USA > Vermont > Addison County > History of Addison county Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 32
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Home Lot 25 .- Joel and Calvin C. Nichols purchased home lot 25 in 1818.
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
Joel built on the west side of the highway, where E. Fuller now lives, and Calvin on the east, where J. Grove now lives.
Home Lot 26 .- The earliest settler on home lot 26 was a man from Brook- line, Conn., by the name of Asa Collar. He purchased the lot in 1789, but sold out and moved away as early as 1801, so that but little is remembered concerning him. His dwelling stood west of the road a little north of the house now occupied by Allen R. Foote. In 1810 the lot came into the pos- session of Timothy Boardman, sr., who lived for several years in the house next south of the school-house.
Home Lot 27 .- Martin Evarts owned the west half of home lot 27 from 1804 to 1827, and may have cleared it in part. At the latter date he deeded it to his son-in-law, Noble Foot, who soon erected the house now occupied by his son. On the east side of the road Ely Nichols purchased twelve acres in 1807 and built where A. H. Matthews now lives.
Town Organization .- Let us for a moment turn from the details of early settlements and note the first steps toward town organization. The first meet- ing for this purpose was held at the house of Daniel Foot on the 29th of March, 1786, where the following officers were chosen : Benjamin Risley, moderator ; Joshua Hyde, town clerk ; Thomas Hinman, constable. At the next annual meeting, March 28, 1787, John Chipman was chosen moderator; Robert Hu- ston, town clerk, and Martin Foot, constable. At a special meeting held Jan- uary I, 1788, the first listers were selected in the persons of Jonathan Chip- man and Robert Huston. Up to this time no other officers had been chosen ; but at the annual meeting in 1788 the customary full list of officers was elected as follows : John Chipman, moderator; Robert Huston, clerk ; Capt. Stephen Goodrich, Joshua Hyde and John Chipman, selectmen ; Philip Foot, treasurer; Ebenezer Johnson, constable ; George Sloan, Wm. B. Sumner and Wm. Goodrich, listers; Ebenezer Johnson, collector ; Joseph Parker, leather- sealer ; Robert Torrance and Abraham Kirby, grand jurymen; Philip Foot, pound-keeper ; Jonathan Chipman, Asa Fuller and Daniel Foot, tithingmen ; John S. Kirby, Freeman Foot, Imri Smalley and George Sloan, haywards ; George Sloan and Stephen Goodrich, fence-viewers; Gamaliel Painter, Jonathan Preston, Jonathan Chipman, Eber Evarts, Philip Foot, Robert Huston and Wm. B. Sumner, surveyors of highways; Daniel Foot, sealer of measures; George Sloan, sealer of weights; William Goodrich, Bill Thayer, Ebenezer Johnson, Robert Huston, Joshua Hyde and George Sloan, petit jurors.
A few brief extracts from the records of the freemen's meetings in the earlier years will not be without value here. In 1788 a committee was chosen to "stick the stake for the meeting-house and pitch a place for burying the dead." It is a significant fact that in most of the Vermont towns one of the very first measures introduced by the settlers was to make arrangements such
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TOWN OF MIDDLEBURY.
as their circumstances permitted for religious worship. Early in 1790 a com- mittee was appointed to procure preaching for this town, and it has already been stated that a church was organized in that year. It was also voted at the same meeting "to have one burying place as near the center of the town 1 as land will admit." Another vote changed this plan as follows: "Voted that there be one Burying Place at the North End and one at the South End of the town."
We have already alluded to the settlement of Rev. John Barnet. In June, 1790, it was "Voted to give the Rev'd Mr. Barnet fifty Pounds L. money pr. year as a salary to commence at his settlement." In the same month John Chipman, Daniel Foot, Capt. Stephen Goodrich, Gamaliel Painter and Joshua Hide (Hyde) were made a committee to fix on a place and draw a plan for a meeting-house and report.
In December, 1790, a committee divided the town into school districts, setting off the district in the south part, called "the south district "; one in the northeast part called " the northeast district"; one in or near the cen- ter called " the middle district." This was the first division of the town into school districts, and the subsequent changes will be traced in our account of schools.
The question of where to locate the meeting-house, involved as it was in the discussion of what particular site should be fixed upon as the " center of the town," i. e., the village, was a source of much anxiety.
September 7, 1790, " Voted Samuel Miller, esq. and Joshua Hyde be a committee to draw a conveyance between Philip Foot and Appleton Foot and the town of Middlebury, to convey land for said town for a common."
The above vote was passed, as it will be seen, in anticipation of the report of the committee " to fix the place to set the meeting-house," which was made afterwards.
A meeting was warned at the request of eight citizens, December 22, 1791, "To see whether the town will fix upon the centre or place for a meeting- house, whenever they shall agree to build one, and see whether they will agree that a house large enough to contain the people, for several years, may be built there by individuals, without expense to the town at large, to attend public worship in, until a more proper meeting-house can be built. And the design is to give satisfaction to Mr. Barnett, who is uneasy in his present situation. His house, as he observes, is neither decent nor comfortable. He would pre- pare to build next summer, was he certain that his land would be near the
1 It was the custom in many of the charters of towns in Vermont to provide for the laying out of a tract in about the center of the town, into one-acre lots, one of which went with each proprietor's right. This custom sometimes led to strange results, and such was the case in Middlebury. The tract thus set apart proved almost worthless for settlement and a house has never been built on it. When, a little later, the marshy and worthless character of this land became known, a considerable strife arose be- tween Judge Painter on the one hand, and Daniel Foot on the other, for the location of the village site near their respective homes ; Judge Painter triumphed, as hereafter described.
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
centre." This meeting was adjourned to the 29th of the same month, when a majority of the committee appointed for that purpose, Daniel Foot, Stephen Goodrich and Joshua Hyde, made their report as follows :
"We the subscribers, being appointed a committee to pitch on a proper place to build a meeting-house, and fix on a green, make the following report, viz., that it is our opinion that it be on the west side of the north and south road, in the corner of Philip Foot and Appleton Foot's land,-provided they, the said Philip and Appleton, throw out a green twenty-four rods square, in- cluding the roads, and also four rods wide on the west side of the north and south road, from said green north, to where it intersects the road that leads to the falls." Whereupon it was
" Voted to accept the above report, provided the said Foots lease the above described land to the town for the use of a green, as long as they shall want it for that purpose ; and also voted that there may be a house built on said green, large enough to meet in for public worship on Sundays, for several years, by individuals, without expense to the town at large."
March 1792. " Voted to lay a tax of two pence half penny on the pound, on the list of 1791,-said tax to be collected by the first day of January, 1793, in wheat at 4s 6d per bushel ; fifteen pounds of said tax, when collected, to be appropriated to the use of making a road across the mountain beyond Seeley's ; 1 and any person, that chooses to work out their tax on said road, may have the privilege, on condition that they do said work before the 15th day of June next, by the directions and to the acceptance of the selectmen, and a certificate of said selectmen of any person doing work on said road as aforesaid, shall an- swer on said tax."
" Voted, that Mr. Daniel Foot build a house, suitable for the inhabitants of Middlebury to meet in on Sundays and to do public business on other days, after said house is completed suitable for to meet in as above described, then said town is to pay said Foot yearly the lawful interest of the sum that said house is worth in cash, providing the value do not exceed the sum of one hun- dred and twenty pounds; said interest to be paid said Foot yearly, as long as said town makes use of said house, for the purposes above mentioned."
September 3, 1792. " Voted to raise a tax of three pence on a pound, on the list of the year, 1793, to be paid into the treasury of the town, by the first day of December next, in wheat at 4s per bushel, for the purpose of covering the bridge at the falls with oak plank, for procuring weights and measures for said town, and other incidental charges.
" Voted Capt. Stephen Goodrich and Gamaliel Painter, esq., be a commit- tee to superintend the covering the bridge at the falls."
The bridge, built by Daniel Foot in 1787, was covered with poles from a neighboring forest, which had probably much decayed, and the oak plank were designed to supply their places.
1 Justice Seeley.
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TOWN OF MIDDLEBURY.
At a meeting at the house of John Foot, on the 9th day of December, 1794, notified on the application of twelve free holders,
"2, To see if the inhabitants of said town will reconsider the former vote of building a meeting-house where the stake was pitched. 3, to agree upon a place to build a meeting-house. 4, if no place can be agreed on, to choose a committee to fix on a place to build said house. 5, to see if the inhabitants will agree to lay a tax for the purpose of building said house. 6, to agree on a place or places for holding meetings this winter ;" the following is the record of the proceedings :
"The 2d article with regard to re-considering the former vote of building a meeting-house, at the place where the stake was pitched, was tried and passed in the negative and of course the 3d and 4th articles fell. The fifth article was then taken up and passed in the negative."
" Voted to meet at Samuel Mattocks', until such time as the selectmen shall notify the town, that Mr. Daniel Foot's house is convenient, and then at such place as they shall direct for public worship on Sundays."
" Previous to the meeting held in December 1791," says Judge Swift, " the town and religious meetings had been uniformly held at Daniel Foot's. He had built a large barn, just south of the place where his large house was after- wards built, for the express purpose of accommodating the meetings; and in this building Mr. Barnett had been ordained. During this time Mr. Foot had declined further to accommodate the meeting. For two or three years the town meetings had been, for some reason, held at Philip Foot's and Appleton Foot's, in the same neighborhood, and the religious meetings in the summer of 1793 were held in Deacon Sumner's barn. During this time much excitement had arisen in relation to the place for the centre of town business. The people in the neighborhood of Mr. Foot, and in the south part of the town, were anx- ious to have the question settled by fixing the place for erecting a meeting- house; while the people of the village, and the inhabitants north of it 'played off,' to use a familiar expression.
" The village had the advantage of an excellent water power, with mills on both sides. Mechanics and merchants had begun to crowd into it; the only lawyer and the only physicians in town had located themselves there; the Legislature at their session in 1791 had directed the courts of the county to be held there, and the population and business of the place were fast increasing. The inhabitants of the village therefore looked forward with confidence to the time when they would have such a decided majority of the votes as to control the decision of the question, and were not in a hurry to have it then settled. This will be readily perceived by the proceedings we have copied above. They were willing to take a lease of land 'for the use of a green, long as they shall shall want it for that purpose.' They would pay the 'interest of the sum that' the meeting-house to be built at the expense of Daniel Foot 'is worth in cash,'
18
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
'as long as said town makes use of said house.' And when it was voted to hold meetings at Mattocks's, in the village, with an apparent intention to re- turn, it was on such conditions as to render that event hopeless. On the other hand, it is said Mr. Foot, being dissatisfied with the delay in settling the ques- tion, declined further to accommodate the meetings, for the purpose of pressing the town to a decision. Mr. Barnett also, having purchased a lot directly op- posite the place where the meeting-house was expected to be built, began to be uneasy. But the decision was virtually made. The religious meetings were never afterwards held out of the village. The town meetings were, for a time, held at Philip Foot's and Appleton Foot's. But at the annual meeting in 1796 the question was finally settled, and the meetings ordered to be held in the village 'in future.' "
A list of freemen in the records for the year 1803 shows two hundred and four names.
Settlements on the Site of the Village .- The incoming of Abisha Washburn has been briefly noted. In 1774 or 1775 he attempted to secure the water- power on the east side of the falls by building a saw-mill according to the vote of the proprietors; and although he failed to finish his mill within the " fifteen months," it seems to have been conceded that the construction of the mill car- ried with it the water privilege and land contiguous. He did not bring in his family, but spent one summer at work on the mill; whether it was operated at all is unknown. He returned to Salisbury in the fall, and the oncoming Revo- lutionary War stopped further work at that time. Mr. Washburn was engaged by the Massachusetts authorities to prosecute the casting of cannon at Salisbury, and he did not return to Middlebury until the close of the war; in the mean time his mill, or whatever there was of it, was destroyed by Indians. In the spring of 1784 he returned and, with some aid from Colonel Chipman and Judge Painter, a mill was built and put in operation in 1785; this mill was swept away by the succeeding spring freshet. It was subsequently arranged between Washburn and Judge Painter that the latter should have the privileges of Wash- burn on the mill lot, and he accordingly pitched fifty acres, including the mill lot,, and another fifty acres for Washburn south and east of his own; this latter Judge Painter soon purchased. These pitches embraced the whole of the village site east of the creek and south of Hyde's pitch, afterward occupied by Freeman Foot. Mr. Painter soon afterward proceeded to erect mills, and in 1787 had in operation a saw-mill and the next year a grist-mill. The former was built on the rock at the head of the falls and the latter partly below it.
In the mean time, in 1783, John Hobson Johnson (or " Hop " Johnson, as he was commonly known) built a cabin at the head of the rapids on the west side of the creek, then in Cornwall, a little below the site of the railroad bridge abutment; here he maintained a ferry and supplied refreshment to travelers ; about 1789 he left for parts unknown, his wife and children remaining in pos- session of his house and ferry.
27I
TOWN OF MIDDLEBURY.
After Daniel Foot discovered the defect in his title under the Weybridge charter, he purchased the right of pitching under the Cornwall charter and laid out one hundred acres, which included the whole of the falls on the Cornwall side and extended some forty rods south of them to " the old Weybridge cor- ner." In the same year (1784) he erected a large building for a saw and a grist- mill ; the first was put in operation in July, and the other in November, 1785. A few weeks earlier than this Colonel Sawyer had started his grist-mill in Salisbury, before which the Middlebury people had to take their grain up the creek to Pittsford. Mr. Foot soon gave up his mills to Stillman and John Foot, his sons, and in 1789 deeded them his mill lot and buildings. In 1786 Still- man Foot erected a dwelling house, and a few other small buildings were soon erected ; Stillman Foot's house, the oldest in the village, was burned in 1875, and the site remains vacant.
About the year 1791 John Foot sold his share of the Cornwall property to his brother Appleton, and in July, 1794, Stillman and Appleton divided their property in Cornwall and arranged the use of the water, which had previously been used in common; Stillman took the upper part of the falls extending to the bridge, and Appleton the privilege below and the land north of the road leading west across the college grounds; Stillman's land extended up the creek south to Colonel Storrs's land. Appleton Foot about this time built a house on the site of the large brick house now owned by Henry L. Sheldon and Carlton Moore. Stillman Foot had a grist-mill about where the woolen factory was built and a saw-mill farther up the stream. Appleton built a stone grist-mill and a saw-mill just below Stillman's mills, which were burned in 1826. Other dwellings sprang up on the west side of the creek; James Bentley, sr., built a small house in which he lived after the war; what was known as "the Judd house " was built by Stillman Foot for his workmen, just back of the present bakery; and what was known as " the red house " was built in the present gar- den of the Phelps place; Simeon Dudley, who was employed in the building of Foot's mills in 1785, had a shanty on the site of the Phelps house, in which he spent two years without chimney or cellar.
Colonel Seth Storrs, who had been in law practice at Addison, came to Mid- dlebury in 1794; he purchased among other extensive tracts the farm on which he lived until his death; this embraced the land where the college stands, a large part of the graded school grounds, and extended south to the Judge Phelps farm. He lived first in the gambrel-roofed house built by John Foot on the site of the present brick house now owned by George C. Chapman; on the same site he built the handsome framed house which was burned in 1831. Colonel Storrs was a leading citizen outside of his profession and will be further alluded to in another place.
In 1787 Simeon Dudley was employed in the erection of Pudge Painter's mills and put up a shanty similar to that occupied by him on the west side,
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
near the Addison House grounds; this was burned before it was finished. He then put up a more commodious house, which was purchased by Judge Painter, remodeled and prepared for his own residence. It was on ground which is now a part of the yard in front of Gardner Wainwright's house. Judge Painter lived here until his new house was built in 1802. The latter has been recently remodeled by Gardner Wainwright and is one of the finest private residences in the town.
Relative to the surroundings of the village site at this early period we may quote from Judge Swift as follows :
" At that time the whole region was covered with a thick and gloomy forest of hemlock and pine, except small spaces about the mills and small tenements, which had been erected. At the first Christmas after his settlement Judge Painter invited the settlers to a Christmas dinner. Col. Sumner, who had just settled on his farm two miles north, Freeman Foot, who had built a house just north of the village, Stephen Goodrich and his sons on the Bass farm, the Foots and their workmen on the west side of the creek, and his own workmen, were the only near neighbors. But his invitations were probably extended further. Whatever the numbers may have been, the company, as is common in all new countries, probably had a merry time. Samuel Bartholomew, who resided in Cornwall, was a man of some eccentricities, and given to rhyming, on extraor- dinary occasions. He had early planted an orchard of sweet apples, which be- came a common resort for the young folks to buy and eat apples, and he was called the 'Apple man.' Among his eccentricities, he never wore shoes in the summer, except when he went to church, as he sometimes did in this village. On such occasions he carried his shoes in his hand until he arrived among the inhabitants, and then put them on and walked to the place of meeting. These incidents relate to a later period of his life. This entertainment being a proper subject for his muse, he composed the following doggerel verses on the occa- sion :
"' This place, called Middlebury Falls Is like a city without walls. Surrounded 'tis by hemlock trees Which shut out all its enemies. The powwow now on Christmas day, Which much resembled Indian play, I think will never be forgotten Till all the hemlock trees are rotten.'"
As soon as Judge Painter was settled here he adopted a judicious and lib- eral course for the furtherance of his aims to make it the site of the future village. His lands he offered on liberal terms to actual settlers and was untiring in his efforts to promote all of the interests of the place. His first deed of one acre was given to Simeon Dudley, which included the site of the Addison House ; this was under date of September 10, 1788. No building was erected here, however, until 1794, when Samuel Mattocks built his tavern. In January, 1789,
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TOWN OF MIDDLEBURY.
Judge Painter deeded to Benjamin Gorton a small piece of land adjoining the bridge, about where Mr. Alden's store is now located. Gorton was uncle to Jabez Rogers and became largely interested with him in real estate operations. On the lot mentioned Rogers soon put up a building and opened what was probably the first store in the county ; the mercantile interests which succeeded on this site, as well as in all of the other parts of the village, will be described a little farther on.
On the point of rock which extended farther into the creek at this place, Rogers built a separate structure, which was occupied for several years by Sam- uel Sargeant as a silversmith shop. This was removed at the time of the re- moval of obstructions for the free passage of water over the falls.1
In September, 1789, Painter deeded to Samuel Miller a half acre lot, on which he afterwards lived; the year previous Miller had built an office, to which he added a front, and lived there until his death. Smith Beckwith now occupies this place. Samuel Miller was the first lawyer to settle in Middlebury and became one of the most distinguished citizens. (See later pages.)
John Deming, from Canaan, Conn., purchased of Judge Painter ten acres, extending north from the southeast corner of the Congregational Church to the north line of the mill lot, and west from the same bounds to the west line of the Horatio Seymour garden; then west to the creek. This is now owned by Philip Battell Deming was a blacksmith, and built his shop where the Hora- tio Seymour house now stands, occupied by Philip Battell; the building he divided in two parts, one of which was for his family residence. While living here he was appointed by the town as tavern keeper; he accordingly began the business as best he could under his straitened circumstances. One night, according to Dr. Swift, his guests numbered twenty-five, and they all wanted breakfast the next morning, which must have caused consternation in the primitive hotel. In 1790 Mr. Deming built a large house where the Congre- gational church stands; this was the first two-story house in the village. He
1 The following, relative to this removal of obstructions is found in a foot-note in Judge Swift's work : "Large tracts of lowlands or swamps on the borders of the creek above the falls, were overflowed in the spring and other large freshets, and on account of the sluggishness of the stream and the obstruc- tions at the falls, the water remained so long on the lands as seriously to injure them. The rocks at the falls made a complete dam, and rendered an artificial one unnecessary. The channels for the water to the mills were cut through the rocks. The owners of the lands, in order to remove the obstructions to the free passage of the water, in 1806 entered into a contract with the mill owners to lower their water courses. The Legislature, fat their session in 1804, had granted a tax on the lands to the amount of two thousand dollars to pay the expense. Much of the land was sold for the tax, and it is still held under that title. This measure did not satisfy the land owners, and [further expense was incurred in reducing the channel at the head of the rapids ; and among other obstructions, which needed to be re- moved, was the rock on which Sargeant's shop stood. For this purpose it was exchanged, in 1822, for the ground on which he erected his new shop.1 This point was not included in Painter's deed for a common, but was reserved as a part of his mill yard, and by his will became the property of the cor- poration of Middlebury College, and by their agent was deeded to Mr. Sargeant."
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