History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 50

Author: Rann, W. S. (William S.)
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 1054

USA > Vermont > Chittenden County > History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 50

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On the southwest corner of College and St. Paul streets was the general store of Ebenezer T. Englesby, an extensive land owner possessed of a farm in what is now the southwest portion of the city, still owned largely by his lin- eal descendants. A brief sketch of his life appears on a subsequent page of this chapter. Mr. Englesby had a keen wit, and when once urged to purchase stock in a proposed railroad company when railroads were first projected, on the ground that the enterprise would add to the value of his land, is said to have replied that the ground of the proposition was no inducement, as the value of his land had been so great for years that no one could be persuaded to buy it.

Thaddeus Tuttle then lived in the house of his own construction, lately oc- cupied by Lawrence Barnes. Tuttle was a very wealthy man and built this house in 1804. He afterwards sold the entire property to C. P. Van Ness, who rendered it historic by his entertainment of General Lafayette in 1825. Mr. Tuttle kept store in a house which he built on the site of the present resi- dence of William L. Burnap ; the walls of which have never been taken down. Tuttle was at one time in New York trading, so the story runs, and was asked by his mercantile friends what per cent. profit he made on the goods which he purchased of them. "One per cent.," answered he. "No more than that !" exclaimed his questioner; " we cannot give you credit on so small a profit." " Wait a minute," said Mr. Tuttle ; " my method is this : What I buy for a dol- lar I sell for two dollars, and easily live on the profit." He obtained credit. Mr. Tuttle was a large property owner in the towns of Westford and Shelburne, and sold the farm on Shelburne Point to Nathan White, a soldier of the Revo- lution, whose descendants have ever since been prominent in all the affairs of that town.

College street towards the lake was very sparsely populated, and, as we have said, did not answer the description of a street at all. On the site of the

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TOWN AND CITY OF BURLINGTON.

house now occupied by Dr. L. M. Bingham, and in a building which still forms a part of that house, lived during the war Phineas, a brother of Ebenezer Ly- man. Church street north of College was sparsely inhabited and possessed few business houses. Trade had but just begun to set that way. Samuel H. Peaslee, a saddler, had a shop on ground now covered by Scully's store. South of him some distance, and about on the site of the old buildings recently torn down by Mrs. Wheeler, Lewis Curtis had opened a jeweler's store. He lived with his father on the corner of Bank and Church streets, across from the Un- ion block. Between this part of Church street and the lake were a few houses occupied as dwellings. On the corner of Pine and Bank streets, where Mrs. Cole now lives, dwelt a man named Nathaniel Doak. Moses Bliss lived on the southeast corner of Bank and Pine streets, where Mr. Lucas now lives. He was a very prominent man in the county and was deputy sheriff and also sheriff for years. On the southeast corner of Cherry and Champlain streets, in a low and time-stained building, lived one Richard Corning. John B. Wetmore lived on the east side of St. Paul street, not far from the present residence of Mrs. Van Namee. Nearly opposite the house now occupied by Captain Anderson, on St. Paul street, Dr. Truman Powell dwelt. Willard Rockwell, a cabinet-maker, lived on the northeast corner of Bank and St. Paul streets. Judge John Law lived on Champlain street about three houses south of Pearl, nearly opposite the present grocery store. Opposite the present residence of General Henry, at the foot of Pearl street, were the four "Pell houses," all alike, built and oc- cupied by William F. Pell, and also occupied to some extent by the officers of the forces here during the war. Dr. Lazarus Tousey built the house now oc- cupied by Albert Pierce on the corner of Church and Pearl streets, and kept an "apothecary shop," in the building next west of the Baptist chapel. The site of the Unitarian Church was then a part of the pine wood before described. Beyond the wood, in the house now occupied by Albert E. Jones, towards Mal- let's Bay, Stephen Russell lived. Near the mouth of the Winooski River lived two brickmakers by the name of Farwell. They settled on the well-known Bigelow farm, and were here some time previous to 1812. On what is now the northeast corner of Pearl street and Winooski avenue was the distillery of the popular and energetic sheriff, Daniel Staniford. He lived in a stone house, still standing, on the northwest corner of Winooski avenue and Grant street, though then it was a solitary building not very near any street, but facing Pearl, some distance from it. On the southwest corner of Winooski avenue and Pearl street dwelt Job Reed, a hatter, who afterwards drowned himself in the lake. Another hatter, and a more prosperous one,". William I. Seymour, had a large business at his house on the south side of Pearl street, a little north and east of the First Congregational parsonage. Farther east on the same side of Pearl street, Horace Loomis had a tannery and leather store just opposite his dwel- ing. This leather store was built of stone, and remained on the ground for

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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

many years after the period of which we speak. In the house east of Phineas Loomis, the same building now occupied by Miss Diantha Taft, Dr. Elijah Har- mon lived and practiced in an office then standing just west of the house. He erected these buildings and set out the splendid elm tree that now casts its shade over that part of the street. Dr. Harmon was postmaster some time while the office was on Pearl street, and afterwards moved to Chicago, in time to be counted an early settler in the then infant Queen City of the West. The house in which Mayor Woodbury now lives was after this time erected by George Moore, a brother of Luther Moore.1

The farm which then embraced the place now owned by Mr. Woodbury, was then the property of Moses Fay, attorney. On the site of the Vilas house, so called, opposite the Catholic College, Adolphus Wallbridge kept a tavern. The house now owned and occupied by Henry Loomis was after this built by Luther Loomis, who then lived with his father, Horace. On the north side of Pearl street, where Willard street now leads, and including the land owned by Mrs. Tucker, Eleazer H. Deming kept a store and lived directly west of it. Ozias Buell, another prominent merchant of the times, was then en- gaged in mercantile business in the house yet standing on the Henry Hickok lot on the north side of Pearl street. Colonel Buell was born in Litchfield, Conn., April 8, 1769, and died in Burlington August 5, 1832. After receiv- ing a thorough business education under his uncle, Julius Deming, of Litch- field, he first established himself in Kent, Conn., where he remained ten or twelve years, and in 1804 removed to Burlington. Being a man of great energy of character, he and his brother-in-law, Moses Catlin, exerted a bene- ficial influence on the moral and business growth of the place. He was the leading spirit and contributor in the erection of the first house of worship in 1812, and was also treasurer for twenty-one years of the University of Ver- mont. He was a man of fine personal appearance, and in the days when rid- ing on horseback was common was conspicious for his skill and grace on horse- back. His brother-in-law, Moses Catlin, was born in Litchfield, Conn., in 1770, and early married Lucinda, daughter of Heman and niece of Ethan Allen. Mr. Catlin came to Burlington with his family several years before

1 Eli Barnard, afterward the proprietor of the Green Mountain House, was step-father to William, Polly, Luther and George Moore, two or three of whom are well remembered, and who leave numer- ous descendants in Burlington and elsewhere. George Moore was born in 1789, and while yet a young man he and the others named came to Burlington and moved into the Green Mountain House. He was a merchant on Pearl street, his store being between the site of the Vilas House and that owned and occupied by Mayor U. A. Woodbury. He had nine children, of whom four, Horace Loomis Moore, of Burlington, Charles T. and Jacob Williams Moore, of Rochester, N. Y., and Samuel C. Moore, of Williamsport, Pa., are now living. George Moore was a commissary in the War of 1812-15, and was interested in all enterprises looking to the improvement of this place. He was one of the originators of the woolen mills at Winooski. William Moore, brother to George, went from here to Jericho, and thence to Lyons, N. Y. He died at Geneva, in that State. Luther Moore built the structure known as the Vilas House, on Pearl street, and lived there some time. He died in Washington, D. C.

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TOWN AND CITY OF BURLINGTON.

Colonel Buell, and erected the house on the west side of the square, afterwards the residence of Samuel Hickok, where they lived several years. They then removed to an eminence back of the university grounds, near the present site of the Mary Fletcher Hospital. By erecting the mills and manufactories at Winooski Falls he gave the first impetus to the growth of that flourishing little place. He was kind and gentle in his domestic relations, and was a man of active and discriminating benevolence. He died in 1842. His younger brother, Guy Catlin, who was intimately associated with him in all his busi- ness and public affairs, was born in Litchfield in 1782, and died in Burlington in 1853. He took an active interest in the affairs of the University of Ver- mont.

On the northeast corner of Pearl and North Prospect streets was the store of Colonel James Sawyer. His house stood between the store and the site of the Medical College. Alvan Foote, a prominent attorney, lived on the south side of Pearl street opposite the present residence of Colonel Peterson, but he subsequently removed to the site of Colonel Peterson's residence. John Storrs lived in the first house west of the Green Mountain House. George Robinson afterwards married his widow and removed to the same house. Hon. Daniel Farrand occupied the same house on Prospect street now occupied by G. G. Benedict. Just south from him dwelt Dr. John Perrigo, who erected the house that stands there now. In a small white house on the site of the pres- ent dwelling of Charles Ripley on Prospect street, lived the famous Dr. Daniel Coit, inventor and industrious circulator of "Coit's Pills," then deemed a panacea. Advertisements for Coit's pills were published in almost every paper in the State. It occupied nearly a column in the Rutland Herald of those times. William Coit, father of the doctor, surveyed and laid out the village in the spring of 1790. John Johnson, a surveyor, and one of the ablest and most prominent men of the times, from 1807 to his death, in 1842, occupied the large brick house at the northeast corner of College Green, overlooking the whole length of Main street to the west.1 On the north side of College Green and south side of Pearl street, just opposite the site of the Medical Col- lege, was the large two-story white building built by Giles T. Chittenden and used by him for a store. It was an elaborate structure, which those who re- member say was decorated with extensive interior galleries. Eddy, Munroe & Hooker, the prominent merchants and lumbermen of later days, followed Chittenden in the occupation of this building. South of the store of Thad- deus Tuttle there was only one house on Prospect street, viz., the little house of Noadiah Kellogg on the east side of the street.

Some of the most prominent residents of that portion of the town now comprised within the limits of South Burlington were the following: Eliab

1 A sketch of Mr. Johnson appears in later pages of this work in connection with that of his grand- son, Charles E. Allen, who occupies the old homestead. ,

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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

Fobes, Pelatiah Holbrook, John Eldredge, Samuel Blinn, Nathan Smith, Thomas Comstock, Ebenezer Brown, Samuel Fuller, Theodore Catlin on the farm now owned by Lemuel S. Drew, Rufus Crossman, Gershom Holmes, Levi John- son, and Alexander Davidson, the hermit.

The prominent offices then held by residents of the county were distributed as follows : Chief judge of the County Court, Heman Allen, then of Milton, afterwards of Burlington ; assistants, Joel Brownson and John Jackson ; judge of probate, Truman Chittenden, of Williston ; sheriff, Heman Lowry, of Bur- lington ; State's attorney, George Robinson ; high bailiff, James Enos; justices of the peace for Burlington, Samuel Hitchcock, David Russell, Ozias Buell, Rufus Crossman, Ebenezer Brown, John Eldredge, John Johnson, Ellick Pow- ell, George Robinson, and Amos Weeks. Martin Chittenden, of Jericho, it will be remembered was governor of the State, and issued a proclamation ordering the troops from Vermont to Plattsburgh, which met with a sharp re- ception in the rendezvous across the lake. William C. Harrington was one of the councilors, and George Robinson was representative from Burlington. The practicing attorneys in Burlington were as follows: William C. Harring- ton, Samuel Hitchcock, Elnathan Keyes, George Robinson, Stephen Mix Mitchel, Alvan Foote, Cornelius P. Van Ness, Phineas Lyman, Moses Fay, Charles Adams, Warren Loomis, James L. Sawyer, Archibald W. Hyde, David Stone, John Brownson. Rev. Daniel C. Sanders was president of the Univer- sity of Vermont. Nathaniel Chipman, of Tinmouth, was chief judge of the Supreme Court, and Daniel Farrand was one of the assistant judges. The grand list of Burlington was $23,768.20.

Soldiers of 1812 .- We have not been able to obtain the complete list of soldiers enlisting from Chittenden county during this war. Of the companies made up at Burlington we have the names of two which were composed of residents of Burlington and two neighboring towns. One company, com- manded by Captain Samuel Bliss, was made up partly of the following men from Burlington and Williston : Samuel Bliss, Truman Hawley, Asahel Spear, Chester Bliss, Jonathan Lugan, Joshua Read, jr., Jed Higbe, Samuel Fairpoint, John Lyon, Zacharias Drew, John Johnson, Samuel Minor, Benjamin Bitgood, Heman Vanornam, John Hadley, Samuel Payn, Lyman Davis, Truman Davis, Jonathan Bliss, Aloe Parmer, William Pitcher, Adryas Bliss, Joseph Tucker, David Straw, John Meaker, Silas Hartshorn, Joseph Jones, John Dearns.

Another company, commanded by Captain John Parmer, was made up partly of the following men from Burlington and Shelburne: John Parmer, Edmund Sherman, Moses Allen, Charles Hubbell, Jonathan Cole, Simon Good- win, Elisha Keelar, Dyer Wistcott, William Barker, Benjamin Simons, Stephen Runnels (Reynolds), Andrew Currier, Amos Castle, Benjamin Wistcott, Chas. Martin, David Smith, Edmund P. Stedman, Elijah Peas, Eli Haskins, Hyson Rick, Herman Herlbret, John Kent, John Frazier, John Wistcott, Stephen

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TOWN AND CITY OF BURLINGTON.

Loomis, jr., John Tucker, John Eddy, Lyman Hollis, Milo Byington, Ora Dugget, Reuben S. Martin, Roger Roseford, Richard Turner, William Martin.

Smuggling .- From the earliest period after the admission of Vermont into the Union until the present date there has always been more or less open and defiant evasion of the revenue laws, though for many years the practice has ostensibly diminished and almost disappeared. During the War of 1812-15, however, smugglers were very bold and active, and there is a current belief among those who are old enough to remember the times that privateers were fitted out and even granted letters of marque and reprisal with the apparent two-fold object of embarrassing the movements of the British on the lake and of running down and exterminating smugglers from the Canadian markets ; which, nevertheless, connived with the smugglers and even aided and abetted them under agreements for a division of the profits. Undoubtedly much of this evil was done away with at the close of the war.

Cold Season of 1816 .- The year 1816 is remarkable in the annals of the entire Champlain valley as well as of other portions of the country, for the fact that frosts occurred every month in the year and a heavy snow storm took place on the 9th of June. Corn, which was then the principal crop in Ver- mont, was wholly destroyed, and vegetables and cereals generally were ex- tremely scarce. Owing to the fact that transportation was then slow and laborious, and money, by reason of the effects of the recent war, was more of a curiosity than a legal tender, the inhabitants of the entire valley suffered privations which cannot be described. Many families which in ordinary times were counted well-to-do, would resort to the grist-mills of their neighborhood and collect the dust that fell from the stones, from which a little nourishment could be obtained. The following summer produced greater suffering still. Wheat was sold in small quantities at $3.50 per bushel, and was brought up from Connecticut and other parts of the "south." There were hardly enough potatoes for seed. The scarcity of corn produced a scarcity of pork. A bar- rel of what was called "whole-hog pork" sold for $40 a barrel, four times what it was worth in ordinary times. The sailors on the lake, who, in the summer of 1816 wore overcoats and mittens every evening, were accustomed to traverse all parts of Grand Isle county for provisions in 1817, and could seldom obtain at any price anything besides milk. These hardships moder- ated considerably after the harvest time of 1817, and interrupted activities were resumed.

Burlington in 1825 .- Between the close of the War of 1812-15 and the year 1825 many changes took place in the general appearance of Burlington and in the amount and nature of business transacted within its limits. Ten years of peace had proved a benefit to the place. The most important change was to be noticed in the appearance of College street and vicinity. Business houses of considerable importance had been established and were increasing

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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

the value of real property in the entire neighborhood, and indeed in the town. The other streets were not so much changed. Water street had fallen into its normal inactivity, while upper Pearl street retained its former volume of busi- ness.

George Robinson was still town elerk; he and Alvan Foote and Samuel Hickok were selectmen ; Nathan B. Haswell and George Moore, overseers of the poor ; Jolin N. Pomeroy was treasurer ; Alvan Foote, Philo Doolittle and John Van Sicklen, jr., were listers; Phineas Atwater was first constable and collector ; highway surveyors were Philo Doolittle, distriet No. 1 ; John Peck, No. 2; Simon Willard, No. 3 ; Stephen Johnson, No. 4 ; Abel Owen, No. 5 ; Joseph Bostwick, No. 6; Thomas Atwater, No. 7; Stephen Russell, No. 8; Dwight Dean, No. 9; the fence viewers were Eleazer H. Deming, Luther Loomis and Jolin Van Sicklen, jr .; James H. Platt was pound-keeper; Lemuel Page and Luther Moore were sealers of leather ; Jesse J. Starr was sealer of weights and measures ; John N. Pomeroy, Benjamin F. Bailey and Elijah D. Harmon were tythingmen; John M. Morse, Himan Lane, John Abbott, Joseph Browning, Harry Hatch, William F. Wicker, John Lathrop and John W. Pat- ridge were haywards ; John Eldredge was trustee of schools ; Samuel Nichols, Jasper Beck and Samuel R. Brown were sextons.

The names of the grand jurors and pettit jurors of this year are the names of the most prominent men of that period, many of them having been promi- nent through the period of the then last war. The grand jurors were Ozias Buell, Horace Loomis, Samuel Hitchcock, Ebenezer T. Englesby, Luther Loomis, Guy Catlin, John Peck, Job Reed, Wm. I. Seymour and John How- ard. The pettit jurors were Henry Mayo, John Van Sicklen, jr., Samuel Mills, George Moore, Philo Doolittle, William C. Harrington, Abel Owen, J. J. Starr, Henry Thomas, Samuel Dinsmore, John Herrick and Sion Earl Howard.

Montpelier had been the State capital for seventeen years. The governor was a Burlington man, Cornelius P. Van Ness, at that time residing in the house lately owned and occupied by Lawrence Barnes, on Main street, where Thaddeus Tuttle resided in 1812. Two years later John C. Thompson, of this town, was one of the governor's councilors. The representative of Burlington for the year ending in the fall of 1825 was Charles Adams; his successor, Ben- jamin F. Bailey. Hon. Timothy Follett was chief judge of the Chittenden County Court ; Heman Lowry was sheriff; Moses Bliss, high bailiff; Benjamin F. Bailey, State's attorney ; and George Robinson, judge of probate for the district of Chittenden.

The justices of the peace were Daniel Farrand, David Russell, George Rob- inson, Alvan Foote, Nathan B. Haswell, John N. Pomeroy, John C. Thomp- son, Andrew Thompson, Isaac T. Hyde, Samuel Clark, Benjamin F. Bailey, James L. Sawyer, Truman Seymour, Phineas Lyman, John Van Sicklen, jr., Charles Adams, and Ilenry Mayo.

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TOWN AND CITY OF BURLINGTON.

David Russell was then clerk of the Supreme Court and Nathan B. Haswell clerk of the County Court. William A. Griswold was United States district attorney for the District of Vermont. The practicing attorneys were Daniel Farrand, George Robinson, John N. Pomeroy, Alvan Foote, Charles Adams, James L. Sawyer, Luman Foote, William A. Griswold, John C. Thompson, Benjamin F. Bailey, Gamaliel B. Sawyer, William Brayton, Jacob Maeck, George F. Porter, Warren Loomis, and George Peaslee.

There were three churches in town ; the First Calvinistic Congregational, with Rev. Willard Preston for pastor, the Unitarian, George G. Ingersoll, pas- tor, and the Methodist society, Truman Seymour, local preacher. The only church buildings in the place were owned by the first two, the Unitarian house of worship being very much as at present, and the Congregational house being the old " white church," which had given the street now known as the southern end of Winooski avenue the name of White street. It stood about on the site of the present chapel of this church and fronted towards Pearl street. Burlington was then but six years possessor of its first bank, the old Bank of Burlington, which occupied the site of the Howard Opera House.

Lafayette's Visit .- It was on the 29th of June, 1825, that General Lafay- ette favored the village of Burlington with a visit, which has become a part of the history of the place. The Northern Centinel of July 8, 1825, contained a description of the event, of which the following is an abstract :

The general and his suite arrived about two o'clock on Wednesday after- noon, accompanied by Governor Van Ness, his secretary and staff, and a deputation from the committee of arrangements, who had waited upon him at Montpelier, and in behalf of the citizens of Burlington requested the honor of a visit from him on his passage through the State.

A detachment of cavalry under command of Major Erastus Meech met the general at Williston and escorted him to the heights near the college, where he was received by the committee of arrangements and the "Independent Greys," under command of Captain H. Thomas. The arrival was announced by a salute from the artillery under the direction of Captain Corning, the ring- ing of bells and hearty cheers from an immense multitude assembled on the occasion. A procession was formed under the direction of the sheriff of the the county, Heman Lowry,1 marshal of the day, assisted by fourteen deputy marshals, in the following order : I. escort of cavalry; 2. instrumental music; 3. military band ; 4. Independent Greys; 5. General Lafayette and his excel- lency in an open barouche drawn by four elegant gray horses ; 6. George Washington Lafayette, Mr. Le Vasseur, the general's secretary, and the gov- ernor's secretary and staff in a coach drawn by four bay horses; 7. committee of arrangements ; 8. judges of courts and civil authority ; 9. president and

1 Mr. Lowry then lived in the house still standing on the lower part of Main street, opposite the present residence of Joel H. Gates.

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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

officers of college; 10. Revolutionary officers and soldiers; II. students of the college ; 12. citizens generally.

The procession then moved to the head of Pearl street, down Pearl to Church street, then to North street, now Bank, thence to First, now Champlain street, thence south to Main and east to Court-House Square. On arriving in front of Gould's Hotel, known as Howard's Hotel1 (on the site now occupied by the clothing store of B. Turk & Bros.) Lafayette alighted and, supported by the governor's aids, proceeded to the apartments which had been provided for his reception. Pursuant to arrangement, General Lafayette and his suite appeared shortly after on the piazza, accompanied by the governor and his suite, where William A. Griswold delivered an address of welcome. The Revolutionary soldiers, numbering about 100, were directly in front of the piazza, surrounded by a vast concourse of people. After Lafayette's reply to the address of wel- come, the soldiers were introduced to him in Mr. Gould's long room. Then followed the usual addresses. Dinner was given by Mr. Gould, at which Hor- ace Loomis presided, supported by Timothy Follett, Samuel Hickok, Guy Catlin, A. W. Hyde, and John C. Thompson, vice-presidents. After dinner the party repaired to College Hill, and were received in front of the north wing. After the ceremony of laying the corner-stone of the college the gen- eral returned to Gould's Hotel. He passed the evening at the residence of Governor Van Ness (in the house recently owned and occupied by Lawrence Barnes, on Main street), who generously opened his doors for the reception of the public. The reception lasted from about eight o'clock until eleven, and was a brilliant affair. The " court-yard " presented an elegant appearance, lamps and chandeliers being suspended from the branches of trees and shrub- bery, and a transparent arch thrown across the gate at the foot of the avenue leading to the house, bore the inscription, " Welcome to Lafayette." At eleven o'clock the general was escorted to the wharf, where the Phenix was in waiting under Captain G. Burnham. The Phenix and Congress, the latter under Cap- tain J. R. Harrington, greeted the hero with salutes. The guest then went to Whitehall on the Phenir, accompanied by Governor Van Ness and secretary and council, and the committee of arrangements.

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History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 50

Author: Rann, W. S. (William S.) Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co. Number of Pages: 1054

Author: Rann, W. S. (William S.)
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 1054