History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 74

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 74

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Postmasters .- The first postmaster in Hinesburg was Erastus Bostwick, who received his appointment June 7, 1803, and served until March 31, 1812, when he was succeeded by Mitchell Hinsdill. Samuel Hurlburt followed Hins- dill, and in 1829 was followed by Thomas W. Gibb, who retained the office until 1853. From 1854 to 1857 Edward W. Gibb was postmaster, and was then succeeded by Marvin Leonard, who was himself followed by Nathaniel Miles. In 1865 Leonard Andrews was appointed, and remained in service until January, 1886, when the present incumbent, A. H. Weed, succeeded him.

Educational History .- The people of the town have always given much attention to the means of education and general instruction. Common schools were established at an early day in every neighborhood. For years, and until the recent adoption of the town system, there were thirteen districts in the town, and now thirteen schools are maintained as before. (See Chapter X.)

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.

The Congregational Church in Hinesburg was organized on May 20, 1789, in the very infancy of the settlement of the town, and only two years sub- sequent to its first town meeting. The church was organized by the Rev. Nathan Perkins, laboring under the direction of a missionary society in Connecticut, and consisted at first of the following members: Josiah Steele and his wife, Eliphaz Steele from the church in West Hartford, Conn., Na- than Stevens, Eleazur Sprague and his wife, Elisha Barber and his wife, Sam- uel Dorwin and his wife from the church in Lanesboro, Mass., and Thankful Stewart, received by profession of faith. Josiah Steele was chosen the first deacon. In 1791, February 23, the Rev. Reuben Parmalee, from Connecticut, was ordained the first pastor of the church. He was dismissed by advice of an ecclesiastical council October 9, 1794. From this time to the spring of 1818, the church had only occasional preaching and administration of its ordi- nances.

Probably the most prominent pastor of the church in its early history was Rev. Otto S. Hoyt, who was ordained pastor September 29, 1818, was dis- missed February 23, 1829, reinstated February 29, 1838, and finally dismissed April 18, 1854. The first church edifice was built of wood in 1800, and did service until 1837, when the present brick house was erected at a cost of about

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$6,000, nearly twice its present value. It will seat 300 persons. A Sabbath- school was established about 1826. The present pastor of the church, Rev. A. C. Field, came to Hinesburg in December, 1880. The present membership of the church is about eighty-seven. The officers now are Henry Page and Noble Partch, deacons; Joseph Landon, clerk and treasurer of the society; and Henry Page, Sabbath-school superintendent. The average attendance at Sab- bath-school is about eighty.

A Methodist Episcopal class was formed here in 1799, consisting of six or seven members. They were well supplied with circuit preachers in early days, and with regular pastors in later times. Among the most prominent of their earliest members may be mentioned Alpheus and Lockwood Mead, David Nor- ton and Jared Byington. Their house of worship was erected in 1837, and re- paired in 1858, and has undergone necessary changes since then. The society also owns a convenient parsonage in the central part of the village. The pres- ent pastor, Rev. George Kerr, succeeded Rev. E. L. Walker in May, 1885. The membership of the church is now a little more than 100. The church property is valued at about $7,500, including the parsonage. The average at- tendance at Sabbath-school is about forty. The superintendent is Newell Clif- ford. The present officers of the church are : Stewards, Elmwood Russell, Noble Miles, C. G. Peck, Orson Kenyon, Alexander Fraser, Perry Miles, Jerome Cole- man, Charles Russell, Henry Russell, George Leonard and Ransom Pierce. The class-leader is Charles Coleman.

The Baptist Church in Hinesburg was organized May 10, 1810. The coun- cil assisting was called by the church in Monkton, and consisted of delegates from the churches in Cornwall, Bridport, New Haven and Charlotte. Elder Henry Green, of Cornwall, was moderator, and Elder Starkweather clerk. Eighteen members united in the organization of the church, viz .: John Beecher and his wife Lydia, Asa Moon and his wife Hannah, John Miles and his wife Mary Ann, John Beecher, jr., and his wife Clarissa, Elisha Booth and his wife Elizabeth, Stephen Post and his wife Hannah, Amos Dike, Mercy McEuen, Anna Willard, Rhoda Bostwick, Hulda E. Booth, Lydia Andrews. The church has had the services of a large number of different preachers, most of whom have served it for only a few years.

Of the early pastors Rev. Peter Chase was the most prominent. Other pastors were Revs. Ephraim Butler, Alanson Covill, Sylvester S. Parr, John Ide, William Arthur,1 Amasa Brown, W. G. Johnson, A. H. Stowell, M. G. Hodge, William S. Picknell, Archibald Wait, Truman Gregory, Reuben Sawyer, Ira D. Burwell, who was here about eleven years, and the present pastor, Rev. A. S. Gilbert, who came here in May, 1878.

The present membership of the church numbers about eighty-six persons, while the average attendance at Sabbath-school is about forty-seven, the super-

1 Father of ex-President Chester A. Arthur.

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intendent being J. H. Allen. The estimated value of the church property is $4,000. The present officers of the church are H. A. Beecher and William Sanctuary, deacons, and Miss Mary A Miles, clerk.

The house of worship was erected in 1826.

CHAPTER XXIII.

HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF HUNTINGTON.

H UNTINGTON is a mountainous town of irregular outline in the ex- treme southeastern part of the county, and is bounded north by Rich- mond and Bolton, east by Duxbury and Fayston, in Washington county, south by Buel's Gore and by Starksboro, in Addison county, and west by Starks- boro and Hinesburg. The town was chartered by Governor Benning Went- worth to the following named grantees on the 7th of June, 1763 :

Edward Burling, Samuel Treadwell, Jesse Lawrence, John Underhill, Joshua Hunt, Thomas Downe, Cornelius Davoe, Charles Hunt, Benjamin Cor- nell, Uriah Travis, William Giffers, Benjamin Bowne, David Guion, Oliver Bes- ley, jr., Joshua Antunes, James Antunes, John Angwin, George Antunes, Ja- cob Coutant, Samuel Crawford, Thomas Oakley, Isaac Oakley, Marmaduke Palmer, Peter Huggeford, James Davis, Marmaduke Hunt, James Ferris, Thos. Ferris, James Ferris, jr., John Ferris, John Ferris, jr., William Ferris, Aaron Quinby, Aaron Quinby, jr., Israel Honeywell, Jonathan Fowler, John Fowler, John Cornell, Joseph Cornell, John Burling, Hugh Rider, Jonathan Pinkney, Gilbert Pinkney, Charles Pinkney, David Pinkney, Joseph Cornell, jr., William Cornell, Benjamin Ferris, James Ferris, son of Benjamin, Benjamin Ferris, jr., Matthew Franklin, Thomas Howland, Richard Titus, Caleb Griffin, Edward Burling, jr., Samuel Averill, the Hon. William Temple, John Nelson, Thomas Atkinson, Major Jonathan Moulton, Christopher Tappan, esq., Colonel Clem- ent Marsh.

The township was originally called New Huntington, and was supposed to contain the orthodox area of six miles square, or 23,040 acres ; but this sup- position, like that of most of the early proprietors of new towns in Vermont, proved to be fallacious.

Originally the township included all the southern part of Richmond lying between Winooski River and within one or two lots of Hinesburg's east line, thence down the Winooski to the north line of the farm adjoining the river, formerly owned by Peter Crane and since by Oliver and Thomas Cutter, and last by Alfred Crane, about half a mile above the old meeting-house, fol- lowing a line running west, and approaching not far from the farms owned

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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

by Royal Briggs and John Williams. The original western boundary was sep arated from the Hinesburg line by a narrow strip of land running from the southeast corner of Williston (as it then was called Williston Leg), which was afterwards annexed to the respective towns of Richmond and Huntington. The act by which this change of territory was effected was passed by the Leg- islature October 27, 1794, which took the easterly part of Burlington, the southerly part of Jericho, the town of Williston, together with the portion of New Huntington mentioned, and a part of Avery's and Buel's Gores, forming the whole into three towns. In addition to the part taken to form the new town of Richmond, another part was annexed to Bolton, while a portion of the gore on the south was annexed to this town. Other than these no changes have occurred in its area. On October 27, 1795, the name of New Hunting- ton was changed to Huntington by the Legislature.

The surface of the town is broken by hills and precipitous mountains, and contains but little level land, except along the fertile intervales of Huntington River. The highest elevation is Camel's Hump, one of the principal peaks of the Green Mountains, its summit standing within the eastern boundary of Huntington ; while next to it in eminence rises North Mountain, just within the north line of the town, east of Huntington River. The western edge of the town is also skirted by a small range of hills The soil is various and, unlike most mountainous towns, produces abundant quantities of grass and grain. The town is watered by Huntington River and its tributaries, the former flowing across the entire length of the town north and south and afford- ing the best of water privileges.

Owing to the fact that the proprietors' records have either been lost or de- stroyed, the proceedings of the early settlers cannot be given at such length as otherwise might be. No doubt the proprietors organized and endeavored to make their town a popular place for early settlers, as their competitors in the other towns were doing. From records in possession of Solomon Johns, it is learned that William Hill was the first proprietors' clerk, and Jehiel Johns, Adolphus Walbridge and Sylvester Russell were the first committee to attend to the surveying of the town and all those affairs looking to a rapid sale and settlement of the land. From the same source the following is substantially taken :

Statement of the condition of New Huntington before the proprietors' meeting was warned and the division made by the committee appointed by the Legislature : No division had been made before Ives's Vendue. Between four and five thousand acres was then sold and pitched and surveyed, called Ives's Vendue. Pitches of 150 and 200 acres were made on such rights as he sold. In the year 1789 a survey of 100 acres to each right was made by Silas Hodges and Leonard Hodges, and called Hodges' division. This did not interfere with the vendue pitches. Hodges' division was soon considered illegal and unjust

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by many proprietors, and they wholly disregarded it. It became a practice among them and the settlers to get a surveyor and pitch and survey on any land not settled or surveyed by the settlers without any regard to Hodges' division, in all manner of shapes, on or across said division, on any other land not claimed by the settlers. At the proprietors' meeting, 18 April, 1808, it was voted that a shaded plan (so called) should be made, showing all the pitches and Hodges' division in different colors, with the respective claims thereon. A committee was appointed for this purpose, and William Allen was sent to every man to survey his claim as he wished to hold. On the 27th of June, 1808, a committee of five persons was chosen to examine into all claims and report in writing in all cases where there were interfering claims, with their reasons in all such cases. In this way, after much difficulty, the conflicting claims were at last adjusted and the rights of the inhabitants and landowners settled.

Early Settlements .- The first settlement made within the present limits of Huntington was begun in the spring of 1786 by Jehiel Johns, who came from Manchester, Vt., in March, bringing his wife and portable effects by way of Otter Creek to Lake Champlain, following it down to Burlington, and thence up Winooski River to what is now a part of Richmond. Here he left his companion and such effects as he could not carry with him in the care of Joel Brownson, an early settler in Williston, and proceeded by marked trees through the woods to his pitch, which he had purchased the fall before, being lot No. 58, original right of Isaac Oakly, lying on Huntington River, just south of the site of the village. Here he built the first log cabin in the town. In the latter part of his work he had the assistance of Stillman and Samuel Bradley, early settlers in Williston. He was born in Duchess county, N. Y., February 19, 1756, and on the thirtieth anniversary of his birthday he mar- ried Elizabeth Sexton, of Manchester, Vt., who bore him five sons and a daughter. He was early chosen to prominent positions in the new town, be- ing moderator of the first town meeting, first justice of the peace, first repre- sentative, and filling various other offices. He died August 12, 1840, and his widow survived him until March 25, 1851. Her epitaph, written by her son, the well-known James Johns, reads as follows :

First of my sex brought to this town,

To keep a house was I ; Here by my partner I'm at rest, For we were born to die.

James Johns, one of the children of Jehiel Johns, who was noted for his in- telligence and independence of thought, and for the peculiar ability with which he edited the Vermont Autograph and Remarker, mentioned in the chapter devoted to the history of the press, died on the 26th of April, 1874, aged seventy-six years and seven months.

Jehiel Johns was followed the same year by Elisha Bradley, from Sunder-

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land, Vt., who built the second log house in town. In the following winter, however, he removed to Williston and left Mr. Johns alone until the spring of 1787, when Charles Brewster and Ebenezer Ambler, with their families, came on from Tinmouth and began settlements in the vicinity ; Ambler on lot 59, next north of the farm of Johns, and Brewster on that next north of Ambler. In a year or two the next settler, Asa Gillet, arrived and settled on the lot next north of Brewster's, partly adjoining the town line. John Martin came soon after and made the first pitch on the hill in the east part of the town. The first settler in the western part of the town was Jacob Snider, who made his pitch on what was then called Williston Leg. The three last-mentioned settlements were established about 1788. They were closely followed by Thomas and Rufus Williams, who each pitched next to John Martin on East

Hill, the one north and the other east of him. About 1789 the first settle- ments were effected in Buel's Gore by Abel Turner, John Fitch and Samuel . Fargo. About the same time Jacob Fairman and Lawrence Ravelin settled on Southeast Hill, south of Brush's Brook. As early as 1790 Stephen Squires pitched in what is known as Sherman Hollow. In 1794 came Oliver Russell, , John Raymond, Jonathan Shepard, John Teft, Jabez Fargo, David Caswell, Joseph Carpenter, Elias Farr, and Zebediah Joslin, some of them proving merely temporary squatters. Settlement was very slow and it was at least forty years before any portion of the town assumed the nature or appearance of a village or place of business. In 1791 the population was 167.

As before stated, Deacon Charles Brewster came to this town from Tin- mouth, Vt., in 1787. He purchased lot 60 and upon it settled his son, Charles, jr. He also purchased a farm in that part of the original town which was afterwards set off to Richmond, upon which he placed another son, Ozem. Mr. Brewster himself returned to Tinmouth, where he remained until his death. Charles, jr., built the first framed buildings in town in 1795, which are still standing on the old Brewster farm. After the death of her husband Mrs. Brewster removed from Tinmouth and took up her residence with Charles, where she died in 1790, aged sixty-six years, being the first adult person to die in Huntington. Charles, jr., had a family of ten children, none of whom is now living, though their descendants are numerous. He died March 15, 1809, aged fifty-four years.

Among the other settlers who came in before 1800 may be mentioned John Fitch, from Hartford, Conn., who came in 1789 to Buel's Gore; John Thomas, from Tinmouth, Mass., who came to Huntington in 1789 and settled on the farm now in possession of his grandson, John Sprague; George Small, from Tinmouth, Vt., who arrived in 1793 and located on the place afterwards and recently owned by the Butler estate; and Nathaniel Pierce, from Hollis, N. H., who came in 1795 and remained until his death in 1821 on the east branch of Huntington River, in Buel's Gore.

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TOWN OF HUNTINGTON.

Elisha Bradley was a native of Connecticut, and adopted very peculiar views of religion, said to resemble the faith of the Quakers, only " more ultra." He was an honest and exemplary man.

Ebenezer Ambler, son of John Ambler, was born in Westchester county, N. Y., April 26, 1756. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Deacon Charles Brewster, in Tinmouth, Vt., and came to Huntington in 1787. He had only two children, John and Elizabeth, or Betsey. At the organization of the town Ebenezer Ambler was chosen first selectman, and was for several years one of the justices of the peace of the town. He was a soldier of the Revolutionary War, and was once taken prisoner by the Hessians. He died April 26, 1826.

Jacob Snider, or Schneider, was born of German parents in Rhinebeck, Duchess county, N. Y., April 12, 1758. His father was John Snider. Jacob married Rebecca Hart, by whom he had twelve children. He served a short time in the American cause in the War of the Revolution.

John Fitch was born in Coventry, Conn., in December, 1754. He was a soldier of the Revolution, and after the war was over received a pension from the government to the time of his death. He represented Huntington in the Legislature several years, and for several years also served as justice of the peace and constable He married Anna, daughter of Major Elias Buel, original proprietor of the gore, and had several children. He died in 1850.

John Thomas was a native of Staffordshire, England, and was impressed into the service of the English during the War of the Revolution, but deserted and betook himself to more peaceable employment. After the war he mar- ried Mary McDonald, stopped a while in Tinmouth, and in 1789 settled in this town. He died in December, 1836, leaving three children.

William Hill was an Englishman, born near the borders of Scotland, and came to America about the period of the Revolution. He was, during the latter part of his life, inclined to the religious views of the Quakers. In 1820 he removed to Farnham, Canada, where he soon after died. His wife was Patience, daughter of Joseph Carpenter.

War of 1812 .- The following company, commanded by Captain A. Farr, and made up from Huntington and Richmond, were stationed at Burlington during the year 1813 as a part of the regiment of Colonel Taylor: James Ambler, Nathan Sherman, Alexander Frasier, Salmon Johns, Leemon E. Lan- lond, Joseph Dike, as drummer, Aaron A. Fairman, Brigham Bradley, Com- fort Brewster, Elijah Hurlburt, Elin Bunker, Gideon Taft, George Molton, Hall Estes, Elijah Abeel, J. F. Fairman, John Snider, Joseph Hamlen, Joseph Ellis, Terry Shattuck, Manley Newlins, Noah Johnson, Nathaniel Norton, Otis Taft, Peter Shattuck, Merlin Derby, Sanford Williams, S. Roberts, T. Willis, Will- iam Hall, jr., Frederick Fish, John Butler, Jo. Johns, Samuel Johnson, Elisha Williams, Z. Gay, Samuel Cooper.

The Organization of the Town took place at the house of Owen Brewster on

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the 29th of March, 1790, when Jehiel Johns was chosen moderator, Charles Brewster, sr., town clerk ; Amos Brownson, jr., constable; and Ebenezer Am- bler, Ozem Brewster and Parley Starr, selectmen. The early records of town meetings, a fruitful source of historical information, are evidently very meager in Huntington and some of them so disconnected as to give rise to the suspi- cion that they have been mutilated and partly destroyed or taken away from the clerk's office. One of the first meetings recorded after the organization of the town was held on the third day of March, 1797, at the house of Jabez Fargo. William Hill was then town clerk. At the March meeting for 1798 it was voted that a pound be built at Joseph Carpenter's house, at the most convenient spot. In March, 1799, it was voted that "the Selectmen are to Build a Temporal Pound and purchase a Burying Ground and Fence the same, to Erect a Sign Post and Guide Posts." Further measures were also adopted looking to the institution of an inquiry concerning the most suitable place for the " burying ground, sign post and guide posts," and to present the result of the inquiry at a future meeting. Either nothing came of this for some time, or what was done proved insufficient, for on the 2d of June, 1800, a tax of one cent on a dollar was voted to " build " the " burying-yard," pound, sign-post, stocks and guide-posts ; and a few months later it was voted that this tax be payable in cash, wheat, rye or corn. Again on the 25th of August, 1801, it was voted that Joseph Clark build the guide-posts for two dollars a post for " erecting, building, lettering and painting, according to law." And Enoch Terril was authorized to build the stocks and sign-post for two dollars and fifty cents, and to have them finished by the 10th of November of that year. It was also voted that the selectmen divide the town into two districts, for the more convenient arrangement of " burying-yards," each district to have its own ground.

Little else occurs in the early records to throw light upon the early meth- ods of proceeding to improve the internal affairs of the town, unless the fol- lowing extract from the record of the meeting last above mentioned :

" Voted-The Districts are nullified and made void, and are at Liberty to convene together for the singular advantage of teaching their Children as most convenient."

First Industries, etc .- Abel Turner erected the first mill in town - a grist and saw-mill - about the beginning of the present century, on Huntington River in the southern part of the town. About the same time Samuel Buel built a saw-mill on one of the tributary brooks flowing into the river from the east. Turner's mill was ruined by a freshet in 1804. Another grist-mill was built about this time for Orrin Polly in the western part on a brook which en- ters the town from Hinesburg. It was discontinued in 1819 and the site used for a saw-mill. The first carpenters and joiners were Josiah and Thomas Mil- ler ; Jonathan Dike was the first kitchen chair-maker; James Weller was the

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first blacksmith ; Rufus Williams was the first tailor and Benjamin Brownell was the first resident shoemaker. The first carding-machine was built and started by Roswell Stevens, in 1821, at the north village, where cloth-dressing was also done.

Present Manufacturing Interests .- The industries above mentioned were the most prominent early interests, excepting perhaps the grist and saw-mill of Solomon, Jacob and Almon Rood on the west side of the stream in the north village, opposite the site of the present mills of Dr. Chessmore, which was car- ried away by the freshet of 1858, and the starch factory of Alexander Fergu- son, near by, which suffered destruction from the same agency. The abundant water power in the town has been instrumental in keeping its inhabitants sup- plied with mills. Among the present interests may be named the saw-mill of Dr. A. H. Chessmore, which stands on the site of the old mill of Roswell Ste- vens, built about 1821. Soon after 1828 Joseph Johnson bought and repaired the building, operating a saw-mill in it until about 1856, when it was burned. He and his son, W. M. Johnson, immediately rebuilt and ran it until it was carried away by the freshet of 1858, after which it went into the hands of H. Shattuck and L. A. Norton, who rebuilt it. W. M. Johnson went into partner- ship with Mr. Shattuck and retained an interest in the concern until 1878, when the present proprietor bought it of him and of the estate of Lyman Norton. In 1883 Dr. Chessmore added shingle and clapboard machines to the mill and made various other improvements, and in the summer of 1885 replaced the old run of stones with a new grist-mill apparatus, and now does custom work of the best kind. In this mill are sawn annually about 200,000 feet of dimension lumber, while about 300,000 shingles and 100,000 feet of clapboards are made every year. By its enlargement in dimensions and in the volume of its business it shows the spirit of enterprise which possesses its owner.

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History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 74

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