USA > Vermont > Windsor County > Ludlow > History of Ludlow, Vermont > Part 8
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put in, in the spring of 1882. Seventeen days after the en- gine was started, the mill was burned, May 12, 1882. It was immediately rebuilt, but was again burned Aug. 5, 1891, was again rebuilt in 1892, and destroyed by fire for the third time, Jan. 15, 1905, and was not rebuilt.
In 1820, Wm. Hemenway built a mill on Williams River. The mill stood on the road leading to Isaiah Lovejoy's in Andover, near where the falls are. Mr. Hemenway oper- ated this mill a few years, and, in 1830, built another mill down the stream, near where George Robbins formerly lived. He also built the house in which Mr. Robbins lived. In the same year, the machinery was moved from his first mill to the second one, and the building was allowed to go down.
The mill down the stream from the former residence of Chas. H. Ray, and about east of the C. W. Hemenway farm, was built by Samuel Ross in 1830. He also built the house that stood near the mill at that time, and the following year, he built the house known as the Benjamin Goodwin place.
In 1820, Abijah Jewell built a saw-mill on Brook Road, just east of the Clarence Warren house. This was the first mill built on this stream, which received its name, Jewell Brook, from this circumstance. Mr. Jewell built a log house where the orchard east of the present house stands, and his wife set out the old apple trees that are still standing. She was a half-breed squaw. The Clarence Warren house was built by Mr. Jewell in 1824.
In 1810, James Adams built a saw-mill at Grahamsville. It stood just below where the dam now stands. He was the second to dam the waters of Black River in this town. Later, Edward Wilder, father of Edward Wilder who died in 1896, and of Josiah Wilder who died in 1901, owned and operated the mill till about 1827. Alden Patch built a mill a few rods below where the Royce mill stood, in 1830. About 1835, Robert Walker took possession, and run the mill till 1845, when it was allowed to go down. Mr. Walker turned wooden screws for cider-mills. He was said to have been an adept in ornamental turning, but a poor sawyer.
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Ira Mathewson once said that Robert Walker "couldn't saw boards as even as the trees grew in the woods."
In 1835, Asahel Smith built a saw-mill at Smithville. It stood where the Verd Mont mill now stands, and was used more or less till 1845. About 1850, Alfred Wakefield re- paired the mill, and manufactured chair stock till about 1860. After the mill had been idle for several years, A. B. Freeman & Co. commenced the manufacture of whet- stones for scythes, also sawed and finished soapstone for water-tanks, table-tops, stoves, mantel shelves, and various small articles for household use. This work continued till about 1887, when the business was discontinued. Again, in 1896, J. S. Gill over-hauled the old mill, and fitted it up for a silk-mill, but it was never put in operation. In 1901, Frank W. Agan purchased the mill. A stock company with a $30,000 capital was established, and the mill was fitted up for manufacturing satinet goods, and is doing good business.
In 1818, John Hill built a saw-mill, up the brook west of the Charles Esty place. He got the mill completed, and hung the saw, which was a sash saw, but shortly after, while helping raise the frame for a large barn in Weston, he fell from the frame and was killed. The mill never was run, but was allowed to yield to the hand of time, and crumble away. No man saw fit to take up and push the enterprise that Mr. Hill has commenced. Traces of the old mill are still to be seen.
In 1837, Silas Spaulding built the saw-mill owned for many years by E. P. Kingsbury. In 1843, Joel and Alfred Warner bought the mill, and in the following year, the tannery was built, and they sold off the right to part of the water-power. This divided the power so much that both water-wheels could not be used to advantage at the same time, and often caused unpleasantness between the owners. In 1904, the mill was sold by the Kingsbury heirs to C. H. Howard, F. W. Agan, Frank A. Walker, Geo. P. Levey, James Gill, and George Raymond.
In 1834, Daman and Patch built a one-story building on the site where the H. E. Walker shoddy-mill now stands. It was first used for a carding mill, and later, for weaving
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cloth. The work done was mostly custom work for the farmers. The building burned in 1843, and was replaced by a two-story building the following year by Lewis Boyn- ton. Damon and Parker manufactured hay-rakes and fork handles here. The south end of the building was burned in 1848, the north end not being badly damaged. Damon and Parker repaired it the same year. They failed in 1849, and went out of business. In 1850, Thomas Heywood came from Massachusetts, and leased the property for five years. Mr. Heywood put in a saw-mill, and added the manufacture of butter-tubs to the rake and fork business. Previous to the burning of the building in 1848, Alonzo B. Hough op- erated a veneer machine in the basement, this being the only veneering ever manufactured in town. It was sawed from bird's-eye maple logs.
When Mr. Heywood's lease expired, Rufus Simonds commenced the manufacture of wooden bowls. In 1860, Mr. Simonds took out a patent on the first invention in the United States, of a machine for turning wooden bowls with a rim on the edge. In 1862, Mr. Simonds failed, and Nelson R. Hemenway continued the bowl manufacture till 1865. In 1866, James Roberts bought the property, and run a listing-mill a part of the time up to 1894. In 1895, Geo. H. Levey, Frank A. Walker, and Chas. H. Howard purchased the mill, and commenced the manufacture of reed and rattan chairs. They sold out in the fall of 1896 to Frank Agan, who changed the plant to the manufacture of shoddy. In January, 1897, he put in an engine and boiler to furnish the needed power. In 1920, Herbert E. Walker & Son bought the plant.
In 1828, John Gilbert built a saw-mill on West Hill, on the stream southwest of where Joseph Warren once lived. He did business there but a few years. At this time, it does not seem as though there would have been enough water in that stream, to operate a saw-mill.
About 1822, John Johnson built a saw-mill a little south of Tyson, very near the Plymouth line. The old race-way that run from Black River to where the mill stood, is still traceable. Mr. Johnson did business there a few years, then went West to live. The mill has been gone out of use
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for many years. John E. Spaulding built a saw-mill near the site of the Johnson mill, in 1895. It is now owned by Hugh Spaulding.
In 1847, The Orvis brothers built a saw-mill on Jewell Brook. It stood a few rods east from where the late William Fuller lived. Later, Ai Esty bought the property and manu- factured chair-stock. A part of this mill was moved near the highway, and made over into a dwelling-house. In 1850, the Orvis brothers built another mill nearly opposite the Clarence Warren apple-orchard. In this way they utilized the power of the water twice, and so did consider- able business.
In 1825, John Ordway built a saw-mill on the Calvin Whitney farm on North Hill. It stood a trifle to the north- east of where the little stretcher-mill once stood. As one looks for the water supply to operate a saw-mill on this spot, he can but think that men had the power to operate water-mills on dry land, as the little brook that once fed the pond is nearly dry. The late Paul D. Sears once said of a light hay crop in 1867, "Save what there is, and there will be enough." This rule was probably applied to some of the mills that were built in town in the early days.
The first steam saw-mill ever built in town, was built in 1863, by Asahel J. Severance. It stood on the top of the mountain, on the road leading to Weston. The first circular saw ever used in town for sawing lumber, was used in this mill. Henry Lane, the first sawyer, was a nephew of the Henry Lane who founded the Lane Manu- facturing Co., of Montpelier, Vt. The engine and boilers were rated at a hundred and twenty horse-power. They came from Lowell, Mass., and the engine is now in use in the steam saw-mill at Chester, Vt. This was the most ex- tensive lumber mill ever operated in Ludlow. Its capacity was from twenty to twenty-five thousand feet per day of ten hours. In this mill, there was one Muley saw for sawing hard wood lumber, and one circular saw for sawing soft wood. About sixty hands were employed to cut and haul logs, and do the work in the mill, and from twenty to thirty teams to haul the logs to the mill, and the lumber to the station. In the winter of 1865, there were sixty men
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chopping cord-wood for the railroad, and forty-four two- horse teams hauling the wood. These woods were a great field of labor in those days. There were eleven dwelling- houses about the mill, where a part of the workmen lived, and three barns for the teams. As this mill was in operation during and immediately after the war of the Rebellion, wages were high, one man with a team receiving from five to five and a half dollars per day. Common log chop- pers received from forty to forty-five dollars per month, with board. Corn meal sold at from three to four dollars per hundred, and hay, from twenty-six to thirty dollars per ton. Spruce dimension lumber sold for from twenty to thirty dollars per thousand on the cars at the railroad sta- tion. Mr. Severance could not make the business pay, and in the fall of 1864, sold out to J. B. Reynolds of Rutland, Vt. He continued the business a little more than a year at a loss, and then sold out to Marcus Richardson, also of Rutland. Mr. Richardson operated the mill about a year and a half, in which time he lost a handsome fortune in the business. He sold out to Samuel Hemenway of Mt. Holly, who was the possessor of a snug little fortune of $20,000 when he became the owner of the mill. He op- erated the mill till the fall of 1867, when he moved the mill to the village, and set it on the site where the Fullam and Sons mill stands, now the box-shop. After working hard about two years, Mr. Hemenway failed, and became a poor man. He soon after moved west, accumulated some property, and died in 1882.
Benjamin and Parks bought the mill after Mr. Hemen- way's failure. They run the mill about a year, when it burned, and they, too, found a shortage in their accounts, and the business was suspended. A. J. Demary rebuilt the mill, but operated it only a short time, after which it was unused for a few years. In 1885, L. G. Fullam and Prescott Adams revived the business, enlarged the plant, and did a thriving business up to 1894, when the Fullams bought out Mr. Adams' interest. The old barn used by the present company, is one of the barns that stood on the mountain where the mill was first built. Mr. Hemenway moved it to the present location when he moved the mill.
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In the later part of 1872 H. N. Parker, A. B. Riggs and W. N. Graves began to manufacture toy carts and doll carriages under the name of Green Mountain Toy Co. The Company reorganized in 1873 under the name of The Ludlow Toy Manufacturing Co. and later in 1873, the Lud- low Manufacturing Company erected a saw-mill in con- nection with the toy manufactory. The mill stood on the site where the Black River Woolen Mill now stands. This mill was a circular-saw mill, and was operated about six- teen years. In 1870, Paul D. Sears built a saw-mill a little north-west of the Hyland Snell place. It was an up-and- down mill, operated by water power, and was run till 1879, when Mr. Sears had the misfortune to lose his left leg. The building was taken down in 1896.
In 1843, Elijah Putnam built a shop on the site where the Harlan Graham shop later stood, for the purpose of manufacturing chair backs. While Mr. Putnam was in business there, he invented a machine for shaping the chair backs, work that, up to that time, had been done by hand. This was the first machine of the kind, invented in the United States. About 1863, he sold his works to Capt. William Graham, who discontinued the chair back business, and substituted wool carding. The building was destroyed by fire, Dec. 31, 1880, and was rebuilt the fol- lowing spring. It was operated a few years by his son, Harlan Graham, and the business is now discontinued.
In 1890, Elmore Whitney built a small stretcher-mill on North Hill, a few rods south of the buildings on the Calvin Whitney farm. He run the mill about two years, and it then went out of use.
In 1891, Henry and Charles Harris built a stretcher- mill on Brook Road, on the land formerly occupied by Jerry Magoon. In 1895, Guy Harris bought the mill, and run it till the time of his death in December, 1896. The business was continued by Charles Harris for nearly two years, when he removed the machinery to a mill in New Hampshire.
In 1894, S. A. and E. S. Colton built a stretcher-mill on Pleasant street extension. It was started in September of that year, and was operated about five years.
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In 1803, Andrew Pettigrew built a saw-mill a little east of where Simon S. Mayo once lived. He operated the mill for several years. The mill was taken down in 1835, and the timbers in the frame were worked over and used in the construction of one of the barns. When this mill was in operation, Parker, son of Andrew, and father of J. W. Pettigrew, was sawing one night, using the old style up-and-down saw, which was slow in cutting its way through the log. He fell asleep sitting on the log, and after a while was drawn up to the saw. He had on a long frock made of home-made cloth, and the saw caught a part of this, and carried it into the saw. This woke him just in season to escape a violent death.
E. W. Royce built a saw-mill at Grahamsville in 1885. In connection with the saw-mill, he also operated a grist- mill, but only custom grinding was done. In 1901, he sold his mill to the Electric company, and in 1904 the saw- mill was taken down.
In 1897, Ralph and Hugh Barton, brothers, built a steam mill in the southwest part of the town, on the farm then owned by their father, Horace L. Barton. It stands a few rods south of the farm buildings. Feb. 28, 1901, it was burned, but was rebuilt the same year.
In the fall and winter of 1903-04, Billado and Blanchard built a saw-mill on the old Bixby farm. This was a double circular mill, the only one ever used in town. The mill stood west of the Bixby farm-house, near the railroad, and was destroyed by fire Sept. 22, 1905. A few rods north of this mill, the same company built and operated a stret- cher mill.
Great improvements have been developed in the past two centuries, in the science of sawing and manufacturing lumber. The first sawn lumber was the product of hand labor. The logs were first hewn square with the broad-axe, then the timbers were elevated from the ground high enough to allow a man to stand upright under the stick. Another man stood on the top of the stick and drew the saw up, and the one in the pit below pulled it down. All the lumber used was sawed by this laborious process. If extra power was needed, two men were stationed at each end
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of the saw. The saw used was about four feet long and three inches wide, and was hung in a frame similar to the old-fashioned up-and-down saw. This frame was usually about three feet wide. The men who stood at the top, were obliged to work the hardest, as they had the weight of the frame and saw to draw up, while what was a disad- vantage to them, was an advantage to those below, who worked in a continual shower of saw-dust. The timber had to be lined with chalk lines both above and below, and was then sawn to the line to obtain the required dimension. This method of sawing is still practiced in some parts of Italy, Austria, and other countries of the Old World.
In 1925, Wm. W. Adams built a saw-mill on Pond street. The mill is in operation, and doing extensive business. (1931.)
In 1926, Clarence Keith built a saw-mill east of the village, but has not done much business to date, 1931.
BLACKSMITHS
When the immigrants from Massachusetts and Connecti- cut first came to Ludlow, a quorum of men representing all trades, from the preacher of the gospel down to the more humble blacksmith, were necessary, as now, to form the great chain of mutual interest and progress that binds together the human family. No man however high his standing in this world, is independent of his fellow men. In one way or another, he is dependent upon his neighbor, though few think how many of the comforts and convenien- ces of their lives pass through the hands of the blacksmith at his forge. None live to themselves alone, but whether bound by the ties of brotherly love, or those of selfish in- terest, they fulfil the plan of the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, and keep the great world in working order.
The first blacksmith in Ludlow, was Arioch Smith, who was born in the town of Foster, R. I. He married Elizabeth Cook of Preston, Ct., now called Griswold.
The parents of Arioch and Asahel Smith were Richard and Deborah Smith, who came from Ashford, Ct. They
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lived with their son, Asahel Smith, on North Hill, and were buried at Ludlow, Vt. The children of Arioch Smith and Elizabeth Cook Smith were:
Born Died
Buried
Winsor 1794-1854
Louisiana
Zeriah
1796-1865
Michigan
Asahel
1799-1801
Ludlow, Vt.
Martin
1802-
N. Y.
Arza 1803-1867
Ludlow, Vt. Iowa
Asahel 1806-
Eliza
1808-
Cavendish, Vt.
Maria
1810-1832
Smithville, Ludlow, Vt.
Roxalana 1812-
Frederick 1814
Michigan Indiana
Angeline 1818
All were born in Ludlow, Vt.
Arioch served his apprenticeship in Plascow, Ct., and while there, shod a horse for Gen. Putnam. In 1794, he came to Ludlow, and built a blacksmith shop just east of the road from the Hines place, on the corner of the Flet- cher farm. In 1818, this shop was burned, and he then built one south of the present river road. His house stood on the other side of the road, nearly where the large rock is located on the Hines place. April 17, 1846, he fell and broke his neck while walking in his pasture. He was seventy-nine years of age. He was the grandfather of our former townsman, Winsor J. Smith, and Smithville received its name from him. For more than a hundred years, the sound of the blacksmith's hammer has wakened the echoes over every hill and valley in Ludlow, as will be seen by the list of men who have represented this trade all over town at different times. In Mr. Smith's time, building nails were nearly all forged by the local blacksmiths, from iron nail- rods as they were called. One thousand nails was called a day's work for a blacksmith, and a working day was from day-break till dark. A blacksmith received from seventy-five cents to a dollar per day. Hard coal had not come into use much then, and charcoal was used. The first cut nails were made in Rhode Island in 1775, by Jere-
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miah Wilkinson. In 1795, a Mr. Perkins patented the first nail machine. It had the capacity of 200,000 nails per day. This invention took some of the work from the black- smith, but nails were still forged in small quantities in the new settlements for several years.
The next blacksmith to open shop in Ludlow, was Jesse Marshall, who built a shop on North Hill in 1798. It stood west of the road, opposite to where the first school-house stood in Dist. No. 6. Mr. Marshall did business there a few years, and later the shop was moved, and is now in- cluded in the wood-shed of the W. R. Barker buildings.
In 1800, Putnam Bates, father of Addison Bates and grandfather of Geo. W. Bates, came to town and built a shop on the farm known as the Darius Gasset place on South Hill. It is now owned by Fred Tucker. Mr. Bates did business there several years. His shop stood between where the house now stands and the highway. Later it was moved back, and now forms a part of the hog-house.
In 1802, Hyland Snell's grandfather, John Snell, built a shop on South Hill where the late Patrick Sullivan lived, and did an extensive business there for several years. In 1815, Lyman Burnham built a shop on High street, on the ground later occupied by Mrs. Milo Shattuck's garden. In 1828, Mr. Burnham and Emery Burpee built a shop on the site of the one now owned by Fred Fields, near the Mill bridge. In 1848, Joel Warner took down the old shop, and built the present one. L. G. Pierce who owned the shop before Mr. Fields, could shoe a horse quicker than any other blacksmith who ever practiced his trade in this town. He was known to sharpen and set the shoes on twenty-three horses in one day. He belonged to a family of blacksmiths. His great-great grandfather, great grand- father, grandfather, and father were all blacksmiths. The first named ancestor came to this country from Scotland, and settled in New Hampshire.
About 1825, Abel Pratt built a shop which he used for several years, at the junction of the roads in Grahamsville, near the residence of the Gates brothers. It stood west of the road, about six rods north of the house. In 1840, Asahel Ingalls also had a blacksmith shop in Grahamsville. It
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stood west of the road near where the red two-story house stands, formerly occupied by Levi Harvey. About 1836, Moody Robinson used the first floor of what was later the residence of L. G. Fullam on East Main street, for a black- smith shop, and occupied it for several years. Rufus Young occupied for a blacksmith shop, the little red store that was moved from the site of the stone house now owned by Mrs. Moses Townshend, and placed on the land now owned by F. A. Walker's heirs, at the end of the new con- crete bridge, Mr. Young did blacksmithing there during the forties.
In 1827, Jacob Patrick built a blacksmith shop on the site now occupied by the east end of the Ludlow Woolen Mills, opposite the north end of the Plumley Garage. Neither the mill nor the boarding-house had been built at this time. Mr. Patrick used this shop until 1833, when it was moved down Main street and located where the block owned by W. D. Sargent now stands. In 1838, Mr. Patrick also built the shop on the corner of Main and Andover streets, now occupied by Vail's Garage. In this shop he erected a trip-hammer to assist him in shaping heavy irons used about his work. It was the only hammer of the kind ever used in town. Mr. Patrick manufactured agricultural implements, such as hoes, hay-forks, etc. He was also noted as a manufacturer of edge tools, such as axes, shaves, adzes, and pump-augers. In those days lead and galvanized iron pipes were not much used. Logs were used in their place, and the pump-augers were made to bore the pump- logs, so called, in lengths of ten feet. At the present time, pump-logs are very little used. Many of the implements of Mr. Patrick's manufacture were sold in Boston. He occupied this shop continuously for thirty years, with the exception of the year 1842, when he was employed as tool-maker at the armory in Windsor, Vt. He was an es- pecially fine workman in the art of working iron and steel, excelled by no blacksmith ever in Ludlow, and equalled at the forge by very few in the country.
About 1835, Francis Bacon built a blacksmith shop on the lot west of the former residence of Chas. S. Parker. The place where the shop stood on East Main street, is
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known to many as the Rufus Washburn place. About 1840, Jenne Parker had a shop on High street. It stood on the ground now occupied by the residence of Osceola Hesel- ton. In 1840, Stowell Howe built a cabinet-shop on High street. It stood on the ground now occupied by the garden of Mrs. Emery Bidgood.
About 1858, Alvah Spafford moved the building down to Commonwealth Avenue, and in the eighties, it was used as a blacksmith shop by S. S. Clark. Later it was converted into a tenement house. In 1856, Warren Adams built a blacksmith shop on Main street. It stood just back of the furniture store of the late C. H. Howard. This shop was occupied by Eusebe Dorval, who was one of Ludlow's most skillful blacksmiths. About 1845, Ira Morse built a blacksmith shop at Smithville. It stood a little east of the house once occupied by Mrs. Joseph Bean.
In 1871, Warren Adams built the shop formerly occupied by John N. Lamere, west of Jewell brook on Andover street. In 1837, Martin Snell built a shop on the farm now occupied by Harley Pelky. It stood a few rods west from the present barn. Mr. Snell was quite a noted workman, and had the art of doing many kinds of work. He made many coffins in his shop, at from two to three dollars each. In 1820, Artemus Terrill had a blacksmith shop on South Hill on the Luther Johnson farm. In 1842, Henry Vinton built a shop on Pleasant street. It stood on the site now oc- cupied by the house known as the Edward A. Rock place, now owned by Oscar Fuller. Mr. Vinton forged and made axes of a superior quality. Later, Emery Parker was pro- prietor. At that time, a driveway led from Main street through on the east side of Hammond's block, to the shop.
In 1864, a blacksmith shop was built by Asahel Sever- ance on the top of the mountain on the road leading to Weston. William C. Spaulding wielded the hammer, and, in a sense, was superior to all the other blacksmiths, as his shop stood on the highest elevation of any in Ludlow. There have been several other blacksmith shops in town, erected for private use.
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