USA > Vermont > Addison County > History of Addison county Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 67
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Moses A. Clark, an early settler in the western part of the town, came from Pawlet. He married twice, had seven children born to him, and died in 1859. One of his sons, who died recently, married Emily, daughter of Judge Bottum, who now resides on the old Bottum farm.
James Conkey, from Connecticut, located at an early date upon the farm now owned by his grandson, a son of Chauncey, where he resided until his death in 1838.
Rev. Elnathan Phelps, from Massachusetts, located with his son Elnathan in the northern part of the town previous to 1800. He was the first settled minister in the township. Elnathan, jr., married Phebe Tuttle, reared eleven children, and died in 1843.
Asa Parks, from New York, located in the southern part of the town in 1785. He married Lucy Branch, reared nine children, and died in 1813. His wife died in 1863, aged ninety-seven years. Their son Asa, born in 1798, died recently.
Elias Bascom, from Newport, N. H., located in the western part of the town in 1792, where he remained three years and then removed to the farm now owned by S. H. Bascom, where he died in 1833. His son Darius resided on the old farm and died in 1842. He married Chloe Hubbard and reared a fam- ily of nine children, one of whom, S. H. Bascom, resides on the old farm. His sister Emily was the wife of William R. Sanford.
Luther Brown, from Litchfield, Conn., came to Orwell previous to 1790, locating upon the farm now owned by his son John F., where he continued to reside until his death in 1837. John F. was born on this place in 1805. He married for his first wife Caroline Sanford, who bore him a daughter, Carrie S., and for his second wife Pauline White, who bore him four children - Milton R., Effie, Ella, and Allen. Mr. Brown is now a hale old gentleman of eighty years.
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HISTORY OF ADDISON. COUNTY.
Roswell Bottum, from Norwich, Conn., came to Orwell among the early settlers, locating upon the farm now owned by Mrs. Emily Clark, widow of M. J. Clark, where he continued to reside until his death in 1856. Roswell Bottum, jr., born here in 1796, lived a long and useful life, and died October 28, 1877, aged eighty-one years. He married Elne Hulburt, daughter of Eb- enezer Hulburt, born August 20, 1797, about a mile and a half south of her present home. Since their wedding, in 1820, Mrs. Bottum has resided on the old farm, a period of sixty-six years. Of their family of two sons and seven daugh- ters, Henry resides in Rosendale, Wis., George R. in Rutland, Vt., and Mrs. Emily Clark, one of the five surviving daughters, on the farm with her mother. Judge Bottum possessed a strong intellect and an energetic disposition, coupled with sterling integrity, which early won for him a warm place in the regard of his townsmen, whom he served in the principal town trusts for many years. He was a justice of the peace fifty-two years, town clerk forty-five years, assist- ant judge of the County Court three years, and represented the town in the Leg- islature several terms. Judge Bottum was also quite literary in his tastes, and had commenced a history of the town, which, in an incomplete state, was pub- lished in 1881.
Jesse Bottum, also from Norwich, Conn., came here previous to 1800, locat- ing upon the farm next south of where W. R. Sanford now lives, and afterward removed to that occupied by the latter's grandson. His son Bishop came with him and subsequently participated in the battle of Plattsburgh. Bishop mar- ' ried Zilpha Conkey, reared a family of six children, and died in 1860. His son, E. M., occupies the old homestead.
Joseph Sanford was one of the early settlers on the farm now owned by Ad- dison Kimball, where he kept a tavern for several years, and removed to the place now occupied by his grandson, W. R. Sanford, son of Clark Sanford. W. R. Sanford was born here on the 4th of March, 1805, and has passed all his life on the homestead. He married Emily Bascom and had a family of seven children - three sons and four daughters, of whom three sons and two daugh- ters are yet living. Mr. Sanford is one of the oldest sheep-breeders in the State. He kept sheep for some years before 1830, when he began to raise thorough-bred Merinos of the Jarvis variety.
Joseph Thomas, from Litchfield, Conn., came to Orwell in 1793 and lo- cated in the western part of the town, where he remained a few years, then re- moved to the northeastern part upon the farm now owned by Mrs. Vail, where he engaged in the business of a saddler. He had eight children -four sons and four daughters, all but two of whom, Julia and Julius C., are now dead, the former residing in Bennington, the latter in this town.
Isaac Tenney, with his three brothers, Jesse, Alvin, and Lewis, removed from Bennington county to this town in 1794, and located upon the farm now owned by I. T. Branch. He married Minerva Buck and had a family of seven
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TOWN OF ORWELL.
children, five of whom were daughters. One, Luna, married Martin D. Branch, who occupies the old homestead.
James Hull, from Newport, N. H., came to Orwell about the year 1800, locating upon the farm now owned by his son, James E. He married Char- lotte Bush and had a family of five children, two of whom still reside in the town.
Philip Hemenway, from Massachusetts, located in Bridport in 1806, and thence came to Orwell in 1808, locating upon the farm now owned by his son Lewis S. He died in August, 1863, his wife following him in April of the next year. Lewis S., now aged seventy-nine years, represented the town in 1863 and 1864. He married Marsha Clark and had a family of four children, only one of whom, Harriet, the widow of H. D. Bascom, is now living.
Jeremiah Boynton, from Massachusetts, came to this town about the year 1800, locating about a mile and a half east of the village, where he remained about three years, then located in the village, where in 1816 he built the Ea- gle Hotel, and conducted it for a period of about a quarter of a century, when it was taken by his son, J. W. Boynton, the present proprietor. Jeremiah mar- ried Martha Wilson and had a family of five children, and died in 1865, aged eighty-three years. His wife died in 1871, also in her eighty-third year.
Ebenezer Wilcox, from Newport, N. H., came to Orwell about 1808, and located upon the farm now owned by his granddaughter and her husband, H. T. Cutts. Ebenezer had a family of ten children, and four generations have been reared on the old homestead.
The locations selected for a home by others of the early settlers were as follows : Smith Clark and Cyrus Clark, south of the Hulburd farm; Peter H. Hall, east of the present farm of W. R. Sanford; William Culver, upon the farm now owned by Rollin Williams; Abell family, in the eastern part of the town; David Cutting, upon the farm now owned by Patrick Spearing; Amos Palmer, near Pliny Smith's; Samuel Torry, a harness-maker, boarded with Jeremiah Boynton, and participated in the battle of Plattsburgh; Beriah Stevens, the farm adjoining that of Ellen Youngs on the east; Samuel Cook, in the northern part of the town, upon the farm now owned by his grandson, Samuel; Abijah Smith, in the southeastern part of the town; Brinsley Peters, known as " old Father Peters," kept a small tavern in the eastern part of the town, about a mile west of Joab Smith's; Ebenezer Gleason, in the Pliny Smith neighbor- hood; Gershom Hale lived about half a mile east of the village, upon the farm now occupied by Chester Hack, where his father, Gershom Hale, also lived, who was a noted hunter, fisherman, and wag; Eliphalet Smith lived in the east- ern part of the town; Simeon Young, also in the eastern part of the town; Gideon Town located near the Shoreham line; Heman Wilson, near Pliny Smith's; Stephen Spaulding, just west of Jonas Rice (later Royce), now occu- pied by John Hall and Apollas Skinner; Simeon Spaulding lived on the same
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
place, and Sampson Spaulding was a near neighbor; Thomas Scovell, about two miles east of the village, on the Ellen Young farm; Adoniram Hinman, southwest of the village, on the late Samuel Cook place; and Daniel and Silas Buell, in the southwestern part of the town.
Town Organization .- At the meeting for organization, December 12, 1787, the settlers made choice of the following persons for office in the town for the year following, viz .:
Lieutenant William Smith, moderator; David Leonard, town clerk; Lieu- tenant William Smith, Captain Ebenezer Wilson, Major Amos Spafford, trust- ees; Cyrus Clark, constable. Voted, That the selectmen serve as listers or assessors, and that the constable serve as collector.
These were all the town officers that it was deemed expedient to elect at that time; but the succeeding year the inhabitants convened on the 12th of March, and proceeded to transact the following business, viz .:
The meeting being opened pursuant to the warning, Lieutenant Elisha Clark was chosen moderator; David Leonard, town clerk; Captain Ebenezer Wilson, Major Amos Spafford, Lieutenant William Smith, Colonel Samuel Brewer, and Ebenezer Griswold, selectmen; Lieutenant Jonas Rice, town treas- urer ; Jabez Warren, constable and collector; David Cutting, grand juror ; Cyrus Clark, Elisha Clark, Nathan Warren, and Ephraim Fisher, listers; Eber Murray, sealer of leather ; Joseph Sanford, sealer of weights and measures ; Westley Perkins, tithingman; Shadrach Hathaway, Micah Wilson, Archibald Brewer, William Smith, Samuel Torry, Smith Clark, and Thomas Scovell, sur- veyors of highways; William Fuller, Azel Abel, John Thompson, haywards ; William Culver, brander of horses; Adoniram Hinman, deercap.
Extreme anxiety was felt about this time to obtain settlers, and every in- ducement was held out that could be offered by the people to persuade new comers to buy lands. Tracy, the land agent, who partook of the same feeling, to accommodate the wishes of buyers disregarded the surveys and division made by his principals, the original proprietors, often making entire new " pitches," as they were called, surveying out to buyers such desirable pieces and in such form as they chose, making it the one point aimed at to suit pur- chasers. As it proved, he in nearly every case made great errors in quantity in favor of buyers, the result of which was that when the lands had been all taken up several of the entire shares of the original grantees were run out, and no land remained for them. It was known that the dimensions of the town were sufficient to give to all their full shares, and that the deficiency was the result of gross errors. Before, however, these difficulties had assumed any serious aspect, Mr. Tracy died, and his agency fell into the hands of Jabez Warren, esq., whose management was no better, but in many respects much worse. Between the two agents, titles had become so deranged and confused that it was difficult to ascertain whose titles were good and whose otherwise.
567
TOWN OF ORWELL.
These difficulties became apparent about the year 1797; and to render the cir- cumstances more appalling, a man by the name of David Porter appeared in town, who claimed to have purchased of all the wanting proprietors, whose shares had been crowded out, their several interests in and claims to lands in town, bringing deeds and powers of attorney to that effect. To enforce his claims, Porter threatened to commence suits at law to recover the rights he claimed to have purchased. It was foreseen that if Porter should proceed to put his threats in execution the effect would be to involve the inhabitants, and perhaps the town in its corporate capacity, in endless litigation, a calamity which all saw the importance of endeavoring to avert if possible.
To this end a proposition was made to Porter that if he would desist from prosecuting, the whole of the lands in the town should be re-surveyed by an accurate surveyor, giving to each occupant the right to hold his land as he then occupied it, merely perambulating the present lines, but with the condition that if the land of any occupant should hold out in quantity more than he had pur- chased it for, such occupant should pay in money for such excess to Porter, at the rate he had purchased his lands; or if any occupant chose to relinquish his excess of land instead of paying for it in money, he should have the right to do so, and Porter should take the land. And to induce all the land-holders in town to sign this compact in writing, it was agreed that one link should be added to the chain with which the lands should be surveyed, so as to be sure to give to each occupant the full measure of land; and if any occupant should have less land than he had purchased, his quota should be made up to him. A committee was to be chosen by the town to assist the surveyor, and to have power to designate and locate all overplus pieces, and award lands for such as were deficient. To this proposition Porter finally acceded.
James Whelpley, esq., was selected as a surveyor to be entrusted with the work, and the Hon. Pliny Smith, Hon. Apollas Austin, Ebenezer Wilson, and Cyrus Clark, esq., were chosen the committee of "location," as they were called, to locate overplus lands. This survey was made in the year 1799. The result of this arrangement was that nearly all paid the money for their over- plus lands to Porter, and the residue of lands that were not paid for he sold out in bulk to Mr. Austin.
The town of Sudbury, adjoining Orwell on the east, was chartered a short time prior to the town of Orwell, and it appears that through some mistake the charters of both cover a strip of land one mile in width across the entire east end of the town. After considerable trouble the tract was held by Or- well.
In 1789 the inhabitants suffered a terrible scarcity of provisions, when mea- ger want became an inmate in nearly every dwelling in town. The settlers, during the short time they had been upon their farms, had been employed in rearing their log cabins and other fixtures of immediate necessity ; had as yet
568
HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
made but small openings in the wilderness around them, and these had to be sub-divided so as to afford grazing and fodder for their teams and a cow or two for each, so that their means for producing grain in most cases had not become very extensive, each endeavoring to produce a supply for his own wants. The year preceding had been an unfruitful one, and only a very short crop had been produced throughout this section. The people, being mostly poor, had not been upon their farms long enough to raise produce for market. There- fore there was a scarcity of money also ; besides, the roads had hardly yet been made passable. Much suffering and destitution followed. Many families were entirely destitute of bread for weeks together, and destitute also of meat. Their only resources were fish, which they roasted in the frying-pan without any seasoning but salt, which with the milk of a cow divided perhaps among seven or eight, constituted their living. The harvest, though unusually late, came at last, and brought a supply, so that when merry Christmas came round the people had recovered from their gloom.
Military .- Although not settled until after the Revolution, the town is noted for having within its limits the celebrated Mount Independence. This place became a military station soon after the capture of Ticonderoga by Ethan Al- len, May 10, 1775, and, being a very eligible situation for military works, it became the headquarters of the Army of the North, and the scene of the stir- ring events, the chronicles of which have gone into general history.
The military road that communicated from this station with Hubbardton and Castleton probably passed on the southern side of East Creek, to a point about a mile and a half southwest of the center village in town, thence south, crossing the creek near the south line of the town, near the place occupied by the old Fair Haven turnpike.
A large number of the early settlers in this town served more or less in the Revolutionary army ; but of these many had died previous to the passage of any law granting pensions for Revolutionary services. Those who lived to receive the gratuities of the pension laws were Lieutenant Jonas Royce, who served in three companies under lieutenant's commissions, receiving a pension equal to lieutenant's pay ; Ephraim Blood, Daniel Buell, Peter Hall, Christo- pher Miner, Seth Benson, Christopher Bunker, John Noble, Jonathan Beld- ing, Apollas Austin, Stephen Long, Pliny Smith, Samuel Griswold, Solomon Chittenden, and William Jones, all of whom are now deceased except the three last. The widows who have received pensions were. Lydia Benson, Mary Buell, Hannah Hulburd, Elizabeth Royce, Sarah Austin, Abigail Noble, and Esther Thomas.
A majority of the inhabitants of the town believed that the injuries and in- dignities which our country had received from Great Britain were a sufficient justification of the declaration of the War of 1812, by the United States against that power, and therefore heartily sympathized in the measures of the admin-
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TOWN OF ORWELL.
istration in carrying on the war. During the first year of the war a draft from the militia was made, in the month of June, 1812, in which it fell to the lot of Captain Mason Ormsbee, the commander of one of the militia companies of the town, and twelve non-commissioned officers and privates, to go into actual service when called for, in defense of the northern frontier. During the year 1813 upwards of twenty men from this town enlisted into the regular army of the United States for the term of during the war.
In September, 1814, Sir George Prevost, from Canada, made a descent upon Plattsburgh with a large army, accompanied by a formidable naval force upon the lake. The news of the invasion, by express, reached the town of Orwell on the night of the 9th of September, about sunset. During the night measures were taken to give notice of the threatened danger, and at sunrise on the morning of the 10th about one hundred and fifty men, citizens of the town, were under arms and on their way to repel the invasion. These men formed themselves under the command of the officers of the two standing militia com- panies of the town, and proceeded to the scene of the invasion, but arrived too late to be of very much actual service.
The following list contains the names of those who went out from the town to serve in Vermont regiments during the late war :
Volunteers for three years credited previous to call for 300,000 volunteers of October 17, 1863 :
C. E. Abell, G. S. Benson, A. Blood, S. S. Bowen, C. F. Branch, F. Brown, J. Bruen, P. Chamberlin, J. M. Coburn, C. C. Comafourd, J. C. Cummerford, L. Dunbar, M. Fanning, W. Fanning, M. Finnessy, T. Finnessy, J. W. Good- rich, L. L. Goodrich, J. Hammel, C. A. Higgins, H. O. Higgins, J. J. Huit, G. A. Kilmer, J. La Mountain, C. C. Larabee, P. Maloney, J. W. Perkins, E. M. Raymond, I. W. Raymond, E. J. Rogers, H. C. Rogers, M. H. Skeels, F. C. Stedman, I. W. Stedman, J. Stedman, H. C. Thomas, D. Wadsworth, J. N. Woodward.
Credits under call of October 17, 1863, for 300,000 volunteers, and subse- quent calls :
Volunteers for three years .- J. N. Brock, J. Brock, jr., J. Carlisle, J. R. Gray, J. Hersey, L. R. Hopkins, C. Howard, R. Killmer, C. T. Lester, O. D. Lyford, W. Miller, A. J. Morton, N. A. Munger, W. T. Munger, A. Parent, F. Plue, H. Steward.
Volunteers for one year .- T. Denno, C. R. Lilley, M. Naylor, L. N. Wol- cott.
Volunteers re-enlisted .- M. Finnessy, J. Quarters, E. M. Raymond, E. C. Rogers, F. C. Stedman, J. Stedman.
Enrolled men who furnished substitute .- D. C. Bascom, D. W. Clark, H. T. Cutts, J. L. Hammond, A. D. Holbrook, D. H. W. Horton, C. Sanford, P. Smith, J. H. Thomas, S. D. Wells.
Not credited by name .- Three men.
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
Volunteers for nine months .- C. E. Abell, E. C. Ball, J. D. Barber, D. I. Brown, S. E. Griswold, H. E. Hack, H. G. Hibbard, T. W. Lewis, J. A. Mun- ger, D. Rogers, G. H. Rowley, D. E. Royce, A. W. Samson, F. Spaulding, H. Sturdevant, W. D. Walker, C. R. Winchester, J. Wolcott, N. L. Wolcott.
Furnished under draft .- Paid commutation, L. A. Austin, H. C. Brown, C. A. Cook, M. A. Hitchcock, C. R. Lilley. Procured substitute, C. F. Persons, W. O. Ray, H. Rust, R. C. Wilcox.
Early Merchants .- The first merchant in Orwell was Ruluff White, sr., who came into the town from Hoosick, N. Y., about 1788. He continued in busi- ness only a few years. Apollas Austin was the next, who opened a general store in 1792, in a building now used as a horse barn by J. O. Raymond. He did an extensive business. About 1795 he took his brother, Josiah Austin, into partnership with him, the firm continuing until the death of Josiah in 1819. Apollas then conducted the business, a portion of the time having his sons con- nected with him, until 1846, thus being in business longer than any other mer- chant in the town. Among the principal ones of the other early merchants were John B. Catlin, Mason Ormsbee, and Walter Chipman & Co., after the latter of whom Chipman's Point received its name. As late as 1850 there were in business Catlin & Wright, Abel & Wilcox, and W. C. and James Gras- sie, the latter at the Point.
Population Statistics .- As early as 1803 emigration from the town com- menced, the course being principally to Northern New York, St. Lawrence county receiving many families during the following eight or nine years. About 1810 the tide of emigration turned towards the West, and from that time to the present has been a constant drain on the population, Western New York, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin receiving a large portion of the num- ber. The tendency of this emigration of medium farmers, without other set- tlers from abroad coming in to take their places, has been to diminish the num- ber and increase the size of the farms, so that in many cases four or five orig- inal farms have been amalgamated into one. The following statistics from the United States census reports show the fluctuation for each decade since 1791, when the first census was taken : 1791, 778 ; 1800, 1,376; 1810, 1,849; 1820, 1,730; 1830, 1,598 ; 1840, 1,504; 1850, 1,470; 1860, 1,341; 1870, 1,192; 1880, 1,353.
Present Town Officers .- The present officers of the town are Gideon Abbey, clerk ; J. W. Boynton, treasurer ; John Hall, G. A. Kimball, and I. T. Branch, selectmen ; R. W. Sholes, constable; G. A. Kimball, superintendent; D. B. Merwin, H. T. Cutts, and B. B. Buell, listers ; D. B. Merwin, overseer; and C. E. Bush, agent.
Masonic .- Independence Lodge, No. 10, F. & A. M., was organized Octo- ber 9, 1815, its first list of officers being as follows: Wait Branch, W. M .; Ashur Nichols, S. W .; and Joel Barber, J. W. The masters since then have .
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TOWN OF ORWELL.
been Daniel Root, Joel Barber, Ashur Nichols, George D. Davis, Benjamin Pardy, Lyman Saunders, Samuel Pardy, Roswell Bottum, jr., George D. Dowd, William C. Griswold, M. J. Clark, D. C. Bascom, C. D. Abell, E. M. Bottum, V. V. Blackmer, H. G. Hibbard, C. E. Abell, and G. A. Kimball.
MUNICIPAL.
As Orwell is purely an agricultural town, little can be said under this head. Orwell village is located almost precisely in the geographical center of the town, where the main roads extending north and south and east and west intersect. The early settlements made upon its site and vicinity, and the early storekeep- ers, have already been mentioned. The village now has two churches (Roman Catholic and Congregational), a national bank, three stores, one hotel, a large carriage factory, three blacksmith shops, one harness shop, a fine school build- ing, town hall, and about twenty-five or thirty dwellings.
The earliest postmaster here of which we can find any trace was Ira Smith, about 1815; and from that time the successive storekeepers have served as postmasters, among whom have been A. B. Catlin, Joseph M. Bishop, E. M. Wright, S. C. Bull, Dorus C. Bascom, and the present postmaster, William B. Wright.
The store now occupied by William B. Wright, in the general mercantile business, was built by Jeremiah Boynton, and first kept by Ira Smith. In 1845 E. M. Wright, father of William B., came here from Burlington and im- mediately engaged in trade, the firm being Champlin, Fletcher & Wright. About 1847 the firm was changed to Catlin & Wright, then Wright & Gale, Wright & Wyman, Wright & Bascom, and finally, in 1867, it became E. M. Wright & Co., William B. being the partner. On August 15, 1881, he be- came sole owner, and has conducted the business since. Mr. Wright was born in Hinesburg, Chittenden county, August 10, 1818, and married in 1846, the year after his father came here, Eliza Bottum. W. A. Johnson and J. E. Will- iams, under the firm name of Johnson & Williams, began the hardware busi- ness here in 1883, occupying the present store of W. O. Ray. In the summer of 1885 they built their present store, which they have occupied since. W. O. Ray has been in the grocery business here since the latter part of Novem- ber, 1885. He occupies the old "Wilcox store," which was built at a very early date by Ormsbee Brothers.
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