USA > Vermont > Addison County > History of Addison county Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 41
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M. D. SMITH, M. D.
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TOWN OF MIDDLEBURY.
roofed house a little south of Mr. Farr's tavern, in which he lived several years.
Ephraim Jones, who had previously erected for the Vermont Glass Com- pany a large factory at Lake Dunmore in Salisbury, and desired to extend his operations, built at East Middlebury, in 1812, a little west of Farr's hotel a large circular brick structure for manufacturing glassware. He also erected near by two dwelling houses for his workmen and another building for a store and office. At that period it was confidently expected that the extensive water power and other advantages would build up here a large manufacturing center ; in this belief Mr. Foot built the large tavern, which has ever since been used as such. He kept it as a public house several years. This house was purchased in 1850 by Royal D. Farr, who has kept it ever since, but has recently turned the active management over to his son Frank. The manufacture of glass in this vicinity was not a great success, and its failure led to a cessation in growth at East Middlebury. Mr. Foot, however, after a period of idleness in his works, rebuilt his grist-mill and repaired his other establishments. He died in 1849 at the age of eighty-four years.
Daniel L. Sessions settled at East Middlebury in 1821 ; he was the father of Hiram and George Sessions, now prominent farmers of the town. Mr. Ses- sions and Norman Tupper gave Dr. Swift the following information of the place at that date :
" In 1821 there were ten dwelling houses and a somewhat larger number of families. At this time the number of dwelling houses, in the compact part of the village, is fifty. Some of the houses being occupied by more than one family, the number of families is larger."
Darius Tupper, father of Norman Tupper, settled very early in Chittenden county and removed from there to Middlebury, and for some years kept a tav- ern on premises now occupied by C. P. Austin. His son Norman was a man of natural inventive genius and without doubt was the first to apply machinery to the manufacture of doors and window sash. He built a factory at East Mid- dlebury in 1827, and set up machinery for this purpose, which was successfully operated ; he was associated with Archelaus Tupper and Charles Nichols. The factory was run by different persons until 1852, when it was burned and A. P. Tupper, of Middlebury, rebuilt it, and it is now operated by Austin Peck. It is believed also that Mr. Tupper was the first person to graft teeth on a circu- lar plate for a saw, and that he ran the first circular saw-mill in the world. Mr. Tupper died in February, 1880.
These and succeeding manufacturing operations kept up quite a steady growth in the village. In the year 1850, according to an enumeration by Da- vid S. Church, the population numbered four hundred and thirty. The follow- ing description of the place was written by Dr. Swift in 1850:
" At the upper dam are a forge and saw-mill, owned by Israel Davey. Next
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
below is the tannery, owned by Horace, son of Perley Enos, who first estab- lished it many years ago, and a shop owned by David Olmstead, with machin- ery for boring, sawing, and turning timber for wagons, which he manufactures. On the south side of the river are a saw-mill, belonging to the estate of Nor- man Boardman, and a machine for sawing shingles, owned by George Champ- lin. Still lower is a shop owned by Kneeland and Waldo Olmstead, for the manufacture of wagons, and machinery for fitting the timber for them, sup- plied by water from the river by a tube. Next below this is a grist-mill owned by Norman Tupper, esq., built in 1850, and below this is a sash factory owned by Almon P. Tupper, and a factory for sawing and fitting barrel staves for the Boston market, owned by E. Hayward & Co. The three last-mentioned works are furnished with water conducted by a canal, without any dam across the river."
Among the early merchants at East Middlebury were Needham & Dennis (Levi Needham and Allen Dennis); our informant thinks they were the first to carry on a regular trade. They were succeeded by Alvin Johnson ; he was followed by Alonzo Cook, Elias Persons, M. K. Day, and Perkins & Stearns (Rufus L. Perkins and Elliot N. Stearns), who built the brick store. They traded until Gustavus Perkins took the store, and he was succeeded by P. M. Champlin, Ezra Wood, and Wood & Manning; Smith & Downing, Partridge & Bush and William H. Eldredge also traded here and were succeeded by M. K. Day, and the latter by M. E. Day, the present merchant.
The store at the forge was kept by Israel Davey and B. S. Nichols, M. K. Day, S. G. Tisdale, Henry Persons, and possibly others.
J. C. Champlin began trade here in the brick store twenty-six years ago, and removed to his present building, which he erected in 1865 ; he has been in business continuously since his first start. Paul Champlin came here about 1777, and settled at East Middlebury on the farm now owned by O. P. Champ- lin ; he died in 1853. J. P. Champlin is a son of Paul; Hiram H., another son, lived here and ran the mills built by. John Foot from about 1828 to 1843. George Champlin also operated them for a time. Hiram went to Wisconsin, and died there. John Champlin, living in the town, is another son of Paul. Walter Olmstead was an early settler where his son Waldo lives, in the village; Julius, a carpenter living north of the village, is another son. Luman Cogs- well, father of Eber, now living here, was also a very early settler here.
The forge at East Middlebury was originally built by Roger Nobles ; it stood about half a mile above the present one. This went to ruin, and the present one was erected, but the date of its building we have been unable to obtain ; it was operated by Slade & Farr, and by Israel Davey and B. S. Nich- ols ; it is now in possession of Andrew Williams and Mr. Nichols, with Hervey J. Nichols as agent. The ore used comes across the lake from Essex county, N. Y., and excellent iron is manufactured.
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TOWN OF MIDDLEBURY.
Perley Enos built a tannery here early in the century, which passed to his son Horace, as stated by Dr. Swift. Charles F. Partridge had it later, and built a saw-mill near by. He sold out to George Ladd and Mr. - Gleason. They continued it a number of years, when it was abandoned. Israel F. Enos built another tannery many years ago, which went into the hands of Norman Tupper, who was father-in-law of Enos, and it was changed to a grist-mill. Enos ran the grist-mill until it was sold to Lewis Russell; it then passed to Spencer & Clough, then to Spencer alone, and from him to Levi Needham; he did not succeed in paying for it and it reverted to Spencer, and from him to W. L. Belknap, who built the present mill in 1879; it is now operated by Wallace W. Chapman under a lease. It is known as the Eureka mill.
S. G. Tisdale built his present saw-mill in 1880; there has been a mill on this site from the early settlement which has passed through various hands. E. J. Olmstead carries on wagon-making here, succeeding his father, who be- gan in 1835.
Post-office .- The post-office of East Middlebury was established January 29, 1834, with Timothy Matthews, jr., as the first postmaster ; in November, 1837, he was succeeded by Levi Needham, and he by O. P. Torrance in April, 1846; Mr. Needham again took the office in 1850, and was succeeded by Royal D. Farr in 1854. J. P. Champlin then had the office fourteen years, and was succeeded by M. E. Day, for eight years. The present postmaster is Julius A. Douglass, who has recently accepted the office.
EDUCATIONAL.
The first schools in this town, like those of most of the new settlements in the county, were small as to numbers and scholars and their accommodations of the most primitive kind. The first school-house built, and the two first schools opened in town for children, were those mentioned in the statement of Miss Torrance, in the south part of the town, where the principal settlements then were. The first school in the neighborhood of the village was kept by Mrs. Goodrich, wife of William Goodrich, esq., about the year 1791. They then resided in a house on the rising ground east of Dr. Bass's, and her school was a small school-house on the opposite side of the road. The first official act of the town on the subject of schools was a vote in December, 1790, to divide the town into four school districts. Votes were afterwards passed, from time to time, increasing the number and changing the boundaries of the dis- tricts. Some of these changes may be worth recording here: In 1792 what was known as the northwest district was divided into two. In 1796 it was voted that the middle and south districts be divided, if the selectmen think best. In 1810 it was voted "that the neighborhood of Samuel Wright be set off into a school district," and the selectmen were given authority to "regulate the school districts where the people are complaining in said town." In 1815
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
all that part of " Middlebury west of the creek " was made the " western vil- lage school district." In 1822 a committee, previously appointed for the pur- pose, reported on changing boundaries of districts, so that there were nine in the town ; in the same year district number ten was created. In 1829 a dis- trict was laid out between numbers two and eight, making eleven districts in the town. This number remained, with minor changes of boundaries, for nearly twenty years; in 1847 a new district was made by the division of num- ber seven, and in 1850 the thirteenth was created by dividing number two. The number was afterwards reduced to eleven.
Addison County Grammar School and the Graded School .- The Legislature established a grammar school in Middlebury by an act passed November 8, 1797, under the corporate name of the " Corporation of the Addison County Grammar School."
Full powers were granted to the corporation to acquire and hold the neces- sary estate, and for other purposes necessary for sustaining a permanent school; and to hold and use all the lands in the county reserved and appropriated for that use in the charters granted by the State. The trustees appointed by the act were Gamaliel Painter, Seth Storrs, Samuel Miller, Daniel Chipman and Darius Matthews. The trustees are authorized to add to their number; but the whole number is not to exceed twelve. A proviso is added to the act, " that the inhabitants of Middlebury, and such others as may voluntarily sub- scribe therefor, shall build and finish a good and sufficient house for said gram- mar school, of the value of one thousand dollars, by the next stated session of the Legislature, and shall forever after keep the same in good repair." The inhabitants immediately set themselves to work to fulfill the condition, but did not limit their expenditures to one thousand dollars. The design was already formed to establish a college and provide a building which would accommo- date such an institution, at least for a time. Accordingly a subscription was raised in this and the neighboring towns, and the wooden building afterward used for the college, eighty by forty, and three stories high, was completed in 1798, within the time limited by the act. It was divided into convenient rooms for students, with a public room for a chapel and other uses in the cen- ter of the upper story.
The land on which the building, together with the extensive grounds con- nected with it, was, in July, 1800, and previous to the charter of the college, deeded to the corporation by Seth Storrs, Darius Matthews, Appleton Foot, Stillman Foot, and Anthony Rhodes. Most of the land was owned by Colonel Storrs; but the grounds embraced small pieces belonging to the other grantors.
Rev. Jeremiah Atwater, of New Haven, Conn., was appointed principal of the grammar school, in anticipation of his becoming president of the college, when established. Until 1805 both institutions were continued in the same building, and President Atwater continued nominally principal of the academy,
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TOWN OF MIDDLEBURY.
although the instruction was given by a tutor or other officer of the college. At that time the preparatory school was removed to the building erected for the Female Seminary, that institution being vacant in consequence of the death of Miss Strong.
The grammar school was a successful and most beneficial institution dur- ing its long existence ; but the time finally came when it seemed desirable to supersede it by a school based on a little different system. On the 20th of February, 1867, a resolution was passed at a special meeting of the corpora- tion of the school, in effect that the grammar school leave to district number four in the village all the real estate, and confer on the district the right to make such disposition of the building thereon as should be judged for its inter- est; that the district " shall within one year from May Ist next commence the erection of a suitable building for the purposes of a graded school and proceed with reasonable dispatch to its completion, and maintain a graded school, the higher department of which shall embrace adequate instruction in all branches taught in well-conducted academies and high schools. That the prudential committee of the district and an equal number of the trustees of the grammar school chosen by themselves from among their number, shall together consti- tute a board who shall have the joint management of the higher department of this school." This committee was H. D. Kitchel, H. A. Sheldon, Dugald Stewart, John W. Stewart, and W. H. Parker.
The petition which led to this consolidation was dated October 16, 1866. In carrying out the plans of the new management the new building was pro- jected. A committee was appointed, consisting of J. W. Stewart, Jason Daven- port, Justus Cobb, Rufus Mead, J. M. Slade, Harry Langworthy, and Wm. P. Russel, to nominate a committee to report a plan ; the latter committee were Harvey D. Kitchel, J. W. Stewart, E. Vallett, Calvin Hill, J. M. Slade. The committee of architecture was the same men.
The building was erected in 1868 and is a credit to the county in all re- spects ; the cost of the building, grounds, etc., was about $33,000, which has been nearly doubled since that time by additions, furnishing, apparatus, etc. The old wood building formerly used for the grammar school was subsequently demolished.
C. D. Mead, A. M., is the present principal of the school, and is aided by an efficient corps of assistants, whose efforts give the institution an enviable standing throughout the State.
The following list shows the names of those who were members of the old grammar school corporation and the graded school, with dates of entry and re- tirement : Gamaliel Painter, 1797-1819; Seth Storrs, 1797-1837 ; Samuel Mil- ler, 1797-1810; Daniel Chipman, 1797-1844; Darius Matthews, 1797-1819; Thomas A. Merrill, 1810-1855 ; Joshua Bates, 1820-1843 ; Wm. Slade, 1820- 1826 ; Joel H. Linsley, 1820-1826; Peter Starr, 1826-1860; Jonathan Hagar,
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
1826-1855 ; Samuel Swift, 1826-1867 ; Horatio Seymour, 1828-1857; Joel Doolittle, 1828-1841 ; Ira Stewart, 1828-1855 ; John Simmons, 1828-1829; Wm. Bass, 1828-1851 ; Benjamin Labaree, 1841-1865 ; Solomon Stoddard, 1841-1847; Charles Linsley, 1844-1858 ; Wm. Nash, 1844-1872 ; Solomon Jewett, 1844-1858; Wm. H. Parker, 1852 ; Wm. M. Bass, 1855-1866; George N. Boardman, 1855-1861 ; John W. Stewart, 1855 ; Julius A. Beckwith, 1855- 1857 ; Joseph Steele, 1858-1872; H. A. Sheldon, 1861-1870 ; Dugald Stewart, 1863-1870; Edward H. Denison, 1863-1864; Charles Linsley, 1863-1863 ; Harvey D. Kitchel, 1866-1873 ; Henry Lane, 1869; Rufus Wainwright, 1869; Henry M. Seely, 1871 ; Edwin Vallett, 1871; B. S. Beckwith, 1874; Lyman E. Knapp, 1884; Wm. W. Eaton 1884.
Middlebury College .- The extended space already necessarily given up to the history of this important town renders it imperative to abridge our account of this college, the history of its earlier years being condensed from that of Judge Swift in the work from which we have so often quoted. The early resi- dents of Middlebury were men who knew the great importance of prominent educational institutions in their midst, and efforts were made while the town and village were yet thinly populated to embody their intelligent ideas in perma- nent and practical form. As delineating the early steps in this direction, Judge Swift quotes from the Record of Travels of Dr. Dwight in this region in 1798, as follows :
" An academy was nearly completed, which was intended to be the germ of a future college." "The evening of the 30th (of September) I spent in company with a number of gentlemen, in a consultation concerning this pro- jected seminary, at the house of S. Miller, esq. They informed me that a col- lege was already incorporated in the State, the intended seat of which was to be Burlington ; that it had been incorporated some years and was liberally en- dowed ; but that, for various reasons, which were specified, nothing material had been done toward carrying it into operation ; that although some indecisive efforts had been made by the trustees soon after their appointment, all its con- cerns had for a considerable time been at a stand ; that there was now less rea- son to expect any efficacious efforts from those gentlemen than there had been heretofore, as they themselves appeared to have relinquished both exertion and hope. The gentlemen then explained to me their own views of the im- portance of such an institution to their State; the propriety of making this town the seat of it; their own intentions, and the wishes of many respectable people in the State, who coincided with them in the opinion which they had expressed to me. When they had unfolded their views I frankly communi- cated to them my own ; and have since had no reason to complain that they were disregarded. I will only add, that the local situation of Middlebury, the sober and religious character of the inhabitants, their manners and various other circumstances render it a very desirable seat for such a seminary." In 18II, after his visits of 1806 and 1810, he makes the following record :
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TOWN OF MIDDLEBURY.
"The academy, which I have mentioned above, began to prosper from the time when it was opened ; and was in the year 1800 raised by an act of incor- poration into a college. From that time to the present it has continued to pros- per; although all its funds have been derived from private donations, and chiefly, if not wholly, from the inhabitants of this town. The number of stu- dents is now one hundred and ten; probably as virtuous a collection of youths as can be found in any seminary in the world. The faculty consists of a presi- dent, a professor of law, a professor of mathematics and natural philosophy, who teaches chemistry also, a professor of languages and two tutors. The in- habitants of Middlebury have lately subscribed 8,000 dollars for the purpose of erecting another collegiate building. When it is remembered that twenty-five years ago this spot was a wilderness, it must be admitted that these efforts have done the authors of them the highest honor."
These extensive quotations will save the necessity of saying more relating to the origin of the institution. On the first day of November, 1800, an act was passed by the Legislature establishing a college under a corporation by the name of the " President and Fellows of Middlebury College." Rev. Jere- miah Atwater, who had officiated as principal of Addison County Grammar School, was by the act constituted the "present president," and Nathaniel Chip- man, Heman Ball, Elijah Paine, Gamaliel Painter, Israel Smith, Stephen R. Bradley, Seth Storrs, Stephen Jacob, Daniel Chipman, Lot Hall, Aaron Lee- land, Gershom C. Lyman, Samuel Miller, Jedediah P. Buckingham and Darius Matthews " the present fellows."
Under its charter the college went into immediate operation, and two classes were received into the institution the same fall. The grammar school, for about five years, was continued in connection with it, under the same superintend- ence, and the members were instructed by a tutor. The first class in college, consisting of one member, Aaron Petty, was graduated in 1802. The gradu- ating classes from this time continued to increase, and in 1805 consisted of six- teen, in 1808 of twenty-three, and in 1811 of nineteen, which were the largest classes to this period. Rev. Jeremiah Atwater resigned the office of president in 1809, and on the 26th day of September of that year was inaugurated as- president of Dickinson College, at Carlisle, Penn. He continued in this office until August, 1815, when he resigned and established his residence in his native town, New Haven, Conn.
Rev. Henry Davis, D.D., as successor of President Atwater, entered upon the duties of the office in 1811, and resigned it in 1817. The classes under his administration for several years had increased, and in 1812 the graduating class consisted of twenty-six; in 1813, of twenty-nine; in 1814, of twenty- eight, and in 1815, of thirty. The other classes during this period were con- siderably smaller.
Dr. Davis was succeeded in the office of president by Rev. Joshua Bates,
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
D.D., who entered upon his duties in 1818; he was a graduate of Harvard College and a man of great power. During the greater part of his adminis- tration the college was in a most prosperous condition. Nearly five hundred students graduated under him, many of them men who attained to eminence as theologians, statesmen, or men of letters, such as Stephen Olin, Solomon Foot and John G. Saxe ; while in the class that graduated the year after Dr. Bates resigned, we find the names of Henry N. Hudson and Edward J. Phelps. In 1840 Rev. Benjamin Labaree, D.D., was elected president, at a time when the institution was suffering somewhat from the active competition of other noted colleges of the East. His long administration of twenty-six years was, nevertheless, eminently successful. The college had no funds at the beginning of its existence, and it was as late as 1841 before any systematic effort was made to raise a substantial sum. Previous to that, however, in 1800 $8,000 were raised by subscriptions of citizens, and the erection of the first stone structure for students' rooms was begun and finished in 1816. In the fall of 1815 President Davis undertook the work of raising $50,000. A meeting was held at the hotel, which was addressed by him in eloquent terms, and before the meeting adjourned $20,000 had been subscribed. He met with such suc- cess that before the end of the following spring the whole amount was raised. The large legacy of Joseph Burr ($12,500), made at his death, and that of Judge Painter, who died in 1819, came to the timely relief of the institution. Other subscriptions were also made for the benefit of particular departments and a subscription was raised in 1833, under the administration of Dr. Bates, of $33,000, $15,000 of which were expended in erecting another stone build- ing for a chapel and other purposes : this building was erected in 1836. After the inauguration of President Labaree the financial affairs of the college as- sumed a more settled and satisfactory aspect. $9,300 were subscribed from various sources between 1840 and 1848, and in the latter year one of $25,000 ; in 1852 another of $35,000. In 1853 a friend of the college offered a dona- tion of $10,000 provided the further sum of $20,000 should be raised ; this was accomplished and the whole devoted to the establishment of two perma- nent scholarships. A little later Joseph P. Fairbanks, of St. Johnsbury, gave the college $10,000, and various other sums have since been realized. In 1860 the structure known as Starr Hall was erected.
The presidents of the college since Dr. Labaree have been as follows: Rev. Harvey Denison Kitchel, D.D., elected 1866; retired 1873. Rev. Calvin But- ler Hulbert, D. D., elected 1875; retired 1880. Rev. Cyrus Hamlin, D. D., LL. D., elected 1880; retired in 1885. Soon after the retirement of Dr. Ham- lin, Ezra Brainerd, A. M., was elected president of the college, which position he now holds.
The associated alumni met for the first time at the commencement of 1824, and have held annual meetings since that time. Several literary and other as-
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TOWN OF MIDDLEBURY.
sociations and societies have been formed in the college at various periods, among which may be mentioned the Philadelphian Society, formed in 1804, and consisting of professors of religion; this society gathered a library of theolog- ical works. The Beneficent Society was formed in 1813 for the purpose of supplying indigent students with text-books; it accomplished a great amount of good. In 1852 the Philomathesian Association was formed, with literary purpose.
The library was first established in 1809, at which time about $1,000 was raised by subscription of citizens ; from that time to the present the library has grown steadily, and now contains over 16,000 volumes.
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