USA > Vermont > Addison County > History of Addison county Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 31
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Abel Case, brother of Nathan, settled early on home lot No. 48 and built the house now standing on it; he occupied the place until 1831, when he was killed by being thrown from his wagon.
As early as 1785 Hezekiah Wadsworth owned a second hundred acre lot north of the farm formerly owned by Deacon Simon Farr; he afterwards set- tled here and subsequently removed across the creek into Cornwall. The Wadsworth farm passed through several hands and is now owned by Louis Hope.
About 1790 Deacon Simon Farr settled on the farm south of Wadsworth's, where he lived many years, and finally removed to New Haven. The farm was for many years in possession of the late Roswell Fitch and now owned by Chauncey Branch.
Martin Evarts settled on home lot No. 64 as early as 1788, cleared it up and built the house in which he lived and died ; it is now owned by Gardner C. Cady.
Ebenezer Severance, from Northfield, Mass., came into town about 1790 and settled on the west end of home lots Nos. 16 and 17. He owned also the west end of Nos. 18 and 19 and the east half of No. 55. The three last-named lots were deeded to his son Samuel, who transferred to Kirby the lot on which he (Samuel) had settled. Samuel Severance settled on the east end of lot No. 55, and cleared up Nos. 18 and 19; here he resided until his death in 1851. The farm passed to his sons, Smith and Darius Severance. Enos Severance, an- other son of Ebenezer, settled on the west end of home lots Nos. 14 and 15, next north of his father ; he died in 1842, and the farm has been divided.
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Moses, another son of Ebenezer Severance, came in with his father and lived with him, caring for him in his old age, and remained in possession of the place until his death; the farm passed to possession of David E. Boyce. Numerous descendants of this family are among the prominent citizens of the town.
John Tillotson came to Middlebury from Long Island in 1784, and after working for a time for various persons he bought and built on home lot No. 29, but soon removed to No. 28, where Philo Achley had begun a clearing and built a plank house ; he died there in 1855 at the age of ninety-three. The property is now owned by E. K. Severance. Tillotson's brother Silas settled on lot No. 30, next south, now occupied by George Sessions ; Silas Tillotson removed from town after several years.
Elijah Olmstead, of, Bolton, Conn., owned in 1787 Lots II and 12 of the second hundred acre division, east of the governor's lot. He settled on No. 12 and built the two-story house there. He sold it in 1814 to Colonel Eleazer Claghorn, who owned it until his death ; it is now in possession of Mr. Hunt. Lot No. II was purchased by Samuel Little, who with his brother James took possession of it, and each built a house on the north part. In 1796 Eleazer Barrows bought the whole lot, and lived there until his death in 1840, at the age of seventy-one ; his son Lucius then took possession of the place, and died there, leaving in occupation his son Crosby, and his widow. Many descendants of Elijah Olmstead live at East Middlebury.
Abraham Vanduzer came to Middlebury in 1789 from Salisbury, Conn., with his son Harry and his eldest daughter. In 1793 he purchased the south half of the Slasson pitch and settled there; he died in 1795, aged fifty-three. Harry Vanduzer began in 1794 a clearing on home lot No. 58, on the right of Noah Chittenden, and lived there. In the mean time Samuel Vanduzer had built a two-story house on his father's homestead ; in 1806 Harry, having pur- chased Samuel's interest, removed to that place and lived there until 1825, when he removed to Oneida county, N. Y., where he died in 1829. The whole of the Abraham Vanduzer farm is now owned by the town, as a town farm and home for the poor. John Vanduzer, another son of Abraham, settled on the second hundred acre lot, on the right owned by his father and adjoining the Slasson pitch ; he removed from the State in 1814; this farm is now occupied by Parsons Chatfield.
Rev. John Barnet, who was ordained pastor of the Congregational Society in 1790, was entitled as the first settled minister to a whole right ; but he set- tled on home lot No. 57, which it was supposed would be established as the center of the town; this lot and the one south of it were united in one farm by Dr. Wm. Bass, and afterward owned by Smith K. Seeley. Cyrus Stark- weather had begun a settlement on the lot afterward occupied by Mr. Barnet ; he then located on the east half of the second hundred acre lot on the minis- ter's right, which he sold in 1793 to John Deming.
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Moses Boardman settled about 1788 on No. 3 of the second hundred acre division and several years later sold it to Ichabod Morton, who lived there until his death. Mr. Boardman has descendants in the south part of the town.
Billy Munger settled about the same time on No. I, east of Boardman ; here he resided until his death in 1822, aged sixty-eight ; this and the preceding lot were subsequently occupied by Ichabod M. Cushman and are now occupied by John Halladay.
Bethuel Goodrich settled about the year 1790 on lot No. 4, north of Board- man's, and died there in 1829, aged fifty-three. The lot is now owned by Caleb Smith.
Elnathan Hammond, from Lanesborough, Mass., settled in 1794 on a tract of about forty acres next north of the Lucius Barrows farm, on the right of John Howe ; this lot lay between the old and the new lines of New Haven, be- fore mentioned, and extended east across the Muddy Branch, embracing the falls ; this mill lot and privilege were subsequently owned by Isaac Gibbs, who had the marble saw-mill there; the property has lately been in the possession of the Cutter Marble Company. Mr. Hammond remained but a few years on this farm, and removed to that part of No. 14 next north of Robert Huston's lot and there built a house ; he died here in 1856, aged ninety-five years. His sons, William S. and Edwin Hammond, succeeded to the ownership and greatly improved the property; the part owned by Edwin is now in possession of George Hammond, and the other of Henry Hammond ; the whole of the Robert Huston farm and other tracts have been added to the property, which is among the best farming sites in the town. John A. Hammond, another son of Elna- than, occupied the southeast corner of the governor's right and owned other lands ; a part of this estate is now owned by Frederick Hammond and part by Lucius Shaw.
Eleazer Conant, from Mansfield, Conn., purchased in 1794 the north half of the Hyde pitch and a part of the Risley pitch ; in the same year his brother, John Conant, purchased of Elisha Fuller the Bentley lot ; a part of the farm is now owned by George Chapman and Joseph Battell. John Conant remained on his farm until his death ; it afterward passed through the hands of General Hastings Warren, Wm. Y. Ripley and Edward Muzzey ; it is now owned by Joseph Battell.
In 1793 Abisha Washburn received from his son-in-law, John Chipman, a deed of the farm on which Jonathan Chipman first -settled ; in 1796 he deeded it to his son-in-law, Freedom Loomis, then of Sunderland, on condition of an adequate support for himself and wife during their lives. They lived here to- gether, accordingly, and Mr. Washburn died in 1813 at the age of ninety-one. Mr. Loomis died in 1822 at the age of fifty-six, and was succeeded in the own- ership of the place by his son, George C. Loomis. The property is now owned by Smith K. Seeley.
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James Crane was the first settler in the north part of the east tier of home lots ; he and his brother Jeremiah began in 1790 on different parts of lot No. II ; in the next year they brought in their families and Jeremiah remained on his farm until his death ; the James Crane portion is now in the hands of Wake- man J. Mead. James Crane removed to the east half of lot No. 8 and died there in 1845 ; the farm is now owned by the widow of Joseph Fales and her son.
Nathan Case settled about 1792 on lot No. 12, where Dudley Munger had begun work, and died there, leaving the farm to his son Abel, who later re- moved West. The place is now owned by Wakeman, Sidney and Judson Mead. Home lot No. 5I was also owned by Nathan Case; this lot is now owned by Albert Gladding.
Darius Tupper, from Charlotte, where he first located in this State in 1794, purchased a tract of land just south of home lot No. 66, it being the north half of No. 23 and a part of a hundred acres set to Nathaniel Skinner. He there built a large house and for many years kept a tavern; he died in 1828 at the age of seventy-four. Amos Boardman had previously begun a settlement on this lot. After Mr. Tupper's death the farm was divided among his heirs. A P. Tupper, attorney in Middlebury, is a grandson of Darius. The large house mentioned has been torn down and the farm is occupied by Silas Perkins.
Deacon David Boyce in 1814 had taken a permanent lease of the second hundred acre lot on the glebe right, and owned thirty acres on home lot No. 53 ; he settled on the latter and built the brick house there; the farm is now owned by E. Y. Boyce. David E. Boyce, whose name has been alluded to, settled on the farm formerly occupied by Ebenezer Severance, about the year 1844; he is one of the leading farmers of the town.
The foregoing constitute the settlements of most of those who came in at early dates, excepting those who located in the villages, which will be consid- ered further on. There are many who settled at somewhat later dates, but whose definite locations cannot well be fixed, on account of the division and redivision of lots, the passage of the east road through the eastern tier of home lots, and other causes; moreover, it is the chief object to give the names of the prominent pioneers who laid the foundations of the town. The names of many others who have been prominent in this work will appear as we pro- gress.
At this point, and in connection with the accompanying valuable map, which is the result of a vast amount of labor by Professor Ezra Brainerd, of Middlebury, it seems eminently proper that we insert the following memo- randa of settlements on some of the home lots (as shown on the map), which were also prepared by Professor Brainerd, even at the risk of repeating in a few instances matter already printed. We quote as follows :
A few weeks since I expressed to Deacon Boyce my regret that Judge
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Swift had said so little in his History of Middlebury about the first settlers along the road between East Middlebury and Bristol. Deacon Boyce proposed to confer with the older residents of the neighborhood, who are fast passing away. The result of these interviews, and of many hours' laborious searching of the records, is the following account, which I trust will be of interest to some.
The district under consideration consists of thirty-nine one hundred acre lots, each about 340 rods long and fifty-two rods wide, No. I beginning within forty rods of the New Haven line and No. 39 ending within forty rods of the Salisbury line. The north and south highway from the church in East Middle- bury to Cobble Hill passes somewhat tortuously through these lots; but at E. K. Severance's and at the Lovett school-house it is just in the middle of the lots. The west line of the tier runs along the road on which Deacon Boyce lives, and along the road on which stands the ruin of the Torrance brick house. If the reader will keep the map of Middlebury open before him while reading, he will be able to follow the narrative more readily.
Home Lot I .- Hiram Ladd was the first settler on home lot I, and lived in the house recently occupied by Prince King. His father, Sampson Ladd, who lived just across the town line on the road between the Munger street school-house and Cobble Hill, bought part of the lot in 1798 and the remain- der in 1799. The house appears to have been built soon after and occupied by Hiram, though owned by his father until his death in 1804, and by the heirs until in 1821 Hiram got a deed of the south half of the lot. In 1829 he sold to Asa Chapman and moved to Connecticut.
Home Lot 2 was set off as a "school lot." In 1802 the selectmen leased it to Nathan Lee, who cleared it and lived on it until 1817, when he sold it to Reuben Munger, one of the most extensive land-holders in the early history of the town. In 1824 Munger deeded the lease to Ebenezer W. Allen. C. H. Bain now lives upon the lot.
Home Lot 4 .- John O'Brien, from Bristol, settled on home lot 4 about the close of the last century. In 1825 he sold the lot to Buel Preston, who lived there over sixty years until his recent decease. Mr. Preston built the house in which he lived; the old O'Brien house was on the opposite side of the highway.
Home Lots 5, 6 and 7 .- A certain A. Murray is said to have lived at a very early date on the east side of home lot 5, where the remains of a cabin were recently to be seen. But there is no deed to him on record. Only one permanent settlement was ever made on home lots 5, 6 and 7. In 1796 James Andrews, of New Haven, received from Thaddeus Royce, who then owned the three lots, a deed of IIO acres on the east end of these lots. Andrews built a house about fifteen rods west of Timothy Boardman's present dwelling. Andrews had long-continued lawsuits with John O'Brien, arising out of a de-
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structive fire which had run from the premises of the one who kindled it on to the premises of the other. They were so impoverished by these law- suits that they were both obliged to sell their farms. James Andrews in 1817 sold to Levi Smith, who lived there until succeeded by Timothy Boardman in 1824.
Linus Beach's Pitch .- Directly east of these home lots Linus Beach in 1792 pitched a long, wedge-shaped lot running up to the mountain. Here he lived in the house now occupied by William Fales until 1822, when he was forced to sell his farm, and removed to the State of New York. He is still remembered by some of the older residents of that neighborhood for his good- natured character, and for his long hair braided up into a pig-tail behind. This used to get caught under his coat collar as he rode horseback, and the peculiar bow he was frequently obliged to make to extricate his queue made a vivid impression upon the young people of that day. A well-authenticated story is told of him that ought to be preserved. In 1815 five wolves were dis- covered in the woods between his house and John O'Brien's. All the men in the neighborhood turned out and surrounded the wolves. Those who had not guns provided themselves with clubs. As they closed in upon the wolves one of them was bent on going out, and came so close to Barnum Phelps that "he gave him a number of pelts with his cudgel and turned him back;" and they succeeded in killing the whole five. But it was on a Sabbath day that this famous hunt took place, and several of the participants were church members, among them notably good Brother Beach. They were in due time labored with and brought up before the church. Brother Beach, however, was incor- rigible. "He won't own up." He claimed that he did it in defense of his family ; that the wolves might have got away if they had waited over night, and that then his children wouldn't have been safe out of doors. The difficulty was finally ended by Dr. Merrill saying that he thought they " ought to let Brother Beach go."
Home Lots 8, 9, 11 and 12 .- Judge Swift, in his History of Middlebury, described the settlements on these four lots. A few additional incidents, illus- trating the character of the settlers and of those early days, ought to be pre- served. Gideon Abbey, whose house is still standing on the east end of home lot 9, was a man of decided influence in the affairs of the town. He lived on this lot for forty-three years until his death, in 1840, at the age of seventy- two. He was a famous hunter in those days, when deer and large game were abundant. One day, toward the latter part of his life, a man driving down from Bristol reported that he had seen a fat buck in the woods beside the road. This warmed the blood of the old hunter. He told his son and Sidney Mead to take the hound and start up the deer, while he would get down his old flint- . lock rifle, mount his horse and go around by the road to get a shot at the game. The boys soon found the tracks of the deer in the light snow, and
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after letting loose the dog, ran about a mile to the west to a clearing, now a meadow fifty rods southeast of the Munger street school-house. They got there none too soon, for as Sidney Mead emerged from the woods he caught 'sight of the deer standing still, broadside towards him, about ten rods away- a beautiful mark. He took aim and pulled the trigger; but unfortunately the priming had been wet by a piece of flying mud and the flint-lock only snapped. The deer started off on a run to the north. Just then Gideon Ab- bey was racing down the road to the west. There was no time to lose. When he saw his most favorable moment he swung himself from his horse, and with one foot still in the stirrup fired at the flying buck. The animal bounded forward a few rods and fell dead. It was the sixteenth deer the old hunter had shot at without missing a single one. But afterward the spell seemed to have been broken, for the next time he fired at a deer he failed to bring down his game.
Nathan Case was also a man of prominence, living on home lot 12 from 1792 until his death in 1844, at the advanced age of eighty-four. He was a great worker, always stirring about and always in a hurry. And he sometimes illustrated the proverb "The more haste, the less speed." One morning in the busy season of haying his wife informed him that they were out of flour. He hurriedly saddled his horse and drove to the village. When he reached the village he found he had forgotten to bring the grain that he had come to get ground.
Home Lot 13 .- Samuel Bridge was the first to settle on home lot 13. He bought one-half in 1792 and the other half in 1796. His house was located about fifteen rods west of the present dwelling of Heman Lovett. He moved away, however, in 1800, selling the southwest quarter to Nathan Case and the east half to Warren Gibbs. The latter lived for thirty-eight years in a house three or four rods north of Judson Mead's present dwelling. Mr. Gibbs was highly esteemed by his neighbors, was a deacon of the Baptist Church, was particularly fond of children, being a frequent visitor to the school near by. One incident in his life illustrates the wonderful medical skill of the elder Dr. William Bass. Mr. Gibbs was afflicted the greater part of his life with epilepsy, being sometimes attacked when out in the field. At the age of sixty he was advised by Dr. Bass to learn to smoke, as a remedy for his ailment. The patient followed the prescription, and had no serious trouble from his disease during the remaining twelve years of his life.
Home Lot 14 .- In 1795 Zephaniah Buss purchased home lot 14, and soon after settled upon it. The original house was a log cabin, that burned, and he then built the one still standing, a few rods south of the school-house, on the east side of the road. He had the reputation of being a " good manager " and a man of sterling principle, though he did not make a public profession of religion until over sixty years of age. He died in 1837 at the age of sixty-
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seven. His daughter was the mother of the present Deacon Boyce and of Elijah Boyce.
Home Lot 15 .- In 1805 Bela Sawyer purchased the half of home lot 1.5 lying east of the highway, and about twenty-five acres of the adjoining part of home lot 16. After living for five years in a house now destroyed, he built ten rods farther north the larger structure now occupied by Samuel D. Austin. About 1824 he sold his farm and lived for several years in the village, where perhaps his fondness for music and his skill as a carpenter and joiner might find freer scope. But as old age came on he returned to the scenes of his early manhood. His daughter purchased for him the old Stevens house just north of the brook, on home lot 17, where he died in 1855, at the ripe age of eighty-two.
Home Lots 16 and 17 .- In February, 1798, Roswell Stevens bought fifty acres, the south half of a " pitched lot " lying east of the home lots at the very foot of the mountain. He lived with his father on the lot for several years, near a famous cold spring that furnishes water enough to supply a small city. The spring is still called "Stevens's spring"; and a lane running directly east from the red school-house, as though a continuation of the road, is still known as " Stevens's lane." Traces are still to be seen of the old road which led from the east end of this lane south along the east end of the home lots to the Stevens house. In 1805 he purchased of Daniel Chipman 123 acres lying be- tween his former lot and the main highway and extending from the north line of home lot 15 to within sixteen rods of the north line of home lot 18. The north half of this purchase he sold the same year to Bela Sawyer, as above described ; the south half he cleared and occupied for many years as his home farm, moving into a new house on the highway, on the site where C. Landon, jr., now lives. In 1822 Stevens sold his farm to Charles Hooker and moved to Huntington.
Home Lot 18 .- In 1795 Brainerd Hooker purchased that part of the lot that lies east of the highway, and fifteen acres of a lot lying east of it, " pitched for Widow Coon," as we are told in the old proprietors' records. He purchased also in 1805 an adjoining strip of home lot 17, sixteen rods in width, on the road. The old Hooker house is, part of it, still standing, though no longer used as a dwelling; it is the first house south of the brook on the east side of the highway. Brainerd Hooker died in 1808 aged sixty-two; his son Charles occupied the farm until 1844, when he went West.
It is a fact worthy of note that nearly all the sons or grandsons of the first settlers have emigrated to other parts of the country. Of the twelve or more settlers already mentioned in this article, not one has left in this region a de- scendant bearing his name. This we attribute not to any lack of offspring, nor to any want of home attachment, nor to the hardships or poverty of the first settlers. On the contrary, they had most of them come here poor and had
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secured from the forest fertile and valuable farms and cemfortable dwellings. The sons, when they came of age, were disposed to do as their fathers had done-push on where wild land could be had for a nominal sum, and where in a few years they could attain to the wealth and comfort which their fathers had achieved. It was a part of the movement by which the sons of New England have spread themselves across the continent to the very shores of the Pacific.
Home Lot 19 .- William Coon appears to have been the first settler on home lot 19. But in February, 1798, he sold to Warren Gibbs the part lying east of the highway, and the remaining eighty-five acres of the above-mentioned lot pitched for " Widow Coon," his mother. Mr. Gibbs lived in a log cabin fifteen rods north of the house now standing on the lot, until in 1800 he moved to lot 13, as has been already noticed. He continued, however, to own the lot until about 1831, when he divided it among his children.
Home Lot 20 .- Deacon Ebenezer Sumner in 1802 deeded home lot 20 to his son Samuel, who cleared it and resided on it for several years in the house now occupied by Charles Sullens. The south half of the farm is now owned by Charles Landon.
Home Lot 21 was first settled by Daniel Beadle, who purchased it in March, 1825, of Alfred Wainwright. The house that he built, since destroyed, was on the east side of the road, just north of the present trout pond. The present house near the south line of the lot was built by Chandler Tillotson and was kept open as a tavern for several years by a Mr. Dean.
Home Lot 22 .- James Sumner, another son of Deacon Ebenezer Sumner, began to clear his lot in 1811, though he did not receive a deed of the lot from his father until March, 1825. On this lot he resided with his family until his death in 1874, at the age of eighty-five. His son, Andrew J. Sumner, now owns the property and lives on the old homestead.
The great longevity of these early settlers deserves a passing notice. We have the ages of ten of those that are mentioned in these papers, ascertained mostly from their tombstones in the interesting little cemetery half a mile north of the old red school-house. The average age of these ten is seventy-five and one-half years. No wonder the sons could not wait to inherit the property of their fathers, and as a rule went off to seek their own fortunes !
Home Lots 23 and 24 .- In April, 1811, Timothy Case, of Hebron, N. Y., purchased from Philip Foot home lot 24, and in 1812 added to his former pur- chase seventy-two acres off the west end of home lot 23. His house was on the west side of the road where Leroy Taylor now lives, but has been moved to the rear, to make way for a more recent structure. His son Timothy, jr., built and occupied the house on the opposite side of the road. In 1843 the father removed from town. j
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