USA > Vermont > Bennington County > History of Bennington County, Vt. : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 58
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TOWN OF LANDGROVE.
an advanced age upon the same place where he had first settled. His son James lived on the old homestead and died there some years ago. Another son, Elias, settled in town near the old homestead, and following the example of his father accumulated a large fortune, and was considered one of the wealthiest men in town. Two sons of Elias still reside in town, James H. on the old homestead, and Warren W. near by. Both are respected and influen- tial citizens.
Gideon Davis and his son Gideon, jr., were among the early settlers. Gid- eon, sr. died in 1834, at an advanced age. Gideon, jr. was one of the most influential citizens of his time ; he was justice of the peace for forty years, and represented the town many times. He died January 3, 1857, aged fifty-seven years.
Daniel Tuthill was the first town clerk, and lived and kept a tavern on the place now occupied by Leroy Woodward. He held the office of town clerk and selectman nearly all the time up to the year 1816, when he moved to Peru where, in company with his son Russell, he built the brick hotel now known as the "Bromley House," after which he moved west where he died.
About the year 1807 Elljah Woodward moved to this town from Francis- town, N. H. His son Ambrose, now at the age of seventy-eight years, has always resided in town. He has been its representative, and has held all the important town offices. A younger son, Charles, has always resided in town until a recent date when he moved to Massachusetts.
David Wiley was born in Hillsboro, N. H., August 10, 1776, and moved to this place in 1797. He was a man that the people chose as their represen- tative to the State Legislature fourteen different times, and was otherwise hon- ored with various town offices during his long residence here. His son War- ren W., following in the lead of his father, is prominent among his townspeo- ple, and has many times been elected to offices of trust and honor.
Among the early settlers was David Carpenter, who was born in Connecti- cut in the year 1759. He was in the Revolutionary War, was present and one of the guards at the execution of Major Andre. Soon after the war he settled in this town. His eldest child was the first recorded birth in this town. David Carpenter never had the advantages of even a common school educa- tion, but although illiterate he was a man of such strong character and com- mon sense that he was elected to represent the town and held most of its other important offices. He moved from this place to Keene, N. H., in 1807. Al- though he was a poor man when he came to this town, when he died, in 1845, he possessed a fortune of some forty thousand dollars.
Asa, eldest son of Captain William Utley, died in this town August S, 1837, aged eighty-seven years. Mr. Utley held the offices of justice of the peace, town clerk, selectman, and various others for many years. Oliver Ut- ley died in Manchester in 1856, aged ninety-one years. Peabody Utley,
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HISTORY OF BENNINGTON COUNTY.
youngest son of William, served as colonel in the War of 1812. He was con- stable or selectman from 1801 to 1813. He went West and there he died. Asa and Henry Utley, sons of Ralph, grandsons of Asa, and great-grandsons of Captain William, the latter the first settler in town, reside on the old home- stead and are the only living male members of the Utley family now in town.
Soldiers' Record .- Volunteers for three years, credited previous to call for 300,000 volunteers of October 17, 1863: Benson. William H., died October 10, 1862; Blood, Oliver ; Bolster, Daniel; Bolster, Jared, killed at Savage's Station June 29, 1862 ; Childs, Samuel S .; Davis, Hymenius; Davis, Otis ; Downing, Ezekiel; Ilarlow, Dexter 1 .; Hilliard, Gilbert G., died September 14, 1863; Jenkins, Amos L .; Lyon, Albert, died February 23, 1862 ; l'atter- son, Abel H .; Thompson, John M .; Warner, Carmillus T., killed near Cold Harbor June 11, 1864; Wiley, Henry E., killed at Savage's Station June 29, 1862. Credits under call of October 17, 1863, for 300,000 volunteers and subsequent calls; volunteers for three years : Allen, Hiram; Jenkins, Amos H .; Peck, Hiram H .; Shaw, George B. Volunteers re enlisted: Childs, Sam- uel S .; Davis, Otis A .; Warner, Carmillus T. Volunteers for nine months: Bolster, Alfred; Childs, Alfred; Davis, Hiram; Davis. Orgando; Snell, Amos M. Furnished under draft; paid commutation : Barton, Joseph C .; Batch- elder, John G .; Lincoln, Ilenry ; Moore, Frederick J .; Rowell, Austin A .; Stevens, James Il .; Woodward, Herbert C.
CHAPTER XXXV.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF GLASTENBURY.
TEARLY thirty years ago Governor Hiland Hall wrote a brief historical N sketch of the town of Glastenbury ; and in writing of its physical charac- teristics said : "It is one of the roughest and most mountainous towns in the State, and until quite lately has been considered a pretty safe place of retreat for bears and other wild animals. Although much the greater portion of the town is wholly incapable of cultivation, yet it produces abundance of spruce and hemlock timber, which has lately been worked into lumber in considerable quantities, and sent to market. A portion of it goes west, to and through Shaftsbury, and the residue south and westerly, through Woodford.
"A small notch of stony land that runs up a short distance among the mountains from the east side of Shaftsbury, has been occupied by a few fami- lies for many years. Until the year 1834 they were considered for all practi-
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TOWN OF GLASTENBURY.
cal purposes as belonging to Shaftsbury. On the 31st of March of that year, the proper legal steps having been taken, the town was duly organized, since which it has been represented in the General Assembly."
Well, Addison county has its Goshen, and Ripton, and Hancock ; Chitten- den county has its Bolton and Huntington ; and Bennington county must have its Glastenbury, a fair equivalent of any of those named, and more mountain- ous than all of them. But the Glastenbury of fifty or even thirty years ago and the Glastenbury of to-day are quite different, although the mountains re- main in all their wildness and grandeur. Even as early as 1791 the town had a population of thirty-four, and in 1810 it had increased to seventy-six. From that time to 1860 it declined to forty-seven ; but after that improvements, in dustry and development worked great changes in this wild region, and its population again grew so that in 1870 the town numbered one hundred and nineteen souls, and ten years later, or in 1880, the enumeration showed a pop- ulation of two hundred and forty-one. and the present number of inhabitants will not vary much from that figure. But with all its disadvantages the town of Glastenbury enjoys benefits such as are afforded to but one or two other towns in this county ; it is the northern terminus of what is known as the Ben - nington and Glastenbury Railroad-not a "trunk line" by any means, but a short road over which is carried every year a vast quantity of lumber, charcoal and other manufactures, the great bulk of which comes from this town. This it is that gives to Glastenbury whatever of prominence the town enjoys as one of the civil divisions of the county. This railroad was built during the year 1872. Its length from Bennington to Glastenbury is eight miles. Its con - struction was considered entirely impracticable by experienced engineers on account of the great elevation to be reached in so short a distance, and the ex- tremely heavy grade to be traveled in certain locatities ; but, notwithstanding the opposing theories of railroad engineers, the road was built and has been in full operation to the present day. The heaviest grade on the road is 250 feet to the mile on a branch, while the strongest on the main line is some 230 feet. Narrow guage roads are not infrequently built on as heavy grades as this, but with the standard guage and traction power this is something remarkable. Better than all, the Bennington and Glastenbury road has been operated with a surprising exemption from accidents.
The manufacturing industry of Glastenbury is confined to the business transacted by the Bennington and Glastenbury Railroad Mining and Manu- facturing Company, an incorporated body, the lands of which embrace some- thing like eighteen thousand acres, situate mainly in Glastenbury and Wood- ford, and some in Somerset township on the east. In the first named these lands extend north nearly to the Sunderland line. The company has in oper- ation two saw-mills, the annual product of which is about two million feet of lumber, all of which is carried over the company's road to Bennington, and
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HISTORY OF BENNINGTON COUNTY.
thence to Troy and other large markets in New York State. For the manu- facture of charcoal the company operates twelve kilns, situate in the most con- venient localities for their work. Altogether about fifty men are employed. The officers of the company are as follows : R. C. Root, president; Amos Ald- rich, vice-president and superintendent; Thomas A. Hutchins, bookkeeper and accountant. It may be stated that whatever of business is transacted at Glastenbury, at the point where the road terminates, is done by the company, that corporation owning the lands in the region, but there are some residents there not in the company's employ.
The "small notch of stony land that runs up a short distance among the mountains," mentioned in Governor Hall's sketch, embraces whatever there is of Glastenbury's agricultural district, and this is quite limited. The outlet for that people is by the way of Shaftsbury, at which place their trading and marketing is done. There is no post-office in either section of the town, but formerly, in 1873, one was established in the south part and subsequently dis- continued. The people of the northern section receive their mail at Shaftsbury, while those in the south part are now obliged to go to South Shaftsbury.
The educational welfare of the town is reasonably well guarded, but as for churches it has none. It is not to be inferred from this statement that the in- habitants of Glastenbury are less religiously inclined than elsewhere in the county, for such cannot be truthfully said concerning them. The population of the town is so scattered or separated, and the circumstances of the people are such that they are not warranted in the erection of a church edifice for any society or denomination, but Shaftsbury on the north and South Shaftsbury below provide accommodations for all who desire to attend at church services.
CHAPTER XXVI.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF STAMFORD. 1
T HE town of Stamford is the middle one of the three towns which consti- tute the extreme southern limit of Bennington county. It was chartered by the name of New Stamford, but after the Revolution it dropped the New, and became simply Stamford. It existed at different times under two char- ters by New Hampshire. The first was given in 1753. This was surrendered and a new one issued in 1764. It appears that few if any settlements were
' By T. E. Brownell, esq.
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TOWN OF STAMFORD.
made under the first charter. The original proprietors were somewhat scat- tered, some lived in Massachusetts, others in New York State, and a number in Connecticut. The first settlers took their deeds from owners living in these different localities and may be presumed to have emigrated from these States. Very few of the descendants of these pioneers are now living in town. An outlet opened by way of Adams into Massachusetts, and thence to the west, and some of the children of each generation until the present time have gone from their parental homes to seek their fortunes in other fields, many becom- ing prominent men and women in the world.
Stamford is a mountain town, its only village being situate in a hollow which opens into Clarksburg on the south, and through Clarksburg into North Adams, Mass. A river which flows through this miniature valley joins the Hoosick at North Adams, and furnishes several of the largest mills of that place with valuable water power.
The only manufacturing business done in town at present is the production of acid from wood for coloring purposes, and owned by Wilmarth & Hough- ton. The population in 1830 was 563, in 1840 it was 662, and at the last census, 1880, it was 726. A few years ago the town adopted the town man- agement of its schools under the law providing for this change from the district system as originally adopted by the State. The first settlers had originally to clear their farms of the timber of which a dense growth covered the whole town. In this way Stamford has always until recently afforded an ample sap- ply of lumber for building purposes far and near. So thick was this forest that Raymond who built the first cabin lived afterwards two or three years without knowing of the existence of the mountains on the east of his home.
Just how many served their country in the Revolution is not accurately known. William Raymond was in the French and Indian war, and his son Eli- sha served three years in the Revolutionary War. At that time there were no public roads in Stamford, and the only way to Bennington was on horseback by a path through the woods. The method of transmitting news was very imperfect, but probably the people of Stamford were notified of the impending Bennington battle in time to participate in it if they so wished, as messengers were sent to Pownal and Williamstown for recruits, and as most of the legal papers between its inhabitants prior to that period were executed before a Bennington justice ; the military authorities of that place would not have left so valuable a band of stalwart yeomen as had then settled in Stamford, without an appeal to help them, and it is probable that a number of its young men marched under Gen eral Stark when he went forth to meet the Hessians. We know that Jacob Brown, who came to Stamford in 1795, entered the army in 1812. He also was in the Florida war, and acted as Indian agent in removing certain tribes from that place. He held the rank of major in the Mexican war and was killed by a bombshell before Matamoras. General Taylor in a letter to the president
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HISTORY OF BENNINGTON COUNTY.
said that " his loss is irreparable." General Grant in his " Reminiscences" make- this statement: " Major Jacob Brown of the Seventh Infantry, the command- ing officer, had been killed, and in his honor the fort was named. Since then a town of considerable importance has sprung up on the ground occupied by the fort and troops, which has also taken his name."
Reference has already been made in this history of many who have gone out from Stamford into other and broader fields, and who have therein gained fame and riches. Although the annals of the past have more to do with the dead than with the living, yet because many of these men, by their genius and activity, have so identified themselves with the places which they now occupy and honor that there is danger of there being lost to their native town, so that the place of their birth shall know them no more, a brief mention of a few of the most prominent will not be without interest and benefit to those who shall read these pages.
George Millard went to North Adams, Mass., engaged in manufacturing boots and shoes He built up a large business and became quite wealthy. Many now living will remember him on account of the interest he had in the first project of the Hoosick Tunnel, and how much enthusiasm he exhibited when the cars first arrived over the Troy and Boston Railroad, thus uniting Massachusetts with Troy N. Y., in the winter of 1859. He afterwards removed to Bennington where he died soon after.
C. T. Sampson succeeded him in the same business on Eagle street. This man helped clear up a farm in Stamford near Clarksburg line. At first he peddled shoes from a basket, but he gradually worked his way up into the boot and shoe manufacturing business, and is now one of the wealthy and lead- ing men of that place.
E. R. Millard and N. Q. Millard followed Sampson. on Eagle street, he moving his business to another portion of the town. One of them is still carry- ing on that business. They are the sons of S. C. Millard who was a justice of the peace in Stamford for twenty years.
George R. Dickinson left Stamford when young. After awhile he began to accumulate money, became interested in the paper-mills of Holyoke, and died at Springfield Mass. He left a large fortune.
A. C. Houghton commenced his career principally as a real estate opera- tor at North Adams. He at once proved himself to be a most thorough and successful business man. He is now president of the Arnold Print Works, and has a controlling interest in several other important enterprises.
These men all had courage and faith in themselves. No doubt circum- stance is an important factor in every human career, but thought and action only can give to circumstances the force of events. These men might have remained and lived among their native hills, and there even their genius could have found an honorable if not so wide a field. Those men, who were content
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
with the rewards of a more quiet life, and passed their days within the rural limits of their country home, and who now lie buried under the soil where they toiled so faithfully in life, may have had in their souls all the possibilities, which under given circumstances, would have made them men that the world calls great.
"Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield ; Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke ; How jocund did they drive their team afield ; How bowed the woods beneath their sturdy stroke. " Full many a gem of purest ray serene The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear ; Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air."
The religious belief of the early settlers of Stamford did not consist of a uniform creed. There were the Baptists and Universalists and in 1827, when the first church edifice was erected, there were many Methodists also. This edifice was a union house, all denominations joining in building it, but in 1853 the Baptists built themselves a new church and relinquished their claims upon the old. The Baptist Church was organized in 1799. The Methodist in 1851. The Universalists have no organized church, but are supplied with preaching occasionally from North Adams. The people are a church-going people in their habits, and the stated services of worship are well attended. Each de- nomination maintains its distinctive lines well marked, but cherish for each other friendly regard and Christian sympathy, awarding to each the privilege of be- ing let alone within its own limits.
- CHAPTER XXXVII.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
H ALL, HILAND HON., L. L.D., ex-Governor, ex-Member of Congress and ex-Controller of the United States Treasury, was born in Bennington July 20, 1795. Nathaniel Hall, his father, was an industrious farmer, and his wife, whom he married in Norfolk, Conn., October 12, 1794, Abigail (Hubbard) Hall, a worthy companion. The ancestors of both, John Hall of the father and George Hubbard of the mother, were from England, who after being over fifteen years at Boston and Hartford became in 1650 large landholders, and the first settlers of Middletown, Conn. Nathaniel Hall was a deacon of the Baptist
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HISTORY OF BENNINGTON COUNTY.
Church in North Bennington. He and his wife were worthy communicants of that church, and respected members of society. Of their seven children, two sons and five daughters, all of whom lived to be married, Hiland, the subject of this sketch, was the oldest. Ilis education was obtained in the common schools of the day when he could be spared from the labor upon the farm, with a fin- ishing term of three months at the academy in Granville, N. Y. He early ex- hibited a taste for reading, and any books he could borrow in the neighborhood were read, and on many occasions by the use of the light from coals on the hearth of an old fashioned fireplace, candles being at that time among the often forbidden luxuries. History and biography were his choice, and as soon as his age would allow he began teaching during the winters in the districts schools. When eighteen he was interested in the formation of the "Sons of Liberty," a society of the young men of Bennington for a vigorous prosecution of the War of 1812 with England. He was admitted to the Bennington county bar in 1819, and always resided in Bennington, only as he was absent on official posi - tions of trust. He began his political life as a national Republican, voting for John Quincy Adams for president in 1824 and 1828. The party afterwards took the name of "Whig," with which he acted until it became merged in 1856 in the new Republican party, the name under which he began his political career. He represented the town in the General Assembly of the State in 1827, and was chiefly instrumental in obtaining a charter for the first bank located in the county. In 1828 he was clerk of the Supreme and County Court for Bennington county, and was elected State's attorney for the county, and re- elected the three succeeding years. Mr. Hall was naturally generous, and his sympathies sometimes led him in answering the claims of the needy to be more liberal than his income would allow, and he was for years in straitened pecuniary circumstances. In later life, however, after his family had grown so as to care for themselves, his income was ample for his mode of living and for expressing in a tangible way many of his benevolent desires. In January. 1833 he was elected to Congress to fill the vacancy made by the death of Hon. Jona Hunt, and at the same election was chosen a member of the Twenty-third Con- gress. He represented this district for ten successive years as a Republican and Whig, when he declined longer to be a candidate, and closed his Congressional course the 3d of March. 1843. In Congress Mr. Hall served upon several im- portant committies, andi bing a working rather than a talking member his services were often labu.ious and severe, especially on that of post-office and post-roads, and afterwards on that of Revolutionary claims, his printed reports upon the latter covering several volumes of public documents. In May, 1024. he made a speech against General Jackson's removal of the government depos- its from the United States Bank, and another in May, 1836, in favor of the dis- tribution of the proceeds of the public lands among the States, by which Ver- mont received nearly seven hundred thousand dollars as her portion, to be
Hilund Hall
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
added to the school fund of the towns. Both the speeches were printed as campaign documents, and extensively circulated by his political friends, and the former was reprinted in New York prior to the succeeding el ction In March, 1836, while a member of the post office committ e, he presented a minority re- port on "incendiary publications," in opposition to the message of the president and the advice of the postmaster-general and in answer to a report made in the Senate by Mr. Calhoun of South Carolina ; but as the majority of the com- mittee failed to present theirs it did not become a public paper, but was pub- lished in the National Intelligencer at Washington, and other papers through the country. He took an active part in procuring the act of July 2d, 1836, by which in the reorganization of the post-office department a system for the set- tlement of accounts was established, which inaugurated an economical admin- istration of its affairs.
Mr. Hall was successful in putting a stop to the payment of claims which had for years been made by Virginians, called commutation claims, half pay and bounty land claims. These had been numerous, and had passed through Congress with little opposition, as many influential Virginians, governors, and members of Congress were and had been interested in them, and were founded on alleged promises of the State of Virginia or of the Continental Congress to Virginia officers of the Revolutionary army. There had been over three millions of dollars paid by the United States on fictitious claims for supposed services of deceased officers, and their numbers were continually increasing. By patient examination of Revolutionary archives at Washington, and informa- tion gleaned from public records at Richmond, he prepared a report as chair- man of a select committee for the purpose of such investigation, which was ap- proved by the committee and presented to the house on the 27th of February, 1839. By dilatory motions and efforts in obstructing the action of the house, participated in by Mr. Wise and others of the Virginia delegation, it being near the close of the session, the designed object was effected of smothering the report for that Congress. At the next session, on the 24th of April. 1840, Mr. Hall made a report as a member of the committee on Revolutionary claims. upon these claims of the Virginians, which showed by authentic evi- dence that every one was unfounded. The efforts of the Virginians to obtain allowances being continued, Mr. Stanly, of North Carolina, on the ground that the claimants could not otherwise have a fair hearing, on the 10th of June, 1842, offered a resolution that a select committee be appointed to examine and report on their validity. On the 16th Mr. Hall spoke an hour, vindicating his course and showing that the claims were, every one, either gotten up in fraud or were clearly unfounded on any service to sustain them, and closed by giv- ing a list of sixty-four of the latest of such claims, amounting to over two hundred thousand dollars, which were before the house, and had been recom- mended for payment by the executive of Virginia. He offered to withdraw
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