USA > Vermont > Grand Isle County > History of Franklin and Grand Isle counties, Vermont : With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of the prominent men and pioneers. > Part 58
USA > Vermont > Franklin County > History of Franklin and Grand Isle counties, Vermont : With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of the prominent men and pioneers. > Part 58
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" Also that the first meeting for the choice of Town Officers agreea- bly to the laws of our said province shall be held on the thirteenth day of Sept. next, which said meeting shall be notified by Benjamin Clapp, who is hereby appointed the moderator of the said first meeting, which he is to notify and govern agreeably to the laws and customs of our said province. And that the annual meeting forever hereafter for the choice of such officers for the said town shall be on the second Tuesday of March annually to HAVE and to HOLD the said Tract of land as above expressed, together with all privaleges and appurtenances, and to them and their respective heirs and assigns forever, upon the following conditions VIZ .-
"I. That every grantee, his heirs or assigns, shall plant and cultivate five acres of land, within the term of five years, for every fifty acres con- tained in his or their share or proportion of land in said township and continue to improve and settle the same by additional cultivation, on penalty of his grant or share being forfeited in the said township, and of its reverting to US, our heirs and successors to be by US, or them, re- granted to such of our subjects as shall effectually settle and cultivate the same.
" II. That all white and other Pine Trees within the said township fit for making Our Royal Navy be carefully preserved for that use, and none to be cut or felled without our special license for so doing, first had and obtained upon Penalty of the Forfeiture of the Rights of such Grantee, to US, Our Heirs and Successors, as well as being subject to the Penalty of any Act or Acts of Parliament that now are or hereafter shall be Enacted.
"III. That before any Division of the Land be made to and among the Grantees, a Tract of Land as near the Centre of the said Town Ship as the Land will admit of shall be reserved and marked out for Town Seats, One of Which shall be allotted to each Grantee of the Contents of One Acre.
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN AND GRAND ISLE COUNTIES.
" Yeilding and paying therefor to Us, our Heirs and Successors for the Space of ten Years, to be computed from the Date hereof, the Rent of one Ear of Indian Corn only, on the twenty-fifth Day of December annually, if Lawfully demanded, the first Payment to be made on the twenty-fifth day of December, 1763.
"Every Proprietor, Settler, or Inhabitant Shall Yeild and pay unto US, our heirs and Successors yearly, and every year forever, from and after the Experation of ten years from the above said twenty-fifth day of Dec. Namely on the twenty-fifth Day of December, which will be in the year of Our Lord 1773, One Shilling Proclamation Money for every hundred Acres he so owns, settles, or possesses, and so in Proportion for a greater or lesses Tract of the Said Land ; which money shall be paid by the Respective Persons aforesaid, their Heirs or Assigns, in our Council Chamber in Portsmouth, or to such Office or Officers as shall be appointed to receive the same; and this to be in Lieu of all other Rents and Services What-soever.
"In Testimony Whereof we have caused the Seal of our said Province to be hereunto affixed.
" Witness, I, Benning Wentworth, Esq., Our Governor and Com- mander-in-Chief of our Said Province the 18th Day of August. In the Year of our Lord Christ, one-thousand seven-hundred sixty-three, and in the third year of Our Reign, By His EXCELLENCY', Command with Advise of Council.
" B. WENTWORTH.
" Province of New Hampshire, August 18, 1763, Recorded in Books of Charters P 42 & 43.
"P. ATKINSON, JR., Sec."
Back of Charter .- " Surveyor's Gen. Office. Recorded in the first Book of Charters for the New Hampshire Grants. Pages 200-209-210.
" For His Excellency, Benning Wentworth, Esq., a Tract to contain Five Hundred Acres Marked B. W. in the Plan, which is to be ac- counted two of the sum shares. One whole share for the Incorperated Society for Propogation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. One whole share for a Glebe for the Church of England, as by Law Established. One share for the First Settled Minister of the Gospel in said Town, & one share for Benefit of the Schools in said town forever.
615
TOWN OF SHELDON.
"Esq. Allen please to Record this, and hand it Back again By the Bairer and also the Charter of Ferdinand, which my son left with you some time ago.
" SAMUEL HUNGERFORD."
Then follows the names of the grantees' plan of the town and certifi- cate of record.
Upon the map of the state we find the just described town of pen - tagonal shape, occupying nearly the central part of Frankiin county. The town, originally called Hungerford, was changed to Sheldon, No- vember 8, 1792. It is embraced between longitude 44° 54' north and latitude 4° I' east, and is bounded on the north by Highgate, Franklin, and Enosburgh ; on the east by Enosburgh; on the south by Fairfield and Swanton; and on the west by Highgate and Swanton. It contains 23,040 acres, and is about eleven miles from east to west and four miles from north to south.
There are no ponds, marshes, or bodies of standing water of any ex- tent within its boundaries. The three principal streams are the Missis - quoi, Black Creek, and Tyler's branch. The Missisquoi derives its name from the Indian words " Missi," meaning much, and " kiscoo," meaning waterfowl, from the great number of cranes, herons, and ducks that formerly frequented this stream and its branches each season. Next to Otter Creek it is the largest and longest in the state. It is eighty miles long and drains the area of about 600 square miles. It enters Sheldon about a mile south of the northeast corner and flows a westerly and northwesterly course through the town, a distance of nearly eleven miles. It affords many fine mill privileges. Black Creek, running through Fairfield, enters Sheldon on the south and empties into the Missisquoi two miles below. It has a good water-power about a mile above its mouth, at Sheldon village, which is thoroughly improved. Tyler's branch, a stream of less size than Black Creek, enters the town on the east, and after running scarcely more than a mile northwesterly it adds its waters to those of the Missisquoi. Besides these there are minor streams emptying into the Missisquoi at different points, the prin- cipal of which are Goodsell and Morrow Brooks.
The surface of the town is pleasantly diversified by broad valleys and gentle rolling uplands. Bordering upon the Missisquoi and its princi- pal tributaries are wide and extensive intervals, appearing as one un-
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN AND GRAND ISLE COUNTIES.
broken field of cultivation. The quality of the soil is unsurpassed-a deep rich alluvial. The uplands, receding gradually in most places north and south of the Missisquoi Valley, are of a rich and mellow loam, and very productive. The higher lands are timbered with beech, birch, maple, etc. In the valleys and bordering upon the streams there were formerly valuable tracts of pine and hemlock with a mixture of elm and other soft woods. The pine tract originally predominated in the west- ern part of the town, where the soil was lighter and less productive.
Geologically there are three distinct general formations crossing the town in lines nearly north and south, with strikes nearly parallel. In the eastern and larger part a strata of slate, beds of chlorite, and consid- erable talcose slate abound. The central part is similar to the former, having more talcose slate. In the western part marble formations exist, together with magnesian and silicious limestone and a strata of magne- sian slate. It is in the eastern part of this formation that the mineral springs are situated, and it is plausibly apparent that the properties de- veloped by chemistry are stoutly and consistently substantiated by its elder sister-science, geology. The dip of the rocks in the eastern part of the town is from 75 to 85 degrees, and in the north and west from 60 to 65 degrees.
The organization of Hungerford, afterwards changed to Sheldon, took place in 1791, the day and month not being known. The following is the record in regard to it : 1
" In the year A. D. 1791, On application of a number of the inhabi- tance of the Township of Hungerford, to Daniel Stannard, of Georgia, a Justice of the Peace within and for the County of Chittenden and state of Vermont, to warn a meeting, agreeable to the Statutes for the afore- said inhabitance to meet and choose Town Officers, a warning was is- sued by the said Daniel Stannard, Esq., for the Inhabitants to meet at the dwelling-house of Elisah Sheldon, Jun., at Hungerford aforesaid on the - day of - -, A. D. 1791, at which time and place the in- habitance aforesaid met in presence of said Justice and proceded to Bal- lot.
" Ist. To choose a moderator to govern said meeting ; when Mr. Elisah Sheldon, Jr., was elected, and took his seat.
' Vol. I., Town Records.
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TOWN OF SHELDON.
" 2d. Proceeded to choice of Town Clerk ; when Samuel B. Sheldon was chosen.
" 3d. Elected Elisah Sheldon, Sec., and James Hawly and Elisah Sheldon, Jr., Selectmen to govern the prudential Concern of Said Town.
"4th. James Herric 2nd Constable.
" The above officers were sworn agreeable to law in presence of said meeting.
" Meeting adjourned without day."
The meetings of the inhabitants, both for the transaction of town busi- ness and for freemen's meeting, were held for some years at either one of two places : " At the dwelling house of Elisha Sheldon, standing on the north side of the river on the so-called Butler place [now Towle's], towards Enosburgh Falls," or "at the dwelling house of Dr. Benjamin B. Searls, a log cabin, at the Corners." They were held oftener, it would seem from the records, at the latter place. At the first freemen's meeting, recorded in 1793, the whole number of votes cast for state of- ficers was forty-five, as follows: For governor, Isaac Tichenor, forty- five; for lieutenant-governor, Jonathan Hunt, forty one; for lieuten- ant-governor, Peter Shott, four; and for treasurer, Samuel Mattocks, forty-five. Samuel B. Sheldon was the first representative and the first magistrate in 1791.
Samuel Hungerford, to whom with seventy others the town of Shel- don was granted in 1763, resided in New Fairfield, Conn. Some of the other grantees lived in Greenwich, Conn, among them being Uriah Field, or " Daddy Field " as he was familiarly called. Field acquired, by purchase or otherwise, the greater part of the town, and it was of him and Timothy Rogers, who lived in Ferrisburgh, Vt., and who was one of the town's first surveyors, that the Sheldons bought the land and gave the town their name. Year after year for nearly twenty years did " old daddy Field " and his two sons, wearing their broad- brimmed hats and quaint suits of gray, visit Sheldon, riding all the way from Connecticut on horseback, to receive their annual pay, which was in part beef cattle, which they drove to New York markets.
The first of the Sheldons that visited the town was Samuel B., or " Major Sam " as he was afterwards called. He and Elisha, jr., and George were sons of Colonel Elisha Sheldon. It was in 1789 that
78
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN AND GRAND ISLE COUNTIES.
Major Sam first came to Sheldon. His object in coming was to look the town over and inspect the soil previous to purchasing. Instead of coming as the early settlers afterwards did, by the way of Fairfield alone, unaccompanied by man or beast, he ascended the Lamoille River to Cambridge, and passed through Bakersfield, then an unfrequented wild - erness, striking one of the branches that empties into Tyler's branch, which he descended until he reached the point where the latter stream joins the Missisquoi. Here he stopped until morning, and a large elm tree was long pointed out as the one beneath which he first slept, with no covering for protection save a " portmanteau for a pillow."
In the spring of 1790 George, the younger son of Colonel Sheldon, accompanied by a sturdy old Scotchman and his wife by the name of MacNamara, together with several negro servants, came to town as " first settlers," their only means of locomotion being a yoke of oxen and a sled. From the town of Fairfield, the nearest settled point for a distance of ten miles, they marked trees through the dense woods to the Missisquoi. Here upon the north side of the river, opposite the outlet of Tyler's branch, and scarcely more than a stone's throw from the old elm beneath which Major Sam passed a lonely night, they settled. The year previous they constructed a log house, the first one built in town by white men, and now owned by Harrison Towle. Here, also, was the first tree felled, the first ground broken, and the first seed planted. After the crop was harvested the negroes returned to Burlington to pass the winter. George Sheldon also started for his home in Connecticut, leaving MacNamara and his wife to keep watch and ward over things at the settlement until the return of spring. The sufferings and sorrows of this lonely settler, his trust and determination, passed into tradition. Well does it illustrate the stern and unflinching character of the pioneer, the worthy and resolute son of Caledonia.
On his way home Mr. Sheldon had requested a Mr. Hawley, living in Fairfield, to visit MacNamara and see to him. Hawley agreed to do so, but failed to call even once. Early the next spring Sheldon returned, and when he learned that Hawley had not seen the Scotchman he felt much concerned and hastened on. What was his surprise upon reach - ing the settlement to find that MacNamara's wife had died, and that he had covered the body in a snow bank near the house. She was after-
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TOWN OF SHELDON.
wards buried on the south side of the river, about a quarter of a mile dis- tant, upon a hemlock ridge, and there alone, where no monument or tablet marks the spot, she rests, a striking example of pioneer life and hardship.
Later in the spring Colonel Elisha Sheldon and his son Elisha, jr., Major Sam and his son-in-law, Elnathan Keys, with their families, George and family and their servants, and James Herrick and James Hawley arrived in town, settling in different parts. All began in earn- est to clear the land and grow crops. Meanwhile others joined them, and the settlement advanced with considerable rapidity. The St. Fran- cis Indians were a cause of no little apprehension to the inhabitants for a number of years, and even as late as. 1812. The Missisquoi and its branches, abounding with trout, and the valleys and hills bordering, af- fording much game, were to them rich fishing and hunting-grounds to which they tenaciously held claim. That large inland peninsula formed by the St. Francis, Missisquoi, and Richelieu Rivers was particularly and reluctantly yielded. Although the Indians never did much injury to the settlers they always appeared sullen and angry, and threatened venge- ance in case of war, especially upon the Sheldons, for whom they had an inveterate hatred, and on one occasion burned a barn of theirs filled with grain. But succeeding years of peace and security ensued, and all thoughts of the tomahawk had long since been forgotten. Wild ani- mals of all kinds common to Northern Vermont abounded in town at the time of the settlement. Of the larger there were moose and bears, together with packs of wolves and herds of deer. Wolves in particular were a great annoyance for a long time. Whole flocks of sheep were sometimes destroyed by them in a single night. Fires would have to be kindled about the barns and lights hung in the barns to frighten them away. Retiring to the hills they would howl dismally through the night, while the hoarse sound of " wolves ! wolves !" would be shouted from house to house. So bold were they in some instances that prints of their paws had been found upon the snow covered window-sills in the morning. Bears were so common that travelers were confronted by them and obliged to fly to the nearest tree. Moose were so plenty at first that the permanent presence of the settlers forced them to take to other parts. The only one ever known to have been killed in town was
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN AND GRAND ISLE COUNTIES.
shot by George Sheldon not far from the late residence of S. B. Herrick, esq. Deer never herded in more congenial places with the tenacity with which they clung to their old "runways," long after a greater part of the forest had been cleared, and until a few years they have been seen coming down from the east part of the town and county, where it is mountainous and wooded.
What would we of to-day think of going forty miles to get a single bushel of grain ground, or twice that distance if we wished to send or receive a paper or letter? Yet such was the case with the early inhab- itants. The nearest flour-mill was at Plattsburgh, N. Y., and the post- office at Middlebury. But a few years elapsed, however, before the enterprise of the inhabitants caused a better state of things to exist. In 1792 Major Sheldon built a saw-mill at the Lower Falls, not far from what is known as Umstead Mills, about two miles from the present vil- lage of Sheldon. It was built there on account of the great amount of pine lumber in the vicinity. A few years later, in 1797, he built a grist- mill on the west side of the creek. In 1799 Israel Keith built a furnace and forge, and for a long time a flourishing business was done, employ- ing much of the time a hundred men or more to supply it with ore and iron. Quite an extensive ore bed was discovered and worked not far from the present residence of Henry Mowry. On account of the good amount of business done by the furnace company iron was long called "Sheldon currency." In 1803 a carding-mill was built and in the same year a postoffice was established. Dr. Hildredth was appointed post- master ; his date of commission was January 15, 1803. Dr. Hildredth was the first physician and the first tavern-keeper in town. The first store was kept by Benjamin Clark, who afterwards sold out to Sheldon, Herth, and Fitch.
The first freemen's meeting was holden in the eastern part of the town, at the house of Jedediah Tuttle. S. B. Sheldon was chosen representa- tive.
Town Clerks .- S. B. Sheldon was chosen first town clerk in 1791, and held that office till his death in 1807. Ebenezer Marvin was clerk in 1807-13; Chancey Fitch, 1813-15; E. H. Wead, 1815-16; Samuel Wead, 1816-18; E. H. Wead, 1818-19; Charles Gallop, 1819-20; Samuel Wead, 1820-32; E. B. Packenham, 1832-35 ; Oliver A. Keith,
621
TOWN OF SHELDON.
1835-41 ; Theophilus Mansfield, 1841-43; A. M. Brown, 1843-85; E. M. Brown, son of A. M., 1885 to present time.
The Franklin County Republican, a weekly newspaper, was published and edited by J. W. Tuttle. During the greater part of the years 1837, '38, and '39 it was a creditable affair, and would compare favorably with some of the papers published in the state at the present time. The only volumes known by the writer to be extant are in the possession of J. H. Stufflebean.
Grace Episcopal Church .- Who first preached in town cannot be def- initely ascertained, as there was no church and consequently no church record. Revs. Parker and Worcester of the Congregational church and the Rev. Stephen Beech of the Episcopal church commenced preaching here about the year 1807. The Rev. Mr. Hill, a Methodist, preached here in 1812. These are the three principal denominations in town, and the only ones that have erected houses of worship, and that have regu- lar Sabbath and Sunday-school services. The first church built was by the Episcopalians. The edifice was erected in 1812, of wood, and con- secrated the following year. The larger part of the expense was borne by Elder Keith, esq. The edifice was rebuilt upon the same frame, with a brick extension, and supplied with a bell and furniture in 1853. The parsonage was purchased in 1865 and an organ in 1869. The house was again remodeled and newly furnished and consecrated in 1876. The church has been slightly endowed by the wills of the late J. W. Sheldon ($800) and Mrs. Ruth (Dean) Wait ($500). The parish has had the ministrations, generally in connection with some other parish, of the Rev. Stephen Beech (1816-22), the Rev. Elijah Brainard, Rev. Jo- seph Covell, Rev. Moon Bingham, Rev. Anson B. Hard, Rev. Silas R. Crane, Rev. Louis McDonald, Rev. John Fitch, Rev. Jubal Hodges, Rev. John E. Johnson, Rev. W. Lewis, and Rev. A. H. Bailey for the past twenty-five years. The number of reported communicants in 1816 was eleven, which number reached its maximum, ninety-two, in 1834, and has since varied from fifty five to eighty-eight, the present number being fifty-five.
The Congregational Church was organized in 1816. The precise date is not remembered, and there are no records now in existence earlier than 1830. The meeting of its council for a new organization was held
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN AND GRAND ISLE COUNTIES.
in the school-house standing on the west side of Black Creek, on the site of the present school building. The moderator was Rev. Benjamin Wooster, of Fairfield; the scribe, Rev. James Parker, of Enosburgh. The following are names of the original members : Samuel White and wife, Samuel Sheldon and wife, Mrs. Isaac Sheldon, Bartholomew Hul- bert and wife, Lucius Cotton and wife, Amos Judd and wife, and Philo White. The clerks of the church have been Samuel White, Alvin Fas- sett, -- Bruce, D. D. Wead, S. W. Langdon. The deacons have been Samuel White, Alvin Fassett, Hezekiah Bruce, Samuel M. Hulbert, Chancey Hulbert, Edward P. Adams, A. T. Leach. Samuel M. Hul - bert and A. T. Leach are still the acting deacons of the church. For the first ten years or more the church was ministered unto by Rev. Ben jamin Wooster, of Fairfield, and by missionaries sent out for short peri- ods from the Connecticut Home Missionary Society. Mr. Wooster preached at Sheldon at different times, and regularly half the time. He must have done this for a number of years, altogether three or four at least, according to the remembrance of Deacon White. Of missionaries the names of Williston and Atwood, in particular, are remembered. Since 1830, the time to which the records now in existence date, we find the names of the following ministers as having supplied the church at different times for longer or shorter periods : James Gilbert, Phinelias Kingley, Preston Taylor, Calvin B. Hulbert, Charles Duren, Charles W. Clark, and George Tolman. The last named was the first and only in- stalled pastor the church has had, and the first settled minister in town. He was ordained and installed July 10, 1862. The following pastors have officiated at various times : C. H. Rowley, C. B. Watson, A. B. Carr, A. T. Clark, and R. B. Fay. In 1865 a commodious parsonage was completed.
The Methodist Episcopal Church .- In the year 1813 the Rev. Isaac Hill, a local Methodist preacher, came to Sheldon from Fairfield and held meetings occasionally. Mr. Hill formed the first class of seven members, viz .: Jacob and Rowena Saxe, Hannah, wife of Alfred Keith, John Potter, widow Asa Dimon, Mrs. Downey, and Mrs. Stephen Kim- ball. Soon after Revs. Gilbert, Lyon, and Buel Goodsil, circuit preach- ers, came here and remained two years, preaching in Sheldon and ad- joining towns. They were succeeded by Rev. Daniel Brayton in 1816,
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TOWN OF SHELDON.
and a young junior preacher. A great revival of religion was enjoyed that year, and most of the first inhabitants of the east part of the town joined the church. At that time there was no stated preaching by any other denomination. Some of those converts afterwards joined the Episcopal church. "Sheldon circuit" consisted of Sheldon, Franklin, and all towns east in Franklin county. The first house of worship, in which the Methodists were largely interested, was built in 1830 as a union house, at the Rock, so called, about two miles east of a village, and in 1830 a union house was erected in the east part of the town. Probably at that time there were as many members in its church as at any time in its history. For several years previous to 1858 Sheldon and Franklin were joined as a circuit and supported two preachers, and afterwards Sheldon and Enosburgh were united. In the spring of 1858 Sheldon was set off from Enosburgh and made a station, and undertook to support a minister. Rev. A. C. Rose was appointed by the confer- ence as the first preacher to Sheldon. There was no house of worship and no parsonage. R. J. Saxe gave the use of a house the first year, and he and a few others raised a subscription for a church, which was built in the village in 1859, and was the first Methodist Episcopal church building in Sheldon. The society at that time was quite small and weak financially, numbering probably about sixty members in town. Soon after a parsonage was bought. The church membership now (1890) is about 125, under the pastorship of Rev. A. B. Riggs.
Mineral Springs .- In Sheldon are the following mineral springs with their proprietors : " Missisquoi," Missisquoi Spring Company, of New York city; "The Sheldon," George W. Simmons, of Boston; "The Central," Green & Co .; "The Vermont," Henry Cazan. Of the different springs the Vermont was the last discovered, in 1867. The others have been used more or less for the last seventy-five years. They are located, with the exception of the Central, quite near the banks of the Missisquoi River, and are included within a distance of about three miles, lying mainly to the north of the village, the fartherest being two and one-half miles distant from it. The Central is in the village. In connection with the Sheldon there is an elegantly furnished bathing- house. There are other mineral springs in other parts of the town, and in fact there is quite a strong impregnation in very many springs and
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