting of the proprietors of Middlebury was held at the dwelling house of John Evarts, in Salisbury, Conn., on the 5th of January, 1762, at which the following proceedings were had :
" I. Voted and chose Samuel Keep clerk for said proprietors.
" 2. Voted and chose Matthias Kelsey, Ebenezer Hanchit and James Nichols selectmen for said town of Middlebury.
" 3. Voted and chose Jonathan Chipman collector for said proprietors.
"4. Voted to allow Ios to Matthias Kelsey for his cost and extraordinary trouble in the proprietors' service.
" 5. Voted to raise 9s on each right, 6s in silver and 3s prock money, except those which have paid a 9s rate, which was granted when the props. of New Haven, Middlebury, Salisbury and Cornwall were jointly in company,-such to be exempted.
"6. Voted to give Mr. Atkinson for his kindness and many good services, done for the proprietors, 300 acres in said township adjoining Governor Went- worth's right of 500 acres, allowing a highway or highways through said land for the benefit of ye proprietors, in the most convenient place or places.
" 7. Voted and adjourned this meeting to the 2d Tuesday in March next, at IO o'clock before noon at Capt. Samuel Moore's in Salisbury.
"Test SAML. KEEP, Proprietors' Clerk."
237
TOWN OF MIDDLEBURY.
This meeting adjourned until the 9th day of March, 1762, at the house of Captain Samuel Moore, in Salisbury, at which the following were the principal proceedings :
" I. Voted and chose Samuel Keep Clerk.
" 2. Voted and chose Matthias Kelsey, Ebenezer Hanchit, and Charles Brew- ster selectmen for said town.
" 3. Voted and chose Jonathan Chipman, Collector.
" 4. Voted and chose John Evarts, Treasurer.
" 5. Voted to send Matthias Kelsey, to lay out 50 acres to each right in said township.
" 6. Voted to raise a rate of 9s on each right.
" 7. Voted to give 6s per day to committee men.
" 8. Voted to lay out one acre to each grantee, as near the centre of said town as possible.
"9. Voted and adjourned this meeting till ye 2nd Tuesday of October, at one of ye clock afternoon, at the house of Capt. Samuel Moore, in Salisbury.
" Teste SAML. KEEP, Clerk."
This last meeting was held on the day fixed in the charter for " the annual meeting forever hereafter," for the choice of officers ; for this reason new offi- cers were chosen, although the first election took place only two months pre- viously.
The following records of three meetings, bringing the proceedings of the proprietors down to the year 1767, are inserted here in full for the same reason assigned by Mr. Swift- that no other record except the one from which he drew his information was then to be found, and that one was in a per- ishable book; and because of the interest that must ever attach to the earliest deeds of pioneers or owners of a region that has since grown into a populous community :
" At a meeting of the proprietors of the township of Middlebury held at the house of John Evarts in Salisbury, this 2d Tuesday of March, A. D. 1763.
" I. Voted and chose Mr. John Evarts, moderator.
" 2. Voted and chose Saml. Keep Clerk.
" 3. Voted and adjourned said meeting till ye 4th Tuesday of instant March at 10 o'clock before noon, at the house of Capt. Samuel Moore, in Salisbury. " Teste SAML. KEEP, Proprietors Clerk."
" At a meeting of the proprietors of the township of Middlebury, held by adjournment at the house of Capt. Sml. Moore in Salisbury, this 22d day of March 1763.
" I. Voted and chose Matthias Kelsey, Ebenezer Hanchit and Saml. Tousley selectmen for said town of Middlebury.
" 2. Voted the next annual meeting, viz. ye 2nd Tuesday in March next, shall be holden at the house of Capt. Saml. Moore in Salisbury.
" 3. Voted and dissolved sd meeting. 16
Test SAML. KEEP, Clerk."
238
HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
" At a meeting of the proprietors of the township of Middlebury in the Prov- ince of New Hampshire, being legally warned and held at the house of Capt. Saml. Moore in Salisbury, this 4th Tuesday of March, A. D. 1763.
" I. Voted and chose Capt. Saml. Moore, Moderator.
" 2. Voted and chose Saml. Keep, Clerk.
" 3. Voted and chose John Evarts, Capt. Saml. Moore and Matthias Kelsey assessors.
"4. Voted to lay out one acre to each right or share, as near the centre of the township, as conveniently may, with allowance for highway or ways, if needful, each highway to be 4 rods wide.
" 5. Voted to raise a rate of 20s on each right to defray the charge of lay- ing out the first and 2nd divisions, (public rights only not to pay.)
"6. Voted to give the whole of the above said 20s rate to the committee, that shall lay out the first and second divisions in said township, and produce a mathematical plan thereof by the first day of October next. Said committee to lay out all the public rights in said township. Said committee to collect said 20s rate. James Nichols and Benjamin Smalley appointed committee to lay out sd first and 2nd divisions.
" 7. Voted to raise a rate of 9s on each right to pay the back charge ex- cept such as have paid ye 9s rate, which was granted ye 5th of January, A. D. 1762.
" 8. Voted and chose Benjamin Smalley, Collector.
"9. Voted and chose Mr. John Evarts, Treasurer.
" IO. Voted that the treasurer pay to Mr. Benjn. Smalley the sum of 4s which is due to him for money he paid for said proprietors.
" II. Voted and adjourned this meeting to the 2nd day of October next at 12 o'clock, at the house of Capt. Saml. Moore in Salisbury.
"Test SAML. KEEP, Proprietors Clerk."
" At a meeting of the proprietors of the township of Middlebury, held at the house of Capt. Saml. Moore in Salisbury, this 20th day of December, A. D. 1763.
" I. Voted and chose Capt. Saml. Moore, Moderator.
" 2. Voted and chose Saml. Keep, Proprietors Clerk.
"3. Voted and accepted the plan presented by Benjamin Smalley, as a methematical plan of sd township.
"4. Voted that John Hutchinson and Samuel Moore, Jr., draw the lottery for the rights aforesaid.
" Voted and adjourned sd meeting till the annual town meeting in March next at the house of Capt. Sam'l Moore, in Salisbury.
"Test, SAM'L KEEP, Proprietors Clerk." There is no record of the annual March meeting in 1764.
" At a meeting of the proprietors of the township of Middlebury, legally
239
TOWN OF MIDDLEBURY.
warned and opened at the house of Doctr. Joshua Porter in Salisbury, this second Tuesday of March, 1765.
" I. Voted and choses Mr. James Nichols Moderator for said meeting.
"2. Voted and adjourned sd meeting to the house of Mr. John Evarts, forthwith.
"3. Opened sd meeting at said Evarts, and voted and chose Ebenezer Hanchet, John Evarts, and Sam'l Keep, Committee for said proprietors.
"4. Voted that, if any man or men, by the first day of May next shall ap- pear and give sufficient bond to the proprietor's Committee to build a good saw-mill, within fifteen months from this day in the township of Middlebury, he shall have any mill-place he or they shall choose in said township, viz : in the undivided part thereof, and also fifty acres of land adjoining said mill- place, he or they to be at the cost of laying out said fifty acres, and build said mill so as to leave room for fifty acres, to be laid out to accommodate a grist mill, and proper place to set a grist mill, if the proprietors see fit to improve it.
" 5. Voted to lay out a third division, 100 acres to each grantee, as soon as may be conveniently done the ensuing summer.
"6. Voted and chose James Nichols, Timothy Harris and Sam'l Keep, a committee to lay out said 3d division, and also to employ all needful help to assist in laying out the same.
" 7. Voted to give 5s per day to each committee-man, so long as they shall be faithful in the service of laying out said 3d division.
" 8. Voted to raise a rate of Ios. lawfull money on each right to defray the charge of laying out said 3d division, to be paid by ye first day of September next.
" 9. Voted and chose Ebenezer Hanchet, Collector.
" Io. Voted and chose Enoch Strong, Jonathan Hall and Sam'l Tously as- sessors.
" II. Voted to raise 2s. on each right and give the same to any man or men, who shall, the ensuing summer, clear a cart road from the road last fall cut from Arlington to Crown Point, viz : from about ten or twelve miles be- yond where No. 4 road crosses Otter Creek ; said road to be cleared on the east side of said Creek, through the townships of Salisbury, Middlebury and New Haven.
" 12. Voted and adjourned half an hour.
" 13. Opened. Voted and chose Ebenezer Hanchet, Treasurer.
" 14. Voted to pay 6s. to Samuel Keep, for his paying the same sum to the printer for advertising this meeting.
"15. Voted and adjourned this meeting to the first Tuesday of December next at 2 o'clock afternoon at the house of Mr. John Evarts, in Salisbury.
"Test, SAM'L KEEP, Proprietor's Clerk."
There is no record of a meeting held at the time of the above adjournment, or of the annual meeting in March, 1766.
240
HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
" At a meeting of the proprietors of the township of Middlebury, legally warned, opened and held at the dwelling house of Mr. John Evarts in Salis- bury, in Litchfield County, and Colony of Connecticut, the 7th day of April, 1766.
" I. Voted and chose Mr. James Nichols Moderator for said meeting.
"2. Voted that each proprietor that shall, the ensuing summer, repair to Middlebury, and do the duty agreeable to the directions of the charter for said township, so as to hold said right, that such proprietor or proprietors shall have thirty-five acres to each right or share in said township over and above his or their equal proportion with the rest of the proprietors in said township; pro- vided he or they will be at the trouble and cost of laying out said thirty-five acres in good form in any of the undivided part of said township, reserving every convenient place or stream for mills, to be disposed of hereafter, as shall be thought proper, and also highways, if needed through each thirty-five acres.
" Voted and adjourned this meeting to the 2nd Tuesday of January next, at 2 o'clock afternoon at this place. Test, SAM'L KEEP, Clerk."
At the time of the adjournment above mentioned a meeting was held, and was further adjourned to the " third Tuesday of April next," at the same place. And the meeting held at that time was again adjourned to the third Tuesday of May following.
" SALISBURY the 3d Tuesday of May, A. D. 1767.
" Then the proprietors of the township of Middlebury met at the dwelling house of Mr. John Evarts in Salisbury, according to adjournment. Opened the meeting and adjourned to the 2nd Tuesday of October next, at 2 o'clock afternoon, at the dwelling house of Doct. Joshua Porter, Esq., in said Salis- bury. Test, SAM'L KEEP, Proprietor's Clerk."
There was little progress made towards settlement between 1767 and 1773 ; this was owing to more than one cause, but chiefly, without doubt, to the dis- turbed condition of affairs with the authorities of New York and the then dis- tant and unoccupied character of this territory. The Revolutionary War, also, almost entirely stopped the advance of settlements.
Until the spring of 1783 the proprietors' records were kept in Salisbury, Conn .; after that date the owners of the lands, who were coming into their possessions, held their meetings and kept their records in Middlebury, as will appear.1
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