USA > Vermont > Addison County > History of Addison county Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 30
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TOWN OF MIDDLEBURY.
and his blatant proclamations, came up the lake in the next summer. Dr. Merrill says in his history of Middlebury :
" Agreeably to advice from headquarters of our army at Ticonderoga, all the inhabitants of Middlebury and Cornwall, except Daniel Foot and Benjamin Smalley, removed in June, 1776. Some of them, on the Cornwall side of the river, did not leave one extreme of their farms till the Indians in search of booty were lurking in the other. Foot and Smalley, after being pillaged of most of their movable property, abandoned their homes in September of the same year. These two individuals, however, with their families, returned in the following winter and remained until the spring of 1778."
It was the opinion of Judge Swift that this statement should really apply to the summer of the year 1777, and he was, doubtless, correct in his belief. The people here could not have been seriously alarmed as long as the Ameri- cans had control of the lake; this was the case until October, 1776. Until this time the British had no organized force south of Canada. The families of Americans at Crown Point, and in the towns of Addison, Bridport and Panton, fled for the first time when the news of Burgoyne's advance reached them in 1777; after this, and, possibly, in some instances before, scouting parties roamed about through this region seeking supplies, stealing whatever they could carry away, and, doubtless, the inhabitants were often seriously alarmed for their personal safety ; but it is not at all probable that there was any gen- eral destruction of property or capture of prisoners until the fall of 1778. " Whatever the correct date of the retreat may be," says Dr. Swift, "it is true that on a sudden alarm most of the settlers fled from the country in great haste. The privations and hardships of their recent settlement in the wilder- ness were sufficiently appalling, but were fearfully aggravated by their being so suddenly banished from their homes into exile by the ravages of war."
Continuing the narrative, we quote from Judge Swift's account as follows : " Miss Olive Torrance, daughter of Robert Torrance, whom we have men- tioned as a settler, is the only witness who had any knowledge of the events before the war, or during the retreat. The following is a part of her story as reported by Mr. Battell :
" Her father, she says, came to this country from Ireland in 1754, when he was eighteen years old. He became a resident of Woodbury, Conn., and mar- ried Sally Peck, of that place. He removed to Middlebury with his family with the first parties in 1774. They descended Otter Creek on a boat or raft, and made their beginning in a log house, which he had built on the spot where the family still live. She was then five years old.
" The retreat from the county occurred three years after, upon the invasion of Burgoyne. She thinks the removal was in August; it might have been in June or early in July. Her mother went out, before they left, among the gar- den vines, which were numerous and promising, regretting to leave them.
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
The state of apprehension had been previously such that one Evarts, belonging to that neighborhood, and then in a company at Ticonderoga, arriving and visiting at their house early in the morning, produced great agitation among them. As a further alarm was to be given, the men, before hoeing was fin- ished, turned out and dug out six basswood canoes near the river, and decided not to go until further notice, when all were to be in readiness. When the final message came their goods were taken to the river, the raft constructed, on which the women and children were placed, and the journey commenced, Otter Creek being again their common highway. The party landed at Pitts- ford, where there was a military post, and Mrs. Torrance followed the train of women and children towards the settlement. She was carrying a child two years old in a sort of double-gown, brought over her shoulders, and in this plight saw a regiment of soldiers drawn up in front of her. She sat down by the way on a log and wept. A neighbor, Mr. Boardman, coming up on a horse, carrying an ox-yoke behind him, insisted on laying off his yoke and taking her instead, bidding her not to be down-hearted, but expect that things would turn out better than she feared. As they passed the regiment the colo- nel recognized her and called out: 'My God, there's Sally Peck! It makes a man's eyes run to see you brought to this !' The soldiers, at his instance, gave up their quarters to the women and children, brought them water for their washing and cooking, and made them as comfortable as possible under the cir- cumstances. Many of them knew Mrs. Torrance as their townswoman, and sympathized with her and felt for the distresses of the people. Miss Tor- rance's father joined his family the next day, bringing with him his stock of cattle. From this place the family went to Rutland, and from that place com- municated with a brother-in-law in Richmond, Mass., who came on with horses for their party. The family was under the protection of an uncle in Litchfield for a time, and then joined her father, who was then employed, dur- ing the war, in one of the furnaces in Salisbury, casting ordnance for the army. He was absent eight years. He was employed seven years in the furnace, the eighth he took a farm. His cow he had sold on his flight at Rutland, his oxen in Connecticut. These were replaced by the produce of a cow bought in Salis- bury, which by letting had multiplied with her issue to twenty-one, having but a single male in the number.
" The first child born in town, as Miss Torrance thinks, was with them on the raft. This was Hannah Bentley, the only infant among fifteen or sixteen children, and of course much noticed among them. Mr. Slasson, whose child is said by Dr. Merrill to have been the first born in town, lived in the immedi- ate neighborhood of the Torrance family, after they came to town, and she is certain had no child born there.
"The first school-house was built of logs, before the retreat of the settlers, on 'Tallow Hill,' on the road leading from the poor-house to Jonathan See-
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ley's. Eunice Keep, daughter of Samuel Keep, the first clerk of the proprie- tors, was brought from Crown Point, where the family then resided, to teach in it. She had commenced her school, but left on the alarm. Miss Torrance had not begun to attend. After their return, a school, the second in town, was kept by Mrs. Torrance in their own neighborhood.
" Some kinds of provisions were left concealed by the inhabitants on their retreat. Sugar and flour, left by her family, she says, were taken from their storage under the floor, and consumed. Their pewter and other articles, buried for safe keeping, were also taken up and appropriated. The house itself suf- fered no injury, except, as she thinks, from a party of immigrants who had it for a shelter some cold nights, and took a board from the chamber floor for kindling-wood. Otherwise they found it as they had left it.
"The Story and Smalley families remained through the war. Mrs. Story's cave, on the bank of the creek in Salisbury, Miss Torrance supposed to have been intended for a storehouse for goods only, rather than for the concealment of individuals. Mrs. Smalley told her of a visit from a scouting party of the enemy, chiefly Indians. An Indian took a milk-skimmer she was using, and put in his bosom, on which she complained to the commander, who compelled him to restore it. A part of the Foot family stayed at John Foot's to secure the crops. They visited her mother's garden after the family had gone and found the melons ripened by thousands. Thus far Miss Torrance.
"It is represented by all that the flight of the inhabitants was sudden and made in great haste. It was the common practice to dig into the ground and conceal such articles as they could not carry with them. The family of Daniel Foot, before they left, dug into the ground in a thick hemlock grove and built a large crib with poles, into which they put a half barrel of soap, such part of the furniture and other articles as they were compelled to leave, covered the crib with planks, and on the top of the whole piled hemlock branches, so as to resemble a large brush heap. On their return after the war they found their soap and other articles uninjured.
" While the British had control of the lake, probably in 1777, foraging and scouting parties, composed chiefly of Indians, made excursions into the several towns, appropriating to themselves such movable property as suited them, be- longing to those who had left, or in the possession of those who remained. Daniel Foot had remained for some time after the settlers had generally left. A British party sent out to obtain supplies came upon him, seized and drove off his oxen, while he kept out of the way to avoid being captured. Other similar depredations were made. Several other persons remained in the differ- ent towns without other molestation until the fall of 1778. In the fall of that year two British vessels came up the lake with troops, designed, it was said, to march upon Rutland; but being, in some way, thwarted in their purpose, the troops, consisting of British, Tories and Indians, were landed on both sides of
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
the lake, and spread themselves in scouting parties over the whole region where settlers had located themselves. They destroyed all the buildings and other property they could find, and made prisoners of all the men who had the temerity to remain, and sent them to Canada. In Middlebury the whole popu- lation by this time had retreated, and none were taken prisoners. But all the buildings in the town were destroyed except the houses of Joshua Hyde, Bill Thayer and Robert Torrance, in the same neighborhood, in the south part of the town, to which probably their excursion did not extend. The frame of a barn of Colonel John Chipman, recently built of green timber, which they could neither burn or chop down, also escaped. It is still standing on the farm of Isaac Seeley, with marks of the hatchets on its timbers."
Progress of Settlements After the War .- With the close of the great con- test in 1783, and the beneficent reign of peace, the former settlers began to re- turn to their possessions and new ones to come in. Benjamin Smalley and Jonathan Chipman returned with their families in April of that year and located on their possessions. Bill Thayer brought in his family and continued his pos- session of that part of the Slasson pitch, and occupied that and home lot 34 adjoining it, until 1793, when he sold it to Eber Evarts and removed to New Haven. Joshua Hyde came in and worked on his land until the following year, when his family, which had remained in Salisbury, came on. Daniel Foot, with his sons Philip, Freeman, Martin, Stillman and John, returned, and the next year Mr. Foot's wife came in and joined him. Jonathan Chipman re- mained on the farm on which he first settled until January, 1790, when he sold it to Colonel Chipman and left the town. Benjamin Smalley soon replaced his log cabin on his home farm with a comfortable log house, and in 1792 deeded a part of the farm to his son Imri, and in 1794 the remainder to his son Alfred; the father resided with Imri until his death in 1807, at the age of eighty-two years ; several years later his son removed west. He was suc- ceeded on the place by William Huntington, and later by Michael Sanders and his son-in-law, Michael Ryan. This part is now owned by Hiram Sessions. In 1803 the Alfred Smalley part of the farm was purchased by Peter Foster, who lived there until his death, of the epidemic of 1812 ; his son Nathaniel owned the place several years, and it passed to possession of John Seeley, who still owns it.
Robert Torrance again took up his residence on home lot No. 33, where he began improvements before the war; here he built the brick house which is still standing, the property of A. P. Tupper. He died in 1816, aged eighty years. The northern of his three lots, home lot No. 31, was set off to Silas Torrance, and in 1823 Noah Stearns began clearing the west half and Justus Hier the east half; this afterward passed to the possession of Chester Fenn ; now owned by James Fenn.
Joshua Hyde settled on the home lots Nos. 35 and 36, which he owned,
253
TOWN OF MIDDLEBURY.
and bought fifty acres on the Slasson pitch adjoining these lots on the west ; on the latter he built a two-story house, where he died in 1828, aged seventy- eight; his son Joshua, jr., continued in possession of the place until his death in 1843, at the age of seventy-five. Luman Hyde, son of Joshua, jr., then owned it until it was sold to the present owner, Hiram Sessions. Joshua Hyde, sr., was, according to Dr. Swift, " one of the most prominent and useful citizens in Middlebury." Oliver Hyde, another son of Joshua, jr., bought a hundred acres of the Skeel pitch about 1831 and a small piece of home lot No. 38 from Mr. Champlin ; on the latter he built his house ; the farm subsequently passed to possession of his son Luman, and later to Hiram Sessions.
Simeon Chandler resumed possession of home lots Nos. 37 and 38 after the war and lived there until 1798, when he sold the west ends of both lots to Joshua Hyde and removed from the town. Mr. Hyde gave this land to Paul Champlin, his son-in-law, who occupied it until his death in 1853; it is now in possession of O. P. Champlin.
Colonel John Chipman returned and began energetically the work of im- proving his farm. Where his first cabin stood he built a handsome brick house, in which he lived and furnished refreshments to travelers coming into the coun- try ; his house was for many years a resort also for parties from the village. He was a man of marked character; energetic, efficient and intelligent. He was elected sheriff for twelve years, 1789 to 1801, and held many town offices. In his later years, after the marriage of his daughter and death of his wife, he made his home with Freedom Loomis and his son, George C. Loomis, in the neighborhood of his farm; he died in 1829, aged eighty-four years. The farm was afterward purchased by William Y. Ripley ; it is now occupied by Isaac Seeley. Colonel Chipman's father was John, a brother of Thomas (one of the original proprietors) and of Jonathan Chipman, an early settler, and of Samuel, father of Hon. Daniel Chipman; there were also three daughters in the family of Jonathan Chipman, sr., one of whom, Victoria, married Judge Painter. Thomas Chipman settled on a hundred acre pitch directly south of his brother ; he removed from the State in 1815. The place is now owned by Lochlin Wainwright. After the death of his father, Colonel Chipman's mo- ther married Samuel Keep, one of the proprietors and their first clerk; they had two daughters, one of whom (Eunice) kept the first school in Middle- bury; the other was Hannah, who became the wife of Moses Sheldon, who lived and died in Salisbury, Vt. They were the parents of Samuel Sheldon and Oscar P. Sheldon; of the wife of Loyal Case, the wife of Austin Johnson and the wife of Samuel S. Crook. Samuel Sheldon was the father of the late Homer and Harmon A. Sheldon, merchants, and of Henry L. Sheldon, of Middlebury, and Horace W. Sheldon, of Salisbury. Colonel Chipman's wife was Sarah Washburn, of Salisbury, Conn. Abisha Washburn's other daughters married respectively Lemuel Bradley, Abraham Bethrong and Free- dom Loomis. 17
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
Eber Evarts took possession, after the war, of his farm on the north line of Salisbury ; he lived here until his purchase of a part of the Slasson pitch and home lot No. 34, when he sold it to Joel Boardman ; it is now owned by Al- bert Boardman ; he died in 1838, aged eighty-five. Abner Everts, who subse- quently lived with his son-in-law, Frederic Leland, in the village, was a son of Eber.
John Hinman returned and settled on his lot, which he soon sold to Moses Hale, of Rutland ; the latter lived on it until about 1797, when he deeded it to his sons, Moses, jr., and Hial. William Carr, jr., now owns the south half and Zuar Barrows the north.
Samuel Bentley did not return after the war, but sold his tract to Benjamin Risley, who came in in 1784; he was moderator of the first town meeting, and in April sold his farm to Asa Fuller, of Rutland ; the north half of it was soon afterward deeded to Elisha Fuller, brother of Asa; it is now occupied by the widow of Nelson Fuller, son of Abisha.
The sons of Daniel Foot, who returned with him in 1783, brought a number of cattle and remained through the succeeding winter to care for them; hav-' ing no hay, the attempt was made to winter them largely on browse, and many of them died in consequence. After the war Mr. Foot removed his residence to the southeast corner of lot No. 6, of the second hundred acre division, and built the small house which was afterward superseded by the large one. Previous to 1790 he erected a large barn, designed partly for re- ligious and town meetings, and about 1793 built the large house mentioned ; the present dwelling of his grandson, Allen Foot, constituted a part only of that house. Daniel Foot, as before stated, had purchased large tracts of land in this town, and owned more than a thousand acres previous to the war. At an early day he deeded to each of his sons and his daughter, wife of Enoch Dewey, one or more tracts of land ; in 1801, having disposed of the remainder, he started for Canton, N. Y., where he died soon after his arrival. He was a man of great industry and very enterprising, and his family has been conspicu- ous in the town.
William Hopkins, who had begun a settlement on the south half of Oliver Evarts's two hundred acre pitch, east of the village site, did not return after the war, but sold his land to Captain Stephen Goodrich, of Glastenbury, Conn. In the spring of 1784 Captain Goodrich came in with his two sons, William and Amos, and took possession ; the sons remained and worked on the land that season and in the following spring the father returned with his family. In 1785 other farms were settled about them-Kirby on his lot, Huston to the northeast, Johnson on the east and Parker on the south. Stephen Goodrich, with his wife and a sister, came on in 1785, with a cart and oxen, five cows and five or six hogs ; the son stated that the milk that remained after they had used what was necessary from day to day on the journey, was placed in a churn on
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the cart, and the jolting motion churned it into butter. The brothers met the family at Pittsford, the cart was put on board a raft and floated down the creek ; this was the favorite route in summer. A boat was built early and ran weekly between Pittsford and Middlebury, carrying freight and passengers. Hop Johnson's was the point sought by travelers for Middlebury, but his accommo- dations were very meager. Old Mr. Blodget kept a tavern in Cornwall (the part subsequently annexed to Middlebury), which was also much frequented. The first grain they had ground after the family came in was taken by Amos to Salisbury, where Colonel Sawyer had just completed a mill on Leicester River, at Salisbury village. Amos went by way of the creek and Leicester River to within half a mile of the mill and carried the grain from there on his back. The first preaching they had was by an old gentleman "who came on account of the service of Mr. Foot."
Stephen Goodrich and his son Amos continued to live on the farm on which he first settled until January, 1800. He had previously made an arrangement to exchange his land for the farm on which Judge Painter first settled on the south line of the town; fifty acres on which his house stood he deeded to Will- iam Bass, who had a few years before begun practice here; another portion he deeded to Daniel Chipman, and the remainder to Painter. In January he re- moved to the Painter farm and lived there until his death in September, 1823, aged ninety-three years. Amos afterward occupied the farm until his death in 1854, at the age of ninety. The farm is now owned by John Huston. Peter Goodrich, now living in town, is grandson of Amos.
William Goodrich, the other son of Stephen, settled about the year 1787 on a second hundred acre lot, extending from Otter Creek eastwardly, where he built a house and kept a tavern. In 1791 he purchased the west half of the second hundred acre division on the minister's right, built a small house and lived there a few years. In that year his wife opened the first school kept in the neighborhood of the village; it was kept in her house or in a small school- house on the opposite side of the road. At a later date he built the brick house used for many years by the Episcopal Society for a parsonage, and now owned and occupied by the widow of William F. Goodrich. In the mean time he filled the office of town clerk from 1797 to 1812, except one year. He died in 1812, aged fifty-seven years. William F. Goodrich has sons living in town who are farmers.
In 1785 Robert Huston, of Voluntown, Conn., settled on the north half of the Oliver Evarts pitch, about a mile northeast of the village. The farm is now occupied by Henry W. Hammond.
In the same year Ebenezer Johnson, from Wells, Rutland county, took pos- session of lot No. 10 of the second hundred acre division, east of the village ; he continued there until 1794. The farm was afterwards owned by Josiah Stow- ell, of Mansfield, Conn., and from 1804 to 1812 was occupied by his son, Al- fred Stowell, who built the house. It is now owned by E. J. Matthews.
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
Elijah Buttolph came in as early as 1786; he soon afterward married the widow of Joseph Plumley and occupied her farm, on which her husband had begun improvements before the war. He afterwards purchased other lots, and on the Plumley place built the house afterward occupied by his son Elijah, jr. The father died in 1835, aged ninety-four; the farm has recently been owned by Reuben Wright, and is now divided.
Abraham Kirby came from Litchfield, Conn., and settled here in February, 1786, on a lot which he had pitched in the previous March on the right of Ru- fus Marsh, next south of the Joshua Hyde pitch. John S. Kirby, Abram's son, remained here through the season of 1785 and cleared a few acres and sowed it to wheat. Abram Kirby died in 1796. In 1790 he purchased for his son Joseph a lot lying next south of his own; Joseph settled his family here in January, 1792 ; now occupied by Clarence and Harrison Phillips. In January, 1791, Mary Kirby, daughter of Abraham, married Samuel Severance, son of Ebenezer, an early settler, and they settled on Hyde's pitch, built a house and lived there six years.
In 1786 Benjamin Sumner, of Claremont, N. H., having secured a deed of the governor's right, allowed its settlement by his son, Colonel William B. Sum- ner ; he cleared and improved it, and built the large house still standing. In a later year it was sold to Jonathan Wainwright, and Colonel Sumner went West ; he had, however, previously sold one hundred acres, which passed through sev- eral ownerships, and a small tract at the south end; the remainder is now owned by U. D. Twitchell.
In 1786 Jonathan Preston, of New Canaan, N. Y., made the first settle- ment on "Munger street." He then took possession of home lot No. 42, and the next spring moved his family ; this place he occupied until his death in 1809, at the age of sixty-three, when it passed into possession of his son Asa, and is now owned by John and Robert Manney. Asa Preston had two sons, Benham and Buell; the latter still lives in the town.
Nathaniel Munger and his son-in-law, Nathan Case, from Norfolk, Conn., began a settlement next south of Preston, on home lot No. 43, in 1787. Case was a blacksmith, and both of the men had a house on the lot. A few years later Mr. Case moved to No. 12 home lot, where Dudley Munger had begun a clearing. Nathaniel Munger occupied and improved the place where he set- tled until his death in 1830. Edward Munger located on lot No. 44, next south of Nathaniel, in 1788 or 1789; a few years later he sold it to Alpheus Brooks, who occupied it until his death. Jonathan Munger about the same time began a settlement on No. 41 ; it was subsequently and for many years owned by Captain David Chittenden, and then passed to David Hooker; now owned by Edward Seeley. Edmund and Jonathan Munger removed to Ohio before the beginning of the present century. Previous to 1792 Dudley Mun- ger, a brother of those named, had made improvements on No. 12, which he
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TOWN OF MIDDLEBURY.
sold in the year mentioned to Nathan Case, and removed to No. 45, next south of Edmund Munger. On this lot Phineas Phelps had previously built a log house. Mr. Munger built the present two-story dwelling, and at an advanced age went to live with his son, Hiram Munger; the farm is now owned by Samuel N. Brooks. Reuben Munger, another brother, came here about 1789 and located on lot No. 40 of the home lots; he died there in 1828 at the age of seventy-two. Seymour Sellick, from Salisbury, Conn., settled on No. 46, which belonged to the original right of his father, Bethel Sellick; it adjoined Dudley Munger's ; the latter married Mr. Sellick's sister. Both of these men built two-story houses, which were raised on the same day; the Sellick farm is now owned by William and Otto Moore. These seven families last named constituted the neighborhood of Munger street, and, as seen, came in within a short period and located within fifty rods of each other, their lots being fifty rods wide and a mile in length. The numerous Munger families were among the most respected citizens of the town. There was no permanent settlement made on home lot No. 47, next south of Seymour Sellick's; but Philip Foot built a saw-mill at an early day on the west end of the lot, which was owned in later years by Nichols & Wheeler in connection with their chair factory.
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