USA > Vermont > Addison County > History of Addison county Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 66
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The present officers of this town are as follows: Selectmen, S. S. Wright, D. H. Squier, F. T. Nash; clerk, Edward S. Dana; treasurer, E. A. Doud ; constable and collector, John A. Cadwell; overseer of the poor, John A. Cad-
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well; listers, M. J. Landon, G. W. Flint, L. Richards; auditors, E. S. Dana, E. A. Landon, Frank C. Eastman; trustees of public money, E. A. Doud, William P. Nash; fence viewers, D. W. Nash, J. A. Cadwell, George F. Wash- burn ; grand jurors, H. P. Palmer, S. B. M. Cowles, C. W. Mason ; town agent, H. P. Palmer ; superintendent of schools, Dr. E. F. Preston.
The following figures show the population of this town at the various periods named : 1791, 723 ; 1800, 1,135; 1810, 1,688; 1820, 1,566; 1830, 1,834; 1840, 1,503; 1850, 1,663; 1860, 1,419; 1870, 1,355; 1880, 1,355.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF ORWELL.1
T HE town of Orwell is located in the extreme southwestern corner of the county, and is bounded north by Shoreham ; east by Whiting and Sud- bury (the latter in Rutland county) ; south by Benson (also in Rutland coun- ty); and west by Lake Champlain. It was granted by King George III, through Benning Wentworth, his majesty's governor of the province of New Hampshire, and consisted of an oblong square of land about six miles by seven, and bounded by a line beginning at a point due east from the flag-staff of the fort at Ticonderoga, thence passing east seven miles, thence south six miles, thence west to the shore of Wood Creek, as this part of Lake Champlain was then called, thence along the shore of the creek to the place of beginning. The conditions of the grant were the same as those of other towns in this county. Notwithstanding the stringency of the condition to cultivate five acres within five years for each fifty, a very long period of time was suffered to elapse before the grantees took possession of their grants, for the township was not settled, and remained an unbroken wilderness, with one exception, until after the Rev- olutionary War; nor was it surveyed and divided among the grantees until after that time. As may readily be supposed, then, very little attention was paid to many of these royal conditions.
As originally surveyed by the proprietors, the town was said to have, “ ex- clusive of ponds and streams," an area of 27,570 acres, though it was probably somewhat larger ; but this area was increased by the Legislature November 9, 1847, by the annexation of a small part of Benson. Four days later, Novem- ber 13, an act was passed annexing the whole township to Addison county, as up to this time it had been a part of Rutland county.
The surface of the town is generally about as level as is suitable for farming
1 For the following history we are largely indebted to that written by the late Hon. Roswell Bottum, printed in pamphlet form in 1881, about four years after that gentleman's death.
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purposes ; most of it is termed rolling land - that is, more or less undulating - and is very fertile, producing abundant crops of grain and grass. The western part is more clayey, yet is counted quite as good for grass. The eastern part is better adapted to the production of grain. There is a tract of land from fif- teen to eighteen hundred acres, in the south part of the town, that is consider- ably broken and hilly.
The attention of the early settlers was first directed to the growing of wheat, to which their lands were well adapted. It is believed that no country has ever produced that crop in greater perfection or in greater quantities per acre than this town. As the country became cleared up and their means for graz- ing developed, they shifted their attention from the growing of wheat to the raising of cattle, as an easier mode of getting the profit of their lands, until, in turn, beef cattle became the staple article of production. The Orwell cattle were for many years well known and appreciated in Boston as the finest cattle brought to market.
About the year 1825 the demand for wool for the supply of our domestic manufactures, which had sprung up, under the auspices of our protective tariff system, in all parts of New England, was such as to command prices that in- duced the people of Orwell to shift their staple from beef cattle to the growing of that article ; and to such an extent did the people pursue this branch of hus- bandry that for several years they produced but little else, not even a supply of breadstuff for home consumption ; and in consequence large quantities of flour were for several years imported from the West for domestic use. During this period it was estimated that the annual amount of wool produced was about one hundred thousand pounds, and some years considerably over that quantity.
About the first Merino sheep in town were rams introduced here by Luther Brown and William Fuller (neighbors), as early as 1815. Among the more prominent early breeders were Linus Wilcox, who raised both Merino and Saxony sheep ; Dorus Bascom, and his son O. H. Bascom, whose flock has re- mained intact to the present day, and is now owned by William Bascom ; Moses A. Clark, whose flocks were a mixture of Merino and Saxony; Archibald Brewer, and Samuel his son, who raised high-bred Merinos; Colonel Joseph Chittenden, and Josiah B. Scovell. In fact, nearly every farm of any preten- sions had its flock of more or less thorough-bred sheep. This interest began to decline in Orwell, however, many years before the war, and to be replaced by the dairying interest. The most prominent breeders of to-day are Daniel and Joel Buell, W. R. Sanford, S. S. Stevens, Henry Hibbard, William O. Bas- com, Horace and George D. Bush.
In 1854, January 10, the "Orwell Farmers' Club" was organized with J. H. Chittenden, president, W. R. Sanford, vice-president, Seth Benson, secre- tary, and Ira Young, treasurer. Article second of its constitution states the
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object of the club to be as follows: "The object of this club shall be the dis- cussion of agricultural subjects, the cultivation of our minds, and the improve- ment of the agriculture of this town." All of these points have been success- fully and faithfully carried out, as the improvement in stock and agriculture will testify, clearly proclaiming that a "cultivation of the mind " preceded it.
East Creek, which takes its rise in Benson, enters the town a little west of the center on the south line, and takes a northerly course until it approaches within about one hundred and fifty rods of the center village. It then turns and bears a northwesterly course until it flows into the lake near the northwest corner of the town. Soon after taking its northwestern direction its course is quite serpentine, traversing in its course to the lake nearly double the distance of a straight line. Upon this stream, about one mile from the center village, were located the grist and saw-mills of Colonel Chittenden. A few years since a woolen factory was in operation at this place, and formerly a carding-machine and clothing works found profitable business there; but both were long since abandoned, the state of domestic manufacture not being sufficient to afford them requisite business. About one-third of a mile below is another set of falls, where were formerly mills, but they are now abandoned. At this place, about the year 1788, a furnace that did considerable business was erected by the Hon. Matthew Lyon. North Branch enters the town from the north and unites with the creek about a mile below the last mentioned falls. There are several falls in this stream that would afford mill privileges if the supply of water were ade- quate throughout the year. Lemon Fair River has its source in the eastern part of the town in two branches which run nearly parallel and unite near the north line of the town, and thence flow into Shoreham.
Mount Independence, noted in the history of the Revolution, is upon the eastern shore of the lake and upon a point formed by the junction of East Creek with the lake, and is near the northwest corner of the town; the creek ap- proaching the lake at an acute angle forms a point which appears to jut out into the lake.
The town was originally heavily timbered, a large part of its forests con- sisting of a fine quality of white pine, while white, red, and black oak, hemlock, maple, beech, birch, hickory, white and black ash, red and white elm, etc., were abundant.
Early Settlements .- The first white settler in this township was John Char- ter, an emigrant from Scotland, who located himself with his family upon the lake shore near Mount Independence some years previous to the Revolutionary War, and while the country, to a great extent around him, was an unbroken wilderness; and with the exception of a small garrison stationed at Ticonder- oga, on the opposite side of the lake, there was no white inhabitant with whom he could have had communication. He came by way of Quebec and Mont- real. At the latter place he procured a boat, in which he embarked his fam- 36
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
ily, and pursued his way up the lake until he reached the place where he finally settled, which probably appeared to him an Eldorado that satisfied his desires, for he had his choice along the whole line of the lake on either side from St. Johns to Whitehall, no one in all that distance being there to oppose him in taking possession ; and it is extremely doubtful whether he could have made a better choice anywhere upon the borders of the lake. The farm he selected has always been considered the most fertile and productive of any land in town. He claimed only one hundred acres, and with that was content. He raised a large family of children, and continued to reside upon his farm until about the year 1808, when he sold his farm and with his sons removed to the West, and has been dead many years.
As we have stated, the town was not surveyed, laid out into lots, and di- vided among the original grantees until after the Revolution, or in 1783. None of the original proprietors ever settled in the town, and but few of them re- tained any interest in the lands at the time the survey was made, though their names were all retained as shareholders and appear upon the early map and records of the town, yet their interest in the lands had been assigned to actual settlers. Several, perhaps the larger part of the grantees, settled in Dutchess county in the State of New York, and in the city of New York. Only three or four of them ever made themselves familiar with the settlers, namely, Ben- jamin Underhill, Reed Ferris, Benjamin Ferris, and perhaps one or two others who settled in Dutchess county. They were highly respected for their honesty and fairness in all their business transactions. Joshua Tracy, esq., a resident of the town of Pawlet, was employed by the proprietors, in the year 1783, to make the survey and draw the shares, and early in the spring he came into town for the purpose of commencing the work, with the necessary assistants. He found Ephraim Fisher and Eber Murray already located in the wilderness, they being undoubtedly the first settlers after the charter of the town. The same year William Fisher, brother of Ephraim, came in, also Major Amos Spafford and Shadrach Hathaway, and began settlements. The year follow- ing, 1784, several others came into town, among whom were Hon. Pliny Smith, Joshua Tracy, David Leonard, Nathaniel Mallary, and Elisha Clark.
After the year 1784 the settlements advanced very rapidly, so that when the town was organized, on the 12th day of December, 1787, there were be- tween seventy and eighty families here. From the record of the meeting for the organization it appears that the following persons were present and took the freeman's oath and the oath of allegiance : Colonel Samuel Brewer, Cap- tain Ebenezer Wilson, Lieutenant William Smith, Lieutenant Jonas Rice, Shadrach Hathaway, Amos Spafford, John Charter, William Culver, Thomas Davenport, Archibald Brewer, Cyrus Clark, Joshua Tracy, Peter Hall, Smith Clark, Jabez Warren, Nathan Warren, Ebenezer Griswold, Robert Oliver, William Fisher, Isaiah Abel, Azel Abel, Ephraim Fisher, David Cutting, Rug-
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gles Ward, Thomas Stearns, Elijah Cutting, Amos Palmer, Ebenezer Babcock, Samuel Torry, Heman Wilson, Stephen Spaulding, Simeon Spaulding, John Thompson, John McManus, Sampson Spaulding, Thomas Scovell, Ebenezer Spencer, Micah Wilson, Elezar Mallany, Samuel Griswold, Adoniram Hinman, Gershom Hale, jr., Elijah Wentworth, Pliny Smith, Nehemiah Royce, Joseph Sanford, Eliphalet Smith, Simeon Young, Gideon Tower, Timothy Hibbard, Sterling Stearns, Paul Gates, Dyer Williams, Elisha Clark, Beniah Stevens, Reuben Smith, Gershom Hail, Elias Wilcox, Samuel Cook, Jacob Royce, Abi- jah Smith, William Allen, Uriah Hibbard, Brisley Peters, Asa Story, Jessee Brown, Clark Sanford, Jessee Bottum, Ichabod Sparrow Paine, Solomon Save- ry, Ebenezer Gleason. These seventy-one citizens, taken collectively, in point of industry, enterprise, perseverance, honesty, morality, and firmness of pur- pose, cannot probably be excelled, nor perhaps equaled, by any like number of first settlers in Vermont or any other country. They were mostly emigrants from Massachusetts and Connecticut. As early as 1852 only three of this ven- erable band were left-Clark Sanford, Samuel Griswold, and Reuben Smith- and even these passed away soon after.
Joshua Tracy, whom we have mentioned as making the first survey of the town, and who subsequently became an agent of the proprietors in disposing of their lands to the settlers, was a native of Norwich Conn., and emigrated from there to Pawlet, Vt., and finally came to Orwell in 1784. Being a man of considerable capacity, and understanding the surveys, he was thought a suit- able person to employ as land agent. He was one of the first justices of the peace elected after the town was organized, and was well esteemed by the in- habitants. He died in the year 1790. He had a large family, but none of his descendants remained in the town.
Jabez Warren succeeded to the land agency, and became a man of consid- erable note in the town. He engaged, in company with Dr. Luman Pettibone and Thomas Scovell, settlers of the town, in the mercantile business, which proved a failure, and which so embarrassed his pecuniary affairs that he was obliged to sell his farm, a very good one, now owned by Edwin Bottum. He afterwards, about the year 1803, removed to Western New York. He was also one of the first justices of the peace in town, and continued as such until he left. He was chosen town clerk in 1790, and continued to hold that office until the year 1799.
Hon. Pliny Smith was born in Suffield, Conn., December 19, 1761, and with his father removed to Rupert, Vt., in 1776. In 1777 he served as a sol- dier in the Revolutionary army. In 1783 he was employed by Tracy as chain- man in surveying this town, and, being pleased with the country, the next year, 1784, removed into town and bought a farm. He was appointed a justice of the peace in the year 1797, and held that office until he died, a period of over forty years. He was chosen one of the town selectmen as early as the
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
year 1790, and held that office about forty-five years. He officiated, about the year 1790, two or three years as constable. In the year 1798 he was chosen town representative to the State Legislature, and represented the town for ten years consecutively, when he was elected a member of the State Coun- cil, to which he was re-elected for eight or nine years. He was appointed assistant judge of Rutland County Court in 1808. After serving several years as assistant judge, he was appointed chief judge of that court, which office he held until 1820 or '21. He was a member of the corporation of the Vermont University from 1810 to '16, and was chosen town clerk in 1799, and retained that office until 1825. Judge Smith died July 5, 1840, aged seventy-nine years. The old homestead is now occupied by his granddaughters, Jane and Ann Smith, daughters of Israel. Lieutenant William Smith, an elder brother of Judge Smith, came into town very early, probably in 1784. He was a magistrate and quite active in the early proceedings, but died in 1789.
Hon. Ebenezer Wilson, a native of Connecticut, emigrated to this town about the year 1784, and was chosen proprietors' register in the year 1791. He was the first representative of the town to the State Legislature, elected in 1788, and was re-elected to that office until the year 1798. Judge Wilson was appointed assistant judge of Rutland County Court in the year 1792, which office he held for several years. He sold his farm and removed to Western New York about the year 1808.
Hon. Apollas Austin, a native of Suffield, Conn., was born about the year 1760. Early in the War of the Revolution he enlisted as a soldier, while yet a boy in his seventeenth year, and continued in the army throughout the war. He was in the battles of Monmouth, Germantown, and many others, and was honorably discharged at the close of the war. On retiring from the army he first engaged in the business of peddling wooden dishes, afterwards adding to his stock needles, pins, and a variety of other small articles, and later came to Orwell for the purpose of getting out timber for the Quebec market, disposing of his goods for timber and labor. He was very successful in this enterprise and followed it two or three years. He afterwards, as a merchant in this town, acquired wealth.
Deacon Eber Murray, from Guilford, Conn., came to Orwell in 1783, lo- cating in the northeastern part of the town. Mr. Murray was an earnest, straightforward man, and was mainly instrumental in organizing the first church, and served as a deacon of the Baptist Church for many years. He was twice married, and reared a family of eight children, his son David being the first child born in the township. Deacon Murray died in 1825. The widow of his grandson, Mrs. Leland Murray, now occupies the homestead.
Ephraim Fisher, who came into town with Deacon Murray, was a native of Massachusetts. He also acquired a large property, which he left at his death in possession of his son, Isaac Fisher, and which is now the property of his
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grandson, Ira Fisher. The old gentleman had very little taste for notoriety, but contented himself with the business of his farm and in the quiet of his own family. He died about the year 1834. His brother William came into the town soon after, locating upon an adjoining farm, where he also acquired a large property. He died about the year 1829. The farm is now occupied by George Thomas.
Joab Smith, esq., came into town about the time of its organization, though his name does not appear upon the records of that transaction. His native place was Athol, Mass. He was elected town representative in the year 1808, and was annually re-elected to that office until 1818; was a justice of the peace over thirty years, and was many years town selectman. He was very influential in town, and died about the year 1844, upon the farm on which he first settled, now owned by Chandler Johnson, leaving it in possession of his youngest son, Jacob Smith, jr., now a resident of Brandon.
Shadrach Hathaway was one of the first settlers upon a farm where is now located the center village in the town, and was a very active and prominent citizen while he resided in town. He gave to the town a lot of two acres of land for the benefit of the society (probably intending the Congregational So- ciety and Congregational Church, of which he was a member) for a meeting- house lot, provided they should occupy and continue to occupy the same with a meeting-house. He removed as early as 1794 to the north part of this State.
Major Amos Spafford also came into town among the first settlers, and was quite active in the early proceedings of the town for a few years, and then re- moved.
Simeon Young came into town before its organization, from Athol, Mass., and was an active and useful citizen, acquired a large property, and was quite influential. He had three sons in town, who became citizens of the first re- spectability. All of them have been many years magistrates, and two of them have been town representatives. He died in October, 1847, at the advanced age of eighty-four years, leaving his farm in the possession of his eldest son, Samuel Young, and it is now owned by H. H. Young, son of Samuel.
Deacon Ebenezer Hulburd came into town about the time of its organiza- tion, from Rupert, Vt. His native place was Suffield, Conn. He was the first deacon of the Congregational Church, and continued in that office until his death, which occurred in the year 1819. He acquired a handsome property, and reared a large and respectable family, who settled in various parts of the country, and but few of whom remain in Orwell. The old farm is now the property of Dr. Mather, of Boston.
Colonel Samuel Brewer came into the town in 1786. He was a native of Connecticut. He commanded a regiment in the War of the Revolution and was stationed some time at Ticonderoga. His son Archibald, then a youth, was with him in the capacity of waiter. Immediately after the war closed they
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both removed to Ticonderoga and erected mills there upon the falls of Lake George Creek, but soon removed to Orwell, where the son built a distillery. Colonel Brewer was a very companionable man, with a great fund of ready wit, and was much esteemed. It was said he was a very good officer. He died about the year 1810.
David Leonard came into the town in 1784, and was an enterprising and energetic man, who immediately set about erecting a grist-mill and saw-mill. These were the first mills erected in town, and were of great benefit to the early settlers. In the month of March, 1789, the grist-mill was burned, with 200 bushels of wheat deposited therein, which circumstance tended greatly to en- hance its scarcity that year. Mr. Leonard lost no time in rebuilding his mill, and the people, having an interest in its reconstruction, did much to aid him in accomplishing the work, so that early in the season of the same year it was again in operation. These mills were where James Lillie's now is.
Jonas Royce, formerly spelled Rice till changed by the Legislature, served in the War of the Revolution, and soon after its close located upon the farm now owned by his grandson, William Royce. George Royce is another grand- son. The old building now standing on the farm, erected previous to 1800, was used for many years as a hotel.
Nehemiah Royce, from Massachusetts, came soon after the Revolution, and located upon the farm now owned by his grandson, Luther Royce, moving his goods on horseback. He married Cynthia Smith, reared a family of four chil- dren, and died April 5, 1817.
Joshua White, one of the early settlers from Connecticut, purchased a large tract of land in the western part of the town, where he subsequently engaged in mercantile pursuits, residing upon the farm he first settled till his death. Some of his descendants are still residents of the town.
Isaiah Abell, from Norwich, Conn., came to Orwell in 1786, locating upon the farm now owned by his grandson, C. E. Abell. The year previous he came on with Samuel Griswold, made a clearing, and planted some wheat; it was the first clearing made on this farm. He died at an advanced age in 1814.
Nathaniel Bacon, from Connecticut, located at an early date upon the farm now owned by Thomas Burke, and later moved to the present farm of Sheldon Conkey. Mr. Bacon was a deacon of the Congregational Church here for forty years, and led the choir for a number of years. He died in 1851, aged eighty- six years. J. W. Bacon, son of Nathaniel, was born here in 1800, and died in April, 1881. He was largely identified with all that concerned the welfare of the church and the support of her ministers, and was recognized as a benevo- lent man. His wife, Harriet (Hubbard) Bacon, a native of Sheffield, Mass., was a woman of rare intellectual gifts, and was noted for sustaining a part in all good works.
Ellis Benson came to Orwell among the early settlers, locating in the south-
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western part of the town, where he died at an advanced age. Ellis, jr., came with his father, but removed to Benson a few years later, where he died De- cember 31, 1849. His son Justus, born in Benson in 1808, located in the southwestern part of this town in 1865.
Timothy Hibbard located in the eastern part of the town, upon the farm now owned by his son George M. The old homestead, built in 1800, is still standing.
Samuel Griswold, from Norwich, Conn., located in 1787 upon the farm now owned by his grandsons, Sidney, Henry, and Carlton Griswold, where he re- sided till his death in 1852. Lester Griswold came with Samuel, his father, and subsequently located upon the farm now owned by William C., where he died in 1867. Marvin, son of Samuel, born here in 1800, died in 1854, when his place reverted to his son Sidney. E. D. Griswold, son of Lester, born here in 1829 and a resident since that time, was the pioneer in breeding Jersey cattle in this section, and brought the first full-blooded Jerseys to this town.
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