USA > Vermont > Chittenden County > History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 70
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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.
a marble shop, blacksmith's shops with sundry other smaller industries incident to every village, and a brick manufactory of over a million capacity per annum. The public buildings are two churches, and a large two-story brick school building, in which three schools are kept during most of the year. The village has in it some men of public spirit and enterprise who have contributed largely to its prosperity.
The intervening territory between the Center and the Junction was settled about 1800 by the Day brothers, seven in number; David, familiarly known as " Uncle David," was a soldier of the Revolution, a sergeant under General Lafayette in the company armed and equipped by him. He was a sterling patriot, and ardently attached to both General Washington and Lafayette. His eye would flash and his countenance light up with quick resentment when any imputation was cast upon the honesty, integrity or patriotism of either of these men. The peculiar manner in which he uttered his favorite expression "by the laws " indicated his readiness to enforce his opinions if necessary. The sword he carried in the war was presented to him by Lafayette, and is kept as an invaluable relic in the family.
At Butler's Corners, one mile from the Center, the town voted in 1801 to erect a " sign post " and a "pair of stocks." The first was a place for posting up " notices," " warrants," etc., and the latter was a device for the punishment of offenders against law and order. These " Corners " were a place of consid- erable business at one period. For many years there was a store, a tavern, a a blacksmith's shop and a lawyer's office here, all doing a lucrative business. The best blacksmith in town was located here, George Whitney, a man of in- telligence, mechanical genius, industry and ability, who was honored by his townsmen with several important town offices which he filled with ability. He was a zealous Methodist, and late in life abandoned mechanical pursuits for the itinerant ministry in that church. Later he retired from public life and in ripe old age passed on to the land beyond.
Religious History. - The greater portion of the early settlers came from Connecticut and Massachusetts, and had been taught in their native homes to reverence religion and its institutions. Hence, when they became fairly settled in their new homes, and had organized themselves into a body politic, we find them providing for the worship of God on the Sabbath. Missionaries connect- ed with the Connecticut Missionary Society came into town and held meetings in houses and barns in different parts of the town. But this occasional preach- ing did not satisfy the people. They desired a pastor to dispense the word of life regularly from week to week, to live and grow up with them. And they desired also a permanent place for such ministrations. With this purpose in view a town meeting was legally warned, and held July 6, 1795, at which it was voted " to hire preaching in town on probation for settlement," and " to raise the sum of thirty pounds lawful money, to be paid into the treasury on or be-
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fore the first day of May next" for the above purpose. Timothy Blin and Joshua Bassett were the committee "for hiring the above said preaching." On the same day the town appointed Martin Powell, of Westford, Stephen Pearl, of Burlington, and Noah Chittenden, of Jericho, " a committee for the purpose of sticking a stake on a spot whereon to build a meeting-house." In 1796 a similar vote was passed, and the "meetings were held one-half of the time at Samuel Buell's and the other half at Deacon Morgan's." In 1797 the town voted to have Mr. Prentice to preach for the term of three months and " raise sixty dollars in money and forty dollars worth of wheat, at sixty-six cents per bushel, or the value thereof in money, the same to be raised on the list of 1796, and paid to the committee to hire preaching," which committee consisted of Timothy Bliss, Samuel Buell and Joshua Bassett. The warning for this meet- ing is recorded and was held April 11, 1797, at the house of Russell Kellogg. On the 21st day of September following another town meeting was held at the dwelling house of Samuel Buell, when it was voted that " under the existing laws of this State we find ourselves unable to continue Rev. Mr. Stoddard in the ministry in consequence of laws being altered and not yet extant," and a committee was chosen "for the purpose of forming an ecclesiastical society in said town." No report is on record of any action of the committee. The vote of the town meeting proved to be premature. The law " not yet extant " was a law authorizing voluntary associations to be formed in each town, for the sup- port of the gospel, and provided that every legal voter should be considered to be of the religious opinion of the majority of such society, and should be re- quired after one year's residence in town to pay for the support of the gospel to such society, unless he should procure a certificate signed by the minister, dea- con or clerk of the congregation to which he belonged, stating that he actually did contribute to the same object in such church or parish. This certificate was to be recorded in the town clerk's office, and as the majority in town were Con- gregationalists, we find those who did not agree with them recording these cer- tificates of membership as contributors to the Protestant Episcopal or Metho- dist Churches, thereby securing themselves from taxation for the support of the gospel in this town. In December, 1798, another town meeting was held at the dwelling house of Samuel Buell, at which the town voted "to raise the sum of one hundred dollars for the purpose of hiring preaching," and this is the last vote of the kind on the town records.
The Meeting-house .- The subject of building a "meeting-house" was one of the articles in the warning for the annual town meeting, March 4, 1800. It was held at the house of Samuel Buell, and a committee, consisting of Jonathan Chipman, Samuel Smith, Abram Stevens, Timothy Bliss and Samuel Buell, was appointed to " draw and circulate subscriptions, and to affix a spot or spots of ground whereon to erect a meeting-house." At an adjourned meeting the town voted to receipt the subscriptions thus made, and at another meeting voted
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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.
" to build a meeting house within twenty rods of where the stake is now stuck, on the most convenient spot of ground." The town records show a contest of opinions on the question of location, and after several attempts to reconcile the differences, the town meetings were abandoned and a "society for building a meeting house" took the matter under their consideration, upon which the loca- tion was fixed where the present brick church now stands. At a meeting of this society, held January 25, 1801, it was voted "that said house when erected should be applied to the use of the Congregationalists in said town." There- upon the Baptists were allowed by vote to withdraw their subscriptions if they desired. At the same time the society was " divided into four classes," and a committee of one from each class was appointed " to superintend in providing his proportionate part of materials for building a meeting house." By the terms of the subscription three quarters was to be paid in grain and one quarter in money, within the year. Abram Stevens was appointed for the west, Samuel Rice, for the northwest, Samuel Bradley, for the northeast, and Stephen Butler, for the southeast. Timothy Bliss was appointed "a committee to provide a superintendent over the whole building," and together with the society com- mittee he was directed to survey four acres around the meeting-house " stake " for a green or common, and divide it into four parts, and proceed to clear the ground. In the spring of 1803 the meeting-house was built. The "raising" was an event of the most absorbing interest ; men, women and children were all present. If our information is correct, no liquor was allowed to be used on the occasion The children were kept at a proper distance, the women prepared the lunch for the men. It was a town picnic. Under the direction of Billy Bliss, master workman, it went up without accident. The last timber was raised the second day. It was two stories in height, forty by fifty feet in size, plainly finished, without portico or cupola. No cut nails were allowed to be used in its construction save in the lathing. It had three entrances, north, south, east. It stood upon the site of the present brick edifice. Entering from the west, there is no "lobby," where we may exchange salutations or lay aside our outer garments. We are in the house of God Directly in front is the high pulpit,
and underneath is the " deacon's pew." On the right and left are the high- backed, square pews. There is a gallery on three sides, with the same high- backed pews in the background. The western front gallery is occupied by the " singers." The lighting of the house is done by the great luminary of heaven shooting its rays through the numerous windows, and it was heated in the same way. Stoves were little known, and fire-places were not to be thought of in church. It was nearly 1820 before the meeting-house was warmed by artifi- cial heat, and then by a box or sheet-iron stove of small capacity. On this consecrated ground, within the walls erected by this labor and self-denial, our fathers and grandfathers and their families devoutly worshiped God. On each successive Sabbath day they came hither, men, women and children on horse-
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back, on foot, with ox teams from all parts of the town, and sat under the droppings of the sanctuary morning and afternoon. In 1839-40 the present brick church was erected nearly upon the foundations of the old, which was re- moved to give it place. The building committee were B. B. Butler, Ira Blin, Nathan Lothrop, and A. J. Watkins, and it was built by their subscriptions largely. When completed the pews were sold to different members of the church and society. Within the last eighteen years the inside has been entirely changed. The basement, which for many years was used for town meetings and other public purposes, has been converted into a neat and commodious vestry and the audience-room been newly seated, papered, carpeted and painted.
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
On the 3d day of October, 1797, the Congregational Church was or- ganized. The first members of the church were Timothy Bliss, Daniel Morgan, Joshua Bassett, Morgan Noble, David Kellogg, Samuel Bradley, Samuel Buell, Stephen Butler, Zeniah Bliss, Eleanor Kellogg and Rachel Buell. A feeble band it would seem to human view, but they were strong and unyielding in their religious integrity, men and women of prayer and Christian zeal and activity, forming the bone and sinew of the church in all the trying dispensations of its existence. They were strong and unwavering in their attachment to Congregational polity, faith and doctrine. The council which organized the church was composed of Rev. Alexander Gillet, of Tor- rington, Rev. Publius V. Bogue, of Winchester, Conn., missionaries of the Con- necticut Missionary Society, and Rev. Ebenezer Kingsbury, then pastor of the church in Jericho. Rev. Mr. Gillet was moderator, and Rev. Mr. Kingsbury, scribe. After accepting a confession of faith, covenant and articles of practice, they were pronounced a church of Christ agreeable to the gospel, and com- pleted their organization by choosing Rev. Mr. Kingsbury as moderator pro tem., and Stephen Butler, clerk.
In 1802, April I, at a town meeting duly warned and held, the first ec- clesiastical society was organized "agreeably to the law of this State." The form of this organization was very brief: "We, the subscribers whose names are underwritten, do by this instrument agree to form ourselves into an ecclesi- astical society, and to be governed agreeably to the laws of this State in that case, made and provided, for building meeting-houses and settling ministers." This document contains the autographs of all the prominent and influential citizens of the town at that time. The organization exists at the present day, with some slight modifications. In 1803, March 26, an agreement was entered into between the "first ecclesiastical society " and a number of Baptist breth- ren "who have Rev. David Hurlbut preaching with them," by which the two societies agreed " to unite in one society, and to settle the said Mr. Hurlbut as
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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.
their minister over the united society, for such term of time as they shall continue one society." The conditions of the agreement were that each shall have a right to separate whenever either shall think they are able to support a minister themselves, and reserving the rights of discipline without interference ; and the two societies were to share equally in supporting the minister. Under this agreement Rev. David Hurlbut became the "first settled minister of Essex," and entitled to "the reservation of 330 acres of land," which was made in the town charter to that person ; but in consideration of the union, as is supposed, on the 5th day of October, 1803, Mr. Hurlbut deeded to the "First Ecclesiastical Society of Essex," all of the ministerial reservation save one hundred acres. The " union" continued one year, when it was dissolved by mutual consent. Soon after this Rev. Asaph Morgan was invited and accepted a unanimous call " to settle in the work of the gospel ministry among us," and the society voted to " give him a salary of $200 for the first year, and to raise $13.34 annually, until it shall arise to $266.67 and then rest-one quarter in money, the other in cattle or grain in the month of January annually." The society also gave him a deed of the lot of land on which he resided during his pastorate. He was ordained August 15, 1805, and remained pastor of the church nearly twenty-three years. He was dis- missed at his own request, June 25, 1828, and died at St. Albans October 5, 1828. His remains were brought to Essex for interment, and " the faithful pastor and able devine " sleeps with the people to whom he was so ardently attached and among whom he spent his entire ministry. During the continu- ance of his pastorate the Congregational Church and the Ecclesiastical Society connected with it comprised a large majority of the principal families in town, and for more than twenty-five years this church was the only place of public worship in town.
In 1817 or 1818 the first Sabbath-school in town was organized in connec- tion with the Congregational Church. Two schools were started in different portions of the town. They were held only in the summer, and the scholars were incited to commit Scripture to memory by the use of blue and red cards with a passage of Scripture upon them, as prizes. In 1821 the schools were united in the meeting-house, and Rev. Mr. Morgan preached a sermon to the children, who were seated together in the body pews of the church. This was the first " children's day " observed in town. More recently it has become one of the institutions of the church in connection with the Sabbath-school. Since its organization the Congregational Church has aggregated nearly 600 members; 178 were added during Mr. Morgan's pastorate. By deaths and dismissions its numbers have reached a small figure. Its present pastor is Rev. William F. English, a graduate of Hartford Theological Seminary.
The Second Congregational Church was organized at Essex Junction June 29, 1851, by a council representing the churches in the Chittenden County
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Conference. The number of members at its organization was twenty-two. This church joins with the first church in sustaining a pastor laboring in both parishes.
The Baptist Church was organized November 5, 1801, with five members. January 16, 1803, it took the name of the "Baptist Church of Christ, of Essex," and in the same year Elder David Hurlbut became the first pastor. The meetings were held at different places in town during the succeeding years, and there were five successive pastors up to 1823, when Chester Ingraham, a native of Essex, was licensed to preach October 29 of that year, and became its sixth pastor. He was ordained an evangelist May 6, 1828. He was pas- tor of the church eighteen years, and under his ministry it was largely in- creased in numbers. He was afterwards pastor of the Baptist Church in Bur- lington. He was a man of good native abilities, but of ordinary education, thoroughly earnest in his work, sound in doctrine and full of zeal in church work. He died in this town. In 1827 the first Baptist church edifice was erected on the site of the present one, B. B. Butler and Marshall Castle con- tributing the land on which it stood. In April, 1839, this house was destroyed by fire. The present one was immediately erected upon the same foundation, and dedicated August 12, 1840. Several years ago a vestry was placed under it, and the grounds around it have been made attractive and pleasant by grad- ing and setting out trees. Since its organization the church has received 420 members, and its pastorates have averaged three years.
The Second Baptist Church was organized at Essex Junction by Rev. J. A. Leavett as a mission church in 1873, and recognized as an independent church in 1879. The church edifice was built in 1875.
In December, 1829, the first Methodist class was formed, seventeen being present. Among the members of this class were Henry Collins, or "Uncle Henry," who was for a long period of time the only Methodist in town, Amasa Bryant, J. D. Berry, Reuben Barrett, George Whitney and their wives. Peter Dorset was appointed leader of the class. This was the nucleus of the church which was afterward organized in accordance with the discipline of that body. In 1838 Essex became a permanent appointment, giving name to the circuit with which it was connected. In 1839 the present house of worship was built, Joseph Fairfield, Loren Tyler, George Whitney, and Benjamin Joslin and others contributing thereto, and upon its completion very generously deeding it to the church, after receiving from the members about one-half the cost. In 1866, in connection with the Congregationalists at the Junction, the Methodists of that locality joined in erecting the Union Church edifice which they now jointly occupy. Since it organization this church has received a membership of 443, and the pastorates have averaged one year and seven months.
In 1857 the Universalist Church was organized by Rev. Joseph Sargent, who was its first pastor. The church building was erected in 1859. The
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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.
prominent members of that society at its organization were Samuel Thrasher, James H. Delano, Peter Blood, Erastus and Joshua Whitcomb, Julius and Gil- bert Shaw. These men contributed liberally in its construction ; all save two have passed away. The Universalists had representatives among the earliest settlers of the town. John Knickerbocker, who settled on the farm occupied by Jason Hunt, was a leader among them. Their meetings were held at his house, and it was at this place that Joshua Babbitt, a minister of that persua- sion, was ordained in the afternoon of the same day in which Rev. David Hurlbut became " the first settled minister in Essex."
Educational History .- The early settlers of the town, though none of them were educated in the higher acceptation of that term, appreciated the impor- tance of education as a necessary element of their prosperity-and hence we find them at an early date making provision for the education of their children. In April, 1796, the first school district was organized by vote of the town. It embraced all the northeast part of the town, " extending from Westford south line, on the east of Brown's River, up said river to Alder Brook, and thence to the east side of said town." The first school in town was taught by one John Finch, an Englishman, who came along with the tidal wave of emigra- tion and taught the young ideas of the town "how to shoot," in a log house- near Jericho line. The second school-house was in the district whose lim- its are above described. At a later period, as the population increased, the town was divided into four and then into six districts. School-houses were erected in different portions of the town. At the present day there are twelve- districts, with as many school-houses. In 1805 there were three hundred and twenty scholars in town, over four and under eighteen years of age. In 1813 the number was four hundred and twelve, and the number is little more than that to-day. From 1819 to 1826 a trustee for each district was appointed an- nually by the town, in town meeting, and the trustee thus appointed had the entire management of the school in his district. In 1828 the town appointed Rev. Asaph Morgan, Rev. Chester Ingraham, David Kellogg, Dr. Harmon Howe, B. B. Butler, and A. J. Watkins as superintending committee to exam- ine schools and teachers. And such a committee was appointed annually by the town until 1833, thus carrying into practical effect the " town system " of schools. In these schools the common branches were taught. "Dilworth and Webster," "Pike and Adams," " Murray and Morse " were the text books in use. And they served their purpose well. But the leading men of the town were not satisfied with these schools. The progress of the age demanded others more efficient and more advanced. And hence when, in 1830, it was proposed to build a school-house at the Center, where hitherto there had been only temporary ones, through the enterprise and public spirit of a few individ- uals, notably B. B. Butler and F. W. Joyner, who contributed the larger por- tion of the expense, a second story was added to the stone building then be-
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ing erected, which was occupied as a high school or academy for many years. It was not a very imposing building in its architecture, nor did it add much to the attractions of the village, but it answered the intended purpose. It was the beginning of higher school education in town. Rev. J. S. Edgerton, Hon. Henry J. Raymond and Miss Andalusin Lee were among the teachers. The writer calls to mind many who attended school in this building, who received here their first inspiration for a higher education, and who have since occupied prominent places of trust and confidence in professional, public and civil life. A few years since this venerable landmark of school days was demolished to give place to a more modern structure.
In January, 1808, " The Essex Library Society " was organized under a constitution, the preamble of which declares that "a public library is of the greatest benefit, as it enables all concerned to acquire literary knowledge and thereby become better citizens and more useful members of society." This constitution has the autograph signature of eighty prominent citizens of the town. Under this organization quite a large library was accumulated. It consisted largely of works by the prominent theologians of the day, sermons, discussions on the prophecies, history, biography, travels, and a few choice works of fiction. It was well patronized by the people, old and young. The books were read around the blazing fires upon the hearthstone, and had an ed- ucating power which has not yet lost its influence upon the descendants of those who inaugurated it. For many years it was a prominent institution, but as other matters attracted the attention of the people, the library was neglected, and its books are now kept as relics of a past age.
In November, 1853, the Chittenden County Institute was chartered with corporators in nearly every town in the county. The starting-point of the en- terprise was the suggestion that Deacon A. J. Watkins and Samuel Douglas were disposed to endow an institution of learning for the higher education of the young. Following out this intimation a charter was procured and the first meeting of the corporation was held at the town hall November 24, 1853, at which the following corporators were present: Essex, Rev. J. D. Sands, Rev. Isaiah Huntley, Dr. Marcus Swain, Deacon A. J. Watkins, Alonson Bliss, John Faxon, Dr. J. W. Emery, S. H. Bliss, Daniel Morgan, D. C. Little- field, Ira Barney, Dr. L. C. Butler, S. G. Butler, George Gates, A. B. Halbert ; Jericho, Anson Field, John Lyman ; Williston, H. Chapin ; Colchester, J. E. Rhodes. The following were chosen officers of the corporation : President, Dr. Marcus Swain ; vice-president, John Lyman ; secretary, S. G. Butler ; treasurer, A. J. Watkins ; executive committee, Dr. J. W. Emery, Dr. L. C. Butler, S. H. Bliss, John Allen. In order to raise funds for the building, sub- scriptions were circulated and very cordially responded to, mainly among the Congregationalists and those outside of any church organization. During the following year a brick building forty by sixty feet was erected on land donated
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