USA > Vermont > Bennington County > History of Bennington County, Vt. : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 46
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' From the Manchester Journal.
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HISTORY OF BENNINGTON COUNTY.
but still continuing his residence in the town, which is situate on the site formerly occupied by Captain Peter Black's tavern.
Dr. George Tuttle was born on Pond Hill, Rutland county, December 31. 1798. He read medicine with Dr. Thomas Woodward, and was licensed to practice in 1823. The next year he came to practice at Manchester, taking up a residence at Factory Point. On the 26th of August, 1824 Dr. Tutte married Mary B. Roberts, a descendant of the pioneer, John Roberts, of the town. The children were Emmett G., Ellen, Julia, and Charles C., the latter. however, being a child by the second wife of Dr. Tuttle, who was before this marriage Mrs. Jerusha T. Toby. Dr. George Tuttle died July 23, 1866.
Malcom Canfield .- The subject of this sketch is a descendant of one of the pioneer families of Arlington, of which Israel Canfield was the head. Malcom was the son of Nathaniel, and the grandson of Israel Canfield; he was born in Arlington on the 31st of July, 1822, and until he attained the age of twenty years lived at home, but at that age he went to New York City, where he re- mained about twenty. three years, returning to this county in 1855 or '56. For a number of years he lived in Sunderland, but in 1872 came to Manchester and located in the south part of the township. In 1855 Mr. Canfield married Au- gusta, the daughter of James A. Graves, of which marriage three children have been born. Mr. Canfield is a decidedly progressive citizen of this town, and has been identified with all measures looking to the benefit of its people. He has held many of the important town offices.
The Bentley Family .- In the southwest part of Manchester and the south- east part of Sandgate, now live several families whose surname is Bentley, and who are the descendants of Solomon Bentley, who settled, it is understood, in Shaftsbury at an early day. The children of Solomon Bentley were Daniel, Whitman, Solomon, Merritt, William, Elijah. Elias, Sybil, Lydia, and Harriet. Of these children Solomon married Diana Mattison, of Shaftsbury, and had eleven children, as follows: Jane, Henrietta, Eveline, Augusta, Ralph, Mark, Jay, Marcia, Addie, Eugene and Marietta. The old home farm of Solomon Bently is now occupied by Jay Bentley, his son.
John C. Blackmer .- Dr. Jonathan Blackmer came to Vermont during the latter part of the last century ; he took part in the War of 1812, as surgeon it is believed, and practiced in Dorset, where he died. His children were Har- man, Hiram and Betsey, all of whom were born in Dorset. Hiram came to Manchester while a young man and went into business. He married Fannie Collins, who bore hin five children. Of these John C. Blackmer was the youngest. Being in Indiana during the early years of the late war, he en- listed in the Sixteenth Volunteer Infantry. He was wounded at Richmond. Ky., and discharged for disabilities in 1864. His rank at the time was first lieutenant of Company K. He came to Manchester and commenced business as a merchant in 1869, and is now one of the leading business men of the town; his store is located at Manchester Depot.
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TOWN OF MANCHESTER.
James E. McNaughton .- The subject of this sketch was born in Hebron, ". Y., and was the youngest of the thirteen children of Daniel McNaughton. the father, Daniel, lived in Rupert in 1790, and in Sandgate in 1800 and 1802; died in Ohio in 1830. About 1839 James E. McNaughton married Sarah : Hogeboom, of Manchester, and came soon after that event to live in the . an at the place he so much improved and built up, which was named Bar- Humville, and so called for the senior member of the firm of Barnum, Richard- w11 & Co., they being extensive charcoal manufacturers in that locality. Mr. McNaughton was their chief managing officer at the place. He procured the establishment of a post-office here in 1869; also a railroad station.
Harrison Hubbard .- On what is known as the " west road," in the town of Manchester, stands an attractive looking and large dwelling house; and to the west of that, extending some distance back toward the mountain, is a fine farm of two hundred acres, the property of Harrison Hubbard. This splendid loca- tion has become somewhat prominent during late years as a resort for sum- mer visitors. Harrison Hubbard was born in Winhall, and of that town his father, Cyrus Hubbard, was a pioneer, having settled there prior to 1810. Cyrus had nine children : Silas, Eli, Lucinda, Mary, Pamelia, Phidela, Han- nah, William, and Harrison, the last three only being natives of Winhall. Har- rison came to Manchester about fifteen years ago, and purchased the farm on which he now lives in 1879. The boarding capacity of the house is sufficient for sixteen persons. About 1845 Mr. Hubbard married Ann Eaton, of which marriage five children have been born.
T e Jameson Family .- William Jameson came to Manchester from Lon- donderry, N. H., during the early years of the present century, and located on what, to this day, is known as the " Jameson Flats." William had four children, Aiken, William, James, and Polly, all of whom are now dead. Aiken was born in Manchester in 1806. He married Hannah Hicks, who bore him six children : Olive, who married Milton Warner; Frances, who married Wil- liam C. Bowen; Laura who married Horace Haskins; Edward A., of Man- chester, and Smith, of East Dorset ; there was one other child that died in infancy. Edward A. Jameson, who now lives in the east part of the town, is known as one of the most successful business men of the community, and one of the most progressive, thrifty farmers of the shire. He married Melvina Johnson, of Winhall.
Horace S. Sykes was a son of Milton Sykes, and a grandson of Ashbel Sykes, the latter a pioneer of the town of Rupert. Milton, the father of Horace S., was born in East Rupert in March, 1796, and married Henrietta Gurnsey in 1831. Their children were Augustus K, Horace S., Henry C., Byron H., and Lucy A., all of whom were born in Rupert, Horace on November 7th, 1836. In 1862 he enlisted in Company C, Fourteenth Vermont Infantry, and served one year, when he was discharged on account of severe sickness. On
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HISTORY OF BENNINGTON COUNTY.
the 13th of October. 1865 he married Delia E. Underhill, of East Rupert whom he has had five children, two only of whom are now living. In : Mr. Sykes and his family moved to Manchester on a farm, but in 1885 1 ... cupied a very desirable dwelling in the upper portion of the village of Fac Point, now Manchester Center. Mr. Sykes is a farmer by occupation, bu! connection therewith has an extensive " milk route " in the town.
Elias P. Thompson .- The subject of this sketch was born in Rutland coun. and is now sixty- two years of age. He married Betsey Dawson, by whon. had three children : Phebe Taylor, Belle Gillis, and Herbert E Mr. Thom . son moved to the north part of Manchester town some thirty-five or ton years ago. Herbert E. Thompson was born in Manchester in 1856. He is farmer by leading occupation, but when not busy on the farm his time is dir voted to the sale of musical instruments, in which he is quite an extensive dealer.
Gilman Wilson .- This son of Samuel and Margaret Wilson, was bor .. August 28, 1806; Gilman, in 1828, married Cythia Curtis, by whom he had seven children: Martha Ann, Isaac B., Matilda, Eliza Jane, William C., Sam !- D., and Sarah E. From 1828 until 1838 Mr. Wilson lived in Dorset, and was connected with the marble industry there, but, in the last named year he became a resident of Manchester, where he continued the same line of business. He died July 19, 1881.
CHAPTER XXII.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF ARLINGTON.'
E XTENDING from the western border of the State eastward to the foot of the Green Mountains lies the town of Arlington. In the northeastern part the summit of Red Mountain towers aloft to the height of 3,017 feet above sea level. Adjacent rises West Mountain and further south Spruce Peak. These three extending north and south constitute a section of a short range of moun- tains of which Equinox in Manchester is the loftiest peak, and form an almost impassable barrier, save where the Battenkill breaks through between the Red and the West. Extending westward from this range and gradually decreasing in height are three ranges of hills, amongst which, opening towards the west. are as many valleys, of which the largest and most northern is the Battenkill. At the State line this valley has a minimum elevation above sea level of about
' By O. M. Barber, esq., of Arlington.
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TOWN OF ARLINGTON.
hundred feet, being perhaps the lowest altitude of the surrounding towns lee county. Arlington is located in latitude 432, 4', and longitude 32 and , and is bounded on the north by Sandgate; east by Sunderland ; south by attsbury, and west by the State of New York, and contains thirty-six square The Battenkill River enters the town from the northeast ; thence flows hout two miles in a southwesterly direction, then turning nearly west passes o ross the line into the State of New York. Among other tributaries it re ( rives within the town the waters of the Roaring Branch from Sunderland, Peter's Branch from Glastenbury, Warm Brook from Shaftsbury, and Green River tom Sandgate, and forms the outlet for the waters of substantially all that por- tion of the county lying north of the middle portion of the town of Shaftsbury.
Arlington was chartered July 28, 1761, by Benning Wentworth, governor of New Hampshire, to sixty-two original proprietors, the most of whom lived in Litchfield, Conn. The township is six miles square, beginning, as the charter has it, at a point six miles due north from the northwest corner of Ben- nington. It was to be divided into sixty eight equal shares, one to each of the original proprietors, two to Governor Wentworth, one to the society for the propagation of the Gospel in foreign parts, one for a glebe for the Church of England, one for the first settled minister, and one for the benefit of schools. Among the privileges given by the charter was the right, when fifty families should have settled in the town, to hold two fairs annually, also the right to hold a market day each week. The charter was conditioned that there should be paid annually for the first ten years as rental for said township, one ear of Indian corn, and after the expiration of the decade each proprietor should pay annually forever at the rate of one shilling for each one hundred acres. It was finally provided that the first meeting of the proprietors of the township for the choice of town officers should be holden in the town of Pownal on the first Wednesday of October, 1761. The first meeting of which there is any record was held at the house of Isaac Van Arnum in Pownal on the 22d day of October, 1762. John Searl was chosen moderator, and Simon Burton, pro- prietors' clerk. The meeting adjourned to the next day, when Isaac Searl, John Searl, Simon Burton and others were appointed a committee to lay out part of the new township. A collector and treasurer were elected, and a tax voted to defray the charges of laying out the town and clearing roads. The committee was instructed to lay out a road through North Shaftsbury at the expense of the proprietors of Arlington. The meeting adjourned to convene at the house of William Searl in Arlington on the first day of June, 1763. The proprietors met at Searl's pursuant to the adjournment, and among other things voted " to give Mr. Van Arnum of Pownal nine shillings L. M. Y. for troubling his house for sundry meetings holden there."
The first settlement in Arlington was probably made in 1762, but the ex- act date is not known. William and John Searl, Simon Burton and Ebenezer
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HISTORY OF BENNINGTON COUNTY.
Wallace were the first settlers, Jeliial Hawley and Josiah Hawley, Reme .. ber Baker and Thomas Peck were among the settlers who came to town : next year. To encourage immigration the proprietors voted at a town meety holden June 1, 1763 a bounty to the first ten persons settling in town with; one year.
The seventh meeting was held at the house of Simon Burton May 16, 17 4. and Jehial Hawley, who from that time until the breaking out of the Revel. tion was one of the most influential men of the section, was chosen to fill sever .. offices. Remember Baker who afterwards bore a conspicuous part in the hi - tory of the locality was also elected to office. The proprietors at this time voted to " give fifty acres of land to any man that will set up a grist-mill on .. stream about east from Simon Burton (who then lived where Mrs. Sally M .. Laughlin now resides), if said mill be up and fit to grind by the first day of November next." This bounty was voted to Remember Baker July 22, 1766. he having built the grist-mill and a saw-mill near by. The site of these mil !- was substantially the same as that of A. R. Brown's grist-mill in East Arling- ton at the present time.
December 3, 1767, Captain Hawley was chosen proprietors' agent to go to Stockbridge to treat with the Indians concerning the lands. There is no knowledge of the nature of this Indian claim. Tradition says there were Indi- ans then residing in the town who possibly were related to those in Stockbridge. However, the matter was probably satisfactorily arranged as the record makes no future mention of it.
In 1770, pursuant to a vote of the town, the burying ground now near the Episcopal Church was laid out. By the report of the committee who did the work it contained one acre, and was about the middle of the town green, which contained three acres surrounding it.
Tradition, if not history, has it that in 1777 the records of the town were lost or destroyed by Isaac Bisco, the then town clerk, who is said to have turned Tory and fled to Canada. It is said that after the Revolution he was written to and visited by persons interested in recovering the records and that he claimed they were buried in a kettle. Tradition says also that with the records he buried gold and silver coin. It is possible that the records of some of the earliest conveyances of real estate or the deeds themselves, as there may be doubt if there was any record made of many of them, were lost or destroyed. The charter certainly is missing. The fact is, however, that with hardly a break, the records of town meetings from the first, though some are so worn as to be hardly legible, remain in the town clerk's office ; likewise a record of a large number of the earliest surveys and deeds. It may therefore be prop- erly a matter of doubt if any substantial portion of the records ever were de- stroyed. The first town meeting to be held in any but a private house was held in the Episcopal Church in 1787.
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TOWN OF ARLINGTON.
During the troublous times before the breaking out of the Revolution while the contest between the settlers of the New Hampshire Grants and the inhabitants of New York was being carried on, and contemporaneous with the period when the " beech-seal " was at divers times impressed upon the backs of the Yorkers, Arlington was the scene of some stirring events.
In the extreme eastern part of the town, near his grist-mill, lived Remem- ber Baker, for whose capture, as well as that of others of the leaders of the Green Mountain Boys, Governor Tryon of New York had offered a reward. About daylight March 22, 1772, a band of men led by John Munroe, of Shafts- bury, surrounded and broke into his house, wounded Baker and his wife, and finally made off towards New York with him a prisoner. An alarm was at once given. Baker's friends rallied, pursued Munroe and his party some miles across the border, overtook them, and after dispersing his captors, returned with Baker. Historians differ as to whether the rescuing party was composed of men from the vicinity or of residents of Bennington. Without attempting to decide who were entitled to the credit of being his rescuers it would seem as probable that the Arlington party composed of Joseph and Lemuel Brad- ley, Curtis Hawley, Ebenezer Walls, and others equally energetic, all of whom were his neighbors, would as likely be his rescuers as the residents of Benning- ton, some fifteen miles away. At the opening of the Revolution Baker joined the Provincial forces and was with Montgomery's command in the operations against St. Johns, Canada. In August, 1775, while reconnoitering the position of the enemy he was shot by an Indian. After Allen and Warner there was no man who rendered better service to the settlers, or who bore a more dis- tinguished part in the contest over the New Hampshire Grants than Remem- ber Baker. At the time of his death he was only thirty-five years of age.
During the latter part of 1772 Captain Jehial Hawley was one of the agents sent to England to solicit the interposition of royal authority to settle the titles of the grants.
November 25, 1773 one Jacob Marsh was arrested by Seth Warner and Re- member Baker, and tried at a tavern kept by Abel Hawley. He seems to have been charged with having accepted a commission as justice of the peace under the authority of the State of New York, and of having acquired or claimed title to lands under the jurisdiction of the same colony. After hearing he was admonished to desist from any acts acknowledging or extending the authority of New York under " pains of having his house burned and reduced to ashes, and his person punished at their pleasure," and dismissed with a certificate of his trial signed by the judges, Samuel Tubs, Nathaniel Spencer and Phillip Perry, attested by Seth Warner. In 1774 Dr. Samuel Adams was so active in his advocacy of the New York side that he was arrested and carried to Ben- nington. After a hearing he was convicted as an enemy, and punished by be- ing hoisted to the catamount sign and there suspended for two hours.
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HISTORY OF BENNINGTON COUNTY.
During a portion of this period, and perhaps later, Ethan Allen was resid- ing in the town near the site of the present railroad station, and the well nos in use just south of it tradition says was dug by him.
The beginning of the Revolution found a large portion of the citizens of Arlington sympathizers of the Tory cause. Sooner or later many of the prin- cipal landholders and influential men of the town either voluntarily left er were driven out, and their estates confiscated by the Provincial government
In the early part of the struggle an event occurred in Arlington, which can perhaps be best given in the language of Rev. F. A. Wadleigh : "After tic battle of Hubbardton, Colonel Warner and his men came south to Manchester, where they stopped for a time. It was probably during this progress that another tragedy occurred worthy of record. Men were sent out as usual for provisions. Colonel Lyon with a company, of whom David Mallory was one, started for the purpose of taking cattle from the Tories. Samuel Adams col- lected a company for resistance. As Mallory had been a member of his fan- ily (having studied medicine with him) he warned him of the probable conse- quences. Hard words passed, and they separated to execute their respective intentions. Colonel Lyon's company collected quite a drove of cattle and were driving them up from "down river," or West Arlington. Opposite the present residence of Solomon Goewey is an island on which Adams and his men were concealed. As soon as Mallory appeared Adams showed himself and ordered him to stop. A threat was the only reply. Adams coolly said that in case himself was shot there were men ready who would instantly rid- dle him. Upon this Mallory raised his piece, but not being quick enough was instantly shot down by Adams. Just then a horn was heard calling laborers to dinner. This was taken as a signal for the gathering of the Tories. Lyon's men fled, the cattle returned to their owners, and the wounded man, aban- doned by friends and foes, with difficulty got to the roadside. He was taken up by one passing by and carried to the house of Ebenezer Leonard, where after a few hours he died." Adams fled to Canada, and in 1778 his prop- erty was confiscated and his family sent within the British lines. At the bat- tle of Bennington it is said that men from Arlington were fighting on each side, and when Burgoyne surrendered five or six of the inhabitants of this town were among those serving in his army and made prisoners.
About 1777 Governor Thomas Chittenden, Matthew Lyon and John Fas- set moved to Arlington. Governor Chittenden took possession of Captain Hawley's house, which is the one north of the old "West store," as it is called. Hawley before this had sought the protection of Burgoyne, and his large estates had been confiscated. Lyon took possession of a house a short distance away from Governor Chittenden's, and very near the site of the present railroad station. Between these two houses a vault was dug and walled up, which was used as a place of confinement for such persons as fell under the displeasure of
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TOWN OF ARLINGTON.
the council. April 7, 1778 the governor and council met at the house of El- nathan Murwin, and after that many meetings of this body were held in Arling- ton. Fasset for several years was commissioner for the sale of confiscated land. The owners of several farms as well as some other real estate in Arlington to-day derive title to their lands from the Council of Safety. At the freemen's meeting of 1778 Ethan Allen was elected to represent the town. He refused to serve, and Matthew Lyon was chosen in his stead. Soon after the close of the war Governor Chittenden and his associates removed from Arlington. Though much might be said of these men, their lives are so much a matter of general history that no further mention need here be made. With peace came a renewal of prosperity. Some who had left the town during the war came back; new settlers came in ; a committee was appointed to revise, correct and complete many half-finished surveys; the records were carefully written up : new roads were laid out and new enterprises undertaken.
On November 25, 1782 the town was divided into five school districts. While there is no record evidence of the fact there is no doubt but the first school was held in what is now called District No. 2, several years anterior to the time of this first districting of the town. In 1823 the town was divided into substantially the same school districts as at present - nine in number - save that subsequently Nos. 4 and 8 were consolidated, leaving eight districts at present. There have been none but common schools in town, except that the Episcopal Society has at intervals maintained a parochial school.
In 1859 the town house, containing a commodious hall on the second floor for town meetings and rooms underneath used by the Young Men's Association for library and reading rooms, was built.
The first recorded action of the town in regard to the town highways was made on June 20, 1764, when it was voted that the main road north and south be four rods wide. This formed subsequently a section of the stage-route from Rutland to Troy, N. Y. It passed through the village of Arlington, where stood the first post-office and probably the first tavern in the town. The for- mer was kept in the house now owned by Jesse Burdette. The first postmaster, Norman Hinsdale, was appointed April 1, 1805. He was succeeded in 1816 by Martin C. Deming, and this office for many years was the only one in town. This building was also for many years used as a store. The Bennington and Rutland Railroad passes through the town, having its station at the " street."
In 1812 a mill for sawing marble was erected near the present site of E. M. Lathrop's. This was perhaps the first in the State, save the one at Middle- bury. Several extensive quarries of marble were soon opened, other mills erected, and the output of manufactured marble soon reached an annual value of thousands of dollars. To-day none is quarried, but large deposits of this valuable product still lie underneath the surface awaiting only the judicious application of captial to yield rich returns, The publication of the American
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HISTORY OF BENNINGTON COUNTY.
Register, a weekly newspaper, was begun in 1817 by F. Gilman Storer. 1 ;. paper was probably published two years or more. Three copies of differe ... issues are now possessed by Mr. Z. H. Canfield. The printing office was in t .... house now owned by Michael Morissey ; and it may be remarked in passin . that it was built as a residence by Daniel Church, the first lawyer who lived in town.
October 12, 1799 a Masonic body was chartered, under the name of New - ton Lodge. In the time of anti-Masonic excitement, in common with many other lodges, it disbanded. Red Mountain Lodge, 63, F. and A. M. was char- tered January 10, 1863, and is a prosperous body.
Dudley Post G. A. R., No. 28, was chartered November 28, 1870, with eleven charter members. The rooms of the Young Men's Library Association are used for their meetings.
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