USA > Vermont > Addison County > History of Addison county Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 50
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There was danger for a time, also, of a rupture between the inhabitants of Cornwall and Weybridge respecting that portion of Cornwall which lies north of the Middlebury and Bridport road, Weybridge being inclined to demand the entire tract. The jurisdiction of Cornwall was finally acknowledged, how-
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TOWN OF CORNWALL.
ever, on the ground of priority in the date of its charter. In reference to this point, Judge Swift, in his History of Middlebury, remarks :
" There are on record several deeds referring to 'Weybridge Old Corner.' It is obvious that a different line was originally recognized [claimed by Wey- bridge] as dividing the towns of Cornwall and Weybridge, and far enough south to include the falls in the latter town, and by persevering examination we find that it forms the division line between Foot's mill lot and the home farm of the late Colonel Storrs. There is no record of the time and manner of altering this line, nor have I found any living man who had any knowledge of such a line. But it is probable that the change was made by the surveyor- general in 1784, when the town lines of Middlebury were surveyed and cor- rected. Among the records of Cornwall town meeting in November, 1787, is the following : 'A petition from Weybridge for setting off from Cornwall to the former old line was read and rejected.'"
The proprietors, after organizing under their charter, adopted the name of Cornwall, from a town in Litchfield county. Their early meetings were held in Salisbury, Conn. The proceedings at these meetings can be only inferred, however, as the record was burned in Connecticut in 1788. If there were, therefore, any general survey and allotments of land in the town previous to that time, all traces of the division lines were so far obliterated by the loss of the records that the settlers, while claiming under some original right, con- sulted their preferences respecting the location of their claims. Hence it fre- quently happened that lots claimed under the same right were situated in dif- ferent parts of the town. These claims were denominated "pitches." Lots were also granted to settlers who had performed some town service, such as working on the highways, irrespective of the quantity of land previously granted, a method which resulted in unavoidable confusion and controversy, some of the later claimants finding no land unoccupied, " while many of the . settlers, shrewdly observing the boundaries of the pitches occupied by their neighbors, after the lapse of years found vacant lots that had escaped the notice of surveyors and claimants, which they secured for themselves simply by hav- ing them surveyed, and the survey entered upon the record." The difficulties thus engendered were not removed for years, and undoubtedly retarded the settlement of Cornwall. The custom was not confined to this town, however, but prevailed in all or nearly all the towns in the State.
The first settlers of Cornwall were Asa Blodget, James Bentley, James Bentley, jr., Thomas Bentley, Joseph Throop, Theophilus Allen, William Douglass, Samuel Benton, Eldad Andrus, Samuel Blodget, Sardius Blodget, Solomon Linsley, Aaron Scott and Nathan Foot. They arrived and made their pitches in 1774. The eight first named selected their lands in the east part of the township, bounding on Otter Creek, and by the change of limits, in 1796 became inhabitants of Middlebury. The remaining six made their pitches in the northern and central parts of this town.
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
In 1775 Ebenezer Stebbins, Joel Linsley and John Holley made their pitches, and in 1776 Jonah Sanford, Obadiah Wheeler and James Marsh Doug- lass settled their locations. None of these names except those of Solomon Linsley and Jonah Sanford is endorsed on the charter. With these excep- tions, and two or three others who came after the war, the surveys uniformly specify certain "original rights," on which their claims were leased.
Eldad Andrus first settled on the farm now occupied by Mrs. T. B. Holly, and afterwards exchanged farms with Zechariah Benedict, whose pitch lay in the west part of the town bounding on Lemon Fair. His first house was built a few rods east of the present buildings. He was taken prisoner in May or June, 1778, by Indians and Tories, and carried across Lake Champlain to the British camp, where he was held for several months. Meanwhile the Indians frequently visited his house, consumed his provisions, destroyed his young fruit-trees, and stole his mare and her colt. It is said that two years later the mare and colt returned, accompanied by another colt, the young beasts being so well matched as to make Andrus a valuable team. Having discovered a chance to escape, he fled the British camp, but soon perceived that he was fol- lowed by an Indian. Whereupon, securing a heavy club, he hid himself under a huge log over which his pursuer must pass, and at the opportune moment felled him to the earth, and effected his escape unmolested. Among his de- scendants now living in town are his grandson, S. S. Andrus, and great-grand- daughters, Mrs. James Tracey and Mrs. O. A. Field.
Samuel Blodget pitched on a lot of one hundred acres on the old North and South road from Cornwall to Middlebury, which was destroyed some time before 1860. M. B. Williamson, R. A. Foot, A. M. Williamson, Mrs. M. M. Peet, and Mrs. Alberton S. Bingham are his grandchildren. He was taken prisoner at the same time as Eldad Andrus, and was bound to a tree and threatened with death. Upon making himself known to a British officer as a Freemason, this fate was averted, and it was reserved for him to be taken to Ticonderoga, " where he suffered all the abuse and tortures usual to captives, and was imprisoned on board an old vessel, which abounded with vermin and filth, until he obtained permission to go on shore and drive team and perform other duties which fell to the lot of captives. He was liberated in the fall, and returned to his family, who by this time had removed to Bennington or Arling- ton, where they remained until the announcement of peace." He died on his original pitch in 1838, aged eighty-seven years.
The first settlement of Solomon Linsley embraced the farm owned, in 1862, by Milo Williamson, a few rods north of the present farm of M. B. Williamson.
Aaron Scott, of Sunderland, Mass., cleared a hundred acres west of Solo- mon Linsley, the survey embracing the present farm of Mrs. S. D. Carr, and extended further west and south. His cabin stood southwest of the site of Mrs. Carr's house.
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TOWN OF CORNWALL.
Dr. Nathan Foot, from Watertown, Conn., made his first pitch in the ex- treme east part of the town, on the verge of the swamp. The farm is not now occupied, but was afterward owned by his son Nathan, and in 1862 and later by Maria Foot and William Turner. A few years after his arrival here he built a second log house west of the highway, and later still a framed house. He died in Charlotte in 1807. Mrs. William Turner is his great-granddaugh- ter. These surveys were all made in 1774 by Judge Gamaliel Painter, of Mid- dlebury.
In 1775 John Holley made his pitch on a lot east of the one now owned and occupied by B. C. Parkhill. He afterward effected an exchange with his brother Stephen, and removed to the lot now occupied by Mr. Parkhill. This lot was originally pitched by Samuel Benton, and afterward passed through the hands of Isaac Kellogg, Ashbel Cone, William Crocker, Stephen Holley, John Holley, Eli Everts, Ephraim Andrus, William Slade, Rebecca Slade, Norman B. Slade, Daniel B. Kinner, Truman Eells, and Benjamin Parkhill.
The same year Ebenezer Stebbins settled on the north side of the road, on the place now owned and occupied by his grandson, Loren W. Peet. He was obliged to flee with his family after the recapture of Ticonderoga by Burgoyne in 1777.
Early in 1775 Hon. Joel Linsley, from Woodbury, Conn., made a pitch on a tract which he occupied the remainder of his life. His first log cabin stood sixty or eighty rods east of the building now occupied by Charles Benedict, which he subsequently built. He was a surveyor and became a large land owner. At the organization of the town he was chosen town clerk, and after- wards repeatedly elected, with the exception of two years, until his death in 1818. He represented the town several years in the Legislature ; was assistant judge and afterward chief judge of the County Court. His popularity was owing no less to his sociability than to his business energy and capability.
The same year James Marsh Douglass, from Cornwall, Conn., pitched in the south part of the town on a lot afterwards occupied by Elias Douglass, and later still by Eli Stevens. He probably remained here most of the time until 1784, when he brought his family from Connecticut. He owned about five hundred acres in different lots in this vicinity, and apparently intended to have his sons settle about him. He died, however, in 1790, and the estate was di- vided among his sons.
John Douglass lived on the place now owned by C. and C. E. Ward; Col- onel Benajah Douglass on the place where his son N. B. Douglass now lives. N. B. Douglass and his three children, James, Maria, and Lilian, are the only descendants in town of James Marsh Douglass.
What settlements and clearing of land had been effected before the inroads of the British, Tories, and Indians had begun, were almost entirely obliterated before the close of the Revolutionary War. Immediately upon the declaration
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
of peace in 1783, however, the fugitive settlers hastened back to their deserted and wasted farms, and began anew the building up of homes and communities, little dreaming of the future greatness of the nation whose foundations they were laying deep and strong.
At this time Orange Throop settled and built a house in the northeast part of the town on the old discontinued road from Middlebury, about sixty rods south of the location of Samuel Blodget. School-house No. I, according to the first division of the town into school districts in 1787, stood nearly op- posite his house. Samuel Ingraham settled about sixty rods further south on the west side of the road in 1786, and Mathew Lewis located a little south- west of him at the same time, but afterward removed to the northwest part of the town, where he died. Samuel Ingraham was an active soldier in the Rev- olutionary War, and enjoyed the esteem and confidence of his fellow townsmen in Vermont.
The next farm south of Ingraham was originally settled (probably not be- fore 1784) by Ethan Andrus. By gradual accession he soon acquired prop- erty amounting to more than three hundred acres. In 1808 he exchanged " two hundred and twelve acres, exclusive of highways," of this property with Darius Matthews. This farm is nearly the same as that now owned by W. H. and P. T. B. Matthews. Andrus first built a framed house about sixty rods north of the one which he afterwards put up, and which is now occupied by the Messrs. Matthews. Andrus kept a tavern here for several years. Rev. Joseph R. Andrus, the first agent of the American Colonization Society to Africa, was his son, and was born here April 3, 1791.
Daniel Foot, one of the four sons of Dr. Nathan Foot, who settled in Corn- wall, made a pitch for himself after the war, on the east side of the road, em- bracing land now owned by Henry Lane, some distance south of the Matthews's homestead. He was a fearless, adventurous man, and bore a perilous part in the war. He died August 24, 1848, aged eighty-nine years.
Nathan Foot, jr., came to Cornwall with his father, and in addition to the latter's donation of land, purchased of him one hundred and twenty-five acres, and pitched some lots on his own account. He built and for many years kept, a tavern, on the site now occupied by Mrs. William Turner. He died Novem- ber 16, 1828.
Abijah Foot built on the corner northeast of the tavern of Nathan, jr., and after a few years sold to Dr. Daniel Campbell. Mrs. Foot was joint tenant of this lot with Abijah. He died at Cayuga, N. Y., in 1841, and Abijah died here in 1795. The property afterwards came into the hands of Dr. Frederick Ford.
Samuel Bartholomew came from Watertown, Conn., in 1786, and settled north of Abijah Foot, on the present farm of Joseph Adams. He devoted himself exclusively to the raising of fruits, but not profiting so highly as he ex-
Nenry Lane
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TOWN OF CORNWALL.
pected, he removed to Kentucky about 1812, where he died a few years later. He was a man of social habits and intelligent mind, but carried a spirit of inde- pendence to an eccentric degree. He wrote poetry, and published one volume of nearly one hundred pages, entitled Will Wittling, or the Spoiled Child.
Elijah Durfey settled at an early day on the west side of the road between the lands of Samuel Bartholomew and Nathan Foot, jr. He was a cooper.
Elisha Hurlbut, from Canaan, Conn., first settled in the west part of the town, but afterwards purchased of Elizabeth Avery in 1786 the farm substan- tially now occupied by N. Wing. He was a soldier of the Revolution, and was drowned near the "Three Mile Bridge," in Middlebury, in 1824, aged sixty-four years. Among his descendants are W. S. Hurlbut, a grandson, Mrs. Jason Jones, E. E. Jones, Henry Jones, and Mrs. Robinson.
Timothy Baker settled on the farm opposite Elisha Hurlbut, which was originally surveyed to Thurman Wheeler. After his death, about 1812, his farm was old to William Hurlbut, who owned it for many years. W. S. Hurl- but now lives on the same place.
Thomas Pritchard, from Waterbury, Conn., purchased of Timothy Baker and Daniel Foot, in 1791, the lot next south of Elisha Hurlbut, now occupied by Miss Martha Hill. He was a blacksmith. He sold to Daniel Huntington in 1805. E. D. Pritchard is his grandson.
James Lane, of Mansfield, Conn., bought in 1800 the farm now occupied by Henry Lane. He died in July of that year and was succeeded by his son Job, who remained on the place until his decease in 1860, at the age of seventy- two years. The descendants of James Lane now in town are Henry Lane, grandson, and his son, C. H. Lane, and Rollin Lane, also grandson, and his children, C. R. and Hattie Lane.
In 1787 Samuel Benton bought of Rev. Thomas Tolman all the " minis- terial right, pitched and unpitched, excepting two hundred acres," and in reli- ance upon this title pitched fifty acres on the north side of the road, south of the farm afterwards purchased by James Lane. In 1789 he sold to Jeremiah Rockwell. He owned more land, perhaps, than any other early settler in town. He was familiarly called "Captain," "Colonel " and "General " Benton. He left town before his death, after having become involved in expensive and vex- atious litigation arising from his speculations in land.
Jeremiah Rockwell settled on the Samuel Benton farm, building his house on the west side of the road. Mrs. M. R. Porter now lives on the place.
David Parkhill came in May, 1784, from Weston, Mass., and pitched one hundred acres where his grandson, S. C. Parkhill, now lives. His first cabin stood near the site of the present buildings. He was several years in the army, was in New York on the arrival of the British, and fought at the battle of Ben- nington. His widow afterward drew a pension for his services, and lived to the advanced age of ninety-one years. His descendants in town are S. C.
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
Parkhill, Mrs. Franklin Hooker, Mrs. Flora Clark and Miss Eva Hooker, and the children of the first three named.
John Robbins settled on the farm just north of David Parkhill now occu- pied by his son, Ebenezer R. Robbins, in 1798, and remained there until his decease in 1831, at the age of seventy-five years. Henry Robbins is his grandson.
Stephen Holley settled early on the land owned by S. C. Parkhill and E. R. Robbins. He accompanied Arnold to Quebec. His early occupation was that of a carpenter. He died in 1835, aged seventy-nine years. Mrs. T. B. Holley is the widow of his grandson.
As early as 1785 Isaac Kellogg settled on the place now owned and occu- pied by Samuel Everts, but probably did not long remain. The place has been in the hands of the Everts family for many years.
The place now occupied by W. M. Easton was purchased by Nathan Stowell of Judge Linsley in 1796. Stowell came that year from Ashford, Conn., and kept a tavern on the place until his death, and was followed by John Alvord, H. Stowell (his son), Colonel Harmon Samson and others.
Abial Linsley, sr., and jr., father and brother of Judge Joel Linsley, came to Cornwall soon after the War of the Revolution, and settled with the latter. His brother aided him in building a log house large enough to accommodate two families, and afterward built a house for himself on the place now occupied by R. C. Witherell. After a few years' residence in Cornwall he removed to Augusta, N. Y. His father, Abial, sr., died in Cornwall in 1800, aged seventy years.
Lemuel Peet, a son-in-law of Ebenezer Stebbins, built a house at an early day- near the site of the house now occupied by L. W. Peet, his grandson.
The house now occupied by A. W. Frost was built by Daniel Richardson, a blacksmith and another son-in-law of Ebenezer Stebbins.
Stephen Tambling early lived on the place now occupied by C. R. Witherell, making his pitch the year after the war. Just south of him Lemuel Tambling built a house and remained there a short time.
Nearly opposite Stephen Tambling Isaac Gilbert erected a house which he occupied for many years. Mrs. Luther Tilden and Mrs. Joel Linsley are his daughters. Mrs. Edgar Sanford is his great-granddaughter.
William Slade came from Washington, Conn., to Clarendon, Rutland county, about 1780, and three or four years later removed to Cornwall and made his pitch on the land now owned and occupied by John Towle, where he continued to reside until his death in 1826, at the age of seventy-three years. Being of vigorous and energetic nature and withal a born politician, he took an active part in the management of town affairs, and was sheriff of the county from 1810 to 1811. He was a soldier of the Revolution, and was for a time on board the Jersey prison ship. He was a firm supporter of Madison during the War of
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TOWN OF CORNWALL.
1812. His house was the birth-place of the Rev. Henry H. Hudson, the Shakespearean critic and student.
In 1783 or '84 Jesse Chipman settled on the farm now occupied by Peter Besette. In 1804 he sold to Ethan A. Sherwood, and removed from Cornwall.
James and Nathan Campbell settled in 1793 on a lot embraced in the well- known Benjamin Stevens farm, and remained there, each in a log house, until 1793, when they sold to Benjamin Stevens and removed from town. Stevens came to Cornwall from Pittsford, Vt. He suffered a cruel imprisonment of three years' duration at Quebec during the War of the Revolution. He died June 16, 1815, aged fifty-three years. The site occupied by James Campbell was after- wards the house of Dr. Solomon Foot, father of Hon. Solomon Foot, and Dr. Jonathan Foot, a sketch of whose lives will be found in the chapters devoted to their respective professions.
Wait Squier built on the east side of the road about sixty rods south of Stevens's house at an early day, but removed to New Haven in 1793. Op- posite him Timothy Squier settled on the place now occupied by Joseph Par- ker, his house standing on the high ground about sixty rods southwest of the present buildings. Further south on the west side of the road Solomon Plumb settled on the place afterwards known as the Abbott farm, now occupied by Amos Atwood.
Shadrach Norton settled in 1784 on the farm now owned by Charles Ste- vens. In 1787 Benjamin Hall bought of Joseph Plumb and located on the place now owned by J. M. Stevens. Three years earlier Barzillai Stickney settled on the next farm south. He was chosen constable at the organization of the town. The same year Daniel Scovel, from Cornwall, Conn., located on the farm now the home of Walter Atwood, where he died in 1813. His brother, Ezra Scovel, settled also in 1784 on the present farm of H. S. Scovel, his grand- son. David B. Woodruff made his pitch and built his cabin east of Ezra Scovel and near the swamp. In 1794 he sold to Lemuel Chapman, who lived there for some time. The place now owned and occupied by Douglass E. Searl was originally settled by Eliakim Mallory. It lies on the town line west of Mallory's farm. Elisha Field, sr., bought one hundred acres of Eldad Ad- ams, and in 1783 built thereon his log house. He was born in Amherst, Mass., in 1717, removed to Bennington in 1763, and thence to Cornwall in 1782. He died in 1791, in his seventy-third year. Franklin Hooker is his great-grandson. Elisha Field, jr., settled in 1790 on the farm now occupied by Mrs. L. W. Hall. He died at the age of eighty-eight years in 1852. Among his descendants are B. S. Field and O. A. Field, grandsons, and their children, all of this town. Ebenezer Newell owned a lot north of the Field farm, which he afterwards sold in part to Richard Miner and in part to Harvey Bell, a cloth-dresser, who re- moved to Middlebury.
In 1784 Captain David Nutting located on a hundred-acre lot, on the south line of the town, the same place now occupied by Mrs. G. W. Griswold.
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
In the southwesterly part of the town, west of the settlement of James Marsh Douglass, Israel C. Jones was the first settler. He was born in Brim- field, Mass., October 25, 1760, and came to Cornwall in 1787. He carried on this farm until his death, and for years kept a store there, being probably the first merchant in town. He was a soldier of the Revolution, and was on picket duty at Ticonderoga when the fort was surrendered to Burgoyne. He died in 1847, at the age of eighty-seven years, and the farm passed to his son, Horace Jones, and is now owned by his grandson, Champion M. Jones. The Misses. Lucretia and Harriet Jones are his granddaughters.
Bezaleel Richardson settled early on a fifty-acre lot afterward owned by B. F. Casey.
Nathaniel Cogswell lived for a time south of the Corners, on the east side of the road, in the southwest part of the town. Abisha Delano owned a farm on the east side of the North and South road.
North of the farm occupied a few years ago by Romeo Peck was an old set- tler by the name of John Ballard, who kept a store there and manufactured potash until 1790. Then he sold to Riverus Newell, who was a blacksmith and lived where Alanson Peck now resides.
Lieutenant Benjamin Reeve, from Litchfield, Conn., built where William Atwood afterward lived, on the place now occupied by Milton Washburn. He held a lieutenant's commission at the surrender of Burgoyne. After his death his farm passed through the hands of Erastus Reeve, Joshua Stockwell, Ben- jamin F. Haskell and others. B. F. Haskell is his great-grandson.
Wait Wooster early settled on the farm west of Reuben Peck, where Irving G. Wooster, his grandson, now lives. The Misses Hattie Lorraine and Alice Wooster are his granddaughters.
Deacon Daniel Samson came to Cornwall from Londonderry, N. H., in 1785, and settled on a small lot north of the Reeve farm, now owned by Edgar Sanford. He was a shoemaker, and was born in Newburyport, Mass., Novem- ber 10, 1758. In 1832 he went to Barre, N. Y., where he died ten years later. He was a rare example of the Christian graces.
Jacob Peck located on the east side of the road north of the Reeve farm in 1786, and remained there until his death in 1837, aged eighty-four years. He was born in Farrington, Conn., in 1753. He reared a numerous and respectable family and left many descendants, some of whom still reside in town. Captain Alanson Peck, his son, occupies a part of the old homestead; M. M. Peck, Henry T. Peck and Mrs. Henry Lane and Mrs. Anna Sanford are children of Alanson. Edgar Sanford, son of the last named, has grandchildren, thus ex- hibiting the remarkable co-existence of five generations.
Opposite Jacob Peck an early settler named Cory Mead lived on a lot which he bought of Stephen Tambling.
Farther north and on the same side of the road Reuben Bingham settled
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TOWN OF CORNWALL.
and built a house which long ago disappeared. He removed thence to the farm afterward occupied for a time by Hiland Hall. Merrill and Alonzo Bingham and Mrs. O. A. Field are his descendants.
In 1784 Benjamin Sanford came from Litchfield, Conn., and settled on the farm adjoining that of Jacob Peck on the north, the farm now occupied by Ed- gar Sanford. He was born in 1756. He took a prominent part in all the offices of the town from the beginning, and several times represented Cornwall in the State Legislature. Edgar Sanford, Mrs. C. E. Ellsworth and Mrs. T. B. Holley are grandchildren of Benjamin Sanford, and Mrs. Charles H. Lane is a great- granddaughter.
Deacon James Parker, from Saybrook, Conn., settled in 1789 north of Ben- jamin Sanford, on the west side of the highway, the farm being now occupied by Frank Mayhew.
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