USA > Vermont > Windsor County > Ludlow > History of Ludlow, Vermont > Part 11
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Voice among the Mountains. The following year, Hon. Wm. H. Walker became editor, and, April 18, 1862, Moses Burbank became associate editor. The following Sept- ember, Mr. Walker withdrew, and during the remainder of the year, the paper was issued monthly, and died out with the closing of the year.
Apr. 17, 1866, The Transcript was founded by D. E. Johnson, who died in October of the same year. The prop- erty was purchased by Mr. Milliken of the Brattleboro Record. He discontinued its publication shortly after, as the paper did not meet with sufficient public favor to en- sure success. The Black River Gazette was established Dec. 19, 1866, by R. S. Warner and Moses Burbank, the latter being editor. He died in the following March, and was succeeded by Henry D. Foster. Mar. 20, 1869, Stillman B. Ryder and Martin H. Goddard became editors. The following May, Mr. Goddard was sole editor, but resigned Sept. 17, 1869, and was succeeded by Mr. Ryder as editor. In June, 1870, the firm was Warner & Ryder. July 11, 1873, Wm. A. Bacon became the manager, remaining until January, 1874, when D. C. Hackett purchased the paper. He published it in Ludlow only a short time, but removed it to Brandon, changing its title to The Otter Creek News. It went out of existence in 1882.
The present paper, The Vermont Tribune, was estab- lished by the Mott Brothers, Nov. 24, 1876. In the follow- ing February, F. W. Bacon became the manager, but in September of the same year, sold out to W. A. McArthur. In July 1879, Rev. Lewis B. Hibbard assumed control. In April, 1881, E. G. Allis purchased the paper of Mr. Hib- bard, and became manager. The paper at that time had a circulation of eight hundred and fifty copies. He en- larged it and increased its circulation to 2,550 copies. Rev Edward E. Crane purchased the business Jan. 1, 1890, and managed it with success until his death, June 21, 1893. He was thrown from his bciycle and fatally injured, while on his way from Ludlow to Woodstock. He was highly esteemed by the entire community, and was greatly missed, being an earnest and thorough worker in all undertakings for the public welfare. Mrs. Crane retained the ownership
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of the Tribune, with Rev. Evan Thomas as editor and manager, till Sept. 1, 1899. In 1921, the paper passed into the hands of the present owners, The Vermont News- paper Corporation. Since Nov. 4, 1921, the Tribune has been published in Bellows Falls, Vt.
In 1891, R. S. Warner started a paper called The En- terprise. For two years it was issued monthly, then weekly for about a year.
In 1894, the students of Black River Academy published a small paper called B. R. A. Record. Miss Alice M. Crane, daughter of E. C. Crane, was managing editor. Miss Anna M. Stearns, Sybil M. Burton, Henry Howard, and George Levey were assistants, Miss Mary E. Reed, correspondent for the alumni, and Winfred H. Lane, business editor. The little paper was a very interesting one, and a credit to the culture of the students of Black River Academy. It is to be regretted that it became necessary to stop the publication of the paper, owing to the want of financial support.
METEORIC SHOWER
On Nov. 13, 1833, there was the most magnificent meteoric display ever recorded as witnessed by man, and the shower of shooting stars was the most universal. The whole firmament above this country was for hours in fiery commotion. No celestial disturbance was ever seen in this country since its first settlement, which was viewed with such intense admiration by one class, or with so much dread and alarm by another. Many believed that the rising sun would bring the day of judgment.
The display as described by Prof. Silliman, was seen all over North America, but the chief scene of the exhi- bition was within the limits of longitude 61° in the Atlantic Ocean, and 100° in central Mexico, and between the great North American lakes, and the southern coast of the island of Jamaica. The scene above this vast area, far surpassed, in grandeur and magnificence, the loftiest reach of the human imagination. From two o'clock A. M. till broad daylight, the sky being perfectly serene and cloudless, an
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incessant play of dazzlingly brilliant meteors was kept up in the whole heavens. Some of these were of great magnitude and most peculiar form. One of large size re- mained for some time almost stationary in the zenith above the Falls of Niagara, emitting streams of light which radiated in all directions. The wild dash of the waters, contrasting with the fiery commotion above, formed a scene of amazing and awe-inspiring sublimity, a grand display of fireworks whose extent and duration was controlled only by Omnipotence.
The brightest display of this celestial shower in New England, was in and about Boston and its harbor. For some mysterious reason, the most beautiful displays were seen about the largest bodies of water in North America. Over the whole area covered by the shower, a hissing sound could be heard, caused by the rapid passage of the meteors through the atmosphere. The preceding day had been ex- ceedingly warm, and a period of extreme cold of about two weeks in duration succeeded. After this, the weather was unseasonably warm, again succeeded by a cold period, lasting through April, May, and June:
The inhabitants of Ludlow viewed this wonderful vision from their homes among the mountains, but none are now living who witnessed the glorious sight.
THE COLD YEAR
The year of 1816 was called the cold year, there being frost in every month. Several inches of snow fell in June, and on the morning of the fourth of July, there was ice on the borders of the rivers and brooks, and on that day, people wore overcoats and mittens. All the growing crops in Ludlow, and, in fact, all over New England, were cut down by the frost, and nothing was raised but a scanty crop of winter rye, and a very little winter wheat of very poor quality.
There were some peculiar circumstances connected with this season. In all New England, only one field of corn ripened. This was raised by Thomas Bellows, of Walpole,
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N. H. He sold his crop at the same price as in years of plenty, and would sell only one bushel to one man, for the use of his family, or for seed.
In Ludlow, the potato crop was a failure, the tubers not exceeding small walnuts in size. There was one exception. On the farm of Thomas Bixby, two pieces were planted to potatoes. One, like the other fields, was ruined by the cold, while the other, which lay just north of where the Bixby house now stands, yielded an abundant crop.
It was a year of poverty for many people, especially in this town, as the settlers had only got well started to clear- ing their farms, and had to live on domestic meat, fish, and wild game. Trout and horned pout were especially plenty. Jan. 1, 1897, there were eleven people living in town who experienced the hardships of "the cold year." The fol- lowing year was a year of joy for all, the harvest being a rich one, bringing prosperity and happiness.
SEVERE STORMS
It is a general occurrence in times of disastrous storms, to hear old people say: "This is the hardest storm I ever saw." The following are some of the most severe storms that have occurred in Ludlow since the commencement of the nineteenth century.
In September, 1828, a very hard shower came in the night. It rained only a few hours, but all the streams in town were swollen beyond all former records, from the time of the settlement of the town, up to that time. Much damage was done throughout the town, and all the bridges on Black River were swept away, with the exception of what was called the Haven bridge, which spanned the river near the Willard Johnson place. Main street was con- siderably damaged, a part of Black River flowing through the street. The freshet was supposed to be the result of a cloud-burst on the mountain.
June 11, 1842, snow fell to the depth of six inches, the mercury recorded a low temperature, and icicles formed on the eaves of buildings, in some instances to the length
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of eighteen inches. Oct. 19, 1843, snow fell to the depth of one foot, and remained all winter. Many of the potatoes and other vegetables were not harvested until the follow- ing spring, when the potatoes were dug, and the planting for the next season commenced. During the winter, many farmers removed the snow, and dug a few hills of potatoes for immediate use. The ground did not freeze during the winter.
The freshet of 1850 did much damage in town. A des- cription of the storm will be found in connection with the history of the railroad. In the early part of March, 1862, a remarkable storm occurred. Snow fell to the depth of fifteen inches, and the weather then moderated several degrees, and the storm closed up with about six inches of hail, and was followed by the mercury suddenly drop- ping to thirty degrees below zero. This formed a crust on the snow so thick and hard that heavily loaded teams could be driven across-lots anywhere in all parts of the state. The fall of snow, during the first part of the winter, had been very heavy, and all the fences and streams were hidden. The crust was so hard that the largest trees could be felled on it without cracking it. For more than a month, horse-trotting and skating were the general amusements. There has never been such a time for doing business on a snow crust, since the settlement of Vermont.
Sunday, Oct. 3, 1869, it commenced to rain at a rapid rate about nine o'clock in the morning, and continued all day and the following night. Monday morning, the rain fell in torrents. It seemed as though the ocean had taken the place of the firmament. At noon, Oct. 4, the rain abated just in season to save Ludlow village from being swept away. The water was from two to three feet deep in Main street, and boats were used in the village. But few bridges were left standing in town, and the Cram house, which stood below the high, railroad bridge, on the site of the tenement house now owned by E. L. Fullam, was washed away. Billy Bacon, son of Wm. Bacon who was once the editor of a paper published in town, was in the house when it started down the stream. When the house collapsed, he got out onto a part of the roof through the chimney-
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hole, and being an expert swimmer, kept himself up until he was rescued near the bridge by the Lamere blacksmith shop.
The highways were badly damaged, and, in many places, entirely ruined, and it cost the town several thousand dol- lars to repair them. The process of repairing them com- menced at once, but on the twentieth and twenty-first days of the same month, heavy rains raised the water to within a few inches of the previous flood, and nearly all the work done toward repairs was washed away. The entire street under the high railroad bridge was swept away, to the depth of from six to ten feet. This storm was general all over New England.
May 3, 1870, snow fell to the depth of three feet, and lasted several days. Many cords of wood and logs were drawn on sleds, and considerable maple sugar was made, as the nights were cold enough to freeze hard.
Mar. 12, 1888, the greatest amount of snow fell, ever known in one storm since the settlement of the town. Four feet of very heavy snow fell, followed by a gale which piled the snow into enormous drifts. The storm was an extensive one, but was heaviest about New York City and east-ward along the Atlantic coast. All the wires were down, and traffic was suspended for about forty-eight hours. In the cities, many men were obliged to seek shelter near their places of business, as it was next to an impossibility to travel the streets any distance, and there was great suf- fering among the poor. In New York City, the price of coal rose to a dollar a hod, and milk to fifty cents a quart. In this vicinity, the previous snow-fall had been heavy, with no thaws to settle it, and the storm completely buried fences, and all the smaller land-marks, so that, in many instances, the tracing of the buried highway had to be left to the instinct of the teams employed, rather than to the knowledge of the driver.
Another exceptional storm visited the town May 21, 1892, when two feet of snow fell, and lasted several days. The storm occurred on Thursday, and on Sunday follow- ing, people went to church in sleighs. Many gardens and fields of corn had been planted, but received only a little
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damage. Cattle suffered very much, and many died. The price of hay advanced to twenty-two and twenty-five dollars per ton, and was very scarce. Corn meal rose from a dollar up to a dollar and a half per hundred, and was hard to get at that.
The rainfall during the summer of 1897 was the great- est ever known here. During the months of May, June, and July, it rained nearly two-thirds of the time, and crops were nearly drowned out. Aug. 1, scarcely one eighth of the grass crop had been secured. The potato crop was a failure, and but little except hay, was raised.
Nov. 3, 1927, the worst flood ever known here came. The weather was mild, and a heavy rain fell for thirty-six hours. Ludlow lost four bridges, and Jewell Brook flowed down Main street. Black river also overflowed into Main street near the Dr. Bryant house. Seven houses were swept away on Main street, Cavendish.
The damage to roads, bridges, and personal property, exceeded $150,000, and for the state for all kinds of prop- erty, exceeded fifty million dollars. Hundreds of cattle were drowned.
WOOLEN MILLS
The first woolen mill built in Ludlow, was erected in 1832 by Pliny Parker and Benjamin Billings. It stood on the site later occupied by Arthur G. Spaulding's grist- mill, on the corner of Main and Andover streets. The mill burned on Nov. 18, 1835. The firm immediately solicited funds, and formed a stock company, and the mill was re- built in 1836. The following year was a year of financial depression all over the country, and in 1838 the firm failed, and the mill stood idle for several years. About 1845, Emery Burpee purchased the property, and converted it into a grist-mill. Since 1850, the mill has been owned in succession by John Osborne, Spaulding & Patch, E. J. Whitcomb & S. I. Atherton, Theophilus Johnson, Marcus A. Spaulding & Son, and Arthur G. Spaulding.
The next mill erected was on the site of the present
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Ludlow Woolen Mills. In 1834, Stephen Cummings built and started a mill here, called The Green Mountain Woolen Manufacturing Company. At that time, they worked but two looms and one spinning jack. Apr. 6, 1836, Silas H.
George Levey
James Gill
Hodges purchased the mill, and July 4, 1837, sold a half interest to his brother, Henry Hodges. They failed the same year, and Stephen Cummings and Addison Streeter bought the plant. They deeded to George S. Coffin, Oct. 16, 1843, and he, again, deeded to Sheppard Adams, Apr. 12, 1845. About two years later, Mr. Adams surrendered the property to the National Black River Bank at Proctors- ville. Feb. 11, 1851, the bank sold to Albert Day, who ran the mill but a few months, when it again went back to the bank, which deeded it to George S. Coffin, July 8, 1851. .
Mr. Coffin, who came from Winchendon, Mass., was a
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wealthy man, but through bad management with the mill, he failed in 1853, and the property was consigned to Slade, Pratt, and Reed, merchants of New York. This firm sold to John Ward & Moses B. Buffam. About 1864, they sold to Geo. W. and Wm. S. Harding. Joseph Pelton and Geo. S. Redfield served as superintendents while the mill was owned by the Hardings.
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Ludlow Woolen Mills - 1865
The first mill was built of brick, forty-five by seventy- five feet, and five stories high. It burned in January, 1865. Foster Fletcher, father of the late Hazen Fletcher, was in the third story at the time of the fire, and the stairways being on fire, he jumped from a window, and was so badly injured by striking on the frozen ground, that he lived but a few hours. The mill was rebuilt the following summer, by Geo. W. Harding & Co. The chimney was built in 1866, and is one hundred and one feet high. Before the stagings were taken down after its completion, Mrs. Mary Gardner went to the top, and had her photograph taken there. She had been a cook at sea for many years, was afraid of nothing, and had said, while the chimney was being built, that she would go to the top. A Frenchman, Samuel Carey, who was employed about the works, offered Mrs.
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Gardner three dollars, if she would go to the top of the chimney, but refused to pay it after the feat was per- formed.
Apr. 15, 1876, Geo. W. Harding sold his half interest to Jas. S. Gill, and July 30, 1879, Mr. Gill purchased the balance of the property. Later, he sold a third interest to Fred O. Knights, who commenced with Mr. Gill as office boy. Mr. Knights ran the mill alone from Jan. 1, 1897 to Jan. 1, 1900, under a lease. On the latter date, Geo. H. Levey and James S. Gill, 2d, assumed control. The James S. Gill estate came into the hands of Rachel Gill and E. H. Harding, trustee, Mar. 18, 1902. At the decease of Rachel Gill, and when James S. Gill, 2d was over twenty-five years of age, in accordance with the will of James S. Gill, Sr., Frank A. Walker, trustee, deeded to James S. Gill, 2d, June 24, 1912, who deeded to the Verd Mont Mills company, May 1, 1914. Since that time, both mills have been operated by Frank W. Agan.
In 1844, William Gibson built a wood-working shop in Grahamsville, and did business there till 1849, when he sold out to Asahel Miller. Mr. Miller then formed a part- nership with his son-in-law, William Graham, built on an addition of twenty feet to Mr. Gibson's works, and com- menced manufacturing shoddy cloth. They continued busi- ness till 1855, when they failed. Joshua Ward ran the mill a short time, and Mr. Graham again bought the property, and continued the business until 1860, and was succeeded by John Bentley until 1867, when the mill was burned. Years ago, the little village was called "Slab City." When Messrs. Miller and Graham commenced business, the more tasteful name of "Cottage Mills" was adopted, and in 1857, when John Graham moved there, the place took its present name.
In 1894, Geo. H. Levey and others, formed a stock com- pany, and built the Black River Woolen Mills where the cab-shop formerly stood, at a cost of $45,000. It was a thoroughly equipped mill, and gave employment to a hundred hands.
The Black River Woolen Co. was sold to the American Woolen Co. April 27, 1923. In 1929, they failed, and since then the mill has been idle.
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L. G. Fullam & Sons Chair Shop
CHAIR MANUFACTURING
In 1830, Peter Read, Jr., son of Rev. Peter Read, built the two-story building in Grahamsville, that stands south of the house where Josiah Wilder once lived, and west of the road. He manufactured chairs quite extensively for those days. The work was all done by hand, and the chairs were sold in Ludlow and the surrounding towns. In 1842, Horace Adams built the building once owned by William Russell, and manufactured chairs there to some extent. They were of the old style, with high back and ash splint seats. This building was burned in 1929. In the early days of the town, nearly every cabinet-maker in town made a few chairs.
In 1889, Leighton G. Fullam and his son, Herman, com- menced the manufacture of chairs in the old black-smith shop known as the S. S. Clark shop, on Commonwealth Avenue. At first the management of the business was on a small scale, then they employed a man, and their chairs were sold about home. In 1892, they commenced manu-
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facturing chairs at their saw-mill, and the same year, built a large, three-story building where the chairs were finished. At this time they began to ship chairs to city markets. In 1894, the business had grown so much as to necessitate the erection of another building about the size of the first one. At this time the firm employed about thirty men, manufactured reed and rattan chairs of ninety different styles, and turned off from a hundred and fifty to two hundred chairs per day, which were shipped to all parts of the United States. The firm name was L. G. Fullam & Sons, but in 1903, the company was changed to a stock company, and the name of the firm became Fullam, Sons & Co. The stock invested was $50,000. The main shop was built in the winter of 1903-04. They went out of business in 1909.
VILLAGE CEMETERY
The first person buried in the village cemetery, was Stephen, son of Jesse Fletcher, who died Feb. 18, 1790. The second was Tabitha Preston, who died May 22, 1795. Probably there may have been others buried here between the above dates, but if so, no markers were erected to point out the place.
The first lot set off for a burying ground by the early settlers, was the one back of the site of the old Congrega- tional church, but the land was not deeded to the town until about four years after the town was organized. Hezekiah Haven deeded one acre to the town for a ceme- tery, June 18, 1796, the consideration being two pounds and eight shillings of lawful currency, or about eleven dollars and sixty cents of United States money.
Feb. 29, 1856, Asahel Miller deeded a lot to the town for the first addition to the original burying-ground. The next addition was purchased of Ira W. Gale, Nov. 30, 1872, for the sum of two hundred and twenty-five dollars. Still another addition was bought of the same person, May 7, 1873, for the consideration of two hundred dollars. Aug. 29, 1873, a small piece of land was bought of F. C. Robbins.
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This piece lies back of the old house known as "The Bee- hive." The sum paid for this piece was sixty dollars. It was once used as a garden. Nov. 14, 1881, another lot was bought of Ira Gale, being a little more than one acre, for which the town paid two hundred and eighty-nine dollars. May 21, 1891, still another addition was bought of Mr. Gale, for which he received four hundred and ninety dollars. This purchase takes in nearly all the land to the foot of Checkerberry Hill. In 1903, Mrs. J. S. Gill gave to the town, a strip of land on the east side for an addition to the ceme- tery, which was a very acceptable gift.
Of late years, this cemetery has become a very central one, and at the present time (April, 1931) there are nearly as many graves in the cemetery, as the whole pop- ulation of the town. Doubtless there are some that cannot now be traced. Two hundred and fifty-six graves have no markers, and nineteen are marked with plain stone slabs without inscriptions. There are one hundred and nineteen monuments, some of them very fine ones. The first one set in the cemetery, was erected to the memory of Moses Haven in 1832. For many years, none of the Catholic dead were buried here, as that denomination had a consecrated burying ground at Claremont, N. H. Now, both Catholics and Protestants use this cemetery.
Nearly all of the first settlers of the town were buried in this old lot. In November, 1895, water from the village supply was added to the cemetery, and at the same time, a fountain costing $512.78 was erected. This improvement was accomplished by the efforts of D. R. Sargent, who was first selectman at the time the much needed improvement was made.
SOUTH HILL CEMETERY
In the cemetery on South Hill, there are visible a hun- dred and five graves, of which eighty-four have suitable markers, while the remainder are unmarked. There is only one monument in the yard, and that was erected to the memory of Jacob Hemenway, who died Dec. 8, 1836. Mr. Hemenway lived on Bear Hill, on the farm once owned by
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William English. He came to his death by falling from the high beams of his barn, and breaking his neck.
The first persons to be buried in this little cemetery, ac- cording to the record of the marked graves, were John Tilden and his wife, who died of spinal meningitis (at that time called "spotted fever"). Mr. Tilden died March 5, 1813, and Dorcas, his wife, died March 6, 1813. She was about the house on the day of her husband's death, but died the next morning, and both lie in one grave. At the time of their death, the family were living in the second house south from the present school-house, later owned by Horace Wadleigh. There were seven children, the youngest being a pair of twins about six months old. The eldest child, a girl about fifteen years of age, wished to keep the home for the little ones, but the privilege was denied her, and the family was broken up and scattered. The twins were received into good permanent homes in town. Mary was received into the household of Abel Haild, and remained in the family till her death. Further reference to her will be found in the history of the schools. Nancy was given a home by Dea. Jesse Miller. She mar- ried Austin Dunbar, and died in 1890, the last of her father's family.
ACCIDENTS
We give a short list of a few of the most remarkable fatal accidents that have occurred in Ludlow.
Moses, son of Moses Mayo, was killed June 21, 1825. He had been with his father's horse to help Asa White plow out some corn and potatoes. The field included the land where the Hathorn harness-shop, and the Okemo Tavern now stand, and what is now Main street from Depot street to Jewell Brook. Mr. White lived in a small house that stood where the first hay-scales were later located. After the plowing was finished, Mr. White took the traces, which were small chains, and made some stirrups, so that the boy could ride home on horse-back. After putting the boy on the horse's back, he gave him a jug of yeast to carry to his mother, it being customary
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